AMMON BUNDY OFFERED GUILTY PLEA IF ARMED OREGON PROTESTERS WERE LET GO

According to the Oregonian, federal prosecutors ultimately rejected Ammon Bundy’s offer to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, which was made about three days after he was arrested. Bundy led more than two-dozen armed individuals when they took over the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon this past January, an occupation that lasted 41 days.

At the time his offer was made, the occupation of the reserve was still ongoing, though 26 others were eventually charged over the incident.

In a court motion seeking to delay filing deadlines in Bundy’s trial, the 40-year-old’s attorney Mike Arnold said Bundy “was willing to sacrifice his broader interests and risk his liberty for his fellow protesters.”

http://www.infowars.com/ammon-bundy-offered-guilty-plea-if-armed-oregon-protesters-were-let-go/

China’s Foreign Reserves Slow Decline as Currency Stabilizes

China’s foreign-exchange reserves fell at a slower pace last month as the nation’s financial markets stabilized and policy makers took more steps toward shoring up growth.

The world’s largest currency hoard dropped by $28.6 billion to $3.2 trillion in February, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement Monday. That was the smallest decline since June and less than the $40.9 billion decrease expected by economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who had a median projection that reserves would fall to $3.19 trillion.

China’s yuan advanced in February against the dollar after three months of declines, and a domestic stock rout eased, helped in part by a move by policy makers to reassure that they will prevent a hard landing. Leaders gathering for the annual National People’s Congress say they’re targeting a wider fiscal gap for 2016 to help meet a slightly lower growth target.

“The government has shown clear policy signals to stabilize the currency,” said Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities Co. in Beijing. “This effectively curbed market expectations for further depreciation, and the market has gradually understood.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-07/china-s-foreign-reserves-slow-decline-as-currency-stabilizes

China’s FX reserves continue to fall but at slower pace

The mainland’s foreign exchange reserves, increasingly a baro­meter of confidence in the economy, continued to fall in February, albeit at a slower pace.

The reserves fell US$28.6 billion last month to US$3.2 trillion, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China on Monday. That compared to a record drop of US$108 billion in December and a similarly deep fall of US$99 billion in January.

The data may prompt Beijing to declare capital outflows and market sentiment about the yuan are stabilising, which in turn could help ease fears of a hard landing for the world’s second-largest economy.

Tao Dong, chief economist for non-Japan Asia at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, said the worst was over in terms of capital outflows.

Tao said the sharp drops recorded in previous months were not necessarily a reflection of capital flight but were a result of companies shifting dollar debts into local currency ones.

The yuan rose to a three-week high on Monday after the central bank fixed the reference rate at the strongest level in two months and the US dollar fell against other currencies after weak economic data suggested another interest rate rise may not be around the ­corner.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/1921917/chinas-fx-reserves-continue-fall-slower-pace

China defends veracity of foreign exchange reserves data

China‘s official foreign exchange reserves only include highly liquid assets, a top central banker said on Sunday, seeking to reassure investors that authorities have enough ammunition to prevent a sharp fall in the renminbi.

Investor sentiment towards China’s currency has turned sharply negative since a surprise devaluation in August, amid unprecedented capital outflows and concern about the health of the economy. Concern over China’s currency policy sparked a global market sell-off early this year.

The People’s Bank of China has drawn on its foreign exchange reserves to curb renminbi weakness, but analysts believe the central bank may soon be forced to abandon this policy to prevent reserves dropping below dangerous levels.

Some bearish investors have also expressed skepticism about the reliability of China’s official foreign exchange reserves data, which showed reserves at $3.2tn at the end of January — still the world’s largest despite declining for 19 months.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/06/china-defends-veracity-of-foreign-exchange-reserves-data.html

German Banks Told To Start Hoarding Cash

In order to generate artificial economic growth, the ECB wants banks to make as many loans as possible, no matter how stupid or idiotic.

They believe that economic growth is simply a function of loans. The more money that’s loaned out, the more the economy will grow.

This is the sort of theory that works really well in an economic textbook. But it doesn’t work so well in a history textbook.

Cheap money encourages risky behavior. It gives banks an incentive to give ‘no money down’ loans to homeless people with no employment history.

It creates bubbles (like the housing bubble from 10 years ago), and ultimately, financial panics (like the banking crisis from 8 years ago).

Banks are supposed to be conservative, responsible managers of other people’s money.

When central bank policies penalize that practice, bad things tend to happen.

Traditionally when a commercial bank in Europe wants to play it safe with its customers’ funds, they would hold excess reserves on deposit with the European Central Bank.

In the past, they might even have been paid interest on those excess reserves as an extra incentive to be conservative.

Now it’s the exact opposite. If a bank holds excess reserves on deposit at the ECB to ensure that they have a greater margin of safety, they must now pay 0.3% to the ECB.

That’s what it means to have negative interest rates. And for the bank, this eats into their profits, especially when they have tens of billions in excess reserves.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand, banks stand to lose a ton of money in negative interest. On the other hand, they put their customers’ deposits at risk if they don’t hold extra reserves.

Well, the Bavarian Banking Association has had enough of this financial dictatorship.

Their new recommendation is for all member banks to ditch the ECB and instead start keeping their excess reserves in physical cash, stored in their own bank vaults.

This is officially an all-out revolution of the financial system where banks are now actively rebelling against the central bank.

(What’s even more amazing is that this concept of traditional banking– holding physical cash in a bank vault– is now considered revolutionary and radical.)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-04/revolution-begins-german-banks-told-start-hoarding-cash