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U.S. stock index futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Tuesday, recovering from the plunge seen in global stocks on Monday as mayhem in Chinese markets and interest rate fears dominated markets. Dow futures were up around 450 points in premarket trading, implying a 320 point bounce at the open and shrugging off deeper selling in China. Equity markets in China fell further in the final hour of trading on Tuesday, with the Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) settling below the key 3,000 mark, to end the day down 7.6 percent. Read More More selling may be ahead,...

There is little that happens in society in general and the market economy in particular that most on the political “left” do not think needs more government intervention, regulation, and redistribution to make “better.” One recent example of this is a lengthy “report” primarily prepared by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph E. Stiglitz, for the Roosevelt Institute. Released in June 2015, Stiglitz and his co-authors present an agenda for, Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity. The “Progressive’s” Agenda for Bigger Government Running for 100 pages, it is based on the premise that markets...

Shanghai Comp skids 7.63% to end at 8-month low See Kit Tang | @SeeKit_T The mayhem in Chinese equity markets showed no signs of abating on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index accelerating its downfall in the final hour of trading to settle below the key 3,000 mark. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was the second-biggest laggard in the region, closing down 4 percent, after turning negative in the afternoon trading session. Earlier in the session, the Tokyo bourse had staged a comeback, alongside most of the other regional stock indices, on the back of bargain hunting in beaten-down stocks...

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”—Martin Luther King Jr. There’s an ill will blowing across the country. The economy is tanking. The people are directionless, and politics provides no answer. And like former regimes, the militarized police have stepped up to provide a façade of law and order manifested by an overt violence against the citizenry. Despite the revelations of the past several years, nothing has changed to push back against the American police state. Our freedoms—especially the Fourth Amendment—continue to be choked out by a prevailing view among government bureaucrats...

There have been many news stories in recent days about Donald Trump's proposed policy on H1-B visas and how that would be bad for India. Trump has advocated raising the minimum wage for H1-B visas, lowering the H1-B visa cap and generally making H1-B visas more difficult to obtain. Trump points out that his competitor Florida Senator Marco Rubio has introduced a bill to triple the H-1B visas and Trump contends that this would lower the average wage because the H1-B workers are willing to work harder for a lower wage because they want to get a green card. News...

The Heartland Institute published a very revealing article about Leftist shock jock Naomi Klein who just published a new anti-capitalst screed entitled This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Essentially, Ms. Klein admits that the issue of climate change (formerly known as global warming) is not about science but really about overthrowing capitalism. “Our economic model is at war with the Earth,” writes Klein. “We cannot change the laws of nature. But we can change our economy. Climate change is our best chance to demand and build a better world.” The Heartland article goes on to say: For the author,...

In an attempt to narrow the “insidious wage gap” between men and women, the California Legislature is on the verge of passing a stronger equal pay law that supporters believe will be the toughest in the nation — but some say still doesn’t go far enough. Not only will the California Fair Pay Act make it more difficult for employers to justify paying men more than women for “substantially similar” work, but employers will be prohibited from retaliating against women who ask about or discuss the pay of their male colleagues. “We’re closing all the loopholes,” said state Sen. Hannah-Beth...

Stock markets around the world have been posting big losses for the last few days. The route was especially rough this morning, with the DOW Jones at one point falling 1,000 points in less than an hour. At the heart of the current slide is an issue which could impact many tech companies: economic weakness in China. Two weeks ago China's government made an aggressive move to devalue its currency. This followed several weeks of tumult in the Chinese stock market, during which the government had also interceded with force. Taken together, investors saw a Chinese market where growth was flagging. That...

Submitted by SouthBay Research Hookernomices: In less than 10 years, the Federal Reserve Has Driven Millions of American Women into ProstitutionMainstreaming Prostitution: Beginning last year, the Bank of England included prostitution in GDP measurements.  According to the Office of National Statistics, prostitution generated $9B a year, adding 0.7% to the UK GDP.  They aren't alone: Sweden, Norway and a few other European countries already include it.  And if you can measure it, you can tax it.  And legalization is necessary for measurement.Prostitution is legal in most of the developed world.  In fact, of the G20 countries, prostitution is illegal...

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 588 points. It was the 8th worst single day stock market crash in U.S. history, and it was the first time that the Dow has ever fallen by more than 500 points on two consecutive days. But the amazing thing is that the Dow actually performed better than almost every other major global stock market on Monday. In the U.S., the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both did worse than the Dow. In Europe, almost every major index performed significantly worse than the Dow. Over in Asia, Japanese stocks were down...

Take your money out of the bank ASAP. Stock up on supplies. Load up on fuel. Be prepared for the possibility of being unable to pay your bills. Be prepared for civil unrest

Tyler Durden 08/24/2015 In a just released letter to clients, the head of the world's largest hedge fund delivers one of his usual sermons about the economy as a perpetual motion machine, affected by central banks, and where interest rates are supposed to boost asset returns by being below "the rates of return of longer-term assets." None of that is terribly exciting and it is in fitting with what Bridgewater has said for a long time (incidentally, it is curious that just over the weekend, the FT released a piece in which a "US asset manager warns over risk parity"...

The stock market whipped between nauseating drops and roaring comebacks on Monday in a historic day of turbulence. Seized by fears that the Chinese economy is not as healthy as it appeared to be, investors sold with abandon at the opening bell and sent the Dow Jones industrial average down almost 1,100 points, the biggest decline on record in a trading day. Then the market staged a dramatic comeback and almost erased its losses, coming within about 115 points of break-even. By late afternoon, stocks were sinking again — and the Dow closed down nearly 600 points. "The movements we've...

Matt Smith August 24, 2015 One hundred and eleven years after the birth of Count Basie, and the ongoing rout in the crude complex is in full swing today. Downhill one-way traffic continues amid headlines such as ‘No End in Sight for Oil Glut‘ and ‘Oil Poised for Longest Weekly Losing Streak Since 1986 Amid Glut‘. As the headlines get more apocalyptic, and the price projections get lower (this week: $15 oil, no, $10 oil), the more it feels like we are approaching a turning point. Or at least a whipsaw. Looking at the overnight data releases, China has served...

Raul_I_Meijer August 24, 2015 After losing 11% last week, Shanghai this morning was down almost -9% at one point, after lunch went back up to -6.5%, and ended its day at -8.49%. A Black Monday for sure, but is this the BIG ONE? It really doesn’t matter one bit. Unless perhaps you persist in calling your self an investor, in which case we pity you, but not for losing your shirt. Because God knows we’ve said enough times now that there are no functioning markets anymore, and therefore no-one who can rightfully lay claim to the title ‘investor’. Plenty amongst...

Myles Udland August 24, 2015Larry Summers, who was very nearly chairman of the Federal Reserve, thinks there is almost no reason for the Fed to raise rates right now. Writing in The Financial Times on Monday, Summers argues that the Fed will be risking setting off a financial crisis by electing to raise rates at some point this year, as it has made clear it plans to do. Here's the heart of Summers' impassioned case against the Fed doing anything: There may have been a financial stability case for raising rates six or nine months ago, as low interest rates...

Tyler Durden 08/23/2015 Three weeks ago, when we last looked at the collapse in trade along what may be the most trafficked route involving China, i.e., from Asia to Northern Europe, we noted that while that particular shipping freight rate Europe had crashed some 23% on just one week, there was some good news: at least the Baltic Dry index was still inexplicably rising, and at last check it was hovering just above 1,100. That is no longer the case, and just as with everything else in recent months, the Baltic Dry dead cat bounce is now over, with the...

After the Bloomberg commodity index crashed overnight, having tumbled for each of the past 4 years, this happened: BLOOMBERG COMMODITY INDEX SLIDES TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1999 Said otherwise, the lowest level in the 21s centiry. Yup, rate hike any minute now.

Three weeks ago, when we last looked at the collapse in trade along what may be the most trafficked route involving China, i.e., from Asia to Northern Europe, we noted that while that particular shipping freight rate Europe had crashed some 23% on just one week, there was some good news: at least the Baltic Dry index was still inexplicably rising, and at last check it was hovering just above 1,100. That is no longer the case, and just as with everything else in recent months, the Baltic Dry dead cat bounce is now over, with the BDIY topping out...

Chinese shares drop in dramatic free-fall 24 August 2015 Chinese shares continued their sharp fall on Monday as concerns over the country's slowing growth and volatile markets sparked panic among traders. The mainland benchmark index, the Shanghai Composite, fell sharply by 8.4% to 3,211.75 points, extending last week's sharp losses. The sell-off continued despite China's latest attempts to reassure investors. Over the weekend, Beijing said it planned to let its main state pension fund invest in the stock market.