From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. Please LIKE the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page to see stories posted daily regarding the current state of the economy around the world.

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Latest News From February 12, 2016 to February 18, 2016:

• The $100 Bill Could Be the Next Victim in the War on Cash; Don’t Become One Too
  The war on cash heated up this week when a former Obama economic adviser/ex-Treasury secretary floated the idea of eliminating the $100 bill. Lawrence Summers called for death to the Benjamins in a post on his Washington Post blog titled It’s Time to Kill the $100 Bill. The post announced the release of a paper by Harvard’s Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government senior Fellow Peter Sands arguing that governments should stop issuing high-denomination currency such as 500 euro notes and $100 bills. The paper even proposed withdrawing such currency them from circulation.
• 2016 Reveals Banks Shaky & Gold Solid-James Turk
  Gold expert James Turk says the banks are in trouble again. One of the biggest troubled institutions is Germany’s Deutsche Bank, and Turk contends, “It is quite alarming the shares of the stock are basically where they were in the lows of 2008.  It’s at the bottom of that year’s financial crisis, and here we have not even started the financial crisis yet.  The stock is back to those prices of seven or eight years ago.  It makes you wonder what is yet to come.  You are seeing publicity stunts like Jamie Dimon buying $25 million worth of JPMorgan stock.  It reminds me of what we saw back in the 1930’s.  In the history books, guys would go out and buy shares of their stock to convince people that things were okay.  The market is telling us that people want to be in safer things, and it looks like gold’s trend has finally turned after a four year correction. . . . It looks like we are going to be heading higher.”
• Stocks Cut in Half & Gold Doubles in 2016-Bo Polny
  Market cycle analyst Bo Polny says stocks are going to take a beating, and gold is going to shine in 2016. Polny contends, “What we’ve seen happen so far in gold is just a warm up.  We are not even close to see movements in gold, this is just the start. . . . What’s coming is a transfer of wealth.  When you are looking at a transfer of wealth, it means a huge financial shift in the landscape. . . . You are going to have the stock market crash this year of a minimum of 50% . . . and gold will double.   A $5,000 stock investment, after it is cut in half, will only buy you one ounce of gold that will be $2,500, and that will happen this year.”
• Here’s why (and how) the government will ‘borrow’ your retirement savings
  According to financial research firm ICI, total retirement assets in the Land of the Free now exceed $23 trillion. $7.3 trillion of that is held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). That’s an appetizing figure, especially for a government that just passed $19 trillion in debt and is in pressing need of new funding sources.
• Philly Fed index shows manufacturing contracts for sixth straight month
  A early indication of manufacturing conditions in February indicated contraction for the sixth straight month, according to data released Thursday. The Philadelphia Fed said its manufacturing barometer of regional manufacturing activity rose slightly to negative 2.8 from negative 3.5. That was slightly ahead of the MarketWatch-compiled forecast for negative 3. Readings below zero indicate a contraction of activity.
• US Fed hawk now says ‘unwise' to continue rate hikes
  It would be “unwise” for the US Federal Reserve to continue hiking interest rates given declining inflation expectations and recent equity market volatility, St Louis Fed president James Bullard said on Wednesday (Feb 17) in comments that mark a stark change of direction for one of the Fed's more hawkish inflation foes.
• Britain outside the EU would stand tall as a free and prosperous nation
  In four months’ time the British people are likely to be asked to take the most important decision for the future of our country in their lifetimes. It is not about Europe as such. It is about whether we should remain within a deeply misguided and troubled institution known as the European Union. No one could have been clearer about the problem than David Cameron, in his Bloomberg speech three years ago, when he committed himself to securing a “fundamental, far-reaching reform” of the EU. He has conspicuously failed to do so.
• ALERT: Is This About To Ignite A Terrifying Global Storm?
  On the heels of a reprieve in world markets, is this about to ignite a terrifying global storm? And finally, this is from today’s note from legend Art Cashin:  Rumblings In The Euro Zone – Yra Harris, the sage of the CME, brought a potential seismic event in euro sovereign bonds to light in his blog earlier this week.
• The ban on cash is coming. Soon.
  This is starting to become very concerning. The momentum to “ban cash”, and in particular high denomination notes like the 500 euro and $100 bills, is seriously picking up steam. On Monday the European Central Bank President emphatically disclosed that he is strongly considering phasing out the 500 euro note. Yesterday, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers published an op-ed in the Washington Post about getting rid of the $100 bill. Prominent economists and banks have joined the refrain and called for an end to cash in recent months.
• Foreign Officials Sell A Record $48 Billion In U.S. Treasurys In December
  There has been much speculation whether foreign official institutions (central banks, SWFs, reserve managers and so on) are selling Treasurys or equities, or both as part of the Quantitative Tightening phenomenon. Moments ago, courtesy of the latest TIC data we have an answer: based on the monthly flow report breaking down Treasury transactions between foreign official and private entities, in December the far more important, former, group sold $48.1 billion in US Treasurys: the highest single monthly outflow on record.
• Gold: Not Just Another Commodity, A Safe-Haven in Times of Uncertainty
  Mainstream media pundits, economists, and journalists alike love to lump gold in with other commodities. They put it in the same category as oil, copper, wheat, natural gas, and other things that come out of the ground. But while gold is in fact a metal you must dig up, it is a mistake to call it “just another commodity.” Gold’s recent price performance shows that it is anything but. Gold is a superior safe-haven asset to own in times of financial duress and uncertainty.
• Tony Blair: Britain must give up MORE powers to Brussels and mass migration ‘GOOD for UK'
  TONY Blair has called alled for Britain to surrender MORE powers to unelected Brussels bureaucrats and insisted mass migration from eastern Europe has been GOOD for the country as he made a bizarre case for staying in the EU.
• John Paulson Pares Bet on Gold in Fourth Quarter
  Hedge-fund manager John Paulson pared his long-held bet on gold in the fourth quarter, according to a filing Tuesday. Paulson & Co. reduced its holdings in an exchange-traded fund that follows the price of gold by $400 million, the filing indicated. The move may have been a costly one: Gold futures soared last week to their highest level in a year, and the precious metal has been one of the top performers in 2016.
• Oil prices crash after Saudia Arabia and Russia agree to freeze production
  The world's two most powerful oil producers have reached a tentative agreement to freeze oil production at their current levels, dashing hopes of a supply cut for the world's glutted market. Meeting in Doha, Russia, Venezuelan and Saudi Arabian oil ministers reached the deal on Tuesday morning after months of speculation about a Russia-Saudi entente to limit output and help stabilise prices.
• Stocktake: Looking for investor capitulation
  Looking for investor capitulation Market sentiment may be awful but investors are not yet “max bearish”, indicating any bounces should be sold. That line may sound familiar to StockTake readers – we used it three weeks ago, but it remains true today.
• Empire Fed Contracts For 7th Straight Month, Hovers At 7-Year Lows
  The Empire Fed Manufacturing survey has been in contraction (below 0) since July 2015 and while February's -16.64 print was above January's -19.37, it was dramatically worse than the expected -10.0. New Orders and Shipments remain in contraction as both prices paid and recived tumbled. Hope improved modestly but remains markedly below December levels, as CapEx spending expectations weakened once again.
• Collapse Of The Paper Gold & Silver Market May Be Close At Hand
  There is something seriously wrong taking place in the markets today. This is also true in the paper gold and silver markets as well. For a paper precious metals futures market to function properly, there has to be ample supplies of physical metal. However, the ongoing trend of falling precious metal inventories points to big trouble in the paper gold and silver markets.
• A Cash Ban Has Already Begun…
  When looking over these data points, the first thing that jumps out at the viewer is that the vast bulk of “money” in the system is in the form of digital loans or credit (non-physical debt). Put another way, actual physical money or cash (as in bills or coins you can hold in your hand) comprises less than 1% of the “money” in the financial system. As far as the Central Banks are concerned, this is a good thing because if investors/depositors were ever to try and convert even a small portion of this “wealth” into actual physical bills, the system would implode (there simply is not enough actual cash).
• Goldman Channels FDR's `Nothing to Fear' With Sell Gold Call
  Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says it’s time to bet against gold as bullion’s rally to the highest in a year isn’t justified, backing the bearish call with a comment from a former U.S. leader in a report that was issued, appropriately enough, on Presidents’ Day. Gold will slump to $1,100 an ounce in three months and $1,000 an ounce in 12 months, analysts including Jeffrey Currie and Max Layton wrote in the report that was dated Feb. 15 and received on Tuesday. It was headlined with a remark from former President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• Swiss Won't Rethink 1,000-Franc Note as Draghi Hails Crime Fight
  Swiss officials have no plans to follow the European Central Bank and consider withdrawing their highest-denomination banknote to help fight crime. A day after ECB President Mario Draghi told lawmakers that there’s “increasing conviction” around the world that such bills are used for illegal purposes, Swiss National Bank Spokesman Walter Meier said by telephone that his institution “isn’t thinking about getting rid of the 1,000-franc note.”
• Negative Interest Rates a Positive for Gold
  Negative interest rates are becoming more and more in vogue and that could be good news for gold. Last week, Sweden’s central bank plunged a key interest rate even deeper into negative territory. Riksbanken slashed the rate from negative 0.35% to negative 0.50%. Many analysts anticipated the rate reduction, but the magnitude of the cut caught most by surprise.
• ECB chief says bank is ready to act in March if needed
  The European Central Bank is ready to ease policy further in March, President Mario Draghi said on Monday, highlighting risks from financial market volatility, a global slowdown in growth and low oil prices. The ECB will examine risks emanating from weaker emerging market growth and look at whether plunging crude prices along with market turbulence could derail its efforts to boost inflation, Draghi told lawmakers in the European Parliament.
• Morgan Stanley agrees to $3.2 billion settlement for selling risky mortgages
  Morgan Stanley on Thursday agreed to pay more than $3.2 billion to settle allegations by state and federal authorities that it downplayed the risk of mortgages it sold in the years before the financial crisis. In announcing the settlement, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said the bank’s actions contributed to the collapse of the housing market.
• Japan's economy shrinks 1.4 per cent
  Japan's economy shrank more than expected in the final quarter of last year as consumer spending and exports slumped. The result has added to headaches for policymakers already wary of damage the financial market rout could inflict on a fragile recovery. Gross domestic product contracted by an annualised 1.4 per cent in October-December, bigger than a market forecast for a 1.2 per cent decline and matching a fall marked in the second quarter of last year, Cabinet Office data showed on Monday.
• Is Gold Making A Triumphant Comeback?
  Analyzing the long term economic and market cycles, the probability is very high that the stock market downturn may eventually be the worst since the Great Depression. Of course, there are many more safety nets now, and the central banks of the world will coordinate in order to soften a decline. But the Fed and other central bankers are not the solution. They are the problem. All the ‘safety nets’ have to be paid for with money the governments don’t have. Therefore, it will have to be financed with ‘money creation’ by their central banks.
• Investors are piling into gold as fear stalks markets
  Gold is back in favor with investors running scared of global market turmoil. Physical gold prices have jumped 16% so far this year, and the Gold Shares (GLD) exchange-traded fund (ETF) is up nearly 13% — a handy return compared to big losses on most stock markets. Demand for gold as an investment was up 8% in 2015, and there's evidence that trend is accelerating this year.
• The stage is now set for a basic income for all
  It has been a breathtaking week for social policy in Canada. The stage is now set for a serious discussion about the merits of a basic income guarantee, and many of the actors have been cast in their leading roles. Jean-Yves Duclos, federal minister of families, children and social development, stated to both CBC Radio and the Globe and Mail last week that a guaranteed minimum income is a policy worthy of discussion, once the promised enhancements to child tax benefits occur — an existing kind of minimum income for families with children.
• Sunny Nevada Just Killed the Solar Industry with 40% Tax Hike, Derailing the Off-Grid Movement
  While Nevadans were celebrating the holidays under solar-powered lights, the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously to increase a monthly fee on solar customers by 40% while reducing the amount they get paid for excess power sold to the grid. Adding insult to injury, they made the rate changes retroactive, sabotaging consumer investments in solar energy. This single move by government regulators will effectively kill the solar industry in Nevada and put an end to the surge of people seeking to detach from the grid by harnessing their own energy from the sun. Just as importantly, it serves to protect the profits of Nevada’s public utility company, NV Energy.
• Gerald Celente – One Of The Wildest 6 Weeks Of Trading In History, But Here’s The Big Surprise
  On the heels of an absolutely wild trading week for global markets, today the top trends forecaster in the world spoke with King World News about one of the wildest six weeks of trading in history. Eric King:  “Gerald, they put a few hundred points to the upside in the Dow.  So they may rally this market out of the hole.  It hit the wire today that Jamie Dimon bought a bunch of JP Morgan stock.  Your thoughts on the possibility of a rally, maybe a short squeeze on the public’s (near-record) short positions to get them out before the next tumble to the downside.  Do you see that as a possibility?” Gerald Celente:  “Of course it’s possible.  Absolutely.  The game is rigged.  Go back to the Davos Meeting in mid-January.   I read it on King World News, when you had Art Cashin on and he quoted Ray Dalio from Bridgewater Associates saying that we needed more quantitative easing from the Fed…
• Venezuela Declares Another Emergency: It Has Run Out of Food
  Venezuela’s opposition legislature has declared a “nutritional emergency,” proclaiming that the country simply does not have enough food to feed its population. The move comes after years of socialist rationing and shortages that forced millions to wait on lines lasting as long as six hours for a pint of milk, a bag of flour, or carton of cooking oil.
• Deutsche Bank Burns – Silver Is The Trade Of The Decade
  Deutsche Bank management spent Tuesday and Wednesday trying to make the case that it had plenty of liquidity and a gameplan to address structural issues.  They threw the hail Mary yesterday when they announced the possibility of using available “liquidity” to repurchase a few billion euros worth of senior bonds.  I have quotes around “liquidity” because, as I outlined in my blog post about this yesterday, DB is technically insolvent.
• The government just admitted it will use smart home devices for spying
  If you want evidence that US intelligence agencies aren’t losing surveillance abilities because of the rising use of encryption by tech companies, look no further than the testimony on Tuesday by the director of national intelligence, James Clapper.
• JPM's Kolanovic Warns Upcoming Recession Could Be Comparable To 2008 Crisis; Says “Buy Gold, Cash And VIX”
  By now all of our readers should be familiar with JPM's head quant Marko Kolanovic whose unblemished track record of accurate market calls is not only second to none, but is the equivalent in absolute value terms of Dennis Gartman's consistently wrong calls, which is why we won't spend time introducing him.
• The sinking EU ship: Shock as Italian PM says: ‘EU is like the orchestra on the Titanic'
  ITALY’S prime minister Matteo Renzi has stunned Brussels by comparing crisis-hit EU bosses as “like the orchestra playing on the Titanic”. The spirited leader continued his attacks on Brussels chiefs yesterday over their failure to deal with the multiple crises afflicting the 28-member bloc. The EU is currently beset by emergencies such as the global migrant crisis, eurozone debt timebomb, high levels of youth unemployment, the threat of terrorism and Britain’s EU referendum.
• Genius: FATCA has brought in just $13.5 billion in revenue on a cost of $1 trillion
  Earlier this week the State Department released its latest statistics for people who have renounced their US citizenship. 2015 was another record year, with 4,279 people divorcing themselves from the US government and heading to greener pastures elsewhere.
• Gold price: why major brokers are still predicting a fall to $1,000
  Winner of the London Bullion Market Association's 2015 price-prediction competition forecasts an average of $970 this year. It may be the best-performing asset in what has been a tumultuous start to 2016 but gold is still vulnerable to improvements in rates and the dollar and will fall to $1,000 an ounce or below this year, according to two analysts.
• Gerald Celente Warns The Global Crash Of 2016 Will Be Twice As Devastating As The 2008 Collapse
  With gold spiking nearly $70 at one point during today’s trading, today the top trends forecaster in the world warned King World News that the global crash of 2016 will be twice as devastating as the 2008 collapse. Eric King:  “Gerald, Stephen Leeb told King World News today that “The world is scared to death of deflation.”
• World Now On The Edge Of Total Panic As Gold Spikes $60 And Global Stock Markets Plunge
  With gold spiking more than $60, the dollar falling and bonds surging, today one of the top money managers in the world warned King World News that the world is now in the early stages of total panic as global stock markets plunge. King World News warned its global readers yesterday that global panic was coming because of the derivative nightmare in Hong Kong. Well, it’s here…
• After 1,428 years here’s what brought down the world’s oldest business
  In 578 AD, a Korean immigrant named Shigemitsu Kongo made his way to Japan at the invitation of the royal family. Buddhism was on the rise in Japan at the time; though it had only been introduced a few decades prior, the Empress consort had been actively encouraging the adoption of Buddhism across Japan. But since the Japanese had no experience building Buddhist temples, they looked overseas for help. That’s where Kongo came in.
• 5 worst investment calls of this century
  The 21st century is well into its second decade, but it’s already had two stock market crashes, a global financial crisis and the Great Recession, from which we haven’t fully recovered. Not surprisingly, financial pundits and gurus have gotten many things wrong. But some have gotten them really wrong. Here are my picks for the five worst investing calls so far, based on how off base they were and how big their consequences were.
• Some Hedge Funds Want to Make Subprime Auto Loans Next Big Short
  A group of hedge funds, convinced they have found the next Big Short, are looking to bet against bonds backed by subprime auto loans. Good luck finding a bank willing to do the trade.
• The US Is Already in a Recession; Get Ready for Some Crazy Monetary Policy
  Jim Grant appeared on CNBC’s Closing Bell and unhesitatingly said he thinks the US economy has already gone into recession: “I think we are in one…I think there’s a defensible case to be made that a recession began late last year.”

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From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. A lot of news about the current global collapse. We are still looking at derivatives and that could come from China as predicted. Keep an eye on the news daily. For the past month I have been putting up many stories every day at the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page that are important to understand what is happening and how you can protect yourself.

We have now seen gold jump to close to $1,250. It broke $1,200 yesterday and jumped an additional $50 today. For those who didn't prepare when you were warned, unfortunately the life rafts are running out. Gold supplies are running low. Lead times are well over 30 days and now will be considerably more because demand for physical metal is up.

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Latest News From February 5, 2016 to February 11, 2016:

• Gold demand bounces back as fear grips markets
  Fears that the world is on the brink of another financial crisis pushed gold prices above $1,200 on Thursday as nervous investors snapped up the precious metal. Gold prices jumped to their highest in a year, gaining as much as 3.6pc to $1,234.64 an ounce. It came as the World Gold Council said jitters about the global economy sparked a gold buying spree among nervous investors at the start of the year.
• FTSE 100 hits lowest level since 2012 amid worsening fears of recession
  The FTSE 100 has hit its lowest point in three and a half years, down 130 points on opening. European stocks are all the slide again after a difficult day's trading in Asia, which saw Hong Kong rapidly catch up with the global sell-off after the Lunar New Year holiday. The FTSE 100 was down 2.3 per cent, the German DAX was down 3 per cent and France's CAC 40 was down 3.4 per cent.
• “Fasten Your Seatbelts”: Kyle Bass Previews The Collapse Of China's $34 Trillion Banking Sector
  Earlier this month, Kyle Bass asked a funny question in a discussion with CNBC’s David Faber. To wit: “If some fund manager in Texas is saying that your currency is dramatically overvalued, you shouldn’t care on a $10 trillion economy with $34 trillion in your banks. I have, call it a billion –  it’s so small it should be irrelevant and yet somehow it’s really relevant.”
• Gold Will Smell Blood of Negative Rates-Peter Schiff
  Money manager Peter Schiff says forget about the Fed raising interest rates. The next move is down.  Schiff explains, “I think there is a pretty good chance we’re going to get 0% interest rates before the end of the year, and I think we’re going to get QE4.  We will see if the Fed is going to go negative, but they are going to do it eventually.”
• “It May Take Less Than 48 Hours to Take it ALL Down” – Bill Holter
  Whether you want to see it or not, the financial system is in a forced unwinding. It took some 70 years to build this great credit edifice. When it goes it may take less than 48 hours to take it ALL down.
• ALERT: Derivatives Nightmare Has Shares In Hong Kong Plunging And Gold Surging To $1,250
  With gold moving well above $1,250, many market participants are trying to understand:  Why gold is surging and why there is so much turmoil in overseas trading in Asia?
• This Is How Frightening The Global Collapse Has Now Become
  On the heels of the Nikkei plunging a jaw-dropping 11 percent in just 3 days, and the world banking system entering another round of panic, this is how frightening the global collapse has now become.
• No easy way out for Deutsche Bank as investors ‘lose faith'
  Deutsche Bank bosses face a formidable task to drag its shares off a 30-year low, with reassurances about its capital levels doing little to improve investor confidence and few other options on the table to trigger a recovery. Germany's flagship lender has trailed its rivals in bouncing back from the 2008 financial crisis, hamstrung by having to pay out billions of dollars in fines to end a string of legal disputes and ageing technical infrastructure.
• Legendary Investor Jim Rogers Warns: “Most People Are Going To Suffer The Next Time Around”
  Rogers says that investors around the world are realizing that the jig is up. Stocks are over bloated and central banks will have little choice but to take action again. But this time, says Rogers in his latest interview with CrushTheStreet.com, there will be no stopping it and people all over the world are going to feel the pain, including in China and the United States.
• Netflix, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., LinkedIn Corp, Twitter Inc: Dot-Com Bubble 2.0 Is Bursting
  Do you remember how much stocks went down when the first dot-com bubble burst?  Well, it is happening again, and tech stocks are already down more than half a trillion dollars since the middle of 2015. On Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped to its lowest level in more than 15 months, and it has now fallen more than 16 percent from the peak of the market.  But of course some of the biggest names have fallen much more than that.
• 2007 All Over Again, Part 3: Banks Starting To Implode
  So far, each financial crisis in the series that began with the junk bond bubble of 1989 has been noticeably different from its predecessors. New instruments, new malefactors, new monetary policy experiments in response. But the one that’s now emerging feels strikingly similar to what just happened a few years ago: Banks overexposed to assets they thought were safe but turn out to be highly risky see their balance sheets deteriorate, their liquidity dry up and their stocks plunge.
• Janet Yellen Sounds a More Cautious Note on the U.S. Economy
  The Republicans described the Federal Reserve as ineffective, secretive and out of touch with the economic realities of ordinary Americans. The Democrats showered it with praise, using words like “herculean.” And those were just the opening statements on Wednesday, as the Fed’s chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen, began two days of testimony on Capitol Hill. Ms. Yellen functions as the nation’s economic weather forecaster and, on Wednesday, she sounded more worried than at her last public appearance, in December.
• Gold price surges above $1,200 after latest markets rout
  The gold price continues on its strong incremental advance, setting lower lows on a path to higher highs that overnight saw it decisively breach a key resistance level at $1,200. On Wednesday, gold's spot price dipped back slightly in both the European and New York trading sessions, the Wall Street Journal notes, amid a brief relief rally in Europe and some profit-taking from the ongoing “safe haven” shift. But as the equities rout recommenced in Asia overnight, it resumed its upward trend.
• UPDATE: IBEX 35, Spain's Leading Stock Index, Closes Below 8,000 For First Time Since July 2013
  Spain's leading stock index, the IBEX 35, gave up what remained of the gains posted during the last 933 days on Tuesday, closing below 8,000 points for the first time since July 22, 2013, at 7,927.60, a fall of 194.5 points or 2.39% compared to yesterday. The indicator dropped as low as 7,862 points during the session. The index has lost 32.36% since reaching a post-2012 high of 11866.40 on April 13 last year, 23% since November 30 last year, just prior to the start of the general election campaign, and 17% since the first trading session of the year on January 4.
• Yield on 10-year Japan government bond falls below zero for first time
  Yields on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond fell below zero for the first time, as investors clamored for safe-haven assets in the wake of a global market rout. The yield on the 10-year Japan government bond (JGB) dropped as low as negative 0.007 percent. The fall came on the heels of a global stock market sell-off overnight that likely spurred safe haven flows back into Japan. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
• DOW 6,000 Extreme Sell-Off Coming-Gregory Mannarino
  Trader/analyst Gregory Mannarino called the top of the DOW in May 2015. The market was well over 18,000 then and currently more than 2,000 points lower.  Mannarino now says the Dow is going to “6,000–or lower.” Mannarino warns, “People need to be ready for a major, extreme sell-off in equities which are inflated in a bubble.”
• Obama proposes $10 a barrel oil tax
  President Obama has released the final budget proposal of his presidency, a $4.1tn (£2.8tn) programme that includes a $10.25 per barrel tax on oil. The Republican-controlled Congress is expected to reject it. The leaders of the House and Senate budget committees jointly announced they would not invite Mr Obama's budget director to testify before them. Despite the setbacks, the White House has said the budget sticks to a bipartisan agenda reached last autumn.
• UK goods trade gap biggest on record
  The UK's goods trade gap with the rest of the world widened by £1.9bn to a record high of £125bn in 2015, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics also warned the latest figures would have a negative impact on its second estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth. But 2015 also saw a record surplus in the UK's dominant services sector of £90bn. That meant the UK's total trade gap widened by just £300m last year.
• Brent Oil Falls Most in 5 Months on Glut as Volatility Surges
  Crude tumbled the most in five months in London as price volatility climbed to a seven-year high and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warned of wider swings to come. Brent futures fell 7.8 percent as global equities neared a bear market. Volatility is set to “spike” as prices seek an equilibrium, which could drag oil below $20 a barrel, Goldman Sachs said. The CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index, which measures expectations of price swings, rose as high as 73.52, almost the highest since 2009. The world oil surplus will be bigger in the first half of this year than previously estimated, according to the International Energy Agency.
• Goldman Sachs Abandons Five of Six ‘Top Trade' Calls for 2016
  Goldman Sachs to clients: whoops. Just six weeks into 2016, the New York-based bank has abandoned five of six recommended top trades for the year. The dollar versus a basket of euro and yen; yields on Italian bonds versus their German counterparts; U.S. inflation expectations: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was wrong on all that and more.
• S&P Downgrades Junk-Level Ratings on 25 Oil-and-Gas Producers
  Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded the junk-territory ratings on 25 oil-and-gas companies on expectations that credit quality will deteriorate owing to low commodities prices and reduced production. The credit-ratings firm, which also affirmed the ratings of an additional 20 speculative-grade exploration-and-production companies, said the ratings actions followed a revision of S&P’s price assumptions for crude and natural-gas.
• Gold futures stretch streak of gains to a 5th-straight session
  Gold futures staged a late-session turnaround on Tuesday, as a move lower for oil prices and sharp losses in U.S. equities gave the metal enough momentum to stretch its streak of gains to a fifth-straight session. April gold GCJ6, -0.27%  rose 70 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,198.60 an ounce, tallying a total gain of more than 6% in five sessions. The settlement price was the highest for a most-active contract since June 19, 2015, FactSet data show.
• Opinion: Will oil be so cheap that it won’t pay to pump it out of the ground?
  The conventional wisdom regarding the recent plunge in the price of oil CLH6 is that we are seeing a repeat of the 1985-1986 collapse, when Saudi Arabia ramped up production as part of a dispute with other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel. This time, the thinking goes, Saudi Arabia is doing the same in response to its loss of market share to shale-oil production in the United States.
• Deutsche Bank Is Scared: “What Needs To Be Done” In Its Own Words
  It all started in mid/late 2014, when the first whispers of a Fed rate hike emerged, which in turn led to relentless increase in the value of the US dollar and the plunge in the price of oil and all commodities, unleashing the worst commodity bear market in history. The immediate implication of these two concurrent events was missed by most, although we wrote about it and previewed the implications in November of that year in “How The Petrodollar Quietly Died, And Nobody Noticed.”
• The Coal Decline Is Now Irreversible
  There was a lot of talk last year about coal resources needing to be left in the ground if the world was to reach its 2-degree-celsius reduction environmental targets. The suggestion was that legislation was required to force power generators to switch to less polluting energy sources and, while in the meantime tougher emissions standards have played their part, the market has been much more active than government in encouraging change.
• India surpasses China to become fastest growing economy in the world
  India's economy grew faster than China in 2015, official Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data released by both countries has revealed. The Indian government reported that the country grew at an average of 7.5% in 2015, which is more than the 6.9% GDP that Beijing reported during the same period, making India the world's fastest growing major economy.
• Privatization Is the Atlanticist Strategy to Attack Russia — Paul Craig Roberts and Michael Hudson
  Two years ago, Russian officials discussed plans to privatize a group of national enterprises headed by the oil producer Rosneft, the VTB Bank, Aeroflot, and Russian Railways. The stated objective was to streamline management of these companies, and also to induce oligarchs to begin bringing their two decades of capital flight back to invest in the Russia economy. Foreign participation was sought in cases where Western technology transfer and management techniques would be likely to help the economy.
• NYSE joining Nasdaq in eliminating stop orders
  A type of order traders use to protect against losses is being phased out, as stock exchanges seek to deal with the ramifications of huge intraday swings. The New York Stock Exchange, in a statement, said it would no longer accept what are called stop orders, beginning Feb. 26, joining the Nasdaq NDAQ in barring them. Another order type called good-till-canceled also is being axed.
• Going Negative: Analysts See Increasing Likelihood of Sub-Zero US Interest Rates
  Mainstream analysts have started seriously talking about the possibility of negative US interest rates in the near future. On the heels of the Bank of Japan dropping a key interest rate to negative 0.1% late last month and indicating it is willing to go deeper into negative territory, Bloomberg reports that American analysts see an increasing likelihood that the Federal Reserve is willing to follow suit.
• Markets: Flight To Safety As Nikkei Falls 5.4%
  The global stock market rout has intensified, with Japan's Nikkei losing 5.4% of its value in a horror show of a trading day that saw a rush for safe havens such as gold and the yen. The sell-off followed Monday's lead on the European and US stock markets when they endured further losses on top of those already witnessed since the start of the year with jitters about the global economy taking a strangle hold on investments.
• JPMorgan forecasts ECB to cut deposit rate as low as -0.7 percent this year
  U.S. bank JPMorgan on Tuesday forecast the European Central Bank to aggressively ease monetary policy again by cutting its already negative deposit rate by another 40 basis points to minus 0.7 percent this year. The bank said it also expects the ECB to extend its quantitative easing, or bond-buying programme, through the end of 2017. It said it expected the easing to start next month with a deposit rate cut to -0.5 percent from the current -0.3 percent – followed by a second package perhaps as early as June which will see another 20 basis points lopped off and an extension of QE.
• Setting The Record Straight On The Massive Gold Supply Conspiracy
  As market turmoil continues to push gold and silver prices higher, precious metal investors need to understand the fundamentals more than ever.  Unfortunately, there continues to be a lot of misinformation reported by sources in the precious metal community.  This is harmful as it confuses would be precious metal investors.
• Jaw-Dropping Indicator Last Seen During Great Depression Just Hit An All-Time High!
  On the heels of the Dow plunging nearly 400 points at one point during today’s trading session, and with gold surging and oil falling, today a jaw-dropping indicator that was last seen during the Great Depression just hit an all-time high!
• Japanese banks plunge on European financial stocks rout
  Japanese and Australian banks picked up the baton from their European peers, pulling the two bourses — the only two major Asian markets trading on Tuesday morning — sharply lower. Nomura led Japan’s meltdown, dropping 8 per cent within 20 minutes of the market opening. Big commercial banks Sumitomo Mitsui and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial were off 7 and 6.7 per cent respectively. Australian banks also fell sharply.
• British steel sector ‘at risk of impending collapse'
  Business Secretary joins in Europe-wide plea to EC for anti-dumping action. The steel industry in Britain and Europe faces a “significant and impending risk of collapse”, business ministers have warned in a letter to European Commissioners demanding action to save steel makers.
• Citi: World economy trapped in ‘death spiral'
  The global economy is trapped in a “death spiral” that could lead to further weakness in oil prices, recession and a serious equity bear market, Citi (C) strategists have warned. Some analysts — including those at Citi — have turned bearish on the world economy this year, following an equity rout in January and weaker economic data out of China and the U.S. “The world appears to be trapped in a circular reference death spiral,” Citi strategists led by Jonathan Stubbs said in a report on Thursday.
• Global Growth Fears Hit Bank Stocks
  Investors are dumping bank stocks amid worries that a protracted period of slowing global growth, plunging oil prices and rock-bottom interest rates will combine to inflict pain on the world’s largest financial institutions.
• Confusion and turmoil helps gold to shine
  Concerns over the global economy have added an extra shine to safe-haven assets such as gold, according to the chief executive of a top mining firm, who told CNBC that “solid” demand and future economic stress could lead to more price gains for the commodity.
• Exclusive: Iran wants euro payment for new and outstanding oil sales – source
  Iran wants to recover tens of billions of dollars it is owed by India and other buyers of its oil in euros and is billing new crude sales in euros, too, looking to reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar following last month's sanctions relief. A source at state-owned National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) told Reuters that Iran will charge in euros for its recently signed oil contracts with firms including French oil and gas major Total, Spanish refiner Cepsa and Litasco, the trading arm of Russia's Lukoil.
• George Osborne may have just triggered a Financial Crisis ‘greater than 2007’
  A recent report issued to the Bank of England has revealed that the actions of George Osborne may be about to trigger a financial crisis greater than 2007, and once again, it will start in the housing market.
• EU on brink of ‘terrifying crisis' Five of Europe's big banks are in danger, warns expert
  SOME of Europe's biggest banks are on the brink for a crisis that echoes the 2008 meltdown, a finance expert warned, as fears over the global economy escalate. Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, Santander, Barclays and RBS are among the stocks that are falling sharply sending shockwaves through the financial world, according to former hedge fund manager and ex Goldman Sachs employee Raoul Pal.
• Everybody Hopping on Gold Bandwagon, but Signs There All Along 
  The mainstream world of economics and investment has the attention span of a 12-year-old hopped up on sugar. A couple of months ago, it was all doom and gloom for gold. The Fed was talking interest rate hikes, government spokespersons were claiming victory over the recession, and mainstream analysts were hastily pounding nails in gold’s coffin. Cancel the wake, because today everybody has turned bullish on gold with the price up more than 9% since New Year’s Day.
• Russia is now China's biggest oil partner — and it's a huge problem for Saudi Arabia
  Saudi Arabia has long trumped Russia in the Chinese oil market. The Saudi share of Chinese crude imports at the beginning of the decade was about 20%, while Russia's was below 7%, according to data cited by RBC Capital Markets. But now the Russians are creeping in — and the Saudis are getting nervous.
• U.S. rig count drops 8 percent
  The total number of rigs actively exploring for or producing oil and gas in the United States dropped more than 8 percent, Baker Hughes reports.
• Fascinating graphics show who owns all the major brands in the world
  All the biggest product brands in the world are owned by a handful of corporation. Food, cleaning products, banks, airlines, cars, media companies… everything is in the hands of these megacorporations. These graphics show how everything is connected.
• Who Owns The Big TV Networks
• How 37 Banks Became 4 In Just 2 Decades, All In One Astonishing Chart.
• Strange Occurrence Off The Coast Of Texas Raises Concerns
  Something bizarre is happening off the coast of Galveston, Texas. Were you to look toward the sea in the Texas port town, you’d be subject to a oceanic traffic jam of epic proportions. Ships carrying oil have gathered along the coast in the Gulf of Mexico in such great quantities that ships approaching the port have been asked to move toward the town slowly in an attempt to ease the burden.
• Is This How The Smart Money Is Betting On A Market Crash?
  Instead of allocating capital to expensive tail risk bets on direct asset class collapse (in equities, credit, and commodities), it appears, just as we detailed previously, the ‘smartest money in the room' is “betting” indirectly on a stock market crash through eurodollar options. As we previously detailed, the costs of tail risk protection in credit and equity markets are soaring (and perhaps the crash in global financial stocks and spike in systemic credit risk supports that concerning possibility).
• Chorus Of Financial Experts Warn Of Imminent Crisis
  A growing list of financial gurus and industry experts are warning that 2016 could see a devastating collapse in global financial markets, pushing America into an economic downturn potentially worse than the 2008 recession.
• Tehran wants to dump dollar in crude trade – report
  ran wants post-sanctions’ oil contracts denominated in dollars and have buyers pay in euros, Reuters reported. Tehran is also keen to receive money owed to it since the pre-sanctions days in the European currency.
• TPP Deal Just Signed: Paves Way for Authoritarian Technocracy
  Beware TPP. It's nothing more than the further formalization of the worst part of the 20th century: The warfare/welfare state. It's just been signed in New Zealand by the 12 negotiating parties and now US President Barack Obama is pressuring Congress to get it passed quickly. Obama wants it passed so that the US will be able to “write the rules of the road in the 21st century,” enabling it to shape global trade to its own advantage.
• 22 Signs That The Global Economic Turmoil We Have Seen So Far In 2016 Is Just The Beginning
  As bad as the month of January was for the global economy, the truth is that the rest of 2016 promises to be much worse.  Layoffs are increasing at a pace that we haven’t seen since the last recession, major retailers are shutting down hundreds of locations, corporate profit margins are plunging, global trade is slowing down dramatically, and several major European banks are in the process of completely imploding.
• US trade deficit widens as exports fall
  The U.S. trade deficit widened in December as a strong dollar and weak global demand continued to weigh on exports. The Commerce Department said on Friday the trade gap rose 2.7 percent to $43.4 billion. November's trade deficit was revised down to $42.2 billion from the previously reported $42.4 billion.
• Dollar tumbles as Fed rescues China in the nick of time 
  The central banks of Europe and Japan discover that it is impossible to stave off deflation by debasing their currencies when everybody is playing the same game. The US dollar has suffered one of the sharpest drops in 20 years as the Federal Reserve signals a retreat from monetary tightening, igniting a powerful rally for commodities and easing a ferocious squeeze on dollar debtors in China and emerging markets.
• Congress wants to turn the US Postal Service… into a bank
  It’s news that seems ripped from the pages of The Onion. Or perhaps Atlas Shrugged. But incredibly enough it’s actually true: earlier this week, Congress proposed a new law authorizing the US Postal Service to provide banking and financial services. It’s called the “Providing Opportunities for Savings, Transactions, and Lending” Act, abbreviated as… wait for it… the POSTAL Act.
• Why it would be wise to prepare for the next recession
  What might central banks do if the next recession hit while interest rates were still far below pre-2008 levels? As a paper from the London-based Resolution Foundation argues, this is highly likely. Central banks need to be prepared for this eventuality. The most important part of such preparation is to convince the public that they know what to do.
• Mass Layoffs To Return With A Vengeance
  Remember the mass layoffs of 2008-2009? The US economy shed millions of jobs quickly and relentlessly, as companies died and the rest fought for survival. Then the Fed and the US government flooded the banks and the corporate sector with bailouts and handouts. With those giga-tons of liquidity sloshing around, as well as taking on massive amounts of new cheap debt, companies were able to finance their working capital needs, hire workers back, and even buy-back their shares en mass to make themselves look deceptively profitable. The nightmare of 2008 soon became a golden era of ‘recovery'. Well, 2016 is showing us that that era is over. And as stock prices cease to rise, and in fact fall within many industries, layoffs are beginning to make a return as companies jettison costs in attempt to reduce losses.
• New financial MELTDOWN set to sink EU as German banks lose £14,292,610,000.00 in 90 DAYS
  EUROPE'S biggest economy was plunged into fresh chaos tonight amid warnings a new financial crisis in Germany could destroy the EU. Shares in Germany's two biggest lenders – Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank – fell sharply again as panic gripped global markets. They have now seen their combined market value plummet by more than £14BILLION in the past three months. Deutsche Bank shares fell by nearly four per cent to close at an all-time low amid turmoil not seen since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009. Meanwhile shares in Commerzbank, Germany's second biggest lender, fell even further, by 4.65 per cent, to close at their lowest level in nearly two-and-a-half years.

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From James Harkin (Webmaster & Editor of LindseyWilliams.net). Here is a summary of articles of interest from around the world for this week. One point I'd like to mention is that gold has started to rally. I will be doing a special article on gold next week that will share some insight into what is happening and what you could see if this trend continues. Please continue to send me news articles and I will include them in the summary each week. Also, the latest articles and news are added daily at the Lindsey Williams Online Facebook Page. Please ‘LIKE' the page and share it with others. I have included a widget on the right hand side of this page also. I am also creating a Lindsey Williams Online YouTube page that will include regular videos and content.

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Latest News From January 29, 2016 to February 4, 2016:

• Gold sets new three-month high as investors shun risky assets
  Gold hit three-month highs on Wednesday as the dollar slid versus the euro and European shares fell sharply, prompting investors to seek shelter in assets perceived as safer. Data showing the U.S. economy's services sector expanded in January at a slower pace than expected overshadowed stronger-than-expected U.S. ADP private payrolls data, helping knock the dollar to a 14-week low against the euro. Spot gold was up 0.9 percent at $1,138.46 at 1618 GMT, having earlier touched its strongest since Nov. 2 at $1,139.90.
• Dollar Posts Biggest 2-Day Drop Since March as 2016 Rally Erased
  The dollar posted its biggest two-day drop since March, extending a decline that wiped out its rally at the start of the year. The greenback fell against all of its 16 major peers except the pound, which was weighed down by the Bank of England ’s unanimous vote to keep interest rates unchanged. Signs of a slowing U.S economy have hurt the dollar by derailing wagers on diverging policies between central banks. Currency traders are catching up to the bond market, where 10-year yields sank to the lowest in a year on Wednesday and futures sent the strongest signal yet that traders expect the Federal Reserve to stand pat on rates in 2016.
• Job cuts surged 218% in January
  Layoff announcements surged 218% from December to January, led by the retail and energy sectors. The latest monthly report from the staffing firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas on planned job showed that US employers in January reported 75,114 planned job cuts, up 42% year-on-year. Retailers moved the needle on this data point the most, particularly Walmart, which announced plans to close 269 stores across America.
• US productivity falls sharply in fourth quarter
  U.S. nonfarm productivity fell in the fourth quarter at its fastest pace in more than a year, leading to a jump in labor-related production costs. The Labor Department said on Thursday that productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, declined at a 3.0 percent annual rate, the biggest drop since the first quarter of 2014. Productivity rose by a downwardly revised 2.1 percent rate in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast productivity falling at only a 1.8 percent rate last quarter after expanding at a previously reported 2.2 percent pace in the third quarter.
• Germany Unveils “Cash Controls” Push: Ban Transactions Over €5,000, €500 Euro Note
  It was just two days ago that Bloomberg implored officials to “bring on a cashless future” in an Op-Ed that calls notes and coins “dirty, dangerous, unwieldy, and expensive.” You probably never thought of your cash that way, but increasingly, authorities and the powers that be seem determined to lay the groundwork for the abolition of what Bloomberg calls “antiquated” physical money. We’ve documented the cash ban calls on a number of occasions including, most recently, those that emanated from DNB, Norway’s largest bank where executive Trond Bentestuen said that although “there is approximately 50 billion kroner in circulation, the Norges Bank can only account for 40 percent of its use.”
• Hyper Inflation Is Here
  Last week I wrote an article for King World News which showed that hyperinflation is on its way in many emerging markets. Soon it will also reach the US, Europe, Japan, China and many other countries. Hyperinflation has nothing to do with demand but is the effect of economic mismanagement leading to money printing and currency collapse. This trend started over 100 years ago with the creation of the Fed. Since then all major currencies have declined 97-99% in real terms. The best way to measure inflation over time is in gold. For 5,000 years, gold is the only currency that has survived. All other currencies have been printed to death. The trend of currency debasement is now accelerating in the periphery. For example, in Russian Rubles and Brazilian Real gold is up 1,300% in 16 years and in Argentine Pesos gold is up 6,000% since 1999. Also, gold now buys more oil than it has ever done in history.
• Comex: Paper Gold “Dilution” Hits A Record 542 For Every Ounce Of Physical
  There had been an eerie silence at the COMEX in recent weeks, where after registered gold tumbled to a record 120K ounces in early December nothing much had changed, an in fact the total amount of physical deliverable aka “registered” gold, had stayed practically unchanged at 275K ounces all throughout January. Until today, when in the latest update from the COMEX vault, we learn that a whopping 201,345 ounces of Registered gold had been de-warranted at the owner's request, and shifted into the Eligible category, reducing the total mount of COMEX Registered gold by 73%, from 275K to just 74K overnight.
• Another Nail In The US Empire Coffin: Collapse Of Shale Gas Production Has Begun
  The U.S. Empire is in serious trouble as the collapse of its domestic shale gas production has begun. This is just another nail in a series of nails that have been driven into the U.S. Empire coffin. Unfortunately, most investors don’t pay attention to what is taking place in the U.S. Energy Industry. Without energy, the U.S. economy would grind to a halt. All the trillions of Dollars in financial assets mean nothing without oil, natural gas or coal. Energy drives the economy and finance steers it. As I stated several times before, the financial industry is driving us over the cliff. The Great U.S. Shale Gas Boom Is Likely Over For Good.
• Here's Which Stocks Sovereign Wealth Funds Will Be Selling In 2016
  Back in August we explained why the headline figures for EM FX reserves paint an incomplete picture with regard to the UST liquidation among commodity producers and emerging market reserve managers. As Credit Suisse wrote last year, “for oil exporting nations, central bank official reserves likely underestimate the full scale of the reversal of oil exporters’ ‘petrodollar’ accumulation because a substantial part of their oil proceeds has previously been placed in sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), which are not reported as FX reserves (with the notable exception of Russia.” In other words, official data on FX reserves don’t tell the whole story. Not by a long shot. In fact, “oil exporting countries hold about $1.7trn of official reserves but as much as $4.3trn in SWF assets.”
• The Unleashing Of QQE And Global Economic Meltdown
  The Keynesian elite gathered in Davos Switzerland this past week to pontificate on global economic issues and to strategize the engineering of The Fourth Industrial Revolution. This new so called “revolution” includes a discussion on the future of Artificial Intelligence. Judging by the comments coming from most of the list of attendees, it seems obvious the intelligence on display was indeed faux. But the most important takeaway from this venue was that central bankers have made it clear to the markets that the level and duration of quantitative counterfeiting know no bounds…
• It Has Begun!
  Since August 18th, we have stated that the markets had shifted, major indexes would begin to decline, and a NEW gold bull market was imminent! And now, one of the best-leading indicators is pointing to a roaring bull market for gold. The two most heavily traded gold stocks, Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining, are having one hell of a move since last summer. The Bull Market has Already Begun!
• ALERT: Nomi Prins Issues Dire Warning – We May Have Just Witnessed The Trigger For The Next Global Collapse
  Today Nomi Prins, the keynote speaker who recently addressed the Federal Reserve, IMF and World Bank, issued a dire warning to King World News that we may have just witnessed the trigger for the next global collapse. Eric King: “We saw the global financial system come unhinged as a result of the mortgage-backed securities scheme from 2007 – 2009. Do all the derivatives and junk bonds tied to the energy sector have the potential to cause a similar level of panic and chaos in the global banking and financial system?” Nomi Prins: “It does have that potential for a similar reason, which is that a very small amount of underlying collateral in the energy sector and other industries that are dependent on profits from the energy sector for their own revenues, a small number of those can create a much larger ripple effect…
• The Fed Wants to Test How Banks Would Handle Negative Rates
  As interest rates turn negative around the world, the Federal Reserve is asking banks to consider the possibility of the same happening in the U.S. In its annual stress test for 2016, the Fed said it will assess the resilience of big banks to a number of possible situations, including one where the rate on the three-month U.S. Treasury bill stays below zero for a prolonged period. “The severely adverse scenario is characterized by a severe global recession, accompanied by a period of heightened corporate financial stress and negative yields for short-term U.S. Treasury securities,” the central bank said in announcing the stress tests last week.
• Europe Continued Gold Repatriation at Faster Rate in 2015
  Germany ramped up its gold repatriation project last year, joining other European nations bringing gold home. The trend underscores the importance of holding physical gold within easy access. Germany’s Bundesbank transferred more than 210 tons of gold back into the country from vaults in Paris and New York last year. According to the Financial Times, with last year’s transfers, Frankfurt now ranks as the largest storage location for the country’s reserves after New York.
• New “Tech Tattoos” Will Be Tied To Medical And Banking Information
  Apparently a tech company called Chaotic Moon is looking to take advantage of the 20% of humans who already have a proclivity toward tattoos. For the rest? An appeal to safety and security, of course, and an assurance that a future offering could be a “Band-Aid-like package.” Chaotic Moon’s dual-purpose tattoo is comprised of electro conductive ink embedded with sensors and microchips. Here is the reasoning why this product is so desirable according to one of the developers, Eric Schneider, who mentions the banking aspect to CBSNewYork.
• Ford To Cut Hundreds Of Jobs In UK And Germany
  Car maker Ford is to shed hundreds of jobs in the UK and Germany as part of a programme to save $200m (£138m) a year. The group said it was launching a voluntary redundancy programme as it looked to slash costs across its European business, in the face of mounting regulatory costs. It comes after Ford recently revealed that its European operation had returned to profit for the first time in four years in 2015. Production and product development workers will not be affected by the job cuts. The company said they were mainly likely to go in administration and marketing.
• ISM New York Tumbles Most Since August As Revenues Crash
  While Chicago's business outlook managed a miraculous bounce in January, New York did not. ISM New York printed 54.6, plunging most since August from December's 62.0 level. The extremely noisy time series continues to swing, this time lower, as the underlying components deteriorate with Revenues collapsing to at least 3 year lows.
• Biggest part of economy growing at slowest pace in two years, ISM finds
  Companies in the U.S. service sector such as retail, banking and health care grew in January at the slowest pace in almost two years, adding to a drumbeat of data suggesting the economy has softened. The Institute for Supply Management said its nonmanufacturing index fell to 53.5% from 55.8% in December. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 55.2% reading. Any number over 50% indicates more businesses are expanding instead of contracting, but the ISM service index has dropped three straight months and is at the lowest level since February 2014.
• Lloyds Banking Group to cut 1,755 jobs and close 29 branches
  Lloyds Banking Group is cutting 1,755 jobs and closing 29 branches as part of a plan by its chief executive, António Horta-Osório, to cut costs as he prepares the bank for privatisation. Staff were told about the job losses, which cover large parts of the group, on Wednesday, but union officials said they hoped that the reductions could be achieved by voluntary means. Horta-Osório is continuing with the cost-reduction programme even though the chancellor, George Osborne, has admitted that he cannot press on with a sale of the government’s remaining Lloyds shares to the public because of the market turmoil, which has knocked the bank’s share price.
• BOJ Kuroda says can ease more, devise new tools
  Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank has ample room to expand stimulus further and is prepared to cut interest rates deeper into negative territory, signalling a readiness to act again to hit his ambitious inflation target. “If we judge that existing measures in the toolkit are not enough to achieve (our) goal, what we have to do is to devise new tools,” Kuroda said in a speech at a seminar on Wednesday (Feb 3). “I am convinced that there is no limit to measures for monetary easing,” he said. Governor Kuroda also countered criticism that the BOJ was running out of ammunition to accelerate inflation, which has ground to a halt due to slumping oil costs, saying negative rates won't hamper the bank's efforts to gobble up government bonds.
• Venezuela is on the brink of a complete economic collapse
  The only question now is whether Venezuela's government or economy will completely collapse first. The key word there is “completely.” Both are well into their death throes. Indeed, Venezuela's ruling party just lost congressional elections that gave the opposition a veto-proof majority, and it's hard to see that getting any better for them any time soon — or ever. Incumbents, after all, don't tend to do too well when, according to the International Monetary Fund, their economy shrinks 10 percent one year, an additional 6 percent the next, and inflation explodes to 720 percent. It's no wonder, then, that markets expect Venezuela to default on its debt in the very near future. The country is basically bankrupt.
• The $3 Trillion Question – Why China should not devalue its currency
  Buffeted by a slowing economy, a falling stock market, and a rising tide of money leaving the country, China is flirting with weakening its currency, the renminbi (RMB). Despite repeated — and very high-level — pledges to maintain its value, Beijing quietly let the RMB slip 5 percent against the U.S. dollar in 2015. Many see its decision in December to switch the RMB’s peg from the dollar to a basket of currencies as a back-door way to piggyback on the weakening of other currencies against the dollar. Meanwhile, a growing chorus of economists, hedge funds, and policymakers are saying that China must “go with the market” and let its currency fall to save its stumbling economy. “China should stop resisting Renminbi depreciation. The currency is overvalued,” tweeted economist Jeffrey Sachs. In mid-January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn agreed China has little choice: “They may have to do something in the next six months.… Do I believe they will end up devaluing the currency? I do.”
• The End Of Plan A: The Big Reset & $8000 Gold
  Willem Middlekoop, author of The Big Reset – The War On Gold And The Financial Endgame, believes the current international monetary system has entered its last term and is up for a reset. Having predicted the collapse of the real estate market in 2006, (while Ben Bernanke didn't), Middlekoop asks (rhetorically) -can the global credit expansion ‘experiment' from 2002 – 2008, which Bernanke completely underestimated, be compared to the global QE ‘experiment' from 2008 – present? – the answer is worrisome. In the following must-see interview with Grant Williams, he shares his thoughts on the future of the global monetary system and why the revaluation of Gold is inevitable…
• Full Summary Of Chinese Actions To Prevent An All-Out Economic Collapse
  Last summer, China unleashed an unprecedented array of measures – up to and including the arrest of “malicious short sellers” and prominent hedge fund mangers – to prevent its stock market bubble from bursting. It failed. A few months later, the chaos has spilled over from the relative containment of the capital markets and has engulfed not only the country's FX reserves, and capital account, but also the entire economy. As a result, China’s government has gone all in, and as Bloomberg reports, is stepping up efforts to ward off a potential financial crisis, warning bank executives that their jobs are on the line unless they control risks and putting restrictions on an increasingly popular way of evading capital controls. These moves come in response to China's slowest economic growth in a quarter century fueled concerns that bad debts will cripple the banking system and a catalyst for why virtually every hedge fund is now short the Yuan.
• The Big-Oil Bailouts Begin
  Despite a bounce this week, low oil prices continue to sow fear, uncertainty, and mayhem across the emerging market complex. On Wednesday, it was leaked that the IMF and World Bank would dispatch a team to oil and gas-dependent Azerbaijan to negotiate a possible $4 billion emergency loan package in what threatens to become the first of a series of global bailouts stemming from the tumbling oil price.
• This Silver Investor is “Hell Bent on Taking the Precious Metals Battle Back to the Banksters”
  I see a connection to what happened during the 85 cent silver flash crash and NIRP.  It’s tenuous but there are linkages to any flash crash. The formalization of negative interest rates evolved in Europe for several reasons, and just migrated to Japan. I’m certain it’ll come to the US once NIRP’s wrecked its toll in these GDP heavy economies. The EU project with it’s failing currency,  bank debt,  leverage, business disabling socialist friction, crushingly high taxes, and thuggish control polices were quite predictable 5 years ago.  Even before that time the issues of uncontrolled borders and infiltration of migrants began to press on the movement of people and currency as the situation grew slowly to critical mass.
• Puerto Rico wants to erase half its debt
  Puerto Rico has a new plan to get out of its massive debt crisis: Use a big eraser. The island's taxpayers are currently on the hook to pay back about $50 billion. On Monday, Puerto proposed cutting that nearly in half to $26.5 billion. So far, Puerto Rico's creditors are not impressed. “It's frustrating, and it doesn't feel like a credible offer,” a person close to major creditors told CNNMoney.
• Retail Apocalypse: 2016 Brings Empty Shelves And Store Closings All Across America
  Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country.  It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016.  As economic activity slows down and Internet retailers capture more of the market, brick and mortar retailers are cutting their losses.  This is especially true in areas that are on the lower portion of the income scale.  In impoverished urban centers all over the nation, it is not uncommon to find entire malls that have now been completely abandoned.  It has been estimated that there is about a billion square feet of retail space sitting empty in this country, and this crisis is only going to get worse as the retail apocalypse accelerates.
• Federal debt hits $19 trillion; new record set
  The federal government is now officially $19 trillion in debt, according to the latest figures released by the Treasury Department Monday that show the Obama administration crossed that ignominious line late last week. President Obama took office with the debt at $10.6 trillion, and has added more than $8 trillion during his seven years in the White House — a record pace that the Congressional Budget Office says is likely to continue.
• ALERT: Legend Warns Global Governments Are Now Preparing For Total Collapse
  Egon von Greyerz:  “Eric, 25% of government bonds are now negative around the world. On Friday morning Bank of Japan was the latest country to introduce negative rates. There are now 13 countries with yields up to 2 years being negative and 10 countries with negative yields up to 10 years. I have been saying for a very long time that Japan is bankrupt and negative rates will of course not save their economy…
• British scientists granted permission to genetically modify human embryos
  British scientists have been granted permission to genetically modify human embryos by the fertility regulator. The Francis Crick Institute could begin the controversial experiments as early as March after the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) gave the green light this morning.
• PETER SCHIFF: We're going to have a serious recession and negative interest rates before the election
  Based on today's GDP release, it appears that the US economy is slowing but not near any sort of massive collapse. Peter Schiff begs to differ. The CEO and chief global strategist for Euro Pacific Capital, and noted perma-bear, said that serious economic destruction is just a few months away. “I think the Fed is going to have negative interest rates before the election because we're going to be in a serious recession,” Schiff told Business Insider on Friday. In fact, Schiff said that we may already be in recession and this one is going to be a doozy. “We're in worse shape now than we were in 2007,” he said.
• US hedge funds mount new attacks on China’s yuan
  Some of the biggest names in the hedge-fund industry are piling up bets against China’s currency, setting up a showdown between Wall Street and the leaders of the world’s second-largest economy. Kyle Bass’s Hayman Capital Management has sold off the bulk of its investments in stocks, commodities and bonds so it can focus on shorting Asian currencies, including the yuan and the Hong Kong dollar.
• Court rules Michigan has no responsibility to provide quality public education
  In a blow to schoolchildren statewide, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled on Nov. 7 the State of Michigan has no legal obligation to provide a quality public education to students in the struggling Highland Park School District.
• Oil Production Cuts Unlikely to Reverse Plunging Prices
  A cut in oil production by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member states, as well as other oil exporters, is unlikely to make a difference in terms of the low oil prices, experts told Sputnik.
• Peter Boockvar – Japan Just Launched An Economic Kamikaze Against Its Citizens And The World – Own Gold
  “I only have a few things to say about what Mr. Kuroda and 4 other members of the BoJ decided to do (4 dissented). It’s a tax on money that banks will just pass on to their customers. Wanting higher inflation without faster wage growth is a tax on consumers. And, the BOJ just amped up the global currency battles. I call this economic Kamikaze and I’ll say for the millionth time, I just don’t get the bear case on gold in light of this with fiat currency having such a large bulls-eye target on it. Believing that generating higher inflation is a needed precursor to faster economic growth is nonsense. Inflation reads are a symptom of the activity of the underlying economy. I’ll also repeat the irony that markets love it when the BoJ and ECB further debase their currencies but freak out when the Chinese also want a weaker yuan.”
• Mainstream Media Starting to Sound the Recession Warning Siren
  Ever since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in December, Peter Schiff has insisted that the state of the US economy didn’t justify the move. In fact, on numerous occasions, Peter has said the US may already be in a recession. If not, we are on the verge of entering one.
• Bank of Japan, in a Surprise, Adopts Negative Interest Rate
  As Japan’s economic doldrums have lingered, its leaders have tried a number of tricks over the years, from increasing government spending to flooding the financial system with cash. With the global economy looking increasingly fragile, Japan is now taking a more aggressive step by cutting interest rates below zero on Friday. The policy — which means banks are essentially paying for the privilege of parking their money — represents a last resort for a country that has struggled through a quarter-century of weak growth. In theory, negative rates will push banks to lend more to companies, which would then spend and hire.
• EU on brink: Germany's biggest bank records shock losses risking economic RUIN of Eurozone 
  GERMANY could force the European Union into ruin after Deutsche Bank's share price plunged following the country's biggest lender's first annual loss since the financial crisis. The German lender posted a full year loss of £5.1 billion (€6.8bn) on Thursday – higher than the expected €6.7bn million. With losses of €2.1bn in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, fears of the entire eurozone toppling are becoming an increasing reality.
• World Bank and IMF in emergency BAILOUT talks to save countries from bankruptcy over oil
  TUMBLING oil prices are plunging emerging economies into financial crisis, sparking what could be the start of a global economy meltdown. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are extremely worried about the financial stability of Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador, which are heavily reliant upon oil profits. And the two organisations are now set to discuss an emergency fund of a possible $4billion emergency to bailout Azerbaijan in what risks to become the first bailout of a country due to oil. Iran's neighbour has been thrown into a currency crisis thanks to falling prices.
• 80% Stock Market Crash To Strike in 2016, Economist Warns
  Several noted economists and distinguished investors are warning of a stock market crash. Billionaire Carl Icahn, for example, recently raised a red flag on a national broadcast when he declared, “The public is walking into a trap again as they did in 2007.” And the prophetic economist Andrew Smithers warns, “U.S. stocks are now about 80% overvalued.” Smithers backs up his prediction using a ratio which proves that the only time in history stocks were this risky was 1929 and 1999. And we all know what happened next. Stocks fell by 89% and 50%, respectively. Even the Royal Bank of Scotland says the markets are flashing stress alerts akin to the 2008 crisis. They told their clients to “Sell Everything” because “in a crowded hall, the exit doors are small.” Stocks like Apple, will plunge.
• Marc Faber: Market Crash Will Rival 1987's Massive Drop
  Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, said markets could see a sudden crash similar the one in 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 23 percent in one day. “[The market] will remain very volatile because interventions with fiscal and monetary policies, instead of lowering volatility they postpone it, and then it explodes,” he said to CNBC. “The average stock in the U.S. is already down 26 percent from its 52-week high and there are a lot of stocks that are down 50 percent or more. The indices have hidden the weakness beneath the surface and basically the market has been weak the whole time.”
• Analysis: Behind the global stock market plunge of 2016
  Global equity markets have been on a rollercoaster ride since the opening sessions of 2016. The violent lurch lower in stocks was initially triggered by fears that an economic slowdown in China, the world's second largest economy, was spinning out of control. But it was the spectacular collapse in oil prices that really lent impetus to the January sell-off. “Fear, not economic fundamentals, sparked the frenzied sell-off in China as the new year got under way which then spread to global markets and the oil price slide has compounded the pessimism,” said Beijing-based economist Chen Chen, at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

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