STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday 20 April

[ozymandius]

Thursday April 20, 2006

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 1005 DAYS
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 1946 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 1646 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 1607
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 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.

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON April 19, 2006

Dow... 11,278.77 +10.00 (+0.09%)
Nasdaq... 2,370.88 +14.74 (+0.63%)
S&P 500... 1,309.93 +2.28 (+0.17%)
Gold future... 636.00 +12.70 (+2.00%)
30-Year Bond 5.13% +0.07 (+1.28%)
10-Yr Bond... 5.03% +0.05 (+1.09%)






GOLD, EURO, YEN, Dollars, 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

[ozymandius]

1. WrapUp by Chris Puplava

THE COMING OIL CRISIS

Robert Kiyosaki, author of "Rich Dad Poor Dad," which is the longest-running bestseller on all four of the lists that report to Publisher's Weekly magazine: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and BusinessWeek, published an article on Tuesday entitled, “The Coming Oil Crisis.”

Mr. Kiyosaki remembers the oil shock in 1973 and says to “get ready because those times could return with a vengeance.” He believes that we are heading towards a repeat of the 1973-1974 crises with the following similarities. During the mid-70s oil rocketed from $3 a barrel to more than $35 a barrel while presently, oil was launched from near $10 a barrel in 1998 to a new record of over $71 a barrel. Another similarity between then and now was that we were stuck in the Vietnam War and currently we are stuck in Iraq and now possible talks of war with Iran are heating up.

Mr. Kiyosaki believes that there is a difference between this time around and the 1973-1974 crises. It was a political problem back then and today it’s a problem of increasing demand with diminishing supply as well as a political crisis.

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

[JNelson6563]

21. I would add to that....

It was a political problem back then and today it’s a problem of increasing demand with diminishing supply as well as a political crisis.

Not to mention the brazen-ness of how the Corporate world screws the consumer now. Bush and his "CEO admin." have made all things possible for these greedy bastards and they are making the most of their opportunity.

Julie

[ozymandius]

33. Telling isn't it?

Not only do we see CEO pay outpacing average salaries by thousands of percent these days - we are also affronted by corporate resistance to expense their giveaways. I pity the fools when shareholders are able to acess how much of their dividends are being given away to a handful of executives. That day is nigh.

[AnneD]

36. Morning Marketeers,

:donut: I knew the shit was about to hit the fan when I read the article that said CEO pay was now cutting into company profit. You're right Ozy, some shareholders are making the connection between profit and dividend and realize CEO perks are coming out of their pocket.

Grandma always said that a fat cat is a poor mouser-and she never kept them in the house and feed them precious little 'store bought' cat food. They were suppose to guard the barn and hen house. And her cats never seemed thin to me.

I think some of these CEO's need to be thrown into the barn and start earning their keep.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears....

[durtee librul]

76. Why is it when the poll numbers go down

the gas prices go up?????

[WhiteTara]

97. could be the inverse...prices go up poll goes down n/t

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Reports

8:30 AM Initial Claims 04/15
Briefing Forecast 310K
Market Expects 308K
Prior 313K

10:00 AM Leading Indicators Mar
Briefing Forecast 0.0%
Market Expects 0.0%
Prior -0.2%

12:00 PM Philadelphia Fed Apr
Briefing Forecast 12.0
Market Expects 14.3
Prior 12.3

[UpInArms]

27. Initial Claims Report: 303,000 - last wk not revised

8:29 AM ET 4/20/06 U.S. CONTINUING JOBLESS CLAIMS UP 18,000 TO 2.44 MLN

8:29 AM ET 4/20/06 U.S. 4-WEEK AVG. JOBLESS CLAIMS DOWN 2,250 TO 305,250

8:29 AM ET 4/20/06 U.S. WEEKLY JOBLESS CLAIMS DOWN 10,000 TO 303,000

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B0897784E%2DF8FF%2D432F%2D918A%2D7462CC94D473%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - First-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number of initial claims in the week ending April 15 fell 10,000 to 303,000. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for claims to inch lower by 3,000 to 310,000. The four-week average of initial claims fell 2,250 to 305,250. This is the lowest level since the week ended Feb. 25. Meanwhile, the number of Americans receiving state jobless benefits rose 18,000 to 2.44 million in the week ending April 8. The four-week moving average of continuing claims fell 6,000 to 2.44 million, the lowest since February 2001.

[UpInArms]

28. "many state unemployment offices were closed for a few days"

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=mktw&guid=%7B519604C9-182D-4490-BAED-0AB7CB73F4B1%7D&symbol=

excerpt:

A Labor Department official said many state unemployment offices were closed for a few days last week for spring break.

[AnneD]

37. Now THAT is slick....

keep the new claims numbers down by closing offices. Hope Bushco doesn't get wind of that idea. Imagine, closing the M.A.S.H. units in Iraq to keep death counts lower. The possibilities are endless.

[UpInArms]

39. Leading Indicators Fall - Feb rev'd to -0.5% - March down 0.1%

10:00 AM ET 4/20/06 U.S. FEB. LEADING INDEX REVISED TO DOWN 0.5% VS FALL 0.2%

10:00 AM ET 4/20/06 FIVE OUT OF 10 U.S. LEADING INDICATORS RISE IN MARCH

10:00 AM ET 4/20/06 U.S. MARCH LEADING INDEX BELOW FORECAST OF UNCHANGED

10:00 AM ET 4/20/06 U.S. MARCH LEADING ECONOMIC INDICATORS DOWN 0.1%

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BCBCEC6A2%2D36B7%2D4E99%2DB012%2D0A7F1A9B45DE%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. index of leading economic indicators fell 0.1% in March, the Conference Board said Thursday. This is the second straight monthly decline. "The latest leading indicator readings suggest some slowing in the pace of economic activity through this summer," said Ken Goldstein, an economist for the research group. Five of the 10 indicators increased in March, starting with vendor performance and stock prices. The biggest decliners were building permits and jobless claims. The leading index decreased a revised 0.5% in February, compared with 0.2% fall originally reported. The coincident index rose 0.2% in February and the lagging index rose 0.3%.

[UpInArms]

79. Philly Fed April Index @ 13.2 (below concensus)

12:01 PM ET 4/20/06 U.S. APRIL PHILLY FED BELOW CONSENSUS 14.6

12:01 PM ET 4/20/06 U.S. APRIL PHILLY FED 13.2 VS.12.3 IN MARCH

12:03 PM ET 4/20/06 U.S. APRIL PHILLY FED NEW ORDERS 12.2 VS 20.8 IN MARCH

12:04 PM ET 4/20/06 U.S. APRIL PHILLY FED PRICES INDEX 29.0 VS 17.2 IN MARCH

12:04 PM ET 4/20/06 U.S. APRIL PHILLY FED EMPLOYMENT INDEX 6.2 VS 5.4 IN MARCH

12:19 PM ET 4/20/06 CRRCT: U.S. APRIL PHILLY FED EMPLOYMENT 21.7 VS. 5.4 MARCH

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B94B5870E%2D403E%2D4302%2D9690%2D8F1D787E28B6%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded at a slightly faster pace in April, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported Thursday. The Philly Fed diffusion index rose to 13.2 in April from 12.3 in March. Readings over zero indicate expansion. The increase was below expectations. Economists were expecting the index to rise to 14.6, according to a MarketWatch survey. The new orders index dropped to 12.2 from 20.8, while the shipments index fell to 19.0 from 24.3. Inflationary pressures increased. The prices paid index rose to 29.0 from 17.2, while the prices received index held steady at 15.4.

[ozymandius]

3. Crude Oil Hits Fresh Intraday Record High

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose Thursday to hit a new record intraday high of $72.49 after weekly data showed a drop in U.S. gasoline stocks, raising worries that refiners don't have an adequate inventory cushion ahead of the peak summer driving season.

short blurb

[ozymandius]

5. Oil hits new high above $74 as supply fears persist

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude oil jumped to a fresh record high above $74 a barrel on Thursday after a steep drop in U.S. gasoline stocks fueled fears of tight summer supplies at a time of growing anxiety over Iran's exports.

-cut-

Prices extended this month's blistering run after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected decline in weekly gasoline inventories of over 5 million barrels, a seventh draw that put them nearly 5 percent below last year's level.

"The dwindling stock levels for gasoline is a serious concern, especially... with the U.S. driving season ahead of us," said Tony Nunan, manager of the risk management business at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo.

more...

[ozymandius]

10. Oil Reaches Record as Militants Explode Car Bomb in Nigeria

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a record after a car bomb exploded in the capital of Nigeria's oil-producing region, renewing concern of militant attacks on rigs and pipelines that will disrupt supplies from Africa's largest producer.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, whose assaults have already shut down about a fifth of the country's output, said it detonated a car bomb yesterday at a barracks in Part Harcourt in the Rivers state. MEND struck Royal Dutch Shell Plc's facilities in February and yesterday called for oil workers to leave, threatening further sabotage.

``The car bomb news pushed the price up again,'' said Kevin Blemkin, a broker with Man Financial Plc in London. ``The market is very nervous.''

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=adrJvvNv63Tk&refer=home

[meganmonkey]

34. What the MSM are not telling you about the run up in oil prices

(Hope you guys don't mind me butting in here, I just found this interesting and could think of no other location to post this where other people may find it interesting ;) - And thanks for all your hard work on these threads!!)

What the mainstream media are not telling you about the run up in oil prices
by Jeffrey J. Brown

Why Are Oil Prices up?

Oil prices are up substantially since mid-February. Most of the Mainstream Media (MSM) attribute this run up in oil prices to geopolitical tensions. However, a careful examination of recent supply data provided by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) suggest a different reason--oil importers are bidding against each other for available total petroleum (crude oil + product) imports.

Since the week ending 2/10/06, average daily US net petroleum imports have fallen about 15%, down about two mbpd. Since the week ending 2/24/06, on a smoothed, four week running average basis, average daily US net petroleum imports have fallen about 8%, down about one mbpd. (A comparable time period last year showed about a 2% decline.)

This sharp decline in net US petroleum imports corresponded to the beginning of the recent run up in oil prices.

It is true that we have relatively high crude oil inventories, but note that we don't know what percentage of crude oil inventories consists of heavy, sour crude, which cannot be used in light, sweet crude oil refineries. Also, total product inventories are up only slightly year over year. It is quite possible that building inventories of heavy, sour crude oil have been obscuring falling inventories of light, sweet crude oil inventories.

much more at link...
http://www.energybulletin.net/15126.html

[UpInArms]

40. May Crude @ $72 bbl - May NatGas @ $8.16 mln btus

10:03 AM ET 4/20/06 MAY CRUDE FALLS 17C TO $72/BRL AFTER $72.10 HIGH

10:03 AM ET 4/20/06 JUNE CRUDE DOWN 12C AT $74/BRL AFTER $74.05 HIGH

10:03 AM ET 4/20/06 MAY NATURAL GAS TRADES AT $8.16/MLN BTUS, DOWN 3.2C

[Ghost Dog]

4. Central America eyes sweet alternative to oil

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID=2006-04-20T094436Z_01_NOA034882_RTRUKOC_0_FEATURE-ENERGY-CENTAM.xml

SAN ANTONIO SUCHITEPEQUEZ, Guatemala (Reuters) - At the Palo Gordo refinery two hours' drive south of Guatemala City, a Brazilian-designed ethanol processing plant hums next to decades-old machinery turning freshly cut cane into sugar.

The plant is part of a new push across Central America to reduce the region's reliance on expensive imported oil by following the example of Brazil, Latin America's alternative energy powerhouse.

Sugar-producing countries are looking to ethanol to breathe new life into the decades-old sugar industry. The fuel, also known as ethyl alcohol, is made from a sugar by-product and then mixed with gasoline to reduce pollution and lower prices.

"Sugar cane has changed its name," said Erick Perez, who manages alcohol processing at the Palo Gordo plant. "Now we call it 'energy cane,'" he said, showing off the three-storey ovens that burn cane fibre to generate all the electricity used by the refinery.

/more...

[ozymandius]

13. Good morning Ghost Dog and all.

:donut: What a great story. It leads me to believe that the next several decades will show central and south American nations to be leaders for innovative solutions to common problems.

[Ghost Dog]

15. Some more on sugar:

('Morning Ozy, all)

Commodity Futures Price Quotes For NYBOT Sugar#11;

FAS oline, Horticultural & Tropical Products Division: Production Supply and Distribution Data Update Schedule for 2006;

"FAO forecast for 2005/06 shows world sugar consumption to surpass production, for the third consecutive year, despite expected record production in Brazil. Growth in consumption is largely driven by rising demand in developing countries, particularly in the Far East and Latin America. This forecast of a supply deficit is expected to contribute to firmer prices in 2005/06, after a 35.5 percent increase in 2004/05." - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Sugar Commodity Note

...Follow such commodities daily eg. here: http://today.reuters.com/investing/Commodities.aspx

(Haven't found a chart yet. Anyone?)

In solidarity,

GD

[ozymandius]

6. Home loan demand down as rates hit new highs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mortgage applications fell for a second consecutive week, led by a decline in demand for home purchase loans, as interest rates reached new multiyear highs, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity for the week ended April 14 decreased 1.7 percent to 569.6 from the previous week's 579.4.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.56 percent, up 0.06 percentage point from the previous week, its highest level since the week ended June 7, 2002 when it reached 6.65 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the industry benchmark, is also above last year's high of 6.33 percent, reached in the week of November 11 after climbing on and off from a 2005 low of 5.47 percent in June.

more

[ozymandius]

7. US (surprised) economists unfazed as housing figures cool

US homebuilders broke ground on fewer new homes than expected in March, adding to indications that the housing market may be losing momentum.

-cut-

There was also a fall in building permits, down 5.5 per cent to a 12-month low.

Economists warned against reading too much into the figures, however. The level of housing starts is still only just below the level in December. High Frequency Economics, a group that provides daily economic analysis, said that housing starts might have been artificially high this winter due to warmer weather, leading to fewer disruptions to building. As a result the early spring may be appearing weak in comparison.

more

[UpInArms]

18. Fed's Fisher says U.S. can weather housing slowdown

http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=uri:2006-04-19T230921Z_01_N19236867_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-FED-FISHER-UPDATE-2.XML

BUENOS AIRES, April 19 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy can handle a housing slowdown and that oil-price pass-through to inflation had been manageable.

"We still feel that other factors are propelling the economy and that we can weather this sell-off in certain areas of house prices, because there are other factors in our economy that are strong," he told reporters after delivering a speech at the Central Bank of Argentina.

U.S. house prices have been red-hot, but are now flagging in some areas and economists believe that this is essential to keep U.S. growth at a sustainable pace which does not spark inflation, triggering Fed rate hikes.

<snip>

"We are in something of a sweet spot. The economy continues to grow. So long as we continue doing our job, the pass-through to broader inflation of these oil prices in particular has been manageable," he said.

Brent oil hit a record $74 a barrel on Wednesday on fears Iran's mounting dispute with the west may hit supplies, while U.S. crude oil rose past $72, also a record.

Fisher, who is not a voting member of the Fed's policy-setting committee this year, said in his speech that productivity gains, spurred by globalization, have helped keep inflation at bay and hence U.S. interest rates low.

...more...

:puke:

"Sweet spot"?????

[ozymandius]

8. Bernanke Warns About Risks From Deficits

WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is warning anew of the potential risks to the economy posed by persistent and large trade and budget deficits.

Bernanke's comments came in a written response to questions on these matters by Rep. Brad Sherman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif.

The United States racked up a $723.6 billion trade deficit last year, the fourth in a row where the annual shortfall set a record.

"Although U.S. trade deficits cannot continue to widen forever, these deficits need not engender a precipitous decline in the dollar, nor should such a decline, were it to occur, necessarily disrupt financial markets, production or employment," Bernanke wrote in a letter released Wednesday.

more

[ozymandius]

9. Tax cuts don't wholly pay for themselves: Bernanke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said tax cuts can spur greater economic activity and boost economic efficiency, but generally do not wholly pay for themselves.

"Tax cuts that reduce marginal tax rates will likely improve the efficiency of the economy and boost overall economic activity," Bernanke said in an April 18 letter to Rep. Brad Sherman (news, bio, voting record).

more

[ozymandius]

11. IMF Sees U.S. Budget, Trade Deficits as Risk Factors

WASHINGTON — Clearly irritating U.S. economic officials, the International Monetary Fund faulted the United States on Wednesday for its budget and trade deficits and its failure to provide universal health insurance, predicting that the dollar would inevitably decline in value against the world's other currencies.

In its semiannual report on the world economic outlook, the IMF painted a generally rosy picture, with the global economy growing by 4.9% in 2006.

But the IMF, which was established in 1944 to come to the aid of distressed national economies, said "global imbalances" loomed as risks to that scenario. Among the imbalances, it singled out U.S. budget and trade deficits.

more

[ozymandius]

12. Ford Probably Will Report a Profit Decline as SUV Sales Drop

April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. probably will report a decline in first-quarter earnings tomorrow after sales of sport-utility vehicles slumped and its U.S. market share shrank.

Ford's profit excluding one-time costs was 30 cents a share, Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache estimated in an April 10 report. On that basis, Ford's profit a year earlier was $1.26 billion, or 62 cents. Lache is one of two analysts covering the automaker who received Starmine Corp.'s highest rating of five stars.

The results will provide the first financial scorecard for Chief Executive Officer William Clay Ford Jr., 48, since he outlined plans in January to close 12 plants and cut 30,000 jobs in the next six years. He's also reassigning executives while struggling to restore North American profits and stem a 10-year slide in U.S. market share. It's the second restructuring led by the great-grandson of Ford's founder in his five years as CEO.

``With Ford it's simple: They're entirely too dependent on large SUVs and trucks, and they've neglected their cars,'' said Dennis Virag, president of the Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ``That's showing up in sales as the price of gas goes up.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=asBL_jzaUNrc&refer=us

[UpInArms]

20. GM Reports First Quarter Loss of $323 Million

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B03F8725D%2D1928%2D4C59%2DA01D%2D66B4552951CB%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - General Motors Corp. (GM 20.57, -0.01, 0.0% ) reported a first-quarter loss Thursday of $323 million, or 57 cents a share, narrower than the year-ago loss of $1.3 billion, or $2.22 a share. The automaker's 2006 first quarter included a $681 million, or $1.20 a share charge for a healthcare settlement for its retired workers. GM said special items included a $206 million, or 37 cents a share gain, including its sale of stake in Suzuki. It said its adjusted loss, excluding the health care charge but including the special items, was $529 million, or 94 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call forecast a GM loss, on average, of 44 cents a share on sales of $39.4 billion. Detroit-based GM said sales rose 14.1% to $52.2 billion.

[UpInArms]

14. daily dollar watch

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

Last trade 88.13 Change +0.16 (+0.18%)

Will the ECB Verbally Intervene in the Euro?

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/dailyfx_reports/daily_fundamentals/Market_So_Bearish_Dollars_that_1145484244524.html

US Dollar

The market has wholeheartedly turned bearish US dollars as we mark its third consecutive day of weakness against all of the major currencies except for the Japanese Yen. Even a dose of stronger consumer prices failed to halt the dollar’s massive slide. Big continuation moves was not unique to dollar today as we saw oil prices make another record high while gold prices made a fresh 25 year high. Inflation remains a force to contend with as headline consumers prices rise by 0.4 percent in the month of March, which was right in line with expectations. Core prices accelerated slightly more than expected by 0.3 percent, indicating that companies have been able to pass more of their rising costs onto consumers. Inflation is expected to continue to move higher in the coming months thanks to the recent surge in oil, which will keep the Federal Reserve hawkish. However as we have mentioned yesterday, the Fed will probably limit themselves to one or two more interest rate hikes as they become more concerned about whether the US will be able to sustain its current pace of expansion. Confirming this notion were more comments from FOMC member Yellen, who has recently been vocal dove. She warned against placing too much importance on one month’s change in annualized CP today, which remained steady at a lofty 2.1 percent against market expectations for a small tick down to 2.0 percent. Yellen also reiterated her belief that the Fed is close to the end of their tightening cycle which is really what the market is focusing on at this point. The more dovish Fed minutes released yesterday has set the tone for the week and possibly even the quarter. Tomorrow’s leading indicators and Philly Fed report will probably help the dollar little. At this point, even if we do see a relief rally in the dollar, sentiment has turned so significantly and based upon fundamentally sound reasons that it will take a major shift in the Fed or Iran’s stance on nuclear development to save the dollar.

...more...

US Dollar Attempting a Comeback

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/dailyfx_reports/daily_technicals/US_Dollar_Attempting_a_Comeback_1145528046320.html

EUR/USD – The euro rallied for the third time in as many days, stalling just below the 1.2400 figure. Short term prospects favor consolidation / pullback as hourly oscillators show negative divergence on the last two highs at 1.2368 and 1.2393. Since the 1.3667 top in December 2004, there have been 3 major euro counter rallies with this one being the fourth. The past three were rallies of 613, 724, and 683 pips each. Placing the low at 1.1825 and assuming anywhere from a 600 to 700 pips rally, we can predict a possible top within the 1.2425-1.2525 zone, which is fortified by the 8/12/05 and 9/2/05 highs of 1.2485 and 1.2588 and the intersection of time and a line from the 1.3667 high and 3/14 high at 1.3477. Still, this rally comes off of the completion of an inverse head and shoulders, suggesting that the bigger long term moves are to the upside.

<snip>

USD/JPY – The greenback put up a fight against the Yen, holding its long term supporting trendline originating in May 2005. As a result, the consolidation that began in early February persists and the possibility of an upside break from the ascending triangle remains. Key levels remain the long term supporting trendline and the flat resisting line from the ascending triangle near the 4/11 high of 118.87. The ability of the pair to hold the supporting trendline certainly lends a bullish appearance to the chart. Conditions remain range bound until a daily close below/above one of these levels.

...more...

[UpInArms]

17. BOJ Muto:To end funds mop-up within several months

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-04-20T055401Z_01_TKV002638_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-JAPAN-BOJ-DEPOSITS.XML

TOKYO, April 20 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan can finish mopping up the excess funds it supplied to the banking system under its super-easy monetary policy within several months, Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto reiterated on Thursday.

"It's highly likely we will be able to reduce the current account deposits to legally required levels within several months," Muto told a parliamentary committee.

The BOJ abandoned its super-easy monetary policy on March 9, switching from a policy of flooding the banking system with excess money to a more conventional policy of controlling interest rates.

[54anickel]

68. Negative Momentum for Dollar Grows (Today's Phenning)

http://www.kitcocasey.com/displayArticle.php?id=670

Good day... Well... 3 in a row... That's what we've had... 3 days of wild currency trading in a row... This is great! There's volatility... There's volume... And at the end of the day, there's victory for the currencies vs. the dollar! I had said previously that the 2nd half of the year held promise for a return to the weak dollar trend... A few more days of dollar weakness and I'll have to move that item up on the agenda!

OK... The euro did almost take out the 1.24 level yesterday, trading up to 1.2395... So much for that "strong resistance at 1.2370," eh? While there was some finality to the Italian election outcome, the real reason for this strong move is negative vibes for the dollar in the market place right now... It just doesn't feel good to own the greenback right now, the dollar's negative momentum is really in swing...

So... Having said that... The euro and other currencies have given back a bit of their lofty gains from yesterday afternoon, on the thought that the Philadelphia Fed Index is going to show Manufacturing in that region was strong... OK... When was the last time you saw or heard of the markets making bets on the dollar based on the Philly Fed Index? They're reaching for straws right now... Tim Fox, a currency strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said... "Today's data could be a reminder that growth is still strong in the U.S. and that could support the dollar, but I can't see the dollar hanging on to gains beyond today though because people are so bearish at the moment."

We also had some hawkish statement by Fed Head Yellen that inflation is at the "upper end of her comfort zone."

snip>

Jim Rogers talked about the dollar, too... Here's a snippet... "The U.S. dollar is in the process of losing its status as the world's reserve currency, sterling went down 80% from top to bottom (when it lost its status as the world's reserve currency), the U.S. dollar's going to go down a lot in the next decade or so."

OK... Before the Philly Fed Index today, we'll also see the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, which ticked back above 300k in March and has stayed there... In addition, we'll also see Leading Indicators for March... In February this index went negative, and March's number is expected to be flat... I don't see signs of U.S. economic strength here, do you?

more...

Personally, I don't think we have a decade before the buck losses it's reserve status. Guess it depends on how long they can keep the games up - I think they're running out of moves.

[UpInArms]

16. Earthlink net income falls 51%

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B33DB7609%2D8F2C%2D4645%2D9A91%2D06D248C0D255%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Earthlink (ELNK 9.26, +0.07, +0.8% ) on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $16.4 million, or 12 cents a share, down from $33.3 million, or 22 cents a share in the year-ago period. Revenue fell to $310 million from $335 million. Income from operations fell to $20 million from $37 million. A survey of analysts by Thomson First Call forecast earnings of 8 cents a share and revenue of $311 million. The company forecast revenue of $1.33 billion to $1.38 billion for 2006, ahead of the Wall Street forecast of $1.26 billion. For the second quarter, Earthlink sees net income of break-even to $5 million, including an expected loss of $20 million for losses in the Helio wireless joint venture. First Call is forecasting net income of $11.6 million.

Hmmm.... It looks like others abandoned Earthlink along with you, Ozy :)

[UpInArms]

19. Gold, silver at new peaks on dollar, Iran

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060420/bs_nm/markets_precious_dc

LONDON (Reuters) - Aggressive speculative buying supported by firm oil and a weaker dollar stirred precious metals markets, with gold hitting a 25-year high, silver spiking to a 23-year peak and platinum jumping to a new record high.

But gains were pared by midday amid a light sell-off, and analysts said the metals were becoming vulnerable to sharp corrections.

"Speculators and investors have the precious metals market in their tight grip and are just forcing prices higher," Robin Bhar, analyst at UBS Investment Bank, said.

"It's a desire across the commodities sector to have strong returns. High prices attract more buying, more buying pushes prices higher. It's a virtual circle."

Spot gold touched $645.75 an ounce, its highest since November 1980, before moving to $638.40/639.20 by 1100 GMT. It closed in New York at $633.70/634.50 on Wednesday.

<snip>

"With no sign of any resolution to the Iranian nuclear standoff, talk of possible sanctions and military response, unrelenting investor interest in the safe-haven asset is likely to drive prices higher still," Standard Bank said in a note.

...more...

[Ghost Dog]

23. "It's a virtual circle"

Did the stenographer intend to say "virtuous", "vicious", or what kind of cycle?

[54anickel]

47. Middle classes put their faith in golden Maos

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/04/18/lmao17.xml

snip>

Following a year of continually rising prices, gold hit a record high of $600 (£340) an ounce last week and many Chinese are keenly aware of how best to save and invest the money that they have earned from the new economy.

Still banned from investing directly in the gold markets, they instead buy golden ornaments on sale in jewellery sections of the big state-owned department stores. Among them are rows of Mao statuettes, Mao lapel badges and Mao medallions, from £55 for a small one with 5 grams of gold, to £260 for one with 22 grams.

Those who have enough Maos and can afford £1,500 can buy “Ten Marshals” presentation boxes, each containing ten medallions depicting the great generals of China's Communist revolution.

Those observing more traditional beliefs can buy Buddhas, gods, and ingots in an annually published series showing the year's animal from the Chinese zodiac.

"In the first quarter of this year, sales rose 35 per cent compared with same period last year," said Li Xiang, marketing manager for Caishikou Department Store in Beijing. "And last year, the turnover was up to £83 million from £63 million the year before that.

more...

Somehow I don't think "Capitalism" is going to go over real well in a country that pushes Little Tin Gods of Communism. :shrug:

Anyone remember the Don Henley tune:

A new age is dawning
On fewer than expected
Business is usual
That’s how the headline read
Some shaky modern saviors
Have now been resurrected
In all this excitement
You may have been misled
People want a miracle
They say oh lord, can’t you see us?
We’re tryin’ to make a livin’ down here
And keep the children fed
But, from little dark motel rooms
To six flags over jesus
How are the mighty fallen
So the Bible said

You don’t have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, you might fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god

The cowboy’s name was jingo
And he knew that there was trouble
So in a blaze of glory
He rode out of the west
No one was ever certain
What it was that he was sayin’
But they loved it when he told them
They were better than the rest

But you don’t have to pray for a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might hate to system, hate the job
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god

Throw down a rope from heaven
And lead the flock to water
The man in the middle would have you think
That you have no other choice
But to wander in the wilderness
Of all the upturned faces
If you stop and listen long enough
You will hear your own small voice

But you don’t have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
You never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god

[Ghost Dog]

54. Well, no, but

this reads like something Natalie Portman could sing

very well.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

55. Not So Hot A Thursday For Metals

Gold is down over $20, and Silver is off almost $1.50. That's actually fine by me, as I've needed an opportunity to pick up some more.

[UpInArms]

58. June Gold @ $612.50 oz - May Silver @ $12.50 oz - May Copper @ $2.85 lb

10:55 AM ET 4/20/06 JUNE GOLD DROPS $23.50, OR 3.7%, TO $612.50/OZ IN NY

10:55 AM ET 4/20/06 MAY SILVER SINKS $2.022, OR 13.9%, TO $12.50/OZ

10:55 AM ET 4/20/06 MAY COPPER DOWN 10.95C, OR 3.7%, TO $2.85/LB

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

61. Man....I'm Glad That I Know Better

Thanks to many dumb decisions over the years, and also because I get great insight and discussion from the intelligent people here at DU and SMW, I've been able to exercise some restraint.

As I watched the prices going skyward....which I knew they would....I began to get greedy, and wish that I had purchased more, and each day I began to itch a little more, almost to the point where I was set to jump in at prices which were clearly too high.

Thankfully, I didn't. I was hoping for, and now see materializing, a cooling in prices of metals, so I can now hopefully pick up some over the coming days as prices are going down instead of Up!

What seems to me a certainty, is that the prices will eventually go back Up again, so that in the not too distant future, the $600/oz level will be viewed as a fond memory, just as $500/oz has already seemed to become since the start of '06.

[54anickel]

67. I don't know if I'd bet on the slide lasting very long. I've missed out

on many a blue light special holding out for the clearance sale only to find the blue light special ending way too soon as the bargain hunters swoop in.

This doesn't "smell" like a normal market pull-back. Someone's pulling some strings here. 18 bucks with the strange movement in the buck and bonds just doesn't pass the smell test. JMHO :shrug: Could be funds moving from gold to oil, but I think there's something fishy going on. Short covering maybe?

[Jose Diablo]

71. Yes, someone's pulling the strings

“It was overbought and funds are liquidating,” says Larry Young, senior trader with Infinity Brokerage Services. “They are taking profits and we're in a fast market.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060420.wgoldgold0420/BNStory/Business/home


I'm holding on. But others will probably dump. Wait and see.

[54anickel]

82. Commodities tumble on profit-taking

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060420/markets_commodities.html?.v=1

snip>

"It is cross-commodity profit-taking. Silver is in free-fall. Silver initially led gold down then gold got its own momentum. If gold holds above $620 then there could be a recovery but if not people will be running for cover," said a trader as the sell-off began.

Brent crude (LCOc1) traded down at $72.83 per barrel at 1550 GMT from its earlier high of $74.22, and copper (MCU3) was at $6,260/6,270 a tonne, down from Wednesday's close of $6,390.

A fund source was quick to point out that the selling was profit-taking rather than the start of a large-scale exit of funds from commodities.

"A $100 move up or a $200 down (in copper) is not big news any more. Other commodities are down and the selling is related to that," he said.

"If someone starts to buy, the pattern will quickly reverse. It pays to keep an eye on other products such as silver and gold as base metals will move the same way," he said.

more...



Gold futures drop as much as $25 an ounce
Gold prices fall from a 25-year high as silver sinks up to 16%

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B59A649D8-0E1A-476B-A5EC-BA08B228A9CC%7D&siteid=google

"It's time to take out a caution flag," said Peter Grandich, editor of the Grandich Letter.

"Many classic signs of frothiness now abound in commodities in general and while no one can ever pinpoint exact tops, this is not a good time to first become aggressively bullish," he said, warning that "a sharp 10%-20% correction is lurking out there."

snip>

But gold would have to drop around $100 in one day to match a 15% decline in silver prices, he said. "Actually, gold is holding up remarkably well."

snip>

"Although prices have scaled back ... and gold stands ready to shed a few more dollars in an attempt to weed out weak latecomers, the market remains robust," he said, noting that "there are no signs of a reversal in Iranian nuclear development policies."
"Oil supply disruption fears continue to underpin the (already) stressed commodities markets," he said, so "gold prices are factoring in not only the political global uncertainties of the moment, but also the inflation certainties of tomorrow."

snip>

Overall, "the man in the street ... is choosing not to have his hard-earned wealth remain exposed to the erosion of purchasing power of paper currencies," and "the man in the streets of Tehran is reported to be heavily hoarding gold coins -- for an entirely different reason. Thus, the gold stampede (corrections notwithstanding) continues unabated," said Nadler.

more...

[54anickel]

95. Sorry, But It's Time For Another Caution Flag and First Red Flag

http://www.kitco.com/ind/grandich/apr202006.html

The comments I’m about to make are certainly not going to be to everyone’s fancy and some will end up calling me something far worse than a party-pooper. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how important honesty is to you), I think it’s real close to another one of those “steps back” in the “two steps up, one step back” mode I’ve often spoken about in describing the price rise in this secular bull market in metals. In addition to the caution, I’m now going to wave my first red flag (NASCAR fans will understand the difference between a yellow and red flag) on any metal since turning bullish on them back in the spring of 2003. I only hope you will still love and respect me in the morning.

Overview

It’s been nothing short of a sensational ride I’ve enjoyed since returning to the metals arena in the spring of 2003. My history will show that when it comes to precious metals (gold, silver and PGMs) I’ve managed to correctly foresee every major up and down move. The same was true for base metals until a year ago when I first chose to suggest overweighting in precious metals. While that proved to be okay thanks to spectacular rises in the precious metals, the fact is I became far too cautious on copper prematurely. Now, I’m going even one step further in daring to suggest it’s time to be actually bearish (assume prices are actually going to decline over time) on copper.

I’ve operated on the assumption that the great bear market in commodities in the 90s, especially in the metals, allowed a “once-in-a-lifetime” buying opportunity to occur and I think up until now I’ve done a good job in taking advantage of it. The bad news is- the easy money is now gone. The world has finally woken up to the fact and they are all rushing through a rather narrow door to get their share of the “new world order”. This stampede can continue for a period but I’m never happy being in a boat that was once nearly empty and is now standing room only.

Some will view the following as pure sarcasm, some as distaste, but those who know me will realize it’s neither. It’s the truth as I see it: TOUT-TV (CNBC-TV) has once again missed almost an entire move and, during the dramatic rise in commodities, had mostly “bearish” forecasters on the air. A case in point that clearly shows the 180 degree turn around they have now made in order to give the appearance that they are indeed the “world leader in business reporting”, was seen a few days ago. On the “home for lunatics” broadcast they call “Mad Money,” mad man Jim Cramer stated how he now loves base metals and devoted nearly a whole show to it. So why does this mean anything? Well, unlike my neighbors to the north, who are blessed with a “real” balanced and unbiased business network like Canada’s ROB-TV, I only have TOUT-TV for most of the day. And, for what was at least many months, if not more than a year, CNBC ran a commercial for “Mad Money” where you would hear Cramer stated on an actual show “Commodities are Dead.” (Ah, I can hear many readers silently in their hearts recalling this). So, now, after 200%, 500% 1,000% increases, TOUT-TV’s number one Market “Guru” now loves base metals. Makes you warm and comfy, no? What’s worse is the fact that the stocks he mentions are going through the roof. Please, that’s not envy but a realization that when crowds are willing to pay just about anything from someone whose history in that area leaves much to be desired, the froth is clear and the inevitable fall is never too far down the road.

snip>

Gold

The danger in secular bull markets is trying to time and profit from the blips of profit-taking or the corrections to very overbought conditions. If you’re strictly a long-term player (one assumes that means your time horizon is more than the time to boil an egg or even a calendar year), then you shouldn’t be overly concerned about corrections. I do think we will end up substantially higher from here, but before then, a significant correction is likely on the way to $700. It is likely to come out of left field, be vicious, and if the past is any indication, should bring out what’s left of the bears pronouncing the end of the bull market-again! Hopefully, I will once again receive a rash of nervous-nellie emails and even those nasty vulgar ones. They always reassure me I did the right thing. My concern would be total complacency.

more...

[AnneD]

70. It's all about shopping wisely......

whether for gold or toilet tissue. I know all the prices in the neighborhood and when they tend to raise their prices-I buy accordingly and am never snippy or rude to the clerks and cheerfully chat with them when I can. When gas was rationed in the 70's a clerk kindly let me buy on an off day so I could get to work-kindness pays off.

As usual, I am making sure my pantry is stocked as we approach hurricane season. I am devoting extra attention as I know food prices will be soaring so I am using this time to find bargains on items I know will go up in price. I have done this so many years, it just comes naturally. It really keeps my food costs down and cuts the trips to the store down (saving time and gas).

I love these consolidation periods...it is a great time to find the bargains.

[Jose Diablo]

73. I'm going to the bank

and get some cash, a lot of it.

[54anickel]

75. Dont' forget the Tupperware and Ziplocks! n/t

[Jose Diablo]

89. You know, whiskey is good for trading too

I'll say this though, I'm not fond of tupperware. The idea of storing anything in anything other that glass mason jars is...is...uh...it's just not good.

:D

[54anickel]

92. The area I live in is pretty rocky, the glass mason jars just don't hold

up as well when buried, and with the Zip-locks and my vacuum cleaner, I've got fresh vacuum packed bills when I go and dig 'em up. ;-)

[Jose Diablo]

94. Oh, you got one of those vacuum packing zigamabobs

I saw them advertised, sort of like the ginsu knives, and thought it was a pretty good idea. The ones I saw were for blankets and pillows. I guess anything dry could be put in the bags, maybe beans/rice too. Maybe I should go to the "Container Store", they all kinds of odd but neat stuff there.

Still it's hard to beat the old and tried ways, like mason jars.

[54anickel]

96. Nah, I don't buy zigamabobs from TV - I just use regular Zip-locks

and a Hoover. Garbage bags with a rubberband for the seal work well for the bulkier stuff - been doing that for years.

Hey, what can I say...I'm cheap! :evilgrin:

[AnneD]

100. You're my kinda gal...

:loveya:

[54anickel]

101. Awwww, shucks...

:blush: :hug:

[RawMaterials]

84. Goldcorp seeks more deals

Goldcorp has reduced its 2006 production guidance, from 1.85 million ounces to 1.7 million ounces, because the closing date of the Placer acquisitions has been pushed back from April 1 to May 15. Telfer, sporting a gold tie, said the soaring price of gold has "been the wind at our back through this whole period of time."

"We knew it was going to go up. We didn't know how fast or how high, but we were in a rush to put together a major gold mining company before it happened."

"We're very pleased we got to this stage before this gold price went completely crazy, which we think it will," he added.

Since the company's acquisition of Placer Dome mines was announced, the price of gold has risen by about $140 US an ounce, Telfer said.

And he expects the best is yet to come, saying after the meeting that he foresees gold spiking to $800 US a ounce.

"It may be this year, it may be next," he said. On Wednesday, gold was traded at $632.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"We had low commodity prices for almost 20 years. I think we're going to have high commodity prices for almost 20 years," Telfer said.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=5966a091-52d9-4add-8b39-8b52eafdd315&k=10796

[UpInArms]

22. Many Benefit If Fed Halts Rate Hikes - too much debt!

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/print?id=1862426

April 20, 2007 — - The nation's debtors may soon be able to exhale.

It now appears the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its long program of raising interest rates. Most economists now believe next month will be the final quarter-point hike. On Tuesday the Fed released its March minutes, which also indicated many of the central bankers now want to wait and see the economic impact of the interest-rate rise they have already engineered. Over the past year and a half, they have boosted rates by 3.75 percentage points to 4.75 percent.

<snip>

Surveys show that Americans are beginning to worry about their rising debt load. Last month the Experian-Gallup Poll found only 15 percent of Americans thought it was a good time to borrow compared with 24 percent a year ago.

"There is less enthusiasm to borrow and we think that is going to translate into lower consumer spending," said Dennis Jacobe, chief economist at Gallup in Washington, D.C. "In fact, 19 percent of Americans now say they are worried about making their monthly payments."

<snip>

While that may not sound like much savings, it could amount to a significant amount of money for the total economy, since 25 percent of the entire $8 trillion mortgage market is ARMs.

...more...

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

63. The Figures Which Stand Out

Almost 1 in 5 are worried about their monthly payments? That number is going to rise...there is absolutely no doubt in my mind.

"In fact, 19 percent of Americans now say they are worried about making their monthly payments."


And this next part....25% is in ARMs. We're screwed. Am I missing something?


While that may not sound like much savings, it could amount to a significant amount of money for the total economy, since 25 percent of the entire $8 trillion mortgage market is ARMs.

[clar8130]

78. Yup, we're screwed

Does anyone know what kind of shape Fannie Mae is in? They haven't filed their financials with the SEC since they got in trouble for enroning their books back in 2004. Oh the dominoes that will fall if they can't back their MBS's.

[AnneD]

83. Holy Crap...

:wow: Screwed doesn't even begin to cover it. I can't believe, 25% of all mortgages are ARM:wow: If the feds keep upping the rates it really will push these folks out of their homes sooner. Wonder if they thought of that when they announced they might stop adjusting upwards. Between gas, utilities, and mortgages...these folks have no breathing room.

[JNelson6563]

88. 25% of Mortgage holders are suckers.

Figuring in the old formula of "one born every minute"...yep, that sounds about right.

This is going to get ugly. All the Enron Presidency can do is hope to keep the crash at bay for as long as possible.

Julie

[UpInArms]

24. 3 Companies Credit Military for Profit Gain

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/20/business/20arms.html?ex=1146196800&en=ff6e260c123d89db&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS

(free registration or try www.bugmenot.com)

Three of the nation's largest diversified manufacturers said yesterday that their profits topped Wall Street forecasts in the first quarter, helped by strong spending in the military and aerospace sectors.

The three companies — General Dynamics, Honeywell International and United Technologies — each reported that profit and revenue rose by more than 10 percent.

General Dynamics, which is primarily a military contractor, said net income increased to $374 million, or 92 cents a share, on sales of $5.57 billion, from $336 million, or 83 cents a share, on sales of $4.80 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had estimated earnings of 84 cents a share.

General Dynamics, based in Falls Church, Va., said all major business groups posted higher sales, led by a 30 percent gain in combat systems.

...more...

[UpInArms]

25. Outcry Takes Toll On CEO Pay

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-ceopay0420.artapr20,0,102368.story

NEW YORK -- More companies are listening to investors' criticism that they overpay chief executives, but that does not mean that businesses have fixed the problem.

CEO pay continued to climb in 2005, although not nearly as rapidly as in recent years, new surveys show. The median pay for CEOs rose 11.3 percent, according to a survey of more than 550 companies by The Corporate Library, a governance firm.

For CEOs at the largest firms, however, pay rose 3.7 percent, to a median of $5.2 million.

But the size of the typical CEO's raise varied greatly by which companies were counted, and overall figures obscure wide variations in pay.

A closer look at individual companies show that more than one in four granted their CEOs raises of at least 25 percent, according to a survey of nearly 200 large firms by compensation analyst Equilar Inc.

The newest raises for top executives mean that the pay of the average CEO at a Standard & Poor's 500 firm is now 430 times that of the average U.S. worker - more than ten times what it was in 1980, according to the AFL-CIO.

...more...

[UpInArms]

26. A look back at the 1920s

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Timeline.htm

excerpt:

Individual worker productivity rises an astonishing 43 percent from 1919 to 1929. But the rewards are being funneled to the top: the number of people reporting half-million dollar incomes grows from 156 to 1,489 between 1920 and 1929, a phenomenal rise compared to other decades. But that is still less than 1 percent of all income-earners.

<snip>

1928

The construction boom is over.

Farmers' share of the national income has dropped from 15 to 9 percent since 1920.

Between May 1928 and September 1929, the average prices of stocks will rise 40 percent. Trading will mushroom from 2-3 million shares per day to over 5 million. The boom is largely artificial.

...more...

[AnneD]

42. FYI....

Farmer's incomes will plumet this year because of fuel costs. Farming has become so dependent on oil. I look for more small farmer's to go bankrupt this year.

[WhiteTara]

98. wow look at this highest tax rate is 91%

The top tax rate is 91 percent. It will stay at least 88 percent until 1963, when it is lowered to 70 percent. During this time, America will experience the greatest economic boom it has ever known.

The fundies hated this. That they couldn't live like the kings and queens they imagined themselves to be, they had to make a lot of serfs...us.
This is my latest mind boggle:
http://www.insider-magazine.com/ChristianMafia.htm
snip to political machinations in 1932

The Unsuccessful Right-Wing Coup Against a Democratic President
Vereide and Buchman had important allies on Wall Street. According to Marine Corps General Smedley Butler, shortly after Franklin Roosevelt was elected President in 1932, he was approached by a group of wealthy Republican industrialists to lead an anti-Roosevelt Fascist coup against the government. As with today’s Fellowship, Vereide and Buchman were merely front men for anti-Socialist big businesses who hid behind the façade of a Christian evangelical movement. To them and their bankrollers, Roosevelt was some sort of anti-Christ who was going to go to bat for the workers, blacks, the poor and women while, at the same time, menacing the ultra-rich and the rising Nazi and Fascist specter in Europe. The coup was to be financed mostly by the J. P. Morgan and Du Pont financial empires. General Butler, who had no time for these industrialists since his military forays into Central America and the Caribbean as a foot soldier on behalf of wealthy capitalists, rejected their overture. Gerald MacGuire, a Wall Street bond salesman and former Commander of the Connecticut American Legion, was the chief recruiter for the coup plot. Butler informed Congress of the plans for the coup. However, Congress was owned by Wall Street and no charges were ever brought against the plotters. Butler was incensed and went public but he was dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. Not until 1967, when journalist John Spivak uncovered the secret Congressional report, was Butler’s version of the events validated. In the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Nazi Propaganda Activities in the United States, Rep. Samuel Dickstein (D-NY) concluded that there was evidence of a coup plot by the right-wing against Roosevelt. However, much to Butler’s chagrin, no criminal action was taken against the plotters.



Butler said MacGuire’s plan was for Butler to force Roosevelt to declare he had become too sick from polio and create a powerful new Cabinet position, the Secretary of General Affairs, to run the government on his behalf. The New Deal, something the U.S. fascists and Nazis referred to as the “Jew Deal,” would have be scrapped. The comparison between the Secretary of General Affairs and the present Secretary of Homeland Security is striking. If Roosevelt did not agree to the coup plotters’ demand, a half million American Legion veterans would march on Washington to physically remove Roosevelt from office. But MacGuire decided that the perception management campaign would work and an armed force would not be required. He told Butler, “You know the American people will swallow that. We have got the newspapers. We will start a campaign that the President’s health is failing. Everyone can tell that by looking at him, and the dumb American people will fall for it in a second…” Shortly after his testimony before the House investigation committee, MacGuire died of pneumonia at the age of 37.



The perception management concerning the attempted right-wing coup against FDR was a harbinger of more ruses that would come from the same right-wing elements: that the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal was suffering from mental illness when he threw himself out of the sixteenth story of Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1949, that John F. Kennedy was killed by a lone, pro-Communist assassin, and that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The coup plotters involved some of the biggest names in American business and politics, including Irenee Du Pont of the wealthy chemical company family and founder of the pro-Fascist American Liberty League; J. P. Morgan officers Grayson Murphy and John Davis; General Douglas MacArthur; southern segregationist Governor Eugene Talmadge of Georgia; and, in what represented a sea change for the extreme American right-wing, two influential Catholics, former Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith, who had become very anti-Roosevelt, and John Raskob, a senior Du Pont official and a high ranking member of the Catholic Knights of Malta. The concordat between right-wing Protestants and Catholics presaged a later alliance between The Fellowship and the proto-Fascist Opus Dei movement.



Buchman, who was also involved in the creating the psychologically abusive Alcoholics Anonymous (which enticed many converts from booze to “Jesus”), created an organization called First Century Christian Fellowship. In 1939, while preaching against life’s extravagances, Buchman set up his headquarters in New York’s posh Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Buchman also found common cause with right-wing racist groups. In addition to his anti-Semitism, Buchman had no time for the civil rights movement. Like Vereide, he rejected women’s suffrage and the labor union movement. When the United States entered the war in December 1941, many of Moral Rearmament’s leaders sought conscientious objector status in the draft as “lay evangelists.” As with today’s fundamentalist Christians, Buchman was rejected by his fellow evangelicals and mainstream religious leaders, including his old evangelical colleague Sam Shoemaker and Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, leader of the United Lutheran Church in America, who called Buchman’s connection with Lutheranism “minimal.” After Senator Harry S Truman received the 1944 nomination for Vice President, he also dropped his past tenuous connections to Buchman. Reinhold Niebuhr, the famous theologian, and George Orwell both labeled Buchman’s Oxford Group and his successor Moral Rearmament Movement as “fascist.”

[UpInArms]

29. Top 100 Corporation's Lobbying Expenditures 1998-2005

(thanks to IChing and this DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2579068

http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/top.aspx?act=topcompanies

Reported Lobbying between 1998-2005

Chamber of Commerce for the U.S.A.............................$204,614,680
Altria Group Insurance ................................................$101,220,000
General Electric Co.......................................................$94,130,000
American Medical Association.........................................$92,560,000
Northrop Grumman Corp.............................................. $83,405,691
Edison Electric Institute................................................$82,866,628
Verizon Communications Inc..........................................$81,870,000
Business Roundtable.......................................................$80,380,000
American Hospital Association & State Affiliates.................$79,205,772
Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America.........$72,720,000
National Association of Realtors......................................$68,810,000
ExxonMobil Corp............................................................$59,672,742
SBC Communications Inc.................................................$58,035,037
Freddie Mac -.................................................................$57,740,000
Boeing Co.......................................................................$57,258,310
Lockheed Martin..............................................................$55,373,840
AT&T Corp....................................................................$53,349,499
Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association)................$50,777,000

...more...

[UpInArms]

31. Lobbyists Double Spending in Six Years

http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/default.aspx?act=summary

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2005 — In a major study of the federal lobbying industry, the Center for Public Integrity today reports that lobbyists have spent nearly $13 billion since 1998 to influence members of Congress and federal officials on legislation and regulations.

Out of that $13 billion, almost $600 million was tax and tuition dollars spent by states, local governments and universities.

Records show that in 2003 alone lobbyists spent $2.4 billion and records for 2004 are expected to show expenditures of at least $3 billion. That's about twice as much as was spent on campaign finance in the same time period.

"For years the media and the public have focused on campaign finance as the key to congressional and governmental accountability," said Roberta Baskin, the Center's executive director. "Our report reveals that each year since 1998 the amount spent to influence federal lawmakers is double the amount of money spent to elect them."

The Center also found that the revolving door is turning dizzyingly fast. Nearly 250 former members of Congress and agency heads are active lobbyists, and more than 2,000 lobbyists used to work in senior government positions. There is a large financial incentive for the move.

The report shows that the federal disclosure system is in disarray. Forty-nine out of the top 50 lobbying firms failed to file one or more required forms during the last six years. Similarly, 20 percent of the companies registered to lobby failed to file one or more required forms.

...more...

[UpInArms]

30. Treasurys down slightly after jobless claims drop

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B7ECA06DA%2D27A3%2D4AB5%2DBDD6%2DCA187381F64A%7D&dist=newsfinder&symbol=&siteid=mktw

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Treasury prices fell slightly early Thursday, keeping the yield on the benchmark 10-year note firmly above 5%, after news that jobless claims in the latest week declined more than expected. The number of initial claims in the week ending April 15 fell 10,000 to 303,000. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists polled by MarketWatch was for claims to inch lower by 3,000 to 310,000. The fixed-income market reacts negatively to a robust labor market because strong labor conditions increase the likelihood for an aggressive Federal Reserve monetary policy. The yield ($TNX 50.28, +0.03, +0.1% ) on the benchmark 10-year note last stood at 5.04%, up slightly from 5.03% at Wednesday's close. Later the market will view the latest monthly leading indicators report and the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing survey. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak on community development issues.

[UpInArms]

45. US Treasury-fiscal tools poor way to cut trade gap

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-04-20T141616Z_01_WAT005353_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-IMBALANCES-USA-URGENT.XML

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - Less U.S. government spending or higher taxes would make a only a slight difference in cutting the worrisome trade deficit, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday.

"Fiscal policy is a poor tool to address external imbalances, and a tool with high economic costs," U.S. Treasury economists Marvin Barth and Patricia Pollard said in a paper.

The Treasury released the paper after the International Monetary Fund this week in its semiannual report card on world economies urged the United States to step up efforts to cut its budget deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office projects to hit $371 billion in fiscal year 2006.

...a bit more...

[54anickel]

53. WWWWWWHAT?!?! So what's their answer then - besides Plaza redux?

Sheesh, spending cuts and taxes won't do any good anyway so let's just keep doin' what we're doin' and hope it goes away? :wtf:

[ozymandius]

32. pre-open blather

09:15 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +0.2. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +0.1.

09:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +0.7. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +0.8. Futures indications continue to hover right around the unchanged mark, suggesting a flat open for equities. Even though earnings continue to check in better than analysts' forecasts and are good enough to support the recent rally, revenue warnings from several tech companies, record oil prices and higher interest rates continue to underpin a sense of reserve among investors.

08:32 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +0.9. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +1.5. Still shaping up to be a sluggish start for stocks this morning as investors continue to sift through the week's biggest day of earnings reports. Meanwhile, initial claims just checked in, falling 10K to 303K (consensus 308K), but action in both the stock and bond markets has been rather muted.

[54anickel]

35. 'Sell Stocks' Revisited

http://www.prudentbear.com/archive_comm_article.asp?category=Guest+Commentary&content_idx=53633

snip>

Can +195 points on the DJIA be a bearish development? I think it can, and I will do my best overnight to explain why. I was hoping to use the time to catch up on some other research material, but something like today, occurring when it did and for the stated reasons, simply cannot pass without comment. The piece will be short, and I will try to have it out before the open tomorrow." Here goes.

snip>

What they did want and get came in the minutes of the FOMC's March policy meeting, released yesterday afternoon. Here's what put the Street into such an orgasmic mood:

"In the Committee's discussion of monetary policy for the intermeeting period, all members favored raising the target federal funds rate 25 basis points to 4.75 percent at this meeting... Most members thought that the end of the tightening process was likely to be near, and some expressed concerns about the dangers of tightening too much, given the lags in the effects of policy."

The bullish camp placed inordinate emphasis on the above passage. Inordinate in that there was plenty of other material you easily could construe as being in conflict with it. A major portion of the minutes appears in the excerpt at the conclusion of this missive, but I implore people to read the document in its entire context ( "Minutes of the FOMC Meeting of March 27-28, 2006.")


more... Looks like M3 is up 8% this year. :wow:

[ozymandius]

38. Money running for shelter again.

10:10
Dow 11,326.00 +47.23 (+0.42%)
Nasdaq 2,366.31 -4.57 (-0.19%)
S&P 500 1,312.13 +2.20 (+0.17%)
10-Yr Bond 50.28 0.00 (0.00%)
NYSE Volume 404,277,000
Nasdaq Volume 400,963,000

10:00 am : Major indices continue to trade in split fashion as industry leadership remains mixed. Of the seven economic sectors losing ground, Energy is pacing the way lower as oil prices, albeit still near record highs, are off slightly. Weakness in retail and homebuilding is weighing on Consumer Discretionary while modest consolidation in the brokerage group is preventing Financial from extending recent gains. Meanwhile, Technology is struggling to stay positive as investors weigh solid earnings from Intel (INTC 19.68 +0.12) and Apple Computer (AAPL 69.02 +3.37) against disappointing guidance from eBay (EBAY 37.39 -2.96). Despite further consolidation in biotech, a strong earnings report from Merck (MRK 34.88 +0.48) though is helping Health Care turn in a respectable performance. DJ30 +26.17 NASDAQ -8.13 SP500 -0.38 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1514/951/310 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1591/1015/218 mln

09:40 am : As futures trade presaged, the market opens in lackluster fashion as more encouraging news on the earnings front fails to offer investors much incentive to keep the recent rally intact. Concerns that the market may be overbought at current levels, as evidenced by early consolidation in the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 -- two of the year's best performing indices -- could be stalling early buying efforts. DJ30 +5.18 NASDAQ -7.52 R2K -0.4% SP500 -1.06 NASDAQ Vol 162 mln NYSE Vol 86 mln

[54anickel]

41. We have a lot more inflation coming down the pipe

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/shepherd/shepherd042006.html

snip>

It is now very obvious that they are going for Option 3 above, the easy way out, the Politicians way out!. If you believe that they are going for Option 3, then by definition it is not possible to be Bearish about the Stock market. Because the blatant devaluation necessary to keep the insane promises already made to the baby Boomers will very quickly make valuations cheap, and place a floor under any sustained decline. Go back 2 years and the GAAP PE ratio on the S&P 500 was close to 40 now today it is 18.85 this is the only PE ratio that matters, the Pro Forma numbers are simply fantasy and are totally irrelevant. In this short time period the market has moved from suicidal overvaluation to simply historically expensive. The major part of the increased S&P 500 earnings has been nothing more than inflation and accounting gimmicks; real sustainable growth has only played a minor part. Very soon the Stock market will have historical PE ratios that will make it a good long term buy, not quite yet, but at the rate of Dollar destruction we are witnessing at present this time will be far closer than most people expect!

If you believe that they are going for Option 3 above then you must also be a raging commodities bull, this is because commodities are priced in Dollars. If the unit of measure is constantly devalued more units of the devalued currency are demanded by the market for real tangible physical commodities. The supply of nearly all commodities is somewhat inelastic. The supply of printed and electronic Dollars is unlimited and virtually instantaneous.

It is fashionable for the last 10 years or so for the media to talk about the great NASDAQ bull or the Housing Boom or even Peak Oil apparently showing itself by $70+ Crude. The real cause of these booms is the Federal Reserve Bank. Too much cheap money chasing too few stocks, houses and now Oil.

They asked J P Morgan in 1913 at a Senate Select Committee Hearing what is Gold. He replied that "Gold is money, and nothing else is." In real money terms in true GOLD STANDARD terms we have at present a severe Bear market in Stocks just look at the graph above and Real Estate and a weak Bull market in Oil. The greatest element of the recent Bull market in Oil has not been supply and demand the popular notion that has only played a limited part this is the smokescreen, this is the spin. Far more important has been the blatant devaluation of the measuring unit of Oil the FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE whose value is determined at will, with exclusive monopoly powers by the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK. The sad truth is that the American economy has morphed into an inflation manufacturing machine, which is then spun as "growth" and "productivity". The eventual price to pay for this great lie is a severe and enduring bear market in living standards. Keynesianism is simply the long term destruction of the value of money, which is why Gold the "Barbarous Relic" is so hated, it simply exposes the great lie which is Keynesianism.

more...

[54anickel]

43. Senate Hearings on Bush, Now

By CARL BERNSTEIN
In this VF.com exclusive, a Watergate veteran and Vanity Fair contributing editor calls for bipartisan hearings investigating the Bush presidency. Should Republicans on the Hill take the high road and save themselves come November?

http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060417roco03?print=true

Worse than Watergate? High crimes and misdemeanors justifying the impeachment of George W. Bush, as increasing numbers of Democrats in Washington hope, and, sotto voce, increasing numbers of Republicans—including some of the president's top lieutenants—now fear? Leaders of both parties are acutely aware of the vehemence of anti-Bush sentiment in the country, expressed especially in the increasing number of Americans—nearing 50 percent in some polls—who say they would favor impeachment if the president were proved to have deliberately lied to justify going to war in Iraq.

John Dean, the Watergate conspirator who ultimately shattered the Watergate conspiracy, rendered his precipitous (or perhaps prescient) impeachment verdict on Bush two years ago in the affirmative, without so much as a question mark in choosing the title of his book Worse than Watergate. On March 31, some three decades after he testified at the seminal hearings of the Senate Watergate Committee, Dean reiterated his dark view of Bush's presidency in a congressional hearing that shed more noise than light, and more partisan rancor than genuine inquiry. The ostensible subject: whether Bush should be censured for unconstitutional conduct in ordering electronic surveillance of Americans without a warrant.

Raising the worse-than-Watergate question and demanding unequivocally that Congress seek to answer it is, in fact, overdue and more than justified by ample evidence stacked up from Baghdad back to New Orleans and, of increasing relevance, inside a special prosecutor's office in downtown Washington.

In terms of imminent, meaningful action by the Congress, however, the question of whether the president should be impeached (or, less severely, censured) remains premature. More important, it is essential that the Senate vote—hopefully before the November elections, and with overwhelming support from both parties—to undertake a full investigation of the conduct of the presidency of George W. Bush, along the lines of the Senate Watergate Committee's investigation during the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

How much evidence is there to justify such action?

snip>

We have never had a presidency in which the single unifying thread that flows through its major decision-making was incompetence—

more...

[UpInArms]

44. Calls to Michigan state assistance help line go to India

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/COLUMNISTS09/604200350/1016/news

Health problems here. A layoff there.

And pretty soon Gail and Howard Church found themselves unemployed and eligible for food stamps.

<snip>

The knee is healed now, but Howard remains unemployed and, in Gail's words, "willing to take any job he can get."

But, as anybody who has the misfortune of being unemployed in Michigan at the moment knows, there just isn't much to be had.

<snip>

Gail asked; the woman refused to say. But a Human Resources employee in Lansing told Gail that her call went to India.

<snip>

Gail's point: Her husband would love a job answering phone calls for the state - even for minimum wage. And maybe such a job would mean the Howards, who live in Lansing, could support themselves - and pay taxes - instead of being a drain on taxpayers.

...more...

[AnneD]

77. I saw a couple out at the street corner

with a baby. His sign read: Need work, general construction contracter (a phone number). Have wife and baby to take care of. Thanks. And sure enough they had what looked like everything they owned in a car parked nearby and wife was attending baby under a shade tree. I don't think it was a scam-they looked pretty desperate.

Wait til we start having shanty town once these folks have their houses repoed and can't afford apartments. I recommed we call these towns Bushville.

[UpInArms]

46. 10:28 EST Good News and Blue Skies!

Dow 11,379.71 +100.94 (+0.89%)
Nasdaq 2,375.50 +4.62 (+0.19%)
S&P 500 1,317.57 +7.64 (+0.58%)
10-Yr Bond 5.031 +0.03 (+0.06%)

NYSE Volume 577,797,000
Nasdaq Volume 548,873,000

10:00 am : Major indices continue to trade in split fashion as industry leadership remains mixed. Of the seven economic sectors losing ground, Energy is pacing the way lower as oil prices, albeit still near record highs, are off slightly. Weakness in retail and homebuilding is weighing on Consumer Discretionary while modest consolidation in the brokerage group is preventing Financial from extending recent gains. Meanwhile, Technology is struggling to stay positive as investors weigh solid earnings from Intel (INTC 19.68 +0.12) and Apple Computer (AAPL 69.02 +3.37) against disappointing guidance from eBay (EBAY 37.39 -2.96). Despite further consolidation in biotech, a strong earnings report from Merck (MRK 34.88 +0.48) though is helping Health Care turn in a respectable performance. DJ30 +26.17 NASDAQ -8.13 SP500 -0.38 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1514/951/310 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1591/1015/218 mln

[Roland99]

62. HFS!!!!!!!!

And look how lopsided that is toward the Dow. People flocking to safety in the big guys.


What a tilted "recovery"

[ozymandius]

48. Wow! It's as though the last five years never happened.

10:34
Dow 11,368.90 +90.13 (+0.80%)
Nasdaq 2,372.91 +2.03 (+0.09%)
S&P 500 1,316.64 +6.71 (+0.51%)
10-Yr Bond 50.31 +0.03 (+0.06%)
NYSE Volume 624,499,000
Nasdaq Volume 589,767,000

[ozymandius]

49. These numbers are going wild. Look at bonds staggering all over the place.

10:39
Dow 11,354.01 +75.24 (+0.67%)
Nasdaq 2,369.91 -0.97 (-0.04%)
S&P 500 1,315.78 +5.85 (+0.45%)
10-Yr Bond 50.24 -0.04 (-0.08%)
NYSE Volume 673,226,000
Nasdaq Volume 633,929,000

[ozymandius]

51. updating blather

10:30 am : Market spikes higher within the last 30 minutes, led by a 9% surge in General Motors (GM 22.44 +1.87) and a turnaround in chip stocks. Despite posting its sixth straight quarterly loss, revenue growth and narrowing losses have eased ongoing bankruptcy fears and provided a hefty source of support. A turnaround in Technology, led by a 1.7% surge in semiconductor, has also helped improve sentiment across the board. Eight of ten sectors are now in positive territory. DJ30 +93.93 NASDAQ +3.75 SOX +1.7% SP500 +7.33 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1482/1160/552 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1453/1383/416 mln

[54anickel]

65. Why does the 11:00 blather say "a plunge in oil prices"?

11:00 am : Despite a plunge in oil prices following weekly natural gas data, the indices are off their best levels as the blue chip averages and Nasdaq are back to trading in opposing directions. While a decline in oil prices certainly bodes well for the consumer, the subsequent pullback in Energy has removed some much appreciated leadership behind a sector widely expected to again account for the bulk of earnings growth on the S&P 500. Also, semiconductor already consolidating two-thirds of its recent gain has taken some of the steam out of recovery efforts on the tech-heavy Composite. DJ30 +63.25 NASDAQ -8.99 SOX +0.5% SP500 +1.85 XOI -1.8% NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1658/1085/764 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1359/1558/590 mln

11:33 numbers:
Dow 11,334.96 +56.19 (+0.50%)
Nasdaq 2,359.17 -11.71 (-0.49%)
S&P 500 1,309.63 -0.30 (-0.02%)
10-yr Bond 50.33 +0.05 (+0.10%)
30-yr Bond 51.31 +0.02 (+0.04%)
NYSE Volume 1,096,494,000
Nasdaq Volume 977,172,000

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

66. Media Speak?

It seems the more I watch and listen to them, the more my brain starts to FRY! Plunge....Sharp Rise.....Pullback....Recovery.....Decline.....Correction....Headed Higher.

If you look at the big picture, you can see beyond the glare. I don't focus on whether Oil is at $74 or $70, or even $60. I look at the fact it's at least 20% higher, on a consistent basis, than it was 1-2 years ago.

Works the same with Gold. Fact is, their prices are tending higher, and even a PLUNGE to the depths of $71/barrel, does not make me think otherwise.

[54anickel]

50. And now, a debit card for children... (India)

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=13&articleid=41920062236342964192006223559453

Mumbai: The big banks are beginning to bet on the little brats. At least that’s what one can infer from ICICI Bank introducing the ‘Young Stars Account’, complete with a customised debit card for those aged from 7 to 18. True, parents will have most of the control what with them required to operate the controlling account and pay the bills. But with daily spending/withdrawal limits of Rs 2,500, is this new product akin to a lighting a match in a tinderbox? We spoke to a few parents to get their take on the issue...


• “Who’d want kids to get such power at such a young age? We’re already living in a materialistic society. Let them grow. I mean, I know I’m being the Devil's Advocate, but we need to realise the possibility of kids getting carried away. After all, how many working parents have the time to analyse bills?”
Shaina N C, Fashion Designer
Daughter (6 yrs)


• “This is one banking product that will actually teach the child to spend more, especially those in high and middle class groups as they are not bothered about how much the child spends. And with most families having only one child now, parents give in to their demands. And what if the child is kidnapped?”
Prof Neelima Diwakar, SIES College of Commerce and Economics, Twin daughters (17 years)

more...

[ozymandius]

52. Sure. Spending plastic is not like spending real money.

And while they're at it - the banks could promote the healthy aspects of tobacco. :sarcasm:

[Sammy Pepys]

56. I don't think it's such a bad idea.....

When I got my first credit card, it was way too easy to just whip it out and buy whatever because I didn't have to pay attention to what I actually had in my wallet. Of course, when the bills came it turned into "How did I spend this much money!?!" Now I'm very aware of what gets charged and what doesn't and what my balances are.

If it's a debit card with an account balance that parents can control, I think in the long run it might be a good idea to get kids partially accustomed to how paying with plastic works and the extra bookkeeping it requires.

[MARALE]

59. I would rather be around when they start using one

They will use them in the future, it is the way of the world. My son is 17 and has a debit/credit card. I am there to teach him how to buy things online and what to watch out for. I think it is better than them learning the hard way when they are in college and on their own.

[UpInArms]

57. Moody's may cut Tyson to junk, S&P changes outlook - bird flu

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-04-20T145050Z_01_N20240821_RTRIDST_0_FOOD-TYSON-SANDP-UPDATE-1.XML

NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service on Thursday said it may cut its ratings on Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) into junk territory and Standard & Poor's changed its outlook on the company to negative from stable, after the largest U.S. meat processor reduced its earnings guidance.

Tyson on Wednesday posted a much wider-than-expected quarterly loss, based on preliminary results, and slashed its full-year outlook as chicken exports fell due to the bird flu crisis overseas. For details, see .

"Although Standard & Poor's expected that the company would have an operating loss in the second quarter, the size of the loss, the slower-than-expected recovery in poultry pricing and the export markets, and the glut of proteins in the market were key factors in our decision," the ratings agency said in a statement.

Any possible downgrade will depend on factors including the degree to which Tyson's weak operating performance affects debt protection measures and the likelihood the company will require additional covenant relief from its bank group, Moody's said.

Moody's ranks Tyson's senior unsecured debt "Baa3," the lowest investment grade rating. Downgrades below investment grade can substantially increase a company's borrowing costs.

...more...

[54anickel]

69. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch! I STILL won't buy any of their "stuff".

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

60. Delete

Posted Wrong Spot

[Roland99]

64. 11:28am...morning exuberance gone and more mexed missages

DJIA 11,323.60 +44.83 +0.40%
Nasdaq 2,356.59 -14.29 -0.60%
S&P 500 1,308.63 -1.30 -0.10%
Dow Util 395.58 +2.29 +0.58%
NYSE 8,401.64 -29.61 -0.35%
AMEX 1,987.21 -23.92 -1.19%
Russell 2000 768.91 -9.51 -1.22%

[54anickel]

72. Heh-heh, check out the tunes at 321gold

Precious Metal Music
"Headed for Disaster"

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/dore/dore042006.html

[54anickel]

74. IMF says currency changes needed to fix imbalances

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/April/theworld_April717.xml§ion=theworld&col=

WASHINGTON - Restoring balance in the global economy will require simultaneous shifts in demand and exchange rates, including a significant fall in the US dollar and a rise in some Asian currencies, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

In its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook, the IMF renewed its warning that economic distortions were unsustainable and a threat to financial stability, ratcheting up its rhetoric on the need for big currency adjustments.

Even as the lender warned of the dangers of imbalances, it projected another year of brisk expansion for the world economy, lifting its 2006 forecast for global growth to 4.9 percent from a September outlook of 4.3 percent.

snip>

Dollar needs to fall

Of the economic imbalances, the IMF said: “An orderly resolution of global imbalances will require measures to facilitate a rebalancing of demand across countries and a realignment of exchange rates over the medium term, with the US dollar needing to depreciate significantly from current levels, and currencies in surplus countries -- including in parts of Asia and among oil producers -- to appreciate.”

The United States is pressing the IMF to fashion itself into a global currency watchdog. IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato plans a meeting of established and emerging economic powers in Washington on Friday to discuss trade and economic imbalances.

more...

Hmmm, goes well with the Purchase Power tune http://www.321gold.com/editorials/dore/dore040706.html

[54anickel]

80. Alternative investments pay off for the very rich

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3dcb3438-cfd4-11da-80fb-0000779e2340.html

The number of very rich people in the US grew last year at the fastest pace in at least a decade as their moves into international stockmarkets, real estate and alternative investments paid off.

The number of households with $5m (€4m) or more in investable assets – excluding the family home – rose by 26 per cent to a record 930,000, according to a study by Spectrem Group. That is the biggest jump since Spectrem began its survey in 1996. The number of millionaires rose by 11 per cent, to a record 8.3m – the second biggest jump in the decade since they were surveyed.

The overall affluent market – households with $500,000 or more – rose by 7 per cent to a record 14m. This group fared the worst in the wake of the stockmarket collapse, with their numbers falling sharply from 2000. Last year was the first time their total passed that of their peak in 1999. Catherine McBreen, a managing director at Spectrem, said: “It’s been a great couple of years for America’s millionaires ... the stockmarket, which posted solid improvement in 2005, was one reason for the advance. However, for the wealthiest Americans it appears the increased use of international markets and alternative investments were key drivers of their improvement.”

George Walper, president of Sprectrem, said the group had questioned respondents on their investments and returns, and also examined the returns of international markets and alternative investments to ensure the veracity of the results. In a sudden reversal of their longstanding affinity for their domestic market, US investors last year put more than $130bn into international mutual funds, more than three times the amount they put into US funds.

more...

[UpInArms]

81. Mass layoffs in manufacturing rose in March

http://www.thefabricator.com/News/Breaking_News.cfm?NewsID=1253

In March 2006 employers took 1,082 mass layoff actions, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 118,555, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number of layoff events rose by 9, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 7,087 from February 2006. In the manufacturing sector, 328 mass layoff events were reported during March 2006, seasonally adjusted, resulting in 49,023 initial claims. Both figures were higher than a month earlier.

The manufacturing sector accounted for 31 percent of all mass layoff events and 40 percent of all initial claims filed in March; a year earlier, manufacturing comprised 31 percent of events and 37 percent of initial claims. In March 2006 the number of manufacturing claimants was highest in transportation equipment manufacturing (14,958, mostly automotive-related), followed by food manufacturing (7,519).

...more...

and here:

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/mmls.pdf

excerpt:

On a not seasonally adjusted basis, the number of layoff events in March 2006, at 921, was up by 115
from a year earlier, and the number of associated initial claims increased by 22,901 to 111,838. The largest
over-the-year increases in initial claims were reported in administrative and support services (+7,923),
electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing (+2,785), food manufacturing (+2,470), and
primary metal manufacturing (+2,012). The largest over-the-year decreases in initial claims were reported in
motion picture and sound recording industries (-2,685) and in professional and technical services (-1,242).

[UpInArms]

85. Paul Wolfowitz - World Bank head's anti-corruption drive under fire

http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=uri:2006-04-20T164408Z_01_N20354452_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-WORLDBANK-CORRUPTION.XML

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who unveiled anti-corruption measures last week, came under fire on Thursday from non-governmental organizations and protesters for not going far enough.

"Corporate corruption, who can we thank? The IMF and the World Bank," chanted a half dozen protesters interrupting Wolfowitz at the start of the lender's semiannual meeting.

Wolfowitz has targeted graft as a major impediment to development and called for greater transparency in countries that receive aid.

<snip>

Since taking over last June, Wolfowitz has halted lending to Chad when that government made a grab for oil profits in violation of an agreement with the World Bank and also halted projects in India and Kenya over corruption concerns.

"The new corruption drive is all well and fine but we have to deal with the supply side. Where the bank can really deliver is by naming and shaming big companies that pay bribes," said Max Lawson, policy advisor at Oxfam International.

Lawson pointed to the Republic of Congo, where Wolfowitz recently pushed for more transparency in the oil sector when the country applied for debt relief, which saw an oil trading scandal erupt after vulture funds that bought cheap debt hired private detectives to track down investors.

...more...

[54anickel]

86. International Forecaster April, 2006 (#3) - Gold, Silver, Economy + More

http://news.goldseek.com/InternationalForecaster/1145467121.php

snip>


Yes, M3 is no longer published, but the components are. Just as important are a number of other credit sources. Among them is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Government Sponsored Entities (GSEs), which can create virtually unlimited amounts of credit. They were the hot iron that was used to restart a failing economy in 2001 by offering cheap and easy credit to the housing sector, assisted of course by the Fed’s 1% interest rates. Their assets are about $3 trillion, but they are responsible for indirect exposure through guaranties of mortgage debt. That takes them to some $9 trillion. We are convinced if the real estate market falls, as we believe it will, that the US government will have to assume these liabilities. Add this to hidden government debt within the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks of $600 billion and the $300 trillion derivatives market, and we are facing some severe problems. It should also be remembered that a very sizable portion of agency debt has been purchased to satisfy the speculative urges of the yen carry-trade that should be at an end by the end of the year. Many foreign central banks and other banks, as we mentioned last week, not happy with yields available have speculated by using the yen carry-trade and then leveraging again. There are all kinds of structured derivatives attached to the debt as well. We remembered when they began trading in derivatives in the early 1970s we wrote an article of which the conclusion was someday they would destroy the financial system. It seems like that day is fast on its way. In this case it is not only the derivatives it’s the overall poor quality of loans in the packages that Fannie and Freddie resell. In addition, embedded in this mortgage creation/securitisation are many opportunities for the creation of well-rated paper, either mistakenly or deliberately overrated. Never mind properly rated paper that goes bad. The potential for hazard is enormous.



In addition, the percentage of sub-par paper has increased in the syndications. The percentage of ARM, option ARM, 0%-down, low doc or no doc mortgages and interest-only loans is climbing. Used home inventory is a record, new home inventory is at 6.3 months and that’s with supposedly low unemployment, high GDP and profit growth. Something is wrong here. This can’t be. That’s because our government is lying again. We are talking tens of trillions of dollars in real estate that could go bad plus all these securitisations and derivatives. If that isn’t a can of worms we don’t know what is.



We are looking at credit extension never before seen outside the traditional fractional reserve banking system. Money pulled out of housing in cash outs and equity loans, to keep the financial system from collapsing. We are talking somewhere around $2.5 trillion. The loans were made when there was more than sufficient equity. What happens in a 40% correction? You guessed it, mega trouble. On top of this we are looking at a recent history of massive abuse in interest rates and delinquency ratios. The performance of 2005 mortgage debt is bad and it was worse in 2003 and 2004 paper. Lots of delinquencies and defaults. You can then add in financial engineering and structured finance for which there is no barriers. We truly question how the banking industry finds these securities attractive when their previously purchased holdings remain mired in red ink.

snip>

As you can see, there are no credit expansion rules anymore, not from government or the Fed. This is credit without bounds. It’s no wonder gold and silver are galloping into the sunset. The Fed is encouraging credit creation because when it stops everything crashes. They need that credit when the current account deficit approaches $1 trillion this year. This all has to have a negative affect on the US dollar, which foreigners are still buying in order to keep their currencies from appreciating. In doing so they are guaranteeing themselves 50% or more losses. That’s what we estimate the ultimate damage will be. That means we all go down the tubes together. Foreigners are holding $4 trillion, and that ivory tower meatball Ben Bernanke calls the dollar tidal wave a global savings glut. Why doesn’t he and his other purchased hacks tell the truth – Americans have no savings. That is why Americans have the debt they have. There will soon come a day when this financial madness will end.



We cannot help but mention credit default swaps. That market only grew 40% last year from $12 trillion to $17.5 trillion. These are purchased to shield the buyer from credit exposure. These CD’s are totally unregulated. Due to the enormity of the beast the industry is talking about cash settlement. That will be a classic. One way to stop this derivative madness is just raise interest rats. It’s that simple. Just like in 1995 when Sir Alan Greenspan talked about irrational exuberance all he had to do was raise margin requirements. We published that fact as did Randy Forsyth in Barron’s, but no one wanted to listen. All these carry-trade plays and derivatives are in the trillions of dollars and much of it is beyond our country. It’s in the Caribbean. The Swiss are aware of the dangers and rates just rose again last week and they will again in future weeks to keep the Swiss franc from becoming a carry-trade punching bag.



Just four firms, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch have in excess of $3 trillion in liabilities due to credit extension. Can you believe they have less than 4% of equity to assets - just a giant Ponzi scheme. We are sure this is why in part M3 is no longer being published.

more...

[rfranklin]

87. Market pushing up toward high of the day...options expiration?

Is that all this is? Just trying to put the options they sold out of the money?

[ozymandius]

90. Another flight to safety

However, gold has taken a hit.

1:15
Dow 11,354.65 +75.88 (+0.67%)
Nasdaq 2,363.57 -7.31 (-0.31%)
S&P 500 1,312.99 +3.06 (+0.23%)
10-Yr Bond 50.47 +0.19 (+0.38%)
NYSE Volume 1,545,689,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,346,170,000

1:00 pm : Market is trying to break out of its midday trading range but there is little conviction behind the buying efforts behind gains on the Dow and S&P 500 since market breadth remains bearish. As evidenced in the A/D line, decliners on the NYSE still hold a 3-to-2 edge over decliners while declining issues on the Nasdaq outpace advancing issues by a 9-to-5 margin. A spilt ratio of up to down volumes at the Big Board and the Composite paints a more accurate picture, though, since the blue chip indices are gaining at the expense of consolidation on the Nasdaq. DJ30 +89.08 NASDAQ -6.01 SP500 +3.99 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1827/1078/1.27 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1875/1219/1.04 bln

[54anickel]

91. Getting High On Fed Hints

http://news.goldseek.com/RickAckerman/1145458800.php

The canny investor had just one thing on his mind yesterday: how all of the other bozos would react to news that the Fed may soon stop tightening. The fact that Wall Street has been anticipating exactly this news for umpteen months did nothing to mitigate the irrationality of those who stampeded to discount it yet one more time. Stocks zoomed higher because loose money is like crack cocaine for the economy. The dollar fell because savers and foreign lenders neither share nor countenance America’s addiction to crack. Bond prices rose because a mere whiff of crack is enough to make the yield curve turn lubricious. And of course precious metals soared knowingly, sensitive as always to the fact that we will ultimately pay a stiff price for getting high.

Seven years of mostly tedious markets might have induced a few cynical tape watchers to ho-hum yesterday’s glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. What light? Specifically, Helicopter Ben was reported top have said at last month’s Fed meeting that “the end of the tightening process was likely to be near.” But calm is the last thing in the world an investor should want to be when thousands of tape watchers are poised to hit the panic button whenever there’s a hint of easing in the air. And there is – more than a mere hint, actually – although we remain skeptical that the end of tightening will prove to be a cure for $70+ oil and an already collapsing housing bubble. So how long will the celebration last? A day or two at most, is my guess. With gold and oil as a reality check, meaningful new highs in the stock market seem most unlikely.

Notes from the Edge II

I’ll leave you today with a fine rant from a deflationist compadre, Erich Simon, whom some of you may recall as my avian flu expert. Like so many of us, he sees signs nearly everywhere of an impending Mother of All Tops.

more...

[54anickel]

93. The unfolding of Asia's monetary 'grand design'

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,192728,00.html?


WHETHER by design or accident (and I personally believe there is more of the former involved than the latter), the components of a common currency regime in Asia are falling into place one by one. But because they come in the guise of independent and separate initiatives, it is difficult to see the proverbial wood for the trees and thus the significance of the evolving 'grand design' could easily be missed.


Next month in Hyderabad, India, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will unveil its proposal to create an Asian Currency Unit or ACU, which sounds like a common currency for the region but isn't (at least at this stage). Also, the Asean+3 finance ministers will disclose their plans for enlarging and 'multilateralising' the regional network of bilateral current swaps known as the Chiang Mai Initiative or CMI.

Seen in isolation, these initiatives give the impression of being of limited or 'academic' interest. And yet, perhaps, that is precisely the intention that the masterminds behind these innovations wish to convey, lest people elsewhere get the impression that Asia is getting above itself and trying to upset the global monetary order.

In order to see all this in perspective, we need to go back to the Asian financial crisis of 1997 (whose tenth anniversary falls next year). At that time, Japan put forward a plan for an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) to rescue those countries of the region whose currencies were being attacked by hedge funds and other speculators who had correctly perceived the vulnerabilities of dollar-pegged exchange rates for emerging economies.

more...

[54anickel]

99. Americans fed up with Bush trade, migrant policies

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/14385675.htm

snip>

What do the polls mean? Bush and the Wall Street Journal may say America is trudging backward to the dark days of ``isolationism and protectionism,'' of ``Fordney-McCumber and Smoot-Hawley that gave us the Hoovervilles, Hitler and World War II.''

But the truth is less dramatic.

What the polls are saying is that America, having tasted the fruits of Bush's foreign, immigration and trade policies, rejects them. Why? All three, of dubious conservative parentage, have failed.

Three in five Americans now believe the Iraq war -- whether we invaded to oust Saddam, strip him of WMD, turn Iraq into Vermont or establish our ``benevolent global hegemony'' -- was and is not worth the cost in blood and money.

They are saying that a NAFTA-GATT trade policy that results in $800 billion trade deficits and the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs -- one in every six in just five years -- should be jettisoned.

When they read of China growing at 10 percent a year, as factories close in the United States and GM and Ford, once the two greatest companies on Earth, are lingering outside bankruptcy court, they think we can do better. And, we can.

They are not saying they dislike foreigners. But they are saying a government that cannot stop an invasion across our Mexican border that has left 11 million to 20 million intruders in our country, stomping around under foreign flags and demanding the benefits of U.S. citizens, is a failed regime that needs to be replaced.

What the polls are saying is that neoconservatism has failed and we wish to be rid of it, that Davos Republicanism has failed and we wish to be rid of it, that the open-borders immigration policy of the Wall Street Journal is idiotic and we wish to be rid of it.

more...but it's pretty much worthless Pat Buchanan BS.

[54anickel]

102. 3:27 and the sky's the limit!

Dow 11,360.10 +81.33 (+0.72%)
Nasdaq 2,364.26 -6.62 (-0.28%)
S&P 500 1,312.55 +2.62 (+0.20%)
10-yr Bond 50.39 +0.11 (+0.22%)
30-yr Bond 51.37 +0.08 (+0.16%)
NYSE Volume 2,151,157,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,855,033,000

3:00 pm : Range-bound trading persists as split industry leadership continues to dictate afternoon action. Utilities, the year's least attractive sector since rising bond yields have diminished the income-oriented appeal of dividend-paying stocks, remains today's best performing sector. Meanwhile, Energy and Materials continue to consolidate as strength in the dollar for the first time in five days has made commodities like oil, gold and silver -- all of which were at record highs yesterday -- less attractive. DJ30 +73.65 DJUA +0.9% NASDAQ -8.78 SP500 +2.55 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1759/1223/1.70 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1738/1452/1.40 bln

2:30 pm : Stocks continue to vacillate in roughly the same ranges as the bulk of buying interest remains focused almost solely on blue chips. To wit, the Dow continues to pace the gains among the major averages, led by GM's 9% surge and supported by gains of more than 1% from the likes of AXP, DD, HON, HPQ, MCD, MMM, MO, MRK, and UTX. In contrast, the Russell 2000 small-cap, which is on pace to outperform the broader market for a 7th straight year with a 15.6% performance so far in 2006 was down more than 1.3% around 11:30 ET and is currently off 0.7% amid widespread consolidation.DJ30 +71.90 NASDAQ -9.39 SP500 +2.25 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1735/1223/1.59 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1763/1416/1.30 bln

Advances 1487 (44%) 1296 (41%)
Declines 1726 (51%) 1710 (54%)
Unchanged 155 (4%) 142 (4%)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Up Vol* 1128 (55%) 789 (44%)
Down Vol* 886 (43%) 970 (54%)
Unch. Vol* 23 (1%) 26 (1%)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Hi's 257 247
New Lo's 94 35

[54anickel]

103. Dow hits 5-year high but oil's drop hinders S&P 500

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-04-20T173544Z_01_N13178506_RTRUKOC_0_US-MARKETS-STOCKS.xml

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow industrials climbed to a five-year high on Thursday, propelled by encouraging earnings news, but the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index cut most gains after investors sold oil-related shares.

The Nasdaq Composite index slipped as Web auctioneer eBay Inc.'s (EBAY.O: Quote, Profile, Research) shares dropped nearly 9 percent to $36.74 a day after its quarterly profit fell and its 2006 forecast disappointed Wall Street.

Shares of big oil companies, such as ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Chevron Oil Corp. (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) slid as U.S. crude oil futures declined. Oil and gas companies were among the S&P 500's worst performers after oil prices fell over $1.


General Motors Corp.'s (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) financial results buoyed the Dow. Shares of the world's largest automaker jumped 10.4 percent on signs GM's turnaround was working.

Despite GM's help, decliners on the New York Stock Exchange beat advancers by a ratio of 3 to 2.

snip>

Earlier, the Dow hit its highest level since September 2000, while the S&P 500 reached its highest point since February 2001 Ruh Roh!!!

[AnneD]

104. I have an idea for a couple of economic reality shows I want to pitch...

the first one involves getting a bunch of stock brokers together on vacation, get them liquored up and see which one goes 'bust' first....we'll call it Stocks Gone Wild.

Don't like that....how about this. We take a CEO and have him live on the salary that he pays his lowest wage earning employee and said employee gets one days pay and one weeks pension added to their retirement....We'll call it Shop Swap.

Or how about this. A company board of directors and their CEO actually try to earn their keep by coming up with the best way to make their companies profitable AND actually produce something. The catch is....if they relocate overseas...they have to go over their and supervise their employees and receive the same wages. The share holder get to vote them off the board it they do not produce....We'll call it Survivor-the Wall Street Jungle.

I think these are really hot ideas. We will save so much money doing this that the productions will pay for themselves.....What do you think:smoke:

[54anickel]

105. All excellent ideas. Though you'd probably have to go cable to get

any takers.

[ozymandius]

106. And the bowl just keeps getting bigger (closing #s and blather)

Dow 11,342.89 +64.12 (+0.57%)
Nasdaq 2,362.55 -8.33 (-0.35%)
S&P 500 1,311.46 +1.53 (+0.12%)
10-Yr Bond 50.39 +0.11 (+0.22%)
NYSE Volume 2,512,916,000
Nasdaq Volume 2,179,520,000

4:20 pm : The market finished mixed, as bargain hunting opportunities spurred by encouraging quarterly reporting and falling oil prices prompted investors to rotate money out of this year's best performing areas and into underperforming names. In particular, money went into large-cap stocks. To wit, the Dow finished at its highest point in six years, led by a 10.5% surge in General Motors (GM 22.72 +2.15) -- its best one-day performance since 1987. GM, which still trades near its worst levels in more than 20 years, posted its sixth straight quarterly loss; but revenues grew 14% and losses narrowed, easing ongoing bankruptcy fears for the sentiment-driven stock.

The S&P 500 closed near five-year highs as nine of its ten most influential components posted gains. The only laggard was the index's largest, ExxonMobil (XOM 63.95 -0.35), as investors used a pullback in oil prices as an incentive to consolidate some of XOM's 14.5% year-to-date gain. The May crude contract, which expired today, closed down 47 cents at $71.70 per barrel; the June contract closed down 43 cents at $73.69. Among the nine S&P constituents trading higher, two -- Bank of America (BAC 46.23 +0.18) and Altria (MO 70.11 +1.15) -- attracted buyers after posting better than expected earnings.

Despite further weakness in the Treasury market, the Utilities turned in the day's best performance. Since rising bond yields diminish the income-oriented appeal of dividend-paying stocks, Utilities had been the year's least attractive sector and for that reason attracted bargain hunters across the board. Eleven of 15 components on the Dow Utilities Index posted gains.

The 10-yr note closed down slightly to yield 5.03%. Bonds showed little initial reaction to the less-than-expected Philly Fed report, but upon further analysis of the increases in the employment and prices paid components, bonds weakened. Separately, initial claims fell 10K to 303K (consensus 308K), which is consistent with monthly payroll gains of 180-200K, and March leading indicators edged 0.1% lower. However, both the stock and bond markets shrugged off those data as earnings remained in focus.

Another underperforming sector that found renewed buying interest was Health Care. The sector got a boost following strong earnings from Merck (MRK 35.07 +0.67), Schering Plough (SGP 19.49 +0.60) and Baxter (BAX 38.44 +1.41) as well as a rebound in managed health -- the year's fifth worst performing group. Technology posted a modest gain, lifted largely by a 3.0% surge in Apple Computer (AAPL 67.58 +1.93) after it reported a 41% increase in profits and strong earnings from EMC Corp (EMC 13.85 +0.51).

Newmont Mining (NEM 55.43 -3.00) and Nucor (NUE 111.93 -6.85) also posted strong earnings, but with commodities constantly hitting record levels, historic highs in both names had already been priced into their share prices, prompting investors to lock in profits. Strength in the greenback for the first time in five days also made dollar-denominated commodities like gold -- which hit a 25-year high yesterday -- less attractive. DJ30 +64.12 DJUA +0.7% NASDAQ -8.33 R2K -0.5% SOX +0.5% SP500 +1.53 XOI -0.9% NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1686/1346/2.17 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1733/1520/1.78 bln