China announced Saturday that it will limit energy supplies to North Korea and stop buying its textiles under U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear and missile development, further reducing support from Pyongyang's last ally.

Exports of refined petroleum to the North will be limited to 2 million barrels per year, effective Jan. 1, the Commerce Ministry said. Sales of liquefied natural gas are banned outright.

North Korea depends on China for almost all its oil and gas but estimates of its consumption are low, leaving it unclear how Beijing's new limit will affect them. The restrictions announced Saturday do not apply to crude oil, which makes up the biggest share of energy exports to the North.

China also will ban textile imports from the North, the ministry said. Textiles are believed to be the North's biggest source of foreign revenue following rounds of U.N. sanctions under which Beijing cut off purchases of coal, iron ore, seafood and other goods.

Spain’s increasingly public crackdown on the planned October 1 secession referendum in Catalonia appears to be bringing the population of the northeastern region together. Reports say that the social indignation toward police action is spreading far from just the pro-secession crowd.

Spain’s Constitutional Court forbade the referendum, and national police have been out in growing force trying to undermine the lead-up to the vote. Still, there’s little sign they’re going to be able to prevent the vote outright, and mostly they’re just angering everybody in the region.

If anything, there’s some speculation that Spain’s crackdown is likely to sway the outcome more in favor of secession, as the pro-secession crowd is more mobilized than ever, and resentment is soaring. Polls had previously shown Catalonia widely split on the issue.

As the U.S. exerts more pressure on Pyongyang, economic exchanges between Russia and North Korea, which the government of Vladimir Putin had sought to use as a diplomatic bargaining chip, are beginning to ebb.

In late August, Vladivostok in Russia's Far East suspended service on the Mangyongbong, a North Korean ferry and cargo ship. The ship started service to Vladivostok in May, making one round-trip per week from the port of Rajin in Rason, in northeastern North Korea. Now the ship remains moored at Rajin.

Do you ever hear something so startlingly mind numbingly ridiculous you realize it must be a sign things have gotten so fucked up something has got to give? As I was driving to work yesterday morning on the Schuylkill Expressway a commercial comes on the radio from a plastic surgeon advertising for anyone looking for a better set of boobs. I had never heard a plastic surgeon commercial before, so I thought that was unusual. But, that wasn’t the best part. This plastic surgeon was offering no money down 18 month interest free financing on your new boobs.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Thursday a range of options remained on the table, including a possible oil embargo, if Venezuela did not move to restore its democratic processes.

“There’s a lot of support in Latin America to see Venezuela start to respect its people and go back to the democracy it’s supposed to be,” she told reporters. “If things don’t improve, all those options are always there,” Haley added, saying specifically that the possibility of an oil embargo remained.

After an initial slide on Kim's "deranged dotard" reaction to President Trump, both USDJPY and US equity futures are falling further after Yonhap reports, North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho says the “highest level of hard-line” countermeasure could refer to hydrogen-bomb detonation in the Pacific.

Austria’s Oberbank on Thursday signed a major finance deal with over a dozen Iranian banks thus becoming one of the first European financial institutions to break the ice in providing loans for Iranian projects after the removal of sanctions against the country in early 2016.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it was testing a service in the Silicon Valley to deliver groceries straight to customers' refrigerators as it looks to gain an edge over Amazon.com.

The retailer said it is partnering with August Home, a provider of smart locks and smart home accessories, to test the service.

The delivery person would get access to the customer's house using a preauthorized one-time passcode and would put away groceries.

The situation on the Korean peninsula is getting more serious by the day and cannot be allowed to spin out of control, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his German counterpart, the state-run China News Service said on Thursday.

A resolution to the North Korea issue cannot only rely on sanctions and not talks, Wang said, meeting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York on Wednesday, the report added.

As the date of the Kurdish independence referendum approaches, oil industry moguls should be concerned about an oil production war between Iran and headless Iraq.

In discussing President Trump, there is always the soft prejudice of low expectations – people praise him for reading from a Teleprompter even if his words make little sense – but there is no getting around the reality that his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly must rank as one of the most embarrassing moments in America’s relations with the global community.

Trump offered a crude patchwork of propaganda and bluster, partly delivered as a campaign speech praising his own leadership – boasting about the relatively strong U.S. economy that he mostly inherited from President Obama – and partly reflecting his continued subservience to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It used to be the DOJ, COPS, NHTSA and the USDOT were responsible for paying police to ticket motorists.

In the past few years, things have taken a turn for the worse. It now appears that DHS has become the largest cash provider for police departments.

What does that mean for motorists?

It means more tickets.

A recent article in the Knoxville News Sentinel, reveals that the Blount County Sheriff's Office received $91,488 from DHS to create 'specialized enforcement' on The Dragon, a section of U.S. Highway 129 near the North Carolina state line.

Another article in the Tennessean revealed how DHS is giving prosecutors millions to target motorists.

"State Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner David Purkey was joined by Vic Donoho, director of the Tennessee Highway Safety Office, in Dickson on Aug. 30 as one part of a four-city, statewide tour Wednesday to announce $19 million in federal grants for programs to reduce road fatalities."

As a study from Pew Charitable Trusts points out today, the average OPEB plan in the U.S. today is only 6.7% funded (and that’s if you believe their discount rates…so probably figure about half that amount in reality) and many states around the country are even worse.

Last year, U.S. bottled water sales reached $16 billion, up nearly 10 percent from 2015, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. They outpaced soda sales for the first time as drinkers continue to seek convenience and healthier options and worry about the safety of tap water after the high-profile contamination in Flint, Mich., about a two-hour drive from Mecosta. Nestlé alone sold $7.7 billion worth worldwide, with more than $343 million of it coming from Michigan, where the company bottles Ice Mountain Natural Spring Water and Pure Life, its purified water line.

The issue of when a global reserve currency begins or ends is not an exact science. There are no press releases announcing it, and neither are there big international conferences that end with the signing of treaties and a photo shoot. Nevertheless we can say with confidence that the reign of every world reserve currency has to come to and end at some point in time. During a changeover from one global currency to another, gold (and to a lesser extent silver) has always played a decisive role. Central banks and governments have long been aware that the dollar has a sell-by date as a reserve currency. But it has taken until now for the subject to be discussed openly. The fact that the issue has been on the radar of a powerful bank like JP Morgan for at least five years, should give one pause. Questions regarding the global reserve currency are not exactly discussed on CNBC every day. Most mainstream economists avoid the topic like the plague. The issue is too politically charged.

Democracy (i.e. political influence) and ownership of productive assets are the exclusive domains of the New Aristocracy.

I have often used the words neoliberal, neocolonial and neofeudal to describe our socio-economic-political status quo. Here are my shorthand descriptions of each term:

1. Neoliberal: the commoditization / financialization of every asset, input (such as labor) and output of the economy; the privatization of the public commons, and the maximizing of private profits while costs and losses are socialized, i.e. transferred to the taxpayers.

2. Neocolonial: the exploitation of the domestic populace using the same debt-servitude model used to subjugate, control and extract profits from overseas populations.

3. Neofeudal: the indenturing of the workforce via debt and financial repression to a new Aristocracy; the disempowerment of the workforce into powerless debt-serfs.

BRUSSELS was today facing serious questions about its proposed trade deal with a group of South American countries after Irish farmers warned it would have a “devastating impact” the EU cattle industry.

As initially reported by the Census Department, motor vehicle sales were up 1.2% in July following a 0.9% gain in June. At the time, I commented, “This is unbelievably bizarre in the face of actual auto sales reports.”

The Census Bureau revised sales estimates much lower in September as noted in Retail Sales Unexpectedly Decline, Huge Negative Revisions in June and July: Reflections on “Bizarre” Sales Reports.

Today we learn Ford to cut production at five North American vehicle plants due to rising inventory and slumping sales.

Exactly one week ago, we wrote that a "Venezuelan default is only a matter of time". We said that "while debt servicing has been a government priority, declining external liquidity and a deteriorating domestic situation (three-digit hyperinflation, shortages, and a political crisis between the government and the National Assembly) make it a daunting task. By 2020, the country must repay 30% of the external debt due to expire in the next 23 years."

Among other things we warned that "default seems inevitable in the medium term due to the prolonged period of low oil prices and increased US sanctions. President Trump's executive order of August 24, 2017, strengthened sanctions against PDVSA by prohibiting all transactions related to new debt with a maturity greater than 90 days and by forbidding Citgo from repatriating dividends in Venezuela."

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, there have been 35 retail bankruptcies this year, almost double the 18 retail bankruptcies of last year. The filing by Toys ‘R’ Us this week was the latest.

What many of these retailers have in common is that they were taken private in leveraged buyouts (LBOs) by private equity (PE) firms. Toys ‘R’ Us, Payless ShoeSource, The Limited, Wet Seal, Gymboree Corp., rue21, and True Religion Apparel were all LBOs. Gander Mountain can also be included in this list if you reach back to its 1984 LBO. Far too many LBOs are simply asset stripping operations by Wall Street vultures who load the company with enormous debt, then asset strip the cash from the company by paying themselves obscene special dividends and management fees.

Back in 2007 I wrote Reinventing Collapse, in which I compared the collapse of the USSR to the forthcoming collapse of the USA. I wrote the following:

“Let us imagine that collapsing a modern military-industrial superpower is like making soup: chop up some ingredients, apply heat and stir. The ingredients I like to put in my superpower collapse soup are: a severe and chronic shortfall in the production of crude oil (that magic addictive elixir of industrial economies), a severe and worsening foreign trade deficit, a runaway military budget and ballooning foreign debt. The heat and agitation can be provided most efficaciously by a humiliating military defeat and widespread fear of looming catastrophe.” (p. 2)

A decade later these ingredients are all in place, with a few minor quibbles.

Back in July, the state of Illinois narrowly avoided a junk bond rating with a last minute budget deal that included a 32% in hike in income taxes. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the budget and called it a "disaster," but both houses of the state legislature voted to override his veto. Meanwhile, S&P and Moody's were apparently both convinced that the budget deal was sufficient for the state to remain an investment grade credit and all lived happily ever after, if just for a few months.

In an extensive, must-read report published on Monday by Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid, the credit strategist unveiled an extensive analysis of the "Next Financial Crisis", and specifically what may cause it, when it may happen, and how the world could respond assuming it still has means to counteract the next economic and financial crash. In our first take on the report yesterday, we showed one key aspect of the "crash" calculus: between bonds and stocks, global asset prices are the most elevated they have ever been.

As we’ve reported time and time again, the bill has increased cost pressures on businesses, forcing them lay off employees or pare back benefits to stay in business.

According to WSJ, the average cost of health coverage offered by employers pushed toward $19,000 for a family plan this year, while the share of firms providing insurance to workers continued to edge lower, according to a major survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

San Francisco real estate continues to operate in a land of full on self-indulged delusion and pseudo-tech worship. I travel to the Bay Area and San Francisco often and the amount of self-delusion when it comes to real estate is amazing. You will find all of these convoluted justifications as to why a crap shack should sell for $1.5 million and when some other chump takes the jump, they use this as some sort of reinforcement of their real estate buying acumen. You are the amazing market timer and they are the fool (at least that is the thought process). I’ve seen this with couples in the area where two professionals have sound financial judgment but then a kid is thrown into the mix and all hell breaks loose. “Well I don’t want my kid living in a rental!” or “I want them to have a piece of real estate when I turn over and pass on” as if your kid wants to chase the same Full House rat race. People are mistaking luck with skill but that is part of human nature.

China will likely begin "manufacture engines for jumbo jets" soon, said Rolls Royce Chairman Ian Davis at the Singapore Summit over the weekend.

At present, Rolls Royce remains the second largest provider of commercial and defense aero-engine products and services in the world. In Davis’ opinion, China will join in the global competition of jet engines manufacturing, playing a more and more crucial role in the development of this industry.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s threats of a trade war against China if it does not uphold sanctions against North Korea not only will not accomplish anything, they could trigger a global economic tsunami and further heighten tension in the Korean Peninsula if he follows through with the threat.

In an extensive, must-read report published on Monday by Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid, the credit strategist unveiled an extensive analysis of the “Next Financial Crisis”, and specifically what may cause it, when it may happen, and how the world could respond assuming it still has means to counteract the next economic and financial crash.

Global debt may be under-reported by around $13 trillion because traditional accounting practices exclude foreign exchange derivatives used to hedge international trade and foreign currency bonds, the BIS said on Sunday.

Bank for International Settlements researchers said it was hard to assess the risk this “missing” debt poses, but that the main worry was a liquidity crunch like the one that seized FX swap and forwards markets during the financial crisis.

The $13 trillion unaccounted-for exposure exceeds the on-balance-sheet debt of $10.7 trillion that data shows was owed by firms and governments outside the United States at end-March.

Whether in response to rising scorching tensions with the US, or simply to provide support for the ruble, on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to approve legislation making the ruble the main currency of exchange at all Russian seaports by next year, RT reported citing the Kremlin website.

The head of Russian antitrust watchdog FAS Igor Artemyev, many services in Russian seaports are still priced in US dollars, even though such ports are state-owned. So, in order to "protect the interests" of dockworkers and their complyees with foreign currency obligations, the government was instructed to set a transition period before switching to ruble settlements.

In 2009, U.S. Shipping Partners LP accomplished what we believe was a completely unprecedented feat when they managed to confirm a bankruptcy plan of reorganization in the Southern District of New York that encumbered the new company with more debt than their investment bankers said the company was even worth.

Unfortunately, such illogical pro forma capital structures are more frequent than you might think and they're driving a surge in so-called 'Chapter 22' filings among retail companies. As Bloomberg notes this morning, of at least 10 merchants to file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in the past year, four are taking the trip to bankruptcy court for the second time in as many years.

Agreement on setting up the natural gas pipeline infrastructure for Iraqi Kurdistan may be sealed between Rosneft and the region’s government by the end of the year, according to the company.

Investment in the project will be made under the BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) arrangement and will be recovered through tariff charges.

The capacity of the pipeline is expected at up to 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

"The Kurdistan Region gas pipeline will not only supply natural gas to power plants and domestic factories throughout the region but also enable exporting substantial volumes of fuel to Turkey and the European market in the coming years," said the report.

Commissioning of the pipeline and the first domestic supplies are planned for 2019. Exports will begin starting 2020.

The Senate is expected to pass by a wide margin a $700-billion defense bill today. When it comes to extravagant military spending, Congress is relentlessly bipartisan, and all bickering stops, as long as the bacon gets spread to every district and state.

“The 1,215-page measure defies a number of White House objections, but Trump hasn’t threatened to veto the measure,” the Washington Post mused. “The bill helps him honor a pledge to boost military spending by tens of billions of dollars.”

So who gets this money?

It’s going to get spread around, but defense contractors are going to get a chunk of it, and they’ve been on cloud 9 all year. Their shares – fired up by plenty of saber-rattling – have mostly soared from all-time high to all-time high.

These are some of the biggest defense contractors and their shares year-to-date as of this morning:

Rockwell Collins (COL), to be acquired by United Technologies: $130.90, up 40.6% YTD

Jean-Claude Juncker's plans to expand the eurozone came under fresh attack last night as critics warned that the single currency has been 'disastrous' for the region.

In his annual State of the Union speech last week, the European Commission president said those members of the EU that have not adopted the euro should do so.

First broadcast in Great Britain 50 years ago, The Prisoner—a dystopian television series described as “James Bond meets George Orwell filtered through Franz Kafka”—confronted societal themes that are still relevant today: the rise of a police state, the freedom of the individual, round-the-clock surveillance, the corruption of government, totalitarianism, weaponization, group think, mass marketing, and the tendency of humankind to meekly accept their lot in life as a prisoner in a prison of their own making.

Perhaps the best visual debate ever on individuality and freedom, The Prisoner (17 episodes in all) centers around a British secret agent who abruptly resigns only to find himself imprisoned, monitored by militarized drones, and interrogated in a mysterious, self-contained, cosmopolitan, seemingly tranquil retirement community known only as the Village. The Village is an idyllic setting with parks and green fields, recreational activities and even a butler.

Toys “R” Us Inc., the largest US "brick and mortar" toys retailer, filed for bankruptcy late on Monday night, as a result of a crushing post-LBO debt load and relentless competition from warehouse and online retailers, the "latest blow to a retail industry reeling from store closures, sluggish mall traffic and the gravitational pull of Amazon.com" according to Bloomberg. The Chapter 11 filing is among the largest ever by a specialty retailer and casts doubt over the future of its about 1,600 stores and 64,000 employees. It comes just as Toys ‘R’ Us is gearing up for the holiday shopping season, which accounts for the bulk of its sales, and as vendors halt shipments to the now insolvent retailer.

With assets of $6.9 billion, it’s the second-largest retail bankruptcy, trailing the filing in 2002 by Kmart, which had $14.6 billion in assets.