STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 11 April 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 11 April 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 10 April 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 10 April 2013
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Dow Jones 14,802.24 +128.78 (0.88%)
S&P 500 1,587.73 +19.12 (1.22%)
Nasdaq 3,297.25 +59.39 (1.83%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.80% +0.02 (1.12%)
30 Year 3.02% +0.03 (1.00%)[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]

[ret5hd]

1. First Rec! (especially the 'toon)

[Demeter]

2. Second that!

It's the "cutting edge" of humor!

[Tansy_Gold]

3. And the worst of it is

the assh-O-le who's doing this doesn't have to worry about those silly old folks in the voting booth ever again.


wanker, wanker, wanker.

[Fuddnik]

4. The medical term is "Obotomy".

It's where they take a scalpel to your wallet.

A friend of mine sent this out today. I think it went to most of the State Dem mailing list. I thought it worth sharing. He's been a Democratic Party Congressional nominee twice. But the DINOs in the DCCC and FDP wouldn't give him any support.

I thought you guys would enjoy it. He's pissed
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


There is but ONE party... "The MONEY Party!" The continued existence of the Democratic Party perpetrates a fraud upon those who still wish to believe... To wish that the reality before them were rather some kind of play. How different are the policies of Obama from those of George Bush? Bush was less of a threat! You folks heard of The Trans Pacific Partnership that Obama said he was going to ratify? NDAA? NSA? KeystoneXL? Drones? Wall Street? AND You genuflect for Wasserman Schlitz! Instead, WE ALL lose with a collection of syncophants who faint at every word spoken by the wunderkind Obama the CORPORATIST, while trashing anyone who actually stands up and criticizes the present while offering real solutions for a better future.

The Democratic Party is an absolute menace to society. The SILENCE of the flock is deafening against the FASCIST lot in Tallahassee... AND D.C. Your bozo minority leader who asks Democrats to lay off Weatherford (The Speaker who NEVER had a REAL job), is on the ropes! How quickly the sheep embrace an enabler of Bush as your leader which can only be characterized as "The Last Straw" as the flock of Neville Chamberlains take the whole lot of us figuratively, if not literally to the gallows politically. I cannot be associated with people so lacking in character, vision, constitution or integrity! Think of the children as the Florida Public School system is decimated by Will the Shill, Corcoran, Legg et al over the next 18 months or so... Think of the consequences for being so docile! "People will vote for strong and corrupt but never weak and corrupt."

[westerebus]

5. He may be pissed, but , he is accurate.

[Hotler]

24. What ever you do do not post this in GD.......

[Fuddnik]

27. I won't

The pizza deliver guy has been here more than once.

It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature......or Jonestown.

[mother earth]

32. It's good, you should reconsider.

[kickysnana]

6. Saw this earlier this week:

Xpost: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022640379

[DemReadingDU]

7. Bernanke's son to finish medical school with $400k of debt

4/11/13
Bernanke’s Son

Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s son can’t expect to escape the debt burden. The elder Bernanke testified before Congress last year that his son is on track to leave medical school with $400,000 in loans. The figure may include accrued interest and undergraduate costs. His son attends Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, according to the school directory. Bernanke, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.

The median four-year cost to attend medical school -- which includes outlays like living expenses and books -- for the class of 2013 is $278,455 at private schools and $207,868 at public ones, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, a nonprofit group of U.S. schools.

Record numbers of students still want to become doctors. First-time applicants to U.S. medical schools rose to 33,772 in 2012 from 24,884 a decade earlier, according to AAMC. New enrollment at U.S. medical schools grew 1.5 percent to 19,517 students, the highest ever.

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-11/medical-school-at-278-000-means-even-bernanke-son-carries-debt.html

[Roland99]

8. US Futures pretty flat right now. Oil down a tad

But gas prices have been dropping regularly. Here in central IN, gas is as low as $3.21/gal! It was about $3.85 just a few weeks ago.

Back home in Orlando, it's down into the $3.30s.

[Demeter]

20. $3.45 on the bad side of Ypsi

[Fuddnik]

22. Saw $3.26 yesterday.

[xchrom]

9. Red Gold: Saffron Cooperative Thrives amid Greek Crisis

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/saffron-farming-cooperative-thrives-in-greece-despite-crisis-a-893527.html


The delicate stigma of the saffron crocus is what farmers are after. It sells for up to 2,000 euros ($2,600) a kilo.


Nikolaos Patsiouras, 57, is the president of of the saffron cooperative in Krokos, which has helped make the community prosperous with the expensive spice. "There is something magical about saffron," he says.

In these hard times, it's hard to find a place in Greece where people still look forward to the future, except perhaps in the country's far north, in Krokos on the Macedonian plain.

Nikolaos Patsiouras is one of the satisfied residents in the town of about 5,000 people, which is surrounded by rocky fields. "We have no debt, our exports are doing well and we are healthy," he says proudly. "We are pioneers for Europe."
They used to call him "little German boy" when he was a child, because of his blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair is now silver-gray, and the 57-year-old is the president of the local cooperative of about 1,000 saffron producers, the only one of its kind in the country. The area around Krokos is world-famous for its red saffron, known as "red gold," the rarest and most precious spice on earth.

Krokos produces 1.5 to 2 tons of saffron a year, which sells for up to €2,000 ($2,600) a kilo. The farmers export the highly delicate stigmas of the saffron crocus to the United States, France, Germany, Canada and Australia. With world production at about 200 tons, Greece's share is relatively small. But about 90 percent of total production comes from Iran, which is having export difficulties because of its nuclear policy and Western sanctions.

[AnneD]

19. There truly is.....

something magical about saffron. It produces a beautiful color in dying and just a bit can take your food to another taste dimension. In the culinary world I would rank it ranks with butter, and truffles for taste changing ability.

[Fuddnik]

23. Oh yeah.

Just a touch in bouillabaisse sends it into another dimension.

[AnneD]

29. You've got me drooling...

Most folks don't buy it because of the price but you can get a lot of dishes from that little bottle. You just THINK gas is expensive.

Again, this is what needs to happen. The workers need to take over the means of production AND receive profit from the production (the viable communist/capitalist hybrid)

[Fuddnik]

31. Richard Wolff talks about collective business.

I got a DVD of one of his lectures from Amazon, and have a couple of books coming.

[xchrom]

26. ...

[xchrom]

10. U.S. Stock Futures Little Changed as Jobless Claims Fall

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-11/u-s-stock-index-futures-rise-s-p-500-may-extend-record.html

U.S. stock futures were little changed, after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied to a record yesterday, as data showed applications for employment benefits fell more than forecast last week.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. climbed 2.6 percent after forecasting an increase in first-quarter sales. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fell 3.5 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded the shares. Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM) slid 2.5 percent after sales in China declined. Fortinet Inc. plunged 18 percent as the provider of computer-network security reported results that missed some analyst estimates.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June increased less than 0.1 percent to 1,583.2 at 8:58 a.m. in New York. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 9 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,742 today.

The S&P 500 surged 1.2 percent yesterday, gaining for a third day, as China’s imports grew, Japan reiterated its stimulus plans and investors speculated earnings will beat estimates. The benchmark index has rallied 2.2 percent so far this week. It has more than doubled from its 12-year low in March 2009, helped by the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented bond purchases and three straight years of profit growth.

[xchrom]

11. The Madness of NYT’s Tom Friedman

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/11-3

When ranking which multi-millionaire American pundit is the most overrated, there are, without doubt, many worthy contenders, but one near the top of any list must be the New York Times’ Thomas L. Friedman – with his long record of disastrous policy pronouncements including his enthusiasm for George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

Friedman, of course, has paid no career price for his misguided judgments and simplistic nostrums. Like many other star pundits who inhabit the Op-Ed pages of the Times and the Washington Post, Friedman has ascended to a place where the normal powers of gravity don’t apply, where the cumulative weight of his errors only lifts him up.

Indeed, there is something profoundly nonsensical about Friedman’s Olympian standing, inhabiting a plane of existence governed by the crazy rules of Washington’s conventional wisdom, where – when looking down on the rest of us – Friedman feels free to cast aspersions on other people’s sanity, like the Mad Hatter calling the Church Mouse nuts.

Friedman describes every foreign adversary who reacts against U.S. dictates as suffering from various stages of insanity. He accepts no possibility that these “designated enemies” are acting out of their own sense of self-interest and even fear of what the United States might be designing.

[Demeter]

21. Couldn't Agree More

Don't know what planet Friedman lives on, but I sure wouldn't want to visit, let alone live there.

[xchrom]

12. How America's Fast Food Industry Makes a Quick Buck

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/11-1

Last week, approximately 400 workers in the fast food industry went on a one-day strike protesting the "McWages" that keep them them living at or even below the poverty line. Despite their modest demands – the workers want to be able to exercise their right to form a union without intimidation or harassment and they want to be paid a living wage of $15 per hour – they face an uphill battle to achieve them.

One of the catch phrases used by striking workers was "we cannot survive on seven twenty-five," a reference to the insulting $7.25 average hourly wage most fast food workers in New York get paid. This paltry sum, which adds up to less than $300 pre tax for a 40-hour week, would not amount to a living wage anywhere in the country, and doesn't even come close in New York, one of the most expensive of cities in the US to live in. That is the federal minimum wage, however – and it's not hard to imagine that employees would be paid even less than $7.25 an hour if their bosses could get away with it.

One striking worker, Joseph Barrera, who works for TacoBell, told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that when he started working at the chain, at the age of 15, he was paid $7.15 an hour. Six years later, as a supervisor, his pay has increased to $7.25 an hour, a ten cents raise. If you're finding it hard to imagine how Barrera makes it through the month on such meager wages, that's because he can't. He says he often has to skip meals or walk to work because he can't afford the subway fare and he hasn't bought clothes in years. He'd like to be able to get married and start a family, but doing so on his full-time supervisor's salary is impossible.

Treating an employee this badly might be excusable if the company that hired him was struggling for survival, but this is far from the case. Yum Brands Inc, which owns Taco Bell, as well as KFC and Pizza Hut, proudly boasts on its website an EPS growth of 13% in 2012, an increased dividend for shareholders of 18%, and a net income of $1.6bn. Rival fast food companies like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's are all doing similarly well: according to Business Wire, fast food is one of the fastest growing industries, thanks to a competitive cost advantage.

[AnneD]

30. As if the quality of the food were not enough...

to make you swear off ever walking through the door. Their workers can't get health care and qualify for food stamps. It is clear how they are making their profit.

[xchrom]

13. Former IMF mission chief says austerity doesn’t work

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/ireland/former-imf-mission-chief-says-austerity-doesn-t-work-1.1357105


Complete reliance on austerity was not “a reasonable” way to go, Ashoka Mody, the IMF's former mission chief to Ireland, has said.

“Choice one was to bring in the bondholders and they would bear some of the cost of the sovereign distress. A second choice was to offer extremely concessional official financing. Third choice was to impose austerity.”

“We are seeing a belated recognition of the fact that the constraint imposed only by austerity was untenable.”

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland this morning, Mr Mody said the construct for Ireland’s rescue was wrong.

[xchrom]

14. Senior figures from global finance and European institutions meet in Dublin

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/financial-services/senior-figures-from-global-finance-and-european-institutions-meet-in-dublin-1.1356470

Senior figures from global finance and the European institutions are meeting behind closed doors in Dublin today ahead of two days of talks between European finance ministers and central bank governors.

While the official talking begins at breakfast time tomorrow in Dublin Castle, up to 250 figures from the world of international finance are gathering this morning at the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge to discuss the state of play in the euro zone and the banking sector.

Financial regulation

The meeting is being organised in association with Ireland’s EU presidency by Eurofi, a Paris-based think-tank dedicated to financial regulation and supervision.

Members include banking titans such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, HSBC, UBS and Credit Suisse. Others include Fidelity, accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers and credit rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.


***they've all gathered in one place...should be easy to arrest them.

[xchrom]

15. Somehow The Greek Unemployment Nightmare Is Still Getting Worse

http://www.businessinsider.com/greek-unemployment-hits-272-percent-2013-4

Efthimia Efthimiou @EfiEfthimiou

#Greece Unemployment rate in January 2013 was 27.2% compared to 21.5% in January 2012 and 25.7% in December 2012

[xchrom]

16. Experts Warn About An 'Outbreak Of Delayed Foreclosures Down The Road'

http://www.businessinsider.com/foreclosure-starts-rise-for-second-month-2013-4

In March, 152,500 properties received a foreclosure filing in March. This is according to RealtyTrac's latest report. This was down 1 percent from February and down 23 percent from a year ago.

But foreclosure starts – the pace at which mortgages enter the foreclosure process – were up 2 percent on the month to 71,113.
New York saw the biggest surge in foreclosure starts up 200 percent year-over-year. Overall, 23 states saw foreclosure starts rise on a monthly basis, and 12 states posted an annual rise.

While economists have been cranking up their home price forecasts this year, the rise in foreclosure starts is a trend to watch closely. "Although the overall national foreclosure trend continues to head lower, late-blooming foreclosures are bolting higher in some local markets where aggressive foreclosure prevention efforts in previous years are wearing off," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac in a press release.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/foreclosure-starts-rise-for-second-month-2013-4#ixzz2QA7UODV3

[DemReadingDU]

25. Penklor

In my son's neighborhood, many of the houses were built during the height of the housing bubble. Unfortunately, now there are for-sale signs everywhere, and many more have been purchased by Penklor, an investment company.

My son tells me that if one is unable to sell their house, then Penklor will buy it. Nothing to worry about.

http://www.penklor.com/

[xchrom]

17. Properties Entering The Foreclosure Process Spiked 200% In New York

http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-foreclosure-starts-jump-200-2013-4

New York City's comeback has been one of the hottest housing stories.
Ex-distressed properties, home prices were up 21 percent in the last three months. And overall, home prices were up an annualized 18 percent.
But today we got a worrisome detail from RealtyTrac. New York saw a 200 percent year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts last month.
A rise in foreclosure starts – the pace at which mortgages enter the foreclosure process – is cause for concern since declining inventory is one of the main factors that had helped revive home prices.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-foreclosure-starts-jump-200-2013-4#ixzz2QA8HBqoE

[Tansy_Gold]

35. And who didn't see this coming?

[xchrom]

18. Brussels sees risk of Spanish recession continuing into 2014

http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/04/10/inenglish/1365603186_127501.html

The European Commission on Wednesday warned that Spain’s macroeconomic imbalances could cause the current recession in the country to extend into next year.

The Popular Party (PP) government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expects the domestic economy to start to recover from its second recession in scarcely four years in the second half of 2013, with the pace of growth picking up in 2014.

According to a report presented by the European Union’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, Spain’s main problem lies in the difficulties faced by the private sector, particularly households, in reducing their debt, which has narrowed only 15 percentage points from a high of 227 percent of GDP marked just before the crisis broke in 2008.

“Very high domestic and external debt levels continue to pose risks for growth and financial stability,” the report said.

[Roland99]

28. No one expects the Spanish recession!

[Demeter]

36. Go to your room, young man!

Making smart remarks like that....

[Roland99]

37. I wish I could!

my room's a thousand miles away at the moment.

[mother earth]

33. Tansy, Chain of Fools? and no Aretha? blasphemy (K & R anyway, musical interlude provided below)

[Tansy_Gold]

34. That's what I count on you folks for!

Good clip.