Former CIA director: Military may refuse to follow Trump’s orders if he becomes president - The Washington Post

Former CIA director: Military may refuse to follow Trump’s orders if he becomes president - The Washington Post: "Former CIA director Michael Hayden believes there is a legitimate possibility that the U.S. military would refuse to follow orders given by Donald Trump if the Republican front-runner becomes president and decides to make good on certain campaign pledges."



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A state-by-state look at unemployment benefits - The Washington Post

A state-by-state look at unemployment benefits - The Washington Post: "A state-by-state look at the maximum duration of benefits for people who file initial claims after Jan. 1, 2016, the number of people who received benefits in 2015, the total amount of benefits paid and the percent of the unemployed who received benefits in 2015:"



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India signals possible deficit revisions in upcoming budget | Reuters

India signals possible deficit revisions in upcoming budget | Reuters: "The report also put the total cost of recapitalising banks at $26 billion in the coming years."



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After G20 stalemate, focus turns to signs of growth momentum | Reuters

After G20 stalemate, focus turns to signs of growth momentum | Reuters: "The Group of 20 economies were unable to agree on a joint push for new stimulus measures at a meeting which ended on Saturday, turning attention instead to upcoming business surveys from China, Japan, Europe the United States.

Central banks in Europe and Japan may inject a little more stimulus into their economies later in March. But the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England look likely to sit tight for now, meaning hopes for a period of calm in the world's volatile financial markets lie largely with the indicators"



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US Government Releases 2015 Financial Statements: "Keeps Getting Worse" | Zero Hedge

US Government Releases 2015 Financial Statements: "Keeps Getting Worse" | Zero Hedge: "For 2015, the government reports $3.2 trillion in total assets.

This includes everything from financial assets like bank balances to physical assets like tanks, bullets, aircraft carriers, and the federal highway system.

Curiously, the single biggest line item amongst these listed assets is the $1.2 trillion in student loans that are owed to the government by the young people of America.

This is pretty extraordinary when you think about it.

37% of the government’s total reported assets are student loans, which is now considered one of the most precarious bubbles in finance.

$1.2 trillion is similar to the size of the subprime mortgage market back in 2008. And delinquency rates are rising, now at 11.5% according to Federal Reserve data.

Plus, it’s simply astonishing that so much of the federal government’s asset base is tantamount to indentured servitude as young people pay off expensive university degrees that barely land them jobs making coffee at Starbucks.

On the other side of the equation are a reported $21.5 trillion in liabilities, giving the government an official net worth of negative $18.2 trillion."



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Federal Court Rules You Can Be Arrested Simply For Filming The Police | Zero Hedge

Federal Court Rules You Can Be Arrested Simply For Filming The Police | Zero Hedge: "The court ultimately stated,

“We find no basis to craft a new First Amendment right based solely on ‘observing and recording’ without expressive conduct.”
 
“Absent any authority from the Supreme Court or our Court of Appeals, we decline to create a new First Amendment right for citizens to photograph officers when they have no expressive purpose such as challenging police actions,” the decision concluded."



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Treasury Yield Curve Plunges To Flattest Since 2007, Financials Follow | Zero Hedge

Treasury Yield Curve Plunges To Flattest Since 2007, Financials Follow | Zero Hedge: "For the first time since 2007, the spread between 2Y and 10Y US treasury yields has to 100bps. While not inverted, which the status quo maintains means there cannot be a recession, the bond market is flashing ominous signs for both the economy and the US financial system...

 

The curve has collapsed since The Fed hiked rates..."



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Inflation Expectations Around The Globe Just Hit Record Lows | Zero Hedge

Inflation Expectations Around The Globe Just Hit Record Lows | Zero Hedge: "Having seen what monetary-policy failure looks like in Japan.. and in the US, we now turn our attention to the world. Amid NIRP temptations, growth fears, and faltering faith in central banker control, market-implied inflation expectations have collapsed to record lows. Worse still, even The Fed's own survey of consumer's inflation expectations has slumped to record lows."



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The Growth "Story" Is Over: Amazon Authorizes $5 Billion Stock Buyback | Zero Hedge

The Growth "Story" Is Over: Amazon Authorizes $5 Billion Stock Buyback | Zero Hedge: "On February 10, 2016, the Board of Directors authorized the Company to repurchase up to $5 billion of the Company's common stock. The program allows the Company to repurchase its shares opportunistically from time to time when it believes that doing so would enhance long-term shareholder value. The repurchase authorization does not have a fixed expiration. Purchases may be effected through one or more open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions, transactions structured through investment banking institutions, or a combination of the foregoing. This stock repurchase authorization replaces the previous $2 billion stock repurchase authorization, approved by the Board of Directors in 2010.
And just like that AMZN joins the vaunted AAPL club in admitting it is fresh out of organic growth ideas, and will resort to balance sheet alchemy to boost its price higher over the foreseeable future, ostensibly first using cash and then debt, to raise the funds needed to buyback stock. Any immediate spikes in the stock will be faded fast and furious."



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Fed's Yellen: Not sure we can do negative rates

Fed's Yellen: Not sure we can do negative rates: "As whispers mount that the Fed could implement negative interest rates as a way to goose economic activity, Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday the central bank has not completely researched whether that would be legal.

During her semiannual congressional testimony, Yellen said the Federal Open Market Committee discussed charging banks to hold excess reserves at the Fed but never fully researched the issue.

"We didn't fully look at the legal issues around that," she said. "I would say that remains a question that we still would need to investigate more thoroughly."

Asked whether she foresees the Fed cutting rates after just hiking its interest rate target in December, Yellen said she did not expect that to happen anytime soon as she considers the risk of recession low.

"There would seem to be increased fears of recession risks that is resulting in rising in risk premia. We've not yet seen a sharp drop-off in growth, either globally or in the United States, but we certainly recognize that global market developments bear close watching," she told the House Financial Services Committee."



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"Market Reports : Curbed NY

"Market Reports : Curbed NY: "While that's a mammoth 54 percent return, average returns on such flips fell to 15 percent, down from 30 percent the previous year."



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Deutsche Bank Says Has Sufficient Reserves for Coupon Payments - Bloomberg Business

Deutsche Bank Says Has Sufficient Reserves for Coupon Payments - Bloomberg Business: "At the end of 2014, the latest figure available, Deutsche Bank had 2.87 billion euros of ADIs, according to a presentation. The final AT1 payment capacity will depend on this year’s operating results under German GAAP and movements in other reserves, Deutsche Bank said in the statement on Monday."



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Manhattan's Luxury Condos May End Up as Rentals, LeFrak Says - Bloomberg Business

Manhattan's Luxury Condos May End Up as Rentals, LeFrak Says - Bloomberg Business: "The added supply of listings for lease will limit rent growth, LeFrak said in a Bloomberg Television interview Monday.
“New York rents are probably going to flatten out now, and you’re probably going to see some of the condominium inventory turn into rental inventory,” he said on the “Bloomberg ” program.
Apartments for rent should remain a strong business in New York, even as luxury condos suffer from oversupply, he said. About 5,126 newly built condos are scheduled to be added to the sales market, the most since 2007, according to data from Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Sales have already been slowing for the most-expensive homes, products of a four-year construction boom aimed multimillionaire buyers.
“I’d be a little concerned if I were selling high-end condos,” LeFrak said in the interview. “The upper end is probably getting adequate service,” he said. “But the middle and the affordable certainly could use all the help.”"



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JP MORGAN: US recession risk is growing - Business Insider

JP MORGAN: US recession risk is growing - Business Insider: "As JP Morgan notes, a 10% year-on-year drop in corporate profitability is a rare event outside of a recession. On past occasions when this has come to pass businesses spending and labour market hiring has tended to slow, resulting in a recession more times than not.

To Kasman, Hensley and Lupton the slowdown does not immediately foreshadow a US recession, but the risks of such an outcome occurring are building.

“With the drag on US earnings intensifying and business spending softening, the risks of a broader business pullback remain elevated. Our US recession probability tracker has moved higher in recent weeks, reinforcing this point,” wrote the trio.

The chart below is the bank's US recession probability tracker. At present it calculates the odds of a US recession as a one-in-four chance over the next 12 months."



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BofAML contrarian indicator says market poised for 24% gain - Yessss!! Another Prediction to the upside!!

BofAML contrarian indicator says market poised for 24% gain: "One in particular — the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Sell Side Indicator — puts sentiment "close to where it was at the market lows of March 2009," the firm's strategists said in a report Monday. That date will be familiar to many investors as it marked the Great Recession low and preceded a 200 percent bull market surge.

Read MoreThis rare, fearful Fed trade may set tone for year
The gauge is a fairly basic measure of how the biggest portfolio managers are positioned. Over the course of the past 15 years, the traditional stock weighting is around 60 percent; currently, that level stands at 52.1 percent, a 0.7 percentage point slide from December and below the 52.9 percent threshold that would trigger a "buy" signal.

Using a little math, the indicator points to a 17 percent price return for the next 12 months, which gets the S&P 500 to the 2,270 range, based on Friday's closin"



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