Stocks Fail on Stormy Tuesday; The Misinformation Age

Well, it's not Monday, but it is the first day of the workweek, so stocks must go down. And they did, with the exception of the NASDAQ, which went from the worst-performing index to the best in a matter of 40 minutes - from roughly 2:00 pm to 2:40 pm EDT, going from a loss of 10 points to a gain of 15.

The Dow and S%P tagged along somewhat, but that drove the NAZ higher was none other than Apple (AAPL), which recorded almost half of its 9.73-point gain during that time period.

So, why then does CNBC report that the surge in stocks - the Dow was down nearly 115 points at the lows of the day, the NASDAQ off more than 26 - was due to a tweet by PIMCO's Bill Gross, who, mentioning that Mario Draghi, head of the ECB, willingness to offer 1, 2, and 3-year "loans" (bond purchases) to sovereign nations in the Eurozone, was reflationary and that investors should buy GOLD, TIPS AND REAL ASSETS.

Note that Gross did not say "STOCKS," though CNBC, the masters of misinformation, wishes the assembled masses of hoe viewers would believe that Mr. Gross is a perma-bull, when the exact opposite is true.

Welcome to the age of heightened misinformation.

There was a story today out of Stanford about organic foods not being any better than mass-produced, GMO, pesticide-riddled crap that drives US corporate agribusiness.

Two studies of children consuming organic and conventional diets did find lower levels of pesticide residues in the urine of children on organic diets, though the significance of these findings on child health is unclear, noted the researchers.

I'll take lower levels of pesticides in my urine for $400, Alex.

Just guessing, but could the major contributors to these Stanford researchers possibly be Monsanto and the US Dept. of Agriculture?

Other misinformation predominates what passes for news and journalism these days. For instance, according to the ECB's Mario Draghi, buying 1, 2, and 3-year bonds from sovereign nations does not violate the EU's basic treaty, which forbids such actions... OK. Obama and Romney sound like they differ widely on policies, when both, in fact, are nothing but shills for wealthy individuals and corporations which fund their campaigns. Facebook has lost 50% of market value since its IPO four short months ago, but it's still a solid company.

Trading volume, which was supposed to rebound as soon as all the Wall Street heavy hitters returned after Labor Day, was only a little better today than during July and August. US markets are so thinly-traded that manipulation by a group of well-timed players or even the PPT is easier than ever.

Keep an eye on gold and silver, maybe especially silver, which has exploded over the past three weeks. Gold's being suppressed below $1700, though it seems the central banking cartel cannot hold that level much longer. The Dow fell below 13,000 today, but was pumped back above it, ditto the S&P at 1400. These trades and ranges are due to break down soon.

Today's ISM reading of 49.6 was the third in a row showing contraction, though now, according to Steve Liesman of CNBC. the number to watch is 42.6, which would show contraction for the entire economy. Pure bunk.

Construction spending was off 0.9% in July. That a sizable decline, and why stocks fell out after the two reports at 10:00 am EDT.

Just to refresh one's memory, here's a nifty video of why we're where we are.



Dow 13,035.94, -54.90 (0.42%)
NASDAQ 3,075.06, +8.10 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,404.94, -1.64 (0.12%)
NYSE Composite 8,002.31, -12.61 (0.16%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,505,270,625
NYSE Volume 3,086,772,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3319-2194
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 288-64
WTI crude oil: 95.30, -1.17
Gold: 1,698.40, +10.80
Silver: 32.41, +0.97

Bernanke's Jackson Speech Self-Fulfilling for Wall Street

Well, was it worth the wait?

Fed Chairman Ben Bernake delivered his speech at Jackson Hole, much to the delight, it seems, to the hordes of hungry bankers and investors wallowing around the money trough from which their riches are made.

The Chairman didn't say much, except what he always says: that the Fed would be ready to add stimulus when needed. The Wall Street parasites took this as a sure sign that more easy money, in the form of QE3, would be forthcoming, likely as of the September FOMC meeting in about two weeks.

In the meantime, stocks jumped, slumped and humped back to highs of just over 13,150 on the Dow, just in case anybody's interested heading into the long weekend.

As usual, stocks have to go higher on Friday, as they have in just about every instance since the end of May.

Anecdotally, Wall Street exhibits all the traits of wild herds, following wherever they are led, this time toward all risk assets, including stocks and commodities. It's been reported that food prices have already risen some 10-20% in poorer nations, which will eventually foment riots, panic and revolution, thoughthat doesn't matter a whit to the wizards of Wall Street or their political counterparts, Al that matters is a rising stock market, even though it may lead to the eventual destruction of the currency and the global economy to boot.

It's a sick game, with seemingly no end in sight.

Labor Day. What an odd name for a holiday. It should be called slaver day, because other than a few sporadic holidays and a week or two of annual vacation, americans and workers in the "civilized" world are nothing more than slaves to debt.

Try not to ponder that fate much over the next few days of what should be a relaxing, peaceful weekend.

Free houses for Everyone!


Dow 13,090.76, +90.05 (0.69%)
Nasdaq 3,066.96, +18.25 (0.60%)
S&P 500 1,406.57, +7.09 (0.51%)
NYSE Composite 8,014.93 +48.69(0.61%)
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3658-1811
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 184-37
WTI crude oil: 96.47, +1.85
Gold: 1,687.60, +30.50
Silver: 31.37, +1.00

Markets Edge Closer to Reality on Eve of Bernanke Speech

As has been ongoing for the whole week, markets took a decided turn negative today on strong sentiment and comments from a few Fed governors that Ben Bernanke's speech tomorrow at Jackson Hole will include no overt nor hidden message that the Fed is ready to commit to another round of QE, bond purchases or any kind of policy easing.

That's the current betting, and there's little more than that moving markets.

Here is a good summary of what Wall Street is expecting in advance of the speech, from the Wall Street Journal, along with excerpts from analysts from leading financial institutions.

Scheduled for 10:00 am EDT, the Fed Chairman's speech, "Monetary Policy Since the Crisis" has had the markets gripped for weeks.

At the very least, by 11:00-11:30 tomorrow, everyone will have an inkling of what the Fed plans to do, if anything, and possibly when.

Then, everything can return to normal - whatever that is - after the Labor Day holiday.

Dow 13,000.71, -106.77 (0.81%)
NASDAQ 3,048.71, -32.47 (1.05%)
S&P 500 1,399.48, -11.01 (0.78%)
NYSE Composite 7,966.24, -65.41 (0.81%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,218,830,750
NYSE Volume 2,534,874,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1481-3987
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 118-54
WTI crude oil: 94.62, -0.87
Gold: 1,657.10, -5.90
Silver: 30.37, -0.47

Yuck. Stocks Stuck, Seek Direction from Fed. Good Luck.

News flash: Tail wags dog.

The markets continued their perverse game of chicken with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve over whether he'll offer any hints of a new round of QE, but sentiment seems to be shifting toward the argument that the chairman is not going to be very accommodative, either toward the stock market, interest rate policy or further bond purchases.

Whatever the assembled genii on Wall Street care to think, Mr. Bernanke is likely to be of the opinion that it's time for the congress to get up off their duffs and do something about the stagnating economy since the Fed - for all intents and purposes - has done what it can, albeit with limited success.

Any sane person (and we can safely assume that Bernanke hasn't gone completely off the deep end) would think that the US economy needs now to pick itself up, dust itself off and get on with business.

Were it all that simple, and, it should be, but the meddlers at the Federal Reserve and in the halls of congress have seen to it that the US - and by proxy the global - economy is largely a function of interest rates and government policy, not the vaunted free market that so many believe could work out of this malaise, if given a chance.

So, there's a chance that Bernanke will deliver what the mortal villains on Wall Street want so desperately, but the chance seems slim. Stocks would have likely risen in anticipation of golden words from the Chairman were there widespread belief that he was indeed planning on more easy money for his Wall Street buddies, because, as anyone who's ever played with stocks or options knows all too well, it's not a good idea to be late to the party.

By the time Mr. Bernanke finishes his speech at Jackson Hole, most of the major bets will already have been placed. Those who wait and see will likely suffer like the poor suckers who think investing is easy.

Stocks followed their familiar pattern again today: a stumble at the start, ramp up and sell off into the close, though the Dow managed - as all the majors did except the Comp. - to eke out a tiny gain of just over four points. Everything moved in slow motion, as volume has nearly dried up completely.

Whoopie!

Bernanke is not going to rescue Wall Street for the sake of a few hundred points on the Dow. He's done it three times already (QE1, QE2, Operation Twist) and the players keep coming back for more. It's time for the Chairman to do what's right and take the punch bowl away.

The party should have been over a while ago. Only the chutzpah of the "masters of the universe" has managed to keep it going for so long.

Dow 13,107.48, +4.49 (0.03%)
NASDAQ 3,081.19, +4.05 (0.13%)
S&P 500 1,410.49, +1.19 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 8,031.61, -2.24 (0.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,253,324,130
NYSE Volume 2,534,702,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3287-2178
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 181-45
WTI crude oil: 95.60, -0.73
Gold: 1,658.50, -11.20
Silver: 30.70, -0.17

Drip... Drip... Drip... Dow Bleeds from Small Wound; NASDAQ at 11 1/2 Year High

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
-- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cites

So it goeth... in the best Dickensian sense, the NASDAQ and Dow have diverged of late, forming an odd dichotomy, reprising the 2000-era old/new economies.

As the Dow suffered its sixth loss in the last seven sessions, the NASDAQ returned to the halcyon days of 2000, when, on its way through one of the worst crashes in market history it closed above 3100 for the last time, on November 15, 2000, on its eventual way to a bottom of 1419.23 on September 21, 2001.

So, for the NASDAQ, it is an 11-year, three month high, give or take a few days.

While the Dow is still within hailing distance of its own multi-year closing high (13279.32, May 1, 2012), it is down roughly two percent from there with losses mounting since the 68-point drop on the outside day last Tuesday.

The difference between the two indices is probably is risk assessment, or the mere fact that Apple (AAPL) is not a Dow stock. Had it been for, say, the last two years, the Dow Industrials might today be sporting a 15,000 handle, but, alas, the riggers of the Dow 30 apparently see Apple as unfit for inclusion, despite being the world's largest corporation by market cap.

The makers of the Dow components have a history of not being exactly of the genius character. For instance, Ford Motor Company has never been an elite member of the Dow club, despite a stellar record of accomplishments and great gains through the 20th century.

Whatever the case, the differences in how the averages are structured and weighted makes for interesting interplay as the stodgy Dow companies, what with their dividend-paying stocks and generally long track records, grind slowly in one direction or the other, the NASDAQ offers more high-fliers, jocular IPOs (like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, to name just a few) and many small niche players, thus being the desired place for the sport of day-trading and point-splitting by the HFTs, hedgies and other mindless market cyborgs.

Once again, as has been the case through almost the entire month of August, there was little in the way of data or news to shake traders out of or into positions. The Case-Shiller 10-and-20-city index of home values showed another smallish year-over-year gain, though the August consumer confidence reading of 60.6 - down sharply from last month's 65.4 - did arouse some traders momentarily from their checker-playing, book-reading or whatever worthless activity keeps them in attendance these days.

After a few moments of excitement, however, they'd had enough and went back to the business of not trading, allowing the computers to do their dirty handiwork behind the scenes and away from the incessant snoring.

It was, again, quite the snooze-fest, and one has to wonder if traders will be back on their toes after the Labor Day recess or whether this kind of low-volume, low volatility regime is all part of a new normal that precludes individual investors.

There is a bit of tension over Friday's speech by Ben Bernanke at the Jackson Hole economic symposium (how anyone, and especially an army of seasoned traders, can get excited about one speech is yet another matter) and the news that ECB president Mario Draghi - citing a "heavy work load" - bowed out from attending.

We're happy that Mr Draghi is working hard at whatever he's doing, purportedly hammering out a deal with the German Bundesbank to save Europe from imminent collapse, though one might also assume attending important economic events such as Jackson Hole has come to be known, should be on his agenda.

At least Mr. Draghi has a job, something roughly 20% of Greeks, Italians and Spaniards do not. It is everyone's hope that he and other Eurocrat leaders concoct a suitable rescue plan for Europe and the rest of civilization before the world ends on December 21, according to wild-eyed gloom-and-doom types eyeing the Mayan calendar, because, if they don't, it will be too late.

Perhaps its for the best that the markets and traders take August off, like their politician friends in Washington almost always do. Wall Streeters can join congress with an approval rating of under 10%. Nearly everyone else - about 9.98% of the population - could care less.

Dow 13,102.99, -21.68 (0.17%)
NASDAQ 3,077.14, +3.95 (0.13%)
S&P 500 1,409.30, -1.14 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 8,032.72, -3.53 (0.04%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,335,361,880
NYSE Volume 2,499,501,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3147-2303
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 152-51
WTI crude oil: 96.33, +0.86
Gold: 1,669.70, -5.90
Silver: 30.88, -0.17