Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Disconnect Continues

Presented with little comment - equities and bonds are diverging aggressively now as 10Y accelerates towards its all-time low yields (1.67 on 9/23). As we noted earlier, foreigners are dumping Treasuries at a record pace and yet it grinds tighter and stocks rally on USD weakness. Our 'thesis' from yesterday that a reactive Fed QE is being priced in seems the most 'sensible' but year-end flows for now are tough to call.

and its not just Treasuries (or 2s10s30s) that are derisking as

Read more ...

GLD: A Great Set-Up!

I am sure you have heard all of the pronouncements that the bull market in gold is over. All sorts of reasons have been given from strength in the Dollar to the "you better run for the hills" price is now under the 200 day moving average for the first time in 10 months. I am not going to "poo poo" the price action, because it has been ugly, but all of the data I can muster shows that the fundamental and technical picture remains bright for gold.
First, this downdraft still remains within

Read more ...

Two Lectures On The History Of Austrian Economics

When it comes to the types of people in this world, there are those who say that the only way to fix the current economic catastrophe is to keep doing more of the same that got us in this condition in the first place (these are the people who say mean regression is irrelevant, and 10 men and women in an economic room can overturn the laws of math, nature, physics, and everything else and determine what is best for 7 billion people), and then there is everyone else. The former are called

Read more ...

China Gold Exchange Restrictions Will Cut Risk, Not Appetite

Author:


Ed Steer





Yesterday in Gold and Silver


Ed_GSDDecember 31, 2011 1:21pm GMT



Email
Print



The gold price spent the entire trading day on Friday in the black, with the high of the day coming shortly before lunch in New York. From there it got sold off about a percent by the close of Comex trading at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time...and then did nothing into the close of electronic trading at

Read more ...

PaRTY LiKe IT'S 1929!

.



.

PARTY LIKE ITS 1929
The Asshole Formerly Known as Printz
(The Artist Known as WilliamBanzai7 December 31, 2011)

I was dreamin' when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin'
Coulda sworn it was Wall Street judgment day
The S&P was purple and the Reuters screen was gray,
There was busted Bankstas runnin' everywhere
Tryin' to run from the destruction,
U know I didn't even care
CHORUS
say say
Dow headed down to zero
Wall Street Ponzi

Read more ...

Biderman On 2012: Long Gold, Short EUR And Stop Praying For A Miracle

Wearing a shirt that only a mother could love, Charles Biderman of TrimTabs offers his insightful perspective on the year ahead. Against the backdrop of a fog-bound Sausalito, Biderman sees only one path over the medium-term for Gold (up) as developed market central bankers print their respective fiat currencies and emerging market central bankers horde the one true sound money alternative. Just as we have been pointing out, he notes that the ECB has been QE-ing in all but name and the

Read more ...

Guest Post: A Future View Of Post-Bubbledemic America

Submitted by Ben Tanosborn
A future view of post-bubbledemic America
Balancing the budget in 2032 is going to be a rather easy, mechanical task for future American politicians. A constitutional amendment requiring balanced budgets will be enacted by then, and Congress will only need to tackle projected deficits by adjusting variable pension and Medicare rates – for those retired – which will have replaced the current models for Social Security and Medicare. And if worst comes to

Read more ...

Making Sense Of 2011

This article originally appeared in the Daily Capitalist.
This is the time of year when you are supposed to look back and make sense of what happened during the year and make predictions about the new year. A futile task if there ever was one.
How can anyone make sense of a world where:

California prohibits the production or sale of beer to which caffeine has been added (They want drunks to fall asleep at the wheel?).
Katy Perry and Russell Brand are getting divorced (Boy, didn't

Read more ...

WiLLiaMBaNZai7'S 2011 ToP 40

THE WILLIAMBANZAI7 2011 TOP 40
I used to enjoy listening to Casey Kasem's Top 40 Countdown driving up to ski country on New Year's weekend. There is not much skiiing going on in Hong Kong and Casey Kasem has apparently finally retired.
The good news is we now have the Banzai7 viewer countdown instead. The methodology followed is simple. I tallied up the page views for all of the images I posted on Flickr.
This is not a perfectly accurate gauge since it does not reflect all of the

Read more ...

Friday, December 30, 2011

Complete European Sovereign Issuance Calendar

Earlier in the week, we discussed at length the funding gaps that various European sovereign nations face as the gap between supply and coupon/redemptions can't be assumed to be rolled away (and Europe faces EUR43.5bn of net cash-flow surplus from sovereigns into the 'market'). In order to better comprehend the timeline, Morgan Stanley has published both the complete issuance calendar for European bonds and bills over the next five weeks as well as a breakdown of the flows that are

Read more ...

Weekly Bull/Bear Recap: December 26-30, 2011

Submitted by Rodrigo Serrano of Rational Capitalist Speculator,
Bull
+ U.S. manufacturing continues to show signs of steady growth. The economy isn’t headed towards recession. The Chicago ISM reports that its PMI report fell a smidgen, from a 7-month high to 62.5. Order Backlogs are at their strongest level since April and will keep activity elevated in the region. Meanwhile, the Richmond Manufacturing Index indicates stabilization, particularly in New Orders. Need more

Read more ...

Friday Humor: Unspinning The "€100 Bill" Or How The European Bailout REALLY 'Works'

By now everyone has heard the parable explaining how the entire European bailout, courtesy of near-infinite fractional reserve banking, can be taken care of using one €100 bill. Or so the yet again flawed economist thinking went. Unfortunately, this was just a parable, and a massively flawed one at that. As the below interaction between a ZH reader and his broker elucidates, here is what this idealized story would look like in the real world, that as we explained before, is drowning in

Read more ...

Barclays Accused of Criminal fraud for Golden Key in Geneva

Submitted by Teri Buhl

A criminal complaint has been filed against Barclays in Geneva, Switzerland this week for its role in a $1.4 billion structured investment vehicle (SIV) called Golden Key. The Barclays arranged and structured SIV blew up in spectacular fashion in 2007 and a French asset management firm, Oddo, tried to sue the British bank for fraud in a New York court but got the motion tossed, in 2009, on a technicality. So now one independent investor from Geneva has foregone

Read more ...

Open Thread: 2011 Closes....Down

With the S&P 500 cash index closing 2011 down for the year (admittedly down 0.003181% is just 0.003181%, but it is also down), we look across asset classes and notable markets as we reflect on an increasingly intervention-driven and gap-heavy uber correlated global investing framework. UK Gilts, 10Y Treasuries, Gold, and Oil outperformed (rebased to USD terms) while Greek bonds, Copper, Emerging Market stocks, and Asia Ex-Japan stocks underperformed. The Dollar closed almost 1% higher on

Read more ...

US to Go to War With Iran, Oil & Gold to Spike: Jim Rickards

Author:


Ed Steer





Yesterday in Gold and Silver


Ed_GSDDecember 30, 2011 1:41pm GMT



Email
Print



The gold price didn't do much until shortly after 1:00 p.m. Hong Kong time during their Thursday afternoon. Then it developed a negative bias and began to roll over shortly after 9:00 a.m. in London. The low of the day, around $1,520 spot, came at precisely 12 o'clock noon in London...which

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/29/11 SUA

http://www.youtube.com/v/NP53_2usfMo?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/29/11 SUA

***Still Having Sound Issues, Please Be Patient***

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx
The SUA http://www.silverusersassociation.org/index.shtml
2012 Australian Kookaburra - 1 oz Silver Coin

Read more ...

Foreigners Dump Record Amount Of US Treasurys In Past Month

With year end fund flows making absolutely no sense for the most part, thank you global central planning, as the euro plunges and the market refuses to follow, with risk assets rising on speculation the ECB (and/or Fed) are about to restart printing yet gold collapsing (on one or two hedge funds liquidating, yet econ PhDs already rewriting their theses on why the "gold bubble has popped"), and finally with Treasurys soaring to near all time highs (10 Year under 1.9% yesterday even as

Read more ...

Previewing Today's Market Ghost Town

The only thing of note today (there are no economic announcements at all, just the Fed disclosing the latest Op Twist schedule at 2 pm) is that while the bond market closes at 2pm, stocks will be left unsupervised for two hours of sheer idiocy between then and their normal closing time of 4pm by which point there will be nobody left trading, just some GETCO algo lifting every offer then dumping it all having made money over VWAP and suckered in the momos, as happens every single day on no

Read more ...

European Stocks Surge As Sovereigns Slump

Something strange is happening in European risk markets this week. While that sentence is entirely 'normal' for what has become a diverging/converging flip-flopping correlation microstructure but the clear trend this week has been European Sovereign derisking and European Stock rerisking. The Bloomberg 500 index (that tracks a broad swathe of European stocks) is up 0.75% from Christmas Eve (and 1.6% from yesterday's lows) while 10Y sovereign spreads are wider by 10 to 30bps in the same

Read more ...

Words and Phrases We Hope Not To See Or Hear In 2012

Via Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors,
Rather than making some predictions, here is a list of words and phrases that were popular in 2011 that just annoy me. It would be nice if they become less popular in 2012, but I predict they will remain in use.

Bazooka
No self-respecting videogame would have a “bazooka” as the ultimate weapon. Bazookas just aren’t that powerful. Maybe Europe needs to search for a “nuclear” option, that at least sounds big enough to scare people.

Read more ...

UBS' Art Cashin Waxes Poetic For The New Year

It may not be pentamic diameter or Shakespearean sonnet-worthy but the venerable Art Cashin delivers his now traditional year-end poetic summation of all things newsworthy - old and new.

'Tis two days yet to New Yearbut despite what you’re hopin’The folks in the Board Roomsay “the full day we’re open”
So we'll buy and we'll sellas the tape crawls alongAnd though "Bubbly's" verbotenwe may still sing a song
Two Thousand Elevenlooked good at the startBut deadlocks in D.C.took

Read more ...

WSJ On DSK, DisUnion, And The Dismal Dithering In Europe

In an interesting history, today's WSJ points to a closed-door meeting in Washington on April 14th of this year as the moment that the attempts to 'save' Europe began to unravel. The player at the center of the debacle - one Dominique Strauss-Kahn - was pressing for more 'help' from Europe or else the IMF would not deliver more magic-money to the Greeks. The ultimatum drove a wedge between many competing camps over who should be on the hook for more or less of the money required to save

Read more ...

Sopa Would DESTROY Jobs and the Economy … So Why are Unions Supporting It?

By Washington’s Blog

The promoters of the Stop Online Privacy Act (Sopa) are pretending that it would save jobs and help the economy.
But it would actually destroy jobs and hurt the economy.
No one is going to invest in the next Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Reddit, or YouTube if they know that websites can be shut down after a single unsubstantiated copyright complaint.
The only sector of our economy that’s in good shape is web technology (for example, Google is hiring like crazy

Read more ...

Guest Post: Another Asian Fukushima Imminent?

Submitted by John C.K. Daly from OilPrice.com,

Another Asian Fukushima Imminent?

Taiwan imports 99 percent of its energy, which is vital to its rapidly industrializing economy.

The island nation's electricity demand was recently growing at almost 5 percent per year, but this is slowing to about 3.3 percent per annum to 2013. Nuclear power has been a significant part of the electricity supply for two decades and now provides 17 percent of the country's overall energy needs.

But

Read more ...

European Credit Weakens As Stocks Rally

European markets are thin this week, thinner even that in the US from what we see in credit runs and equity volumes, but today saw a notable divergence between credit (sovereign, financial, and corporate) and equity markets continue. The broad BE500 equity index (of European stocks) rose majestically in the European afternoon (after US day session began), ending the day nicely positive, while spreads were wider in every category. Financials were the worst performers in European credit as

Read more ...

New Fiscal Compact, Or More Of The Same For Europe?

While the language, so far, of the new fiscal compact for the European Union remains wishy-washy at best and outright useless from an enforceability perspective at worst, we thought it instructive to take a look at just where we stand within the existing 'old' fiscal compact. The Wall Street Journal's interactive charts has an excellent example of the disappointing state of the union and the likelihood that anything new will change anything at all. Presented with little comment -12 of the

Read more ...

The Sovereign Ponzi - Tick By Tick Research Email

Dear All

In 1903, a young Italian man by the name of Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi (Charles Ponzi to you and I) arrived upon American shores aboard the SS Vancouver. With dreams of becoming one of the worlds super elite, Ponzi swiftly moved from being a dishwasher to the Branch Manager of Banco Zarossi in Montreal (which ironically turned out to be already running a "Ponzi Scheme" far before Mr Ponzi's arrival).

Fast forward eleven years, including a

Read more ...

European Banks Close 2011 With Near Record Cash On Deposit At ECB, €9 Billion Overnight Increase

In the last daily update of 2011, the ECB announced that European banks saw their usage of the central bank's deposit facility rise yet again following a modest drop the day before to fund some Italian bond purchases, and increased to just shy of the all tie record of €452 billion, at €446 billion, a €9 billion increase overnight. And while this is obviously not a seasonal pattern based on historical observations, nor is it banks holding their cash for 2012 auction use, as the carry

Read more ...

BTFD! "Nothing Shines Brighter Than SILVER" - Chris Duane

http://www.youtube.com/v/ueRLezbNVvg?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

A special end of the year silver update with 'Silver Shield' Chris Duane. See Chris' work at http://dont-tread-on.me/

And visit SGTreport.com for the latest news & information.

The content in my videos and on the SGTbull07 channel are provided for informational purposes only. Use the information found in my videos as a starting point for conducting your own research and conduct your own due diligence

Read more ...

Thursday, December 29, 2011

TiMe To PiCK UP THe THuRSDaY PieCeS!

RUNAWAY EURO TRAIN



.

.

.


.


.



.

You really want to know what Mitt Romney's true calling is?
.



.


Presenting Kim Jong UnVis
.



Unvis atop the Sacred Mountain
.


.



.


More one chord heaven for you diehards...



See the original article here:

TiMe To PiCK UP THe THuRSDaY

Read more ...

Is Today's Market Pricing A Forthcoming Reactionary-QE By The Fed?

Our earlier discussion of the relationship between ECB and Fed balance sheets as the driver of risk correlations this year seems particularly timely as we are seeing quite notable divergences among US asset classes and FX flows today. EUR is now up relative to the USD on the day (DXY is down and tracking stocks higher), Treasury yields are falling fast and the curve flattening (2s10s30s dropping rapidly) and Silver is rallying hard off its lows (Gold perhaps being held back for now by

Read more ...

Fly Your Own Spy Drone … For $300

By Washington’s Blog
The Parrot A.R. Drone can be launched and controlled with your iPhone or iPad:



The Parrot A.R. Drone costs $299.
The Parrot A.R. Drone can maintain stable flight at an altitude of up to 20 feet, and a maximum altitude of up to 160 feet.
More sophisticated drones can fly higher and for longer, in a more stable fashion.
For example, protesters in Warsaw used a spy drone last month to see what police were doing. As diydrones.com notes:






People tend to assume

Read more ...

Central Planning Update (In Theory And Practice) - You Are Here

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider of Atlantic Capital Management
Volatility Is The Price Of Real Progress
As we all ponder what may come at us in 2012, the ongoing volatility in almost every corner of every marketplace is certainly concerning, as it should be. This record volatility has enormous implications for any investor, but especially those in leveraged ETF’s. Volatility is the anathema to these vehicles, as has been well discussed, but that does not diminish their targeted

Read more ...

ES Bounces Off 200DMA And Total Chaotic Disconnect Ensues

As headline-makers from every mainstream media outlet attempt to fit today's spectacle to their cognitive biases, we note the massive surge in volume at the close in ES (the e-mini S&P futures contract). Financials closed at the highs of the day and stocks managed to retrace almost all of yesterday's drop (with seemingly everyone waiting for the ETF-moment at the end to transact?). We noted the disconnect earlier (and potential QE chatter) and while the break between TSYs and the synced

Read more ...

Summarizing 2011 In Nine Easy Charts

If one had to summarize 2011 in one sentence, it probably would be: "a year in which the market ended unchanged, in which the world got within seconds of global coordinated bankruptcy, and in which central planning finally took over everything." Simple. On the other hand, conveying a comparably concise message full of hope and despair at the same time, using charts would actually be slightly more problematic. But not for the Economist, which has managed to do just that, however

Read more ...

China Central Bank Researcher Says Gold is Only Safe Haven Now

Author:


Ed Steer





Yesterday in Gold and Silver


Ed_GSDDecember 28, 2011 2:14pm GMT



Email
Print



There was very quiet trading in the gold market yesterday...and I wouldn't read a lot into the price action, but it was obvious that it was under some sort of price pressure all day, starting right at the beginning of trading in New York on Monday night. That pressure continued in New York as

Read more ...

Tocqueville's Hathaway Sees 'Panic Liquidation' in Gold

Author:


Ed Steer





Yesterday in Gold and Silver


Ed_GSDDecember 29, 2011 1:51pm GMT



Email
Print



The gold price drifted about ten dollars lower during Far East trading during their Wednesday, with the London low coming about 10:00 a.m. local time. From there, the price began to rally...and was back to Tuesday's closing price by 9:00 a.m. in New York. Then the selling began in

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/27/11 Volatility/Blogroll

http://www.youtube.com/v/n1zHFgctSL4?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/27/11 Volatility/Blogroll

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx

See the original video here:

Silver Update 12/27/11

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/28/11 The Final Smackdown

http://www.youtube.com/v/kB-OtHBrOTI?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/28/11 The Final Smackdown

***Still Having Sound Issues, Please Be Patient***

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx
Silver For The People http://brotherjohnf.com/

See the original video here:

Silver Update 12/28/11 The Final

Read more ...

ECB Deposit Facility Usage Declines Nominally, Still At Nosebleed Levels

Following yesterday's surge to an all time record high of EUR 452 billion, which confirmed that virtually all LTRO cash had been redposited back at the ECB to lose 75 bps as per the "inverse carry trade" first presented here, today's update shows that yesterday the cash held by banks at the ECB declined by EUR 15 billion to EUR 437 billion - a delta of just over the amount raised by Italy in its 6 month and Zero Coupon bond issues yesterday. And despite said successful auctions, today the

Read more ...

Merkel Economic Advisor Does Not Exclude Eurozone Break Up

In an interview making the rounds this morning, which appeared in German "for the people" daily Bild, one of the German Council of Economic Experts, Beatrice Weder di Mauro, who is one of five economic advisors to Angela Merkel, put it in no uncertain terms (Bild readers don't like the kind of "political talk" other politicians are best known for) that while a breakup of the Eurozone in 2012 would be "bad for everyone involved" it can not be completely excluded. She also warned that unless

Read more ...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Themis Trading Flops Its 2011 Market Structure "Predictions"

Our friends at Themis Trading, who continue the good, if seemingly futile fight, for a fair and untiered market, refresh on their late 2010 market structure forecast, only to find that with a 1 out of 10 "success" track record, they have the same predictive hit rate as Byron Wien and Joe LaVorgna. Which, incidentally, is not a good thing: it simply means the US stock market is now more broken and corrupt than ever, a development that is not lost on US investors, who later today we will

Read more ...

Former Fed VP Accuses Bernanke Of Bailing Out Europe Via Currency Swaps

First it was Zero Hedge. Then Ron Paul joined in. Now it is the turn of a former Dallas Fed Vice President, Gerald ODriscoll, to outright accuse the Fed of bailing out Europe courtesy of "incomprehensible" currency swaps, and implicitly accusing Bernanke of lying that he would not bail out Europe even as he has done precisely that. And not only that: by cutting the USD swap spread from OIS+100 to OIS+50, the Fed has made sure it gets paid less than ever for extended Europe the courtesy of

Read more ...

Iran Outlines Key Steps And Actors In A Potential Straits Of Hormuz Closure

While the Iranian war game naval exercises have been ongoing for almost five days, or half of the projected 10, tensions in the Straits of Hormuz region have been rising culminating with today's interchange between the head of the Iranian Navy and the US 5th Fleet (which for various reasons we can not present you with a status update today). One question that remains is just what would a closure of the Straits looks like. Luckily, the Middle East Media Research Institute's blog has caught

Read more ...

The US Auto Industry Drifts Off To China

Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com


Though practically every car sold in the US today contains Chinese-made components, the announcement that a few Chinese-made cars would arrive in Canada raised a lot of eyebrows. It would be a Honda Fit assembled in the same plant where the European version, the Jazz, has been built for years. But Chinese-designed and branded vehicles have not made it yet. Chinese automakers, of which there is a whole slew, are scrambling to improve their

Read more ...

Currency Wars Update

Yesterday, the fine folks of Tradition Analytics were kind enough to explain (once again) just how it is that the Fed has boxed itself into a corner, where in order to maintain the already outlierish growth rate of monetary supply, the Fed will have no choice but to print (same with the ECB), or else risk a massive economic collapse (thank you Austrian theory). Today, the same group provides an update on what everyone knows has been the status quo's only way of dealing with the

Read more ...

Things That Make You Go Hmm, Such As Looking Back At The Key Events Of... 2012

With everyone and the kitchen sink busy sneaking away from the trading floor or holiday dinner to pen predictions for 2012 that will "hopefully" have a success rate of at least 50%+1 (or in Byron Wien's case, even just 1%), others such as Grant Williams have taken the opposite route, and in his latest Things that Make You Go Hmm, he has writen a retrospective, from the point of view of a man sitting on the edge of the end of the world, namely December 20, 2012, and looking back at the key

Read more ...

Beijing's Great Bailout to Defuse Ticking Local Debt Bombs

By EconMatters

In the previous post, we briefly mentioned that
"....there could be some hidden debt bombs as a recent Bloomberg finding suggests that China's banks may be understating their exposure to runaway local borrowing by possibly billions of dollars that is raising fears of a government bailout."

Here are more details. It appears that based on a Bloomberg News survey, the construction boom by many local governments as part of China's stimulus program that started in

Read more ...

CNN/Time Poll Finds Romney, Paul Iowa Photofinish, PPP Has Paul In Lead For Second Week

When a week ago we reported the latest weekly data from the Public Policy Polling institute, many were stunned to learn that Ron Paul was in the lead in the Iowa caucuses. In light of the neverending media onslaught against the Texan, this is not very surprising. The discrepancy between PPP and other, more "accepted" polls such as the CNN/Time was borderline ridiculous, when it came to the standing of the anti-Fed crusader (attacks against whom have recently passed into the Twilight Zone

Read more ...

Year-End Wrap-Up with Greg Hunter of USA Watchdog - Kitco News

http://www.youtube.com/v/unqul7mIf5A?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://bit.ly/2012gold - Greg Hunter of USA Watchdog (usawatchdog.com) gives Kitco News his year-end wrap-up, and discusses what he sees for 2012.

See the original video here:

Year-End Wrap-Up with Greg Hunter of USA Watchdog - Kitco

Read more ...

Goldman Lowers Sears Price Target From $43.00 To $30.00, Reiterates SELL

As we said yesterday when Sears decided to very unprudently (if very conveniently) post an update of its revolver in its horrendous preannouncement, the company is about to experience some MF Global style "death shorting" having invited every short from miles around to sniff at just how (un)stable its liquidity is. Judging by the action in the pre-market session, where the stock is another 4% lower, we may have been correct. And just to make the lives of key shareholders Eddie Lampert and

Read more ...

The Italian Yield Curve Vs The Euro Basis Swap

From Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors
The Italian Yield Curve

With all eyes focused on Italy and the “success” of Italian bond auctions, I thought this chart might be useful.
Attention has been on the 10 year (was 7% again until earlier this morning) and how much cheaper the 2 year came than just a few months ago.
Clearly Italy has done some things to calm the markets. When 2’s and 10’s were inverted back in late November, the market was extremely nervous that Italy was headed

Read more ...

Art Cashin Exposes The Behind The Scenes Panic In Europe

Think "all is fine" in Europe after today's largely irrelevant Italian bill auction (the auction was for 6 month debt - even Greece can raise that kind of money)? Think again. Here is the Fermentation Committee Chairman explaining why Europe is so hard pressed to create a fake sense of calm, allowing those who know the real story to take advantage of the situation while they still can, and sharing the behind the scenes truth you won't get anywhere else. Certainly not SWIFT.
From

Read more ...

EUR Plunges In Thin Market, Below 1.3000

While it is unclear what just spooked the EURUSD, sending it lower by 70 pips in minutes, perhaps a better question is why the EURUSD is not thousands of pips lower to begin with. As a reminder every single large bank is pushing for a lower EURUSD on hopes that a EUR collapse will kill the market and send the ECB scurrying into printing money. The problem there is that the ECB just announced its balance sheet expanded to EUR 2.73 trillion, an expected increase of over EUR 200 billion in

Read more ...

US Navy Says Any Disruption To Straits Of Hormuz "Will Not Be Tolerated"

Just out from Reuters:

U.S. FIFTH FLEET SAYS ANY DISRUPTION OF NAVIGATION IN HORMUZ STRAIT "WILL NOT BE TOLERATED"

Compare this statement with what an Iranian navy chief said earlier:






Closing off the Gulf to oil tankers will be "easier than drinking a glass of water" for Iran if the Islamic state deems it necessary, state television reported on Wednesday, ratcheting up fears over the world's most important oil chokepoint.

"Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is

Read more ...

Guest Post: Why Am I Hopeful

Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
Why Am I Hopeful
Readers often ask me to post something hopeful, and I understand why: doom-and-gloom gets tiresome. Human beings need hope just as they need oxygen, and the destruction of the Status Quo via over-reach and internal contradictions doesn't leave much to be happy about.
The most hopeful thing in my mind is that the Status Quo is devolving from its internal contradictions and excesses. It is a perverse, intensely destructive

Read more ...

Hypocrite Alert: SOPA Supporters Encouraged People to Use File-Sharing Software for Pirating Copyrighted Material

The big companies supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act apparently made a bucket of change by pushing file-sharing software and encouraging piracy in the first place:

For more evidence of the claim, click on the Web Archive links here. (And Congress appears to have unlawfully downloaded copyrighted content through BitTorrent.)
Whether or not you believe there was conspiratorial intent, it appears like the supporters of SOPA are hypocrites.
Of course, even if SOPA's supporters were

Read more ...

The Chickens Have Finally Come Home To Roost At Sears

In January of 2009 (nearly three years ago, which is ironic), I went bearish on Sears due to a variety of reasons, the least of which was less than competent management (hedge fund managers don't necessarily make good department store managers), macro conditions and fundamentals sloped towards hell. Although this was initially a very profitable trade, the rip roaring bear market rally of 2009 shredded the short profits - turning them into losses if uncovered, and simutaneously disguised

Read more ...

January 16th: “Occupy the Federal Reserve”

As David DeGraw notes, January 16th is "Occupy the Federal Reserve" day:






The “Occupy the Dream”
coalition has called for a National Day of Action on Martin Luther King
Day – Monday, January 16, 2012 – when they will “Occupy the Federal
Reserve,” in multiple cities nationwide, focusing attention on the gross
injustice visited upon the 99% by the financial elite.

Indeed, occupying the Fed has been a large part of the Occupy movement from day one.



See the original

Read more ...

ECB Deposits Jump 10% More To Record EUR452BN

While sovereign spreads are leaking modestly tighter this morning as European credit markets emerge from the holiday hibernation, the ECB Deposit Facility surged 10% further to a LTRO-busting EUR452bn. While we assume there is some year-end 'management' involved here (and some will argue that putting the LTRO-carry-trade to work takes time), the sheer velocity and scale of the ramp in deposits suggests this is not a game-theoretically optimal use of this new-found cash (neg-carry-trade)

Read more ...

Abysmal Spanish Housing Market Gets Even Worse In October

If there is anything that the European banks' negative response to the LTRO's invitation to use "free money" and relever even as Europe faces a perfect storm of deleveraging in 2012 (a topic beaten to death by us here previously) is that the problem at the root of the European financial crisis is not a liquidity one - it is, and has always been one of solvency, or, said otherwise, a problem when bank assets do not generate enough cash flow to satisfy cash outflows from bank liabilities,

Read more ...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Commodities Gone Wild-ish

While it might be a little premature, we thought an early reflection on the day's moves in commodities worthwhile. As COMEX copper closes -1.7%, its biggest one-day drop since 12/14, Gold and Silver are suffering similarly weak performances - even as the USD weakens. Oil, on the other hand, has staged its largest 5-day rally since 10/27. It seems the reasoning behind all of these moves is beyond mere mortal investors as newsflow is irksomely flip-floppish.

Performance since the 12/23

Read more ...

Rosenberg, Ryding, Zandi, Arbess, Zuckermann And Rickards All Chime In On The Future Of The Eurozone

When six out of five economists (thanks to the magic of Keynesianism... and self promotion from general counsel to general expert) all agree on the same topic, and the very definition of groupthink is that the Eurozone will survive, the glaringly obvious call is precisely the opposite. If there was ever an argument to say that 2012 is the year the Eurozone finally dies, the below video is it.


See the original article here:

Rosenberg, Ryding, Zandi, Arbess, Zuckermann And Rickards

Read more ...

pt 2/2 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones - 27 december 2011

http://www.youtube.com/v/otTT9TGyQK4?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Trends Journal: http://www.trendsresearch.com/journal
Twitter: http://twitter.com/geraldcelente

See the original video here:

pt 2/2 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones - 27 december

Read more ...

pt 1/2 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones - 27 december 2011

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZVzmqkJMbLQ?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Trends Journal: http://www.trendsresearch.com/journal
Twitter: http://twitter.com/geraldcelente

See the original video here:

pt 1/2 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones - 27 december

Read more ...

Twisted Tuesday - Treasuries are not an Option

Twisted Tuesday - Treasuries are not an Option
Courtesy of Phil of Phil's Stock World
Remember Operation Twist?
Last week, Freddie Mac reported record lows on rates, with the 30-year notes at 3.91%. This has not, of course, encouraged many people to go out and buy homes but it has DISCOURAGED people from putting their money into bonds and ENCOURAGED them to put their money into stocks.
There is, however, a problem with this. When people put money into Treasuries, it is "locked up" for a

Read more ...

580 Morgan Stanley Soon To Be Former-Employees Learn They Are Redundant Courtesy Of The Dept Of Labor

Previously it was Credit Suisse and Citigroup. Now it is Morgan Stanley's turn, as 580 employees in the firm's three New York office learn they are about to get the boot courtesy not of the HR department but the DOL's WARN website, which just happens to be the best real-time indicator for observing the transition of the soon to be former 1% into the 99%.
From WARN:






Date of Notice: 12/27/2011

Control Number: 2011-0193

Rapid Response Specialist: Linda Foehr

Reason Stated

Read more ...

Why ECB's LTRO Won't Stop Collateral Contagion

Via Gordon T Long of GordonTLong.com,

How long can the European media keep the EU credit implosion a secret? The disgraced former IMF Director, Demonic Strauss Kahn said on Tuesday December 12th, 2011 that No 'Firewall' Exists and Europe Has 'Only Weeks'. Of course within minutes of this Financial Times news release which detailed his vent on EU leadership and the perilous situation in Europe, the article disappeared.
The details of the European liquidity crisis are generally reported,

Read more ...

Equities Unch As Financials Lag

Given the low volume day, it is hardly surprising that markets had some unusual actions today but the consistency with which financials lagged on the day, combined with the selling pressure we saw in HYG (which has increasingly seemed to dominate credit markets recently) offers little to 'buy into' from today. ES (the e-mini S&P 500 futures contract) oscillated up and back to VWAP all day long in a very narrow range as risk assets rose modestly (helped by the seemingly Iran-driven surge in

Read more ...

Gold & Silver. 1000:1 -The Greatest Wealth Transfer in History

http://www.youtube.com/v/WN9OTxdFF2k?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Mike Maloney gives an answer to a question asked by an audience member "What is the silver lining?"

See the original video here:

Gold & Silver. 1000:1 -The Greatest Wealth Transfer in

Read more ...

Debt Crisis 2012: Forget Europe, Check Out Japan

By EconMatters
The recent massive demand for ECB's LTRO (Long Term Refinancing Operation)--nearly 490 billion euro in three-year 1% loans from 523 banks--only confirmed the suspicion of some market participants that European banks are having financing issues, and that the LTRO is unlikely to flow into the Euro Zone supporting the troubled sovereign debt and economy.

In addition to the current Euro crisis which we discussed here and here, Japan, the world's third largest economy,

Read more ...

America Maxes Out Its Credit Card Again - Treasury To Raise Debt Limit By Another $1.2 Trillion On December 30

You didn't think US consumer confidence could be bought for free now did you?

U.S. TREASURY SAYS DEBT LIMIT TO BE RAISED BY $1.2 TRILLION
U.S. DEBT TO BE $100 BLN WITHIN LIMIT ON DEC. 30, TREASURY SAYS
STEPS FOR INCREASING DEBT LIMIT UNDER 2011 BUDGET CONTROL ACT

And the piece de resistance that 100% debt to GDP brings:

OBAMA ON DEC. 30 LIKELY TO ASK CONGRESS TO RAISE DEBT LIMIT

Just as we thought the circus was over if only for a few weeks. Also, this means that in a few days, the US

Read more ...

Biggest 2 Month Jump In Confidence Since May 09 As Housing Drops To March 03 Levels

UPDATE: And then Dallas Fed manufacturing misses (at -3.0 vs +4.8 expectations) as expectations for future finished goods plunge as do current inventories.

As if we needed yet further evidence of the dichotomous macro data that seems to provide as much bearish fodder as bullish decoupling confidence, today sees a near-record two-month jump in conference board confidence at the same time as S&P/Case-Shiller prints at a seasonally-adjusted 103 month low. With the Richmond Fed also missing

Read more ...

Tradition Analytics Asks The $64K Question: Has The Fed Run Out Of Options To "Grow" Credit Money?

Last week, we presented an equity "valuation" analysis based on Austrian economics, which concluded that the only thing that matters for the economy and for asset prices in general, is the amount of credit money moving one way or another at the margin, ie how active global central banker printers are. Unfortunately, in this economy of record correlations, and in which alpha creation is now impossible, this may well be the only approach to capital markets that works any more. Today,

Read more ...

Guest Post: Are Commodities Topping Out?

Submitted by ChrisMartenson.com contributor Charles Hugh Smith
Are Commodities Topping Out?
The past several years have seen a growing backlash against "paper" investments as more and more investors consider hard assets to be a safe haven against the implications of central bank money printing. But as the global economy visibly slows, this question arises in many minds: Are commodities, which have been on a tear since the March 2009 bottom, finally topping out?
The question requires both a

Read more ...

Study: Fukushima Radiation Has Already Killed 14,000 Americans

A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal International Journal of Health Services alleges that 14,000 people have already died in the United States due to Fukushima.
Specifically, the authors of the study claim:






An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services.

Read more ...

Market Snapshot: Asia Down, Europe Stable

Despite more ramblings from Juncker this morning, the overnight session in Asia saw comments on downside risks from the BoJ drive risk assets modestly lower. Led by Japan, Asia-Pac equities were down around 0.3%. While EURUSD is higher by 25pips or so from Christmas Eve's close (and implicitly USD weaker), commodities are broadly underperforming with Copper worst (-1.3%), Gold (under $1600) and Silver in line -0.8%, and Oil just underwater from 12/23 close. European credit markets just

Read more ...

Gold Down As China's Tightens Controls

It appears the PBoC is stepping up the monitoring and management of their gold reserves. Headlines, via Bloomberg, suggest controls tightening on the trading of gold away from official channels:






*CHINA TO INCREASE MANAGEMENT OF GOLD TRADING, PBOC SAYS
*CHINA GOLD TRADING RESTRICTED TO SHANGHAI EXCHANGES, PBOC SAYS
*CHINA ORDERS UNAUTHORIZED GOLD TRADING PLATFORMS TO STOP: PBOC
*PBOC ASKS SHANGHAI GOLD, FUTURES EXCHANGES TO BOOST MANAGEMENT


Exchanging gold away from the all-seeing

Read more ...

Monday, December 26, 2011

Silver Volatility - Exposed - Office Series 14

http://www.youtube.com/v/tKIpbi9y8B0?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Volatility - Exposed - Office Series 14

See the original video here:

Silver Volatility - Exposed - Office Series

Read more ...

Did Bankers Deliberately Crash MF Global to Crash Gold and Silver Prices?

Did bankers use the MF Global to suppress gold and silver prices and create the panicked appearance of collapsing precious metals to give themselves additional precious time to delay the crash of the Euro and the US Dollar? As crazy as this sounds, a closer investigation of some key data seems to imply this possibility. Though bankers claim that they created futures markets to provide a mechanism for commodity producers to hedge against volatile market prices, I have never bought the

Read more ...

Harry Reid and the Mythical Millionaire Job-Creator

http://www.youtube.com/v/P-YqAFadmvk?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Senate majority leader Harry Reid argues that the rich simply do not create jobs...at all.

The Peter Schiff Show - 12/13/2011
www.SchiffRadio.com
Follow me on Twitter @SchiffRadio.com
Friend me on Facebook.com/PeterSchiff

See the original video here:

Harry Reid and the Mythical Millionaire

Read more ...

On Europe, Inflation, And Gold.

Via GoldMoney.com,
In this video Philipp Bagus, Assistant professor of Economics at Madrid’s Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and author of The Tragedy of the Euro, and Alasdair Macleod of the GoldMoney Foundation talk about the eurozone facing the problem that is characterised in the “tragedy of the commons” analogy. Bagus explains this phenomenon by way of an example of overfished and over-exploited oceans due to a lack of property rights on oceans. In Europe, governments run larger

Read more ...

China Insolvency Wave Begins As Nation's Biggest Provincial Borrowers "Defer" Loan Payments

Remember, back in the day, when a bankruptcy was simply called a bankruptcy? Naturally, this was well before ISDA came on the scene and footnoted the living feces out of everything by claiming that a bankruptcy is never a bankruptcy, as long as the creditors agree to 99.999% losses at gunpoint, with electrodes strapped to their testicles, submerged in a tank full of rabid piranhas, it they just sign a piece of paper (preferably in their own blood) saying the vaseline-free gang abuse was

Read more ...

Japan Will Raise More Cash From Debt Issuance Than Taxes For Fourth Year In A Row

While the world is watching Europe and the US for signs of imminent decoupling, and now has added China to its insolvency focus list, things in Japan, which is "fine" courtesy of a self-destruct autopilot, are just getting plain ridiculous. As we reported earlier this year, Japan's marketable public debt, already the largest in the world at $11.2 trillion compared to America's $10 trillion (of course this assumes the whole SSN sleight of hand is funded, which it isn't), is due to surpass

Read more ...

Bull Markets, Buying Opportunities, and Gold

Bull markets are extraordinary opportunities for wealth creation. There is something unquantifiable about the persistence of price as it moves higher. How to define a bull market is another question, but however it is done, we can agree that something different has occurred to create the dynamics that seem to persist in a bull market.
As many readers are aware, I monitor investor sentiment across a variety of markets. I do this not so much as to be a contrarian, but to determine those

Read more ...

Globalization, The Decade Ahead, And Asymmetric Returns

It is not unusual for us to note the Knightian uncertainty that lies ahead of us (the unknown unknowns) and question the nth-decimal-place accuracy of VaR-based risk budgeting when the next long-only strategist suggests 90% allocation to high-dividend-US-Equities. In a quick and thought-provoking Q&A from the Swiss Private Bank Pictet, they see the world in a similarly non-normal manner and focus in one case on the growing tension that globalization has created between winners and losers.

Read more ...

01/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/u1xnsbzR6jA?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

01/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

02/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZxG1v6WD6gI?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

02/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

03/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/XP4lkBgllnY?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

03/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

Edna

At around this time over the past few years I’ve written about the posh holiday parties I went to. No luck this year. I went from the A-list to the Shit-list (I blame the blogging). So instead of eating fancy canapés and talking with very important people, I went and saw Edna.


Edna was born in 1918. She’ll be 94 years old in January. Her mother died young, she went to a home for children when she was eight. In 1936 the home went bust due to the depression and a shortage of donors.

Read more ...

All HaiL THe MiGHTY CoN!

“I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”--Genghis Kahn

See the original article here:

All HaiL THe MiGHTY

Read more ...

Sunday, December 25, 2011

04/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/UaV1o_fCBCY?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

04/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

05/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/bqeVvaCTrxU?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

05/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

06/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/58DaFwfAy28?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

06/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

07/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/LvHMWFOOX9k?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

07/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

08/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/eVjCwlZ5B_g?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

08/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

09/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews Present:

http://www.youtube.com/v/iys4qncdgNc?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?h8d42uem8u4qf7t

2011 12-22
Time Monk Radio Network Interviews Presents:
Foster & Kimberly Gamble on TMRN Radio


http://www.thrivemovement.
http://urbansurvival.com/
http://halfpasthuman.com/
http://webbotforum.com
http://timemonkradio.com/

See the original video here:

09/09 Foster & Kimberly Gamble ~ TMRN 2011 12-22 Time Monk Radio Interviews

Read more ...

Ronald Reagan's 1981 Christmas Address

Things sure have changed in the past 30 years...

Abridged transcript (full version can be found here):
Good evening.
At Christmas time, every home takes on a special beauty, a special warmth, and that's certainly true of the White House, where so many famous Americans have spent their Christmases over the years. This fine old home, the people's house, has seen so much, been so much a part of all our lives and history. It's been humbling and inspiring for Nancy and me to be spending our

Read more ...

World's Second And Third Largest Economies To Bypass Dollar, Engage In Direct Currency Trade

To all who still think that in the war of attrition between the USD and the EUR (because contrary to what some have "discovered" only recently, currency wars have been going on for a long, long time and will continue to do so, before morphing into trade and real wars), in which both currencies are doomed, and where the winner takes it all, if only for a few minutes, we bring to your attention the following most recent update out of the Pacific Rim (where incidentally the Shanghai Composite

Read more ...

China Insolvency Wave Begins As Nation's Biggest Provincal Borrowers "Defer" Loan Payments

Remember, back in the day, when a bankruptcy was simply called a bankruptcy? Naturally, this was well before ISDA came on the scene and footnoted the living feces out of everything by claiming that a bankruptcy is never a bankruptcy, as long as the creditors agree to 99.999% losses at gunpoint, with electrodes strapped to their testicles, submerged in a tank full of rabid piranhas, it they just sign a piece of paper (preferably in their own blood) saying the vaseline-free gang abuse was

Read more ...

A Few Chinese Bad News Bears To Spoil A Happy New Year

By EconMatters
Goldman's Jim O'Neill noted in a recent interview that the world's future prosperity depends on China's growth. While we don't totally agree with that assessment as we see China as one of the many contributory factors towards world's future, there are some recent bad news bears coming out of China that could spell troubles for markets, at least in 2012.

Export Growth Could Drop to Zero in 2012

The General Administration of Customs released November trade figures

Read more ...

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all

A contribution:
http://alabamashakes.bandcamp.com/track/you-aint-alone

Merry and happy to everyone in the ZH family; thank you all.

See the original article here:

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to

Read more ...

Sol Sanders | Follow the money No. 98 | Moves speed up on a complicated Asian chessboard

Latest from Uncle Sol. A version of this column is scheduled for publication in The Washington Times, Monday, December 26, 2011. Merry Christmas. Chris
Follow the money No. 98 | Moves speed up on a complicated Asian chessboard
Sol W. Sanders

A new era of increasing instability is opening in East Asia.
The death of North Korean leader Kim Il Jong is only adding another, if explosive, element to an already volatile equation:
· China enters a period of substantially

Read more ...

Merry Christmas &v Happy Holidays, to all

A contribution:
http://alabamashakes.bandcamp.com/track/you-aint-alone

Merry and happy to everyone in the ZH family; thank you all.

See the original article here:

Merry Christmas &v Happy Holidays, to

Read more ...

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Silver Update 12/24/11 Holiday Deals

http://www.youtube.com/v/XZM6LAMADvU?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/24/11 Holiday Deals

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx

***PLEASE FORGIVE THE BAD SOUND. NO i DON'T HAVE A SORE THROAT***

See the original video here:

Silver Update 12/24/11 Holiday

Read more ...

Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global, Rockefeller Foundation

This Christmas will not be a happy one for George Friedman (who incidentally was the focus of John Mauldin's latest book promotion email blast) and his Stratfor Global Intelligence service, because as of a few hours ago, hacking collective Anonymous disclosed that not only has it hacked the Stratfor website (since confirmed by Friedman himself), but has also obtained the full client list of over 4000 individuals and corporations, including their credit cards (which supposedly have been

Read more ...

Interactive Mapping Of 2011's Key (And Not So Key) Events

The folks at mapsofworld.com have been kind enough to compile a list of the top events of 2011 broken down by country, coupled with a fully interactive drill down. Furthermore, they have compiled a list of the top 5 events of 2011 based on popular voting (open to anyone). We were surprised (or maybe not) to find that while in our little microcosm we focus on the nuances of the financial world, and occasionally branch out into its nexus of geopolitics, people in the real world appear to

Read more ...

Don't Mess With The Keynesians

The compare and contrast discussions of Keynes and Hayek have wended their way over the last few years from learned academic texts to YouTube sensationalist rap videos. We have to say we have our preference among those two extremes. However, in a recent interview with Nicholas Wapshott of Reuters, INETeconomics pulls back the veil a little more of the borrow-and-spend short-termist optimism of Keynes versus the 'if it can go wrong, it will' pragmatist pessimism of Hayek. Unfortunately, it

Read more ...

Intraday USDCNY Unchanged Since 2006

Inspired by recent work at the China Economics Seminar, we were shocked at the recent shifts in USDCNY. While all has been calmly proceeding in the right direction from US perspectives with CNY appreciation (though maybe not fast enough for Chuck Schumer's liking), under the surface there is what appears to be a fierce battle between market participants and the PBoC. By breaking down the cumulative shift in USDCNY into intraday 'market/trading' movements (from fixing to close) and interday

Read more ...

Weekly Bull/Bear Recap: December 19-23, 2011

Submitted by Rodrigo Serrano Of Rational Capitalist Speculator
Weekly Bull/Bear Recap: X-Mas ‘11 Edition
Bull
++ U.S. data continues to show an economy that’s weathering a turbulent global economy much better than the bears could have anticipated:

The Dow Theory has flagged a buy signal. Both the Dow and Trannie indices notch new highs. This price action corroborates underlying U.S. economic strength. The equity bull market is set to continue.
The Conference

Read more ...

Iran Begins Straits of Hormuz Wargames

As was reported yesterday, Iran has now officially commenced its 10 day wargame exercise in the Straits of Hormuz. What happens next is 10 days in which one false move, either planned or false flagged, can have some serious (if required by the status quo) consequences: after all WTI is at $100, and the ECB has quietly "printed" $700 billion in the past 6 months, with the Fed not far behind - there has to be some implicit backstop to keep crude from soaring once it becomes clear that print

Read more ...

"A Markets Carol" - Goldman Scrooge Gets A Visit By The Three Ghosts Of The Global Economy

In its "pre-Christmas" note, it is somehow appropriate that Goldman's Jose Ursua reprises the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, and explains how, in this contemporary Christmas Carol, "The world economy is struggling: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that" and, logically, gets a visit from the three ghosts of the world's past, present and future. However, while the narrative is similar for the most part to the Carol morality play, where it diverges is in the Hollywood ending: "As in

Read more ...

Silver & Gold: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY RANTING ANDY - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/v/jnGO-P3Rvd0?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Part 1 - a MUST LISTEN interview with Ranting Andy Hoffman. Andy answers YOUR tough questions about silver & gold.

Visit SGTreport.com for the latest news & information.

The content in my videos and on the SGTbull07 channel are provided for informational purposes only. Use the information found in my videos as a starting point for conducting your own research and conduct your own due diligence (DD)

Read more ...

Silver & Gold: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY RANTING ANDY - Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/v/HirOFv8l27Y?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Part 2 - a MUST LISTEN interview with Ranting Andy Hoffman. Andy answers YOUR tough questions about silver & gold.

Visit SGTreport.com for the latest news & information.

The content in my videos and on the SGTbull07 channel are provided for informational purposes only. Use the information found in my videos as a starting point for conducting your own research and conduct your own due diligence (DD)

Read more ...

Turkey Sharply Increases Its Gold Reserves

Author:


Ed Steer





Yesterday in Gold and Silver


Ed_GSDDecember 24, 2011 2:47pm GMT



Email
Print



It was a very quiet trading day everywhere on Planet Earth yesterday. The gold price was up about nine bucks or so during Far East trading, but most of that tiny gain was taken away once trading began in London...and then later in New York.Gold closed at $1,607.00 spot...up $1.60. Net

Read more ...

Friday, December 23, 2011

Silver Update 12/21/11 Viewer Comments

http://www.youtube.com/v/FBhVUO-5jrY?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/21/11 Viewer Comments

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx

See the original video here:

Silver Update 12/21/11 Viewer

Read more ...

Guest Post: The Center Can Hold - More On Playing With Tails

By JM
The Center Can Hold: More on Playing with Tails
Every time series of prices reflects the ongoing valuation of worldviews in a collective sense. These prices can be used to generate a probability distribution that reflects that worldview. Is it best to buy the tails that reflect extreme events, or to be long the center, where the majority of views dominate?
Buying the tails is a barbell. Buying the center is well, a center bet. Which is best?
Here is an approximate answer

Read more ...

BaNZai7's SuBPRiMe CHRiSTMaS CaRoL

A SuBPRiMe CHRiSTMaS CaRoL
(PaRT I)


.

E-Bernank Scrooge lived all alone in an old house. The yard was very dark and scary that night and when Scrooge wanted to unlock the door, he had the feeling that he saw John Maynard Keyne's face there.
This was rather spooky, but Scrooge was not frightened easily.
“Bah Munger,” he said, opened the door and walked in. He locked himself in, however, which he usually didn’t do. But then he felt safe again and sat down before the

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/22/11 SLV Shenanigans

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZEMlAr51FdY?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/20/11 SLV Shenanigans

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx
SLV Short Position Update http://www.silverseek.com/commentary/slv-short-position-update
SLV http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=SLV&a=03&b=28&c=2006&d=11&e=23&f=2011&g=d&z=66&y=132
Silver Trust

Read more ...

And This Is Where The LTRO Money Went

On the day of the 3 Year European LTRO, in a whim of fancy we wondered if contrary to all expectations, the European banks would not instead of using the money for any real releveraging (carry Trade) or deleveraging (switching out of expensive into cheaper debt) purposes, just park it with the ECB's deposit facility, an outcome which would be the worst possible case as it simply recycles ECB cash from on pocket into another without any incremental velocity. As it turns out, we were only

Read more ...

Core Durable, Capital Goods Orders Miss Despite Inventory Stuffing, To Push Q4 GDP Lower; Savings Rate Declines

So much for ending the year on a positive economic tone: today's November durable goods number, while better than expected on a headline basis including volatile transportation data coming at 3.8% on expectations of 2.2%, was a big disappointment when looking at the core economic indicators such as Durables ex-transportation and non-defense capital goods orders ex-transportation, both of which missed, 0.3 vs 0.4% in the former case, and a whopping 11st devs for the latter: at -1.2% on

Read more ...

A MERSy Christmas | Twas The Night Before Fraudclosure

A MERSY CHRISTMAS
Tis right before Christmas, but they’ll still take your house Many creatures are lurking, like Baum - that louse. The documents were strung together without care, Have a missing assignment? LPS will be there!
The attorneys said “We’ve put our problems to bed” As fraudclosure whistleblowers were turning up dead. There’s Biden in Delaware, and Martha in Mass., Who finally said, “Let’s kick bankster ass!”
There’s Miller in Iowa who’s leading the chatter,

Read more ...

Morgan Stanley On Why 2012 Will Be The "Payback" For Three Years Of "Miracles" And A US Earnings Recession

Yesterday, we breached the topic of the real decoupling that is going on: that between the macro and the micro (not some ridiculous geographic distribution of the US versus the world), by presenting David Rosenberg's thoughts on why Q4 GDP has peaked and why going forward it is energy prices that are likely to be a far greater drag on incremental growth than the preservation (not the addition as it is not incremental) of $10 per week in payroll taxes (which only affects those who are

Read more ...

Santa takes the S&P positive YTD

The S&P ran right thru the 200D SMA, and not by coincidence the S&P is now in positive territory for the year. There is an outside chance that we get a monster, no-volume, lift thru year end. Come 2012, we'll find that Mr. Claus' present was coated in lead paint from a Chinese factory. Europe is feeding the ducks with news flow, but it won't be enough to support the 100 S&P points we've been gifted since Thanksgiving. That being said, GOOG is within 10 points of its 52W high,

Read more ...

An "Austrian View" Approach To Equity Prices

Take all you know about the formation of equity prices... and throw it out of the window, at least according to the following paper out of (fittingly Austrian) Erste Group, which applies Austrian theory to stock "valuation", by looking at a world in which the only determining factor for "fair value" is credit money creation. Indeed, the 2011 market, in which cross-asset correlations broke all records, and in which fundamentals were cremated once and for all, showed that the only thing that

Read more ...

Twas the Friday Before Christmas

Twas the Friday Before Christmas
Courtesy of Phil of Phil's Stock World
Really guys!
Don't we all have something better to do than watch the markets today?
Even the crooks at the NYMEX are going home at 1:30 pm, sacrificing an entire hour of losing money to us to be with their strippers. That's right we OWNED those people yesterday, hitting play after play on the oil Futures, all based on our very simple premise that if the crooks at the NYMEX want to pretend they want to buy a barrel of

Read more ...

Gerald Celente - Lanigan & Malone - WMJI 22 December 2011

http://www.youtube.com/v/nJW-75AZQQ4?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Trends Journal: http://www.trendsresearch.com/journal
Twitter: http://twitter.com/geraldcelente

See the original video here:

Gerald Celente - Lanigan & Malone - WMJI 22 December

Read more ...

Above 7% Again - Any Italian Bank That Bought BTPs With LTRO Cash Is Now Underwater

Presented with little comment...10Y BTP yields just broke above 7% once again. It would appear the MtM on those LTRO-funded BTP purchases is hurting already. Cue LCH margin hikes...

Today's move above...and the week below - 60bps off the pre-LTRO (green box) low yields from Wednesday...

Chart: Bloomberg

See the original article here:

Above 7% Again - Any Italian Bank That Bought BTPs With LTRO Cash Is Now

Read more ...

"Black Swan" Fund Creator Explains Why Central Planning Has Doomed Us All

In a must read Op-Ed in the WSJ, Mark Spitznagel, founder of "fat tail" focused hedge fund Universa, where Nassim Taleb has been known to dabble on occasion, explains the fundamental flaw with central planning, and specifically why "moral hazard" or the attempt to avoid the destructive part of natural cycles, is the greatest unnatural abomination ever conceived by man. His visual explanation should be sufficient for even such grizzled academics who have no clue how the real world

Read more ...

Dow Green For The Year? Thank 2 Companies Out Of 30

While we just noted the insanity of chaotic market shifts in the face of the broad market's lackluster performance, Nic Colas, of ConvergeX Group, goes one step further. Dismantling the 592 point rally in the archaic (yet seemingly so important to mom and pop) Dow, Nic shows that the majority of this move was simply thanks to just two stocks (IBM and MCD). The 5.1% outperformance of the Dow, in the face of the S&P's blank, is the seventh year of the last twelve (we suppose thanks to the

Read more ...

Iran Launching "Massive" Ten Day War Game Tomorrow In Close Proximity To CVN-74 John Stennis

As the rest of the world enjoys Festivus or whatever celebration one indulges in, Iran is launching a "massive" 10 day war games naval exercise right in the belly of the beast. From Xinhua: "Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari on Thursday announced the upcoming launch of ten-day massive naval exercises in the international waters, the local satellite Press TV reported. Sayyari said at a press conference on Thursday that the naval maneuvers dubbed Velayat 90 will start on

Read more ...

WiLLiaMBaNZai7'S YULE-POCALYPSE NOW!

See the original article here:

WiLLiaMBaNZai7'S YULE-POCALYPSE

Read more ...

Mid-December Hedge Fund Performance Update - Bloodbath

We already know 2011 was horrible for hedge funds, for Wall Street bonuses, and soon, for luxury retailers. So before we write off 2011 for good, here is the penultimate HSBC report (#52) showing HF performance through mid-December. Some notable mid month numbers: Moore -0.05%; Caxton: -0.09%; Clive: -1.22%; York: -1.20%; Third Point: -1.80%; Pershing Square: -0.70%; Perry: -2.94%; Owl Creek: -1.70%; Highbridge: -2.11%; Landsdowne: -0.89%; Viking: -0.57%; Maverick: -3.08%; Kingdon:

Read more ...

JPM Raises Q1 GDP Forecast From 1.0% To 2.5% GDP At The Expense Of Even More Future Growth

Now that US Congress provides "solutions" on a month to month basis with outcomes delayed until the 11th hour and 59th minute, the Treasury funds itself paycheck to paycheck, hedge fund LPs only allow a daily lock up and demand liquidity statistics (as in how much of the entire book can be sold on an hour's notice), and all that matters is what happens in the next few hours, it is JPM's turn to raise Q1 GDP... at the expense of future growth. Because nobody really cares about the future

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/20/11 Viewer Comments

http://www.youtube.com/v/FBhVUO-5jrY?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/20/11 Viewer Comments

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx

See the original video here:

Silver Update 12/20/11 Viewer

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/20/11 SLV Shenanigans

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZEMlAr51FdY?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/20/11 SLV Shenanigans

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx
SLV Short Position Update http://www.silverseek.com/commentary/slv-short-position-update
SLV http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=SLV&a=03&b=28&c=2006&d=11&e=23&f=2011&g=d&z=66&y=132
Silver Trust

Read more ...

Europe Opens To Risk Off Amid Low Volumes

Since the European markets opened we have seen modest selling pressure, admittedly with little to no volume and thin liquidity wherever we look. The overnight ebullience in ES (the e-mini S&P futures contract) was not matched by other broad risk assets as CONTEXT (the risk asset proxy) rose only mildly and is now dropping (back below US day session closing levels). The main drivers of correlated derisking are rallies in TSYs (levels and 2s10s30s compression) and mild selling pressure in

Read more ...

RGE's Megan Greene Sees LTRO Carry Trade As Terrfiying Prospect

If you are looking to fill 20 minutes on this low volume pre-holiday 'trading' day with some sanity (away from the low correlation markets), look no further than the following interview between CMC Market's Michael Hewson and Roubini Global Economics' Megan Greene. From the evolution of the European sovereign debt crisis to a financial and political firestorm, the growing divergence between Merkel's demands and the rest of Europe's needs, to the band-aid plugs to practically unsolvable

Read more ...

Frontrunning: December 23

Fed’s Once-Secret Data Released to Public (Bloomberg) - full excel spreadsheet link
Call for QE to stave off euro deflation (FT)
King Says Crisis Threatens Europe’s Economy as Stability Outlook Worsens (Bloomberg)
Russia’s Medvedev calls for reforms, but protesters not satisfied (WaPo)
EU's carbon tax meets turbulence (China Daily)
IMF May Delay Boosting China’s Role as Members Fail to Back Quota Changes (Bloomberg)
China's 2012 social housing target at 7 million (Reuters)
Bini

Read more ...

Daily US Opening News And Market Re-Cap: December 23

From RanSquawk

Volumes remained thin across various asset classes ahead of market holidays related to Christmas and the New Year, together with a light economic calendar
Moody’s maintained the US’s sovereign credit rating at Aaa, adding that the US rating outlook is negative on federal government debt ratio risks, and the US rating could move down if debt ratios and interest costs continue rising
Outperformance was observed in Gilt futures partly helped by lacklustre economic data

Read more ...

Philipp Bagus on moral hazard in Europe, inflation, and gold

http://www.youtube.com/v/hZXPBGFgN6c?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Subscribe to our newsletter at http://www.goldmoney.com/goldresearch. In this video Philipp Bagus, Assistant professor of Economics at Madrid's Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and author of The Tragedy of the Euro, talks about moral hazard in the eurozone, inflation, and gold. According to Bagus, central banks' fear of deflation will cause them to do everything to prevent it from happening -- including

Read more ...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Guest Post: 3Q GDP Weaker Than Expected

Submitted by Lance Roberts of StreetTalkLive
3Q GDP Weaker Than Expected
"... let me just provide you with a quick reminder that the first estimate of GDP released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis is tied closely to the consensus estimate of economists as there is incomplete information about the various subcomponents to make a more accurate estimate. Therefore, it should really come as no big surprise given the shocks that hit the economy from the debt downgrade, political

Read more ...

We’ve reached the end game for Central Bank intervention.

When confronted with excessive debt, you can either “take the hit” or you can try to inflate the debt away.
In 2008, the Central Banks, lead by the US Federal Reserve, decided not to “take the hit.” They’ve since spent trillions of Dollars propping up the financial system. By doing this, they’ve essentially attempted to fight a debt problem by issuing more debt.
The end result is similar to what happens when you try to cure a heroine addict by giving him more heroine: each

Read more ...

Vew From The (Aphoristic) Bridge - Christmas Special

Clive Hale of View From The Bridge has released his Christmas Special note. We present it to our readers solely because it contains zero financial analysis, numbers, data and what not - with the year almost over, the last thing people care about is further analysis about just how hopeless everything is when one cuts through the male cow manure. Instead, the letter is replete with precisely the kind of stuff we enjoy the most - that which makes people think.
From View from the

Read more ...

Guest Post: A Christmas Message From America's Rich

From Matt Taibbi
A Christmas Message From America's Rich
It seems America’s bankers are tired of all the abuse. They’ve decided to speak out.
True, they’re doing it from behind the ropeline, in front of friendly crowds at industry conferences and country clubs, meaning they don’t have to look the rest of America in the eye when they call us all imbeciles and complain that they shouldn’t have to apologize for being so successful.
But while they haven’t yet deigned to talk to

Read more ...

The Fed vs The ECB - Presenting "The Correlation Of 2012" And What It Means For Gold

If there is one cross asset correlation that defined 2011 (and the greater part of 2010), it was that of the Euro-Dollar (EURUSD) currency pair and the S&P 500, which have correlated with near unison nearly all of the time. And yet, the stability of this correlation may be getting unglued, because as Goldman insinuated in its market roundup note from yesterday, it is "reasonable to think that the ... reflexive relationship between EURUSD and SPX...will take some time to break, but this

Read more ...

Groundhog Year - 12 Eurogroup And European Council Meetings In 2012... And Counting

While 2011 is not quite over yet, we urge readers to set their alarm clocks because in 9 days, Groundhog Year is here - as of right now, there are at least 12 Eurogroup and European Council meeting scheduled in Europe for the balance of "next" year. And we use the term "next" loosely, as 2012 is a carbon copy replica of 2011, before it has even begun.


See the original article here:

Groundhog Year - 12 Eurogroup And European Council Meetings In 2012... And

Read more ...

Presenting America's Most Expensive Repossessed Property

When one hears of foreclosed real estate or its sibling REO (real estate owned) aka repossessed property, typically visions of dilapidated shacks in Detroit, Las Vegas, or the Inland Empire come to mind. And with the average foreclosed home selling at $182,489 according to RealtyTrac, this is understandable. However, such a vision would be wildly incorrect when talking about the property located at 188 Minna St., in San Francisco, which just happens to be America's most expensive

Read more ...

MInd Reading Machines Are Here

There are now prototypes of machines which can read your mind for a wide variety of purposes.
Driving:
Computers:
Music:
(Some musicians are better than others!)
Other uses (and potentials for abuse):


See this For more amazing technology.


See the original article here:

MInd Reading Machines Are

Read more ...

Gold Climbing 'Wall of Worry' Just as it Did in the '70s: Pierre Lassonde

Author:


Ed Steer





Yesterday in Gold and Silver


Ed_GSDDecember 22, 2011 10:59am GMT



Email
Print



The gold price was up about ten bucks during early Far East trading on Wednesday...and then didn't do much of anything until a smallish rally began around 3:00 p.m. Hong Kong time, which is 2:00 a.m. on the east coast.This rally lasted until the London a.m. gold fix at 10:30 a.m. GMT...and the

Read more ...

Silver Update 12/20/11 Pension Bomb

http://www.youtube.com/v/heVYXLZipUA?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Silver Update 12/20/11 Pension Bomb

Software Provided By Netdania.com http://www.netdania.com/Products/live-streaming-currency-exchange-rates/real-time-forex-charts/FinanceChart.aspx
Pensions Chopped but Investors Paid http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204058404577108733075637456.html
US Debt Clock http://www.usdebtclock.org/

See the original video here:

Silver Update 12/20/11 Pension

Read more ...

S&P Joins Moody's In Downgrading Hungary To Junk, Outlook Negative - Full Note

On November 25, Moody's cut Hungary to junk. Now it is S&P's turn: "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the predictability and credibility of Hungary's policy framework continues to weaken. We believe this weakening is due, in part, to official actions that, in our opinion, raise questions about the independence of oversight institutions and complicate the operating environment for investors. In our view, this is likely to have a negative impact on investment and fiscal planning,

Read more ...

Sorry Folks, QE 3 Ain't Coming...

… Unless we get a major bank going under or a 2008-type event.
I’ve been reading that several pundits believe QE 3 is just around the corner. I’m sorry to say that this view is both misguided and has proven to be extremely dangerous to investors’ portfolios over the six months.
Indeed, we’ve heard this argument virtually non-stop since last June. Every time the Fed had another FOMC coming up, the argument was made that QE 3 would be announced. Every single time the Fed

Read more ...

12 Economic Facts of Christmas - Tick By Tick Research Email

Dear All


It is finally here. No, I do not mean the ECB's botched effort at rescuing the financial sector and promoting the carry trade. I am, of course, talking about Christmas. The season to be jolly and perform obscure acts like singing on your neighbours doorstep despite never usually speaking to them.

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful"
Norman Vincent Peale

Here at Tick By Tick, we take Christmas

Read more ...

Goldman's Economists Score 7 Out Of 10 For 2011

Since the 2012 Outlooks have now slowed to a drip, its appears retrospectives are the stocking-filler of choice for the week. Goldman's economist group reflects on their '10 Questions for 2011', released at the end of December 2010, and finds they were correct seven times. The tricky thing about judging the 'score' is the magnitude of the error - or more importantly the magnitude of the question's impact on trading views. Jan Hatzius and his team have had their moments this year, for

Read more ...

CS Global Risk Appetite Signals Risk-Off As Sentiment Stays In 'Panic' Mode

Credit Suisse has been producing country-specific and global risk appetite indices for years, offering a quick-and-dirty perspective on the market participant sentiment in global risk assets. By empirically tracking the relationships between 'safe' and 'risky' asset classes, they have created a useful contemporaneous view of current market perceptions. The index swings between euphoria and panic modes and shifted to full-scale panic around mid-year. Since then the index has gradually

Read more ...

Frontrunning: December 22

The watchdogs that didn't bark (Reuters)
Italy's Monti faces key final vote on austerity (Reuters)
Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship (BBC)
Swiss Panel Studying Measures to Curb Franc’s Gains, Widmer-Schlumpf Says (Bloomberg)
U.S. exporters brace for cutbacks in European bank lending (WaPo)
Gundlach fears debt ‘crescendo’ (FT)
China accuses US of protectionism (FT)
China banks eye easing as household inflation view cools: PBOC (Reuters)
Obama Gets a Lift From Tax

Read more ...

"Weaker Euroland" - Two Unhappy Holiday Jingles

A holiday jingle, via UBS Credit Strategy
"Weaker Euroland" - sung to the tune of "Winter Wonderland"
Credit calling, are you listening?On the horizon, defaults are loomingA dreadful sight,To see high yield's plight,Walking in a weaker Euroland.
Without a pledge from the German,Credit spreads are gonna widenWho wants to pay?For the peripheral disarrayWalking in a weaker Euroland.
In the markets we can't refinance,So we put the blame on the ECBShe'll say: What about austerity?We'll say: No

Read more ...

Busy Economic Day Ahead

While volume today will be rather abysmal with virtually everyone now gone, the robots will be quite busy kneejerking themselves to a variety of economic reports, starting with the final Q3 GDP revision, consumer sentiment, index of leading indicators and ending with FHFA. On the political front it is unclear if there is any progress to the payroll tax extension negotiations, which has huge implications for if not the Q1 market, then definitely economy.
8:30: GDP (Q3-3rd estimate):

Read more ...

Eurobonds and moral hazard within the EU

http://www.youtube.com/v/Fz2G5bvR7lA?version=3&f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata

Watch the full 12-minute video at http://www.goldmoney.com/bagus-interview. In this video Philipp Bagus, Assistant professor of Economics at Madrid's Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and author of The Tragedy of the Euro, talks about the problem of moral hazard within the eurozone. There is an incentive for governments to impose the cost of government spending on the holders of the currency. Since central

Read more ...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Flowcharting Europe's Sovereign And Bank Debt Problems

Keeping track of all the various verticals of instability in Europe, which is now forced to improvise on a day to day basis with a leaking dam wall of increasingly insurmountable problems, and is torn between plugging holes in the EFSF/ESM mechanism, Bank recapitalization, generating an overarching fiscal union and, last but not least, getting the ECB involved, has become virtually impossible. Which is why we are happy to present the latest updated UBS flowchart summarizing Europe's

Read more ...

13 Observations On The New Holiday Spending Normal

While the rest of the world enjoys the New Normal, which lately has primarily and mostly negative connotations, when it comes to such "legacy" aspects of life as holiday shopping, we all enjoy the fall back to a simpler time assuming that at least such basic behavior as buying presents for the loved (and not so loved) ones can hardly change much with the years. Alas, even this last bastion of nostalgic simplicity has now been swept away: Nick Colas and his team from ConvergEx, have once

Read more ...