From the first indication given by Alcoa (AA) after the bell on Tuesday, this earnings season may not be in investors' best interests.
The world's largest manufacturer of aluminum products reported earnings per share of 15 cents, on analyst expectations of 22 cents per share. Revenue was above estimates, at $6.42 billion on estimates of $6.22 billion, but higher costs and some sluggish sectors crimped income down to $172 million for the quarter.
Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld made a couple of interesting comments regarding the quarter's results on CNBC, shortly after the data release. Kleinfeld said that "fear is taking a toll," noting the overwhelming sentiment that investors were wary of the crisis in Europe and a potential global recession and noted that Alcoa was a "competent company in a very nervous world.
The stock was being hammered lower in after-hours trading, down
After Monday's huge upside rally, markets seemed hesitant on Tuesday, and stocks traded in choppy, range-bound fashion. The Dow moved less than 80 points from the lows to the highs on the day.
Another factor keeping trading to a minimum on light volume was the debate in Slovakia on the vote to approve an expanded Eurozone bailout fund. Shortly after markets closed in New York, Slovakian lawmakers on Tuesday rejected participating in an expanded euro rescue fund, significant because the measure needed unanimous approval from all 17 currency members.
With tiny Solvakia standing up against bank bailouts and more depreciation of the Euro against major currencies, the breakup of the Euro seems all but academic at this point. It's become clear over the past few months and years that only the Northern European countries are fiscally balanced and able to cope with market pressures, while those in the South - particularly Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal - do not share the same financial disciple as displayed by say, the Germans.
Without expanded emergency capabilities, European banks will face a liquidity and solvency crisis similar to what happened in the US in the aftermath of the Lehman Bros. collapse and the contagion from it will almost certainly spread globally, though to what degree is as yet unknown.
The Slovakian Parliament decision and Alcoa's big miss on earnings should make for interesting trading on Wednesday in all markets, from Asia to Europe to the US.
Dow 11,416.30, -16.88 (0.15%)
NASDAQ 2,583.03, +16.98 (0.66%)
S&P 500 1,195.54, +0.65 (0.05%)
NYSE Composite 7,161.26, -12.19 (0.17%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,684,082,875
NYSE Volume 4,318,042,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3717-2705
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 37-60
WTI crude oil: 85.81, +0.40
Gold: 1,661.00, -9.80
Silver: 32.00, +0.02
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Wall Street is a Crooked, Rotten, Rigged Casino
Just to keep everybody on their toes, the criminals running the Wall Street Casino sold off stocks at the end of the day.
The only real news - if one can call data from the horribly inefficient BLS "real" - was the September non-farm payroll report, showing a gain of 103K for the month. August was revised upward, from zero to 57,000 new jobs. Yeah, sure.
There's so much noise in this market, let's just leave it there. Maybe it will die and rot away over the Columbus day weekend.
Have a nice weekend. Go, Cardinals!
Dow 11,103.12, -20.21 (0.18%)
NASDAQ 2,479.35, -27.47 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,155.46, -9.51 (0.82%)
NYSE Composite 6,925.80, -71.84 (1.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,106,904,500
NYSE Volume 5,434,408,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1866-4649
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 19-89
WTI crude oil: 82.98, +0.39
Gold: 1638.60, -11.70
Silver: 31.10, -0.83
The only real news - if one can call data from the horribly inefficient BLS "real" - was the September non-farm payroll report, showing a gain of 103K for the month. August was revised upward, from zero to 57,000 new jobs. Yeah, sure.
There's so much noise in this market, let's just leave it there. Maybe it will die and rot away over the Columbus day weekend.
Have a nice weekend. Go, Cardinals!
Dow 11,103.12, -20.21 (0.18%)
NASDAQ 2,479.35, -27.47 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,155.46, -9.51 (0.82%)
NYSE Composite 6,925.80, -71.84 (1.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,106,904,500
NYSE Volume 5,434,408,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1866-4649
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 19-89
WTI crude oil: 82.98, +0.39
Gold: 1638.60, -11.70
Silver: 31.10, -0.83
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Last Hour Rally Boost Stocks for Third Straight Session; Occupy Wall Street Legions Growing; Steve Jobs Dead at 56
OK, this is getting a bit ridiculous.
For the third day in a row, stocks staged a final hour ramp-up, this one good for only 100 points on the Dow, but that came after stocks had been given an initial lift-off around 10:00 am, resulting in a nearly 200-point rise on the Dow.
News from the Eurozone was once again scant, as EU ministers and leaders of the nations comprising the EU proved they will not take a back seat to the US President and congress when it comes to foot-dragging and kicking the proverbial economic can down the road.
There was some discussion of "re-capitalization" of the major banks, meaning nothing more than egregious money printing and bailouts for those with the most capital who have not yet learned how to manage it wisely.
Considering the penchant for late-day moves, perhaps the directors of the various exchanges might consider opening the market later in the day, say, 3:00 pm, locking out sellers as the computer algorithms simply ramp up the stocks they like. Being that "banker's hours" are legendarily short as it is, this would give said elite bankers more time to count their profits and have their nails manicured.
It's worth pointing out that the past three day's worth of last hour rallies began off fresh lows, set in place on Tuesday's ripped decline. On that day, the Dow bottomed at 10362.26, a low point not seen since September 9, 2010. The S&P and NASDAQ made similar moves, setting new, 12-month lows before the "Merkel miracle" when German Chancellor Angela Merkel first uttered the word, "re-capitalize." The S&P had already entered official bear market territory, obviously something the power-mad bankers simply could not tolerate.
The legacy of the current short-run rally will depend greatly upon the figures released Friday morning when the BLS issues its monthly non-farm payroll data. Anything over 50,000 new jobs created is certain to be seen as a win for equity holders, though there are no hard and fast estimates that can be trusted after last month's zero reading.
While in the short term, propping up markets - as has been occurring since late 2008 - may seem a noble and prudent activity, the longer-term consequences of unbalancing markets are not well known, although the examples available (Weimar, Zimbabwe, Dutch Tulip Bubble) all seem to have ended very, very badly.
On that note, here's a couple of Wall Street Whiz Guys who think the "new" level to watch is 1070 on the S&P. Listen carefully and you'll hear them advise to buy low and sell lower. Obviously, these guys are fresh escapees from the zoo for unfit hedge fund manglers.
Legendary gold bull, Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital, doesn't think we're headed for a double-dip recession, he believes we're headed straight into "a complete economic collapse." Schiff's entertaining and caustic video can be seen here.
Not to put too fine a point on the doom and gloom aspect, Aftershock author, Robert Wiedemer, opines that we'll see "another meltdown within 2 to 4 years."
Well, Bob, thanks for the warning, though two to four years seems a long time to be waiting for the Apocalypse.
Meanwhile, outside the granite, steel and glass elitist enclaves of the big Wall Street firms, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement continues to aggravate the paymasters and grow in depth and volume, spreading to over 500 cities and even getting the attention of President Obama during a news conference on Thursday. The corner of Broadway and Wall Street is beginning to resemble Cairo's Tahir Square in many ways.
Dow 11,123.33, +183.38 (1.68%)
NASDAQ 2,506.82, +46.31 (1.88%)
S&P 500 1,164.97, +20.94 (1.83%)
NYSE Composite 6,997.64, +153.48 (2.24%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,263,897,750
NYSE Volume 5,586,015,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 5253-1294
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 15-69
WTI crude oil: 82.59, +2.91 (WTF?)
Gold: 1,653.20, +11.60
Silver: 32.00, +1.65
Finally, it is with great regret to report that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at the tender age of 56. In a tribute to Jobs' brilliance, we present the Super Bowl "1984" ad which aired on Super Bowl Sunday, January 22, 1984, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII, heralding the launch of the Macintosh computer that revolutionized computing and our lives in general. Jobs was a thinker and inventor along the lines of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, a man of such greatness that we will likely not see another like him for decades. It would be remiss not to point out that this blog, and many other online ventures, is run off a seven or eight year old e-Mac, purchased used for $50 more than three years ago and that the Mac PowerBook G3 that was purchased in 1998, is still running strong on system 8.9, and has been operational, without the need for upgrades or any repairs for thirteen years.
People who invent and produce products of such lasting and functional value don't come along too often. Jobs, and his unique understanding of technology and its interaction with people, will be sorely missed.
For the third day in a row, stocks staged a final hour ramp-up, this one good for only 100 points on the Dow, but that came after stocks had been given an initial lift-off around 10:00 am, resulting in a nearly 200-point rise on the Dow.
News from the Eurozone was once again scant, as EU ministers and leaders of the nations comprising the EU proved they will not take a back seat to the US President and congress when it comes to foot-dragging and kicking the proverbial economic can down the road.
There was some discussion of "re-capitalization" of the major banks, meaning nothing more than egregious money printing and bailouts for those with the most capital who have not yet learned how to manage it wisely.
Considering the penchant for late-day moves, perhaps the directors of the various exchanges might consider opening the market later in the day, say, 3:00 pm, locking out sellers as the computer algorithms simply ramp up the stocks they like. Being that "banker's hours" are legendarily short as it is, this would give said elite bankers more time to count their profits and have their nails manicured.
It's worth pointing out that the past three day's worth of last hour rallies began off fresh lows, set in place on Tuesday's ripped decline. On that day, the Dow bottomed at 10362.26, a low point not seen since September 9, 2010. The S&P and NASDAQ made similar moves, setting new, 12-month lows before the "Merkel miracle" when German Chancellor Angela Merkel first uttered the word, "re-capitalize." The S&P had already entered official bear market territory, obviously something the power-mad bankers simply could not tolerate.
The legacy of the current short-run rally will depend greatly upon the figures released Friday morning when the BLS issues its monthly non-farm payroll data. Anything over 50,000 new jobs created is certain to be seen as a win for equity holders, though there are no hard and fast estimates that can be trusted after last month's zero reading.
While in the short term, propping up markets - as has been occurring since late 2008 - may seem a noble and prudent activity, the longer-term consequences of unbalancing markets are not well known, although the examples available (Weimar, Zimbabwe, Dutch Tulip Bubble) all seem to have ended very, very badly.
On that note, here's a couple of Wall Street Whiz Guys who think the "new" level to watch is 1070 on the S&P. Listen carefully and you'll hear them advise to buy low and sell lower. Obviously, these guys are fresh escapees from the zoo for unfit hedge fund manglers.
Legendary gold bull, Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital, doesn't think we're headed for a double-dip recession, he believes we're headed straight into "a complete economic collapse." Schiff's entertaining and caustic video can be seen here.
Not to put too fine a point on the doom and gloom aspect, Aftershock author, Robert Wiedemer, opines that we'll see "another meltdown within 2 to 4 years."
Well, Bob, thanks for the warning, though two to four years seems a long time to be waiting for the Apocalypse.
Meanwhile, outside the granite, steel and glass elitist enclaves of the big Wall Street firms, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement continues to aggravate the paymasters and grow in depth and volume, spreading to over 500 cities and even getting the attention of President Obama during a news conference on Thursday. The corner of Broadway and Wall Street is beginning to resemble Cairo's Tahir Square in many ways.
Dow 11,123.33, +183.38 (1.68%)
NASDAQ 2,506.82, +46.31 (1.88%)
S&P 500 1,164.97, +20.94 (1.83%)
NYSE Composite 6,997.64, +153.48 (2.24%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,263,897,750
NYSE Volume 5,586,015,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 5253-1294
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 15-69
WTI crude oil: 82.59, +2.91 (WTF?)
Gold: 1,653.20, +11.60
Silver: 32.00, +1.65
Finally, it is with great regret to report that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at the tender age of 56. In a tribute to Jobs' brilliance, we present the Super Bowl "1984" ad which aired on Super Bowl Sunday, January 22, 1984, during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII, heralding the launch of the Macintosh computer that revolutionized computing and our lives in general. Jobs was a thinker and inventor along the lines of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, a man of such greatness that we will likely not see another like him for decades. It would be remiss not to point out that this blog, and many other online ventures, is run off a seven or eight year old e-Mac, purchased used for $50 more than three years ago and that the Mac PowerBook G3 that was purchased in 1998, is still running strong on system 8.9, and has been operational, without the need for upgrades or any repairs for thirteen years.
People who invent and produce products of such lasting and functional value don't come along too often. Jobs, and his unique understanding of technology and its interaction with people, will be sorely missed.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Quiet Day as Stocks Ramp Up Further in Advance on NFP Data
It was a very quiet, lackluster session for US stocks after yesterday's flash rally in the final hour had the desired effect of cooling off the shorts and the sellers, at least for a day. There was scarcely a peep coming out of Europe, the main culprit for increased volatility in US markets, and the upside play was enhanced when ADP released its September Employment Change report, showing job gains of 91,000 over the past month, though the number was 89,000 prior to that and the official US Labor Dept. non-farm payroll survey came up with a big, fat zero, so hope for significant job gains this month will depend on how drastically federal, state and local government jobs were slashed in September. The non-farm payroll report comes out before the markets open on Friday and estimates are in a range of gains of just 30,000 to 90,000.
Another boost to confidence was applied when the ISM Services Index fell less than expected, from 53.3 in August, to an even 53 in September. Of course even though the employment picture for private employers may be exhibiting signs of renewed hope that the US economy may avoid a recession by a hair, the report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas painted a different picture, with an increase of 211.5% in mass layoffs over last year. The planned job cuts of 115,000 were the highest reported since April 2009, at the depth of the latest recession and were 126% higher than those reported in August.
Regardless, stocks marched higher throughout the day, on strong volume. This two-day rally has to be put into perspective, however, as it began as a desperate bounce off new lows, was more than likely the work of a number of insiders and scared short sellers back into hiding, though a few more days of gains might just bring them out once again.
Everything seems to be heading for the non farm payroll report on Friday, but Thursday's weekly reading of initial unemployment claims, if they continue heading lower, as they did last week, should give stocks more lift.
The oddly-quiet nature of today's trade, when combined with the incidence of solid volume sets up an interesting trading regimen for the remainder of the week. Of course, that could all be scuttled by more negative news out of Europe, which has developed the nasty habit of showing up just in time to kill numerous rallies over the past two months.
With market reactions to every bit of news, trading stocks have become about as reliable as an old fashioned craps shoot on a Bowery back alley. Real money has retreated into cash, gold, treasuries or other hard assets, where merely holding onto what one's got has become the mantra of a new, risk-averse generation of money mavens.
This current rally is nothing but flux and fluff and, like so many before it, will probably end up in tatters before long. Deflation has reared its ugly head and won't back down until Bernanke gives in and goes for another round of quantitative easing, the worst of all possible solutions.
Dow 10,939.95, +131.24 (1.21%)
NASDAQ 2,460.51, +55.69 (2.32%)
S&P 500 1,144.04, +20.09 (1.79%)
NYSE Composite 6,843.41, +120.43 (1.79%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,457,121,250
NYSE Volume 5,855,495,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4664-1866
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 18-138
WTI crude oil: 79.68, +4.01
Gold: 1640.70, +16.50
Silver: 30.43, +0.20
Another boost to confidence was applied when the ISM Services Index fell less than expected, from 53.3 in August, to an even 53 in September. Of course even though the employment picture for private employers may be exhibiting signs of renewed hope that the US economy may avoid a recession by a hair, the report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas painted a different picture, with an increase of 211.5% in mass layoffs over last year. The planned job cuts of 115,000 were the highest reported since April 2009, at the depth of the latest recession and were 126% higher than those reported in August.
Regardless, stocks marched higher throughout the day, on strong volume. This two-day rally has to be put into perspective, however, as it began as a desperate bounce off new lows, was more than likely the work of a number of insiders and scared short sellers back into hiding, though a few more days of gains might just bring them out once again.
Everything seems to be heading for the non farm payroll report on Friday, but Thursday's weekly reading of initial unemployment claims, if they continue heading lower, as they did last week, should give stocks more lift.
The oddly-quiet nature of today's trade, when combined with the incidence of solid volume sets up an interesting trading regimen for the remainder of the week. Of course, that could all be scuttled by more negative news out of Europe, which has developed the nasty habit of showing up just in time to kill numerous rallies over the past two months.
With market reactions to every bit of news, trading stocks have become about as reliable as an old fashioned craps shoot on a Bowery back alley. Real money has retreated into cash, gold, treasuries or other hard assets, where merely holding onto what one's got has become the mantra of a new, risk-averse generation of money mavens.
This current rally is nothing but flux and fluff and, like so many before it, will probably end up in tatters before long. Deflation has reared its ugly head and won't back down until Bernanke gives in and goes for another round of quantitative easing, the worst of all possible solutions.
Dow 10,939.95, +131.24 (1.21%)
NASDAQ 2,460.51, +55.69 (2.32%)
S&P 500 1,144.04, +20.09 (1.79%)
NYSE Composite 6,843.41, +120.43 (1.79%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,457,121,250
NYSE Volume 5,855,495,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4664-1866
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 18-138
WTI crude oil: 79.68, +4.01
Gold: 1640.70, +16.50
Silver: 30.43, +0.20
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Fantasy, Engineered Rally from PPT Saves Stocks from Bear Market Territory
To believe that a late-day rally, sending the Dow Jones Industrials from a loss of over 200 points to a gain of 150 points in the final hour of trading, is anything more than make-believe, engineered by the Fed, Treasury and other member's of the President's Working Group, aka, the Plunge Protection Team (PPT), would be sheer folly.
This latest move by the market manipulators is so blatantly contrived and designed to keep the American public believing all is well that is defies explanation. One of the headline stories on Yahoo News, Stocks Avoid Bear Market Territory Thanks to Late Day Rally cites "vague assurances from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke" as the cause for the rally, but never goes on to explain just what those "vague assurances" are. Surely the editors made up the line since the eminently-powerless Bernanke was testifying before the completely-clueless, corrupt and complicit congress today.
Sounds good, but we're not buying it.
The S&P was the real target. At 3:15 in the afternoon, the S&P was nestled comfortably in bear market territory, down roughly 20 points at 1080. By the end of the session, just 45 minutes later, the index was sitting at nearly 1024, a 45-point move in 45 minutes. At that rate - a point a minute - the S&P should be in record territory above 1550 by noon on Thursday, so hurry up and load up on those stocks, kids, the good times are here to stay!
This market is rubbish, as is the US government and our once-healthy, but now debt-ridden, jobless, service economy. Anybody invested in stocks with money that is for serious puposes should be seeking professional mental health advice. US stock markets have been called casinos, but that description gives casinos a bad name.
That's all this writer can stand for today. OK, a little more...
The number of new lows today is 100X larger than the number of new highs, and the market is going up? Please, this is only a golden opportunity to short this with everything one has, unless, as is usually the case, it gaps lower at the open tomorrow. 1962 new lows means that almost 1/3 of the entire US stock market made a new low today. Perhaps those "vague assurances" from Bernanke's lips were for unlimited funds for failed banks and just about any other company in these once-great, but now completely fictionalized United States.
Dow 10,808.71, +153.41 (1.44%)
NASDAQ 2,404.82, +68.99 (2.95%)
S&P 500 1,123.95, +24.72 (2.25%)
NYSE Composite 6,722.98, +148.69 (2.26%)
NASDAQ Volume 3,122,499,000
NYSE Volume 7,875,459,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4252-2410
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 18--1962 (full panic mode)
WTI crude oil: 75.67, -1.94
Gold: 1624.20, -36.70
Silver: 30.23, -0.26
This latest move by the market manipulators is so blatantly contrived and designed to keep the American public believing all is well that is defies explanation. One of the headline stories on Yahoo News, Stocks Avoid Bear Market Territory Thanks to Late Day Rally cites "vague assurances from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke" as the cause for the rally, but never goes on to explain just what those "vague assurances" are. Surely the editors made up the line since the eminently-powerless Bernanke was testifying before the completely-clueless, corrupt and complicit congress today.
Sounds good, but we're not buying it.
The S&P was the real target. At 3:15 in the afternoon, the S&P was nestled comfortably in bear market territory, down roughly 20 points at 1080. By the end of the session, just 45 minutes later, the index was sitting at nearly 1024, a 45-point move in 45 minutes. At that rate - a point a minute - the S&P should be in record territory above 1550 by noon on Thursday, so hurry up and load up on those stocks, kids, the good times are here to stay!
This market is rubbish, as is the US government and our once-healthy, but now debt-ridden, jobless, service economy. Anybody invested in stocks with money that is for serious puposes should be seeking professional mental health advice. US stock markets have been called casinos, but that description gives casinos a bad name.
That's all this writer can stand for today. OK, a little more...
The number of new lows today is 100X larger than the number of new highs, and the market is going up? Please, this is only a golden opportunity to short this with everything one has, unless, as is usually the case, it gaps lower at the open tomorrow. 1962 new lows means that almost 1/3 of the entire US stock market made a new low today. Perhaps those "vague assurances" from Bernanke's lips were for unlimited funds for failed banks and just about any other company in these once-great, but now completely fictionalized United States.
Dow 10,808.71, +153.41 (1.44%)
NASDAQ 2,404.82, +68.99 (2.95%)
S&P 500 1,123.95, +24.72 (2.25%)
NYSE Composite 6,722.98, +148.69 (2.26%)
NASDAQ Volume 3,122,499,000
NYSE Volume 7,875,459,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4252-2410
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 18--1962 (full panic mode)
WTI crude oil: 75.67, -1.94
Gold: 1624.20, -36.70
Silver: 30.23, -0.26
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