STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday July 23

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday July 23, 2010

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON July 22, 2010

Dow... 10,322.30 +201.77 (1.99%)
Nasdaq... 2,245.89 +58.56 (2.68%)
S&P 500... 1,093.67 +24.08 (2.25%)
Gold future... 1,196 +0.50 (+0.04%)
10-Yr Bond... 2.93 +0.05 (+1.74%)
30-Year Bond 3.95 +0.06 (+1.46%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Government Issues:
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Handy Links - Videos:
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    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. no goobermental reports today n/t

[Demeter]

2. Morning Ozy

I feel like I've moved to Venus. The heat and humidity go on and on, night and day, sunny or cloudy or rain. It's the Long Hot Summer, all over again.

[ozymandius]

4. G'morning Demeter.

:donut: :donut: :donut:
Same here. Heat index is expected to be around 105º today. My urban hellhole has become just such a place. Asphalt amplifies heat. I would welcome an early Fall.

[Ghost Dog]

37. So, you're approaching the famous 40ºC

(above your natural body heat).

Cool.

[Demeter]

39. Not Cool. Anything But

[TalkingDog]

88. I sure hope my body temperature is below 104 F. Exactly how hot blooded are you Spaniards anyway?

I know, you are a transplant.....


With the dew point and humidity our today's high of 36C (97F) will feel like 42C (107F). Somebody has coined a term for it: Real Feel Temperature.


Anyway....the upshot....Too Freaking HOT!

[Demeter]

90. It's Too Darn Hot! Cole Porter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlMWW4R1ZBM

[Roland99]

45. That's about every day here in central FL during summer

:)


Oh I can't wait til next spring when we put in a pool!!

[Dr.Phool]

50. I'm going to be in my pool in about an hour.

Mow the grass before the heat gets oppressive. Or the TS hits this evening.

At least on the coast we get the gulf breeze to cool us down.

edit: When you put the pool in, get solar heating panels. The extend your swimming season, and you can keep the temperature just where you want it for most of the year.

[ozymandius]

52. I'm going to be in a pool of my own making in about three hours.

A pool of sweat - that is. Errands need to be done in this oppressive heat.

[AnneD]

63. We get Gulf breezes too...

Dr Phool, but we name ours. We are waiting for Bonnie right now. :evilgrin:

Oh, by the by- Lois is starting to slowly bloom.

[Dr.Phool]

66. She'll be passing by here this evening.

Do you want me to tell her to pick up anything for you on the way there?

[AnneD]

67. I could use....

a shrimp poor boy and a good beer. Can you send some along;)

[Roland99]

70. Oh me oh my-o that sounds good!

[Dr.Phool]

79. Blasphemy!

Fried oysters go on a po boy!

[AnneD]

97. In cajun country.....

you make a poor boy out of anything you can catch to fry.

[Dr.Phool]

85. Stinking up a wedding.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38376749


'Corpse flower' bloom could stink up Texas wedding

HOUSTON — The flower girl at Jessica Zabala's wedding is purple, six-feet-tall, uninvited and smells like dead bodies.

She is Lois, a rare "corpse flower," deemed the world's stinkiest bud.

Lois is unexpectedly blooming in the Houston Museum of Natural Science, in the room right next to where Zabala is marrying Jonathan Smith on Saturday.

"I don't need a florist anymore," Zabala laughs. "I've got Lois."

The flower is an Amorphophallus titanum, which has only ever bloomed 29 times in the United States. It's happened twice in Texas, but never before at the museum's Cockrell Butterfly Center, which hosts about 50 weddings a year.


David J. Phillip / AP
"Lois", a rare "corpse" flower that is blooming at the Houston Museum of Natural Science is shown Thursday, July 22, 2010 in Houston. The flower is an Amorphophallus titanum, which has only ever bloomed 29 times in the United States. It's happened twice in Texas, but never before at the museum's Cockrell Butterfly Center, which hosts about 50 weddings a year. Amorphophalus titanum, uses a dead body smell to attract the insects it needs to pollinate. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

[Roland99]

69. I do intend on the solar heating panels

Going to use a saltwater pool, too. Less maintenance, no chlorine.

Can't wait for my replacement battery for my lawn mower to get in. has to charge for 24 hours and the grass is still growing. Don't want to have to borrow the neighbor's gas-powered beast again.

[ozymandius]

3. Oil stays above $79 on stocks, Gulf storm

SINGAPORE – Oil prices held above $79 a barrel Friday in Asia as stock markets rallied and a storm threatened oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The contract surged $2.74 on Thursday to settle at $79.30, a 10-week high, as stock markets jumped on better-than-expected second quarter corporate earnings. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2 percent Thursday and all major Asian stock markets gained Friday.

Crude had wavered in the mid-$70s this month before Thursday's breakout, suggesting investors have renewed confidence the global economic recovery is on track.

In other Nymex trading in August contracts, heating oil rose 0.43 cent to $2.0667 a gallon, gasoline gained 0.38 cent t0 $2.1504 a gallon and natural gas was steady at $4.645 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

[Demeter]

5. From the Wayback machine: Warning: Capital Controls Are in Your Future

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/10/warning-capital-controls-are-in-your-future.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

When Jim Rogers taught classes at Columbia, he liked to tell students that the US had a proud history of implementing capital controls, and warned them against going on the merry assumption that it would ever and always be easy to make cross-border investments. For instance, taxes on foreign securities transactins are a soft form of control and have been used to facilitate or restrict cross-border capital flows. The US lowered them when it abandoned Bretton Woods in 1971 to aid in adjustment of the price of the greenback.

Despite the hue and cry that we must keep trade and capital flows open, I have long believed that they would be restricted as financial reforms moved forward. The Carmen Reinhart-Kenneth Rogoff work shows convincingly that periods of high international capital mobility are associated with frequent banking crises. They do not assert that the relationship is causal, but I suspect it is. Capital that can move easily across borders is by nature difficult to regulate. It would require a considerable sacrifice of national sovereignity to devise rules and organizations that could do an adequate job of supervision. So a high level of international investment flows means lawless or seriously underregulated financial firms and activities. And we have just seen that this lawlessness eventually exacts unacceptably high costs to the real economy.

Thus, measures to increase stability that will be effective can only take place on a national level, and they further require at least some restriction of cross border flows. But how that would come about remained a mystery to me, hence my silence on this topic. Everyone seems wedded to the prevailing ideology of “fewer international restrictions are better.” Indeed, some have decried how awful it would be if the world were to revert to largely national pools of capital, depicting it as a financial Dark Ages. But would it be a Dark Ages for the economy, or merely for bankers?

Russell Napier in (October, 2009) Financial Times, describes how capital restrictions might come about, and his case is entirely plausible. The interest of high finance are increasingly opposed to those of governments. Capital will want to flee to havens which are not suffering from the need to work off enormous bank rescue costs. But those very same governments will find it necessary to keep funds at home to earn a return to work down those very same expenses. Hence capital controls:

MORE AT LINK

AND WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR THOSE CAPITAL CONTROLS--I THINK GOLDMAN WOULD HAVE TO COLLAPSE FIRST.

[Demeter]

6. Bankers Gone Bad: Financial Crisis Making The Threat Worse

ANOTHER GEM FROM YESTERDAY'S (OKAY, OCTOBER'S) INBOX:

http://www.darkreading.com/insiderthreat/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220301087

Seventy percent of financial institutions in the past 12 months have had cases of insider fraud, new survey says...



A former Wachovia Bank executive who had handled insider fraud incidents says banks are in denial about just how massive the insider threat problem is within their institutions. Meanwhile, the economic crisis appears to be exacerbating the risk, with 70 percent of financial institutions saying they have experienced a case of data theft by one of their employees in the past 12 months, according to new survey data.

Shirley Inscoe, who spent 21 years at Wachovia handling insider fraud investigations and fraud prevention, says banks don't want to talk about the insider fraud, and many aren't aware that it's an "epic problem."

"There needs to be more training around this issue," says Inscoe, who co-authored a book about bank insider fraud called Insidious -- How Trusted Employees Steal Millions and Why It's So Hard for Banks to Stop Them, which publishes later this month. "We are seeing a huge increase in this country of organized crime rings threatening individuals who work in financial institutions and making them ," she says.

Meanwhile, according to a new survey by Actimize, nearly 80 percent of financial institutions worldwide say the insider threat problem has increased in the wake of the economic downturn. "A significant number of folks are being impacted more than a couple of years ago," which is when the last survey was conducted, says Paul Henninger, director of the financial crimes product group at Actimize. The Actimize survey found that only 28 percent of financial institutions had not suffered an insider breach in the past 12 months...

[ozymandius]

8. This issue gets media attention from time to time.

I see a handful getting reported on occasion. These stories are reminders that this kind of theft remains very common. Although the most common issue is taking a little off the top when money is transferred from one hand to the other - most stories over the past three years involve mortgage fraud.

[ozymandius]

7. Crunch time for Europe's banking credibility

MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) – Europe's attempt to restore confidence in its banks comes to a head on Friday with widespread expectation that up to 10 lenders will fail the exam and have to raise capital.

Regulators have been looking at how banks would withstand another recession in an exercise similar to one in the United States last year which helped restore bank sector confidence.

Some 91 lenders from 20 of the EU's 27 countries are involved and results are due at 1600 GMT.

Other analysts looking at which banks might need new capital expect 5-10 banks to come up short on the tests, and some even fewer.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100723/bs_nm/us_banks_stresstest

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The experts I read all say the same thing. The question to be answered today is: "How white the wash?"

[Demeter]

10. Dingy gray at best--Better Get the Bleach!

It might be time to buy some new textiles, though...

[DemReadingDU]

38. Phosphates for laundry

Years ago, laundry detergents were made with phosphates. It is phosphates that seem to keep the whites from turning dingy gray. But phosphates polluted the rivers and lakes, so were banned, I think about 25 years ago.

[Dr.Phool]

64. Think Lake Erie before and after the ban.

Before, at this time of year, it was it big tub of algae. They banned it in fertilizers too.

[DemReadingDU]

86. Grand Lake St. Mary's near Celina, Ohio

was totally shut down this week from an overabundance of algae due to animal waste runoff and fertilizers.
:(

[Demeter]

9. Health gap 'wider than in Great Depression'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10730095

The health inequality gap in Britain is greater than it was during the post-World War I slump and the Great Depression, a study suggests. Despite the continued rise in life expectancy, it is well documented that the gap between richest and poorest has actually been widening in recent years. The researchers analysed mortality data for England and Wales, obtained from the Office for National Statistics, and for Scotland, obtained from the General Register Office for Scotland.

Between 1999 to 2007, for every 100 deaths before the age of 65 in the richest 10th of areas, there were 212 in the poorest 10th.

This compared with 191 deaths in the poorest areas from 1921 to 1930 and 185 deaths from 1931 to 1939....From that period onwards health inequalities started narrowing until the 1970s, the analysis showed. Researchers said this was mainly due to the boom in manufacturing in the traditionally poorer parts of Britain...Lead researcher Professor Danny Dorling said the findings were a "stark reminder" of the challenge facing the nation. "Health and wealth are directly linked and, unless we tackle the income gap, we could well see life expectancy actually starting to fall for the first time in the poorest areas."

AND THE UK HAS SOMETHING APPROXIMATING UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE....

[Demeter]

11. Madoff Trustee Sues 25 Fairfield Greenwich Affiliates

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704684604575381024250819284.html?mod=WSJ_myyahoo_module

The trustee for convicted Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff's firm sued more than two dozen affiliates of Fairfield Greenwich Group and its founding partners late Tuesday, saying they wrongly enriched themselves from the fraud.
The amended complaint, filed by court-appointed trustee Irving Picard, adds 25 Fairfield Greenwich affiliates and 19 individuals as defendants, including Walter Noel and two other founding partners. Mr. Picard previously sued three Fairfield Greenwich hedge funds, which served as feeder funds to Mr. Madoff.
The complaint, filed in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan, alleges the Fairfield Greenwich affiliates and the individual defendants had "actual and constructive knowledge" of Mr. Madoff's fraud and "generally looked the other way" in the interest of profit. Fairfield Greenwich is believed to be the largest feeder to Mr. Madoff.

"The defendants were not victims," the lawsuit said. "They were enablers. They were facilitators. They deepened the pain of Madoff's customers and their own investors. The effect of their actions was a catastrophic continuation of the Ponzi scheme, the worsening of the (Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC's) insolvency and billions of dollars in additional damages."...

The complaint alleges more than $1 billion was transferred from the three Fairfield Greenwich feeder funds to other affiliates as management, performance and administrative fees. Mr. Picard is seeking more than $3.6 billion in damages...In September, the company agreed to pay $8 million to settle civil fraud charges by Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin. The settlement covered about 15 Massachusetts investors who lost money in the scheme.

Fairfield Greenwich said its principals invested alongside their clients and suffered more than $70 million in losses in the Madoff fraud.

[Demeter]

12. The Great Recession is just the beginning

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/21/AR2010072103052.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

Here's a cheery midsummer thought. You know those 15 million unemployed, and that sluggish growth, and the debt hangover and de-leveraging, and those soaring deficits? Well, these woes aren't our biggest economic problems...
The real test for the U.S. economy starts once we get past the fallout from the burst housing and banking bubbles that triggered the Great Recession. And when it comes to that challenge -- which involves preserving U.S. living standards in a world of global competition -- we either (1) don't know what to do, or (2) we do know but seem to have little intention of doing it.

A brief trot through history places this moment in context. After World War II, when the United States was the only economy left standing, we began an unprecedented economic run. "You had a 60-year period where every new industry of huge value-added or breakthrough innovation or high risk -- whether it was pharma, biotech, software, personal computing or semiconductors -- were all totally U.S.-based," Bill Gates said in 2007. The shared prosperity this dominance made possible built the middle class. But the age of U.S. supremacy had to end sometime, and, starting two decades ago, rising powers such as India and China began the reforms that would make them genuine competitors.

From the point of view of humanity, these nations' rise has been fantastic news. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted from poverty, with billions hoping to follow. But for workers in advanced countries, the wage strains were inevitable, as it became feasible to locate more work with low-cost (and, increasingly, high-quality) labor anywhere on the planet. It was at this point in the saga, when research already showed that up to 100 million Americans were living in households earning less than their parents did at a similar age, that -- bam! -- the housing and financial bubbles burst.

Historians may therefore think of the Great Recession as Decline, Interrupted.

The thing to remember is that these are different kinds of events. The bursting bubbles, and the associated market panic and credit freeze, was a heart attack, to which the authorities responded with emergency measures.
But "the fate of the middle class" in a global era is different. It's more like cancer -- a slower yet more profound threat, requiring a fundamental renewal of American competitiveness. And without a galvanizing "emergency."

Broadly speaking, there are two big things we need to do. The first, put well (if not in a sexy slogan) by economist Michael Spence in the Financial Times recently, is "to create capital-intensive jobs that have labor productivity levels consistent with advanced country incomes."

The second big thing is to make sure Americans have the skills to perform these jobs.

How are we doing on this agenda? Dismally. For starters, U.S. elites simply don't think in terms of a national economic strategy of the kind Spence states so simply. To be sure, the stimulus funded some energy technologies with real promise -- advanced storage and lighting technologies, and power conversion devices, for example -- that are poised to lift productivity in these areas dramatically. Such productivity gains can make higher wages sustainable. But we're not yet close to the needed scale of public- and private-sector effort here.

And, in any event, why will firms that can locate work anywhere manufacture these breakthroughs in America? As former Intel CEO Andy Grove argued in Bloomberg Business Week recently, it's not enough to do the product innovation in the United States; we need to do the manufacturing, too. That's the only way, Grove says, to gain the hands-on experience with products that leads to all subsequent innovations. Surrender the manufacturing and you lose this virtuous cycle -- a logic that leads Grove to call for protectionist measures if need be to make sure America keeps this innovation-to-manufacturing-to-good-jobs link here.

SEE CAPITAL CONTROL ARTICLE POSTED ABOVE...

[Demeter]

13. I'm depressed already

Better stop while still able. See you tonight. Anybody got a theme?

[ozymandius]

15. Mister Rogers and the "The Land of Make Believe" perhaps?

Seems appropriate in some cases. I would also be curious what might turn up with Eddie Murphy's parody - Mister Robinson's Neighborhood.

[Demeter]

17. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

I doubt the US would get many takers on that offer, nowadays.

What with needing passports to cross the "Ambassador" bridge for a day trip to Canada, and the big honking "Wall of Mexico", not to mention the severing of Hawai'i from the Union by the Birther Movement (forget Puerto Rico, everyone else has) NOBODY in their right mind would want to be our neighbor now.

Don't even get me started about "homeland security".

[ozymandius]

20. Mister Rogers would have been an intriguing choice for Secretary of State.

His presence could have sucked the vitriol and puffery out of many international pariahs.

[Demeter]

19. Only Make Believe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD1TqO3usP4&feature=related

[Demeter]

23. That's Our Theme--The Mighty Mississippi and "Showboat"

An "internal revue" of the nation from north to south, east to west, past to present (and anyone who is brave enough, or visionary enough, the future).

[ozymandius]

31. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II made a great team.

Quality throughout - especially themes from their age woven into the archaic narrative.

[Demeter]

33. Showboat Marked the Beginning of Serious Musical Theater

And the end of the chorus line / burlesque style of Broadway.

[TalkingDog]

91. Awesome....n/t

[ozymandius]

14. Stocks, U.S. Futures Rise on Earnings, Growth; Pound, Euro Gain

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks rallied for a fourth day, U.S. futures gained and the pound and the euro strengthened as economic reports showed improvement in Britain and Germany, earnings beat analysts’ estimates while concern eased over bank stress tests.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.4 percent at 7:25 a.m. in New York, and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.4 percent. The euro appreciated 0.3 percent against the dollar, and the pound advanced versus its 16 most-traded peers. Copper climbed to a two-month high.

The gain in U.S. futures indicated the S&P 500 may extend yesterday’s 2.3 percent rally. Verizon Communications Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. are also among companies in the U.S. benchmark gauge that are scheduled to report earnings today before the start of trading in New York. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index jumped 1.6 percent.

The euro strengthened to $1.2941. German business confidence unexpectedly surged to a three-year high in July. The Ifo institute said its business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, jumped to 106.2, the highest since July 2007, from 101.8 in June. Economists had expected a decline to 101.5, according to the median of 41 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The dollar weakened against all but two of its most-traded counterparts.

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a276lxFfN21Y&pos=3

[Demeter]

16. ECB chief calls for global tightening

Public spending cuts and tax increases should be imposed immediately across the industrialised world as evidence of a healthy European recovery mounts, according to Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/M9HYDP/GYN7Q/40YNXE/40MV0H/ID/t

[ozymandius]

18. Hungary Credit Rating May Be Cut to Junk at S&P, Company Says

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor’s said it is reviewing Hungary’s credit rating for possible downgrade after the collapse of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and European Union. A cut would give Hungary’s debt a junk rating.

The IMF and EU on July 17 suspended talks with the government without endorsing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s plans to control the budget deficit. The creditors provided Hungary with a 20 billion-euro ($25.9 billion) rescue package in 2008, which has served to reassure investors.

A rating downgrade would raise the cost of borrowing for Hungary at a time when the country is struggling to repair investor confidence after ruling party officials in June compared the country’s economy to Greece. Earlier today, Moody’s Investors Service also put Hungary on review for possible downgrade. S&P rates Hungary BBB-, its lowest investment grade. The Moody’s rating is two steps higher at Baa1.

The IMF suspended its review of Hungary’s emergency bailout because “a range of issues remain open,” the Washington-based lender said in a July 17 statement. The government must make “tough decisions, notably on spending,” to comply with deficit requirements, the EU said.

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWZlF.E0zc2o&pos=7

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This is just 36 hours after the ratings agencies advise bond traders not to use their advice since financial reform legislation was signed into law. Ironically, I wish that Hungary would downgrade S&P's ratings to "junk".

[Demeter]

25. Hungary PM rejects new IMF deal and austerity

Prime Minister Viktor Orban showed no sign of being intimidated by Monday’s sharp sell-off in financial markets, and said the issue of whether Hungary agreed another IMF package after the current one expired was “insignificant
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/M9HYDP/GYN7Q/40YNXE/EWQKX4/ID/t

[Demeter]

42. IMF seeks $250bn boost to lending resources

The International Monetary Fund is seeking commitments by as early as November to boost its lending resources to $1,000bn from $750bn to build safety nets that could prevent financial crises
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/XTZW1Q/T10SH/PRO830/GK9AO8/4O/t

[Dr.Phool]

92. S&P ratings will now come with a disclaimer.

"For entertainment purposes only"

or

"Sold for the prevention of disease only"

[Demeter]

21. Swiss aim to steal EU stress test thunder

Regulators are to publish the results of an exercise Swiss bankers say was ‘twice as tough’ as the EU scenario, which is expected to give a clean bill of health to Credit Suisse and UBS
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/M9HYDP/GYN7Q/40YNXE/YHCGHN/ID/t

[Demeter]

22. Spain halts works projects worth €6.4bn

Madrid is to postpone or cancel 231 public works projects as part of an austerity drive aimed at slashing a budget deficit equivalent to 11.2 per cent of gross domestic product
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/M9HYDP/GYN7Q/40YNXE/3O7COG/ID/t

[Demeter]

35. Santander eyes £3bn UK autumn listing

Santander is gearing up to list its UK operations on the London Stock Exchange as soon as this autumn, in a deal that could raise an estimated £3bn to fund growth by the acquisitive Spanish bank
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/TPC92Z/LSLXF/9ZSPUY/40MO3C/QR/t

[Demeter]

24. Pork sellers stymied by Russian rules

European pork producers suspect that Russia’s health standards exist less to protect consumers than a fledgling domestic industry
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/P75VYY/M9HYDP/GYN7Q/40YNXE/5C52CU/ID/t

[Demeter]

26. GM buys AmeriCredit in $3.5bn deal

General Motors agrees to buy AmeriCredit, a Texas-based vehicle finance company, for $3.5bn in cash
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/9ULF66/9ZQCVI/Q38E1/0GWSMI/TPG1UA/QR/t

HERE WE GO AGAIN--DEFINITION OF INSANITY APPLIES HERE

[Dr.Phool]

47. Just what they need. Sub-prime car loans.

They can sell cars to people who can't pay for them. Just like the real estate tycoons.

I guess that makes them car-toons.

[Demeter]

51. But they made so much money last time doing the exact same thing

because there were fools investors eager for their securitized loans.

[girl gone mad]

80. Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside..

to know that we rescued them so they could get right back to sending jobs off shore and bilking poor people?

[Demeter]

87. And I predict...another Taxpayer Bailout!

Second verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse!

[ozymandius]

54. Heh! Indeedy.

Car-toons. Parodies of themselves, indeed.

[ozymandius]

27. In case you are wondering how irrational are the markets...

Amazon shares tumble despite 41% sales growth

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Amazon shares plunged 13% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company's second-quarter earnings came up far short of analyst expectations.

Amazon's sales are still growing fast: The company had revenue of $6.6 billion in the quarter ended June 30, up 41% from a year ago. Amazon's profit also rose, increasing 45% to $207 million.

Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) said it expects third-quarter revenue to come in between $6.9 billion and $7.63 billion in revenue this quarter, in line with analyst estimates.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/22/technology/amazon_earnings/index.htm

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I've seen this happen too many times over the years. A company posts a healthy profit but analysts want all that and a pony too. Traders retaliate by shorting the stock. How dumb is that?

[Demeter]

34. They Figure It's All Downhill From There

The profits have been skimmed, time to chase another bubble.

[Dr.Phool]

72. Amazon is making some stupid moves.

Especially concerning the Kindle and e-books.

Now, I've bought quite a few books from Amazon, and was considering getting a Kindle. But, if you buy a Kindle, you're married to Amazon. No other e-book formats will work on it. And Amazon e-books won't work on any other e-reader.

My wife bought me a Sony Reader for my birthday, and I love it. I can get books from a lot of sources, including free books from Google. It's great for the gym and travel. But, if I want an e-book, my first instinct is to look at Amazon. But, I can't buy them, because they won't work on my reader.

[ozymandius]

77. Thank you for this information.

I am considering an e-reader for my wife's birthday. The big book chains offer their own versions. My next step is to evaluate each and make a choice that will fit my wishes for both quality and flexibility among content providers.

[AnneD]

98. VHS or BETA......

eight track or cassette; history repeats itself.

[Demeter]

28. Dell settles with SEC over fraud charge

Dell agreed to pay a $100m penalty to settle a fraud charge by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging false accounting based on undisclosed payments from Intel
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/9ULF66/9ZQCVI/Q38E1/0GWSMI/8AX7ZL/QR/t

OF ALL THE INDUSTRIES LEAST IN NEED OF FRAUD TO BOOST PROFITS, I WOULD THINK COMPUTERS....

[Dr.Phool]

73. When are they going to settle for all the bad capacitors in their computers?

[Demeter]

29. India approves sale of Power Grid stake

New Delhi plans to sell stakes in a number of state-owned companies in the coming months to help it reduce one of the widest fiscal deficits in 20 years
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/9ULF66/9ZQCVI/Q38E1/0GWSMI/D4EXWG/QR/t


DON'T DO IT! DON'T SELL THE INFRASTRUCTURE!

[Demeter]

30. AMERICANS FED BIGGEST PIECE OF PUFF PASTRY..

Obama signs bill to overhaul Wall Street
The biggest reform to US financial regulation since the 1930s became law after President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Act at a ceremony in Washington
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/RNOQP0/K91WR/26K9RJ/26Z8HA/N9/t

[Demeter]

32. Morgan Stanley confirms return to form

The bank’s shares rise 6% after better than expected quarterly profits and trading revenues, as investors bet the company would continue to gain ground on rivals
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/TPC92Z/LSLXF/9ZSPUY/XT0LQ0/QR/t

[Demeter]

36. ONGC in BP talks over Vietnam assets

India’s largest oil group is in talks with BP to buy its Vietnam assets and plans to discuss the matter with UK prime minister David Cameron next week
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/TPC92Z/LSLXF/9ZSPUY/C5IMGE/QR/t


SO WAS VIETNAM WAR IN FACT A WAR FOR OIL, A WAR FOR BP? I ALWAYS THOUGHT SO...

IT WOULD FIT THE PATTERN OF US IMPERIALISM

[Festivito]

40. Debt: 07/21/2010 13,237,494,446,894.52 (DOWN 8,504,014,321.78) (Wed)

(Up a little. Good day.)
Day off, Ben returns.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,687,664,673,045.60 + 4,549,829,773,848.92
UP 2,455,391.44 + DOWN 8,506,469,713.22

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 310-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,228.73 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.69, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 the 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)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 13 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,719,624 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 04/09/2010 15:49 -> 309,034,742
Currently, each of these Americans owe $42,740.25.
A family of three owes $128,220.75. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 8,974,587,778.75.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,581,364,371.08.

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$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 201 reports in 294 days of FY2010 averaging 6.61B$ per report, 4.52B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 914 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.5 and 19.3T$.
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)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
07/21/2010 13,237,494,446,894.52 BHO (UP 2,610,617,397,981.44 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,327,665,443,382.80 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,648,292,132,090.89 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
06/30/2010 +077,231,903,487.92 ------------**********
07/01/2010 -006,671,631,742.50 --
07/02/2010 +000,460,030,174.48 ------------********
07/06/2010 +000,075,213,990.44 ------------******* Tue
07/07/2010 +000,013,416,608.65 ------------*******
07/08/2010 +011,830,915,605.93 ------------**********
07/09/2010 -000,134,583,926.15 ---
07/12/2010 -000,143,600,537.54 --- Mon
07/13/2010 +000,353,392,256.51 ------------********
07/14/2010 +000,197,224,468.53 ------------********
07/15/2010 +047,740,634,202.02 ------------**********
07/16/2010 +000,234,726,558.99 ------------********
07/19/2010 -000,002,380,240.85 ----- Mon
07/20/2010 +000,028,467,145.72 ------------*******
07/21/2010 +000,002,455,391.44 ------------******

131,216,183,443.59 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4474185&mesg_id=4474232

[Festivito]

96. Debt: 07/22/2010 13,249,153,625,870.38 (UP 11,659,178,975.86) (Thu)

(Up a lot. Good day.)
Back from Flint and Swartz Creek.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 8,698,302,246,088.76 + 4,550,851,379,781.62
UP 10,637,573,043.16 + UP 1,021,605,932.70

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

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 310-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.23 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,228.66 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.69, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ 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 the 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)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 13 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 309,726,270 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 04/09/2010 15:49 -> 309,034,742
Currently, each of these Americans owe $42,776.98.
A family of three owes $128,330.93. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 9,204,589,921.75.
The average for the last 30 days would be 6,750,032,609.28.

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$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 202 reports in 295 days of FY2010 averaging 6.63B$ per report, 4.54B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 913 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.5 and 19.4T$.
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)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
07/22/2010 13,249,153,625,870.38 BHO (UP 2,622,276,576,957.30 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,339,324,622,358.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof10 +1,657,130,464,952.17 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Linear Projection

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
07/01/2010 -006,671,631,742.50 --
07/02/2010 +000,460,030,174.48 ------------********
07/06/2010 +000,075,213,990.44 ------------******* Tue
07/07/2010 +000,013,416,608.65 ------------*******
07/08/2010 +011,830,915,605.93 ------------**********
07/09/2010 -000,134,583,926.15 ---
07/12/2010 -000,143,600,537.54 --- Mon
07/13/2010 +000,353,392,256.51 ------------********
07/14/2010 +000,197,224,468.53 ------------********
07/15/2010 +047,740,634,202.02 ------------**********
07/16/2010 +000,234,726,558.99 ------------********
07/19/2010 -000,002,380,240.85 ----- Mon
07/20/2010 +000,028,467,145.72 ------------*******
07/21/2010 +000,002,455,391.44 ------------******
07/22/2010 +010,637,573,043.16 ------------**********

64,621,852,998.83 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4475604&mesg_id=4475687

[ozymandius]

41. State-by-State Business Closings, Bankruptcies

Click the image below to see the big graphic at The Big Picture. (BTW - I edited the size of visible graphic from the original and posted it to my own image account.)

[Demeter]

44. Not a Good Indicator (for good times, that is)

Personal observation:

AMD has probably never made a profit (a real one, not a massaged one)--it's kept alive by the military industrial complex, which feels that having some local control over suppliers is a good thing. So I doubt it will go under. If it survived the 70's and 80's, it will survive this....

[ozymandius]

43. Japan – Past the Point of No Return

From The Big Picture again:

Vitaliy Katsenelson presented a very compelling argument that it is not Greece or Spain or Ireland or the USA that is the next major country to drop — its Japan.

These are two of his 25 slides, and they paint a bleak picture of Japan...

Image below linked to TBP.

[Demeter]

46. I really wonder if Japan ever shook off feudalism

They could just be reverting to a comfortable cultural pattern.

[Demeter]

53. Disease takes toll on Japanese beef exports

An epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease has forced Japan to halt most exports of its wagyu beef, famous for its marbled texture, tenderness, flavour and astronomical price
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/XTZW1Q/T10SH/PRO830/A7K6TB/4O/t

AMERICAN BEEF, ANYONE? MAD COW OR NOT?

[Dr.Phool]

55. Foot in mouth disease.

Have Chris Dodd or Joe Biden been to Japan recently?

[Demeter]

48. More Western Vultures Stumped by Chinese Dragon

German industrialists attack Chinese
Two of Germany’s most prominent industrialists have attacked the business and investment climate in China during a meeting with Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier. The criticism comes amid rising discontent among foreign businesses operating in China
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/CTBPCC/XTZW1Q/T10SH/PRO830/WL6JIF/4O/t

CULTURAL INSENSITIVITY HAS BROUGHT DOWN MANY A SCAM

[ozymandius]

49. How HAMP Makes Elizabeth Warren The Only Choice For Consumer Protection » New Deal 2.0

From Naked Capitalism:

Crossposted from New Deal 2.0.

By Mike Konczal, a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute.

No one else has been a stronger advocate for public disclosure. There’s a debate going on about who should be nominated to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the Federal Reserve. One side says Elizabeth Warren, while another says someone from Treasury, likely Michael Barr. At a quick glance you might not see a big difference. As Felix notes, Michael Barr is very strong on consumer finance. But I think Warren would be a far superior choice. There are many reasons why, but I want to discuss a very specific one here that distinguishes her from anyone in Treasury. The biggest: she is a strong critic of HAMP, Treasury’s largest intervention into the massive foreclosure crisis hitting millions of regular Americans, and she demands accountability on behalf of the people.

HAMP As Failure

The Home Affordability Modification Program is widely considered to be a failure. Here is Shahien Nasiripour reporting on the latest numbers from June. They haven’t remotely hit the numbers they projected. Homeowners continue to suffer from a lack of modifications due to servicer problems and the overvaluation of their books. I wrote here about how the creator of the mortgage bond instrument in the early 1980s said in 2007 that a major market failure was coming. There was need for government action.

And Warren Demands Accountability

The Congressional Oversight Panel, lead by Warren, has been in the lead at making information public and bringing the complaints of the people straight to those in power. (It falls under her jurisdiction because HAMP uses TARP money.) When you see the fights on youtube between Warren and Geithner, the biggest ones, the ones that make Geithner cringe the most, it is about how HAMP isn’t working. Click through on that link to watch a video that gets straight to this. She demands accountability from the government and from the banking sector on the single most important issues facing Americans right now.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/07/how-hamp-makes-elizabeth-warren-the-only-choice-for-consumer-protection-»-new-deal-2-0.html

---

The quality really shines throughout this post. I heartily commend it to your attention.

[ozymandius]

56. Straws in the wind at the convenience store: "Welcome to America"

From Correntewire:

There's a chain convenience store near my house, and until I implemented the dreaded lifestyle change and started eating a lot more vegetables and fruit, I used to buy cookies there -- let's say, Pecan Sandies, just to disguise my identity slightly -- all the time. (I know, expensive, but we don't have a lot of stores in town.) So much so that the counter kids and I used to joke about it all the time. "Your Pecan Sandies are in!"

Well, in the last six months or so, the chain got sold to a bigger chain, and the new corporation started making a lot of inventory changes, rearranging the displays, downsizing the packaging, bringing in new people, and all that. And the Pecan Sandies dwindled in their packaging and then disappeared from the shelves entirely.

So, last night, I had the following conversation:

LAMBERT: No pecan sandies. It's like they're taking away everything I want.

COUNTER KID: Welcome to America.

And the counter kid was not a college kid or an irony-drenched hipster, but a gangly, unfashionably stubbled, slow-moving twenty-something from up in the County; this wasn't his throwaway job; this was his job*. Thin, in his ill-fitting, coarsely-stitched red corporate golf shirt. And, needless to say (or not?), we'd never discussed politics.

So Bob Herbert is right:

Employment is the No. 1 issue for most ordinary Americans. Their anxiety on this front only grows as they watch teachers, firefighters and police officers lining up to walk the unemployment plank as state and local governments wrestle with horrendous budget deficits. ...

http://www.correntewire.com/straws_wind_convenience_store_welcome_america

[Demeter]

59. Can I rec this post?

It needs further exposure, too.

[ozymandius]

57. Futures minutes before the bell

S&P +3.80 / +0.35%
Nasdaq +4.00 / +0.22%
Dow +13.00 / +0.13%

http://money.cnn.com/data/premarket/index.html

Blather update from Briefing.com:

A 2% climb in the prior session has stocks heading into Friday's trade with a week-to-date gain of nearly 3%. However, with stock futures chopping along and recently falling under pressure it is uncertain whether this week's gains will be compounded. Moreover, the S&P 500 faces formidable resistance near the 1100 line. Despite that, market participants get some key data when the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) releases results of stress tests on the continent's banks at 12:00 PM ET. There is some concern that the results will be less comprehensive than initially thought. Ahead of the announcement Germany's IFO business climate measure jumped more-than-expected to a three-year high and the United Kingdom posted stronger-than-expected second quarter GDP growth. The latter item has helped send the British pound sharply higher against the greenback, but the euro has recently succumbed to selling so that it now trails the dollar. The action has overshadowed the latest round of earnings results, which have featured better-than-expected bottom lines from Dow components American Express (AXP), Verizon (VZ), McDonalds (MCD), and Microsoft (MSFT) are among the latest to issue announcements. Amazon.com (AMZN) is one notable name that disappointed.

[Demeter]

60. Hold that Line! Hold That Line!

We shall see if they can....

[Demeter]

58. I'm Changing My Name to Fannie Mae

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etUq7IY_7Mc&feature=player_embedded

[AnneD]

61. Morning Marketeers...

:donut: and lurkers. I am posting from deep inside the Indian Territory. I got the correct birth certificates, I think. I will head for the capital this morning. If all goes through, I should be back to see my brother by this afternoon. This action will cut months off the time to get the card. I will be glad to get home frankly. I have many things to do and school will be starting before I know it. Ugh. I am not interested in starting that drama anytime soon-but the larger paycheck and increase to the retirement bottom line will be worth it.

I have been reading during my down times. I have started reading "Financially Stupid People Are Everywhere Don't Be One Of Them" by Jason Kelly. One of the reasons I like him is that he lives out of this country in Japan. He has more of a detachment when viewing thing. This is the same reason I like getting the Washington news from the BBC and the Guardian. It is an easily readable book that explainers much of the current financial crises. I am liking his government of the corporations, for the the corporations. he really lays it out. It is a good book, even though a regular reader here would find few shocks-unlike an economist might :evilgrin. If you are a novice here-it is a good read.

Well, I'm burning daylight so I need to hit the road.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[ozone_man]

74. You said Indian Territory.

Don't you mean Native American Territory? ;)

[AnneD]

99. It was Indian Territory or....

Indian Nation when I grew up. It is still referred to as that in the Rez. I'll spare you the less flattering terms.

[ozymandius]

75. Good morning, AnneD.

I read your detailed post yesterday. The first thing that popped into mind was the bare-knuckled determination you have shown in getting this card. Kudos to you! I salute you and wish you a speedy reward for your efforts.

[Roland99]

95. Good deal on getting the proper paperwork. That must have required some waterboarding or something..

now that that's acceptable behaviour these days....

[Demeter]

62. Kill the Parasites!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoqaMzBK4pc&feature=player_embedded

[Demeter]

65. Jesse's Slapdown from September--How did we Miss THIS?

Obama to Tell the G20 to Fix the US By Changing the World

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2009/09/obama-to-ask-g20-to-change-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JessesCafeAmericain+%28Jesse%27s+Caf%C3%A9+Am%C3%A9ricain%29

When you can't run a state, run for President. When you can't run your country, attempt to run the world.

This directive to the G20 is probably going to make the Organizer-in-Chief's recent pathetic sermonette on altruism and self-denial to Wall Street seem effective by comparison.

Unless he is as prime an example of boobus Americanus as he appears to be by his actions, we suspect that this proposal is intended merely to be a blue sky diversion to a broadly unachievable goal from a genuine agenda for reform and action on the table including regulating bankers' pay, which might be an annoying hindrance to Obama's constituents on Wall Street. It has been estimated that the reforms on the table from Europe, for example, might cut the trading revenues at Goldman Sachs by a third.

What Obama does not say, and perhaps does not realize, is that the majority of the problems that exist in the US's imbalanced trade relationships is the position of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Owning the reserve currency is a significant benefit for your government and financial sectors, but it makes your manufacturing and productive economy the target of every mercantilist command economy around the globe that is by definition hungry for dollars.

SHE FOLLOWS WITH AN ANNOTATED REUTERS PRESS RELEASE THAT WILL HAVE YOU SCREAMING (LAUGHTER OR RAGE, YOUR CHOICE).

[Demeter]

68. THAT'S SOME OPENING!

We need Road Runner sound effects: BOIINGG!

[Roland99]

71. More like a Homer Simpson: "Woo hoo! I mean...DOH!"

[girl gone mad]

76. What happened? (Europe Stress Tests)

I genuinely thought the stress test would be somewhat rigorous and the results would be at least mediocre. That's what I get for having some optimism!

Euro Collapse Drags US Markets Into The Red, As Stress Tests Now Look Set To Flop

The collapse in the euro has brought US markets down with them. After futures were up earlier, the directly is for negative action early on.

According to Bloomberg, via ZeroHedge, the stress tests are going very easy on sovereign debt, and will only presume a haircut if the bonds are held on trading books, not held to maturity, thus ignoring a large risk.

That the stress tests wuld take the easy way out was always a risk. We knew that just the right banks would pass (most of them) and just the right banks would fail (the Spanish Cajas), but a too-perfect stress test makes the whole thing irrelevent.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/euro-collapse-drags-us-markets-into-the-red-as-stress-tests-now-look-set-to-flop-2010-7#ixzz0uVwM8RaO

[ozymandius]

78. EU Stress Tests Only Consider Trading Book Bond Loss (Update2)

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- European stress tests on 91 banks will take into account bank losses only on government bonds they trade rather than those they hold to maturity, according to a draft European Central Bank document.

“The haircuts are applied to the trading book portfolios only, as no default assumption was considered,” according to a confidential document dated July 22 and titled “EU Stress Test Exercise: Key Messages on Methodological Issues.”

The tests will assume a loss of 23.1 percent on Greek debt, 14 percent of Portuguese bonds, 12.3 percent on Spanish debt, and 4.7 percent on German state debt, according to the document obtained by Bloomberg News. U.K. government bonds will be subject to a 10 percent haircut, and France 5.9 percent.

The decision “allows banks to basically underestimate their exposure to distressed peripheral debt,” Brown Brothers Harriman, the New York private bank founded almost 200 years ago, said in a note to clients today. “ By leaving out stress tests on the banking book, then a true picture of bank balance sheets will clearly not be obtained.”

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJGL0mvJhZ_Q&pos=1

---

That's it? Sovereign debt not held to maturity? Jeebus! what does that tell us about everything else that could deep-six a bank?

Whitewash makers are getting so creative these days.

[ozymandius]

81. Zero Hedge: Stress tests are a work of fiction

Confirmation That Only Sovereign Bond Losses On "Trading Books" Will Be Considered Validates Stress Test Irrelevancy

The circus in Europe can't come to an end soon enough. As Zero Hedge posted and speculated previously, according to a draft document, it has now been confirmed that banks will only be tested for sovereign debt exposure just on trading books, not on debt held to maturity. Guess what: about a month ago, all banks almost certainly decided to quietly reclassify their hundreds of billions of sovereign exposure from "trading" to "held to maturity," thus taking advantage of the same FASB 157 accounting abortion that America has gripped tightly on to for almost two years now, as accounting fraud follows the Bernanke Put in going global. If this is supposed to inspire confidence, then the market has truly lost it. As we explained last week, "the haircut will only pertain to trading books. In other words this is Europe's equivalent of FASB 157: everything that banks hold "to maturity" will not see a major haircut, and very likely not see any haircut at all. Which simply means that all European banks that hold such debt will merely reclassify their Greek exposure from trading to a "held to bankruptcy at par" category. The surreality of European banking assets (which as we pointed out previously is a $100 trillion circle jerk where one bank's assets are another bank's liabilities) has now passed well into the twilight zone." In other completely irrelevant news, the micro trading books will see the following haircuts, as presented by Bloomberg.

read more

Edit: There you go: reclassify your asset from "trading" to "hold to maturity" and your liability on holding debt becomes someone else's problem. Banks are strong as long as governments make good on their sovereign debt - by any means necessary.

[Demeter]

89. It's Dead, Jim

[TalkingDog]

93. I'm not some kinda economist, I'm just a Doctor!!!!

He was great.....

[girl gone mad]

82. Cool chart c/o Ritholtz..

The next time someone tries to blame "the government forcing banks to lend to poor people" for the housing boom and bust, ask them to explain this:




http://www.ritholtz.com

[ozymandius]

83. Funny that re: Germany and Japan

These two nations hold dearly onto an export-based economy. Odd, though, that China does not make the chart.

[Dr.Phool]

84. Doesn't include the last 2 years. The worst.

But, the pattern is unmistakable.

Our government forced banks in other countries to sell to poor people too.

[Roland99]

94. 3:20pm - We's all happy now!

Dow 10,415 +93 +0.90%
Nasdaq 2,265 +19 +0.86%
S&P 500 1,101 +8 +0.70%
GlobalDow 1,839 +15 +0.80%
Gold 1,188 -8 -0.64%
Oil 79.06 -0.24 -0.30%