Economics and Investing:

Feds unlikely to hike interest rates in the months ahead – P.S.

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Greek Tragedy: Pension Pandemonium Sparks Bank Crash, Stocks At 26 Year Lows – The first line sums it up. And you thought Greece was “fixed”, but now problems are manifesting themselves globally.

Greek Stock Market Falls Sharply on Banking Sector Meltdown – More evidence

Three Reasons To Be Worried About The Economy – Zero Hedge

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

JP Morgan Strategist: Central Banks Tried to Control the World…and Failed Miserably (Business Insider) Excerpt: “In Kelly’s ideal world, the Federal Reserve would return the funds rate to 1%, signaling a confidence in the market and a move away from the unprecedented crisis policy. But now, Kelly is concerned about the Fed eventually following in the BoJ’s footsteps and taking rates below 0%.”

The Making of the “Big Four” Banking Oligopoly in One Chart (Visual Capitalist) Excerpt: “Of particular importance to note is the frequency of consolidation during the 2008 Financial Crisis, when the Big Four were able to gobble up weaker competitors that were overexposed to subprime mortgages. Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial, Merrill Lynch, and Wachovia were all acquired during this time under great duress.”

International News

Financial Sector Stress Delivers Fresh Jolt (Reuters) Excerpt: “You are seeing more and more people saying: is this 2008 again? Maybe not quite as severe, but do we need to be worrying about the banking sector and risk assets on a bigger level?”

Exclusive: Iran Wants Euro Payment for New and Outstanding Oil Sales (Reuters) Excerpt: “Iran wants to recover tens of billions of dollars it is owed by India and other buyers of its oil in euros and is billing new crude sales in euros, too, looking to reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar following last month’s sanctions relief.”

China’s Forex Reserves Poised for Another Record Drop (Market Watch) Excerpt: “In a nutshell, we believe capital outflows will continue as long as markets expect the Chinese yuan to depreciate….”

Exclusive: Venezuela Central Bank in Talks with Deutsche Bank on Gold Swap (Reuters) Excerpt: “Gold swaps allow central banks to receive cash from financial institutions in exchange for lending gold during a specific period of time. They do not tend to affect gold prices because the gold is still owned by Venezuela and does not enter the market.”

Memo to EM Countries: Take Cover, IMF/Lagarde Coming to Help! (Contra Corner) Excerpt: “The IMF will be working in coming months to improve existing financing instruments, such as credit and liquidity lines, as well as new instruments to address their situations.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Beware of Unscrupulous Tax Preparers Who Want Obamacare Penalty in Cash (Clark Howard) Excerpt: “…the IRS reports some unsavory tax preparers are telling their clients that they owe the penalty and they have to pay it in cash or they can’t file their return to get their refund. That’s a big fat lie and those bad apples who try to pull this are pocketing the cash.”

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