STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 26 March 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 26 March 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 25 March 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 25 March 2014
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Dow Jones 16,367.88 +91.19 (0.56%)
S&P 500 1,865.62 +8.18 (0.44%)
Nasdaq 4,234.27 +8.00 (0.00%)


[font color=black]10 Year 2.75% 0.00 (0.00%)
[font color=green]30 Year 3.59% -0.01 (-0.28%) [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.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.








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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. And rightly so

Because all possible avenues of cost control (EXCEPT denial of service to the desperately ill) have been blocked by law.

The ass is really a good representation of the Party these days....

[Fuddnik]

2. Hotler would love it.

The Moody Blues paid homage to him tonight.

It was our anniversary, so I took my wife out to an exquisite dinner, and a surprise Moody Blues concert. At one point during the show, drummer Graeme Edge did a little talk. He said that in May, the Moodies will have been performing for 50 years. During that time, he said, we lost a lot of good performers, such as Jimi Hendrix, but he went on to note that we lost a great comedian in Bob Hope, and the man who put electronics in all of our pockets, Steven Jobs. And also the Great Johnny Cash.

So, here we are today, with no Jobs, no Cash, and no Hope.

[Demeter]

3. Congratulations to your wife

she's a survivor! (May you both enjoy 50 more years together...don't laugh, it could happen. One of my clients is a couple who just celebrated their 73rd anniversary!)

[xchrom]

4. congrats!

[westerebus]

26. good one

and congratulations...

[xchrom]

5. EU to press Obama at summit for aid in cutting Russian gas imports

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/25/uk-usa-eu-summit-idUKBREA2O23320140325

(Reuters) - The European Union will press U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday to help reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy by exporting U.S. natural gas, at a time of chill in relations with Moscow over its intervention in Ukraine.

After a visit to a World War One battlefield, Obama will have just 75 minutes over lunch with the EU's top officials to tackle issues ranging from energy to climate change, in a meeting that will be dominated by the Ukraine crisis.

Yet if there were any doubts about the EU-U.S. relationship after last year's revelations that Washington spied on its allies, Obama plans to assuage them later in the day in a speech to some 2,000 guests, before leaving for Rome.

"Recent developments just underscore the importance of the transatlantic relationship," Obama's top trade envoy, Michael Froman, said during a visit to Brussels before the summit.

[Demeter]

27. Translation: Obama will blackmail EU into TTiP using energy

and EU will be stupid, venal and desperate enough to sign on.

[xchrom]

6. German consumer mood holds steady but Crimea crisis a dark cloud

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/uk-germany-gfk-idUKBREA2P0E720140326

(Reuters) - German consumer morale held steady going into April as shoppers were more upbeat about the outlook for Europe's largest economy but their mood could worsen if the Crimea crisis spreads and leads to tougher sanctions from the West, GfK said.

The market research group's forward-looking consumer sentiment indicator, based on a survey of around 2,000 people and published on Wednesday, was flat at 8.5 going into April. It matched the highest reading since January 2007 and was in line with the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll.

"The consumer mood in Germany was once again buoyant in March," GfK analyst Rolf Buerkl said.

The survey was conducted before the March 16 referendum in Crimea and Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula.

[xchrom]

7. Banks in Chinese city show stacks of cash to reassure depositors

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/26/us-china-banking-idUKBREA2P02H20140326

(Reuters) - Rural banks in China's eastern city of Yancheng stacked piles of cash in plain view behind teller windows to calm depositors queuing at bank branches for a third straight day on Wednesday following rumors that they had run out of cash.

According to residents of Sheyang county, which includes Yancheng, panic began on Monday with a rumor that a branch of one local bank turned down a customer's request for a 200,000 yuan withdrawal. Banks declined to comment and Reuters was unable to verify the rumor.

The affected institutions are tiny compared with the scale of China's financial sector, and the rush for cash appears to be an isolated incident so far. Rumors also found especially fertile ground there after a failure of less-regulated three rural credit co-operatives last January.

Yet the news caught nationwide attention, reflecting growing public anxiety as regulators signal greater tolerance for credit defaults.

[xchrom]

8. ADOLFO SUÁREZ, THE MAN WHO CAME AFTER FRANCO

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/03/the-death-of-adolfo-suarez.html

The death of Adolfo Suárez—who served as Spain’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, from 1977 to 1981, following the death of Francisco Franco—marks a milestone for Spain. Suárez was a ruling-party loyalist of some obscurity when he was first appointed to the office by King Juan Carlos, who had assumed the throne just days after Franco’s death, in November, 1975. Suárez then won office in Spain’s first free vote since 1936, and helped direct the country’s tenuous steps toward democracy for the next four years, earning him widespread praise as the architect of Spain’s vaunted transition from dictatorship. Suárez earned additional plaudits for facing down two hundred armed members of the Civil Guard when they invaded Spain’s Cortes, or parliament, at 6:30 P.M. on February 23, 1981, during a special session called to appoint his successor.

While most of the politicians present cowered or threw themselves on the floor, Suárez and his deputy held their ground in open defiance of the gun-toting ultra-rightists, who fired shots in the air and trained their weapons on Suárez. (The other politician who comported himself well that day was Santiago Carrillo, the veteran Communist Party leader, who had returned to Spain after years in exile, thanks to a secret deal that Suárez offered him: legalization of the Communist Party in exchange for its commitment to the electoral process.) Suárez was taken captive and held under armed guard in a room at the Cortes for the duration of the attempted coup, which ended the next morning, after King Juan Carlos made clear, in a televised address at 1 A.M., that the rebels did not have his backing. King Juan Carlos has long been lionized for his role in that affair—for coming out in favor of democracy. This is so despite his unexplained seven-hour delay in making the announcement. Juan Carlos had been a protégé of the dictator, entrusted to carry on his right-wing form of rule. But, at a decisive moment, Juan Carlos and Suárez turned out to have more democratic bones in their bodies than their lives under Franco had ever suggested.

Later that year, following Suárez’s retirement—he was replaced by another center-right politician, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo—King Juan Carlos made him a duke, and a Grandee of Spain.

Coming thirty-eight years after the death of the old Caudillo, Suárez’s passing may provide some welcome retrospectives by Spaniards seeking something positive to say about their country, which has been in the grip of an extended malaise as it struggles to come out of one of Europe’s worst economic recessions. Spain’s economy, based largely on an unrestrained construction boom and real-estate bubble, crashed in 2009. Few E.U. countries besides Greece have taken a nosedive of such spectacular proportions, one that has resulted in five years of economic stagnation, a twenty-five-per-cent national unemployment rate, slashed public services, an exodus of immigrant workers, a sustained brain drain of young professionals seeking paying jobs abroad—and a public debt that currently stands at nearly a hundred per cent of G.D.P. Add to this a poisonous debate over national unity and identity as Catalonia, an autonomous province, pushes ahead with plans to hold a controversial referendum later this year on obtaining independence, and proposed legislation by Spain’s conservative government to reintroduce a stringent, and socially divisive, abortion ban.

[xchrom]

9. Sixteen for '16 - Number 5: Higher Taxes on Higher Incomes

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/22575-sixteen-for-16-number-5-higher-taxes-on-higher-incomes

Back in the olden days of the 1990s, taxpayers with annual incomes over $500,000 paid federal income taxes at an average effective rate of 30.4 percent.(1) In the 2000s, the equivalent figure is 23.8 percent.(2) Someone has had a very big tax cut in recent years, and the chances are that that someone is not you.

In the 1990s, taxes on high incomes were already low by historical standards. Today, they are even lower. The superrich lower their taxes even more by hiding their income in offshore tax havens. Whatever our statistics say about the tax rates of the superrich, we can be sure they are lower in reality.

At the same time that their tax rates are going down, the annual incomes of highly paid Americans are going through the roof. In the 1990s, the average income of the top 0.1 percent of American taxpayers was around $3.6 million. In 2012, it was nearly $6.4 million.(3) And yes, these figures have been adjusted for inflation.

High inequality plus low taxes equals fiscal crisis. The rich are taking more and more money out of the economy, but they are not returning it in the form of taxes. The result is that the US government no longer has the resources it needs to properly govern the country.

[xchrom]

10. IMF's Involvement Fuels Sudan's Continued Unrest

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/22668-imfs-involvement-fuels-sudans-continued-unrest

Many in the international community see the International Monetary Fund as a necessary entity that provides countries with much-needed aid. However, for many activists within Sudan and its diaspora, the IMF is a neoliberal powerhouse, implementing exploitative policies that extract land, resources and wealth from developing countries in exchange for money that goes to the governing elite. On February 15, 2014, a week of talks between the International Monetary Fund's deputy director of Middle East and Africa and government officials in Sudan ended. The finance minister, petroleum minister and governor of Central Bank discussed debt relief and economic reforms. The IMF promised "to provide the requested technical assistance and support to the productive sectors" to encourage investment, declaring that the success of the program would directly "tackle Sudan's external debt issue."

Sudanese activist Muzan Alneel describes the IMF policies as a "systematic and well-studied approach to keep Sudan as well as other developing countries from rising to their potentials." For the past few years, the IMF has been pushing Sudan to discontinue its fuel subsidies. When the Sudan government did that last September, protests that left over 200 civilians dead spread exponentially. Muhammad Osman, who participated in those protests, says, "the more the IMF and Sudan treat democratic and economic reforms as separate agendas, the more we are likely to witness a greater civil unrest in the near future."

Protesting Austerity Measures and Fuel Subsidy Cuts

On June 16, 2012, hundreds of students met on the streets in Sudan to protest austerity measures that President Omar al-Bashir would officially announce at the end of the week. The protests continued for weeks, and by the beginning of July, the anti-austerity protests would include over a thousand people in the capital, Khartoum. Citizens - angry over the fuel subsidy cuts and rising inflation - would call for Bashir to leave the presidency. Clashes ensued. Tear gas was shot into large crowds. The economic hardships were clear: reports say that food and fuel prices doubled after the June cuts.

On July 25, 2012, almost 20 days after the mass protest, the IMF urged "Sudan [to] press ahead with reforms to ensure its economic stability" and "welcomed the country's recent moves including scaling back its subsidies and devaluing its currency." Ignoring the effect of cuts on the majority of the population, they wrote "the mission welcomes the difficult but important efforts made by the Sudanese authorities in recent weeks."

[xchrom]

11. 'Dear to Our Hearts': The Crimean Crisis from the Kremlin's Perspective

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-look-at-the-crimea-crisis-from-the-perspective-of-the-kremlin-a-960446.html

Last September, Vladimir Putin invited Russia experts from around the world to a conference, held halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. At the gathering, the Russian president delivered a passionate address. "We will never forget that Russia's present-day statehood has its roots in Kiev. It was the cradle of the future, greater Russian nation," Putin said. He added that Russians and Ukrainians have a "shared mentality, shared history and a shared culture. In this sense we are one people."

At the time, German and European leaders still believed that it would be possible to bind Ukraine to the European Union by way of an Association Agreement and to free the country from Moscow's clutches. But Putin had long before made the decision to prevent such an eventuality.

Indeed, he had already used the Crimean Peninsula as his stage for a symbolic and vaguely menacing appearance in the summer of 2012. Astride a three-wheel motorcycle, a black-clad Putin was photographed at the head of a group of staunch nationalist bikers. Like a group of modern-day knights, they tore across Ukrainian territory. Even then it was clear who Putin thought was the true leader of Ukraine: himself.

Putin knows that the vast majority of Russians are on his side when it comes to his Crimean policy. His cool and calculated -- and thus far remarkably peaceful -- annexation of the peninsula led to celebrations across Russia. After all, the conviction that Crimea -- with its "Hero Cities" of Sevastopol and Kerch in addition to Russia's Black Sea fleet -- is Russian soil is widespread and shared even by many in the opposition camp. These are places, Putin said in his address last week, that are "dear to our hearts" and for which Russian soldiers fought and died. Even Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev said last week that the West should accept the results of the Crimea referendum. "This should be welcomed instead of declaring sanctions," he said.

[xchrom]

12. DISASTERS LED TO $45B IN INSURANCE LOSSES IN 2013

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_WORLD_DISASTERS_INSURANCE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-26-07-48-26

GENEVA (AP) -- Disasters such as floods in Europe, winter storms in the U.S. and typhoons in Asia cost insurance companies $45 billion in 2013, a leading Swiss firm said Wednesday.

The sum represents only about a third of the $140 billion in economic losses, not to mention 26,000 lives lost, from 308 catastrophes and disasters around the globe last year, according to Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd., known as Swiss Re.

As a whole, Asia was the region that suffered the most, with $62 billion in economic losses and more than 20,000 victims. But only $6 billion was paid in claims, reflecting the region's relative lack of insurance.

Typhoon Haiyan left 7,500 people dead or missing and caused $12.5 billion in damage to the Philippines and Vietnam, with insured losses of just $1.5 billion.

[xchrom]

13. BANK OF SPAIN SEES GROWTH BUT HIGH JOBLESSNESS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_FINANCIAL_CRISIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-26-07-27-32

MADRID (AP) -- The Bank of Spain predicts the economy will grow by 1.2 percent in 2014, slightly above government and EU forecasts, though unemployment is expected to dip only slightly from its near-record levels.

In its monthly report released Wednesday, the bank said that despite the economic recovery, the unemployment rate of 26 percent should edge down to 25 percent this year and to 23.8 percent in 2015.

It said gross domestic product should increase by 1.7 percent in 2015.

Spain emerged from a double-dip recession in the third quarter of 2013.

[Demeter]

28. Redefining "Exploitation" as "Growth"

[xchrom]

14. WORLD BANK WARNS OF RISKS FOR RUSSIA'S ECONOMY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-26-07-54-47

MOSCOW (AP) -- The World Bank warned Wednesday that Russia's economy could contract this year if the country is hit with more serious sanctions following its annexation of Crimea.

The organization said in its annual report that it expects the Russian economy to grow 1.1 percent this year if the fall-out from the Crimean crisis is short-lived, but warned of a 1.8 percent fall if Russia is hit with more serious sanctions than those already specified.

So far, the sanctions have been fairly limited and haven't touched on Russia's vital economic interests. The United States and the European Union have imposed travel bans and asset freezes on two dozen Russians who are believed to be close to Putin.

The World Bank said Russia's economic problems are not just to do with the recent events in Ukraine. Last year, Russia grew 1.3 percent, its lowest growth in the past 13 years barring the downturn-hit 2009.

[Demeter]

29. Wait till they see what happens in the Eurozone

[xchrom]

15. REVENUE GROWTH SEEN SLOWING AT INDIAN CASINOS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_INDIAN_CASINOS_REVENUE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-26-05-55-37

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Spending by gamblers slowed at U.S. Indian casinos in 2012, as revenue growth fell behind non-tribal casinos for the first time in nearly two decades, according to a report released Wednesday.

The weak economy also put a brake on tribal gambling revenue, although it hit an all-time high, said Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report.

Casino City, a publisher of gambling industry information, said racinos have outgrown Indian casino gambling in 16 of the 19 years in which race track casinos have operated. Revenue grew by 8 percent in 2012. But it's been 18 years since revenue at commercial casinos, which jumped 4 percent in 2012, had a higher annual growth rate than Indian casinos.

"That was definitely something different," said Alan Meister, author of the report.

[xchrom]

16. At last, a president of Europe we can (almost) vote for

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/26/president-europe-can-almost-vote-for

EU citizens will go to the polls in a few weeks' time to elect the European parliament for the eighth time since 1979. At each successive election, turnout has declined, from 62% in the first vote, to just 43% in 2009. This year things are a little different. The pan-European political parties have, for the first time, selected their candidates for the post of European commission president. Many are painting the move as an attempt to engage more directly and coherently with voters, to boost turnout, and to mitigate the EU's much discussed democratic deficit.

The candidates are Jean-Claude Juncker (for the centre-right European People's party), Martin Schulz (for the centre-left Party of European Socialists), Guy Verhofstadt (for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe), Alexis Tsipras (for the European Left party), and both Ska Keller and José Bové (for the European Green party). The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, the party with which the Tories are aligned, has declined to field a candidate on the grounds that the whole system presumes a European demos that does not exist.

The emergence of these candidates has been a curious phenomenon whose origins can be traced to an article of the Lisbon treaty promising that the commission president would be appointed "taking into account the elections to the European parliament".

The formal mechanism of appointing a commission president begins with the EU governments proposing a candidate to the parliament. The parliament then elects or rejects that candidate by a majority vote.

[xchrom]

17. Hedge Funds Unlikely Saviors for New York-Area Homeowners

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/hedge-funds-unlikely-saviors-for-new-york-area-homeowners.html

Louis Ragusa, who hasn’t paid his mortgage in two years, says he now has a chance to save his Blackwood, New Jersey, home from foreclosure after a hedge fund bought the loan.

American Homeowner Preservation, a Chicago-based investment firm, purchased the mortgage for less than half of what Ragusa owed. Chief Executive Officer Jorge Newbery called the father of three in August with an offer: Pay $5,000 and the company will drop the foreclosure case and erase the more than $100,000 of unpaid principal and penalties amassed.

“They’re a lot more flexible than a bank,” said Ragusa, 48, who ran into financial trouble after losing his job in collections for a cable company in 2007. “They can work with you because they’re a private company and they can basically set their own rules.”

Investors from American Homeowner Preservation to Neuberger Berman Group LLC are accumulating delinquent home loans in New Jersey and New York as distressed-property deals dwindle in much of the U.S. Their strategy is often to persuade homeowners to settle or even pay them to leave, circumventing a court process for foreclosures that has led to the biggest backlogs of nonperforming mortgages in the country.

[Demeter]

30. NOw THAT'S Innovation

for this country and century. Of course, Occupy's Rolling Debt Jubilee has been doing this for a couple of years..

[xchrom]

18. Morgan Stanley Recommits to 'Buy' Call on Chinese Stocks as Slowdown Deepens

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/morgan-stanley-dismisses-talk-of-china-minsky-moment.html

Morgan Stanley is sticking to its buy recommendation on Chinese stocks, saying concern that there’ll be a “significant market disruption” in the world’s second-largest economy is overstated.

China’s consumption and services are bigger than officially reported, giving the economy more room to cope with slowing productivity growth, the Morgan Stanley analysts said. The government’s reforms and its “formidable” financial resources will help policy makers transform the economy without triggering a debt crisis, the analysts wrote in a report in which they kept their overweight calls on both Chinese and Russian equities.

The economy’s slowdown and rising debt levels pushed the Hang Seng China Enterprise Index, which tracks Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong, into a bear market on March 20. While Morgan Stanley’s analysts said that debate is mounting about whether China is approaching a “Minsky moment,” a term used to explain an asset collapse following the exhaustion of credit expansion, they said they remain bullish.

“The apparent deterioration in productivity and diminishing returns to leverage are not as severe as the consensus thinks when one takes into account true activity” in the consumer and service sectors of the economy, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Jonathan Garner wrote in the note.

[xchrom]

19. Global Stocks Rise With Aussie Before U.S. Durables Data

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/australian-stocks-gain-as-s-p-500-rises-on-economic-data.html

Stocks rose around the world before a report that may add to evidence the U.S. economy is improving. The Australian dollar climbed to a four-month high, while U.K. natural gas headed for the longest slump since May 2012.

The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.5 percent at 7:55 a.m. in New York. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures climbed 0.4 percent after the gauge closed yesterday 0.7 percent away from a record high. Russian stocks advanced for a second day, trimming the biggest monthly decline since May 2012. The Aussie added as much as 0.8 percent to 92.35 U.S. cents, while the Swiss franc weakened against 12 of its 16 major peers. U.K. natural gas dropped 0.4 percent.

Durable goods orders in the U.S. probably increased in February, economists said before a Commerce Department report today, after data yesterday showed consumer confidence climbed to a six-year high. U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak on what President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea means for European security. Australian central bank Governor Glenn Stevens said there are signs that domestic consumption is supporting the country’s economy as mining investment wanes.

“Sentiment is positive, and if the macro reports keep coming in positive, we should see a continuation of the rally,” said John Plassard, vice president at Mirabaud Securities LLP in Geneva. “Today’s economic data out of the U.S. should finally give a true indication of the economic conditions after the winter effect.”

[xchrom]

20. Rajoy Wavering Brings Italian Risks to Spain

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/rajoy-wavering-brings-italy-economy-risks-to-spain-euro-credit.html

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is running out of time to make good on his pledge to complete an overhaul of Spain’s economy.

With an election due by November 2015, the government is showing wavering resolve to tackle the European Union’s second-highest jobless rate or revamp the tax system after pushing through unpopular measures including a labor-law reform and public sector wage cuts. The government this month rejected tax-change proposals from a task force Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro himself had appointed.

“What threatens Spain is an Italian scenario, where the recovery doesn’t gather enough speed to gain momentum,” said Fernando Fernandez, a professor at IE business school in Madrid and a former International Monetary Fund economist.

As pressure from financial markets and EU peers abates, Spain is paying less to fund itself than Italy, the euro region’s third-largest economy. That has allowed Rajoy to turn his back on measures economists say the Iberian country needs to grow more than 1 percent and dent a 26 percent jobless rate.

[xchrom]

21. Hungary Cuts Near End Amid Contagion Threat: East Europe Credit

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/hungary-cuts-near-end-amid-contagion-threat-east-europe-credit.html

Hungary is winding down interest-rate reductions after 20 straight months of cuts as contagion from neighboring Ukraine left the nation’s bonds the worst emerging-market debt after Russia and Turkey this year.

The forint had its biggest intraday gain in three weeks as the central bank said rates were approaching a level consistent with its 3 percent inflation target after lowering the benchmark to a record 2.6 percent, as predicted in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Hungarian bonds lost 3.8 percent this year in dollar terms through yesterday, surpassed only by ruble and lira securities among 32 nations in the Bloomberg Emerging Market Local Sovereign Index.

Hungarian rates may put forint-denominated assets at risk should the conflict between Russia and Ukraine spark a broader regional selloff. With Prime Minister Viktor Orban facing elections on April 6, central bank policy makers led by his former economy minister said that a deterioration in the market environment would rule out further easing after yesterday’s cut.

“Hungary’s real rates of interest may shrink to near zero by 2015 and that would certainly not be enough to lure investors,” Zoltan Szucs, a money manager at Aegon NV’s unit in Budapest, who helps oversee 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) of assets, said by e-mail yesterday. “The forint is becoming increasingly less worth holding and, in case of potential emerging-market turbulence, may deeply underperform.”

[xchrom]

22. Bullard Says Fed Hasn’t Discussed Date to End QE

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/fed-s-bullard-sees-ambiguity-on-end-date-for-qe.html

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said policy makers haven’t committed to a specific month to end bond purchases even as it would take a significant shift in the outlook to alter the path of tapering.

“There’s a little bit of ambiguity around the notion of when the QE program ends,” whether in October, December or January, Bullard said today in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong with Betty Liu, referring to quantitative easing. “Sometimes you see in the markets different interpretations of that, and frankly the committee has not really talked about that.”

The central bank, at the same time, would probably change the path of reducing bond-buying only if the “economy was moving off track in a significant way from what we had previously expected,” Bullard said in a separate panel discussion today. U.S. Treasury yields rose last week after Fed officials indicated that interest rates over the next two years may rise faster than previously anticipated.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in a press briefing after last week’s policy meeting that borrowing costs could start rising “around six months” after ending monthly bond purchases. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on March 25 six months “is really a minimum, not a maximum.”

[xchrom]

23. Silence on ECB Bank Review May Break on Legal Blind Spot

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/silence-on-ecb-bank-review-may-break-on-legal-blind-spot.html

The European Central Bank will soon find out how hard it can be to keep a secret.

The ECB’s plan to keep its health check on euro-area lenders under wraps until the completion of a stress test in October could be undermined by national rules requiring disclosure far sooner. Domestic regulators may order banks to tap the market immediately if an Asset Quality Review ending in July shows they need more capital, according to law firms including Clifford Chance LLP.

The risk is that market volatility could rise if multiple announcements cast doubt on the ECB’s control of a process designed to clean up balance sheets. Officials from the 128 lenders in the appraisal are meeting supervisory staff in Frankfurt today for an update on the Comprehensive Assessment, which includes both the AQR and the stress test. The ECB has said the exam will be more credible than previous efforts to restore trust to the financial system.

“This is the biggest blind spot in the ECB’s program,” said Nicolas Veron, a fellow at the Bruegel institute in Brussels and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “The banks are still subject to national law, and it’s not clear to me that the ECB had fully integrated this into their planning for the Comprehensive Assessment. They don’t seem to have a very clear stance.”

[xchrom]

24. Builders Supplant China Driving Growth as RBA Cuts Work

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/builders-supplant-china-driving-growth-as-rba-rate-cuts-kick-in.html


Daniel Klinge is helping Australia shrug off a slowdown in its biggest trading partner China.

Spurred by record-low interest rates, Klinge has added three apprentices, two carpenters and an interior designer to his Brisbane-based home building and renovation company since November, more than doubling the size of his team.

“We’re possibly taking on a couple of major jobs in the next month or two and that basically books us out for the whole year and into next year,” he said. “We’re talking million-dollar renovations that weren’t around 12 or 18 months ago.”

A month of stronger-than-expected economic data has bolstered confidence Australia will withstand China’s slowdown and a drop in mining investment. Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens today said “we’re going to have a boom in residential construction,” helping spur the Aussie’s climb to a four-month high as the question turns to how long he’ll allow that to go on before he feels the need to tighten policy.

[xchrom]

25. BOJ Decision on Extra Easing Possible in May: Abe Adviser

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-26/boj-decision-on-extra-easing-possible-in-may-abe-adviser-1-.html

The Bank of Japan could decide as soon as mid-May whether further stimulus is needed to keep inflation on track for its 2 percent target after a sales-tax bump next month, an adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

“If the BOJ judges that the economy has fallen off its projected path, it will act appropriately and flexibly, and further easing is possible,” Etsuro Honda said in an interview at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo yesterday. “I believe the BOJ will act if it sees changes in price expectations.”

While Honda, 59, said he’s become more confident the economy will withstand the higher levy as inflation expectations take root and price gains accelerate, the first indications of the extent of the blow will appear in May. Honda said he sees “considerable” room for the BOJ to boost the pace it buys exchange-traded funds should it deem more stimulus is needed.

The economy is forecast to contract an annualized 3.5 percent in the three months from April, when the sales levy will rise to 8 percent from 5 percent. Abe is lifting the tax in an effort to rein in the world’s biggest debt burden, even as he tries to end 15 years of deflation with fiscal and monetary stimulus and steps to boost private-sector growth.

[Demeter]

31. I'm wearing 3 layers, again, and it's now up to 16F

sorry for the crabbiness...

[Demeter]

32. Mr. Obama’s Limits on Phone Records NYT EDITORIAL

If President Obama really wants to end the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records, he doesn’t need to ask the permission of Congress, as he said on Tuesday he would do. He can just end it himself, immediately.

That’s what Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, urged him to do. “The president could end bulk collection once and for all on Friday by not seeking reauthorization of this program,” Mr. Leahy said.

Ending bulk collection now wouldn’t undermine Mr. Obama’s proposal to Congress. In fact, if his promise is matched by the final details (which are not yet available), it could be an important and positive break from the widespread invasion of privacy secretly practiced by the National Security Agency for years. Getting a law to create strong judicial oversight of data collection would be a check on the ambitions of future presidents. But once the question is tossed into the maelstrom of Congress, where one party routinely opposes anything the president wants, the limits could be delayed, or diluted, or just killed.

And while lawmakers wring their hands, the invasion of privacy will continue...

JUST THE WAY HIS PUPPET MASTERS WANT--SEE MORE

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/opinion/mr-obamas-limits-on-phone-records.html?_r=0


...The immediate question, though, is why the president feels he needs to wait for Congress before stopping mass collection. As Mr. Obama said on Tuesday, because of Edward Snowden’s revelations, “we have to win back the trust not just of governments but, more important, of ordinary citizens.” Continuing the current surveillance program while lawmakers argue is not the way to begin winning back the country’s trust.

[Demeter]

33. Five Signs Solar Power is Taking Over the World By Juan Cole

http://www.nationofchange.org/five-signs-solar-power-taking-over-world-1395667954



This post originally ran on Juan Cole’s Web page.

Burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil) is putting 32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere. Since CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps heat from the sun on earth and prevents it radiating back out to space, this unprecedented human output is causing climate disruption, a process that will accelerate over the next few decades and will prove extremely costly to human society (if the latter can even survive).

The only energy source that has a hope of fixing this problem and of resolving the coming energy crisis is solar. The cost of solar panels is falling rapidly, raising the hope that we can put in enough panels quickly enough to avoid the very worst scenario of carbon-induced climate disruption. (I put in 16 Enphase microinverter panels at my place this winter and they generated 120 kilowatt hours in the past week; my house and electric car averaged 150 kilowatt hours usage per week last month; and that is in Michigan at the tail end of winter).

Here are some promising signs with regard to solar power that have recently been in the news:

1. Cheaper solar panels and more efficient wind turbines now produce so much energy that they pay for themselves quickly even if you add the cost of storage into the mix, and they also pay for the cost of adding more wind and solar. The Scientific American writes that Charles Banhart, a post-doc at Stanford’s Global Clmate and Energy Project, told them: “What we’re saying is that theoretically, it is now theoretically possible to have this perfect world that’s just based on wind and solar.” It adds, “Rather than using existing “stock” fuels like fossil fuels, he said, renewables put out enough excess energy to fuel their own expansion.”

2. The price of electricity generated by solar panels in India has fallen so much that solar is now competitive with coal. India wants to add 22 gigawatts of solar by 2022, but is already looking like it will do at least 3 times that because of falling costs. In twenty years, India will be the country generating the most new demand for electricity in the world, surpassing China.

3. Ghana has started work on a $400 million, 155 megawatt solar utility plant, the largest so far in Africa and the 6th largest in the world. It will be completed in 2015.

4. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe introduced a feed-in tariff 18 months ago, with dramatic results. Installed solar capacity in the past year and a half has gone from about 2 and a half gigawatts to a whopping 7.5 GW. In an encouraging sign for the Japanese economy, nearly half the photovoltaic panels shipped were manufactured in Japan. Since the tsunami disaster at the Daichi Fukushima nuclear complex, Japan has scrambled to replace the electricity generating capacity of its nuclear reactors. A majority of days in the year are sunny in Japan, but the solar panels generate at least some electricity even when it is overcast. The number of sunny days each year in Japan is comparable to that in Germany, where solar now accounts for 5 percent of German electricity production, a proportion expected to increase rapidly over the next decade.

5. American hip-hop artist Akon (who grew up in Senegal) is promoting affordable solar energy kits for African villagers that are cheaper than kerosene. He aims to bring power to a million Africans this year.

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[AnneD]

34. This was a shocker....

I apologize if this was already posted...

36% have less than $1000k set aside for retirement.



http://nbr.com/2014/03/18/retirement-confidence-rises-but-the-data-are-grim/