This is egregious. The company announced a monstrous 50 mill share offering after the close last night, only to up the offering by 7 million shares this morning.

Oh, they also priced it DEEP into the hole.

Ensco management doesn’t give a shit about their shareholders. In my opinion, the risk of looming dilution of this magnitude is pervasive in the cash strapped oil sector. It is because of this specter that I deem the industry, at the present time, uninvestable.

The fuck out of here. Germany and the entirety of the European Union is one giant fascist state. The Turkish President, Erdogan aka ISIS facilitator, made a request to the German government to prosecute one of their comedians who published a satirical poem about the fuckheaded Turkish President AND MERKEL GRANTED HIS REQUEST!

Can you believe this? This is the world we live in now. Maybe Edrogan will make a request to Obama to prosecute me for calling him a fuckhead now.

Merkel, the fascist slob, said: “We’re allowing this because we are confident of the strong justice system in our state.”

What wonderful doublespeak. Why not prosecute everyone for making negative remarks about foreign leaders, make them incur onerous legal fees and potential jail time, all for the sake of showing confidence in the fucking legal system?! It’s not like fear of prosecution will scare others into restricting their right to free speech, right Merkel?

Erdogan himself also filed a complaint with German prosecutors seeking legal action. Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus on Monday said the German comedian had committed a “heavy crime against humanity” by insulting the Turkish head of state. “No one has the right to insult” Erdogan, Kurtulmus told reporters.

This piece of human offal said the poem was a ‘heavy crime against humanity’ and that ‘no one has the right to insult’ his holiness. This is rich, very rich indeed, coming from a man who arms ISIS and funds ISIS, and facilities safe passage of new fighters for ISIS in Syria, so they can commit heinous, and very real crimes of barbarity against humanity.

Well, now that rates are negative and banks make money by borrowing it, they need to do something with the excess reserves. Why not buy the shit out of EFSF bonds at huge premiums, so that Greek banks can profit handsomely from it?

Before you do, however, make sure the execs at the banks give you, the European catamite, a ‘little taste’ if you know what I mean.

So, what are we talking about here? The ECB will buy the EFSF bonds that were issued to help recapitalize the Greek banks, as part of their retarded QE program.

Does this make any sense, at all?

Greek banks were prohibited from selling them; because, you know, THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO FIRM UP THEIR BALANCE SHEETS.

“This is good because Greek banks need to take big provisions for non-performing loans and an extra source of profitability could be very helpful for the overall results for the year,” said Nikos Kyriazis, an equity sales trader at NBG Securities.

The fuckery is deep.

Banks are rallying. Greek sovereign bond yields are plunging. QE has saved the day again. God bless financial engineering.

This is fascinating and a stroke of brilliance by the embattled record industry. With everything going digital, their millstone was being taken away, stolen in many cases. After years of toiling with iTunes and then assholes like Spotify and Pandora, finally, they figured out a way to reinvent the industry to spur record sales growth.

They went retro. Don’t give me the absurd rationale that vinyl records sound better. I don’t think so. But, like old leather bound books, there is something artistic and unique about having a vinyl record collection. It says something about a person. It’s an expression of individuality, as well as respect for history and the art of producing records.

Anyway, that’s my take. I’ve been collecting old leather bound books for years and have thought about collecting vinyls for sometime. Believe it or not, sales of vinyl records are on pace to break all time highs, the zenith of sales accomplished in the 80s.

“Vinyl is no longer the preserve of baby-boomers who grew up with the format. It now also appeals to a new generation of engaged younger fans and millennials,” said Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of BPI, the representative body for UK record labels.

Figures produced by the BPI show that LP sales between January and March this year increased by over 60 percent from the same period last year.
Demand for LPs has continued to grow uninterrupted for the last 8 years, with sales now at their highest level since 1995.
If sales continue to grow at the same rate, demand for records could equal that seen in the late 1980s when vinyl was at its peak, the BPI said.

Out of curiosity, how many of you collect vinyl?

A tour de force–masterpiece. My favorite part:

I, for one, am not interested in defending a system that for decades has served the interest of political parties at the expense of the people. Members of the club—the consultants, the pollsters, the politicians, the pundits and the special interests—grow rich and powerful while the American people grow poorer and more isolated.

No one forced anyone to cancel the vote in Colorado. Political insiders made a choice to cancel it. And it was the wrong choice.

Source: WSJ

Let Me Ask America a Question

On Saturday, April 9, Colorado had an “election” without voters. Delegates were chosen on behalf of a presidential nominee, yet the people of Colorado were not able to cast their ballots to say which nominee they preferred.

A planned vote had been canceled. And one million Republicans in Colorado were sidelined.

In recent days, something all too predictable has happened: Politicians furiously defended the system. “These are the rules,” we were told over and over again. If the “rules” can be used to block Coloradans from voting on whether they want better trade deals, or stronger borders, or an end to special-interest vote-buying in Congress—well, that’s just the system and we should embrace it.

Let me ask America a question: How has the “system” been working out for you and your family?

I, for one, am not interested in defending a system that for decades has served the interest of political parties at the expense of the people. Members of the club—the consultants, the pollsters, the politicians, the pundits and the special interests—grow rich and powerful while the American people grow poorer and more isolated.

No one forced anyone to cancel the vote in Colorado. Political insiders made a choice to cancel it. And it was the wrong choice.

Responsible leaders should be shocked by the idea that party officials can simply cancel elections in America if they don’t like what the voters may decide.

The only antidote to decades of ruinous rule by a small handful of elites is a bold infusion of popular will. On every major issue affecting this country, the people are right and the governing elite are wrong. The elites are wrong on taxes, on the size of government, on trade, on immigration, on foreign policy.

Why should we trust the people who have made every wrong decision to substitute their will for America’s will in this presidential election?

Here, I part ways with Sen. Ted Cruz.

Mr. Cruz has toured the country bragging about his voterless victory in Colorado. For a man who styles himself as a warrior against the establishment (you wouldn’t know it from his list of donors and endorsers), you’d think he would be demanding a vote for Coloradans. Instead, Mr. Cruz is celebrating their disenfranchisement.

Likewise, Mr. Cruz loudly boasts every time party insiders disenfranchise voters in a congressional district by appointing delegates who will vote the opposite of the expressed will of the people who live in that district.

That’s because Mr. Cruz has no democratic path to the nomination. He has been mathematically eliminated by the voters.

While I am self-funding, Mr. Cruz rakes in millions from special interests. Yet despite his financial advantage, Mr. Cruz has won only three primaries outside his home state and trails me by two million votes—a gap that will soon explode even wider. Mr. Cruz loses when people actually get to cast ballots. Voter disenfranchisement is not merely part of the Cruz strategy—it is the Cruz strategy.

The great irony of this campaign is that the “Washington cartel” that Mr. Cruz rails against is the very group he is relying upon in his voter-nullification scheme.

My campaign strategy is to win with the voters. Ted Cruz’s campaign strategy is to win despite them.

What we are seeing now is not a proper use of the rules, but a flagrant abuse of the rules. Delegates are supposed to reflect the decisions of voters, but the system is being rigged by party operatives with “double-agent” delegates who reject the decision of voters.

The American people can have no faith in such a system. It must be reformed.

Just as I have said that I will reform our unfair trade, immigration and economic policies that have also been rigged against Americans, so too will I work closely with the chairman of the Republican National Committee and top GOP officials to reform our election policies. Together, we will restore the faith—and the franchise—of the American people.

We must leave no doubt that voters, not donors, choose the nominee.

How have we gotten to the point where politicians defend a rigged delegate-selection process with more passion than they have ever defended America’s borders?

Perhaps it is because politicians care more about securing their private club than about securing their country.

My campaign will, of course, battle for every last delegate. We will work within the system that exists now, while fighting to have it reformed in the future. But we will do it the right way. My campaign will seek maximum transparency, maximum representation and maximum voter participation.

We will run a campaign based on empowering voters, not sidelining them.

Let us take inspiration from patriotic Colorado citizens who have banded together in protest. Let us make Colorado a rallying cry on behalf of all the forgotten people whose desperate pleas have for decades fallen on the deaf ears and closed eyes of our rulers in Washington, D.C.

The political insiders have had their way for a long time. Let 2016 be remembered as the year the American people finally got theirs.

J. Grant, the only person in the media worth listening to with regard to the banks, repudiates the gov’t in this clip for being wanton assholes, extorting the banks and for being backward looking. His singular point is the government’s onerous position against the banks is cauterizing them, almost nationalizing them like our European comrades, which in turn is hurting the economy.

Great watch, if you’re a bank nerd.

It was subtle, but he inferred the Chinese economy would slow down again– when asked if the Chinese economy would bottom at 6.7%. The chief China economist for JP Morgan, Haibin Zhu, is sanguine on these GDP numbers, which missed estimates of 6.8%. Once Chinese easing policies begin to wane, most likely in Q3 of 2016, GDP will begin to slow again. Moreover, he believes China will need to establish an American styled chapter 11 system to deal with the looming debt crisis.

He was impressed by the manufacturing numbers. Bottom line: take a shot each time he says “stabilization” and you will be drunk by the end of this video.

I’ve never seen such a disgraceful and humiliating IPO as the one purported upon the good people of America back in 2012.

In what can only be described as the single worst IPO in the history of the stock market, BATS Global tried to trade its stupid stock on their own stupid exchange, back in 2012, only to bear witness to the horror of it collapsing to virtually nothing at all within seconds.

Not only that, their exchange withered into dust on that fateful morning, taking stocks like AAPL with it. It was an unmitigated disaster. They were forced to cancel the trades, the IPO, and pray to their satanic idols that people would forget about this fuckery.

Guess what? Four years later, with a valuation more than double of what it was in 2012, the fuckers from BATS are going to whore their shares again for the explicit benefit of selling shareholders.

Yes, demand it strong. Yes, the IPO is being priced at the high end of the proposed range. And, yes, they upped the offering to appease rabidly hungry investors.

Zero dollars will go to the company. Why bother going public then? What sort of chicanery is at play here?

Bats Global Markets Inc. priced its initial public offering at the top end of its marketed range, valuing the company at $1.8 billion.

The deal raised $253 million after 13.3 million shares were sold for $19 each, compared with its estimated price range of $17 to $19, according to a statement Thursday. The share sale, which doesn’t include the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 1.995 million shares, is the biggest U.S. listing so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Proceeds from the sale won’t go to the company, but will instead go to investors including Bank of America Corp., KCG Holdings Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Bats increased the deal’s size after demand for shares exceeded the 11.2 million originally offered by 20 times, a person familiar with the matter said.

Ah, good old Vampire Squid and the Confederates at BAC need to get liquid. I understand. Do you?

This IPO is shit.

Engulfed with losses Ensco just filed a 50 million share offering, in an effort to stay alive and to take advantage of the lemmings who’ve bid the stock up in recent weeks.

During the Feb lows, ESV touched down in the 8’s. Smart money says that after diluting investors to this degree, raising $500 million on a market cap of $2.4 billion, it’s heading back there in short order.

Double pleasure. ESV earnings.

Operating revenues expected to be $812-817 million ($788 mln Capital IQ Consensus), benefiting from estimated reported utilization between 64% and 66%, as compared to the low-60% range in our first quarter 2016 outlook disclosed on our February 25, 2016 conference call, and average day rates that declined by approximately 3% to 4%, as compared to a 7% to 8% decline in our prior disclosed outlook.
Contract drilling expense is anticipated to be between $361 million and $366 million, as compared to our prior disclosed outlook of $385 million to $390 million.

Expected capital expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2016 has been revised to $400 million.
As of March 31, 2016, our total debt, cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments are expected to be $5.9 billion, $1.1 billion and $295 million, respectively.

I’ve gotten insight from industry professionals who’ve told me that today’s drop in the NASDAQ was ‘a bit too much to bear’. Moreover, and this goes without saying, there will be an avalanche of redemption requests following yet another arduous day in the markets.

Tragic tragedies abound.

At the forefront of today’s decline was retail, down an earth shattering 0.6%. The blood letting in big oil is just around the bend too, with that index up a paltry 0.15%.

Inside Exodus, the algorithms haven’t flagged oversold just yet. However, should we get another ‘blood in the streets’ day tomorrow, I will not question whether or not we will see one. I am certain of it.

God speed.