Trump Unhinged with "Fire & Fury" Rant

On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom discusses growth in the stock market and what it means for the economy and the average American with economist and professor Dr. Richard Wolff. Then, Thom talks to Nick Givas of the Daily Caller and Zaid Jilani of the Intercept about Donald Trump’s threatening rhetoric toward North Korea and a dangerous proposal that would privatize the war in Afghanistan.

Les Bourses européennes dans la tourmente
LE FIGARO: Le CAC 40 perd plus de 3% et s'enfonce sous les 3800 points. Londres et Milan suivent le même chemin tandis que Francfort lâche 5%. Les opérateurs s'inquiètent de l'aggravation de la situation nucléaire du Japon.

Encore une journée morose à la Bourse de Paris. Le CAC 40, qui a plongé sous les 3900 points hier, reste ce mardi ancré dans le rouge. Après un démarrage en forte baisse de 2,17% à 3793,95 points, l'indice phare de Paris creuse ses pertes et lâche 3,43% à 3744 points vers 10h30. À Londres et Milan, les Bourses suivent le même chemin et abandonnent également plus de 3%. La Bourse de Francfort creuse ses pertes à près de -5%.

Les indices ont du mal à retrouver le chemin de la hausse alors que la situation nucléaire japonaise s'est encore aggravée. Une nouvelle explosion et un incendie ont eu lieu au sein de la centrale de Fukushima Dai-ichi. «Le niveau de radioactivité a considérablement augmenté» et devient dangereux pour la santé, a déclaré le premier ministre japonais, Naoto Kan, à la télévision, provoquant un vent de panique sur les marchés d'Asie. La Bourse de Tokyo, pour sa part, s'est écroulée de 10,55%. » | Par Hayat Gazzane | Mardi 15 Mars 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: London joins global sell-off as Japan crisis fuels panic: London shares fell sharply on Tuesday as investors in Europe joined a global market sell-off that started with a 10.55pc plunge in the Nikkei as panicked investors dumped stocks in the face of an escalating nuclear crisis in Japan. » | Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Saudi Arabia Contagion Triggers Gulf Rout
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Fears of sectarian uprisings in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have set off the first serious wave of investor flight from the Gulf, compounding market turmoil as civil war in Libya pushes Brent crude over $116 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock index has tumbled 11pc in wild trading over the past two days, led by banks and insurers. Dubai’s bourse has hit a 7-year low.

The latest sell-off was triggered by the arrest of a Shi’ite cleric in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province after he called for democratic reforms and a constitutional monarchy. The province is home to Saudi Arabia’s aggrieved Shi’ite minority and also holds the country’s vast Ghawar oilfield, placing it at the epicentre of global crude supply.

“Unrest in this region can have fatal consequences for the world,” said JBC Energy. “The plunge on the Saudi stock exchange can be interpreted as a sign of waning trust.”

In Bahrain, the island nation’s Sunni elite holds sway over a Shi’ite majority that is denied key jobs and has a token political voice, making it a trial run for Saudi Arabia’s near-identical tensions in the Eastern Province.

Bahraini dissidents have so far been much bolder, prompting a bloody crackdown last month when at least seven people were shot by the military. The ruling family – under intense pressure from Washington to stop the killings – has since held out an olive branch to protesters and let the radical Haq leader Hassan Mushaima return from exile, yet the crisis is far from contained.

My Mushaima said on Wednesday that protesters have “the right to appeal for help from Iran” if Saudi military units interfere in the struggle. Tanks were seen crossing the 17-mile causeway from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain on Tuesday.

“These were supposed to be Bahrain’s tanks returning from Kuwait: that is not a credible story,” said Siras Abi Ali, a Gulf expert at the risk group Exclusive Analysis.

He said the outcome in Bahrain will set the template for events across the border. “There is no good outcome from this for Saudi Arabia. If Bahrain offers concessions, the Saudi Shia will demand similar concessions. If they crack down, they risk an uprising. These people do not want to live under the House of Saud,” he said. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor | Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Investors Told Forget Savings Accounts, Think of Shares
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's 38 million savers have been urged to invest their money in the stock market after being warned that for many of them it is now a "waste of time" putting their cash into a savings account.

The warning came after official figures indicated that the cost of living had increased once again in November, making it nearly impossible to earn a real rate of return on any bank or building society savings product.

As the London stock market closed at a two-and-a-half-year high, experts said that for many savers taking the risk of abandoning a deposit account and placing it in a high-yielding collection of shares was a more sensible option.

The dearth of decent savings products was laid bare by figures from the personal finance website Moneyfacts which showed that there were just three accounts – out of a total of 2,203 on the market – that paid a real rate of return, and only one for higher-rate taxpayers. >>> Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor, and Garry White | Tuesday, December 14, 2010

To suggest that people with hard-earned savings expose themselves to the vicissitudes of fortune that the stock market can bring within nanoseconds, and to suggest that it would be a good idea for the uninitiated to risk their future security on a market which is subject to the vagaries of the experienced investor, is the height of folly and irresponsibility on the part of Darius McDermott.

If this man is such an expert, he should know that the first law of successful stock market investing is to buy low and sell high. That means to say that it is not a good idea to buy stocks and shares at the top of the market. The fact that the stock market is at a two-year high should raise the alarm bells.

The stock market is highly speculative. One has to know what one is doing. It is no place for people who do not understand the workings of the marketplace. Moreover, it is certainly no place for the inexperienced. And that is especially true today, when the economy is so volatile, the world political situation is so fragile, and the financial system is in total disarray.

Further, it is sound advice, especially for people who have been savers hitherto, to avoid the stock market unless they have money they can well afford to lose. Because it must be stressed that the value of stock market investments, as we all know, can go down as well as up; and often so quickly that people do not have the time to take their money out of the market before a crash, before disaster strikes.

For people who wish to avoid future poverty, they might be better advised to ignore Mr. McDermott and hold on to their money, however poor the rate of return on their savings. At least they’ll end up with their capital intact. That way they will be keeping their powder dry for a time when the economy returns to a certain equilibrium, and returns to a state which rather more resembles normality. – © Mark

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Hung Parliament Sparks Market Chaos
THE TELEGRAPH: The pound plunged up to 4½ cents against the dollar during a roller coaster 24 hours of trading as the prospect of coalition Government prompted investors to ditch UK assets.

The inconclusive election result unnerved investors already spooked by Greece's deepening debt crisis and a global rout of equity markets.

Gilt yields see-sawed, with investors at one point demanding an extra 1.25 percentage points to hold 10 year gilts rather than German Bunds – the biggest spread since 1998. Shares also fell, with the benchmark FTSE 100 dropping 2.6pc, capping its worst week for 14 months.

Michael Saunders, chief European economist at Citigroup, said Britons should brace for a potential "meltdown" if there is no deal for stable government by Monday.

"Right now there is a firestorm of a sovereign credit crisis sweeping global markets," he said. "If markets do not get some sense on Monday that there is a solid government with a credible route back to fiscal stability, things could get very ugly indeed. A coalition of Labour, Lib Dems and nationalist parties could well precipitate a market meltdown."

The best outcome so far as investors were concerned would be a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition with an outline plan to cut the deficit, he said. >>> Richard Fletcher and Edmund Conway | Friday, May 07, 2010

Barack Obama Admits He Doesn’t Understand the Stock Market

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