Leadership is an elusive quality, and the leadership of most of Europe's nations and the lack thereof in the US congress were the primary causes for the stock market's retreat today, yesterday and for many days before this.
Europe will never solve the debt problems of decades of funding pensions with nothing to back it, so too with the congressional super-committee that now has just six days to come up with an agreement on a combination of budget cuts and new taxes. The won't make it because they long have been a group with various leaders without following.
Most of the plans and ideas that have come out of congress the past fifteen to twenty years have been detrimental to the general population, so it should not be a surprise that they are at loggerheads and unable to craft a deal that would satisfy the people, not their individual parties and ideologies.
Because of the leadership void, the US - and to a large extent, the global - economy is in standstill mode and wil remain there until some change is made. If it takes a new election, so be it. (Note: Ron Paul is in a four-way dead heat in Iowa with three clowns who don't hold a candle to him, yet the mainstream media will not focus on him because he will make fundamental, needed changes, to the detriment of the status quo.)
Thus, stocks remain largely rangebound, despite record earnings and generally positive economic data. Our leaders have failed. Perhaps the Occupy Wall Street protesters have a point, and it is time to take back the nation, by whatever means necessary.
At least the crude oil traders saw the light today for a brief moment. Oil should return to the $75-85 range shortly.
Dow 11,770.73, -134.86 (1.13%)
NASDAQ 2,587.99, -51.62 (1.96%)
S&P 500 1,216.13, -20.78 (1.68%)
NYSE Composite 7,274.15, -117.87 (1.59%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,225,355,750
NYSE Volume 4,596,486,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1292-4276
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 36-162 (we've turned again)
WTI crude oil: 98.82, -3.77
Gold: 1,720.20, -54.10
Silver: 31.50, -2.33
Showing posts with label congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label congress. Show all posts
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Congress Passes, President Signs Debt Ceiling Increase; Markets Tank
Passing with a bi-partisan majority of 74-26 in the Senate, the debt ceiling increase and associated debt reduction elements became law today as the President signed the bill this afternoon.
The bill, laden with policies and procedures for further debt reductions from an all-star panel of twelve senators and house members - not yet announced - has been panned by economists as well as by the same politicians who voted for or against the measure, saying the proposed cuts are too small and don't begin to take effect until 2013.
Once again, as congress heads off for a month-long vacation, the deficit and debt issues, along with Medicare, Medicade and Social Security reforms, have been kicked clear down the road until Thanksgiving, when the select panel will present its recommendations.
Wall Street, meanwhile, has other concerns, namely the continuing deterioration of the the US and global economies. Stocks were especially hard-hit at the end of the day, with losses cascading into the closing lows of the day, a more calamitous condition than has been seen in markets in nearly three years.
One would have thought that with the passage of the debt ceiling increase, stocks would rally, but the opposite turns out to be the case as economic data suggests the US is heading into another recession.
The S&P lost ground for the seventh straight session; the Dow made it eight down days in a row. Eash of those situations has not occurred since the disastrous month of October, 2008.
At the other end of the spectrum, gold and silver holders had a field day, with precious metals up sharply in response to a debt reduction bill that more or less satisfies the status quo, while doing little to address the structural issues presented.
Dow 11,866.62, -265.87 (2.19%)
NASDAQ 2,669.24, -75.37 (2.75%)
S&P 500 1,254.05, -32.89 (2.56%)
NYSE Composite 7,831.98, -208.95 (2.60%)
Declining issues buried advancers, 5276-1367. On the NASDAQ, 31 new highs were overwhelmed by 140 new lows. On the NYSE, only 20 stocks made new highs, while 160 reached new 52-week lows. The combined total of 51 new highs and 300 new lows puts further emphasis on the importance of the high-low indicator, which has been presaging a deep pull-back for weeks and is now sending out the strongest sell signal of all, with expanding numbers of stocks making new lows.
Volume was quite strong, yet another indicator that the trouble for equity investors is only beginning.
NASDAQ Volume 2,411,239,500
NYSE Volume 5,976,464,500
Crude oil finished to the downside as well, losing $1.10, to $93.79, the lowest price in over a month. As mentioned above, gold was a stellar performer, picking up $22.80, to a new record high of $1,644.50. Silver was also favored, gaining 78 cents, to $40.09 and higher in the after-hours.
An advance look at Friday's non-farm payroll for July will be made available Wednesday morning at 8:15 am, when ADP releases its monthly Employment Change report.
The bill, laden with policies and procedures for further debt reductions from an all-star panel of twelve senators and house members - not yet announced - has been panned by economists as well as by the same politicians who voted for or against the measure, saying the proposed cuts are too small and don't begin to take effect until 2013.
Once again, as congress heads off for a month-long vacation, the deficit and debt issues, along with Medicare, Medicade and Social Security reforms, have been kicked clear down the road until Thanksgiving, when the select panel will present its recommendations.
Wall Street, meanwhile, has other concerns, namely the continuing deterioration of the the US and global economies. Stocks were especially hard-hit at the end of the day, with losses cascading into the closing lows of the day, a more calamitous condition than has been seen in markets in nearly three years.
One would have thought that with the passage of the debt ceiling increase, stocks would rally, but the opposite turns out to be the case as economic data suggests the US is heading into another recession.
The S&P lost ground for the seventh straight session; the Dow made it eight down days in a row. Eash of those situations has not occurred since the disastrous month of October, 2008.
At the other end of the spectrum, gold and silver holders had a field day, with precious metals up sharply in response to a debt reduction bill that more or less satisfies the status quo, while doing little to address the structural issues presented.
Dow 11,866.62, -265.87 (2.19%)
NASDAQ 2,669.24, -75.37 (2.75%)
S&P 500 1,254.05, -32.89 (2.56%)
NYSE Composite 7,831.98, -208.95 (2.60%)
Declining issues buried advancers, 5276-1367. On the NASDAQ, 31 new highs were overwhelmed by 140 new lows. On the NYSE, only 20 stocks made new highs, while 160 reached new 52-week lows. The combined total of 51 new highs and 300 new lows puts further emphasis on the importance of the high-low indicator, which has been presaging a deep pull-back for weeks and is now sending out the strongest sell signal of all, with expanding numbers of stocks making new lows.
Volume was quite strong, yet another indicator that the trouble for equity investors is only beginning.
NASDAQ Volume 2,411,239,500
NYSE Volume 5,976,464,500
Crude oil finished to the downside as well, losing $1.10, to $93.79, the lowest price in over a month. As mentioned above, gold was a stellar performer, picking up $22.80, to a new record high of $1,644.50. Silver was also favored, gaining 78 cents, to $40.09 and higher in the after-hours.
An advance look at Friday's non-farm payroll for July will be made available Wednesday morning at 8:15 am, when ADP releases its monthly Employment Change report.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Main Street's Black Friday Turns Blood Red on Wall Street
Mmmm, that's going to leave a mark...
In the continuing control fraud series of gap up/down opens, stocks took the predictable nosedive version today - predictable in that Wednesday's close was greatly to the upside.
With the Dow opening at around 11,100, about 85 points below the previous close, we have the now-well-known condition of trapped longs, who bought and held during Wednesday's uptick rally. In general terms, if you bought on Wednesday and sold on Friday, unhedged, you lost and are now puking up the remnants of your Thanksgiving dinner.
A wiser course of action might have been avoiding the stock markets altogether and making some illegal wagers on football games via the internet. At least you might have won, with the added bonus of the winnings being tax-free. Even had you lost your bets, you could mentally write off the sour investment as entertainment value.
Stocks skidded pretty badly, and, devoid of volume, had no inclination of reversing course, especially since it was a half-day and trading was even more scarce than normal. The run rate was even worse than some of the slowest days - and there have been many since the 2008 collapse - making Black Friday look like a blood-drip from the arteries of the Wall Street Scam money machinery.
Dow 11,092.00, -95.28 (0.85%)
NASDAQ 2,534.56, -8.56 (0.34%)
S&P 500 1,189.40, -8.95 (0.75%)
NYSE Composite 7,500.54, -78.72 (1.04%)
Declining issues dominated winners, 4054-2064. New highs:185; New lows: 51. Volume: fagetaboutit.
NASDAQ Volume 623,831,125
NYSE Volume 1,778,664,375
Oil finished unchanged, at $83.86 per barrel, keeping the price just high enough to extend the prices at the gas pumps for the remainder of the holiday weekend. Gold last printed at $1364.20, down $10.90 on the day, while silver kicked 89 cents lower, to $26.70. Those awaiting a reversion in silver may be seeing the beginning of a 50% pullback of the recent rally, which would put the lustrous metal at $23 and change. A 67% retracement would send it to about $21, at which point one would be highly inclined to begin accumulation for the next leg up, to $35 in the first half of 2011. Of course, a global deflation may take all technical data off the table, rendering all asset classes subject to major price reversals.
Speculation in land may be a viable alternative in the first half of 2011, though another round of descending prices should occur with a massive number of defaults and possible widespread bank failures.
Bank of America continues to be the stock to watch as far as real estate is concerned, as they have - through their 2007 purchase of Countrywide - the largest exposure in residential real estate of any of the major players. The stock hit all cherries today, closing at 11.11, remaining in the bottom of its recent range, and lower than the October 25 close, at the tail end of the "foreclosure crisis." Bank of American (BAC) is signaling what's ahead for homeowners, with already more than 25% of homes with mortgages "underwater," more pain to come, resulting in slower sales at lower prices for the truly most distressed of a growing mountain of distressed sellers.
2011 may turn out to be the year everything finally goes over the edge. Congress and the president haven't yet address the mortgage/banking fraud in any meaningful way, except to hand the banks more money with which to shore up their aching balance sheets and kick the fraud further down the road. Without a workable solution that includes 30-40% principal forgiveness - anathema to any blue-blooded banker - expect real estate prices to decline another 20-25% overall and the US economy to continue floundering like a beached whale.
While many believe we've avoided the dreaded "double-dip" recession scenario for this year, the next one may prove to be even more severe than the first, though even a minor recession leaves the Fed, White House and congress without any useful policy tools. The likely outcome would be to print more money, unless Tea Partiers in congress force the Fed's hand by denying any raise of the debt ceiling in early 2011. An unlikely outcome, but still potentially the best - though painful to the extreme - medicine.
2010 continues to grind towards its conclusion, with optimism bolstered by millions of shoppers on the busiest day of the year. If Christmas saves the retailers and wider stock market, there may be a significant overhang heading into the new year which could collapse stocks as earnings peak out with nowhere to go but down.
Lovely, isn't it?
In the continuing control fraud series of gap up/down opens, stocks took the predictable nosedive version today - predictable in that Wednesday's close was greatly to the upside.
With the Dow opening at around 11,100, about 85 points below the previous close, we have the now-well-known condition of trapped longs, who bought and held during Wednesday's uptick rally. In general terms, if you bought on Wednesday and sold on Friday, unhedged, you lost and are now puking up the remnants of your Thanksgiving dinner.
A wiser course of action might have been avoiding the stock markets altogether and making some illegal wagers on football games via the internet. At least you might have won, with the added bonus of the winnings being tax-free. Even had you lost your bets, you could mentally write off the sour investment as entertainment value.
Stocks skidded pretty badly, and, devoid of volume, had no inclination of reversing course, especially since it was a half-day and trading was even more scarce than normal. The run rate was even worse than some of the slowest days - and there have been many since the 2008 collapse - making Black Friday look like a blood-drip from the arteries of the Wall Street Scam money machinery.
Dow 11,092.00, -95.28 (0.85%)
NASDAQ 2,534.56, -8.56 (0.34%)
S&P 500 1,189.40, -8.95 (0.75%)
NYSE Composite 7,500.54, -78.72 (1.04%)
Declining issues dominated winners, 4054-2064. New highs:185; New lows: 51. Volume: fagetaboutit.
NASDAQ Volume 623,831,125
NYSE Volume 1,778,664,375
Oil finished unchanged, at $83.86 per barrel, keeping the price just high enough to extend the prices at the gas pumps for the remainder of the holiday weekend. Gold last printed at $1364.20, down $10.90 on the day, while silver kicked 89 cents lower, to $26.70. Those awaiting a reversion in silver may be seeing the beginning of a 50% pullback of the recent rally, which would put the lustrous metal at $23 and change. A 67% retracement would send it to about $21, at which point one would be highly inclined to begin accumulation for the next leg up, to $35 in the first half of 2011. Of course, a global deflation may take all technical data off the table, rendering all asset classes subject to major price reversals.
Speculation in land may be a viable alternative in the first half of 2011, though another round of descending prices should occur with a massive number of defaults and possible widespread bank failures.
Bank of America continues to be the stock to watch as far as real estate is concerned, as they have - through their 2007 purchase of Countrywide - the largest exposure in residential real estate of any of the major players. The stock hit all cherries today, closing at 11.11, remaining in the bottom of its recent range, and lower than the October 25 close, at the tail end of the "foreclosure crisis." Bank of American (BAC) is signaling what's ahead for homeowners, with already more than 25% of homes with mortgages "underwater," more pain to come, resulting in slower sales at lower prices for the truly most distressed of a growing mountain of distressed sellers.
2011 may turn out to be the year everything finally goes over the edge. Congress and the president haven't yet address the mortgage/banking fraud in any meaningful way, except to hand the banks more money with which to shore up their aching balance sheets and kick the fraud further down the road. Without a workable solution that includes 30-40% principal forgiveness - anathema to any blue-blooded banker - expect real estate prices to decline another 20-25% overall and the US economy to continue floundering like a beached whale.
While many believe we've avoided the dreaded "double-dip" recession scenario for this year, the next one may prove to be even more severe than the first, though even a minor recession leaves the Fed, White House and congress without any useful policy tools. The likely outcome would be to print more money, unless Tea Partiers in congress force the Fed's hand by denying any raise of the debt ceiling in early 2011. An unlikely outcome, but still potentially the best - though painful to the extreme - medicine.
2010 continues to grind towards its conclusion, with optimism bolstered by millions of shoppers on the busiest day of the year. If Christmas saves the retailers and wider stock market, there may be a significant overhang heading into the new year which could collapse stocks as earnings peak out with nowhere to go but down.
Lovely, isn't it?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Our National Disgrace: the United States Congress
Sorry to take time out here to vent, but, after watching less than ten minutes of DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton vain attempts to vilify Toyota executives in a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee made me ponder the usefulness of this formerly-august body.
This is the gang of 535, with a national approval rating hovering around 20% that has taken as much money from lobbyists as legally-allowed (and probably more), sat back and watched as the banking interests took over and nearly destroyed the country's economy, and hasn't done much of anything useful or in the best interests of the American people since the early 50s, or, most of my lifetime.
Listening to the moronic Barney Frank drool his way through Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's required testimony today was quite enough. Frank and his fellow goof-balls proved they have about the same working knowledge of financial matters as your average 3rd grader, and even that might give 3rd graders a bum rap.
But this Toyota nonsense is the ultimate disgrace of our country. I feel I must publicly apologize to the people of Japan for the actions of our congress and other government regulatory agencies. I'm sorry, Japan! I didn't vote for any of these fools, and they certainly don't represent me or my beliefs.
Dragging the head of Toyota and other executives before a congressional committee is just a continuance of the massive government smear campaign designed to make people stop thinking about our destroyed economy and throw blame on the "evil" Toyota executives.
It's the worst kind of race-baiting and every member of that committee should resign in disgrace. Toyota's problems may be serious, but they're surely not any worse than other carmakers faults. The timing of this entire sordid folly seems just about appropriate for the idiots who are supposed to be "serving the people." Just months ago, General Motors and Chrysler received - and haven't yet paid back - billions of dollars from taxpayers to salvage what was left of their disastrous businesses.
Soon thereafter came rumors of Toyota's "sudden acceleration" issues, and the game was on. Now congress, attempting to look serious, brings Toyota execs in to be chastised publicly. It's just one more sad day - piled upon hundreds if not thousands before it - of congress publicly displaying their absolute incompetence.
Is there any wonder why so many "tea parties" and splinter political groups have emerged over the past few years. Congress has abrogated their authority, shirked their responsibilities and now can only pander to the lowest, most base emotions of the public throng. They are a national disgrace and the sooner they are run out of office and out of town, the better.
**********************
Down on Wall Street, markets got an unexpected bump up early in the day. Without any reason, the Dow jumped about 90 points in a span of about 20 minutes, right around 10:30 am. The other indices were also goosed higher, presumably by insiders or the notorious PPT, right during Bernanke's testimony.
These kinds of moves have gotten to be old hat by now, and accepted as normal by most market participants, but they are surely designed to keep stocks grinding along and not falling into the slop where many of them belong.
Yesterday, the news on two fronts - housing and consumer sentiment - sent the indices screeching into a hole. Today, without any catalyst, they practically erased all of Tuesday's losses, which is why I have been out of stocks mostly since 2007, and now, permanently. There's no rhyme nor reason to the equity markets currently, thus, there's no reason to be even one penny invested in stocks. There will be a fall this year, and it's likely to rival the collapse from September 2008 to March 2009, regardless of the efforts of big money players or government miscreants.
The only data release of any importance was negative: New home sales for January fell 11.2% month-over-month in their worst monthly downturn since January 2009. So, naturally, stocks should go up?
Dow 10,374.16, +91.75 (0.89%)
NASDAQ 2,235.90, +22.46 (1.01%)
S&P 500 1,105.24, +10.64 (0.97%)
NYSE Composite 7,030.67, +56.07 (0.80%)
Advancers slaughtered decliners, 4443-2038. New highs: 254; new lows: 59. Volume was moderate.
NYSE Volume 4,734,957,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,119,022,000
Commodities traded in different directions. Crude oil, even after the government reported that inventories rose by 3.03 million barrels, gained $1.24, to $80.21. To point up just how manipulated and corrupt the crude oil futures exchange is, here is an article expressing the opinion that crude rose because the dollar was weak. The article also points out that the American Petroleum Institute announced Tuesday that crude inventories had fallen by 3.1 million barrels.
Up, down, who cares? As long as the oil barons continue cashing their checks. No need to worry that persistently high fuel prices over the past seven years have helped cripple the US economy.
So, if the weak dollar caused oil prices to rise, why then, did gold lose $6.40, and drop to $1,096.80. Apparently, gold is no longer tracking the dollar and responding inversely to it. Or, maybe it's all just speculation, fun and games. Incidentally, silver was up 17 cents, at $15.98 per ounce.
And just so I know the world isn't completely off its axis (although close to spinning out of control), I see Fast Money is back on the air on CNBC. What, no curling? Maybe somebody actually took my impassioned plea from yesterday seriously.
This is the gang of 535, with a national approval rating hovering around 20% that has taken as much money from lobbyists as legally-allowed (and probably more), sat back and watched as the banking interests took over and nearly destroyed the country's economy, and hasn't done much of anything useful or in the best interests of the American people since the early 50s, or, most of my lifetime.
Listening to the moronic Barney Frank drool his way through Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's required testimony today was quite enough. Frank and his fellow goof-balls proved they have about the same working knowledge of financial matters as your average 3rd grader, and even that might give 3rd graders a bum rap.
But this Toyota nonsense is the ultimate disgrace of our country. I feel I must publicly apologize to the people of Japan for the actions of our congress and other government regulatory agencies. I'm sorry, Japan! I didn't vote for any of these fools, and they certainly don't represent me or my beliefs.
Dragging the head of Toyota and other executives before a congressional committee is just a continuance of the massive government smear campaign designed to make people stop thinking about our destroyed economy and throw blame on the "evil" Toyota executives.
It's the worst kind of race-baiting and every member of that committee should resign in disgrace. Toyota's problems may be serious, but they're surely not any worse than other carmakers faults. The timing of this entire sordid folly seems just about appropriate for the idiots who are supposed to be "serving the people." Just months ago, General Motors and Chrysler received - and haven't yet paid back - billions of dollars from taxpayers to salvage what was left of their disastrous businesses.
Soon thereafter came rumors of Toyota's "sudden acceleration" issues, and the game was on. Now congress, attempting to look serious, brings Toyota execs in to be chastised publicly. It's just one more sad day - piled upon hundreds if not thousands before it - of congress publicly displaying their absolute incompetence.
Is there any wonder why so many "tea parties" and splinter political groups have emerged over the past few years. Congress has abrogated their authority, shirked their responsibilities and now can only pander to the lowest, most base emotions of the public throng. They are a national disgrace and the sooner they are run out of office and out of town, the better.
Down on Wall Street, markets got an unexpected bump up early in the day. Without any reason, the Dow jumped about 90 points in a span of about 20 minutes, right around 10:30 am. The other indices were also goosed higher, presumably by insiders or the notorious PPT, right during Bernanke's testimony.
These kinds of moves have gotten to be old hat by now, and accepted as normal by most market participants, but they are surely designed to keep stocks grinding along and not falling into the slop where many of them belong.
Yesterday, the news on two fronts - housing and consumer sentiment - sent the indices screeching into a hole. Today, without any catalyst, they practically erased all of Tuesday's losses, which is why I have been out of stocks mostly since 2007, and now, permanently. There's no rhyme nor reason to the equity markets currently, thus, there's no reason to be even one penny invested in stocks. There will be a fall this year, and it's likely to rival the collapse from September 2008 to March 2009, regardless of the efforts of big money players or government miscreants.
The only data release of any importance was negative: New home sales for January fell 11.2% month-over-month in their worst monthly downturn since January 2009. So, naturally, stocks should go up?
Dow 10,374.16, +91.75 (0.89%)
NASDAQ 2,235.90, +22.46 (1.01%)
S&P 500 1,105.24, +10.64 (0.97%)
NYSE Composite 7,030.67, +56.07 (0.80%)
Advancers slaughtered decliners, 4443-2038. New highs: 254; new lows: 59. Volume was moderate.
NYSE Volume 4,734,957,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,119,022,000
Commodities traded in different directions. Crude oil, even after the government reported that inventories rose by 3.03 million barrels, gained $1.24, to $80.21. To point up just how manipulated and corrupt the crude oil futures exchange is, here is an article expressing the opinion that crude rose because the dollar was weak. The article also points out that the American Petroleum Institute announced Tuesday that crude inventories had fallen by 3.1 million barrels.
Up, down, who cares? As long as the oil barons continue cashing their checks. No need to worry that persistently high fuel prices over the past seven years have helped cripple the US economy.
So, if the weak dollar caused oil prices to rise, why then, did gold lose $6.40, and drop to $1,096.80. Apparently, gold is no longer tracking the dollar and responding inversely to it. Or, maybe it's all just speculation, fun and games. Incidentally, silver was up 17 cents, at $15.98 per ounce.
And just so I know the world isn't completely off its axis (although close to spinning out of control), I see Fast Money is back on the air on CNBC. What, no curling? Maybe somebody actually took my impassioned plea from yesterday seriously.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Bank Oligarchs, the Fiddler President and Congressional Circus Clowns
There were no major economic data releases today, though there were a number of companies reporting 1st quarter earnings, including Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Northern Trust and State Street, all of which showed declines in earnings, though the latter beat analyst estimates.
Disappointing results from banking interests - reported eithe before the open or during the session - didn't deter investors from sparking a rally in financials, however, pushing the major indices to recoup some of Monday's dramatic decline.
After the close, CapitalOne (COF), once the nation's largest stand-alone credit card issuer, reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2009 of $111.9 million, or $0.45 per common share, which was far better than last quarter - a $1.4 billion loss, or -$3.74 per share - but far worse than the same period last year, in which the company reported a profit of $548.5 million, or $1.47 per share. during the session, shares of CapitalOne were higher by 1.67 (12.50%), but were seen lower in after-hours trading, down more than a point shortly after the earnings release.
On the Dow, 25 of 30 component stocks finished with gains. Leading the way were the three bank stocks - JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) - all of which ended the day at least 9.5% to the good. How the very same banks which are controlling the economy are manipulating the markets is a grand shame and these oligarchies need to be dismantled, as explained below.
Caterpillar (CAT) reported its first quarterly loss since 1992 and drug maker Merck (MRK) reported a profit but missed earnings estimates.
As for the rest of the market, suffice it to say that the market is mostly comprised of day-trading Wall Streeters and hedge fund managers who follow the leaders, which is why stocks were broadly higher today, despite the absence of any positive news.
Dow 7,969.56, +127.83 (1.63%)
Nasdaq 1,643.85, +35.64 (2.22%)
S&P 500 850.08, +17.69 (2.13%)
NYSE Composite 5,339.59, +119.47 (2.29%)
Advancing issues turned the table on decliners, beating them 4846-1627, though new lows continued the spread over new highs, by a count of 69-18. Volume was solid, though unspectacular.
NYSE Volume 1,671,525,000
Nasdaq Volume 2,435,768,000
In the commodity markets, a slight bounce from Monday's drubbing, with crude futures up 63 cents, to $46.51. Gold lost $4.60, to $882.70, with silver off a nickel, to $12.06. Futures for various foodstuffs were mostly higher.
Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress today were, among others, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig, Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz and MIT professor Simon Johnson, each of whom expressed skepticism over whether current government actions were effective in relieving the economic distress in the banking sector.
Will the government listen, and even more to the point, do the congressional member and senators who convened these hearings, actually understand what they're saying? Probably not. Politicians are a breed of people who understand power and politics and little more. What they do know is that their allegiance is to the Wall Street bankers, because that group, by and large, financed the campaigns that put them or keeps them in positions of power.
As usual, it will be politics first, constituents (the actual ones they're supposed to represent), last, and so, the sad saga of our nation being run into the ground by a coalition of Wall Street financiers and political puppets in Washington will continue unabated. Today's hearings are just more window dressing, designed to keep the public from rising up, rioting and throwing the whole bunch into the East and Potomac Rivers, which is precisely what should happen and very well may happen if this fiasco of keeping insolvent banks operating under clouds of secrecy and mountains of non-negotiable debt is allowed to continue much longer.
Below, Yahoo's Tech Ticker talks with former IMF chief economist and current MIT economics professor Simon Johnson about the big banks and how they stand in the way of a meaningful economic recovery.
Here is Johnson's breathtaking article, The Quiet Coup in this month's Atlantic.
Near the end of his reveling writing, Johnson finally comes to speak the unspeakable:
There you have it. A respected economist - not me, a generally disrespected populist pundit blogger - says this current condition could devolve into something worse than the Great Depression. I've held that view all along, since early in 2007, and if you check my archives at Downtown Magazine, probably as early as 2002 or 2003, when I reported on the then-emerging pension crisis which now continues beneath the surface.
Like Johnson, I hold out slim hopes that the elite in Washington and the ruling oligarchs on Wall Street will yield power without a fight of monstrous proportions, against the citizenry of the United States, and to a larger extent, the populations and governments of their trading partners globally.
Mr. Johnson and I are not alone. The chorus for concentrated government action to close down the insolvent banks and replace their inept and likely corrupt management, is growing at a very rapid pace. The longer the government dithers, the closer the nation comes to the precipice of economic, political and social destruction.
Finally, below, here's the second part of Henry Blogett's interview with Simon Johnson, in which he extolls the virtue of quick, decisive action in cleaning up and breaking up the major bank's stranglehold on the country's finances:
It's become clear to just about everyone in the world, except the pols in Washington and the banksters themselves, that breaking up the nation's biggest banks and dismantling their management and interlocking boards of directors would provide the quickest, cleanest and least costly resolution to the global financial condition. Instead, President Barack Obama, like Nero in ancient Rome, fiddles while the empire burns to the ground and the congress can only be compared to circus clowns for all the good they've done over the past six months.
Disappointing results from banking interests - reported eithe before the open or during the session - didn't deter investors from sparking a rally in financials, however, pushing the major indices to recoup some of Monday's dramatic decline.
After the close, CapitalOne (COF), once the nation's largest stand-alone credit card issuer, reported a net loss for the first quarter of 2009 of $111.9 million, or $0.45 per common share, which was far better than last quarter - a $1.4 billion loss, or -$3.74 per share - but far worse than the same period last year, in which the company reported a profit of $548.5 million, or $1.47 per share. during the session, shares of CapitalOne were higher by 1.67 (12.50%), but were seen lower in after-hours trading, down more than a point shortly after the earnings release.
On the Dow, 25 of 30 component stocks finished with gains. Leading the way were the three bank stocks - JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) - all of which ended the day at least 9.5% to the good. How the very same banks which are controlling the economy are manipulating the markets is a grand shame and these oligarchies need to be dismantled, as explained below.
Caterpillar (CAT) reported its first quarterly loss since 1992 and drug maker Merck (MRK) reported a profit but missed earnings estimates.
As for the rest of the market, suffice it to say that the market is mostly comprised of day-trading Wall Streeters and hedge fund managers who follow the leaders, which is why stocks were broadly higher today, despite the absence of any positive news.
Dow 7,969.56, +127.83 (1.63%)
Nasdaq 1,643.85, +35.64 (2.22%)
S&P 500 850.08, +17.69 (2.13%)
NYSE Composite 5,339.59, +119.47 (2.29%)
Advancing issues turned the table on decliners, beating them 4846-1627, though new lows continued the spread over new highs, by a count of 69-18. Volume was solid, though unspectacular.
NYSE Volume 1,671,525,000
Nasdaq Volume 2,435,768,000
In the commodity markets, a slight bounce from Monday's drubbing, with crude futures up 63 cents, to $46.51. Gold lost $4.60, to $882.70, with silver off a nickel, to $12.06. Futures for various foodstuffs were mostly higher.
Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress today were, among others, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig, Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz and MIT professor Simon Johnson, each of whom expressed skepticism over whether current government actions were effective in relieving the economic distress in the banking sector.
Will the government listen, and even more to the point, do the congressional member and senators who convened these hearings, actually understand what they're saying? Probably not. Politicians are a breed of people who understand power and politics and little more. What they do know is that their allegiance is to the Wall Street bankers, because that group, by and large, financed the campaigns that put them or keeps them in positions of power.
As usual, it will be politics first, constituents (the actual ones they're supposed to represent), last, and so, the sad saga of our nation being run into the ground by a coalition of Wall Street financiers and political puppets in Washington will continue unabated. Today's hearings are just more window dressing, designed to keep the public from rising up, rioting and throwing the whole bunch into the East and Potomac Rivers, which is precisely what should happen and very well may happen if this fiasco of keeping insolvent banks operating under clouds of secrecy and mountains of non-negotiable debt is allowed to continue much longer.
Below, Yahoo's Tech Ticker talks with former IMF chief economist and current MIT economics professor Simon Johnson about the big banks and how they stand in the way of a meaningful economic recovery.
Here is Johnson's breathtaking article, The Quiet Coup in this month's Atlantic.
Near the end of his reveling writing, Johnson finally comes to speak the unspeakable:
The conventional wisdom among the elite is still that the current slump “cannot be as bad as the Great Depression.” This view is wrong. What we face now could, in fact, be worse than the Great Depression—because the world is now so much more interconnected and because the banking sector is now so big. We face a synchronized downturn in almost all countries, a weakening of confidence among individuals and firms, and major problems for government finances.
There you have it. A respected economist - not me, a generally disrespected populist pundit blogger - says this current condition could devolve into something worse than the Great Depression. I've held that view all along, since early in 2007, and if you check my archives at Downtown Magazine, probably as early as 2002 or 2003, when I reported on the then-emerging pension crisis which now continues beneath the surface.
Like Johnson, I hold out slim hopes that the elite in Washington and the ruling oligarchs on Wall Street will yield power without a fight of monstrous proportions, against the citizenry of the United States, and to a larger extent, the populations and governments of their trading partners globally.
Mr. Johnson and I are not alone. The chorus for concentrated government action to close down the insolvent banks and replace their inept and likely corrupt management, is growing at a very rapid pace. The longer the government dithers, the closer the nation comes to the precipice of economic, political and social destruction.
Finally, below, here's the second part of Henry Blogett's interview with Simon Johnson, in which he extolls the virtue of quick, decisive action in cleaning up and breaking up the major bank's stranglehold on the country's finances:
It's become clear to just about everyone in the world, except the pols in Washington and the banksters themselves, that breaking up the nation's biggest banks and dismantling their management and interlocking boards of directors would provide the quickest, cleanest and least costly resolution to the global financial condition. Instead, President Barack Obama, like Nero in ancient Rome, fiddles while the empire burns to the ground and the congress can only be compared to circus clowns for all the good they've done over the past six months.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Mark-to-Market Mark Up
Stocks made it three in a row for the Bulls, with impressive gains on all major indices, thanks to some benign economic data, a downgrade of GE's credit rating (already priced in) and a promise from the Federal Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to review and revise mark-to-market rules within three weeks.
Largely ignored was the rampaging unemployment ravaging US businesses, which saw another 654,000 new unemployment claims and a record of 5.3 million now receiving benefits.
Retail sales for February were down just 0.1%, which was less than expected. January retail sales were revised higher, to a 1.8% gain, from the previous read of +1.0%. Business inventories continue to decline as companies shed excesses, down 1.1% in January, a figure likely to be revised lower next month.
General Electric's (GE) credit rating was dropped by Standard & Poors to AA from AAA, though that piece of news was widely expected and already priced into the stock price. GE was one of the best gainers of the day for Dow stocks, up 1.08, to 9.57, a gain of more than 112%. Overall, 28 of 30 Dow components priced higher on the day. The only losses were in Boeing (BA) and Microsoft (MSFT).
A panel of representatives in the House urged the FASB to issue new guidance on mark-to market accounting for financial institutions. The rule is largely regarded as undervaluing bank assets such as mortgage-backed-securities, which have contributed greatly to the economic malaise of the past six months.
Two major resistance points were exceeded by today's upswing: the Dow crossed over the 7000 mark and - perhaps more importantly - the S&P passed 730. As a bonus, the NASDAQ flew by 1400 for the first time in two weeks.
The day's gains - indeed, the gains from Tuesday and Wednesday also - were aided by furious short-covering as investors scramble out of positions predicated on stocks falling rather than rising. All of these elements contributed to an unstoppable rally that sent stocks of all stripes soaring.
Dow 7,170.06, +239.66 (3.46%)
NASDAQ 1,426.10, +54.46 (3.97%)
S&P 500 750.74, +29.38 (4.07%)
NYSE Composite 4,684.99, +179.61 (3.99%
Market internals affirmed the upside move. Gainers beat losers by a huge margin of moer than 5-1, 5550-1015. New highs vs. new lows remained muted, with the lows ahead 220-16. Volume was very strong again as investors made sure not to miss out on the opportunity for short-term gains.
NYSE Volume 1,804,937,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,456,664,000
Commodities participated in the rally as well, especially oil, which gained $4.70, to $47.03. Gold was up $13.10, to $923.80. Silver added 14 cents to $12.94. Most other commodities were higher, including food stocks which continued to gain.
Of the companies showing the best gains were Bank of America (BAC), the big winner on the day, up 0.92, to 5.85, an 18% rise. JP Morgan Chase (JPM) also was up sharply, gaining 2.80, to 23.20. Both Jamie Daimon and Ken Lewis, CEOs of JPM and BofA, respectively, issued memos that their businesses were profitable during January and February. This seemed to be an orchestrated round of PR by the banks, fast on the heels of Vikram Pandit's assertion that Citigroup (C) was making money in the first two months of 2009. Health care and pharmaceuticals were also higher. Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) both posted gains of more than 9.5%.
The market has responded to its formerly-oversold condition with considerable aplomb. The news flow, especially the interventionary advice offered by the congressional panel on accounting rules, has been decidedly favorable this week and there aren't any caution signs on the road ahead. As previously stated, this bounce could turn into an outright boom, though how long it will last is surely an unknown.
The best bet is to jump in and use tight stops on the downside in the event Wall Street wakes up from this daydream. No true bottom has been put in at this juncture and the market is near overbought conditions. In just three days, the Dow has risen an astonishing 623 points. These sharp moves are always features confined to bear markets and are not at all unusual. Knowing when to get out of the way of the bears is the key to keeping any profits. The swings can be gut-wrenching.
Largely ignored was the rampaging unemployment ravaging US businesses, which saw another 654,000 new unemployment claims and a record of 5.3 million now receiving benefits.
Retail sales for February were down just 0.1%, which was less than expected. January retail sales were revised higher, to a 1.8% gain, from the previous read of +1.0%. Business inventories continue to decline as companies shed excesses, down 1.1% in January, a figure likely to be revised lower next month.
General Electric's (GE) credit rating was dropped by Standard & Poors to AA from AAA, though that piece of news was widely expected and already priced into the stock price. GE was one of the best gainers of the day for Dow stocks, up 1.08, to 9.57, a gain of more than 112%. Overall, 28 of 30 Dow components priced higher on the day. The only losses were in Boeing (BA) and Microsoft (MSFT).
A panel of representatives in the House urged the FASB to issue new guidance on mark-to market accounting for financial institutions. The rule is largely regarded as undervaluing bank assets such as mortgage-backed-securities, which have contributed greatly to the economic malaise of the past six months.
Two major resistance points were exceeded by today's upswing: the Dow crossed over the 7000 mark and - perhaps more importantly - the S&P passed 730. As a bonus, the NASDAQ flew by 1400 for the first time in two weeks.
The day's gains - indeed, the gains from Tuesday and Wednesday also - were aided by furious short-covering as investors scramble out of positions predicated on stocks falling rather than rising. All of these elements contributed to an unstoppable rally that sent stocks of all stripes soaring.
Dow 7,170.06, +239.66 (3.46%)
NASDAQ 1,426.10, +54.46 (3.97%)
S&P 500 750.74, +29.38 (4.07%)
NYSE Composite 4,684.99, +179.61 (3.99%
Market internals affirmed the upside move. Gainers beat losers by a huge margin of moer than 5-1, 5550-1015. New highs vs. new lows remained muted, with the lows ahead 220-16. Volume was very strong again as investors made sure not to miss out on the opportunity for short-term gains.
NYSE Volume 1,804,937,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,456,664,000
Commodities participated in the rally as well, especially oil, which gained $4.70, to $47.03. Gold was up $13.10, to $923.80. Silver added 14 cents to $12.94. Most other commodities were higher, including food stocks which continued to gain.
Of the companies showing the best gains were Bank of America (BAC), the big winner on the day, up 0.92, to 5.85, an 18% rise. JP Morgan Chase (JPM) also was up sharply, gaining 2.80, to 23.20. Both Jamie Daimon and Ken Lewis, CEOs of JPM and BofA, respectively, issued memos that their businesses were profitable during January and February. This seemed to be an orchestrated round of PR by the banks, fast on the heels of Vikram Pandit's assertion that Citigroup (C) was making money in the first two months of 2009. Health care and pharmaceuticals were also higher. Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) both posted gains of more than 9.5%.
The market has responded to its formerly-oversold condition with considerable aplomb. The news flow, especially the interventionary advice offered by the congressional panel on accounting rules, has been decidedly favorable this week and there aren't any caution signs on the road ahead. As previously stated, this bounce could turn into an outright boom, though how long it will last is surely an unknown.
The best bet is to jump in and use tight stops on the downside in the event Wall Street wakes up from this daydream. No true bottom has been put in at this juncture and the market is near overbought conditions. In just three days, the Dow has risen an astonishing 623 points. These sharp moves are always features confined to bear markets and are not at all unusual. Knowing when to get out of the way of the bears is the key to keeping any profits. The swings can be gut-wrenching.
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