Is a stock market crash imminent?

[Ennio]

The quotes in the article below make a compelling case for the likelihood of a stock market crash some time in the not-too-distant future, or soon. On the one hand, we’ve been reading articles like this one for several years and things have remained relatively “stable” up until now in most places. And on the other, given the rather large number of warning articles we're now seeing, it just seems like some big and shocking changes may be just around the corner.

What seems true, also, is that its not just the stock market but so many different financial sectors that are over leveraged, high in debt, or existing in some kind of manipulated bubble. Incredible. A perfect storm.

I'll just add that my own experience of time seems sped up, and the months are just flying by. Maybe others notice this too. So even if a stock market crash (or something similar) sets something off in 6 months, or 9, or whatever, we wouldn't be wasting any time now I don't think if we re-visited the implications of a financial disaster, and an accompanying societal collapse. Because the more we move forward in 'time,' the closer we are to what seems like an inevitable and profoundly destabilizing event (or series of events) that we can be preparing for to the best of our ability.


Stock market crash is imminent: 5 highly respected financial experts give warning

https://www.sott.net/article/352588-Stock-market-crash-is-imminent-5-highly-respected-financial-experts-give-warning

If everything is going to be "just fine", why are so many big names in the financial community warning about an imminent meltdown? I don't think that I have seen so many simultaneous warnings about a market crash since just before the great financial crisis of 2008. And at this point, you would have to be quite blind not to see that stocks are absurdly overvalued and that a correction is going to happen at some point. And when stocks do start crashing, lots of fingers are going to start pointing at President Trump, but it won't be his fault. The Federal Reserve and other central banks are primarily responsible for creating this bubble, and they should definitely get the blame for what is about to happen to global financial markets.

My regular readers are quite familiar with my thoughts on where the market is headed, so today let me share some thoughts from five highly respected financial experts...

#1 When Altair Asset Management's chief investment officer Philip Parker was asked if a market crash was coming to Australia, he said that he has "never been more certain of anything in my life". In fact, he is so sure that the investments that his hedge fund is managing are going to crash that a decision was made to liquidate the fund "and return 'hundreds of millions' of dollars to its clients"...

While hardly a novel claim - in the past many have warned that Australia's housing and stock market are massive asset bubbles (which local banks have been forced to deny as their fates are closely intertwined with asset prices even as the RBA is increasingly worried) - so far few if any have gone the distance of putting their money where their mouth was. That changed, when Australian asset manager Altair Asset Management made the extraordinary decision to liquidate its Australian shares funds and return "hundreds of millions" of dollars to its clients according to the Sydney Morning Herald, citing an impending property market "calamity" and the "overvalued and dangerous time in this cycle".

"Giving up management and performance fees and handing back cash from investments managed by us is a seminal decision, however preserving client's assets is what all fund managers should put before their own interests," Philip Parker, who serves as Altair's chairman and chief investment officer, said in a statement on Monday quoted by the SMH.

#2 Seth Klarman leads one of the biggest hedge funds in the United States, and he believes that U.S. investors are greatly underestimating the amount of risk in the market right now...

"When share prices are low, as they were in the fall of 2008 into early 2009, actual risk is usually quite muted while perception of risk is very high," Klarman wrote. "By contrast, when securities prices are high, as they are today, the perception of risk is muted, but the risks to investors are quite elevated."

Klarman oversees one of the US's largest hedge fund firms, with some $30 billion under management. He has a huge following on Wall Street — investors named his book, "Margin of Safety," their favorite investment book in a recent SumZero survey.

#3 Bill Blain is a strategist at Mint Partners, and he is actually specifically pointing to October 12th as the date when things will start to get "horribly interesting"...

But.... Catch a falling knife, why don't you... I shall spend the summer wondering just how long the Stock Market games continue. When, not if.

At the moment, my prediction is October 12th. Around that day its going to get horribly interesting..

Why that particular day?

Gut feel and knowing how the Bowl of Petunias felt in Hitchhikers. ("Not again.")

There are just too many contradictory currents out there. The unsustainability of burgeoning consumer debt, unfeasibly tight credit spreads, the sandcastle foundations of student loans, autos, housing and the CLO market, China, Trump, politics.. worries about what follows Brazil in the EM market, and whatever... The risks of a massive consumer sentiment dump..

#4 David Stockman has also been warning about what may happen this fall. According to Stockman, this current stock market bubble "is the greatest sucker's rally we have ever seen"...

"The market is insanely valued right now. They were trying to tag, the robo machines and day traders, they were trying to tag 2,400 on the S&P 500. They ended up at 2,399, I think, but the point is that represents about 25 times trailing earnings for 2016. We are at a point in the so-called recovery that has already lasted 96 months. It's almost the longest one in history. What the market is saying is we have reached the point of full employment forever. There will never be another recession or any kind of economic surprise or upset or dislocation. The market is pricing itself for perfection for all of eternity. This is crazy. . . . I think the market could easily drop to 1,600 or 1,300. It could drop by 40% or even more once the fantasy ends. When the government shows its true colors, that it's headed for a fiscal bloodbath when this crazy notion that there is going to be some Trump fiscal stimulus is put to rest once and for all. I mean it's not going to happen. They can't pass a tax cut that big without a budget resolution that incorporated $10 trillion or $15 trillion in debt over the next decade. It's just not going to pass Congress. . . . I think this is the greatest sucker's rally we have ever seen."

#5 Last but certainly not least, David Kranzler seems quite certain "that the stock market bubble is getting ready to pop"...

Anyone happen to notice that several market commentators have argued that Bitcoin is a bubble but the same stock "experts" look the other way as the U.S. stock market becomes more overvalued by the day vs. the deteriorating underlying fundamentals? Bitcoin going "parabolic" triggers alarm bells but it's okay if the stock price of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is hurtling toward parity with the price of one ounce of gold. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) burns a billion per year in cash. It sold 76,000 cars last year vs. 10 million worldwide for General Motors (NYSE:GM). Yet Tesla's market cap is $51.7 billion vs. $48.8 billion for GM.

This insanity is the surest sign that the stock market bubble is getting ready to pop. If you read between the lines of the the comments from certain Wall Street analysts, the only justification for current valuations is "Central Bank liquidity" and "Fed support of asset values." This is the most dangerous stage of a market top because it draws in retail "mom & pop" investors who can't stop themselves from missing out on the next "sure thing." There will be millions of people who are permanently damaged financially when the Fed loses control of this market. Or, as legendary "vulture" investor Asher Edelman stated on CNBC, "I don't want to be in the market because I don't know when the plug is going to be pulled."

Could all of these top experts be wrong?

It's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Every stock market bubble of this magnitude in U.S. history has ended in a spectacular crash, and this one will not be any different. We can certainly have some good arguments about the exact timing of the next crash, but what everyone should be able to agree on is that a crash is coming.

You only make money in the stock market if you get out at the right time. Many of those that timed things well have made a tremendous amount of money, but most investors will be entirely caught off guard by the market implosion that is rapidly approaching.

As I have explained to my readers repeatedly, markets tend to go down a whole lot faster than they go up, and in the not too distant future we are going to see trillions of dollars of investor wealth wiped out very, very quickly.

Let's hope that the coming crisis will not be as bad as 2008, but I have a feeling that it is going to be much worse.

We didn't learn our lessons the last time around, and so now we are going to pay a very high price for our stubbornness.

 

[ROEL]

Crashes are recurring. They "happen" whenever the banksters and the insiders deem it appropriate, which is when the crash will cause massive transfers of wealth from the rabble to the crash meisters. We the rabble do not control the timetable, they do.

 

[Ennio]

Crashes are recurring. They "happen" whenever the banksters and the insiders deem it appropriate, which is when the crash will cause massive transfers of wealth from the rabble to the crash meisters. We the rabble do not control the timetable, they do.

Sure. But "whenever" it occurs, we will still be left with a very challenging aftermath. And we've been reading stories like the one above for so long that I wonder how many people get lulled into thinking "oh another financial disaster article - and still nothing's happened, therefore it won't happen." Trapped in a normalcy bias. I read a comment to one of these articles posted to SOTT a few weeks ago that expressed just this. So, yeah, the banksters can kick the can down the road a little further maybe, but the signs seem to point to the road ending in the near future. OSIT.

 

[hlat]

No, a stock market crash is not imminent. Crashes can occur after the market has already sold down a lot, as in below the 200 day moving average. Right now the major market indexes are at all time highs. If the market sells off and goes under the 200 day moving average, then it opens the door to the possibility of a crash.

 

[Ca.]

It's just a matter of time. Car loan bubble, Over valued Housing markets bubble, Student loan bubble, Fiat currency's bubble, Tech bubble etc.
Game Changer's
Weather, periodic asteroid movements, the cold war going hot, etc............

NASA's Asteroid-Hunting NEOWISE Discovers Trove of 114 Objects (Video)
By Steve Spaleta | June 8, 2017 01:26pm ET
_https://www.space.com/37132-neowise-discovers-114-near-earth-objects.html

US stock market risk at highest level since before 2008 financial crisis
Published time: 8 Jun, 2017 14:57
https://www.rt.com/business/391383-market-risk-highest-crisis/

American markets are facing their biggest danger of collapse since before the financial crisis, according to money manager Bill Gross. The portfolio manager at Janus Global warns investors are paying too high a price for the risks they are taking.

“Instead of buying low and selling high, you’re buying high and crossing your fingers,”

said Gross at the Bloomberg Invest New York summit.

The 73-year-old bond guru blamed central bank policies for low and negative interest rates which are artificially driving up asset prices while creating little growth in the real economy and punishing individual savers, banks and insurance companies.

“Money is being pumped out into the system and money that is yielding less than nothing seeks a haven not only in bonds that are under-yielding but in stocks that are overpriced,”

Gross told the media in an interview.

Experts forecast the US economy will grow 2.2 percent this year and 2.3 percent in 2018.

Gross’s $2 billion fund has returned 3.1 percent in the year through June 6, outperforming 22 percent of its Bloomberg peers. His warning comes along with other experts’ prophecies of a catastrophic end to the market’s hot streak.

Skipping Down:
The president of the James Advantage Fund, Barry James told CNBC that despite stocks trading close to their record highs, the risk of a possible US market correction is rising.

"We don't know when there will be a peak in the market and a tumble, but it does look like a tire with a bulge,"

he said.

Swiss investor Marc Faber last week proclaimed the US markets are caught in the midst of a gigantic bubble, saying

“there is a bubble in everything. Nothing in asset price is very low.”

ADAPT 2030 Jun 8 2017
Good Afternoon Everyone,
https://www.patreon.com/messages/1313947

I have had several of you asking what I meant by amplification during the time frames of August 2017 – Jan 2018 and 2018 through 2019/2020. Let’s start with your own personal memories of strange weather events through the last five years. At what point did you look and say to yourself “Wow, things seem to be getting really strange?”

Depending on what year that was, we can use that as one unit of measure. For example my year of wow changes was June 2015 – June 2016 with so many 500 and 1000 year floods and record snows of 4,5,6 X the old record across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. This is my “One Unit of Change”. See PDF Link for rates of change 2017-2021: oilseedcrops.org/wp-content/uplo…

If I am anywhere being correct on the rate of disturbance and disruption of our climate system due to the intensifying Grand Solar Minimum, look for these events:

Climate
1) The amount of vortex and wind events will increase, becoming common as in “Another Atmospheric Compression Event” So far in the first week of June alone we saw, Texas, Russia, Romania, Tennessee, Taiwan, Indonesia, Myanmar with these lateral wind events. These will increase.
2) Cooler than average temperatures and early start to the winter, then a heat wave then extreme cold. Southern hemisphere, Adelaide, Australia, coldest start to winter in 103 years, winter storms already crossing Southern Australia and New Zealand with an early start to the ski season in Australia.
Speaking of skiing, late skiing into June for Killington Vermont and Sierra Nevada Skiing and some areas in the Rocky Mountains will remain open into July / August.
These types of events will become more intense in the range of 4x through 2018-2019. The amount of out of season weather or 500 year storms will be four times the normal.
3) The harvest at the end of November 2017 will come in far under forecasts and will drive bulk commodity prices up a minimum 10% globally. (Wheat & Canola) The news will assure you that there are plenty of stocks at the silos, but prices will rise anyway.

This link also from WattsUpWithThat has David Archibald’s up to today’s assessments of the Sun and its decline into the grand solar minimum.

Solar Update June 2017–the sun is slumping and headed even lower wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/06/s…

You can also check these slides of compiled information I sent last year to do your own progress check against Archibald’s work for a timeline. Graphs, Images and Links for Global Cooling PDF oilseedcrops.org/wp-content/uplo…
Graphs, Images and Links for Global Cooling PPT oilseedcrops.org/wp-content/uplo…

Economy

The economy of the globe will begin to contract as food prices start rising, so will the movement from traditional stock markets to crypto currency. Look for Bitcoin (BTC) above $8,000 USD by years end and Ethereum (ETH) above $600. I know many of you do not like the concept of crypto currency, but this is the system that has been set up as the replacement for the current continental or country monetary systems. I’m not telling you to buy alt-coins or crypto currency, I am saying this is the direction its moving toward.

The true economic upheaval will begin in the 2018 harvest season, and as the world realizes that in 2019 the yields continue to decline due to freak out of season storms, this is when the run begins. Although during this next 1.5 years there will be a gradual but continual flow of cash into the coin markets, with continual upward direction even with pullbacks, the overall trend is up. This is my own opinion.

http://<iframe width="560" height="...jE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[angelburst29]

U.S. stock markets punished tech stocks on Friday, and big tech names saw the worst of it.

The five biggest tech stocks lost nearly $100 billion in value on Friday
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/09/big-five-tech-stocks-sell-off-facebook-apple-amazon-microsoft-alphabet.html

The so-called "big five" — Apple, Alphabet Class A shares, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon — lost more than $97.5 billion in market value between the close on Thursday and the close on Friday, according to FactSet, dragging the Nasdaq to its worst week of the year.

Shares of Apple fell nearly 4 percent on Friday, while the other four companies fell more than 3 percent. For most of the day, only 3 stocks in the S&P 500 tech sector were in the green: IBM, Teradata and Western Union. Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet all traded more than 2 times their 30-day average volume.

It's a rare down day for a sector that's soared this year. The technology select sector SPDR ETF (XLK) is still up nearly 16 percent so far this year, while the information technology sector is the leading gainer in the S&P 500, up more than 18.5 percent.

They're just plain overbought," said David Bahnsen, founder, managing director and chief investment officer of The Bahnsen Group, a private wealth management firm. "They are extremely stretched from a valuation standpoint."

The high-flying sector has made investors jittery with "valuation anxiety," The New York Times noted this week. Goldman analysts wrote that the tech sector momentum "has built a valuation air pocket."

"There is a sense that a lot of investors think there's safety there," Bahnsen told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Friday. "A lot of managers are afraid to not own these names, and I can understand that."

Still, the Dow Jones industrial index closed at a record high, and the SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) was on track for its best week of the year.

"You just have to wait until these big — I don't know if it's ETF-driven or index-driven — sell-offs create some buying opportunities," Tim Lesko, principal and portfolio manager at Granite Investment Advisors, told "Closing Bell" on Friday.

Legendary investor Jim Rogers sat down with Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget on this week’s episode of “The Bottom Line.” Rogers predicts a market crash in the next few years, one that he says will rival anything he has seen in his lifetime.

Jim Rogers: The worst crash in our lifetime is coming (Video)
http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-rogers-worst-crash-lifetime-coming-2017-6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z4mFZ_XDko (4:01 min.)

Following is a transcript of the video.

Blodget: One of the things I’ve always admired about you as an investor is that you don’t talk about what should be. You figure out what is going to be and then you do that. So what is going to be with respect to the stock market? What’s going to happen?

Rogers: I learned very early in my investing careers: I better not invest in what I want. I better invest in what’s happening in the world. Otherwise I’ll be broke. Dead broke. Well, what’s going to happen is it’s going to continue. Some stocks in America are turning into a bubble. The bubble’s gonna come. Then it’s gonna collapse and you should be very worried. But Henry, this is good for you. Because someone has to report it. So you have job security. You’re a lucky soul.

Blodget: Well, yeah, TV ratings do seem to go up during crashes but then they completely disappear when everyone is obliterated, so no one is hoping for that. So when is this going to happen?

Rogers: Later this year or next.

Blodget: Later this year or next?

Rogers: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Write it down.

Blodget: And what will trigger it?

Rogers: Well, it’s interesting because these things always start where we’re not looking. In 2007, Iceland went broke. People said, ‘Iceland? Is that a country? They have a market?’ And then Ireland went broke. And then Bear Stearns went broke. And Lehman Brothers went broke. They spiral like that. Always happens where we’re not looking. I don’t know. It could be an American pension plan that goes broke and many of them are broke, as you know. It could be some country we’re not watching. It could be all sorts of things. It could be war. Unlikely to be war but it’s going to be something. When you’re watching Business Insider and you see, ‘That’s so interesting. I didn’t know that company could go broke.’ It goes broke. Send me an email and then I’ll start watching.

Blodget: And how big a crash could we be looking at?

Rogers: It’s going to be the worst in your lifetime.

Blodget: I’ve had some pretty big ones in my lifetime.

Rogers: It’s going to be the biggest in my lifetime and I’m older than you. No, it’s going to be serious stuff. We’ve had financial problems in America — let’s use America — every four to seven years, since the beginning of the republic. Well, it’s been over eight since the last one. This is the longest or second longest in recorded history, so it’s coming. And the next time it comes — you know, in 2008, we had a problem because of debt. Henry, the debt now — that debt is nothing compared to what’s happening now. In 2008, the Chinese had a lot of money saved for a rainy day. It started raining. They started spending the money. Now, even the Chinese have debt and the debt is much higher. The federal reserves, the central bank in America, the balance sheet is up over five times, since 2008. It’s going to be the worst in your lifetime, my lifetime too. Be worried.

Blodget: I am worried.

Rogers: Good. Good.

Blodget: Can anybody rescue us?

Rogers: They will try. What’s going to happen is they’re going to raise interest rates some more. Then when things start going really bad, people are going to call and say, ‘You must save me. It’s Western civilization. It’s going to collapse.’ And the Fed, who is made up of bureaucrats and politicians, will say, ‘Well, we better do something.’ And they’ll try but it won’t work. It’ll cause some rallies but it won’t work this time.

Blodget: And we are in a situation where Western civilization already seems to be possibly collapsing, even with the market going up all the time. Often when you do have a financial calamity, you get huge turmoil in the political system. What happens politically if that happens?

Rogers: Well, that’s why I moved to Asia. My children speak Mandarin because of what’s coming. You’re going to see governments fail. You’re going to see countries fail, this time around. Iceland failed last time. Other countries fail. You’re going to see more of that. You’re going to see parties disappear. You’re going to see institutions that have been around for a long time — Lehman Brothers had been around over 150 years. Gone. Not even a memory for most people. You’re going to see a lot more of that next around, whether it’s museums or hospitals or universities or financial firms.

 

[Mike]

Dave Kranzler at Investment Research Dynamics does a good job of following and analyzing the various economic numbers and reports for the US. http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/

What definitely seems to be the case is even with the stock market at an all-time high the underlying economy (housing, autos, student loans, commercial real estate, state governments (such as Illinois), the retail sector) is beginning to crater or tip over in the various sectors. Govt's may be able to manipulate stocks to stay up (the various acknowledged (Japan and Switzerland as examples) and unacknowledged countries that do so), but what they can't manipulate via how they have applied the printing press to underpin banks and various assets classes with no help for main street or the general population is the economy. It is like the floor is rotting out from under them as they pile more and more weight on via debt and manipulation onto the floor. Who knows when the floor will let go. When it does (and things are likely to happen pretty fast), they will likely act with hyper-inflationary measures to stem complete collapse (at least for some period) of debt and credit markets. Then all bets are off and things start to get crazy as compared to the relative normality we have now.

Another point is look how dysfunctional the US gov't is with all the infighting and deep state crusade against Trump. Not that Trump's polices would make anything better, but it shows that when things do turn down in a major way that the US gov't will likely make the problem much worse because they are busy trying to protect the 1% or deep state plans to take over the world, etc

I number of people, Rob Kirby the most prominent alternative financial voices among them, says to look to cryptocurrencies as the indicated of where things are heading, since they are much harder or are only manipulable to a limited degree as compared to all other markets that are manipulated, gold and silver being key markets in this regard. These people content that the explosion of the price of cryptos indicates to some degree people fleeing gov't backed currencies into anything that is a means of a store of value.

 

[Ca.]

Dave Kranzler at Investment Research Dynamics does a good job of following and analyzing the various economic numbers and reports for the US. http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/
I number of people, Rob Kirby the most prominent alternative financial voices among them, says to look to cryptocurrencies as the indicated of where things are heading, since they are much harder or are only manipulable to a limited degree as compared to all other markets that are manipulated, gold and silver being key markets in this regard. These people content that the explosion of the price of cryptos indicates to some degree people fleeing gov't backed currencies into anything that is a means of a store of value.

The Silver Doctors interview Jim Wile on Cryptocurrencies. This company, is a precious metal dealer. The comments associated with the PC are always worth a glimpse. :/

Gold Backed Cryptocurrencies Will Eliminate Dollar! – Jim Willie Exclusive (podcast)
_http://www.silverdoctors.com/gold/gold-backed-cryptocurrencies-ripple-bitcoin-ethereum-will-eliminate-dollar-jim-willie/

YT- _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll1aEI1cZuQ (27:00)
PT-2_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAX6CavaOck ( 32:27)

Are GOLD-BACKED Cryptos About to BURN the Dollar TO THE GROUND?
Hat Trick Letter Editor Jim Willie says cryptocurrency technology will replace the dollar.
Willie sees gold-backed cryptocurrencies soon to be released.
At that time, you can say goodbye to the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds…

June 10, 2017
SILVER: (Down) 0.19 $17.23
GOLD: (Down) 8.10 $1,267.45
Platinum (Up) +0.50 943.50
Palladium (Up) +37.50 869.00
_http://www.silverdoctors.com/market-data/

Edit: Willie unfortunately is under the impression that his health issues are related to a nonexistent phenomena. But I will bet (10/1), it's related to the diet.

 

[Gary]

I'll just add that my own experience of time seems sped up, and the months are just flying by. Maybe others notice this too. So even if a stock market crash (or something similar) sets something off in 6 months, or 9, or whatever, we wouldn't be wasting any time now I don't think if we re-visited the implications of a financial disaster, and an accompanying societal collapse. Because the more we move forward in 'time,' the closer we are to what seems like an inevitable and profoundly destabilizing event (or series of events) that we can be preparing for to the best of our ability.

Yes, I am experiencing this 'speeding up of time' sensation also. Based on what I have read I would be surprised if there wasn't a major economic crash this year. Who knows, it could be a consequence of other factors including environmental or cosmic events. Even if a financial meltdown is next year or the year after, it is being responsible I think to 'be prepared' as much as possible. You know, take a 'prepare for the worst and hope for the best' attitude.

No, a stock market crash is not imminent. Crashes can occur after the market has already sold down a lot, as in below the 200 day moving average. Right now the major market indexes are at all time highs. If the market sells off and goes under the 200 day moving average, then it opens the door to the possibility of a crash.

Well, you sure seem pretty certain about that hlat. I think it is always prudent to keep an open mind and review the latest developments as best we can. I have just read this latest article from Michael Snyder's blog and will include some excerpts here.

Central Banks Now Own Stocks And Bonds Worth Trillions – And They Could Crash The Markets By Selling Them

Over the years I have often been asked about the “plunge protection team”, but the truth is that global central banks are the real “plunge protection team”. If stocks start surging higher on any particular day for seemingly no reason, it is probably the work of a central bank. Because they can inject billions of dollars into the markets whenever they want, that essentially allows them to “play god” and move the markets in any direction that they please.

But of course what they have done is essentially destroy the marketplace. A “free market” for stocks basically no longer exists because of all this central bank manipulation.

.....

According to Business Insider, global central banks are on pace to purchase an astounding 3.6 trillion dollars in stocks and bonds in 2017.

Overall, the five largest global central banks now collectively have 14.6 trillion dollars in assets on their balance sheets.

You can call this a lot of things, but it certainly isn’t free market capitalism.

.....

If global central banks have the power to pump up these markets, they also have the power to crash them.

Why would they want to do such a thing?

I can answer that question with just two words…

Donald Trump.

If the Comey angle doesn’t work, the elite could try to destroy Trump by engineering an absolutely devastating stock market crash. Close to half the U.S. population dislikes Trump anyway, and so it would be fairly easy to get them to believe that Trump’s policies have caused a new financial crisis. Of course that would be complete nonsense, but in our society today the truth often doesn’t really matter.

And without a doubt, evidence continues to mount that the real economy is starting to slow down substantially. For example, we just learned that bankruptcies surged once again in May.

.....

Without unprecedented intervention by global central banks, financial markets would have crashed long ago.

And if they keep increasing their purchases of stocks and bonds, the central banks may be able to prop things up for a while longer.

Who knows? Perhaps with enough financial engineering they would be able to keep this bubble going for years. Of course things would start to get really awkward once they eventually owned virtually everything, but I have a feeling that things will never get that far.

I have a feeling that global central banks will eventually find an excuse to start “unwinding their balance sheets”, and I have a feeling that it will be at a time that is highly inconvenient for President Trump.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/central-banks-now-own-stocks-and-bonds-worth-trillions-and-they-could-crash-the-markets-by-selling-them


There are many relevant articles on SOTT pertaining to 'being prepared' including:

https://www.sott.net/article/349235-Chaos-in-the-West-Maybe-Preparedness-Isnt-Such-a-Bad-Idea

https://www.sott.net/article/301382-Economic-Collapse-The-narrowing-window-of-crisis-preparedness

https://www.sott.net/article/276088-Preparedness-is-the-ultimate-act-of-optimism

https://www.sott.net/article/294073-The-writing-is-on-the-wall-Be-prepared

 

[angelburst29]

Gold Backed Cryptocurrencies Will Eliminate Dollar![/b] – Jim Willie Exclusive (podcast)
_http://www.silverdoctors.com/gold/gold-backed-cryptocurrencies-ripple-bitcoin-ethereum-will-eliminate-dollar-jim-willie/

YT- _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll1aEI1cZuQ (27:00)
PT-2_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAX6CavaOck ( 32:27)

Are GOLD-BACKED Cryptos About to BURN the Dollar TO THE GROUND?
Hat Trick Letter Editor Jim Willie says cryptocurrency technology will replace the dollar.
Willie sees gold-backed cryptocurrencies soon to be released.
At that time, you can say goodbye to the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds…

June 10, 2017
SILVER: (Down) 0.19 $17.23
GOLD: (Down) 8.10 $1,267.45
Platinum (Up) +0.50 943.50
Palladium (Up) +37.50 869.00
_http://www.silverdoctors.com/market-data/

Daily Bitcoin News
http://dailybitcoin.news/

Bitcoin mining companies have been shut down or relocated in Mabian Yi Autonomous County, home to a prosperous mining industry in southwest China’s Sichuan province, and the reason for the phenomenon is unclear.

Bitcoin Mining Companies Face Shutdown in Southwest China
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201706101054501879-bitcoin-mining-shutdown-china/

The shutdown is made more puzzling by the fact that the value of Bitcoins has exceeded 10,000 RMB ($1,469.6), and many exchange platforms are battling for mining resources after the Central Bank of China banned the deposit and withdrawal of Bitcoins.

Due to the shutdown of the mining company, the hydropower station is set to lose someone million RMB ($147,000) in electricity charges per month. A mining company ownersaid they too will suffer big losses from the shutdown, as well as from the costs of relocation and construction as they look for another suitable location.

Mining Bitcoins is a global effort, so even if mining is banned somewhere, the total amount of Bitcoins does not change, and so the global price will not fluctuate, an industry insider said.

Another industry insider reluctant to reveal his name said China is home to the largest amount of Bitcoin factories in the world, but the industry is under loose supervision.

A staff member from the information office of the State Gird Sichuan Electric Power Company said managing the electricity consumption of the Bitcoin mining companies is beyond their supervision, as those companies directly use electricity generated by the hydropower stations.

A local official said the closure of the Bajiaoxi Mining Company aims at cracking down on illegal cash operations and on controlling systemic risks. But documents show that the mining company is not involved in any illegal activities.

Zhang Jun, a senior researcher with the Taiyiyun Strategic Research Center, said if the mysterious closure of the mining companies forced them to conceal their mining activities, it would harm supervision efforts and would not improve the livelihood of mining workers. Bitcoin miners want the industry to be regulated so that they do not have to hide, he added.

 

[hlat]

No, a stock market crash is not imminent. Crashes can occur after the market has already sold down a lot, as in below the 200 day moving average. Right now the major market indexes are at all time highs. If the market sells off and goes under the 200 day moving average, then it opens the door to the possibility of a crash.

Well, you sure seem pretty certain about that hlat. I think it is always prudent to keep an open mind and review the latest developments as best we can.

It's a matter of watching for the signs and not sounding the alarm prematurely. For the stock market, it's just an issue of math. When we take the daily closing prices of a stock index for the most recent 200 days and add them up and then divide by 200, we have a reference point known as the 200 day moving average. We can look at the current stock index value and compare it with the 200 day moving average. If the current stock index value is less than the 200 day moving average, then crashes are possible. If the current stock index value is more than the 200 day moving average, then crashes are not imminent.

Look at all the years that have passed since the tech bubble, 9/11, housing bubble, and 2008 crash. Yet this zombie system keeps lurching forward. Housing values in many areas have exceeded the bubble highs. Stock markets in US are at all time highs. The end may be in a month, a year, a decade, or longer. As of right now, I do not see the signs that the end is imminent.

 

[Gary]

No, a stock market crash is not imminent. Crashes can occur after the market has already sold down a lot, as in below the 200 day moving average. Right now the major market indexes are at all time highs. If the market sells off and goes under the 200 day moving average, then it opens the door to the possibility of a crash.

Well, you sure seem pretty certain about that hlat. I think it is always prudent to keep an open mind and review the latest developments as best we can.

It's a matter of watching for the signs and not sounding the alarm prematurely. For the stock market, it's just an issue of math. When we take the daily closing prices of a stock index for the most recent 200 days and add them up and then divide by 200, we have a reference point known as the 200 day moving average. We can look at the current stock index value and compare it with the 200 day moving average. If the current stock index value is less than the 200 day moving average, then crashes are possible. If the current stock index value is more than the 200 day moving average, then crashes are not imminent.

Look at all the years that have passed since the tech bubble, 9/11, housing bubble, and 2008 crash. Yet this zombie system keeps lurching forward. Housing values in many areas have exceeded the bubble highs. Stock markets in US are at all time highs. The end may be in a month, a year, a decade, or longer. As of right now, I do not see the signs that the end is imminent.

I don't think it is "just an issue of math". When global central banks own so many stocks now, "they also have the power to crash them" as Michael Snyder explained. It could just take the decision of one central bank to suddenly dump loads of stock, or for one country to default, or one geo-political surprise, or an unexpected environmental catastrophe etc to trigger a massive economic collapse. One domino falling could set off a chain reaction. So there are many potential factors involved here osit.

From watching the signs, it appears there is an increasing probability of a global economic crash. Many more financial analysts are coming forward voicing the same concerns based on the information they have. Some of the links I provided earlier are a few years old. It doesn't mean the threat wasn't severe then or has gone away. A huge crash may have been averted due to other factors we are unaware of, the consequences of actions taken, with shifting timelines. It is incumbent for us to remain vigilant and assess the situation as clearly as possible and not get sucked into normalcy bias for example.

Situation awareness (SA) involves being aware of what is happening in the vicinity, in order to understand how information, events, and one's own actions will impact goals and objectives, both immediately and in the near future. One with an adept sense of situation awareness generally has a high degree of knowledge with respect to inputs and outputs of a system, i.e. an innate "feel" for situations, people, and events that play out due to variables the subject can control.

https://www.sott.net/article/294073-The-writing-is-on-the-wall-Be-prepared

 

[Ca.]

Situation awareness (SA) involves being aware of what is happening in the vicinity, in order to understand how information, events, and one's own actions will impact goals and objectives, both immediately and in the near future. One with an adept sense of situation awareness generally has a high degree of knowledge with respect to inputs and outputs of a system, i.e. an innate "feel" for situations, people, and events that play out due to variables the subject can control.

https://www.sott.net/article/294073-The-writing-is-on-the-wall-Be-prepared

Good quote.

Paul Singer: The Financial System Is Not Sound (Video)
June 9, 2017
Billionaire investor Paul Singer says the financial system is no more sound than it was in 2008. In fact, he contends that in many cases, it is more leveraged than it was leading up to the 2008 crash.
_https://schiffgold.com/interviews/paul-singer-financial-system-not-sound-video/

During an interview at the Bloomberg Invest New York summit, he pinned the blame squarely on what he calls extreme central bank monetary policy and growth suppressing government actions. And he warned it’s going to create a “ruckus” when the bubble pops.

I’m very concerned about where we are in terms of the financial system, the economy, the American economy, the global economy. After nine years of what I consider to be a distorted set of policies, completely oriented towards what I regard as monetary extremism – the quantitative easing that has put about $15 trillion dollars of bonds, and now stocks on the books of the developed country’s central banks, zero percent and negative interest rates; emergency monetary policy persisting for eight years after the emergency is over, combined with what I consider to be growth restrictive fiscal policies – regulatory, tax. So, I think it’s created a distorted recovery.”

Singer said the unequal and incomplete recovery has created middle class stress around the world. We see the effects of this in the explosion of political populism and the rise of new political movements.

Singer also expressed concern about the asset bubbles created by the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

After nine years of this artificial levitation on the part of financial assets – high-end real estate, art, the things that rich people buy – I think what we have today is a global financial system that’s just about as leveraged, and in many cases more leveraged than before 2008. And I don’t think the financial system is more sound. And I don’t think the fixes that have been put into place have actually created a sound financial system.”

Singer questioned why people still have confidence in the central planners. He said the trust is misplaced and that it could evaporate in quick fashion. At that point, we can expect “a ruckus.”

I don’t believe the confidence is justified in policymakers and central bankers. The fact that confidence has not been lost up to now is obvious, but if-and-when confidence is lost, I think it could be lost in a very abrupt fashion, causing conceivably a ruckus in bond markets, stock markets and in financial institutions.”

Of course, there is no way to know when the bubble will pop. Singer led off the interview with some sage advice.

I have strong views about certain aspects of the macro-environment, but I don’t let these views infect my desire to be hedged all the time…We never make massive timing bets on the timing of bear markets or downturns.”

In other words, always be prepared.

Inaugural Interview with Bill Holter! $SILVER/YEN/GSR/CRYPTOS
Published on Jun 8, 2017

http://<iframe width="560" height="...34" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Very timely session with Bill Holter regarding today's precious metals sell-off, the Yen/Silver relationship, manipulation vs. "doom and gloom",

Session 25 November 1995
https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,34894.msg496141.html#msg496141

Q: (L) Enough. The other day I experienced one of those extended pre-sleep states, and it seemed that I was in a class and there was someone explaining things to me. What they were telling me was that during this Christmas season [the Christmas season of the dream], certain steps would be taken by those controlling the economy, and that after Christmas, in January and February, a whole lot of stuff was going to be put into motion to send the economy into a dive of major proportions. It was not clear that it was THIS year, but that it was right after a Christmas. Can you tell me where this information was coming from, and what was I experiencing?

A: This is a long and complicated subject, but we will do our best to explain it. What you were seeing was one possible future. The economy of our 3rd density world is entirely manufactured. The forces that control it are both 3rd density and 4th density. There are conflicting opinions in the 3rd density sector right now as to when, where, and how to institute an economic depression. This has been "in the works" for quite some "time" as you measure it. So far, the forces arguing against institution of a collapse have prevailed. How long this condition will be maintained is open to many outcomes. Also, please be aware that the state of the economy is entirely an illusion. In other words, the world economy performs solely based upon what the population is told to believe.

Q: (L) Well, that is all fine and good except for one fact that I have been observing lately, and that is that prices continue to go up, and wages for the average person do not. I watch prices, and they have been jumping in a very erratic and frightening way. I know for a fact that people simply cannot afford to live. A large segment of the population cannot, that is.

A: Nobody who obeys the "rules" can afford to "live," but if you refuse to play the game as you are told to, you will do quite well, indeed.

Q: (L) Okay. What do you mean by not playing by the rules? What rules?

A: The best way for us to answer that is for you to think out loud, and wait for our responses.

Q: (S) Rule one would be working at a regular job, 9 to 5, or 40 hours, whichever, and saving all your money and putting it in the bank.

A: Wait, one at a time.

Q: (L) Okay. The first one is that you have to have a "regular job."

A: "Trap" number one!

Q: (S) Rule number two is that you have to save your money.

A: You save your money by multiplying it, not storing it.

Q: (L) Are you saying that putting it in a bank is "storing" it?

A: Yes.

Q: (L) Are you saying that money is only "saved" if it is multiplied?

A: Yes. When you store it in the bank, you are helping the Brotherhood AKA Illuminati AKA Antichrist multiply it for itself, all you get is the "crumbs" left over. And, the Antichrist can "call it in" anytime it wants to!

Q: (L) One of the most popular ways to make money by investing is in the stock market. But, it seems to me that the stock market is also part of the Antichrist system and investing there would also amount to only getting "crumbs."

A: Yes and no. Not all stocks traded publicly are under direct control of the Illuminati.

Q: (L) Are you suggesting the stock market as a means of multiplying money?

A: We are not suggesting anything specific, we are just laying the groundwork. With the general clues we give you, you will figure out the details yourselves, which is tantamount to learning, which is how you progress as souls.

Q: (L) You said we should multiply our money and that storing it is not making it work for you....

A: If you notice, all successful business people do this. They multiply their money, expand their horizons, continuously. They multiply their money by multiplying their output, thus their intake likewise. And the process is never ending, because they understand instinctively that it is part of a cycle. For the intake to continue, it must not be only retained, but must increase in order to keep pace with the ever spiraling cycle of increase and expansion. And, for this to happen, the output must be expanded accordingly. When it stops, it collapses. And this is how the Illuminati AKA The Brotherhood AKA The Antichrist creates a "Panic," by stemming the flow, even only slightly, and then broadcasting the created impression aggressively.

Q: (S) Well, investing is fine if you have money, but Laura and Frank don't have any money to invest. What would be a way for them to do this?

A: One example would be to share their experiences, insights, and learnings. One way to replicate such would be to publish, for example.

 

[deluz]

Last year(2016), a host of articles and books came out warning us about a giant economic crash that was to occur in the fall of that year. Yet nothing happened. Even Bashar, a channel guide rich in metaphysical wisdom(in my opinion) stated alarmingly that everything would change in September/2016. This time period came and went and I did not notice any great changes. Jim Rickard, a so called financial expert, wrote a book a number of years ago and stated this giant crash was inevitable and would occur in 2013-2014. At the very latest it would happen in 2015, but only if the government used every trick in the book to prevent it.
Yes I believe it is going to happen, but only when the PTB(Powers That Be) decide to make it happen. I've heard that you can't keep kicking the can down the road forever. I disagree. The PTB, which includes the federal reserve and central banks, can kick it along for as long as they want. Listening to all the financial gurus point out the gloomy trends in the economy such as the inflated stock market, negative interest rates and on an on means nothing. They try to make it seem like disaster is right around the corner. No, the PTB will decide on when this giant collapse will occur. It could be next week or 10 years from now. In either case, it is wise to prepare for it... and NOT to be taken lightly.

 

[Carl]

Last year(2016), a host of articles and books came out warning us about a giant economic crash that was to occur in the fall of that year. Yet nothing happened. Even Bashar, a channel guide rich in metaphysical wisdom(in my opinion) stated alarmingly that everything would change in September/2016. This time period came and went and I did not notice any great changes. Jim Rickard, a so called financial expert, wrote a book a number of years ago and stated this giant crash was inevitable and would occur in 2013-2014. At the very latest it would happen in 2015, but only if the government used every trick in the book to prevent it.
Yes I believe it is going to happen, but only when the PTB(Powers That Be) decide to make it happen. I've heard that you can't keep kicking the can down the road forever. I disagree. The PTB, which includes the federal reserve and central banks, can kick it along for as long as they want. Listening to all the financial gurus point out the gloomy trends in the economy such as the inflated stock market, negative interest rates and on an on means nothing. They try to make it seem like disaster is right around the corner. No, the PTB will decide on when this giant collapse will occur. It could be next week or 10 years from now. In either case, it is wise to prepare for it... and NOT to be taken lightly.

As Keynes famously said, "markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent". I'm by no means an expert on this but it seems that there is enough money waiting in the wings to continuously buy the dip in stock markets. The fed can just keep buying the dips, and private investors know this so they also keep buying the dips.

There are so many people expecting a crash now that it may even do the opposite, only to actually have the plug pulled when we all least expect it.