Showing posts with label markets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label markets. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 2011
Financial good news/bad news today
The bad news first: Italy may be going to hell in a debt handbasket right now, it's feared, so the EU is scrambling and people are freaking out a bit so naturally the 2nd wave--the double whammy, if you will--is that the markets are all down. The Dow is pretty close to 200 points down today at present. The good news? It wrecks the price of oil, fortunately and predictably. We can't support that high price of oil if not enough are buying. Links: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Stocks-sink-on-fresh-fears-apf-3537054013.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=; http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Oil-drops-below-95-per-apf-3522845891.html;_ylt=AjawuDjIoyQ8mNdId8DG4cK7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1bzE5czZiBHBvcwM2BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNvaWxkcm9wc3RvYmU-?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Good news for America; bad for Republicans
The markets are up--way up. About 200 points.
It seems the country just got a good jobs report--The U.S. private sector posted its largest jobs gain in three years and China posted strong factory production data.
And sure, it's temporary. It's a blip.
But it's good news.
It's good economic news and we need that.
Just not the Republicans.
They don't want any real, good news for the country until after November, 2012.
Link:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69O1D320101201
It seems the country just got a good jobs report--The U.S. private sector posted its largest jobs gain in three years and China posted strong factory production data.
And sure, it's temporary. It's a blip.
But it's good news.
It's good economic news and we need that.
Just not the Republicans.
They don't want any real, good news for the country until after November, 2012.
Link:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69O1D320101201
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Quote of the day--on today's Capitalism
From and by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his opening speech given at the 40th World Economic Forum January 27, 2010 in Davos, Switzerland, in which he spanks America and Capitalism as we now practice it:
"To my mind, one of the most striking characteristics of this capitalism which we have allowed to emerge, is that the present was all that mattered and the future no longer counted for anything. Everything for the present immediately, no longer anything for the future. Indeed we saw depreciation of the future in the absolutely exorbitant demand for high yields. Those yields, boosted by speculation and leverage, were the discount rate applied to future revenues: the higher they rose, the lower the importance attached to the future fell. Everything, right away."
"To my mind, one of the most striking characteristics of this capitalism which we have allowed to emerge, is that the present was all that mattered and the future no longer counted for anything. Everything for the present immediately, no longer anything for the future. Indeed we saw depreciation of the future in the absolutely exorbitant demand for high yields. Those yields, boosted by speculation and leverage, were the discount rate applied to future revenues: the higher they rose, the lower the importance attached to the future fell. Everything, right away."
Thursday, March 12, 2009
An update
An update to Tuesday's (March 10) entry:
There's a story out right now on Yahoo! News from a Time Magazine article saying much the same thing.
See story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090312/us_time/08599188463000
People are asking the same thing--Is the President trying to do too many other, less important things right now, rather than focusing on fixing the financial mess we're in?
He seems to think not.
Some of us think he is.
We hope we're wrong, of course.
We want and need this thing attended to--and fixed.
There's a story out right now on Yahoo! News from a Time Magazine article saying much the same thing.
See story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090312/us_time/08599188463000
People are asking the same thing--Is the President trying to do too many other, less important things right now, rather than focusing on fixing the financial mess we're in?
He seems to think not.
Some of us think he is.
We hope we're wrong, of course.
We want and need this thing attended to--and fixed.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Random thoughts before the weekend
First thought: watch for stocks to fall tomorrow. Things are getting gloomier.
The Fed is getting less optimistic all the time. Yesterday was no exception. They came out and said things look rough.
Added to that, unemployment is on the rise.
Finally, one Mr. Bill Gross of Pimco (manager of the world's largest bond fund) recommended publicly that the Federal Government should start buying up shares of stocks or risk a--get this--"financial tsunami".
Ow.
Doesn't sound very good.
Add to the above which, really, came out earlier today--Thursday--the government has what is expected to be more bad news to announce in statistics tomorrow morning.
As of this moment, the London FTSE, Hong Kong's market and Japan's NIKKEI are all down.
If you can sell--particularly bank stocks--do it right now, right away.
Sell. Definitely sell. Now.
(full story here: http://business.theage.com.au/business/steps-needed-to-halt-financial-tsunami-20080905-4a3a.html)
Finally, to close, instead of trashing Sarah Palin (or John McCain, for picking her), let's let her represent herself in her own words:
"As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" --Sarah Palin, in an interview with CNBC's "Kudlow & Co."
"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." --Palin
"It's great to see another part of the country." --Palin, campaigning in Pennsylvania
And then there's her family and friends:
"I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative." –Sarah Palin's mother-in-law, Faye Palin, who said she may vote for Obama
"She's old enough. She's a U.S. citizen." --John Harris, Alaska's Republican speaker of the house, when asked about Palin's qualifications for vice president.
If John McCain can and does get elected President this Fall, he will defy all American history. No candidate of the same party that's in power in a really bad, down market gets elected. Add the fact that he's a really old dude who's out of touch, with bad judgement. a temper and a really awful pick for his VP and it just looks like he couldn't possibly be elected President.
Unless all the racists pour out for the election, God forbid.
At least the brutal heat of summer is over, huh?
Have a good weekend, y'all.
The Fed is getting less optimistic all the time. Yesterday was no exception. They came out and said things look rough.
Added to that, unemployment is on the rise.
Finally, one Mr. Bill Gross of Pimco (manager of the world's largest bond fund) recommended publicly that the Federal Government should start buying up shares of stocks or risk a--get this--"financial tsunami".
Ow.
Doesn't sound very good.
Add to the above which, really, came out earlier today--Thursday--the government has what is expected to be more bad news to announce in statistics tomorrow morning.
As of this moment, the London FTSE, Hong Kong's market and Japan's NIKKEI are all down.
If you can sell--particularly bank stocks--do it right now, right away.
Sell. Definitely sell. Now.
(full story here: http://business.theage.com.au/business/steps-needed-to-halt-financial-tsunami-20080905-4a3a.html)
Finally, to close, instead of trashing Sarah Palin (or John McCain, for picking her), let's let her represent herself in her own words:
"As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" --Sarah Palin, in an interview with CNBC's "Kudlow & Co."
"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq." --Palin
"It's great to see another part of the country." --Palin, campaigning in Pennsylvania
And then there's her family and friends:
"I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative." –Sarah Palin's mother-in-law, Faye Palin, who said she may vote for Obama
"She's old enough. She's a U.S. citizen." --John Harris, Alaska's Republican speaker of the house, when asked about Palin's qualifications for vice president.
If John McCain can and does get elected President this Fall, he will defy all American history. No candidate of the same party that's in power in a really bad, down market gets elected. Add the fact that he's a really old dude who's out of touch, with bad judgement. a temper and a really awful pick for his VP and it just looks like he couldn't possibly be elected President.
Unless all the racists pour out for the election, God forbid.
At least the brutal heat of summer is over, huh?
Have a good weekend, y'all.
Friday, August 8, 2008
A big Friday
So oil is down to $115.00/barrel today, the Dow is up, the dollar is up against the Euro and the British Pound--since they didn't raise their interest rates--and the Olympics starts today in Japan.
A big news day, to be sure.
The question for the banks--and the American people--is, will we witness and have to finance another bank failure in the next 24 hours? Will the FDIC have to march into yet another bank this evening and close it up because it's "upside down", financially.
Hopefully not, certainly.
If they don't have to, it would be nice to break the 3-week straight we've had on these things.
Hopefully it's a quiet, uneventful evening and weekend.
Enjoy, y'all.
A big news day, to be sure.
The question for the banks--and the American people--is, will we witness and have to finance another bank failure in the next 24 hours? Will the FDIC have to march into yet another bank this evening and close it up because it's "upside down", financially.
Hopefully not, certainly.
If they don't have to, it would be nice to break the 3-week straight we've had on these things.
Hopefully it's a quiet, uneventful evening and weekend.
Enjoy, y'all.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
This is how serious the situation is, folks
Paulson Seeks Authority to Shore Up Fannie, Freddie (Update3)
By Brendan Murray and Dawn Kopecki
July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson put the weight of the federal government behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the beleaguered companies that buy or finance almost half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages.
Paulson, speaking on the steps of the Treasury facing the White House, asked Congress for authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to the companies, aiming to stem a collapse in confidence. The Federal Reserve separately authorized the firms to borrow directly from the central bank.
The announcements followed weekend talks between the firms, government officials, lawmakers and regulators, after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost about half their value last week. Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are trying to prevent a collapse that would exacerbate the worst housing recession in 25 years and deepen the economic slowdown.
here's the orginal link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aSNZaHL2vs4A&refer=home
Pay attention, folks. This is huge news. These people NEVER get together on the weekends. They NEVER have meetings on Sundays, let alone announcements on the steps of the Treasury. Hell, they don't have to. Things are usually running smoothly.
Not now. Now, they're scrambling. This is big. This will be a big week in the markets.
"Officials from Treasury, the Fed and other regulators worked in close consultation throughout the weekend after growing investor fears about the companies' finances sent their shares and the overall market plummeting last week." (from Yahoo! link below).
Let's hope it all goes well.
The Fed. The FDIC. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both. Hell, they're all engaged here.
"...some of Wall Street's biggest investors believe there was another message in the government's announcement — the rest of the financial sector seems unlikely to get a helping hand. Global banks and brokerages have already written down nearly $300 billion in soured mortgage investments — a number projected to ultimately reach $1 trillion." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_bi_ge/credit_crisis_new_phase)
"Former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have relied on leverage to fund their businesses in the same fashion as a hedge fund, and that the government should avoid taking them over."
"Congress ought to be embarrassed" for years of delays in passing legislation aimed at strengthening regulation of the two companies, Snow, now chairman of New York-based buyout fund Cerberus Capital Management LP, said in a telephone interview. He said he suggested when in office that "the business model they were using was really the model of a hedge fund." (from this link: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
"A critical test of confidence will come Monday morning, when Freddie Mac is slated to auction a combined $3 billion in three- and six-month securities."
From this link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_bi_ge/mortgage_giants_crisis
You watch--Lehman Brothers is going down. Mark my words. And that's not the least of it, by a long shot.
Great question from Michael Sedlock at Mish's Global Economic Analysis:
"Since when in a supposedly capitalistic system should it be necessary for the Fed and Treasury to intervene in the markets on a day to day basis?"
More:
"To What Extent Did (Secretary of the Treasury) Paulson Lie?
Now we get to debate the meaning of the following:
"Keeping Fannie and Freddie in Current Form"
"There will be no nationalization of Fannie and Freddie"
"A government takeover will not be necessary"
It seems to me that an injection of $15 billion capital into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and creating a new class of Government Owned Securities is most emphatically NOT in agreement with the above ideas.
Paulson Is The Great Pretender
Hell, there is so much pretending going on it's hard to keep track. For starters, everyone is pretending Fannie and Freddie are solvent. If they were solvent there would be no need for a $15 billion injection. Secondly, the government directly owning a new class of shares is not keeping Fannie in its current form.
The big concern is "Where does it stop?" Opening up a $15 billion dollar window will be the first of 10 such operations. This is likely the start of a U.S. Taxpayer Bailout of China."
It's ugly, folks. And it's getting really, quite uglier. As I so frequently say, you'd better start paying attention.
I hope it's not too late.
By Brendan Murray and Dawn Kopecki
July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson put the weight of the federal government behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the beleaguered companies that buy or finance almost half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages.
Paulson, speaking on the steps of the Treasury facing the White House, asked Congress for authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to the companies, aiming to stem a collapse in confidence. The Federal Reserve separately authorized the firms to borrow directly from the central bank.
The announcements followed weekend talks between the firms, government officials, lawmakers and regulators, after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost about half their value last week. Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are trying to prevent a collapse that would exacerbate the worst housing recession in 25 years and deepen the economic slowdown.
here's the orginal link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aSNZaHL2vs4A&refer=home
Pay attention, folks. This is huge news. These people NEVER get together on the weekends. They NEVER have meetings on Sundays, let alone announcements on the steps of the Treasury. Hell, they don't have to. Things are usually running smoothly.
Not now. Now, they're scrambling. This is big. This will be a big week in the markets.
"Officials from Treasury, the Fed and other regulators worked in close consultation throughout the weekend after growing investor fears about the companies' finances sent their shares and the overall market plummeting last week." (from Yahoo! link below).
Let's hope it all goes well.
The Fed. The FDIC. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both. Hell, they're all engaged here.
"...some of Wall Street's biggest investors believe there was another message in the government's announcement — the rest of the financial sector seems unlikely to get a helping hand. Global banks and brokerages have already written down nearly $300 billion in soured mortgage investments — a number projected to ultimately reach $1 trillion." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_bi_ge/credit_crisis_new_phase)
"Former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have relied on leverage to fund their businesses in the same fashion as a hedge fund, and that the government should avoid taking them over."
"Congress ought to be embarrassed" for years of delays in passing legislation aimed at strengthening regulation of the two companies, Snow, now chairman of New York-based buyout fund Cerberus Capital Management LP, said in a telephone interview. He said he suggested when in office that "the business model they were using was really the model of a hedge fund." (from this link: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/)
"A critical test of confidence will come Monday morning, when Freddie Mac is slated to auction a combined $3 billion in three- and six-month securities."
From this link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080714/ap_on_bi_ge/mortgage_giants_crisis
You watch--Lehman Brothers is going down. Mark my words. And that's not the least of it, by a long shot.
Great question from Michael Sedlock at Mish's Global Economic Analysis:
"Since when in a supposedly capitalistic system should it be necessary for the Fed and Treasury to intervene in the markets on a day to day basis?"
More:
"To What Extent Did (Secretary of the Treasury) Paulson Lie?
Now we get to debate the meaning of the following:
"Keeping Fannie and Freddie in Current Form"
"There will be no nationalization of Fannie and Freddie"
"A government takeover will not be necessary"
It seems to me that an injection of $15 billion capital into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and creating a new class of Government Owned Securities is most emphatically NOT in agreement with the above ideas.
Paulson Is The Great Pretender
Hell, there is so much pretending going on it's hard to keep track. For starters, everyone is pretending Fannie and Freddie are solvent. If they were solvent there would be no need for a $15 billion injection. Secondly, the government directly owning a new class of shares is not keeping Fannie in its current form.
The big concern is "Where does it stop?" Opening up a $15 billion dollar window will be the first of 10 such operations. This is likely the start of a U.S. Taxpayer Bailout of China."
It's ugly, folks. And it's getting really, quite uglier. As I so frequently say, you'd better start paying attention.
I hope it's not too late.
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