Presidential Election: Anthony Weiner causes more trouble

FBI Director Comey announced that law enforcement officials had found emails related to the close investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner. In response to the discovery, the FBI is reopening the Clinton case to review these emails.

The timing of this announcement will cause consternation to the Clinton election team and supporters since the presidential election will be held in less than two weeks, on Tuesday, November 8th.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/us/politics/fbi-hillary-clinton-email.html

Wallonia, population 3.5 million, just blocked an EU/Canadian trade deal that affects 535 million people

Wallonia Coat of Arms

European Union credibility was challenged over the weekend after Wallonia, a region of Belgium with population of 3.5 million, managed to block the signing of a EU - Canadian trade deal that affected the entirety of continental Europe and Canada, with a combined population of 535 million.

Belgium holds the odd-law that ALL five regional constituents must vote their assent before the Federal Belgium government can vote approval with the European Union. The Walloons appeared to disagree with the desire to afford legal protections to investors.



https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21709145-grumpy-insular-mood-european-union

Bitcoin and the Winklevoss Twins

This author has a very sad story to tell. Back in 2011, he was told of this weird digital currency called bitcoin. He then pursued a course of action to acquire some and even went as far as to get a digital wallet. But now, the areas of the web he went to in order to acquire some bitcoin became very sketchy, and so he backed off - and regretted it ever since!

Bitcoin is NOT an investment and is commonly derided in investment circles as purely a "gamble" or at best "speculation". Indeed, it probably is little more. But Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss of Facebook fame (infamy?) feel differently, and have been working with the SEC in a bid to launch an ETF that would deal exclusively in bitcoin.

The SEC effectively delayed the project by stating more public feedback is required, as the digital currency - which is notoriously volatile - lacks the stability of more traditional investments. Perhaps this is the best move. ETFs and the world of highly leveraged ETFs (also under SEC scrutiny) are already the wild, wild west of investment strategies, frequently played by retail investors acting as if they were in a casino.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sec-kicks-the-bitcoin-etf-approval-decision-down-the-road-2016-10-13

What was the cause of the British pound's flash crash?

Last Friday, the British Pound fell -6% in less than 2 minutes, approximately completing a move that some market forecasters had predicted would happen over a period of six months. What was possibly initial human error, reacting to a new story, was most likely compounded by machine trading at a time of low market liquidity, causing a massive move in the British Pound.

The attached article is quite informative and contains a timeline of similar flash crashes that have occurred in recent history.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/07/what-caused-the-sterling-flash-crash-overnight/

Deutsche bank comes under intense market scrutiny

Deutsche Bank's US equity shares hit an all-time low at the end of September after it was reported that ten hedge funds were looking to reduce exposure to the bank, in a sort of run on the bank from an equity point-of-view. Counterparties appeared concerned on conducting business with the bank. This corresponds to the time that a massive fine is expected from the USA in connection with Deutsche Bank's activities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Analysts now are working with the thesis that fears regarding the bank may be overblown.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/business/dealbook/deutsche-bank-stock-bailout.html