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‘Welcome Signs Of Cooling’ In Canada’s Overvalued Housing Markets: IMF
‘Welcome Signs Of Cooling’ In Canada’s Overvalued Housing Markets: IMF
Canada’s housing markets will cool this year, leading to a more “balanced” economy — one that is not as dependent on growing consumer debt, the International Monetary Fund says.
In a report released Friday, the IMF estimated house prices are overvalued by 7 to 20 per cent, with “significant regional differences” in the amount of overvaluation.
That’s a somewhat lower estimate than the Bank of Canada, which recently estimated house prices to be as much as 30 per cent overvalued in some markets.
“Canada’s housing market rebounded in 2014, fueled by low and declining interest rates, although there are some welcome signs of cooling especially in overheated markets,” the IMF report stated.
“Welcome” because the IMF sees risk to Canada in growing household debt. The organization is worried that the country’s economy continues to rely too heavily on consumer debt, and that the kind of debt Canadians are taking on is riskier than it used to be.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Currency Wars – Russia Buys 20.7 Tonnes Of Gold In December; Netherlands Refutes IMF Gold Data
Currency Wars – Russia Buys 20.7 Tonnes Of Gold In December; Netherlands Refutes IMF Gold Data
UPDATE: Since we published our blog this morning, the Dutch central bank has denied that it added to its gold reserves in December.
De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank has denied reports in Reuters, Bloomberg and picked up by GoldCore, that the bank had increased its gold holdings for the first time in sixteen years. IMF data had shown that the Dutch had increased their holdings to 622.08 tonnes.
“De Nederlandsche Bank has not increased its gold holdings. Several media reported this Tuesday that based on IMF figures, DNB’s gold stock increased in December 2014. This is incorrect,” it said on its website.
The DNB’s correct and current gold holdings consist of 19.691 million troy ounces (612.5 tonnes), the tenth largest holder of the metal in the world, according to the World Gold Council’s January data.
We believe that it is only a matter of time before a European or other central bank begins to emulate China and Russia and starts accumulating gold. Today’s error may portend tomorrow’s reality. It is important to note that while Dutch central bank gold accumulation would have been a very significant development, Russia’s steady and robust accumulation of gold is very important. It came at a time when some analysts were suggesting and there was much chatter that Russia would sell gold reserves.
GOLDCORE’s BLOG THIS MORNING:
DUTCH AND RUSSIAN CENTRAL BANK BUY 30 TONNES OF GOLD IN DECEMBER
Russia and surprisingly the Netherlands were the largest central bank buyers in December – accumulating a significant 30.34 tonnes between them as currency wars intensify.
Demand for gold as a diversification and monetary asset continues to be very robust and central banks remain net buyers of gold which should be supportive of prices.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Anti-austerity Syriza sweeps Greece parliamentary poll
Anti-austerity Syriza sweeps Greece parliamentary poll
Party’s leader Alexis Tsipras, who wants to renegotiate EU and IMF bailout terms, set to become next prime minister.
Syriza, a radical left party, has swept to power in Greece promising to end years of painful austerity policies, in an election victory that puts the country on a collision course with the EU and international creditors.
In a result that exceeded analysts’ expectations, Syriza and its 40-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras won 149 seats in the 300-seat Greek parliament, just two short of an absolute majority, with most of the votes counted on Sunday.
Antonis Samaras’ New Democracy, the former party of government, was routed and reduced to around 76 seats.
Syriza, which says it does not want to leave the euro, will become the first anti-austerity party to take power in Europe and Tsipras will be Greece’s youngest prime minister in 150 years.
Tsipras, a former Communist youth activist, told thousands of flag-waving supporters in Athens: “Greece is leaving behind disastrous austerity.”
Tsipras repeated his pledge to renegotiate the terms of Greece’s $269bn bailout with the EU and the International Monetary Fund, but struck a more conciliatory tone than during his fiery campaign.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Troika Punches Panic Button on Greece and Spain
Troika Punches Panic Button on Greece and Spain
After four years of inflicting economic pain and misery on Europe’s semi-bankrupt periphery, the Troika (IMF, ECB and European Commission) is suddenly in a lather over the potential political consequences of its disastrous economic policies: “I wouldn’t like extreme forces to come to power. I would prefer if known faces show up,” said European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker regarding the upcoming Greek elections.
Speaking at a press conference in Pekin, the IMF’s Chief Economist Oliver Blanchard warned that unemployment in Spain remains too high, fueling a surge of support in “populist movements” and “political parties that do not want to form part of the euro.”
Blanchard’s words were a barely veiled reference to the phoenix-like rise of Podemos, a stridently anti-establishment but far from Eurosceptic political party. In recent polls of voter intentions for the upcoming municipal elections (March) and general elections (September), the new party, now in its second year of existence, has consistently commanded between 25% and 30% of the votes – more than either of the two main parties.
The fear among the political elite, both in Madrid and Brussels, is palpable. In the last few days, Prime Minister Rajoy dispatched his Vice-President, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, and Minister of Industry, José Manuel Soria, on a vital mission to persuade Spain’s biggest media conglomerate, Grupo Planeta, to adopt a more critical tone in its reporting on Podemos. In return the government will offer the broadcaster more licenses for more channels. Bienvenido a España!
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Only Road Out Of Davos
The Only Road Out Of Davos
After 6+ (BIG +) years of deepening poverty and rising stock markets, of creative accounting, of QE and ultralow interest rates, of extend and pretend and outright propaganda and of what have you, all of which have led us to where we are today, facing yet more rounds of stumbling from crisis into multiple crises, it would seem clear that the model, if not the mold, is broken. In order to fix it, let alone replace it altogether, we need to understand to what extent it is broken. And to do that, we first need to know what exactly the model is.
Now, it would be tempting, even seem logical, to consult with the people who designed and built the model. Who, after all, not only claim to be the only ones capable of fixing the broken mold, but who also have occupied all positions of power that have any say in the process. But that’s less obvious than it may seem. Because, mind you, the model is broken. They built a flawed model. Or rather, they built one that works for them, for some, but not for the rest of us.
There are gatherings and festivities ongoing in Davos. Only some are invited: the rich, the powerful and their court jesters. Those who profited most from the broken model. They’re least likely to fix it, they won’t even admit to it being broken. It works just fine for them. The people in Davos believe in one model only, the one of ever increasing centralization and globalization, because that’s the model that got them where they are.
That means that what’s in their interest is 180º removed from what’s in your interest. And it means that whatever these people propose you do, you should probably do the exact opposite.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
IMF cuts global growth outlook, calls for accommodative policy
IMF cuts global growth outlook, calls for accommodative policy
BEIJING (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global economic growth in 2015, and called on Tuesday for governments and central banks to pursue accommodative monetary policies and structural reforms to support growth.
Global growth is projected at 3.5 percent for 2015 and 3.7 percent for 2016, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report, lowering its forecast by 0.3 percentage points for both years.
“New factors supporting growth, lower oil prices, but also depreciation of euro and yen, are more than offset by persistent negative forces, including the lingering legacies of the crisis and lower potential growth in many countries,” Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said in a statement.
The IMF advised advanced economies to maintain accommodative monetary policies to avoid increasing real interest rates as cheaper oil heightens the risk of deflation.
If policy rates could not be reduced further, the IMF recommended pursuing an accommodative policy “through other means”.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
ECB warns Greek funding access hinges on keeping bailout
ECB warns Greek funding access hinges on keeping bailout
(Reuters) – Greek banks’ access to European Central Bank funding beyond February will depend on Athens successfully completing a final bailout review and reaching a deal on a follow-up plan with its EU/IMF lenders, the ECB said on Thursday.
The statement was the clearest warning yet that Athens cannot expect to rely on ECB funding if it reneges on its obligations under the 240 billion euro bailout program, the prospect of which has grown as Greece prepares for snap polls.
Opinion polls show leftist party Syriza poised to win the Jan. 25 election. The party has promised to cancel the austerity terms of the bailout and demand a renegotiation of debt.
Hammered by the country’s prolonged economic crisis, Greek banks have reduced their exposure to ECB funding in recent months but still depend on the central bank for liquidity.
The ECB has helped out Greek banks by exempting them from requirements on the collateral it accepts for access to funding.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
EU Showdown: Greece Takes on the Vampire Squid
EU Showdown: Greece Takes on the Vampire Squid
Greece and the troika (the International Monetary Fund, the EU, and the European Central Bank) are in a dangerous game of chicken. The Greeks have been threatened with a “Cyprus-Style prolonged bank holiday” if they “vote wrong.” But they have been bullied for too long and are saying “no more.”
A return to the polls was triggered in December, when the Parliament rejected Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ pro-austerity candidate for president. In a general election, now set for January 25th, the EU-skeptic, anti-austerity, leftist Syriza party is likely to prevail. Syriza captured a 3% lead in the polls following mass public discontent over the harsh austerity measures Athens was forced to accept in return for a €240 billion bailout.
Austerity has plunged the economy into conditions worse than in the Great Depression. As Professor Bill Black observes, the question is not why the Greek people are rising up to reject the barbarous measures but what took them so long.
Ireland was similarly forced into an EU bailout with painful austerity measures attached. A series of letters has recently come to light showing that the Irish government was effectively blackmailed into it, with the threat that the ECB would otherwise cut off liquidity funding to Ireland’s banks. The same sort of threat has been leveled at the Greeks, but this time they are not taking the bait.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Keynesian End Game Crystalizes In Japan’s Monetary Madness | David Stockman’s Contra Corner
The Keynesian End Game Crystalizes In Japan’s Monetary Madness | David Stockman’s Contra Corner.
If the BOJ’s mad money printers were treated as monetary pariahs by the rest of the world, it would at least imply that a modicum of sanity remains on the planet. But just the opposite is the case. Establishment institutions like the IMF, the US treasury and the other major central banks urge them on, while the Keynesian arson squad led by Professor Krugman actually faults Japan for being too tepid with its “stimulus”.
Now comes several new data points that absolutely confirm Japan is a financial mad house—-even as its policy model is embraced by mainstream officials and analysts peering from a distance. Front and center is the newly reported fact from the Cabinet Office that Japan’s household savings rate plunged to minus 1.3% in the most recent fiscal year, thereby entering negative territory for the first time since records were started in 1955.
Indeed, Japan had been heralded as a nation of savers only a generation ago. During the era before it’s plunge into bubble finance in the late 1980s, households routinely saved 15-25% of income. But after nearly three decades of Keynesian policies, Japan has now stumbled into an insuperable demographic/financial trap; and one that is unusually transparent and rigidly delineated, to boot.
IMF holds back Cyprus bailout funds | World news | theguardian.com
IMF holds back Cyprus bailout funds | World news | theguardian.com.
The International Monetary Fund has said it will not release a further €88m (£69m/US$108m) in bailout money for Cyprus on Friday after the country’s parliament delayed a key foreclosure law that was due to take effect at the end of December.
“Following today’s suspension of the existing legislation on foreclosure, critical requirements for the completion of the fifth programme review are now no longer met,” the IMF said in a statement. Its board had been set to discuss Cyprus’s progress with the loan programme on Friday and was thought likely to release the next instalment of aid.
Cyprus needed an international bailout of €10bn (£7.8bn/US$12bn) from the European commission and the monetary fund in early 2013, largely due to problems in its banking sector.
The eurozone released its latest tranche of bailout loans to Cyprus in November after the government amended laws on foreclosures and on forced sales of mortgaged property in line with the conditions of the loan. The original laws would have made it easier for the country’s hobbled banks to start collecting on bad loans, which account for around half of all loans.
IMF Now Ready To Slam The Door On The U.S. And The Dollar
IMF Now Ready To Slam The Door On The U.S. And The Dollar.
As I write this, the news is saturated with stories of a hostage situation possibly involving Islamic militants in Sydney, Australia. Like many, I am concerned about the shockwave such an event will create through our sociopolitical structures. However, while most of the world will be distracted by the outcome of this crisis (for good or bad) for at least the week, I find I must concern myself with a far more important and dangerous situation.
Up to 40 people may be held by a supposed extremist in Sydney, but the entire world is currently being held hostage economically by international banks. This is the crisis no one in the mainstream is talking about, so alternative analysts must.
As I predicted last month in “We Have Just Witnessed The Last Gasp Of The Global Economy,”severe volatility is now returning to global markets after the pre-game 10 percent drop in equities in October hinted at what was to come.
We expected such destabilization after the wrap-up of the Fed taper, and the markets have not disappointed so far. My position has always been that the taper of QE3 made very little sense in terms of maintaining the manipulated illusion of economic health — unless, of course, the Federal Reserve was implementing the taper in preparation for a renewed financial catastrophe. That is to say, the central bankers have established the lie of American fiscal recovery and then separated themselves from blame for the implosion they KNOW is coming. If the markets were to collapse while stimulus is officially active, the tragedy would be forever a millstone on the necks of the banksters. And we can’t have that now, can we?
U.S. & ‘International Banks’ Finance Ukraine’s Civil War Washington’s Blog
U.S. & ‘International Banks’ Finance Ukraine’s Civil War Washington’s Blog.
On November 26th, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, said, “Our cabinet has resumed the program of activity and cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other banks. Today international investors are not ready to go to the country, but international banks are ready to help us. … We would not have survived without the international assistance.”
In a related news-report, the investigative journalist who goes by the pseudonym “Tyler Durden” headlined at his zero hedge website on November 25th, “Hacked US Documents Said To Reveal Extent Of Undisclosed US ‘Lethal Aid’ For Ukraine Army,” and he posted the documents, which seem authentic, and which include U.S. supplies of “400 sniper-rifles, 2,000 assault-rifles, 720 hand-held grenade launchers, 200 mortars with more than 70,000 mines, 150 stingers, 420 antitank missiles and so on.” Also shown there is an authorization signed by President Obama authorizing the U.S. Secretary of State, to “direct the drawdown of up to $5 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense and military education and training to provide immediate military assistance for the Government of Ukraine, to aid their efforts to respond to the current crisis,” and “to direct the drawdown of up to $20 million in nonlethal commodities and services from any agency of the United States Government,” for the same purpose.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
China And The New World Order
China And The New World Order.
The following video was originally produced by The Corbett Report
James Corbett does an excellent job in the following video of laying out the considerable evidence indicating that modern China is and always has been a puppet for the NWO financial elite. As we have covered here at Alt-Market for years, the East/West paradigm is a sham designed to distract the masses away from the globalists, divide us into opposing groups allowing us to destroy each other, and provide cover for inevitable economic collapse. There is a reason why China continues its membership in the BIS and IMF, and consistently calls for a global currency system under the control of the International Monetary Fund. Here is more information on why Chinese policy actions only seem to help the international financiers with their plan for a global monetary structure and global governance…
…click on the above link to see the video…
Ukraine Admits Its Gold Is Gone: “There Is Almost No Gold Left In The Central Bank Vault” | Zero Hedge
Back in March, at a time when the IMF reported that Ukraine’s official gold holdings as of the end of February, so just as the State Department-facilitated coup against former president Victor Yanukovich was concluding, amounted to 42.3 tonnes or 8% of reserves…
… and notably under the previous “hated” president, Ukraine gold’s reserves had constantly increased hitting a record high just before the presidential coup…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Comes at Price – Truthdig
Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Comes at Price – Truthdig.
Aid from the International Monetary Fund will enable Ukraine to pay billions in debt to Russia’s primary gas company and allow Ukraine to buy fuel through the winter. But the IMF deal entails major reforms to the country’s energy industry.
The details of those reforms were not disclosed in an article published in the Financial Times on Oct. 30. But it seems safe to assume they would involve regulations that are beneficial to western financial interests.
The Financial Times reported:
Russia has secured an 11th-hour deal to resume gas exports to Ukraine, allaying concerns that Europe would face an energy crisis this winter. Moscow severed gas exports to Kiev in June amid a payment dispute that has been overshadowed by a conflict between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian militias in the east of the country.
For months, EU-mediated negotiations to restart gas flows have made no progress and European diplomats viewed the end of October as a deadline for a deal. With temperatures in Kiev dropping below freezing, fears have grown that a supply crunch in Ukraine would disrupt energy exports to the rest of Europe.
But after 30 hours of negotiations in Brussels, Moscow signed a deal with Kiev to guarantee supplies until March. “There is now no reason for people in Europe to stay cold this winter,” said José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
