Monday, September 17, 2012

Markets Close Down 15th Monday Out of Last 16

Despite the aggressive easing action by the Fed last week, today's session was marked by broad-based selling on low volume, the 15th consecutive Monday of the last 16 in which the markets turned lower for the day.

It is one of the odder trends in the markets these days, but is most likely tied to HFTs and the macro-analysis upon which markets currently depend. There was once a time in which everything didn't fall or rise in unison, perfectly predictable, dependent upon headlines, but that has been the regime - for the most part - since the financial crisis of 2008. Nothing's been repaired and market participants merely follow the herd, which, truth be told, has been a most profitable trade since March 2009, with stocks close to all-time or multi year highs.

Another oddity carried forth today was how the NYSE Composite took on roughly twice the water than the other indices, on a percentage basis. Apple (AAPL) kept the NASDAQ and S&P at relatively minimal losses, while the Dow Industrials were boosted by consumer stocks (Coca-Cola (KO) and McDonald's (MCD)), big phrama names, Merck (MRK) and Phizer (PFE), all of which bucked the trend and closed on the upside.

All of the major indices finished well off their lows, with a short-covering spike sending all off what were the lows of the day, in the final hour of trading.

There was little in the way of economic data - as if the markets would have cared anyway - except New York's Empire Manufacturing Index, which fell to -10.4, its lowest level since November, 2010. It followed the recent trend of other Fed regional indices, sporting sub-par results. With that in mind, it's little wonder that the Fed decided last week to go all in on what some are calling QE-infinity.

Financial markets are a complete farce now, and have been pretty much since the 2008 crash. The Federal Reserve's insistence to sop up the remains of old and recently-issued MBS truly points up the dilemma faced by central banks and sovereign government entities.

With the Fed becoming the world's largest landlord-by-proxy, the rally cry of "free houses for everyone!" has taken on new and even more cynical meaning.

In a move that can only be captioned by the phrase, "well, it's about time," crude oil skidded more than $3.00 before recovering slightly.

Dow 13,553.10, -40.27 (0.30%)
NASDAQ 3,178.67, -8.46 (0.27%)
S&P 500 1,461.19, -4.58 (0.31%)
NYSE Composite 8,408.92, -49.96 (0.59%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,428,619,250
NYSE Volume 3,135,453,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 1883-3624
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 228-26
WTI crude oil: 96.62, -2.38
Gold: 1,770.60, -2.10
Silver: 34.37, -0.29

Saturday, September 15, 2012

It's Not Just Stocks; Americans Are Rising Again

If one were to look just the US stock markets, the assumption would likely be that all is well and good with the US economy.

The major averages are at multi-year highs, with the Dow less than 600 points from its all-time high (Oct. 9, 2007: 14,164.53 close) and the S&P 500 a mere 100 points away from its all-time closing high set on October 9, 2007, at 1565.15.

A peek under the hood, so to speak, would reveal a different reality, with unemployment above eight percent for nearly four years running, massive stimulus programs by the government and the Federal Reserve boosting stock prices but sparking inflation and leaving middle class America and small business seething through high gas prices, slack demand, virtually no job creation, a shrinking work force and record numbers of Americans receiving government assistance through food stamps, welfare and a variety of other programs.

The impression that all is apparently just fine is touted by the media to a largely unsuspecting public, though that aspect of life in America is changing. More and more people distrust government at all levels, actually understanding that the Federal Reserve is willfully destroying the value of the US dollar, engaging in all manner of underground economics, from backyard gardens to unreported side job incomes, leaving the "system" to fend for itself without public support.

Government, especially at the federal level, continues to parade about their so-called "expertise," knowing what's "good for the American people" while doing little to nothing to remedy the conditions which plague middle-to-low income families. The rapidity by which independent thinkers are withdrawing the consent to be governed is startling when one examines Americans up close.

While the economists and analysts look at largely massaged, incorrect and inconclusive numbers on jobs, spending, inflation, productivity and income, they entirely miss the now massive, unreported, burgeoning economics taking place in small towns and large cites across the expanse of the continent. Certainly, there are minions still without knowledge or understanding of the extent of the financial crisis - now nearly four years old and running - still willing to rely on government help, but a growing number of people have come to the realization that government today exists only to self-perpetuate and serve the needs of a greedy, cumbersome system of enormous public corporations and government regulations designed to stifle competition, crush creativity and retard personal growth.

Such people are increasingly taking matters into their own hands, purposely defaulting on fraudulent mortgage loans, making do with less, and living more off the land than having to depend on the corporate food chain of genetically-modified foods, products stuffed with hormones, sugars and high fructose corn syrup that are unhealthy but still promoted by government officials.

These people are eating better, more nutritious, healthier foods, avoiding government regulations in quiet protest and operating in a largely cash economy that will continue to grow and flourish because it is too big, too diverse and too pervasive for regulators and prosecutors to effectively control.

From the government's perspective, such actions by individuals and families in the private sector are viewed as counter-productive to their aim of the perfect welfare state. In the minds of the actual practitioners of this "new economy" it is a necessity of survival. They are finding like-minded individuals in their friends and neighbors, spreading the word to others who seek to escape the all-seeing eyes and ears of a tyrannical elite, and prospering while the government stumbles, bumbles and eventually will self-destruct.

When the invisible secondary economy becomes so large that it mirrors the "official "GDP," as occurred during the oppressive days of prohibition, radical change will certainly follow, as it did then. The people shall rise, not all as one, but in various pockets of defiance, from urban strongholds to rural outliers. For many, especially those which have not seen the light, chaos will prevail. For those who have been silently proactive in the management of their livelihoods and self-sufficiency, it shall be a time of prosperity and freedom.

America has been and will be a country based upon principles of personal liberty and economic freedom. If the government is ill-equipped to support these values or even to go so far as to attempt to deprive citizens of their rights under the constitution and other prevailing, fair, tested laws, then the people will withdraw their consent and forge a new era irrespective of government policy and procedure.

The process of reformation and recovery from a top-down, repressive, centrally-planned society and economy to one from which the nation was formed: individual, self-sustaining, resourceful and fiercely independent, will take years, even decades to come to fruition, but come it will, come it must.

American people of good conscience and knowledge have had nearly enough from a government that refuses to protect and promote the interests of its citizens. While a day of reckoning may never be realized, small steps forward by individuals and like-minded groups are already well underway and will continue until the jackals, thieves and miscreants who call themselves our "leaders" are swept away by a tidal wave of public discontent.

America - at least its spirit - will forever live in the hearts and minds of true patriots who will always choose to fight rather than to take flight.

Those who wish to limit freedoms and curtail the liberties which made the nation the greatest in the history of mankind will find their tenure short-lived and their efforts fruitless.

This post was inspired by a true American.

Dow 13,593.37, +53.51 (0.40%)
NASDAQ 3,183.95. +28.12 (0.89%)
S&P 500 1,465.77, +5.78 (0.40%)
NYSE Composite 8,458.88, +51.85 (0.62%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,028,686,500
NYSE Volume 5,067,050,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3749-1817
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 749-31 (absurd)
WTI crude oil: 99.00, +3.78
Gold: 1,772.70, +31.50
Silver: 34.66, -0.12

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Ben Bernanke, Bankers' Friend; QE3 Sends Stocks Screaming Higher, Oil, Gold, Silver Rally

After the German Constitutional Court OK'd the ECB's ESM (love those acronyms!), Thursday was set up for a real bazooka blast of fresh money-printing by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

And, of course, the chairman did not disappoint, announcing an unlimited bond buying scheme, whereby the Federal Reserve would commit to buying $40 billion per month of MBS (Mortgage-Backed Securities) for a time period that the chairman left open-ended.

According to the FOMC statement: "If the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the committee will continue its purchase of agency mortgage-backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases, and employ its other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved in a context of price stability..."

The FOMC statement also extended ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) through mid-2015, another easing which mostly benefits banks, which can borrow at 0-1/4%.

The Fed's move was - and will be - huge, providing liquidity and a lifeline to the banks by sopping up their horrendous MBS, which are almost all underwater, spoiled or otherwise non-performing.

A move of such scope cannot be underestimated for its overall effects to the larger economy, not only in the US, but globally. The world is already awash in US dollars, and these policy actions only exacerbate that situation. In response, the Euro has galloped ahead, trading in excess of 1.31 to the dollar.

Markets all popped, with the Dow at its highest level since autumn of 2007 and now within shouting distance of its all time high, along with the S&P.

It is absolutely amazing that stocks can be artificially propped up due to actions from the public sector, but there is a downside to consumers in the form of higher prices, especially in food and fuel. Gasoline at the pump is nearing $4.00 per gallon nationwide. The average price of a gallon of unleaded regular is now $3.87.

The Fed believes that even with their massively-inflationary policies that inflation will remain below two percent. They must be dreaming, because the price of oil, tied directly to gas and home heating fuel, continues to rise and should continue to do so in the months ahead.

That will effect all consumer prices on everything that needs to be shipped, trucked or transported, which is just about everything except food you grow in your own back yard and items you make at home (depending on where you buy raw materials).

Good-bye Mitt Romney; hello second term for Obama. The election, thanks to the Fed, should be a slam-dunk for president Obama and likely will result in congress continuing to be split, with Republicans ruling the House and Democrats the Senate.

Great. More deadlock from the pols, higher prices for everything, more riches for bankers, a weaker dollar (in just the past two weeks, that European vacation rose in price about 10%) and no way to save unless you buy hard assets, gold and silver.

The status quo remains print, print, and print some more. The middle class is being squeezed out of existence. The big hope is that the Fed will sop up so much of the horrid MBS out there that they will bankrupt themselves and someday the US will return to sound money, though that scenario is probably a few years away.

In the meantime, enjoy. Spend. The Fed and the government have your back with unlimited public spending, a new, higher federal debt ceiling (coming soon and monetized by the Fed) and fiat money out the wazoo.

It's the grandest clusterf--k of monetary policy and make-believe debt-funding in the history of the world.

Dow 13,539.86, +206.51 (1.55%)
NASDAQ 3,155.83. +41.51 (1.33%)
S&P 500 1,459.99. +23.43 (1.63%)
NYSE Composite 8,407.03, +139.71 (1.69%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,884,013,625.00
NYSE Volume 4,616,279,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4230-1321
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 598-27 (flashing red light extreme)
WTI crude oil: 98.31, +1.30
Gold: 1,772.10, +38.40
Silver: 34.78, +1.49

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Germany Goes All In; Wall St. Waits on the Fed

Today was Europe's turn. Tomorrow will be America's.

Before most Americans were even awake, Europeans were rejoicing the German Constitutional Court's ruling that the ESM (Emergency Stabilization Fund), used to bail out failing sovereign governments was, according to German law, constitutional, and the ECB could go forward with its plans to bail out Greece and Portugal, and, possibly Spain and Italy, if need be.

The court did add one stipulation, however, that the German portion of the funding would have to be approved by parliament if there wer any increases to the size of the fund.

Thus, Europe and the Euro were saved, once again, by the alchemy of Ponzi-economics, for now.

The ESM, along with other emergency funding mechanisms from the ECB, should "stabilize" the Eurozone for another year to 18 months. Then, well, who knows?

Hurrah.

In the US, markets hung close to the flat line in anticipation of the FOMC interest rate policy announcement, where the Federal Reserve may or may not announce another round of Quantitative Easing, better known as QE, and, in this case, since it would be the third (or fourth, if you count operation twist) round of easing, QE3.

Three cheers.

The announcement will be delivered around 2:15 pm EDT on Thursday, unless, of course, like the German court ruling, it is leaked to the press first.

Some day, investors will want to know about individual stocks, but not these days.

Dow 13,333.35, +9.99(0.07%)
NASDAQ 3,114.31, +9.78(0.32%)
S&P 500 1,436.56, +3.00(0.21%)
NYSE Composite 8,267.16, +21.01(0.25%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,680,020,000
NYSE Volume 3,555,939,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3429-2094
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 336-30
WTI crude oil: 97.01, -0.16
Gold: 1,733.70, -1.20
Silver: 33.29, 10.27

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Wait for the Fed Again (Tired Refrain)

For whatever reason, stocks were broadly higher the day before two major events: the German Constitutional court ruling on the legality of the ESF and funding of various debtor nations, and the FOMC policy announcement which will be announced around 2:00 pm EDT on Wednesday. At the conclusion of the meeting, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will either announce a new round of QE or he won't, thus ending all speculation.

The chances are good that the German high court will rule the ESF constitutional (since it has already been widely leaked that they will do so), though skepticism remains on Bernanke's move. Market reaction will be swift and severe, either way, so it's a somewhat fruitless endeavor to speculate so close to the event.

Sadly, but truly, this is what 21st century investing has become: betting on policy actions by central banks and high courts. One longs for the days when fundamental analysis actually could result in the success or failure of a trade.

That's what German pragmatism and socialist central planning will get you. A mixed bag in a crooked, convoluted, highly controlled and coordinated market system on a road to nowhere.

Yuck. (It seems one hears that opinion more and more these days.)

Dow 13,323.36, +69.07(0.52%)
NASDAQ 3,104.53, +0.50(0.02%)
S&P 500 1,433.56, +4.48(0.31%)
NYSE Composite 8,246.15, +53.75(0.66%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,596,002,750
NYSE Volume 3,518,323,250
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3530-1983
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 290-38
WTI crude oil: 97.17, +0.63
Gold: 1,734.90, +3.10
Silver: 33.57, -0.07