*** The Big Picture: The Battle of Bull vs Bear ***
*** The Big Picture: Risk Management: Watch the Hang Seng ***
*** FT Alphaville: Conspiracies and a lack of contango in silver ***
*** FT Alphaville: SEC probes ‘ETF-stripping’ by insider traders — FT ***
*** FT Alphaville: Portugal, unmoored ***
*** FT Alphaville: Return of the ECB bond purchases… ***
*** Macro Man: How to Catch Knives and Weekend at Abdullah’s ***
*** JESSE’S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN: Showdown in the Metals Markets: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble ***

Read More

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. were reported at 383.000 vs. 410.000 consensus; last week revised (up 4.000) reading was at 419.000.

Lot of noise in data; Big weekly decline.

Read More

Crude oil stocks rising, markets well supplied, demand weak. The price of oil mostly unchanged.

Read More