Friday, February 14, 2014

So, This is Good-bye; Good Luck with Janet Yellen

After 1828 posts, spanning nine years (started in 2006), this may be the last post for Money Daily - at least in its current form. Perhaps at some point I will change the name to Finance Weekly or Rick's Occasional Posts on the Economy or something like that, but the effort involved in producing a relevant post every day (as opposed to the ridiculous ranting often seen here) seems to be not worth the effort anymore.

Since the economic collapse of 2008-09, the global financial system has been wildly distorted by the actions of central banks, primarily by the US Federal Reserve, via their Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) and Quantitative Easing (QE) mechanisms.

While Wall Street regulars laud praise upon former Chairman Ben Bernanke, and surely they will do the same with Janet Yellen, the Fed policies of the past six years have benefitted only banks and speculators, often those two disparate entities being one and the same. Surely, anybody who receives money at close to zero percent interest can make a buck, and it's even easier when you're in collusion with other bankers or speculators, as is the case with our current system.

Nothing other than the Fed matters when it comes to stocks, bonds, or even money in general. The Fed creates it out of thin air in copious amounts, and, even though they've recently cut back on their rampant printing - from $85 billion to a mere $65 billion per month - it's still a hugely distorting factor in all markets.

There is no stopping it, and any kind of qualitative analysis of financial markets must factor this element in as a major bulwark.

Thus, there is little to discuss on a day-to-day ongoing basis, because, in the end, nothing else matters or makes perfect sense, and, in economics, as in any "science," perfection is demanded, though all too often it is lacking, covered up by innuendo and a false sense of security supplied by the Fed and their lackeys in the financial media and Wall Street hack talkers, disguised as "analysts" for public consumption.

Since a more balanced, sustainable approach is preferred by your humble author, it's time to move on to other creative pursuits. I may, from time to time, pen a financial piece and post it here, but the numbing daily schedule will be no more.

It's been fun, for the most part, and I wish anyone and everyone who has gained from this the best in their investment and financial decisions. For my money, I prefer to keep stacking silver (which made an enormous move today), learn more about and engage in sustainable farming and leave the financial gimmickry to those better suited (pun intended) to that kind of soulless lying.

In closing, since we are engaged in a world that often makes little sense, a few lines from George Orwell's 1984:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH


Via con Dios, mis amigos!

--FR

DOW 16,154.39, +126.80 (+0.79%)
NASDAQ 4,244.03, +3.35 (+0.08%)
S&P 1,838.63, +8.80 (+0.48%)
10-Yr Note 100.06, +0.02 (+0.02%) Yield: 2.74%
NASDAQ Volume 1.73 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.10 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3417-2261
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 278-24
WTI crude oil: 100.30, -0.05
Gold: 1,318.60, +18.50
Silver: 21.42, +1.026
Corn: 445.25, +4.75

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Yellen Testimony Delayed; Markets Rise Despite Lack of Noise

Was anybody not connected to the Wall Street/Washington Ponzi scheme really impressed with Janet Yellen?

The woman sounds like she's been speech-and-brain-impaired since childhood. Sure, she may be among the "best and brightest" but her answers to the softball questions proffered by the House Financial Services Committee didn't raise the bar of professional standards one centimeter, nor did they offer anything other than the usual, plodding "we-will-continue-to-print-until-we-don't" message the Fed's been spouting for the past three to four years.

Sorry, but it's boring, and Janet Yellen may be the "Chair" of the Fed, but she surely doesn't have the backs of regular American citizens. She works for banks, period.

So, paraphrasing our illustrious president, "if you like your Fed Chair, you can keep your Fed Chair."

A snowstorm pushed Yellen's scheduled Thursday testimony before the Senate Banking Committee back to next week. The markets, not wanting to wait until then, rallied anyway, on poor retail sales and unemployment data.

What a scheme. The markets are so distorted, it makes writing about them a difficult, annoying chore, almost not worth doing. This may be the final week of Money Daily.

DOW 16,027.59, +63.65 (+0.40%)
NASDAQ 4,240.67, +39.38 (+0.94%)
S&P 1,829.83, +10.57 (+0.58%)
10-Yr Note 100.05, +0.85 (+0.85%) Yield: 2.73%
NASDAQ Volume 2.08 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.25 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 4143-1528
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 275-41
WTI crude oil: 100.35, -0.02
Gold: 1,300.10, +5.10
Silver: 20.40, +0.054
Corn: 440.50 , +0.50

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Quiet Yellen, Dow's a'Sellin'

Since Fed Chair Janet Yellen wasn't stuttering... er, um, speaking today, stocks pretty much ran in place.

That's all there is to this market, for now, but, stick around, the game will change at some point.

We do note that gold has been tearing it up lately, silver a little less so (though it made up some ground today), and don't we all love crude oil over $100 per barrel?

One can also buy more corn toady with the same amount or less silver than yesterday, so that's the deflationary argument.

DOW 15,963.94, -30.83 (-0.19%)
NASDAQ 4,201.29, +10.24 (+0.24%)
S&P 1,819.26, -0.49 (-0.03%)
10-Yr Note 99.94, -0.13 (-0.13%) Yield: 2.76%
NASDAQ Volume 1.88 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.30 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2995-2698
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 232-36
WTI crude oil: 100.37, +0.43
Gold: 1,295.00, +5.20
Silver: 20.34, +0.188
Corn: 440.00, -1.50

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Wall Street Goes Ga-Ga Over Fed Chair, Janet Yellen

Janet Yellen's testimony to congress and the subsequent question-answer period was a rather revolting display of crony capitalism in its most blatant form. Legislators swooned over the new Fed Chair (as she is now to be known), and Wall Street sent stocks to the moon, again.

Yellen's prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee:

Yellen Speech Feb 11



Bear in mind, these are the people/drones/robots elected/appointed to rule/run/govern the country/world/universe.

Hedge accordingly... or, just kill yourself now.

DOW 15,994.77, +192.98 (+1.22%)
NASDAQ 4,191.05, +42.87 (+1.03%)
S&P 1,819.75, +19.91 (+1.11%)
10-Yr Note 100.23, +0.01 (+0.01%) Yield: 2.72%
NASDAQ Volume 1.86 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.68 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3228-1494
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 190-32
WTI crude oil: 99.94, -0.12
Gold: 1,289.80, +15.10
Silver: 20.15, +0.041
Corn: 441.50, -1.50

Monday, February 10, 2014

No Follow Through After Phony Friday Rally

Following Friday's dismal non-farm payroll data for January, the subsequent scream higher in equity markets (stocks) and the Money Daily contention that the market was rigged and traditional valuation metrics useless, Monday brought some confirmation of our position, in that markets barely budged.

The generally-accepted theory - for today - is that markets and investors are awaiting Janet Yellen's testimony before congress Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, the newest -and first - Fed chairwoman will appear before the House Financial Services Committee. On Thursday, she addresses and takes questions from the Senate Banking Committee.

We'll take a different approach: BULL-PUCKEY! The reason markets didn't do much today is because they have nowhere to go after the massive ramping Thursday and Friday, on nothing but bad news, and the insiders are awaiting the influx of suckers to keep the rally going, so said insiders can SELL, SELL, SELL the stocks bought (at the behest of the NY Fed and the PPT) they bought last week that kept the market from entering a 10% correction.

Now, those suckers will surely appear at some point, soon after which the insiders will be selling, though not all at once, so as not to produce a self-reinforcing selling loop. No the selling will be niggling, nibbling, small amounts, though large enough to keep stock prices moderately higher or lower, for a while.

The key question at this juncture is not whether the market is manipulated - as it has been clearly demonstrated that all financial markets are manipulated - because, if the Fed isn't manipulating markets by its dual policy of ZIRP and QE, then what should we call it? No, the key question is how long it will take for the major indices to return to and exceed their recent all-time highs?

A month? Two? Six? It matters little, unless stocks tumble below their recent lows, because then, the fraud will be crystal clear and a correction will be in force, followed by a primary bear market.

The numbers to watch are these:
Dow: High: 16,576.66; Low: 15,372.80
S&P 500: High: 1,848.36' Low: 1,741.89
NASDAQ: High: 4,176.59; Low: 3,996.96


All of these figures are closing highs and lows and they all occurred on the same dates, the highs on December 31, 2013, the lows on February 3, 2014. Everything else in between is nothing but noise, but, it should be pointed out that the Dow, in particular, is a long way from those all-time highs, about 775 points away, and that matters.

So, what will the sociopaths of Wall Street and the crony capitalists in Washington DC dream up to achieve the facade of "recovery" this time? Or will they fight to the death over the debt ceiling all month long, only to resolve it in a late-night session, and then have the markets zoom forward? Any way they slice it, it's still one big stick of baloney, and not a choice cut, to boot.

A couple of other indications that support the theory that Thursday and, especially, Friday's rally was fake, are the slump in yield on the 10-year note, back down to 2.67% and stellar movement in gold and silver. If everything is supposed to be so fine and dandy, why then were investors rushing to safe haven assets on Monday?

There are more questions than answers, but, when dealing with fraud and fixing at such a high and clandestine level, there is much that is unknown and unseen, but, we've seen enough to know not to buy the sizzle nor the steak at this juncture.

DOW 15,801.79, +7.71 (+0.05%)
NASDAQ 4,148.17, +22.31 (+0.54%)
S&P 1,799.84, +2.82 (+0.16%)
10-Yr Note 100.65, +0.47 (+0.47%) Yield: 2.67%
NASDAQ Volume 1.68 Bil
NYSE Volume 3.30 Bil
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3338-2348
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 129-29
WTI crude oil: 100.06, +0.18
Gold: 1,274.70, +11.80
Silver: 20.11, +0.176
Corn: 443.00, -1.25