Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The OTC derivative gang did a lot better with no risk.
Tanker with $200 million in oil hijacked off Oman
Piracy ‘spinning out of control into the entire Indian Ocean,’ shipping spokesman says
By Jonathan Saul and Renee Maltezou
LONDON/ATHENS — Suspected Somali pirates captured a U.S.-bound tanker carrying around $200 million worth of crude oil in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday in one of the biggest hijackings in the area so far.
The hijacking marks a significant shift in piracy and the crisis could "strangle" vital shipping lanes, the association of supertanker owners warned.
The Irene SL, the length of three soccer pitches and with 25 crew members on board, was carrying about 2 million barrels of oil, or nearly one fifth of daily U.S. crude imports.
The hijacking came a day after an Italian tanker carrying oil worth more than $60 million was snatched by Somali pirates, reinforcing industry fears that the piracy scourge is "spinning out of control".
"This morning the vessel was attacked by armed men," the Irene SL’s Greece-based manager Enesel said. "For the moment there is no communication with the vessel."
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The states of the US as it pertains to the country’s credit rating are the same as the states of the EU as it pertains to the credit rating of the EU.
Here comes the landslide.
New Jersey rating cut while Arizona outlook negative
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday cut New Jersey’s bond rating a notch due to an unfunded pension shortfall and high debt, while Moody’s Investors Service warned Arizona of a possible downgrade by revising its outlook on the state to negative from stable.
Concerns are mounting about the finances of state governments. Some in Congress have even suggested legislation to allow states to declare bankruptcy to help them put their finances in order.
State governments continue to struggle with the effects of the 2007-2009 recession. Their revenue remains weak and altogether they face budget deficits of at least $100 billion for the next fiscal year, beginning for most in summer.
S&P’s action turns up the heat on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. S&P downgraded New Jersey to AA-minus from AA two weeks before the Republican governor proposes his own fix for the state’s shaky finances.
President Barack Obama is expected to propose some financial relief for states in his budget plan but Republican lawmakers say there is no support for the kind of rescue mounted for states in the $814 billion economic stimulus approved by the Democrat-run Congress in 2009.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Have you noticed the group with the most volume in Egypt is the Brotherhood?
The media is dead wrong that the developments in Egypt are the birth of a durable Democracy. Democracy is not the answer in certain cultures.
Protesters return after Egypt’s VP slams call for president’s exit
By the CNN Wire Staff
February 9, 2011 7:09 a.m. EST
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — A mass of protesters maintained their ground at the epicenter of demonstrations Wednesday after Egypt’s vice president said the call for President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate departure is disrespectful to the people of the country.
Protesters united in Cairo’s Tahrir Square Wednesday for a 16th day of demonstrations. A massive Egyptian flag was sprawled across part of Tahrir, and by 1 p.m. (6 a.m. ET) a large section of the square was packed.
Meanwhile, another group of protesters tried to block the country’s army from breaking up demonstrations near Egypt’s parliament. The army tried to talk protesters into leaving, but demonstrators blocked off two ends of the street in front of the parliament.
"The word ‘departure,’ which is repeated by some of the protesters, is against the ethics of the Egyptians because Egyptians respect their elders and their president," Suleiman told a group of newspaper editors, according to a state-run news agency. "It is also an insulting word not only to the president but for the people of Egypt as a whole."
State-run Nile TV showed footage of Mubarak meeting Wednesday with the country’s foreign minister and Alexander Sultanov, Russian deputy foreign minister and Mideast envoy. It was not immediately clear what the officials were discussing.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
What I find baffling is why a person who understands this problem accepts the derivative level at $600 trillion dollars just because the Bank for International Settlements changed the means of measure to Value to Maturity. Value to Maturity assumes the vast majority of OTC derivatives have value or will function, making it a sick cartoon. The real number is over one quadrillion one thousand forty-four trillion dollars.
Derivatives: The Real Reason Bernanke Funnels Trillions Into Wall Street Banks
We’ve been over the numerous BS excuses that US Dollar destroyer extraordinaire Ben Bernanke has made for QE enough times that today I’d rather simply focus on the REAL reason he continues to funnel TRILLIONS of Dollars into the Wall Street Banks.
I’ve written this analysis before. But given the enormity of what it entails, it’s worth repeating. The following paragraphs are the REAL reason Bernanke does what he does no matter what any other media outlet, book, investment expert, or guru tell you.
Bernanke is printing money and funneling it into the Wall Street banks for one reason and one reason only. That reason is: DERIVATIVES.
According to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities for the Second Quarter 2010 (most recent), the notional value of derivatives held by U.S. commercial banks is around $223.4 TRILLION.
Five banks account for 95% of this. Can you guess which five?
click to enlarge
Looks a lot like a list of the banks that Ben Bernanke has focused on bailing out/ backstopping/ funneling cash since the Financial Crisis began, doesn’t it? When you consider the insane level of risk exposure here, you can see why the TRILLIONS he’s funneled into these institutions has failed to bring them even to pre-Lehman bankruptcy levels.
