OVERNIGHT

You no doubt have heard of the dog that didn't bark. Well, this apparently was the oil cut that didn't happen as Asian stocks fell overnight Wednesday after oil sold off when a Saudi minister said no cut by major producers was on the horizon.

This news inspired the safe haven crowd as they scrambled for their favorite port in this storm, the Japsnese yen, tossing one more gauntlet in front of Japanese exporters to worry about. Investors in the Nikkei responded by pushing the index down 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite Index and South Korea's Kospi were mostly flat while Australia's ASX 200 fell 1.5% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1%.

The Wall Street Journal reported: Banks on Japan’s Topix benchmark were off 1.2%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 1.6%. The Japanese yen was up 0.2% at ¥111.87 to one U.S. dollar, with its strength hurting the competitiveness of local exporters.

The Chinese yuan fell slightly against the U.S. dollar after authorities guided it weaker for a second session in a row. The central bank fixed the yuan at 6.5302 yuan to one greenback, the weakest level for the yuan since Feb. 5, before China’s Lunar New Year holiday.

So oil is the dastardly villain again in a market where investors can't seem to make up their minds. Is the globe headed for another recession and the Chinese economy a hard landing or isn't it remains pretty much the question for now.

For an answer why doesn't someone just ask a central bank economist? That ought to clear the whole thing up.

Chinese shares opened higher but surrendered the gains, with the CSI 300 index .CSI300down 0.1 percent and the Shanghai Composite .SSEC little changed.The U.S. S&P 500 Index .SPX fell 1.25 percent on Tuesday to 1,921.27, having failed to rise above its pak hit on Feb. 1, with energy and material sectors being a major drag as oil prices quickly gave up Monday's hefty gains.

   

BEWARE OF DICTATORS

There's trouble in Pound Land. The British pound.

Some want to go, some want to stay. In the heat of the fray, the revered pound has lost some of its luster, falling sizeably against the euro, the yen and the dollar. In struggles likes these vested interests roll out their two most precious weapons--the big guns and the big lie.

LONDON—More than one-third of Britain’s 100 largest companies came out in support of the U.K.’s continued membership in the European Union, marking a significant step-up in businesses’ intervention in the debate after Downing Street encouraged them to publicly weigh in.

In private conversations with executives of some of the U.K.’s biggest firms, Prime Minister David Cameron’s advisers have urged executives to set the tone of the debate early, according to a government official familiar with the strategy. In the Scottish referendum in 2014, many businesses kept quiet until the last minute for fears of alienating customers who disagreed with their stance.

“The business community will be more vocal and organized” than it was then, said the chief executive of a large British company familiar with Downing Street’s plans. He added the prime minister’s office has been liaising with companies over strategy for at least several months. Mr. Cameron on Saturday said a referendum on whether the U.K. should remain within or leave the union would take place June 23, officially kicking off the campaign.

The above from today's WSJ tells you all you need to know about the big guns. Note the reference to the Scottish vote about secession. 

The big lie, as it gets told again and again anytime anyone mentions secession is how much businesses, the currency and the people will suffer. These are all globalist vested establishment fear propaganda tactics. Staying in the EU means eventually surrendering the beloved pound. 

If the Brits can't see that coming, they deserve to lose not just their pound but their sovereignty. These globalists will stop at nothing. A cashless society means one without the pound, the yen, the dollar or whatever. It also is one of the most important stepping stones to eradicating sovereignty.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is no novice in spreading the fear as he projected in Parliament earlier this week, "suggesting uncertainty over Britain's intentions toward the bloc (EU) could hurt working people for years, p" the Journal noted.

Much of the furor picked up this week as fellow Conservative Boris Johnson, London's mayor, endorsed the vote for leaving. Cameron wasted no time trying to marginalized Johnson by rolling out the popular tactic used on anyone who differs on such things by suggesting Johnson is a euroskeptic, as if those who are skeptic of the bumbling, stumbling gang in Brussels gives one no reason to be skeptic.

Skepticism, like water, is your friend not your enemy. Your enemy is those who disdain your opinions and seek to dictate your future.

COMMENT ON GOLD

There are some things in life you just learn to love. In fact, that might be a paradigm for most of the things in life each of us learns to love.

For us, it's how in times like these pundits of all sorts keep up their assault on anything that may presage the demise of their revered printing presses. Imagine that! Gold is one of those things.

For a relic that's been around so long and withstood the test of time at least for longevity, it's a pretty maligned element, dental fillings notwithstanding. Usually, when we keep shouting smoke, there's a good reason. And so there's is for those who despise the yellow metal.

With formerTreasury Secretary Lawrence Summers recent frontal lobe assault on the $100 bill, you know there's some flames beneath that smoke screen. Based on a paper by some Harvard economic nerds--just what the world needs, another Harvard-led promulgation to oblivion--you can bet such is not in your interest. On the contrary, it's more of the same.

We won't bore you with the oft-repeated reasons why gold is not a good investment. We could argue that the track record of investing in politicians, bureaucrats and academics hasn't been too hot either. The fact that Harvard and its ilk are two of the most bloated investments around and have been might some day cross your gray matter.

The question you ought to be asking is what have these elites done for you lately. We know what they've done for themselves.The nation's bank vaults and safety deposit boxes are full of it. If you were asked what asset is one of the best performing so far this year, up 16%, would you answer gold?

For sure, staying power, as it always does, will come into play here. And that's precisely what's troubling the anti-gold crowd--the staying power of their beloved flat money. If you're still trying to figure out whom you should listen to, try your own common sense for once, not that of these elite agenda hogs.

Submitted by RLE Ellison

MUST READS

Since this is an election year and in this semi-free nation of ours each is supposed to be entitled to his or her semi-free opinions, we will periodically list what we think are must reads we come across.

Understand what we think a lot don't understand, our semi-free opinions are tolerated, or should we say allowed, for now. That is one of the greatest risks to your investment future, not just here but globally. Politics and economics are inseparable despite what you might think, read or hear.

One of the great paradoxes about MSM is all their babble about truth and freedom of expression they pay so much lip service to. Truth really be told, these are the last two things they want you to have because with them you don't need the media to explain it all to you.

These posts do not necessarily represent our views so much as present ones MSM conveniently glides over daily. People have opinions, oftentimes strong opinions. That's what it really is suppose to mean when you hear that phrase "The land of the free and the home of the brave."

Being free--even semi-free--means being free to succeed. But it also means being free to fail  
So here we go.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-23/dear-bernie-im-sorry-i-am-problem-america