NFL: ICE Will Not Be Present At Super Bowl

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

Federal immigration officers will not make an appearance at the Super Bowl this year, NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier announced at a news conference on Feb. 2.

“There are no planned ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or immigration enforcement operations that are scheduled around the Super Bowl or any Super Bowl-related events,” Lanier said during the briefing.

The Seattle Seahawks will face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, about 45 miles south of San Francisco.

 

The NFL’s announcement differed from an earlier statement made by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in October 2025, after Super Bowl officials announced that outspoken anti-ICE performer Bad Bunny had been selected as this year’s halftime headliner.

 

Noem told conservative commentator Benny Johnson on his podcast that ICE officers would be present at the event and “all over that place.”

President Donald Trump has previously criticized the artists selected to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, noting that both Bad Bunny and Green Day have been outspoken critics of him.

“I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible,” Trump told the New York Post.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has voiced support for Bad Bunny, who won the Latin Grammy award for Album of the Year on Feb. 1.

“We’re confident it’s going to be a great show,” Goodell said. “He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”

Bad Bunny arrives at the 68th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said his priority would be public safety as the city welcomes people from around the world during the Super Bowl.

“Our city teams have been preparing for months,” Lurie posted on Feb. 2 on X.

About 1.3 million visitors are expected to attend the game or related events in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend, the San Francisco International Airport estimated.

San Francisco police and local law enforcement are focused on protecting the public, including the right to “peaceful expression,” the mayor added.

“We will continue to uphold San Francisco’s longstanding policies that keep local law enforcement focused on keeping our city safe—not on federal immigration enforcement,” Lurie stated.

Even so, the city expects the Super Bowl to attract criminal activity, including human trafficking, according to Lurie.

The San Francisco Police Department and other authorities were conducting targeted operations to prevent exploitation of vulnerable people, he said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:40

January US Jobs Report Rescheduled For February 11

The government reopened after another theatrical two-day shutdown, but that doesn't mean that Friday's payrolls report will come when it is due (after all, it's not like the BLS had 30 days to prepare for it, oh wait, they did). Instead, the January employment report has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 11, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The data, originally due Feb. 6, was delayed by the partial government shutdown. BLS announced the changes Wednesday, shortly after funding for a number of agencies, including the Labor Department, was restored.

January’s consumer price index report, originally due Feb. 11, is now scheduled for Friday, Feb. 13, the BLS also said.

Other BLS reports that were due this week, including December’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey and the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release, were also rescheduled.

The partial shutdown ended late Tuesday after President Donald Trump signed into law a funding deal he negotiated with Senate Democrats. The Labor Department, and most other government agencies, are now funded through Sept. 30.

In addition to the usual monthly payrolls and unemployment data, the January jobs report also includes highly anticipated revisions to annual employment. Those are expected to show that job growth was notably weaker in the year through March 2025 than initially reported.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:20

Chuck Schumer Claims Voter ID Laws Are The Return Of "Jim Crow"

The Democrat Party strategy relies heavily on the tactic of associating everything they don't like with the race-based conflicts of the past, even though they have no knowledge or understanding of basic history.  Their intention is to energize their low-IQ base with hot button rhetoric while blithely dismissing any reasonable debate on otherwise common sense policies.  

Once something is deemed "racist", all constructive discussion goes out the window.  

It is crystal clear that the Democrats are desperate to sabotage voter ID laws at any cost.  Why?  Because they know that illegal immigrants vote despite laws against it, and they also know voter fraud is easier with mail-in ballots devoid of any concrete identification process.  In other words, Democrats know they will never win another election unless they have the option to cheat.  

The SAVE Act would impose Jim Crow style restrictions on voting. It will be dead on arrival in the Senate.

My statement: pic.twitter.com/OAJRsmgkWn

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 2, 2026

It's the obvious reason why the progressives are so hostile to bills like the SAVE Act (the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act) which would enforce ID requirements common to most countries in the world.  It's also one of the reasons why NGO funded activists have become so violent in the face of mass deportations of illegals in recent months.  Democrats need to import foreigners, buy them off with subsidies and ensure voting standards remain as loose as possible.  

The only country in which voter ID is labeled "racist" is the US.  Even in the EU, 26 out of 27 member nations have some form of identification law to protect election integrity.  Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, however, disagrees and claims voter ID is a travesty similar to the days of Jim Crow and segregation.  

Republican midterm chances are riding on the passage of the SAVE Act, not only because of potential fraud by Dems but also because conservatives are increasingly demanding action be taken to secure elections.  A failure on the SAVE Act could mean many MAGA voters stay home on November 3rd. 

Schumer's comparison to "Jim Crow" laws is, of course, absurd, largely because Jim Crow laws had nothing to do with voter identification. 

Furthermore, some Jim Crow laws that dealt with voting were not necessarily wrong:  The requirement for voters to pass a literacy test (in English) would be more than reasonable today.  Many US states also still deny voting rights to convicted criminals guilty of certain felonies, just as they did under Jim Crow. 

If some minority groups are statistically more inclined to commit felonies, then that's their problem and maybe they should stop if they want to vote. 

The GOP has fielded the possibility of a temporary stop on the filibuster, which would allow the passage of the SAVE Act with a simple 51 vote majority rather than 60 votes.  This is a hotly debated "nuclear option", but it might be the only chance to get comprehensive vote ID laws in place.  Many Republican officials and the Trump Adminstration warn that another chance may never come again.  

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:20

No Global Recession In 2026, But Period Of Poor Growth Continues

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

The IMF estimates for 2026 show no signs of recession. However, the global economy remains in a period of poor growth, high debt, persistent inflation and low productivity.

There may not be a recession, but citizens feel poorer as net real wages decline in most economies, remaining below pre-pandemic levels. Why? Because in most developed economies, GDP growth is bloated by government spending, which means high debt, followed by rising taxes that hurt investment and productivity.

The IMF has had to revise its United States estimates to more than double what they expected in early 2025, while Argentina clearly outperforms both the global and regional averages.

Global GDP growth is projected at 3.3% in 2026 and 3.2% in 2027, slightly above the October 2025 projections and broadly in line with 2025 levels.

US outperforms advanced economies

The positive surprise is the United States. Advanced economies are expected to grow by about 1.8% in 2026 and 1.7% in 2027 thanks to higher US figures, while emerging markets and developing economies reach around 4.2% and 4.1%, respectively, despite a slowdown in China.

The IMF calls this “resilient growth” after a year of warning about risks. This is surprising, because many analysts point out that we should be worried when the IMF starts giving bullish messages.

Despite the ironic comments, the IMF does warn about the poor levels of economic development in the leading economies.

The main drivers of economic strength come from AI‑related investment, accommodative financial conditions and private sector flexibility, which offset the negative impact of geopolitical risk and trade negotiations.

The US will be the only G7 economy escaping stagnation in 2025-2027

The Fund was clearly wrong about its estimates for the US economy published last year.

It now projects US growth at 2.4% in 2026, another relevant upward revision from its October 2025 forecast, considering stronger‑than‑expected 2025 data and a powerful impulse from AI‑related capital spending (data centres, chips, digital infrastructure).

For 2027, US growth is expected to moderate to about 2.0%, still above the advanced‑economy average.

The US will be the only G7 economy escaping stagnation in 2025-2027 and outperforming all its major peers with lower immigration, lower taxes and a reduction in government spending, while the major peers, Germany, Japan, France, UK and Canada, continue to disguise the private sector recession with more public spending and rising immigration.

The IMF has not admitted its mistake in assuming stagnation and elevated inflation due to tariffs and prefers to explain the massive upgrades justifying them on lower policy rates, ongoing fiscal support, and high-tech investment.

It is not important. The reality is that the US has proven wrong all the fearmongers and doom predictors and has turned into one of the main drivers of global demand in this forecast round.

Argentina: growth above global and regional averages

The IMF expects Argentina to grow by around 4% in both 2026 and 2027, clearly above the 3.3% world pace and significantly ahead of Latin America’s projected 2.2% in 2026 and 2.7% in 2027.

This comes after an estimated 4.5% expansion in 2025, following a 1.3% contraction in 2024. The International Monetary Fund explicitly links this impressive trajectory to the policies of President Milei and recent macro‑stabilisation efforts.

Argentina moves from chronic underperformer to clear outperformer in the IMF’s baseline

Argentina moves from chronic underperformer to clear outperformer in the IMF’s baseline, especially with a weak outlook for Mexico and Brazil.

Supply-side policies, private sector focus and abandoning interventionism in energy are among the factors that put a faster‑growing US and Argentina as the “pockets of strength” that allow global growth to stay around 3.3% despite the euro area and LatAm stagnation.

Low growth in Europe

For the euro area, the IMF shows moderate but gradually improving growth. However, most of it comes from Germany’s increasing debt.

Real GDP is projected to expand by 1.3% in 2026 and 1.4% in 2027, a slight upward revision versus the October 2025 outlook and consistent with the ECB’s own projections.

However, we cannot forget that this disastrous economic growth comes in the middle of the Next Generation EU stimulus plan and with rate cuts.

Germany is expected to recover from near‑stagnation towards 1.1% in 2026 and 1.5% in 2027 only due to a more than debatable public spending and indebtedness programme.

France is expected to show no real growth by about 1.0% and 1.2%, driven by government spending.

The IMF’s message is that, compared with the United States, the euro area remains a low‑growth region, constrained by weak productivity and excessive regulation and taxes.

For the United Kingdom, the Fund keeps an optimistic forecast at 1.3% growth in 2026 and 1.5% in 2027. It is said that, after the US, the UK and Canada are the fastest‑growing G7 economies.

This reminds us that net zero, high taxes and big government are the recipe for stagnation.

Canada is projected to expand by just 1.4% per year in 2026 and 2027. Japan will only show 0.7% growth in 2026 and 0.6% in 2027, according to the IMF, despite years of government spending on so-called stimulus.

In Asia, the IMF focuses its attention on the Chinese slowdown, offset by the strength in India.

China is projected to grow by 4.5% in 2026 and 4.0% in 2027, slower than its 5% growth in 2025. However, it is still one of the main engines of global expansion, despite the ongoing challenges facing the real estate sector.

India remains the fastest‑growing large economy in the IMF’s outlook, with growth around the 6% range in both 2026 and 2027, driven by domestic demand. India is, according to the IMF, the high beta growth story in Asia.

The IMF should recover economic sanity recommendations and remind governments that supply-side and market-oriented economies focused on strengthening the private sector are the drivers that the global economy requires, and that constant public sector expansion hinders growth and creates financial weakness.

We may not have a recession, but weakness in developed and emerging economies is unjustified, and the main culprit is government interventionism.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:00

LGBT Activist Judge Faces Felony Charges For Wrongfully Detaining A Defense Attorney

A Texas LGBT judge with a history of clashing with authorities over her activism has been arrested and charged after she allegedly handcuffed and held a defense attorney captive in her jury box for the crime of arguing for the right to confer with her client during a probation hearing.    

Bexar County Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez was indicted last week on a felony charge of unlawful restraint by a judicial officer and misdemeanor official oppression.  The controversial judge was arrested for the 2024 incident, during which she and defense attorney Elizabeth Russell clashed in the courtroom. 

Gonzalez has had run-ins with the law before.  In 2022 she was was fined for bringing a loaded rainbow-painted gun through San Antonio International airport in her carry-on luggage.  In 2019 shortly after she took the bench as the "first openly gay judge in Bexar County", Gonzalez was sanctioned for pasting her courtroom, office and robes with gay pride flags in violation of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.  In 2023 the sanctions were lifted by a three judge panel.

Former staff members of the court report that the LGBT judge created a "hostile work environment".  Multiple former workers/partners with the Reflejo Court program accused Gonzales of increasingly erratic and aggressive behavior, primarily toward defendants/litigants in the courtroom.  Others accused her of being "unstable" and prone to violent outbursts.

The judge is, however, considered a favorite of local prosecutors.

The incident and arrest once again bring into question the mental and emotional stability of woke activists in positions of legal and political authority.  Recent peer-reviewed studies indicate a link between leftist extremism and narcissism/psychopathy. 

Researchers suggest that individuals with dark personalities - such as high narcissistic and psychopathic traits - are attracted to certain forms of political and social activism which they can use as a vehicle to satisfy their own ego-focused needs instead of actually aiming at "social justice and equality."  In other words, they use activism as a shield from scrutiny when engaged in otherwise destructive behaviors. 

Allowing such volatile and biased people into positions of power in the name of "equity" is becoming a detrimental problem in American society.  Clearing activists out of the military and federal government is already having noticeable benefits over the previously unhinged era of the Biden Administration.  Removing them from the legal system and the public school system will be vital for the future.     

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 11:40

'Nearly Indestructible' Fuel: Nano Nuclear CEO Talks 'Laser Enrichment' On Shawn Ryan Show

2025 was a watershed moment for the US nuclear industry: enthusiasm for a global nuclear renaissance gripped the investment community as the valuations for publicly traded companies were pushed into the stratosphere. Tickers associated with nuclear reactors were pushed up several hundred percentage points, with Nano Nuclear one of the best performers of the year.

Nano Nuclear's chairman and founder, Jay Yu, sat down recently on the Shawn Ryan Show and discussed his company's mission and technology.

The Vigilance Elite Production of SRS EP. 275 with Jay Yu is live on the Shawn Ryan Show YouTube channel! https://t.co/otnVoaUQNM pic.twitter.com/9y8TAIzfpM

— Shawn Ryan Show (@ShawnRyanShow) January 29, 2026

The nuclear portion of the discussion focused around the global demand for new sustainable energy and how companies like Nano are answering that call.

With energy widely understood to be the true bottleneck of AI adoption and economic affordability, companies are developing new innovative ways to rapidly deploy gigawatts of nuclear-powered energy generation capacity.

Nano recently broke ground at the University of Illinois for the construction of their flagship reactor design, the Kronos reactor.

Kronos is a high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor using TRISO as fuel and helium as a coolant.

Tri-structural Isotropic (TRISO) fuel was described by Yu as nearly indestructible and lined with tank armor, which is an accurate description given its multiple layers of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide. 

One of the highlights of gas reactors is their ability to be "walk-away safe".

This means their design utilizes passive cooling features in the event of an extended loss of power due to natural disaster or massive electrical system failures – the plant prevents a meltdown or explosion like Fukushima and Chernobyl all on its own.

Yu went on to highlight the modularity of smaller reactor designs. This means the majority of the parts are fabricated in a factory and then shipped to the site and connected like Lego bricks at the location to dramatically reduce construction times.

Additional features such as a lack of required water cooling enable the possibility of data centers being built out in desert locations in the U.S. and the Middle East.

The potential of building several reactors to power one data center, vice one large reactor, enables the take down of single or multiple units at a time for refueling/maintenance without losing power to the load is a massive advantage.

Much more in the full clip: watch it here.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 11:00

WTI Holds Losses As Freezing Temps Sparked Massive Drop In US Production

Crude oil prices (WTI) are trending moderately lower this morning as traders weigh geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a report of sharply lower US stockpiles reported by API overnight.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff will hold indirect negotiations in Oman on Friday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim reported, adding talks would be “limited to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions.”

“Geopolitical tensions are really driving it,” Equinor Chief Financial Officer Torgrim Reitan said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

“The underlying balance is a lower price than there is today, but with everything going on it’s very hard to say where this will end.”

We can't help but feel like the API reporting (and very mixed picture) was related to the impact of the freezing weather across most of the country.

API

• Crude -11.1mm (+700k exp)

• Cushing

• Gasoline +4.7mm

• Distillates -4.81mm

DOE

• Crude -3.45mm (+700k exp)

• Cushing -743k

• Gasoline +685k

• Distillates -5.55mm - biggest draw since Feb 2021

The official data showed a sizable crude draw (but considerably less than API reported) as distillates saw their biggest drawdown since Feb 2021. Bloomberg's Will Zubanskuy notes that the largest portion of that distillates draw came from PADD 1, which includes the East Coast -- where homes in the Northeast lean on heating oil to warm their houses in frigid temperatures. Adding to the demand, diesel and oil-fired power plants start running when the grid comes under strain and some utilities begin pulling from heating oil for certain customers instead of natural gas when supply of the latter gets tight.

Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, declined for the second straight week, bringing inventories at the storage hub to around 24 million barrels. Despite the draw, levels at Cushing remain several million barrels above where they were this time last year. Gasoline stocks rose for the 12th straight week...

Source: Bloomberg

Crude production in the Lower 48 fell to the lowest since November 2024 as freezing temperatures disrupted drilling in the Permian and Bakken formations.

In the past two months, output is down by 632,000 barrels a day. Overall, production has been shaved off by 4.4 million barrels since early December. 

Source: Bloomberg

Bloomberg's Alex Longley also noted another data point showing how much of this storm impact was centered on the gas side of the market rather than oil. While crude production was down 481k b/d versus a week earlier, NGL output tumbled 1.25m b/d. It’s the lowest since 2024 and the biggest weekly decline on record.

WTI prices edged lower, likely driven by the smaller draw than API reported...

Circling back to where we started, the bullish drop in inventories comes as tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to run hot. While the U..S. Administration said negotiations over Iran's nuclear program will start this week, U.S. naval forces sent to the Arabian Sea off Iran shot down an Iranian drone approaching an aircraft carrier 500 miles off Iran's coast in the Arabian Sea, the BBC reported. As well, a U.S.-flagged merchant ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point for more than 20-million barrels per day of Persian Gulf exports, was harassed by Iranian gun boats.

"Oil would be lower without Middle Eastern sabre-rattling. Post-settlement API figures, faithfully echoing the impact of the cold spell in the US, provide additional support this morning, as crude oil stocks dropped 11 million bbls. These are extraordinary days, weeks and months, in which perceived oversupply has been overwhelmingly overlooked, yet it is still able to set a price ceiling when perceived supply disruptions are in the crosshairs of investors," PVM Oil Associates noted.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 10:50

Speculation US May Announce New Nuclear Plant During Korea Trade Negotiations

At a time when China, which is now leaps and bounds ahead of the US in energy generation, is building 29 nuclear power plants compared to zero for the US...

Since the last update, Russia has added one additional nuclear reactor under construction (up to 5).

China is still at 29; the US is still at 0 https://t.co/u9SnLCeFkI pic.twitter.com/2lUIFnXtOL

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 2, 2025

...  South Korean news agencies report that the US government is proposing South Korea build a nuclear power plant in the US as part of ongoing trade negotiations. South Korea’s Industry Minister is in the U.S. this week and is scheduled to meet with Secretary Lutnik to clarify Seoul's position on a delayed Korea-U.S. trade deal.

Providing some added credibility to the report out of South Korea, Reuters reports the industry minister is scheduled to meet Secretary Wright as well before he departs February 5th. 

South Korea and the US are already coordinating on multiple different ventures as previously announced last year through multiple different MOUs. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) is working with multiple reactor developers to further develop and progress the construction of their designs. KHNP is also working with Centrus Energy to rapidly expand enrichment capacity.

Korean industrial company Doosan Enerbility is also working with Fermi America to construct a supply chain for the four AP1000 reactors to be built at the AI mega-campus in Texas.

While the reactor that will be potentially constructed by Korea has yet to be confirmed or announced by either country, it will likely be an AP1000 to strengthen a high-demand grid and stand as a signal that the U.S. government is pursuing lower energy prices for consumers. The reactor design is licensed for use by reactor owners from Westinghouse, which is owned by Canadian companies Cameco and Brookfield. 

Cameco (CCJ) happens to be Goldman Sachs' highest conviction play for the nuclear theme as all of this goes on. Goldman also recently noted “the biggest near-term potential uplift to EBITDA forecasts as through FIDs on new AP1000s, as each reactor provides ~$225mn of EBITDA generation over a ~12-year time frame.”

The first two, and only two, AP1000 designs built in the U.S. were constructed in Georgia with both horrific cost overruns and grossly overblown timelines. The nuclear industry is desperate for the opportunity to prove it has learned its lessons and can come down the cost curve. Utilizing the most proficient nuclear power plant construction teams, outside of China, is a best case scenario. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 10:25

Tom Homan Announces 700-Agent Drawdown As Minnesota Counties Begin Cooperating With ICE

Border czar Tom Homan revealed moments ago at a press conference in Minneapolis that an unprecedented number of counties are now coordinating with federal authorities and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they reach the streets. As a result, Homan noted, fewer federal agents are needed in the metro area.

"We currently have an unprecedented number of [Minnesota] counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets," Homan said.

MASSIVE: Border Czar Tom Homan: “We currently have an unprecedented number of [Minnesota] counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets.” pic.twitter.com/AGGASjS0gd

— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) February 4, 2026

Homan continued, "I have announced that, effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people effective today. 700 law enforcement personnel."

Tom Homan: "I have announced effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people effective today. 700 law enforcement personnel." pic.twitter.com/Vbylc3iIBd

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 4, 2026

At the end of last week, Homan said federal immigration officials had made "a lot of progress" with local officials in Minnesota, signaling a possible shift in enforcement tactics amid rising tensions following recent deadly shootings involving federal immigration agents.

Homan's second news conference in Minneapolis comes after he replaced Gregory Bovino as the lead of ICE operations.

He recently warned that "justice is coming" for the far-left groups funding the attacks on ICE on the ground.

Much of the chaos in Minneapolis stems from the sanctuary state not honoring ICE detainers. This forced the Trump administration to surge federal agents into the Democratic-run town to retrieve illegals. Then, far-left militant groups and nonprofits unleashed a well-coordinated pressure campaign ("Signal-Gate"), which only suggests to us that the Democrats' plan all along was in hopes of spreading revolution nationwide ahead of spring.

Well played by Homan and the Trump administration in pushing for a major de-escalation now that local counties are coordinating with federal authorities on ICE detainers.

But why were ICE detainers not being honored in the first place? It's time to rethink the sanctuary status of left-wing-controlled cities.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 10:15

US Services Sector Surveys Signal Solid Growth In January, But...

Following the dramatic rebound in US Manufacturing survey data - driven by a surge in new orders - 'Soft' data has bounced back dramatically from its post-government shutdown lows (which is ironically occurring as the hard data - which was so resilient through the shutdown - has started to roll over)...

...and this morning's Services Sector survey data builds on that rebound

• S&P Global's US Services PMI signaled a better than expected expansion of 52.7 in January (52.5 exp), rebounding from April 2025 lows.

• ISM's US Services PMI survey also beat expectations in January (53.8 vs 53.5 exp), but was flat from a revised lower 53.8.

But both still solidly in expansion...

The S&P Global US Composite PMI recorded 53.0 in January. That was up from 52.7 in December and represented a solid rate of growth in private sector activity. Both sectors covered by the survey recorded stronger output expansions, in line with faster gains in new business. Employment meanwhile rose only marginally, while confidence in the outlook softened.

Despite the rebound, US has been overtaken by UK and Japan in terms of global PMIs...

“Sustained service sector growth, supported by a robust rise in manufacturing output in January, indicates the economy is growing at an annualized rate of around 1.7%," according to Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

However, that is a lower gear compared to the pace of expansion seen prior to December’s slowdown, and hints at GDP growth cooling in the first quarter.

Consumer-facing companies are increasingly reporting a challenging environment, with demand for services falling in January having nearly stalled in December, "reflecting low levels of consumer sentiment and cost of living pressures," Williamson noted.

The ISM data showed a triple whammy of higher prices, lower new orders, and lower employment...

However, as Williamson concludes, “inflationary pressures in the service sector meanwhile remain elevated, blamed on the pass though of tariff related price increases and wage growth, though stiff competition is often reported to have limited the impact on final selling prices.”

“While financial and business service providers are reporting a more resilient picture, demand growth here is also showing signs of fraying amid heightened concerns over the economic outlook, in turn often blamed on political uncertainty.

However, there is a silver lining, as Williamson concludes: "lower interest rates and favorable financial conditions, higher government spending, combined with more active sales and marketing efforts, are propping up business sentiment and spending, and also encouraging modest hiring."

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 10:06

Putin 'Kept His Word' On Ceasefire, Trump Says, As Large Attacks On Kiev Resume

President Trump has praised his Russian counterpart for keeping his word on the brief winter freeze ceasefire. Last week Trump had picked up the phone and urged President Putin to refrain from attacking Kiev and other major cities.

Trump said of the surprise pause that Putin had agreed to halt strikes for one week. Trump has newly told reporters that the agreement expired on Sunday, and that Russia kept its word.

"It was Sunday to Sunday, and it opened up and he hit them hard last night," Trump explained at the White House on Tuesday. "He kept his word on that… we’ll take anything, because it’s really, really cold over there."

Russian attack in the Ukrainian capital on Feb. 3, 2026. via Associated Press

But it was only last Thursday Jan.29 that first Trump unveiled the contents of the prior Putin call. It seems the pause lasted a little short of a full week, but maybe Trump is only counting business days? It is possible the phone call in question was held significantly before the announcement, but it remains there has not been a full week that Kiev hasn't seen bombs or drones in the sky.

What Trump said at the time was: "Because of the extreme cold…I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kiev and the cities and towns for a week." He went on to say Putin "agreed to do that," adding that "we’re very happy" with the outcome.

On Wednesday, American, Ukrainian and Russian representatives are once again gathered the United Arab Emirates for the next round of trilateral talks in an effort to forge a final peace. The Abu Dhabi talks are expected to run until Thursday. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is complaining about the timeline of Trump's winter brief truce, saying it only began last Friday, a day after Trump announced he reached the temporary deal.

And then as Reuters reported:

Russia's air attack on Ukraine's energy system overnight on Tuesday was the biggest since the start of 2026, Ukraine's leading private energy company said.

Power generation and distribution facilities came under attack, and thousands of people were left without electricity, DTEK said on the Telegram messaging app. 

Over 70 missiles and several hundred drones were sent, some knocking out power and thermal plants, amid ongoing slow and costly repairs.

"We await the reaction of America to the Russian strikes," Zelensky said in a Tuesday night statement. “It was the U.S. proposal to halt strikes on energy during diplomacy and severe winter weather. The president of the United States made the request personally. Russia responded with a record number of ballistic missiles.”

He is demanding that Russia feel the pain. "The US Congress has long been working on a new sanctions bill, and there must be progress on it. European partners can take decisive steps regarding Russian oil tankers’ earnings for the war. Russia must feel pressure so that it moves in negotiations toward peace," Zelensky added - though one wonders what there is left to sanction.

The consequences of the attack on Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/XSCs8eRgLY

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) February 3, 2026

Ukrainian officials have condemned what they are calling a "winter genocide" - given that the latest big strike happened when it is -20C (-4F) in the capital. That's where more than 1,000 tower blocks in the capital were left without heating once again in the wake of the assault which marked the end of the Trump-Putin short truce.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 09:50

New York To Deploy Legal Observers From AG James' Office To Monitor Federal Immigration Agents

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

New York is launching a new initiative to monitor immigration enforcement in the state, Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday.

Her announcement comes amid heightened tensions and increasing protests, threats, and violence against federal agents carrying out arrests of illegal aliens. As part of James’s initiative, her office will deploy legal observers to document immigration enforcement in New York.

The attorney general said the Legal Observation Project’s goal is to protect her citizens’ rights.

“As Attorney General, I am proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action,” she said in the Tuesday news release.

Wearing purple safety vests, James’s staffers will observe enforcement operations where appropriate and document actions by federal agents.

The legal observers will participate on a voluntary basis, the news release said, serving as neutral witnesses and recording information that could be used in future legal actions.

As enforcement against illegal immigrants continues nationwide, the attorney general said the Legal Observation Project aims to ensure operations stay within the bounds of the law.

“We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,” James said, adding her legal observers will begin monitoring in the coming weeks.

The New York Office of Attorney General staffers will not interfere with law enforcement activity, the news release read.

James’s initiative comes a day after Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said federal officers in Minneapolis, where large-scale immigration enforcement has been ongoing for weeks, will now be wearing body cameras.

In recent weeks, federal agents fatally shot two protesters in Minneapolis during altercations: A woman who appeared to ram an officer with her car and a man who was carrying a pistol and two magazines when he approached federal agents. Federal officials have maintained the shootings were tragic but justified.

As funding becomes available, body cameras for federal agents will be widely deployed.

"We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” Noem wrote in her announcement on X.

Body cameras are commonly worn among local and state law enforcement, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are not required to wear them.

Although as part of a pilot program that began in 2024, body cameras have been deployed to some ICE officers.

In addition to body cameras being deployed nationwide in the coming weeks for federal officers, James also urged New Yorkers to submit their own videos and documentation of immigration enforcement activities.

Her office said it set up an online portal to which citizens can send their reports.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 09:30

No Surprises In Treasury Refunding Statement: No Auction Size Increases For "Next Several Quarters"

Ahead of today's much-anticipated quarterly refunding announcement by the US Treasury, some were hopeful that Bessent could pull an anti-Yellen and forecast a gradual decline in long-term issuance in coming quarters, sending yields lower. None of the happened, however, and instead the Treasury did not surprise markets, announcing that this quarter's refunding total would come in line with estimates, at $125BN (to refund $90.2BN in securities). And while the Treasury said that auction sizes would be unchanged for "next several quarters" as expected, the department said it would continue to rely on bills to fund the increasing amount of federal spending. That said, by late March, the Treasury anticipates incrementally reducing short-dated bill auction sizes in light of the April 15 tax date. These reductions will lead - the Treasury believes - to a cumulative $250-300 billion net decline in total bill supply by early May.

Here is a summary of what the Treasury announced:

No surprises in today's Refunding statement

1. No change in net issuance: Treasury says will keep coupon, floating rate note auction sizes unchanged for "next several quarters" as expected. No ramp in issuance yet. 
2. Refunding size: Treasury offering $125BN in quarterly refunding, as expected. Will sell $58BN in 3Y, $42BN in 10Y and $25BN in 30Y, and will keep auctions sizes unchanged through May. 
3. Bills:  Despite QE Lite, the Treasury expects to "maintain the offering sizes of benchmark bills at current levels into mid-March" By late March, Treasury anticipates incrementally reducing short-dated bill auction sizes in light of the April 15 tax date. These reductions will lead to a cumulative $250-300 billion net decline in total bill supply by early May
4. Cash: Treasury assumes an $850BN cash balance at the end of March.  However, based on current projections for the upcoming refunding quarter, Treasury estimates that the size of the Treasury General Account (TGA) could peak around $1,025 BN by late April.
5. Buybacks: Treasury expects to purchase up to $38BN in off-the-run securities across buckets for "liquidity support" and up to $75 billion in the 1-month to 2-year bucket for cash management purposes in the coming quarter.

Taking a closer look at the Treasury's quarterly refunding statement published at 8:30am Wednesday, the department said it anticipated keeping auction sizes unchanged for nominal notes, bonds and floating-rate notes, “for at least the next several quarters”, a paraphrase of the same forward guidance that debt managers have used for two years now.

As for next week’s refunding auctions, they will total $125 billion, as expected, and will be made up of: 

• $58 billion of 3-year notes on Feb. 10
• $42 billion of 10-year notes on Feb. 11
• $25 billion of 30-year bonds on Feb. 12

The refunding will raise new cash of approximately $34.8BN, net of the $90.2BN in maturing securities.

The Treasury also said it’s “monitoring” the Federal Reserve’s expanded purchases of bills, which mature in a year or less. The central bank in December stunned markets (if not ZH readers, who knew about the move well ahead of time), when it said it would buy $40 billion a month of Bills until April, in an effort to ensure ample reserves in the banking system. And the department is keeping an eye on “growing demand for Treasury bills from the private sector."

As a result, based on current fiscal forecasts, Treasury expects to maintain the offering sizes of benchmark bills at or near current levels into mid-March.  By late March, Treasury anticipates incrementally reducing short-dated bill auction sizes in light of the April 15 tax date.  These reductions will likely lead to a cumulative $250-300 billion net decline in total bill supply by early May. The Treasury "will continue to evaluate near-term borrowing needs and assess additional adjustments to bill auction sizes as appropriate."

The department has for several quarter relied on T-Bills to fund the steadily increasing amount of federal spending. Amid that focus, some market participants ahead of Wednesday’s release reported speculation of aggressive moves to outright reduce bond issuance to help pull down yields that serve as a benchmark for mortgages and other loans. That did not happen.

Separately, the Treasury also "continues to evaluate potential future increases to nominal coupon and FRN auction sizes, with a focus on trends in structural demand and potential costs and risks of various issuance profiles,” the department said. FRNs refer to floating rate notes.

“While the administration’s focus on affordability measures has brought back questions about potential efforts to lower borrowing costs via more active adjustments to the issuance mix, we do not expect Treasury to do so at this point,” Goldman Sachs strategists William Marshall and Bill Zu wrote ahead of Wednesday’s release. Goldman’s take reflected the views of many dealers. Any move to cut sales of bonds, or 10-year notes, would have run against the department’s long-standing pledge to be “regular and predictable” in its debt management. Bessent himself invoked that language in a speech in November.

“The statement itself was very much steady-as-she-goes, with the Treasury reiterating the view that nominal coupon and FRN auction sizes will hold ‘for at least the next several quarters,’” said John Canavan, lead analyst at Oxford Economics.

Meantime, the Fed’s purchases reduce “the risk of Treasury oversupplying” the market with more bills than investors are prepared to handle, Morgan Stanley strategists led by Martin Tobias wrote in their refunding preview. Beyond April, the Fed’s plans are unclear, however — all the more so given Kevin Warsh’s nomination to become the next chair in May. Warsh has in the past advocated shrinking the Fed’s securities portfolio.

Two more things to note: 

While the Treasury assumes an $850 billion cash balance at the end of March, based on current projections for the upcoming refunding quarter, the Treasury now estimates that the size of the Treasury General Account (TGA) could peak around $1,025 billion (plus or minus $50 billion) by late April, before declining rapidly in May after tax day (this estimate reflects significant uncertainty regarding the size of April tax receipts, as well as macroeconomic factors and the path of fiscal and monetary policy).

Additionally, as part of its quarterly Treasury buyback schedule release, the Treasury said it anticipates that, over the course of the upcoming quarter, it will purchase up to $38 billion in off-the-run securities across buckets for liquidity support and up to $75 billion in the 1-month to 2-year bucket for cash management purposes. 

Digging a little deeper we find the following:

1. The minutes of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee’s Feb. 3 meeting indicated the following:

Debt Manager Liang Jensen summarized primary dealers’ views on floating-rate notes indexed to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Most dealers expressed support for Treasury issuing SOFR-indexed FRNs.

• Supporters argued that a Treasury SOFR FRN would diversify Treasury’s front-end issuance mix and potentially reduce funding costs, given the strong incremental demand
• Some dealers emphasized the risk of potentially cannibalizing demand for Treasury bills and for the existing 2-year Treasury FRN, while several dealers cautioned that Treasury could be exposed to spikes in SOFR during periods of funding market stress
• Most dealers pointed to a 1-year final maturity as particularly attractive in meeting demand from Money Market Funds
• Committee briefly discussed the feedback from dealers and the pros and cons of Treasury issuing a SOFR-linked FRN, and concluded that Treasury should study the idea further

Committee discussed the first charge, addressing bill purchases and the consolidated balance sheet  —  concept of a consolidated balance sheet between the Federal Reserve and Treasury was previously addressed in a February 2020 Committee presentation

• Committee then discussed the circumstances where Treasury should focus on the composition of privately-held Treasury debt outstanding or the composition of total debt outstanding
• Presenter reviewed how key elements of the Fed’s balance sheet alter effective interest rate risk when considered on a consolidated basis
• The presenter noted that, in the current environment, it would be reasonable for Treasury to meet some portion of the Federal Reserve’s System Open Market Account (SOMA) demand for Treasury bills through increased issuance in this sector of the curve
• Also discussed how the results of the Committee’s optimal debt issuance model might change when separating the interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing components
• Presenter advised that Fed policy inflection points are relevant times to consider the composition of privately-held Treasury securities when making issuance decisions

Committee discussed second charge, which addressed trends in demand for Treasury securities. Presenter highlighted several structural shifts shaping demand, including runoff from SOMA, growth in MMF assets, expanding bank portfolios, evolving pension plan structures, increasing Treasury holdings by foreign private investors, and potential demand associated with stablecoins

• The discussion covered key considerations—such as collateral needs, duration management, diversification benefits, and central bank reserve management—that are influencing Treasury allocations in portfolios
• Presenter concluded incremental demand for Treasuries might evolve going forward, noting that the short and intermediate sectors of the curve were likely to experience the broadest growth

2. TBAC (Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee) said it had a “robust” discussion on the relative tradeoffs of increasing auction sizes more gradually, perhaps earlier than needed, compared to a more accelerated path of increases when the financing gap is larger. While noting the importance of keeping the mandates of the Federal Reserve and Treasury separate, the committee said there can be “cross effects.” 

• The committee in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed the level of demand at various points of the curve, while noting that dynamics may continue to evolve prior to the need to raise coupon auction sizes
• “As always, the Committee felt strong communication to ensure a regular and predictable operating framework would help to facilitate any adjustment period for market participants,” TBAC wrote
• Committee also discussed the value of Treasury securities as a portfolio diversification tool, noting that in recent years it has been more volatile, with Treasury securities at times being positively correlated with equity returns
• Reduced diversification value could be a headwind for some segments of Treasury demand, though some TBAC members felt that the markets were returning to more typical countercyclical performance versus risky assets
• Committee concluded that the demand function for Treasury securities was healthy, with several members noting that the distinction between buying Treasury securities for duration and buying them on an asset swapped basis was meaningful.
  • Committee noted the reduction of demand for longer-duration sovereign debt in certain jurisdictions and, in some cases, the shift to shorter issuance from those respective debt management offices
• Committee discussed how Treasury should consider the composition of privately-held Treasury securities compared to total Treasury debt outstanding, including the holdings of the Federal Reserve’s System Open Market Account (SOMA), when evaluating its issuance mix
  • It was in broad agreement that the Fed policy inflection points are relevant times to consider the composition of privately held Treasury securities when making issuance decisions
  • The Fed has a recent history of meaningful Quantitative Easing (QE) actions over short periods of time, the effects of which Treasury could consider in due course. QE that has run its policy course changes the composition of private holdings
  • Treasury may find that it can make cost- and risk-efficient adjustments to its issuance mix due to the resulting changes in supply and demand, within its ever-important “regular and predictable” framework.  Present day considerations include increased demand for Treasury bills as part of Federal Reserve MBS run-off reinvestments and RMPs
• “The separation of mandates for the Treasury and Fed is important, but it is well understood that there can be cross effects; Treasury could factor in the impact of these effects on privately-held Treasury balances when it evaluates its issuance mix,” TBAC wrote

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 09:20

EU vs. Elon Musk: The Battle Over Free Speech Escalates In Paris

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

A raid on Elon Musk’s company X in Paris: On Tuesday morning, the French public prosecutor gained access to the company’s offices. The stated purpose of the investigation is the dissemination of child pornography and violations of personal rights through the spread of Deepfakes.

X’s offices in Paris, which were searched by investigators from the Paris prosecutor’s office, the national cyber crime unit and Europol

The French prosecutor’s office carried out the search Tuesday morning at Elon Musk’s X offices in Paris. Officially, the raid targets suspicions of distributing child pornography, according to a statement from the authority. As a further justification, the “Internet and Cybercrime” division cited the recently criticized so-called sexual Deepfakes.

These photo and video manipulations are generated using the AI of the Grok application, which the X platform provides to its users. Another allegation against the platform’s operators concerns the distribution of material denying the Holocaust.

The French prosecutor’s office is thus deploying maximum heavy artillery against X at the next escalation level. These appear to be politically motivated accusations, as the operator of a communication platform ethically cannot be responsible for content published by individual users.

Different Stage 

Clearly, there is more at stake. At the center is the conflict between the European Union and the U.S. government. The recurring point of contention: enforcing European censorship laws under the Digital Services Act (DSA)—now using a morally escalated strategy. Child pornography, Holocaust denial—hardly worse can be imagined. Such content is commercially damaging. And this aligns precisely with the French government’s strategic line, acting here as the executing arm of the EU Commission.

The fight for free speech in Europe has now shifted to a moral battlefield, where rule of law, freedom of expression, and responsibility for certain content are merged into a politically exploitable attack vector.

The message is clear: Those who do not comply with our censorship framework will be pelted with dirt until something sticks. The framework covers the entire conceivable range of direct and indirect censorship—from chat monitoring to editorial oversight of forum content, to post deletion or algorithmic reach limitations.

There is no other way to interpret it: rising criticism from the European public regarding EU Commission policies, open borders, and the green transition has gone too far for the leadership circles. Political fractures loom, seemingly irreparable.

The raid at the Paris office also resembles a classic political smoke screen. France, one of the many fading stars in the EU sky, would have every reason to debate other pressing topics rather than media-staged raids on X in the style of classic police states. Over all government action—or more precisely, inaction—hangs a veritable fiscal crisis. The welfare state is overstretched, the migration crisis forces the country into ever-expanding social programs, and debt is rising again this year by a dramatic five percent of GDP. France is approaching 120 percent debt-to-GDP, nearing de facto insolvency.

Wouldn’t even this visible plunge into the debt spiral alone warrant a deeper debate and new elections, Monsieur le Président?

That a president without a popular mandate, Emmanuel Macron, with approval ratings around 15 percent, chooses to engage in an escalating conflict with Elon Musk on a side front to distract from fundamental problems may be politically understandable. Yet it also exposes the full impotence of France and European politics in general.

The European Union presents itself as a political paper giant, now seeking open conflict with perceived internal and external enemies: internally corroded, lacking trust from the public, economically in decline, and an energy parasitic actor that has shot itself in the foot multiple times by entering a conflict with its most important supplier, Russia, blindly. The colossus staggers toward its end like a mindless schoolyard bully.

Against this backdrop, the rising pressure on opposition voices must be understood. Open resistance is forming in the digital space against the Euro-regime, now fighting back against the unraveling of its climate and power complex, which can no longer be saved. That efforts are being intensified to suppress dissenting opinions fits seamlessly into this logic of decline.

In the case of platform X, the conflict culminates with the disliked American government under President Donald Trump, alongside whom Elon Musk stands as a vocal defender of free speech—and against whom EU elites are now aggressively focusing their attacks. Whether one likes it or not: Trump remains one of the last relevant actors actively defending core Western values like free speech and market economy, while the EU mutates into a substantial control leviathan across all levels of society.

Eerie Silence 

In Europe, it has become eerily quiet around proponents of enlightened politics, those who would defend individual freedoms against an increasingly repressive state apparatus. Tuesday’s actions by French authorities fit perfectly into the EU’s general line: gradually undermining civil rights and freedom of speech through the growing censorship apparatus of the DSA.

And the more cohesive, powerful, and vocal the opposition in Eastern Europe and beyond the Atlantic becomes, forming a strategically acting unit against Brussels’ centralism, the more aggressive—and simultaneously defensive—the Brussels body reacts. Its gestures resemble a staggering boxer sensing the next punch could switch off the lights.

Repeated references to child pornography or alleged copyright violations to justify censorship appear as crude deception maneuvers that even the last supporter of the von der Leyen-Macron EU can see through. These are classic issues for which existing criminal law would suffice.

Yet this finding does nothing to change the central fact: Europe still lacks a firm, decisive confrontation of the bourgeois remnants of our society with this increasingly despotic pseudo-elite.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a Germany a graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/04/2026 - 07:20

Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus



In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about coronavirus and the impact that it is having on the markets. Earlier this month, Peter said he thought the virus was just an excuse for stock market woes. At the time he believed the market was poised to fall anyway. But as it turns out, coronavirus has actually helped the US stock market because it has led central banks to pump even more liquidity into the world financial system. All this means more liquidity — central banks easing. In fact, that is exactly what has already happened, except the new easing is taking place, for now, outside the United States, particularly in China.” Although the new money is primarily being created in China, it is flowing into dollars — the dollar index is up — and into US stocks. Last week, US stock markets once again made all-time record highs. In fact, I think but for the coronavirus, the US stock market would still be selling off. But because of the central bank stimulus that has been the result of fears over the coronavirus, that actually benefitted not only the US dollar, but the US stock market.” In the midst of all this, Peter raises a really good question. The primary economic concern is that coronavirus will slow down output and ultimately stunt economic growth. Practically speaking, the world would produce less stuff. If the virus continues to spread, there would be fewer goods and services produced in a market that is hunkered down. Why would the Federal Reserve respond, or why would any central bank respond to that by printing money? How does printing more money solve that problem? It doesn’t. In fact, it actually exacerbates it. But you know, everybody looks at central bankers as if they’ve got the solution to every problem. They don’t. They don’t have the magic wand. They just have a printing press. And all that creates is inflation.” Sometimes the illusion inflation creates can look like a magic wand. Printing money can paper over problems. But none of this is going to fundamentally fix the economy. In fact, if central bankers were really going to do the right thing, the appropriate response would be to drain liquidity from the markets, not supply even more.” Peter explained how the Fed was originally intended to create an “elastic” money supply that would expand or contract along with economic output. Today, the money supply only goes in one direction — that’s up. The economy is strong, print money. The economy is weak, print even more money.” Of course, the asset that’s doing the best right now is gold. The yellow metal pushed above $1,600 yesterday. Gold is up 5.5% on the year in dollar terms and has set record highs in other currencies. Because gold is rising even in an environment where the dollar is strengthening against other fiat currencies, that shows you that there is an underlying weakness in the dollar that is right now not being reflected in the Forex markets, but is being reflected in the gold markets. Because after all, why are people buying gold more aggressively than they’re buying dollars or more aggressively than they’re buying US Treasuries? Because they know that things are not as good for the dollar or the US economy as everybody likes to believe. So, more people are seeking out refuge in a better safe-haven and that is gold.” Peter also talked about the debate between Trump and Obama over who gets credit for the booming economy – which of course, is not booming.

We are living in crazy times. I have a hard time believing that most of the general public is not awake, but in reality, they are. We've never seen anything like this; I mean not even under Obama during the worst part of the Great Recession." Now the Fed is desperately trying to keep interest rates from rising. The problem is that it's a much bigger debt bubble this time around , and the Fed is going to have to blow a lot more air into it to keep it inflated. The difference is this time it's not going to work." It looks like the Fed did another $104.15 billion of Not Q.E. in a single day. The Fed claims it's only temporary. But that is precisely what Bernanke claimed when the Fed started QE1. Milton Freedman once said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The same applies to Q.E., or whatever the Fed wants to pretend it's doing. Except this is not QE4, according to Powell. Right. Pumping so much money out, and they are accusing China of currency manipulation ? Wow! Seriously! Amazing! Dump the U.S. dollar while you still have a chance. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. And it is even worse than that, In addition to the $104.15 billion of "Not Q.E." this past Thursday; the FED added another $56.65 billion in liquidity to financial markets the next day on Friday. That's $160.8 billion in two days!!!! in just 48 hours. That is more than 2 TIMES the highest amount the FED has ever injected on a monthly basis under a Q.E. program (which was $80 billion per month) Since this isn't QE....it will be really scary on what they are going to call Q.E. Will it twice, three times, four times, five times what this injection per month ! It is going to be explosive since it takes about 60 to 90 days for prices to react to this, January should see significant inflation as prices soak up the excess liquidity. The question is, where will the inflation occur first . The spike in the repo rate might have a technical explanation: a misjudgment was made in the Fed's money market operations. Even so, two conclusions can be drawn: managing the money markets is becoming harder, and from now on, banks will be studying each other's creditworthiness to a greater degree than before. Those people, who struggle with the minutiae of money markets, and that includes most professionals, should focus on the causes and not the symptoms. Financial markets have recovered from each downturn since 1980 because interest rates have been cut to new lows. Post-2008, they were cut to near zero or below zero in all major economies. In response to a new financial crisis, they cannot go any lower. Central banks will look for new ways to replicate or broaden Q.E. (At some point, governments will simply see repression as an easier option). Then there is the problem of 'risk-free' assets becoming risky assets. Financial markets assume that the probability of major governments such as the U.S. or U.K. defaulting is zero. These governments are entering the next downturn with debt roughly twice the levels proportionate to GDP that was seen in 2008. The belief that the policy worked was completely predicated on the fact that it was temporary and that it was reversible, that the Fed was going to be able to normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-crisis levels. Well, when the balance sheet is five-trillion, six-trillion, seven-trillion when we're back at zero, when we're back in a recession, nobody is going to believe it is temporary. Nobody is going to believe that the Fed has this under control, that they can reverse this policy. And the dollar is going to crash. And when the dollar crashes, it's going to take the bond market with it, and we're going to have stagflation. We're going to have a deep recession with rising interest rates, and this whole thing is going to come imploding down. everything is temporary with the fed including remaining off the gold standard temporary in the Fed's eyes could mean at least 50 years This liquidity problem is a signal that trading desks are loaded up on inventory and can't get rid of it. Repo is done out of a need for cash. If you own all of your securities (i.e., a long-only, no leverage mutual fund) you have no need to "repo" your securities - you're earning interest every night so why would you want to 'repo' your securities where you are paying interest for that overnight loan (securities lending is another animal). So, it is those that 'lever-up' and need the cash for settlement purposes on securities they've bought with borrowed money that needs to utilize the repo desk. With this in mind, as we continue to see this need to obtain cash (again, needed to settle other securities purchases), it shows these firms don't have the capital to add more inventory to, what appears to be, a bloated inventory. Now comes the fun part: the Treasury is about to auction 3's, 10's, and 30-year bonds. If I am correct (again, I could be wrong), the Fed realizes securities firms don't have the shelf space to take down a good portion of these auctions. If there isn't enough retail/institutional demand, it will lead to not only a crappy sale but major concerns to the street that there is now no backstop, at all, to any sell-off. At which point, everyone will want to be the first one through the door and sell immediately, but to whom? If there isn't enough liquidity in the repo market to finance their positions, the firms would be unable to increase their inventory. We all saw repo shut down on the 2008 crisis. Wall St runs on money. . OVERNIGHT money. They lever up to inventory securities for trading. If they can't get overnight money, they can't purchase securities. And if they can't unload what they have, it means the buy-side isn't taking on more either. Accounts settle overnight. This includes things like payrolls and bill pay settlements. If a bank doesn't have enough cash to payout what its customers need to pay out, it borrows. At least one and probably more than one banks are insolvent. That's what's going on. First, it can't be one or two banks that are short. They'd simply call around until they found someone to lend. But they did that, and even at markedly elevated rates, still, NO ONE would lend them the money. That tells me that it's not a problem of a couple of borrowers, it's a problem of no lenders. And that means that there's no bank in the world left with any real liquidity. They are ALL maxed out. But as bad as that is, and that alone could be catastrophic, what it really signals is even worse. The lending rates are just the flip side of the coin of the value of the assets lent against. If the rates go up, the value goes down. And with rates spiking to 10%, how far does the value fall? Enormously! And if banks had to actually mark down the value of the assets to reflect 10% interest rates, then my god, every bank in the world is insolvent overnight. Everyone's capital ratios are in the toilet, and they'd have to liquidate. We're talking about the simultaneous insolvency of every bank on the planet. Bank runs. No money in ATMs, Branches closed. Safe deposit boxes confiscated. The whole nine yards, It's actually here. The scenario has tended to guide toward for years and years is actually happening RIGHT NOW! And people are still trying to say it's under control. Every bank in the world is currently insolvent. The only thing keeping it going is printing billions of dollars every day. Financial Armageddon isn't some far off future risk. It's here. Prepare accordingly. This fiat system has reached the end of the line, and it's not correct that fiat currencies fail by design. The problem is corruption and manipulation. It is corruption and cheating that erodes trust and faith until the entire system becomes a gigantic fraud. Banks and governments everywhere ARE the problem and simply have to be removed. They have lost all trust and respect, and all they have left is war and mayhem. As long as we continue to have a majority of braindead asleep imbeciles following orders from these psychopaths, nothing will change. Fiat currency is not just thievery. Fiat currency is SLAVERY. Ultimately the most harmful effect of using debt of undefined value as money (i.e., fiat currencies) is the de facto legalization of a caste system based on voluntary slavery. The bankers have a charter, or the legal *right*, to create money out of nothing. You, you don't. Therefore you and the bankers do not have the same standing before the law. The law of the land says that you will go to jail if you do the same thing (creating money out of thin air) that the banker does in full legality. You and the banker are not equal before the law. ALL the countries of the world; Islamic or secular, Jewish or Arab, democracy or dictatorship; all of them place the bankers ABOVE you. And all of you accept that only whining about fiat money going down in exchange value over time (price inflation which is not the same as monetary inflation). Actually, price inflation itself is mainly due to the greed and stupidity of the bankers who could keep fiat money's exchange value reasonably stable, only if they wanted to. Witness the crash of silver and gold prices which the bankers of the world; Russian, American, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Arab, all of them collaborated to engineer through the suppression and stagnation of precious metals' prices to levels around the metals' production costs, or what it costs to dig gold and silver out of the ground. The bankers of the world could also collaborate to keep nominal prices steady (as they do in the case of the suppression of precious metals prices). After all, the ability to create fiat money and force its usage is a far more excellent source of power and wealth than that which is afforded simply by stealing it through inflation. The bankers' greed and stupidity blind them to this fact. They want it all, and they want it now. In conclusion, The bankers can create money out of nothing and buy your goods and services with this worthless fiat money, effectively for free. You, you can't. You, you have to lead miserable existences for the most of you and WORK in order to obtain that effectively nonexistent, worthless credit money (whose purchasing/exchange value is not even DEFINED thus rendering all contracts based on the null and void!) that the banker effortlessly creates out of thin air with a few strokes of the computer keyboard, and which he doesn't even bother to print on paper anymore, electing to keep it in its pure quantum uncertain form instead, as electrons whizzing about inside computer chips which will become mute and turn silent refusing to tell you how many fiat dollars or euros there are in which account, in the absence of electricity. No electricity, no fiat, nor crypto money. It would appear that trust is deteriorating as it did when Lehman blew up . Something really big happened that set off this chain reaction in the repo markets. Whatever that something is, we aren't be informed. They're trying to cover it up, paper it over with conjured cash injections, play it cool in front of the cameras while sweating profusely under the 5 thousands dollar suits. I'm guessing that the final high-speed plunge into global economic collapse has begun. All we see here is the ripples and whitewater churning the surface, but beneath the surface, there is an enormous beast thrashing desperately in its death throws. Now is probably the time to start tying up loose ends with the long-running prep projects, just saying. In other words, prepare accordingly, and Get your money out of the banks. I don't care if you don't believe me about Bitcoin. Get your money out of the banks. Don't keep any more money in a bank than you need to pay your bills and can afford to lose.











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The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

The FBI released a summary of its file from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday, showing details of Clinton's explanation of her use of a private email server to handle classified communications. The release comes nearly two months after FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton's handling of classified information was "extremely careless," it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the next day that she would not pursue charges in the matter. "We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests," the FBI noted in a statement sent to reporters with links to the documents. The documents include notes from Clinton's July 2 interview with agents, as well as a "factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter," according to the FBI release. Throughout her interview with agents, Clinton repeatedly said she relied on the career professionals she worked with to handle classified information correctly. The agents asked about a series of specific emails, and in each case Clinton said she wasn't worried about the particular material being discussed on a nonclassified channel.