STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 17 April 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 17 April 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 16 April 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 16 April 2013
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Dow Jones 14,756.78 +157.58 (1.08%)
S&P 500 1,574.57 +22.21 (1.43%)
Nasdaq 3,264.63 +48.14 (1.50%)


[font color=black]10 Year 1.72% 0.00 (0.00%)
[font color=green]30 Year 2.92% -0.01 (-0.34%)[font color=black]


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

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


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










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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. Gold’s wounds will take time to heal

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/golds-wounds-will-take-time-to-heal-2013-04-16?siteid=YAHOOB

Gold futures managed to score their first gain in three sessions on Tuesday, but wounds from the fierce selloff that dragged prices down by more than $200 an ounce in two days will take time to heal.

In the wake of such a huge move in gold prices, “there is always a ripple effect, from basic portfolio adjustments all the way to meeting margin calls,” said Vedant Mimani, lead portfolio manager of the Atyant Capital Global Opportunities Fund, who on referred to Tuesday’s bounce as “weak.”

Gold futures were hit by loss of more than $60 on Friday, and then suffered on Monday from their biggest one-day selloff since the 1980s — prompting the CME Group Inc., the parent company of the main U.S. metals and energy exchanges, to raise the collateral requirements for trading in benchmark gold, silver and other precious-metals contracts. Declines of this magnitude lead to large margin calls, some of which would be covered by asset sales, said Paul Herber, portfolio manager of the Forward Commodity Long/Short Strategy Fund. Investors typically sell the most liquid instruments first -— Treasurys, investment-grade bonds and large-cap equities, he said, adding that margin is due the day after a market move, so any selling of assets for margin calls would have occurred Monday or Tuesday.

David Morgan, publisher of investment newsletter The Morgan Report, expected the precious-metals market to bottom and start back up once the margin calls were settled...

[AnneD]

15. Two words....

discount pricing...

Like I am going to trust fiat money. I would sell my stocks before I sell my gold. Cyprus has their gold on the market but I don't see a lack of takers. I think that may be an overall strategy for Germany to replenish there capital lost in al the bail outs. That or the Banksters want it all because they know we can no longer kick the can down the road.


(Reuters) - Cyprus's finance minister said on Wednesday he anticipated the island nation to sell part of its gold reserves "during the next months", but the final decision rested with the central bank.

Cyprus has to sell some of its gold reserves to raise about 400 million euros to finance its part of a 10 billion euro EU/IMF bailout, according to an assessment of Cypriot financing needs prepared by the European Commission.

The island nation confirmed last week that a sale of its gold reserves was among the options for its contribution towards the rescue package, but ultimate responsibility rested with the central bank.

"In the case of the gold, it's the board of the central bank. It's perfectly understandable.. They have the final say," Finance Minister Harris Georgiades said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Georgiades did not elaborate on how much gold Cyprus might sell nor at what price.

Asked if the government had the support of the central bank to go ahead with the sale, Georgiades said: "It's something that will be examined soon, I hope."

A central bank spokeswoman said last week the sale of gold reserves was not presently on the board's agenda.





http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/17/cyprus-gold-sale-idUSL5N0D41K620130417

[westerebus]

17. I think it's a bull run on the metals.

I don't think Cyprus has enough gold to effect the market in that a significant a manner. Makes for a good read, but, more a distraction than possible cause.
Note the timing falls on tax day when we the subjects pay our lords' tribute to the treasury. The kick in the ass followed by a slap in the face to make the point: doing god's work means keeping the rabble in their place. Perhaps I'm too cynical.
Or they are keeping with the established policy that nothing rises other than the stock market which they also control. All things being equal, they did cut Apple down not that long ago. Sort of opening a wider channel in which to trade and at the same time taming any talk of inflated markets predicting future COLA adjustments past the FED recommended limits. My cynicism again?
If by some stretch of the imagination, the US were to go negative GDP wise in the next quarter or two, a little wiggle room might be just what the doctor ordered. On the flip side, deflation has not gone away, jobs are not abundant, wages are flat or declining, housing is not recovering to historic levels let alone booming despite decades' low interest rates. Just a consideration of what is by any standard a lost generation in the economy. I'd mention political leadership, but, well you know, cynicism and all.

Apologies for grammar etc etc

[Demeter]

2. The Stealth Sequester By Robert Reich

http://www.nationofchange.org/stealth-sequester-1365517710

So far, the much-dreaded “sequester” – some $85 billion in federal spending cuts between March and September 30 – hasn’t been evident to most Americans.The dire warnings that had issued from the White House beforehand – threatening that Social Security checks would be delayed, airport security checks would be clogged, and other federal facilities closed – seem to have been overblown. Sure, March’s employment report was a big disappointment. But it’s hard to see any direct connection between those poor job numbers and the sequester. The government has been shedding jobs for years. Most of the losses in March were from the Postal Service.

Take a closer look, though, and Americans are starting to feel the pain. They just don’t know it yet.

That’s because so much of what the government does affects the nation in local, decentralized ways. Federal funds find their way to community housing authorities, state unemployment offices, local school districts, private universities, and companies. So it’s hard for most Americans to know the sequester is responsible for the lost funding, lost jobs, or just plain inconvenience. A tiny sampling: Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts is bracing for a cut of about $51 million in its $685 million of annual federal research grants and contracts. The public schools of Syracuse, New York, will lose over $1 million. The housing authority of Joliet, Illinois, will take a hit of nearly $900,000. Northrop Grumman Information Systems just issued layoff notices to 26 employees at its plant in Lawton, Oklahoma. Unemployment benefits are being cut in Pennsylvania and Utah. The cuts — and thousands like them — are so particular and localized they don’t feel as if they’re the result of a change in national policy. It’s just like what happened with the big federal stimulus of 2009 and 2010, but in reverse. Then, money flowed out to so many different places and institutions that most Americans weren’t aware of the stimulus program as a whole.

A second reason the sequester hasn’t been visible is a large share of the cuts are in programs directed at the poor – and America’s poor are often invisible. For example, the Salt Lake Community Action Program recently closed a food pantry in Murray, Utah, serving more than 1,000 needy people every month. The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is closing a center that gives alcohol and drug treatment to Native Alaskans. Some 1,700 poor families in and around Sacramento, California are likely to lose housing vouchers that pay part of their rents. More than 180 students are likely to be dropped from a Head Start program run by the Cincinnati-Hamilton County (Ohio) Community Action Agency. Most Americans don’t know about these and other cuts because the poor live in different places than the middle class and wealthy. Poverty has become ever more concentrated geographically.

A third reason the sequester is invisible is many people whose jobs are affected by it are being “furloughed” rather than fired. “Furlough” is a euphemism for working shorter workweeks and taking pay cuts...Bear in mind, finally, the sequester is just starting. The sheer scale of it is guaranteed to make it far more apparent in coming months...If you thought March’s job numbers were disappointing, just wait. With the sequester, America has adopted austerity economics. Yet austerity economics is the wrong medicine at exactly the wrong time. Look what it’s done to Europe.

[Demeter]

3. The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/the-terrifying-reality-of-long-term-unemployment/274957/

It's an awful catch-22: employers won't hire you if you've been out of work for more than six months.

There are two labor markets nowadays. There's the market for people who have been out of work for less than six months, and the market for people who have been out of work longer. The former is working pretty normally, and the latter is horribly dysfunctional. That was the conclusion of recent research I highlighted a few months ago by Rand Ghayad, a visiting scholar at the Boston Fed and a PhD candidate in economics at Northeastern University, and William Dickens, a professor of economics at Northeastern University, that looked at Beveridge curves for different ages, industries, and education levels to see who the recovery is leaving behind.

Okay, so what is a Beveridge curve? Well, it just shows the relationship between job openings and unemployment. There should be a pretty stable relationship between the two, assuming the labor market isn't broken. The more openings there are, the less unemployment there should be. If that isn't true, if the Beveridge curve "shifts up" as more openings don't translate into less unemployment, then it might be a sign of "structural" unemployment. That is, the unemployed just might not have the right skills. Now, what Ghayad and Dickens found is that the Beveridge curves look normal across all ages, industries, and education levels, as long as you haven't been out of work for more than six months. But the curves shift up for everybody if you've been unemployed longer than six months. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you're young or old, a blue-collar or white-collar worker, or a high school or college grad; all that matters is how long you've been out of work.

But just how bad is it for the long-term unemployed? Ghayad ran a follow-up field experiment to find out. In a new working paper, he sent out 4800 fictitious resumes to 600 job openings, with 3600 of them for fake unemployed people. Among those 3600, he varied how long they'd been out of work, how often they'd switched jobs, and whether they had any industry experience. Everything else was kept constant. The mocked-up resumes were all male, all had randomly-selected (and racially ambiguous) names, and all had similar education backgrounds. The question was which of them would get callbacks.

It turns out long-term unemployment is much scarier than you could possibly imagine.

The results are equal parts unsurprising and terrifying. Employers prefer applicants who haven't been out of work for very long, applicants who have industry experience, and applicants who haven't moved between jobs that much. But how long you've been out of work trumps those other factors. As you can see in the chart below from Ghayad's paper, people with relevant experience (red) who had been out of work for six months or longer got called back less than people without relevant experience (blue) who'd been out of work shorter.



MORE UGLY PREJUDICE AT LINK

[Demeter]

4. Goldman’s Big Guns Fire Dud in Defense of Megabanks

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-14/goldman-s-big-guns-fire-dud-in-defense-of-megabanks.html

The six very large U.S. bank holding companies -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup (C) Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), Goldman Sachs (GS) Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley (MS) -- share a pressing intellectual problem: They need to explain why they should be allowed to continue with their dangerous business model. So far their justifications have been weak, and the latest analysis on this topic from Goldman Sachs may even help make the case for breaking up the financial institutions and making them safer.

Legislative proposals from two senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Republican David Vitter of Louisiana, have grabbed attention and could move the consensus against the modern megabanks. Under intense pressure from Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke conceded recently that the U.S. still has a problem with financial institutions that are seen as too big to fail. Pressed by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, among others, Attorney General Eric Holder is sticking to his story that these companies are too big to prosecute. Cyprus offers another vivid reminder of what happens when banks (S5FINL) become too big to save.

Goldman Report

In this context, it is no surprise to see the financial sector wheel out its own intellectual big guns. A frisson no doubt rippled through the financial-lobbying community last week with the release of a report from Goldman Sachs’s equity research team, “Brown-Vitter bill: The impact of potential new capital rules.” This is the A-team at bat, presumably with clearance from the highest levels of management Yet instead of providing any kind of rebuttal to the proposals in Brown-Vitter, the report may strengthen the case for breaking up the six megabanks, while also requiring that they and any successors protect themselves with more equity relative to levels of debt. Read the report with five main points in mind...

SEE LINK

[Hotler]

16. They're doing God's work. That is all we need to know. n/t

[Demeter]

18. But which god are they working for? n/t

[Demeter]

5. A Tax System Stacked Against the 99 Percent By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/a-tax-system-stacked-against-the-99-percent/

LEONA HELMSLEY, the hotel chain executive who was convicted of federal tax evasion in 1989, was notorious for, among other things, reportedly having said that “only the little people pay taxes.” As a statement of principle, the quotation may well have earned Mrs. Helmsley, who died in 2007, the title Queen of Mean. But as a prediction about the fairness of American tax policy, Mrs. Helmsley’s remark might actually have been prescient...About 6 in 10 of us believe that the tax system is unfair — and they’re right: put simply, the very rich don’t pay their fair share. The richest 400 individual taxpayers, with an average income of more than $200 million, pay less than 20 percent of their income in taxes — far lower than mere millionaires, who pay about 25 percent of their income in taxes, and about the same as those earning a mere $200,000 to $500,000. And in 2009, 116 of the top 400 earners — almost a third — paid less than 15 percent of their income in taxes.

Conservatives like to point out that the richest Americans’ tax payments make up a large portion of total receipts. This is true, as well it should be in any tax system that is progressive — that is, a system that taxes the affluent at higher rates than those of modest means. It’s also true that as the wealthiest Americans’ incomes have skyrocketed in recent years, their total tax payments have grown. This would be so even if we had a single flat income-tax rate across the board. What should shock and outrage us is that as the top 1 percent has grown extremely rich, the effective tax rates they pay have markedly decreased. Our tax system is much less progressive than it was for much of the 20th century. The top marginal income tax rate peaked at 94 percent during World War II and remained at 70 percent through the 1960s and 1970s; it is now 39.6 percent. Tax fairness has gotten much worse in the 30 years since the Reagan “revolution” of the 1980s.

Citizens for Tax Justice, an organization that advocates for a more progressive tax system, has estimated that, when federal, state and local taxes are taken into account, the top 1 percent paid only slightly more than 20 percent of all American taxes in 2010 — about the same as the share of income they took home, an outcome that is not progressive at all. With such low effective tax rates — and, importantly, the low tax rate of 20 percent on income from capital gains — it’s not a huge surprise that the share of income going to the top 1 percent has doubled since 1979, and that the share going to the top 0.1 percent has almost tripled, according to the economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. Recall that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans own about 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, and the picture becomes even more disturbing. If these numbers still don’t impress you as being unfair, consider them in comparison with other wealthy countries...


As Americans look at some of the special provisions in the tax code — for vacation homes, racetracks, beer breweries, oil refineries, hedge funds and movie studios, among many other favored assets or industries — it is no wonder that they feel disillusioned with a tax system that is so riddled with special rewards. Most of these tax-code loopholes and giveaways did not materialize from thin air, of course — usually, they were enacted in pursuit of, or at least in response to, campaign contributions from influential donors. It is estimated that these kinds of special tax provisions amount to some $123 billion a year, and that the price tag for offshore tax loopholes is not far behind. Eliminating these provisions alone would go a long way toward meeting deficit-reduction targets called for by fiscal conservatives who worry about the size of the public debt...Yet another source of unfairness is the tax treatment on so-called carried interest. Some Wall Street financiers are able to pay taxes at lower capital gains tax rates on income that comes from managing assets for private equity funds or hedge funds. But why should managing financial assets be treated any differently from managing people, or making discoveries? Of course, those in finance say they are essential. But so are doctors, lawyers, teachers and everyone else who contributes to making our complex society work. They say they are necessary for job creation. But in fact, many of the private equity firms that have excelled in exploiting the carried interest loophole are actually job destroyers; they excel in restructuring firms to “save” on labor costs, often by moving jobs abroad...Society can’t function well without a minimal sense of national solidarity and cohesion, and that sense of shared purpose also rests on a fair tax system. If Americans believe that government is unfair — that ours is a government of the 1 percent, for the 1 percent, and by the 1 percent — then faith in our democracy will surely perish.


TOO LATE NOW...

[Demeter]

6. Looking for Cheats in Corporate Tax Filings: A Descent into the Circles of Hell By Paul Buchheit

http://www.nationofchange.org/looking-cheats-corporate-tax-filings-descent-circles-hell-1366031527

When Dante descended into the Inferno, guided by Virgil, he passed through Circles of Gluttony and Greed, and of Heresy and Fraud and Treachery. The modern-day version is the corporate tax filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Navigation through the hellish form is fraught with anguish and pain and bewilderment, causing the visitor to beg for release from its devilish grasp, to shudder when recalling the sign at the entrance: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

The Circle of Betrayal: Big Profits Overseas, Big Losses in the U.S.

Bank of America, Citigroup, and Pfizer can be found here. In the last two years each one of them made much of their revenue in the U.S., but they claimed billions of dollars in foreign profits and billions of dollars in U.S. losses. Here are the sordid details:

Citigroup, whose 2005 "Plutonomy Memo" said that "the World is dividing into two blocs - the Plutonomy and the rest," had 42 percent of its 2011-12 revenue in North America (almost all U.S.) but declared a $5 billion U.S. loss and a $28 billion foreign profit.

Pfizer had 40 percent of its 2011-12 revenues in the U.S., but declared almost $7 billion in U.S. losses to go along with $31 billion in foreign profits. After the SEC questioned Pfizer in 2012 about four straight years of U.S. losses despite large worldwide incomes, the company went ahead and declared a fifth straight U.S. loss.

Bank of America may be the worst. CEO Brian Moynihan once lamented that nobody understood "how much good" his employees do. But his company, with a whopping 82 percent of its 2011-12 revenue in the U.S., declared $7 billion in U.S. losses and $10 billion in foreign profits...

AND THAT'S JUST THE FIRST CIRCLE!

[kickysnana]

7. Seems everyone joined the Howard Hughes Church of Capitalism

But first they stacked the Congress and the courts and then they took off with all the people's money. The are even reaching starting to steal from each other ie Cypress

[Roland99]

8. US Futures in retreat

[font color="red"]S&P 500 -0.6%
DOW -0.5%
NASDAQ -0.6% [/font]

[xchrom]

9. European car sales fall again in March

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22179441

Car sales across Europe were 10.3% lower in March from a year earlier, the 18th consecutive month of falls.

The figures, from the Association of European Carmakers (Acea) showed most carmakers saw sales drop, with Peugeot Citroen and Toyota suffering the most.

Continuing economic stagnation across Europe has depressed sales for almost six years.

The UK was the only country in Europe where sales rose, with registrations up by 5.9%.

[xchrom]

10. UK unemployment rises to 2.56 million

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22180300


UK unemployment rose by 70,000 to 2.56 million between December and February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

It pushed the unemployment rate to 7.9%, raising further questions about the UK's economic strength.

The number of people in employment also fell, while earnings growth slowed considerably, according to ONS data.

But there was positive news on the number claiming Jobseeker's Allowance last month, down 7,000 to 1.53 million.

[xchrom]

11. South African inflation at 5.9% in March

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22180851


South Africa's annual inflation rate was 5.9% in March, unchanged on the previous month's figure but still much higher than the country's growth rate.

The official figure, from Statistics South Africa, is at the top of the central bank's target range of 3-6%.

South Africa is the continent's largest economy, but despite impressive growth in recent years expansion is slowing.

The central bank governor said this week she was worried about the prospect of stagflation.

[xchrom]

12. AFL-CIO's Non-Union Worker Group Headed Into Workplaces in Fifty States

http://www.thenation.com/blog/173875/afl-cios-non-union-worker-group-headed-workplaces-fifty-states

The country’s largest non-union workers’ group will soon announce plans to establish chapters in every state, achieve financial self-sufficiency, and extend its organizing – so far focused on politics and policy – directly into the workplace.

“This organization has done really what nobody else thought could be done,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told The Nation, “and that’s recruit more than three million people without a union to be part of the labor movement.”

That organization is Working America, the AFL-CIO affiliate for workers without a union on the job. Created ten years ago, it now claims 3.2 million members – more than any of the individual unions in the AFL-CIO, or any of the other “alt-labor” groups organizing and mobilizing non-union workers in the United States. “We’re taking the momentum that we’ve built organizing workers in communities,” said Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum, “and beginning to organize a community in the workplace.”

As I reported in The Nation’s October 29 issue, Working America’s past efforts have taken place outside of work. Paid canvassers go door-to-door in what the group calls “working class moderate” neighborhoods, starting conversations about economic issues and asking people to join the organization (according to Trumka, two out of three people sign up by the end of the conversation). During election season, organizers come back to persuade and mobilize these members to vote for endorsed candidates, touting their stances on issues like outsourcing (they explicitly avoid discussing so-called “social issues”). Year-round, Working America supports union-backed campaigns on issues like supporting paid sick leave or opposing liquor store privatization; members write letters, lobby politicians, and join rallies.

[xchrom]

13. Earnings Of UK Workers Now Growing Slower Than During The Financial Crisis

http://www.businessinsider.com/earnings-of-uk-workers-now-growing-slower-than-during-the-financial-crisis-2013-4

Jamie McGeever @ReutersJamie

UK earnings growth (ex-bonuses) just 1%, the lowest since records began in 2001. Chart:

[xchrom]

14. Markets Are Up In Asia

http://www.businessinsider.com/asian-markets-april-17-2013-2013-4

Markets are open in Asia, and they are trading higher.
Japan's Nikkei is up 0.9%.
Korea's Kospi is up 0.3%
Australia's S&P/ASX is up 0.7%
Also, the yen is trading lower.





Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/asian-markets-april-17-2013-2013-4#ixzz2QirCAynm

i double posted the graphics -- but i only have one link each....weird.

[Demeter]

19. The links are identical, and contain both graphs

Sometimes they do that, just to make it interesting.

[Demeter]

20. While I'm not gulping aspirin this morning

I am buried in backlog. If the papers are running late, I may be able to get some posting in tonight (probably on Thursday's thread.

Meanwhile: Ave, morituri te salutant!