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Deutsche Bank, which most recently has been in the spotlight for hightailing it out of the silver and gold fix (because it is clearly innocent of any precious metals manipulation as an "independent, impartial and extensive" inquiry by the Bank of

In November we showed a chart showing the yawning chasm of exuberant faith-in-Draghi hope that was 2013-to-2014 earnings growth expectations in Europe. At the time we remarked - now prophetically - how it would seem Draghi's "whatever it takes"

If you want a country that respects free markets, believes in listening to the voice of the majority, and is against meddling in global affairs under the guise of "humanitarian, liberating, and democracy-spreading" intervention, move to Switzerland

Last week we highlighted just how "rigged" the casino really is (real casinos - as opposed to the equity markets) and while that was shocking, the USA can be proud of another exceptionalism... As The Economist notes, at $119 billion in 2013, the

The European Central Bank is considering holding its meetings to set interest rates every six weeks instead of monthly, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Extending the period between monetary policy decisions could help the ECB to

Here’s what to look for when the Federal Reserve releases minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s April 29-30 meeting at 2 p.m. in Washington. -- Exit strategy: The minutes may show that Fed Board members discussed possible changes to the

The "middle class" has atrophied into the 10% of households just below the top 10%. The truth is painfully obvious: a middle class lifestyle is unaffordable to all but the top 20%. This reality is destabilizing to the current arrangement, i.e

When it comes to returns, 2013 will be best remembered as the fifth consecutive year in which the S&P 500, lead by Chief Risk Officer and Portfolio Manager Ben Bernanke (replaced by Janet Yellen in 2014 following a bumper 30%+ year), outperformed

The European Central Bank is facing a big dilemma: should it act or should it wait? Euro-zone inflation is low, but off the bottom. The exchange rate is high and very uncomfortable for exports and for inflation but it also reflects trust in the

We can't wait to hear how Janet Yellen explains the following slide that the Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee Kevin Brady just lobbed at her

Mario Draghi has gone and done it. After nearly two years of playing the market like a fiddle with nothing more than verbal intervention, Draghi was finally cornered today when during the ECB press conference earlier he explicitly stated that "the

German growth could be reduced by up to 0.9 percentage points this year and 0.3 points in 2015 if the EU imposes tougher economic sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine, a German magazine reported It cited the German section of a European

With the very largest and most experienced of hedge fund managers vociferously commenting on the "Truman Show" mirage of the markets, the danger of currently policies (there is no way to tell exactly how it all will end. Badly, we guess), and the

The Gold Cartel The English language edition of Mr. Speck's book “Geheime Goldpolitik”, has been published early this year under the title “The Gold Cartel”, in parallel with an updated second German edition. The book has received great praise from

It's been a while since we looked at Japan's debt situation. Here is the dire update. From Japan News: Japan’s national debt totaled a record-high ¥1.02 quadrillion as of the end of March, up ¥33.36 trillion from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry

The boom years of financial market trading, when banks made unprecedented profits from bonds, currencies and commodities, may be over for good as financial firms realise there will be no cyclical upswing on their dealing desks. Even though it's taken

David Cameron has come out and argued that taxes will rise unless he can raid bank accounts in the UK. Cameron argues he will “have to put up taxes” unless tax officials are given draconian powers to raid people’s bank accounts if they think they

Barclays executives were blasted by shareholders Thursday for paying bigger bonuses last year, despite the bank's weak earnings. Shareholders large and small lined up at Barclays' annual meeting to accuse the company of putting the interests of its

It may be time for Wall Street banks to reconsider their traditional focus in favor of the less-glamorous world of consumer and commercial banking. Several of the major banks reported shrinking profits from their typically strong investment-banking

One of the oldest "rules" on Wall Street is "sell in May and go away." Based on some rough historical observations, someone decided that it might be a great idea to stay out of the stock market between May and sometime in the fall. FBN Securities