Whoops. That's Why We Don't Offer Specific Investment Advice

What happened?

We thought the government was giving Wall Street the "all clear" signal to send the stock market upward and onward to all-time highs. That's why we - somewhat tongue-in-cheek - suggested buying stocks all the way through Christmas. Maybe we were getting a little ahead of ourselves.

Well, a few, not-so-funny things happened on the way to laughing all the way to the bank.

Momentum stocks are beginning to take on water as high-profile investors like Carl Icahn start cashing out of investments like Netflix. Speculative stocks like Chipolte Mexican Grill, Tesla, Facebook, LinkedIn and others have soared by more than 100% in the past year. Many came under heavy selling pressure yesterday and today.

China's largest banks tripled their debt write-offs, bracing for a full-blown implosion of their over-leveraged, over-inflated real estate market, much like the housing crash in the US from 2007 onward.

JP Morgan is close to settling another lawsuit over bad home loans (really? who cudda guessed?), this one for a mere $6 billion.

Late in the day, Bank of America was found liable for fraud on claims related to defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit.

Soooooooo, the major averages finished in the red. Of course, this is only one day, and it will take many more down days and confirmation of a failed rally for Money Daily to proclaim a bear market which will precipitate a crash, eventually. Timing is everything, and the final, fatal blow to the abhorrent US stock markets may not come for months or years, though 2014 is beginning to look pretty ugly.

One thing which is a positive, yet unexplained, is the collapse in the price of crude oil, which has dropped more than $10 in the past two months and about $7 in the past 10 days. With lower oil prices come - naturally - lower gas prices. It could be seasonal, though we're hoping the decline is more of a permanent one. Lord knows, car owners need a break at the pump.

Also, bonds have been rallying hard since the government got back to work, sending yields on the ten-year note down 25 bips in just the past week.

With Halloween rapidly approaching, it might be a good idea to begin getting scared in advance, thus, the frightful future of the US economy, according to John Williams of shadowstats.com in this revealing, startling interview by Greg Hunter:



BTW: We're still screwed.

Dow 15,413.33, -54.33 (0.35%)
Nasdaq 3,907.07, -22.49 (0.57%)
S&P 500 1,746.38, -8.29 (0.47%)
10-Yr Bond 2.49% 0.03
NYSE Volume 3,695,265,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,866,661,875
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2382-3210
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 300-32
WTI crude oil: 96.86, -1.44
Gold: 1,334.00, -8.60
Silver: 22.62, -0.173
Corn: 442.75, +4.50

Get Used to 100-Point Gains on the Dow for No Reason

Let's just make sure everybody's on the same page, OK?

The Fed will continue to continue buying treasuries and MBS to the tune of $85 billion a month, with no end in sight. Thoughts of tapering those purchases has been pushed back until March, 2014, at the earliest, that is, if they taper at all. CHECK

The federal government has suspended the debt ceiling, so the federal government can spend whatever it wants without any kind of cost-containment mechanism whatsoever. CHECK

Most government statistics are fabrications, designed to keep the facade of "recovery" (isn't it time we got past recovery, toward a normal economy?) intact. CHECK

Ergo, stocks will continue to rise despite economic conditions or fundamentals like real earnings (those not caused by stock buybacks or forced layoffs or restructuring) and revenue expansion. CHECK

Good. Now go buy some stocks. Nothing will change unless the people at the top (the legendary one percenters) want it to change.

This is the environment we are subjected to by massive frauds and a derelict society led by psychopaths, but, it really can't get any more accommodative for risky speculation. Might as well go right ahead and buy call options. Everybody is going to be rich.

That's it. Meanwhile...

How bad is the experience on the healthcare.gov website?

The National Review estimates that five million lines of code need to be rewritten.

In human terms, if a line of code is rewritten (fixed) every minute, it will only take about ten years to fix the entire site, rendering those who sign up for health care soon a moot point since most of them will be sick or dead by then.

Dow 15,467.66, +75.46 (0.49%)
Nasdaq 3,929.57, +9.52 (0.24%)
S&P 500 1,754.67, +10.01 (0.57%)
10-Yr Bond 2.51%, -0.10
NYSE Volume 3,766,323,750
Nasdaq Volume 1,780,039,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3653-1983
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 717-31 (yes, this is normal)
WTI crude oil: 97.80, -1.42
Gold: 1,342.60, +26.80
Silver: 22.79, +0.512
Corn: 438.25, -5.75

Stocks Dull as Investors Await Late Non-Farm Payroll Data

Talk about dull days, the entire range on the Dow from top to bottom was 48 points. The S&P was marginally more active, with a trading range of seven points. For the most part, traders were waiting for something more market-moving, like the release of the September non-farm payrolls, which are due out Tuesday at 8:30 am, delayed due to the government shutdown earlier in the month.

That seems to be all the market can get excited over, and maybe not even that. Earnings released thus far have fallen into a range of awful to OK, with nothing - other than tech or momentum stocks like Google - really stirring the animal spirits of investors or speculators.

More evidence of the deleterious effects of incessant government intervention? Maybe. But it's equally possible that stocks are pausing for an event or some other catalyst by which to move stocks, though, considering the recent run-up off the government closure and subsequent debt and budget deals, the next move may not be to traders' liking.

Meanwhile, the level of new highs to new lows is bordering on insanity, 731-28, numbers that depict an explosive environment, not a dead one.

We shall await and see.

Dow 15,392.20, -7.45 (0.05%)
Nasdaq 3,920.05, +5.77 (0.15%)
S&P 500 1,744.66, +0.16 (0.01%)
10-Yr Bond 2.61%, +0.02
NYSE Volume 3,062,334,250
Nasdaq Volume 1,726,410,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2690-2892
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 731-28
WTI crude oil: 99.22, -1.59
Gold: 1,315.80, +1.20
Silver: 22.28, +0.365
Corn: 444.00, +2.50

With Nothing Holding Them Back Stocks Will Keep Rising

Now that the government shutdown is over, there is no longer a debt ceiling - that's been suspended - the Fed is ramming $85 billion a month into the system and we're soon to have a Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, who will print so much money as to make Ben Bernanke look like he was standing still the past five years.

Despite what the media says, Janet Yellen saw no danger from a housing bubble back in 2005, 2006, 2007 or 2008. It was only when it imploded did she consider it a problem. Hopefully, Mrs. Yellen will be the last Fed Chairman (or woman) ever, as she guides the global economy further into indebtedness which will never be repaid.

Then, when she is gone and the world's currencies are rest to something more reasonable, maybe we will have sane markets, free markets and stable economies, not the bloated wastelands that we are currently supposed to accept as "normal."

Since the Fed's relentless, continuous, non-stop money creation out of thin air is the only thing that matters, stocks are the place to be. Someday, they will be the place nobody wants to be, so, the question is, do you feel lucky, punk?

Do you?

Dow 15,399.65, +28.00 (0.18%)
Nasdaq 3,914.28, +51.13 (1.32%)
S&P 500 1,744.50, +11.35 (0.65%)
10-Yr Bond 2.59% 0.00
NYSE Volume 3,625,746,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,854,716,125
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3911-1727
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 852-32 (now, THAT's extreme)
WTI crude oil: 100.81, +0.14
Gold: 1,314.60, -8.40
Silver: 21.91, -0.034
Corn: 441.50, -1.50

OK, Back to Work, Slaves! S&P Hits All-Time High

Grateful that the shutdown is behind us, President Disingenuous could help but take a victory lap with a press conference this morning (Why is he always late? Very annoying.) reminding all the faithful citizens that those overpaid, barely-stressed government workers are patriot and essential. Funny, we thought they furloughed the non-essential ones. And, yes, they're all getting paid for the two weeks they didn't work.

Oh, well.

People better get straight with this and quick. The debt limit was NOT increased, it was SUSPENDED, the President now having authority to issue as much debt as he pleases, unless congress disapproves via a joint resolution - which the president would veto - and the congress would need a 2/3rds majority to override, which, with the current makeup on congress, is all but impossible.

So, essentially, there is no debt limit any more, thanks to provisions in the bill supported by Mitch McConnell (that's right, numbskulls, there's no Red team or Blue team, just one team) and signed into law by the supine congress on Wednesday, October 16, 2013.

That explains why the president, when asked last night if we'll be doing this all over again in three months, quickly turned on his heels while heading for the exit after his presser, and replied simply, "No."

This also explains quite a bit about how things actually operate in the capitol. They scare us to bejeezus, and then, in the dead of the night, right before their artificial deadline, when everybody is zoned out from boredom or anxiety, throw in language that subverts and changes the way they do business.

From here on out, the president can just run the tab up as high as he likes, and congress won't make a peep about it, because, as they'll surely tell us, they can't muster the votes to override a veto. Essentially, the United States no longer has a debt limit or debt ceiling, call it what you like. It has been suspended.

Read the actual bill: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/10/politics/senate-shutdown-deal/index.html

Nice job, for government work.

PS: We're screwed.

On the other hand, we all might take this advice: Why I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Currency Collapse

Dow 15,371.65, -2.18 (0.01%)
Nasdaq 3,863.15, +23.71 (0.62%)
S&P 500 1,733.15, +11.61 (0.67%)
10-Yr Bond 2.59%, -0.08
NYSE Volume 3,433,423,500
Nasdaq Volume 1,931,481,625
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4282-1351
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 554-41
WTI crude oil: 100.67, -1.62
Gold: 1,323.00, +40.70
Silver: 21.95, +0.582
Corn: 443.00, +0.25