STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 19 April 2016

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 19 April 2016[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 18 April 2016

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 18 April 2016
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Dow Jones 18,004.16 +106.70 (0.60%)
S&P 500 2,094.34 +13.61 (0.65%)
Nasdaq 4,960.02 +21.80 (0.44%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.77% +0.01 (0.57%)
[font color=black]30 Year 2.58% 0.00 (0.00%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
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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.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.
09/22/15 Stewart Parnell, CEO Peanut Corp. of America, sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling salmonella-tainted peanut butter that killed nine.
12/17/15 Martin Shkreli, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals and notorious price gouger, arrested on securities fraud charges. Posted $5M bail, resigned as CEO.
2/25/16 Jason Keryc sentenced to 9 years in prison, 3 years supervised release and to pay back $180MM to investors he bilked in a Ponzi scheme while an acct. mgr at Agape World.
03/24/16 Three TierOne Bank (Omaha) execs sentenced on criminal charges related to covering up losses on mortgages. CEO Gilbert Lundstrom -- 11 years federal prison, $1.2 million fine; James Laphen, 34 months; Don Langford, 21 months. SO FAR THE ONLY CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS OBTAINED BY DOJ related to 2008 financial collapse.
04/05/16 Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, forced to resign (at least temporarily) following release of "Panama papers"


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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]

[Gungnir]

1. Sun Capital Ruling: Private Equity Investors on the Hook for Shuttering Underfunded Pensions

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/04/sun-capital-ruling-private-equity-investors-on-the-hook-for-shuttering-underfunded-pensions.html

The basis for the ruling. The short version is that if a “controlled group” that owns more than 80% of a company terminates an underfunded pension plan, it is responsible for withdrawal liability under ERISA. The Department of Labor did not want investors being able to close underfunded plans without incurring a serious cost; otherwise, it would be common for pension plans to be shut down any time they became underfunded, leaving beneficiaries in the lurch.

Sun Capital had sought to get around that by having two Sun Capital funds invest in a company that bought Scott Brass, with one owning 70% and the other 30% so as to fall below the 80% trigger. The Teamsters and Sun Capital sued each other, and the judge’s initial ruling in favor of Sun Capital was overruled in part and returned to Judge Woodlock to determine two issues key to deciding the case: whether the funds were engaged in a trade of business, and whether they were under “common control”.

The active nature of the investment as far as the general partners are concerned would seem to make them meet the “trade or business” test, but what about the passive limited partners?* Interestingly, they were hoist on the sharing of monitoring and transaction fees. The appeals court had already ruled that one of the two Sun funds, by virtue of the investors receiving management fee offsets, met the test. Woodlock was to determine whether the second fund, where no fee offsets had been paid but had been carried forward and were due and owing, was also in a trade or business. Woodlock concluded yes.
...
Implications. This ruling ought to wake up private equity investors, since the Sun Capital ruling will not only result in clawbacks to satisfy the withdrawal liability but presumably opens the door to other cases. The beneficiaries of pension plans terminated and were stiffed on withdrawal liability payments by Sun Capital-type structuring for controlling groups to keep the biggest individual owner’s share below 80% would have grounds to sue, or unions representing them might act on their behalf. Similarly, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which backstops private pension funds, it itself badly underfunded and should also lodge cases. I have yet to see any commentary on what the statute of limitations is in this area and therefore which plan terminations would be exposed, but you can expect that you’ll be hearing more about this issue.

[Gungnir]

2. Obama Administration Trying to Throw Massive Secrecy Veil Over Past and Future Pilfering of Fannie a

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/04/obama-administration-trying-to-throw-massive-secrecy-veil-over-past-and-future-pilfering-of-fannie-and-freddie.html

Matt Taibbi tonight has an important story that is likely to be lost in reporting on the New York primary: an unheard-of effort to keep 11,000 government documents hidden. They aren’t terrorism or surveillance state related; they are instead about the state secret of what the government has done and intends to do with the the government sponsored enterprises Fannie and Freddie now that they’ve gone from being walking wounded to cash machines.

As Taibbi recaps, the basis for the row is minority shareholder suits over how the rescues were handled. The original rescue had the government taking an 80% stake and the right to future dividends. The GSE overseer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, changed the deal willy-nilly in 2012, after Fannie and Freddie were generating tons of profits, to keep all of the dividends. The excuse was that the housing giants were still basket cases facing a “death spiral”. But that’s clearly nonsense, since the funds were hoovered up by Treasury rather than retained by Fannie and Freddie to strengthen their capital bases. As Taibbi writes:

It got weirder. Despite the fact that the GSEs went on to pay the government $228 billion over the next three years, or $40 billion more than they owed, none of that money went to paying off Fannie and Freddie’s debt. When Sen. Chuck Grassley asked aloud how it was that the company and its shareholders were not yet square with the government, the Treasury Department testily answered, in essence, that the bailout had not been a loan, but an investment…

Remember, the other bailout recipients after 2008 were mostly all allowed to pay off their debts as quickly as possible, to get out from under restrictions imposed upon them by the government. Firms that took bailout money were allowed to pay far earlier than expected, in less than a year in some cases, allowing companies like JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to get out from under executive compensation restrictions and other temporary reforms.

more

Taibbi's full Rolling Stone article:
Why Is the Obama Administration Trying to Keep 11,000 Documents Sealed?

[Hotler]

3. It just gets better.

Who is Barack Obama and where is the candidate with fire I first voted for.

[Hotler]

4. Housing Starts in U.S. Slumped More Than Forecast in March.

New-home construction in the U.S. slumped more than projected in March, reflecting a broad-based retreat that showed the industry lost momentum heading into the busiest time of year.

Residential starts decreased 8.8 percent to a 1.09 million annualized rate that was the lowest since October and weaker than any forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday in Washington. Permits, a proxy for future construction, also dropped.

The report, following figures on Monday that showed builder sentiment was little changed in April, may raise questions about the strength of the housing rebound at a time manufacturing has barely emerged from a slump and overseas markets are cooling. Homebuilding may plod along until faster wage growth and easier credit conditions accelerate sales and encourage construction.

“There’s not a lot of upward momentum,” Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics Ltd. in Valhalla, New York, said before the report. “Some of it is part of the ups and downs of the monthly data.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-19/housing-starts-in-u-s-slumped-more-than-forecast-in-march

But, but, but the MSM and our government says that the economy is doing fine.

[Hotler]

6. Early Warning Signs of Recession Flash Faintly in U.S. Jobs Data.

As the economy again started off the year on a sour note, the glass-half-full crowd pointed to the strength of the U.S. jobs market as a reason not to worry. As long as payrolls are racking up monthly gains of 200,000 or more, the economy remains in fine fettle, or so the optimists would have it.

Take a peek below the headline jobs data, however, and there are signs that the labor market is losing some momentum. Temporary-help employment, which peaked prior to the last two recessions, is showing signs of topping out. And a broad labor-market index constructed by Federal Reserve economists -- and monitored by Chair Janet Yellen -- has fallen for three straight months, the first time that’s happened since 2009.

"I am a little concerned," said 75-year-old Bob Funk, chief executive officer of Express Employment Professionals, which provides temporary workers to companies. "Our industry is always on the front end of a recession," as provisional workers are the first to be let go on signs of economic weakness.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-19/early-warning-signs-of-recession-flash-faintly-in-u-s-jobs-data

[Hotler]

5. Goldman First-Quarter Profit Plunges 60% as Revenue Drops.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average this year, reported a 60 percent drop in profit as first-quarter revenue fell to the lowest since Chief Executive Officer Lloyd (doing God's work) Blankfein took the top post in 2006.

Net income declined to $1.14 billion, or $2.68 a share, from $2.84 billion, or $5.94, a year earlier, the New York-based company said Tuesday in a statement. That beat the $2.48 per-share estimate of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, as the firm cut costs deeper than expected. Goldman Sachs’s revenue fell 40 percent to $6.34 billion, missing the average estimate of $6.69 billion.

Blankfein is trying to ride out a years-long bond-trading slump that’s been compounded by market swings and stiffer regulations -- challenges that forced many competitors to scale back. He’s embarked on the biggest cost-cutting push in years, following his largest competitors who have turned to expenses as the only lever to pull in an environment of weakened revenue.
<snip)
Blankfein’s cost reductions, discussed by people with knowledge of the plan last week, will include dismissing more support staff; rejecting bankers’ spending on airfare, hotels and entertainment unless it directly serves clients; choosing not to fill open positions; and spending less on printing pitch books or brochures.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-19/goldman-sachs-first-quarter-profit-drops-60-as-revenue-plunges

Trim the fat Lloyd.

[Hotler]

7. Hhhmmmmmmm!

Forget Flight, the Future of Delivery is a Six-Wheeled Bot.

With Amazon's drones not yet a reality, a billionaire-backed startup is making the first steps toward BB-8 or Wall-E bringing home your weekly shopping. While that may sound fantastical, these robots are already rolling along sidewalks from Arkansas to Estonia, by way of London. Photographs by Peti Kollanyi/Bloomberg

Kind of cool. Have a look.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2016-04-18/forget-flight-the-future-of-delivery-is-a-six-wheeled-bot