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... Bank of America (BAC) on Thursday announced it set aside $997 million to protect from loan losses, mainly in the bank's $22 billion energy portfolio. Wells Fargo (WFC) warned of "significant stress" and "deterioration" in the oil and gas space. The problems there forced Wells Fargo to add $200 million in loan-loss reserves, its first increase to this rainy-day fund since 2009. And JPMorgan Chase increased its provisions for credit losses by 88%, mostly due to the oil, natural gas and pipeline business. It was enough to cause JPMorgan's (JPM) first drop in profits since late 2014. ...

You eat, but you aren’t able to taste your food. You try to write your paper, or work on your p-set, but all you can do is think to yourself, “What is the point?” You try to get out of bed in the morning, but you just can’t escape its almost magnetic hold over you. So you sleep. And you sleep. And you sleep. Sleep becomes your drug of choice, and you abuse it constantly. Your old hobbies and passions no longer have the same appeal. None of them match the sense of security you feel when you’re wrapped up...

--snip-- This was the first official proposed "Bail-In" of creditors, one that took place before similar ad hoc balance sheet restructuring would take place in Greece and Portugal in the coming months. Or rather, it wasn't a fully executed "Bail-In" for the reason that creditors fought it tooth and nail. And then today, following a decision by the Austrian Banking Regulator, the Finanzmarktaufsicht or Financial Market Authority, Austria officially became the first European country to use a new law under the framework imposed by Bank the European Recovery and Resolution Directive to share losses of a failed bank with senior...

Video Only: Apr. 07, 2016 - 3:38 - Executive director of Cohen Veterans Network explains organization's efforts

Suddenly, Tyler is screaming. Screaming. Tyler’s screams could pierce through the din of any commercial. They could break glass. Gabriel sits up with a start, his heart racing.

Rock star Keith Emerson killed himself because he feared he was no longer good enough as a musician, his girlfriend exclusively told The Mail on Sunday last night. The 71-year-old founder and keyboard player of Emerson, Lake and Palmer was 'tormented with worry' about upcoming concerts in Japan because nerve damage to a hand had affected his playing, said Mari Kawaguchi. She found Emerson's body when she returned to the apartment the couple shared in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, early on Friday morning. He had shot himself with a gun he kept for protection. 'Keith wasn't feeling well on Thursday...

Showboating Obama brushes off Reagan funeral snub criticism to congratulate himself on steering America away from GREAT DEPRESSION during SXSW festival talk An ebullient Barack Obama sure sounded pleased with himself at SXSW festival on Friday – despite enduring a week of criticism for prioritizing the event over Nancy Reagan’s funeral. The President was the surprise keynote speaker at this year's Austin festival and talked about civic engagement with the editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune. During the speech he bragged about keeping employment below five per cent and congratulated himself for the recent improvement in the country's job figures. 'Because...

How do you feel right now? Check yourself. Does a place in your body hurt or do you have bad thoughts or feelings? Take note of whatever it is then set it aside for the moment. Now as you are reading this, gradually start to notice your peripheral vision. Without looking away from these words you can see the edges and shape of the screen. Is it a computer screen, a laptop or smartphone? Take note of it. Continue reading and using your peripheral vision. What is beyond the boundaries of the screen? Is there a a lamp and office...

Did you know that there are some U.S. states that have already officially fallen into recession? Economic activity all over the planet is in the process of slowing down, and there are some areas of the country that are really starting to feel the pain. In particular, any state that is heavily dependent on the energy industry is hurting right now. During the years immediately following the last recession, the energy industry was the primary engine for the growth of good paying jobs in America, but now that process is completely reversing. All over the U.S. energy companies are...

One view of what caused the Great Depression in the 1930s is that the Federal Reserve failed to prevent a collapse in the money supply. This is the famous thesis of Milton Friedman's and Anna Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, and it was, more or less, the view of Ben Bernanke when he was chairman of the Federal Reserve. The global economy today resembles that of the 1930s in several ominous ways. Financial author Edward Chancellor recently called attention to a paper written by Caludio Borio, head economist at the Bank of International Settlements, that provides...

"We’re Out Of The Red" is played by Dave Harman & His Orchestra. Vocalist is George Marks.

A pernicious cycle of collapsing commodities, corporate defaults, and currency wars loom over the global economy. Can anything stop it from unravelling? A global recession is on the way. This truism of economics holds at any point in which the world is not in the grips of a contraction. The real question is always when and how deep the upcoming downturn will be. "The crash will come, but it would be nice if it came two years from now", Thomas Thygesen, head of economics at SEB told over 200 commodity investors and analysts in London last month. His audience was...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- All adults, including pregnant women and new mothers, should be screened for depression as a routine part of health care, a government advisory group recommended Tuesday. Depression is a common public health problem, and screening simply involves health workers asking about certain symptoms even if patients don't mention them.

We have not seen global economic activity fall off this rapidly since the great recession of 2008. Manufacturing activity is imploding all over the planet, global trade is slowing down at a pace that is extremely alarming, and the Baltic Dry Index just hit another brand new all-time record low. If the "real economy" consists of people making, selling and shipping stuff, then it is in incredibly bad shape. Here in the United States, the dismal economic numbers continue to stun all of the experts. For example, on Monday we learned that the Texas general business activity index just...

successfully navigated, global growth could be derailed." Of the warning signs, the decline in U.S. industrial production has one of the best track records. The output from mines, factories and utilities has always begun to decline before recession strikes. "Manufacturing tends to lead the economic cycle and it tends to be an indicator of the swings," said Thomas Costerg, senior economist at Standard Chartered. "Manufacturing is struggling." A strong U.S. dollar and weak economies internationally are taking a toll. But unlike past declines in industrial production, today's decline has been driven primarily by the collapse in the oil industry. The...

As we’ve been warning for quite a while (too long for my taste): the world’s grand experiment with debt has come to an end. And it’s now unraveling. Just in the two weeks since the start of 2016, the US equity markets are down almost 10%. Their worst start to the year in history. Many other markets across the world are suffering worse. If you watched stock prices today, you likely had flashbacks to the financial crisis of 2008. At one point the Dow was down over 500 points, the S&P cracked below key support at 1,900, and the price...

Bulletin Headline Summary From Bloomberg and RanSquawk Amid the fresh downturn in risk sentiment, there is one standout move to highlight this morning; the USD/CAD ramp through 1.4400 and 1.4500 WTI and Brent are below USD 30/bbl, with analysts noting that the UN are expected to approve the removal of Iranian trade sanctions as soon as Monday Highlights today include US retail sales, PPI final demand, empire manufacturing, industrial production, business inventories and University of Michigan sentiment as well as Fed's Dudley, Williams and Kaplan Treasuries gain as global stocks plunge led by China, crude at 12-year low; 10Y has...

Last week, I received news from a contact who is friends with one of the biggest billionaire shipping families in the world. He told me they had no ships at sea right now, because operating them meant running at a loss. This weekend, reports are circulating saying much the same thing: The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty.

U.S.stocks closed lower in light volume trade Thursday, the last day of 2015, despite some stabilization in oil prices. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average both ended lower for the year, their worst since 2008. The Nasdaq composite closed up more than 5.5 percent for the year as biotech stocks and major tech names outperformed. The Russell 2000 and Dow transports also had their worst year since 2008. Selling accelerated into the close, with the Dow closing about 180 points lower. The Nasdaq composite fell more than 1 percent as Apple declined nearly 2 percent. The S&P 500...

Please pray for my brother tonight as he checks himself into the hospital for alcohol abuse. He recently lost his job while at the same time celebrating the birth of his third child. He feels lost and inadequate.