NFP Jobs Data Disappoints; Fed-Taper in Question; Liesman's Big Lie

Following an early-session smack-down and a subsequent rally, stocks came right back to terra firma at the close, ending the session essentially flat.

Non-farm payroll data and Middle east posturing were the main catalysts for the early decline, the rally had little catalyst othe than empty reassurances from the president, or Bomber-in-Chief, who, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his nation would support and defend Syria in the face of any attacks, promised, once again, that strikes against Syria would be measured and brief.

Mr. Obama speaks as if he's planning a family outing of some sort rather than an act of war against a sovereign nation and his posturing and promising is nauseating, misguided and insincere. While the congress dithers over whether to grant him authority - as it must under the War Powers Act - to bomb Syria, a nation that poses no imminent threat to US interests, the president continues to tiptoe toward conflict, one which is likely to inflame parties in an already-tense region.

Market reactions to the president and congress are equally superfluous and without much forethought. To date, the US has done nothing but threaten Syria. If it ever comes to actual bombing, then the market will make up its mind as to whether such actions have consequences for stocks and bonds.

The other contributing factor to today's rocky trade was the August Non-Farm Payroll report which showed the US gaining 169,000 new jobs, well below consensus, and revising June and July data lower. The BLS also advised that the labor force participation rate had fallen again, to 63.2%, a number not seen since 1978, thirty-five years ago.

This item in the BLS calculus continues to plunge, and many, including CNBC's Chief Economist, Steve Liesman, cite the aging baby-boomers retiring as the main culprit, though other economists disagree, and heartily so. The number usually thrown about is that 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day, though, if that were true, there would be something on the order of 300,000 jobs available every month and the labor condition would be booming, but those numbers are not showing up in the NFP reports.

A few of the prominent factors contributing to the lower participation rate are: 1) the coming of Obamacare, which is prompting more and more employers to hire only part-time workers; 2) a reluctance by companies large and small to replace workers lost through attrition or layoffs due to uncertainty in the economy or outright slowdown; 3) the ease by which individuals can qualify for public relief programs such as unemployment insurance, welfare or disability and the generosity of those programs, and; 4) a thriving underground economy of self-employed or off-the-books workers who simply aren't part of the statistical sample. It's been long known that government statistics are wildly faulty and unreliable, and the labor stats simply don't account for the literally millions of Americans who are making ends meet by working around, though or otherwise outside the system, a system which sucks the lifeblood, via taxation and regulation, out of both employers and workers.

The government's statistics may be relied upon by Wall Street investors, but the logic and realism of their assumptions is faulty at best and downright improper at worst. Americans have always found means to an end, and, when the government - all all levels - exerts undue, stifling restrictions upon the citizenry, the people quietly move on without them. Beating back the government by hook or by crook is an American tradition and it will remain that way, so long as people in power feel the necessity to invade every aspect of a citizen's life.

Dow 14,922.50, -14.98 (0.10%)
NASDAQ 3,660.01, +1.23 (0.03%)
S&P 500 1,655.17, +0.09 (0.01%)
NYSE Composite 9,439.66, +19.31 (0.20%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,668,595,250
NYSE Volume 3,384,952,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3718-2834
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 206-54
WTI crude oil: 110.53, +2.16
Gold: 1,386.50, +13.50
Silver: 23.89, +0.636

Slow Day for Stocks

A Jewish holiday (Rosh Hashana), benign economic news and low volume all contributed to one of the weakest sessions of the year on the major markets.

ADP employment for August came in at 176,000 and initial unemployment claims were 323K in the most recent reporting period, setting up for the expected announcement of tapering by the Fed at their September 17-18 FOMC meeting.

The Dow traded in a skinny, 64-point range. The 10-year note hit 2.99%, the highest yield since July, 2011.

Dow 14,937.48, +6.61 (0.04%)
NASDAQ 3,658.78, +9.74 (0.27%)
S&P 500 1,655.08, +2.00 (0.12%)
NYSE Composite 9,420.41, +20.17 (0.21%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,510,979,125
NYSE Volume 3,171,252,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3485-3084
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 206-66
WTI crude oil: 108.37, +1.14
Gold: 1,373.00, -17.00
Silver: 23.26, -0.16

Drums of War Bring Out the Traders

It didn't take long for Wall Street professionals to get over their fear of war in the Middle East, particularly Syria.

In fact, it took less than one day for the drumbeats of potential warfare to bring out the animal spirits and send stocks soaring.

Unfortunately, volume is still in the "new normal" range of moderate to dismal, and the Dow stopped ominously short of the magic 15,000 mark, a sign that there's still a healthy level of skepticism over the future of American empire.

Today's activity was really nothing of great consequence. Most traders are waiting until Friday's non-farm payroll report before the bell to establish positions or head for the hills. It's a very undecided market presently and that doesn't seem to want to change, especially considering the headwinds of the debt ceiling and Fed tapering on the agenda later in the month.

This little two-day rally did reverse the overall trend, for now, and the major indices are sitting close to key levels of resistance, though the Dow and S&P are still stuck below their 50-day moving averages.

Commodities acted very strangely, with significant losses in oil, gold and silver.

Dow 14,930.87, +96.91 (0.65%)
NASDAQ 3,649.04, +36.43 (1.01%)
S&P 500 1,653.08, +13.31 (0.81%)
NYSE Composite 9,400.20, +66.71 (0.71%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,812,184,125
NYSE Volume 3,516,943,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4510-2082
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 149-57
WTI crude oil: 107.23, -1.31
Gold: 1,390.00, -22.00
Silver: 23.42, -1.014

Boehner, Pelosi Side with O'Bomber, Tank Markets

This past Friday, nearly the entire civilized world believed that US bombs would be falling on Syria over the weekend.

Abruptly, n Saturday, the president, in a true CYA moment, decided to get authorization from congress, which, according to our constitution (remember, we still have one, if in name only), is a necessity in order to attack any entity that does not pose a serious, immediate threat to the nation, and Syria easily qualifies.

With the congress winding down its month-long vacation (somebody remind us why are we paying them), a vote on the matter of whether or not to use offensive weapons against Syria couldn't occur much before September 9, the date upon which congress will officially resume to be in session. Thus, the inevitable bombing and unofficial start to World War III would have to wait.

On Tuesday, the house leadership of both parties - Nancy Peolosi and John Boehner - were back on the Hill, each making statements in support of the Bomber-in-Chief's proposal to use force against Syria.

So, if one is to believe in what the tea-leaves tell us, the president will get his authorization, despite some grandstanding by Tea Party members on the right and anti-war types on the left. Never mind that only nine percent of Americans support any kind of military action against Syria. The one-party rulers in Washington will have their way and theirs is the way of war.

Wall Street didn't take the news kindly. Up sharply early on, thinking that maybe, possibly, congress would not give the president the green light, markets did an about-face after the Boehner/Pelosi comments and stayed down for the remainder of the session. Everybody put away their "Dow 15,000!" hats and got back to thinking about how spiked oil and gas prices might negatively affect the economy, how bombing a nation essentially tearing itself apart in a civil war would benefit US interests, and how this might weigh on decisions surrounding the budget, the debt ceiling and whether the Fed would taper its bond-buying at its next meeting (Sept. 17-18).

With that, traders wiped 100 points off the Dow, albeit on volume that was hardly indicative of a back-to-work mentality. Come to think of it, since Obamacare is making work in America largely a part-time experience, maybe lower volume and shorter trading sessions might be just the ticket.

Dow 14,833.96, +23.65 (0.16%)
NASDAQ 3,612.61, +22.74 (0.63%)
S&P 500 1,639.77, +6.80 (0.42%)
NYSE Composite 9,333.50, +62.84 (0.68%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,568,192,750.00
NYSE Volume 4,111,344,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4025-2691
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 130-89
WTI crude oil: 108.54, +0.89
Gold: 1,412.00, +15.90
Silver: 24.43, +0.916

Stocks End Worst Month Since May 2012; Odds on Syria Strike; Despite Kerry Rhetoric, Still no Proof

We end the month of August on an oddly-down note, since Secretary of State John Kerry made an impassioned speech about the need to punish the Assad regime in Syria for alleged chemical strikes against its own people, but still did not offer any substantive proof that those loyal to the embattled president of Syria were responsible for the attacks.

Odd, it was, that stocks did not rally in patriotic fervor over going to war, insofar as any action the president may take against Syria is entirely without authorization from congress and decidedly unconstitutional. But, in the politics of the new American dictatorship under president Obama, such trifles as the War Powers Act and the constitution - to say nothing of the American public's 91% disapproval of any action being taken against Syria - count for nil when the stakes are so politically high.

Thus, we present the odds for the timing of missile strikes - "tailored" ones, using the president's own vernacular:
Friday (prior to 12:00 pm EDT): 7-5
Saturday: even
Sunday: 4-1
Monday: 7-1
No strike: 40-1

Stocks ended the most brutal month since May of 2012, spurred to the downside first, by talk of tapering by the Fed and general fear, second, by talk of military action from the Obama administration. The time for talk being essentially over, it is expected that Damascus will be in flames shortly, the Fed will nip about $10-15 billion off its monthly bond-buying binge by the end of September and stocks will continue their trajectory to the downside.

On the day, the Russell 2000 and Dow Transports were mashed fairly substantially, and, despite some fierce tape-painting in the final five minutes of trading (about 40 Dow points), stocks finished the week with their third loss in the past five sessions.

For the week - in which the Dow closed lower for the fourth straight week (first time this year) - the Dow Industrials were down 200.20 points, the NASDAQ shed 67.92 and the S&P 500 was nipped for 30.53 points, a pretty severe decline.

Microsoft (MSFT) was the only Dow component to finish positive for the month.

Now we await the weekend's entertainment: College Football and Bombing Syria.

What could be better?

Dow 14,810.31, -30.64 (0.21%)
NASDAQ 3,589.87, -30.43 (0.84%)
S&P 500 1,632.97, -5.20 (0.32%)
NYSE Composite 9,270.70, -45.12 (0.48%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,229,340,500
NYSE Volume 3,001,316,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1822-4668
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 55-73
WTI crude oil: 107.65, -1.15
Gold: 1,396.10, -16.80
Silver: 23.46, -0.627

Confused? Don't Worry. Everybody Else Is, Too

Ours is a complex world, and there's probably nothing more complex than the intricate workings of today's financial markets.

The news flow of the day involved nothing much of note moving forward on the Syrian issue, a second reading of second quarter GDP (the new, vastly inflated version) of 2.5%, lower initial unemployment claims and the laughable nationwide "strike" by fast food workers demanding a doubling of their wages, from roughly the minimum wage of $7.25 to about $15 per hour.

Here's a few clues for the burger flippers of the world: a) you'd be better off on welfare; b) McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's aren't going to double your pay; c) your new status as part-time employees is thanks to your hero, president Obama and his health care reform package; d)moving out of your parents' home and having a kid out of wedlock were probably bad ideas.

While we're on the advice meme for today, for the President: don't do it.
For congress: impeachment is still an option.
For Vlad Putin: Keep doing what you're doing.
For gold and silver bugs: buy or hold.
For stock holders: SELL!
and, for Miley Cyrus haters: Get a life. Stuff happens.

Meanwhile, stocks rallied hard in the morning and sold off hard in the final hour, similar to yesterday's action and a clearly bearish trading pattern. Bonds sold off, early, then rallied, sending yields up, then down.

Oil fell sharply.

If none of this makes any sense in a macro kind of way, that's probably the way it's supposed to be. As somebody very wise once said, "if it were easy, we'd all be rich." Ain't that the truth.

Friday is the final day of trading for the month, which really doesn't mean much of anything, except that, being August, expect some volume to return to the stock market the first week of September. Overall, it looks like a sure down month for the Dow and S&P, though the NASDAQ has bucked the trend somewhat, falling only 0.1% - basically dead even - for the month.

Since labor Day is fast upon us, here's a quote to ponder: "From Each According to His Ability, To Each According to His Need" -- The Tramp's Speech from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

We may or may not be back tomorrow, depending largely upon global events, whether the market moves are large or small and whether the fish are biting.

Dow 14,840.95, +16.44 (0.11%)
NASDAQ 3,620.30, +26.95 (0.75%)
S&P 500 1,638.17, +3.21 (0.20%)
NYSE Composite 9,315.83, +6.75 (0.07%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,288,533,125
NYSE Volume 2,802,161,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4291-2233
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 88-53
WTI crude oil: 108.80, -1.30
Gold: 1,412.90, -5.90
Silver: 24.09, -0.301

Energy Stocks Push Dow Higher in Listless Session

In terms of the declines from the past two days, today's paltry gains were about 20% of the pullback, so technically, Wednesday's session was nothing much more than a knee-jerk, relief rally with little follow through.

Energy stocks, ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) in particular, were responsible for roughly one half of the gains on the Dow Industrials, and there was concerted selling into the close, with stocks giving back about a third of the day's gains into the closing bell, a negative for trading conviction.

WTI crude oil closed above $110 a barrel for the first time since May, 2011, a direct result of the saber-rattling going on over Syria. Gold and silver took a breather, probably for some serious profit-taking, as the precious metals have been on a real tear over the past two weeks, bounding off their lows to make multi-month highs.

Volume was typically dismal, as is usually the case in August, especially the last week of the month, as were are witnessing.

News flow and economic data have been largely negative. Today's -1.3% downturn in pending home sales for July was another sign that the housing market continues to cool and may turn into a chill as the peak selling season is passing quickly.

Talk was centered on when the US would strike Syria, rather than "if," and how that might affect the Fed's decision over tapering bond purchases in September or delay it until tensions subside. Such banter is the stuff of markets, but largely foolish speculation and ignorant of the underlying trends in the economy, which are weak, at best, and slumping, at worst.

Overall, it was a nothing session, with most traders either on hold until a Syria assault becomes reality or on holiday until after Labor Day.

Gains were minimal and may prove to be fleeting.

Dow 14,824.51, +48.38 (0.33%)
NASDAQ 3,593.35, +14.83 (0.41%)
S&P 500 1,634.96, +4.48 (0.27%)
NYSE Composite 9,311.30, +23.19 (0.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,318,517,250
NYSE Volume 2,873,515,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3655-2890
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 59-88
WTI crude oil: 110.10, +1.09
Gold: 1,418.80, -1.40
Silver: 24.39, -0.26

Hard Times for America and the World; Harder Choices for Americans

Today, we stand at an important crossroad of history.

The United States is about to make one of the greatest strategic blunders of all time, even after lessons should have been learned from military misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq.

With support from congressmen and congresswomen from both sides of the aisle, the current administration is preparing to plunge the United States into another Middle East military conflict, centered on the civil war - that is none of our business and serves no national interest - in Syria.

The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.

-- Ernest Hemingway

Recently-appointed Secretary of State, John Kerry, kicked off the relentless banging of war drums late Monday afternoon, with a press conference, highlighting America's "undeniable" evidence that the regime of Bashir Assad had used chemical warfare against its own citizens last week.

Kerry, one of the richest politicians in the world thanks to his marriage to Heinz heiress, Teresa Heinz in 1995, spoke of "additional intelligence" which would indicate that Assad was behind the chemical attack that killed hundreds in a Damascus suburb. Estimates had ranged to over 1000, but recent estimates fall between 150 and 355, which is the number of deaths quoted by Doctors without Borders.

Kerry said that this additional evidence would be released in coming days. In the meantime, the US has expressed concern that UN inspectors have not been given unfettered access to the attack site, which is contrary to published reports that the Assad government is complying with UN requests.

Additionally, Kerry made a comment, supposedly directed at Russia, but ostensibly aimed at anyone who believes the chemical attack was a "false flag" engineered by CIA or other undercover agents under direction from the United States, in order to heat up the situation and foment conditions for war in Syria.

Kerry said, "Anyone who can claim that an attack of this staggering scale can be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass." However, Assad has repeatedly and steadfastly denied that his government was behind the attack. Besides, Assad has been seen as winning the civil war against home-grown rebels and outside agitators from the Muslim Brotherhood and groups associated with Al Queda, so there was no direct benefit for the use of chemical warfare, especially since President Obama said months ago that such use would "cross a red line."

In Kerry's "moral compass" statement, in response to words from the Kremlin that the situation mirrored that in Iraq, centered around non-existent weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that led the US into war 10 years ago, lies the seed of disingenuousness.

In more genteel times, such as prior to 2001, such comments would not even be given an airing, but, since 9/11, and even before, the scenario has been set. Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, knows exactly which button to push in order to riase the ire of the US, and he is pushing them. As far as "strong evidence suggesting" (a term Kerry, and compatriots like Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell like to use) is concerned, there's a recurring pattern emerging out of Washington DC, starting with the Gulf of Tonkin incident which plunged us into the Vietnam War, to the events of 9/11/2001, around which skeptics still abound, to the Iraq invasion based upon what is now called "flawed intelligence," to the present condition in Syria.

It seems like every time the economy is in trouble (read on, there's more of that to come) or the US needs to exploit the resources of a weaker nation (Egypt and Libya come immediately and recently to mind), there's some "event" that brings out the president, the Secretary of State, various members of congress, especially war-mongers John McCain and Lindsay Graham rattling the sabers like medieval warlords.

The US is once again on the same path, with the media lapping it up and spitting it out to the trusting American public. These are truly the hardest of times, and the hardest of decisions face the American public just ahead. Will they continue to support these elected leaders who act more like psychopathic killers than men and women of judgement and compassion, or will Americans stand up and resist, though protests in the recent past have gone for naught because the media has been purchased in whole by the banking-political cartel and will not give protests their proper airing.

It is inconceivable in this day and age of an open internet and mass communications that governments be allowed to run roughshod over a country's constitution and its people, but that is precisely the path America is upon, and there seems to be little to apprehend the runaway war machine.

As for the market reaction to the beating war drums - or, maybe more precisely, the market condition aside from them - stocks have taken a severe beating over the first two sessions of the final week of August, with the NASDAQ in freefall, taking its biggest loss of the year on Tuesday, while the Dow, NYSE Composite and S&P 500 continue to plunge well below their 50-day moving averages. Meanwhile, the WTI oil price has spiked to six-month highs, gold and silver have returned to their traditional status as safe havens and are experiencing a bull market, and the recent rise in interest rates has been temporarily reversed.

While it may be easy to blame "war tensions" for the recent price declines, there's much, much more to the story, including whether or not the Federal Reserve will cut back its bond buying program (tapering) in September, the upcoming budget and debt ceiling debates - also in September and October - a potential collapse of the Italian government, a slowdown in housing, continuing high unemployment and the effects of Obamacare on the entire labor and health care complex.

Indications are already in place that the markets are taking a severe turn, possibly signaling an end to the 54-month-long bull run since March 2009. The Dow has lost nearly 900 points this month alone, ending in the red 13 of its last 17 sessions. The advance-decline line continues to deteriorate, today reaching a level of more than 4:1 losers to winners, and new lows slammed new highs yet again, a continuing, troublesome trend.

Weeks and months ahead could well become a turning point for the country, though there's a strong sentiment that the federal government, deeply in bed with the Wall Street bankers and global elite will continue a glide path to insolvency, decimating the middle class from both sides, by the rapacious practices of the upper class ("one percenters") while keeping the dregs of society quelled with bread and circuses (food stamps and football).

America has reached a greater incline on the slippery slope to serfdom and tyranny. This is a dangerous time, and each American must examine his or her conscience and decide which course of action is best for themselves and their families. These will not be easy decisions, but momentous even in singularity. America is being ripped apart by the powers at the top and there may be no reasonable means of stopping the carnage already underway.

Unfolding events in Syria and the wider Middle East, along with the operational side of the federal government may present the nation with veritable breaking points and an irreversible trajectory.

Dow 14,776.13, -170.33 (1.14%)
NASDAQ 3,578.52, -79.05 (2.16%)
S&P 500 1,630.48, -26.30 (1.59%)
NYSE Composite 9,288.11, -144.40 (1.53%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,570,917,625
NYSE Volume 3,629,879,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1236-5415
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 43-106
WTI crude oil: 109.01, +3.09
Gold: 1,420.20, +27.10
Silver: 24.65, +0.641

Friday Wrap: New Home Sales Plummet; Stocks Thin Trade Up; Joe Cocker's Response?

Where we are, it's a beautiful summer day. Crickets are chirping, bees buzzing, birds singing, everything is green and red and gold, warm and wonderful.

Speaking of gold, what was that spike just after 10:00 am, all about? Oh, housing. Yes. New home sales fell by 13% in July, due - according to most usually-misinformed experts - mainly to rising interest rates. It was the lowest level of sales in nine months. Additionally, June figures were revised dramatically lower.

Well, OK, so new homes, already overvalued and, like new cars, worth less than what you paid (and will be paying for 30 years) the moment you walk in the front door for the first time, aren't such a bargain anymore. But why does that affect the price of gold? And, concomitantly, why did interest rates dip at the same time?

Maybe because the economy isn't as good as the doves at the Fed would like us to believe. They still think there's a good chance that they can stop stimulating the economy in September, or maybe October, or, or, or... maybe some day, without crashing the market. And that leads some people to run for safety, in things they can actually touch and feel and believe are undervalued, like gold (and silver, which was up big again today), or to bonds, which are traditionally safer investments than stocks (we'll reserve judgement on that one for now).

Stocks were higher at the close today, but, despite today's thinly-traded silliness, the Dow ended the week down 71 points, the NASDAQ (even being closed half the day yesterday) was still up 55 points (bubble?), and the S&P gained 7.62. Pretty much, the week was a non-event. That's three down weeks in a row for the Dow, and a little bit of a break for the S&P and NASDAQ, down the previous two weeks.

As for the Fed, all they need is some solid economic data that shows the US (and by proxy, the global) economy is healing nicely, or "recovering" as they say, but, like a wounded patient, recovery is an empirical event, one which can be seen, not hocus-pocus numerology or fantasy ripped from the headlines. It is a phenomenon which can be observed. The gal with the broken leg takes off the cast and walks again. The guy who had a heart attack can do jumping jacks or go jogging. That's what recovery looks like.

If the US economy was a patient with an illness, it would have been flat on its back, probably on an operating table, back in 2008-09. Since then, it has been pumped full of fluids, fitted with prosthetics and taken from critical condition to "under observation." Take away the fake limbs and it can't walk or feed itself. Cut off the fluids and the patient will atrophy and die.

That's why the Fed can't taper in September. The patient is still too weak and has been propped up by artificial means (QE and ZIRP). Take those away and the patient will relapse, but, the Fed may give it a go anyway, despite strong empiricial evidence that it is the wrong course of action. That's what the Fed does best - hard to believe from people who are supposed to be smart; they usually make bad moves.

In the end, there will be pain, despite or in response to whatever the Federal reserve does. The economy remains weak and may actually be getting weaker. If they start trimming their bond purchases, it most certainly will not improve, prompting what we think may be the appropriate response for all of us, courtesy of Joe Cocker, from Woodstock, way, way, way back in 1969:



Dow 15,010.36, +46.62 (0.31%)
NASDAQ 3,657.79, +19.08 (0.52%)
S&P 500 1,663.47, +6.51 (0.39%)
NYSE Composite 9,474.75, +48.97 (0.52%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,453,646,250
NYSE Volume 2,586,104,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4141-2401
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 156-52
WTI crude oil: 106.42, +1.39
Gold: 1,395.80, +25.00
Silver: 23.74, +0.703

FUBAR: The Day NASDAQ Went Dark

Shortly after noon, at about 12:20 pm EDT, the NASDAQ shut down trading operations. There would be no trading of any "securities" (ha, ha, funny word) on the NASDAQ platform until further notice.

Some traders were visibly asleep.

From a public relations perspective, the NASDAQ itself was officially quiet during the outage, which turned out to be not much of a big deal. Stocks actually went higher after the NAZ re-opened at 3:25 pm ET, with just 35 minutes left in the session. It was learned that the President was informed of the shutdown while he was three-putting the eighth hole at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY.

The day ended in typical dead-cat bounce fashion, with a slight selloff into the close, but stocks generally higher, ending a six-day losing streak for the Dow, but ushering in an era of infrastructure breakdown with a three-hour closure of the NASDAQ.

And you want your money - your investments for your future, for retirement - in these markets?

America is becoming a third world nation.

Welcome to Cameroon, my friends.

Dow 14,963.74, +66.19 (0.44%)
NASDAQ 3,638.71, +38.92 (1.08%)
S&P 500 1,656.96, +14.16 (0.86%)
NYSE Composite 9,425.04, +85.66 (0.92%)
NASDAQ Volume 884,157,625
NYSE Volume 2,573,636,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 5235-1326
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 144-93
WTI crude oil: 105.03, +1.18
Gold: 1,370.80. 0.70
Silver: 23.04, +0.072

Dow Down 6th Straight Session; Bummer for 5% of Population

Consider this salient factoid (and question its validity): Five percent of the US population owns 82% of all common stock.

So, with that in mind, who - besides the employees of the major corporate entities in this country (a big number) - cares?

It might be worth suggesting that a 5-10-15-20% pullback in stocks would be a healthy development, bringing down the elite to more moderate levels.

This is sophistry, of course. A diminution in the relative income or net worth of the wealthiest amongst us would surely trickle down to those not quite rich, the middle class and eventually the bottom income levels.

Yes. Those nearest the gutter would be dragged down into it and die. Others would take their places. Those in the middle would become less fortunate (say goodbye to paying U of Michigan $52,000 a year for tuition, room and board). Those in the upper tiers would eat strip steaks instead of filet mignon and the top five percent would drive their Mercedes or Lexus or Maserati a little less often.

This is all very relative; the deciding factors being, most prominently, not how much you're worth or how much you make, but what you can be productive with, what your knowledge and skills are and how much you spend.

Wall Street is a very cockeyed place, full of people who think they know better how to manage other people's money than those people themselves. For an alternative perspective, go to a farm, where a person's value is derived from utility, rather than fantasy.

Dow 14,897.55, -105.44 (0.70%)
NASDAQ 3,599.79, -13.80 (0.38%)
S&P 500 1,642.80, -9.55 (0.58%)
NYSE Composite 9,339.37, -82.19 (0.87%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,401,692,625
NYSE Volume 3,306,747,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1871-4677
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 83-178
WTI crude oil: 103.85, -1.26
Gold: 1,370.10, -2.50
Silver: 22.96, -0.108

Dow Fades Into Close for 5th Straight Losing Session

Issues persist in global financial markets and investors are beginning to shift assets back into fixed income, since yields are rising and should continue to do so, though chances that the Fed will begin tapering in September appear to be diminishing as economic data and corporate reports are not suggestive of a strengthening economy.

The Dow, which, along with the other major indices, was positive all session long, finally succumbed to selling pressure in the final minutes of trading, ending the day with a minor loss, though still the fifth straight session in the red.

What's not being talked about much is where the Dow Industrials currently are settled, well below the 50-day moving average (roughly 15,275) and in danger of sparking another rout in stocks. Additionally, Dow stocks are largely among the best dividend-payers, just the kind of risk asset that investors are shunning, with interest rates on the rise and fixed income carrying much less perceived risk than even blue chip stocks.

The Dow components aren't exactly going to be sold off in wholesale fashion - there's too many diversified investors in them - but they have obviously been under pressure since the start of August, despite Fed incantations and deliberations over QE tapering beginning sometime in the near future.

For gambling types, the biggest question is whether the Fed will actually begin tapering its bond-buying in September, or, at some later date. Some suggest that the economy is so weak, and the Fed terrified of causing a market panic, that tapering will not and cannot occur in the current environment. The secondary issue of by how much the Fed will taper is also in play. Being that the Fed is now so trapped and dovish, the tapering might be an inconsequential number, like $10 billion, reducing their total bond purchases to $75 billion a month, still an enormous liquidity lift.

In such a case, wherein the Fed reduces QE by a mere $10 billion a month, in either September or October, and then continues to cut down on bond purchases at a rate of around $10 billion a month every two to three months, would probably be enough to rattle markets a bit without causing a correction or crash. Of course, the US and global economies are currently in such a weakened state that markets may crash and burn on their own, despite what the Fed and other central banks conspire in their rigging.

The outlook remains the same, with the bias toward the downside. September, with the Federal government politicians back from their extended, annual August recess, is shaping up to be momentous, what with budget negotiations and an expected fight over raising the debt ceiling again, with the outlier that the Republican Tea Partiers may be so inclined as to stall negotiations on both issues to a point at which the government is shut down. On top of the already-expanding sequester, these kind of childish hissy fits from our political elite might be enough to topple the markets into bear territory.

It's an eventuality, as the bull market is approaching the 54-month mark, which it will reach on September 9. The week of September 8-15 figures to be dramatic, with the anniversary of 9/11 and expected hijinks in the corridors of power.

One thing is for sure: the housing market is already under stress and, unless interest rates suddenly reverse course (unlikely), the so-called recovery in housing is over, dead and done. Real estate prices nationwide should experience a fairly sharp pullback over the next three to 12 months, because there are not enough qualified purchasers out there, interest rates are driving up the cost of buying and carrying a mortgage, and, the number of homes still held off the market by the banks continues to be an enormous, unseen force driving down real estate. Bargains are out there, but one has to look hard and long for the right ones at the right entry price. This is not a market for bold speculation, but rather for considered, strategic purchasing of the right property, be it for housing, farming or simply to escape the madness which is headed toward everyone within 10 miles of a major population center.

Major shifts in the economies of billions of people are underway and will play out over the next five to seven years, transforming the economic landscape beyond what most people can imagine.

Dow 15,002.99, -7.75 (0.05%)
NASDAQ 3,613.59, +24.50 (0.68%)
S&P 500 1,652.35, +6.29 (0.38%)
NYSE Composite 9,421.56, +35.67 (0.38%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,285,024,000
NYSE Volume 3,266,316,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4827-1777
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 75-316
WTI crude oil: 104.96, -2.14
Gold: 1,372.60, +6.90
Silver: 23.07, -0.095

Stocks Slammed Again; 10-Year at 2.90%; Egypt Coming Apart

Make it four down days in a row and nine of the last 11 for the Dow Industrials, since making an all-time closing high of 15,658.36 on August 2nd, slipping today to the closest point to 15,000 since July 5th.

If one needs a catalyst or cause, it's Egypt. A former ally, the most populous Muslim nation in the Middle East, now up in flames and our government backing the wrong side. Tragic, complex and horrifying, the tableau playing out is enough to shatter the confidence of most of the globe.

Beyond the obvious implications of large nations devolving into anarchy and chaos, there are so many other issues - financial and political - roiling the markets, it is impossible to take all of them accurately into account. Suffice to say, it's a mess out there and politicians are about to make it messier, with a new round of budget battles and debt ceiling debate set to get underway in the nation's capitol.

On the global horizon, India is having a currency crisis, the Rupee falling to historic lows against the dollar as the Indian government attempts to limit and/or tax individual holdings of gold. It certainly will not work. India has the highest gold-ownership per capita on the planet.

Naturally, our very own Federal Reserve will not be outdone by foreign rivals. The Fed continues to tinker and experiment with the currency, becoming all-too-powerful a force in all markets, from commodities to stocks to treasuries.

Speaking of treasuries, the benchmark 10-year note touched 2.90% today, a 130-basis-point rise since May. Literally, nothing will destroy the economy better than uncontrollably-rising interest rates, and we have them across the curve.

It has long been said on this blog and elsewhere that these experimental attempts to revive a dead, decaying, US and global economy will not end well. The stark reality is that the global economy imploded in 2008. All the QE, ZIRP and presumptive actions by the Fed and other central banks is nothing but window dressing, the model in the storefront being a naked - and likely capitalist - pig.

If the carnage since 2008 has not been enough for this country to bear, imagine the pain as it's about to get worse, a lot worse.

Dow 15,010.74, -70.73 (0.47%)
NASDAQ 3,589.09, -13.69 (0.38%)
S&P 500 1,646.06, -9.77 (0.59%)
NYSE Composite 9,385.89, -79.70 (0.84%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,402,886,250
NYSE Volume 3,236,012,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1566-5077
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 64-532 (how quickly it has turned!)
WTI crude oil: 107.10, -0.36
Gold: 1,365.70, -5.30
Silver: 23.17, -0.156

End-Game Begins as Stocks Are Sold, Bond Yields Rise, Precious Metals Take Off

What happened over the latter part of this week should be the stuff of history books for future economic historians, given there will even be an economic history after the worst crisis in history begins its second leg down.

Forget about Friday. That was mostly churn, finger-pointing, squaring of positions in options and a great deal of nail-biting by the financial elite and central bankers. The real action was on Wednesday and Thursday, and, more specifically, the close of the trading day Wednesday and the pre-market Thursday, when St. Louis fed president, James Bullard, made comments, first to a Rotary club in Paducah, Kentucky, at 3:15 pm EDT Wednesday, and then reiterated and expanded upon those comments Thursday prior to the opening bell.

Both attempts to jawbone the market back into a state of control were, as they say in current parlance, epics fails, because market fundamentals - those things like economic data and earnings reports - finally came to the forefront and overtook what little control the Federal Reserve had over markets - both stocks and bonds.

Wednesday was shaping up to be a painful session when Bullard attempted to soothe the pain by saying that the Fed needed more data in the second half of the year before committing to a slowdown in their bond-purchase program (aka QE) in September or sometime near that time frame. The market's knee-jerk reaction was a swift erasure of 30 losing Dow points, but almost as quickly, sellers swamped back in, with the Dow closing near the lows of the day.

After the close, Cisco (CSCO) released second quarter earnings, with a penny miss on EPS and a small shortfall in revenue. Making matters worse was the conference call afterwards, in which the company issued some negative guidance, as has been the mantra this earnings season, sending the stock down roughly 10% in after hours trading.

On Thursday morning, Wal-Mart (WMT) released their second quarter earnings report, eeril similar to Cisco's complete with negative guidance for the remainder of the year. Around 7:30 am EDT, when pre-market trading opened, Dow futures, already down substantially, took a nosedive.

Queue James Bullard, reiterating Wednesday's comments and adding some new verbiage, in a desperate attempt to satiate the trading community. Once again, Bullard's comments failed to incite any kind of rally in futures. The day was setting up to be a bad one for the bulls.

At 8:30 am, the final nail in the coffin was hammered home by the weekly unemployment claims report, which came in at 320,000, a six-year low and a complete misread by anyone thinking a better jobs picture would be a salve for jittery traders. It was the exact opposite, the thinking being that if the jobs picture was indeed improving, the Fed would be more than willing to begin curbing QE in September. Futures were pounded even lower and the market opened in a sea of red ink, the Dow quickly down 150, then 200 points, the other major indices following along in a coordinated dive. Interest rates spiked higher, prompting even the most steadfast into a selling frenzy.

The upshot is that unemployment claims, despite being at multi-year lows, is a complete canard. The jobs created over the past past year, and primarily the last six months, have been mostly low-paying, service-type, part-time varieties, due to the coming slaughter of the jobs market via Obamacare, which mandates employer-provided insurance for companies with more than 50 full-time employees. While there are no real new jobs being created, nobody's leaving to look elsewhere for work and the slack caused by full-time jobs being split into part-time increments means more jobs overall, just not good ones and, especially, not full-time ones.

Thus, unemployment claims henceforth must be viewed with a skewed eye, despite the glad-handing by the media, financial pundits and politicians. Evidence that the overall economy is not even close to the so-called "recovery" we've all been anxiously awaiting since 2009, was amply provided by Cisco and Wal-Mart, two huge employers and both Dow components.

With the close on Thursday, the market was pointed for the worst week of the year heading into Friday, and, despite a lame attempt at tape-painting late in the session, it was delivered, with all of the indices closing marginally lower.

Treasuries hit their highest yields in two years, anathema to stocks and the housing market, further clouding the picture for the Fed and their plans for a graceful exit by Mr. Bernanke later this year. The Fed has lost control of all markets; they likely cannot slow their bond purchases in September, lest they risk a complete meltdown in stocks and melt-up in yields.

Gold and silver - especially the latter - had their best week in two-and-a-half years, with both hitting three-month highs and breaking out of the recent, depressed range.

Looking out a month to three months, the Fed is completely boxed in. On one hand, they can say that the economy is improving enough - even though the data doesn't remotely support such a claim - and begin tapering in September, even October. Or, they could face reality, admit their policies have been utter failures and continue the current pace of QE. Neither scenario is particularly bullish for stocks, the reality case the worst, as the decline off the August 2nd closing high has begun to accelerate with a strong downward trajectory, sending the Dow straight through its 50-day moving average, and the S&P closing out the week resting right upon its 50-day.

Nothing good will come from the politicians' return from their month-long hiatus, when they will once again entertain the markets with their rituals of piercing the debt ceiling and coming up with a budget or suitable continuing resolution. No matter what the Fed decides in September can be perceived as good, though from a trading standpoint, keeping QE at its current $85 billion per month will appear as a victory of sorts for the Wall Street crowd, when in reality it is admission that all has failed and the Fed can do nothing, other than continue debasing the currency until is ceases to exist.

The mathematical certainty that the experiment with fiat currency, back with nothing but promises and lies, will fail, is entering the second leg, or the third, after the crash in '08-09 and the nearly five years of false, liquidity-driven recovery. Any astute observer will immediately comprehend that lost faith in the currency foreshadows another crisis, this one likely more severe than that of 2008.

While many of the status quo will cringe at the prospect of the greenback's death throes and a complete collapse of the global economy, those fed up to their eyeballs with the current regime of lies, uncertainty, complete fraud by the major banks and totalitarian fear-mongering will welcome the change with open arms.

One can only hope that it won't drag on and out for years, as in europe and the Middle East, but the best advice at this point is to stay in precious metals, away from large population centers and hope for the best while preparing for the worst.

Other than those dire words, it looks to be a fine summer weekend in most of the US. Get out and enjoy some sun and taste the bounty of our land. Food, the fuel we humans - at the most basic level - need to survive, is still readily produced and relatively inexpensive. And that, my friends, is one shining silver lining.

Dow 15,081.47, -30.72 (0.20%)
NASDAQ 3,602.78, -3.34 (0.09%)
S&P 500 1,655.83, -5.49 (0.33%)
NYSE Composite 9,465.19, -24.10 (0.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,458,862,12
NYSE Volume 3,532,477,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2554-3882
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 77-369
WTI crude oil: 107.46, +0.13
Gold: 1,371.00, +10.10
Silver: 23.32, +0.387

Stocks Rocked, Gold. Silver, 10-Year Rip higher; Now, we're Getting Somewhere

And that somewhere is closer to reality.

No time now, full recap on Friday as the carnage commences.

Dow 15,112.19, -225.47 (1.47%)
NASDAQ 3,606.12, -63.16 (1.72%)
S&P 500 1,661.32, -24.07 (1.43%)
NYSE Composite 9,489.29, -104.21 (1.09%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,699,330,750
NYSE Volume 3,885,446,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1235-5423
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 57-453 (WOWOWOWOW!!!)
WTI crude oil: 107.33, +0.48 (really?)
Gold: 1,360.90, +27.50 (Good!)
Silver: 22.94, +1.148 (Really Good!)

Fed's Bullard Fails to Halt Market Decline; Fed Credibility Nil; Correction, Potential Crash in Motion

At last!

After weeks of churning, uneventful trading, Wall Street delivered a most interesting session on Wednesday.

Instead of the usual down in the morning, up in the afternoon routine that's been de rigueur of late, this was a dip that virtually nobody was buying.

Stocks began the session quietly, but soon fell to their lows of the day, shortly before the close of European markets. Money that had heretofore been jumping from European equities into US stocks did not manage to materialize, as they have over the past few weeks.

Instead, stocks languished in negative territory, with the Dow down between 60 and 90 points most of the midday. Another bump lower between 1:00 and 2:00 pm EDT left the Dow at its lows of the day, the S&P and NASDAQ following it down, though on a lower percentage basis.

At 3:15 pm, St. Louis Fed president James Bullard, one of the more effeminate and dovish Fed members, laid out his pre-arranged meme to calm markets in an unofficial speech to a Rotary club in Paducah, Kentucky, saying that he Fed needed more data in the second half before embarking on any kind of bond purchase tapering and that the Fed should hold press conferences after every FOMC meeting, in order to facilitate a more open, quick response to markets.

Initially, stocks moved upward on his comments, but quickly fell back, signaling that traders and markets have become weary of the differentiating tone of the Fed, one day favoring tapering, the next day softening their stance. The market response to Bullard's comments was clearly a sign that fundamental market analysis was overtaking the Fed's manipulation by word of mouth and that the Fed was clearly stuck in a box from which there was no salvageable escape.

Truth is, the economy is not improving to any noticeable degree, and even a partial winding down or "tapering" of QE would cause a selloff in stocks and likely another round of interest rate hikes devoid of any influence from the Federal Reserve. Nearly disarmed and out of ammunition, the Fed is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. They can declare the economy improving and crash the market (because it isn't) or hold tight to their insane strategy of pumping $85 billion a month in bond purchases for a longer time period, a strategy that has caused distortions and dislocations of magnificent proportions.

Traders, usually quick-thinking and thick-skinned, have found no solace in Fed utterings of late, and are taking action on their own, mostly on the side of selling, to the utter dismay of the proponents of central planning and controlled economic reality.

Stocks suffered fairly severely, though still are floating on a sea of liquidity supplied by the ever-present Fed, a condition which - whether it changes or not - seems to have run its course. Valuations are such that further gains need a serious catalyst in the form or fundamentally strong data, which has yet to materialize. Thus, booking profits off the outsize gains from the first half seems to be the prudent strategy prior to the next FOMC meeting in September, and there's little the Fed can do to stem the waves of selling pressure now appearing in all sectors.

A slew of fiscal and geopolitical risks also conspire against the Federal Reserve and the stock market, making the condition ripe for a serious, sustained correction. The cyclical bull, inspired off the first round of QE and ZIRP in March 2009, is now 54 months old, and getting a bit weary.

Only fools would rush in to this market, but as is well known, Wall Street and investment types are replete with foolish folks, so a quick pop prior to a reversal would not be a surprise, though the odds for a solid correction of 5-10% are rising quickly.

Though losses were not large, the Hinderburg Omen strategy remains the most powerful. The advance-decline line was humbled on today's session, the losing streak has all indices down for the month and new lows overwhelmed new highs (as shown below) for the first time in two months. Gold and silver made substantial gains both during NYMEX and electronic trading, with silver the shining out-performer of the day.

All of this sets up for a bearish tone tomorrow and into next week, with key data releases on Thursday, including the closely-watched weekly unemployment claims.

Cisco (CSCO) reported after the bell, beating earnings per share by a penny with revenues roughly in line with estimates. Before the opening bell tomorrow, McDonald's reports with expectations of 1.25 pr share and revenue of 118.25 for the second quarter. Same store comps will be closely monitored as those fell in the previous quarter from a year ago.


Dow 15,337.66, -113.35 (0.73%)
NASDAQ 3,669.27, -15.17 (0.41%)
S&P 500 1,685.39, -8.77 (0.52%)
NYSE Composite 9,593.34, -37.23 (0.39%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,546,362,000
NYSE Volume 3,126,848,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2451-4038
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 217-272
WTI crude oil: 106.85, +0.02
Gold: 1,333.40, +12.90
Silver: 21.79, +0.444

Dull and Duller Market Nears Midweek

About the most exciting thing that can be said about the stock market this week is that it's nearly to the middle of it.

The same pattern that has persisted for the better part of two weeks - down in the morning, up in the afternoon - showed itself again today, taking the Dow on a 150+ point round trip.

Carl Icahn tweets that he has a position in Apple and the stock gains five percent. Nice to have money.

Otherwise, there's the Hindenburg Omen sitting out there, making some investors a little fidgety. Others still are making hay. The rest are still making out with other traders' wives in the Hamptons.

And so it goes. If it gets any duller, the exchanges may have to call in clowns and magicians just to keep people interested.

In fact, maybe that's not a bad idea. Between the politicians, the bankers and the fed governors, they have the requisite talent already waiting in the wings.

Advancers to decliners was completely out of whack today, another moment for fans of that Hindenburg thingy.

Dow 15,451.01, +31.33 (0.20%)
NASDAQ 3,684.44, +14.49 (0.39%)
S&P 500 1,694.16, +4.69 (0.28%)
NYSE Composite 9,630.59, +21.56 (0.22%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,590,814,000
NYSE Volume 3,284,255,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2953-3896
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 261-220
WTI crude oil: 106.83, +0.72
Gold: 1,320.50, -13.70
Silver: 21.34, +0.004

More Churning as Stocks End Week Lower

Stocks disappointed this week, but after all was said and done, the damage was, at worst, marginal, or as Chairman Bernanke and his crony capitalists might call it, modest.

The same pattern of trading appeared every day of the week, typified by a weak start, a bottoming out before noon and a half-hearted rally - on exceptionally-low volume - into the close.

All said, the major indices barely budged.

For the week, the Dow was the biggest loser, down 233 points. The NASDAQ shed all of 29 points, while the S&P dropped a whole 18 points. All this may be indicative of is rotation out of dividend-payers to more speculative stocks, a kind of reverse shoot-the-generals move which is about as back-asswards as this market can get. On the other hand, why should it be any different? Even though the Fed has signaled - with both hands and feet and the waving of other extremities, ear-pulling, farting and goofy faces - that they're going to taper bond-buying in September, why should traders care. It's still a month away, more than ample time to do some shorting, dip-buying and re-selling.

Like a freight train without a locomotive, the market, and the economy, are going nowhere fast.

The whole enterprise is pretty damned stupid.

Meanwhile, silver had made a nice move over the past two days, up more than 4%.

Here's a re-posting of a comment left on another site:

Bravo to all who participate in keeping the spirit of America alive, while the government tears it down.

I should say that I think the tide is turning. These a-holes are visibly shaken on a daily basis and it's only a matter of time before the hackers, the self-employed, the thinking people in America bring this system crashing to its core.

Wall Street and the government (and I mean government at all levels, right down to towns and villages) are beyond corrupt. They are now so transparently out-of-touch and ugly to be contemptible. On a daily basis, I meet more and more people who are just refusing to play along any further, from the contractors who give discounts for cash payments, to landlords of homes in foreclosure, to simple, everyday working people whose loathing for this broken system has turned to disgust and disobedience.

Americans are a rare breed. We'll play along for a while, but, in the meantime, we work our own plans, and eventually there's a clash. Governments always fall. Free people who are willing to fight - by whatever means necessary - will always be free. Few are afraid any longer. The bogeymen of terrorism and national security are being laughed at by the masses.

Sure, there's still a lot of sheeple out there, but there are now enough people with backbone who are unafraid because they no longer want to endure this madness from people like Obama, Hayden, McCain, the banksters, etc., who will actually protect the sheeple from themselves and their nanny state government.

There used to be a poster here with the moniker, "CrashIsOptimistic," and that's now the status quo. The elites - fuck-ups that they are - will cause their own demise, hastened by the very people they wish to subjugate.

Grow your own, run your own, mind your business, and when the tax man or the repo man comes calling, play dumb. My experience with a bad mortgage has now run beyond four years and it's been a valuable learning experience, so much so, that other people are asking my advice, which, is simply, FIGHT.

Carry on. They can kill us all, but seriously, who wants to live under the thumb of tyrants?

Dow 15,425.51, -72.81 (0.47%)
NASDAQ 3,660.11, -9.02 (0.25%)
S&P 500 1,691.42, -6.06 (0.36%)
NYSE Composite 9,622.11, -12.59 (0.13%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,524,848,625
NYSE Volume 3,203,273,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3006-3470
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 249-131
WTI crude oil: 105.97, +2.57
Gold: 1,312.20, +2.30
Silver: 20.41, +2.14

The Stock Market Makes Perfect Sense...

...if you are a card-carrying bankster, politician or broker-dealer.

Otherwise, when every available Fed Governor is squealing at the top of his or her lungs that the Fed is going to taper its bond-buying in September ...bond yields should rise.

They keep going down...

And the stock market indices are sitting near all-time highs, or, in the case of the wildly-inflated NASDAQ, 13-year highs.

If you really believe the real estate market is is god shape, unemployment is really 7.4% and that ObamaCare is going to lower premiums and provide for better medical care nationwide, then the stock market at these levels makes perfect sense.

BUY MORE STOCKS.

(The preceding message was brought to you by people who remember when the economy was functioning, when America was a net EXPORTER, and when the federal debt was below $4 billion - which wasn't all that long ago.)

For those of you in your teens and 20s, carrying, or about to embark upon college and student loans, you are toast, debt slaves and completely hoodwinked by people who could care less about your future or the future of this country. Good luck with that four-year degree when you're asking "do you want fries with that?"

That's enough for today. Anybody who can't stand the current economic climate (of uncertainty), post a comment. Or don't. We here at Money Daily don't really care.

BTW: Silver closed above $20 per ounce for the first time since July 29. Will it hold this time? Bear in mind that the London Fix was at $31.75 on February 7 (again, not that long ago). Since then, it's been straight down to around these levels, with a low of 18.61 on June 27. It's still a bargain all the way back to $23 an ounce, and, it's still REAL MONEY.

Dow 15,498.32, +27.65 (0.18%)
NASDAQ 3,669.12, +15.12 (0.41%)
S&P 500 1,697.48, +6.57 (0.39%)
NYSE Composite 9,634.47, +66.21 (0.69%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,641,758,375
NYSE Volume 3,475,672,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4175-2345
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 270-112
WTI crude oil: 103.40, -0.97
Gold: 1,309.90, +24.60
Silver: 20.19, +0.685

Stocks Continue to Drift Lower as Fed Signals Tapering

Yesterday, the S&P 500 dropped below 1700. Today, the Dow Industrials broke below 15,500, both of those numbers officially in nose-bleed territory anyway, so it shouldn't be a surprise that, with Fed governors racing around the country giving speeches in which they hint about tapering in September, stocks should be falling.

Economic news has been fairly positive the past few months, so, despite the ungodly-awful employment reports and the coming disaster that is implementation of ObamaCare, the Fed sees fit to cut back its bond-buying from the current $85 billion a month, come September.

At issue is how much the Fed is willing to cut back on their bond-binge, be it by $10 billion, $20 billion or maybe even more.

They're not telling, so the traders are bracing for the unexpected, though most eyes are looking at the lower end of the range, maybe a $10 to $15 billion cut back.

That's not much consolation for holders of stocks for the long run, because the economy is still weak and sputtering along at - despite the official figure - sub-one-percent GDP, and that is not sustainable.

While praise for the Federal Reserve and chief money printer, Ben Bernanke, is nearly universal, the crooks and scoundrels on Wall Street don't want the party to end too soon, or, for most, at all. They'd be absolutely content with continuing bond purchases well beyond the markets' abilities to absorb them, fueling speculative trades as the underlying economy collapses.

They're not going to get that, but the Fed will relent and add back in more bond purchases if Wall Street wails loudly enough.

Up until now, there's been nothing bad about the direction the Fed has taken the markets and the country, but, unlike most fairy tales, the ending may not be so happy. The Fed may taper, but Wall Street isn't going to like it one bit, but it's the medicine most needed whether it crushes stocks and the economy, because all the malinvestments still need to be cleared, and there are a lot of them out there.

The selling pressure of the past few days may be a prelude to what's coming, but that's not going to happen this month, as DC politicians are on their usual, month-long hiatus and volume on the exchanges have been hitting the summer doldrums.

September will come, like the sun follows the rain, but it will be month of gnashing of teeth, incriminations and finger-pointing, everybody blaming each other for their own problems. When the pols get back, they'll be trying to raise the debt limit and put together a budget, two things that they've been unable to do successfully for some time.

Well, they can and have raised the debt ceiling, but at what cost?

Meanwhile, note that new lows outpaced new highs today. Could this be the market turn for which some have been calling?

Dow 15,470.67, -48.07 (0.31%)
NASDAQ 3,654.01, -11.76 (0.32%)
S&P 500 1,690.91, -6.46 (0.38%)
NYSE Composite 9,568.27 46.05 (0.48%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,616,177,250
NYSE Volume 3,087,253,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2049-4440
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 146-197
WTI crude oil: 104.37, -0.93
Gold: 1,285.30, -2.80
Silver: 19.51, -0.015

Dow Smacked-Down near Midday

Just about 10:00 am Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrials were down 139 points after dropping 46 in Monday's session.

More to follow on Wednesday (vacation schedule).

Day-Long Ramp Job

Today's action is precisely what was referenced in yesterday's post.

There's absolutely no telling where or when the market (forget individual stocks, that's another story) is going to move. At the close yesterday was a vast selloff, normally indicating trouble ahead, but, if you sold at the close yesterday, you were shut out this morning unless you wanted back in at a much higher price because the market gapped up tremendously at the open and stayed right up there for the remainder of the session, closing just about where it opened.

This kind of activity may be meaningless to the casual investor, but it's death to day-traders, options players and short-term speculators unless you're on the inside and know the game plan. It's all pre-arranged, pre-planned and if you're not on the short list, you're, well... screwed. Royally. On. A. Big. Stick.

Just look at what happened to JC Penny yesterday. Entering the close of trading, word goes out that CIT has cut their lines of credit and the stock gets hit for about 10% in just a five-minute span, right before the close.

Word has it that Goldman Sachs (yeah, those guys) had recently arranged financing for the troubled retail chain, to the tune of about $2.25 billion, with JCP putting up its real estate - which is extensive - as collateral. So, when word comes that CIT has pulled their lines of credit, hastening the path to bankruptcy court, one can assume that the great Lloyd Blankfein and the criminal John Thain (CEO of CIT, formerly of BOfA's Merrill Lynch and before that, head of the NY stock exchange) must have had lunch at some point over the past few months and arranged the untidy undoing of JC Penny.

Today, via the same source, the NY Post, comes word that the CIT story was a complete fabrication and that JC Penny is still receiving shipments and has ample cash on hand.

Either way this plays out, true story or not, per CIT, somebody lost a lot of money yesterday, and, somebody made a bunch today as the stock recovered most of the losses.

Best guess is that Thain and Blankfein and their firms (or their off-shore accounts) were the main beneficiaries of this bit of dis-or-mis-information. How anybody can trade in this environment is a question for the ages or sages. It's a sick-o world out there in the land of high-finance.

Tomorrow's non-farm payroll report comes out at 8:30 am EDT, prior to the opening bell. As we used to say in high school, BFD. Look it up.

Dow 15,628.02, +128.48 (0.83%)
NASDAQ 3,675.74, +49.37 (1.36%)
S&P 500 1,706.87, +21.14 (1.25%)
NYSE Composite 9,673.39, +114.56 (1.20%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,835,171,500
NYSE Volume 4,175,730,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4375-2251
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 698-89
WTI crude oil: 107.89, +2.86
Gold: 1,311.20, -1.80
Silver: 19.62, -0.004

Stocks Get Sent on Wild Ride by ADP, FOMC

The Wall Street Casino is a dangerous place to play with money. One would have at least as good a chance f
"winning" at any of the establishments lining the Las Vegas Strip. At least there, high rollers play by the same rules, with the same odds. It's not that way at all on Wall Street, where the chances of stocks, bonds or entire indices are likely predetermined and those deemed "too big to fail" win all the time, mostly at the expense of other players.

Today's excursion into madness began with the release of ADP employment data for July, which showed a gain of 200,000 jobs in the month. Stocks started slowly, but by 10:30 am EDT - just an hour into the trading day - the Dow Jones Industrials were up by 114 points, and that was the high of the day.

With the Fed's FOMC announcement looming at 2:00 pm EDT, the slide back close to unchanged was obvious, the Dow slipping into the red shortly after the Fed announced it was doing nothing, for now, giving no indication of whether it intends to roll back its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, which many analysts were predicting would begin in September.

The Dow zoomed back up to nearly an 80-point gain by 3:00 pm EDT, but then the selling resumed, taking into negative ground again just prior to the close. The S&P closed fractionally lower, though the NYSE Composite and NASDAQ ended the day in positive territory.

This summer's stock market is about as normal and predictable as a 14-year-old. There's no telling what may happen next, as good news is interpreted as good sometimes and bad others, and vice versa with bad news.

What's certain is that fundamentals don't matter at all and that's a dangerous place to invest, if that's what one wants to call it. Money is safer in one's pocket or lent to a neighbor or friend, even if they are poor risks. On a daily basis, the rug gets pulled out at some point, for some traders.

Best bet is to make sure you're not standing on it.

Dow 15,499.54, -21.05 (0.14%)
NASDAQ 3,626.37, +9.90 (0.27%)
S&P 500 1,685.73, -0.23 (0.01%)
NYSE Composite 9,558.81, +2.64 (0.03%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,870,515,500
NYSE Volume 4,183,349,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3425-3078
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 389-92
WTI crude oil: 105.03, +1.95
Gold: 1,312.40, -11.60
Silver: 19.63, -0.052

Dog Days Prompt Little Action in Stocks

Seriously, nothing of any importance occurred on either Monday or Tuesday of this week.

Remain Calm. Tomorrow the FOMC will dominate the financial landscape, but there is likely to be little of value in their statement. Rates will remain unchanged and there will be little change to their language.

Everything is geared toward September, when the president and supine congress attempt to reach compromise on extending the debt ceiling. It will be lots of show, no glory and a possible disaster, but, everybody in America has so little faith in our elected officials, what they do will be of importance only to those who care.

Back tomorrow.

Dow 15,520.59, -1.38 (0.01%)
NASDAQ 3,616.47, +17.33 (0.48%)
S&P 500 1,685.96, +0.63 (0.04%)
NYSE Composite 9,556.17, -15.62 (0.16%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,736,761,125
NYSE Volume 3,552,778,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3262-3235
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 252-57
WTI crude oil: 103.08, -1.47
Gold: 1,324.00, -4.40
Silver: 19.68, -0.184

Fun and Games Friday: Markets Erase Steep Losses, End with Gains

What passes for equity markets in America since 2008 are nothing like the vibrant, progressive institutions prevalent through the halcyon days of the 1990s and prior. Today's casinos are run by big banks and their trick algos, destroying any kind of price discovery in their quest for never-ending profits on the backs of weak companies and even sillier analysts.

Take Amazon (AMZN), for instance. On a day after reporting a loss when they were expected to show a gain for the quarter, along with missing on the revenue side and issuing skeptical guidance, the stock erased early losses and ended the day with a tidy gain. So much for fundamental analysis, price-earnings and other metrics which used to be the norm in real, functioning markets.

Today's casino has no correlation trades except those blessed by upturned-nose analysts from top firms who piece together whatever data they can cherry-pick to make their cases. It's really turned into a situation where it's every man, woman and snooty banker for him/herself.

So it was that the Dow erased all of a 140-point loss incurred in the morning (with all but Merck in negative territory) to finish the day with a modest gain. The NASDAQ was even more extreme, whipping down 20 points in the morning only to gain it all back and turn positive shortly before 2:00 pm EDT and post a 0.22% uptick. There was, as is the usual case, no shaking news or market-moving event, other than that one of the biggest thieves on the planet, Steve Cohen and his firm, SAC Capital, have come under the probing eye of the SEC. Cohen will likely settle before he is even charged and the firm will be liquidated, the money going into the coffers of the federal government, which, of course, needs the money since tax revenues are down severely and the budget process is an absolute mess.

Nothing new on Wall Street this Friday. Just more of the rampant theft and manipulation that has become the trademark of our corrupt, greed-infested markets. That and the reliance of Ben Bernanke's Fed putting a floor under the market is about all one can trust these days.

Good grief. If I hear Maria Bartiromo say, "it looks like it wants to go positive," one more time, there may soon be a busted flat screen left out on my front lawn for the trash man. Today's move was a bad joke. Just look at the A-D line.

Enjoy your weekend in the Hamptons, you rich crooked bums, and don't forget to BTFD.

For the rest of you, more silver, gold, tools, machinery and farm land.

Dow 15,558.83, +3.22 (0.02%)
NASDAQ 3,613.16, +7.98 (0.22%)
S&P 500 1,691.65, +1.40 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 9,620.42, -14.64 (0.15%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,666,886,250
NYSE Volume 2,991,769,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2758-3710
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 245-63
WTI crude oil: 104.68, -0.81
Gold: 1,321.50, -7.30
Silver: 19.80, -0.35

Stocks Gain After sluggish Start; Amazon Misses

Halfway through earnings season and the Dow has tacked on nearly 600 points since the end of June, so, we're on pace for July - if the trend remains in place - for a gain of over five percent in just this month.

Didn't somebody say, "Sell in May and go away."

In this market, they're dead wrong.

After the close, Amazon (AMZN) reported a two cent loss on expectations of a five cent gain. Revenue was a small miss, but guidance for the next quarter was very soft. The stock was bouncing around in after-hours trade, down as much as four percent.

This remains a very dull market, despite the outsize gains.

Dow 15,555.61, +13.37 (0.09%)
NASDAQ 3,605.19, +25.59 (0.71%)
S&P 500 1,690.25, +4.31 (0.26%)
NYSE Composite 9,635.04, +29.98 (0.31%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,036,177,125
NYSE Volume 3,541,185,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3927-2584
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 371-130
WTI crude oil: 105.49, +0.10
Gold: 1,328.80, +9.10
Silver: 20.15, +0.134

Dow at New Record Close, NASDAQ, S&P Down, Apple Beats, Revenues In-Line

New home sales for June will be out tomorrow at 10:00 am EDT. This follows Monday's release of existing home sales data which was lower than June a year ago.

Also out tomorrow, prior to the bell, are earnings from Boeing (BA), which is trading near all-time highs.

Apple (AAPL) somewhat surprised markets after hours, beating eps estimates of 7.32 per share with a 7.47 show. Revenues were basically in-line, at 35.30 billion, on estimates of 35.02 billion. I-phone sales were well ahead of everyone's estimates and is a real driver for the company, even though same quarter earnings last year were 9.32. Growth is slowing, but Apple is still mightily profitable. As an investment, it may not be such a great performer going forward, much of its growth having been due to founder, Steve Jobs, who passed away October 5, 2011. Apple must stop pretending and create new and exciting products, not an easy task.

Incidentally, Apple's stock leapt in after-hours trading, just seconds before the earnings release, in yet another example of how the market is rigged to insiders and dangerous for individual investors.

For an idea as to how out-of-whack the markets are, consider the new highs to new lows today, at 536 new highs to 38 new lows. That's an extreme reading - sure, we're at all-time highs - but that's when things usually turn, and turn this market will, though probably without much notice. Keep powder dry.

Dow 15,567.74, +22.19 (0.14%)
NASDAQ 3,579.27, -21.11 (0.59%)
S&P 500 1,692.39, -3.14 (0.19%)
NYSE Composite 9,659.63, +9.04 (0.09%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,577,547,250
NYSE Volume 3,369,484,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3435-3033
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 536-38
WTI crude oil: 107.23, +0.23
Gold: 1,342.80, +6.80
Silver: 20.44, -0.064

No Happy Meals For McDonald's Shareholders; Gold, Silver Rise

The signs of collapse are everywhere. You just have to know where to look.

Detroit declared itself a bankrupt city on Friday and on Monday, McDonald's (MCD) - home of the Happy Meal - reported earnings before the opening bell that were short of estimates. When the world's largest purveyor of cheap, unsubstantial, processed, nutrient-deprived food (though Yum Brands is a close second) can't meet the already-lowered bar of wall Street estimates, you know that something bad this way comes.

McDonald's is all about everything that is wrong with our society. Their main profit center is the dollar menu - cheap, boiled or broiled sandwiches or chunks of deep-fried processed chicken with gobs of unsaturated fats included at no extra charge - an affordable alternative to actual, pesticide-free nutrition, that gets goobed-up by the least of our society in massive numbers daily. The problem - in a very heuristic, superfluous, nebulous kind of way - is that numbers of the wretched poor can't even afford to eat this crap any more, so burdened are they by taxes, lack of meaningful and good-paying employment and general economic malaise. It's a much more serious problem than just not making the numbers. The American poor are being slowly, methodologically, starved into submission and death.

America was once the land of milk and honey and other worldly gifts, but, no more. Now, the country is devoid of morals, an aimless gob of humanity looking for a way off the debt treadmill. And Wall Street isn't giving them an escape route.

Bottom lime is that McDonald's food is junk food and their stock is a junk stock, like so many others, profitable upon the backs of cheap labor and unconscionable practices.

The market is dead. Gold - in backwardation since January - shot through $1300 like an unguided missile, dragging silver along for a gain of better than a dollar on the day. Land, precious metals, fuels, tools, skills. That's survival. The rest will vanish.

You thought last week's market was dull. Wait for Thursday. It will be like being struck with the wrong side of an axe. These aren't gains. They are mirages.

Dow 15,545.55, +1.81 (0.01%)
NASDAQ 3,600.39, +12.77 (0.36%)
S&P 500 1,695.53, +3.44 (0.20%)
NYSE Composite 9,650.61, +32.10 (0.33%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,459,571,875
NYSE Volume 3,047,999,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3911-2541
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 607-74
WTI crude oil: 106.91, -1.14
Gold: 1,336.00, +43.10
Silver: 20.51, +1.049

Stocks Spilt to End Uneventful Week

Microsoft and Google both missed the mark on earnings for the second quarter, which is why the NASDAQ was down significantly on the day. Otherwise, the S&P hit a new all-time closing high and the Dow just missed.

While normally, such news would send markets screaming in reverse, the new normal of continued money printing and zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) by the Federal Reserve keeps stocks high, along with WTI crude oil, which has almost reached parity with Brent Crude.

Sell NOW.

Oh, yes, the city of Detroit has filed for bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States. Now that just reeks of "recovery," doesn't it?

Obama continues to backtrack on ObamaCare, because the regulators (mostly the IRS) cannot implement all of the regulations without bankrupting (oops, there's that word again) not only the entire medical industry, but the entire country. Already, employers nationwide are downsizing weekly hours worked for most employees to under 30, in order to avoid compliance with the Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare), so, in our new labor normal, 30 is the new 40, as in full-time employment.

Welcome to the American Gulag, comrades.

Dow 15,543.74, -4.80 (0.03%)
NASDAQ 3,587.61, -23.66 (0.66%)
S&P 500 1,692.09, +2.72 (0.16%)
NYSE Composite 9,618.46, +31.26 (0.33%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,775,103,250
NYSE Volume 3,510,552,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3228-3307 (odd, no?)
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 466-27
WTI crude oil: 108.05, +0.01
Gold: 1,292.90, +8.70
Silver: 19.46, +0.071

Dull Session, Profit-Taking, Lack of Interest Sends Stocks Lower

Wow! Stocks closed lower for a change.

Change is good, but this is nothing but a little white noise in the overall scheme.

Considering that this is probably the slowest week of the year, unless something earth-shattering occurs over the next few days, Money Daily will return on Friday.

After all, it is major league baseball's All Star break and since our Fearless Editor is an All Star of sorts, he could use a break, too.

Dow 15,451.85, -32.41 (0.21%)
NASDAQ 3,598.50, -8.99 (0.25%)
S&P 500 1,676.26, -6.24 (0.37%)
NYSE Composite 9,485.55, -35.41 (0.37%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,559,187,125.00
NYSE Volume 3,137,933,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2607-3853
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 430-33
WTI crude oil: 106.00, -0.32
Gold: 1,290.40, +6.90
Silver: 19.94, +0.096

Up, Up, Higher and Higher Go Stocks

Middling economic data. Mixed earnings reports. Anemic volume.

Somehow, all of this amounts to one of the best winning streaks for stocks in decades and record highs on the S&P and the Dow, with multi-year highs (like 12 years) on the NASDAQ.

Let's see: The Dow industrials have been up seven out of the last eight sessions, the only down day being a nine-point loss on July 10.

The S&P 500 has shown day-ending gains eight straight sessions and 13 of the last 15 trading days have ended higher. The only two losing days were disappointments of 6.92 and 0.88.

Likewise the NASDAQ has closed higher eight straight, and 13 of the last 14 sessions have been positive, the only setback was a loss of 0.91 on July 2nd.

Gotta love that computer-driven trading. It's beaten the fundamental traders and skeptical bears into lunch sandwiches.

Bear in mind (no pun intended) that 2nd quarter GDP is estimated to be below one percent, but that data won't be released until the final week of July. This week, there's a slew of earnings and economic data due out, including CPI, Housing Starts, Industrial Production, Initial Unemployment Claims and Leading Indicators, all of which will be interpreted as positive news, even if it's negative.

And so it goes...

Dow 15,484.26, +19.96 (0.13%)
NASDAQ 3,607.49, +7.41 (0.21%)
S&P 500 1,682.50, +2.31 (0.14%)
NYSE Composite 9,523.16, +24.65 (0.26%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,439,276,250
NYSE Volume 2,683,426,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4249-2288
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 660-31 (yowzah!)
WTI crude oil: 106.32, +0.37
Gold: 1,283.50, +5.90
Silver: 19.84, +0.047

Boffo Week for Stocks; Gas Prices on the Rise

For investors, a week nearly devoid of any actionable news resulted in one of the best weekly gains in stocks of the year.

On the week, stocks roared higher, much of the gains based on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's dovish comments on unemployment and the economy following the close of trading on Wednesday. Fed governor James Bullard - the most dovish of the flock of doves comprising the Fed governors - chimed in late Friday to add more fuel to the hot money rally.

The weekly gains:
Dow: +328.46 (2.17%)
S&P 500: +48.30 (2.96%)
NASDAQ: +120.70 (3.47%)

That's it in a nutshell. Just remember that nothing matters except the words coming out of Fed members' mouths.

On the downside, oil prices have spiked higher, consequently raising the price of fuel at the pump. According to AAA, gas prices nationally rose an average of 7 1/2 cents this week to $3.550 for unleaded regular, but the price pass-along to stations has only just begun. Drivers should brace for gas at $3.80 to over $4.00, depending on location, long before Labor Day.

Dow 15,464.30, +3.38(0.02%)
NASDAQ 3,600.08, +21.78(0.61%)
S&P 500 1,680.19, +5.17(0.31%)
NYSE Composite 9,493.20, -0.06 (0.00%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,487,364,375
NYSE Volume 3,132,032,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3295-3092
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 543-27
WTI crude oil: 105.95, +1.04
Gold: 1,277.60, -2.30
Silver: 19.79, -0.164

Dovish Bernanke Speaks, Market Goes Full Retard, to Record Highs

Free market and Austrian economists beware!

There is a dangerous monster afoot, who by merely speaking a few words can alter global markets to whatever whim he so desires.

On Wednesday, shortly after the market closed, this monster, this unsightly beast, one Benjamin Shalom (we kid you not) Bernanke, Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Bank (an international cartel), spoke in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and intoned, in part, that the 7.6% unemployment rate "overstated" the health of the labor market.

Translated into Fed-speak - which is all that matters to equity markets these days - what he meant was that there was no need for investors to panic. The Federal reserve has every intention of keeping monetary policy incredibly loose, so that even if the Fed dials back its $85 billion-a-month bond purchasing program a little, they do not believe that the US or global economy is strong enough to survive without stimulative measures.

The result was a strong gap-up at the open on Thursday and an all-day party for Wall Street bulls with the S%P 500 and the Dow Industrials closing at all-time highs. Bears were once again crushed and the rookie Dow Theorists who surmised that the dip from a few weeks ago was a sure-fire reversal into a bear market (we here at MD did not confirm any such theoretical reversal, though indications were close) were once again proven not only wrong but absolutely clueless when it comes to Dow Theory.

Markets have now been completely voided of any validity to fundamental valuation. All that remains is intonations from the beast of the Fed and his minions, sending markets any which way they choose. These are markets distorted completely out of focus from reality, in 1984-esque fashion, where bad news (Bernanke is correct, 7.6% unemployment is, in itself, a gross distortion of reality - stripping out part-time, temporary and distressed and discouraged workers, unemployment is closer to 20%) is good because the Fed will continue to supply unlimited liquidity.

In the end, be it five days, five weeks, five months, five years or longer, the stimulus will save nothing. Sovereign economies will end in shambles (some, like Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Ireland already are), but for now, all anybody with as much as half a brain left after all the brain-washing by the media and immoral rounds of bailouts, bail-ins, rescues and refinances can do is play along, go along or go one's own way, the latter of which is highly refreshing and the only proper course of action.

Five years into the global currency melt-down, carnage is everywhere, the rich are even richer, the middle class on the endangered species list and the bottom tier nothing more than debt slaves for life.

This is not your father's America. It is not even the America you grew up into, if you are more than 30 years of age. This is an abomination, a monstrosity of complexity, a leviathan more frightening than even Thomas Hobbes could have dreamt.

Happy sailing, oh rudderless ones!

Dow 15,460.92, +169.26 (1.11%)
NASDAQ 3,578.30, +57.55 (1.63%)
S&P 500 1,675.02, +22.40 (1.36%)
NYSE Composite 9,493.21, +152.52 (1.63%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,680,093,125
NYSE Volume 3,796,463,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 5246-1307
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 772-21 (abominal!)
WTI crude oil: 104.91, -1.61
Gold: 1,279.90, +32.50
Silver: 19.96, +0.791

Here's Your Change: Nothing

Another exciting day of nothingness.

As Steve Martin once intoned, "let's get all excited and go to a yawning party!"

Dow 15,291.66, -8.68 (0.06%)
NASDAQ 3,520.76, +16.50 (0.47%)
S&P 500 1,652.62, +0.30 (0.02%)
NYSE Composite 9,340.69, -0.72 (0.01%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,534,129,000
NYSE Volume 3,346,692,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3530-2857
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 441-50
WTI crude oil: 106.52, +2.99
Gold: 1,247.40, +1.50
Silver: 19.16, +0.027

Thanks to Bernanke, Stocks Can Only Go Up

It was another completely uneventful day on Wall Street - no earnings news outside of Alcoa (trading at a 34 p/e, wow!), no economic data - so the computer algos were free to ramp stocks higher, and they did so.

A small dip around 10:30 am EDT gave the bears some hope, but that faded fast, and stocks resumed their levitation, hovering listlessly around the highs of the session right into the close.

At these levels of (dis)interest and lack of meaningful news flow, the Dow could conceivably gain 1200-1500 points per month for the remainder of the year. Since nobody seems to give a whit about fundamental valuations, unchecked, Dow 20,000 becomes a distinct possibility by the end of the year.

Seriously, that's how warped these markets are.

God bless you, Ben Bernanke. You've brought untold wealth and prosperity to almost seven percent of Americans, those being the already rich and already prosperous, while denying safe investments bearing standard interest to hard-working, middle and lower-class savers. You are a scion. The bankers you've bailed out and bankrolled with ZIRP and QE should kiss your naked feet and bedeck you in roses and lavender.

Dow 15,300.34, +75.65 (0.50%)
NASDAQ 3,504.26, +19.43 (0.56%)
S&P 500 1,652.32, +11.86 (0.72%)
NYSE Composite 9,341.40, +75.11 (0.81%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,588,836,625
NYSE Volume 3,460,031,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4438-1990
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 585-49
WTI crude oil: 103.53, +0.39
Gold: 1,245.90, +11.00
Silver: 19.14, 0.10

Stocks Gain on 0 News

The was nothing even remotely newsworthy yo kick off the trading week, so, quite un-naturally, stocks gapped higher at the open and maintained a positive bias - except for the NASDAQ, which oddly lagged - for the duration.

Focus was more on the after-hours, when Alcoa (AA) kicked off earnings season for the second quarter, by posting EPS of .07 on expectations of .06, and had in-line revenue.

Dow 15,224.69, +88.85 (0.59%)
NASDAQ 3,484.83, +5.45 (0.16%)
S&P 500 1,640.46, +8.57 (0.53%)
NYSE Composite 9,266.28, +52.10 (0.57%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,476,924,000
NYSE Volume 3,717,259,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3896-2690
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 645-56
WTI crude oil: 103.14, -0.08
Gold: 1,234.90, +22.20
Silver: 19.04, +0.302

Jobs Data Sends Stocks Screaming Higher; 10-Year at 1.71%

This was different.

For a change, good news - an increase of 195,000 jobs in June, according to the monthly BLS non-farm payroll survey - was good news.

Interest rates, on the other hand, took the matter more seriously, with the 10-year note bobbing up to 1.71%, a two-year high, that has some deep thinkers saying 30-year mortgages could reach six percent by the end of the year.

Other optimistic assessments of the economy include unicorns on roller skates and free houses for everyone.

The huge gains notwithstanding, volume was one of the lowest of they year, which, naturally, will be blamed on Friday being part of a four-day weekend. The markets will keep the gains, nonetheless.

Looks like we're off to the races again, with second quarter earnings beginning to trickle in next week, though most forecasters have lowered 2Q GDP estimates to under 1%.

The over-riding theme of the market is that this is a great economy, even if it isn't.

Crude oil is hitting multi-year highs; gold and silver are making multi-year lows.

That makes about as much sense as sending sixth grader to the store for whiskey and smokes.

American markets are the greatest show snow job on earth.

Dow 15,135.84, +147.29 (0.98%)
NASDAQ 3,479.38, +35.71 (1.04%)
S&P 500 1,631.89, +16.48 (1.02%)
NYSE Composite 9,214.17, +79.09 (0.87%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,205,887,125
NYSE Volume 2,960,337,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3937-2511
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 493-112
WTI crude oil: 103.22, +1.98
Gold: 1,212.70, -39.20
Silver: 18.74, -0.964

A Buy the Dip Ramp Job

Sure, today's rally was real. Fireworks, Friday.

Enjoy the 4th and celebrate your freedoms... those of which we still have left.

Dow 14,988.55, +56.14 (0.38%)
NASDAQ 3,443.67, +10.27 (0.30%)
S&P 500 1,615.41, +1.33 (0.08%)
NYSE Composite 9,135.09, -9.64 (0.11%)
NASDAQ Volume 914,058,312.50
NYSE Volume 2,174,899,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1916-3343
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 163-56
WTI crude oil: 101.24, +1.64
Gold: 1,251.90, +8.50
Silver: 19.70, +0.391

Turn-Around Tuesday: Stocks Gain Early, Finish Red

There isn't really much to this stock story. The Bulls and Bears went to the wall today and guess what?

The Bears won.

It's a holiday-shortened week, loaded with economic data, not the least of which are tomorrow's ADP June employment report and Friday's BLS Non-Farm payroll issue. Turmoil in Egypt is causing consternation and earnings releases are right around the corner.

For the short-timers, the payroll data is paramount, but the trend keeps biasing to the downside. It's mid-summer, stocks are expected to report weaker earnings, all the while the US dollar is gaining against almost all other currencies as the cleanest shirt in the laundry bin.

Lots of headwinds and most astute players have already established positions. The only matter may be how far down stocks must dive to flush out the more-hardened holders.

Even though tomorrow is a short session, closing at 1:00 pm EDT, there should be fireworks ahead. Keep a close eye on the 14,850 level on the Dow as key support.

Dow 14,932.41, -42.55 (0.28%)
NASDAQ 3,433.40, -1.09 (0.03%)
S&P 500 1,614.08, -0.88 (0.05%)
NYSE Composite 9,144.59, -23.30 (0.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,645,609,250
NYSE Volume 3,621,029,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2778-3734
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 301-48
WTI crude oil: 99.60, +1.61
Gold: 1,243.40, -12.30
Silver: 19.31, -0.269