Fed to Keep Rates Low Through Late 2014; Most Investors Pleased

Ending the first FOMC rate policy meeting of 2012 with a bang, the Federal Reserve announced today no change in their target federal funds rate of 0-0.25%, but the major announcement was that they would keep this same, historically-low rate in effect through "late 2014." The rapid results of the Fed's announcement that they would keep monetary policy ridiculously easy for the next three years were felt immediately in all markets.

The dollar dropped like a rock against most other currencies, especially the Euro.

Bond yields fall dramatically.

Stocks turned from mildly negative to ferociously positive.

Gold, silver, crude oil and most other commodities spiked higher.

Those were the winners. The losers were just about anybody on a fixed income, which includes not only those on Social Security or retirement pensions, but also most workers in the private sector, which has experienced flat to lower labor prices for most of the past decade.

Therein lies the fallacy of the Fed's dual mandate of providing stable prices and full employment. Obviously, on both measures, the Fed has failed badly over recent years and is now in a no-win situation without much flexibility to react to real-time events and unforeseen circumstances.

With yields on money market funds and certificates of deposit at or near record lows, the Fed is encouraging risk, though Americans, still saddled with too much household debt, many with underwater mortgages to go along with stagnant wages, still aren't fully in the mood - nor do many have the wherewithal - to spend freely and get the economy out of the dolorous regime of 1-3% growth.

Business, generally, though there are pockets of severe conditions, are content to keep grinding on, though innovation and new enterprise creation has been somewhat stifled, though not to the degree it has been, especially during the forlorn days of late 2008 and early 2009.

Conditions are generally much better than back then, as major banks have largely re-capitalized, households have paid down a good portion of debt and governments - outside of the petulant federal one - have tightened budgets though labor reductions, better spending discipline and capital controls. The final pieces to the puzzle of a sustained, vibrant recovery rest squarely upon the shoulders of the federal government, which must seriously tackle the issues of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, reducing the annual deficit (a balanced budget, or something close to it, would be a welcome change), restructuring the tax code, reducing needless regulations and implementing fundamental changes in entitlement programs.

The federal government's list of dirty laundry is long and unlikely to be resolved to any great extent in the background of a presidential election year. That is not the Fed's problem, just as the profligate spending of many of the European nations should not be an epidemic for the ECB, though that is exactly what it has become.

The Fed is doing just about everything it can to make the business environment friendly and accommodative while the federal government, though gridlock and ideological differences, fights, kicking and screaming at any and every notion of change.

Americans, on the other hand, are ready for change in a more positive direction, a theme repeatedly stressed in Tuesday night's State of the Union address by President Obama, who outlined a number of measures to get government working for the people again at the federal level, such notions quickly dismissed by political commentators and opponent Republicans as mere politicking.

Sadly, the politics of Washington, DC will not allow for any substantive changes for at least another year, meaning that Americans are stuck with what they've been handed, like it or not, making the matter of improving one's economic conditions a paramount requirement for each individual and family.

How, though can individuals help the economy grow?

Perhaps through being wiser shoppers, better disciplined managers of their own finances and smarter stewards of their own assets, which is not limited to just stocks, bonds, retirement accounts and real estate, but must include a dedication to some basic American principles, such as working hard, saving (though that is tough, but necessary), and making progress and innovation in one's chosen career path.

Working Americans, must shoulder much of the burden, as usual, though the lot of most working Americans (the 80-90% of the labor force with jobs) isn't really all that bad presently, it's the future - along with the repayment of past debts - about which most are overly concerned.

Considering that the worst of the recession is well behind us by now and that the Fed has signaled that conditions are unlikely to change much in the coming three years, the real issue is that of confidence, in one's job, one's future and in America.

It is up to everyone to see to it that the federal government is brought into line with the wishes of the middle class. It's not enough to deride the rich for not paying their fair share of taxes. More emphasis must be placed upon the well-entrenched welfare state. The poor aren't pulling their weight very well, either.

It's not enough to vote for the candidates of choice in November. It is the duty of all Americans to inquire and to become informed about government policies, resist them if necessary, protest them if they are wrong and change them if possible.

The Federal Reserve or the federal government will not make the needed changes to bring America back to a system of individual rights and fairness without hearing from each of us, all of us. It is long past time for Americans to take matters into their own hands, deal with the vagueries and inconsistencies of institutions and turn the tide. We are at an important point of change in our history and individuals must make the difference.

Dow 12,758.85, +83.10 (0.66%)
NASDAQ 2,818.31, +31.67 (1.14%)
S&P 500 1,326.06, +11.41 (0.87%)
NYSE Composite 7,914.81, +74.16 (0.95%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,954,827,375
NYSE Volume 4,410,711,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4049-1578
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 239-20
WTI crude oil: 99.40, +0.45
Gold: 1,710.90, +46.40
Silver: 33.28, +1.30

Stocks lower as Europe Weighs Heavily on Risk Assets

Stocks simply stalled out today as the euphoria over a new year continued to wear thin and the realities of Europe took center place in the minds of investors, traders, cheaters, liars and assorted money moguls.

Ancillary to the dilemma on the Continent, US companies are weighing the potentialities of a pan-European recession, which the IMF clearly defined today in cutting their global growth estimate from 4% to 3.25% for 2012. In case anyone's interested, that 0.75% cut in growth amounts to a drop off of 18.75% in their estimate. Whether the IMF economists just throw darts at a wall in search of a politically correct "number" or actually have ferreted out the world's economy to the penny, the sense of this announcement is pretty clear. Europe is big enough to plunge the rest of the world into a prolonged recession or, at best, a slow growth regime for the next four to five years, which, on top of the past three years of uncertainty, confusion and doubt, doesn't bode well for the rest of 2012 and beyond.

The IMF also lowered their forecast for the 17 nations comprising the Eurozone, from 1.1% growth in September to -0.5% today. In ordinary terms, the IMF is calling for a mild recession in Europe, though anyone who's been following this tableau of financial terror, knows that a mere 0.5% falloff would be a rather welcome outcome.

The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) has released their January 2012 Policy Brief[PDF]. The 13-page report, authored by Peter Boone and Simon Johnson details most of the pressing issues facing Europe and the viability of the EU itself.

The authors cite five key measures towards the survivability of the Eurozone:

Five measures are needed to enable the euro area to survive: (1) an immediate program to deal with excessive sovereign debt, (2) far more aggressive plans to reduce budget deficits and make peripheral nations hypercompetitive” in the near future, (3) supportive monetary policy from the ECB, (4) the introduction of mechanisms that credibly achieve long-term fiscal sustainability, and (5) institutional change that reduces the scope for excessive leverage and consequent instability in the financial sector.

Let's dissect these five measures one by one.

1) an immediate program to deal with excessive sovereign debt. Like what, actually paying down debt rather than continually issuing more bonds to avoid reality?

2) far more aggressive plans to reduce budget deficits and make peripheral nations hypercompetitive” in the near future. What would Greece and Italy do to become "hypercompetitive?" Eat faster? Dance more wildly? This is ludicrous.

3) supportive monetary policy from the ECB. Somehow, that just doesn't exactly jibe with "excessive sovereign debt" outlined in #1.

4) the introduction of mechanisms that credibly achieve long-term fiscal sustainability. Can you say "gold standard" and "kill the Euro" in the same sentence?

5) institutional change that reduces the scope for excessive leverage and consequent instability in the financial sector. Banks, governments acting rationally? The authors have clearly headed into an alternate dimension.

The off-the-cuff remarks notwithstanding, Johnson and Boone come to the startling conclusion that Europe's problems are not going to be fixed either easily nor soon, saying, in their conclusion, "Europe’s economy remains, therefore, in a dangerous state."

Well, somebody tell the stock jocks that their portfolios are about to shrink.

Elsewhere, Greece talks to get private investors on board for a voluntary "haircut" have stalled out once again, as there continues to be no deal on restructuring Greece's largely unpayable debt, while on Wall Street volume dried up completely in advance of tomorrow's FOMC non-eventful rate policy announcement and subsequent (ZZZZZZZZZZZZ) press conference.

Yes, it was another bang-up session for US equities. Now might be a good time to escape, like the hordes of other individual investors already have, having absolutely no confidence in markets, the government, or the sustainability of our glorious "recovery."

After the bell, the legacy of Steve Jobs lived on just a little longer as Apple (AAPL) delivered bang-up 4th quarter results, while Yahoo (YHOO) missed revenue and earnings estimates for the umpteenth consecutive time. It's very telling that Yahoo hasn't been acquired by now. Apparently, any interested buyers are content to wait until it simply disappears from the internet.

Dow 12,675.75, -33.07 (0.26%)
NASDAQ 2,786.64, +2.47 (0.09%)
S&P 500 1,314.65, -1.35 (0.10%)
NYSE Composite 7,840.65, -14.87 (0.19%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,659,757,875
NYSE Volume 3,671,223,750
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3138-2409 (lots of UNCH today)
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 141-24
WTI crude oil: 98.95, -0.63
Gold: 1,664.50, -13.80
Silver: 31.98, -0.30

Markets Take Pause, But, If Everything Is so Swell, Why are Gold and Silver Soaring?

While it was somewhat expected for stocks to take Monday off after the successful ramp-up of the past four weeks leading directly into options expiry on Friday, what is more befuddling to anyone with at least half a brain (and all of our readers have fully-engaged complete brains, we are quite sure) is the stratospheric rise in the precious metals, gold and silver, since the end of last year.

In the case of gold, which plummeted to its lowest level since July 7, 2011, precisely on the last trading day of the year, December 29, at 1531.00, the close today at 1,678.30 in New York represents a move of 8.8% to the upside in 2012, easily outpacing the much-ballyhooed gains in the stock market over the same span.

Silver's move from 26.16 on December 29 to its close today of 32.27 is an even bigger move of 18.9% if one was able - or willing - to catch the falling knife precisely at its bottom.

Conventional thinking on precious metals and their relationship to stocks and currencies is rather straightforward. If risk assets, such as stocks are rising, gold and silver, the safe havens, should be lower or, at best, flat, and a strengthening currency would also serve to flatten the price of the metals.

However, the dollar was particularly strong over the first part of the new year, rising, according to the Dollar Index (^DXY) from 79.61 to 81.52 on January 13 before taking a dive back to its close today at 79.70, coming up relatively flat itself in the new year.

A theory on the price and manipulation of gold may be useful in understanding why gold has been so strong. First, the price collapse in the latter half of 2011 may have been a coordinated attempt by the fiat-crazed central banks to make gold look more like a risk asset than a safe haven, as it's gain for the year was a paltry 9.35% (from 1400 to 1531). The same scenario could be applied to the less-liquid silver market.

Understandably, not everyone ascribes to the manipulation theories, so the moves lower at the end of 2011 could have just been year-end selling or profit-taking. Whatever the case, the sellers in late December are now kicking themselves in January.

This does not explain why stocks and precious metals are rising at the same time, though it might be a bit of front-running in the metals as opposed to a pure hope and hype new year rally which Wall Street seems to find irresistible (as in, they do it almost every year). With January options expiration behind us, it will be interesting to keep track of these various price levels (dollar index, S&P, Dow, NASDAQ) going forward.

With Wall Street off to a flying start of the new year, even in the face of sub-par GDP growth worldwide in 2012, one may be suspect of this most recent slow-motion rally in stocks, yet hopeful that the precious metals would continue their decade-long bull run. Just today, Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, politicked for a larger European bailout fund of up to $1 trillion, and mentioned that the IMF would be lowering its global GDP forecast, due out tomorrow, though she would not be specific on the size or scope of the reduction.

In New York, stocks vacillated across the flat line, ending with a split decision and overall flat close. The FOMC of the Fed begins a two-day rate policy meeting tomorrow, with the usually-suspect Wall Street crowd hoping for some signal on a renewal of QE, as a means by which to boost their bottom lines, risk free, though an outright commitment by the Fed at this time is unlikely. There would need to be more signs of sluggishness in the economy, which, after the past four weeks of stocks rallying and fairly benign economic data, have yet to surface.

Dow 12,708.82, -11.66 (0.09%)
NASDAQ 2,784.17, -2.53 (0.09%)
S&P 500 1,316.00, +0.62 (0.05%)
NYSE Composite 7,855.52, +26.19 (0.33%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,689,429,500
NYSE Volume 3,744,960,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2898-2637
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 203-11 (yes, this is extreme)
WTI crude oil: 99.58, +1.25
Gold: 1,678.30, + 14.30
Silver: 32.27, +0.60

Nice Day for Dow Industrials, Thanks to IBM; Housing Fix Not In

Stocks continued their happy saunter through the cold of January, with the Dow Jones Industrials posting another nearly-100-point gain, thanks in large part to IBM (up 7.98 to 188.50 (+4.42%) on solid 4th quarter earnings reported after the bell Thursday), which accounted for half of the Dow's gain all by itself.

The other indices lagged far behind the Blue Chips, courtesy of Google's (GOOG) worst earnings miss in six years, reporting a profit of $2.7 billion on revenue of $10.6 billion, well below Wall Street non-GAAP estimates of $9.50 per share versus an estimate of $10.46. Whoops! Shares of the internet behemoth were down 53.58 points, a loss of better-than eight percent.

Two other tech titans - Microsoft (MSFT) and Intel (INTC) - reported excellent quarters, helping to keep the montl-long rally going. The Dow, S&P and NYSE Composite were up each of the four trading days this week; the NASDAQ fell just short, losing 1.63, despite a valiant, last-half-hour rally.

Despite the outstanding gains from the last half of December through today, there are signs of trouble, and the fact that today marked options expiry, may lead to declines next week as more companies report. With just about 20% of the S&P 500 having reported, only 55% have beaten expectations, a ten year low. The average for the past ten years has been that 62% of companies beat street estimates. Considering that the big banks have all reported already - and all of them matched or beat - this does not bode well for the bulk of reporting companies which are set to report over the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Dow is back at levels last seen in mid-July, today's close just missing (four points) making a six-month high. It will be interesting to see if the Dow can crack through next week and continue onward toward exceeding the 2011 high of 12810.54 made on April 29. Yes, it's getting a bit frothy. The word for next week is likely to be "overbought," as in "we're market pumping day-traders who don't give a hoot about fundamentals, just making a profit."

So far, the advance-decline and new highs-new lows indicators are showing no sign of an impending correction, but, with the Dow up nearly 1000 points in just the past four weeks, a short correction would be something a healthy market would fully appreciate.

One other item that may be a canary in the coal mine is the nice rise in gold over the past few weeks, including a healthy advance today, and, finally, silver caught a bid over the past few sessions, finally breaking and holding over the artificial resistance at $30/ounce.

On CNBC today, the network featured a series of reports on housing, calling it, somewhat inappropriately, "The Big Fix." Hottest among the topics was the government plan to sell off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's inventory of foreclosed homes (REO) to investor groups which will turn these single-family homes scattered across the country into rental units.

As is usual with government's half-baked plans, there are a rash of questions and arguments against, primarily centered around the whole fairness issue of kicking families out and then reselling - at what should be huge discounts - to well-heeled investors more concerned with turning profits than restoring blighted neighborhoods. The plan is still in the formative stages, but there are indications that the government will allow the investors to rent to whomsoever they please, which would include welfare and other social program recipients, meaning that homeowners ought to be on guard for the ghetto-ization and balkanization of their McMansion neighborhoods, such as is the case in other socialized nations, notably France, where the ghettos are in the suburbs, far from the uber-rich in the well-maintained cites.

One other problem is that the banks - if they actually do the right thing and write down these loans - will be facing far larger write-downs on bulk sales than anticipated. Since the US economy has been predicated for the past six years on keeping the banks free from losses, the government plan looks like a classic election-year crash and burn before it even gets going.

Dow 12,720.48, +96.50 (0.76%)
NASDAQ 2,786.70, -1.63 (0.06%)
S&P 500 1,315.38, +0.88 (0.07%)
NYSE Compos 7,829.34, +9.97 (0.13%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,979,837,250
NYSE Volume 3,911,913,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3289-2274
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 182-26
WTI crude oil: 98.46, -1.93
Gold: 1,664.00, +9.50
Silver: 31.68, +1.17

Amazing Stock Market Rally Rolls Along

One of the oldest adages of stock market investing is the time-honored, "the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent," or something to that effect.

This is particularly poignant in the midst of the current Wall Street "melt-up" which has been ongoing since the middle of December and shows little sign of letting up.

While corporate earnings continue to flow, the latest being from two big banks, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC), both of which met or exceeded expectations, though the accounting tricks and tactics employed by the mega-banks leave much to the imagination.

As far as Bank of America is concerned, their beat of expectations of 13 cents per share with a reported 15 cents included a bunch of one-time items and useful reserve and loan loss calculations, embedded deep within their monstrous 110-page quarterly report. Despite the discrepancies in the quarterly, Bank of America bounced higher again today, closing at 6.95, a 15 cent gain, after popping above $7 per share for the first time since Warren Buffett invested $5 billion in the bank in early 2011.

Morgan Stanley actually lost money for the quarter, but lost quite a bit less than expected. The firm’s net loss was $250 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with profit of $836 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier. The consensus expectation was for a loss of 57 cents per share. Traders took the data in stride, boosting the stock to its highest level since October. In this case, even P.T. Barnum would be proud, noting that "there's a sucker born every minute." All the better for momentum chasers in this beat-up financial.

There was a dose of economic data that surprised some and annoyed others, notably bearish investors. Initial unemployment claims came in at a sparkling 352,000 - the lowest number in months - after last week's upwardly revised 402,000. The unemployment figures continue to be a topic of some debate, in that the "seasonally-adjusted" model used by the BLS seems to have forgotten that December was holiday season, chock full of part time and temporary hires. Whatever the case, traders seemed less-than-satisfied with the numbers, as the markets began slowly but ground slowly higher through the session.

December CPI came in flat, after yesterday's -0.1% drop in the PPI, sparking fears of "disinflation" (a Federal reserve governor term) or deflation, the bogey man that haunts Fed chairman Ben Benanke.

Housing starts and building permits were flat to lower, though new home builders have been leading this rally, up more than 10% as a group since the first of the year.

How much longer can the rally last? Tomorrow being options expiration, one would think a major sell-off is in the cards for either Friday afternoon or Monday, though, as stated at the top of this piece, rationality is generally not a hallmark of recent rallies.

If you've not already taken part in this wild market ride, it may be a little late. Stocks are getting extremely overbought, as the advance-decline and new highs vs. new lows figures have been telegraphing lately.

Adding to the upside has been the unusually quiet tones coming out of Europe, as opposed to the rather hysterical daily dispatches that typified the latter half of 2011. Nothing's really changed over there, except perception, perhaps. Europe is mostly headed for a recession, which will hit the middle classes, though Greece, in particular, in already in the throes of a fiscal straightjacket which some might say is emulating a full-blown depression. To the Greeks, most of europe is saying "pay up," to which the Greeks respond with "shut up" or some other suitable and more demonstrable phraseology.

The long and short of it, if one is of the camp that believes a strong stock market is a proxy for a strong general economy, 2012 is shaping up to be a banner year or at least a good effort at kicking the can of economic woes down the road until after the elections in November.

Throwing a bit of cold water on the rally parade, as expected, Eastman Kodak (EK) filed for bankruptcy protection today, and Republican presidential nominee hopeful Mitt Romney has been found to have a number of accounts and holdings in off-shore banks, notably in the Cayman Islands, setting the stage - if he's the nominee - for a battle of ideologies between him as the ultimate one percenter and President Obama as the champion of the 99%.

While that may make for great TV, it's hardly honest, as President O'banker is about as 1% elitist as one can get without actually admitting to it.

Dow 12,625.19, +46.24 (0.37%)
NASDAQ 2,788.33, +18.62 (0.67%)
S&P 500 1,314.50, +6.46 (0.49%)
NYSE Composite 7,819.36, +52.41 (0.67%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,974,862,250
NYSE Volume 4,442,754,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3454-2119
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 261-26 (yes, 10-1 is a bit extreme)
WTI crude oil: 100.39, -0.20
Gold: 1,654.50, -5.40
Silver: 30.51, -0.03