Thursday, February 13, 2014

Yellen Testimony Delayed; Markets Rise Despite Lack of Noise

Was anybody not connected to the Wall Street/Washington Ponzi scheme really impressed with Janet Yellen?

The woman sounds like she's been speech-and-brain-impaired since childhood. Sure, she may be among the "best and brightest" but her answers to the softball questions proffered by the House Financial Services Committee didn't raise the bar of professional standards one centimeter, nor did they offer anything other than the usual, plodding "we-will-continue-to-print-until-we-don't" message the Fed's been spouting for the past three to four years.

Sorry, but it's boring, and Janet Yellen may be the "Chair" of the Fed, but she surely doesn't have the backs of regular American citizens. She works for banks, period.

So, paraphrasing our illustrious president, "if you like your Fed Chair, you can keep your Fed Chair."

A snowstorm pushed Yellen's scheduled Thursday testimony before the Senate Banking Committee back to next week. The markets, not wanting to wait until then, rallied anyway, on poor retail sales and unemployment data.

What a scheme. The markets are so distorted, it makes writing about them a difficult, annoying chore, almost not worth doing. This may be the final week of Money Daily.

DOW 16,027.59, +63.65 (+0.40%)
NASDAQ 4,240.67, +39.38 (+0.94%)
S&P 1,829.83, +10.57 (+0.58%)
10-Yr Note 100.05, +0.85 (+0.85%) Yield: 2.73%
NASDAQ Volume 2.08 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.25 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4143-1528
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 275-41
WTI crude oil: 100.35, -0.02
Gold: 1,300.10, +5.10
Silver: 20.40, +0.054
Corn: 440.50 , +0.50

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Quiet Yellen, Dow's a'Sellin'

Since Fed Chair Janet Yellen wasn't stuttering... er, um, speaking today, stocks pretty much ran in place.

That's all there is to this market, for now, but, stick around, the game will change at some point.

We do note that gold has been tearing it up lately, silver a little less so (though it made up some ground today), and don't we all love crude oil over $100 per barrel?

One can also buy more corn toady with the same amount or less silver than yesterday, so that's the deflationary argument.

DOW 15,963.94, -30.83 (-0.19%)
NASDAQ 4,201.29, +10.24 (+0.24%)
S&P 1,819.26, -0.49 (-0.03%)
10-Yr Note 99.94, -0.13 (-0.13%) Yield: 2.76%
NASDAQ Volume 1.88 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.30 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2995-2698
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 232-36
WTI crude oil: 100.37, +0.43
Gold: 1,295.00, +5.20
Silver: 20.34, +0.188
Corn: 440.00, -1.50

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Wall Street Goes Ga-Ga Over Fed Chair, Janet Yellen

Janet Yellen's testimony to congress and the subsequent question-answer period was a rather revolting display of crony capitalism in its most blatant form. Legislators swooned over the new Fed Chair (as she is now to be known), and Wall Street sent stocks to the moon, again.

Yellen's prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee:

Yellen Speech Feb 11



Bear in mind, these are the people/drones/robots elected/appointed to rule/run/govern the country/world/universe.

Hedge accordingly... or, just kill yourself now.

DOW 15,994.77, +192.98 (+1.22%)
NASDAQ 4,191.05, +42.87 (+1.03%)
S&P 1,819.75, +19.91 (+1.11%)
10-Yr Note 100.23, +0.01 (+0.01%) Yield: 2.72%
NASDAQ Volume 1.86 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.68 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3228-1494
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 190-32
WTI crude oil: 99.94, -0.12
Gold: 1,289.80, +15.10
Silver: 20.15, +0.041
Corn: 441.50, -1.50

Monday, February 10, 2014

No Follow Through After Phony Friday Rally

Following Friday's dismal non-farm payroll data for January, the subsequent scream higher in equity markets (stocks) and the Money Daily contention that the market was rigged and traditional valuation metrics useless, Monday brought some confirmation of our position, in that markets barely budged.

The generally-accepted theory - for today - is that markets and investors are awaiting Janet Yellen's testimony before congress Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, the newest -and first - Fed chairwoman will appear before the House Financial Services Committee. On Thursday, she addresses and takes questions from the Senate Banking Committee.

We'll take a different approach: BULL-PUCKEY! The reason markets didn't do much today is because they have nowhere to go after the massive ramping Thursday and Friday, on nothing but bad news, and the insiders are awaiting the influx of suckers to keep the rally going, so said insiders can SELL, SELL, SELL the stocks bought (at the behest of the NY Fed and the PPT) they bought last week that kept the market from entering a 10% correction.

Now, those suckers will surely appear at some point, soon after which the insiders will be selling, though not all at once, so as not to produce a self-reinforcing selling loop. No the selling will be niggling, nibbling, small amounts, though large enough to keep stock prices moderately higher or lower, for a while.

The key question at this juncture is not whether the market is manipulated - as it has been clearly demonstrated that all financial markets are manipulated - because, if the Fed isn't manipulating markets by its dual policy of ZIRP and QE, then what should we call it? No, the key question is how long it will take for the major indices to return to and exceed their recent all-time highs?

A month? Two? Six? It matters little, unless stocks tumble below their recent lows, because then, the fraud will be crystal clear and a correction will be in force, followed by a primary bear market.

The numbers to watch are these:
Dow: High: 16,576.66; Low: 15,372.80
S&P 500: High: 1,848.36' Low: 1,741.89
NASDAQ: High: 4,176.59; Low: 3,996.96


All of these figures are closing highs and lows and they all occurred on the same dates, the highs on December 31, 2013, the lows on February 3, 2014. Everything else in between is nothing but noise, but, it should be pointed out that the Dow, in particular, is a long way from those all-time highs, about 775 points away, and that matters.

So, what will the sociopaths of Wall Street and the crony capitalists in Washington DC dream up to achieve the facade of "recovery" this time? Or will they fight to the death over the debt ceiling all month long, only to resolve it in a late-night session, and then have the markets zoom forward? Any way they slice it, it's still one big stick of baloney, and not a choice cut, to boot.

A couple of other indications that support the theory that Thursday and, especially, Friday's rally was fake, are the slump in yield on the 10-year note, back down to 2.67% and stellar movement in gold and silver. If everything is supposed to be so fine and dandy, why then were investors rushing to safe haven assets on Monday?

There are more questions than answers, but, when dealing with fraud and fixing at such a high and clandestine level, there is much that is unknown and unseen, but, we've seen enough to know not to buy the sizzle nor the steak at this juncture.

DOW 15,801.79, +7.71 (+0.05%)
NASDAQ 4,148.17, +22.31 (+0.54%)
S&P 1,799.84, +2.82 (+0.16%)
10-Yr Note 100.65, +0.47 (+0.47%) Yield: 2.67%
NASDAQ Volume 1.68 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.30 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3338-2348
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 129-29
WTI crude oil: 100.06, +0.18
Gold: 1,274.70, +11.80
Silver: 20.11, +0.176
Corn: 443.00, -1.25

Friday, February 7, 2014

Fake, Fake, Fake Rally After Non-Farm Payroll Jobs Disappointment

With baited breath, the world awaits the January non-farm payroll report, and, when it is released, and it is far worse, far weaker than expected, stocks go straight up.

Yes, that's exactly what happened. Yes, it defies logic. NO, we're not buying it.

Just in case anybody hasn't noticed, banks, brokers and high government officials have variously been accused - and some even admitted (though untried and none convicted) - of manipulating Libor rates, FX markets, precious metals, mortgages, commodities, municipal bonds and probably every other financial asset where a market is made.

So, should it surprise anyone if stocks are manipulated, rigged, fixed, flogged, whipped and played to the whims of the rentier class?

No, it certainly should not.

While the handwriting is plain as day on the Wall Street walls, scrolled in the signature style of the PPT.

When the announcement was made at 8:30 am ET Friday morning, that the US created a mere 113,000 jobs in January - after posting a horrifying 74,000 (upgraded to 75,000 this morning) for December - stock futures headed due south, sending the implied opens for the major indices to morning lows.

However, within minutes, those losses in the futures markets were wiped away, as the futures galloped up, up and away, pointing to a counterintuitive higher open for US markets.

The Dow, together with Thursday's vapor ramp, put in the best two-day performance since October, and US markets still haven't had a 10% correction since August of 2011.

Apparently, one should believe that the lower jobs numbers are somehow good for the economy, in that the Fed may begin to "un-taper" their recent tapering of bond purchases and bring the legendary punch bowl back to the Wall Street jubilee, where the connected truly do get "money for nothing" and the chicks (and coke) for free.

Apparently, one should believe that $100-per-barrel crude oil and $3.50-4.00-a-gallon gas are good for the economy.

We wisened investors should also believe that gold is permanently priced at $1250 per ounce, silver at $20, all mortgage-backed securities are worth 100% of their par value, real estate never goes down, Janet Yellen and the rest of her Fed brethren have the best interests of the US citizenry at heart, pigs fly and flying unicorns that poop rainbows are real and are stabled in the basement of the Mariner-Eccles building.

We should embrace a president who openly lies, a congress which will not impeach, a spy agency who reads this, knows you are reading it, listens in on everything, everywhere, all the time, a steadily-declining median household income even in the face of the top 10% making more than ever, part-time jobs replacing full-time ones, taxes that only go up, regulations on everything and penalties for anything not covered by regulations.

It's all good, all the time, even if you're losing your home, having your kids taken from you and starving to death. At this pace, as the US economy plunges even deeper into depression than it already has, stocks should set all-time highs endlessly, without pause, forever.

For the record, Money Daily will stick to its call made days ago, that the market has turned from bull to bear, be proven wrong, but understand that nothing is really as it seems. As conditions in the real world worsen, they'll only get better on Wall Street, in Washington and on the paper facade that is CNBC and Bloomberg. Buy it, own it, be it.

Good is evil. War is peace. Love is hate. Stay short and get slaughtered. After all, if Wall Street doesn't take your phony paper money, Washington will.

Emerging market economies will always be emerging, and never become "developed" even if their GDP is larger than that of all the developed nations combined. And, besides, they don't matter.

George Orwell would be proud.

We have always been at war with Eastasia... or Eurasia.

DOW 15,794.08, +165.55 (+1.06%)
NASDAQ 4,125.86, +68.74 (+1.69%)
S&P 1,797.02, +23.59 (+1.33%)
10-Yr Note 100.57, +0.44 (+0.44%) Yield: 2.68%
NASDAQ Volume 1.92 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.75 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4216-1466
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 141-44
WTI crude oil: 99.88, +2.04
Gold: 1,262.90, +5.70
Silver: 19.94, +0.008
Corn: 444.25, +1.25