Jack the Pipper

Technically, the sour news corresponds with a corrective rally that may have hit resistance that won’t again be tested for a while. While the S&P 500 (below) is certainly vulnerable, markets in Europe and Asia are especially vulnerable in the current environment – shorting (or buying put options) on select ETFs like FXI (iShares China), EWI (iShares Italy), or EEM (iShares Emerging Markets) may make sense now.

I guess it is no different this time. There are always more questions than answers. I guess the first question is: Are we finally seeing a change to the “all one market” liquidity-driven correlations in global markets?

First, let me be clear. It has been a very long time since we had truly free markets. Since governments were formed, early in civilization, they have always had a hand in the market. We don’t have free markets; we instead have “quasi free markets” and they seem to be becoming more “quasi” by the day.

Are there no limits whatsoever to monetary policy? It is beyond pathetic that a rising stock market seems the only substitute for real policy from our “best and brightest.”

What do William Lowndes Yancey, Edmund Ruffin, and Geert Wilders have in common? Even though the first two owned black slaves in the 1800s and the last of that trio has spoken out against the spread of Islam across Europe in recent years, no – they’re not all racists.

It seems the European Central Bankers didn’t read the latest issue of Institutional Investor. Had they perused the pages, they may have stumbled on an acceptable strategy from former Goldman Sachs managing partner slash US Treasury Secretary slash Citigroup chairman, Robert Rubin.

The Reserve Bank of Australia kicked the door wide in its last meeting, sealing the deal on expectations for a coming interest rate cut Down Under. It seems growth in Australia may be in some trouble.

I finally figured it all out. Our global policymakers are nothing more than Wizard of Oz aficionados (the movie as the book is way over their collective heads). They just love happy endings. Let’s just get all the little people to follow down the yellow brick road and it will all turn out just fine, our pols want to believe.

China holds more than 1 million tonnes of commercial stocks of refined copper cathode currently, a level last seen in 2009, due to high imports and weak domestic demand, which may slow arrivals in the second quarter, analysts said on Tuesday.

John Ross asked me this morning if I could create a scenario whereby stocks fall. I laughed and said, “Well … no!” And maybe that is the point. No doubt ‘if you are not long, you are wrong’ is playing out in spades. But we’ve seen that sentiment many times before near tops.