STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 9 April 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 9 April 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 8 April 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 8 April 2013
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Dow Jones 14,613.48 +48.23 (0.33%)
S&P 500 1,563.07 +9.79 (0.63%)
Nasdaq 3,222.25 +18.39 (0.57%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.74% +0.03 (1.75%)
30 Year 2.93% +0.04 (1.38%)[font color=black]


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

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


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








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

[Demeter]

1. Yep.

What more is there to say?

[Demeter]

2. Bernanke: U.S. banks are stronger now SURE THEY ARE! AND I AM QUEEN OF ROUMANIA

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bernanke-us-banks-are-stronger-now-2013-04-08?siteid=YAHOOB

U.S. banks are stronger than they were a few years ago, thanks in part to government stress tests, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday.

“The resilience of the U.S. banking system has greatly improved since [2009], and the more intensive use and greater sophistication of supervisory stress testing ... deserve some credit for that improvement,” Bernanke said in a speech to the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s annual financial-market conference in Stone Mountain, GA.Bernanke said that the decision to launch stress tests in 2009 was one of the “critical turning points in the financial crisis.”

“It provided anxious investors with something they craved: credible information about prospective losses at banks,” he said.

In the first stress test, 10 of the 19 large bank holding companies were required to raise equity capital by a total of $75 billion. Only 2 of 18 banks — BB&T Corp. and government-owned Ally Financial — failed the latest test, completed last month. The stress test was designed to assess whether a bank’s reserves were adequate to withstand another crisis like the credit crunch of 2008.

In his speech, Bernanke said that despite complaints from the banks, the Fed would not publish the full specifications of its model used to estimate banks’ projected revenues and losses. Banks have criticize the models as a “black box.” The Fed chairman said he was worried that revealing the model would cause banks to simply adopt that model instead of their own, making it easier to “pass” the stress test...

TEST TO FAIL...JUST LIKE EDUCATION

TIME TO GRAB YOUR MONEY, AND RUN TO A CREDIT UNION!

[AnneD]

17. All Hail Queen Demeter.....

[Demeter]

27. You better believe it!

I can't tell the sound quality...here are the lyrics:

"Do you know what I intend? I intend to be a queen. When I grow up I’m going to be the biggest queen there ever was, and I’ll live in a big palace and when I go out in my coach, all the people will wave and I will shout at them, and...and...in the summertime I will go to my summer palace and I’ll wear my crown in swimming and everything, and all the peo ple will cheer and I will shout at them... What do you mean I can’t be queen? Nobody should be kept from being a queen if she wants to be one. It’s usually just a matter of knowing the right people.. ..well.... if I can’t be a queen, then I’ll be very rich then I will buy myself a queendom. Yes, I will buy myself a queendom and then I’ll kick out the old queen and take over the whole operation myself. I will be head queen."

....

Lucy: "What do you mean, I can't be a queen?"

Linus: "A person can only become a queen by being born into a family with the correct lineage. I'm sorry, Lucy, but it's true!"

Lucy: "There must be a loophole. This sort of thing always has a loophole. Nobody should be kept from being a queen if she wants to be one! IT'S UNDEMOCRATIC!"

[AnneD]

36. If we chose our Queens democratically.....

I am sure you would have a totaly sweep here. excuse me

[Demeter]

3. When America Came 'This Close' to Establishing a 30-Hour Workweek By John de Graaf

http://www.alternet.org/labor/when-america-came-close-establishing-30-hour-workweek?akid=10283.227380.clLmB-&rd=1&src=newsletter819416&t=14&paging=off

Saturday, April 6, 2013, markED the 80th anniversary of a long-forgotten event in American history that bears remembering, especially by progressives...The April 15, 1933 issue of Newsweek, one of the first in the magazine’s history, contains a remarkable cover headline: Bill cutting work week to 30 hours startles the nation. Indeed only nine days earlier, on April 6th, the Black-Connery Bill had passed in the United States Senate by a wide margin. The bill fixed the official American work week at five days and 30 hours, with severe penalties for overtime work. In his new book, Free Time, labor historian, Benjamin Hunnicutt of the University of Iowa, explains that the bill originally had broad support as a means of increasing employment during the recession and maintaining full employment in the future.

“We stand unflinchingly for the six-hour day and the five-day week in industry,” thundered AFL president William Green to a labor meeting in San Francisco that spring. Franklin Roosevelt and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins also initially endorsed the idea, but the president buckled under opposition from the National Association of Manufacturers and dropped his support for the bill, which was then defeated in the House of Representatives. In its place, Roosevelt advocated job-creating New Deal spending and a forty-hour workweek limit, passed into law on October 24, 1938, as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. But we came that close to an official thirty-hour work week in America. Close, but no cigar…

KELLOGG’S SIX-HOUR DAY

Nonetheless, many American companies did go to a 30-hour workweek during the depression, most prominently, the Kellogg Cereal Company, which established five-day, six-hour, shifts in December, 1930. Kellogg’s and the workers split the pay loss resulting from the cut in hours; Kellogg’s initially paid his workers for seven hours a day, but upped that to the amount they had previously received for eight-hours work two years later, when he saw that hourly productivity had soared...In his earlier books, Work Without End and Kellogg’s Six-Hour Day, Hunnicutt reports that the measure added 400 new jobs to Kellogg’s Battle Creek, Michigan, work force, while improving family and community life dramatically. After World War II, Kellogg’s began abandoning the six-hour shifts in favor of eight hours, largely because increasing benefit packages made it cheaper to hire few workers and keep them on the job longer. But the end of the six-hour shifts didn’t come until 1985, when the last six-hour workers were told that if they didn’t accept the longer work days, Kellogg’s would leave Battle Creek.

The six-hours workers were angry but there was little they could do to prevent the change. They held a “funeral,” complete with a mock coffin, for the six-hour day at Stan’s Place, a local Battle Creek pub, and Ina Sides, an African-American woman who had worked most of her life at the plant, wrote a eulogy:

Farewell, good friend, oh six hours!

Tis sad, but true,

Now you’re gone and we’re all so blue!

Get out your vitamins, give the doctor a call,

Cause old eight hours has got us all.

MORE


John de Graaf is a filmmaker and co-author of "Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic" and “What’s The Economy For Anyway?”

[Demeter]

4. America Is Ruled by Billionaires, and They Are Coming After the Last Shreds of Our Democracy

http://www.alternet.org/america-ruled-billionaires-and-they-are-coming-after-last-shreds-our-democracy?akid=10296.227380.CrLDA_&rd=1&src=newsletter820645&t=12&paging=off

Plutocracy literally means rule by the rich. “Rule” can have various shades of meaning: those who exercise the authority of public office are wealthy; their wealth explains why they hold that office; they exercise that authority in the interests of the rich; they have the primary influence over who holds those offices and the actions they take. These aspects of “plutocracy” are not exclusive. Government of the rich and for the rich need not berun directly by the rich. Also, in some exceptional circumstances rich individuals who hold powerful positions may govern in the interests of the many, e.g. Franklin Roosevelt.

The United States today qualifies as a plutocracy – on a number of grounds...When the system of law that is meant to order the workings of society without reference to ascriptive persons is made malleable in the hands of officials to serve the preferred interests of some, it ceases to be a neutral instrument for the common good. In today’s society, it is becoming the instrument of a plutocracy.

There are myriad other examples of complicity between legislators or regulators, on the one hand, and special business interests on the other. EPA judgments that are reversed under the combined pressure of the commercial interests affected and beholden politicians is one. The government’s decision not to seek the power to bargain with pharmaceutical companies over the price of drugs paid for with public funds is another. Tolerance for the concealment of offshore profits in the tens of billions is a third. Relaxed interpretations of the tax laws by the IRS to the advantage of high income persons can be added to the list. So, too, can the give-away to sole source contractors of the tens of billions squandered in Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of such direct assists to big business and the wealthy is endless. The point is that government, at all levels, serves particular selfish interests no matter who holds high positions. While there is some difference between Republicans and Democrats on this score, it has narrowed on most major items to the point that the fundamental properties of the biased system are so entrenched as to be impervious to electoral outcomes. The most revealing experience that we have of that harsh reality is the Obama administration’s strategic decision to allow Wall Street to determine how and by whom the financial crisis would be handled.

Systemic biases are the most crucial factor is creating and maintaining plutocratic orientations of government. They are confirmed, and reinforced, by the identities and identifications of the persons who actually hold high elected office. Our leaders are nearly all rich by any reasonable standard. Most are very rich. Those who weren’t have aspired to become so and have succeeded. The Clintons are the striking case in point. That aspiration is evinced in how they conduct themselves in office. Congress, for its part, is composed of two rich men/women’s clubs. In many cases, personal wealth helped win them their offices. In many others, they knit ties with lobbies that provided the necessary funds. Whether they are “bought off” in some sense or other, they surely are often coopted. The most insidious aspect of cooptation is to see the world from the vantage point of the advantaged and special economic interests...

SO MUCH MORE

[Demeter]

5. Senate confirms Mary Jo White as SEC Chairman HOW SAUSAGE IS MADE--DO READ IT!

http://news.yahoo.com/senate-confirms-mary-jo-white-sec-chairman-183036844--finance.html


The Senate on Monday confirmed former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White as the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency tasked with policing Wall Street and writing new rules of the road for financial markets. White received wide bipartisan support in the Senate thanks to her reputation as a tough former Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where she went after mobsters and terrorists. White was nominated in January by President Barack Obama, roughly a month after SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro stepped down from the post. She sailed through her March 12 confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee and received little opposition on March 19 when the panel voted 21-1 to send her confirmation to the full Senate...

White will be taking over at the SEC at a critical time. The agency still has much work remaining as it seeks to finalize rules required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, particularly in the areas of over-the-counter derivatives and credit-rating agencies. The agency is also behind on completing capital-raising rules required by more recent legislation, the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which relaxes certain securities regulations to help small businesses raise funds and go public. The SEC has been stuck in a rut since Schapiro left in December, leaving the five-member panel divided between two Democrats and two Republicans. Since then, the SEC has done little in the way of rule making.

What little criticism White has received so far has mostly been about her ties to Wall Street.
After working as a prosecutor, she became a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton where she represented high-profile clients, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, former Bank of America Corp CEO Ken Lewis, UBS AG and accounting giant Deloitte & Touche LLP. Some, including Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown, have raised concerns that this "Wall Street bias" could harm the SEC, an agency that has been accused by some of striking weak settlements with Wall Street banks over their behavior during the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Little is also known thus far about White's views on securities regulatory policy and how she will direct critical rule-making, including a controversial plan to reform the $2.6 trillion money market fund industry.

The Senate's vote on Monday only allows for White to fill out the remainder of Schapiro's term, which expires in June 2014. Obama had nominated White to both fill out Schapiro's term and also to serve a full, five-year term at the helm of the SEC. It is unclear exactly when the Senate will take a vote on the longer-term nomination, although some aides have said it will possibly come up later after Obama nominates two new commissioners to replace Elisse Walter and Troy Paredes. Walter, a Democrat who is serving as SEC chairman until White takes over, is working past her expired term and can only stay until the end of the year. Paredes, a Republican, is facing the end of his term this coming June.

[Demeter]

6. The 'Hard-To-Change' Legacy Of Medicare Payments THE BIG SCREW CONTINUES--MUST READ

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/09/176561016/changing-medicare-s-cost-sharing-is-easier-proposed-than-done?ft=1&f=1001

The budget President Obama will send to Congress Wednesday is expected to include some $400 billion in reductions to Medicare and other health programs. And if the word around Washington is correct, it may also include a proposal aimed at winning some bipartisan backing – by changing the way Medicare patients pay for their care. But there have been previous efforts to streamline Medicare's antiquated system of deductibles and copayments. And none, so far, has been successful. Tom Miller, a resident fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says having separate deductibles and co-insurance schemes for Medicare's parts A and B is an anachronism that dates back to the 1960s, when Medicare was created. "That's been a legacy which has been very hard to change," he says, "because it requires an act of Congress, which requires agreement ... which tends not to be the case."

Currently, Medicare Part A, which covers hospital and skilled nursing home care, and Part B, which covers doctor and outpatient costs, have separate deductible and copayment schemes. This year the Part A hospital deductible is $1,184; the Part B outpatient deductible is $147. Miller is one of many economists who say it would make much more sense to have a single, merged deductible of around $500. That, however, would likely make many patients pay more. That's because most Medicare patients aren't hospitalized in a given year, but they do almost all go to the doctor. Under most of the proposals floating around, said Howard Bedlin, vice president for public policy and advocacy of the National Council on Aging, "about 30 million beneficiaries would end up paying more and about 2 million would end up paying less." In exchange, however, says Miller, beneficiaries would likely get something they don't get now – "stop-loss" protection. That agreement for Medicare to cover all of a patient's medical costs after he or she reaches a specific threshold is something the program currently – and almost inexplicably – lacks. "That's the world in which you need insurance," Miller says. "But Medicare traditionally doesn't have that type of structure." Medicare actually did – briefly. Congress added so-called catastrophic coverage to Medicare in 1988. But it repealed it in 1989 after an outcry from seniors who were outraged at being asked to pay for it.

Miller says the problem now, however, is that so many Medicare patients have supplemental coverage — either from a former employer or policies they buy themselves — that they're not sensitive enough to the cost of the care they consume. "They're not facing enough incentives at the point of purchase to consider whether or not that ... next visit to the doctor, that next test, might be worth the money if they were paying for some of it themselves, as opposed to taxpayers paying for most of it," he said. Even worse, said Miller, the supplemental insurance companies have no incentive to economize, either, because they're not footing most of the cost, either. Medicare is. That's why some of the proposals being floated would no longer let private supplemental insurance cover those deductibles and coinsurance – and would require patients to pay at least some of the costs themselves. But people like Bedlin say that logic is flawed. Those tests economists talk about being overused? "Those are things that are ordered by the doctors," he says. "It's not the beneficiaries who are choosing to take those." And he says studies have long shown that while making patients pay more does reduce unnecessary care, it reduces necessary care as well. "And what's the implication going to be?" he said. "People delaying care they need, ending up in the emergency room, and ultimately costing the system more." The bottom line, however, Bedlin says, is that most Medicare beneficiaries just don't have a lot of extra money to spare.

"Half of Medicare beneficiaries have incomes below $22,500. Very few of those get any help with cost-sharing. I'd say only about 3 million out of that 25 million." Even those who do have higher incomes already spend more of it on health care — Medicare households spend about 15 percent of their income on health care, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, compared to about 5 percent for households without a Medicare patient...

[newfie11]

9. You can bet whatever they do to Medicare

We will be screwed. Nothing is ever improved on in this country, just screw the ones they can.

[Fuddnik]

25. Ain't that the truth.

But, the ones who get screwed is us. They never attempt to crack down on the providers and assorted fraudsters.

[Demeter]

28. Someone should ask these accounting genii

where the sick and elderly are supposed to GET that extra $350/year for the composite deductible---when their Social Security is being ravaged by inflation, and cut to pay for wars and bankster bailouts.

[AnneD]

37. Geeze...

It's not like these old folks can pull money out of thin air (or whatever orifice is handy) like the IMF or the Feds.

[Demeter]

7. In Berlin, Lew talks up policies to spur demand

ONE MIGHT ASK WHY THE US TREASURY SECRETARY SEES HIS JOB AS EXTENDING PAST THE US BORDERS...AND ONE WOULD BE JUSTIFIED TO ASK!

http://news.yahoo.com/u-immense-stake-strong-europe-lew-093138602--business.html

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday urged countries with a budget surplus to introduce policies to help domestic consumption, in what appeared to be a prod at Germany. Lew was in Berlin for talks with his German counterpart. Germany has the euro zone's biggest trade surplus and has in the past rebuffed pressure to shift policy to bring about a rebalancing of commercial flows in Europe.

"The driver for economic growth has got to be consumer demand ... policies to help to encourage consumer demand in countries that have the capacity would be helpful," he said at a news conference with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Lew has pressed European officials to moderate austerity measures in order to boost growth, and called on surplus countries like Germany to boost their consumption to help pull the continent out of the doldrums. Schaeuble and Lew tried to play down any differences in their views, however, with the German arguing that growth and budget consolidation were not mutually exclusive.

"Nobody, including in Europe, sees this contrast between fiscal consolidation and growth. Our common position is of growth-friendly consolidation or of sustainable growth, however you want to call it," he told reporters.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, argues that budgetary rigor is not incompatible with growth, and is necessary to convince markets that governments are sticking to their spending diets in order to avoid another sovereign debt crisis.

Lew emphasized that the United States wanted a strong Europe.

"As we continue to address many of our long-term challenges, our economy's strength remains sensitive to events beyond our shores. We have an immense stake in a prosperous Europe," he said. He also said that there was a common interest in ensuring that tax havens did not skew a level playing field.

On his first official visit to Europe, Lew met European Union officials in Brussels and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt on Monday. He will travel to Paris later on Tuesday to meet French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici. Lew is a budget expert, and close confidant to U.S. President Barack Obama, which may help in his dealings with European officials about deficits and debt.

CONFIDANT, OR PUPPETMASTER?

AND I'D SPECULATE HE'S IN EUROPE DOING BANKSTER BUSINESS, NOT US PEOPLE'S BUSINESS....

[Demeter]

8. To Find Insider Trading, Follow The Kids' Money

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/09/176579895/to-find-insider-trading-follow-the-kids-money?ft=1&f=1001

In New York and Washington, government regulators are cracking down on insider trading, the illegal practice in which people with internal information about important company events make stock market trades before ordinary investors find out what's happening. In recent months, regulators have launched a series of high-profile arrests and investigations. Even Congress has gotten into the spirit of things, voting to ban insider trading by members.

Now, social scientists are muscling in on the action, too. In a new study accepted for publication in the Journal of Finance, Henk Berkman at the University of Auckland, Paul Koch at the University of Kansas and Joakim Westerholm at the University of Sydney have uncovered a novel way to spot insider trading. The researchers tracked half a million stock market accounts over a 15-year period between 1995 and 2010. The accounts were in Finland on the Nasdaq OMX Helsinki Exchange. Why Finland? It offered researchers unusual access to information about trades and information about investors, including their age. To their surprise, when the researchers analyzed the data according to investor age, the accounts belonging to the youngest children blew all the others out of the water in terms of performance.

"We were very surprised when we first found this evidence," Koch said. "Again, we were not looking for the result we found. The group [of accounts belonging to children between the ages of zero and 10 years old] seemed to outperform all the others."

Koch isn't implying that babies know how to make the right picks in the stock market. The people operating these children's accounts were their parents and guardians. "We find that underaged account holders exhibit superior stock-picking skills on both the buy side and the sell side over the days immediately following trades," Koch and his colleagues report in their study. Accounts belonging to children (and managed by their guardians) appeared to be especially prescient when it came to major company events such as merger or takeover announcements. "Since this outperformance is especially evident for short horizons," the researchers write, "it likely stems from superior private information that is about to become public."

Think about takeover announcements: Typically, these announcements cause large stock market swings. The researchers found that adults made the right calls about 50 percent of the time before a takeover announcement — what you'd expect in a world where people don't have special expertise or information. The accounts belonging to kids made trades in the right direction 72 percent of the time after takeover announcements. Koch says this produced a post-takeover return of 12 percent. (That isn't 12 percent per year. It's 12 percent per day.) When the researchers drilled down further, they found something really interesting: The guardians of these kids who were making these spectacular calls weren't nearly as successful when they made investments through their own accounts.

"Guardians are willing to trade on behalf of their children to earn these extraordinary returns, but they are reticent to trade through their own account," Koch says. "One reason would be a fear of getting caught breaking an insider-trading law."

...I asked Koch whether his findings from Finland were applicable to the United States. He said they were — and that, while information about trades and traders might not be as readily accessible to researchers, they were likely available to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which investigates violations and enforces insider trading laws.



.........................................................................................................................

How They Did It

Exactly how the researchers made the connection between a child's account and the guardian's without knowing either person's name — and without violating Finnish confidentiality laws — is an interesting bit of sleuthing on its own. First they got data about individual accounts that had the same last name, Koch says, but without being told what the actual names were. They next looked to make sure the pair of accounts had the same ZIP code, and that trades of the same stocks were made on the same day, and in the same buy/sell direction in both accounts. Only then would the researchers assume that transactions in both accounts might be being guided by the same person.

[Demeter]

10. Bumper Stickers

I went looking for visual confirmation of those infamous "drive fast, freeze a Yankee" bumperstickers of the 70's. Couldn't find one, but these caught my eye:









Ta-Ta, for now! Duty calls....

[xchrom]

11. Ireland vulnerable to crisis shocks - German economist

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/europe/ireland-vulnerable-to-crisis-shocks-german-economist-1.1353848

Ireland is the second most likely country in the euro zone to fall victim to renewed financial turbulence, a leading German economist has forecast.

According to Dr Thomas Mayer, former chief economist at Deutsche Bank, only Cyprus faces a more uncertain future while France is ranked fourth.

“Countries in receipt of rescue measures have a considerable way ahead of them before they will be able enjoy the trust of markets again,” said Dr Mayer of the countries topping his “crisis susceptibility” table. His warning follows IMF concerns in its latest report on Ireland that low growth could see a soaring debt-to-GDP ratio.

Proven crisis factors

Dr Mayer based his study on what he called three proven crisis factors: a country’s dependence of foreign capital to finance private investment and state deficits; its budget deficit and national debt; and the size of its financial sector.

[xchrom]

12. Number of savers on the rise

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland/number-of-savers-on-the-rise-1.1353978

Economic uncertainty is causing more people to save, a new survey has revealed.

According to the Nationwide UK (Ireland)/ESRI Savings Index, 30 per cent of those surveyed believe now is a good time to save.

The overall index rose by five points to 88 in March due to uncertainty in the wider economic environment.

This is up from a figure of 26 per cent in February and 28 per cent this time last year. Furthermore, 30 per cent of consumers are now saving regularly, an increase of 4 per cent since February.

[xchrom]

13. Australia 10% Unemployment for 9.6% Dents Gillard Prosperity

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-08/australia-10-unemployment-for-9-6-punctures-gillard-prosperity.html

Keith Darley, a 34-year-old electrician, hears from the government that Australia is the envy of the developed world. Yet the father of two, who employed 22 people a year ago, now works alone and says he’ll be voting against Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the Sept. 14 election.

he world’s 12th biggest economy boasts the lowest benchmark interest rate in 53 years, unemployment less than half of Europe’s, contained inflation and an economic growth rate double the average of advanced nations. Even with these conditions -- the best since Gough Whitlam took office in 1972 - - Gillard’s ruling Labor Party is 10 percentage points behind the Tony Abbott-led opposition.

“When we see a story that Gillard claims the government has created 900,000 jobs, we know that doesn’t stack up here; that’s not our experience,” said Darley, who lives in Sydney’s western suburbs, where eight of Labor’s 72 national seats are threatened and the unemployment rate is as high as 14 percent. “The voters here are not going to support Tony Abbott because they think he’s better, they’re going to be voting against the current government because they’re sick of hearing everything’s great when they know it’s not.”

Darley reflects a widening gap among Australia’s regions and industries. While national unemployment was 5.4 percent in December, the rate was 10 percent or higher in 9.6 percent of the nation’s 1,402 regions, according to government data that dates back to 2008. In some parts of Brisbane, where five Labor seats are in play, joblessness exceeds 27 percent -- the highest on record for the areas.

[xchrom]

14. BoA to pay $36.8 million to military members for improper foreclosures

http://www.nationofchange.org/bank-america-pay-368-million-military-members-improper-foreclosures-1365432131

Bank of America will pay $36.8 million to members of the military it improperly foreclosed on between 2006 and 2010, according to a settlement it reached with the federal government in 2011, the Justice Department announced this week.

Bank of America was already paying 142 military members under the original 2011 agreement, but a further review required by the settlement found 155 additional military homeowners who were subject to improper foreclosures, the Justice Department said. In total, Bank of America will pay more than 300 military members, as Reuters reports:

Each of 316 service members will receive at least $116,785, plus compensation and with interest, for any home equity lost. [...]

“Our men and women in the military should not have to worry about a bank foreclosing on their home while they bravely serve our country,” Eric Halperin, Special Counsel for Fair Lending in the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

[xchrom]

15. Brussels urges Portugal to present alternative budget measures swiftly

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/04/08/inenglish/1365432279_417638.html

The European Commission on Monday called on the Portuguese government to quickly present the alternative measures it plans to introduce to meet its deficit-reduction targets after the Constitutional Court on Friday threw out some aspects of its austerity program.

EC spokesman for economic and monetary affairs, Simon O’Connor, said it was up to the Portuguese government to decide on those measures and present them swiftly, but insisted they should fulfill the same fiscal objectives agreed with the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF as part of the terms of its 78-billion-euro bailout.

O’Connor said fulfillment of the terms was a “precondition” for the disbursement of a two-billion-euro tranche of the bailout in May, as well as for extending the timeframe for the return of the loan.

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho on Sunday said the government ruled out further tax increases to fill the gap of some 1.3 billion euros in its budget plans for this year left by the Constitutional Court’s decision to rule that cuts in holiday pay for public-sector workers and pensioners and reductions in unemployment and sick leave benefits were illegal. He said the government instead plans to further shave outlays on education, health and social security.

[xchrom]

16. Key bond yield at 2010 level despite Lisbon budget woes

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/04/08/inenglish/1365446809_944850.html

The Spanish sovereign debt market shrugged off the setback meted out by the Constitutional Court to Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s austerity program, preferring instead to focus on the economic stimulus plan unveiled by Japan.

The latter sparked an increase in investors’ appetite for Spanish government bonds, leading to a fall in yields, which in the case of the benchmark 10-year bond hit its lowest level since October 2010.

A flood of buy orders at the outset of the session pushed the 10-year bond yield to 4.64 percent. That in turn helped narrow the spread with the German equivalent by 11 basis points from Friday’s closing level to 342. Italy also made up ground, with its risk premium falling to 310 basis points. However, the rally started to peter out later, with Spain’s risk premium ending the day down just three basis points at 350 basis points.

The yield on two-year government bonds, which would enter into the scope of any sovereign debt purchases by the European Central Bank, dropped below two percent for the first time since October three years ago — just before Ireland became the second euro-zone country after Greece to ask its European partners for a bailout.

[bread_and_roses]

18. More on Thatcher - including "mealy mouth Obama"

I just LOVED the use of "mealy mouthed" - a phrase from my childhood that occasionally pops from my mouth, usually to the bewilderment of any young'uns* around.



http://www.commondreams.org/further/2013/04/08-2

A mealy-mouthed Obama called her "one of the great champions of freedom." Many others in her own country, more direct and historically accurate, marked Margaret Thatcher's death by partying in the streets, handing out "Maggie death cakes" while chanting "Maggie Maggie Maggie, dead dead dead," gleefully updating a longstanding "Is Thatcher Dead Yet?" website, and calling the woman who labelled Nelson Mandela "a terrorist," supported Pinochet and waged war against the working class "one of the vilest abominations of social and economic history" and "a terror without an atom of humanity" whose policies continue to inflict suffering on too many. To an American, the level of animosity her death has sparked is breathtaking; imagine Bush and Cheney dying on the same day. More from Glenn Greenwald on "misapplied death etiquette," and the dangers of the false history it breeds, and a British columnist on why Thatcher deserves all the rage sent her way.

"I wanted to find an appropriate way to honor Margaret Thatcher today so took milk away from poor children whilst calling Nelson Mandela a terrorist." - Current TV host John Fugelsang

And thanks to the commenter who explains the phrase at the site :

Doug_Terpstra • 9 hours ago

Martin Luther is credited with using the term to describe the religious politicians of his own thoroughly corrupt theocracy, as feudalism was collapsing and lords, minion clergy, and sycophant courtiers could no longer speak directly about anything, as if their mouths were full of meal.

The rest of his comment is pretty good too:

Nice, Abby. "Mealy-mouthed" fits Obama as well as any politician. ... And now it fits especially well when neo-feudalist Obama refers to Thatcher as "a champion of freedom", because she was in fact the reincarnation of a heartless Antebellum plantation queen. It doesn't get more Orwellian than that.

Freedom for me, servitude for thee
Prosperity for me, austerity for thee
Capitalism for me, Christianity for thee

But one should not speak ill of the dead, so how about a song:

"Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead...

I cannot express, as a feminist, how awful it was to see Thatcher's tenure - with her vile, Randian-type, Plutocrat-favoring policies - lauded as some sort of feminist victory because she was a woman ....

[Demeter]

29. Believe me, we will do a thorough hatchet job on Maggie this weekend

It would probably take a whole month to do it properly, but there's only so much time available...it will be cathartic.

[Fuddnik]

35. I love Magpies!

[xchrom]

19. World From Berlin: 'Thatcher's Dogma Paved Way for Financial Crisis'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-press-commentary-on-the-legacy-of-margaret-thatcher-a-893350.html

Popping champagne bottles and chanting, "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead," hundreds of people gathered in cities around Britain on Monday night to celebrate the passing of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a woman who had a deep, divisive and lasting impact on Britain.

But their cheers have been drowned out by tributes to the "Iron Lady" from political allies and adversaries alike, in Britain and around the world.
In Germany, former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, frail, wheelchair-bound and suffering from slurred speech, made a rare appearance to praise her, even though their relationship had been an uneasy one and she did not support German unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

"She was a great woman," said Kohl. "I am full of respect and awe." He described her as one of the most "consummate British prime ministers that ever lived. In many situations and disputes over the economy, she stood her ground."

[xchrom]

20. Caught in the Cold: Long Winter's Grip Chokes German Economy

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/long-winter-harming-german-economy-a-892983.html

Just last Friday, Dirk Nüsse stood at the summit station of his ski lift, looking out at the landscape incredulously. According to the calendar, it should have been spring there a long time ago, but before his eyes a snowboarder was cruising by wintry spruce trees, while frost-covered cable cars conveyed a seemingly endless number of winter sports enthusiasts up the mountain.

There is a thick blanket of snow on the Wurmberg, a peak in central Germany's Harz Mountains, one of the few places profiting from the cold weather that has held Germany in its grip for months. "The entire country is suffering from the cold temperatures, but we're clearly the winners of this long winter," says Nüsse. The 56-year-old manager of the Wurmberg cableway is glad that spring simply refuses to come this year. Ski season is normally over by mid-March, but he has just extended his winter operation by yet another week, which means that some 15,000 additional holidaymakers intend to hit the mountain's seven slopes. During a long winter like this, Nüsse's lift earns twice as much as usual.

The rest of Germany has become increasingly exasperated by the long winter, though. The entire country is talking about the weather. Although it was surprisingly mild at Christmas, the country has since plunged into darkness and cold -- bringing one low temperature record after the next.

Not since the beginning of nationwide weather records in 1951 has a winter been so dreary, and this March was among the six coldest since 1881. In the Ore Mountains of eastern Germany, the mercury dropped to minus 21 degrees Celsius (minus six degrees Fahrenheit) in the middle of the month.

[AnneD]

21. Morning Marketeers...

and lurkers. I am back at work today. It has been a sad time down on Bro's farm.

They had a fire on one of their farm hands trailer's. Their beloved cattle dog was overcome by smoke and died. and the trailer was a total loss. We lost an antique piano that belonged to great great grandma and had come across the desert in a covered wagon. We were ok with that but sadly the worst was to come.

Good Friday morning, the sheriff and a deputy came early in the morning to inform them that my SIL only child (son by first hubby) had been killed in a MVA. She is really taking it hard, and their adopted daughter is too (this is the first person close to her that has died). And as young people are want to do, he left a hot mess behind.

They are going to be dealing with that for a while. They are active in the church and she was a foster mom for many years so they have lots of help working through it. I took my niece out for a day trip to talk and take her mind off things for a while. The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine were a hit. And really ...sometimes all you need is love.

We went to a wonderful small town cafe that sells the best pies and coffee. She loved that. She especially liked their slogan-pie makes everything better. This is how gourmands are born.

So that is all you need: love..... and a slice of really good pie.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[xchrom]

23. please give your bro and his employee our best.

i know how owner attached cattle dogs can be -- that must be difficult.

[Fuddnik]

24. Our condolences to you and your family.

Hope everyone works through their grief.

[Tansy_Gold]

26. Healing thoughts to you and yours

Share a lot of hugs; touch is a good thing.

[Demeter]

30. Condolences to your family, AnneD

There's never a good time for trouble. But there's always time for friends in need.

[AnneD]

32. In one of those circle of life ironies.....

they had breed (unintentional) the dog that died (Blue Moon) with my brother's female dog (Meat Head...a misnomer).

She had 11 pups and they kept 2 (one is soon to be mine once the puppy is worked out of her). Good trained work dogs are worth their weight in gold and folks knew those pups were from good dogs. They sold like hotcakes and for a good penny for what is basically a mutt.

I offered to give them mine but they just couldn't take one at this time. So I will be getting a new baby in August- Betty (Black Betty Bamalam).

Life goes on.

I told SIL to call (and I have been calling). She carries grief inside. Bro really has been watching her carefully. My niece will be taking a trip down here as soon as possible to give SIL some rest. I love having her here, she is a toot.

[DemReadingDU]

34. So sorry to hear all this

Condolences to you and your family during this sad time.

Perhaps someday they would enjoy a visit with the new puppy.
There is something about a puppy that always brings a smile.

[bread_and_roses]

38. So very sorry to hear of such sad happenings in the family

condolences and yes, healing thoughts to you and yours.

[xchrom]

22. Agreeing to Disagree: US and Europe Deeply Divided on Austerity

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/us-treasury-secretary-visit-to-berlin-highlights-austerity-split-a-893368.html

New US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew's trip through Europe this week has been advertised as a chance for him to get to know his counterparts in Brussels and capitals across the euro zone. But while smiles have been plentiful thus far, the visit has primarily served to highlight the deep philosophical gulf dividing the trans-Atlantic partners.

The US, Lew made clear on Monday in Brussels and again on Tuesday in Berlin, would like to see Europe finally ease up on its strict course of austerity to stimulate economic growth on the Continent. But EU leaders have made equally clear that leniency for deeply indebted euro-zone member states is definitely not in the cards.
"As we continue to address many of our long-term challenges, our economy's strength remains sensitive to events beyond our shores," he said in a press conference following his Tuesday meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. "We have an immense stake in a prosperous Europe."

Lew seemed disinclined to go further in Berlin, preferring instead to emphasize areas of agreement between the US and Europe. But his message was clear. He had spelled it out on Monday in Brussels, saying, "I was particularly interested in our European partners' plans to strengthen sources of demand at a time of rising unemployment."

[Demeter]

31. In other words, no Velvet Glove

and no clear target for that Iron Fist.

God, I hope Jack Lew is frustrated.

If he wants Europe to stop austerity, maybe he and Predator Drone Boy should set a good example, here at home, first.

[AnneD]

33. The Difference in Leaders....

Thatcher, Regan, dutifully reported in the terlet paper of record, They get statues and bridges in their honor.

Chavez, streets filled with mourners crying real tears, locally and in others countries. People name their children after them.

And I can promise you that the people of the world will be shedding real tears when Mandela passes on.

Regan, Thatcher, Bush Mandela, Chavez, Carter

Giants versus Pygmies

[kickysnana]

39. +1

[Demeter]

40. Excellent Comment!

Somebody ought to work it up into a full rant....

I'm sure there are some poor kids out there, named for ronnie and maggie...maybe they can change their names when they reach majority.

I doubt that ANYONE outside the BFEE will ever be named after W, though. Even idiots aren't that stupid!

[AnneD]

43. I was partial

to the idea floating around about naming a sewage treatment plant after The W. There was a certain poetic symmetry to that.

There are 1% kids named after Ronnie and Maggie but they tend to hide those monikers in the 2nd or 3rd names in, look for Reggie and Muffy nicknames though.

[Demeter]

41. It's Another Miracle Day!

Aren't we blessed with such obliging fairies?

Wait a minute...what's that over the horizon? That big, ugly, hole in the ground....

[Fuddnik]

42. These two just dug that,

I watched them.

[AnneD]

44. I am sure that is not all they did...

How did they get so clean after their handiwork? What beautiful hairy butt children.