STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 4 October 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 4 October 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 3 October 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 3 October 2013
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Dow Jones 14,996.48 -136.66 (-0.90%)
S&P 500 1,678.66 -15.21 (-0.90%)
Nasdaq 3,774.34 -40.68 (-1.07%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.60% -0.02 (-0.76%)
30 Year 3.70% -0.01 (-0.27%) [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.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.








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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]

[Demeter]

1. Cost Of Solar Set To Plummet With New 44.7% Efficiency Record

http://theenergycollective.com/tinacasey/279671/cost-solar-set-plummet-new-447-efficiency-record?utm_source=tec_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&inf_contact_key=2c8c5d3bbb803fa3e98084de9831195ade111009c33849b810f11c8eae222e8c



A research team in Europe has achieved a world record-setting solar conversion efficiency of 44.7 percent, and assuming that higher efficiency translates into lower costs, it’s yet another indicator that we’re only at the beginning of a long, steep decline in the cost of solar power....

[Tansy_Gold]

3. I hope so.

I would love to turn part of my acre of 350-days-a-year sunshine into electricity.

[tclambert]

5. Even better, many of these high efficiency cells work best in concentrated sunlight.

You can increase the area of sunlight you "harvest" by adding really, really cheap reflectors.

Bad news, though--this probably means The Delft University of Technology will continue to beat the University of Michigan in the World Solar Challenge solar car race. (Every couple of years, 50 or so teams race across Australia in cars powered by sunlight alone.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Solar_Challenge

[Demeter]

2. New York claims Wells Fargo mortgage-servicing fixes 'not good enough'

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-new-york-wells-fargo-20131002,0,5751151.story

Deriding Wells Fargo's mortgage-servicing process as "Byzantine," New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman said the bank's efforts to help homeowners were simply "not good enough."

Schneiderman announced Wednesday that his office has filed a complaint against the San Francisco-based financial giant over what he claims is its failure to comply with last year's landmark $25-billion National Mortgage Settlement.

Schneiderman said Wells Fargo sent a letter to a committee monitoring the mortgage settlement offering to voluntarily take steps, but the bank refused to acknowledge its shortcomings.

“Their communication with customers is terrible,” Schneiderman told reporters Wednesday at his offices in Manhattan. “They’re not providing the right folks with the ability to close a deal.”

And, Schneiderman added, the bank continues to enter into servicing contracts with other companies, forcing homeowners “to start all over again with a new servicer.”

MORE

[Demeter]

4. Speaking of optimum efficiency

[xchrom]

6. Meet The Family Dynasties That Rule New York Real Estate

http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-family-dynasties-that-rule-new-york-real-estate-2013-10




Seymour Durst and his brothers built six Manhattan buildings in a 12-year run. Paul and Seymour Milstein built 10 in about the same amount of time. And Lew and Jack Rudin built 11 in two decades.

The breakneck pace of development — which was largely clustered in the 1960s and the 1980s — by those three families, and a slew of others, laid the foundation for many of New York City’s most established real estate dynasties. (Think Tishman, Fisher, Malkin, Resnick, LeFrak, Rose, and Zeckendorf.)

Indeed, after passing down their real estate portfolios from one generation to the next, many of those families are sitting on bricks-and-mortar fortunes today.

This month, The Real Deal looked at New York City’s top 10 real estate dynasties — those that stretch back a minimum of three generations and are still active. Then we ranked them by how much they own, and how much net operating income, or NOI, their New York City properties throw off each year — an estimate done by analyzing tax figures from the city’s Department of Finance. (We did not include additional business, such as property management, brokerage, banking, and condo development.)



Read more: http://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/nycs-real-estate-dynasties/#ixzz2gkmeJdpg

[xchrom]

7. GOLDMAN: The Government Shutdown May Continue Even After Congress Raises The Debt Ceiling

http://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-could-go-on-after-debt-ceiling-raised-2013-10

Many on Wall Street are coalescing around the view that a deal to end the government shutdown will get rolled into a deal to raise the debt ceiling, with the two issues being resolved together at once.

However, in a note to clients this morning, Goldman Sachs economist Alec Phillips lays out another scenario, to which he assigns a 30% probability: the debt ceiling gets raised, and the government shutdown continues.

Phillips writes:

The debt limit is increased well before October 17 but the shutdown continues beyond that. It is possible that after attempting to merge the two issues, congressional leaders could find themselves still unable to agree on how to resolve the shutdown by the time the debt limit deadline has been reached. However, it appears fairly clear to us that neither Republican nor Democratic leaders are interested in allowing the Treasury to run out of cash.

In such a scenario, it is plausible that House Republicans could agree to bring up a "clean" or nearly clean debt limit increase, which would pass with more Democratic than Republican votes. Media reports indicate that Speaker Boehner has raised this possibility with some of his Republican colleagues. We assume that Senate Democrats would prefer to deal with both issues together, but since the White House's position has been that there will be no negotiation on the debt limit, it might be difficult for them to reject a clean debt limit extension simply because it did not also reopen the federal government. That said, while this is a possibility, this would only come about if the approach to combine the debt limit and the shutdown fails. We believe this outcome has a 30% probability.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-could-go-on-after-debt-ceiling-raised-2013-10#ixzz2gknb22OS

[xchrom]

8. Swiss regulator investigates banks over foreign exchange deals

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24397525

Switzerland's financial regulator is investigating possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates at several Swiss financial institutions.

The regulator, FINMA, said several banks, including some from outside Switzerland, could be implicated.

It is coordinating the investigation closely with authorities in other countries.

It would give no further details on the investigations or the banks potentially involved.

[xchrom]

9. DAIMLER'S MERCEDES HAS RECORD SALES MONTH

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_DAIMLER_MERCEDES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-04-04-14-33

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Daimler AG's luxury brand Mercedes-Benz sold a record number of cars in September.

The Stuttgart-based automaker said Friday it sold 142,994 vehicles during September, up 15.9 percent on the same month a year before.

It credited new versions of its E-Class and S-Class sedans, as well as increased sales of its smaller models such as the A-, B- and CLA-Class. Compacts increased sales as a group by 68.3 percent in the first nine months of the year.

September sales rose 6.7 percent in the United States, the brand's biggest single market, and 21.2 percent in China. Sales at home in Germany rose only 1.5 however.

[xchrom]

10. FUTURES REBOUND AFTER SHARP DOWNTURN THIS WEEK

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WALL_STREET_PREMARKET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-04-08-05-57

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stock futures are rebounding from a significant sell-off over the past two days, but major averages that have been rattled by the partial government shutdown appear to be headed for a weekly loss.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index has ended in positive territory only twice over the past 11 days as disgust over the budget impasse grows. Though futures are ticking higher Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial average slumped below the 15,000 mark by Wednesday and is unlikely to recover this week.

Dow Jones futures are up 30 points to 14,936. S&P futures have tacked on 4.6 points to 1,674.30. Nasdaq futures are up 10.50 points to 3,212.75.

Because of the shutdown, there are no economic indicators Friday, including the crucial September jobs report from the Labor Department.

[xchrom]

11. OBAMA CANCELS ASIA TRIP TO DEAL WITH SHUTDOWN

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUDGET_BATTLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-04-03-52-11

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is canceling a trip to Asia to stay in Washington and push for an elusive funding bill to get the nation's business back up and running.

In a statement late Thursday, the White House blamed Republicans, saying the "completely avoidable" government shutdown was hurting the president's efforts to promote trade and U.S. influence in emerging world markets.

Obama's decision to skip upcoming economic summits in Indonesia and Brunei was an indication of how entrenched both sides were as the bitter partisan shutdown entered its fourth day with no end in sight.

Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Bali, Indonesia, on Friday and will head the U.S. delegation to the summits.

[xchrom]

12. Furloughs Feed Federal Worker Insecurity Amid Pay Freezes

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-04/furloughs-feed-federal-worker-insecurity-amid-pay-freezes.html

Karen Buondonno, a drone researcher at the Federal Aviation Administration for 23 years, used to view her job as secure. That sense of safety has eroded, she said, a casualty of three furloughs since 2011.

Buondonno, 46, and a National Federation of Federal Employees union representative, said she loves her work and has no intention of quitting.

What worries her, she says, is attracting and retaining a new generation of talent. A young colleague left for Amazon.com Inc. after being forced to take time off earlier this year, she said, and a woman who sits near her is “openly talking” about other options.

“When I took this job, I knew I was going to have kids, and job security and benefits were a major reason,” said Buondonno, mother to a 6-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son and the primary breadwinner in her Linwood, New Jersey, household. “Those things are out the window.”

[xchrom]

13. Amtrak Funds at Risk in Extended U.S. Government Shutdown

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-04/amtrak-at-risk-in-extended-u-s-shutdown.html

Amtrak, the U.S. intercity passenger railroad, may have trouble staying on track, literally, if a U.S. government shutdown is prolonged for a month or more.

The Washington-based railroad, which has never made money, gets 12 percent of its operating budget and most capital and debt-service funding from U.S. appropriations funneled through the Transportation Department. Some are scheduled to be paid quarterly while others are reimbursements, all of which have been cut off for now.

“At some point, I don’t know whether it’s weeks or months, they have a real problem,” said Mortimer Downey, a former member of Amtrak’s board and a former deputy U.S. transportation secretary. “If there’s nobody at DOT, there’s nobody to pay them reimbursements.”

Ticket revenue for Amtrak may also decline, further crimping cash flow, with government workers not traveling, said Ross Capon, president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, a Washington-based advocacy group.

[xchrom]

14. Bershidsky on Europe: France Takes on Amazon

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-04/bershidsky-on-europe-france-takes-on-amazon.html

***SNIP

France passes "anti-Amazon" bill
The lower house of the French parliament passed a bill to forbid internet booksellers from offering free delivery. The proposal came from Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti, who accused Amazon of "dumping" to destroy French bookstores. Amazon, she said, would raise its delivery prices once local competition was ruined. The move against the U.S. company, which controls up to 70 percent of book sales on the Internet, is part of a broader campaign against American Internet majors, such as Google, Apple and Facebook, which do a lot of business in France but pay almost all of their taxes elsewhere. Some moves in this war make sense: the French government, for example, has essentially forced Google to give French news outlets part of the revenue it gets from distributing their content. Others, like Filippetti's bill, merely protect outdated business models that will not survive, anyway. Amazon, which operates in France from Luxembourg, will still be more efficient and easier to use than independent bookstores.

[Hotler]

15. Happy Friday everyone. It's wet and snowy here in Denver.

And people drive like shit.

[westerebus]

17. The drivers are from Virginia.

There is an exodus to Denver of the twenty thirty somethings to there this past year.

Driver wise, how so many smart folks are so clueless, well, I'll leave it at that.

[DemReadingDU]

19. Snow!

Not ready for winter.

[Tansy_Gold]

21. Sunny

High today, 87.

[xchrom]

16. Fleeing Foreigners Impede Portugal’s Own Exit Plans

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-03/fleeing-foreigners-impede-portugal-s-own-exit-plans-euro-credit.html

Portugal’s plan to leave its bailout program and return fully to international markets risks being hindered by some investors making their own exit.

Foreign money managers were net sellers in June and July after buying in May, increasing the proportion of securities owned by residents. Domestic banks held a record 33 billion euros ($45 billion) of the nation’s government debt on Aug. 31, European Central Bank data published last week showed.


“When investors decide to go out for a while, it takes a lot for them to go back in,” said Huw Worthington, a fixed-income strategist at Barclays Plc in London. “You need those foreign investors. Without them, Portugal issuing debt for longer maturities will be very difficult indeed.”

Portuguese bonds were the worst performers in the euro region in the third quarter as a rift in the government over budget policy threatened to derail plans to end reliance on emergency funding and avoid a second bailout package. Yields on the country’s 10-year securities, which breached 8 percent on July 3, exceed those of Ireland and Belgium combined even after the rate fell today to a one-month low of 6.5 percent.

[AnneD]

18. Wonder how long Ted Cruz will be the darling of the T-Party...

when this becomes public knowledge. He didn't take out the Senate Fed Health care plan because he was covered by wife's employer, Goldman Sachs. Why hasn't the M$M reported this nugget?

"- Heidi Cruz, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in economics and international relations from CMC in 1994, is a vice president in the Private Wealth Management Group at Goldman Sachs, Texas. She and her two partners work with clients to implement high net worth portfolios across a range of investments and asset classes, including complex derivatives products, private equity, hedge funds, single stock risk management, U.S. and international equities, and fixed income.

- Ms. Cruz began her career as an investment banker with JPMorgan in New York, focusing on international structured finance and subsequently on Latin America mergers and acquisitions.

- In 2000, she served on the Bush 2000 Campaign in Austin as one of President George W. Bush's three economic advisors. She also served in the Administration as the economic director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council at the White House, advising the President and then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. She also is a former director at the U.S. Treasury Department and was special policy assistant to Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, then Chief U.S. international trade negotiator.

- Heidi Cruz is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)."



http://www.dailypaul.com/300348/senator-ted-cruz-and-wife-heidi-nelson-cruz-bios

[antigop]

20. "I didn't realize the deductibles would be so high"

Many of us have tried to explain this over in Jonestown....especially when 76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/04/news/economy/obamacare-costs/index.html

Margaret Hill has been shopping on the Maryland exchange for her unemployed brother, 53, who has hip issues but is uninsured. Since he qualifies for a subsidy, she's found a Coventry One plan for him that could cost less than $25 a month. But she was put off by how much he'll have to spend out of pocket. The Coventry One plan has a $1,500 deductible, and policies with lower costs are hundreds of dollars more.

"I didn't realize the deductibles would be so high," said Hill, who has coverage through her employer.

And then there's this...which I have also tried to explain over in Jonestown:

But for Deb Hornbacher, 58, the high deductibles are just too much for her and her husband. While she's enrolled in her employer's plan, the Colorado couple can't afford to extend the coverage to her husband, a self-employed carpenter.

So she was hoping to sign them both up for a plan on the exchange if they qualify for a federal subsidy. She found a bronze-level plan for roughly $357 a month, after their subsidy, which they could swing. But it comes with a $12,600 family deductible. (If they don't qualify for a subsidy, they would pay nearly $1,275 on the exchange for that policy.)

She's 58 (doesn't say how old her husband is). Insurers are allowed to charge an older person up to three times what they charge a younger person. (State law can reduce the 3:1 ratio..depends upon your state.)

You also get no subsidy if your MAGI is one penny (or more) than 400% FPL. That ain't exactly living high on the hog.

They may get no subsidy because she has "affordable" coverage through her employer.

It doesn't really do you much good to have insurance you can't afford to use.

76% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck:
http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/index.html

[Demeter]

22. OH, when will they ever learn? Oh when will they ever learn?

Same shit, different day...

[OhioChick]

23. David Sirota had a good piece

On our "for profit" insurance companies.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101674782

[AnneD]

24. As I said all along....

this was Obama's gift to the insurance companies. If it had been real reform, they would have been screaming. Now, if someone cal tell me how all this mess is better than Universal coverage, I pay them my premium costs.

Obama's idea of negotiating was to take Universal coverage off the table before they even negotiated a plan. Believe me, if he had left it on the table and scared the insurance lobby and GOP, we wouldn't have this 'debate' now.

[DemReadingDU]

26. If Universal coverage, would there be the need for insurance companies?

Perhaps the 1% might want a super premium health plan.

IMO, this Obamacare program is nothing more than a bailout of the insurance companies, to get as much money from the 99% before this entire Ponzi world implodes.

[AnneD]

27. Exactly....

extra coverage at a premium price. Every child will not be able to get a triple organ transplant but for the rest of our nations kids, they can get dental, shots, help for the broken arm, asthma care, diabetes care. Healthy kids are able to learn better and make better citizens.

Waiting 6 mos for that knee replacement in Canada looks good compared to the hoops you go through here. Why the RW try to scare us with this I don't understand. When they spout that crap to me I ask them about the wait time and the cost. That usually shuts those blow hards up.