The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch: The numbers are daunting if not shocking: $12.3 trillion of money printing, nearly $10 trillion in negative-yielding global bonds, 654 interest rate cuts since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008.  And what have we gotten for all of this quantitative easing, interest rate slashing, and central bank monetary manipulation? Economic growth in advanced economies that won’t likely eclipse 2% this year and a global debt problem that has only grown more acute. COMMENT: I've always wondered what the twighlight zone looks like....this is it!

2.For the first time ever, Israel was elected to head a permanent committee at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, despite intense efforts by Arab and Muslim states to stop the nomination. In a secret ballot Monday in New York, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon was elected chairman of the GA’s Sixth Committee, which deals with legal issues. “This is a historic achievement for the State of Israel. We broke the glass ceiling: Despite the opposition of many countries, including Iran and others that tried to prevent the vote, we managed to be elected for the first time to head a committee at the UN,” Danon said. COMMENT: Amazing how at the end of the day money talks and Bullshit walks and the oil money is not just walking...it's running!

UPDATE: At least four Arab nations voted in favor of Israel’s successful and historic candidacy to head a major United Nations committee, the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported earlier this week. 

3.Fact Check: Donald Trump says that US trade imbalances with China and Japan are caused by currency manipulation and that these countries (and others) are deliberately devaluing their currencies to make their products cheaper and thus more attractive.The reality is that China has not devalued its currency in the last five years and has REVALUED its currency by 23% over 10 years. The Japanese Yen has REVALUED by 14.2% over ten years. In fact the biggest manipulator of its currency over ten years has been the US! What does that say about Trump's business acumen?

UPDATE: And now Trump has fired his campaign manager.....Perhaps he is of the opinion that he can fire the senate or congress if they disagree with the him. 

4.Shanghai Disneyland, Disney's first theme park in mainland China, is big by every measure. In fact, it's the entertainment company's largest overseas outpost. Here's a few of the monster numbers that brought the "happiest place on earth" to the world's second-largest economy.

100,000 Workers estimated to have worked on the park's construction, with thousands more working on the accompanying resort infrastructure

5.5 Billions of dollars it cost to build the park

3.6 Millions of liters of water needed to fill Treasure Cove

16 Millions of meals Disney expects to sell each year

150 Dishes on offer in the theme park, representing the eight major cuisines of China

700 Kilograms of rice Disney expects to serve each day

600,000 Giant turkey legs visitors are expected to consume in a year

12 Million heads of bok choy that workers are expected to trim in a year

COMMENT: Life is good in Disneyland.

5.Over the next several decades, the biggest and wealthiest generation in U.S. history will transfer roughly $30 trillion in assets to their Gen X and millennial children, and if studies are accurate, most of those children will promptly fire their parents' advisors.
"Studies regularly show that when wealth passes to another generation, in the majority of cases, the heirs change financial advisors," said Gauthier Vincent, head of Deloitte's U.S. Wealth Management practice. "The relationship between assets, asset owners and financial advisors is unraveling before our eyes." COMMENT: Interesting how an entitled generation of millennials will handle all this money with all the sharks and hustlers awaiting in the shadows.

6.Geopolitical Futures: The success of an anti-establishment party in Italy’s local elections on June 19 highlights that the country’s banking problems, sluggish economic growth and combative relationship with the European Union are changing the perception of Italian voters. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which ran a campaign focused on corruption and promises of change and supported a possible referendum on eurozone membership, won mayoral positions in both Rome and Turin. The party’s popularity tripled in Rome compared to the 2013 local elections. COMMENT: The cracks are appearing all over the EU. Brexit or no Brexit this movement is gaining in strength.

7.India announced big reforms June 20 to its policies regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) that will open the country's civil aviation and defense sectors to full outside ownership, Reuters reported. The move, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted would make India's economy the most open in the world for FDI. COMMENT: India is the new China. Quietly and without much fanfare this economy is reaping the fruits of lowers energy prices, a stable and rising currency and strong GDP growth. Israel will be a huge benefactor of these reforms.

8. Stratfor: In Asia, fish and other marine foodstuffs play a greater role in diets than in the West. Seafood production is an important source of employment and a vital component of national economies. Asian fisheries make up half the global total capture production, and six of the top 10 producers of marine products are in Asia. In the South China Sea, maritime security and naval forces are growing in size, assertions of national sovereignty are becoming more concrete, and keeping track of the 1.72 million fishing vessels in the South China Sea alone is not only a daunting task, it is one that can draw neighbors into more active confrontation. COMMENT: Interesting take on the powder keg that is the South China Sea.

“A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

—Daniel Hannan, British politician, journalist, and EU Parliament member

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might
be better to change the locks - Doug Larson