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Seriously!! Draghi utters a few words – all of which we have seen and heard a thousand times before:

• *DRAGHI SAYS ECB WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES, WITHIN ITS MANDATE
• *DRAGHI SAYS EXPANDED PURCHASE PROGRAM COULD INCLUDE GOVT BONDS

and EURUSD, European stocks and bonds get uber-excited…

European bond spreads tumbled…

 

EURUSD sliding back under 1.25

 

And stocks surged…

 

 

Charts:Bloomberg

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1A7NC4H Tyler Durden

After 6 weeks of the ECB’s (3rd) Covered Bond Purchase Program, the cumulative buys amount to a mere EUR 10.485 billion. It appears they are limited (by collateral availability and market liquidity.. and dealers unwillingness to sell) to around EUR3 billion per week – around the same amount The Fed’s QE3 would suck up in 1-2 days of POMO. At this rate, it’s a long way to go to reach the $1 trillion goal. Is it any wonder that Mario Draghi once again used the ‘w’ word – uttering ECB will do “whatever it takes” (cough within its mandate).

• *DRAGHI SAYS ECB WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES, WITHIN ITS MANDATE

 

 

So just 6 more years of buying to reach $1 trillion?

It seems Draghi is getting desperate:

• *DRAGHI SAYS EXPANDED PURCHASE PROGRAM COULD INCLUDE GOVT BONDS

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1qdAJTs Tyler Durden

Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

Dorothea Lange Negro woman carrying shoes home from church Mississippi Delta July 1936

Dumb and Dumber To, the sequel after 20 years, was released recently. Unfortunately for Jim and Jeff and the Farrelly brothers, unintended humor will always be funnier than the scripted kind, no matter how hard Hollywood tries. Case in point: the Dumber slapstick was easily upstaged over the past few days by the G20 summit in Brisbane.

Not only did the pedantic Anglo-Saxon power hungry freak show of Harper, Cameron and Abbott (nobody even noticed Obama) give Vladimir V. Putin a good laugh with their empty chest thumping, entirely spin doctor scripted and entirely aimed at their domestic media and audiences, these so-called leaders also came up with no less than 800(!) measures they claim will boost global economic growth by 2.1%, or $2 trillion. Over 5 years, or some useless and opaque number like that (2018?).

It would seem to be painfully obvious that what the world needs really urgently badly today is not so much economic growth, but growth in the dendrites, synapses and neurons in the heads of both our leaders and of those who put them where they are, ourselves. No use holding your breath. As things are, none of us are any smarter than either Dumb or Dumber.

As Brussels and the leaders of the allegedly healthy economies in the North sacrifice southern Europe on the altar of their megalomania, the G20 does the same with emerging economies and the even poorer rest of the world. The formerly rich part of the world has gotten stuck in its own dreams and faulty models, and the only place left to eke out any semblance of growth is weaker nations. The Roman empire revisited.

If the G20 nations could have ‘grown’ growth at a 2.1% clip with the sort of ease with which their reports were issued this weekend, they would have done so already, all along, long ago. The fact that they haven’t, it doesn’t get any simpler, implies that they can’t this time either. It’s all hot air, and perhaps that’s too positive still, make that tepid.

Still, when the Anglo-Saxon dipshits are together they have the guts to make such claims, just as when they’re together they have the guts to ‘shirtfront’ Putin. Canada’s Harper reportedly shook hands with Putin and told him to get out of Ukraine. Nobody present wanted to quote the reaction he got, but I’m thinking a simple ‘You first’ is a distinct possibility. None of these guys have anything on Putin, and they all know it. So does he.

Meanwhile, their home media have cooked up the Putin is Bad story to such heights that they can’t be seen as doing nothing, even if proof for any of the allegations concerning what Russia is supposed to be guilty of is still sorely lacking. The Anglo-Saxons need enemies to make their stories stick, so the ‘he probably shot down that plane’ line is awfully helpful.

And that dumber-ass approach is the same one they use for their economic, what shall we call it, ‘policies’(?), it’s the exact same thing. It’s the surface that counts, not what’s underneath it. It’s the storyline, not the veracity of it. Who in the west still doubts that Putin is a bad man? Very few. Though he hasn’t done anything for which the west has provided any proof.

It’s a tale in the spirit of Little Red Riding Hood, and just as credible. The 2.1% growth story doesn’t even attain that level of credulity, because it’s made up out of nothing at all. It would sound cute to say that the nonsense that emanated from the G20 summit is unrivaled, but it’s not. These boyos rival their own emptiness at every single occasion they get.

All they do is make sure that their access to the public (our) coffers is used to garner profit for their paymasters, at the cost of the taxpayer (again, us). That’s both their mission and their MO. And we all know that once you’ve been PM or FM and you served your superiors well, your life will be comfortable ever after.

That said, there is no vision, there is nothing. There’s a desire to amass power, and then to hold on to it and serve the bankrupt system, but none of it has anything to do with the people these guys and dolls are supposed to represent. And it can only lead to things like what the London School of Economics claims in a new report:

How The UK Coalition Has Helped The Rich By Hitting The Poor

A landmark study of the coalition’s tax and welfare policies six months before the general election reveals how money has been transferred from the poorest to the better off, apparently refuting the chancellor of the exchequer’s claims that the country has been “all in it together”. According to independent research to be published on Monday and seen by the Observer, George Osborne has been engaged in a significant transfer of income from the least well-off half of the population to the more affluent in the past four years.

That whole growth target is nothing but a way to justify more of what the LSE has noticed. A way to take away more money from the poor, through austerity, and through so-called reform IMF-style, after which the conclusion will be that the policies have failed, but the reality will be that the poor have gotten poorer and the rich have gotten richer. In the eyes of the G20 policy makers that will mean a success, even if it will be 180º different from what their public utterances have been.

We’re not only being fooled all the time and wherever we look, we’re being fooled by a bunch of stupid spin-scripted programmed assclowns. But we are the ones who put them where they are. As long as we hang on to our existing procedures for electing our leaders, only megalomaniac assclowns will float to the surface.

And they will, to a man, use their positions to rob us blind while pretending to have our best interests at mind. It’s what allowing money to enter your political system will always lead to: you can elect only made men. Which leads to Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Obama, and Jeb Bush or Hillary. What about how this works is not clear?

The OECD even wants to do the G20 one better, they want 4% growth. I’ll tell you one thing: the western world will NEVER have a 4% growth rate again. Or at least not this century. And not before many millions of Europeans and Americans have gone down in hunger and misery.

We Need To Ramp Up Global Growth: OECD

The global economy should be growing at a much faster pace, the chief economist of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned on Sunday, as world leaders agreed on hundreds of measures they hope will boost expansion. “As the emerging markets become a greater share of the global economy, we really ought to be seeing the global economy growing at 4% or more, so the tone is dour,” said OECD Chief Economist Catherine Mann, speaking to CNBC at the G-20 summit in Brisbane over the weekend.

 

Growth of 4% is well behind the group’s projected global gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.3% for this year. In its latest Economic Outlook, published earlier this month, the OECD warned of “major risks on the horizon” for the world’s economy, such as further market volatility, high levels of debt and a stagnation in the euro zone recovery.

 

Mann’s comments come as world leaders at the G-20 agreed on measures they said will equate to 2.1% new growth, inject $2 trillion into the world economy and create millions of jobs. The Paris-based OECD has previously outlined a target of adding around 2 percentage points to global GDP by 2018, relative to the 2013 level. [..]

 

Mann was optimistic that job creation would increase in tandem with global growth, as countries ramped up infrastructure investment. “We know that there’s usually a relationship between growth and jobs. It’s not always a tight relationship. There’s always an issue about the distribution, where the jobs are being created, what sectors, what countries and some of the disconnect there can be,” she said. “Mismatch can be a problem, but I do think we are going to see job creation go hand in hand with global growth.”

Need I say more after reading that? The lunatics are guiding us off the cliff. I know most people feel there’s nothing they can do to change the course their countries and governments have taken, but I also think that perhaps all these people need to realize they don’t have much of a choice anymore. If getting up from your couch for your own sake isn’t enough of a incentive, how about doing it for your kids and grandkids? How about doing it just because it feels right, because silently supporting assclowns while gobbling up cheese doodles in your comfy chair should never have been your thing? Didn’t you once have promise?

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1H9y3v5 Tyler Durden

This may not quite be the blow-off top in the merger bubble as companies rush to frontrun the ECB and buy whatever still isn’t nailed, but it is getting close. Because while earlier today Baker Hughes announced it would accept the Halliburton offer to buy it unchallenged in a $35 billion transaction leading many to wonder just how much lower the price of oil is still set to drop, moments ago the Allergan “White Knight” swooped from up on high, and as had also been leaked in recent weeks, Actavis agreed to buy the botox- maker which Ackman and Valeant had been so eagerly chasing for months in order to let the roll-up pharma pad its non-GAAP books with another 2-3 years of pro forma “synergies” add backs. 

The details as reported: Actavis will acquire Allergan for a combination of $129.22 in cash and 0.3683 Actavis shares for each share of Allergan common stock.  Based on the closing price of Actavis shares on November 14, 2014, the transaction is valued at approximately $66 billion, or $219 per Allergan share.

This means that between Halliburton and Actavis, today we have had the first $100 billion “Merger Monday” in over a decade.

Some other observations:

• “Projected Synergies of at Least $1.8 Billion while Maintaining R&D Commitment of Approximately $1.7 Billion”

Translation: some $1.8 billion worth of soon to be former Allergan (and Actavis) employees will soon find out just how “strong” the US labor market truly is.

More from the overly0optimistic expectations:

• Free Cash Flow Generation of more than $8 Billion expected in 2016
• Investment Grade Rating Expected to be Maintained; Rapid Deleveraging to Below 3.5x Debt to Adjusted EBITDA within 12 Months
• Double-Digit Accretion to Non-GAAP EPS within First 12 Months

That’s all great, as to what Allergan was going to do standalone in 2015, consensus had its EBITDA at $3.8 billion. This means that excluding largely meaningless synergy expectations, which never materialize anyway, Actavis paid roughly 17.4x forward Allergan multiple…

Nope, no M&A, or botox,  bubble at all.

The full statement:

Actavis to Acquire Allergan to Create Top 10 Global Growth Pharmaceutical Company with $23 Billion in Revenue

• Transaction Valued at $66 Billion or $219 per Share in Cash and Actavis Shares –
• Fastest Growing, Most Dynamic Pharmaceutical Company in Global Healthcare –
• Leading Blockbuster Franchises in Ophthalmology, Neurosciences/CNS, Medical Aesthetics/Dermatology/Plastic Surgery, Women’s Health, Gastroenterology and Urology –
• Positioned for Long-Term Double-Digit Organic Revenue and Earnings Growth –
• Double-Digit Accretion to Non-GAAP EPS within First 12 Months –
• Expands International Presence with Greater Market and Product Reach –
• Projected Synergies of at Least $1.8 Billion while Maintaining R&D Commitment of Approximately $1.7 Billion –
• Free Cash Flow Generation of more than $8 Billion expected in 2016 –
• Investment Grade Rating Expected to be Maintained; Rapid Deleveraging to Below 3.5x Debt to Adjusted EBITDA within 12 Months –
• Closing Anticipated in Q2 2015 –

Actavis plc (ACT) and Allergan, Inc. (AGN) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Actavis will acquire Allergan for a combination of $129.22 in cash and 0.3683 Actavis shares for each share of Allergan common stock.  Based on the closing price of Actavis shares on November 14, 2014, the transaction is valued at approximately $66 billion, or $219 per Allergan share. The combination will create one of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by sales revenue, with combined annual pro forma revenues of more than $23 billion anticipated in 2015. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Actavis and Allergan, and is supported by the management teams of both companies. Actavis anticipates that the expected permanent financing structure, consisting of a combination of new equity and debt, will support an investment grade rating and provide long-term financing flexibility. 

“This acquisition creates the fastest growing and most dynamic growth pharmaceutical company in global healthcare, making us one of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies,” said Brent Saunders, CEO and President of Actavis. “We will establish an unrivaled foundation for long-term growth, anchored by leading, world-class blockbuster franchises and a premier late-stage pipeline that will accelerate our commitment to build an exceptional, sustainable portfolio. The combined company will have a strong balance sheet, growing product portfolios and broad commercial reach extending across 100 international markets. Our combined experienced management team is dedicated to driving strong organic growth while capturing synergies and maintaining a robust investment in strategically focused R&D.

“This is a financially compelling transaction. With pro forma revenues in excess of $23 billion anticipated in 2015, this combination doubles the revenue generated by our brands business and doubles the international revenue of the combined company. Management is committed to maximizing the potential for the combined company to drive industry-leading top and bottom line growth. With this combination, we plan to transform the growth profile of our pharmaceutical business and have the ability to generate organic revenue growth at a compound annual growth rate of at least 10 percent for the foreseeable future,” added Saunders. “The combination is expected to generate strong free cash flow of more than $8 billion in 2016 and substantial growth thereafter, which will enable the rapid repayment of debt. We expect that the combination will result in double-digit accretion to non-GAAP earnings within the first 12 months.”

“Today’s transaction provides Allergan stockholders with substantial and immediate value, as well as the opportunity to participate in the significant upside potential of the combined company,” said David E. I. Pyott, Chairman and CEO of Allergan. “We are combining with a partner that is ideally suited to realize the full potential inherent in our franchise. Together with Actavis, we are poised to extend the Allergan growth story as part of a larger organization with a broad and balanced portfolio, a meaningful commitment to research and development, a strong pipeline and an unwavering focus on exceeding the expectations of patients and the medical specialists who treat them. I am thankful for the hard work and dedication of our employees, and I’m confident they will make many valuable contributions to the combined company. Looking to the immediate future, all of us at Allergan are excited to roll up our sleeves and work closely with the Actavis team to ensure a smooth transition.”

“This combination will greatly enhance our U.S. and international commercial opportunities,” said Paul Bisaro, Executive Chairman of Actavis. “In the U.S., the combination makes us more relevant to an even broader group of physicians and customers. Overseas, it will enhance our commercial position, expand our portfolio and broaden our footprint in Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia and other high-value growth markets, including China, India, the Middle East and Latin America.”

The combined company will be led by Brent Saunders, CEO and President of Actavis, and Paul Bisaro will remain Executive Chairman of the Board. The integration of the two companies will be led by the senior management teams of both companies, with integration planning to begin immediately in order to transition rapidly to a single company. Additionally, two members of the Allergan Board of Directors will be invited to join the Actavis Board of Directors following the completion of the transaction.

Financially Compelling Transaction

The growth profile of the combined pharmaceutical business will be unparalleled in the industry with the ability for double-digit revenue and earnings growth while maintaining investments to grow and develop our product portfolios and pipeline. The addition of Allergan’s portfolio, including multiple blockbuster therapeutic franchises, doubles the revenues of Actavis’ North American Specialty Brands business. On a pro forma basis for full year 2015, the combined company will have three blockbuster franchises each with annual revenues in excess of $3 billion in Ophthalmology, Neurosciences/CNS and Medical Aesthetics/Dermatology/Plastic Surgery. The specialty product franchises in Gastroenterology, Cardiovascular, Women’s Health, Urology and Infectious Disease treatments will have combined revenues of approximately $4 billion.

Actavis projects that the transaction will generate at least $1.8 billion in annual synergies commencing in 2016, in addition to the $475 million of annual savings previously announced by Allergan in connection with Project Endurance.  Actavis also plans to maintain annual R&D investment of approximately $1.7 billion, ensuring the appropriate resource allocation to continue driving exceptional organic growth.

Significantly Expanded Brand Pharmaceutical Portfolio Supported by a World-Class North American Sales and Marketing Organization

Allergan’s blockbuster franchises in Ophthalmology, Neurosciences, and Medical Aesthetics/Dermatology/Plastic Surgery will complement Actavis’ existing blockbuster CNS, Gastroenterology and Women’s Health franchises to create a leading portfolio across a broad range of therapeutic areas.

The companies’ combined U.S. sales force will have extraordinary marketing reach and increased relevance with more than a dozen medical specialists, including primary care physicians, ophthalmologists, optometrists, dermatologists, aesthetic physicians, plastic surgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, infectious disease specialists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, gastroenterologists, OB-GYNs and urologists.
Expanded Commercial Opportunities Across Global Markets

The combination of Actavis and Allergan will greatly enhance international commercial opportunities by positioning the combined company to extend its blockbuster franchise strategy on a global scale.

The company will have approximately $5 billion in pro forma 2015 international revenue.

Together Actavis and Allergan will have a commercial presence across 100 markets, including an enhanced presence across Canada, Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America and a strong footprint in China and India.

The combined company will benefit from Allergan’s global brand equity, industry-leading consumer marketing capabilities and strong consumer awareness of key Allergan products, including BOTOX®.

The combined company will have the unique opportunity to drive growth in international markets through its enhanced portfolio of brands, generics, branded-generic and over-the-counter products.

Expanded Pharmaceutical R&D Pipeline

The combined company will provide a strong commitment to R&D, with an exceptional level of annual investment of approximately $1.7 billion, focused on the strategic development of innovative and durable value-enhancing products within brands, generics, biologics and OTC portfolios.

The combination is expected to add approximately 15 projects in near- and mid-term development to Actavis’ robust development portfolio.

Additional Details

Actavis anticipates that the permanent financing structure, expected to include a combination of equity and debt, will support an investment grade rating and provide long-term financing flexibility.  Actavis expects to finance the cash portion of the consideration with a combination of new senior unsecured notes, term loans and equity securities. The company has committed bridge facilities from JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., Mizuho Bank and Wells Fargo and commitments to replace its existing facilities to the extent they are not amended to permit the acquisition and the related financing. The transaction is not subject to a financing condition. 

The transaction is subject to the approval of the shareholders of both companies, as well as customary antitrust clearance in the U.S., the EU and certain other jurisdictions, and is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2015. J.P. Morgan is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Actavis and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is serving as Actavis’ lead legal advisor.  Goldman, Sachs & Co. and BofA Merrill Lynch are serving as financial advisors to Allergan. Latham & Watkins, Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are serving as legal counsel to Allergan.

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Cameron Says Second Global Crash Looming – Russian Relations Worsen at G20, Japan in Recession

David Cameron warned last night that the global economy risked another crash and said in an article that ‘red warning lights’ were ‘flashing on the dashboard of the global economy’ and the eurozone was ‘teetering on the brink’ of another recession.

The warning came at the same time that the world’s largest economy, Japan, fell into another recession. Japan shrank by an annualised 1.6% in the third quarter. This followed a huge 7.3% contraction in the previous quarter caused by a rise in the national sales tax and ran counter to economists forecasts for a 2.1 percent rebound.

Mr Cameron’s warning follows a claim by Bank of England governor Mark Carney that a ‘spectre’ of economic stagnation was haunting Europe. Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has also expressed fears that a diet of high debt, low growth and unemployment may yet become ‘the new normal in Europe’.

Writing in the Guardian at the close of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Cameron says there is now “a dangerous backdrop of instability and uncertainty” that presents a real risk to the UK recovery, adding that the eurozone slowdown is already having an impact on British exports and manufacturing.

Mr Cameron said global instability such as the continued eurozone crisis and the ebola outbreak threatened the UK’s recovery. 

The G20 summit in Brisbane seems to have been a highly entertaining affair. Albeit for all the wrong reasons. 

The 20 richest countries in the world pledged to magic up 2.1% of economic growth over the next five years. How this is suddenly possible after six years of failure is unclear but it makes for good PR. Climate change was also high on the agenda.

But it was the brow-beating of Vladimir Putin by the leaders of the increasingly repressive free world that got most of the media attention. Canada’s Harper reluctantly shook Putin’s hand while demanding Russia pull out of Ukraine or face the might of Canada. 

Australia’s assistant secretary of defense was sent to greet him. Merkel said the EU is considering further sanctions even as protests by farmers across Europe are erupting due to the loss of the Russian export market.

Obama assured the G20 that the US, who have waged a series of  bloody and costly wars since 2002 would lead the charge against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, “which is a threat to the world, as we saw with the appalling shoot-down of MH17” – the Malaysian Airlines flight which was shot down over Ukraine in July. 

Australia’s Abbott had threatened to “shirt front” – that is to physically confront – Putin over the atrocity which claimed 28 Australian lives. 

Perhaps he was restrained from doing so due to the lack of evidence of Russian involvement in the attack on the plane which had been diverted from it’s regular flight path and directed over rebel held territory by Ukrainian air traffic control.

While the Western media try to present Vladimir Putin as being a pariah in the “global community,” it is important to remember that Putin was treated as the guest of honour at the APEC conference in Beijing. The official photograph of that event made it clear that the US are now regarded as less important in the conduct of East-Asian affairs. 

This week it was Putin’s turn to be humiliated as the official photo placed him out at the very edge of the picture. No such disrespect was shown to China’s Xi Jinping who appeared in the centre, indicating Australia’s reliance on China. The close relations between Russia and China indicate that  Putin is not as isolated as the media would make it seem.

Tensions between Russia and the West are escalating. The West are threatening even more sanctions unless Russia stop aiding pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine. Putin insists that Russia is not involved in Ukraine and so there is no resolution in sight. 

The damage being inflicted on Russia’s economy by sanctions have caused Russian figures to openly discuss dethroning the petrodollar. Sergey Glasyev, economic advisor to Putin, recently said that while “all freely convertible currencies are today under American control,” the dishonest monetary policies of the US is leading towards the “end of the American financial empire.”

“It will give us a chance to be among the first to suggest a new configuration for the world financial system in which the role of national currencies would be significantly higher,” he said.

When that time comes what Russia will propose will almost certainly involve gold-backed currencies. In Q3 Russia bought more gold than the combined buying of all other central banks. Russia imported 55 tonnes of gold in that period. 

Russia have increased their gold stocks three-fold since 2004. This is happening against a backdrop of central banks being net buyers since 2009. 

Currency wars look set to rapidly escalate as Russia look to dethrone the dollar in response to onerous sanctions being placed on it by the west. Russia’s official gold holdings have surpassed those of China with a dramatic upsurge in imports since sanctions began. 

It is certain that currencies will come under increasing pressure over the next few months. The countries who have consistently improved their standards of living over the past two decades are also the countries who are consistently accumulating gold. The countries who have seen a steady decline over the same period appear to have little or no gold reserves.

It would be wise to act as ones own central bank and add some gold to one’s portfolio.

Get Breaking News and Updates on the Gold Market Here 

MARKET UPDATE
Today’s AM fix was USD 1,187.00, EUR 950.36 and GBP 759.49 per ounce.
Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,154.00, EUR 926.31 and GBP 736.20  per ounce.

Gold climbed $28.90 or 2.49% to $1,190.70/oz Friday. Silver surged $0.69 or 4.42% to $16.30/oz.

Gold and silver both finished up for the week at 1.31% and 3.56% respectively after prices spiked higher after the Asian and European markets were closed late in trade Friday.

Gold in U.S. Dollars – 5 Days (Thomson Reuters)

Gold hovered at two week highs on Monday, after a short covering rally and gold buying Friday.
Spot gold was at $1,187.20 an ounce by 0724 GMT, after earlier rising to a two-week high of $1,193.95. Friday’s jump over 2% allowed the metal to break out of a key technical level of $1,180.

Bearish bets on gold futures and options by hedge funds are near a record, according to CFTC data. Trading today on the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s benchmark bullion spot contract was the highest since April 2013. 

Despite hugely negative sentiment towards gold, it is worth bearing in mind that gold is down just 1.3% this year.

Asian demand and particularly Chinese and Indian demand continues to be very robust.

India’s October gold imports surged 280% year on year to $4.18 billion, the trade ministry said today

Ongoing softness in global gold prices is prompting more buying in the United Arab Emirates and in the Middle East. As jewellery buyers and store of wealth gold coin and bar buyers snap up gold in its various forms. There are estimates from the local jewellery trade  showing that retail offtake for the full year in the UAE could be up by 15-20% in volume terms (in kilograms) on 2013, according to Gulf News.

Read Buy Gold Bars in the Safest Way and at the Lowest Prices

www.GoldCore.com

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Driven by a combination of Mining (-0.9% – biggest drop in a year), Utilities (-0.7% led by a 3.2% plunge in Natural Gas) and most of all motor vehicle manufacturing (-1.2%), US Industrial Production slid 0.1% in October (notably missing expectations of a 0.2% rise). This is the 3rd monthly drop in motor vehicle & parts production – the worst consecutive run since Jan 2009. It seems the government-free-credit inspired subprime auto boom that provided just enough impetus to a fragilee conomy to enable the Fed narrative of “things are better” to play out… has ended… abruptly.

 

Industrial Production drops, missing notably.

 

Worst auto production run since Jan 09

 

 

Charts: Bloomberg

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While a month ago there was non-stop newsflow surrounding any Ebola-case transfer from West Africa to the US, the newly appointed Ebola czar Ron Klain has so far shown a stunning ability to mute media reports of any ongoing developments surrounding the deadly disease.  Which is why virtually nobody was aware that on Saturday a surgeon, who contracted Ebola while treating patients in Sierra Leone, Dr. Martin Salia, 44, has been transferred to the Nebraska Medical Center which had previously successfully treated two other Ebola patients this fall. Sadly, this time it failed, and moments ago it was reported that Salia passed away from the deadly disease.

As CBS reports, after “Salia arrived in Omaha, his ambulance to the hospital was accompanied by a single Nebraska State Patrol cruiser and a fire department vehicle – a subdued arrival in contrast to the August delivery of Dr. Rick Sacra, whose ambulance was flanked by numerous police cars, motorcycles and fire vehicles.” As expected, because as previously reported, Klain’s main priority since ascending to the Ebola throne, has been to hush as much as possible any Ebola-related developments on US soil.

Salia had been working as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. It’s not clear whether he was involved in the care of Ebola patients. Kissy is not an Ebola treatment unit, but Salia worked in at least three other facilities, United Methodist News said, citing health ministry sources.

What is once again most disturing, is that Salia, a Sierra Leone citizen who lives in Maryland, first showed Ebola symptoms on Nov. 6 but tested negative for the virus. Just like the first Ebola casuality on US soil, he eventually tested positive on Monday only after his symptoms had escalated materially, leading many to wonder just what is the incidence of false negatives when testing for Ebola.

More:

The U.S. State Department said it helped facilitate the transfer of Salia; the U.S. Embassy in Freetown said he paid for the expensive evacuation. The travel costs and care of other Ebola patients flown to the U.S. have been covered by the groups they worked for in West Africa.

 

Salia’s wife, Isatu Salia, said in a telephone interview that when she spoke to her husband early Friday his voice sounded weak and shaky. But he told her “I love you” in a steady voice, she said.

 

The two prayed together, and their children, ages 12 and 20, are coping, Isatu Salia said, calling her husband “my everything.”

 

Sierra Leone is one of the three West Africa nations hit hard by an Ebola epidemic this year. Five other doctors in Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola, and all have died.

Our condolences to Salia’s family as we now revert to the near-media blackout surrounding any future Ebola cases on US soil, and await imminent (well-paid) studies from Dr. Jonathan Gruber how there is nothing at all to be concerned about regarding Ebola.

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