JAPAN - Because having legal authority to buy corporate bonds, ETFs and REITs, in addition to everything else the Fed now buys, is apparently not enough to crush, mangle and suicide its currency, the BOJ [Bank of Japan] is now considering adding yet another "asset" to its cocktail of eligible securities for purchase: those which Buffett once declared weapons of mass financial destruction - derivatives.
USA - With the rise of “conservative” ecumenism, liberal ecumenist groups (the “usual suspects” in the WCC) and others head steeply into decline. The American Spectator noted last week that the “once prestigious and now nearly bankrupt National Council of Churches is quitting its famous New York headquarters built with largesse from John D Rockefeller Jr and whose cornerstone was laid by President Dwight Eisenhower.
USA - Stocks finished near session highs Monday, with the Dow posting another record closing high and the S&P 500 within 1 percent of its 2007 peak, as investors shrugged off earlier worries over disappointing economic data from China and weakness in Europe.
Dow Jones Industrial Average:14447.29
USA - So many reasons exist to be suspicious of the current boom in world stock markets, it's hard to know where to start. The renewed eurozone crisis, slowing growth in China, sovereign debt down-grades, the flattering effect of QE. I could go on.
USA - A magnitude 5.2-earthquake struck Monday morning in the Riverside County desert, the US Geological Survey reported. It was the second earthquake in the Anza area Monday. The most recent temblor occurred at 9:55 am and was felt at least as far away as downtown Los Angeles. Anza is about 30 miles east of Temecula. There were no immediate reports of damage. The US Geological Survey noted several aftershocks. The temblor was centered about 23 miles from Palm Springs and 64 miles from San Diego.
LONDON, UK - Clicking those friendly blue "like" buttons strewn across the Web may be doing more than marking you as a fan of Coca-Cola or Lady Gaga.
UK - Sterling fell below $1.49 on Monday morning, as a strong dollar and fears over easing continue to hammer the British currency. The pound dropped to its lowest level in 32 months against a fortified dollar on Monday to $1.4871 before settling at around $1.49 in later trading.
EUROPE- Europe has spent hundreds of billions of euros rescuing its banks but may have lost an entire generation of young people in the process, the president of the European Parliament said.
LUXEMBOURG - In an interview, Luxembourg prime minister and former Euro Group chief Jean-Claude Juncker, 58, urges other EU countries to push ahead with structural reforms, explains why he sees parallels between 2013 and the year preceeding World War I and throws his election support behind Angela Merkel's re-election campaign.
AUSTRIA - Poll finds that 54% think neo-Nazi groups could be successful in Austrian elections if there wasn't a law banning them. Forty two percent of Austrians think "not everything was bad under Hitler," while 57% think "there was nothing positive about the Hitler era," according to a poll conducted by newspaper Der Standard that was published on Friday.
HUNGARY - As expected, the Hungarian parliament on Monday evening passed a package of constitutional amendments that legal experts say are an affront to democracy. Berlin, Brussels and Washington all voiced their concern in the run up to the vote. Leaders in Budapest, however, were unphased.
USA - On Friday, the United States Department of Agriculture quietly released new statistics related to the food stamps program, officially known as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The numbers reveal, in 2012, the food stamps program was the biggest it's ever been, with an average of 46,609,072 people on the program every month of last year. 47,791,996 people were on the program in the month of December 2012. Over the weekend, Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said that the Obama administration is encouraging growth in the food stamps program as a way to stimulate the economy.
EUROPE - Needy families and individuals in the European Union are becoming increasingly reliant on charity organizations like the Red Cross for basic needs like food, water and shelter. While Germany is relatively unaffected, unemployment and austerity in countries like Spain are making the problem even more severe. Two-thirds of national Red Cross societies within the European Union have begun distributing food aid, according to the head of the aid groups' international organization - a sign that the economic crisis in Europe is having an alarming effect on poverty.
USA - Taking advantage of recent advances in flexible electronics, researchers have devised a way to “print” devices directly onto the skin so people can wear them for an extended period while performing normal daily activities.
VATICAN CITY - Negotiations over the Vatican’s adherence to international banking standards were reaching a delicate point. During a lunch, a European official later recalled, discussion turned to the need for more openness from an institution steeped in centuries of secrecy.