Another three-day weekend has passed, another European crisis barely averted and, lo and behold, another Tuesday rally fueled by speculation in pre-market futures. To say that US markets - and, by inference, global markets - are being propped up on false hope and denial of reality would be a gross understatement.
A little history suffices to show that last year, January was a positive one for the markets, with the S&P 500 gaining 29 points, pointing the way toward - according to the mighty January Barometer - a solid year, and we all know how that turned out, with the market's absolute top occurring in late April.
This is a replay of just about the same scenario with one big difference. Stocks are probably a little better than fairly valued, but corporate profits are not expected to set new records (after 2011's record earnings). Rather, competition and currency exchange concerns will likely limit what most of the big, multinational firms will make in 2012, to say nothing of the impending default of Greece and the recent downgrading of about half of the nations comprising the Eurozone.
Here in the US, focus will be on the presidential race, which looks exceedingly like it will come down to a very disturbing and divisive fight between the incumbent Democrat, Barack Obama and the Republican Mitt Romney, who looks quite a bit like what "occupy" movement supporters deride as a fat-cat, political and capitalist sociopath.
In essence and for the practical purposes of governing, Romney's not much different from Obama, leaving Americans with the usual unpalatable choice of the lesser of two evils. The press, for the fourth presidential election in a row, will hail this as "the most important election of your life," which, of course, it certainly is not, though the amount of money pumped into the campaigns by super-PACs will be the stuff of legend.
With any luck, the preponderance of political advertising will result in more Americans revisiting old habits and older friends, and tuning out the mainstream propaganda machine full time.
As for this current vapor-rally on minimal volume (a tell-tale sign of weakness), it may just come to an abrupt end with the expiration of options on Friday, or, being that the powers behind the Ponzi fiat money scheme need to keep up appearances, it could just saunter along for a few more months. Since the Republicans in congress wish to unseat Mr. Obama at almost all costs, expect gridlock in Washington for the rest of 2012, though geo-political events (think Europe, Iran and the Middle East) could certainly send stocks spiraling lower, just as they did in late 2007 and through much of 2008.
Some interesting macro-economic facts came to light over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, such as ratings agency Standard & Poor's commencing to downgrade the EU's main liquidity funding mechanism, the ESFS, a notch, from AAA to AA+, putting even more stress on the Continent's debt issues.
As mentioned Friday, talks about restructuring private Greek debt have fallen apart and an outright default before March 20 appears to be all but certain.
Back in the US, the average age of vehicles on the road has reached a new high of 10.8 years as strapped consumers delay the purchase of new cars indefinitely. So much for the government's bailout of GM and Chrysler. Shares of General Motors are up about four points this year, reaching 24.20 as of today, but are still well below the IPO price of $35 per share.
Two of the nation's largest banks issued 4th quarter earnings reports prior to the opening bell. Wells-Fargo (WFC), now the largest bank in the US by market cap, met expectations, but Citigroup missed badly, with reported earnings of 38 cents a share, missing rosy estimates of 51 cents per share and well below last year's fourth quarter of 43 cents. Shares of Citigroup were bashed, losing 2.53, to 28.22, a loss of more than eight percent.
Today's market was punctuated within the first 20 minutes of trading, hitting the highs for the day, with the Dow up 161 points before the day-long selling commenced. Optimistic gapped-up opens followed by floundering into a weak close is a sure sign of an over-hyped market, though the Dow has sported gains in six of ten sessions this year.
Bull markets don't last forever, especially secular bulls, such as this one, which has persisted since the bottom in March of 2009. The mini corrections in the Spring and again in August haven't dampened investor sentiment much, though weak volume remains a persistent feature. Eventually, reality, such as Citi's poor showing today, will take hold of even the most stubborn bulls... and their money.
Dow 12,482.07, +60.01 (0.48%)
NASDAQ 2,728.08, +17.41 (0.64%)
S&P 500 1,293.67, +4.58 (0.36%)
NYSE Composite 7,670.47, +38.44 (0.50%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,819,276,375
NYSE Volume 3,883,768,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3262-2341
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 217-46
WTI crude oil: 100.71, +2.01
Gold: 1,655.60, +24.80
Silver: 30.14, +0.61
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday the 13th Unlucky for JP Morgan, Europe Sovereigns as Debt Ratings Are Slashed
Friday the 13th was unlucky for most investors as stocks slipped over concerns of "imminent" credit downgrades in Europe and JP Morgan Chase's (JPM) quarterly results disappointed on revenue.
JP Morgan released 4th quarter and annual results prior to the opening bell sending related financial stocks into a tailspin.
JPM's earnings excluding items met expectations of 90 cents per share, a decrease from $1.12 per share in the year-earlier period, but full-year net income was $19 billion, down from $26.72 billion a year ago and well below analyst expectations of $23 billion. Quarterly net income was $3.72billion, down from $4.83 billion a year earlier.
JP Morgan was down 93 cents at the close, to 35.92, a loss of 2.52%.
It wasn't long after trading commenced in New York that news began leaking out, via Reuters, that many European nation's credit ratings were about to be downgraded by Standard & Poor's, which had put all 17 Eurozone nations on credit watch negative on December 5th.
The persistent rumors haunted european bourses, which fell dramatically on the news. Finally, after US markets closed in advance of a three-day weekend, S&P confirmed, dropping the credit ratings of nine countries, leaving only Germany with the gold-standard, AAA rating.
The following list, courtesy of London's daily Telegraph details the action:
France CUT one notch to AA+
Austria CUT one notch to AA+
Italy CUT two notches to BBB+
Spain CUT two notches to A
Portugal CUT two notches to BB (junk)
Belgium AFFIRMED at AA (the country was cut in November)
Malta CUT one notch to A-
Cyprus CUT one notch to BB+ (junk)
Luxembourg AFFIRMED at AAA
Germany AFFIRMED at AAA
Slovenia CUT one notch to A+
Slovakia CUT one notch to A
Ireland AFFIRMED at BBB+
The Netherlands AFFIRMED at AAA
Estonia AFFIRMED at AA-
All outlooks remain negative, except for Germany and Slovakia.
US stocks were crushed in the early going, but rallied throughout the afternoon, limiting losses. The Dow Jones Industrials were off by as much as 160 points in early going.
The Euro fell to its lowest level in 16 months vs. the US Dollar, at $1.2667, which is actually good news for European exporters and generally bad for US companies doing business in Europe.
Volume in US markets was weak (same old story) as participation levels have fallen off dramatically since the 08-09 financial crisis, many individual investors pulling money out of equities via funds and/or personal accounts. The low trading levels is somewhat of a bell-weather for the economy, mirror low participation rates in the labor force as Americans seek alternatives to both investment and traditional working roles.
The losses today pretty much cut the week's gains for the major indices in half. Stocks have been grinding higher through the first two weeks of the year, but there seems to be little conviction from traders.
Next week will be chock-full of earnings reports, many of which will meet or beat expectations, though the number of pre-announcements has been running unusually high for the 4th quarter and investors are nervous, as action in the financials and JP Morgan, in particular, made quite clear.
Also, Greek talks with creditors have broken down, leaving open the possibility that the proposed 50% voluntary haircuts on Greek debt would become involuntary, triggering credit default swaps payouts as early as March, when Greece is scheduled to receive another round of funding from the IMF and ECB.
Dow 12,422.06, -48.96 (0.39%)
NASDAQ 2,710.67, -14.03 (0.51%)
S&P 500 1,289.09, -6.41 (0.49%)
NYSE Composite 7,632.03, -49.23 (0.64%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,686,001,750
NYSE Volume 3,692,377,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1874-3682
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 142-50
WTI crude oil: 98.70, -0.40
Gold: 1,630.80, -16.90
Silver: 29.52, -0.60
JP Morgan released 4th quarter and annual results prior to the opening bell sending related financial stocks into a tailspin.
JPM's earnings excluding items met expectations of 90 cents per share, a decrease from $1.12 per share in the year-earlier period, but full-year net income was $19 billion, down from $26.72 billion a year ago and well below analyst expectations of $23 billion. Quarterly net income was $3.72billion, down from $4.83 billion a year earlier.
JP Morgan was down 93 cents at the close, to 35.92, a loss of 2.52%.
It wasn't long after trading commenced in New York that news began leaking out, via Reuters, that many European nation's credit ratings were about to be downgraded by Standard & Poor's, which had put all 17 Eurozone nations on credit watch negative on December 5th.
The persistent rumors haunted european bourses, which fell dramatically on the news. Finally, after US markets closed in advance of a three-day weekend, S&P confirmed, dropping the credit ratings of nine countries, leaving only Germany with the gold-standard, AAA rating.
The following list, courtesy of London's daily Telegraph details the action:
France CUT one notch to AA+
Austria CUT one notch to AA+
Italy CUT two notches to BBB+
Spain CUT two notches to A
Portugal CUT two notches to BB (junk)
Belgium AFFIRMED at AA (the country was cut in November)
Malta CUT one notch to A-
Cyprus CUT one notch to BB+ (junk)
Luxembourg AFFIRMED at AAA
Germany AFFIRMED at AAA
Slovenia CUT one notch to A+
Slovakia CUT one notch to A
Ireland AFFIRMED at BBB+
The Netherlands AFFIRMED at AAA
Estonia AFFIRMED at AA-
All outlooks remain negative, except for Germany and Slovakia.
US stocks were crushed in the early going, but rallied throughout the afternoon, limiting losses. The Dow Jones Industrials were off by as much as 160 points in early going.
The Euro fell to its lowest level in 16 months vs. the US Dollar, at $1.2667, which is actually good news for European exporters and generally bad for US companies doing business in Europe.
Volume in US markets was weak (same old story) as participation levels have fallen off dramatically since the 08-09 financial crisis, many individual investors pulling money out of equities via funds and/or personal accounts. The low trading levels is somewhat of a bell-weather for the economy, mirror low participation rates in the labor force as Americans seek alternatives to both investment and traditional working roles.
The losses today pretty much cut the week's gains for the major indices in half. Stocks have been grinding higher through the first two weeks of the year, but there seems to be little conviction from traders.
Next week will be chock-full of earnings reports, many of which will meet or beat expectations, though the number of pre-announcements has been running unusually high for the 4th quarter and investors are nervous, as action in the financials and JP Morgan, in particular, made quite clear.
Also, Greek talks with creditors have broken down, leaving open the possibility that the proposed 50% voluntary haircuts on Greek debt would become involuntary, triggering credit default swaps payouts as early as March, when Greece is scheduled to receive another round of funding from the IMF and ECB.
Dow 12,422.06, -48.96 (0.39%)
NASDAQ 2,710.67, -14.03 (0.51%)
S&P 500 1,289.09, -6.41 (0.49%)
NYSE Composite 7,632.03, -49.23 (0.64%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,686,001,750
NYSE Volume 3,692,377,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1874-3682
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 142-50
WTI crude oil: 98.70, -0.40
Gold: 1,630.80, -16.90
Silver: 29.52, -0.60
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Stocks Continue Relentless March Higher Despite Poor Economic Data
Once again, US equities finished the day on an upbeat tone, though data hardly suggests that the economy is either robust or growing rapidly. In fact, two releases prior to the market open were depressing enough to send stocks to morning lows out of the open.
Retail Sales for December were nothing short of a disaster, rising a mere 0.1% on expectations of a 0.4% boost, putting an end to the fiction that was widely spouted around financial circles, that holiday sales were brisk and consumers had their wallets wide open during the festive season.
Ex-autos, retail sales were even worse, down 0.2% (maybe those annoying Lexus Christmas commercials were good for something after all) on epectations of a 0.3% gain.
Business inventories were tighter, growing at a modest 0.3% in December after being up 0.8% in November. The drawdown during Christmas season will have consequences, especially involving calculations of 4th quarter 2011 GDP, and, if it continues, 1st quarter 2012 figures as well.
Perhaps the scariest number of the morning came from the wholly-discredited BLS, with their weekly report on initial unemployment claims, which came in much higher than the expected 375,000, bumping up to 399,000, which no doubt will be revised upward above 400,000 next week. From the data, it certainly seems to make sense that the BLS numbers are not properly seasonally-adjusted, and that many of those holiday season jobs were just that, seasonal, as in not permanent.
The uptake on the data is that American retailers are in deep trouble, consumers aren't about to rush out and buy just because they have a few extra dollars in their wallets or purses, and good, well-paying jobs are still on the horizon of imagination.
All of those assumptions did not deter Wall Street from boosting stock prices for the fifth time in eight trading sessions this new year. The reason would most likely be in the belief that Europe's debt crisis is all but solved, following an ECB announcement of no movement in interest rates and better-than-expected results in Spanish and Italian bond auctions. As usual, traders will hang their collective hats on any data that supports the cause of endless money printing and higher and higher stock prices, in the belief that a strong stock market is a good reflection of the overall economic picture, which is pure folly.
Large bankruptcies are on the rise, indicating a resumption of the financial fallout from 2008. With Kodak already on the ropes and possibly days away from a formal bankruptcy announcement, Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding-Dongs and other high fructose snacks, filed bankruptcy on Wednesday.
The next victim is likely to be Sears Holdings. Lender CIT, the firm now headed by the nefarious John Thain, has made it clear that vendors to Sears and K-Mart will no longer receive financing or payment guarantees. Thain, who was the last CEO of Merrill Lynch before it was forced upon Bank of America, was one of the leading banking figures responsible for much of the 2008 financial crash.
Apparently, Thain has found new life as a vulture, now circling the bond holdings and other assets of Sears.
On the real estate front, all the buzz is over the government plan - first suggested by the Federal Reserve, which is holding reams and reams of near-worthless RMBS - to turn Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac foreclosures into rental properties. The two failed GSEs became the lenders of last resort and have back-handedly bailed out the nation's biggest banks by buying back much of the worthless mortgages still sitting somewhere off the books of JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells-Fargo.
Many of the same firms who caused the financial and mortgage miasma in the first place are now lining up to buy the foreclosed properties at rock-bottom prices and turn America into a nation of renters. Deustche Bank, Fortress Capital, Barclays Capital, Neuberger Berman Group, Ranieri Partners and UBS are among firms interested in becoming property owners and managers. Good luck with that. Like all other attempts to inject new life into the failed housing market this program will be the subject of great scrutiny and consternation from American citizens, many of whom were forced out of their homes during the late 2000s.
Naturally, these vulture capitalists will get to cherry pick the foreclosures, largely at the expense of the US taxpayer. Outrage should begin forming from groups like the Occupy movement and others within weeks. The government will likely present the program as a jobs-building incentive when in reality it is nothing less than a well-conceived plan to fleece Americans as renters since virtually nobody can qualify for a mortgage these days.
Dow 12,471.02, +21.57 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 2,724.70, +13.94 (0.51%)
S&P 500 1,295.50, +3.02 (0.23%)
NYSE Composite 7,681.26, +19.28 (0.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,662,562,500
NYSE Volume 3,939,928,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3397-2175
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 166-40
WTI crude oil: 99.10, -1.77
Gold: 1,647.70, +8.10
Silver: 30.12, +0.23
Retail Sales for December were nothing short of a disaster, rising a mere 0.1% on expectations of a 0.4% boost, putting an end to the fiction that was widely spouted around financial circles, that holiday sales were brisk and consumers had their wallets wide open during the festive season.
Ex-autos, retail sales were even worse, down 0.2% (maybe those annoying Lexus Christmas commercials were good for something after all) on epectations of a 0.3% gain.
Business inventories were tighter, growing at a modest 0.3% in December after being up 0.8% in November. The drawdown during Christmas season will have consequences, especially involving calculations of 4th quarter 2011 GDP, and, if it continues, 1st quarter 2012 figures as well.
Perhaps the scariest number of the morning came from the wholly-discredited BLS, with their weekly report on initial unemployment claims, which came in much higher than the expected 375,000, bumping up to 399,000, which no doubt will be revised upward above 400,000 next week. From the data, it certainly seems to make sense that the BLS numbers are not properly seasonally-adjusted, and that many of those holiday season jobs were just that, seasonal, as in not permanent.
The uptake on the data is that American retailers are in deep trouble, consumers aren't about to rush out and buy just because they have a few extra dollars in their wallets or purses, and good, well-paying jobs are still on the horizon of imagination.
All of those assumptions did not deter Wall Street from boosting stock prices for the fifth time in eight trading sessions this new year. The reason would most likely be in the belief that Europe's debt crisis is all but solved, following an ECB announcement of no movement in interest rates and better-than-expected results in Spanish and Italian bond auctions. As usual, traders will hang their collective hats on any data that supports the cause of endless money printing and higher and higher stock prices, in the belief that a strong stock market is a good reflection of the overall economic picture, which is pure folly.
Large bankruptcies are on the rise, indicating a resumption of the financial fallout from 2008. With Kodak already on the ropes and possibly days away from a formal bankruptcy announcement, Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding-Dongs and other high fructose snacks, filed bankruptcy on Wednesday.
The next victim is likely to be Sears Holdings. Lender CIT, the firm now headed by the nefarious John Thain, has made it clear that vendors to Sears and K-Mart will no longer receive financing or payment guarantees. Thain, who was the last CEO of Merrill Lynch before it was forced upon Bank of America, was one of the leading banking figures responsible for much of the 2008 financial crash.
Apparently, Thain has found new life as a vulture, now circling the bond holdings and other assets of Sears.
On the real estate front, all the buzz is over the government plan - first suggested by the Federal Reserve, which is holding reams and reams of near-worthless RMBS - to turn Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac foreclosures into rental properties. The two failed GSEs became the lenders of last resort and have back-handedly bailed out the nation's biggest banks by buying back much of the worthless mortgages still sitting somewhere off the books of JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells-Fargo.
Many of the same firms who caused the financial and mortgage miasma in the first place are now lining up to buy the foreclosed properties at rock-bottom prices and turn America into a nation of renters. Deustche Bank, Fortress Capital, Barclays Capital, Neuberger Berman Group, Ranieri Partners and UBS are among firms interested in becoming property owners and managers. Good luck with that. Like all other attempts to inject new life into the failed housing market this program will be the subject of great scrutiny and consternation from American citizens, many of whom were forced out of their homes during the late 2000s.
Naturally, these vulture capitalists will get to cherry pick the foreclosures, largely at the expense of the US taxpayer. Outrage should begin forming from groups like the Occupy movement and others within weeks. The government will likely present the program as a jobs-building incentive when in reality it is nothing less than a well-conceived plan to fleece Americans as renters since virtually nobody can qualify for a mortgage these days.
Dow 12,471.02, +21.57 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 2,724.70, +13.94 (0.51%)
S&P 500 1,295.50, +3.02 (0.23%)
NYSE Composite 7,681.26, +19.28 (0.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,662,562,500
NYSE Volume 3,939,928,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3397-2175
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 166-40
WTI crude oil: 99.10, -1.77
Gold: 1,647.70, +8.10
Silver: 30.12, +0.23
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
No News, No Earnings, No Data, No Volume Means Nothing Much for Stocks
The Wall Street HTF machines must have been cranked up to maximum momentum on yet another day without any notable news or data, because stocks, after an early dive into the red, continued an inexorable advance throughout the session, pushing all major indices to positive or flat closes.
Despite Alcoa (AA) announcing in-line earnings on Monday, there haven't been any companies of import releasing full year and 4th quarter results this week. That should all change next week when the market will be inundated with quarterly and year-end reports from a plethora of firms, but so far this week, the markets have had little to move on in either direction.
Instead of pouring into or out of positions, as is often the case in the first few weeks of a new year, traders have been stuck in neutral the past five sessions, and the rest of the week doesn't offer much in the way of market-moving events or news.
The fed released its beige book, detailing what everybody already knows: that the US economy is limping along, unemployment remains a stubborn problem, housing is still weak and December retail was something of a non-event. Even word from the almighty Federal Reserve did nothing to move stocks.
Down 63 points shortly after 10:00 am ET, the Dow finally pushed into positive territory in the final 20 minutes of trading before falling back to red at the close. Leading the slow surge, the NASDAQ had been positive most of the session, with the S&P following the Dow's path, finally finishing with a fractional gain.
One notable item not mentioned around the trading posts was the upcoming debacle of another debt ceiling increase, just five months after the congress and president Obama wrangled over raising the ceiling last August. Our brilliant leaders have managed to blow through some $900 billion in fresh debt since then and will need another rise, which was negotiated in the initial bill.
President Obama is set to ask congress for another $1.2 to $1.5 trillion in a matter of days. The congress will have 15 days to decide whether to grant Mr. Obama his wish. Meanwhile, the debt ceiling will be once again breached, and, after appropriate dummy theater, the congress will oblige. The rhetoric should be especially thick this time around, especially with debate on whether to keep the inappropriately-named payroll tax decrease for the remainder of the year. That deal runs out at the end of February.
Political junkies will enjoy the show; the rest of us will entertain emotions from boredom to disgust. Thank God for the NFL playoffs.
Dow 12,449.45, -13.02 (0.10%)
NASDAQ 2,710.76, +8.26 (0.31%)
S&P 500 1,292.48, +0.40 (0.03%)
NYSE Composite 7,662.17, -6.73 (0.09%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,712,712,875
NYSE Volume 3,965,303,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3208-2391
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 112-36
WTI crude oil: 101.73, -0.51
Gold: 1,639.60, +8.10
Silver: 29.89, +0.08
Despite Alcoa (AA) announcing in-line earnings on Monday, there haven't been any companies of import releasing full year and 4th quarter results this week. That should all change next week when the market will be inundated with quarterly and year-end reports from a plethora of firms, but so far this week, the markets have had little to move on in either direction.
Instead of pouring into or out of positions, as is often the case in the first few weeks of a new year, traders have been stuck in neutral the past five sessions, and the rest of the week doesn't offer much in the way of market-moving events or news.
The fed released its beige book, detailing what everybody already knows: that the US economy is limping along, unemployment remains a stubborn problem, housing is still weak and December retail was something of a non-event. Even word from the almighty Federal Reserve did nothing to move stocks.
Down 63 points shortly after 10:00 am ET, the Dow finally pushed into positive territory in the final 20 minutes of trading before falling back to red at the close. Leading the slow surge, the NASDAQ had been positive most of the session, with the S&P following the Dow's path, finally finishing with a fractional gain.
One notable item not mentioned around the trading posts was the upcoming debacle of another debt ceiling increase, just five months after the congress and president Obama wrangled over raising the ceiling last August. Our brilliant leaders have managed to blow through some $900 billion in fresh debt since then and will need another rise, which was negotiated in the initial bill.
President Obama is set to ask congress for another $1.2 to $1.5 trillion in a matter of days. The congress will have 15 days to decide whether to grant Mr. Obama his wish. Meanwhile, the debt ceiling will be once again breached, and, after appropriate dummy theater, the congress will oblige. The rhetoric should be especially thick this time around, especially with debate on whether to keep the inappropriately-named payroll tax decrease for the remainder of the year. That deal runs out at the end of February.
Political junkies will enjoy the show; the rest of us will entertain emotions from boredom to disgust. Thank God for the NFL playoffs.
Dow 12,449.45, -13.02 (0.10%)
NASDAQ 2,710.76, +8.26 (0.31%)
S&P 500 1,292.48, +0.40 (0.03%)
NYSE Composite 7,662.17, -6.73 (0.09%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,712,712,875
NYSE Volume 3,965,303,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3208-2391
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 112-36
WTI crude oil: 101.73, -0.51
Gold: 1,639.60, +8.10
Silver: 29.89, +0.08
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Markets Are Just BLAH
Blah.
That's the one word that describes this market and generally the state of US equity markets for the past month.
Yesterday was the low volume day for the new year. Today wasn't much better.
Today, stocks shot up at the open, reached the highs of the day early on and drifted in a narrow range for the remainder of the session. That's it. Nothing happened that would affect markets in either direction. The Ponzi scheme of the banks, the Fed and the government is working to perfection. Stocks will slowly move higher until there's some need to liquidate (like options expiration next week).
Otherwise, shut up and spend, peons. Everything you need will get more expensive while your wages stagnate or get cut, unless you work for the government or collect a welfare, disability or SS check.
45 million on food stamps. No growth. No incentive to start new businesses. Overregulation. The American Dream died somewhere between 9/11 and the mortgage meltdown which began in 2007. Get ready for a long, slow, painful decade of dashed hopes and failed families.
(I wish I could be more optimistic, but it's simply not possible.)
Mitt Romney or Barack Obama? Does it really matter? Both are tools of the banking elite as are most of your senators and representatives in the House.
Not only is the economy crumbling, so is the whole country, from the infrastructure to the societal norms to civil liberties, which have been dashed and pounded into dust the past 11 years.
Just BLAH. And, BAH!
Dow 12,462.47, +69.78 (0.56%)
NASDAQ 2,702.50, +25.94 (0.97%)
S&P 500 1,292.08, +11.38 (0.89%)
NYSE Composite 7,668.90, +84.24 (1.11%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,815,157,750
NYSE Volume 4,201,000,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4221-1407
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 252-42
WTI crude oil: 102.24, +0.93
Gold: 1,631.50, +23.40
Silver: 29.82, +1.03
That's the one word that describes this market and generally the state of US equity markets for the past month.
Yesterday was the low volume day for the new year. Today wasn't much better.
Today, stocks shot up at the open, reached the highs of the day early on and drifted in a narrow range for the remainder of the session. That's it. Nothing happened that would affect markets in either direction. The Ponzi scheme of the banks, the Fed and the government is working to perfection. Stocks will slowly move higher until there's some need to liquidate (like options expiration next week).
Otherwise, shut up and spend, peons. Everything you need will get more expensive while your wages stagnate or get cut, unless you work for the government or collect a welfare, disability or SS check.
45 million on food stamps. No growth. No incentive to start new businesses. Overregulation. The American Dream died somewhere between 9/11 and the mortgage meltdown which began in 2007. Get ready for a long, slow, painful decade of dashed hopes and failed families.
(I wish I could be more optimistic, but it's simply not possible.)
Mitt Romney or Barack Obama? Does it really matter? Both are tools of the banking elite as are most of your senators and representatives in the House.
Not only is the economy crumbling, so is the whole country, from the infrastructure to the societal norms to civil liberties, which have been dashed and pounded into dust the past 11 years.
Just BLAH. And, BAH!
Dow 12,462.47, +69.78 (0.56%)
NASDAQ 2,702.50, +25.94 (0.97%)
S&P 500 1,292.08, +11.38 (0.89%)
NYSE Composite 7,668.90, +84.24 (1.11%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,815,157,750
NYSE Volume 4,201,000,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4221-1407
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 252-42
WTI crude oil: 102.24, +0.93
Gold: 1,631.50, +23.40
Silver: 29.82, +1.03
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