The melt-up continues in equities as the dollar continues deteriorating, losing another 0.39% on the day, dipping to post-Lehman crash (fall 2008) level at 74.09 after briefly crossing below 74.
We're witnessing a rather non-virtuous cycle here which is roughly 200 Dow points for every percentage decline on the DXY, so, if what's intended is the Dow above 13,000, expect another 2.5% decline in the value of the good, old greenback. Also expect a similar rise in the cost of everything you need to buy from outside the US, i.e., imports, which would include almost everything, and especially everything sold in any Wal-Mart store, the nation's largest retailer.
So, good news on Wall Street translates into generally bad news for the public American, except that 5, 10, 20 or 30 years from now, that money you keep pumping into your 401k or retirement plan is just going to be a mountain of cash! Unfortunately, by that time - if the market hasn't already crashed or you haven't already kicked the bucket, everything will cost enormously more than it does today, except, of course, your home, which continues to fall in value.
Stocks got an able assist from both the declining dollar and Uncle Benji, who delivered another $1.5 billion in free cash flow for the Primary Dealers on Wednesday, so there might have been just a little overhang, since settlement was today.
Of course, the markets would normally have been lower considering the economic news. The weekly new unemployment claims came in at 403,000, well above estimates (bad!), and the Philadelphia Fed's monthly Business Outlook Survey took a tumble in April to 18.5, from 43.4 in March (very bad!)
Not to worry, the maestros of our destruction are taking Good Friday off to pray for all of us. HAHAHAHA!
Dow 12,505.99, +52.45 (0.42%)
NASDAQ 2,820.16, +17.65 (0.63%)
S&P 500 1,337.38, +7.02 (0.53%)
NYSE Composite 8,504.36, +46.71 (0.55%)
As expected, advancing issues outnumbered decliners, 4214-2301. NASDAQ new highs: 143; new lows: 20. NYSE new highs: 224; new lows: 10. Volume was an absolute embarrassment, making all other data virtually meaningless. The only traders are computers whirring at the big brokerages and a few hedge funds which are allowed to play. Individual investors have been permanently spooked out of the Ponzi-style, POMO-driven US stock market.
NASDAQ Volume 1,856,856,375
NYSE Volume 3,947,026,500
Crude oil futures gained 84 cents, to $112.29. Yes, if gas isn't $4.00 a gallon where you live, it soon will be, and $5.00 in California, New York, Chicago and Hawaii are soon to come.
Gold finally closed above $1500 on the COMEX, hitting $1,503.80, a gain on the day of $4.80. Silver was up more than 4.5%, gaining $1.60, to close at another 31-year high of $46.06. Unbelievable! Silver is up 145% in just the last year and is likely to double again within two years, if not sooner.
Happy Easter!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Buy More Stocks Because the Dollar is Worthless
If anyone has any kind of notion that today's massive uptick in stocks had anything to do with the strength of the US economy, they'd better go back to economics 101 and check the chapter on currency devaluation.
Oh, there is no chapter on that? Well, allow me to explain how the dollar was absolutely savaged by - of all things - the Euro, and a host of other currencies including, but not limited to: the Aussie dollar, the Canadian looney, the Chinese Yuan and especially, the Swiss Franc.
On the dollar index (not a particularly great way to value US paper money, but sufficient for this discussion), the loss was 74 cents, or nearly one percent, meaning everything you buy that isn't produced in the United States - which is just about everything - costs 1% more today than it did yesterday. The corresponding rise in stocks only helps alleviate the pain for the richy-rich amongst us, but they usually find tax dodges or off-shore accounts for their hordes of cash anyhow.
The rest of you schmucks are just going to have to take it, see? You pay more so the Fed can print more billions, give them to the primary dealers and allow the government to continue overspending until eternity, which is a long, long, time. Next week, it will likely get worse, with gas heading for $5.00 a gallon nationally, and everything else going up accordingly, eventually, the average household will be able to buy food and fuel and little else, all the while watching those who own stocks make fortunes.
While the wizards of Wall Street frolic in the fields of greenbacks, you and I will be left holding the bag, containing manure, and be taxed into oblivion. Don't worry about Medicare and Social Security, most of us will die off before any benefits are actually paid out.
It's an ugly, severely evil set-up by the banks and our hands-out congress to create two distinct classes in the United States: the super, super rich and everyone else. You and I must learn how to raise our own crops and subsist off the land leased by our wealthy masters. Welcome to the golden age of feudalism!
I have nothing more to add except that if you haven't started some plants growing in your back yard and already own some silver or gold or both, you need to do so immediately, as time is running short and planting season is upon us. We are nearing the point of complete collapse of the middle class.
If your kids are planning to go to a big university and go into hock to the tune of $40, $50 or as much as $100,000 to get their degree, it might be time to sit them down and explain that their high school diploma will be sufficient, in their bleak future, to work as a mechanic, a gardener, or a chamber maid. Their dreams of becoming the next great biologist or astronaut will have to be put on indefinite hold.
Dow 12,453.54, +186.79 (1.52%)
NASDAQ 2,802.51, +57.54 (2.10%)
S&P 500 1,330.36, +17.74 (1.35%)
NYSE Composite 8,457.65, +125.62 (1.51%)
Advancing issues pounded decliners, 5245-1347. There were 133 new highs and 29 new lows. On the NYSE, 193 new highs and 16 new lows was the order of the day. Volume was relatively solid on the NASDAQ, where all the momentum stocks reside, but the usual miserable figures were posted on the NYSE. Almost all of the day's gains were made at the open, so the futures players made fortunes; the rest of the session was nothing more than churning.
NASDAQ Volume 2,112,464,250
NYSE Volume 4,657,346,000
Crude oil made a huge move of nearly 3%, gaining $3.17, to $111.45, making that $5.00 gallon of gas that the oil barons dream about that much closer to reality. Gold blasted through the $1500 mark again, but was taken down to $1,498.90, a gain of a mere $3.80. Silver continues to dazzle, gaining another 54 cents on the day, finishing in New York at $44.46.
While some argue that gold and silver are bubbles, if that is the case, then what is to be said of stocks, which have doubled off their March 2009 lows? Gold and silver are only a third to a fifth of the way to where they are eventually going. With every new dollar printed by the Chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, an ounce of precious metals costs a little bit more, and that's about the only good news I can report today.
EDIT: Following the COMEX close in New York, gold bounced to $1502.10, and silver shot up to $45.22 an ounce at 5:18 pm EDT.
Oh, there is no chapter on that? Well, allow me to explain how the dollar was absolutely savaged by - of all things - the Euro, and a host of other currencies including, but not limited to: the Aussie dollar, the Canadian looney, the Chinese Yuan and especially, the Swiss Franc.
On the dollar index (not a particularly great way to value US paper money, but sufficient for this discussion), the loss was 74 cents, or nearly one percent, meaning everything you buy that isn't produced in the United States - which is just about everything - costs 1% more today than it did yesterday. The corresponding rise in stocks only helps alleviate the pain for the richy-rich amongst us, but they usually find tax dodges or off-shore accounts for their hordes of cash anyhow.
The rest of you schmucks are just going to have to take it, see? You pay more so the Fed can print more billions, give them to the primary dealers and allow the government to continue overspending until eternity, which is a long, long, time. Next week, it will likely get worse, with gas heading for $5.00 a gallon nationally, and everything else going up accordingly, eventually, the average household will be able to buy food and fuel and little else, all the while watching those who own stocks make fortunes.
While the wizards of Wall Street frolic in the fields of greenbacks, you and I will be left holding the bag, containing manure, and be taxed into oblivion. Don't worry about Medicare and Social Security, most of us will die off before any benefits are actually paid out.
It's an ugly, severely evil set-up by the banks and our hands-out congress to create two distinct classes in the United States: the super, super rich and everyone else. You and I must learn how to raise our own crops and subsist off the land leased by our wealthy masters. Welcome to the golden age of feudalism!
I have nothing more to add except that if you haven't started some plants growing in your back yard and already own some silver or gold or both, you need to do so immediately, as time is running short and planting season is upon us. We are nearing the point of complete collapse of the middle class.
If your kids are planning to go to a big university and go into hock to the tune of $40, $50 or as much as $100,000 to get their degree, it might be time to sit them down and explain that their high school diploma will be sufficient, in their bleak future, to work as a mechanic, a gardener, or a chamber maid. Their dreams of becoming the next great biologist or astronaut will have to be put on indefinite hold.
Dow 12,453.54, +186.79 (1.52%)
NASDAQ 2,802.51, +57.54 (2.10%)
S&P 500 1,330.36, +17.74 (1.35%)
NYSE Composite 8,457.65, +125.62 (1.51%)
Advancing issues pounded decliners, 5245-1347. There were 133 new highs and 29 new lows. On the NYSE, 193 new highs and 16 new lows was the order of the day. Volume was relatively solid on the NASDAQ, where all the momentum stocks reside, but the usual miserable figures were posted on the NYSE. Almost all of the day's gains were made at the open, so the futures players made fortunes; the rest of the session was nothing more than churning.
NASDAQ Volume 2,112,464,250
NYSE Volume 4,657,346,000
Crude oil made a huge move of nearly 3%, gaining $3.17, to $111.45, making that $5.00 gallon of gas that the oil barons dream about that much closer to reality. Gold blasted through the $1500 mark again, but was taken down to $1,498.90, a gain of a mere $3.80. Silver continues to dazzle, gaining another 54 cents on the day, finishing in New York at $44.46.
While some argue that gold and silver are bubbles, if that is the case, then what is to be said of stocks, which have doubled off their March 2009 lows? Gold and silver are only a third to a fifth of the way to where they are eventually going. With every new dollar printed by the Chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, an ounce of precious metals costs a little bit more, and that's about the only good news I can report today.
EDIT: Following the COMEX close in New York, gold bounced to $1502.10, and silver shot up to $45.22 an ounce at 5:18 pm EDT.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Market Up on Goldman Beat, POMO Momo
Remember that little bit about S&P downgrading their US outlook to negative?
Oh, that was so yesterday!
Tim Geithner, the US Secretary of the Treasury, went on CNBC to convince (or try to) th public that all is well, S&P doesn't know jack and the future will be bright.
Just before that Goldman Sachs announced their 1st quarter results, beat the street and it was off to the races at 9:30 am when the bell rang.
Well, not quite. Stocks really didn't start moving higher until a little after noon. As usual, there was no reason, and no volume, so it didn't really matter that Goldman Sachs was selling off.
The Fed came in with a $6 billion POMO to invest, so away went the market. Up, up and away. Forget about those ratings agencies. What do they know?
Dow 12,266.75, +65.16 (0.53%)
NASDAQ 2,744.97, +9.59 (0.35%)
S&P 500 1,312.62, +7.48 (0.57%)
NYSE Composite 8,332.03, +54.92 (0.66%)
Winners beat losers, 3977-2526, NASDAQ new highs were 66, new lows, 32. On the NYSE, there were 58 new highs; 25 new lows. Volume? No. Dismal, horrible, Wall Street's dirty little secret.
NASDAQ Volume 1,723,697,750
NYSE Volume 4,228,962,500
WTI crude futures were up another $1.03, to $108.15. The corresponding rise in retail gas prices from $100+ per barrel oil is almost certain to derail any kind of growth for the second quarter.
Gold briefly topped $1500 for the first time ever, but pulled back from that and closed $2.10 higher, at $1,495.10. Silver (thank God you own some) continued to soar, up another 97 cents, to $43.91. Again, gold set another all-time high, silver a 31-year high, and is rapidly approaching the all-time high of $50, which it will surpass, almost for certain, within the next three months time.
It was a Tuesday. Nothing much happened in the larger scheme of things. Next Thursday, we'll see some fireworks when the government announces its first estimate of first quarter GDP, which, if you've been paying attention, was supposed to be 4%, then 3.5%, but has recently been revised down to 2%. It will likely come in below even that.
Tomorrow, existing home sales data for March, another reminder that a house is not an investment, it is a place to live, at 10:00 am EDT.
Oh, that was so yesterday!
Tim Geithner, the US Secretary of the Treasury, went on CNBC to convince (or try to) th public that all is well, S&P doesn't know jack and the future will be bright.
Just before that Goldman Sachs announced their 1st quarter results, beat the street and it was off to the races at 9:30 am when the bell rang.
Well, not quite. Stocks really didn't start moving higher until a little after noon. As usual, there was no reason, and no volume, so it didn't really matter that Goldman Sachs was selling off.
The Fed came in with a $6 billion POMO to invest, so away went the market. Up, up and away. Forget about those ratings agencies. What do they know?
Dow 12,266.75, +65.16 (0.53%)
NASDAQ 2,744.97, +9.59 (0.35%)
S&P 500 1,312.62, +7.48 (0.57%)
NYSE Composite 8,332.03, +54.92 (0.66%)
Winners beat losers, 3977-2526, NASDAQ new highs were 66, new lows, 32. On the NYSE, there were 58 new highs; 25 new lows. Volume? No. Dismal, horrible, Wall Street's dirty little secret.
NASDAQ Volume 1,723,697,750
NYSE Volume 4,228,962,500
WTI crude futures were up another $1.03, to $108.15. The corresponding rise in retail gas prices from $100+ per barrel oil is almost certain to derail any kind of growth for the second quarter.
Gold briefly topped $1500 for the first time ever, but pulled back from that and closed $2.10 higher, at $1,495.10. Silver (thank God you own some) continued to soar, up another 97 cents, to $43.91. Again, gold set another all-time high, silver a 31-year high, and is rapidly approaching the all-time high of $50, which it will surpass, almost for certain, within the next three months time.
It was a Tuesday. Nothing much happened in the larger scheme of things. Next Thursday, we'll see some fireworks when the government announces its first estimate of first quarter GDP, which, if you've been paying attention, was supposed to be 4%, then 3.5%, but has recently been revised down to 2%. It will likely come in below even that.
Tomorrow, existing home sales data for March, another reminder that a house is not an investment, it is a place to live, at 10:00 am EDT.
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