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Articles by Rick Cerone
Rick Cerone Q&A: Famous Rookie Card, Conversations with Joe DiMaggio, Collecting Mickey Mantle Cards
Newark, New Jersey native Rick Cerone was a multi-sport star at Essex Catholic High School who went on to Seton Hall University where he starred on the diamond for the Pirates. In 1975, Cleveland nabbed Cerone with the seventh overall pick in the amateur draft. Cerone appeared in only 14 games over two seasons before he and John Lowenstein were traded to the expansion Toronto Blue Jays for Rico Carty prior to the Jays’ inaugural 1977 season.
Facebook Ditches Its "Fake News Flag" After People Shared Flagged Articles Even More
Roughly one year ago Facebook promised to eradicate "fake news" from its platform by "flagging" articles that were deemed inaccurate by their hand-selected "fact checkers" (A.K.A. "liberal propagandists")...we wrote all about it in a post entitled "Facebook Launches Campaign To Combat 'Fake News'".
GE Is Crashing | Zero Hedge
The pre-market buyers of last resort, hoping that GE just kitchen-sinked by slashing its dividend by 50%... are in trouble. Everything was fine until CEO Flannery started speaking...
"Investing Is Not A Competition... It's A Game Of Long-Term Survival"
Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Melt-Up Gains Traction Back in November, just following the election of President Trump, I wrote about the market entering into potentially the final “melt-up” phase of the cyclical bull market.
ESPN's Jamele Hill Urges Fans To Boycott Anti-Kneeling NFL Advertisers
Having been reprimanded by her boss (and President Trump) for her previous divisive remarks, ESPN's Jamele Hill called on football fans to boycott advertisers who are aligned with teams pushing back against 'kneeling'. As a reminder, after her last outburst, here is what ESPN president John Skipper said in a memo to staffers: "ESPN is about sports... It is not a political organization." So much for that...
Vegas Killer Purchased Guns Legally, Used "Bump-Stock" To Create Automatic Fire
Before any information had been released about the shooter’s identity, or where and how he acquired the arsenal of 42 guns, 23 of which were eventually discovered in his hotel room, one Connecticut senator was already making headlines by exhorting Congress to “get off its ass” and pass gun-control legislation, officially marking the beginning of another contentious chapter in America's perennial gun-control debate. “This must stop," Murphy said.
Goldman Shuns JPMorgan's Dimon - Plans Bitcoin Trading Operation
While JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he "would fire" any employee found trading Bitcoin, Goldman Sachs' leadership is embracing reality as WSJ reports the bank is weighing a new trading operation dedicated to bitcoin and other digital currencies. On the heels of IMF Chief Christine Lagarde's comments that: "... the technology itself can replace national monies, conventional financial intermediation, and even puts a question mark on the fractional banking model we know today...
VIX Shorts Hit Record Highs As US Households Load Up On Stocks
With VIX at its 2nd lowest level weekly close in history, amid storms, quakes, dismal data, oh yeah and nuclear armageddon looming, it is perhaps no surprise that speculators sold more VIX futures last week... to a new record level of shorts... As Reuters reports, the long stretch of low volatility for U.S. stocks has made betting on continued calm a popular and lucrative trade, but traders and strategists warn that risks to the trade have mounted, while the potential for profits has shrunk.
Prosecutors Demand 2-Year Prison Sentence For Anthony Weiner
After being widely blamed by Hillary Clinton supporters – and even the candidate herself – for inadvertently prompting the FBI to reopen its investigation into whether the candidate mishandled classified information, it looks like Anthony Weiner, once believed to be a strong contender for Mayor of New York City, is going to prison.
"Today, The Music Stops..."
Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com, Today’s the day. After months of preparing financial markets for this news, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to announce that it will finally begin shrinking its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. I know, that probably sound reeeeally boring. A bunch of central bankers talking about their balance sheet. But it’s phenomenally important.
Bannon Out At The White House
Confirming earlier reports from Matt Drudge and the NYT, on Friday afternoon the White House confirmed that Trump decided to push out his chief strategist, and the man who according to many got him elected, Stephen Bannon. “White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,” the White House said in an emailed statement.
Dick's CEO: "The Retail Industry Is In Panic Mode"
With Dick's stock crashing after reporting dreadful results this morning, in which both comp sales and EPS missed as the company slashed its full year guidance below even the lowest sellside forecast (it now sees full year EPS of $2.80 to $3.00, below the previous guidance of $3.65 to $3.75 and the Wall Street estimate of $3.62 ), the management team had no reason to hold back on today's earnings call, and luckily - unlike many other retailers who still hold out hope that the worst is behind...
Death Spiral: 6.5 Million People Choose To Pay Tax Rather Than Buy Obamacare
For those who still aren't convinced that Obamacare is trapped in an inescapable death spiral that will inevitably end in nothing short of an epic collapse of the federal and state health insurance exchanges, perhaps you should consider the following facts from the National Review and Mark Farrah and Associates. - Four heavily promoted open enrollments have taken place run by the Obama administration and the state exchanges.
Gold Spikes To 2-Month Highs As Equity 'Traders' Buy-The-F**king-Fire-And-Fury-Dip
Buy The Fucking Fire And Fury... Interrestingly the BTFDers arrived right on cue as Europe closed and then got some ignition when NYT ran a story saying Trump's words were his own and not 'policy'... Then again into the close, VIX was smashed lower in a desperate bid to get S&P green... Dow down for a 2nd straight day!!!! VIDEO Since "Fire and Fury", gold has outperformed, bonds are bid, and stocks offered...
Bullard: "Hard To Find Explanation For Low Inflation; Low-Vol Doesn't Signal Anything"
When it comes to inflation in the US, there are generally two schools of thought:one is that inflation is woefully - and purposefully for political means - mismeasured, and that the real inflation is orders of magnitude higher than what the BLS, with its endless array of hedonic adjustments, reports. We discussed this view in May when we presented a presentation by Devonshire Research, which showed that "contrarian" CPI is closer to 8%, not the "post-modern" accepted rate of roughly 3%.
Fred Hickey Warns "It's Only Question Of When The Tech Time Bomb Goes Off"
Authored by Christoph Gisiger via Finanz Und Wirtshcaft, Fred Hickey, editor of the influential investment newsletter «The High-Tech Strategist», warns of trouble ahead for the stock market and spots bright opportunities in the gold sector. Wall Street is in a champagne mood. Last week, thanks to a rally in Apple, the Dow Jones surpassed 22,000 for the first time ever. Nevertheless, Fred Hickey doesn’t share the bubbly vein.
WEF Chairman Borg Resigns As Citi Advisor For Exposing Himself, "Comparing Penis Sizes"
Anders Borg, the former Swedish finance minister and current chairman of the World Economic Forum's Global Financial System Initiative, has stepped down from a second top job after he was forced to apologize for what Bloomberg dubbed "unpleasant" behavior at a party in the Stockholm archipelago. Borg, 49, informed Citi that he will resign from his role as senior adviser, according to an emailed statement from the bank, Bloomberg reported.
BTC-E Says It Will Return Customers' Bitcoins After Being Shut Down By DOJ
In what would be a surprising achievement, after the US government seized the site's domain, BTC-e announced that it has somehow retained access to customer wallets and deposits nearly two weeks after the site was taken down by a collaboration between US and European authorities. The announcement was published on a bitcoin forum account long associated with the shadowy exchange, so there’s no guarantee that it represents an official statement from the company, or whatever’s left of it.
Patrick Byrne: Why Cryptocurrencies Matter
Authored by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com, This week we talk with Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, and rare courageous voice within corporate America raising concern that powerful interests on Wall Street are destroying US companies for profit, robbing investors and destabilizing our financial system in the process.
Treasury To Issue Half A Trillion Dollars In Debt In Q4
In the first warning sign that the US Treasury is burning through more cash than previously expected, at 3pm today the Treasury Department announced that in its latest forecast of end-of-September cash balance it anticipated only $60 billion of cash on hand, nearly half the $115 billion it forecast in its previous report in May, according to the Department’s marketable borrowing estimates.
This Is What Makes Robert Shiller "Lie Awake Worrying"
The stock market's unusually low level of volatility could mark the "quiet before the storm," warns Robert Shiller, the famed Nobel laureate and economics professor at Yale University, who shared some alarming facts about the stock market that cause him to "lie awake worrying." The Nobel laureate says low volatility paired with a questionable price-earnings ratio could wipe out a chunk of the stock market's value. "The price increase just went step-by-step with the earnings increase.
U.S. Sanctions Venezuela's President Maduro, Freezes U.S. Assets
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has personally sanctioned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, adding him to the list of specially designated nationals, freezing any U.S. assets he may have and generally blocking U.S. persons from transactions involving him.
July Jolts: Tech Tops, Trannies Trounced, Dollar Demolished, & VIX Record Low
Just seemed appropriate... VIDEO July was a month of extremes across asset classes...
Spot The Conflict(s): This Strip-Club Operator Pays Sidoti $40,000 A Year To Cover It's Stock
We've spent a lot of time of late discussing Europe's new MiFID II regulations that will go into effect in January 2018 and require investment banks to charge institutional clients separately for trading commissions and research.
Trump Confirms He Will Sign Russia Sanctions Bill
Following the approval from overwhelming majorities in both the House (419-3) and Senate (98-2), President Trump has just confirmed that he will sign the Russia sanctions bill into law. The confirmation comes despite days of speculation after Anthony Scaramucci told CNN that Trump could sign the sanctions bill or "veto the sanctions and negotiate an even tougher deal against the Russians." "President Donald J. Trump read early drafts of the bill and negotiated regarding critical elements of it.
Swedish Government On Verge Of Collapse After Admitting 'Accidental Leak' Of Entire Nation's Info
Sweden’s government is being quietly rocked by a major scandal. So far the market has paid it little regard, but, as Citi warns, it may soon escalate... Sweden appears to have accidentally leaked the details of almost all of its citizens. And now it's getting worse as the leak happened in 2015, but only emerged last week. As The Indepedent reports, The leak allowed unvetted IT workers in other countries to see the details of people registered in Swedish government and police databases.
Spot The Outlier - Seattle Home Prices Go Vertical As Laundered Chinese Money Flows In
Last summer we declared that "China's favorite offshore money laundering hub is officially no longer accepting its money" after the city of Vancouver slapped a 15% tax on foreign real estate buyers. The tax was intended to curb a massive real estate bubble which had resulted from an influx of Chinese money over the preceding years.
FOMC Preview: Just 2 Things To Watch For In Today's Fed Statement
Unlike the June Fed meeting, the FOMC announcement at 2pm today is expected to be an uneventful affair: as DB's Jim Reid pointed out earlier, "given its late July and given the Fed will likely announce an end to balance sheet reinvestment in September (starting from October), this could be a relatively dull meeting." Big picture: the FOMC is expected to keep interest rates unchanged at this meeting at 1.00%-1.25%, after hiking last month.
Bitcoin Is Like The Internet In 1995
InternationalMan's Nick Giamburno is a strong advocate of international diversification - such as holding multiple passports and offshore assets. It frees you from absolute dependence on any one country. In short, international diversification minimizes the State’s power to coerce you. Bitcoin is an important part of this strategy. It’s an inherently international asset. Bitcoin has incredible value as an international transfer mechanism. You can take any amount in and out of any country.
Birkenstock CEO Accuses Amazon Of "Modern Day Piracy"
President Donald Trump might’ve been on to something when he accused the Washington Post of being a “lobbyist weapon For Amazon.” In a rambling five-page email published by WaPo, the CEO of Birkenstock USA threatened to cut off authorized retailers who sell even a “single pair” of its shoes to Amazon.com Inc., a continuation of his crusade against the online retailer, which began about a year ago when he demanded that the e-commerce powerhouse do more to ferret out fakes being sold on its...
New Home Sales Disappoint As Median Price Drops Year-Over-Year
After disappointing existing home sales (following a notable drop in homebuilder confidence), new home sales modestly disappointed in June (610k vs 615k exp) with a small downward revision to May... (the 3rd downward revision in the last 4 months). Perhaps more notable is the 3% drop in median home prices YoY following a big downward revision in May (from record $345,800 to $324,300).
Foxconn To Get $230,000 In Incentives For Every Wisconsin Job Created
To much fanfare, President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn, best known for making the iPhone, will build a new plant producing LCD panels in Wisconsin that will bring thousands of jobs to the state. On the surface it's a great deal: in what's being called the largest economic development project in state history, Foxconn plans to build a $10 billion plant that will eventually employ as many as 13,000 people, according to the White House and Gov.
Congressman Luis Gutierrez Calls Trump A "Major Criminal" That Must Be "Eliminated"
Authored by Michael Snyder via The American Dream blog, Is it proper for a sitting member of Congress to call for the president of the United States to be “eliminated”? Despite all of the chaos and all of the violence that we have seen so far, Democrats continue to stir up even more anger and even more hatred. Words have power, and our leaders need to be very careful about how they use them.
The Death Cross Of Central Bank Credibility
With no expectations of a rate-hike this week, and traders rapidly giving up on The Fed's dream of a steadily higher rate trajectory, a funny thing happened in the markets... In the eyes of The Fed, their monetary policy has not been this 'tight' since October 2008. However, in the eyes of the market, financial conditions just hit their easiest level in history (easier than the September 2005 previous record easiness level).
Boehner Bashes GOP - Will Never Repeal & Replace Obamacare, "It's Been Around Too Long"
Every entitlement typically creates a constituency that benefits from it and is forever dedicated to its defense... and the longer it exists, the more entrenched (and larger) those defenders become. Simply put, entitlements never get repealed.
These Are The 10 Most Crowded Long And Short Trades According To UBS
In this market where fundamentals long ago ceased to matter, and where positioning remains one of the few remaining sources of alpha, investors have been focusing on lists showing the most over and under-owned stocks.
Nasdaq Rebounds To Record Highs As T-Bill Turmoil Continues
Another day, another record high in tech stocks... VIDEO A very ugly 3mo T-Bill auction today (highest yield since Lehman and inverting the yield curve) sent yields soaring once again as debt-ceiling concerns are spooking cash markets (but not stocks)... But as Bloomberg notes, markets focused once again on the White House as news about Russian ties continued to hold sway. Jared Kushner told reporters after his Senate testimony he did nothing wrong. “Let me be very clear.
FBI Seized Crushed Hard Drives From Home Of Wasserman-Schultz' IT Aide
Over the past few months, the story of the Awan brothers has been largely ignored by mainstream media. However, the Pakistani-born brothers Abid, Imran, and Jamal Awan are at the center of a criminal investigation by U.S. Capital Hill Police and the FBI. While official charges have not yet been filed, allegations of wrong doing vary from simply overcharging taxpayers for congressional IT equipment to blackmailing members of Congress with secrets captured from emails.
Wisconsin Firm Microchips Employees: "It's Inevitably The Next Thing... And We Want To Be Part Of It"
In April we noted that Swedish company Epicenter had begun implanting RFID chips into workers hands... and the workers loved it... it makes opening doors and buying smoothies so easy and convenient, and your coworkers will even throw a party for you once you take the plunge to become a cyborg. The injections have become so popular that workers at Epicenter hold parties for those willing to get implanted.
"Time Is Running Out" - China Is Planning For A Crisis Along North Korean Border
Despite Chinese officials reassurance that "military means shouldn’t be an option," WSJ reports that China has been bolstering defenses along its 880-mile frontier with North Korea and realigning forces in surrounding regions to prepare for a potential crisis across their border, including the possibility of a U.S. military strike.
Russia's Real Endgame
Authored by James Rickards via The Daily Reckoning, Russia’s Putin has never taken his eye off the ball. His ambition is not global hegemony or European conquest. Putin seeks what Russia has always sought: regional hegemony and a set of buffer states in eastern Europe and central Asia that can add to Russia’s strategic depth.
Giuliani Denies He Is Being Considered For Attorney General
Following this morning's Acios report that Trump is considering replacing AG Sessions with Rudy Gioiliani, the former New York City Mayor spoke to CNN, and disputed the report. Giuliani denied rumors that he was being considered to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday, and contradicted the President by saying Sessions was right to recuse himself from matters related to the 2016 campaign and Russian meddling therein.
Hero Imams? | Zero Hedge
Authored by Khadija Khan via The Gatestone Institute, More than 60 Islamic leaders and imams -- from France, Belgium, Britain, Tunisia, and of different Islamic faiths -- in a move that may be unprecedented, are touring Europe to denounce Islamic terrorism and to pay homage to the victims of terror in Europe by visiting many of the sites of terror attacks. The idea seems to have shaken extremists to the core. They have been sending these imams death threats.
Why A Dollar Rebound May Be Imminent Even As Crash Insurance Costs Hit Nosebleed Levels
Is the bottom in for the dollar yet? After hitting a 14 month low, the Bloomberg Dollar Index saw a modest gain of 0.1% as markets awaited this week’s FOMC meeting and kept a wary eye on Capitol Hill hearings which involve close members of the Trump administration. Quoted by Bloomberg, traders described flows as modest amid the elevated event risk we laid out earlier this morning.
Democrats Desperately Attempt To Regain Relevance With Midwest Voters Via New Populist Agenda
Yesterday we pointed out that, in a somewhat shockingly frank interview with on ABC's "This Week", Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats, not Russia, were to blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss to President Trump. "When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things - [James] Comey, Russia - you blame yourself." "So what did we do wrong? People didn’t know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump.
3-Month Treasury-Bill Auction Prices At Highest Yield Since Lehman On Debt-Ceiling Concerns
It seems Morgan Stanely was right when they said "the debt ceiling worries us most," as today's 3-month T-Bill auction surprised the market with its highest yield since the fall of 2008, as investors continue to price concerns that the U.S. government will exhaust its borrowing authority around mid-October. As SMRA details: The 3-month bill auction stopped at 1.180%, with a 67.70% allocation at the high yield. The 3-month auction bid/cover ratio was 2.87.
Shocking UN Document From 2000 Exposes Global "Migration Replacement" Solution To Developed World Demographics
Ever wondered why so many western elites are so vehemently supportive of mass immigration? Ever question how willfully blind the establishment is to the costs (human and capital) of allowing any- and everyone into the heart of European nations? Well wonder no more... As a reminder, the world faces decades of depopulation. Our present economic issues began decades ago.
FX Spec Positioning Hits Multi-Year Extremes As Dollar Tumbles, Euro Soars
Following the latest weekly battering of the USD, which has tumbled to near one year lows, the latest CFTC net spec positioning (which traditionally represents a lagging picture of price trend and has very limited, if any, informational value) saw a continuation of recent extreme moves, nowhere more so than in Euro and Japanese Yen net spec positions, which have shifted to most long since late 2011, and most short since January 2014 respectively.
Detroit Is Demolishing Homes With Federal Money Meant "To Save Them"
Contrary to popular perception, not all of the money approved as part of the federal government’s emergency effort to save the American financial system in the fall of 2008 went to the big banks. Some of it – nearly $10 billion, all told – went to support the government’s “hardest hit” program, meant to help forestall foreclosures in 18 states.
Moscow, Baghdad Sign Huge Arms Deal
Authored by Peter Korzun via The Strategic Culture Foundation, It was reported on July 20 that Russia and Iraq have struck a deal on supplying a large batch of T-90 tanks. Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian president’s aide for military technical cooperation, confirmed the agreement but declined to provide details, saying only «the number of tanks is substantial».
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