by Chris Berry of Disruptive Discoveries Journal

At this point, what could possibly be said about the economic health in the Euro Zone and the prospects for growth that hasn’t already been said? Realistically, the only question that has yet to be answered is how to ignite growth? This is a question you could ask about numerous economies around the world, but the structural challenges in the Euro Zone and the fact that you have a political union but not a financial one appear to be the reasons for what little growth actually exists.

With that in mind and with the European Central Bank (ECB) essentially out of ideas, the announcement of a quantitative easing (QE) program of €60 billion per month was likely the worst kept secret in finance. Specifically, this program will take the form of an asset purchase mechanism where the ECB will buy government bonds, private sector bonds, and debt securities of European institutions totaling €1.3 billion during the “life” of the program. Many would argue that the QE programs in Japan and the US have failed to achieve their objectives and this is why I mentioned Albert Einstein in the title of this note. He’s credited with saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Is anyone in the ECB familiar with this?

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By Nial Fuller of Learn To Trade The Market

Here in tropical Australia, the saltwater crocodile is a fearsome and intelligent predator known to wait patiently for days or weeks on end until unaware prey come to the water’s edge and become its next meal. Crocodiles are by many accounts the most successful animal that has ever lived; they’ve been around for about 200 million years and have out-lived the Dinosaurs, and they’ve evolved over time to become perhaps the most successful predator on Earth, next to humans.  Crocodiles are opportunistic predators; they’ve been known to learn the behavior of their prey and lie in wait for long periods of time almost to the point of starving, and then when the time is right they snatch their prey with confidence and precision.

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Canada's Largest Bitcoin Exchange CAVIRTEX Integrates with Vogogo

Vogogo also integrates two further exchanges Bitcoin Brains & Taurus Exchange.

CALGARY, ALBERTA & PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 22nd, 2015 - Payment processing compliance & fraud mitigation specialist Vogogo Inc. (TSX VENTURE:VGO) today announced signed contracts with Canada's largest bitcoin exchange, CAVIRTEX and two further exchanges Bitcoin Brains & Taurus Exchange.

CAVIRTEX is Canada's first and largest bitcoin exchange. In its three years of operation, it has facilitated over $100 Million in trading between individuals, merchants, and market makers. In addition to being an exchange, CAVIRTEX offers merchant solutions, debit cards and prepaid Mastercards.

Read more: Vogogo Inc ( VGO )

of the Financial Post

The heady world of high finance is in a full-blown snit.

It all started when Switzerland’s central bank flip-flopped last week on what appeared to be an iron-clad three-year-old cap on a currency peg against the ailing euro. Denmark responded quickly by cutting its key interest rate to prevent the krone from strengthening as a result. Wednesday, the Bank of Canada — long the darling among central bankers in the post-financial crisis world – followed  with a quarter-point rate cut which caught global markets completely flat-footed.

All these sudden central bank moves to loosen their monetary policies were greeted with surprise, shock, even horror by market players. Have the big brains that populate the vaunted world of macro-economics gone mad? What ever happened to forward guidance?

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By Rachel Fox of FoxOnStocks.com

Th Th That’s All Folks …  or is it … for Warner Brothers (NYSE : TWX) who seems to be making great choices in the entertainment world at this time. I smell a second Long/Short move that is interesting to me this week because, as strong as Warner Bros. has been lately, that is how weak Sony’s (NYSE: SNE ) choices have been. What a juxtaposition. What a good Long/Short play.

Earlier this week, I noticed Mark Cuban’s tweet about loving Twitter (TWTR) lately, but not loving Google (GOOG) and their business choices.

Long/Short plays are trades that high rolling, advanced traders, often hedge funds make. I’ll be honest … the first time I heard about a Long/Short equity strategy, I thought it was not quite sensible; that is until I remembered where I was and who was explaining it to me.

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