The Markets
Yes, matters in the European banking sector were getting just a bit panicky over the past few weeks; so much so that the world's largest central banks were forced to step in and provide liquidity to pressured banks across the European continent.
Striking like a lightning bolt, the European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Swiss National Bank and the US Federal Reserve jointly vowed to provide three-month loans denominated in dollars for the remainder of the year.
With this move, the worlds inhabitants can clearly see that the empire of debt has now encompassed the entire planet, and not only do we have zombie banks in Japan, England and the United States, but now the major banking institutions of Europe have joined the club. France's Societe General and BNP Paribas, Germany's Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are among the largest banks needing a fresh infusion of capital in order to service maturing debt and continue providing loans to the nations of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and others. Many of these same large banks and smaller ones already have been the recipients of US and Central Bank largesse in the past, receiving trillions of dollars in 2009 and 2010, when the financial contagion begun in the United States spread globally.
Oddly enough, this stunning development occurred three years to the day that Lehman Brothers failed, sending economic shock waves around the world, and it is proof enough that all Central Bank intervention, loans, guarantees, swaps and programs have not solved the fundamental problem facing most major banks and sovereign states: solvency.
Zombie banks, like Bank of America and Citigroup in the US, are customarily burdened with bad loans, have trouble borrowing in the open market and will only advance loans to the biggest and most financially secure customers in a severe risk avoidance maneuver. Expect the same results from this action as what happened in the US after TARP, TALF and a dozen other Fed programs designed to stimulate economic activity merely provides a cushion for the banks, bigger bonuses for their executives and no relief for the general population or small business, the engine of job creation.
Europe, like Japan over the past twenty years and the US for the last three, will suffer the same kind of economic stagnation. Of this, there is little doubt because the nations the loan to are nothing more than deadbeat borrowers, who fail to address the fundamental issues facing their governments, which is simply too much debt and not enough revenue, a condition that is likely to only worsen in months and years ahead.
The Central Bank intervention today will only provide some cover for a short time. Eventually, bad debts need to be written off, investors take losses and the financial system cleansed. It is one part of the business cycle the central banks continually deny and have not addressed, preferring instead to paper over losses with more debt, delaying and dampening any chance of real economic recovery. It is indeed unfortunate that these grand macro-economic thinkers have so embraced the Keynesian principles of borrowing, taxing and spending, they've forgotten that households constitute the backbone of all economies, not the banks, which they are so eager to keep from failing while millions - perhaps billions - of people are thrust from the middle class into abject poverty.
Along these same lines we have the president's proposed American Jobs Act, which is currently dead on arrival in the congress. House Republican leader John Boehner predictably took aim at the president's proposed $447 billion jobs package, labeling it as a "poor substitute" for polices Boehner and many House members prefer. Boehner referred to the president's policies as "short-term gimmicks" as opposed to fundamental changes in tax laws and reductions in regulations that are strangling American businesses.
As expected, Boehner and other Republican leaders have said that Obama's plan to pay for his jobs program with tax increases is a non-starter on the Hill, effectively killing Obama's plan before it even reaches the committee level. Once again, we will be witness to great wrangling for weeks or months over what's needed to kick-start the economy. While some of Obama's ideas are worthwhile, they are still likely to be ineffective in solving the nation's burgeoning employment crisis.
Additionally, in the early part of the day, both before the market opened and during trading hours, a stream of economic news and data - most of it bad - made its way to the Street. Included was another week of initial unemployment claims at 428,000, a jump of 11,000 from the previous week and the 21st week of the last 22 that initial claims have been over 400,000. CPI came in with a rise of 0.4% for August, a 4.8% inflation rate, annualized. Industrial Production inched up 0.2% and capacity utilization was nearly flat, with an increase of only 0.1%.
Two Fed districts reported sour economic data. The New York Fed released its monthly Empire Manufacturing Index, showing economic activity in New York state falling again, at -8.8 in September after a -7.7 reading in August. The Philadelphia Fed's Economic Index improved, but only form a horrifying -30.7 in August to a less-frightening - though still deteriorating - 17.5 in September.
With those sad numbers serving as a backdrop, Wall Street once again proved that it only pays heed to what it perceives as positive news, ramping up right out of the gate and posting large gains for the day on the promise of more free money for all banks, particularly those in Europe.
With all the momentum being built into the coming holiday season and the presidential election season due to heat up shortly after that, the chances of a catastrophic collapse are now more evident than ever. The bankers and politicians have contrived solutions that serve only them well and do little if any good to the common working man or woman. Institutions globally are under attack by angry citizens who have lost nearly all faith in the current regime of world leaders to actually make laws and progress that will heal the deep economic wounds that continue to be inflicted on once-great nations.
While the politicians focus on making speeches and posturing against each other in hopes of winning re-election, the rest of us are left wondering who will be around to cast the needed votes for these fools. Our economic malaise deepens daily and the fiat money system grows weaker with every new plan designed to keep banks and nations from facing reality. Denial is alive and well at the apex of our political and economic structure.
Dow 11,433.18 186.45 (1.66%)
NASDAQ 2,607.07 34.52 (1.34%)
S&P 500 1,209.11 20.43 (1.72%)
NYSE Compos 7,329.10 129.98 (1.81%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,986,520,875.00
NYSE Volume 4,462,452,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4642-1857
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 50-74
WTI crude oil futures: 89.40, +0.49
Gold: 1788.10, -33.00
Silver: 39.84, -0.91
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Chemical Investment M&A a Highly Specialized Field
In the high stakes world with mergers and acquisitions, investment banking is a highly specialized field in which industry knowledge and experience are the key elements in making deals work to the benefit of the acquirer and the company being acquired.
This specialty is usually relegated to a handful of well-capitalized and expert companies, most of which do deals in the multi-millions to billions of dollars range. One cannot walk into just any bank to do these kinds of deals. While many financial institutions may claim that they are "full service," in reality they are not equipped to handle complex mergers and large-scale deals.
M&A gets more complicated depending upon the industry. Expertise and years of hands-on experience is needed to understand the particular nuances and specific needs of various industry groups. Just as one would never go to an orthopedic surgeon to deliver a baby, companies undergoing a merger in the aerospace, computer or any other industry grouping would not go to a commercial bank.
That is why companies such as the Valence Group specialize in chemical investment banking. They offer a wide range of services including buy and sell-side advisories, expertise in dealing across international borders, defense of bids and unsolicited offers and the ability to properly value any deal in the chemical mergers and acquisitions space.
An independent company with offices in London, New York and Shanghai, the Valence Group offers investment banking origination and execution with a team of experts from the chemical industry alongside senior investment bankers.
Anyone considering a large-scale merger or acquisition in the chemical industry would do themselves a good turn by taking the time to meet with one of the Valence Group company advisors as they have successfully completed similar deals with a multitude of companies such as Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson, Celanese, and Hoechst.
This specialty is usually relegated to a handful of well-capitalized and expert companies, most of which do deals in the multi-millions to billions of dollars range. One cannot walk into just any bank to do these kinds of deals. While many financial institutions may claim that they are "full service," in reality they are not equipped to handle complex mergers and large-scale deals.
M&A gets more complicated depending upon the industry. Expertise and years of hands-on experience is needed to understand the particular nuances and specific needs of various industry groups. Just as one would never go to an orthopedic surgeon to deliver a baby, companies undergoing a merger in the aerospace, computer or any other industry grouping would not go to a commercial bank.
That is why companies such as the Valence Group specialize in chemical investment banking. They offer a wide range of services including buy and sell-side advisories, expertise in dealing across international borders, defense of bids and unsolicited offers and the ability to properly value any deal in the chemical mergers and acquisitions space.
An independent company with offices in London, New York and Shanghai, the Valence Group offers investment banking origination and execution with a team of experts from the chemical industry alongside senior investment bankers.
Anyone considering a large-scale merger or acquisition in the chemical industry would do themselves a good turn by taking the time to meet with one of the Valence Group company advisors as they have successfully completed similar deals with a multitude of companies such as Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson, Celanese, and Hoechst.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Greece Will Not Default... This Week, Maybe Next
The Markets
All you need to know about today's "out of the blue" rally.
According to a Bloomberg report:
...and with that, it was off to the races for the algo-spitting machines which double for a perfectly-functioning market.
Seriously, there was nothing other than that, oh, well, both PPI and retail sales figures were unchanged from the prior month, so nothing to see, there, really, move along. Something (not sure what) spooked the machines at about 3:30, just after the major indices hit their highs of the day and were careening toward an even bigger ramp up, but whatever it was, it took 140 points off the Dow and made today's extraordinary rally look... ordinary.
So, if reading the Wall Street tea leaves correctly, all that has to happen is for Greece not to default and we'll see Dow 20,000 in a matter of months. That appears to be the general herd mentality.
Just for a reference point, take a look at how far below the April highs the S&P, NASDAQ and Dow are and then rethink that strategy of buying everything that has momentum, like Netflix or Apple or maybe LuluLemon. Here's a hint: the Dow closed at 12810.54 on April 29, the high for the year, and, since we're checking, the close on Decembre 31, 2010 was 11557.51, so we're down for the year and about 1500 points off the high.
So, when Greece does default - because they surely will at some point - whether it be orderly or not, what will stocks be worth then?
Dow 11,246.73, +140.88 (1.27%)
NASDAQ 2,572.55, +40.40 (1.60%)
S&P 500 1,188.68, +15.81 (1.35%)
NYSE Composite 7,199.12, +89.17 (1.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,300,166,500
NYSE Volume 4,961,128,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4804-1800
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 52-110
WTI crude oil futures: 88.91, -1.30
Gold: 1819.70, -14.50
Silver: 40.69, -0.44
All you need to know about today's "out of the blue" rally.
According to a Bloomberg report:
"Greece is an integral part of the euro area and recent decisions to meet budget targets will help shield the economy," the Greek government said in a statement today following a call between Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
...and with that, it was off to the races for the algo-spitting machines which double for a perfectly-functioning market.
Seriously, there was nothing other than that, oh, well, both PPI and retail sales figures were unchanged from the prior month, so nothing to see, there, really, move along. Something (not sure what) spooked the machines at about 3:30, just after the major indices hit their highs of the day and were careening toward an even bigger ramp up, but whatever it was, it took 140 points off the Dow and made today's extraordinary rally look... ordinary.
So, if reading the Wall Street tea leaves correctly, all that has to happen is for Greece not to default and we'll see Dow 20,000 in a matter of months. That appears to be the general herd mentality.
Just for a reference point, take a look at how far below the April highs the S&P, NASDAQ and Dow are and then rethink that strategy of buying everything that has momentum, like Netflix or Apple or maybe LuluLemon. Here's a hint: the Dow closed at 12810.54 on April 29, the high for the year, and, since we're checking, the close on Decembre 31, 2010 was 11557.51, so we're down for the year and about 1500 points off the high.
So, when Greece does default - because they surely will at some point - whether it be orderly or not, what will stocks be worth then?
Dow 11,246.73, +140.88 (1.27%)
NASDAQ 2,572.55, +40.40 (1.60%)
S&P 500 1,188.68, +15.81 (1.35%)
NYSE Composite 7,199.12, +89.17 (1.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,300,166,500
NYSE Volume 4,961,128,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4804-1800
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 52-110
WTI crude oil futures: 88.91, -1.30
Gold: 1819.70, -14.50
Silver: 40.69, -0.44
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Calm Before the European Debt Storm
The Markets
An eerie calm settled over global markets on Tuesday. Maybe it was the mild late-summer weather, but most likely the dull, though uniformly positive trading sessions were not marred by any surprise announcements of China buying Italian debt or President Obama proposing another hare-brained multi-billion dollar stimulus program, and thus the machines went about their business of chasing momentum stocks into positive territory.
There actually was some somber news. It seems the 2008-and-beyond recession has yielded some stunning negatives on the American psyche. It seems, according the the Census Bureau, that the level of poverty in America has risen to its highest rate in 18 years, at 15.1 percent of all Americans, while the number of people living below the poverty line has risen to a record of 46.8 million in 2010. Both numbers are almost certain to be higher once they crunch the data from 2011.
Additionally, median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2009 median, after adjusting for inflation.
Thank you presidents Bush and Obama, all the congresses of the past decade, rich bankers and uncaring CEOs one and all. You have succeeded in the first phase of turning a once prosperous, joyous nation into a third-world hell-hole. There's great certainty that the politicians, bankers and media will continue to pursue policies that are harmful to the lives of average Americans while at the same time denying them of basic human rights and those couched in the constitution. Please don't ever allow Rep. Ron Paul to speak during a presidential debate - all of which have been nothing more than jousting matches between two loser career politicians, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney - as he might awaken the slumbering middle class which you are going out of your way to destroy.
Of course, none of this meant anything to the wizards of Wall Street, who only see such statistics as meaning there will be more consumers for their goods and more government cheese and free money forever. Wall Streeters earn well beyond the median income. They cheat and steal even more.
These kinds of statistics are neither enjoyable to report nor meaningful in the fight against the government-banking kleptocracy because they simply don't care, have all the money at their disposal and will not change anything. Only when the monetary system finally implodes upon itself, when there are no more pigeons to fleece and no more suckers from which to take money will the government and business begin to function as intended, without interference and ridiculous taxes and entitlements.
Until then, we have Europe on our side, especially the Greeks, who openly oppose their government, willfully refusing to pay taxes and - for the most part - ignoring the doctrines and proclamations of the elitists. We should all take a lesson from them, just as their economy sinks into an inescapable indebtedness.
Dow 11,105.85, +44.73 (0.40%)
NASDAQ 2,532.15, +37.06 (1.49%)
S&P 500 1,172.87, +10.60 (0.91%)
NYSE Composite 7,109.95, +62.83 (0.89%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,943,776,750.00
NYSE Volume 4,648,729,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4865-1635
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 25-114
WTI crude oil futures: 90.21, +2.02 (absurd)
Gold: 1833.30, +18.90
Silver: 41.01, +0.72
An eerie calm settled over global markets on Tuesday. Maybe it was the mild late-summer weather, but most likely the dull, though uniformly positive trading sessions were not marred by any surprise announcements of China buying Italian debt or President Obama proposing another hare-brained multi-billion dollar stimulus program, and thus the machines went about their business of chasing momentum stocks into positive territory.
There actually was some somber news. It seems the 2008-and-beyond recession has yielded some stunning negatives on the American psyche. It seems, according the the Census Bureau, that the level of poverty in America has risen to its highest rate in 18 years, at 15.1 percent of all Americans, while the number of people living below the poverty line has risen to a record of 46.8 million in 2010. Both numbers are almost certain to be higher once they crunch the data from 2011.
Additionally, median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2009 median, after adjusting for inflation.
Thank you presidents Bush and Obama, all the congresses of the past decade, rich bankers and uncaring CEOs one and all. You have succeeded in the first phase of turning a once prosperous, joyous nation into a third-world hell-hole. There's great certainty that the politicians, bankers and media will continue to pursue policies that are harmful to the lives of average Americans while at the same time denying them of basic human rights and those couched in the constitution. Please don't ever allow Rep. Ron Paul to speak during a presidential debate - all of which have been nothing more than jousting matches between two loser career politicians, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney - as he might awaken the slumbering middle class which you are going out of your way to destroy.
Of course, none of this meant anything to the wizards of Wall Street, who only see such statistics as meaning there will be more consumers for their goods and more government cheese and free money forever. Wall Streeters earn well beyond the median income. They cheat and steal even more.
These kinds of statistics are neither enjoyable to report nor meaningful in the fight against the government-banking kleptocracy because they simply don't care, have all the money at their disposal and will not change anything. Only when the monetary system finally implodes upon itself, when there are no more pigeons to fleece and no more suckers from which to take money will the government and business begin to function as intended, without interference and ridiculous taxes and entitlements.
Until then, we have Europe on our side, especially the Greeks, who openly oppose their government, willfully refusing to pay taxes and - for the most part - ignoring the doctrines and proclamations of the elitists. We should all take a lesson from them, just as their economy sinks into an inescapable indebtedness.
Dow 11,105.85, +44.73 (0.40%)
NASDAQ 2,532.15, +37.06 (1.49%)
S&P 500 1,172.87, +10.60 (0.91%)
NYSE Composite 7,109.95, +62.83 (0.89%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,943,776,750.00
NYSE Volume 4,648,729,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4865-1635
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 25-114
WTI crude oil futures: 90.21, +2.02 (absurd)
Gold: 1833.30, +18.90
Silver: 41.01, +0.72
Monday, September 12, 2011
BUMMER: The Plunge Protection Team Is Back in Action!
The Markets
Let's face it. US equity and commodity markets are completely, irretrievably, unconscionably manipulated beyond any basic sense of fairness.
On the morning of the first trading day of the week, US equity scalpers were met with futures that forecast a dismal Monday. Every index in every foreign country was lower on the day. In Asia, the Hang Seng led the way with a loss of greater than 4%. European bourses, shattered for the better part of the past three months, were all lower, the French CAC-40 taking over from the German DAX in leading the way to oblivion with a 4% decline.
But here in America, we have advantages. We have Ben Bernanke, the brilliant, often uninspiring and always shaking Chairman of the Federal Reserve. We have Timothy Geithner, the diminutive (matching his brain power) Treasury Secretary who keeps a watchful eye over the nation's exploding debt.
And we have printing presses (actually, they've been replaced by computers) spitting out US dollars faster than a 9th Avenue hobo picks up pennies thrown his way.
More than anything else, however, we have the fabled Plunge Protection Team (PPT), aka the President's Working Group on Financial Markets created by President Reagan in the aftermath of the LTCM blowup in 1987.
According to Executive Order 12631, the "Working Group" was established explicitly in response to events in the financial markets surrounding October 19, 1987 ("Black Monday") to give recommendations for legislative and private sector solutions for "enhancing the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, and competitiveness of [United States] financial markets and maintaining investor confidence.
In other words, when the markets are crashing, the Working Group, or PPT, springs, like trained attack Dobermans, into action to rescue witless investors from parting with their increasingly worthless cash.
Today, the PPT got busy early on. Stocks were hammered at the open, in response to the rest of the world in a near panic over Greece potentially defaulting and European credit market spreads blowing out all over the place. Stocks were down huge in the opening minutes of trading, as an extension of Friday's selloff and the continuing global debt implosion. The fact that Greece will eventually default on a large portion of their debt and ungraciously remove itself from the Euro standard (back to the Drachma) is unimportant to the functioning of the PPT. They buy futures. They buy stocks. They buy whatever is falling fastest, which on Monday, was just about anything that had a ticker symbol.
The PPT doesn't always prompt rallies. Their normal function is to keep US indices from falling too far, too fast, like today, like about six times in the past three weeks, like about a thousand times since the dotcom crash of 2000. And today was no different. They kept he markets in a sane neighborhood, down somewhere between a half and one per cent, until, that is, all the lights turned green.
Around 2:30, the Financial Times, another overstuffed relic from the days of ink and newsprint, ran a story that China was interested in buying Italian bonds, many of which will go up for bid this week as the Italian government seeks to finance its long-standing tradition of turning investor dough into pasta salad, along with assorted mafia side dishes and Berlusconi desserts.
Since noodles are noodles, whether they're doused in marinara or lobster sauce, the nitwits on CNBC were led to believe that this was a great idea, and the markets turned from merely moribund to miraculously magnificent in the final hour-and-a-half of trading. The US wins again. All of the US indices ended the day in positive territory.
Now, some may cheer that the US government has investor's backs, but the stark reality is that the PPT is all that's left between regular day-to-day life and a most serious, full-blown market crash of stupefying proportions. The global economy is on its knees due to too much debt, too many goods and too many currencies trying vainly to devalue themselves. The entire affair is deflationary in the most absolute sense as goods and services become more and more worthless, while the relative value of the currencies which buy such goods plummets into an phalanx of money-crunching debt.
Ah, for the good old days of really free, open markets, like back in the sixties and seventies, when a stock could be worthwhile returning a reasonable four to five per cent dividend along with annualized growth of 15-20%. A quarter point here, a half point there. We were all invested and looking forward to a safe, sensible and sane retirement.
Nostalgia. It's what one gets when one sees the fruits of labor lavished on the already rich.
And by the way, the day should not pass without acknowledging that Jaime Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, thinks the Basel 3 rules requiring the largest banks, such as his, to hold 9.5% of tier one capital, are "un-American." Right. FU, Jaime. Is JPM the next bank to start selling off assets? Probably should, but probably won't. Hey, the world is an imperfect place, suitable for misfit rich kids like Jaime.
Dow 11,061.12, +68.99 (0.63%)
NASDAQ 2,495.09, +27.10 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,162.27, +8.04 (0.70%)
NYSE Composite 7,047.12, +2.11 (0.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,994,098,375
NYSE Volume 5,034,112,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3178-3364
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - new lows: 19-514
WTI crude oil futures: 88.19, +0.95
Gold: 1815.80, -42.80
Silver: 40.29, -1.09
Astute readers will understand what it means when all the major indices are up, but the A-D line is negative and especially when the new highs - new lows are tilted so heavily in favor of the lows. For those who still need guidance, it's a con, a complete, total, 100% sham. That oil futures are up while gold and silver suffer heavy losses really cinches it.
Idea: Fresh out, though working hard on "Making a budget and sticking to it," and "Saving 10% of your income." More tomorrow.
Let's face it. US equity and commodity markets are completely, irretrievably, unconscionably manipulated beyond any basic sense of fairness.
On the morning of the first trading day of the week, US equity scalpers were met with futures that forecast a dismal Monday. Every index in every foreign country was lower on the day. In Asia, the Hang Seng led the way with a loss of greater than 4%. European bourses, shattered for the better part of the past three months, were all lower, the French CAC-40 taking over from the German DAX in leading the way to oblivion with a 4% decline.
But here in America, we have advantages. We have Ben Bernanke, the brilliant, often uninspiring and always shaking Chairman of the Federal Reserve. We have Timothy Geithner, the diminutive (matching his brain power) Treasury Secretary who keeps a watchful eye over the nation's exploding debt.
And we have printing presses (actually, they've been replaced by computers) spitting out US dollars faster than a 9th Avenue hobo picks up pennies thrown his way.
More than anything else, however, we have the fabled Plunge Protection Team (PPT), aka the President's Working Group on Financial Markets created by President Reagan in the aftermath of the LTCM blowup in 1987.
According to Executive Order 12631, the "Working Group" was established explicitly in response to events in the financial markets surrounding October 19, 1987 ("Black Monday") to give recommendations for legislative and private sector solutions for "enhancing the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, and competitiveness of [United States] financial markets and maintaining investor confidence.
In other words, when the markets are crashing, the Working Group, or PPT, springs, like trained attack Dobermans, into action to rescue witless investors from parting with their increasingly worthless cash.
Today, the PPT got busy early on. Stocks were hammered at the open, in response to the rest of the world in a near panic over Greece potentially defaulting and European credit market spreads blowing out all over the place. Stocks were down huge in the opening minutes of trading, as an extension of Friday's selloff and the continuing global debt implosion. The fact that Greece will eventually default on a large portion of their debt and ungraciously remove itself from the Euro standard (back to the Drachma) is unimportant to the functioning of the PPT. They buy futures. They buy stocks. They buy whatever is falling fastest, which on Monday, was just about anything that had a ticker symbol.
The PPT doesn't always prompt rallies. Their normal function is to keep US indices from falling too far, too fast, like today, like about six times in the past three weeks, like about a thousand times since the dotcom crash of 2000. And today was no different. They kept he markets in a sane neighborhood, down somewhere between a half and one per cent, until, that is, all the lights turned green.
Around 2:30, the Financial Times, another overstuffed relic from the days of ink and newsprint, ran a story that China was interested in buying Italian bonds, many of which will go up for bid this week as the Italian government seeks to finance its long-standing tradition of turning investor dough into pasta salad, along with assorted mafia side dishes and Berlusconi desserts.
Since noodles are noodles, whether they're doused in marinara or lobster sauce, the nitwits on CNBC were led to believe that this was a great idea, and the markets turned from merely moribund to miraculously magnificent in the final hour-and-a-half of trading. The US wins again. All of the US indices ended the day in positive territory.
Now, some may cheer that the US government has investor's backs, but the stark reality is that the PPT is all that's left between regular day-to-day life and a most serious, full-blown market crash of stupefying proportions. The global economy is on its knees due to too much debt, too many goods and too many currencies trying vainly to devalue themselves. The entire affair is deflationary in the most absolute sense as goods and services become more and more worthless, while the relative value of the currencies which buy such goods plummets into an phalanx of money-crunching debt.
Ah, for the good old days of really free, open markets, like back in the sixties and seventies, when a stock could be worthwhile returning a reasonable four to five per cent dividend along with annualized growth of 15-20%. A quarter point here, a half point there. We were all invested and looking forward to a safe, sensible and sane retirement.
Nostalgia. It's what one gets when one sees the fruits of labor lavished on the already rich.
And by the way, the day should not pass without acknowledging that Jaime Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, thinks the Basel 3 rules requiring the largest banks, such as his, to hold 9.5% of tier one capital, are "un-American." Right. FU, Jaime. Is JPM the next bank to start selling off assets? Probably should, but probably won't. Hey, the world is an imperfect place, suitable for misfit rich kids like Jaime.
Dow 11,061.12, +68.99 (0.63%)
NASDAQ 2,495.09, +27.10 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,162.27, +8.04 (0.70%)
NYSE Composite 7,047.12, +2.11 (0.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,994,098,375
NYSE Volume 5,034,112,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3178-3364
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - new lows: 19-514
WTI crude oil futures: 88.19, +0.95
Gold: 1815.80, -42.80
Silver: 40.29, -1.09
Astute readers will understand what it means when all the major indices are up, but the A-D line is negative and especially when the new highs - new lows are tilted so heavily in favor of the lows. For those who still need guidance, it's a con, a complete, total, 100% sham. That oil futures are up while gold and silver suffer heavy losses really cinches it.
Idea: Fresh out, though working hard on "Making a budget and sticking to it," and "Saving 10% of your income." More tomorrow.
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