STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday October 28

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday October 28, 2008

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 84
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2835 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 2560 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 2851
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 10
Enron execs conveniently deceased = 3
Other Arrests of Execs = 54

---

U.S. FUTURES &
MARKETS INDICATORS>
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES

---

AT THE CLOSING BELL WHEN BUSH TOOK OFFICE on January 22, 2001
Dow - 10,578.24
Nasdaq - 2,757.91
S&P 500 - 1,342.90
Oil - $27.69/bbl
Gold - $266.70/oz.
$1 USD = EUR 1.06678
$1 USD = JPY 116.6200

In recognition of those prescient of the Dow's precipitous return of Bush values (9/29/08): JuneBourder and AnneD

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON October 27, 2008

Dow... 8,175.77 -203.18 (-2.42%)
Nasdaq... 1,505.90 -46.13 (-2.97%)
S&P 500... 848.92 -27.85 (-3.18%)
Gold future... 742.90 +12.60 (+1.73%)
30-Year Bond 4.11% +0.02 (+0.44%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.73% +0.03 (+0.87%)






GOLD,EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver

---

PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout the country. Details & links are added as they become available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing something, or would like to, contact [e-mail]

For information on protests and other actions Citizens For Legitimate Government

---

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Market WrapUp

Uncle Sam Leveraging Up
De-leveraging? Not the US government
BY TONY ALLISON

Best of luck to the 44th, and next, President of the United States. He will need it. After a brief post-election celebration, the enormity of the problems facing the next administration will begin to sink in.

As our government deals with an unprecedented global financial crisis, the frantic de-leveraging of the financial system continues everywhere, except in Washington. In order to save the system, the US government has been shifting the burden of risk from the speculators to the savers, from the hedge funds and money center banks to the taxpayers. The mistakes of the few are now the burden of the many.

.....

On top of a list of pressing foreign issues and flashpoints to be addressed, the new president will arrive in the White House to find the faith and trust in the financial system under fire and the economy already into what appears to be a nasty recession.

With a lengthy and costly agenda of campaign promises, the president must pause and consider how to pay for it. The US government borrows over $2 billion a day from foreigners already to keep the lights on. There will be calls on all sides for a new and overdue “fiscal responsibility” and a need to “live within our means.” With a full-blown financial crisis, a deep recession, and war in two foreign countries, the next president may wish he had stayed in the Senate.

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[tama]

31. Correction

borrows $20 billion a day

[tclambert]

42. The flip side of crisis is opportunity

When things are bad, a simple regression to the mean looks like a big improvement. Chances are pretty good that the next president will have some good news to boast about in his 2010 State of the Union speech, and probably even more in 2011. A great president, or even a halfway decent president, will find a way to take advantage of the crisis to demonstrate his skill. We will get through this crisis eventually, and whoever is in the White House will take credit for it.

Got a prediction for ya: President Obama will go into the history books as the president who saved us from a second Great Depression.

And I hope that happens without us actually having a second Great Depression.

[AnneD]

50. Morning Marketeers........

:donut: and Lurkers. :hi:tclambert. From your mouth to God's ear. The next President has the potential to be a Hoover (or Bush) or a Roosevelt. He will have to be patient strong and steady. This election is so important in so many ways. I have talked to so many folks and most around here are supporting Obama. We need that calmness and strength to get us through these tough times.

Well, I am extremely busy and you won't see me much this week. Good luck at the roulette wheels.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Demeter]

79. Frankly, the Odds Are Against It

We'd have to have some serious asset-stripping to stabilize the Federal budget, and then some serious rebuilding of manufacturing, probably with protective tarrifs. The would-be Masters of the Universe would scream like they were dying if we tried that.

Still, that's a sound I'd like to hear!

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Report

10:00 Consumer Confidence Oct
Briefing.com 52.0
Consensus 52.0
Prior 59.8

http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm

[UpInArms]

120. U.S. October consumer confidence 38 vs 61.4 in September

77. U.S. October consumer confidence below 52 expected
10:00 AM ET, Oct 28, 2008

78. U.S. October consumer confidence 38 vs 61.4 in September
10:00 AM ET, Oct 28, 2008

(sorry for the late posting - I just now came up for air)

[ozymandius]

3. Oil rises to $64 on Asian stock market rebound

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose to $64 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as a rebound in regional stock markets bolstered sagging investor confidence over a global economic slowdown.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 78 cents to $64.00 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore after trading as low as $61.75. The contract fell overnight 93 cents to close at $63.22, the lowest settlement since May 29, 2007.

....

Prices have fallen despite a production quota cut of 1.5 million barrels a day by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries last week. OPEC officials have said the group, which controls about 40 percent of global crude oil production, may cut output again at a meeting in December.

....

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 2.3 cents to $1.50 a gallon and heating oil gained 4.81 cent to $1.96 a gallon. Natural gas for November delivery fell 1.0 cents to $6.11 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

24. The asian markets are always interesting.

Like watching a Baccarat table.

[ozymandius]

4. Bargain hunting after losses boosts world stocks

LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks rose solidly on Tuesday as investors indulged in a burst of bargain hunting after five straight trading sessions of steep losses.

The dollar and yen eased, also a reversal of recent trends.

MSCI's all-country world stock index was up 1.6 percent, but only after having fallen nearly 30 percent this month.

...

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 1.5 percent. The index has lost 23 percent in October, hurt by the credit crisis and recession worries.

...

Earlier, Japan's Nikkei average closed up 6.4 percent, or 459.02 points, at 7,621.92. But trade was volatile with the benchmark briefly breaking below 7,000 for the first time in 26 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081028/ts_nm/us_markets_global

[ozymandius]

5. Treasury clears way for bailout to begin

WASHINGTON – The government has cleared the way to ship out $125 billion this week to the country's largest banks, beginning the biggest government bailout in history.

"The money will go out the door for those institutions early this week," predicts Assistant Treasury Secretary David Nason, one of the chief architects of the rescue plan.

Not only is the money ready to be sent to nine major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase, but the government is reaching preliminary agreements with a group of more than a dozen major regional banks, who will share a part of an additional $125 billion the government hopes to pump into the banking system.

....

Another $100 billion is earmarked to be spent buying troubled assets from banks such as bad mortgage loans as another way to spur banks to resume lending.

....

So far, the efforts to battle the severe credit squeeze have shown little in the way of results. Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate, a key goalpost for international lending, edged down only marginally on Monday and still remains at elevated levels.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081028/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown

[ozymandius]

6. Asia Money Rates Rise as World Recession Looms, Deterring Loans

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Money-market rates in Asia advanced for a second day as concern the credit crisis has dragged the global economy into a recession overshadowed efforts by policy makers to revive lending.

Hong Kong's three-month interbank lending rate, or Hibor, increased 10 basis points to 3.84 percent, the highest since Oct. 17, as the city's chief executive announced a task force to handle fallout from the global crisis. South Korea's one-year cross-currency swap was little changed, showing a $130 billion bank rescue package and a record interest-rate cut haven't eased a shortage of U.S. dollars.

....

Korean banks were asking 0.485 percent to swap won loans for dollars as of 1:20 p.m. in Seoul, versus 0.475 percent yesterday. The rate, a measure of the availability of dollar funding, averaged 3.3 percent this year before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.

....

The rate Australia's banks charge each other for three- month loans rose 2 basis points to 5.82 percent as of 3:28 p.m. in Sydney. The difference between that yield and the overnight indexed swap rate, a measure of funding availability, climbed 2 basis points to 86 points, the highest since Oct. 15. The gap, which peaked at 108 basis points on Oct. 10, averaged 6 basis points in the first half of 2007.

....

The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, the benchmark for $393 trillion of financial contracts in 2007, fell less than 1 basis point yesterday to 3.51 percent for three-month loans, the British Bankers' Association said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aLhy5rVhBKGw&refer=home

[ozymandius]

7. What Lehman did.

Lehman Toxic Debt Advice Led Leipzig Bank to Ruin Via Dublin

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Teachers at the Clara Zetkin Middle School in Freiberg, Germany, were counting on a budget surplus to ease staff shortages across the state of Saxony.

Those hopes have faded as a result of bets made by state- owned Landesbank Sachsen Girozentrale on structured investments backed by mortgages in the U.S. The German lender loaded up on asset-backed securities and derivatives manufactured and sold by Wall Street amounting to more than 27 times the bank's equity. Now Saxony, which pledged taxpayer money as a guarantee against losses, is on the hook for 2.8 billion euros ($3.5 billion).

...

Plans to replace thousands of retiring teachers and build new roads are now in jeopardy.

...

The bank's near collapse in August 2007 was proof of how far and wide U.S. investment banks had peddled toxic repackaged mortgages. It was also a harbinger of worse to come -- a global credit contagion that led to bailout packages from Germany to Iceland to the U.S. aimed at shoring up bank capital by partially nationalizing firms and guaranteeing lending until the storm passes.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aPxfNBXGvA4g&refer=exclusive

[ozymandius]

8. Evil Wall Street Exports Boomed With `Fools' Born to Buy Debt

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tom Bosh lowered the telephone receiver into its cradle, making a decision on the way down. ``We're not buying any more,'' he told his traders at Bank of New York Co. ``Nothing.''

It was May 2007, and Bosh, who managed $25 billion from the bank's 13th-floor trading room above Times Square, had just hung up on Ralph Cioffi at Bear Stearns Cos. a dozen blocks away. Bosh had invested $50 million in notes from an issuer Cioffi controlled, and he was ready to pull the plug.

....

Bosh's premonition, a month before two of Cioffi's funds blew up, struck a death knell for structured finance, the system Wall Street banks devised to fuel more than two decades of unprecedented borrowing. The system allowed financial companies to lend beyond their capacity and outside the reach of regulators -- until it crashed this year.

....

The bundling of consumer loans and home mortgages into packages of securities -- a process known as securitization -- was the biggest U.S. export business of the 21st century. More than $27 trillion of these securities have been sold since 2001, according to the Securities Industry Financial Markets Association, an industry trade group. That's almost twice last year's U.S. gross domestic product of $13.8 trillion.

....

The damage reaches all the way to Australia, where the town council of Wingecarribee, a municipality outside Sydney with a population of 42,000, bought $20 million of securities from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Now, Lehman is in bankruptcy, the town council is in court and the securities are worth about 15 cents on the dollar.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a0jln3.CSS6c&refer=exclusive

[willing dwarf]

43. Snake Oil salesman would do you more good

That story was great, very informative reporting. Why wasn't anybody telling us this stuff with such clarity 5 years ago...or perhaps they were and I was oblivious?

Makes me wonder what else I'm unaware of right now that is going to eat me up?

Funny to think of the image I always had of bankers as gray flannel suited conservatives who would never do anything chancy. How antiquated is that view!

[Demeter]

80. Nobody Was Talking About This--And Hardly Anybody Knew

The big sell didn't start until 2004-2005. Before that, the business was miniscule, and the guidelines were reasonable. It was still a lousy deal for the borrower, though. Our co-op was caught up in that in 1997, securitization meant we couldn't pay off early without a massive penalty to bring their yield up to what a Treasury would earn. When Greenscam pulled the plug on interest rates, it was the end of our hopes to get out without losing a good chunk of flesh...

[Karenina]

23. Very thorough forensics here and below.

Good grief...

[struggle4progress]

9. Dow down about 200 yesterday, down about 200/da on average over the last week,

and pretty much the same average daily decline over the last month. At this rate, we'll be near 7000 by the end of the week

[ozymandius]

13. What was the 400+ point swing yesterday about?

This happened during the last half hour of trading. :shrug:

[Roland99]

18. I was wondering the same thing. I didn't see anything in the news as a trigger.

[burf]

49. I heard something

that the TIPS auction did not go so well.

[struggle4progress]

19. Not having an insider's view of the floor, I can only guess based on my

prejudices and a month of regularly looking at the charts, so the following opinion has no real intellectual weight: the market in recent years is dominated by short-term speculation, and volatility reflects uncertainty about real values, which are rather below nominative values due to a lack of real material production backing nominative values; the financial instruments crisis exposed this; as a result, traders face a psychological conflict, half expecting substantial losses while half hoping against that; major institutional players have a significant interest in avoiding a sudden crash, hence are regularly attempting with signal buys to rally the market; market slumps are thus regularly being countered briefly by signal buys, but pessimism continually reasserts itself

<edit:grammar>

[struggle4progress]

21. NYSE Suspends Building Materials Holding Corporation

NYSE Regulation, Inc. announced today that it determined that the common stock of Building Materials Holding Corporation – ticker symbol BLG – should be suspended prior to the market opening on Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
New York Stock Exchange Group

The decision to suspend the Company's common stock was reached in view of the fact that the Company has fallen below the New York Stock Exchange's continued listing standard regarding average global market capitalization over a consecutive 30 trading day period of not less than $25 million, which is viewed as minimum threshold for continued listing.

The Company had also previously fallen below the NYSE's continued listing standard for average share price over a consecutive 30 trading day period of not less than $1.00 ...

http://www.huliq.com/13/71548/nyse-suspends-building-materials-holding-corporation

[struggle4progress]

22. Chinese market rebounds, led by financials

10/28/2008 5:37 AM ET
TOP MARKET NEWS

(RTTNews) - The Chinese stock market closed higher on Tuesday, reversing early losses, as financials staged a sharp rebound in the afternoon session. A recovery in regional markets also added to the positive investor sentiment. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 48.47 points or 2.81% at 1,771.82, bouncing back from a 25-month intra-day low of 1,664.93 in early trade, after the key index lost 12.7% in the previous five trading sessions.

Financials finished higher after early losses. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 2.7%. The bank said late Friday that third-quarter net profit rose 26% year-over-year to 28.2 billion yuan. Bank of Nanjing surged up 10% and China Merchants Bank climbed 5.8%. The bank said that it will apply for the delisting of Wing Lung Bank within four months after receiving better than 90% acceptance of its buy-out offer.

China Life Insurance gained 0.8%. The insurer reported a 46.9% drop in third-quarter net profit to 2.34 billion yuan. Ping An Insurance declined 0.4% after its nine-month profit fell to 1.8 billion yuan from 15.39 billion yuan a year earlier. Under Chinese accounting rules, Ping An had a 534 million yuan loss for the January-September period ...

http://www.rttnews.com/Content/AsianMtUpdates.aspx?Node=B3&Id=755390

[ozymandius]

10. Futures Lose Clarity, Put Fed in Dark on Reaction to Rate Move

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues usually sit down for their interest- rate meetings with a clear idea of what investors think they'll do. Not this time.

One key indicator, futures contracts, no longer provides an accurate signal of where the Fed will set its benchmark interest-rate target. The problem: Traders look at the rates banks charge each other for overnight loans when figuring out their bets on what the Fed will do, and for the last six weeks the Fed has failed to get those overnight rates to line up with its target.

.....

The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its interest-rate decision tomorrow in Washington at about 2:15 p.m. New York time. Of the 64 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, 35 forecast a half-point reduction from the current 1.5 percent rate, 17 economists expect a quarter-point cut, and 11 predict no change.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aZYcXbWIqHJI&refer=us

[struggle4progress]

11. In Japan, a Robust Yen Undermines the Markets

MARTIN FACKLER

Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 5:17 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 5:17 a.m.

TOKYO — ... The yen’s rise helped hammer Tokyo’s beleaguered stock market Monday. Share prices hit a 26-year low and are down 50 percent this year. A strong yen makes Japanese products more expensive during a recession in Europe and North America, hurting the profits of Japanese exporters ...

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081028/ZNYT01/810283023?Title=In_Japan__a_Robust_Yen_Undermines_the_Markets

[struggle4progress]

12. Oil Rises as Share Prices Rebound, OPEC Considers Extra Meeting

By Alexander Kwiatkowski and Christian Schmollinger

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose from a 17-month low as stocks in Europe and Asia rebounded and OPEC ministers said the group may meet again before December, raising speculation of deeper cuts in production.

Crude rose, tracking equities, as the MSCI World Index added 1.4 percent to 846.06 in London, snapping a two-day drop. OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla el-Badri said the producer group may call a meeting earlier than a scheduled December date if prices fail to react to the 1.5 million-barrel-a-day production cut announced by the group last week.

``As the stock market becomes a bit stronger, some people start to think that bad economic news may be going away,'' said Hirofumi Kawachi, a senior energy analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Ltd. in Tokyo. ``So people start to spend a bit of their risk money.'' ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aSVca3SPkgI4&refer=india

[struggle4progress]

14. Gulf stocks slide for third day

27 minutes ago

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Stock markets in the oil-rich Arab states of the Gulf sank for the third day running on Tuesday as Kuwait reeled from financial problems faced by the emirate's second biggest lender.

The Kuwait market, the second largest in the Arab world, shed 2.85 percent to just above 9,600 points as investor sentiment dived despite government efforts to shore up the financial system.

Shares in Kuwait's Gulf Bank, which said it incurred undisclosed losses from derivatives deals overseas, remained suspended for the third day.

Kuwait's central bank on Monday reiterated its full support for the bank, pledging that its deposits are fully guaranteed ...

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jE-TeAE9NcHumKdRyOiKbVbVAF6Q

[struggle4progress]

15. U.S. 10-Year Notes Decline Most in Three Weeks as Stocks Rally

By Bo Nielsen and Wes Goodman

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. 10-year Treasuries fell the most in almost three weeks as stocks rallied and the U.S. government prepared a record $34 billion note sale to help pay for bank rescues.

The U.S. needs to borrow ``enormous'' amounts, according to economic advisory firm Wrightson ICAP LLC, as it tries to halt a financial crisis that has wiped out more than $10 trillion of stock-market value worldwide this month. The Treasury will follow today's two-year sale with a $24 billion five-year auction on Oct. 30, the biggest since 2003.

``Increasing supply will help push up yields,'' said Rasmus Rousing, a fixed-income strategist in Zurich at Credit Suisse Group. ``We're also seeing a slight reversal of stock-market declines of the last few days and that's helping to take some buying interest out of Treasuries.'' ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZf17iFwiX9Y&refer=home

[ozymandius]

16. short day again for me

:donut: :donut: :donut:

See you at the close of bidness.

:hi:

[Roland99]

17. *yawn*... have a great day, ozy! (and all you other SMWers!)

[machI]

20. Recommended for the 5th

Recommended for the 5th time that is

[struggle4progress]

25. Upholstery business soft at High Point Market

Editor: Vickey Shen
28 Oct 2008 09:17:50 GMT

... Thursday and Friday morning, vehicular traffic obviously was down, with morning and evening flows in and out of the city nearly back to between-market levels. By Saturday it was dead, and in some buildings showrooms were closed.

Throughout the week, visitors reported that restaurant reservations were easier to secure.

Other signs of slowness: Elevator traffic was slimmer. The shoeshine guys were sparse throughout the whole market. And it was easier to find executives with free time in showrooms - that is, until the weekend when most were gone ...

"There were some dealers who didn't come," he added, "but there were also some new prospects." But, he added, "Order-writing is not at the level of attendance." ...

http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/furniture-news/100017065-1-upholstery-business-soft-high-point.html

[struggle4progress]

26. Australia regulator to tighten short-selling rules

Editor: Bruce Meng
28 Oct 2008 08:48:50 GMT

SYDNEY, Oct 28 - Australia's securities regulator will impose tougher disclosure rules on short-selling when it lifts its ban on the shorting of non-financial stocks on Nov. 19, the body said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said that in conjunction with the Australian Stock Exchange it had agreed new arrangements which would require market participants to report all short sales.

http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/finance/100017023-1-australia-regulator-tighten-short-selling-rules.html

[struggle4progress]

27. Global finance could lose $2.8 trillion in crisis

By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Elizabeth Piper

TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) - The global financial system could lose $2.8 trillion to the credit crisis, the Bank of England said on Tuesday, before an expected interest rate cut in the United States that others are poised to match.

Governments have agreed to inject around $4 trillion into banks and markets to contain the worst financial crisis in 80 years, which has forced stock markets to tumble and banks out of business, hastening a recession in much of the world.

Japan restricted investor bets on falling share prices with immediate effect to try to end a stock market slide, which has particularly hit its banking sector, and tried to talk down a rallying yen that threatens to deepen its economic downturn.

European shares gained 0.9 percent and Japan's Nikkei climbed 6.4 percent after hitting lows not seen in 26 years ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE49N5VU20081028

[struggle4progress]

28. Romania's financial companies fall 2% at rising bell on the BSE, despite general market rise

The five financial companies in Romania known as SIF dropped an average 2 percent on opening on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), on a general market advance of 1 percent.

Liquidity stood at 3.05 million lei (826,627 euros) after the first 30 minutes of trading.

The BET index of the ten best companies on BSE inched 0.45 percent to 2,607.89 and the BET-C composite index measuring all listed shares without financial companies added 0.98 percent to 1,968.46.

The BET-FI index of the five financial companies or SIF fell 1.95 percent to 9,817.10 while the ROTX index for trading blue chips in Vienna climbed 2.97 percent to 6,248.23 ...

http://www.newsin.ro/bse-bet-bet-sif-stocks.php?cid=view&nid=cbba3429-846a-470c-9853-cf9aa3d6c930&hid=media

[struggle4progress]

29. Brown and Sarkozy hold emergency talks in Paris

Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor

28.10.08

GORDON BROWN led fresh EU talks to avert global financial meltdown today as a poll found his strong showing on the economy had boosted Labour's fortunes.

The Prime Minister joined French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris to draft Europe's response to the credit crisis and to help EU member Hungary avoid bankruptcy.

The emergency talks were taking place at the president's private residence ahead of a visit to London by German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.

Mr Brown was leading efforts to get the International Monetary Fund to bail out Hungary, which has been targeted by international speculators driving down its currency and stock market ...

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23578845-details/Brown+and+Sarkozy+hold+emergency+talks+in+Paris/article.do

[struggle4progress]

30. Pass on oil profits to motorists, BP is urged

Paul Waugh, Evening Standard
28 October 2008, 8:00am

BP faced a backlash today after it announced making record profits of £6.4bn in three months.

The figure for July to September is 148% higher than the same period last year. BP's bumper returns mean that it raked in £70m a day, or £2.9m a minute, as prices soared at the pumps this summer ...

BP shares jumped 25"p to 463"p as the stock market applauded the figures. But analysts cautioned that the collapse in the oil price from its record $147 a barrel in mid-July to just $62 a barrel now meant the nearterm outlook will be far more challenging ...

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=456201&in_page_id=3&ct=5&in_page_id=3

[struggle4progress]

32. Diving economy could doom Fresno Co., state bond measures

By Brad Branan / The Fresno Bee
10/27/08 22:38:16

Voters are worried about the economy -- and that could doom spending proposals on the Nov. 4 ballot, experts say.

Californians will decide whether to authorize $16.8 billion in bonds for high-speed rail, children's hospitals, alternative energy and veterans' housing.

Fresno County residents also will decide whether to double the sales tax for library improvements to 25 cents for every $100 purchase.

Supporters of the state and county proposals are trying to overcome voter anxiety about the economy. They talk about job creation and other financial benefits or try to minimize the costs to voters ...

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/967290.html

[struggle4progress]

33. (Canadian) Market plunge shakes insurers

Sector looks to Ottawa as TSX takes 8% drop
Eoin Callan, National Post, With Files From Jonathan Ratner
Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008


As the Canadian stock market saw its worst fall in more than two decades yesterday, the country's top insurers looked to Ottawa for relief from the unrelenting damage being inflicted by one of the worst financial crises in history.

Leading industry executives said federal authorities had a key role to play in mitigating the impact of investment losses at insurers such as Manulife Financial, which has lost half its value following a record fall in its share price yesterday.

After escaping much of the first-round effects of the U. S. mortgage meltdown, Canada's insurers are being hammered by knock-on effects that are putting pressure on their capital reserves.

As insurance companies' own in-house portfolios of stocks and bonds lose value, executives are warning Ottawa that many of the guaranteed investment products they sold to Canadians will be pulled from shelves unless the government acts to backstop future losses ...

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=914036

[struggle4progress]

34. BIOTECH: Stock market turns hostile, funding limited

By BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer | Monday, October 27, 2008 6:22 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Biomedical companies seeking funding will have to live without the public stock markets while the financial meltdown continues, attendees were told Monday morning at an investment conference hosted by Biocom, the local life sciences trade group.

Finance experts described the funding outlook as mostly gloomy, but other opportunities for funding still exist in specialized areas ---- although perhaps at a large discount.

Biotech finance veteran Stelios Papadopoulos said Monday afternoon that the market for biotech stock offerings is the worst he has ever seen in his two decades in the business, and it's unclear when demand will return.

Also at the conference, biotech companies from San Diego's large biotech community were busy presenting their cases to investors at the conference in La Jolla ...

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/28/business/z9846b77861fae49a882574ef005ef4a9.txt

[struggle4progress]

35. UPDATE 2-GM/Chrysler seek $10 bln govt aid for merger - sources

Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:50pm ED

By Jui Chakravorty Das and Kevin Krolicki

NEW YORK/DETROIT, Oct 27 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp and Cerberus Capital Management have asked the U.S. government for around $10 billion in an unprecedented rescue package to support a merger between GM and Chrysler LLC, two sources with direct knowledge of the talks said on Monday.

The government funding would include roughly $3 billion in exchange for preferred stock in a merged automaker, according to one of the sources, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The U.S. Treasury Department is considering a request for direct aid to facilitate the merger and a decision could come this week, sources familiar with the still-developing government response said earlier on Monday.

GM has been in talks with Cerberus about buying Chrysler since last month but the discussions have been snagged by difficulty in securing investment or financing for a deal at a time when credit is tight and global auto sales are in rapid retreat, others close to the talks have said ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/etfNews/idUSN2735677620081028

[struggle4progress]

36. WRAPUP 2-Honda warns on profit as GM, Chrysler scramble for deal

TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co warned of lower-than-expected annual profits as a deepening financial crisis has hammered demand for cars and sent the yen soaring, while U.S. rivals sought government aid to fund a proposed merger to survive a shrinking market.

Carlos Ghosn, chief executive at rival Nissan Motor Co <7201.T>, warned the industry was treading in 'uncharted territory' that required a drastic shift in priorities to make it through the next few years.

'This is not going to be a short-term crisis. I don't think we'll get out next year, or even in 2010,' Ghosn, also head of France's Renault SA, told a business seminar in Tokyo.

Honda is considered one of the best-placed among global automakers to weather collapsing car demand and shrinking margins thanks to its manufacturing flexibility and vehicle line-up that is geared towards fuel-efficient models ...

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/10/28/afx5612190.html

[struggle4progress]

37. World stock markets under pressure

RT Monitoring Desk

NEW YORK: Recession fears sent world stock markets tumbling Monday, with Tokyo at a 26-year low, Europe badly under water and Wall Street struggling to hold the line despite a G7 pledge to stabilise the financial system. Oil prices fell below 60 dollars as traders estimated that a global recession would dent future energy demand. The European single currency sank under 1.24 dollars to a two-year trough after a downbeat survey on German business confidence pointed to a likely recession in the eurozone’s biggest economy, analysts warned. Markets were also shaken after the IMF unveiled rescue plans for Ukraine and Hungary, South Korea cut interest rates, Japan announced action to boost its stock market and Australia’s central bank intervened to prop up its currency. “There seems to be no end to the panic in the markets with recession fears now topping investor concerns,” said Dresdner Kleinwort analyst Valentin Marinov ...

http://regionaltimes.com/28oct2008/backpagenews/world.htm

[struggle4progress]

38. Thailand to extend deposit guarantee for 3 yrs

BANGKOK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Thailand will extend a full guarantee on bank deposits until 2011 to ensure financial stability and reassure savers worried about the global financial crisis, its finance minister said on Tuesday.

"The cabinet has agreed to extend the guarantee to August 2011 from 2009," Suchart Thada-Thamrongvech told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

Thais have about 6.2 trillion ($177 billion) in deposits, all of which are protected under a state guarantee introduced in August this year and originally due to be phased out in 2009.

Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase has said Thai banks are strong and have no liquidity problems ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSBKK20702720081028

[struggle4progress]

39. South Korean market surges 5.7% on bargain hunting

10/28/2008 5:12 AM ET
TOP MARKET NEWS

(RTTNews) - The South Korean stock market closed sharply higher on Tuesday, extending its moderate gains on Monday. The market opened down 3% after Wall Street tumbled to a five-and-a-half-year low on Monday, but the key index surged up in the afternoon session as bargain hunting picked up following recent sharp declines and a recovery in the markets across the Asia-Pacific region. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI jumped 52.71 points or 5.57% to 999.16. The KOSPI has lost more than half of its value, from a historic high of 2,085 hit in November 2007, on selling by foreign investors ... http://www.rttnews.com/Content/AsianMtUpdates.aspx?Node=B3&Id=755376

[burf]

51. I wonder how much

of the "surge" was due to.........Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- State-run Korea Development Bank received Federal Reserve approval to sell as much as $830 million of commercial paper to the U.S. central bank, becoming the first Korean bank to tap the new funding facility.

KDB, South Korea's largest issuer of overseas debt, can raise $400 million in the U.S. by selling short-term notes, Sung Joo Yung, a spokesman for the Seoul-based bank, said today by telephone. The bank will roll over an existing $430 million of debt, he said.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aH.7.EElweAU&refer=home

[struggle4progress]

53. Sheet! We buyin everbody's commercial paper? We gonna broke!

[burf]

56. I guess the

answer is if we run out of money, we will just print some more. There's plenty of ink and paper so how can we be out of cash?

[struggle4progress]

59. 1 Milliarde Mark 1923

Issuer: Reichsbankdirektion Berlin
Date: September 1923 - overprint on 1000 Mark dated 15 December 1922
... This note had never been issued as 1000 Mark. It was overprinted ... effectively adding 6 zeros to its denomination ... http://www.germannotes.com/1922-12-15-1000&1Mrd.shtml

[TalkingDog]

72. with digital, it's all ones and zeros anyway....

so there's not even the overhead of ink and paper.

[burf]

78. Isn't technology great? n/t

[Demeter]

81. At Least Commercial Paper is Short Term and Does Redeem to Cash

unlike mortgage-backed derivatives.

[struggle4progress]

134. It redeems to cash if it doesn't turn out to be fishwrap

Unsecured paper in a slumping economy may not be worth much if enough capital simply vanishes -- and it can simply vanish, because in good times much of what's on everybody's books is merely promissory and doesn't ever exist

DC seemed adamant that the bailout should include foreign and commercial paper buys. So I'm wondering how much pure junk the US financial industry sold abroad -- and what threats the rest of the world was uttering under its collective breath about the consequences if the US didn't take ownership of its own failures

[struggle4progress]

40. German Financial Regulator Is `Analyzing' Volkswagen Trading

By Chris Reiter

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's financial regulator BaFin said it's analyzing trading in Volkswagen AG shares but has not opened a formal inquiry into whether the stock is being manipulated ...

Volkswagen became the world's biggest company by market value today after Porsche SE announced plans to raise its stake in the German carmaker to 75 percent, triggering demand from short-sellers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=ap6YoUsqg4ac&refer=germany

[DrDebug]

52. I don't understand. How can Porsche afford to buy Volkswagen?

It's like a dwarf trying to swallow a giant. Even though Volkswagen was a product of Prosche and they traditionally had the stake in Volkswagen (currently 42%), the question remains: How can they afford it, because Porsche has an annual revenue of E7B while Volkswagen as the world's third largest car manufactor has an annual revenue of E109B.

[struggle4progress]

58. Porsche's derivatives move doubles VW's share price

Published: October 28 2008 02:00 | Last updated: October 28 2008 02:00

... VW shares rose 147 per cent after Porsche unexpectedly disclosed that by means of derivatives it had increased its stake in VW from 35 per cent to 74.1 per cent, provoking outcry by investors, analysts and corporate governance experts.

Max Warburton, analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said it had brought the German market into disrepute: "It is a huge question for regulators and arguably an embarrassment for all European capital markets."

Christian Strenger, board member at Germany's largest fund manager, DWS, and a leading corporate governance expert, said: "It should get the politicians and supervisory authorities to think again about allowing this untransparent situation."

Porsche published on Sunday that it held 31.5 per cent in derivatives in VW. Bafin, Germany's financial regulator, recently ruled companies were not obliged to disclose such positions where the derivatives were settled into cash rather than shares ...

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b6379bc-a48f-11dd-8104-000077b07658.html


As I read it, VW shares were falling, so hedge funds began short-selling with an eye for quick profits. Meanwhile Porsche's derivatives -- I don't know how they were structured -- actually enabled it to come close to control of VW (75%) without transparency. Porsche then announced its hand; the hedge funds reacted with panic, since very few free shares were available; so the price shot up. Quite plausibly someone made a killing off this miraculous confluence of coincidences, hence the announced investigation

[struggle4progress]

61. VW shares keep climbing as short-sellers come up short

FRANKFURT (AFP) — Shares in Volkswagen have hit incredible heights as Porsche prepares to take over Europe's biggest carmaker because speculators who bet the auto stock would slump have been burned, analysts say.

VW shares spiked by 93.27 percent to 1,005.01 euros in early morning trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange Tuesday in an ongoing reaction to details from Porsche on how it planned to take over the company.

The shares later tumbled back to 645.58 euros in midday trading, but still showed a gain of 24.15 percent ...

"What we have seen this week is definitely short covering," UniCredit equity analyst Christian Aust told AFP ...

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQZg2EDpHpE7TSFrXnl2jGFNqtfA

[struggle4progress]

62. Sky's the Limit for Volkswagen's Handful of Stockholders

... Only a small portion of VW shares are traded freely on the stock exchanges. The government of Lower Saxony holds a 20 percent stake and Porsche has recently gone on a buying spree.

On Sunday, Porsche announced it directly owns 42.6 percent of VW stock and has options on another 31.5 percent. That leaves less than 10 percent of shares free-floating, which exacerbates volatility in the share price, traders told the AFP news agency ...

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3747082,00.html

[struggle4progress]

41. French Consumer Confidence Falls, Matching Record Low (Update1)

By Francois de Beaupuy

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- French consumer confidence dropped in October to match a record low on concern that the global economic slowdown will prompt companies from banks to carmakers to continue firing workers.

A gauge of consumer sentiment fell to minus 47 from minus 44 in September, the Paris-based national statistics office, Insee, said in a statement today. The reading matched the revised number for July, which was a record low, Insee said.

``Unemployment has returned to the top of French worries in the past two or three months,'' said Jean-Louis Mourier, an economist at Paris-based brokerage Aurel, in an interview with Bloomberg Television today.

The French economy is likely to already be in recession after shrinking 0.3 percent in the second quarter, the first contraction in more than five years, Insee has said. The global financial crisis is threatening to erode corporate profit and has pushed the country's benchmark CAC 40 stock index down almost 46 percent this year, further weighing on optimism ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ag2Ue863pyH4&refer=europe

[DemReadingDU]

44. Columbus, Oh - National Century Trial Monday's update

Apologize for the brevity, cable modem not working, so am using dial-up

10/27/08 Judge rejects Poulsen’s bid for dismissal
Monday, October 27, 2008 - 12:06 PM EDT
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/10/27/daily4.html


10/27/08 Defense begins for National Century's Poulsen
Investors were warned of risks, consultant testifies
Monday, October 27, 2008 1:24 PM
By Jodi Andes
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/27/poulsen28.html?sid=101


10/27/08 Poulsen begins defense in fraud trialBusiness First of Columbus
Monday, October 27, 2008 - 5:53 PM EDT
by Kevin Kemper
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/10/27/daily10.html


10/28/08 Company's attorney questioned purchases
National Century officer critical in waning days
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 3:06 AM
By Jodi Andes
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/10/28/poulsen28.ART_ART_10-28-08_C10_N1BNLVS.html?sid=101



link backwards to Thursday's articles, and older
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3561885&mesg_id=3561964

[Roland99]

45. 8am futures - Grab your saddles and get ready for your ponies!

DJIA INDEX 8,390.00 +379.00
S&P 500 874.70 +40.00
NASDAQ 100 1,214.25 +52.25

[Imperialism Inc.]

47. I'll guess that means that the hudge fund sell offs will come at the end of the day

after they give the prices a chance to go up for a while.

[AnneD]

90. I have the perfect theme song today....

One of my favs-Willy Nelson and Toby Keith.....

Whiskey for our men, Beer for our horses.

Well a man, come on
Six o'clock news
Says somebody been shot
Somebody's been abused
Somebody blew up a building
Somebody stole their car
Somebody got away
Somebody didn't get too far, yeah
They didn't get too far

Grandpappy told my pappy
Back in my day, son
A man had to answer
For the wicked thing he done
Take all the rope in Texas
Find a tall oak tree
Round up all of them bad boys
And hang 'em high in the street
For all the people to see

And justice is the one thing
You should always find
You gotta saddle up your boys
You gotta draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles
We'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back
At the local saloon

We'll raises up our glasses
Against evil forces
Singing, "Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses!"

We got too many gangsters
Doing dirty deeds
Too much corruption
And crime in the streets
It's time the long arm of the law
Put a few more in the ground
Send them all to their Maker
And he'll set them on down
You can bet, He'll set 'em down

Cause justice is the one thing
You should always find
You gotta saddle up your boys
You gotta draw a hard line
When the gunsmoke settles
We'll sing a victory tune
And we'll all meet back
At the local saloon

I feel like saddeling up those ponies and putting them to good use.:toast:

[Festivito]

46. Debt: 10/24/2008 10,523,955,355,856.60 (DOWN 157,629,946.20) (Drops a little!)

(Going down looks so good, and it is, just not that good. It means we paid back more loans Friday than what was lent to US Friday. Not by much. Sadly, the past month has been horrifying even with Friday being slightly negative.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 6,249,314,985,998.51 + 4,274,640,369,858.15
DOWN 913,156,317.59 + UP 755,526,371.38
(NOTE: Excel cannot handle this many digits. Debt should end in .66, not .60. Thus .51+.15=.66 in case you quick-checked my automated math.)

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 300-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.33 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: THEIR SHARE IS TEN BUCKS in a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is a federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)
(I hate those end to end dollars to the moon and back, or years to spend $100/second. Just say'n)
If you read this and have a suggestion or comment, good or bad, I'd love to see it.

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 35,041,652,096.59.
The average for the last 30 days would be 24,529,156,467.61.

There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 17 reports in 24 days of FY2009 averaging 29.37B$ per report, 20.80B$/day.

PROJECTION:
GWB** must relinquish the presidency in 88 days.
By that time the debt could be between 10.6 and 12.7T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
10/24/2008 10,523,955,355,856.60 GWB (UP 4,795,759,559,675.03 so far since Bush took office.)

Fiscal Year ends: Sep 30
Borrowed in FY1993: (Maybe later.)
Borrowed in FY1994: 281,261,026,873.94
Borrowed in FY1995: 281,232,990,696.07
Borrowed in FY1996: 250,828,038,426.34
Borrowed in FY1997: 188,335,072,261.61
Borrowed in FY1998: 113,046,997,500.28
Borrowed in FY1999: 130,077,892,735.81
Borrowed in FY2000: _17,907,308,253.43 Bill alone
Borrowed in FY2001: 133,285,202,313.20 Bill and George
Borrowed in FY2002: 420,772,553,397.10 All George
Borrowed in FY2003: 554,995,097,146.46
Borrowed in FY2004: 595,821,633,586.70
Borrowed in FY2005: 553,656,965,393.18
Borrowed in FY2006: 574,264,237,491.73
Borrowed in FY2007: 500,679,473,047.25
Borrowed in FY2008: 1,017,071,524,650.01
Borrowed in FY2009: 499,230,458,944.20 so far this fiscal year. Again, almost a milestone.

Heavy borrowing seems to start 10/18/2008.
US borrowed $859,323,552,597.53 in last 36 days.
That's 859B$ in 36 days.
More than any year ever, except last year, and it's 84% of that highest year ever only in 36 days.
And it is over 100% of ANY dismal Bush, for any dismal Bush-year, ONLY IN 36 DAYS NOT 365.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) YESTERDAY'S POST LINK:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3567295&mesg_id=3567356

[UpInArms]

48. dollar watch

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 86.860 Change -0.410 (-0.53%)

5 Key Events for the Forex Market This Week 10-27-08

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio1/5_Key_Events_for_the_1225123355505.html

The US dollar faces major event risk in coming days, especially as the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates. While most of the news would typically be bearish for the dollar, risk appetite has been the primary driver of price action in recent weeks to the benefit of the currency. Will the trend continue?

US S&P/Case Schiller Home Prices, Consumer Confidence – October 28

On Tuesday, the release of US economic data may highlight some of the reasons why most believe the country is in midst of a recession. Indeed, at 9:00 ET, the August reading of the S&P/Case-Schiller index of home prices is likely to fall by 16.6 percent from a year earlier, marking yet another record decline. Later in the morning at 10:00 ET, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index is forecasted to drop to 52.3 in October from 59.8. While this would still be above the June low, it would be a historically dismal number as the record low from December 1974 looms at 43.2 (records go back to 1967). These economic releases have the potential to weigh on the US dollar, as they will add to speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut rates sharply on October 29. However, if risk trends continue to dominate the markets, the greenback may brush off the data and gain on flight-to-safety.

Federal Reserve Open Market Committee Meeting – October 29

On October 29 at 14:15 ET, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to announce a 50bp cut to the fed funds rate. In fact, as of Friday afternoon fed fund futures are actually pricing in a 28 percent chance of a 75bp reduction, and while this is unlikely, it highlights just how dismal the outlook for the US has become. Indeed, during the last FOMC meeting, the Committee acknowledged cooling inflation pressures and significant downside risks to growth, all of which appears to be coming to fruition. The US dollar is likely to pull back on the announcement of a 50bp cut, especially if the news boosts investor sentiment and US stock markets rally. However, if the Fed surprises with a less aggressive 25bp cut, the US dollar could gain while equities plummet on the disappointing news.

US Gross Domestic Product (Q3 A)– October 30

The financial market collapse, the ongoing housing recession, mounting job losses, and indications of contracting consumer spending leads many to believe that the US economy is in the midst of a real economic recession, and the upcoming GDP report will go a long way to dispel or confirm such pessimistic sentiment at 8:30 ET. In fact, the advance reading of Q3 GDP is anticipated to fall to a 7-year low of -0.5 percent after surging 2.8 percent in Q2 on robust export growth. However, with global growth slowing, foreign demand for US goods is simply not there. Add to that the sharp pullback in consumption and the outlook for the US is not good. Looking at the Bloomberg News poll of 51 economists, consensus forecasts range from -1.9 percent to 0.6 percent, but with the majority calling for a negative result, there are potential downside risks for the figure.

...more...

U.S. Dollar: Fed Rate Decision on Tap - How Will the Greenback React?

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/trading_reports/trading_news_reports/U_S__Dollar__Fed_Rate_Decision_1225194649839.html

After surprising the market with a 50bp rate cut on October 8th, the Federal Open Market Committee is expected to ease policy further as fears of a prolonged recession intensify. Despite the extraordinary efforts by the Fed over the past two months, a Bloomberg news poll showed that economists expect the central bank to lower borrowing costs by 50bp to 1.00%. Meanwhile, Fed Fund Futures are showing that market participants have already priced in a 66% chance that the MPC will lower the interest rate by 50bp to 1.00%, which has increased from 42.0% from the previous week. In addition, traders see a 34% chance that the central bank will lower the key rate by 75bp to 0.75%, which has jumped from 0% since last week. Indeed, the failure of Washington Mutual paired with the takeover of Wachovia led the Fed to coordinate with key policymakers around the world to take a preemptive approach in supporting economic growth, and lowered borrowing costs to 1.50% after holding the benchmark interest rate at 2.00% for three consecutive meetings. In addition, the central bank noted that the upside risks for inflation have diminished as oil prices continue to pullback from its record high, indicating that the board is ready and willing to ease policy further in order to avoid a protracted downturn in the economy. Increased turmoil in the global financial market paired with easing price pressures have certainly strengthened the argument for a rate reduction, but the U.S. dollar may continue to benefit from its safe haven status despite the dovish outlook help by the Fed.

Trading the News: FOMC Rate Decision

What’s Expected
Time of release: 10/29/2008 18:15 GMT, 14:15 EST

Primary Pair Impact : GBPUSD
Expected: 1.00%
Previous: 1.50%

Impact the FOMC’s decisions have had on GBPUSD after the last 3 meetings



...more...

Let's do the Rate Cut Boogey!

[Roland99]

54. 9:36am - Cha-CHING!

DJIA 8,368.76 +192.99 +2.36%
Nasdaq 1,550.03 +44.13 +2.93%
S&P 500 872.44 +23.52 +2.77%
Dow Util 347.07 +6.13 +1.80%
NYSE 5,334.02 +137.49 +2.65%
AMEX 1,334.11 +50.11 +3.90%
Russell 2000 460.74 +12.34 +2.75%
Semcond 217.71 +5.14 +2.42%
Gold future 740.50 -2.40 -0.32%
30-Year Bond 4.13% +0.03 +0.61%
10-Year Bond 3.78% +0.05 +1.31%

[struggle4progress]

55. The banks are getting their billions so we'll have a smiley day

[struggle4progress]

60. Spoke too quickly. What goes up, apparently must come down

[54anickel]

57. 10:05 Blather and numbers update

Dow 8,389.23 213.46 (2.61%)
Nasdaq 1,541.07 35.17 (2.34%)
S&P 500 869.22 20.30 (2.39%)
10-Yr Bond 3.79% 0.061
NYSE Volume 772,553,687.5
Nasdaq Volume 320,834,031.25

10:05 am : Stocks extend their gains and then give up some gains as a worse-than-expected consumer confidence survey is released. Still, the S&P 500 is up nearly 3%.

Just hitting the wires, consumer confidence plummeted 23.4 to 38.0 in October, according to the Conference Board's survey. This was worse than the expected reading of 52.0. It marks the lowest level on record, which dates back to 1967. A drop in confidence was expected given all the economic concerns and sharp drop in the stock market.

All ten economic sectors are posting a gain. Energy (+4.4%), materials (+4.3%) and telecom (+4.1%) are showing the most strength. The financial sector is up 1.7%, which is the smallest advance this session.DJ30 +229.64 NASDAQ +40.89 SP500 +24.21 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1846/221 mln/414 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2427/143 mln/298

09:35 am : The S&P 500 rebounds following Monday's late-session sell off as global markets rally.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 14.4% and Japan's Nikkei rose 6.4%. In Europe, France's CAC is up 2.5%, Germany's DAX is up 8.9% and London's FTSE is up 3.4%. The DAX is benefiting from a 54% rally in shares of Volkswagen and the FTSE is benefiting from better-than-expected earnings from BP (BP 44.56, +4.44).

In the U.S., Occidental Petroleum (OXY 45.17, +3.09), Valero Energy (VLO 16.88, +1.77) and U.S. Steel (X 31.60, +0.78) posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Whirlpool (WHR 47.65, -2.38) beat for its latest quarter, but issued downside guidance.DJ30 +255.45 NASDAQ +48.03 SP500 +24.05

09:18 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +20.40. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +30.50.

09:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +23.90. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +36.50. Futures have slipped from session highs, but continue to suggest a strong start. August home prices in 20 major metro areas fell 16.62% year-over-year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index. This was nearly in-line with the expected drop of 16.60%.

[Roland99]

63. Wow!. Consumer Confidence at its lowest EVER?

Nice to see people realizing it takes more than cheap gas to keep a family housed and fed.

[Roland99]

64. 10:55am - Rally hit some spike strips

DJIA 8,227.86 +52.09 +0.64%
Nasdaq 1,510.66 +4.76 +0.32%
S&P 500 850.71 +1.79 +0.21%
Dow Util 341.11 +0.17 +0.05%
NYSE 5,210.64 +14.11 +0.27%
AMEX 1,299.50 +15.50 +1.21%
Russell 2000 442.71 -5.69 -1.27%
Semcond 213.72 +3.90 +1.83%
Gold future 734.00 -8.90 -1.20%
30-Year Bond 4.09% -0.02 -0.37%
10-Year Bond 3.75% +0.02 +0.56%

[antigop]

65. Ok, marketeers, so I've been bitching about securities lending in 401(k)'s

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-northern-trust-bp-suit-oct24,0,4527009.story

A BP Corp. pension and employee savings plan has sued Northern Trust Co., claiming that it lost money in the securities lending program of the Chicago-based financial services company.

Filed Tuesday in a U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, the suit by the BP Corp. North America Savings Plan Investment Oversight Committee alleges that Northern Trust Co. and Northern Trust Investments engaged in investment activities, namely through its securities lending program, that involved "inappropriate risk and led to inappropriate losses."

The oil company said the assets managed by Northern are in four funds benchmarked to various stock or bond indexes, such as the Russell 2000 or the S&P 500.

The funds "have not been performing consistently with their respective benchmarks on account of losses related to securities lending activities," the lawsuit said.
..
The way the program works, Northern was allowed to lend securities from funds in which the BP plans' assets were invested. The purpose of the securities lending program was to earn a return by investing the cash collateral received from the borrowers of the securities.

But certain of the investments that Northern made with the cash collateral received from the securities borrowers have defaulted, been marked down in value or have become so illiquid that they can be sold only at a steep loss, the suit said.

So antigop's question for the day: How much of the downturn in employees' 401(k)'s has been exacerbated by securities lending losses in 401(k)funds?

NOTE: Check the fine print on your 401(k) funds -- you might find that securities lending is being done with YOUR MONEY in your 401(k). What,exactly, is the fund investing in with the collateral it receives from lending out the securities in the fund? What, legally, is the fund allowed to invest in? How would you even find out what the fund is investing in if it's lending securities?

[antigop]

66. Fund companies shy away from lending stock

http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081005/REG/310069996

Dated Oct. 5:

Some mutual fund compa-nies are deciding the cash their funds earn from lending stocks doesn't justify the risk in light of unpredictable markets and the Securities and Exchange Commission's crackdown on short sales of selected financial stocks.

That's why Columbia Management Group, a Boston-based unit of Bank of America, temporarily ended the practice entirely Sept. 19.

“Columbia believes it is in the best interest of investors not to lend out certain securities, given the downward pressure some are putting on the market,” said Jon Goldstein, a spokesman for Columbia.

Vanguard Group has also temporarily ended the practice, said John Woerth, a spokesman for the fund giant. He declined to comment further, but industry experts said the timing of Vanguard's actions shows that, like Columbia, it's worried that stock lending could harm investors.

[DemReadingDU]

67. September 19th!

Remember this from 9/29/08
Treasury opens money market guarantee program

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday its temporary guarantee program for up to $3.4 trillion in money market mutual fund assets held as of Sept. 19 was now in effect for a three-month period.

The Treasury said each fund regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that maintains a stable stock price of $1 can now decide whether to pay a fee to participate in the program.

Money market mutual fund shares acquired after Sept. 19, when the Treasury announced the plan, will not be guaranteed under the program.
more...
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasRegulatoryNews/idUSN2937040920080929

[antigop]

70. Good catch...just a coincidence on the date? n/t

[DemReadingDU]

68. Do you think this was done with funds in IRAs too?

Securities lending with our money in IRAs?

[antigop]

69. The article I referenced said Vanguard was suspending its securities lending.

See this post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3569229&mesg_id=3569580

It mentioned that Vanguard temporarily ended its securities lending.

You would have to check the prospectus for your fund. I would *think* it would have to be disclosed somewhere if securities lending is allowed for the funds that you have your IRA invested in.

[DemReadingDU]

71. the same fund could be either in 401K or IRA

It's the same fund that I had in my 401K, but now it's rolled over to an IRA.

SAME fund. One giant pool of money. So I'm assuming that securities lending could be done whether the fund was in 401k or same fund in IRA.

[antigop]

74. I don't see why not-- check the prospectus to see if it's being done.

I'm afraid I have more questions than answers about this...

[antigop]

73. RIP John Galt (for you, Tansy!)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/18615/754

In 1966, Ayn Rand collected a series of essays into the book, Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Twenty of the essays in the were written by Rand. The rest came from a trio of Rand's acolytes, followers who had already been writing the newsletter of her "Objectivist" cult for more than a decade. Among these were three essays from a member of Rand's inner circle; an economic advisor and dropout from the graduate economics program at Columbia -- Alan Greenspan.

Greenspan was such a close friend of Rand's, that she passed him manuscript pages of Atlas Shrugged while the book was being written. He paid rapt attention to her tale of mysterious genius John Galt -- brilliant engineer, physicist, philosopher, and organizer. Galt, who shows the world who is really in charge by leading a rebellion of industrialists against laws that interfere with their companies, was in perfect agreement with the essays that Greenspan was writing at the time. In those essays, Greenspan rails against the "statists" and their desire to blame failures leading to the Great Depression on greed and unsafe lending practices. Instead, says Greenspan, the economy was experiencing a "mild contraction" which would have amounted to nothing, had the government not overreacted. Greenspan also attacks the "welfare state" and its schemes to "confiscate the wealth of the productive members of society."

When John Galt leads his his own inner circle of polymath geniuses to abandon the working classes and form a objectivist paradise, Greenspan must have cheered.

The essays Greenspan contributed to the 1966 collection, like the rest of the book, praised the idea of unfettered, unrestricted, unregulated, laissez-faire capitalism. Sure, there were problems in the system as it existed at the time, but those problems were not the fault of capitalism. Real capitalism, pure capitalism, had never been tried. Under pure capitalism, there would be a complete "separation of capitalism and state," and the resulting markets would be self-governing and self-correcting. It was only the intrusion of regulations into the system that brought on instability and immorality. Kick government out, and the system would not only flourish, but express the innate reasoning and positive force of selfishness.

[Systematic Chaos]

77. Cool - so, if I ever decide to rob a bank can I use these essays in my defense?

Call it the "Positive Force of Selfishness" Gambit, if you will.

:eyes:

:rofl:

[AnneD]

91. After the twinkie defense.......

anything is possible....

[Systematic Chaos]

94. And if you've ever caught the episode of South Park in question,

the "Chewbacca Defense". An absolute classic! :D

[Imperialism Inc.]

75. I'm done trying to make sense of this market activity.

The lowest consumer confidence in history and the market is up. I guess they'll say it was already priced in but this was 14 pts lower than was expected.

http://www.reuters.com/article/economicNews/idUSN2838740920081028

U.S. consumer confidence plunged to a record low in October as a worsening financial crisis made Americans anxious about their jobs and pessimistic about the future, a report said on Tuesday.
The Conference Board said its index measuring consumer sentiment tumbled to 38.0 in October from an upwardly revised 61.4 in September. That was the lowest reading since the index began in 1967. The previous low was 43.2 in December 1974.

[Demeter]

82. The Sharks Think They Smell Blood in the Water

[DemReadingDU]

84. The market is being manipulated

The wealthy are propping it up and cashing out then they let the market fall.
The market is nothing more than a casino. They win, we lose.

[Trojan]

96. Ty Agrees With You ! Now What ?

http://www.thefuturestrader.us/archiveTA/tedbits-Oct27-08.pdf

Comments Anyone ?

[specimenfred1984]

97. What's bad for Main St. is good for Wall St., it's known as fascism

Or you could call it disaster capitalism. The "news" is all propaganda paid for by the fascists, consumer confidence has been really low for months, it's a meaningless load of crap used to manipulate public opinion.

[Roland99]

76. 11:43am - Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

DJIA 8,368.84 +193.07 +2.36%
Nasdaq 1,527.06 +21.16 +1.41%
S&P 500 864.04 +15.12 +1.78%
Dow Util 346.54 +5.60 +1.64%
NYSE 5,287.11 +90.58 +1.74%
AMEX 1,317.41 +33.41 +2.60%
Semcond 215.20 +1.26 +0.59%
Russell 2000 445.91 -2.49 -0.56%
Gold future 731.50 -11.40 -1.53%
30-Year Bond 4.12% +0.01 +0.32%
10-Year Bond 3.79% +0.06 +1.53%

[Roland99]

83. Pershing to unveil real-estate deal for Target

Pershing to unveil real-estate deal for Target
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Pershing-unveil-real-estate-deal/story.aspx?guid=%7B168552F2%2DE10D%2D4944%2DA526%2DB6A64EF8E161%7D

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund firm run by Bill Ackman, plans to unveil a potential transaction that could help unlock some of the value of Target Corp.'s real estate, according to a press release on Tuesday.

...

Since Pershing first disclosed its stake in Target, there's been speculation that the hedge fund firm may try to find a way to unlock the value of Target's large real estate holdings. The retailer owns its stores, while some rivals lease their locations.

Target shares have lost almost half their value in the past year on concern the retailer's sales and profit would be hit by a recession.

Pershing holds its Target investment in a separate fund and the firm added money to the vehicle earlier this year, mostly with cash from current and new investors.

[Zenlitened]

89. Hmmm... When the hedgies talk about "unlocking value"...

... :yoiks: :crazy: :yoiks:

[54anickel]

85. 1:12 up update and blather on the yo-yo

Dow 8,446.65 270.88 (3.31%)
Nasdaq 1,538.67 32.77 (2.18%)
S&P 500 873.64 24.72 (2.91%)
10-yr Bond 3.8050% 0.0760
30-yr Bond 4.1500% 0.0450
NYSE Volume 3,234,769,250
Nasdaq Volume 1,261,537,500

1:00 pm : The stock market is on the rise, climbing to a gain of more than 2%. The recovery effort is broad-based, led by consumer staples (+2.2%) and telecom (+5.3%).

The Dow has outperformed throughout the session. Boeing (BA 44.49, +2.17) is up 5.6% after it reached a four-year tentative labor agreement with its striking machinist union. The union, Boeing's largest, has been on strike since the beginning of September due to disagreements on compensation, benefits and job security.DJ30 +211.23 NASDAQ +19.62 SP500 +17.34 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1189/1.19 bln/1447 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1639/643 mln/1359

12:25 pm : The S&P 500 is holding onto a gain of more than 1% as all ten sectors advance.

Despite the gains, market breadth is negative. Advancers and decliners are nearly even on the NYSE, while decliners outpace advancers by 3-to-2 on the Nasdaq.

The weakness in breadth is due to the underperformance of small- and mid-cap stocks. The Russell 2000 Index is down 1.3% and the S&P 400 is down 0.5%.DJ30 +134.89 NASDAQ +11.95 SP500 +11.56 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1029/1.07 bln/1596 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1461/577 mln/1505

11:55 am : Stocks started the session on a strong note as global markets rallied, but the lowest consumer confidence reading on record prompted a pullback.

At midday the S&P 500 is up 1%. The index was up as much as 3.9% shortly after the bell and was down as much as 0.4% at 11:00 AM ET.

Economists expected that consumer confidence would fall in October given the recent market turmoil, but the severity of the decline was not expected. Specifically, consumer confidence plummeted 23.4 to 38.0 in October, according to the Conference Board's survey. This was worse than the expected reading of 52.0. It marks the lowest level on record, which dates back to 1967.

In other economic news, August home prices in 20 major metro areas fell 16.62% year-over-year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, which matched expectations. Home prices have fallen year-over-year for 20 straight months.

Nine of the ten sectors are posting a gain.

The energy sector is leading the way, buoyed by better-than-expected results at Occidental Petroleum (OXY 44.25, +2.17) and Valero Energy (VLO 16.31, +1.20). The sector is also getting an indirect boost from BP (BP 43.23, +3.08), which posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue growth.

The financial sector (-0.1%) is a notable laggard as investment banks fall -3.9% and multi-line insurance companies decline 1.8%. There is not a specific news item to account for the selling, which appears to be caused by market rumors and speculation.

In overseas trading, Asian markets rallied with Japan's Nikkei closing up 6.4% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng surging 14.4%. European stocks as whole are up 1.4%, but their advance was cut short as U.S. stocks gave up opening gains.DJ30 +118.52 NASDAQ +9.68 SP500 +8.42 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1077/945 mln/1498 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1483/514 mln/1458

11:30 am : The S&P 500 recovers from negative territory, but is still well off its high. Treasuries are in the red this session on the long end of the curve, while the short end is seeing some gains.

European markets faltered in conjunction with the recent retreat in U.S. stocks. France's CAC (-0.8%) slipped into the red, while the FTSE is now up only 0.4%. Germany's DAX is well off its high, but is still up 4.7% as Volkswagen surges 30%. On Sunday, Porsche announced it was increasing its stake in Volkswagen. There is speculation that the gains in Volkswagen is due to hedge funds covering their shorts, according to CNBC. Volkswagen is up 222% in two days.DJ30 +82.04 NASDAQ +7.15 SP500 +5.50 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1020/816 mln/1513 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1354/447 mln/1572

11:00 am : The major indices give up their gains as financials fall into negative territory. The retreat is broad based.

Within financials (-0.7%), the worst performing groups are investment banks (-9.2%) and multi-line insurance (-4.0%).

Transportation stocks (-2.4%) are also under selling pressure, with weakness seen in Ryder (R 34.22, -2.65) and Conway (CNW 30.14, -4.62).

At the same time, crude prices give up gains, now down 0.2% to $63.03 per barrel. Crude was up as much as 3.1% earlier in the session.DJ30 +23.81 NASDAQ +1.13 SP500 -0.54 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1044/639 mln/1416 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1340/353 mln/1520

10:30 am : Stocks are posting a gain, but have cut their opening advance in half, when the S&P 500 was up 3.9%.

The disappointing consumer confidence reading is the main reason for the pullback. Given the recent market turmoil, it was expected that consumer confidence would dip. But the severity of the decline from 61.5 to an all time low of 38.0 was larger than expected.

All ten sectors remain in the green. The financial sector (+0.6%) trails the broader market, with Goldman Sachs (GS 86.39, -6.49) showing notable weakness. There is no specific news item to account for the selling Goldman and the decline is likely due to market rumors and speculation.DJ30 +184.30 NASDAQ +266.04 SP500 +15.72 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1401/473 mln/996 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1949/266 mln/873

[specimenfred1984]

86. What a fantastic bargain I just got, what an incredible bargain hunter I am

super double turbo bargains of the century, I'm screaming like the OxyClean guy! I can't stop moving my arms, I have to tell everyone in the most animated way possible what an incredible shopper I am! We'll never see prices like these again, never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

88. So you bought BSC, too?

:)

[specimenfred1984]

93. Nope, bought 100 shares of GOOG instead of a house

I researched the purchase heavily on Google.

[specimenfred1984]

107. Weeeeee, $1,900 in less than 2 hours

It feels so good to be rich beyond my wildest dreams, what a bargain!

[Dr.Phool]

87. Report from the road.

South Carolina and Florida sure look blue.

Just a glimpse of what I've seen the last couple of days. As we headed up to St. Augustine on Sat., we took mainly the rural, scenic route across Florida. Lot's and lots of Obama signs, and signs for Dem candidates. Hardly any McCain presence at all. I chuckled at a couple of billboards in the Ocala area. They said "McSame", with the red circle slash. A friend of mine, who's running for tate Senate in that area called me that night and I asked her about them. She said that the Marion County DEC put up a few of them. Nice.

When we got to the game in Jacksonville on Sunday, lot's of Obama stickers in the lot. Very few McCain's. In fact I think I saw more "W-04" stickers than McCain.

After we got off I-95 in Florence, SC, It was ALL Obama signs all the way to Loris, about 45 miles until we hit Loris. :toast: :party:.

Anyway, got up this morning, saw the Dow up 325pts, then the consumer lack of confidence numbers, and watched that evaporate. It's gonna take someone a lot smarter than me to figure out why anyone is buying now. They're even finally acknowledging on CNBC, that we're IN a recession now. I guess even they couldn't hold it off for another week, and maintain any credibility. Even though they still have the same cast of yammering idiots, AKA experts, sitting there grinning like hyena's as they report Armageddon.

When the final 15 minutes hit, will it be faeries or demons?

[Wednesdays]

95. South Carolina, blue?

:wow:

Now, THAT would be something!

[Dr.Phool]

98. I went through Florence, Marion, Mullins, and Loris.

Didn't see a McCain sign until I hit Loris.

However, the state repukes on the Myrtle Beach stations appear to be spending heavily on TV. And they act proud to be Republican. In Florida, they're trying to conceal it.

[AnneD]

110. Texas might suprise folks....

Houston is getting bluer every day. Towns along the coast wipped out, folks homeless. FEMA not doing what it should. Folks suffering and getting angrier every minute.

[mnhtnbb]

103. Looks like might be faeries today--DJIA up 658 with 18 minutes left.

[Coventina]

92. Banking misery engulfs Japan

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5032381.ece

The Japanese banking sector, once considered a safe port in the global deleveraging typhoon, has begun to crumble in the face of stock market crashes and the destructive unwinding of the yen carry trade.

The extent of the crisis emerged this week when the Nikkei 225 Index of Tokyo shares plunged to its lowest level since 1982, briefly breaking the 7,000-point level in a dip that analysts believe with have dire consequences.

The dip triggered a political panic in Tokyo, prompting the authorities to introduce a series of emergency measures aimed at shoring-up the stock market before the carnage unleashes a domino collapse of the nation’s weaker banks.

The plunge in Tokyo shares has been wildly amplified by the worldwide demise of the yen-carry trade – the gambit of borrowing yen cheaply to finance asset buying across the globe. The trade was a favourite of precisely the kind of hedge funds and speculators now hastily stampeding out of risk for the supposed safety of cash.

[specimenfred1984]

99. I just made a huge purchase:

[AnneD]

106. As long as you....

CYA....cover your assets

[gopbuster]

123. LOL....put on your big boy pants if you want to run with the big dogs!

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

100. Pretty good sized rally going on

Must be the buzz of another rate cut.

[antigop]

101. IMF has six days to "save Pakistan"

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1d44428c-a4e2-11dd-b4f5-000077b07658.html

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister, warned on Tuesday that there was less than a week to prevent a full-blown financial crisis in Pakistan, as Islamabad said it expected to strike a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund in a day or two.

Speaking in Islamabad, Mr Steinmeier called on the IMF to save the nuclear-armed country from bankruptcy by extending an “appropriate loan”.

“I hope the decision will be taken soon. It won’t help to have it in six months, or six weeks. Rather, we need it in the coming six days,” he said after meeting Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Shortly after he made his remarks, a Pakistani official told the Financial Times that negotiations with the IMF were “in the final stages” and that the government expected agreement on a letter of intent with the Fund “within one or two days”.

[Robbien]

102. I can't really figure this out, on financial advisor bonuses

How do some Merrill Lynch financial advisors feel about the retention packages being offered by Bank of America? "Insulted."

The problem isn't with high-flying producers bringing in at least $1.75 million in annual revenues. Those employees will most likely get 100 percent of their annual revenue as a retention bonus, spread out over seven years. The bad feelings are among those making less. A financial advisor producing $700,000 in revenues is being offered $175,000 in cash over seven years and a 25% growth bonus over three years. Manis says that same producer could get a lot more defecting to a competitor—"around $850,000 in cash on about a 9 year deal plus another $700,000 or so back end bonuses (after one to two years)."

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27405771

An advisor who brings in at least $1.75m in revenues gets to keep it. Gets to keep it and still bring home a salary on top of that. Huh?

Where does the investment firm then get its profit? If the revenue belongs to the advisor, is the investment firm still leveraging the original revenue in this market? or what? Firms other than Merrill are paying all their advisors the entire revenue they bring in.

What doesn't scream fraud and corruption here?

[54anickel]

104. White House tells banks to stop hoarding money

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081028/financial_meltdown.html

Tuesday October 28, 3:27 pm ET
White House tells banks getting federal aid to quit hoarding money and start lending it

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An impatient White House served notice Tuesday on banks and other financial companies receiving billions of dollars in federal help to quit hoarding the money and start making more loans.

"What we're trying to do is get banks to do what they are supposed to do, which is support the system that we have in America. And banks exist to lend money," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Though there are limits on how much Washington can pressure banks, she noted that banks are regulated by the federal government.

"They will be watching very closely, and they're working with the banks," she said.

Anthony Ryan, Treasury's acting undersecretary for domestic finance, made the same point in a speech in New York before financial executives.

"As these banks and institutions are reinforced and supported with taxpayer funds, they must meet their responsibility to lend, and support the American people and the U.S. economy," Ryan told the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. "It is in a strengthened institution's best financial interest to increase lending once it has received government funding."

more...

[TalkingDog]

105. Holy Cow! 700 points

wait...ummm....




there, that's better

[Roland99]

109. Closing up just under 900pts! almost 11%!

wtf happened?

[specimenfred1984]

111. I found incredible bargains using my numbers!

You know, numbers like the worst consumer confidence ever, businesses that are corrupt and would go under without 100s of billions in bailouts, the best news ever!

[54anickel]

115. Heh-heh, I think the first one will prove to be the correct choice this market story is just as full

of bullsh...er I mean holes.

[abelenkpe]

108. Plus 890?!

Is that right?

Weeeeeeeee! Happy days are here again. I'm off to buy a bunch of crap I can't afford. :)

(edited smiley)

[Wednesdays]

117. I'm with you! Grabbin' my VISA card and heading out the door

Wal-Mart's only a few miles away.

:crazy:

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

112. Huge rally followed by a huge selloff?

I wonder...

[ramapo]

113. Who knows. It is quite a show

The market is manic-depressive. How else can you describe it? The day-to-day swings are rather meaningless but are fun to watch, like watching a demolition derby. I don't take any of it too seriously at this point. I'm just happy to have a lot in bonds.

[specimenfred1984]

114. I'd describe it as corrupt as hell, propped up by a fascist gov't of criminals

who will steal every last cent every American has left if they aren't jailed. But nobody ever listens to me so I'll just keep posting pics of undypants!

[TalkingDog]

116. I listen to you. You make me laugh.....

So here's one for you.

[gopbuster]

119. Youngun! Have faith! What goes around comes around ...they will eventually get theirs

Nice technical bounce today.....might even get a good follow through.

[specimenfred1984]

133. It's very odd how you ignore corruption and worship numbers

Very occult-ish. This market is being manipulated by criminals, not logically traded by computers and mathematicians. This is the LAST time I'll tell you.

[gopbuster]

136. Ok nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

137. ....and they've been give a macro bonus in the form of the bail-out.

[ozone_man]

128. I listen.

Market manipulation won't do any good in the long term. It will be what it wants to be, eventually.

[ozone_man]

129. Why not?

Buy on the rumor, sell on the news. It will all be down in another week.

[gopbuster]

118. Overhead resistance it will have to churn through at.....

9280 - 9450 area d trendlines

9889 61.8 fib

10,050 area d trendline

Need a close above 9387 for a real show of strength

Today sets our downside support into the 8150 area near term



Two Great Ladies!

[TheWatcher]

122. I think today can be summed up in 3 Words.

Based. On. WHAT? :wtf: Nothing else to say really. Putting on a show for anyone in the masses who is more concerned about feeling good and having their perception managed than living in reality.

That being said the Futures have opened -66.

The idiots who ran this up today had better pray they get some short term follow through or this is going to look a lot like 1930.

[gopbuster]

124. Still not out of the woods yet......MM's are sitting on a lot of shares all the way down from 14,000

It's strictly technical supply and demand dynamics to run it back up. A 13 day stretched downside. I'm pretty sure it will still keep cycling on the technicals for another approx 15 day stretch, probably favoring the upside coil until it has to cycle back down.

Just have to watch it day by day see if it shows signs of gaining momentum.

We'll see, you are right, the overhead resistance areas will be an issue to get through.

[gopbuster]

127. Watcher...the other way I'm looking at this is by looking at the 200 month ma

We have come down along way from the peak down to the 200 simple ma. Also, a total wash out is at the 7100 something at 100% fib.

The 200 mma is like THE PLACE that separates a flat economy and recession or depression - THE threshold. History tells us that in the chart.

Right now, we are only seeing signs of recession or depression into the future and are really technically stretched down to here from the peak as it is - too far too fast. Historically it wont go deep under the 200 mma unless we are really deteriorating to that point. Indications are that it may take a year or so to get that point and we seem to only be in cautionary mode at this point in time.

A good example would be the timeframe between 1966 - 1974 on the chart when we came down and touched the the 200 mma rallied back up and never came down to go under it until in 1974. Fundamentally it may not be exactly the same BUT you can see how it is hard to get it too far down too fast and until we actually go into severe recession or depression it will be hard for it to go under and stay under...DEEP. It will have to work it's way down in incremental cycles so that the MM's don't take severe losses and supply and demand dynamics work in oversold/ overbought cycling.

So, we have the 200 mma and then below that we have the uptrend line from 1932 low up across the low at 1982 which we don't intersect with that in a normal work down for maybe a couple or few more years out in the 5000- 6000 range. Right now it sits in the 3500 area. For it to fall to that line now is just too much too fast, the powers that be and MM's aren't going to let that happen unless we really are going into severe depression, like right NOW.

We are coming out of earnings season now and the technicals may take the reigns for a while.

Here is the Java charting I'm using for pulling up the 200 mma and drawing the tline from 1932-1982 and extended. And we are pushing on the string called the 200 mma pricewise.

http://www.prophet.net/analyze/javacharts.jsp

Fundamentally, even though signs of slowing in the economy is starting to rear it's head, companies will be trimming back, merging and consolidation, leaning out which may help to hold support as well.

Just some thoughts and another way of looking at it in a historical and technical perspective.

[gopbuster]

130. EDIT:

to

And "we are" pushing on the string called the 200 mma --pricewise.

[gopbuster]

121. A couple other possible downside support areas....

8408 200 month simple moving average (msma)

8702 200 month exponential moving average (mema)

[gopbuster]

131. "8408 200 month simple moving average (msma)" I'm having a hard time seeing

It's hard to read on the chart I'm using it may edit to 8468

close enough area

[ozymandius]

125. The Close: Compensating for miserable failure sure is expensive.

This was because of bargain hunting? :wtf:

Dow 9,065.12 Up 889.35 (10.88%)
Nasdaq 1,649.47 Up 143.57 (9.53%)
S&P 500 940.51 Up 91.59 (10.79%)
10-Yr Bond 3.82% Up 0.091
NYSE Volume 7,063,489,500
Nasdaq Volume 2,817,125,500

4:20 pm : A volatile session gave stock market bulls something to cheer about, with the Dow surging 889 points on Tuesday, as bargain hunting and short-covering offset the weakest consumer confidence reading on record.

The S&P 500 rose 3.9% shortly after the opening bell, buoyed by strength in overseas markets. The index then fell to a loss of 0.4% due to the bearish consumer confidence news, only to rally into the close at session highs with a gain of 10.8%.

Strength was broad-based with all ten economic sectors posting a gain of at least 7.5%.

Retailers rallied 13.6%, with Target (TGT 38.44, +5.75) gaining 11.7%. Pershing Square Capital Management shared ideas with Target related to an alternative ownership structure of Target's real estate. The consumer discretionary sector rose 13.1%.

The energy sector rose 11.9%, lifted by better-than-expected results at Occidental Petroleum (OXY 49.77, +7.69) and Valero Energy (VLO 16.83, +1.72). The sector also received an indirect boost from BP (BP 45.52, +6.37), which posted stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue growth.

On a related note, the materials sector climbed 12.6%, aided by better-than-expected earnings at U.S. Steel (X 32.25, +4.43)

Boeing (BA 48.85, +6.49) climbed 15.3% after it reached a four-year tentative labor agreement with its striking machinist union. The union, Boeing's largest, has been on strike since the beginning of September due to disagreements on compensation, benefits and job security. The industrials sector rose 10.0%.

In overseas trading, Asian markets rallied with Japan's Nikkei closing up 6.4% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng surging 14.4%. European stocks rose 2.3%. Germany's DAX surged 11.3% as Volkswagen spiked 81.7%, marking a two-day gain of 348% due to a short-covering fueled rally after Porsche said it was increasing its stake in the automaker on Sunday.

The gains in Volkswagen sparked some volatility in the U.S. market, with Goldman Sachs (GS 94.59, +1.71) dropping as much as 11% on speculation that it was exposed to Volkswagen short positions. CNBC reported Goldman's sources said the company had no significant losses related to Volkswagen. The financial sector rose 12.5%.

In economic news, it was expected that consumer confidence would fall in October given the recent market turmoil, but the severity of the decline was not anticipated. Specifically, consumer confidence plummeted 23.4 to 38.0 in October, according to the Conference Board's survey. This was worse than the expected reading of 52.0. It marks the lowest level on record, which dates back to 1967.

August home prices in 20 major metro areas fell 16.6% year-over-year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, which matched expectations. Home prices have fallen on a year-over-year basis for 20 straight months.

In currency trading, the dollar soared 4.1% against the yen after reports indicated that the Bank of Japan is considering cutting its benchmark interest rate to 0.25% from 0.50%.DJ30 +889.35 NASDAQ +143.57 SP500 +91.59 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1934/2.77 bln/862 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2504/1.73 bln/624

[Demeter]

126. Today The Most Expensive Gas Station Dropped Prices 30 cents between 9:30 and 5 pm

This is the October surprise? Run down the gas price, run up the market? Well, that's not going to resurrect McCain-Palin, I'm sorry.

Besides, there's not much can be done in 5 days....

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

132. Tomorrow is going to be fugly.

:think:

[54anickel]

135. Lookin' that way in the after hours indicators - numbers to those futures charts

http://money.cnn.com/data/afterhours/

[CatholicEdHead]

138. APM's Marketplace said it went up +700 in the last hour

I was busy all day today so I missed out on the fun. :wtf: I am beyond trying to make sense of all this.

[fedsron2us]

139. Historical List of Dow Days With Biggest Percentage Rises

As a poster pointed out at the Calculated Risk blog

Just add today to this list

Days with Greatest Percentage Gain
Date % Change
03/15/1933 15.34
10/06/1931 14.87
10/30/1929 12.34
09/21/1932 11.36
10/13/2008 11.08
10/21/1987 10.15
08/03/1932 9.52
02/11/1932 9.47
11/14/1929 9.36
10 12/18/1931 9.35

Anyone detect the trend ?

On edit - This piece from the FT blog gives a clue to some of the reasons for the rally


http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/10/28/17543/is-this-the-real-reason-for-todays-equity-market-gains/