• Morgan Stanley’s Exposure To French Banks Is 60% Greater Than Its Market Cap… And More Than Half Its Book Value

• UBS Bankers Said to Golf in Pebble Beach After $2.3 Billion Trading Loss

• U.S. to build new massive prison in Bagram

• Bundesbank Ready To Pull The Euro’s Ripcord?

• Getting Rich Off The Poor: How The Koch Brothers Wealth Grew 43% Since 2010

• Michael Pento – Why the Fed’s Exit Strategy is Now in Peril

“Lowering the cost of money in the middle of the yield curve will not put equity in the pockets of home owners who are underwater on their property. And it will not save the real estate market or put people back to work either. All the Fed has done is to guarantee that whatever paltry level of capital they have left—if any—will be gone once interest rates rise even slightly.”

• James Turk – There’s a Raging Battle in Gold Below $1,800

All of this, of course, relates to yesterday’s Fed announcement, which confirms they are going to keep dollar interest rates exceptionally low through mid 2013. In this present low interest rate environment, it is very easy for gold to slip into backwardation, and clearly central banks don’t want that outcome. Everybody knows that when gold goes into backwardaton, it’s game over for national currencies.

• Operation Twist a “Visual” Success: Yield on 30-Year Treasury Drops 17 Basis Points, Flirting with a Break of 3%; Alas Patient Will Die

• Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar Not Safe Havens; Expect Continued Rally in US Dollar

• As the crowd roars, cage fighters aged 8 and 9 do battle… even after one breaks down in tears

• Swiss Must Save UBS’s Bonus Pool or Die Trying: Jonathan Weil

• Europe Banks Have $410 Billion Credit Risk: IMF