O/K put your tinfoil hats on.

[JoJo]

I keep hearing and reading about Sept.15th to Oct.15th. These people, Religious, reporters, economists and bloggers are saying that there is going to be an economic collapse. Jade Helm 15 ends then then there is the Fourth Blood Moon of the fifth Shimitar. On the day of Atonement Sept 23 the Pope meets Obama.
Normally I wouldn't think much about Predictions but the stock market fell 358 points today at 1699 a drop of 1,000 points since August. I don't own stocks but I have savings so if the market takes a dump I will pay off my house and load up.

[JohnyMac]

Jojo, holy shit Batman! We are closing onto -5% YTD in the DJIA. The old JohnyMac would have said, "great time to buy." Well I have wizened up a bit since then.

I was this close (Picture index finger & thumb 1/8" apart) from pulling the trigger on a new Kubota tractor this past spring. My guardian angel urged me to hold off... Maybe for what is coming.

There may be a few being offloaded at dealer cost in the coming months.   

[Nemo]

I really think the blood moon is at most astronomical rarity.  Despite it being #4 this year.  I do not put much stock in the religious Armageddon claims.

Also keep in mind China devalued their own currency 3 times (not 2 as generally reported) on 3 consecutive days.  That is something any reasonable country would not do.

I would recommend some of those savings come out of the bank and go into the mattress.  Look at Greek banks for a week or 2 back the first of July.  No more than 60 or so Euros per day. 

Rather than the stock market, I would look into silver and gold. Prices on those are great right now.  Those are 2 things that everyone will always value.  They may not be high on the gather list but they will hold value.  Gold was up $22 today.  That is more in one day than I can recall ever.   Demand may be growing.

WTI crude closed today at $41.14.  Up about 34cents today.  That is down to less than 1$ a gallon.  Russia and OPEC are going broke in this market.

Any extra I get now will go to the extra jar of peanut and the 3 Bs.

Nemo

[Nemo]

Regarding what I noted about Greece above.

Nemo

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/20/us-eurozone-greece-resignation-idUSKCN0QP1Q820150820

World | Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:26pm EDT
Related: World, Greece
Tsipras resigns, paving way for snap Greek election
ATHENS | By Renee Maltezou and Michele Kambas

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resigned on Thursday, hoping to strengthen his hold on power in snap elections after seven months in office in which he fought Greece's creditors for a better bailout deal but had to cave in.

Tsipras submitted his resignation to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and asked for the earliest possible election date.

Government officials said the aim was to hold the election on Sept. 20, with Tsipras seeking to crush a rebellion in his leftist Syriza party and seal public support for the bailout program, Greece's third since 2010, that he negotiated.

"I will go the president of the republic shortly to submit my resignation, as well as the resignation of my government," Tsipras said in a televised address before he met Pavlopoulos.

Faced with a near collapse of the Greek financial system which threatened the country's future in the euro, Tsipras was forced to accept the creditors' demands for yet more austerity and economic reform - the very policies he had promised to scrap when he was elected in January.

"I want to be honest with you. We did not achieve the agreement we expected before the January elections," he told the Greek people.

"I feel the deep ethical and political responsibility to put to your judgment all I have done, successes and failures."

His decision deepens political uncertainty on the day Greece began receiving funds under its 86 billion-euro ($96 billion) bailout program, five years after a previous government took the first bailout from the euro zone and IMF.

But a snap election should allow Tsipras to capitalize on his popularity with voters before the toughest parts of the latest program - including further pension cuts, more value-added tax increases and a "solidarity" tax on incomes - begin to bite. This may allow him to return to power in a stronger position without anti-bailout rebels in Syriza to slow him down.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs meetings of euro zone finance ministers, said he hoped the resignation would not delay or derail implementation of the bailout package.

"It is crucial that Greece maintains its commitments to the euro zone," he said in a statement to Reuters.

Tsipras had long been expected to seek early elections in the autumn. But he was forced to move quickly after nearly a third of Syriza lawmakers refused to back the program in parliament last week, robbing him of his majority.

A leading rebel, Syriza lawmaker Dimitris Stratoulis, hinted that his faction might split formally from the party, declaring a "political and social front which will be anti-austerity, democratic and patriotic".

"It will have as a goal to cancel the previous two bailout agreements and the third bailout agreement that the current government voted for, and to replace them with a policy of growth," he said.

Greece's complex constitution has special stipulations for holding elections less than 12 months after the previous vote, meaning the president should first give major opposition parties three days each to try to form a government.

Conservative leader Vangelis Meimarakis said he would have a go, although the arithmetic of the current parliament means his New Democracy party has little chance of pulling a coalition together.

Meimarakis took aim at Tsipras.

"He is a bit of a fibber. He might be likeable, but he is a bit cunning," he told a news conference. "I feel he is fooling the Greek people, his comrades, and the Europeans ... Did he get a bit too much sun in August?"

Tsipras nevertheless remains popular among his supporters for trying to stand up to the foreign creditors and with the opposition in disarray, he is widely expected to return to power.

A Metron Analysis poll on July 24 put support for Syriza at 33.6 percent, making it by far the most popular party, but not enough to govern without a coalition partner. No polls have been published since then due to the holiday season.

The prolonged standoff forced Athens to shut its banks for three weeks and impose capital controls before Tsipras accepted the bailout under threat of a financial collapse and Greek exit from the euro currency.

The first installment of aid allowed Greece to make a debt repayment to the European Central Bank that fell due on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by George Georgiopoulos, Lefteris Papadimas, Greg Roumeliotis and Toby Sterling, Writing by Deepa Babington and David Stamp, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

[Reaver]

Not getting my hopes up to soon. I just want to go to my woods and live a happy peaceful life with my family.

[gadget99]

That's why I have not been posting much lately. We are concentrating on our preps in the off chance there is a storm coming soon.

[Nemo]

From Fox News .com as posted.  Like I have noted a time or 2 before, from the govt-- BOHICA!

Nemo


CHINA SYNDROME: Will Beijing's ailing economy drag us all down?   FoxNews.com when posted here  <--- click thru takes you to  below.


http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/08/21/stocks-eye-reprieve-despite-mortal-blow-from-chinese-data

U.S. Stock Futures Point to More Losses
Published August 21, 2015, Dow Jones Newswires
 (Reuters)

U.S. stocks were poised for a slightly lower open Friday, rounding out a week marked by fears about a cooling Chinese economy.

Investors on Friday received fresh evidence of the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy. An early gauge of China's factory activity slumped to a six-and-a-half year low in August, triggering steep declines in stocks across Asia and Europe, where many companies depend on China for demand.

U.S. stock futures indicated a 0.2% opening loss for the S&P 500 and a 0.4% opening loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Changes in futures aren't necessarily reflected in market moves after the opening bell.

Declines in European stocks were bigger. France's CAC-40 lost 1.1% and Germany's DAX slipped 1%.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday, with the Dow tumbling nearly 360 points to its lowest level since October.

The downbeat tone to stocks continues to be driven by "the uncertainty and speculation about the pace of global growth and what might the Fed do in September," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting showed officials remain divided on whether to raise rates next month.

Mr. Sandven noted that the renewed Chinese growth scare came as U.S. companies have largely finished reporting second-quarter earnings, giving investors little else to focus on. Including results from 484 companies in the S&P 500, earnings are on track to slip 0.6% in the second quarter, according to FactSet.

Hewlett-Packard Co. reported a 13% drop in quarterly profit. Revenue fell 8%, marking the 15th decline in the past 16 quarters. The results were H-P's last before its planned breakup on Nov. 1. Shares lost 0.2% premarket.

Foot Locker Inc. posted a better-than-expected 29% jump in profit amid broad-based sales growth. Shares rose 2% premarket.

In commodity markets, gold futures were nearly flat at $1153.20 an ounce. Crude-oil futures fell 0.9% to $40.97 a barrel.

Treasury prices were little changed, with the 10-year yield at 2.082% versus 2.084% on Thursday.

(By Saumya Vaishampayan)

[JohnyMac]

As of this writing the DJIA is down 443 points today and now down 7% YTD.  ~1/3 to what I think it will drop by YE.

[Nemo]

DJIA close today down 530 points (-3.12%) over yesterdays close.  Yesterday it lost about 250 or so.

WTI is down to $40.30.  Gasoline futures at $.153.  I think with the October issues coming up on the economic side, life will get getting very interesting in the next few months.

Nemo