Outrage Erupts After NYT Uses Slain Marine’s Photo For “Unsubstantiated” Propaganda

Outrage Erupts After NYT Uses Slain Marine’s Photo For “Unsubstantiated” Propaganda

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 15:50

After the Director of National Intelligence and CIA chief Gina Haspel backed the White House’s claim that President Trump was never briefed on unvetted, raw intelligence over an alleged Russian bounty plot against US soldiers, outrage erupted after the ‘paper of record’ shamelessly used a photo of a slain marine in a follow-up report to their heavily-disputed story.

Reactions to a heavily-ratio‘d tweet by author Jennifer Steinhauer have ranged from shock to disgust, with few if any supporting the decision to use a photo of Cpl. Robert Hendricks, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in April, 2019.

As we noted earlier Tuesday, several pundits took the DNI and CIA statements as a clear denial that there was anything significant or worthy of briefing the president on regarding alleged “Russian bounties” — meaning it was likely deemed “chatter” or unsubstantiated rumor picked up either by US or British intelligence  and subsequently leaked to the press to revive the pretty much dead Russiagate narrative of some level of “Trump-Putin collusion”.  

In short, when your ‘unsubstantiated chatter’ hit-piece loses steam, prop it up with a slain Marine.

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15 Investing Rules To Win The Long-Game

15 Investing Rules To Win The Long-Game

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 15:35

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

I wanted to share with you a post I wrote for our RIAPro subscribers (try risk-free for 30-days) on the 15-investing rules to win the long-game. The rather “Pavlovian” response to Central Bank interventions has led investors into a false sense of security with respect to the risk being undertaken.

However, to understand why the “rules” are important, one must first understand the definition of “risk” as it relates to investing. Howard Marks previously penned a great piece on this concept.

“If I ask you what’s the risk in investing, you would answer the risk of losing money.

But there actually are two risks in investing: One is to lose money, and the other is to miss an opportunity. You can eliminate either one, but you can’t eliminate both at the same time. So the question is how you’re going to position yourself versus these two risks: straight down the middle, more aggressive or more defensive.

I think of it like a comedy movie where a guy is considering some activity. On his right shoulder is sitting an angel in a white robe. He says: ‘No, don’t do it! It’s not prudent, it’s not a good idea, it’s not proper and you’ll get in trouble’.

On the other shoulder is the devil in a red robe with his pitchfork. He whispers: ‘Do it, you’ll get rich’. In the end, the devil usually wins.

Caution, maturity and doing the right thing are old-fashioned ideas. And when they do battle against the desire to get rich, other than in panic times, the desire to get rich usually wins. That’s why bubbles are created and frauds like Bernie Madoff get money.Unemotionalism

Unemotionalism

Howard goes on to discuss the importance of “unemotionalism” in managing a portfolio.

How do you avoid getting trapped by the devil?

I’ve been in this business for over forty-five years now, so I’ve had a lot of experience.  In addition, I am not a very emotional person. In fact, almost all the great investors I know are unemotional. If you’re emotional then you’ll buy at the top when everybody is euphoric and prices are high. Also, you’ll sell at the bottom when everybody is depressed and prices are low. You’ll be like everybody else and you will always do the wrong thing at the extremes.

Therefore, unemotionalism is one of the most important criteria for being a successful investor. And if you can’t be unemotional you should not invest your own money, period. Most great investors practice something called contrarianism. It consists of doing the right thing at the extremes which is the contrary of what everybody else is doing. So unemtionalism is one of the basic requirements for contrarianism.”

It is not surprising with markets surging off the March lows, the Fed flooding the system with liquidity, and the mainstream media trumpeting the news, individuals became swept up in the moment.

After all, it’s a “can’t lose proposition.” Right?

Greed & Fear

This is why being unemotional when it comes to your money is a very hard thing to do.

It is times, such as now, where logic states that we must participate in the current opportunity. However, emotions of “greed” and “fear” cause individual’s to take on too much exposure, or worry they have too much and a crash could come at any moment. These emotionally driven decisions tend to lead to worse outcomes over time.

As Howard Marks’ stated above, it is in times like these that individuals must remain unemotional and adhere to a strict investment discipline. It is from Marks’ view on risk management that I thought sharing the rules that drive our own investment discipline. 

I am often tagged as “bearish” due to my analysis of economic and fundamental data for “what it is” rather than “what I hope it to be.” In reality, I am neither bullish or bearish. I follow a very simple set of rules which are the core of our portfolio management philosophy. We focus on capital preservation and long-term “risk-adjusted” returns.

Do I make mistakes? Absolutely.

Do emotions still seep into our decision making process? Of course.

We are humans, just like you, and suffer from the same frailties as everyone else. However, we try and mitigate those flaws through the fundamental, economic and price analysis which forms the foundation of overall risk exposure and asset allocation.

The following rules are the “control boundaries” under which we strive to operate.

The 15-Rules

  1. Cut losers short and let winner’s run(Be a scale-up buyer.)

  2. Set goals and be actionable. (Without specific goals, trades become arbitrary.)

  3. Emotionally driven decisions void the investment process.  (Buy high/sell low)

  4. Follow the trend. (80% of portfolio performance is determined by the long-term, monthly, trend. While a “rising tide lifts all boats,” the opposite is also true.)

  5. Never let a “trading opportunity” turn into a long-term investment. (Refer to rule #1. All initial purchases are “trades,” until your investment thesis is proved correct.)

  6. An investment discipline does not work if it is not followed.

  7. “Losing money” is part of the investment process. (If you are not prepared to take losses when they occur, you should not be investing.)

  8. The odds of success improve greatly when the fundamental analysis is confirmed by the technical price action. (This applies to both bull and bear markets)

  9. Never, under any circumstances, add to a losing position. (“Only losers add to losers.” – Paul Tudor Jones)

  10. Markets are either “bullish” or “bearish.” During a “bull market” be only long or neutral. During a “bear market”be only neutral or short. (Bull and Bear markets are determined by their long-term trend.)

  11. When markets are trading at, or near, extremes do the opposite of the “herd.”

  12. Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. (Traditional rebalancing takes money from winners and adds it to losers. Rebalance by reducing losers and adding to winners.)

  13. “Buy” and “Sell” signals are only useful if they are implemented. (Managing without a “buy/sell” discipline is designed to fail.)

  14. Strive to be a .700 “at bat” player. (No strategy works 100% of the time. Be consistent, control errors, and capitalize on opportunity to win.)

  15. Manage risk and volatility. (Control the variables that lead to mistakes to generate returns as a byproduct.)

The Bull Trend Still Lives

Currently, the long-term bullish trend that began in 2009 remains intact. The correction in early 2016 was cut short by massive, and continuing, interventions of global Central Banks. The 2018 correction, reversed with the Fed returning to a more “dovish” posture and cutting rates. The 2020 crash reversed due to the most extreme monetary interventions the world has ever seen.

What is important to note is that it is taking increasingly larger amounts of interventions to keep the “bull trend” intact. The limits to the efficacy of monetary interventions are becoming evident.

A violation of the long-term bullish trend, and a failure to recover, will signal the beginning of the next “bear market” cycle. Such will then change portfolio allocations to be either “neutral or short.”  BUT, and most importantly, until that violation occurs, portfolios should remain either long or neutral.  

Conclusion

The current market advance against a backdrop of deteriorating economics and fundamentals is certainly worth worrying about. However, with Central Banks furiously flooding the system with liquidity, the “risk” of “fighting the Fed,” potentially outweighs the reward.

How long it can last is anyone’s guess. However, importantly, it should be remembered that all good things do come to an end. Sometimes, those endings can be very disastrous to long-term investing objectives. This is why focusing on “risk controls” in the short-term, and avoiding subsequent major draw-downs, will allow the long-term returns to take care of themselves.

Everyone approaches money management differently. Our process isn’t perfect, but it works more often than not.

The important message is to have a process that can mitigate the risk of loss in your portfolio.

Does this mean you will never lose money? Of course, not.

The goal is not to lose so much money you can’t recover from it.

I hope you find something useful in it.

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The Fed Is Now A Top 5 Holder Of The Biggest Corporate Bond ETFs

The Fed Is Now A Top 5 Holder Of The Biggest Corporate Bond ETFs

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 15:22

For much of the past decade, the Bank of Japan – which owns about 80% of all ETFs in Japan…

… was the butt of capital markets jokes, or rather jokes involving central planning, of which the Japanese central bank had become the “new normal” poster child. Alas, the joke is now on the US, where Jerome Powell is now boldly going where Haru Kuroda has gone so many times before, and bought anything that is not nailed down. Of course, for now the Fed is “only” buying corporate bond ETFs (while waiting for the next crash before buying stock ETFs), but even here its footprint is already massive.

While the Fed’s own disclosure of which ETFs it owns is minimal on its own H.4.1 weekly filing, Bloomberg has been kind enough to compile the Fed’s bond ETF holdings. What it has found is the following: the Fed now owns $6.8 billion market value in corporate bond ETF, of which LQD, VCSH, VCIT, and IGSB are the top holdings. In total, the Fed now has a stake in no less than 16 ETFs (that Bloomberg is aware of).

What is more striking, however, is that drilling into these holdings reveals that as of this moment, the Fed is a Top 5 holder in some of the biggest bond ETFs, including the biggest Investment Grade ETF, the LQD, where the Fed is now the 3rd laragest holder…

… the VCSH, the Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETFs, where the Fed is the 2nd biggest holder…

… the VCIT, the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF, where the Fed is the 5th biggest holder…

… but it’s not just investment grade ETFs: indeed, as of this moment, the Fed is also the 5th biggest holder of the JNK junk bond ETF…

… and is the 21st biggest holder of the other junk bond ETF, the HYG. Don’t worry it won’t be there for long.

The good news: while the Fed has now effectively taken over the corporate bond market, it still has to buy equity ETFs. The bad news: we are just one 20% drop in the S&P away from the Federal Reserve taking over all asset prices markets and ending all markets and price discovery… at least until the Fed is finally destroyed.

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FICO Introduces New Credit Measure

FICO Introduces New Credit Measure

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 15:01

Submitted by Market Crumbs,

FICO introduced the FICO Score in 1989. The FICO score has since become the de facto measure for measuring an individual’s creditworthiness, with 90% of top lenders using it to make billions of credit-related decisions each year.

Once the coronavirus hit the U.S., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) noticed an alarming uptick in the number of complaints by consumers. The CFPB saw a noticeable jump in the number of complaints relating to mortgages and credit cards mentioning the keyword “coronavirus.”

“In March and April 2020, the Bureau’s Office of Consumer Response received approximately 36,700 and 42,500 complaints, respectively – the highest monthly complaint volumes in the Bureau’s history,” the CFPB said.

This may not seem like much of a big deal, but can be interpreted as a leading indicator signaling credit scores could be deteriorating.

As a result, FICO introduced a new credit measure yesterday—the FICO Resilience Index, which will complement the FICO Score and “helps lenders, borrowers, and investors make more informed and precise decisions in assessing risk during rapidly changing economic cycles.”

The FICO Resilience Index will take into account similar metrics, such as credit usage, payment history, number of accounts, credit history and current balances, to determine a borrower’s ability to withstand a period of economic disruption. The Index will rank borrowers on a scale of 1-99, with 1-44 being more resilient and 70-99 being very sensitive to shifting economic conditions.

The FICO Resilience Index is a result of research conducted by FICO on more than 70 million consumer credit files from the Great Recession, which found that those with lower FICO Scores paid their credit obligations under double-digit unemployment and low consumer confidence.

Using the new FICO Resilience Index will benefit both lenders and borrowers, by enabling credit to better flow during periods of economic disruption. The tool is designed to provide insight into “latent risk” that is not evident in a strong economy but shows up during downturns.

“It turns out there are tens of millions of consumers that have lower FICO scores, below 700, that do relatively well in a recession,” FICO Scores executive vice president Jim Wehmann said. “For the very first time, we can help lenders and consumers identify those who are going to be more sensitive to the downturn and those that are going to be just fine.”

FICO will initially distribute the FICO Resilience Index scores to lenders that are already using FICO Scores. FICO is also planning to enable consumers to view their FICO Resilience Index score so they can determine how they can improve it.

With various lenders already tightening credit standards amid the coronavirus, hopefully this new measure from FICO will prevent consumers who can weather deteriorating economic conditions from being cut off from borrowing.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/2VtY9ag Tyler Durden

Goldman: We “Don’t Love Risk/Reward Up Here… Starting To Worry About Valuation”

Goldman: We “Don’t Love Risk/Reward Up Here… Starting To Worry About Valuation”

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 14:40

By Tony Pasquariello, global head of HF Sales at Goldman Sachs

The dominant narrative of the week was a return to trading COVID headlines, as the worst period for US case growth since April served as disruption for those expecting business-as-usual trading conditions this summer.  

Along the way, stock operators absorbed another heavy dose of deal supply — adding to what will be a record month and record quarter for US new issue — with quarter end looming.  On the week, S&P lost 2.9%, although one can reasonably argue the market traded with decently thick skin. 

In fact, when you get below the hood of the major indices, there were a number of sub-plots that were patently bullish — witness the breakout in biotech or the ongoing (and blistering) surge in high valuation software stocks.  

In the end, I think you have to be a little impressed with the market’s ability compartmentalize the risk factors and manage through some genuine headwinds.  

At the same time, however, it’s getting harder to dismiss the argument that certain parts of the equity complex are approaching bubble territory … more on all of this below, which a chart heavy note that you can get through in less than five minutes.

* * *

1. Market direction: I admit to not loving risk/reward up here.  one can see the tactical argument quickly turning to “quarter end is nigh, the fast hands in retail are very long and it’s naïve to think the reopening will be a smooth process.”  when coupled with the news on case growth, and a growing set of known unknowns, it’s not crazy to expect some struggle around current prices (notably, a confluence of key levels).  That said, the dangerous thing about being short risk assets right now is the Fed is still going full throttle; so too is one segment the largest holder of domestic equities, the younger vintage of US households. 

As a wise macro trader recently said, stocks follow liquidity — recall that GIR expects zero rates for 4-5 years (and another $1.5tr of fiscal support this summer; link).  in the end, if you strip everything else out of the equation, you’re left with two dominant investment forces right now: the Fed and the US retail investor. They are both driving very fast in the same lane.  Yes, I’m concerned about how this story ends — but, note the following chart, a simple overlay of the Fed’s balance sheet and NDX.  We started the year at $4.22 tr.  GIR expects to end the year at $7.75tr and to end 2021 at … $8.9tr (link).

2. Flows/positioning. A mark-to-market on some key actors:

i. quarterly derivatives expiry has come and gone, in the process we burned off ~ $2tr of open interest in S&P options.  To an extent, the print lived up to its billing with a very high SQ (3161 in SPX).  again, I’m a believer that one needs to respect the occasional power of expiry to mark inflection points, so I tend to think 3161 becomes a level to watch overhead in the near-term.  I don’t want to make too much of quarter end rebalance — it’s exceptionally well socialized — but, it does suggest some programmatic selling needs to be absorbed.

ii. Within the institutional trading community, systematic funds are generally inconsequential at current market levels (link).  Discretionary funds are still decently risked up, more with respect to net exposure than gross exposure on our books (and noting the micro community is more sanguine than the macro community, where sentiment remains perceptibly negative).  All taken together, I don’t see any big asymmetry in hedge fund land.

iii. The bifurcation continues within the retail community.  Again, an older generation continues to make sales via mutual funds and ETFs (link); a younger generation continue to trade stocks like it’s 1999 (“free trades, jackpot dreams lure small investors to options”; link).  At some point, the $64,000 question is … where are we in the retail cycle?  Having lived through the late 90’s, I tend to think the recent euphoria can persist a bit longer.

iv. The market continues to do a commendable job of absorbing round after round of record corporate new issue (which is to say, $230bn in the past seven weeks, with half of that in the US).  It’s totally remarkable to me that the dynamics around corporate supply-and-demand have changed so enormously in the past three months, and yet the market has largely powered through it all. 

v. To pull a few positioning angles together, this chart tells a certain story.  The dark blue line is US equity index futures positioning (non-dealers), as reported by the CFTC.  the light blue line is the number of distinct positions open on the Robinhood trading platform in S&P 500 stocks (credit Ben Snider, GIR).  These are apples and oranges … we’re comparing $’s vs line items here … And, it’s by no means an all-inclusive capture of all market participants … But, I do think this illustrates a stark disjunction between one segment of the professional trading community and one segment of the retail trading community:

3. Volatility: the market has obviously recovered hugely from the lows of March. That said, volume and volatility remain elevated.  Put another way, S&P over 3000 and VIX over 34 is not something many would have predicted just a few months ago.  So, as you can see in the clever chart below from GIR (link), implied volatility has remained sticky in a very unusual way.  Is this a signal or is this noise?  I suspect it’s reflective of a handful of factors:

i. The market continues to realize a decently high level of actual volatility.  While clearly things aren’t as unhinged as they were in March — when three consecutive days featured +9% / -12% / +6% moves — the fact is 1-month realized volatility is still 32%. 

ii. While the broader market feels a bit complacent to me on the US election, the vol market isn’t necessarily. Again, November expiry features the peak of both term structure and put-call skew.

iii. Furthermore, intuit what the current VIX level mathematically implies.  Bluntly speaking (i.e. more back-of-the-envelope vs deeper math), a 34 VIX signals 2-in-3 odds the market will be +/- 34% from here over the next one year.  it also implies for the next month an average daily move of around 1.7%.  I don’t think this is so off-market given the range of possible outcomes. 

iv. On flow-of-funds, it seems quite reasonable to assume the dynamics around the supply of volatility are very different today than they were at the start of the year. 

v. The moral of this story: vol is high.  As you can see here, it’s been sticky in a very aberrational way. My guess is that while yield hunters ultimately find their way back to the supply side, the current story persists a bit longer.  GIR: “the potential for the current high vol regime to linger for longer remains high, in our view.  As we have written before, volatility tends to cluster: since 1928 there have been several high and low vol regimes during which S&P 500 realised volatility has clustered for prolonged periods of time (at least six months) in the bottom (<10%) and top (>18%) quartile, and on average such high vol regimes lasted 26 months.  our volatility regime model, which aggregates macro, macro uncertainty and markets indicators suggests close to a 100% probability of a high volatility regime in the near term” (link).

 

4. Quick Points:

i. Economics: GIR’s updated profile for US GDP growth: Q2 -33%, Q3 +33% and Q4 +8%. That rolls up to FY ’20 -4.2%, an upgrade vs the previous forecast of -5.2%.  further note that US GDP returns to the pre-virus base level in mid-’21 (that doesn’t sound so bad, does it).  the full note: link.

ii. A steady and significant decline in market liquidity has been an inconvenient truth of the past ten years. Like many things, that decline went into overdrive during the collapse.  I find that discussion of illiquidity receives a lot of air time when markets are breaking down.  by comparison, it receives much less attention on the way back up … but, that shouldn’t suggest it isn’t a contributing factor to price action in rallies. 

iii. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I was (emphasis mine; feel free to visualize the chart of asset growth in money markets as you’re reading this): “the third implication is that the private sector may react to the increase in cash and deposit holdings forced on it by the Fed by seeking other, riskier higher yielding assets.  in fact, this is a major motivation of quantitative easing.  by reducing the supply of safe assets and increasing the amount of deposits that the private sector must hold, the Fed generates a demand by the private sector for more risky assets.  the result is a rise in financial-asset valuations and an easing of financial conditions.  the Fed’s asset purchases change the mix of assets available to be held by private investors and this influences asset valuations.”  Bill Dudley, “A $10 Trillion Fed Balance Sheet Is Coming” (link). 

iv. I didn’t favor European assets coming into the crisis, and I don’t favor them now.  For the sake of balance, however, this from GIR is notable: “we therefore expect a steeper and smoother rebound from the coronacrisis in Europe than the US.  although we have recently upgraded our forecasts on both sides of the Atlantic, we now look for significantly stronger growth in the Euro area than the US over the next two years.  while much of this reflects the unwind of the sharper activity drop in Europe, a sustained period of European growth outperformance has not been seen since 2006-07.  consistent with this, our markets team expects European assets to outperform over the next year.  our equity strategists see more upside in Europe than the US in coming months and raised European equities to overweight in our asset allocation, although they are less convinced that Europe can outperform longer term.  on the fixed income side, we expect the Euro to strengthen against the dollar, reaching 1.17 in twelve months, and see a more gradual sell-off in Bunds than Treasuries” (link).  here’s one simple compare/contrast … US GDP profile: -4.2% ’20, +5.8% ’21, +3.2% ’22.  EU GDP profile: -9.4% ’20, +8.8% ’21, +3.6% ’22. 

* * *

5. The attached note from Peter Oppenheimer is a treasure trove for market aficionados.  here are three charts that stuck out to me:

i. sales & trading colleague Brian Friedman and I have a long-standing debate about how much of the post-crisis equity rally has been driven by the multiple (as influenced by lower real rates) and how much has been more “genuine.”  I think this graph allows us both to claim victory.  yes, P/E expansion has been the single largest factor in the rally; that said, P/E expansion accounts for less than half of the total rally:

ii. On the topic of US vs Europe, again the story of US outperformance largely traces back to an EPS differential (driven by a sector differential):

iii. You’ve seen this before, and it continues to speak for itself:

6. As a wise macro trader once said, lower-for-longer is very stimulative for the multiples of secular growers.  This reminds me a little of the amplifier discussion from This Is Spinal Tap: “these go to eleven.”  “does that mean it’s louder?” “well, it’s one louder isn’t it?” … (link).  to circle back to where this email started, yes, I’m starting to worry about valuation in certain parts of the market.  If the Fed keeps expanding their balance sheet and pressing real rates lower, however, it’s not obvious to me that the normal rules will apply in the near-term. The blue line here is inverted US 10yr real rates; the blue line is NDX:

Source for charts: GIR, Bloomberg

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If History Is Any Guide We Could See $4,000 Gold

If History Is Any Guide We Could See $4,000 Gold

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 14:20

Via SchiffGold.com,

If history is any guide, we could be heading toward $4,000 gold. This according to analysis by US Global CEO Frank Holmes.

Holmes recently appeared on Kitco News and showed how the price of gold has historically correlated with the expansion of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. We’ve already seen the balance sheet balloon by over $3 trillion in response to the coronavirus pandemic and it currently stands at over $7 trillion. Holmes said he thinks the central bank will likely grow its balance sheet to $10 trillion before all is said and done. Given the historical trends, that’s extremely bullish for gold.

In the next three years, if we look back, if [history] repeats itself, from 2008, 2009 to 2011, that three year run from ’09 saw gold go from a $750 – $800 range up to $1,900. If we forecast that because we have the same expansion of the balance sheet of the Fed then it would project, if cycles are exactly the same, gold could go to $4,000.”

Holmes said there was a significant difference in the run-up to the 2008 crash and the years leading up to the current crisis. Before ’08, G20 finance ministers and government agencies were generally pro-growth and pro-trade. Ever since the ’08 crash, policy has revolved around synchronized taxation and regulation.

Now it’s synchronized money printing, monetary, fiscal stimulus that we’ve never seen.”

Consider this: when Alan Greenspan left the Fed, the central bank’s balance sheet was about 6% of GDP. Today, it has risen to 33%.

And this is how much money that Powell has to throw at this because of the coronavirus and the synchronized shutdown of the world. This is unprecedented. So, I think hard assets trade higher.”

Holmes used the word “unprecedented” to describe the Fed’s actions several times during the interview. He noted that the central bank has gone far beyond the QE programs during the Great Recession and is now buying corporate ETF’s and even individual corporate bonds.

They’re doing everything to maintain interest rates, not just corporately, but also from the government, low and negative so they can get this economic engine turning. And I think bad news ends up being good news when you look at the world of gold because the government is going to continue to print money.”

Peter Schiff has been warning we’re on the verge of a dollar crisis, recently saying, “There is nothing to stop the dollar from collapsing.” Holmes agrees with Peter. He didn’t use the term “dollar crisis,” but he did say he expects the greenback to see “a correction adversely related” to the $4,000 run in gold.

Holmes also said he sees price inflation in our future.

I think what will happen is the government will be slow and reluctant to raise rates while CPI trades higher, and therefore more and more government bonds have negative real rates of return. And remember, I said to synchronize, the cartel, the G20 finance ministers, that means we’re going to get a scenario which is greater than last August when there’s so much negative real bonds around the world. That will soar gold over $2,000. … I think by Christmas.”

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Antifa Terrorist Fires Handgun Into SUV During Utah BLM Protest

Antifa Terrorist Fires Handgun Into SUV During Utah BLM Protest

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 14:00

At least one shot was fired into a white SUV at a Provo, Utah BLM rally on Monday, reportedly putting a 60-year-old man in the hospital.

Footage shows a white Ford Excursion pushing its way past a group of protesters blocking the intersection of Center Street and North University. As the driver is nearly free of the group, a masked man dressed in black-bloc attire can be seen firing a handgun into the cab.

According to Deseret, approximately 100 protesters filled Center Street on Monday to protest police brutality.

Via Desert News

A video of the confrontation with the white Excursion was captured by a Daily Universe student journalist, Lisi Merkley. In the video, the vehicle can be seen pushing through protesters attempting to gather in front of it, picking up speed as it goes while protesters cry out. At least one person falls to the ground before the SUV speeds away.

Another video by KSL-TV shows what appears to be a man in a mask pointing a gun at the passenger side of the white Excursion as it pushes forward. A loud popping sound is heard and a flash is seen from the barrel of the gun.

Protester Betsy Croft, who witnessed the incident with the SUV, claimed that there were “three to four cars that have been trying to run into the groups of people that are congregating at the main intersections in Provo,” adding “This is a peaceful protest so that kind of action is unwarranted and clearly an attempt to be violent.”

Peaceful indeed, Betsy. 

The 60-year-old man underwent surgery and has non-life threatening injuries, according to KUTV. Police have yet to locate a suspect.

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FCC Blocks Huawei, ZTE From Lucrative American Markets

FCC Blocks Huawei, ZTE From Lucrative American Markets

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 13:30

In a move that will essentially cut Huawei off from a critical US market: the smaller, more rural-focused telecoms providers who rely on cheap Huawei components to maintain its wireless infrastructure. According to Bloomberg, the FCC has designated Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese telecoms giants, as national security threats.

The renewed pressure on both Huawei and ZTE from the FCC comes as the Commerce Department, State Department and the White House engage in a multilayered strategy to encourage US allies to block Huawei from providing components to their new 5G wireless networks, warning that the company creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by the CCP.

Previously, the Trump Administration has tried to block both companies from either buying chips produced in the US and/or made with US technology.

Here’s more on the decision from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

We imagine more threats of corporate retaliation from Beijing should be landing any minute now.

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Russian Anti-Terror Chief: Jihadis Are Intentionally Spreading Coronavirus

Russian Anti-Terror Chief: Jihadis Are Intentionally Spreading Coronavirus

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 13:12

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

The head of Russia’s Anti-Terrorism Center has warned that terrorists are intentionally trying to spread the coronavirus, using it as a form of bio-weapon.

Andrei Novikov, head of Russia’s Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), told Russian state news agency Tass that the terrorists are using the health crisis to further their own agendas.

“While governments are trying to ensure health security, focusing on protecting the lives and health of their people, recruiters of international terrorist groups are not just taking advantage of the difficult situation in order to recruit more ‘Jihad soldiers,’ they are calling on infected members to spread COVID-19 as wide as possible in public places, state agencies and so on,” Novikov said.

The anti-terror chief also noted that terrorists have been hampered by lockdowns and so are finding other ways of recruiting and spreading fear.

“As the population started moving into self-isolation and borders between countries were closing, the level of terrorist activity had somewhat decreased,” Novikov said.

“The reason is obvious – it became significantly more difficult for terrorists to move around, especially between countries, given that border control as well as disease control and prevention were heightened,” he continued.

Novikov further added that online “Media centers were activated which combine the spread of terrorist and extremist ideology and the recruitment of new members.”

He stated that anti-terror efforts are now focusing more on stopping the spread of misinformation designed to induce societal collapse.

“Above all, they are linked to mobilization technologies to ensure public safety, to thwart the spread of unreliable information and any attempts to wreak panic and social tension,” Novikov asserted.

Interestingly, Novikov also claimed that terrorists are using resentment against government imposed lockdowns, as well as a “declining quality of life” in countries hit hardest by the coronavirus, to entice new recruits.

“There is a common understanding that the objective “social fatigue” should be separated from the restrictions introduced and its artificial amplification in order to destabilize the constitutional structure,” Novikov stated.

The warnings echo those of European Union counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove, who recently noted that terrorists are planning to use upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic to find holes in the national security of target countries.

Kerchove warned that a “massive amount of money that will be spent to address the economic, social, and healthcare consequences of the virus” should not be taken away from national security spending.

“We must prevent the one crisis ending up producing another,” he urged.

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Mysterious Explosion Reported In Northern Tehran

Mysterious Explosion Reported In Northern Tehran

Tyler Durden

Tue, 06/30/2020 – 12:54

Just a day after Tehran called for President Trump’s arrest, a mysterious explosion has been reported in the northern part of the capital city, with unconfirmed sources on US social media claiming it might be tied with a strike on an Iranian weapons depot.

Iranian state news reported the explosion, and an ensuing fire. It’s unclear whether the fire has been brought under control.

Footage of the aftermath is circulating on social media.

It follows another mysterious explosion a few days ago that was never explained, though some attributed it to “disposal” of arms.

Leftists have slammed Interpol over its decision to reject Iran’s call for Trump’s arrest, though the administration and its special envoy for Iran dismissed it as pure lunacy and just another cheap publicity stunt from the Middle East’s largest pariah state.

Notably, the explosion occurred one hour after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the end of an Iranian arms embargo would threaten world peace.

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