STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 8 August 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

Last edited Thu Aug 8, 2013, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 8 August 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 7 August 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 7 August 2013
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Dow Jones 15,470.67 -48.07 (-0.31%)
S&P 500 1,690.91 -6.46 (-0.38%)
Nasdaq 3,654.01 -11.76 (-0.32%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.49% -0.03 (-1.19%)
30 Year 3.58% -0.03 (-0.83%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.










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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[jtuck004]

1. Facing Fannie Freddie Facts

Robert Waldmann | August 5, 2013 12:21 pm
US/Global Economics

...
Fannie and Freddie are now profitable. They are likely to pay their debts to the Treasury which would imply that the bailout will reduce the Federal debt, because they pay the Treasury much higher interest rates than the Treasury pays anyone, because they have also paid dividends, because Fannie and Freddie will pay corporate income tax (eventually) and because even after the debt to the Treasury is repaid, the Treasury will own 80% of the equity of Fannie and Freddie.
...
It appears that “most experts” agree that Fannie and Freddie suffered from “bad lending incentives” but Countywide didn’t ? The “private-sector market” for mortgage-backed securities almost destroyed the world economy and yet the Obama administration is convinced that they should be revived ? This is insane. It is as if Obama decided that the evidence shows that Medicare advantage is the way to reduce health care spending (that insane view is also heard in Washington, but I expect Paul Ryan to be insane).

The article of blind faith held in spite of overwhelming evidence that it is nonsense, is that Government involvement in high finance “distorts” something which is not distorted if left to its own devices.

What conceivable evidence could possibly convince “most experts” that this is total nonsense on the order of denying global warming and evolution ? I ask for information (please try to think of something and type it in comments — second comings of Christ are allowed). I can’t imagine any stronger evidence and yet “most experts” faith in free-market dynamics is untouched.

See more here.

Interesting how things can work out. One can be a leader, say FDR, and take the country to greater things than anyone thought capable. Or one can fall victim to the same weapons of mass distraction (thank you Allen West) used by the corporations and others who wish to manipulate and profit from us, increasing their range and harm.

The author asks above for what evidence there is that could convince "most experts" to do otherwise, and whether is is taking a leadership role to combat global warming or working to increase demand on behalf of the middle-class, I'm not sure there is anything that will. The only alternative then would be mass public action by people that could prevent the destruction, people who somehow learned that their best interests lay elsewhere, that they could no longer afford to just sit and do what they are told.

Because when leaders adopt such a posture they wilfully ignore anything and everything placed in front of them. And that is really dangerous for anyone that gets in the way if they don't understand what is coming down the track at them.

[Demeter]

2. We was had, over and over

If W was the abusive kidnapper, O is the polished and professional sadist.

[Demeter]

3. Did you know the Weekend is coming? Anything you'd like for a theme?

I will return! Promise!

After all, I've survived so far...

Get those suggestions for this Weekend in!

[jtuck004]

4. Employers Show "Strong Distaste" For The 3 Million Long-Term Unemployed

There are still more than 3 million Americans who have been unemployed for more than 52 weeks and, as WSJ reports, economists (via recent studies) worry they will never work again. Of course, with benefits at such heights (and work punished), it is not surprising but on the demand side, for the long-term unemployed, interview "callback rates decrease dramatically at 9 months of unemployment." Worst still, for those applying for medium-to-low skilled jobs (so the majority), being long-term unemployed reduced interview requests by 20% - the equivalent of shaving four years of work experience off their resumes. Critically, one study found employers showed "a strong distaste for applicants with long spells of non-employment."

In a forthcoming paper in the American Economic Review, the researchers find that short-term spells of unemployment (those of six months or less) had no effect on job-seekers’ prospects.... But for the long-term unemployed, it was a different story: “The callback rate decreases dramatically at nine months of unemployment,” the researchers write. For those applying for medium or low-skill jobs (those not requiring a college degree), being long-term unemployed reduced interview requests by 20%, the equivalent of shaving four years of work experience off their resumes.

Here.

_______________________________________________

So how would one go about creating an org in which people could at least show that they have been employed for some time. Doesn't matter the amount, could be token $1 a month, but it could at least help them with gaps in their resume.

We can't just throw 3 million people in the toilet while paying $85 billion a month to banks so they don't have to wear the same suit twice a week, it seems. Why would we favor banks by supporting them as they declare a $20 billiion second quarter profit, while we pay familes on food stamps less per day per person than we pay the operators of private prisons like Aramark to feed prisoners?

That's not us, is it?

How would one create an organization that filled in some of those gaps for the long-term unemployed among our neighbors, I wonder...

[Demeter]

17. One "work-around" (pun intended) from Women's Movement

Two friends hired each other for swapping services, paid each other, filled out the tremendous amount of paperwork with the IRS and state govts., paid the withholding, to establish work histories for each other.

Then they didn't have empty resumes....as they looked for "real" jobs.

[jtuck004]

21. Yeah, something like that. Maybe a cooperative which people can do things for each other and

perhaps even learn new things, maybe arrange for micro-loans and support each other as they start a small bus, something like that.

[Roland99]

5. Taper shmaper...US Futures bully on

S&P 500 +0.4%
DOW +0.4%
NASDAQ +0.5%

[xchrom]

6. Amazon Is Selling This $1.45 Million Monet In Its New 'Fine Art' Section, The Reviews Are Hilarious

http://www.businessinsider.com/comments-on-amazon-art-2013-8

Amazon's new Fine Art and Collectibles section just launched yesterday, and it is already getting less-than-stellar reviews.

One of the most vocal opponents is economist Tyler Cowen, who says that much of the art is low quality and overpriced. "It looks like dealers trying to unload unwanted, hard to sell inventory at sucker prices," he wrote on Marginal Revolution.

Most of the items by famous painters — including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Míro — are lithographs, mady by a delicate printing process that uses oil and water on an aluminum plate to make copies. Since there are multiple renditions available, these are usually much less expensive than a typical painting.

But there are a few original paintings for sale. The most expensive is a Norman Rockwell for $4.85 million. There's also a Claude Monet painting titled "L'Enfant a la tasse, a portrait de Jean Monet" from 1868 available for $1.45 million.

[xchrom]

7. China's July Trade Numbers Were So Good, They Were Probably Too Good To Be True... Again

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-july-trade-grows-more-than-expected-2013-8

China's July trade growth numbers are out, and they crushed expectations.
Exports jumped 5.1% year-over-year, which was much stronger than the 2.0% expected by economists.

Imports surged 10.9%, blowing away expectations for 1.0% growth.

Assuming they're true, the numbers are definitely welcome consider all of the scares of an economic hard landing amid evidence of a major slowdown.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-july-trade-grows-more-than-expected-2013-8#ixzz2bNglqOVO

[xchrom]

8. Life Is Hard For America's 10.5 Million Middle Managers

http://www.businessinsider.com/problems-with-middle-management-2013-8

To many people, middle management is a punchline — the physical embodiment of bureaucracy. It's also a significant part of the economy, accounting for some 10.5 million jobs, and one of the most fraught and difficult positions in corporate America, reports Melissa Korn in The Wall Street Journal.
The piece profiles Michelle Davis, a 36-year-old analytics director at FICO, who finds herself in the classic middle manager limbo.

She has "many duties but little authority, people to please both above and below, and days when her schedule is just barely under her control, filled with meetings or consumed with sudden crises," Korn writes.

In addition to the lack of autonomy, the career advancement opportunities are poor. Since companies have slimmed down and cut out many management levels, the leap to the next level is frequently very large and hard to accomplish.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/problems-with-middle-management-2013-8#ixzz2bNhImBfw


***i'm pretty sure the French have several novels out about the Hellish Banality of such a career.

[Demeter]

18. How is that different

from women's private lives?

[Tansy_Gold]

19. Exactly. Exactly. n/t

[xchrom]

9. Peter and the Wolves: How Siemens Lost Its Way

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/a-german-giant-in-decline-how-siemens-lost-its-way-a-915008.html

A few days before all hell breaks loose around him, Joe Kaeser is sitting in his Munich office, relating anecdotes about the big, wide world of Siemens. At the time, he's still the company's chief financial officer.

A large, black-and-white photo of the striking cliffs of Big Sur, on the California coast, one of the 56-year-old executive's dream destinations, is hanging on the wall behind his desk. Kaeser, with surprising openness, describes how almost everyone in the company "has recently come a little unhinged." At some point, he says, even he began to feel like a rock in the surf.

He argues so clearly and precisely that the question seems inevitable: How can Siemens, the German multinational conglomorate, emerge from its crisis? From this point on, Kaeser puts on a disarming smile. You'd have to ask the CEO, Peter Löscher, he says, noting that it's his job to know.

Siemens has always had confident CFOs. But Kaeser has been so openly critical that some at the company have already eyed him with suspicion in the past. Others call him authentic. Kaeser himself says: "It's time for the CEO to tell us where we're going. The CFO's job is to ask how we're going to get there."

[xchrom]

10. Mining the Gobi: The Battle for Mongolia's Resources

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/mining-the-gobi-desert-rio-tinto-and-mongolia-fight-over-profits-a-915021.html


Mongolia is over four times the size of Germany, with nearly 3 million inhabitants and a GDP of $10 billion (€7.5 billion) in 2012.

British-Australian mining corporation Rio Tinto employs 71,000 people in more than 40 countries and is worth about $60 billion.
These two unequal partners -- a poor, potentially rich nation and the second largest mining corporation in the world -- have joined together to mine one of the globe's largest deposits of copper and gold. But will they be capable of distributing this wealth fairly?

The mine in question lies an hour's flight south of the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, near the border with China. There is enough copper in the ground here to build the Statue of Liberty more than 800,000 times over. Once the planned mine goes into full operation, it could increase the country's GDP by a third. It could, at least in theory, bring prosperity to this country where many people still live in simple yurts and huts.

But in practice, the transaction between this global corporation and this country that is poor but rich in raw materials looks quite different. In fact, the project serves as a prime example of what is happening in a growing number of newly industrialized and developing countries.

[bread_and_roses]

11. Bankster apologists?

THANK GOD IT PASSED - is that you? What's with some posters on this thread? http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023423443 ?

I just scanned down it quickly ... am grumpy - nothing is going well. But I liked jtuck's analogy - "it's always scary to leave the Plantation ..."

[bread_and_roses]

12. Whew! "Sun’s Magnetic Field Flip Won’t Doom Earth, Scientists Say"

http://news.yahoo.com/sun-magnetic-field-flip-won-t-doom-earth-113043323.html

Today's Daily reassurance from yahoo home page - though since we're doing such a fine job ourselves I can't see it much matters.

[xchrom]

13. Iran has new rocket site, ballistic missile tests possible - report

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/08/uk-iran-space-idUKBRE9770AN20130808

(Reuters) - Iran has constructed a rocket-launching site that could be used for testing ballistic missiles, a report from a military intelligence publication said on Thursday.

Satellite imagery analysed by Jane's Intelligence Review showed extensive construction over the last three years at a site of what Jane's says is a launch tower and pad, an area to prepare rockets for launch and an administration and support section.

The Islamic Republic has pursued ambitious goals to develop its space programme in recent years. In January this year it demonstrated its missile delivery systems by launching a live monkey into space and returning it safely, officials said.

Western countries are concerned that long-range ballistic technology used to propel Iranian satellites into orbit could be put to delivering nuclear warheads.

[xchrom]

14. Million Dollar Home Sales Jump in U.S. as Wealthy Return

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-08/million-dollar-home-sales-jump-in-u-s-as-wealthy-return.html

Real estate has returned as a favorite topic of conversation at the pair of Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) coffee shops in Granite Bay, a Sacramento, California, suburb where the median income is double the rest of the state.

“When the real estate market was booming, people sat in Starbucks and talked about how much they paid for a house,” said Craig Moe, who in June bought a $1.2 million property discounted 25 percent from its sale six years ago. “Now, they talk about how little they paid and what a bargain they got.”

Home sales from Los Angeles to Charleston, South Carolina that are priced at more than $1 million are gaining at triple the pace of the broader market, according to real estate research firm DataQuick Inc. Wealthy purchasers, helped by gains in equities, are diving into real estate a year after a recovery began in the housing market when less well-heeled buyers rushed to take advantage of record-low interest rates, said Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in Pennsylvania.

“The real estate recovery has been built on purchases by middle-class families, even though they haven’t been the ones to flourish during the recovery,” she said. “Now, the economy is getting a vote of confidence from wealthy homebuyers.”

[xchrom]

15. JPMorgan Faces Probe as Bank Says U.S. Faults MBS Sales

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-07/jpmorgan-says-u-s-concluded-mortgage-bond-sales-broke-civil-law.html

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, said it’s under federal criminal investigation for practices tied to sales of mortgage-backed bonds that the Justice Department has already concluded broke civil laws.

The department’s civil division told the bank in May of its preliminary finding after examining securities tied to subprime and Alt-A loans, which were sold to investors from 2005 through 2007, JPMorgan said yesterday. The office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner in Sacramento, California, has been conducting civil and criminal inquiries, the bank said.

“It would be a major decision for them to indict a major U.S. bank, and frankly I would not predict it,” said John Coffee, a professor at Columbia Law School in New York. “You can often bring dual investigations, civil and criminal, in order to maximize pressure for a global civil resolution.”

Investigators are seeking to wrap up years-long probes of abuses that fueled the housing collapse and led global credit markets to freeze in 2008. This week, the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission sued Bank of America Corp., the nation’s second-biggest lender, accusing it of misleading investors in an $850 million mortgage-backed bond.

[Hotler]

23. My oh my! A criminal investigation......

If only the President of this country had any brass and fight in him this could have been over with years ago and CEO's doing time in general population.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (08/08/2013)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20131574.htm

== == == ==

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending August 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 333,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 328,000. The 4-week moving average was 335,500, a decrease of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 341,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending July 27, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 27 was 3,018,000, an increase of 67,000 from the preceding week's unrevised level of 2,951,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,023,750, a decrease of 2,250 from the preceding week's unrevised average of 3,026,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 286,738 in the week ending August 3, an increase of 5,285 from the previous week. There were 320,219 initial claims in the comparable week in 2012.
....

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending July 20 was 4,520,948, a decrease of 174,418 from the previous week. There were 5,750,327 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.

== == == ==

Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I ask you to put aside your differences long enough to read this post. Following that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

I have been posting the number every week for at least a year. I seriously do not care if the week's data make Obama look good. They are just numbers, and I post them without regard to the consequences. I welcome people from Free Republic to examine the numbers as well. They paid for the work just as much as members of DU did, so I invite them to come on over and have a look. "The more the merrier" is the way I look at it.

I do not work at the ETA, and I do not know anyone working in that agency. I'm sure I can safely assume that the numbers are gathered and analyzed by career civil servant economists who do their work on a nonpartisan basis. Numbers are numbers, and let the chips fall where they may. If you feel that these economists are falling down on the job, drop them a line or give them a call. They work for you, not for any politician or political party.

The word "initial" is important. The report does not count all claims, just the new ones filed this week.

Note: The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2007 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised. These revised historical values, as well as the seasonal adjustment factors that will be used through calendar year 2012, can be accessed at the bottom of the following link: http://www.oui.doleta.gov/press/2012/032912.asp

[Hotler]

20. For the toon.......

[Tansy_Gold]

22. Thanks.

I actually saw it first in another thread here on DU, but when compared to all the other toons for yesterday, this one was the runaway winner.