Chris is busy finishing up a meaty report on the accelerating friction between the West and Russia, so I'm stepping in to make some quick notes on today's meaningful developments.
As PP.com readers know, we've been cautioning about a serious market correction for a long time. Valuations have been so far divorced from fundamentals for so long that we are frighteningly overdue for a drop — likely a large one — in asset prices.
Of course, the key question is: When?, which is impossible to forecast with exactness. So instead, we look closely for markers that one would expect to see in advance of an arriving correction, and dial up or down our "state of readiness" based on the most likely probabilities.
Today's news cycle was rich with developments on this front. Taken together, they provide evidence that the markets are losing their support and that "pins" that could instigate the bursting of the valuation bubble are multiplying.
GDP
At the start of the day, a surprisingly strong Q2 GDP growth rate of 4% was announced. On the surface, this would seem to contradict our concerns. Everything's going great, right?
Putting aside the bears' criticism that nearly half the reported growth came from inventory expansion, in the past, such a big positive beat would send the market skywards. Up to now, good news has been good (the economy is improving!), and bad news has been better (the Fed will support companies with more free money!).
by thc0655 
