"As January goes, so goes the year."
This tired line of non-logical thinking gets bantered about every year around this time, but is especially in vogue this year after the huge ramp-up in equities on January 2nd, when fresh bank capital (courtesy of the Fed) flowed into the markets in an effort to lure in retail investors.
It's not working.
Since the biggest gain on the Dow Industrials to start a new year (January 2nd, 2013... this year) stocks have gone, well, not very far. The total gain on the Dow over the past eight sessions, including today, is less than 100 points. Big Hooray!
On the S&P 500, the gain has been a whopping eight points. The NASDAQ? 5.24 points since the massive, 92-point gain of January 2nd.
So, the point is that while CNBC and Bloomberg have been crowing about the huge "inflows" to equity funds, the truth is that there has been a net outflow from equity funds )as it has been for the past two years), and the money-creation-machine known as the Fed and its primary dealers have rigged the market higher (as usual).
Today's bid-less action, including the absurd 60-point top-to-bottom range on the Dow, was driven primarily by a rumor that two private equity firms were interested in doing an LBO on Dell. The story, broken by Bloomberg and without any supporting evidence or data, shot Dell shares through the roof and triggered a circuit-breaking halting trading.
The story was likely pure fabrication, because the markets are so dead right now the algos needed a boost to get the indices off UNCH and got it from the Dell "rumor."
Nothing is moving. Volume on the NASDAQ - despite the Dell joke and Apple (AAPL) being sold down the river - was less than 3 billion shares, an oddity even in this low-volume regime. Nobody is trading - not retail investors, at least - because the fraud and rigging has finally reached a point at which the markets cannot be trusted at all. They are controlled by the same people and companies that brought us the sub-prime mess, resultant crash and the current, fudged "recovery."
Perception being more powerful than reality, there's a very good chance that the major indices could stagnate for the rest of the month and the same talking heads on the financial networks will tell us it's going to be a great year because January was positive.
It's. Not. Working.
Dow 13,507.32, +18.89 (0.14%)
NASDAQ 3,117.50, -8.13 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,470.68, -1.37 (0.09%)
NYSE Composite 8,717.45, +5.05 (0.06%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,879,408,375
NYSE Volume 2,956,360,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3118-3099
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 370-10 (ridiculous)
WTI crude oil: 94.14, +0.58
Gold: 1,669.40, +8.80
Silver: 31.11, +0.702
Monday, January 14, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Markets Flat
FLAT.
Low Volume.
Move on.
Dow 13,488.43, +17.21(0.13%)
NASDAQ 3,125.63, +3.87(0.12%)
S&P 500 1,472.05, -0.07 (0.00%)
NYSE Composite 8,712.37, +1.39 (0.02%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,746,010,000
NYSE Volume 3,550,726,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3221-3162
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 382-15
WTI crude oil: 93.56, -0.26
Gold: 1,660.60, -17.40
Silver: 30.41, -0.51
Low Volume.
Move on.
Dow 13,488.43, +17.21(0.13%)
NASDAQ 3,125.63, +3.87(0.12%)
S&P 500 1,472.05, -0.07 (0.00%)
NYSE Composite 8,712.37, +1.39 (0.02%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,746,010,000
NYSE Volume 3,550,726,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3221-3162
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 382-15
WTI crude oil: 93.56, -0.26
Gold: 1,660.60, -17.40
Silver: 30.41, -0.51
Thursday, January 10, 2013
According to Wall Street, Humans are Fodder
As I was watching CNBC just minutes ago, as reporter Mary Thompson ticked off details of American Express' (AXP) 4th quarter earnings report, a chart beside her showed the sock gaining in after hour trading just as she announced that the firm would initiate a restructuring involving 5400 job cuts.
The image of the stock going up while people were about to lose their jobs brought home (once again, because this is not the first time) the tragic nature of Wall Street and their glorified love of profits at any cost, even human cost.
Living through the past four years of abject financial repression, first, by banks, then by government, now, by multi-national corporations, the level of moral bankruptcy by the very people who should be exemplars of good behavior is appalling and completely unacceptable.
When people lose jobs and stocks increase in value, it displays not only a shallow disregard for humanity, but almost a depraved indifference to human suffering. Handing out pink slips at corporations has become a routine carried out by more underlings, those "investor types" never having to face a wife or husband who has lost a job when prospects for finding another are so slim.
Of course, from a purely financial perspective, cutting labor costs is wise, but, in the end, elimination of productive labor is wanton, greedy, selfish and eventually self-defeating.
To the corporations and to government, people (mostly working people) are expendable, fodder, chattel, just random numbers to add or eliminate from spreadsheets, profit and loss statements and earnings reports. Rewarding corporations for shedding employees is so distasteful on the surface that one wonders just what parallel universe it is in which those of the rentier class reside.
For every dollar they make in profits, another human being is degraded, shunned, discarded, and, what the investors fail to realize is that without the fruits of human labor - and their spending - the corporations would have no customers. None. Zero. They would be bankrupt and cease to exist and this is exactly the path we have embarked upon though the insanity of centrally-planned money and interest rate policy, banking without rules, corporations with enormous advantages over all competitors and a world reduced to ones and zeroes in a computational fantasy land.
And what a fantasy world it is. Money is created out of thin air, shoveled directly to 10 or 12 money center banks and put to work hiking up prices of stocks. Yes, Virginia, the rich do get richer and the poor poorer, but it is the middle class, like those 5400 American Express employees who are about to lose their jobs who suffer the worst.
Loss of income, self-esteem and personal worth are immeasurable and difficult to replace. The unemployment statistics cited by the government, and ignored by Wall Street, paint a very bleak picture of America in the 21st century. While we are the most technologically-advanced nation in the history of the world, nearly half the population is either collecting some form of government assistance or is about to.
Our business and political leaders have led us down a primrose path to destruction, one upon which they profit every step of the way, but, if there is any justice in the world left, it is the hope that when all the employees are laid off, when all the factories and store fronts and job sites are empty, idle and wasted, that the market will crash, taking down the entire apparatus of Wall Street, the oligarchs and politicians and bankers with it.
Maybe then, finally, people will understand human beings are not fodder, that labor, as defined by none other than Adam Smith, the great economist upon which all of economics is based, is the basis of all wealth, of all money, of all that can be achieved.
Maybe. But it will take a catastrophe - or maybe a hundred thousand catastrophes - for the knowledge to find a home.
Dow 13,471.22, +80.71(0.60%)
NASDAQ 3,121.76, +15.95(0.51%)
S&P 500 1,472.12, +11.10(0.76%)
NYSE Composite 8,713.75, +77.66(0.90%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,753,614,375
NYSE Volume 4,318,613,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4102-2323
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 458-15
WTI crude oil: 94.00, +0.90
Gold: 1,678.00, +22.50
Silver: 30.92, +0.669
The image of the stock going up while people were about to lose their jobs brought home (once again, because this is not the first time) the tragic nature of Wall Street and their glorified love of profits at any cost, even human cost.
Living through the past four years of abject financial repression, first, by banks, then by government, now, by multi-national corporations, the level of moral bankruptcy by the very people who should be exemplars of good behavior is appalling and completely unacceptable.
When people lose jobs and stocks increase in value, it displays not only a shallow disregard for humanity, but almost a depraved indifference to human suffering. Handing out pink slips at corporations has become a routine carried out by more underlings, those "investor types" never having to face a wife or husband who has lost a job when prospects for finding another are so slim.
Of course, from a purely financial perspective, cutting labor costs is wise, but, in the end, elimination of productive labor is wanton, greedy, selfish and eventually self-defeating.
To the corporations and to government, people (mostly working people) are expendable, fodder, chattel, just random numbers to add or eliminate from spreadsheets, profit and loss statements and earnings reports. Rewarding corporations for shedding employees is so distasteful on the surface that one wonders just what parallel universe it is in which those of the rentier class reside.
For every dollar they make in profits, another human being is degraded, shunned, discarded, and, what the investors fail to realize is that without the fruits of human labor - and their spending - the corporations would have no customers. None. Zero. They would be bankrupt and cease to exist and this is exactly the path we have embarked upon though the insanity of centrally-planned money and interest rate policy, banking without rules, corporations with enormous advantages over all competitors and a world reduced to ones and zeroes in a computational fantasy land.
And what a fantasy world it is. Money is created out of thin air, shoveled directly to 10 or 12 money center banks and put to work hiking up prices of stocks. Yes, Virginia, the rich do get richer and the poor poorer, but it is the middle class, like those 5400 American Express employees who are about to lose their jobs who suffer the worst.
Loss of income, self-esteem and personal worth are immeasurable and difficult to replace. The unemployment statistics cited by the government, and ignored by Wall Street, paint a very bleak picture of America in the 21st century. While we are the most technologically-advanced nation in the history of the world, nearly half the population is either collecting some form of government assistance or is about to.
Our business and political leaders have led us down a primrose path to destruction, one upon which they profit every step of the way, but, if there is any justice in the world left, it is the hope that when all the employees are laid off, when all the factories and store fronts and job sites are empty, idle and wasted, that the market will crash, taking down the entire apparatus of Wall Street, the oligarchs and politicians and bankers with it.
Maybe then, finally, people will understand human beings are not fodder, that labor, as defined by none other than Adam Smith, the great economist upon which all of economics is based, is the basis of all wealth, of all money, of all that can be achieved.
Maybe. But it will take a catastrophe - or maybe a hundred thousand catastrophes - for the knowledge to find a home.
Dow 13,471.22, +80.71(0.60%)
NASDAQ 3,121.76, +15.95(0.51%)
S&P 500 1,472.12, +11.10(0.76%)
NYSE Composite 8,713.75, +77.66(0.90%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,753,614,375
NYSE Volume 4,318,613,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4102-2323
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 458-15
WTI crude oil: 94.00, +0.90
Gold: 1,678.00, +22.50
Silver: 30.92, +0.669
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
POMO Is Back; Obama Considering Executive Order on Gun Control
There wasn't much happening on stock markets today other than the constancy of computers trading with other computers, but there was excitement on the political front, including a rabble-rousing utterance (intentional or otherwise) from the foot-in-mouth VP, Joe Biden, who dropped a hint that the president was considering using an executive order to somehow effect more rigid gun control.
This got gun-holders and freedom-lovers of all stripes worked up into a hot lather, as just the mere perception that the second amendment might be somehow circumvented by the totalitarian-in-chief was cause for calls of rebellion, secession and other assorted ranting and raving.
In America, the Founders designed the second amendment, which reads,
The current debate over gun ownership, caused in large part by the mass murder in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and now widely propagated by the left-leaning media, is just another attempt by a government that has outgrown its usefulness to further infringe upon the rights of the citizenry. The thought that President Obama might go the executive order route is almost ludicrous, considering the potential downside and difficulties (I'm being kind here) in implementing any kind of weapons ban would entail.
It's time the American public knew the truth. The kid at Sandy Hook and the moron who shot up the theater in Colorado were both on psychotropic drugs of some kind - Prozac, Ritalin, or any of a dozen others - that cause a few individuals to do insane things. If there's any sense at all left in Washington (there isn't), there should be a law that anyone who has ever taken any of these medications or been under the care of a psychiatrist (obviously, the author has done neither) should ever be able to own a firearm.
Now, not to sound cynical, but such a ban would never even get a hearing in DC, simply because the drugs in question are manufactured by one of the big pharmaceutical companies, and they pay plenty in graft and hush money (AKA: campaign contributions) that any senator or house member proposing such a deal would be laughed out of town.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is back doing POMO (Permanent Open Market Operations) in earnest, today actually buying up $300 million worth of 30-year bonds that hadn't even been issued!!!! (Note, four exclamation points means this is really exciting.)
The Fed has POMOs set up for every day the markets are open this month except January 30.
While $300 million is a piddling amount, let's not forget that the Fed Chairman, Mr. Bernanke, has explicitly said he would not monetize the debt, which is exactly what he's been doing for the past four years, but this move, grabbing up the auction before it's even available, can only mean one thing: somebody (read: the federal government) needed money in a hurry and couldn't wait until tomorrow.
Yes, our slick Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, who has not received nearly the amount of press he deserves, has been employing extraordinary measures to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations since January 1, and maybe he ran into a little snag. In any case, even with the soon-to-be-departed Mr. Geithner pulling all the strings he can, the government will run out of money and options on February 15, if not sooner. So why are people all lathered up about gun control when the entire government is about to implode in about a month?
Yeah, really.
As for the stock markets, the Dow was up 61 points today, after losing 55 yesterday and 50 the day before. Is there a pattern emerging? Yes, and it's called the sideways two-step. Its a delicate dance that encourages partners to go nowhere, slowly.
Dow 13,390.51, +61.66 (0.46%)
NASDAQ 3,105.81, +14.00 (0.45%)
S&P 500 1,461.02, +3.87 (0.27%)
NYSE Composite 8,636.10, +31.71 (0.37%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,731,655,000
NYSE Volume 3,857,859,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3337-2113
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 426-9 (amazing!)
WTI crude oil: 93.10, -0.05
Gold: 1,655.50, -6.70
Silver: 30.25, -0.216
This got gun-holders and freedom-lovers of all stripes worked up into a hot lather, as just the mere perception that the second amendment might be somehow circumvented by the totalitarian-in-chief was cause for calls of rebellion, secession and other assorted ranting and raving.
In America, the Founders designed the second amendment, which reads,
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.was designed specifically to keep potential tyrants from having thoughts of subjugating the masses and to protect the nation as a whole. The supposed threat of being shot at from all sides by a well-armed citizenry is the final protection of our liberties, and, since the Constitution has been trampled upon pretty severely over the past 236 years (but mostly in the last 12), people have every right to be alarmed and angry.
The current debate over gun ownership, caused in large part by the mass murder in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and now widely propagated by the left-leaning media, is just another attempt by a government that has outgrown its usefulness to further infringe upon the rights of the citizenry. The thought that President Obama might go the executive order route is almost ludicrous, considering the potential downside and difficulties (I'm being kind here) in implementing any kind of weapons ban would entail.
It's time the American public knew the truth. The kid at Sandy Hook and the moron who shot up the theater in Colorado were both on psychotropic drugs of some kind - Prozac, Ritalin, or any of a dozen others - that cause a few individuals to do insane things. If there's any sense at all left in Washington (there isn't), there should be a law that anyone who has ever taken any of these medications or been under the care of a psychiatrist (obviously, the author has done neither) should ever be able to own a firearm.
Now, not to sound cynical, but such a ban would never even get a hearing in DC, simply because the drugs in question are manufactured by one of the big pharmaceutical companies, and they pay plenty in graft and hush money (AKA: campaign contributions) that any senator or house member proposing such a deal would be laughed out of town.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is back doing POMO (Permanent Open Market Operations) in earnest, today actually buying up $300 million worth of 30-year bonds that hadn't even been issued!!!! (Note, four exclamation points means this is really exciting.)
The Fed has POMOs set up for every day the markets are open this month except January 30.
While $300 million is a piddling amount, let's not forget that the Fed Chairman, Mr. Bernanke, has explicitly said he would not monetize the debt, which is exactly what he's been doing for the past four years, but this move, grabbing up the auction before it's even available, can only mean one thing: somebody (read: the federal government) needed money in a hurry and couldn't wait until tomorrow.
Yes, our slick Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, who has not received nearly the amount of press he deserves, has been employing extraordinary measures to keep the country from defaulting on its obligations since January 1, and maybe he ran into a little snag. In any case, even with the soon-to-be-departed Mr. Geithner pulling all the strings he can, the government will run out of money and options on February 15, if not sooner. So why are people all lathered up about gun control when the entire government is about to implode in about a month?
Yeah, really.
As for the stock markets, the Dow was up 61 points today, after losing 55 yesterday and 50 the day before. Is there a pattern emerging? Yes, and it's called the sideways two-step. Its a delicate dance that encourages partners to go nowhere, slowly.
Dow 13,390.51, +61.66 (0.46%)
NASDAQ 3,105.81, +14.00 (0.45%)
S&P 500 1,461.02, +3.87 (0.27%)
NYSE Composite 8,636.10, +31.71 (0.37%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,731,655,000
NYSE Volume 3,857,859,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3337-2113
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 426-9 (amazing!)
WTI crude oil: 93.10, -0.05
Gold: 1,655.50, -6.70
Silver: 30.25, -0.216
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Why Stocks Were Down Today and Other Ramblings... and Links
Getting right to the point, stocks slipped a little bit more today, oddly enough, right around another 50 points were knocked off the Dow. why is that odd, you ask?
Well, if you were going to dismantle something and didn't want anyone to take notice, you'd do it a little bit at a time, right? So, after a 50-point drop yesterday, another 55 points today receives little fanfare. Anything over 100 on the Dow, in either direction, gets the attention of Bob Pisani and the other market-watching noobs on CNBC and Bloomberg, and you don't want them going around shouting, "hey, look at this!" but 50 points, not so much.
The point is that stocks went down today (and yesterday) because that's the way the Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch's roll. If there were any good reason to bid stocks up, they certainly would have, but, that all got taken care of on January 2nd, to the tune of a 300-point rally. Now it's profit-taking harvest time for the quick-traders out there making all the loot, but, you know, they don't want anyone thinking it's time to head for the hills because there's a flood of bad stuff coming our way.
Uh-uh. Can't have that. The muppets must not be allowed to understand anything that is really happening. Only the global elitists are privy to the inside baseball stuff.
So, what's that bad stuff heading our way? How about a nasty, well-orchestrated fight over the debt ceiling that leads directly to a government shutdown? It has been mentioned only a few dozen times just this week, though every political empty hat says they want to avoid that at all costs. (Rubbish: we all know how loathe the pols in Washington are to actually do any work and how much they relish leisure time.)
So, yes, get ready for that, and that would precipitate some selling of stocks. Once the big guys get their profits, then the little people can take losses, all the while the talking head analysts saying things like, "this is just a little correction," or "stocks will rebound in the second half" (like Notre Dame did last night? Let's hope not).
It's been almost two weeks since the latest market moving event - the fiscal cliff miasma - so, a new crisis can't really be far off. Things should start getting heated up in a few more days or maybe around the end of January, once the new members of congress are all schooled up on their new roles and understand the rules of the game.
Yep, the debt ceiling showdown should prove to be some of the best political theatre of the year, and maybe the most disruptive. The Republicans keep threatening it, and they don't want to look like the boy who cried wolf, so, this time, they'll probably do it, and it will last maybe two or three weeks before a compromise is reached. Naturally, such a compromise will solve nothing except to get most of the furloughed federal employees back on the job, slow down the "recovery" a little and provice cover for Wall Street's anticipated lousy earnings.
So, that's why stocks were down today, but they'll be up sooner or later, and trade sideways a bit before the real deal comes down. Then, they'll drop like rocks from a tower, and it will be YOUR MONEY losing value, not THEIRS.
BTW: Alcoa (AA) kicked off earnings season after the bell, posting in-line earnings per share of six cents, which says plenty about the health of this global giant and the world economy in general. Their outlook is for aluminum demand to increase seven percent this year, due to, get this, increased demand from the aerospace industry (read: defense contractors). Whether or not that hike in demand ever materializes, well, we will just have to stay tuned. In the meantime, Alcoa is still a sub-$10 stock, which it's been for close to a year now. There's a reason for that.
Yesterday, I (that being me, Fearless Rick) opined on these pages that something was broken, though I could not quite put my finger on exactly what "it" was that had gone amiss, ending with the gloomy prospect that maybe everything was broken.
Of course, there are innumerable things broken in America and around the world, but there are many more that work, like the Internet, for instance. You're reading this, after all, on the internet. That works.
What's not working, and hasn't been for a long time is the media, but the internet is beginning to take care of that. Most people under the age of 30 get the majority of their news and opinion-making articles from the internet, not mainstream TV, newspapers or (heaven forbid!) the radio, so there's hope on that front.
So, thinking that I must find out just what it is that's broken, research ensued, which consisted of a couple of adult beverages and some internet surfing.
Well, I was right. The entire global economic system is broken, and has been broken for a long time, but I already knew that. I just didn't know exactly how badly broken it was until I came across this exceptional piece of video (8 parts) by one Ann Barnhardt, and her aptly-titled dissertation, The Economy Is Going To Implode...And You Deserve to now Why.
Ms. Barnhardt breaks the complexities of the modern global economy down to a very understandable, though frighteningly-real level that just about everyone (including politicians and tin-horn local office-holders) can understand. One may or may not agree with her approach or her views, but nobody can argue with the math, which presents an unshakable case for economic calamity. This is must viewing for anyone who wishes to understand why everything seems to be heading downhill in America or to relieve - at least for a short time - that nagging feeling that something is broken. Here's part one of the video series.
Just in case you were busy watching the disgrace of Notre Dame at the hands of Alabama last night, and missed this, here's Alex Jones going ballistic over gun control on the Piers Morgan Show. And, in case you don't know who Alex Jones is, well, you're probably just another sheeple, or maybe a sleeple (that's people who appear awake but are actually sleeping). So, here's a link to infowars.com. Enjoy the video rant.
Dow 13,328.85, -55.44 (0.41%)
NASDAQ 3,091.81, -7.00 (0.23%)
S&P 500 1,457.15, -4.74 (0.32%)
NYSE Composite 8,604.38, -32.53 (0.38%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,743,272,375
NYSE Volume 3,757,457,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3003-3411
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 302-13
WTI crude oil: 93.15, -0.04
Gold: 1,662.20, +15.90
Silver: 30.46, +0.383
Well, if you were going to dismantle something and didn't want anyone to take notice, you'd do it a little bit at a time, right? So, after a 50-point drop yesterday, another 55 points today receives little fanfare. Anything over 100 on the Dow, in either direction, gets the attention of Bob Pisani and the other market-watching noobs on CNBC and Bloomberg, and you don't want them going around shouting, "hey, look at this!" but 50 points, not so much.
The point is that stocks went down today (and yesterday) because that's the way the Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch's roll. If there were any good reason to bid stocks up, they certainly would have, but, that all got taken care of on January 2nd, to the tune of a 300-point rally. Now it's profit-taking harvest time for the quick-traders out there making all the loot, but, you know, they don't want anyone thinking it's time to head for the hills because there's a flood of bad stuff coming our way.
Uh-uh. Can't have that. The muppets must not be allowed to understand anything that is really happening. Only the global elitists are privy to the inside baseball stuff.
So, what's that bad stuff heading our way? How about a nasty, well-orchestrated fight over the debt ceiling that leads directly to a government shutdown? It has been mentioned only a few dozen times just this week, though every political empty hat says they want to avoid that at all costs. (Rubbish: we all know how loathe the pols in Washington are to actually do any work and how much they relish leisure time.)
So, yes, get ready for that, and that would precipitate some selling of stocks. Once the big guys get their profits, then the little people can take losses, all the while the talking head analysts saying things like, "this is just a little correction," or "stocks will rebound in the second half" (like Notre Dame did last night? Let's hope not).
It's been almost two weeks since the latest market moving event - the fiscal cliff miasma - so, a new crisis can't really be far off. Things should start getting heated up in a few more days or maybe around the end of January, once the new members of congress are all schooled up on their new roles and understand the rules of the game.
Yep, the debt ceiling showdown should prove to be some of the best political theatre of the year, and maybe the most disruptive. The Republicans keep threatening it, and they don't want to look like the boy who cried wolf, so, this time, they'll probably do it, and it will last maybe two or three weeks before a compromise is reached. Naturally, such a compromise will solve nothing except to get most of the furloughed federal employees back on the job, slow down the "recovery" a little and provice cover for Wall Street's anticipated lousy earnings.
So, that's why stocks were down today, but they'll be up sooner or later, and trade sideways a bit before the real deal comes down. Then, they'll drop like rocks from a tower, and it will be YOUR MONEY losing value, not THEIRS.
BTW: Alcoa (AA) kicked off earnings season after the bell, posting in-line earnings per share of six cents, which says plenty about the health of this global giant and the world economy in general. Their outlook is for aluminum demand to increase seven percent this year, due to, get this, increased demand from the aerospace industry (read: defense contractors). Whether or not that hike in demand ever materializes, well, we will just have to stay tuned. In the meantime, Alcoa is still a sub-$10 stock, which it's been for close to a year now. There's a reason for that.
Yesterday, I (that being me, Fearless Rick) opined on these pages that something was broken, though I could not quite put my finger on exactly what "it" was that had gone amiss, ending with the gloomy prospect that maybe everything was broken.
Of course, there are innumerable things broken in America and around the world, but there are many more that work, like the Internet, for instance. You're reading this, after all, on the internet. That works.
What's not working, and hasn't been for a long time is the media, but the internet is beginning to take care of that. Most people under the age of 30 get the majority of their news and opinion-making articles from the internet, not mainstream TV, newspapers or (heaven forbid!) the radio, so there's hope on that front.
So, thinking that I must find out just what it is that's broken, research ensued, which consisted of a couple of adult beverages and some internet surfing.
Well, I was right. The entire global economic system is broken, and has been broken for a long time, but I already knew that. I just didn't know exactly how badly broken it was until I came across this exceptional piece of video (8 parts) by one Ann Barnhardt, and her aptly-titled dissertation, The Economy Is Going To Implode...And You Deserve to now Why.
Ms. Barnhardt breaks the complexities of the modern global economy down to a very understandable, though frighteningly-real level that just about everyone (including politicians and tin-horn local office-holders) can understand. One may or may not agree with her approach or her views, but nobody can argue with the math, which presents an unshakable case for economic calamity. This is must viewing for anyone who wishes to understand why everything seems to be heading downhill in America or to relieve - at least for a short time - that nagging feeling that something is broken. Here's part one of the video series.
Just in case you were busy watching the disgrace of Notre Dame at the hands of Alabama last night, and missed this, here's Alex Jones going ballistic over gun control on the Piers Morgan Show. And, in case you don't know who Alex Jones is, well, you're probably just another sheeple, or maybe a sleeple (that's people who appear awake but are actually sleeping). So, here's a link to infowars.com. Enjoy the video rant.
Dow 13,328.85, -55.44 (0.41%)
NASDAQ 3,091.81, -7.00 (0.23%)
S&P 500 1,457.15, -4.74 (0.32%)
NYSE Composite 8,604.38, -32.53 (0.38%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,743,272,375
NYSE Volume 3,757,457,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3003-3411
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 302-13
WTI crude oil: 93.15, -0.04
Gold: 1,662.20, +15.90
Silver: 30.46, +0.383
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