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All Hell Breaks Loose In Turkey: Stocks Halted, Overnight Lira Implied Rate Hits 10,000%
Zero Hedge: Chaos has broken out across Turkey’s capital markets with bank shares crashing and marketwide stop-loss halts activated after President Tayyip Erdogan shocked investors by sacking the central bank governor.
Turkey’s stock market logged its worst two days since the global financial crisis of 2008 this week: the fall in Turkey’s main Borsa Istanbul (BIST-100) index on Monday was the largest since mid-2013, when the Fed’s “taper tantrum” hammered emerging markets including Turkey. Turkey started off just as bad, with the BIST 100 Index plunging almost 9%, triggering circuit breakers on the Istanbul bourse for the second day.
Chaos has broken out across Turkey’s capital markets with bank shares crashing and marketwide stop-loss halts activated after President Tayyip Erdogan shocked investors by sacking the central bank governor.
But as Bloomberg notes, after a few hours of panicked selling, stocks had clawed back almost all of the losses and the lira stabilized near a record low. Losses in Turkish markets slowed on Tuesday as some investors scooped up bargains, pulling the main equity gauge back from its biggest two-day drop in 20 years.
Indeed, after a chaotic trading day on Monday in the wake of President Erdogan’s decision to fire central bank Governor Naci Agbal and appoint a hand-picked puppet who believes in Erdoganomics – the country’s 4th central banker in 2 years – markets seemed to calm down following reassuring statements from Turkish officials. Yigit Bulut, a senior adviser to Erdogan, said the central bank would avoid any extraordinary steps under Agbal’s successor, Sahap Kavcioglu. He also reiterated Erdogan’s monetary policy theory that high inflation is caused by elevated interest rates.
Still, it will be extremely difficult to restore foreign investor confidence in the country’s battered financial system now that the central bank is officially Erdogan’s plaything. Read More
Federal Reserve’s Digital Dollar Push Worries Wall Street
Fedcoin will replace cash and when that is done, it will replace digital currencies ...
Yield Curve Control: Another Recipe For Stagnation
Zero Hedge: Central banks do not manage risk, they disguise it. You know you live in a bubble when a small bounce in sovereign bond yields generates an immediate panic reaction from central banks trying to prevent those yields from rising further. It is particularly more evident when the alleged soar in yields comes after years of artificially depressing them with negative rates and asset purchases.
“And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A [b]quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” Revelation 6:6
It is scary to read that the European Central Bank will implement more asset purchases to control a small love in yields that still left sovereign issuers bonds with negative nominal and real interest rates. It is even scarier to see that market participants hail the decision of disguising risk with even more liquidity.
No one seemed to complain about the fact that sovereign issuers with alarming solvency problems were issuing bonds with negative yields. No one seemed to be concerned about the fact that the European Central Bank bought more than 100% of net issuances from Eurozone states. What shows what a bubble we live in is that market participants find logical to see a central bank taking aggressive action to prevent bond yields from rising… to 0.3% in Spain or 0.6% in Italy.
This is the evidence of a massive bubble. Read More
Could an Arab party play kingmaker in today’s Israeli elections?
JNS: According to the survey, the most qualified candidate for prime minister in the Arab sector is Benjamin Netanyahu, with 24.9 percent support, followed by Ahmad Tibi of the Joint Arab List with 14.3 percent.
“Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. 38 So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” Genesis 38:1-2 NLT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s effort to gain Israeli Arab votes by emphasizing his practical policy towards them by aiding with issues that concern them appears to be gaining traction. He has been seen in the media sitting with Bedouin sipping tea, visiting the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev and playing soccer on the beach with Arab children all to court a new swath of voters.
Mansour Abbas, the head of the United Arab List Party (UAL, also known by its Hebrew acronym, Ra’am)—the political branch of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement—broke off from the Arab Joint List of parties after angering them for seeking to improve ties with Netanyahu and the government.
Arik Rudnitzky of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center told JNS that “it appears that many in the Arab public do not believe that the Knesset can further their interests.” Read More
Very bright fireball over Pennsylvania, U.S.
The Watchers: A very bright fireball was recorded over Pennsylvania, U.S. at around 04:25 UTC (00:25 EDT) on March 21, 2021.
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 263 reports, mostly from Pennsylvania, but users from Connecticut, Washington DC, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Ontario and Québec, Canada also reported seeing the event.
The meteor was also detected by 3 meteor cameras belonging to the NASA Fireball Network and 2 cameras of the Southern Ontario Meteor Network.
Report: Iran Planned Assassinating U.S. General, Targeting Army Base
Daily Wire: According to senior U.S. intelligence officials, the Iranian theocratic regime planned an attack against the U.S. Army base Fort McNair in Washington D.C. and an assassination attempt targeting Gen. Joseph M. Martin, the Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, who lives on the base.
In January, the National Security Agency intercepted chatter among members of the terrorist wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force, which focused on getting revenge for the U.S. killing of the former Quds leader, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad in January 2020. Those conversations included the idea of “USS Cole-style attacks” against Fort McNair.
On October 12, 2000, the terrorist group al Qaeda attacked the USS Cole, which was stationed in Aden harbor. A small fiberglass boat loaded with C4 explosives and guided by two terrorists exploded as it neared the side of the U.S. ship, slicing a 40-by-60-foot gash in the ship; 17 U.S. Navy sailors were killed and thirty-seven were injured.
Fort McNair is the third oldest Army base in the United States after the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York, founded in 1802, and the Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Treasury yields fall following Fed Chair Powell’s comments on the economy
CNBC:
- Fed Chair Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are due to make their first joint appearance in front of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services at 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
- In prepared remarks, Powell said that the economic recovery from the pandemic had “progressed more quickly than generally expected and looks to be strengthening.”
- However, he said that the sectors of the economy hardest-hit by the pandemic “remain weak” and the unemployment rate “underestimates the shortfall,” so the recovery still had a long way to go. Read More
Jen Psaki Struggles to Explain Why Migrants Get Hotel Rooms, National Guard Sleeps on Floor
Breitbart: White House press secretary Jen Psaki struggled to explain why President Joe Biden’s administration was considering putting up migrants in hotel rooms.
Psaki did not dispute reports that the Biden administration awarded a Texas-based nonprofit $86 million to provide hotel rooms for six months for approximately 1,200 families who cross the southern border.
Newsmax reporter Emerald Robinson questioned Psaki on why the Biden administration would provide hotel rooms, food, and shelter for migrants even as American national guard troops were forced to sleep on the floor when they protected Capitol Hill.
@KamalaHarris – forced our troops to sleep on the floor of a garage, yet is spending $89 million on hotel rooms for illegals. This would have never happened under the Trump administration.
Leaked Photos Reveal Biden’s Detention Cells for Migrant Children on Border
Breitbart: U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX) released a series of leaked photos to Axios showing the deplorable, overcrowded conditions of migrant children being held in South Texas. A short time later, James O’Keefe released additional disturbing photos depicting children having to sleep on floor mats in overcrowded facilities which were rapidly opened amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.
“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.” Proverbs 19:9
Congressman Cuellar, who lives along the Texas border with Mexico, told Axios these unaccompanied migrant children are living in eight “pods” designed to hold up to 260 people. However, Border Patrol officials are actually holding more than 400 unaccompanied male minors in the spaces, the Texas congressman said.
The Biden Administration has not allowed news media or Members of Congress to photograph the conditions under which these migrant children are being held. Read More
Iran, Russia and Turkey Signal Growing Alliance
"The Gog Magog Alliance of Nations Come Into View ...
Toyota Warns (Again) About Electrifying All Autos. Is Anyone Listening?
PJ Media: Depending on how and when you count, Japan’s Toyota is the world’s largest automaker. According to Wheels, Toyota and Volkswagen vie for the title of the world’s largest, with each taking the crown from the other as the market moves. That’s including Volkswagen’s inherent advantage of sporting 12 brands versus Toyota’s four. Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti, and Bentley are included in the Volkswagen brand family.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
When Toyota offers an opinion on the car market, it’s probably worth listening to. This week, Toyota reiterated an opinion it has offered before. That opinion is straightforward: The world is not yet ready to support a fully electric auto fleet.
Toyota’s head of energy and environmental research Robert Wimmer testified before the Senate this week, and said: “If we are to make dramatic progress in electrification, it will require overcoming tremendous challenges, including refueling infrastructure, battery availability, consumer acceptance, and affordability.”
Wimmer’s remarks come on the heels of GM’s announcement that it will phase out all gas internal combustion engines (ICE) by 2035. Other manufacturers, including Mini, have followed suit with similar announcements.
Tellingly, both Toyota and Honda have so far declined to make any such promises. Honda is the world’s largest engine manufacturer when you take its boat, motorcycle, lawnmower, and other engines it makes outside the auto market into account. Honda competes in those markets with Briggs & Stratton and the increased electrification of lawnmowers, weed trimmers, and the like.