Remember those days of late August, when the markets traded in narrow ranges and closed within a tiny fraction of a percentage point on super-low volume?
Today was another one of those days. Stock pickers are waiting for the ECB meeting on Thursday, when president Mario Draghi is supposed to release details of his plan to fund all of the peripheral nations that are broke, bankrupt or about to be.
Last week, everyone waited for the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, to give a speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and signal that the Fed was soon to unleash more free capital into the corrupt, dysfunctional, insolvent banking system.
Now we wait for Draghi. It's a complete disaster unfolding right before our eyes and barely worth commenting upon because Bernanke didn't say anything the markets didn't already know, and, in all likelihood, neither will Draghi. Either that, or he'll do what the Europeans are so good at, making funny noises, promising something for a later date, your basic can-kicking exercise.
The clock is ticking...
Dow 13,047.48, +11.54 (0.09%)
NASDAQ 3,069.27. -5.79 (0.19%)
S&P 500 1,403.44, -1.50 (0.11%)
NYSE Composite 7,992.01, -10.31 (0.13%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,432,807,125
NYSE Volume 2,782,468,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2308-2724
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 274-59
WTI crude oil: 95.36, +0.06
Gold: 1,694.00, -2.00
Silver: 32.33 -0.08
Showing posts with label Mario Draghi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mario Draghi. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Stocks Fail on Stormy Tuesday; The Misinformation Age
Well, it's not Monday, but it is the first day of the workweek, so stocks must go down. And they did, with the exception of the NASDAQ, which went from the worst-performing index to the best in a matter of 40 minutes - from roughly 2:00 pm to 2:40 pm EDT, going from a loss of 10 points to a gain of 15.
The Dow and S%P tagged along somewhat, but that drove the NAZ higher was none other than Apple (AAPL), which recorded almost half of its 9.73-point gain during that time period.
So, why then does CNBC report that the surge in stocks - the Dow was down nearly 115 points at the lows of the day, the NASDAQ off more than 26 - was due to a tweet by PIMCO's Bill Gross, who, mentioning that Mario Draghi, head of the ECB, willingness to offer 1, 2, and 3-year "loans" (bond purchases) to sovereign nations in the Eurozone, was reflationary and that investors should buy GOLD, TIPS AND REAL ASSETS.
Note that Gross did not say "STOCKS," though CNBC, the masters of misinformation, wishes the assembled masses of hoe viewers would believe that Mr. Gross is a perma-bull, when the exact opposite is true.
Welcome to the age of heightened misinformation.
There was a story today out of Stanford about organic foods not being any better than mass-produced, GMO, pesticide-riddled crap that drives US corporate agribusiness.
I'll take lower levels of pesticides in my urine for $400, Alex.
Just guessing, but could the major contributors to these Stanford researchers possibly be Monsanto and the US Dept. of Agriculture?
Other misinformation predominates what passes for news and journalism these days. For instance, according to the ECB's Mario Draghi, buying 1, 2, and 3-year bonds from sovereign nations does not violate the EU's basic treaty, which forbids such actions... OK. Obama and Romney sound like they differ widely on policies, when both, in fact, are nothing but shills for wealthy individuals and corporations which fund their campaigns. Facebook has lost 50% of market value since its IPO four short months ago, but it's still a solid company.
Trading volume, which was supposed to rebound as soon as all the Wall Street heavy hitters returned after Labor Day, was only a little better today than during July and August. US markets are so thinly-traded that manipulation by a group of well-timed players or even the PPT is easier than ever.
Keep an eye on gold and silver, maybe especially silver, which has exploded over the past three weeks. Gold's being suppressed below $1700, though it seems the central banking cartel cannot hold that level much longer. The Dow fell below 13,000 today, but was pumped back above it, ditto the S&P at 1400. These trades and ranges are due to break down soon.
Today's ISM reading of 49.6 was the third in a row showing contraction, though now, according to Steve Liesman of CNBC. the number to watch is 42.6, which would show contraction for the entire economy. Pure bunk.
Construction spending was off 0.9% in July. That a sizable decline, and why stocks fell out after the two reports at 10:00 am EDT.
Just to refresh one's memory, here's a nifty video of why we're where we are.
Dow 13,035.94, -54.90 (0.42%)
NASDAQ 3,075.06, +8.10 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,404.94, -1.64 (0.12%)
NYSE Composite 8,002.31, -12.61 (0.16%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,505,270,625
NYSE Volume 3,086,772,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3319-2194
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 288-64
WTI crude oil: 95.30, -1.17
Gold: 1,698.40, +10.80
Silver: 32.41, +0.97
The Dow and S%P tagged along somewhat, but that drove the NAZ higher was none other than Apple (AAPL), which recorded almost half of its 9.73-point gain during that time period.
So, why then does CNBC report that the surge in stocks - the Dow was down nearly 115 points at the lows of the day, the NASDAQ off more than 26 - was due to a tweet by PIMCO's Bill Gross, who, mentioning that Mario Draghi, head of the ECB, willingness to offer 1, 2, and 3-year "loans" (bond purchases) to sovereign nations in the Eurozone, was reflationary and that investors should buy GOLD, TIPS AND REAL ASSETS.
Note that Gross did not say "STOCKS," though CNBC, the masters of misinformation, wishes the assembled masses of hoe viewers would believe that Mr. Gross is a perma-bull, when the exact opposite is true.
Welcome to the age of heightened misinformation.
There was a story today out of Stanford about organic foods not being any better than mass-produced, GMO, pesticide-riddled crap that drives US corporate agribusiness.
Two studies of children consuming organic and conventional diets did find lower levels of pesticide residues in the urine of children on organic diets, though the significance of these findings on child health is unclear, noted the researchers.
I'll take lower levels of pesticides in my urine for $400, Alex.
Just guessing, but could the major contributors to these Stanford researchers possibly be Monsanto and the US Dept. of Agriculture?
Other misinformation predominates what passes for news and journalism these days. For instance, according to the ECB's Mario Draghi, buying 1, 2, and 3-year bonds from sovereign nations does not violate the EU's basic treaty, which forbids such actions... OK. Obama and Romney sound like they differ widely on policies, when both, in fact, are nothing but shills for wealthy individuals and corporations which fund their campaigns. Facebook has lost 50% of market value since its IPO four short months ago, but it's still a solid company.
Trading volume, which was supposed to rebound as soon as all the Wall Street heavy hitters returned after Labor Day, was only a little better today than during July and August. US markets are so thinly-traded that manipulation by a group of well-timed players or even the PPT is easier than ever.
Keep an eye on gold and silver, maybe especially silver, which has exploded over the past three weeks. Gold's being suppressed below $1700, though it seems the central banking cartel cannot hold that level much longer. The Dow fell below 13,000 today, but was pumped back above it, ditto the S&P at 1400. These trades and ranges are due to break down soon.
Today's ISM reading of 49.6 was the third in a row showing contraction, though now, according to Steve Liesman of CNBC. the number to watch is 42.6, which would show contraction for the entire economy. Pure bunk.
Construction spending was off 0.9% in July. That a sizable decline, and why stocks fell out after the two reports at 10:00 am EDT.
Just to refresh one's memory, here's a nifty video of why we're where we are.
Dow 13,035.94, -54.90 (0.42%)
NASDAQ 3,075.06, +8.10 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,404.94, -1.64 (0.12%)
NYSE Composite 8,002.31, -12.61 (0.16%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,505,270,625
NYSE Volume 3,086,772,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3319-2194
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 288-64
WTI crude oil: 95.30, -1.17
Gold: 1,698.40, +10.80
Silver: 32.41, +0.97
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Drip... Drip... Drip... Dow Bleeds from Small Wound; NASDAQ at 11 1/2 Year High
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
-- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cites
So it goeth... in the best Dickensian sense, the NASDAQ and Dow have diverged of late, forming an odd dichotomy, reprising the 2000-era old/new economies.
As the Dow suffered its sixth loss in the last seven sessions, the NASDAQ returned to the halcyon days of 2000, when, on its way through one of the worst crashes in market history it closed above 3100 for the last time, on November 15, 2000, on its eventual way to a bottom of 1419.23 on September 21, 2001.
So, for the NASDAQ, it is an 11-year, three month high, give or take a few days.
While the Dow is still within hailing distance of its own multi-year closing high (13279.32, May 1, 2012), it is down roughly two percent from there with losses mounting since the 68-point drop on the outside day last Tuesday.
The difference between the two indices is probably is risk assessment, or the mere fact that Apple (AAPL) is not a Dow stock. Had it been for, say, the last two years, the Dow Industrials might today be sporting a 15,000 handle, but, alas, the riggers of the Dow 30 apparently see Apple as unfit for inclusion, despite being the world's largest corporation by market cap.
The makers of the Dow components have a history of not being exactly of the genius character. For instance, Ford Motor Company has never been an elite member of the Dow club, despite a stellar record of accomplishments and great gains through the 20th century.
Whatever the case, the differences in how the averages are structured and weighted makes for interesting interplay as the stodgy Dow companies, what with their dividend-paying stocks and generally long track records, grind slowly in one direction or the other, the NASDAQ offers more high-fliers, jocular IPOs (like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, to name just a few) and many small niche players, thus being the desired place for the sport of day-trading and point-splitting by the HFTs, hedgies and other mindless market cyborgs.
Once again, as has been the case through almost the entire month of August, there was little in the way of data or news to shake traders out of or into positions. The Case-Shiller 10-and-20-city index of home values showed another smallish year-over-year gain, though the August consumer confidence reading of 60.6 - down sharply from last month's 65.4 - did arouse some traders momentarily from their checker-playing, book-reading or whatever worthless activity keeps them in attendance these days.
After a few moments of excitement, however, they'd had enough and went back to the business of not trading, allowing the computers to do their dirty handiwork behind the scenes and away from the incessant snoring.
It was, again, quite the snooze-fest, and one has to wonder if traders will be back on their toes after the Labor Day recess or whether this kind of low-volume, low volatility regime is all part of a new normal that precludes individual investors.
There is a bit of tension over Friday's speech by Ben Bernanke at the Jackson Hole economic symposium (how anyone, and especially an army of seasoned traders, can get excited about one speech is yet another matter) and the news that ECB president Mario Draghi - citing a "heavy work load" - bowed out from attending.
We're happy that Mr Draghi is working hard at whatever he's doing, purportedly hammering out a deal with the German Bundesbank to save Europe from imminent collapse, though one might also assume attending important economic events such as Jackson Hole has come to be known, should be on his agenda.
At least Mr. Draghi has a job, something roughly 20% of Greeks, Italians and Spaniards do not. It is everyone's hope that he and other Eurocrat leaders concoct a suitable rescue plan for Europe and the rest of civilization before the world ends on December 21, according to wild-eyed gloom-and-doom types eyeing the Mayan calendar, because, if they don't, it will be too late.
Perhaps its for the best that the markets and traders take August off, like their politician friends in Washington almost always do. Wall Streeters can join congress with an approval rating of under 10%. Nearly everyone else - about 9.98% of the population - could care less.
Dow 13,102.99, -21.68 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 3,077.14, +3.95 (0.13%)
S&P 500 1,409.30, -1.14 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 8,032.72, -3.53 (0.04%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,335,361,880
NYSE Volume 2,499,501,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3147-2303
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 152-51
WTI crude oil: 96.33, +0.86
Gold: 1,669.70, -5.90
Silver: 30.88, -0.17
-- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cites
So it goeth... in the best Dickensian sense, the NASDAQ and Dow have diverged of late, forming an odd dichotomy, reprising the 2000-era old/new economies.
As the Dow suffered its sixth loss in the last seven sessions, the NASDAQ returned to the halcyon days of 2000, when, on its way through one of the worst crashes in market history it closed above 3100 for the last time, on November 15, 2000, on its eventual way to a bottom of 1419.23 on September 21, 2001.
So, for the NASDAQ, it is an 11-year, three month high, give or take a few days.
While the Dow is still within hailing distance of its own multi-year closing high (13279.32, May 1, 2012), it is down roughly two percent from there with losses mounting since the 68-point drop on the outside day last Tuesday.
The difference between the two indices is probably is risk assessment, or the mere fact that Apple (AAPL) is not a Dow stock. Had it been for, say, the last two years, the Dow Industrials might today be sporting a 15,000 handle, but, alas, the riggers of the Dow 30 apparently see Apple as unfit for inclusion, despite being the world's largest corporation by market cap.
The makers of the Dow components have a history of not being exactly of the genius character. For instance, Ford Motor Company has never been an elite member of the Dow club, despite a stellar record of accomplishments and great gains through the 20th century.
Whatever the case, the differences in how the averages are structured and weighted makes for interesting interplay as the stodgy Dow companies, what with their dividend-paying stocks and generally long track records, grind slowly in one direction or the other, the NASDAQ offers more high-fliers, jocular IPOs (like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, to name just a few) and many small niche players, thus being the desired place for the sport of day-trading and point-splitting by the HFTs, hedgies and other mindless market cyborgs.
Once again, as has been the case through almost the entire month of August, there was little in the way of data or news to shake traders out of or into positions. The Case-Shiller 10-and-20-city index of home values showed another smallish year-over-year gain, though the August consumer confidence reading of 60.6 - down sharply from last month's 65.4 - did arouse some traders momentarily from their checker-playing, book-reading or whatever worthless activity keeps them in attendance these days.
After a few moments of excitement, however, they'd had enough and went back to the business of not trading, allowing the computers to do their dirty handiwork behind the scenes and away from the incessant snoring.
It was, again, quite the snooze-fest, and one has to wonder if traders will be back on their toes after the Labor Day recess or whether this kind of low-volume, low volatility regime is all part of a new normal that precludes individual investors.
There is a bit of tension over Friday's speech by Ben Bernanke at the Jackson Hole economic symposium (how anyone, and especially an army of seasoned traders, can get excited about one speech is yet another matter) and the news that ECB president Mario Draghi - citing a "heavy work load" - bowed out from attending.
We're happy that Mr Draghi is working hard at whatever he's doing, purportedly hammering out a deal with the German Bundesbank to save Europe from imminent collapse, though one might also assume attending important economic events such as Jackson Hole has come to be known, should be on his agenda.
At least Mr. Draghi has a job, something roughly 20% of Greeks, Italians and Spaniards do not. It is everyone's hope that he and other Eurocrat leaders concoct a suitable rescue plan for Europe and the rest of civilization before the world ends on December 21, according to wild-eyed gloom-and-doom types eyeing the Mayan calendar, because, if they don't, it will be too late.
Perhaps its for the best that the markets and traders take August off, like their politician friends in Washington almost always do. Wall Streeters can join congress with an approval rating of under 10%. Nearly everyone else - about 9.98% of the population - could care less.
Dow 13,102.99, -21.68 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 3,077.14, +3.95 (0.13%)
S&P 500 1,409.30, -1.14 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 8,032.72, -3.53 (0.04%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,335,361,880
NYSE Volume 2,499,501,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3147-2303
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 152-51
WTI crude oil: 96.33, +0.86
Gold: 1,669.70, -5.90
Silver: 30.88, -0.17
Monday, August 27, 2012
Despite Big Move By Apple, Stocks Have No Monday Lift
As has been the case for many weeks (as noted in Friday's posting), stocks could simply not find any meaningful reasons to move to higher ground, even in the wake of a big move by Apple after a federal jury awarded Apple $1 billion in its patent infringement case over rival Samsung.
Apple stock hit an all-time high of 680.87 in early trading, but drifted lower throughout the session.
Veteran tape-watchers (we're fairly certain there are a few left out there) must have dozed off from another in a seemingly-endless stream of low-volume, noiseless, motion-defying trading. All but the first and last hours saw any significant action. The trading range on the Dow amounted to less than 80 points from top to bottom, with stocks selling off in the final hour and closing near the lows of the session.
Of the major averages, only the NASDAQ finished in positive territory, though it was green by only three points. The Dow was the biggest percentage loser, off 0.25% on the day.
Otherwise, there was little to no interest in equities on first day of the final unofficial week of summer, prior to the three-day Labor Day holiday.
Traders may be asleep at the switch and/or holding positions until after the holiday and Ben Bernanke's speech to the assembled central bankers and key economists at Jackson Hole on Friday.
Many on Wall Street are expecting Bernanke to signal another round of quantitative easing (QE), as he did in his 2010 speech, though skeptics of that theory abound, citing politics (the elections are nearly just two months away) and the muddled and murky economic picture as reasons the chairman of the world's largest central bank will not offer specificity in his remarks.
Additionally, ECB president Mario Draghi will present at the symposium, though his record for signaling specific policy actions are spotty at best. Draghi, as well as most European politicians, seems always to be long on rhetoric and short on delivery of specifics.
Outside of some M&A activity and Apple's move higher, the week began with a dolorous thud and will likely end that way unless Bernanke can be convinced that the time for the Fed to act - once again - is now. The high degree of uncertainty and doubt in the markets and general economy will likely keep a lid on what have to be viewed as excessively overpriced stocks and accompanying indices.
Dow 13,124.67, -33.30 (0.25%)
NASDAQ 3,073.19, +3.40 (0.11%)
S&P 500 1,410.44, -0.69 (0.05%)
NYSE Composite 8,033.93, -13.94 (0.17%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,363,789,875
NYSE Volume 2,439,756,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2676-2833
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 162-45
WTI crude oil: 95.47, -0.68
Gold: 1,675.60, +2.70
Silver: 31.05, +0.43
Apple stock hit an all-time high of 680.87 in early trading, but drifted lower throughout the session.
Veteran tape-watchers (we're fairly certain there are a few left out there) must have dozed off from another in a seemingly-endless stream of low-volume, noiseless, motion-defying trading. All but the first and last hours saw any significant action. The trading range on the Dow amounted to less than 80 points from top to bottom, with stocks selling off in the final hour and closing near the lows of the session.
Of the major averages, only the NASDAQ finished in positive territory, though it was green by only three points. The Dow was the biggest percentage loser, off 0.25% on the day.
Otherwise, there was little to no interest in equities on first day of the final unofficial week of summer, prior to the three-day Labor Day holiday.
Traders may be asleep at the switch and/or holding positions until after the holiday and Ben Bernanke's speech to the assembled central bankers and key economists at Jackson Hole on Friday.
Many on Wall Street are expecting Bernanke to signal another round of quantitative easing (QE), as he did in his 2010 speech, though skeptics of that theory abound, citing politics (the elections are nearly just two months away) and the muddled and murky economic picture as reasons the chairman of the world's largest central bank will not offer specificity in his remarks.
Additionally, ECB president Mario Draghi will present at the symposium, though his record for signaling specific policy actions are spotty at best. Draghi, as well as most European politicians, seems always to be long on rhetoric and short on delivery of specifics.
Outside of some M&A activity and Apple's move higher, the week began with a dolorous thud and will likely end that way unless Bernanke can be convinced that the time for the Fed to act - once again - is now. The high degree of uncertainty and doubt in the markets and general economy will likely keep a lid on what have to be viewed as excessively overpriced stocks and accompanying indices.
Dow 13,124.67, -33.30 (0.25%)
NASDAQ 3,073.19, +3.40 (0.11%)
S&P 500 1,410.44, -0.69 (0.05%)
NYSE Composite 8,033.93, -13.94 (0.17%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,363,789,875
NYSE Volume 2,439,756,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2676-2833
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 162-45
WTI crude oil: 95.47, -0.68
Gold: 1,675.60, +2.70
Silver: 31.05, +0.43
Friday, August 3, 2012
Markets Soar on NFP Data; End Week with Paltry Gains
Bernanke didn't deliver. Draghi promised much, but fell fell well short in the court of public opinion.
The BLS, however, with its July non-farm payroll report, hit a home run, reporting an increase of 163,000 net new jobs, well beyond average expectations of 85,000, which was good enough for the investariat to send stocks screaming higher as the week closed out with a winning session after four straight losers.
Friday's gains were enough to just about cover the losses for the week, even though volume was the lowest of the five days and the official unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3%. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrials added 20 points and some change, the S&P gained five, while the NASDAQ picked up nine points.
The NYSE Composite index added 27 points, making the week as a whole much ado about nothing in particular.
Noting that the BLS figures are highly suspect and likely politically-contrived, the prior month's figure of an 80,000 gain was revised to 64,000, casting a bit of a pall on the madness of numbers. Investors (using the term lightly) didn't care, sending stocks near three-month highs.
Naturally, most of the gains were made in the opening minutes of trading, closing out profits to all but the privileged few HFTs and insider, bankster types who always seem to be the most profitable in the market.
Once the initial burst of activity had concluded, the market drifted the rest of the session in a very tight range. For instance, the Dow, after 9:45 am EDT, didn't move in either direction by more than 30 points. This is exactly the kind of frightened trading one would assume in a headline-driven, mostly-artificial market.
The week's activity leaves open some very poignant questions. Since last week's two-day burst was derived from hope for relief from the Fed and ECB in the form of more easing of monetary policy or, in the ECB's case, a more robust lending facility with which to bail out failing banks and sovereigns, why then would a positive reading on employment send stocks higher after both the Fed and ECB disappointed?
Apparently, Wall Street gets it either way. Poor economic conditions produce lax monetary policy (and stock gains), but job growth seemingly blunts the argument for more easing, while showing that the economy is on the road to recovery. A win for Wall Street either way, though long-time market observers might view such duplicity with a dollop of disdain.
Chartists may wish to point out the Dow's double top pattern, though still at levels below the year's highs made in the first week of May. The other major indices display similar patterns, with the broadest measures, the NASDAQ and NYSE Composite, showing many trading gaps along the road higher.
It goes without saying that the current market environment is highly reactive and immediate, especially to the upside. Valuations, which, of course, everybody gives the short shrift these days, are fairly rich, especially with corporate profits mostly down from a year ago and many companies missing revenue targets in the second quarter.
Being the end of the week, and payday or some kind of day for the masters of the universe, the pattern has recently been to end with a loud bang, followed by celebrations at favored watering holes or house parties in the Hamptons.
It's the middle of summer and the rich have to play, after all.
Dow 13,096.17, +217.29 (1.69%)
NASDAQ 2,967.90, +58.13 (2.00%)
S&P 500 1,390.99, +25.99 (1.90%)
NYSE Composite 7,935.35, +169.75 (2.19%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,696,452,375
NYSE Volume 3,499,269,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4479-1107
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 286-70
WTI crude oil: 91.40, +4.27
Gold: 1,609.30, +18.60
Silver: 27.80, +0.81
The BLS, however, with its July non-farm payroll report, hit a home run, reporting an increase of 163,000 net new jobs, well beyond average expectations of 85,000, which was good enough for the investariat to send stocks screaming higher as the week closed out with a winning session after four straight losers.
Friday's gains were enough to just about cover the losses for the week, even though volume was the lowest of the five days and the official unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3%. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrials added 20 points and some change, the S&P gained five, while the NASDAQ picked up nine points.
The NYSE Composite index added 27 points, making the week as a whole much ado about nothing in particular.
Noting that the BLS figures are highly suspect and likely politically-contrived, the prior month's figure of an 80,000 gain was revised to 64,000, casting a bit of a pall on the madness of numbers. Investors (using the term lightly) didn't care, sending stocks near three-month highs.
Naturally, most of the gains were made in the opening minutes of trading, closing out profits to all but the privileged few HFTs and insider, bankster types who always seem to be the most profitable in the market.
Once the initial burst of activity had concluded, the market drifted the rest of the session in a very tight range. For instance, the Dow, after 9:45 am EDT, didn't move in either direction by more than 30 points. This is exactly the kind of frightened trading one would assume in a headline-driven, mostly-artificial market.
The week's activity leaves open some very poignant questions. Since last week's two-day burst was derived from hope for relief from the Fed and ECB in the form of more easing of monetary policy or, in the ECB's case, a more robust lending facility with which to bail out failing banks and sovereigns, why then would a positive reading on employment send stocks higher after both the Fed and ECB disappointed?
Apparently, Wall Street gets it either way. Poor economic conditions produce lax monetary policy (and stock gains), but job growth seemingly blunts the argument for more easing, while showing that the economy is on the road to recovery. A win for Wall Street either way, though long-time market observers might view such duplicity with a dollop of disdain.
Chartists may wish to point out the Dow's double top pattern, though still at levels below the year's highs made in the first week of May. The other major indices display similar patterns, with the broadest measures, the NASDAQ and NYSE Composite, showing many trading gaps along the road higher.
It goes without saying that the current market environment is highly reactive and immediate, especially to the upside. Valuations, which, of course, everybody gives the short shrift these days, are fairly rich, especially with corporate profits mostly down from a year ago and many companies missing revenue targets in the second quarter.
Being the end of the week, and payday or some kind of day for the masters of the universe, the pattern has recently been to end with a loud bang, followed by celebrations at favored watering holes or house parties in the Hamptons.
It's the middle of summer and the rich have to play, after all.
Dow 13,096.17, +217.29 (1.69%)
NASDAQ 2,967.90, +58.13 (2.00%)
S&P 500 1,390.99, +25.99 (1.90%)
NYSE Composite 7,935.35, +169.75 (2.19%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,696,452,375
NYSE Volume 3,499,269,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4479-1107
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 286-70
WTI crude oil: 91.40, +4.27
Gold: 1,609.30, +18.60
Silver: 27.80, +0.81
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Stocks Scream Higher on Euro Hopium from ECB's Mario Draghi
Might as well call him Super Mario the way ECB President Mario Draghi is capable of moving markets by moving his lips.
Speaking at an investment conference in London, Draghi was light on specifics but strong on rhetoric, saying:
Easy enough. Make some bold-sounding statements, signal to everyone that everything is under control and viola! the Euro climbs above 123 to the US Dollar, major European indices jump 1-2%, Spanish and Italian bond yields drop and the Dow is good for a 200-point rise. Ponzi-nomic, centrally-planned financing at its uninspiring best.
Everybody goes long, and tomorrow or Monday, everybody can get short. Wash, rinse, repeat.
That is how Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi roll. And, you and I get rolled, again.
Nothing changes.
Here in the states, the small sampling of economic data was mixed to negative. Initial unemployment claims fell to 353,000, from an upwardly-revised 388,000 in the prior week. Durable orders gained by 1.6% in June, but, ex-transportation, were down 1.1%. Pending home sales fell 1.4% in June, a distress signal for housing, as June is traditionally one of the strongest months for real estate.
Volume was actually a notch or two higher than usual, another telling sign that more and more people are learning the game and jumping in whenever futures ramp up at the open.
Dow 12,887.93, +211.88 (1.67%)
NASDAQ 2,893.25, +39.01 (1.37%)
S&P 500 1,360.02, +22.13 (1.65%)
NYSE Composite 7,754.41, +146.85 (1.93%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,912,905,750
NYSE Volume 4,401,349,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3897-1671
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 214-146
WTI crude oil: 89.39, +0.42
Gold: 1,615.10, +7.00
Silver: 27.45, -0.02
Speaking at an investment conference in London, Draghi was light on specifics but strong on rhetoric, saying:
"Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough."
"To the extent that the size of the sovereign premia (borrowing costs) hamper the functioning of the monetary policy transmission channels, they come within our mandate."
Easy enough. Make some bold-sounding statements, signal to everyone that everything is under control and viola! the Euro climbs above 123 to the US Dollar, major European indices jump 1-2%, Spanish and Italian bond yields drop and the Dow is good for a 200-point rise. Ponzi-nomic, centrally-planned financing at its uninspiring best.
Everybody goes long, and tomorrow or Monday, everybody can get short. Wash, rinse, repeat.
That is how Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi roll. And, you and I get rolled, again.
Nothing changes.
Here in the states, the small sampling of economic data was mixed to negative. Initial unemployment claims fell to 353,000, from an upwardly-revised 388,000 in the prior week. Durable orders gained by 1.6% in June, but, ex-transportation, were down 1.1%. Pending home sales fell 1.4% in June, a distress signal for housing, as June is traditionally one of the strongest months for real estate.
Volume was actually a notch or two higher than usual, another telling sign that more and more people are learning the game and jumping in whenever futures ramp up at the open.
Dow 12,887.93, +211.88 (1.67%)
NASDAQ 2,893.25, +39.01 (1.37%)
S&P 500 1,360.02, +22.13 (1.65%)
NYSE Composite 7,754.41, +146.85 (1.93%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,912,905,750
NYSE Volume 4,401,349,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3897-1671
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 214-146
WTI crude oil: 89.39, +0.42
Gold: 1,615.10, +7.00
Silver: 27.45, -0.02
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Instant Market: Draghi and Bank of America Take It Down Two Notches
Once again, we are treated to the new reality of the "instant market" wherein news, or rumor, directs the flow of funds into or out of select equities, and today's catalysts were, as usual, from Europe (must have some news from Europe to move markets: it's the law) and oddly enough, from our old friends at Bank of America (BAC).
First, Europe. US markets opened with some hope and small gains across the indices. That was, until shortly after 10:00 New York time, when ECB President Mario Draghi commented that the ECB would not step up it's bond purchases, noting that monetary financing of states was not part of the treaty upon which the EU was formed. (Imagine, a world political leader actually sticking to what was agreed upon. A novel approach.)
That took the markets down a big notch, with the Dow, after hitting its highs of the day earlier - up 60 points - falling a full 120 points - to down 60 - in about an hour's time after Draghi's comments.
Draghi also said that any talk of the Euro-zone breaking apart were "morbid" and that the Euro was going to remain intact as a viable currency. He punted this gem:
While Draghi may be right about the morbidity part, the thought that the Euro is irreplaceable or inviolate is nothing more than CYA job protection. He's paid to oversee the ECB, and talking up the currency is part of his job. Somebody ought to hand Draghi a history book. Greece fell, Rome fell, Germany rose and fell a couple of times, at least. Nothing lasts forever, and, with only 11 years of history under its belt, the Euro is experiencing something of a severe confidence crisis, if not a complete failure by some of its constituents.
Most of those "morbid" speculators give the Euro another six to eighteen months, tops. And while it may indeed survive, and prove Draghi correct in the near term, it's another bad idea stemming from too many government bureaucrats attempting to furnish a centrally-planned socialist solution where none was needed. In many ways, the Euro resembles the Medicare/Medicade mess in the US, wherein the government stepped all over the established free market to create a system that is out of control and benefits mostly large medical insurance companies instead of real people with health care needs. The Euro was supposed to affect the entire continent in magical, positive ways. It has, thus far, produced a great deal of pain, financial inequities and sparked a world-wide crisis, even though that crisis was well underway, being all about fiat money anyway.
Stocks drifted along until about 3:00 pm ET when the PPT or whomever was hitting the bid - for hours - on Bank of America at 5.00 - 5.03, stopped, failed and rolled over. The bank that many equate with the financial collapse of 2008, hit a fresh, 33-month low, hitting 4.92 prior to closing at 4.99, an important figure, since many funds, by charter, cannot trade in stocks priced under 5.00, or must severely limit the size of their investment in such low-priced equities.
With banks under pressure the entire session, the demise of BAC took the whole market down the second notch, into the close. So much for recovery, at least by the "well-capitalized" US banks, whose ledgers are an indecipherable miasma of imaginary valuations, off-balance-sheet assets and liabilities and mark-to-model fantasies. With books so complex and confusing most CPAs don't understand them and after relentless support from the federal government (much of it in secret), is there any doubt that most stock pickers have shied away from US financial stocks as a whole?
Bank of America, along with Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, to name just a few, should have been broken up in 2008-09, when they were insolvent (and still are, largely), though that would have ended the near-total dominance of the Federal Reserve and its constituents over all transactions in the US economy and beyond, and the rich bankers and their supporters simply could not stand for that. Instead, it was easier for them to socialize the losses on the backs of the US taxpayers.
Bank of America's recent swoon is only a small chapter in the ongoing saga that will bring down the oligarchical nature of our corrupt political and financial system. 99%ers are celebrating.
A couple of items of note:
Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate that the establishment loves to hate, has taken the lead in Iowa accordind to the most recent polling by Public Policy Polling (PPP), one of a handful of organizations tracking the rise and fall of candidates in the upcoming (January 3) caucuses.
The results have Paul at 23%, leading Mitt Romney (20%) and a rapidly declining Newt Gingrich (14%), even though Romney recently picked up the endorsement of the the Des Moines Register, Iowa's leading newspaper. Paul is also reported to have taken in more than $4 million over the past weekend, and now is in second place, behind Romney, in New Hampshire.
Also, a searing report on where we're headed in 2012, called the Thunder Road Report, leading with the cryptic warning, "Dear Portfolio Manager, you are leaving the capitalist sector and heading into a full-spectrum crisis."
The entire report is available at the end of this post.
Anybody seen Santa?
Dow 11,766.26, -100.13 (0.84%)
NASDAQ 2,523.14, -32.19 (1.26%)
S&P 500 1,205.35, -14.31 (1.17%)
NYSE Composite 7,142.45, -95.21 (1.32%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,591,603,125
NYSE Volume 3,659,820,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1230-4469
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 110-290 (blowing out)
WTI crude oil: 93.88, +0.35
Gold: 1,596.70, -1.20
Silver: 28.87, -0.80
TRoad25
First, Europe. US markets opened with some hope and small gains across the indices. That was, until shortly after 10:00 New York time, when ECB President Mario Draghi commented that the ECB would not step up it's bond purchases, noting that monetary financing of states was not part of the treaty upon which the EU was formed. (Imagine, a world political leader actually sticking to what was agreed upon. A novel approach.)
That took the markets down a big notch, with the Dow, after hitting its highs of the day earlier - up 60 points - falling a full 120 points - to down 60 - in about an hour's time after Draghi's comments.
Draghi also said that any talk of the Euro-zone breaking apart were "morbid" and that the Euro was going to remain intact as a viable currency. He punted this gem:
I have no doubts whatsoever about the strength of the euro, about its permanence, about its irreversibility. But you have a lot of people, especially outside the euro area, who spend a lot of time in what I call morbid speculation.
While Draghi may be right about the morbidity part, the thought that the Euro is irreplaceable or inviolate is nothing more than CYA job protection. He's paid to oversee the ECB, and talking up the currency is part of his job. Somebody ought to hand Draghi a history book. Greece fell, Rome fell, Germany rose and fell a couple of times, at least. Nothing lasts forever, and, with only 11 years of history under its belt, the Euro is experiencing something of a severe confidence crisis, if not a complete failure by some of its constituents.
Most of those "morbid" speculators give the Euro another six to eighteen months, tops. And while it may indeed survive, and prove Draghi correct in the near term, it's another bad idea stemming from too many government bureaucrats attempting to furnish a centrally-planned socialist solution where none was needed. In many ways, the Euro resembles the Medicare/Medicade mess in the US, wherein the government stepped all over the established free market to create a system that is out of control and benefits mostly large medical insurance companies instead of real people with health care needs. The Euro was supposed to affect the entire continent in magical, positive ways. It has, thus far, produced a great deal of pain, financial inequities and sparked a world-wide crisis, even though that crisis was well underway, being all about fiat money anyway.
Stocks drifted along until about 3:00 pm ET when the PPT or whomever was hitting the bid - for hours - on Bank of America at 5.00 - 5.03, stopped, failed and rolled over. The bank that many equate with the financial collapse of 2008, hit a fresh, 33-month low, hitting 4.92 prior to closing at 4.99, an important figure, since many funds, by charter, cannot trade in stocks priced under 5.00, or must severely limit the size of their investment in such low-priced equities.
With banks under pressure the entire session, the demise of BAC took the whole market down the second notch, into the close. So much for recovery, at least by the "well-capitalized" US banks, whose ledgers are an indecipherable miasma of imaginary valuations, off-balance-sheet assets and liabilities and mark-to-model fantasies. With books so complex and confusing most CPAs don't understand them and after relentless support from the federal government (much of it in secret), is there any doubt that most stock pickers have shied away from US financial stocks as a whole?
Bank of America, along with Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, to name just a few, should have been broken up in 2008-09, when they were insolvent (and still are, largely), though that would have ended the near-total dominance of the Federal Reserve and its constituents over all transactions in the US economy and beyond, and the rich bankers and their supporters simply could not stand for that. Instead, it was easier for them to socialize the losses on the backs of the US taxpayers.
Bank of America's recent swoon is only a small chapter in the ongoing saga that will bring down the oligarchical nature of our corrupt political and financial system. 99%ers are celebrating.
A couple of items of note:
Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate that the establishment loves to hate, has taken the lead in Iowa accordind to the most recent polling by Public Policy Polling (PPP), one of a handful of organizations tracking the rise and fall of candidates in the upcoming (January 3) caucuses.
The results have Paul at 23%, leading Mitt Romney (20%) and a rapidly declining Newt Gingrich (14%), even though Romney recently picked up the endorsement of the the Des Moines Register, Iowa's leading newspaper. Paul is also reported to have taken in more than $4 million over the past weekend, and now is in second place, behind Romney, in New Hampshire.
Also, a searing report on where we're headed in 2012, called the Thunder Road Report, leading with the cryptic warning, "Dear Portfolio Manager, you are leaving the capitalist sector and heading into a full-spectrum crisis."
The entire report is available at the end of this post.
Anybody seen Santa?
Dow 11,766.26, -100.13 (0.84%)
NASDAQ 2,523.14, -32.19 (1.26%)
S&P 500 1,205.35, -14.31 (1.17%)
NYSE Composite 7,142.45, -95.21 (1.32%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,591,603,125
NYSE Volume 3,659,820,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1230-4469
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 110-290 (blowing out)
WTI crude oil: 93.88, +0.35
Gold: 1,596.70, -1.20
Silver: 28.87, -0.80
TRoad25
Monday, December 12, 2011
So Much for Europe Being Fixed; US Stocks Dashed over Persistent Fear of Euro Collapse
Let's face it. There's no easy way for europe to fix the mess they've created without a lot of pain, including bank failures, a massive, long-term deflationary depression, government overthrows and the near disintegration of the Euro-zone, those countries which exclusively use the Euro as currency.
After last week's up-and-down Thursday and Friday sessions, marked by trepidation over the ECB's interest rate cut and a demure stance on monetary policy by new ECB head, Mario Draghi, and Friday's euphoric rally on the umpteenth outline of a Euro solution, Monday turned just plain ugly for European bourses and US indices.
Anybody who understands the enormity of debt that's been built up by Europe and the US - not only in the government, but by the banks, financial institutions and households as well - sees no end to the crisis in Europe, and the distinct probability that their problems - being partly those of our own banks and our Federal Reserve - will become ours. The massive overhang of public debt, much of it owing to national pension funds like Social Security, has always been an albatross around the necks of European leaders and now it is quickly becoming one for whoever leads the US (Take your pick from Obama, the banks or the congress. None of them are doing a good job.).
And while Social Security is set to run in the red for another year (this being the first), what are congress and the president fighting over? Whether to cut the Social Security contribution paid by employees and/or add a tax on the wealthy. The fact that the latest boondoggle is being branded as "payroll tax" - a wholly incorrect moniker - tells exactly how deep and severe the US fiscal condition has become.
If the government big-wigs actually came clean on the issue and said they want to cut Social Security contributions so people can afford to buy food, gas and maybe the occasional iPad or plasma TV, the cat would be out of the bag, permanently.
As it stands today, Social Security is DOA. Current beneficiaries can expect payments though the next five years, maybe, but, eventually, there's not enough money going into the system to support the huge numbers of upcoming recipients from the Baby Boom generation, most of whom have less than $40,000 saved for retirement (Hint: that's not enough), and cutting contributions is going in exactly the wrong direction.
On Capitol Hill, most senior congress-people know that Social Security will have to be substantially changed in order to survive and the changes will have to be dramatic measures, like raising the retirement age to 70 or 72, means testing, so that people who don't need it won't get it, and raising the limit of contributions from the current first $106,800 of income to something more realistic, like the first $200,000 of income.
Making high-earners pay more would add more money to the SS coffers at the same time the government is cutting the percentage take from employees. Still, most of the measures even considered by congress and the White House are nothing more than stop-gap measures designed to satiate the masses until the next big election, in November, 2012.
In the meantime, the economy continues to struggle along, unless one is inclined to take their lead from the ruthless bankers on Wall Street and cheat like crazy, paying people off the books, under-reporting income and generally skirting the IRS at every turn. Hey, the big corporations do it, so why not everyone else.
At the bottom of all the financial malaise is the collapse of government, as we've witnessed in the Middle east and North Africa, is now spreading to Europe and Russia, and thanks to people actually taking change of their own lives and their own finances, is quickly gaining ground here in the USA.
There is one way to stem the crisis in the United States. Elect Ron Paul president. The mainstream media is currently dancing around Dr. Paul, whose positions have been consistent and poisonous to the status quo, but there's no doubt mainstream America is listening to the 76-year-old Texan, as he continue to gain ground in Iowa and elsewhere.
Compared to the current leaders, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, a Ron Paul - Michelle Bachmann ticket is sure beginning to look like a winner.
When Americans ask themselves, "which of the Republican candidates are most like us?" the answer becomes obvious.
BTW: Volume was so low today that the markets could have closed at noon and hardly anyone would have noticed. Even fewer would have cared. That's what happens when trust flees markets. People, and money, follow out the door.
The Euro hit a two-month low against the US Dollar, below 1.32. The end of the Euro is coming, and sooner than anyone dares think.
Dow 12,021.39, -162.87 (1.34%)
NASDAQ 2,612.26, -34.59 (1.31%)
S&P 500 1,236.47, -18.72 (1.49%)
NYSE Composite 7,363.49, -139.39 (1.86%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,523,045,375
NYSE Volume 3,421,469,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1272-4386
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 79-120 (flipped to red)
WTI crude oil: 97.77 -1.64 (head back to 80-85 range)
Gold: 1,668.20 -48.60 (deflation signal)
Silver: 31.00, -1.25
After last week's up-and-down Thursday and Friday sessions, marked by trepidation over the ECB's interest rate cut and a demure stance on monetary policy by new ECB head, Mario Draghi, and Friday's euphoric rally on the umpteenth outline of a Euro solution, Monday turned just plain ugly for European bourses and US indices.
Anybody who understands the enormity of debt that's been built up by Europe and the US - not only in the government, but by the banks, financial institutions and households as well - sees no end to the crisis in Europe, and the distinct probability that their problems - being partly those of our own banks and our Federal Reserve - will become ours. The massive overhang of public debt, much of it owing to national pension funds like Social Security, has always been an albatross around the necks of European leaders and now it is quickly becoming one for whoever leads the US (Take your pick from Obama, the banks or the congress. None of them are doing a good job.).
And while Social Security is set to run in the red for another year (this being the first), what are congress and the president fighting over? Whether to cut the Social Security contribution paid by employees and/or add a tax on the wealthy. The fact that the latest boondoggle is being branded as "payroll tax" - a wholly incorrect moniker - tells exactly how deep and severe the US fiscal condition has become.
If the government big-wigs actually came clean on the issue and said they want to cut Social Security contributions so people can afford to buy food, gas and maybe the occasional iPad or plasma TV, the cat would be out of the bag, permanently.
As it stands today, Social Security is DOA. Current beneficiaries can expect payments though the next five years, maybe, but, eventually, there's not enough money going into the system to support the huge numbers of upcoming recipients from the Baby Boom generation, most of whom have less than $40,000 saved for retirement (Hint: that's not enough), and cutting contributions is going in exactly the wrong direction.
On Capitol Hill, most senior congress-people know that Social Security will have to be substantially changed in order to survive and the changes will have to be dramatic measures, like raising the retirement age to 70 or 72, means testing, so that people who don't need it won't get it, and raising the limit of contributions from the current first $106,800 of income to something more realistic, like the first $200,000 of income.
Making high-earners pay more would add more money to the SS coffers at the same time the government is cutting the percentage take from employees. Still, most of the measures even considered by congress and the White House are nothing more than stop-gap measures designed to satiate the masses until the next big election, in November, 2012.
In the meantime, the economy continues to struggle along, unless one is inclined to take their lead from the ruthless bankers on Wall Street and cheat like crazy, paying people off the books, under-reporting income and generally skirting the IRS at every turn. Hey, the big corporations do it, so why not everyone else.
At the bottom of all the financial malaise is the collapse of government, as we've witnessed in the Middle east and North Africa, is now spreading to Europe and Russia, and thanks to people actually taking change of their own lives and their own finances, is quickly gaining ground here in the USA.
There is one way to stem the crisis in the United States. Elect Ron Paul president. The mainstream media is currently dancing around Dr. Paul, whose positions have been consistent and poisonous to the status quo, but there's no doubt mainstream America is listening to the 76-year-old Texan, as he continue to gain ground in Iowa and elsewhere.
Compared to the current leaders, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, a Ron Paul - Michelle Bachmann ticket is sure beginning to look like a winner.
When Americans ask themselves, "which of the Republican candidates are most like us?" the answer becomes obvious.
BTW: Volume was so low today that the markets could have closed at noon and hardly anyone would have noticed. Even fewer would have cared. That's what happens when trust flees markets. People, and money, follow out the door.
The Euro hit a two-month low against the US Dollar, below 1.32. The end of the Euro is coming, and sooner than anyone dares think.
Dow 12,021.39, -162.87 (1.34%)
NASDAQ 2,612.26, -34.59 (1.31%)
S&P 500 1,236.47, -18.72 (1.49%)
NYSE Composite 7,363.49, -139.39 (1.86%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,523,045,375
NYSE Volume 3,421,469,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1272-4386
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 79-120 (flipped to red)
WTI crude oil: 97.77 -1.64 (head back to 80-85 range)
Gold: 1,668.20 -48.60 (deflation signal)
Silver: 31.00, -1.25
Thursday, December 8, 2011
European Mess Smashes Stocks; How Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson Screwed America
Yesterday in this space, an ancient Wall Street adage was invoked: "Never short a dull market."
We fairly dismissed the idea that, since the US market was basically on hold until the Europeans meet, greet and decide the economic fate of the continent, US stocks would wallow in hopeless delusion, because the Europeans, somewhat like our very own beloved congress, seem incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
Most of them could not get arrested at a bong party, either, but the various inabilities of the ruling elite are not a primary concern. What they're doing to your money, your economic present and future, are.
And they're making a god-awful mess of it.
Just before US markets opened, the ECB announced a rate cut of 25 basis points (0.25%) to one percent, which was annoying to the majority of traders, who, as always, wanted more. A 50 bip reduction would have satiated their appetite for freer money for the while, but the ECB also announced that they would be extending loans of up to 36 months (that's three years for the mathematically-inept) to banks on the continent.
That was met with some enthusiasm, but within minutes, newly-appointed ECB president Mario Draghi dashed hopes at the press conference, claiming that the rate cut vote was not unanimous, signaling a lack of conviction on the part of ECB participants.
Stocks plummeted at the open in the US and only partially recovered late in the day as news leaks from the EU summit meeting beginning tomorrow indicated that a fiscal pact would be pursued by EU member nations, but even that news was short-lived as the major indices closed near the lows of the day.
Europe has become the focal point of global equity and commodity trading as it grapples with the potential for debt contagion among sovereign states and bank failures across the European Union. While difficulties in Europe may not directly affect the economy of the United States and other countries, it will have a pass-through effect, as pain anywhere in the global financial system is felt - to varying degrees - everywhere else.
Hope is now high that the crisis summit - a macabre circus in its own right - will produce some lasting, positive resolution, but the more one looks at the condition of Europe, the less one believes that there will be a positive conclusion short of destroying the Euro as a currency, an outcome that may have more benefits than downsides.
Until tomorrow, at least, stocks took a beating, as once again, the bulk of traders were hoping for positive results from another gang that can't shoot straight.
While on the topic of governments and their follies and foibles, an article by John Crudele in the NY Post should be at the top of the discussion of just how corrupt and obnoxious Wall Street has been and continues to be.
Crudele has been saying for two years that Paulson and other elements of the government were corrupt. In today's story, he finally gets confirmation from Bloomberg Markets that then-Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson was passing along insider tips to his buddies at Goldman Sachs (where he had served as CEO prior to being named to head Treasury by President Bush) and others.
Crudele says:
That's all one needs to know about how tightly intertwined Wall Street and top officials of the federal government are intertwined, but it brings up an essential question, or questions: Where are NBC, CBS, CNBC, ABC, FOX on this story, and why hasn't Attorney General Eric Holder announced an investigation?
The answers are simple. Bit players like Martha Stewart and Rob Blogojeich go to jail. Fat-ass scum-bags like Hank Paulson, the architect of TARP and god-knows how many other deceitful financial scams sail off into retirement sunset.
No wonder there is an ugly undercurrent of dissatisfaction and distrust in America. The people at the top have been screwing the public for years, yet not a single one is even investigated. Instead, we are subjected to daily wild market swings and the spectacle of former congressman, former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine explaining to a congressional panel how he didn't know what was going on while his firm, MF Global, raided the coffers of client money to the tune of $1.2 billion.
Corzine won't see the inside of a prison; that you can count on. Neither will Hank Paulson. But some ghetto kid who sells a bag of weed because it's the only way he can make a buck, will receive the full extent of what now humorously is called "justice" in America.
Face it, people, with the thieves and connivers we have in government, we're all royally screwed and the wake-up call is probably a few decades too late.
Thanks to John Crudele and the NY Post for his ground-breaking and tireless reporting efforts. It's amazing he hasn't been fired yet.
And seriously, isn't Ron Paul the only Republican presidential candidate that is electable? The others are either pandering flip-floppers (Gingrich, Romney) or wing-nuts (Santorum, Cain, Bachman, Perry). That leaves only Mr. Paul nd Jon Huntsman as viable candidates. But the mainstream media, which relies upon access to the corrupt political machines running the country, will have no part of either of them.
The best advice is to ignore all of them and fend - as best one can - for oneself and one's family, but, eventually, unless the liars, cheaters and thieves of Wall Street and Washington are rooted out and made to pay for their crimes, America is doomed.
Dow 11,997.70, -198.67 (1.63%)
NASDAQ 2,596.38, -52.83 (1.99%)
S&P 500 1,234.35, -26.66 (2.11%)
NYSE Composite 7,369.52, -190.19 (2.52%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,843,290,125
NYSE Volume 4,222,942,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 774-4842
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 100-89
WTI crude oil: 98.34, -2.15
Gold: 1,713.40, -31.40
Silver: 31.54, -1.09
We fairly dismissed the idea that, since the US market was basically on hold until the Europeans meet, greet and decide the economic fate of the continent, US stocks would wallow in hopeless delusion, because the Europeans, somewhat like our very own beloved congress, seem incapable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
Most of them could not get arrested at a bong party, either, but the various inabilities of the ruling elite are not a primary concern. What they're doing to your money, your economic present and future, are.
And they're making a god-awful mess of it.
Just before US markets opened, the ECB announced a rate cut of 25 basis points (0.25%) to one percent, which was annoying to the majority of traders, who, as always, wanted more. A 50 bip reduction would have satiated their appetite for freer money for the while, but the ECB also announced that they would be extending loans of up to 36 months (that's three years for the mathematically-inept) to banks on the continent.
That was met with some enthusiasm, but within minutes, newly-appointed ECB president Mario Draghi dashed hopes at the press conference, claiming that the rate cut vote was not unanimous, signaling a lack of conviction on the part of ECB participants.
Stocks plummeted at the open in the US and only partially recovered late in the day as news leaks from the EU summit meeting beginning tomorrow indicated that a fiscal pact would be pursued by EU member nations, but even that news was short-lived as the major indices closed near the lows of the day.
Europe has become the focal point of global equity and commodity trading as it grapples with the potential for debt contagion among sovereign states and bank failures across the European Union. While difficulties in Europe may not directly affect the economy of the United States and other countries, it will have a pass-through effect, as pain anywhere in the global financial system is felt - to varying degrees - everywhere else.
Hope is now high that the crisis summit - a macabre circus in its own right - will produce some lasting, positive resolution, but the more one looks at the condition of Europe, the less one believes that there will be a positive conclusion short of destroying the Euro as a currency, an outcome that may have more benefits than downsides.
Until tomorrow, at least, stocks took a beating, as once again, the bulk of traders were hoping for positive results from another gang that can't shoot straight.
While on the topic of governments and their follies and foibles, an article by John Crudele in the NY Post should be at the top of the discussion of just how corrupt and obnoxious Wall Street has been and continues to be.
Crudele has been saying for two years that Paulson and other elements of the government were corrupt. In today's story, he finally gets confirmation from Bloomberg Markets that then-Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson was passing along insider tips to his buddies at Goldman Sachs (where he had served as CEO prior to being named to head Treasury by President Bush) and others.
Crudele says:
Under former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, confidential government information was regularly leaked to select people on Wall Street.
That's all one needs to know about how tightly intertwined Wall Street and top officials of the federal government are intertwined, but it brings up an essential question, or questions: Where are NBC, CBS, CNBC, ABC, FOX on this story, and why hasn't Attorney General Eric Holder announced an investigation?
The answers are simple. Bit players like Martha Stewart and Rob Blogojeich go to jail. Fat-ass scum-bags like Hank Paulson, the architect of TARP and god-knows how many other deceitful financial scams sail off into retirement sunset.
No wonder there is an ugly undercurrent of dissatisfaction and distrust in America. The people at the top have been screwing the public for years, yet not a single one is even investigated. Instead, we are subjected to daily wild market swings and the spectacle of former congressman, former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine explaining to a congressional panel how he didn't know what was going on while his firm, MF Global, raided the coffers of client money to the tune of $1.2 billion.
Corzine won't see the inside of a prison; that you can count on. Neither will Hank Paulson. But some ghetto kid who sells a bag of weed because it's the only way he can make a buck, will receive the full extent of what now humorously is called "justice" in America.
Face it, people, with the thieves and connivers we have in government, we're all royally screwed and the wake-up call is probably a few decades too late.
Thanks to John Crudele and the NY Post for his ground-breaking and tireless reporting efforts. It's amazing he hasn't been fired yet.
And seriously, isn't Ron Paul the only Republican presidential candidate that is electable? The others are either pandering flip-floppers (Gingrich, Romney) or wing-nuts (Santorum, Cain, Bachman, Perry). That leaves only Mr. Paul nd Jon Huntsman as viable candidates. But the mainstream media, which relies upon access to the corrupt political machines running the country, will have no part of either of them.
The best advice is to ignore all of them and fend - as best one can - for oneself and one's family, but, eventually, unless the liars, cheaters and thieves of Wall Street and Washington are rooted out and made to pay for their crimes, America is doomed.
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