Economy
Related: About this forumSTOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 12 June 2014
[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 12 June 2014[font color=black][/font]
SMW for 11 June 2014
AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 June 2014
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Dow Jones 16,843.88 -102.04 (-0.60%)
S&P 500 1,943.89 -6.90 (-0.35%)
Nasdaq 4,331.93 -6.06 (-0.14%)
[font color=red]10 Year 2.64% +0.02 (0.76%)
30 Year 3.47% +0.01 (0.29%) [font color=black]
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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
http://tools.investing.com/market_quotes.php?
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center][font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Reuters) A trade group sued the city of Seattle on Wednesday, seeking to block a sharp hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next seven years on the grounds that it unfairly favors small businesses over larger employers and franchises.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Seattle by the Washington, D.C.- based International Franchise Association on behalf of five franchisees, claiming violations of the commerce, equal protection and supremacy clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
The citys minimum wage statute arbitrarily and illegally discriminates against franchisees and significantly increases their labor costs in ways that will harm their businesses, employees, consumers and Seattles economy, IFA president Steve Caldeira said in a statement.
We hope the court will block the ordinance to save jobs and prevent Seattle from unfairly singling out one type of business a franchise for punitive treatment, Caldeira said.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Asian stock markets fell for a second day Thursday and European shares drifted as a dimmer outlook for global growth this year gave investors a reason to lock in recent gains.
The World Bank cut its 2014 growth forecast Tuesday to 2.8 percent from the 3.2 percent it predicted in January, citing a harsh American winter and the tensions in Ukraine. That is still faster than 2013 growth of 2.4 percent but it means a delay in economic recovery.
The reduced forecast was the first major negative news about the global recovery in recent weeks after a series of upbeat economic reports boosted investor confidence.
Britain's FTSE 100 was 0.1 percent lower at 6,834.58. Germany's DAX was up 0.1 percent to 9,957.79 and France's CAC 40 added 0.2 percent to 4,564.37. Wall Street was set for a tepid start, with Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures each up 0.1 percent.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)LONDON (AP) -- UK Treasury chief George Osborne is set to propose new criminal sanctions covering foreign exchange markets that a number of banks are alleged to have manipulated.
Osborne is set to use his annual speech on the state of the British economy Thursday to promise new regulation to protect the integrity of London as a financial center.
In excerpts released ahead of the speech, he pledged to deal with abuses, "tackle the unacceptable behavior of the few and ensure that markets are fair for the many who depend on them."
The decision comes amid a global scandal over the alleged manipulation of foreign exchange markets. Regulators in Europe and the U.S. are investigating a number of banks, and Citigroup and Barclays are among the institutions who have suspended traders.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)PARIS (AP) -- A top executive at French bank BNP Paribas is leaving the company amid a trans-Atlantic dispute over a potential multi-billion-dollar U.S. fine for the bank's activities in Iran, Sudan and Cuba.
The bank said Thursday that Chief Operating Officer Georges Chodron de Courcel will retire in September. He is 64, and his term was to finish in 2016. The bank did not explain the reason for his departure.
French and U.S. media reports have said that U.S. banking regulators sought the departure of Chodron de Courcel and other executives as part of an investigation into BNP Paribas. The probe focuses on the bank's currency transactions through its New York office for clients in Iran, Sudan and Cuba in violation of U.S. trade sanctions.
The case has angered French authorities.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)BEIJING (AP) -- Nils Pihl has spent 18 months building what he calls cutting-edge software to crunch "really big data sets." But instead of going to Silicon Valley, the 27-year-old Swede and his four colleagues have been working on his invention from a small apartment overlooking smoggy northwest Beijing.
In typical startup fashion, they've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars after countless pitch meetings and were racing to prepare their product for launch. Their investors are in Beijing as well as the U.S.
China might seem an odd choice for young tech entrepreneurs. Instead of innovation and risk taking, the country is more associated with state domination of the economy, rampant intellectual property theft and heavy duty government censorship of social media.
Perceptions, however, are changing. The high profile success of Jack Ma's e-commerce company Alibaba, which is planning a giant initial public offering in the U.S. this year, has drawn attention to how the former startup outmaneuvered eBay in China to become the world's biggest online bazaar. More recently, use of smartphones and the mobile Internet has grown explosively, creating new opportunities for e-commerce and other tech ventures.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)The economic crisis in Europe and North America led to more than 10,000 extra suicides, according to figures from UK researchers.
A study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, showed "suicides have risen markedly".
The research group said some deaths may have been avoidable as some countries showed no increase in suicide rate.
Campaign groups said the findings showed how important good mental health services were.
The study by the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analysed data from 24 EU countries, the US and Canada.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)China has announced new measures aimed at bolstering its economic growth.
These include plans to build railways, roads and airports along the Yangtze River - which connects China's less developed inland provinces to Shanghai.
Meanwhile, China's central bank said it will encourage banks to lend more to exporters to boost shipments.
The moves, the latest in a series of steps taken in recent weeks, come amid concerns over a slowdown in China's economy - the world's second-largest
xchrom
(108,903 posts)The UK jobs market continued to improve in the three months to April, although the rate of wage increases slowed sharply, official figures show.
The number of people out of work fell by 161,000 to 2.16 million, bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.6%.
The number of people in work rose by a record 345,000, to 30.5 million, most of which are in full-time employment.
But the quarterly rate of earnings growth, including bonuses, slowed to 0.7% from 1.9% the previous month.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)David Brat, the obscure college professor and Tea Party favorite who unseated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in last nights giant election shocker, thinks mainstream economics is a bit of a lie. This might seem odd, given that the man is himself an economist at Randolph-Macon College. But in 2005, he produced a long, apparently unpublished reader on the history and philosophy of economic thought (which Vox turned up last night). It argues, essentially, that the field suffers from a mass delusion of scientific impartiality.
And its a pretty good read, if youre into dense philosophy talk. Brat earned a masters degree in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary; like many students of religion, hes deeply interested in epistemologythe study of how we know what we know that underpins so much of philosophy and ethics. Economists, Brat argues, are essentially kidding themselves (or at least the public) about the soundness of the fields epistemological foundations. Where most practitioners will tell you that they try to derive truths about the world by working from data and empirical observations, like natural scientists, Brat says their methods are actually grounded in unexamined moral and philosophical assumptionsespecially utilitarianism, which generally holds that our goal should be to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.
Heres a nice summary, from the start of the reader:
While I will try not to preach any particular ethics, I do have an agenda. This agenda is to illustrate, by the internal logic of economics alone, that the dominant methodology in economics is in serious question, if not dead. However, I and the people who have helped me to write this book, view these problems within the context of a much longer history than do most economists. Western Philosophy has been around for 3000+ years. Western Theology is nearly the same age. These are the old dogs on the block. By comparison, the field of Economics is a very very young puppy. So while many economists are very nervous about the methodological problems in their field, the theologian and philosopher are very used to seeing their fields collapse every few hundred years. Perhaps this knowledge and wisdom can be brought to bear on the economic transformation which is under way.
Of course, its easy to find people who argue that economics isnt really a science. Whats interesting is that its not clear whether Brat thinks science is even science. He devotes a good deal of the reader to the collapse of philosophical positivism, which, again, is the idea that we can only draw knowledge from observed experience.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)but I'll bet we would quibble on specific details....
xchrom
(108,903 posts)In 2012, Erica Davidson, a Walmart veteran and store manager, took on the daunting task of turning around a struggling store on the outskirts of Greensboro, North Carolina. The store had run through its share of managers, Davidson said, and she viewed it as the sort of challenge that could make or break a persons career.
Davidson said that one of her primary tasks was to reduce the troubled stores high rate of shrinkagedefined as the value of goods that are stolen or otherwise lostto levels deemed acceptable by the companys senior managers for the region. As a result of fierce competition, profit margins in retail can be razor thin, making shrinkage a potentsometimes criticalfactor in profitability.
Prior to her arrival, Davidson said, the Greensboro store could see annual shrinkage losses as high as $2 million or morea sizable hit to its bottom line. There had even been talk of closing the store altogether, she recalled.
For years, Walmarts senior management in North Carolina had been waging a war on shrinkage, Davidson said; it had become a central priority of the companys local leadership and a source of constant strain for store managers. Though the unrelenting pressure weighed on her, Davidson said she became an asset in Walmarts battle against shrinkageso much so that, in 2011, the North Carolina regional team named her a subject matter expert on reducing shrinkage and would send her to meetings in the Walmart regional office in Charlotte. There, she recalled, she would train district managers on her practices in the presence of the companys most senior officers for the state.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)and doing other homely tasks, but the Weekend approacheth!
We have Friday the 13th, or Father's Day, or whatever you suggest as a theme.
What shall it be, Weekenders?
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)I'll know more at 2 PM
xchrom
(108,903 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. rose to 317,000 last week, holding below this years average and signaling sustained progress in the labor market.
Jobless claims climbed by 4,000 in the week ended June 7, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 310,000. Claims have averaged around 324,000 so far in 2014.
Faster sales over time would make it easier for those employers whose headcounts are lean to step up hiring. While payroll gains are on pace for their best year since 1999, stronger wage growth is needed to help provide a bigger push for the consumer spending that accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy.
Workforces are generally pretty thin, Guy Berger, U.S. economist at RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, said before the report. Lower claims, all things being equal, are going to lead to better payroll growth.
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)6/9/14 Last Time this happened, The Financial Crisis Broke Out
There comes a time when risk just disappears, when nothing can go wrong, when there are no dark clouds on the horizon. Stocks rise to record after record. The crappiest junk bonds are priced as if they were safe investments. Inflation is excluded from the calculus. Even the mere possibility of default has been banished from considerations. And investors no longer demand to be compensated for any of it. They close their eyes and hold their nose and grab what they can.
These are times of exuberance, of record low volatility and supreme complacency, when retirees invest their life savings in bond funds stuffed with junk to get a little extra yield; when the ratings agencies finally can get busy again doing what they do best: stamping triple-A ratings on sliced and diced junk; when formerly toxic instruments that helped take down the financial system are once again desirable assets; times when otherwise rational people turn into blind automatons.
The Fed has a measure for it: the Financial Stress Index, issued by the St. Louis Fed. And according to the index, all this craziness, created by the Feds policies, is simply a sign of low financial stress. The data series goes back to 1993. The index is intended to be at zero, on average. Higher financial stress would show up as a positive number, lower financial stress as a negative number. And in the latest reporting week, ended May 30, the index fell to -1.281, the lowest in its history.
The previous record low occurred in February 2007 at -1.268. A very unpropitious moment. The housing bubble was already imploding, but at the time, the froth was just coming off; it was plateauing before the next surge. Stocks were still going up on a relentless escalator. Merger Mondays were thrilling CNBC talking heads. Mega-LBOs were greeted with media hoopla even as leverage in the system skyrocketed. And malodorous fumes were already emanating from cracks that had appeared in the foundations of banks and other financial institutions.
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It isnt that low financial stress caused the Financial Crisis. Its that low financial stress incited decision makers from homebuyers to bank CEOs to make wilfully reckless decisions that can only be made and funded when there is money for everything, and when this crap can be unloaded no questions asked. It happened in 2007, and its happening now again.
more...
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2014/6/9/last-time-this-happened-the-financial-crisis-broke-out.html
xchrom
(108,903 posts)U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, following a two-day decline in the Standard & Poors 500 Index, as investors assessed data showing retail sales climbed less than forecast in May while jobless claims rose.
Hewlett-Packard Co. gained 1.4 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its rating on the personal-computer maker. Tibco Software Inc. advanced 5.2 percent after shareholder Praesidium Investment Management said it will actively engage with the companys board.
Futures on the S&P 500 (SPX) expiring in June fell less than 0.1 percent to 1,942.6 at 8:30 a.m. in New York, erasing an earlier advance following the data. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts slid 11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,844.
The U.S. economy is still outperforming the rest of the developed world, Nicola Marinelli, who helps oversee about $190 million at Sturgeon Capital Ltd. in London, said by telephone. Most economists see between 3 to 3.5 percent growth in the second quarter and thats good. Its something youre seeing in the unemployment and labor figures.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Oil climbed to an eight-month high on concern fighting in Iraq will disrupt supplies. U.S. equity-index futures remained little changed after retail sales missed estimates, platinum fell as a South African union agreed to a wage deal and New Zealands dollar strengthened.
West Texas Intermediate oil rose 1.8 percent to $106.30 a barrel by 8:38 a.m. in New York. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.1 percent and Standard & Poors 500 Index futures slipped less than 0.1 percent. The kiwi advanced at least 0.9 percent against 31 major peers after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates. Platinum dropped 2.2 percent. Turkeys lira climbed after a report that Islamist militants will release hostages from its Mosul consulate in Iraq.
An al-Qaeda offshoot extended control over northern areas of Iraq while the Energy Information Administration said yesterday U.S. crude stockpiles fell for a second week. American retail sales rose less than forecast in May while jobless claims increased last week, reports showed today after data earlier indicated a pick-up in industrial production in the euro area.
The Iraq development is the main driver for oil prices today and increases nervousness over the security of supply from the country, Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by phone today. The possibility of U.S. intervention in Iraq is another sign of how desperate the situation is and how weak the government has become, he said.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Americans sense that their lives are getting better at home and at work. Its when they tune into the news that they grow increasingly uneasy.
Fifty-five percent of people say they are moving closer to realizing their hopes for their own careers and finances, yet only 26 percent say the country is headed in the right direction, according to a Bloomberg National Poll.
The discontent places a further burden on Democratic congressional candidates, who already are fighting a historical trend in which the presidents party usually loses seats in midterm elections. While Americans say their own finances are improving, they arent giving President Barack Obama credit.
Its as though Americans are living in an increasingly comfortable bubble, watching a world that appears to be increasingly troublesome, said J. Ann Selzer, co-founder of Selzer & Co., which conducted the June 6-9 poll for Bloomberg.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Vilified for worsening the financial crisis, the credit derivatives market is undergoing a structural shift as money managers take on risk shunned by banks after regulators forced lenders to shrink their dealings.
Investors now account for more than 25 percent of the $19.9 trillion market, up from 20 percent a year ago, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. They issued a net $132 billion of contracts insuring against losses on bonds as of June 6, the data show. This time last year they were net buyers of $15 billion of insurance.
While rules introduced after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to limit systemic risk have succeeded in cutting bank exposure to the opaque derivatives market, they havent reduced risk taking at less regulated institutions. U.S. lawmakers are considering also naming large asset managers systemically important enough for Federal Reserve oversight.
Risk taking has moved away from investment banks to the non-bank market makers, which have full freedom to lose their capital if they get it wrong, said Frederic Ponzo, managing partner at financial consultancy Greyspark Partners in London, which advises banks. If that build-up of counterparty risk is not accounted for and managed, you may move the problem out of banks to somewhere just as systemically important.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)She's in excellent health for a cat her age, or any age, so that's good.
The vet asked me if I wanted to see the teeth. No, thanks, doc!
DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)Glad you're cat is doing well!