CTA Trading Desk Morning Report
[7:00am ET] Good morning.
With all systems apparently a go for the Fed yesterday, traders decided to put the pedal to the metal. Meanwhile, capital risk is rising. We are now caught between a rock (elevated gold, silver, oil prices) and a hard place (over-sold US Dollar).
Analyst Colin Twiggs (incrediblecharts.com) is now targeting 71 for the USD, and 1.50 for the Euro, which, if it happens, would likely boost West Texas Crude Oil to 116, Gold to 1550 and Silver to a return to a 50 resistance level that would be a blow-off warning point.

At 8:30am ET, all eyes will be focused on the US GDP report from the Department of Commerce. I, for one, had been expecting downward adjustments, but the recent raft of positive earnings surprises and upward revenue guidance from America’s biggest corporations has me somewhat baffled. Hence, we will just wait for the report and watch the market reaction.
Prior to release of the biased and politically motivated US Dept of Commerce data on 4/28/2011 8:30:00 AM ET, Econoday reported, GDP growth for the final estimate for the fourth quarter was revised up to 3.1% annualized growth from the second estimate of 2.8%. As with the prior estimate, the fourth quarter was still stronger than the third quarter pace of 2.6%. Demand numbers were little changed. Final sales of domestic product were unrevised net from the second estimate of 6.7%. Final sales to domestic purchasers (takes out net exports) were revised up marginally to 3.2% from the second estimate of 3.1% for the fourth quarter. On the inflation front, the GDP price index was unrevised compared to the second estimate of 0.4%.
What cannot be denied is the elevated inflation in China and India, along with the central bank tightening in those countries and the resultant lull in their equity market indexes over the past six months. At what point does the same situation hit America and Europe? That’s what we want to know.
Have a good day.
Here are the 7:00am ET snapshots of the latest equity market trading results for Europe, and futures prices plus 5-minute charts of the futures for S&P 500, 30-year US Treasury Bond, US Dollar index, Gold and Crude Oil.
| Symbol | Name | Last Trade | Change | Related Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ^ATX | ATX | 2,800.00 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^BFX | BEL-20 | 2,759.10 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^FCHI | CAC 40 | 4,088.30 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^GDAXI | DAX | 7,437.64 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^AEX | AEX General | 360.20 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^OSEAX | OSE All Share | 501.22 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^SMSI | Madrid General | N/A | 0.00 (0.00%) | Chart, More |
| ^OMXSPI | Stockholm General | 368.53 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^SSMI | Swiss Market | 6,504.35 |
Components, Chart, More | |
| ^FTSE | FTSE 100 | 6,067.18 |
Components, Chart, More |
http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

http://finviz.com/fut_chart.ashx?p=m5&t=ES

http://finviz.com/fut_chart.ashx?p=m5&t=ZB

http://finviz.com/fut_chart.ashx?p=m5&t=DX

http://finviz.com/fut_chart.ashx?p=m5&t=GC

http://finviz.com/fut_chart.ashx?p=m5&t=SI

http://finviz.com/fut_chart.ashx?p=m5&t=CL
The team will check in during the day, reporting in the Discourse when there is a new entry.
Enjoy your day.
Cara on Trends & Cycles
Vad's Catch of the Day
The chart below shows a trade we took for 1:7 risk/reward; exploiting inverse relation between US dollar and SLW. Using UUP as indication and rough relation of 1 cent UUP movement to 15 cents of SLW, we shorted it as dollar started it's slight bounce. Chart requires no further explanations.

Kaimu's Sound Money
THE BUDGET DEBATE
This is all you need to see to realize the foolishness of politicians when corrupt money is the base of society.

Courtesy Michael Ramirez Cartoon http://www.investors.com/EditorialCartoons/Cartoon.aspx?id=567991
Let me get right into the meat of this pie … The Aussies love a good “meat pie”! The problem once again is the overstated tax revenues. This pie projects a $2.174TRIL revenue. If we take FY2010 “net tax revenue” then total revenues for FY2010 are only $1.57TRIL. Obviously once again the CBO uses “gross tax revenues” not “net” for their projections since it makes the pie a lot more credible. In FY2010 gross tax revenues were slightly above $2TRIL. See here …

But then you can see the tax refunds issued took a big bite out of the gross here …

So you have to subtract the $468BIL in issued refunds to individuals and businesses in FY2010. A much more accurate revenue projection would be closer to $1.82TRIL, but why would the CBO and politicians want to admit to an even bigger deficit of $2TRIL?
Once again I have to point to more monetary absurdities that pervade financial media. As you can see by the pie total spending for FY2011 over at the US Treasury is $3.82TRIL. That is money out the door on all sorts of spending projects like SNAP, Unemployment, Medicare, Social Security, Defense and things like “DIF”, which funds FDIC and even more bizarre is the spending line item entitled “GSE Investments”. There is no debating whether those funds foe entitlements are inflationary or not, because they are. This is new money flooding the system that has been embedded with the inflationary monies from past decades of spending on these exact same entitlements. To compare QE2 of $600BIL to $3.82TRIL of US Treasury QE is like night and day. The US FED cannot compete with the US Treasury when it comes to QE … period! This is how it has been since the US FED was created as the US Treasury can outspend and out debt any other country or central bank on Earth, yet the US Treasury QE isn’t even a blip on the financial news radar. Even the most savvy investors and fund managers will drool all day over FOMC but not even glance once at a US Treasury Statement, in essence the financial report of the largest indebted sovereign corporation on the planet!
QE2 TRUMPED
What happens when the Debt Ceiling is reached without resolve for the US FED’s QE2? If the US Treasury cannot issue more debt then how can the US FED buy any to keep QE2 going?
We are here now on Monday, April 18th, with just $37BIL left to go before the Debt Ceiling is reached. This was dues to this large increase in debt on Friday, April 15th of $34.5BIL USD …
![]()
Then on Monday the US PUBLIC DEBT went up another $3.6BIL …
![]()
That brings us to here …

Certainly Ben Bernanke needs the US Treasury to keep issuing debt so he can buy it, otherwise what good will QE2 be in the end when interest rates shoot up due to a lack of US FED buying. The claim is that QE2 will end in June, but one more day like April 15th and QE2 could end this next week.
This is what the US Treasury has to draw from in its Federal Reserve Account and other accounts as of Monday, April 18th:

BUBBLE ADAPTATION
In America we have our housing bubble that took place when rates were running between 3.75% and 6% depending on the type of loan and when you took out the loan and your credit rating. In Australia the housing bubble is beginning to fade but that bubble took place with rates running from 6.2% to 9.3%. I am not sure then that rates have anything to do with “Bubblenomics”. Of course the Australian central bank, the RBA, have had some of the highest central bank rates globally for many years now even in the face of their own housing bubble deflation.
So as the Aussie housing bubble shows sign of deflation here is a link with the latest mortgage rates as of April 15th …
http://www.apimagazine.com.au/tools/rate-update
You will notice that the lowest rates are about double what the lowest rates are here in the USA. This is yet another example of how much better Americans have it that the Aussies. Even when I lived in Australia back in the 1970s gasoline was double in Australia compared to what us Yanks were paying. Would there have been a housing bubble in the USA with mortgage rates at 7% or 8% or 9%?
Another difference that helped the housing bubble in the USA take off was the lower standards for loans. During the bubble just about anyone with a pulse could have qualified and they did in droves. All anyone really had to do was be able to pay the monthly mortgage payment. Its like cars … Today when I open the Hilo Tribune and look at the car section of the newspaper I hardly ever see sticker prices any more, but I do see a lot of cars advertised by their monthly payments. Of course those ads are only as good as your credit rating, but the key is to get you in the door no matter what your credit rating turns out to be. The car dealer wants you in a car no matter your long term fiscal viability. It’s like SubPrime only CarPrime!
H1/2011 VALUE DESTRUCTION
Take a look at how much “value” was destroyed by the US Treasury through the issuance of marketable debt and net outlays for the first half of FY2011. Its mind boggling that this much “market cap value” can be destroyed so quickly yet some 99% of media and economic gurus do not even measure such metrics.

Notice that the above USD amounts are not billions but trillions … I only mention that because few of us are used to seeing US Treasury dollar numbers with all the zeros.
I have to ask … What will Ben Bernanke or any US FED governors ever say that will make a difference to the US Treasury’s destiny of total value destruction? The spending and debting the US Congress did back in the 1970’s and 1980’s did not stop even when the Fed Funds Rate went up to 20%, so will anything change with Congress or the US Treasury with the Fed Funds Rate at 0.50%? 0.75%? 1%? 2%? 3%? Will 44 million Americans sudden not need to eat? Will 70 million baby boomers quit retiring? Will old people quit needing medical care?
I see nearly some $2.2TRIL in net outlays (spending) and some $4TRIL USD in marketable debt issues for the first half of FY2011. Here is how fast it took the US Treasury to eliminate the entire gold holdings of GLD based on one half year of spending and debt.
OUTLAYS = 43 MINUTES
DEBT = 14.4 MINUTES
So it took the US Treasury a total of 43 minutes to spend the entire gold inventory of GLD. Then it took the US Treasury only 14 minutes to issue GLD’s entire inventory as debt.
What about Exxon, one of the Worlds largest corporations. What did the US Treasury do there?
OUTLAYS = 4.8 HOURS
DEBT = 2.6 HOURS
Okay, it took only 4.8 hours worth of outlays to totally destroy all of Exxon’s market cap and only 2.6 hours to destroy Exxon’s market cap through debt issues. Where is the value in such destruction?
Also notice the new median price for a US home is $165,000USD now. Naturally the US Treasury spending rate smokes the value of an American home in nano-seconds. How long does it take the average US citizen to pay off their mortgage? Maybe 30 years if they stay n the same home that long.
That is how adept the US Treasury is at destroying value in America. If you are wondering what it is that is causing gold and silver and oil and other commodity prices to rise then take a peek at the other side of the “value coin” and see what the US Treasury does every year. If “value” were traded on the COMEX like a futures trade then the US Treasury would be the JP Morgan shorting the hell out of value. While we citizens and the CEOs of most US corporations who produce a usable product the masses consume every day strive for long term value the US Treasury and the US Banks strive to short long term value by using every political and monetary tool at their disposal.
IT’S THE NEW BUDGET STUPID!
Aloha … Let’s go here to this chart of the CBO that estimates for the new Budget 2012 and I see that in 2009 these guys at the CBO show that the total Outlays/GDP is around 24.5%(very close to a 25% peak). See …

Now I go to the US Treasury Statement for FY2009 and I see the total net outlays is around $4.6TRIL USD. How do I get that number? I take this GRAND TOTAL OF ALL OUTLAYS including redemptions …
![]()
And then I subtract redemptions for FY2009 here …
![]()
So what is $11.9TRIL minus $7.3TRIL? It’s … hey $4.6TRIL … Okay!! So if I multiply $4.6TRIL by four(25%) I get this: $18.4TRIL!! Was that the US GDP for 2009? No, according to the World Bank the US GDP in 2009 was only $14.119TRIL not $18.TRIL. This means that the CBO chart outlay calcs are wrong. In fact if we use the US Treasury Statement as fact then the real Outlays/GDP is more like 33% not 24.5%; only off by 8.5%. Or was that error not an error and is really some sort of special CBO hedonics?
So the CBO wants me to believe this chart of theirs is accurate when it is stacked up against the actual numbers the US Treasury wants me to believe. Well, the numbers do not add up, because in 2009 the GDP was $14.119BIL according to the World Bank, so the CBO or the US Treasury are off by some $4TRIL USD of GDP Now I doubt that was a “rounding error” and I doubt the US Treasury makes $4TRIL errors in their outlay calcs. That leaves the CBO on the hook, which has been a known mouthpiece of financial and accounting fantasy for the Congress and the President since inception. In truth it was the CBO who insisted that the Iraq War would only cost $1.78BIL USD, because by their calcs the USA could recoup losses through the sales of crude oil. Once again the CBO was wrong … so wrong on the cost of the Iraq War. If you recall back then President George Baby Bush fired his own US Treasury Secretary, O’Neil for disputing the CBO Iraq War cost estimate publicly. Now we have Timothy Geithner who only disputes S&P sovereign debt rating downgrades publicly. He is smarter, that is if you seek full time employment in DC …
Now I want to observe this guy who is and has been a pretty powerful government economic adviser. Here he outlines his proposal to reduce the size of government. Let’s read this …
JOHN B TAYLOR
Government and Stanford economist
Under US Treasury Secretary for International Affairs 2001-2005
Sunday, April 3, 2011
A Credible Strategy to Reduce Government Spending Growth and Increase Economic Growth
http://johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/credible-strategy-to-reduce...
• In tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal, Gary Becker, George Shultz and I present the economic case for a credible strategy to reduce the growth of federal government spending, bring the deficit down, and increase economic growth. We emphasize the words credible and strategy.
• The essential first step in the strategy is substantial progress in reducing discretionary spending in 2011. This will help establish credibility and show that government can actually take needed actions, not just promise to take them. Think game-changer.
• The second part of the strategy is a transparent longer term plan to get total spending (including entitlements) as a share of GDP down gradually to a level consistent with tax revenues generated by the current tax system. Credibility will be enhanced by showing that the needed spending share is close to shares seen in not-so-distant American history and that it is achieved gradually.
• It’s important for the government to explain to the American people why such a strategy will help increase economic growth and reduce unemployment. This task is made easier by the fact that it is consistent with basic economics in which expectations and incentives figure prominently.
• The two parts of such a strategy may be emerging from Washington this week in (1) some form of HR1 for 2011 and (2) the 2012 Budget Resolution to be put forth on Tuesday. Stay tuned.
Okay, I agree with the first paragraph, but the second paragraph which is the “essential first step” I disagree with as one man’s “discretionary” is another man’s “necessity”. I do not have any confidence in government to cut spending in a meaningful manner. Since I have been alive they have had 57 years to do it and they never have, so why now?
Hummmm … okay the third paragraph wants to bring spending down in line with tax revenues. WOW! Now that is an ambitious fantasy!!! Do these guys read US Treasury Statements? Let us just look at the US Treasury Statement for FY2010 to se what we are up against …
Well, paragraph four was written by someone who has never taught a man to fish! First of all the average American has no clue about basic economics and could not tell you what the difference is between a debit and a credit. In fact I am not so sure that most average Americans can even spell “economics”. Okay, now the guy gets very dangerous and mentions the word “expectations”. Now what is it that this guy thinks the average American expects from his government today after all the “cradle-to-grave” vote buying that every politician has promised since Columbus? The average American expects to be taken care of. Start cutting and find out. Now you can call me a pessimist or scold me for being negative, thank you very much! Instead just call me “skeptical”, not so much for the average American, because the average American actually has a budget and has to live within his means, but I am much more skeptical that the GANG of 535 and the many other politicians that proliferate the Nanny State will actually carry any of this spending cuts out in a “meaningful” way. I see that there will probably be many more crisis over the 10-12 years these cuts are to take place and if any of those crisis threatens the two party monopoly these guys will print money like there is no tomorrow to stay in power. They will go to any heights in the debt markets and they will go to War against any foe no matter the cost, but what they will not do is give up their power.
POLLS SAY
This is in part from Barry Riholtz …
"An April 6 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 61% of people favor a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, down from 71% in 1995. Support falls to 27% when people are told that this would require a 20% cut in entitlement programs."
"An April 4 YouGov poll found that an overwhelming majority of people favor large budget cuts. However, majorities also favor increased spending for education and medical research, and a strong plurality favor increased spending on clean energy technology."
"On March 9, the Harris poll found strong opposition to cutting Social Security or Medicare benefits to deal with the budgetary problems of those programs. People are also opposed to raising taxes to fund them."
"On March 2, a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found strong opposition to cutting spending for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, K-12 education, heating assistance for the poor, college student loans, Head Start, and unemployment insurance. There was majority support only for cutting nuclear power subsidies, aid to state and local governments, the EPA budget, and spending on transportation and infrastructure projects. The poll also found that 81% of people would support a surtax on millionaires to help reduce the budget deficit, and 68% would support eliminating the Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000."
"On March 1, the Tarrance Group issued a poll which found that 63% of voters incorrectly believe that the federal government spends more on national defense and foreign aid than it does on Medicare and Social Security. Also, three-fifths of voters believe that the budget can be fixed just by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse."
It’s called having your cake and eating it too! It’s all so NIMBY!!
WHAT IS GDP ANYWAY?
The basis of all government sponsored economics is to get you to succumb to “hedonics”. If they can make you believe their numbers then they can publish any numbers they want and you would believe they were true. It’s very Orwellian. We who chose to QUESTION AUTHORITY all know that government data is suspect at best. Just last week I reported that the Commerce Dept reports Personal Savings based on debt default. In their eyes if you default on your credit cards then that is actually savings in the bank. Somehow if I walk away from $10,000 in Visa debt I saved $10,000. Did my savings account rise by $10,000? NO …
We all know the flim-flam of CPI. We are on our tenth version of CPI formulas. Not sure why we need that many versions. Still even the official CPI formula now does not count food or oil costs in their formula. If you have a pulse you know how much food and oil affects your family’s budget. The official reason for not counting food and oil is that these items are too volatile. In fact MIT has the BPP which measures prices of all online items and calculates current annual CPI not at 2%, like Bernanke wants you to believe, but at a monthly rate of 1%.
I am going to look at the official calculations of GDP now. I will use the latest BEA news release for GDP in the fourth quarter of 2010. GDP was officially moved up to 3.1%, but it took the BEA three revisions of GDP data to get to 3.1%. They claim the reason for three revisions is better and more complete data came in late. They remind me of Fannie Mae and their financial reporting delays.
You can go to this link and read the official release yourself but I will hand pick some of the GDP data and calculations that I feel are erroneous. Many businessmen and investors base their decisions of government data so there is an inherent obligation for the government to be honest, but then again there is an inherent reason why governments run by political biases for re-election leads to falsifying the numbers.
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2011/pdf/gdp4q10_3rd.pdf
This calculation here sticks out like a sore thumb …

Can anyone here see the fallacy? If you read my SOUND MONEY reports every week then you notice that the US Congress does a lot of spending and the Treasury issues a lot of debt. In order to cover the spending they do the US Treasury needs to collect taxes. However, as I have pointed out net tax revenues run about a 400% - 600% deficit. In order to paper over that deficit in tax revenues the US Treasury issues US DEBT. In actuality the BEA calculations for “government consumption expenditures and gross investment” should only count the portion that is actually paid for using tax revenues, otherwise when this calculation includes US DEBT it turns current GDP into future GDP if and only if all of the US DEBT is repaid. It’s like you adding your credit card spending to your wages on your 1040 tax form. If your wages for the year was $40,000 and you spent $6,000 using your credit cards during the year did that really boost your income to $46,000? Somehow with the BEA debt is income and therefore it counts as expenditure and a gross investment.
GDP counts government consumption expenditures so that means that if you get food stamps and unemployment benefits during the year GDP goes up because you take that “welfare”, which is derived partially from tax revenues and mostly from debt issues, then you spend it at the Safeway grocery store or on gasoline at the Shell station.
How can such GDP calculations even be remotely allowed? Just a back of the envelope calc says to me that if we have a $1.6TRIL deficit then $1,6TIL needs to be subtracted from the GDP calculations. The good news is that the official TOTAL GDP is up at $14.8TRIL, but if we subtract the $1.6TRIL deficit from that we get a real TOTAL GDP of $13.2TRIL, which is down not up.
So how much of these BEA GDP line items is money that Americans got from welfare?

Then again how much of those line items listed above is due to government workers spending? Can the BEA truly count government workers as a part of GDP? Their salaries and benefits are purely derived from tax revenues and debt issues. Debt issues create massive increases in GDP.
Here is the Net Change in US PUBLIC DEBT for FY 2010 …
![]()
Its $1.65TRIL USD which somehow is included in GDP via line items called “consumption”.
Here are the total FY2010 outlays for Government Employees and Government Employee Benefits …
![]()
Added together they account for some $240BIL. Then if we add military personnel to the equation we get even more government worker outlays counted by the BEA as GDP.
What would GDP look like if we removed all government expenditures like grants, loans, payroll and purchases (like Defense Vendors)? It would be as I say often, “The Fortune 500 would be the Fortune 5”.The BEA would have you believe that as the US DEBT increases so does GDP. It’s Orwellian to say the least …

It ended at $13.5TRIL almost the same as the BEA reported $14.8 GDP, only a $1.3TRIL difference. In fact according to the US Treasury for FY2010 US PUBLIC DEBT was 91.5% of total 2010 GDP. So as GDP grew by 3.1% US PUBLIC DEBT grew by 14%. That means that US PUBLIC DEBT had to increase 14% to create a 3.1% increase in GDP. Not only is the USD a debt derivative but so is US GDP. Debt corrupts everything in its path.
“Where there is no market economy, the best-intentioned provisions of constitutions and laws remain a dead letter.” – Ludwig Von Mises, .Human Action, 1933
“Because what happens is, as the economy suffers, tax revenues go down. But unlike businesses, where at least your variable costs go down, in government your variable costs go up: unemployment insurance, workmen's compensation, health care benefits, welfare, you name it.” – Meg Whitman, CEO EBay
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” - Alexis de Tocqueville
“Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.” - Herbert Hoover
CTA Trading Desk Mid-Day Report
CTA Trading Desk Post-Close Report
Good evening. Patrick here.
A well deserved day of rest, equities pausing to digest recent gains drifted listlessly higher for most of the session (S&P+0.38%). Outside of several dollar-driven bouts of volatility in precious metals, today was exceedingly blasé – a classic low volume tight range put-your-hands-in-your-pockets kind of day.
Lots of economic data to be released before the opening tomorrow:
• Personal Income Estimate 0.40% vs. 0.30% Prior
• Personal Spending Estimate 0.50% vs. 0.70% Prior
• PCE Prices Core Estimate 0.10% vs. 0.20% Prior
• Employment Cost Index Estimate 0.50% vs. 0.40% Prior
• Chicago PMI Estimate 68 vs. 70.6 Prior
• Michigan Sentiment Estimate 69.6 vs. 69.6 Prior
A couple earnings casualties Thursday: Akami (AKAM-14.79%) beat income estimates but was pounded after issuing cautious guidance going forward. Research in Motion (RIMM+1.62%) fell over -10% after hours, as lower-than-expected shipments of Blackberries cut into total revenue.
Not much to add to recent commentary. The low volume, grinding rally continues with equities modestly overbought but tracing out of clear pattern of higher lows and higher highs meaning Bulls are still in command.
The S&P is vacillating around the 1360 target we mentioned last week, and the 2009-2011 rally in the Q’s is less than a point from matching the 2002-2007 advance in half the time. Think of the entire sequence as an ABC rally where legs A and C will be equal between 60-60.5 in QQQ; when the amplitude of two swings approaches equality the probabilities of a counter trend reaction increase, so prepare accordingly.
Silver (SLV+0.21%) made a minor new high today, spot prices peaking near 49.5 this morning, before selling off hard midday. Calling tops in parabolic runs is a fool’s game, but one can assume the 1980 intraday high of 50.5 is a logical spot to look for formidable resistance.
It also stands to reason many of us will be leaning against that supposed ceiling. Therefore, if prices penetrate and hold 51 spot expect an outbreak of hysteria, rumors, and volatility to cloud the collective judgment of market participants.
Shorts will be up the creek without a paddle, emotional basket cases as silver shoots to all-time highs, no overhead supply to hold back prices in the short term. The tail end of parabolic advances often cover the most ground in the shortest amount of time, so speculators should take out upside insurance if they feel compelled to fade the prevailing trend.
Implied volatilities of SLV options have risen dramatically but are reasonably priced given the intraday movement and overnight gaps in silver. Although we prefer to generally be short premium, in fast moving markets being long gamma is a worthwhile tactical strategy if you are actively trading the intraday swings.
Have a great evening.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| slw-uup_correlation_play.jpg | 287.04 KB |
| 0124.png | 362.64 KB |
| 0224.png | 71.51 KB |
| 0324.png | 24.38 KB |
| 0424.png | 10.1 KB |
| 0524.png | 8.51 KB |
| 0624.png | 12.16 KB |
| 0724.png | 37.64 KB |
| 0824.png | 83.38 KB |
| 0924.png | 97.79 KB |
| 1024.png | 9.26 KB |
| 1124.png | 7.99 KB |
| 1224.png | 74.87 KB |
| 1324.png | 23.95 KB |
| 1424.png | 8.27 KB |
| 1524.png | 11.5 KB |
| 1624.png | 50.59 KB |
Comments
Econoday Today
Cara 100 Ratings Changes For POMO Thursday
Good morning.
5 - 7 Billion Dollar POMO Injection Today.
------
8:30 - Q1 GDP
8:30 - Initial/Continuing Claims (and other works of fiction)
10:00 - Pending Home Sales
------
CVX - Chevron initiated with a Buy at Jefferies. Target $125
------
"There's now a nationwide shortage of Attention Deficit Disorder drugs. The FDA says it doesn't know how it happened. I guess somebody wasn't paying attention." - Jay Leno
I Think the USA is Winning
...the currency wars. Worth repeating the targets of USD 71 & EUR 150 - Wow! Silver may hit my "guess" for 2011 of $60 after all.
Rock and a Hard Place
Bill,
Assuming repatriation flows don't cause the yen to rise, doesn't it make sense for the carry trade to move back into the yen now? The tsunami has crippled production, household spending has plummeted, they have a staggering amount of debt and worse still an ageing population. What have I missed here?
Re: Econoday Today
Wasn't GDP news preempted yesterday? I guess it could still pull the markets down some if people didn't pay attention.
Re: I Think the USA is Winning
The way things are happening, that 71 target should be reached in no time, give it less a month. That will coincide with end of QE2. I will be a big time dollar bull then. Short term that is as Marc Faber predicts all the way up to QE18 followed by a WW III.
Re: Econoday Today
Guess we're waiting to see it in writing, but Bernanke did allude to the wind being taken out of the sails of the economy with "firmer footing" being changed to a "moderate" pace of growth.
Re: I Think the USA is Winning
I remember Armstrong giving CHF 1.15 as a target for a normal Swiss Franc trading range. Well we're there. Like Brad Pitt says in Fight Club, "Well what now dad?" Let's see if Uncle Buck and other currencies fall outside of that "normal trading range". I got nothing but a Yen short to my name right now. Uncle Buck getting a sympathy bounce here. Amazing how a bit of $ green can turn the indexes a shade red.
US GDP Q1
The advance estimate for US GDP growth has fallen significantly to +1.8% from +3.1%. This was the thesis I presented in last week's WIR.
Now Credit Suisse today has issued their forecast, and it too is similar to my own:
...we think P/E multiples fall in the second half of the year, and so too does the S&P 500, probably by 10% or so... We put a very low probability on a third round of balance sheet expansion occurring in 2011 unless US economic growth weakens quite dramatically and/or inflation pressures abate significantly... Our favored sectors our health care {pharmaceuticals and biotechnology}, consumer staples {food & drug retail and beverages} and energy {integrated oils}. We have a neutral weighting on the technology sector - there we would focus on software and services. And our two biggest underweight sectors are financials and consumer discretionary. We have a very defensive bias now.
It's time to get defensive.
Highlights of Q1 GDP report, via Econoday
The economy slowed during the first quarter of 2011. However, the detail shows moderate forward momentum. First quarter GDP growth eased to a 1.8 percent annualized pace, following a 3.1 percent boost in the fourth quarter. First quarter growth came in lower than the median projection for 2.0 percent.
The softer growth in the first quarter was largely due to a sharp upturn in imports, a deceleration in personal consumption, a larger decrease in federal government spending, and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment and in exports that were partly offset by a sharp upturn in private inventory investment.
Nonetheless, relative strength was seen in personal spending, investment in equipment & software, and inventory investment. Exports also continued to rise although not as rapidly as earlier. PCEs rose an annualized 2.7 percent, following 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Equipment & software improved to 11.6 percent from 7.7 percent the prior quarter. Inventories rose a moderate but stronger $43.8 billion, compared to $16.2 billion in the fourth quarter. Exports gained 4.9 percent in the first quarter, following 8.6 percent in the previous quarter.
Weakness included a drop in government purchases (down 5.2 percent), nonresidential structures (down 21.7 percent, residential structures (down 4.1 percent), and imports (up 4.4 percent).
Final sales of domestic product posted at a sluggish 0.8 percent in the first quarter, compared to 6.7 percent the prior quarter. Final sales to domestic purchasers (takes out net exports) slowed to a 0.9 percent increase from a 3.2 percent rise in the fourth quarter. Deceleration in both was primarily due to a sharper drop in government purchases and a fall in structures investment-especially nonresidential but also residential.
Economy-wide inflation picked up with the GDP price index jumping _ percent from a modest 0.4 percent rise in the fourth quarter. Analysts had forecast 2.2 percent.
Year-on-year, real GDP in the first quarter is up 2.3 percent, compared to 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
Economy-wide inflation picked up with the GDP price index jumping 1.9 percent from a modest 0.4 percent rise in the fourth quarter. Analysts had forecast 2.2 percent.
Overall, the headline number was disappointing as were the final sales figures. But key components-consumer spending, equipment investment, and inventory investment-are maintaining forward momentum.
On the news, equity futures dipped but were largely reacting to an unexpected jump in initial jobless claims.
Cara 100 Update
BA - PT Lifted from $88 to $91 @ Wedbush. Outperform
------
Note: A tornado warning for my little town has been lifted but high winds are still a problem. If they knock out my ISP, I'll be off for some time.
Deutsche Bank turnaround?
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/deutsche-po...
The stock is up +4.3% this morning in Frankfurt.
took profits in SLV calls
in the opening. No sense of risking a good trade. Like Les and Bill are saying, this can crumble any moment, even though I think there is more potential for silver to go higher.
Edit: LOL, took profits too early. I guess, SLW -1% when it opened got me spooked, but it was a head fake.
MITK
Bluepoint is a channel partner of MITK (i.e., they license MITK's mobile deposit technology):
http://pymnts.com/bluepoint-solutions-reports-best...
*Best Q1 in company history
*"Bluepoint has also seen significant demand for its mobile deposit offering, adding new clients to its growing roster."
Re: took profits in SLV calls
dumb money is chasing. new high in SLV front running futures with big volume at the opening. JMO.
Cara 100 Update
BA - PT Lifted from $83 to $90 @ RBC. Outperform
EXC - Exelon upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie (pre-opn)
EWJ/EFII off @ 10.44/17.91 > Now 100% Cash
Forgot I had starter positions in the above. Sometimes a silver lining ;)
Energy looks weak to me
I noticed that yesterday and today's action seems to confirm it. XLE, OIH, and USO down despite lower dollar.
FD: Started small short positions in USO and XLE. May add later if the trade works.
Edit: not working well.
EEM also very weak today
Les, did you enter into EDZ yesterday? it was a good idea.
Re: EEM also very weak today
no, but looking at IFN and EWZ this morn I have to wonder how far we can go. Both have bounced, making lower highs and have dropped through Bill's cross of death again. If India and Brazil is taking a dive...? EWZ 81 resistance is interesting.
49.40 on EEM looks like a good trigger for a short, with the stop being clear enough. The weekly chart is still strong, so if emerging markets are ready to bite the bullet it really is early days.
Cara 100 Update (Final)
AMZN - estimates lowered at Morgan Stanley through 2013. Company is investing more in its infrastructure. Overweight rating and $225 price target.
BA - price target raised at Citi to $90 from $84. Momentum building in commercial aerospace, Citigroup said. Maintain Buy rating.
SBUX - estimates, target cut at Goldman. Shares of SBUX now seen reaching $44, according to Goldman Sachs. Estimates also lowered, given higher coffee prices. Buy rating.
Nice move in UNG
Regrettably, I missed that.
Peru’s candidates compete for Lula’s legacy
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/04/28/perus-...
"The Lima bourse’s General Index is off 19 per cent so far in April – and 28 per cent for the year"
I wrote about this theme just a few days ago. All you mining investors could sit on a company which has a project in Peru (or Bolivia, Ecuador, ...). What happens in Peru affects its neighbours, I imagine the only exception being Chile and perhaps Colombia. I love the continent but from a political point of view it is a mess. Do your DD on South America!
"Ms Fujimori, 35, has her own motives for evoking Lula’s image. Talking about him could help some voters overlook another former president, her father, Alberto Fujimori. The elder Fujimori, who governed Peru for 10 years (1990-2000) is in prison, serving 25 years on conviction of corruption and human rights violations."
Welcome to Peru!
UUP
Getting serious volume this morning. Avg 2.89M (google) vs 6.15M presently on Finviz. We may get more of a bounce but the trend is still down imho.
Growth in US economy slows to 1.8%
That's a lot worse than it sounds. Prices have grown a lot more than 1.8%. That means the economy is contracting rapidly.
Financial Engineering Card
Yes, with lots of dry powder on the side, I'd love a correction. But on the other hand, with easy credit and ZIRP, cash heavy companies increase dividends and buy back stock, and maybe do some M&A. Not a great way for the bears to prosper.
Austerity and rising rates don't sound like a recipe for success to me, but the markets and the economy move apart at times with the Financial Revolution engineered by the clowns of the central banking circus.
BIDU tgt raised $65 at JPM now to 190
to 190!!. BTFD looks like;)
See Vad's Catch of the Day
Above.
NIA Responds To The Beard
"Bernanke has decided to go down a route that no central banker has ever gone before. Bernanke has literally invented countless ways to create inflation that nobody else has ever thought of. If keeping inflation low was ever Bernanke's slightest concern, the Fed Funds Rate would currently be north of 5% and the U.S. economy would be in a steep recession. Bernanke has never once thought about keeping inflation low. He has literally implemented every measure he could possibly think of to create as much inflation as possible, while outright lying to the American public and saying that he isn't printing money and that inflation is under control."
Full article here:
http://tinyurl.com/3eklbbq
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
Bernanke is doing exactly what he said he would do as Grym has pointed out a number of times.
We're all guinea pigs in his laboratory, and we're hoping his feeding of grandma's savings to the pigs inside the TBTF banks will end up with full employment for all.
How's that working for you so far grandma?
Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
http://reut.rs/lh7tE7
Re: UUP
I also noticed the strength. The volume is way above average. I guess it's possible it's capitulation already. After all, dollar went up day after FOMC in November.
After noticing that I bought SLV puts again (at 47.7). SLV had another heavy volume day. Clearly a tug of war between silver bulls and bears.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
ALOHA!!
"... where easy-money-driven asset bubbles implode and confidence is consequently sucked out of the economy ..."
Too bad he does not consider the lost confidence in FRN money, because there will be more and more diversion of fund flows from infrastructure and capex the more the C WORD is realized. You will never have a true economic recovery without a monetary one first. When money is this corrupt where "value" gets destroyed in the trillions of dollars annually just by government largess there really is no economy other than the one our own government allows us to have. It certainly is nowhere close to a "free market" type economy that we need so long as the political and monetary 800lbs gorilla monopolies are allowed to flourish without question or limits. I am still waiting for the debt ceiling can to be kicked! In my mind Bernanke is like Romper Room compared to the US Treasury!
By the way I think the NIA sucks ... It's just another MAD MONEY now! BOOYAH!!
See Kaimu's Sound Money
Above.
Market Up
SPY appears to be solidly above Feb. highs now.
There is the concern that someone else expressed that a lot of this is due to US dollar devaluation and would not be so in a stronger currency, but a chart is a chart.
From a valuation perspective, US $ is getting very undervalued. I would expect a bottom soon. The dollar is not going to 0 and the general public in the US seems to be getting behind the idea that the government needs to cut the deficit. Something will be done.
I still believe we will have a +20% year in the US markets this year due to global growth, low valuations.
I also think that Bernake has done a very good job given the circumstances he inherited and his position. The government and the treasury now need to step up and do their part.
Regardless though, there are good values in stocks and I think that's what people need to focus on. I think too many people are getting caught up in worrying about the macro and there is no way another financial crisis is going to happen so soon after the last one. There is too much focus on this and I can't recall a time in history when we have had 2 close together. The best example would be the 1930's, but they were separated by 8 years.
My latest purchase is COWN - this is an investment manager trading well below tangible book value who have had losses, but are turning things around and had positive earnings last quarter. I think I will get a double from this over the next year or two.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
Kaimu,
A cheap dollar means cheap goods and services to anyone outside of the US. However, when it causes runaway inflation (energy and food in particular) and you have a deficit which is out of control and your economy is seventy per cent dependent on the consumer, you could argue it is the last thing you need.
Re: See Kaimu's Sound Money
Chilling read.
but majority of this country still is in denial or asleep. and prob believes things will be ok in time.
Often with big social shifts/events, it is usually too late before the majority gets it.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
RE: Crooks. I know the guy. I used to subscribe to his emails. Euro permabear and Dollar permabull.
His writing is good and makes sense, but no sense of timing whatsoever.
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
Bull Hunter,
"He has literally implemented every measure he could possibly think of to create as much inflation as possible, while outright lying to the American public and saying that he isn't printing money and that inflation is under control."
As a watched Bernanke it seemed obvious that his primary goal is to prevent wage inflation. He triumphantly stated that there is no wage inflation.
So we have an economy in which everything necessary to sustain a standard of living costs more without any increase in wage income. He needed to connect the dots and explain how that helps America. He never did.
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
Unintentional duplication
Re: Market Up
"chart is a chart"
Not really. prices dont trade in vacuum. 1 chart does not tell the entire story. The inter-relationships and cycles are all that really matter. Or am i on the wrong blog?
no comment on the other stuff. the bernanke/govt/treasury bit left me speechless. I admire your hope in our elected officials.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
Jack Crooks is a great guy. I remember him speaking at a webinar in 2007. He made a good call on the British pound saying how far it would get dragged down when the British banking system blows up. He was early then and ironically a bit generous.
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
Bull Hunter,
That is exactly what needs to happen.
People in America have been living beyond their means for probably 10 years and need to reduce their life style as people in China and other emerging markets increase theirs.
The easiest way to do this is to allow some inflation without inflation in wages - everyone shares the pain. the other way to do it is the Greece way, but the US can avoid this by having their own currency.
The other thing that would ease this process would be if China would allow the Yuan to appreciate, driving up import prices and making American good and services more competitive.
Re: Market Up
I also think that Bernake has done a very good job given the circumstances he inherited and his position.
My strong feel is, the only thing Bernanke did very well is to make sure that the hole USA is in becomes deeper month by month... not that he intended to do it or realized he did it... yet. It's just that he really believes he can extinguish the fire by pouring money in. Let me remind you his own words from 2002: "Regarding the Great Depression, you are right, we did it. We’re very sorry.” "It" of course was withdrawing stimulus too early and not injecting enough money into economy...
The contention now is: he believes he will be able to exit all these "extraordinary measures" not causing permanent damage to the currency and economy. Do we? I personally find it all but impossible to believe.
FT: Copper, the re-export factor
http://on.ft.com/jnGZ3j
I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or Depression
Per a gallup poll... However i would conclude a sample size of 1000 isnt enough to get a great read.
More Than Half Still Say U.S. Is in Recession or Depression.
http://uleak.it/?1tb
Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 20-23, 2011, with a random sample of 1,013 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
ALOHA!!
A cheap dollar means cheap goods and services to anyone outside of the US.
Think about it though ... AT WHAT COST? AND TO WHO? What good is a "cheap dollar" if we import everything? A cheap dollar is only good for a corrupt government and banking industry GONE WILD!
Re: See Kaimu's Sound Money
ALOHA!!
"Chilling"? Its just numbers I get from our own US Treasury every day! What's absolutely "chilling" is that we US citizens let this get so far out of hand. To me the ones who were "asleep at the wheel" were the ones alive and voting back in 1913! Of course there is no reason more wrongs will make this right!
Re: See Kaimu's Sound Money
Hi Kaimu - Thanks again for your efforts to educate us of the perils ahead. As noted too many people assume it will be "OK" as time goes by, but not number one son at the University of Denver who devours your stuff and shares with classmates. I note increased volume in EVG, but not so much in PMV, which along with RBY remain my sole holdings after an early March departure from the markets. Happy Trading
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
The real problem with Americans is their lifestyle expectations. Is it a depression because you can't refinance your house and buy a SUV? IS it a depression because you can't spend ove 50% of your food dollars at restaurants and now have to cook some of your own meals? I bet it feels like a depression to a Ford work who was used to getting $70 per hour benefits in, but when the Japanese opened up plants in the south for half of that, it was only a matter of time before something had to give.
I worked for a large US software company for 10 years and it was amazing to see 25 year old girls in San Francisco making 6-figure salaries for hosting corporate visits or the time they hired used-car sales-people in Los Angeles to sell enterprise software to large customers because they couldn't get anyone else. They moved their largest inside sales center to Toronto as they could get MBA's to work for less than people on the East Coast US who didn't even have College degrees. They moved finance to India for AP processing for about 1/3 of the cost.
The reality is Americans have to accept a lower standard of living more in line with the rest of the world and can no longer expect an upscale lifestyle without upscale skills and education.
That's my rant. Back to the markets - I think that companies are realizing this and making good decisions to manage profits and costs. That is why I am especially bullish on the US market this year.
Re: Peru’s candidates compete for Lula’s legacy
"Argentina will limit farm land holdings and purchases by foreigners"
There you go. I suspect Christina is only warming up for the election later this year!
http://en.mercopress.com/2011/04/28/argentina-will...
I wonder what George Soros thinks about that since he has significant land holdings.
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
BH & Dave,
Here is a PDF which explains Bernanke's long range plan and willingness to do anything to avoid deflation.
http://www.gloomboomdoom.com/gbdreport/download/GB...
When I first read this in 2006 I thought it a bad idea, but never really expected anyone would allow what we've seen happen.
Bush appointed him, Obama kept him, Congress blessed him — a perfect storm.
Grym
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
A cheap dollar is helping to fuel paramilitary violence and murder against long prejudiced minority groups in the poorer outer fringes of Europe.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,...
Heaven help us when this hate and violence reaches Western Europe again. Ben Bernanke is leading the world down the same road circa 1930's, despite the different policy methods Vad alludes to. A "cheap dollar" is costing us 7.25 CHF a gallon in diesel and significant increases in food costs. Little wonder that the poorer around Europe's fringe are rioting. "Cheap" it ain't.
These educated idiots know everything and have learnt nothing.
Re: Market Up
NYUGrad,
"...the bernanke/govt/treasury bit left me speechless. I admire your hope in our elected officials."
I find it frightening. Our elected officials either can't see what Bernanke is doing to the average American or simply don't care either.
No wage increases for people (spendable income down since the mid 1970s) as a cure for what ails us. Such complacency will eventually end in bloodshed. Evidently he has no one he cares about who is getting screwed by these bastards and the Wall St/Big Bankers.
Grym
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
bbarberayr - "The real problem with Americans is their lifestyle expectations. Is it a depression because you can't refinance your house and buy a SUV?"
A depression happens after a massive credit boom pops - after the biggest fool has bought the highest priced asset at the very top of the market. Then asset prices go down, but the debt for those assets remains the same. Corporations and citizens have a lot of unserviceable debt, so they default, this destroys money, and deflation occurs. Our poorly engineered monetary system can't handle deflation, so things basically lock up. That's a depression. The depression continues until debt levels return to a serviceable level either through paydown or default.
The Fed and the government are attempting to violate the laws of physics - they want the fun of a credit boom, without dealing with the headache of the credit bust that must inevitably follow. All they have succeeded in doing is pushing the debt resolution issue into the future. However, the unserviceable private debt still remains - and now we have an unserviceable public debt too. As Vad says, the hole is just getting deeper.
Seriously, nothing has been resolved. Nothing. Once the USG can't spend trillions a year it doesn't have on stimulus, then you'll see your depression. All those bad mortgages still on the balance sheets will come home to roost. And this last few years of "recovery" will be seen to have all been a dream.
Oh, but the bloated public debt from our 3 years of pretending we didn't have a credit bust will now need to be serviced. How cool is that?
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
barberayr,
You have a very narrow view of the American worker.
I suggest you try living on minimum wage and working more than one part time job without any benefits for a couple of years like my son has done. Or on 11% of what you earned in your own business which at one time supported a family of four. That's what my wife and I did after all my clients shifted to China, Mexico and South Africa.
Then come back and tell us, "...Americans have to accept a lower standard of living more in line with the rest of the world and can no longer expect an upscale lifestyle without upscale skills and education."
Better still go live in one of the countries who now have our jobs.
That's MY rant.
Grym
After hours indigestion for RIMM
i believe it has been halted.
Re: After hours indigestion for RIMM
Research in Motion Ltd Guides Q1 EPS $1.30-1.37 v $1.48e, Rev slightly below prior $5.2-5.6B range v $5.4Be ($1.47-1.55 prior guidance), Cites smartphone sales
- This shortfall is primarily due to shipment volumes of BlackBerry smartphones that are now expected to be at the lower end of the range of 13.5-14.5 million forecasted in March and a shift in the expected mix of devices shipped towards handsets with lower average selling prices.
- Expected shipments of BlackBerry PlayBook in the quarter continue to be in line with our previous expectations and we have not experienced any significant supply disruptions in Q1 due to the impact of the Japan earthquake.
- Guides initial FY11 EPS $7.50 v $6.87e
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
Thanks Kaimu for your interesting Sound Money report.
After watching the bumbling Bernank's dog and pony show to members of the dumbed down media which spent the past three days hyping the new transparency of the FED (barf) and reading your figures, I can only feel the need for a stiff scotch but it's too early in the day.
I certainly agree the estimates of economic activity (GDP) are Orwellian. There were many empires past who used a plethora of tactics to cover the collapse of their treasury. We are no different.
Nominal GDP vs Real GDP
I believe nominal GDP is not adjusted for inflation so don't we really have a negative GDP figure? If the government inflation rate is used.... we are getting 1.5>3.5% GDP growth but subtract a real inflation rate of 10% (ShadowStats)
and GDP goes to -8.5 > -6.5%.
Looking at the numbers, it takes almost $5 of government spending to push the GDP up $1. Also a weak dollar will
generate higher costs for the government as well.
I wonder what % of total government spending is used to purchase foreign goods? How many properties does Uncle Sam rent in foreign countries. How many services?
Debt and more debt will continue until the whole system blows ... then we will have a new system of some sort.
Possessing gold at that point should clarify the reason for owning it.
Re: Market Up
RE: "There is the concern that someone else expressed that a lot of this is due to US dollar devaluation and would not be so in a stronger currency, but a chart is a chart."
That is not a concern. That is a fact. Go ahead and look at the $SPX:$gold chart and tell us how much SPX went up this year or even since 2009 in REAL terms.
I see a loss in this fake "bull" market.
On the other hand, you are sort of right, chart is a chart, so if HB&B goes long with 1000 leverage (as GS was shown doing so back in 2009), then you can make a bunch of money despite dollar loosing value. This is based on unspoken agreement with Bernanke that he would not let stock slide at all costs (and costs to this and other societies are huge, think food prices). To me this is simply a scam. Too bad that most of america is not able to see that.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
Les -
That situation in Hungary really smacks of national socialism, complete with arm bands, marches, paramilitary organizations, selective violence, and blaming a minority of the population for the ills of the country. A time-tested recipe, hopefully the rest of the nation will wake up and realize where that path leads.
Any of you Silver Bugs
other than David know anything about ECU Silver (ECU.to or ECUXF.pk)?
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
"Bush appointed him, Obama kept him, Congress blessed him — a perfect storm."
When I see the type of reporting on these things in general media, I suspect either reporters are brain dead or self censorship is in effect. Don't know, maybe both.
This reminds me when I put some critical things on Bernanke on Wiki, they were immediately removed.
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
No, get real!
Its a depression because you don't have a job, and your wife got laid off 2 yrs ago and can't get a job, and your kid, graduated with a masters, with magna cum laude degrees, both bs and ms, can't get a full time job at more than minimum wage.
The good news is I've been very lucky with my investments, and missed the last 2 crashes, and even though my savings don't earn interest, and their value is being debased daily, I'm still surviving, and doing better than the vast majority.
You all heard about the Sony gaming security breach? 77M people.
http://uleak.it/?1tk
cc info, addresses, names, security question and answers, etc.
77M+ individual people. wowzer
EDIT: MSFT also seemed to have been victim to phishing attack.
Re: NIA Responds To The Beard
Jack,
TV and newspaper reporting are mostly only based upon government reports and then only snippets. A visit to some of the .gov sites reveals far more detail and a whole different picture. This way they may feel they are not lying.
Even some of the reporters I used to respect seem to be locked into the idea the Recession ended when announced. They talk of an improving jobs picture with no thought of the wage per hour compared to ten or twenty years ago.
If there is any one of them making less than a 6-figure salary I'd be amazed and the anchors (who are picked for looks or controversy value) make over a $ million and only read without any need to think.
I get my news primarily from the internet and try to read more than one side although I don't believe anyone is truly unbiased. I know I'm not ;-)
Grym
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
Cheapy,
Amen. I know several examples which fit your description. MAs and Ph.ds who are squeezed out by guys from India who'll work for less and send the money home.
I've mentioned them before, but I know two friends ages 92 and 93 — WW2 vets who've lost big time in their life savings in "safe" blue chips and bonds or mutual funds. Houses paid for decades ago, but are being eaten by RE taxes and inability to sell.
I'd like to grab BB by the beard and lead him around my neighborhood.
Grym
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
National Socialism or any other 'ism' doesn't exist in a vacuum. People have to be jobless, underemployed or poorly paid, social structures like the judiciary and political parties have to be weak. Blatant economic exploitation helps to create those prejudices. The economic and social relationship defining Europe is clearly in need of reappraisal if Germany's stellar economic growth is maintained through the following example of Bulgarian human trafficking:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518...
On a different subject - but the parallels can be drawn - is the mess in Chernobyl. Chernobyl is a financial black hole, sucking European money into a deceptive and opaque national economic and business environment. Not to mention that it is also a worsening environmental catastrophe. Ukraine sounds as stuffed as Bulgaria and Romania. Perhaps Vad can correct me otherwise.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,7...
The point is that using Armstrong's economic framework we've got a few years reprieve before the economic confidence model deteriorates once again, this time with accumulated and potentially devastating economic consequences for the wellbeing of most Western European states. Things ain't going to be so cosy with our central European neighbours in future. I've no doubt there will be many more arm band marching rioting mobs should the economic situation deteriorate even further in the next down leg. $5 trillion to hold off collapse this time. What will this largess cost us next time?
beware of your iphone!
FINALLY, some serious and creative reporting on the danger in your smartphone! The Atlantic reports on software which can be used on your data to reconstruct LOTS about your life, whereabouts and whenabouts:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011...
California courts held that police may copy the contents of your smartphone when arresting. Read the above, and you may get a sense of what a threat this represents to justice and civil liberties.
railfax data just came in
http://railfax.transmatch.com/
The part I pay most attentions is in the bottom of the page:
"Recession Watch
Bloomberg.com has highlighted Waste and Scrap shipments as the rail commodity most closely correlated with the U.S. economy (GDP). Motor vehicle shipments are also highly correlated."
Well, waste&scarp is flat and below the 2010 levels while cars are above 2010, but just took turn and going down (Japan indigestion?). Thus, I'm not surprised the GDP is lame and likely will get worse, unless QE3 is coming soon.
Silver Shortage?
I watched a short video on Kitco, interviewing Puru Saxena.
He contends there is no shortage of silver and shortages or perceived shortages are a result of hoarding and the parabolic rise in price is due for a serious correction, to perhaps to $25 to $30. He questions silver's staying power.
He says at a certain price, supply will surge as profits are taken and the price collapses.
I'd think in the next few years, silver should maintain at least a 25-30:1 ratio to gold. So yes silver may have a correction but won't it follow gold, which should continue rising as excessive debt creation continues? A sell off should shake the newbies out and provide a buying opportunity for those trading silver. Gold at $1800 means $60 silver.
Silver is said to be the poor man's gold. The decline of purchasing power of the dollar is becoming evident to those of lower means and they will seek to protect what savings they have via owning silver as fear of rising prices continues to escalate. As I see it, the dual nature of silver, both commodity and investment, will continue.
Saxena is positive on gold and also energy. He believes world demand for energy will accelerate and production will have trouble keeping up.
Side Note:
David Stockman is just being interviewed on FoxBusiness ... he says Bernanke's vision is as good as a "blind squirrel" Too funny.
He goes on to slam Bernanke's actions as clueless and that we are at the precipice now and if the Chairman and the Committee continue with their current policies, we are going off the edge.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
When I first heard about Marc Faber's prediction of upcoming global war back a few years ago, he got my attention but I did not see how it could be coming. Now I can see it happening easily.
RIMM getting Reemed after hrs.
Looks like this might be a short term buy in here if it drops $10 on the open.
RIMM getting Reemed after hrs.
Looks like this might be a short term buy in here if it drops $10 on the open.
Re: Silver Shortage?
There is a silver metal shortage as every J6P is trying to convert dollars into silver coins. Now we are talking the dollars left in pocket after fueling SUV/pickup trucks, so not sure how long it will last.
Here is proof: http://www.google.com/trends?q=silver+coins%2C+gol...
BTW, we never had situation that there was more demand for silver coins compared to gold coins. I guess gold coin is beyond the reach of J6P.
FD: bought SLV puts today (in retrospect, SLW puts would have worked better).
Edit: After looking up the cities where searches for silver coins originated, the buyers awfully sound like retired folks. Sorry if stereotyping.
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
Speaking of Min Wage in America.
almost 1M American's got turned away jobs at McDonalds. yes McDonalds. How is that college degree working out?
http://uleak.it/?1tn
McDonald’s and its franchisees hired 62,000 people in the U.S. after receiving more than one million applications, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. Previously, it said it planned to hire 50,000.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
Les,
"National Socialism or any other 'ism' doesn't exist in a vacuum. People have to be jobless, underemployed or poorly paid, social structures like the judiciary and political parties have to be weak."
Economic explanations for Europe's neo-Nazi thugism do not resonate. These thugs have been present in every country in continental Europe since the end of WWII. Germany had to pass laws outlawing neo-nazi activities and literature. They are a criminal element and their nature cannot be minimized by blaming the economy.
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
Not sure what your son's education or skills are and I do feel badly for him, but the reality is too many people in the United States have been overpaid for their levels of skills for too long.
It's always tough for a country to transition but it will be better off when it is complete. The US us still full of opportunity for the right skills. I'm sure you've seen the stories about the bidding wars going on for high tech people in the US right now. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-04-20-tech-... Engineers in the US are among the highest paid in the world. http://www.worldsalaries.org/engineer.shtml
But here's the thing. Living in the US is like living in Manhanttan. If you have a good job, it's great. If you don't, it's crappy because everything is so expensive. You're better off moving out of the city and getting a reasonable job and a reasonable wage
If you have in demand skills - high tech, geology, engineering, medical, etc., the US is a great place to be and you live better than anywhere in teh world. If, on the other hand, you have no education and are fighting for one of those MacDonald's jobs, it's a crappy place to be. But the good thing about the US is you can move to the Dakotas with their 4% unemployment rates, booming oil economy and low cost of living. Or I was in Nebraska last year and they have 4% unemployment and $30,000 houses for sale - should be able to do alright there.
In most other countries, if you don't have in demand skills, your standard of living is fairly low. It's my opinion that in the US, people have been able to get away with higher standards of living than other countries, first because of the 90's bull market, then the tech bubble, then the housing ATM, then the real estate bubble and now there is nothing left.
Not sure why your clients left you for cheaper countries, but you're competing with the world for your customers now, not just your local market. the key for success for the US will be finding those niches that work and exploiting them. Hard work and a lot of people will suffer along the way, but I believe it really is the only way out.
Re: Market Up
Just to help support my projection of up 20% this year, from the WSJ: "Quarter's Profits Point to a Record" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487043...
A couple of key points:
"The dominant theme has shifted from cost cutting-based margin expansion to a renewed focus on sales growth-driven earnings improvement," Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist Savita Subramanian wrote in a report.
Among the index's strongest gainers, Dow Chemical Co. is benefiting from rising overseas demand and higher prices. Its first-quarter sales were up 20% from the year-ago period, and average prices for its products rose 12% "in all operating segments," it said Thursday.
Revenue gains were led by Eastern Europe and emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region, executives said during a conference call. "We expect revenue to continue to increase, driven by continued pricing momentum," with improving demand "led by the emerging geographies," Chief Financial Officer William Weideman said.
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
I worked for a large US software company for 10 years and it was amazing to see 25 year old girls in San Francisco making 6-figure salaries for hosting corporate visits
They do quite well during recessions also. Most have an enviable work ethic.
Re: See Vad's Catch of the Day
Nice catch of the day VAD. 7:1 Wow! Have questions though. i don't see the set up. It seems you entered the trade before the breakout in usd (if three cents could be considered a breakout). USD was in a JBI and did not break the few cents until you were in the trade. SLW itself was consolidating in the .83- .93 area in a possible DBI that was closer to invalidation than breaking resistance. Taking the stock at .90 instead of when it broke .80 or maybe more correctly .83 ish is what bumfuzzles me. There must of been more intuition then tape reading?
Bob
p.S.
Caraistas' if you have no idea what I am talking about you need to read VAD's Tape reading book. It simplifies so called chart reading to very simple concepts that work on all time frames. No matter your trading style, you will make better entries and exits with this knowledge.
Current I.I. Indicator
For those who might be interested, I note that this week's Investors' Intelligence sentiment reading appears to be 54.3% bulls/18.5% bears... not much change at all from the pattern of the past many weeks. Don't know what the current AAII reading is... but, having tracked it for 20+ years, I really do not assign much, if any, weight/credibility to it as either a short-term or long-term metric.
Consolidation
A healthy market does not move up in a straight line. It dips and rises. Periods of backing and filling are required- to shake out weak hands, and to allow strong hands to open/accumulate. A pullback will arrive soon enough. The correct move, IMO, will be to add to/open/reopen positions.
The pullback in RIMM may have already arrived- last time I checked, it was in the Cara 100. For LT buyers, we've likely already seen the lows (maybe multi-year lows) for CSCO/INTC/WFC- personally, I can't seem to shake the short-term trading bug.
See the Post-Close Report
Above.
Re: OAKBX/ Joker
Re OAKBX, I ended up (hopefully) with the last laugh. Watching today's +72-point close on the DJIA, I mentally kicked sand on the drive home for exiting on yesterday's lame +0.04 move (all told, I opened last Wednesday @ 29.26 and closed yesterday @ 29.55). After seeing this afternoon's closing +0.02 print just now, I can manage more than mentally pouring a cold one.
Re: Silver Shortage?
There is no shortage of SLV shares changing hands this week:
Avg Vol (3m): 40,939,400
Other average volumes
March: ~ 30M
April to 15th: ~ 40M
Last Week: ~ 75M
This Week: ~162M!
Mon:189M
Tue:125M
Wed:155M
Thu:180M
Re: Consolidation
Hello again young " gun-slinger " ( Certainly not with reference to any political inclinations... but to the investment style ). Re: RIMM... please see my post of 4/17/2011. Does anyone else on this site subscribe to Barron's weekly mag?? And, once again, if cannot seem to shed the short-term trading binge... then I would kindly suggest that you consider some of my earlier posts during the past couple of/few years ( there have not been that many ). Am uncertain re how long you have been trading/investing... but I personally, now at the geriatric life-stage, indeed have many " scars " on my financial rear-end from becoming over-exuberant about short-term trading endeavors, following newsletter/media gurus, etc.. Frankly... I have absolutely no advice to render re the existing investing environment. Altho I've been now retired for 9 years, I nonetheless have about 40% of my retirement $$ in the market... obviously wish it had been more since the 3/09 bottom... but an still counting my blessings and very carefully keeping an eye on the market trends.
Re: See Vad's Catch of the Day
Nah, it's just the arrow points at the spot a few min after the trigger. 12:43 candle is the one that broke it, triggering the trade. Here is the quote of the call from log:
[12:34] {Threei} Short Setup: SLW .90 break
As you see from the time stamp, .90 was genuine support at the time. Sorry for confusion caused by sloppy placement of the arrow.
Re: Silver Shortage?
have followed this Puru for a while. like his work. but he gives me the sense that he misses the boat. he is expecting the sharp drop of silver price. he said he did not own silver. he said there are plenty of silver and silver mines. it can simply apply to his energy. there are plenty of oil and oil field. but he owns oil not silver.
if you ask him if silver drops 35$, would he buy? I bet he would say yes. so he is missing the boat.
Re: Consolidation
dnfrm, I probably am as geriatric as you but am not convinced that buy and hold is sustainable, unless you entered March 2009. Seems to me there could be rough times ahead for the $ and the country and the stock market. I remain in a trading mode for now but more of an intermediate term player. IT: days to months.
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
bbarberayr - "the reality is too many people in the United States have been overpaid for their levels of skills for too long."
Would you suggest the same thing about Germany? People there are being paid too much for their level of skills? They have managed to keep manufacturing jobs in country, and the people there seem to be paid well enough, and unemployment is quite low.
In my opinion, Germany has managed to do something right. Whether by luck or by act of policy, I don't know. (And what what policy might be, I don't know that either).
Not everyone has the gift to be an engineer. I would say that most don't. Many people I interviewed - or worked with - who were basically pushed into engineering by parents because "it was a good field" and who really have no talent or enthusiasm for the job.
In Thailand I've observed that many, many people operate small businesses quite successfully. The operators of the small outdoor food shops that line the city streets, many of them have trucks. Late model trucks. And their kids go to universities. The cost for entry for operating such businesses is quite low. The US has no such path to prosperity.
We're seriously doing something wrong. I can't quite put my finger on it, but its not good.
Inflation is transitory!!!
God I hope so. I just paid my feed bill for next month. It was 'only' $13,000 as opposed to a 6 months ago equivelent price/ton of $9,000!!!
Given that beef critter prices are up 30%+ year over year yet the cost of feed, vet meds, diesel and hay continue to go up via the depreciating colored paper, Bernanke trashette toilet sheets, means only that you carnivores are going to be smoked (yes, pun intended) for BIG money at your BBQ grills this summer...
My insurance costs increased 6% for next year. My ins. company explained that since they now earn ZIRP on reserves, they are forced to load the front end! And oh by the way, your annunity now is distributed at 3% MAX. I guess it is the law of Intended consequences. Screw the guy on the street, and the saver in order to 'save' the Bankster system........How many hundreds of hundreds of billions have NOT been paid to savers these past 4 years only to be transfered to the balance sheets of failed financial institutions?
The only thing transitory today is the odd deflationist Bubba that don't shop, eat, drive or buy cotton skivies from Wally World who has doubled the price in the last 2 months...
WE WILL IMPORT INFLATION. Wage cost push inflation will come eventually when price cost pull becomes something more than 'transitory.'
My wife's 92 year old mother used to income $10,000 a year from her $200,000 CD. Today she incomes $4,000. Where did the $6,000 difference go??? JP Morgan Chase!!!!!!!!!!!!
Inflation UP, incomes DOWN. Result, a really pissed off electorate... Prepare for interesting times!
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
"Economic explanations for Europe's neo-Nazi thugism do not resonate"
sure they do. Look at the videos of fascist rallies in the US pre-war, before they too were banned. That the phenomena should exist on the tail end of the last great economic depression is little surprise.
But you are right in pointing out that economic impoverishment is not THE defining characteristic. After all, neo-nazism is creeping back into German social life in a manner that defies political understanding, in much the same way as extremism is raising its ugly head in the US - ask David Koresh and Timothy McVeigh.
I've strangely enough after 10 years of part-time university correspondence found myself studying English Literature, after initially taking interest in political studies following 9/11. And in English Literature, which is wielded by my university as a social tool of critique, we find in many great writers a history of criticism of previous political regimes and social epochs.
One understanding I have now and I think many readers at the site have an inkling is the secular materialist experiment wielded by our elites following the rise of scientific paradigms with which to view the world and the downfall of religion as a guiding ethic - this experiment is over. It has failed. All these "isms" were created by elites in an effort to take and consolidate their own secular power. "Stalin" by Radzinsky is a great example of one such experiment.
Calling them "thugs" and "criminal elements" is the standard media response that seeks to level responsibility at the individual level but refuses to acknowledge, let alone look at the underlying causes. That is what Bill is also showing us with the talking heads in the economic and fiscal space, so I know you understand how this media process functions. It is no different in its portrayal of the social space. Give credit to Speigel for at least talking about it.
While people have a roof over their head, food in their belly and a future to believe in we hold the spectre of revolution and violence at bay. Regardless of whatever "ism" it materialises as, I fear our next great challenge will be faced as the Ben Bernanke's of this world pull us back into the abyss once again. History does repeat even if it doesn't always rhyme.
My interests in university, which I treat in the classical sense of the term and not the modern technical education most people think of, is leading me towards post-graduate education in philosophy. I would like to think of how we can change our community for the better as this consumerist epoch draws to a close. It is one reason I am so motivated to make trading work for me, as I would like to remain free of employment obligations to continue this line of thinking and discussion.
cheers
Risk Off Portfolio
A very good post on what might be coined the "risk off" portfolio from the MHFT aka John Thomas, who along with Bill is one of the very few I take note off.
http://tinyurl.com/riskisoff
You can sense it in Jesse's Cafe as well although he is not so concrete in his trading strategies. Red flags abound among the few traders I trust.
I've been following JNK for a while and with corporate america looking to be downgraded shortly I've gone and charted a plan for puts on it when the time comes. I realised looking at the Stockcharts.com chart on the MHFT's page that FreeStockCharts is not giving me the same indicator feed, probably cause FSC is only based on BATS trading. So I return to Stockcharts.com for navel gazing with indicators.
I've attached my targets for put options when the time comes. Something to begin planning, even as the dollar continues dropping and I am going to be stopped out of my Yen short trade today. Looks like weak dollar trumps everything. How long before other Central Banks get aggressive and join the party? In any case I'll be putting together more potential short setups ready to be executed when Uncle Buck picks his sorry butt off the floor.
Shorting EM's with EDZ
JB in follow up to yesterday's failure to short emerging markets the bearish divergences became apparent to me today in EEM. See attached. FWIW & not too late to open some puts today IMO.
Re: Analysis: Cheap dollar fuels one-way bets in everything else
Les,
"What will this largess cost us next time?"
IMO, quite possibly another World War. A century ago it was believed by economists that the world was to intertwined by trade to allow disagreements of any kind to cause armed conflict. (Read: The Proud Tower, by Barbara Tuchman.)
Millions of lives later a participant in that one brought on another using exactly the conditions you illustrate. Technology improves our ability to produce, but also to kill. One thing never seems to change — human nature.
We still have a choice, but only if we force political change from our current path.
Grym
Re: beware of your iphone!
Jock,
What happened to the 4th Amendment?
Grym
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
NYUGrad,
"How is that college degree working out?"
-------
A degree, but still no job: College graduates having tough time in slow economy
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
http://tiny.cc/wvb6m
-------
It is the same regardless.
Grym
Re: I stand corrected, most Say U.S. Is in Recession or ...
My understanding is that both coasts are doing better than other areas. As for bidding wars I am skeptical. Bill Gates has been pushing for and getting increased H1-b visas to staff his "needs" at lower pay.
locally a manufacturer said he's having a problem staffing machinist needs with several applicants stating they can make nearly as much on unemployment. This may mean we should stop unemployment pay — or it shows how little he can or is willing to pay. In the mid1990s I know machinists here were commonly making $40 per hour. I doubt unemployment is anywhere close to that even inflation adjusted.
In opinion it is the CEOs and politicians who are vastly overpaid.
Grym
Re: Consolidation
Illini: Quite frankly, at tmes during the past many years I've had to wonder whether my investing strategy is more in the nature of buy and "hope" rather than buy and hold. Anyhow, to clarify, I certainly don't subscribe to the notion of hanging on forever and do acknowledge that some degree of nimbleness is essential... but am more comfortable with a style of longer-term trend following (whatever the heck that means! ).