Good is bad, Bad is good – Japan markets finished last week down 14.5% after the Yen rallies to 111/USD. GDP drops 1.4% YoY and that was enough to drop the Yen back to 114/USD and markets rally 5%.

Japan GDP Chart

U.S Markets finished lower for the week, even with the Friday surge of 2%. This week starts off on a different note as central bankers are jawboning the markets. ECB’s Draghi once again stating that he may add stimulus in March and Japan’s Kuroda talking up the benefits of negative deposit rates.

The 2-Speed economy – Manufacturing related continues to suffer:February Empire Manufacturing -16.6 vs -9.9 consensus; January -19.4

Meanwhile…. China is out with commentary that the RMB (YUAN) should not weaken from here. Yuan had one of its best rallies (strengthen) on record after markets re-opened from the New year holiday. Waiting for the left-hook devaluation… (Skeptical?)

Yuan Fizzle Chart

China loves the movies…. China‘s retail sales over the Spring Festival holiday rose 11.2 percent from the same vacation period a year earlier, with cinemas posting sharp increases in box-office sales, the country‘s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Saturday.

** More info and an Update… Announcing the DHUnplugged Closest to the Pin Contest –
The first CTP will start in March…   Listeners will be   completing against John and Andrew **

The ECB Council voted today to scrap the ‚¬500 note. They say that they are doing this to counter black market and nefarious uses for higher denomination bills. The reality is that taking it out of the system will effectively reduce the cash in circulation by upwards of 30%. (Will this help gold, metals and alternatives like Bitcoin?) *** Larry Summers floating the idea of scrapping the $100 bill.

Oil… Check out inventories: (note – Saudi Arabia and Russia met and implemented a FREEZE rather than production cuts)

Crude Inventory Chart

Chatter that current Pres candidates are the reason that markets are acting poorly. Now on the front cover of Barrons this week…

Barron’s Cover

Here we go… Apple (AAPL) planing massive bond sale. 30-year bond may yield 2.15 percentage points more than similar-maturity Treasuries (To benefit shareholder return plan) – $10 – $12 billion

At the same time: Carl Icahn reduced his stake in Apple by 7 million shares to 45.7 million shares in latest quarterly release.

Splinters: Acting on a tip, agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paid a surprise visit to a cheese factory in rural Pennsylvania on a cold November day in 2012. They found what they were looking for:  evidence that Castle Cheese Inc. was doctoring its 100 percent real parmesan with cut-rate substitutes and such fillers as wood pulp and distributing it to some of the country‘s biggest grocery chains.

And so it begins:   The US Marshals Service in Houston is arresting people for not paying their outstanding federal student loans. Paul Aker says he was arrested at his home last week for a $1500 federal student loan he received in 1987. He says seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his home with guns and took him to federal court where he had to sign a payment plan for the 29-year-old school loan.

Comcast outage – massive system failure on Monday. Still not sure if all fixed and how many affected.

Comcast Outage Map

**Extra – Just got the Sony 65″ Bravia 4k – Android TV – NICE! (AMAZON Prime 4k and Netflix 4k movies!)