STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 11 April 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 11 April 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 10 April 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 10 April 2014
[center][font color=red]
Dow Jones 16,170.22 -266.96 (-1.62%)
S&P 500 1,833.08 -39.10 (-2.09%)
Nasdaq 4,054.11 -129.00 (0.00%)



[font color=green]10 Year 2.65% -0.03 (-1.12%)
30 Year 3.52% -0.05 (-1.40%) [font color=black]


[center][/font]

[HR width=85%]

[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
[center]


[/center]

[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

[/center]

[center]

[/center]

[HR width=95%]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
[center]
Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
[center]
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
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
[center]
Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
[center]
LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
[center]
Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
[/center]

[div]
[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.








[HR width=95%]


[center]

[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. Now that's a true cartoon. Bait and Switch Reigns

[Tansy_Gold]

4. La Brea

On my first real visit to Los Angeles, top of my list of things to see was the La Brea Tar Pits. I have a feeling the three people I was with were bored to tears, but I had been fascinated by them since 3rd grade. They didn't disappoint at all.

[DemReadingDU]

34. Fascinating

Timeline
http://www.tarpits.org/la-brea-tar-pits/timeline

[Tansy_Gold]

56. It's an on-going project

I haven't been there for years and years, but because the tar pits themselves are constantly changing, they're constantly yielding new finds. So the museum is actually a laboratory, where new bits and pieces are taken from the various sites/pits, cleaned of tar, and identified. Real science, going on right where you can watch.

If you ever have the chance to visit, it's well worth the time.

And just to keep it on topic, La Brea is probably one of the few worthwhile things JP Morgan does with the money they've stolen from the rest of us.

http://www.tarpits.org/

[Demeter]

2. 267 point drop is pretty serious for a Thursday

I wonder what Friday will bring?

Since it's Euchre Friday, the Weekend will start late (unless I can figure out how to start it before 6 PM. Cloning?) Do not despair!

I don't have a topic. If I had any interest in or knowledge of Mickey Rooney, I would dedicate the weekend to his memory, but the thought leaves me unmoved.

What do Weekenders Want?

[Fuddnik]

5. Howz'about DeNiro and The Taxi Driver?

I just quit. Fuck them. They really grab desperate people, and try to lure them into a bullshit job.

Well paying, but a lot of bullshit. I just told my "boss" to fuck off, and I quit.

[Demeter]

7. I haven't seen it, but if you wanted to...you could even start it up

surely there must be some pop songs about taxis and stuff....

I don't mind being educated for once, either!

Did you make your flood insurance bill, at least? That was the goal, right?

[Fuddnik]

53. Yeah, I covered the Homeowners and Flood Insurance.

And got a new dishwasher to boot. A Bosch, the thing is so quiet, you can stand next to it, and not know it's running.

And I made enough to buy Springsteen tickets, and take the wife out for a nice anniversary dinner and Moody Blues concert.

Yeah, I could do the WEE later. A few DeNiro pics and Harry Chapin wrote some nice music about taxis. But, I'm going to the golf course first.

[Demeter]

54. Thanks! I owe you one!

[antigop]

42. Fudd...did you see this?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/04/matt-stoller-how-uber-creates-an-algorithmic-monopoly.html

Uber of course is a cab service that lets you order a cab from your smartphone via an App. It’s really neat, you get to watch the cab approach on a map, the payment is automatically applied so you don’t have to even deal with the transaction itself. The company is now taking its approach to logistics, and moving to ‘disrupt’ the delivery industry as well, competing with courier services, UPS, Fedex, and the Post Office. It’ll be interesting to see what happens there.

But it’s important to recognize just what Uber actually represents. Uber started out named UberCab, and ‘uber’ is a German word which means ‘over’ or ‘better than’ or ‘the ultimate’. So UberCab meant, the ultimate cab. At the core of Uber’s strategy has been lobbying and advocacy to make sure that it can get into regulated cab markets. And this is so Uber can ‘disrupt’ and destroy them.

A healthy cab ecosystem relies on expectations of a market (with price-fixing by political authorities, mostly taxi commissions). There have to be people trying to hail cabs, and cabs driving around to find customers. As more people use Uber, there will be fewer people trying to hail cabs, and fewer cabs picking up people, which will lead to reduced expectations cabs will be available, and so on and so forth. Gradually the ‘open cab market’ will be displaced by a closed Uber service. I’ve already noticed it’s harder to hail cabs where I live, capacity is often taken up by Uber riders.

Open cab markets aren’t gone, but they will die eventually. They will go the way of open cattle, pig, and chicken markets, which mostly don’t exist anymore due to concentration in the meat market (read The Meat Racket for a great understanding of what happens when markets are captured by big business).

[Fuddnik]

55. Yeah, Uber is moving in to the Tampa market, and so is Lyft.

I talked with Lyft the other day. You use your own car, and the fares are pre-paid online. And it's all done via smartphone. Somebody needs a lift, and if you're nearbye, you accept or reject the call, and your GPS app takes you right there.

[Demeter]

57. Sounds like a lot of trouble with the IRS to me

Keeping good records....

[Demeter]

3. Investor group offers to buy Mt. Gox for one bitcoin

http://news.yahoo.com/investor-group-offers-buy-mt-gox-one-bitcoin-215700334--sector.html

A group of investors is seeking to buy bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox for a token payment of one bitcoin, or about $400, the Wall Street Journal reported citing sources. The group justified the near-zero price citing an "information vacuum" over Mt. Gox's missing bitcoins that made it hard to place a value on the lost digital currency, the paper said. (http://r.reuters.com/peq48v) Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy in Japan in February, saying hackers had stolen 750,000 bitcoins belonging to its customers and 100,000 of its own bitcoins after exploiting a security flaw in its software.

The investor group includes Brock Pierce, a former child actor-turned entrepreneur, and venture capitalists William Quigley and Matthew Roszak. The group hopes to revive the exchange and set aside 50 percent of its transaction fees to pay back burned customers and other creditors over time, the Journal said.

Mt. Gox said in March it "found" 200,000 bitcoins in an old-format online wallet which it had thought was empty, raising creditors' hopes of recovering some of their lost digital wealth.

The bitcoin exchange's creditors would have the option of receiving a prorated payment from the 200,000 recovered bitcoins, an estimated 20 percent recovery value on their claims, or receiving the equivalent amount in equity in the new exchange, the paper said.

A form of electronic money independent of traditional banking, bitcoins started circulating in 2009 and have become the most prominent of several fledgling digital currencies.

The acquisition must be approved by a Japanese bankruptcy court. However, the near-zero valuation of the proposed deal could prove to be a hurdle, the Journal said.

[Hugin]

6. Before these idiotic events revealed that bitcoin was no more sophisticated than a Farmville cow...

Last edited Fri Apr 11, 2014, 08:53 AM - Edit history (1)

I had wrongly assumed that there was possibly built into their encryption a serial number or other security device rendering them nearly impossible to steal.

Silly me.

I'm glad my ludditeish insistence on having a physical means of exchange proved to be the better plan after, I don't know, thousands of years of a track history. They may make my mattress lumpy, but, at least I know where they are at night.

[Demeter]

8. You could have TWO mattresses, Hugin

Put the lumpy one in the guest room and serve two purposes...few house guests for VERY short times, and security!

[Hugin]

44. Now, you see... There's a plan! ;) n/t

[Demeter]

9. Obamacare Marketplace: Personal Data Can Be Used For ‘Law Enforcement and Audit Activities’

YEP, JUST WHAT ONE EXPECTS...A PHISHING EXPEDITION AND CORPORATE (HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY) BAILOUT DISGUISED AS A SOCIAL WELFARE BENEFIT.

WELL, ONLY THE DESPERATE WHO NEED IMMEDIATE EXPENSIVE HEALTHCARE (AND GOD KNOWS, THERE ARE ENOUGH OF US) ARE SIGNING UP. AUDIT THAT, IRS!

IT'S NOT AS IF THE BANKSTERS ARE RUSHING TO SIGN UP FOR OBAMACARE...

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-marketplace-personal-data-can-be-used-law-enforcement-and-audit-activities_762237.html



Maryland's Health Connection, the state's Obamacare marketplace, has been plagued by delays in the first days of open enrollment. If users are able to endure long page-loading delays, they are presented with the website's privacy policy, a ubiquitous fine-print feature on websites that often go unread. Nevertheless, users are asked to check off a box that they agree to the terms.
Obama doctors

The policy contains many standard statements about information automatically collected regarding Internet browsers and IP addresses, temporary "cookies" used by the site, and website accessibility. However, at least two conditions may give some users pause before proceeding.

The first is regarding personal information submitted with an application for those users who follow through on the sign up process all the way to the end. The policy states that all information to help in applying for coverage and even for making a payment will be kept strictly confidential and only be used to carry out the function of the marketplace. There is, however, an exception: "We may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities." Here is the entire paragraph from the policy the includes the exception (emphasis added):

Should you decide to apply for health coverage through Maryland Health Connection, the information you supply in your application will be used to determine whether you are eligible for health and dental coverage offered through Maryland Health Connection and for insurance affordability programs. It also may be used to assist you in making a payment for the insurance plan you select, and for related automated reminders or other activities permitted by law. We will preserve the privacy of personal records and protect confidential or privileged information in full accordance with federal and State law. We will not sell your information to others. Any information that you provide to us in your application will be used only to carry out the functions of Maryland Health Connection. The only exception to this policy is that we may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities.

The site does not specify if "appropriate authorities" refers only to state authorities or if it could include the federal government, as well. Neither is there any detail on what type of law enforcement and/or audit activities would justify the release of the personal information, or who exactly is authorized to make such a determination. An email to the Maryland Health Connection's media contact seeking clarification has not yet been answered. The second privacy term that may prompt caution by users relates to email communications. The policy reads:

If you send us an e-mail, we use the information you send us to respond to your inquiry. E-mail correspondence may become a public record. As a public record, your correspondence could be disclosed to other parties upon their request in accordance with Maryland’s Public Information Act.

Since emails to the marketplace could conceivably involve private matters regarding finances, health history, and other sensitive issues, the fact that such information could be made part of the "public record" could prevent users from being as free with their information than they might otherwise be. However, as noted, any requests for such emails would still be subject to Maryland's Public Information Act which contains certain exceptions to the disclosure rules.

[Demeter]

10. The End Of The World As We Know It By Peter Koenig

http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_10_09/What-will-happen-to-global-economy-if-BRICS-announce-launch-of-new-currency-Bricso-1897/

For several decades, we’ve been told by the mainstream media that the West has a firm grip on the word’s economy and that America decides the future of the world. Peter Koenig, former World Bank economist and Voice of Russia regular, outlines one of the scenarios in which America’s plans for a New World Order are broken. This is the first part of the series about "How to dismate the New World Order".

Imagine – it is December 31, 2013. The Presidents of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) plus Iran and Venezuela call an impromptu press conference – in Paris – to present a 'Sea of Change in Economics,' as they call it. The announcement was circulated throughout the international media and diplomatic offices and embassies just a day before – an indication of urgency. Despite it being the last day of the year with most people thinking of their year-end festivities, the event calls the attention of many – especially the world of finance – and of course the media. The press meeting is planned for 18:00 at the Dolce Chantilly, in Chantilly, just 40 minutes from the center of Paris.

The seven presidents, accompanied by their Ministers of Finance, are seated in a half-moon panel in front of about 500 journalists from all over the world. The Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mr. Xi Jinping, opens the conference without fanfare, introducing the subject as an event that may have worldwide repercussions. He elaborates, "We the BRICS and some other hydrocarbon producing countries, like Iran and Venezuela – others may join in the future – have decided as of tomorrow – January 1, 2014 – to introduce two new economic measures. First, the BRICS and Iran and Venezuela will launch a new currency, called the Bricso. The Bricso will, at least initially, be a virtual currency; similar to what the Euro was in its initial years of existence and currently the Sucre in the South American trading community of ALBA. The backbone of the Bricso is a basket of moneys of the BRICS and those of Iran and Venezuela. The individual country currencies will be weighed according to their respective economic strength - similar to the Special Drawing Rights – SDR – of the IMF. The initial basket of Seven, does not impede that later other countries, trading partners of the BRICS, may join the Bricso.”

Reality Check comment: One has to wonder: why do it in a sudden almost theatrical manner? The reason is simple: such a move is a declaration of war, an economic war, but a war none the less. Maybe, calling this operation a "revolution" or an "insurrection" would be more appropriate, but the essence remains the same. The West has abused its economic power and used its financial institutions to the detriment of the rest of the world. It was time to turn the tables. When global domination is at stake, it is a good idea to fire the first shot.

"Initially, each country will continue to use its own currency. In the course of the coming years we may decide to also issue the Bricso as a paper currency for all member currencies, similarly to the euro. For now, we believe, each member country will have to adapt its economy to certain established parameters of economic viability – criteria that were not followed seriously enough by the Euro member countries."

Reality Check comment: This plan has an important technical requirement. The new currency requires a central bank. Actually, BRICS countries are already building an alternative financial system. While kick-starting it into action on short notice is quite hard, using the new mechanisms for clearing the trades done with the new currency is not impossible.

Mr. Jinping went on – "The recently created BRICS Development Bank will initially act as the BRICS Central Bank, issuing guidelines and norms of economic and financial viability, for each member country to adopt, so as to create coherence among them and facilitate trading within, as well as outside the Bricso domain. As our economies evolve, we may consider other steps to adjust to the new dynamics, like – as mentioned before – issuing common paper money. The BRICS Central Bank will also act as a bank of last resource for the member countries, lending to their respective national central banks at inter-bank rates."

"We have also decided on an initial exchange rate between the US dollar and the Bricso – one Bricso equals 10 US dollars. This is roughly the relation of the outstanding debt – or unmet obligations – in proportion of the respective GDPs – of the US and the combined BRICS."

Reality Check comment: It doesn’t take a prophet to predict that the western media will describe such a move as an attack on the dollar. Probably, stronger terms like "financial terrorism" are likely to be used. However, it is clear that the mainstream media will always demonize the BRICS countries so there is no point in trying to be "the good guy." Anyone who disagrees with the NWO will be labeled as an evildoer, tyrant and terrorist. History is written by the winners and if BRICS win this financial war, the leaders of the anti-dollar movement will be hailed as heroes. Given the financial atrocities the West has committed against the world, it is safe to assume that any act aimed at dismantling the existing global financial system is actually an act of self-defense.

IT GETS BETTER! SEE LINK





Peter Koenig, a former World Bank economist and a Voice of Russia regular, outlines one of the scenarios in which America’s plans for a New World Order are broken.

[Demeter]

11. JPMorgan awarded CEO Jamie Dimon $11.8M last year

http://gazette.com/jpmorgan-awarded-ceo-jamie-dimon-11.8m-last-year/article/feed/107398

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon's total compensation fell 37 percent last year to $11.8 million as the nation's largest investment bank grappled with billions in legal costs and fines.

According to regulatory documents filed Wednesday, Dimon's total compensation fell from $18.7 million in 2012

JPMorgan's committee on executive compensation noted in the regulatory filing that it adjusted all of the top company officers' pay levels to account for the impact the fines and settlements had on the lender's financial results.

Last year, JP Morgan was hit legal costs and fines stemming from the housing crisis and its $6 billion "London Whale" trading loss.

The AP's calculation counts salary, bonuses, perks and stock and options awarded to the executive during the year.

[xchrom]

12. TECH SELL-OFF SENDS WORLD STOCK MARKETS LOWER

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-07-17-18

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Global stock markets fell Friday as investors marked down technology stocks and a drop in U.S. jobless claims failed to boost confidence.

Sentiment was hit after the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Thursday had its worst day since 2011 amid concerns that technology stocks are overvalued.

European markets traded lower, with Britain's FTSE 100 losing 1.2 percent to 6,563.56 by midday in London. Germany's DAX fell 1.5 percent to 9,317.13 and France's CAC-40 shed 1.1 percent to 4,364.66.

Wall Street looked set for lackluster trading - Dow and S&P 500 futures were both down 0.1 percent. Nasdaq futures pointed to further losses of 0.2 percent.

[xchrom]

13. AILING PUERTO RICO OPEN TO RADICAL ECONOMIC FIXES

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CB_PUERTO_RICO_RADICAL_FIXES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-00-04-19

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Slash the number of public holidays by two-thirds. Eliminate dozens of government agencies. Legalize marijuana and prostitution.

From the intriguing to the impossible, there is no shortage of ideas for fixing Puerto Rico's ailing economy as the government tries to dig out from a whopping $70 billion in public debt and bring back economic growth.

The ideas have come from legislators, entrepreneurs and even members of the public, who have submitted ideas via a government-sponsored website. Of the 369 ideas sent in by the public, 156 have been accepted by a government committee for consideration, including the suggestions to legalize marijuana and prostitution, and to limit how long people can live in subsidized housing.

But all the ideas require further government approval, either with a legislative vote, or an administrative nod from the governor, agency or department. More dramatic ideas, such as legalization of marijuana or prostitution, would require public hearings, legislative approval and the governor's signature.

[xchrom]

14. MONEY MARKET FUND ASSETS FALL BY $17.7 BILLION

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MONEY_FUNDS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-10-17-38-57

Total U.S. money market mutual fund assets fell by $17.7 billion to $2.61 trillion for the week that ended Wednesday, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Assets in the nation's retail money market mutual funds fell by $4.5 billion to $918.26 billion, the Washington-based mutual fund trade group said Thursday. Assets of taxable money market funds in the retail category fell $3.6 billion to $724.28 billion. Tax-exempt retail fund assets fell $860 million to $193.98 billion.

Assets in institutional money market funds fell $13.2 billion to $1.69 trillion. Among institutional funds, taxable money market fund assets fell by $11.78 billion to $1.62 trillion. Assets of tax-exempt funds fell by $1.42 billion to $75.56 billion.

The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds was unchanged at 0.01 percent from the previous week, according to Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet Inc. in Westborough, Mass. The seven-day compounded yield was flat at 0.01 percent.

[Demeter]

20. Paying their taxes?

After all, April 15th is Tuesday...

[xchrom]

15. MERKEL VISITS GREECE AFTER BOND SUCCESS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_MERKEL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-05-41-41

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Police banned protests across most of central Athens on Friday as German Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to pay a brief visit, a day after the crisis-hit country returned to international bond markets.

Unions and the left-wing main opposition party, Syriza, are backing protests planned outside the cordon, to be manned by some 5,000 police officers. Merkel has been among the most vocal supporters of the austerity measures that have helped heal Greece's public finances but proved painful for Greeks.

During a visit in 2012, the German chancellor had been greeted by mass anti-austerity protests that turned violent. Security this time was also tightened further after a powerful car bomb exploded early Thursday outside the Bank of Greece, causing damage but no injuries.

Merkel's visit comes as Greece this week reached a milestone in the recovery from its financial crisis - it successfully tapped bond markets for the first time since 2010, raising 3 billion euros ($4.14 billion) in five-year debt.

[Demeter]

21. the woman is insane!

It's like one of those horror-thrillers, where the dumb blonde is warned repeatedly not to do something, or go somewhere, so of course, she does....

[xchrom]

24. !

[Demeter]

27. !!

[xchrom]

16. SPAIN'S DEFLATION NOT AS GREAT AS FIRST THOUGHT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_FINANCIAL_CRISIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-05-31-30

MADRID (AP) -- Spain's statistics office says prices were 0.1 percent lower in March than the year before, slightly less than the previous estimate of 0.2 percent.

The figures released Friday by the National Statistics Institute may ease concerns that the country will suffer a prolonged bout of deflation, or falling prices. Deflation can weigh on growth by prompting consumers to delay purchases and businesses to refrain from investing.

Though price pressures are muted across the 18-country eurozone, they are still rising, albeit at only 0.5 percent in the year to April.

The European Central Bank is keeping a close watch on developments and may enact further stimulus measures if deflation across the eurozone becomes a real probability. Its target is to have inflation just below 2 percent across the eurozone.

[Demeter]

22. Oh, really!

I'd like an independent analysis of that....

[Demeter]

17. Retiring White House Prosecutor Says the SEC Is Corrupt by ERIC ZUESSE

HE MAY BE REFERRING TO THE "OLD" SEC. IT SEEMS TO HAVE UNDERGONE A SEA CHANGE, OR AT LEAST A CHANGE OF PERSONNEL AND DIRECTION, LATELY....

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/09/65578/



Bloomberg News reported, on April 8th, that a Securities and Exchange Commission prosecuting attorney, James Kidney, said at his recent retirement party on March 27th, that his prosecutions of Goldman Sachs and other mega-banks had been squelched by top people at the agency, because they “were more focused on getting high-paying jobs after their government service than on bringing difficult cases.” He suggested that SEC officials knew that Wall Street would likely hire them after the SEC at much bigger pay than their government remuneration was, so long as the SEC wouldn’t prosecute those megabank executives on any criminal charges for helping to cause the mortgage-backed securities scams and resulting 2008 economic crash. His ”remarks drew applause from the crowd of about 70 people,” according to the Bloomberg report. This would indicate that other SEC prosecutors feel similarly squelched by their bosses. Kidney’s speech said that his superiors did not “believe in afflicting the comfortable and powerful.” Referring to the agency’s public-relations tactic of defending its prosecution-record by use of what he considered to be misleading statistics, Kidney said, “It’s a cancer” at the SEC.

Two recent studies have provided additional depth to Kidney’s assertions, by showing that Obama and his Administration had lied when they promised to prosecute Wall Street executives who had cheated outside investors, and deceived homebuyers, when creating and selling mortgage-backed securities for sale to investors throughout the world. President Obama personally led in this lying. On May 20, 2009, at the signing into law of both the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, Obama said: “This bill nearly doubles the FBI’s mortgage and financial fraud program, allowing it to better target fraud in hard-hit areas. That’s why it provides the resources necessary for other law enforcement and federal agencies, from the Department of Justice to the SEC to the Secret Service, to pursue these criminals, bring them to justice, and protect hardworking Americans affected most by these crimes. It’s also why it expands DOJ’s authority to prosecute fraud that takes place in many of the private institutions not covered under current federal bank fraud criminal statutes — institutions where more than half of all subprime mortgages came from as recently as four years ago.”

Then, in the President’s 24 January 2012 State of the Union Address, he said: “Tonight, I’m asking my Attorney General to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. (Applause.) This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans. Now, a return to the American values of fair play and shared responsibility will help protect our people and our economy.”...However, two years later, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice issued on 13 March 2014 its “Audit of the Department of Justice’s Efforts to Address Mortgage Fraud,” and reported that Obama’s promises to prosecute turned out to be just a lie. DOJ didn’t even try; and they lied even about their efforts. The IG found: “DOJ did not uniformly ensure that mortgage fraud was prioritized at a level commensurate with its public statements. For example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Investigative Division ranked mortgage fraud as the lowest criminal threat in its lowest crime category. Additionally, we found mortgage fraud to be a low priority, or not [even] listed as a priority, for the FBI Field Offices we visited.” Not just that, but, “Many Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSA) informed us about underreporting and misclassification of mortgage fraud cases.” This was important because, “Capturing such information would allow DOJ to … better evaluate its performance in targeting high-profile offenders.” Privately, Obama had told Wall Street executives that he would protect them. On 27 March 2009, Obama assembled the top executives of the bailed-out financial firms in a secret meeting at the White House and he assured them that he would cover their backs; he promised “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks”. It’s not on the White House website; it was leaked out, which is one of the reasons Obama hates leakers. What the DOJ’s IG indicated was, in effect, that Obama had kept his secret promise to them. Here is the context in which he said that (from page 234 of Ron Suskind’s 2011 book, Confidence Men):

The CEOs went into their traditional stance. “It’s almost impossible to set caps to their bonuses; it’s never worked, and you lose your best people,” said one. “We’re competing for talent on an international market,” said another. Obama cut them off.

“Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that,” he said. “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

It was an attention grabber, no doubt, especially that carefully chosen last word.

But then Obama’s flat tone turned to one of support, even sympathy. “You guys have an acute public relations problem that’s turning into a political problem,” he said. “And I want to help. But you need to show that you get that this is a crisis and that everyone has to make some sacrifices.” According to one of the participants, he then said, “I’m not out there to go after you. I’m protecting you. But if I’m going to shield you from public and congressional anger, you have to give me something to work with on these issues of compensation.”

No suggestions were forthcoming from the bankers on what they might offer, and the president didn’t seem to be championing any specific proposals. He had none: neither Geithner nor Summers believed compensation controls had any merit.

After a moment, the tension in the room seemed to lift: the bankers realized he was talking about voluntary limits on compensation until the storm of public anger passed. It would be for show.

He had been lying to the public, all along. Not only would he not prosecute the banksters, but he would treat them as if all they had was “an acute public relations problem that’s turning into a political problem.” And he thought that the people who wanted them prosecuted were like the KKK who had chased Blacks with pitchforks before lynching. According to the DOJ, their Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) was “established by President Barack Obama in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.” But, according to the Department’s IG, it was all a fraud: a fraud that according to the DOJ itself had been going on since at least November 2009. The IG’s report continued by pointing out the Attorney General’s lies, noting that on 9 October 2012, “the FFETF held a press conference to publicize the results of the initiative,” and:

“The Attorney General announced that the initiative resulted in 530 criminal defendants being charged, including 172 executives, in 285 criminal indictments or informations filed in federal courts throughout the United States during the previous 12 months. The Attorney General also announced that 110 federal civil cases were filed against over 150 defendants for losses totaling at least $37 million, and involving more than 15,000 victims. According to statements made at the press conference, these cases involved more than 73,000 homeowner victims and total losses estimated at more than $1 billion.

“Shortly after this press conference, we requested documentation that supported the statistics presented. … Over the following months, we repeatedly asked the Department about its efforts to correct the statistics. … Specifically, the number of criminal defendants charged as part of the initiative was 107, not 530 as originally reported; and the total estimated losses associated with true Distressed Homeowners cases were $95 million, 91 percent less than the $1 billion reported at the October 2012 press conference. …

“Despite being aware of the serious flaws in these statistics since at least November 2012, we found that the Department continued to cite them in mortgage fraud press releases. … According to DOJ officials, the data collected and publicly announced for an earlier FFETF mortgage fraud initiative – Operation Stolen Dreams – also may have contained similar errors.”

Basically, the IG’s report said that the Obama Administration had failed to enforce the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. This bill had been passed overwhelmingly, 92-4 in the Senate, and 338-52 in the House. All of the votes against it came from Republicans. The law sent $165 million to the DOJ to catch the executive fraudsters who had brought down the U.S. economy, and it set up the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and had been introduced and written by the liberal Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy. President Obama signed it on 20 May 2009. At that early stage in his Presidency, he couldn’t afford to display that he was far to the right of every congressional Democrat, so he signed it...

MORE

Eric Zuesse is an investigative historian and the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.

[Demeter]

18. I'VE GOT MY WEEKEND TOPIC!

If Fudd wants to do diNiro, it will keep for Easter, in fact, it's better for Easter....

[xchrom]

19. GOLD, SILVER FUTURES RISE AS STOCK MARKET RETREATS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COMMODITIES_REVIEW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-10-15-56-54

Gold and silver prices rose Thursday as the stock market went into retreat.

The actively traded June contract for gold rose $14.60, or 1.1 percent, to settle at $1,320.50 an ounce Thursday. May silver rose 32 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $20.09 an ounce.

Precious metals prices were rising as the stock market fell sharply and investors looked for other assets to park their money in. Biotech, technology and other sectors that had soared over the past year fell the most. In late trading, the Nasdaq composite was down 3 percent.

Other metals also rose.

Platinum for July delivery rose $21.20, or 1.5 percent, to $1,460.10 an ounce. Palladium for June delivery rose $9.75, or 1.2 percent, to $792.30 an ounce. Copper for May edged up a penny to $3.05 a pound.

[xchrom]

23. JPMORGAN'S FIRST-QUARTER PROFIT FALLS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EARNS_JPMORGAN_?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-07-34-09

NEW YORK (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase, the country's biggest bank by assets, says its first-quarter earnings fell.

The bank made $4.8 billion in the first quarter, after stripping out payments to preferred stockholders. That was down 20 percent from the same period a year earlier, when it made $6.1 billion.

On a per-share basis, that amounted to $1.28. That was worse than estimates of analysts polled by FactSet, who had been expecting $1.39.

Revenue was $22.9 billion. That was down 8 percent from the same period last year when the bank generated revenue of $25.1 billion.

Shares are down $1.10, or 2 percent, at $56.11 in pre-market trading.

[Demeter]

25. Judge accepts SAC guilty plea, $1.2 billion payout for fraud

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/10/us-saccapital-crime-idUSBREA391B520140410

SAC Capital Advisors' $1.2 billion criminal settlement for insider trading received final court approval on Thursday, as a U.S. judge accepted a guilty plea from the hedge fund firm run by billionaire Steven A. Cohen. At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain accepted SAC Capital's guilty plea to fraud charges Thursday's settlement includes a $900 million fine. To resolve criminal and civil probes into insider trading, SAC Capital has agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion in total. The U.S. Department of Justice has called the accord the largest insider trading settlement in U.S. history.

"These crimes clearly were motivated by greed, and these breaches of the public trust require serious penalties," Swain said. "The defendants' crimes were striking in their magnitude and strikingly indicative of a lack of respect for the law."

SAC Capital also agreed to be placed on probation for five years, and employ a compliance consultant, former federal prosecutor Bart Schwartz.

The sentencing marks the end of an era for SAC Capital, a hedge fund that last year managed $15 billion but found itself in federal investigators' cross-hairs. Eight employees have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial for insider trading. An indictment unveiled in July alleged systemic insider trading took place at SAC Capital involving the stocks of more than 20 publicly-traded companies from 1999 through 2010.

"Today marks the day of reckoning for a fund that was riddled with criminal conduct. SAC fostered pervasive insider trading and failed, as a company, to question or prevent it," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement. "Today's sentence affirms that when institutions flout the law in such a colossal way, they will pay a heavy price.

SAC Capital agreed in November to plead guilty to four counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. The $900 million fine comes on top of a $900 million judgment approved in November by a different judge in a related civil forfeiture case. That judgment gave SAC Capital credit for $616 million in earlier insider trading settlements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, resulting in SAC Capital paying an additional $1.2 billion as part of the criminal accord.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based firm rebranded itself as Point72 Asset Management on Monday and is shifting toward becoming a so-called family office to primarily manage Cohen's personal fortune, most recently estimated by Forbes magazine at $11.1 billion.

MORE AT LINK

[xchrom]

26. JUDGE TO RULE ON DETROIT SWAPS DEAL WITH 2 BANKS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DETROIT_BANKRUPTCY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-07-32-17

DETROIT (AP) -- A ruling is expected on bankrupt Detroit's plan to settle a bad multi-million dollar pension debt deal with two banks.

A court spokesman says federal Judge Steven Rhodes will render his decision Friday morning on the city's agreement to pay $85 million to UBS and Bank of America.

Rhodes has denied earlier proposals for $220 million and $165 million settlements.

Detroit had pledged casino tax revenue in 2009 as collateral to avoid defaulting on pension debt payments, which allowed the city to get fixed interest rates on pension bonds with the banks. But the deal became too costly when interest rates plunged.

[Demeter]

31. I still think they should go with the fraud-cancellation plan

[DemReadingDU]

32. The money should go directly to the pensions

not the banks

[Demeter]

28. By Dan Auerbach: How The NSA Deploys Malware: An In-Depth Look at the New Revelations

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/10/how-nsa-deploys-malware-new-revelations



We've long suspected that the NSA, the world's premiere spy agency, was pretty good at breaking into computers. But now, thanks to an article by security expert Bruce Schneier—who is working with the Guardian to go through the Snowden documents—we have a much more detailed view of how the NSA uses exploits in order to infect the computers of targeted users. The template for attacking people with malware used by the NSA is in widespread use by criminals and fraudsters, as well as foreign intelligence agencies, so it's important to understand and defend against this threat to avoid being a victim to the plethora of attackers out there.

How Does Malware Work Exactly?

Deploying malware over the web generally involves two steps. First, as an attacker, you have to get your victim to visit a website under your control. Second, you have to get software—known as malware—installed on the victim's computer in order to gain control of that machine. This formula isn't universal, but is often how web-based malware attacks proceed....In order to accomplish the first step of getting a user to visit a site under your control, an attacker might email the victim text that contains a link to the website in question, in a so-called phishing attack. The NSA reportedly uses phishing attacks sometimes, but we've learned that this step usually proceeds via a so-called “man-in-the-middle” attack. The NSA controls a set of servers codenamed “Quantum” that sit on the Internet backbone, and these servers are used to redirect targets away from their intended destinations to still other NSA-controlled servers that are responsible for the injection of malware. So, for example, if a targeted user visits “yahoo.com”, the target's browser will display the ordinary Yahoo! landing page but will actually be communicating with a server controlled by the NSA. This malicious version of Yahoo!'s website will tell the victim's browser to make a request in a background to another server controlled by the NSA which is used to deploy malware. Once a victim visits a malicious website, how does the attacker actually infect the computer? Perhaps the most straightforward method is to trick the user into downloading and running software. A cleverly designed pop-up advertisement may convince a user to download and install the attacker's malware, for example. But this method does not always work, and relies on a user taking action to download and run software. Instead, attackers can exploit software vulnerabilities in the browser that the victim is using in order to gain access to her computer. When a victim's browser loads a website, the software has to perform tasks like parsing text given to it by the server, and will often load browser plugins like Flash that run code given to it by the server, in addition to executing Javascript code given to it by the server. But browser software—which is becoming increasingly complex as the web gains more functionality—doesn't work perfectly. Like all software, it has bugs, and sometimes those bugs are exploitable security vulnerabilities that allow an attacker to gain access to a victim's computer just because a particular website was visited. Once browser vendors discover vulnerabilities, they are generally patched, but sometimes a user has out of date software that is still vulnerable to known attack. Other times, the vulnerabilities are known only to the attacker and not to the browser vendor; these are called zero-day vulnerabilities.

The NSA has a set of servers on the public Internet with the code name “FoxAcid” used to deploy malware. Once their Quantum servers redirect targets to a specially crafted URL hosted on a FoxAcid server, software on that FoxAcid server selects from a toolkit of exploits in order to gain access to the user's computer. Presumably this toolkit has both known public exploits that rely on a user's software being out of date, as well as zero-day exploits which are generally saved for high value targets.2 The agency then reportedly uses this initial malware to install longer lasting malware. Once an attacker has successfully infected a victim with malware, the attacker generally has full access to the user's machines: she can record key strokes (which will reveal passwords and other sensitive information), turn on a web cam, or read any data on the victim's computer.

What Can Users Do To Protect Themselves?

We hope that these revelations spur browser vendors to action, both to harden their systems against exploits, and to attempt to detect and block the malware URLs used by the FoxAcid servers. In the meantime, users concerned about their security should practice good security hygiene. Always keep your software up to date—especially browser plugins like Flash that require manual updates. Make sure you can distinguish between legitimate updates and pop-up ads that masquerade as software updates. Never click a suspicious looking link in an email. For users who want to go an extra step towards being more secure—and we think everyone should be in this camp—consider making plugins like Flash and Java “click-to-play” so that they are not executed on any given web page until you affirmatively click them. For Chromium and Chrome, this option is available in Settings => Show Advanced Settings => Privacy => Content Settings => Plug-ins. For Firefox, this functionality is available by installing a browser Add-On like “Click to Play per-element”. Plugins can also be uninstalled or turned off completely. Users should also use ad blocking software to stop unnecessary web requests to third party advertisers and web trackers, and our HTTPS Everywhere add-on in order to encrypt connections to websites with HTTPS as much as possible. Finally, for users who are willing to notice some more pain when browsing the web, consider using an add-on like NotScripts (Chrome) or NoScript (Firefox) to limit the execution of scripts. This means you will have to click to allow scripts to run, and since Javascript is very prevalent, you will have to click a lot. For Firefox users, RequestPolicy is another useful add-on that stops third-party resources from loading on a page by default. Once again, as third-party resources are popular, this will disrupt ordinary browsing a fair amount. Finally, for the ultra paranoid, HTTP Nowhere will disable all HTTP traffic completely, forcing your browsing experience to be entirely encrypted, and making it so that only websites that offer an HTTPS connection are available to browse.

Conclusion

The NSA's system for deploying malware isn't particularly novel, but getting some insight into how it works should help users and browser and software vendors better defend against these types of attacks, making us all safer against criminals, foreign intelligence agencies, and a host of attackers. That's why we think it's critical that the NSA come clean about its capabilities and where the common security holes are—our online security depends on it.

[Demeter]

30. Report: U.S. government keeps data of innocent Americans for up to 75 years

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/09/report-u-s-government-keeps-data-of-innocent-americans-for-up-to-75-years/

A report released Tuesday shows that U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement can keep data on innocent Americans longer than previously expected...Following former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance of Americans, senior intelligence officials scrambled to assure the public that such collection was inadvertent, minimal and strictly supervised. But according to a new report by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the phone and Internet data collected on millions of innocent Americans as part of the U.S. government’s counter-terrorism program can be retained “for up to 75 years or more.” The report by the Brennan Center, which is funded by billionaire liberal donor George Soros, demonstrates how information is shared between agencies within the U.S. government, allowing investigators and analysts the ability to find connections between newly collected pieces of information, and those that have already been stored in government databases.

“Intelligence agencies are treating the chaff much the same as the wheat,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, counsel at the Brennan Center and author of the report, in a statement.

A flowchart for how the data on U.S. persons collected by the NSA is treated — depicted by an infographic created by the Brennan Center — shows that while the agency maintains that the information is deleted after 6 years, the NSA may retain the identity of the U.S. person. Email addresses and phone numbers are used to query the agency’s database for a match. “Under certain circumstances,” Levinson-Waldman states, that information is shared with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and even foreign governments. With regard to the FBI’s retention of records on Americans, the Brennan Center wrote in a statement to the press, “Suspicious Activity Reports (“See something, say something”) ostensibly related to terrorism are kept in a widely accessible FBI database for 30 years, even if the FBI concludes they have NO nexus to terrorism.”

“Information captured at border searches — including notations regarding those searches — may also be stored in and shared through other databases,” writes Levinson-Waldman in the report.

“For instance, records of searches of electronic devices and detentions — though not copies of the information itself — are entered into the government’s TECS database and stored for up to 75 years,” says Levinson-Waldman.

The TECS is the Treasury Enforcement and Communication System – one of the U.S. government’s terrorism databases.

[xchrom]

29. IN DEBUT WHIRLWIND, SOPRANO LANDS AT MET

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OPERA_OLGA_ARRIVES_?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-04-11-07-53-27


This image released by the Metropolitan Opera shows Olga Peretyatko during a dress rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, for Vincenzo Bellini's "I Puritani." The production opens on April 17 for a run of seven performances, ending on the last night of the season, May 10. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Opera, Ken Howard)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Suddenly, it seems, Olga is everywhere.

For Olga Peretyatko, the past year has seen a dizzying series of debuts that have thrust the 33-year-old Russian soprano into sudden prominence. These have included Berlin and Milan's La Scala (Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tsar's Bride&quot , Verona and Zurich (Verdi's "Rigoletto&quot and the summer Salzburg Festival (Mozart's "Lucio Silla&quot .

Now she's in New York to face critics and audiences at the Metropolitan Opera, singing a touchstone role of the bel canto repertory, the madness-prone Elvira in Vincenzo Bellini's "I Puritani."

That wasn't the original plan. When she signed a Met contract in 2009, her debut was to be as the Fiakermilli, a stratospherically challenging but small role in Richard Strauss' "Arabella."

[Demeter]

33. Top NATO Commander: U.S. Troops May Be Sent To Eastern Europe

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/09/us-troops-eastern-europe_n_5121124.html

NATO's top military commander in Europe, drafting countermoves to the Russian military threat against Ukraine, said Wednesday they could include deployment of American troops to alliance member states in Eastern Europe now feeling at risk. U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told The Associated Press he wouldn't "write off involvement by any nation, to include the United States." Foreign ministers of the 28-nation alliance have given Breedlove until Tuesday to propose steps to reassure NATO members nearest Russia that other alliance countries have their back.

"Essentially what we are looking at is a package of land, air and maritime measures that would build assurance for our easternmost allies," Breedlove told the AP. "I'm tasked to deliver this by next week. I fully intend to deliver it early."

Asked again if American soldiers might be sent to NATO's front-line states closest to Russia, the four-star U.S. general said, "I would not write off contributions from any nation."

BREEDLOVE=STRANGELOVE ? LIFE IMITATES ART AGAIN

[Demeter]

35. JPMorgan profit weaker than expected as trading revenue drops

http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-profit-falls-19-percent-trading-revenue-drops-110631563--sector.html

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a far weaker-than-expected quarterly profit as revenue from securities trading fell in a climate of uncertainty about the strength of the economic recovery and the Federal Reserve's intentions on interest rates. Net income fell to $5.27 billion, or $1.28 per share, from $6.53 billion, or $1.59 per share, in the same quarter of 2013, the biggest U.S. bank said on Friday. Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.40 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The net earnings for both the latest and prior quarter included special items. JPMorgan's shares, which recently topped $61 to trade at their highest level in 13 years, were down 2.4 percent at $55.99 in premarket trading.

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has been pushing to improve the bank's profitability after net income dropped 16 percent last year due to massive legal settlements and rising costs to improve compliance with laws and regulations.

"We have growing confidence in the economy - consumers, corporations and middle market companies are in increasingly good financial shape and housing has turned the corner in most markets...," Dimon said in a statement.

The bank's revenue from fixed-income fell 21 percent to $3.8 billion in the quarter ended March 31, while revenue from equity markets fell 3 percent to $1.3 billion. Some investors worry about how much of the big banks' revenue streams from fixed-income trading have been lost forever as a result of changes ordered by regulators to make the banking system safer. JPMorgan's annual costs to comply with laws and regulations and control risk have increased by about $2 billion. JPMorgan, the first big investment bank to report for the quarter, said noninterest expenses fell 5 percent in the latest quarter to $14.6 billion Dimon is aiming to hold down overhead, which he defines as non-interest expenses aside from litigation, to below an average of $14.75 billion per quarter, or $59 billion for the year. Mortgage banking net income fell to $114 million in the quarter, a drop of $559 million from the year-earlier quarter. The bank's mortgage originations fell 68 percent to $17 billion from a year earlier, and were down 27 percent from the fourth quarter. U.S. mortgage lending has been cooling as homeowners finish refinancing their loans.

JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, said total assets at the end of March stood at $2.48 trillion, up from $2.42 trillion at the end of December. The firm's supplementary leverage ratio, a measure of a bank's capital compared with its assets, was 5.1 percent. Leverage ratios took on added importance on Tuesday when the Federal Reserve approved new rules setting minimum levels that could force the eight biggest U.S. banks to boost their capital by a total of $68 billion. The rule sets a higher minimum of 6 percent for the company's insured bank subsidiary. Before the rule was approved in its latest form, JPMorgan had said it was on track to raise its ratio from 4.6 percent at the end of December to the 5 percent minimum for its holding company by the end of this year.

[Demeter]

37. JPMorgan Earnings Fall 18.5% on Slowdown in Trading and Mortgage Lending

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/11/jpmorgan-earnings-fall-18-5-on-slowdown-in-trading-and-mortgage-lending/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

...As the nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan has become a kind of bellwether for the broader industry. The lukewarm results on Friday underscored how Wall Street has struggled to recoup the revenue drained from a slowdown in trading. Compounding the problem, revenue from underwriting bonds has also dipped in recent quarters...At an investor conference in February, JPMorgan executives foreshadowed the slowdown, predicting that revenue from trading would fall by roughly 15 percent from just a year earlier. Ahead of the earnings, some bank analysts expected the trading woes to be aggravated as the nation’s biggest banks adapt to new rules on derivative trading.

For JPMorgan, the results also pointed to just how expensive it has been for the bank to win some kind of peace with Washington. All told, JPMorgan has paid roughly $20 billion in just the past 12 months to resolve a spate of government investigations. Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, discussed the steep price of reconciliation in his annual letter to shareholders. He also emphasized that negotiating settlements — including a $13 billion agreement with government authorities over the sale of mortgage securities in the years before the financial crisis — while trying to reduce risk, has been “painful” and “nerve-racking.” In fact, in the third quarter of last year, the hefty legal costs led JPMorgan to report its first quarterly loss ever under Mr. Dimon’s leadership.

Part of the slowdown came from a slowdown in revenue from fixed-income trading, which fell roughly 26 percent to $3.76 billion from $4.75 billion a year earlier. Still, Mr. Dimon has continued to sound an optimistic tone, emphasizing that the bank has worked to move beyond its legal problems. With those settled, Mr. Dimon has said the bank and its senior executives can focus on further expanding the businesses.

“JPMorgan Chase had a good start to the year, given there were industrywide headwinds in markets and mortgage,” he said in a statement on Friday.

JPMorgan’s earnings also contained a number of bright spots, including an increase in deposits, along with an uptick in auto loans. Auto loans grew by 3 percent, to $6.7 billion from $6.5 billion a year earlier. Private banking was another rosy area for the bank, with revenue rising to $1.5 billion, up 4 percent from the same period last year. Still, the strength of those businesses could not completely offset the continued decline in trading revenue and mortgage refinancing, which had once been a particularly robust source of profit for JPMorgan and its rivals. Now, the heady days of refinancing seem distant. Rising interest rates, coupled with an increase in housing prices, have damped homeowners’ appetite to refinance. Mortgage loan originations also dropped to $17 billion, down 68 percent from a year earlier, and 27 percent from the previous quarter. Analysts have winced at the mortgage slowdown. In a note earlier this month, for example, analysts from Guggenheim Securities said that even an uptick in home purchases last quarter could not make up for the steep drop in revenue from mortgage refinancing.

To help deal with the tough lending landscape, JPMorgan has worked to whittle down expenses. Noninterest expenses dropped 5.1 percent, to $14.64 billion, from the same period a year earlier. JPMorgan has also pruned some its highest-risk businesses, including the so-called correspondent banking, in which the bank relies on foreign institutions to process financial transactions overseas. To fortify its money laundering controls, JPMorgan has hired an additional 13,000 employees since 2012 to handle regulatory issues and compliance — a push that Mr. Dimon emphasized in his annual letter on Wednesday. Beyond slashing expenses to bolster profit, JPMorgan has worked to bring in more from its asset-management business. As part of that push, JPMorgan wooed more customers. Total client assets in that business were up 10 percent. Still, JPMorgan reported that net income for the business fell to $441 million from $487 million in the same period last year, reflecting higher noninterest expenses.

[Demeter]

38. Stock futures weak after J.P. Morgan results disappoint

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-wary-after-rout-bank-earnings-loom-2014-04-11?siteid=YAHOOB

ALSO

Stock futures fall after JP Morgan results

http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-fall-jp-morgan-results-114655901--sector.html

U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday after earnings from JP Morgan Chase, putting the S&P 500 on track to continue its decline after suffering its biggest drop in two months.

* JPMorgan Chase & Co shares fell 2.7 percent to $55.87 in premarket after it reported a far weaker-than-expected quarterly profit as revenue from securities trading fell.

* Also due on Friday are earnings from Wells Fargo & Co.

* S&P 500 companies' first-quarter earnings are projected to have increased just 1 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed. The forecast is down sharply from the start of the year, when profit growth was estimated at 6.5 percent. Investors will be looking at the impact of harsh winter weather on first-quarter earnings, and signs of optimism for the second-quarter.

* Another sharp selloff in biotech and momentum names on Thursday sent the Nasdaq <.IXIC> to its worst decline since November 9, 2011 and the benchmark S&P index <.SPX> to its biggest fall since Feb 3.

* Equities have been volatile this week, with Thursday's move a sharp reversal from gains on Wednesday after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policymakers' meeting suggested members were more likely to keep rates low than previously expected. The CBOE Volatility index is up nearly 14 percent for the week, closing at its highest level since March 14 on Thursday.

* S&P 500 e-mini futures were down 10.25 points and below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 80 points and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 28.25 points.

* For the week, the Dow is down 1.5 percent, the S&P is down 1.7 percent and the Nasdaq is down 1.8 percent.

* At 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT), investors will eye the producer price index for March. Expectations call for a gain of 0.1 percent versus the 0.1 decline in the prior month.

* At 9:55 a.m. (1355 GM), the preliminary Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment for March is due. Estimates call for a reading of 81 versus the 80 in the prior month.

* Gap Inc lost 4.6 percent to $37.48 before the opening bell after the retailer posted its March sales results.

* Zynga Inc rose 1 percent to $4.11 in premarket trade after the company appointed former Best Buy executive David Lee its chief financial officer.

* European shares slid on Friday to leave them set for their first weekly loss in a month, tracking declines in Asia as Japanese shares staggered to six-month lows in the wake of Wall Street's sell off.

* Japanese shares staggered to six-month lows as an escalating selloff on Wall Street spread to Asia and hit markets that had been fairly resilient up to now.

[xchrom]

36. Exclusive - SEC eyes test that may lead to shift away from 'dark pools'

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/11/uk-sec-darkmarkets-exclusive-idUKBREA3A0EG20140411

(Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators are considering testing a proposed reform that could drive business to major stock exchanges and away from alternative trading venues such as "dark pools" that critics say may be hurting investors by reducing the quality of pricing.

The proposal, which has so far only been discussed among staff involved in policymaking at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, could limit how much trading occurs inside brokerages and in dark pools, according to people familiar with the matter.

The measure aims to address a concern among some regulators and academics about the increasing level of trading that happens outside of exchanges.

They say that the amount of trading being done in the "dark" means that publicly quoted prices for stocks on exchanges may no longer properly reflect where the market is, meaning that investors may not be getting the best prices for their trades.

[Demeter]

39. U.S. storm team predicts below-average Atlantic hurricane season

WELL, THEY WERE COMPLETELY WRONG ON LAST YEAR'S PREDICTION...IT'S A 50/50 CHANCE

http://news.yahoo.com/u-storm-team-predicts-below-average-atlantic-hurricane-193009636.html

The 2014 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be quieter than normal, with a below-average number of storms and hurricanes, a leading U.S. hurricane forecasting team said on Thursday. Forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU) predicted this year's season will see nine tropical storms, three of which will intensify into a hurricane and one becoming a major hurricane with winds of at least 111 miles per hour. A typical season has 12 tropical storms, with six hurricanes and two major hurricanes, according to CSU. The hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.

Phil Klotzbach, who heads the CSU team, said the lower forecast was based on cooler waters in the tropical Atlantic and expectations that El Nino, the climate pattern that creates wind shear, making it harder for storms to develop into hurricanes, will form this year...There is a 35 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coast this year, the forecasters said. The chance of a major hurricane hitting the U.S. East Coast including Florida is 20 percent. There is a 19 percent chance of a hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico, where major oil and gas installations are located.

Last year, the CSU team predicted above-average storm activity. In the end, the 2013 season turned out to be one of the weakest in decades, with 13 named storms and two hurricanes, neither of them major.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (http://www.noaa.gov/), the U.S. government's top climate agency, is expected to release its hurricane forecast next month.

[Demeter]

40. Fed-Up Holder Rips 'Unprecedented, Unwarranted, Ugly and Divisive' Congress

http://news.yahoo.com/fed-holder-rips-unprecedented-unwarranted-ugly-divisive-congress-201231513--abc-news-politics.html

IT'S A POUTRAGE!

A fed-up Attorney General Eric Holder is accusing congressional critics of launching "unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive" attacks on him and the Obama administration. During a speech to the National Action Network, a group founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, in New York on Wednesday lauding the organization's effort to advance racial equality, a heated Holder went a little off-script.

"Forget about me (specifically). Look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee," Holder told the crowd. "What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?"

JOHN MITCHELL, MAYBE?

On Tuesday, while testifying before a House panel, Holder engaged in a testy back-and-forth with two of his most outspoken Republican antagonists. One accused Holder of violating federal law and questioned whether he should even be allowed to testify before lawmakers, while Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, seemed to threaten Holder with another contempt citation and angrily told Holder he didn't need to be lectured by the nation's top law enforcement official.

On Wednesday, with a finger raised, Holder told the crowd in New York that his tenure as attorney general has been "defined by significant strides … even in the face of unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity."...Holder has had a tense relationship with several Republican lawmakers since the Republican-led House held him in contempt of Congress two years ago for failing to turn over certain documents tied to the Fast and Furious scandal involving botched firearms sting operations despite a congressional subpoena seeking those documents. In asking Holder on Tuesday about the Justice Department's refusal to turn over documents in an unrelated terrorism case, Gohmert again raised the issue of contempt, saying, "I realize that contempt is not a big deal to our attorney general, but it is important that we have proper oversight."

A visibly upset Holder, leaning back in his chair, shot back, "You don't want to go there, buddy. You don't want to go there, OK?"

"You should not assume that that is not a big deal to me," Holder added, pointing a finger toward the congressman. "I think it was inappropriate. I think it was unjust. But never think that was not a big deal to me. Don't ever think that."

Gohmert pressed the issue.

"There have been no indications that it was a big deal, because your department has still not been forthcoming in producing the documents that were the subject of the contempt," Gohmert said.

"I don't need lectures from you about contempt," Gohmert added.

"And I don't need lectures from you either," Holder responded.

The documents at issue were mostly from the months after the public first learned that an Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation called Fast and Furious put guns into the hands of criminals in Mexico. Republican lawmakers subpoenaed the Justice Department for internal emails dated after Feb. 4, 2011, when department officials realized they would have to retract a letter to Congress denying any such thing happened. But President Obama then asserted executive privilege over the documents, and Republicans filed suit in federal court.

...Asked Thursday about Holder's recent run-ins with Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner insisted, "There's no issue of race here."

"The American people have not been told the truth about what happened in Fast and Furious," he said, adding that the Obama administration has also not been "forthcoming" about other scandals.

"We've been going through all of these hearings, having to hold people in contempt because they've made it impossible to get to the documents," Boehner said. "They owe the American people the truth."

AH, YES, THERE'S THE OLD MAID CARD...THE "RACE" CARD....THE NAME OF THE GAME!

[Demeter]

41. Health secretary resigns after Obamacare launch woes

TOO BAD HOLDER WON'T DO THE SAME...

http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-health-secretary-resigns-obamacare-launch-woes-001433328--sector.html

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is resigning after overseeing the botched rollout of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, a White House official said on Thursday. Her departure removes one lightning rod for critics as Obama and nervous Democrats try to retain control of the U.S. Senate in November midterm elections, but Republicans continue to see problems with the Affordable Care Act as a winning issue.

"If the Obama people thought this was going to calm the waters, I think they misread it. I think it's just going to embolden Republicans," said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

I THINK HE IS EXACTLY RIGHT--DEMETER

...Obama has chosen Sylvia Mathews Burwell, his budget director, to replace Sebelius, the White House said. Well-known inside Washington, where her appointment was praised by the likes of Republican Senator John McCain, Burwell will have to manage the program through its next major challenges in the height of elections season. But Burwell is relatively unknown outside the Beltway, and has a "tall order" to fix all the detailed issues with the law, and improve its standing among voters, Yepsen said.

Polls show Obamacare remains unpopular. In March, 46 percent of people said they had an unfavorable view of the law, while 38 percent said they liked it, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Obama was due to announce the change with Sebelius and Burwell at his side at a White House event at 10:45 a.m. EDT on Friday. Sebelius remains on the job until Burwell is confirmed by the Senate, an administration official said.

MORE GOSSIP AT LINK

[Demeter]

43. Foster Farms salmonella outbreak continuing

http://news.yahoo.com/foster-farms-salmonella-outbreak-continuing-143259198.html

A salmonella outbreak linked to Foster Farms chicken isn't over and has now infected 524 people in 25 states and Puerto Rico, federal health officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in January that the outbreak, which has been going on since March 2013, appeared to be over. But the agency said there was an uptick in illnesses in February.

It released the latest figures on Wednesday. Though no one has died, the CDC says the outbreak strains have been resistant to several commonly prescribed antibiotics, and 37 percent of those infected have been hospitalized, a higher rate than normal. More than three-quarters of the 524 reported illnesses are from California, according to the CDC.

The outbreak led to a public health alert from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for raw chicken packaged at three Foster Farms facilities in California. The agency later said Foster Farms facilities in Fresno and Livingston had made substantive changes to their slaughter and processing and could stay open. Foster Farms has said the infections were caused by eating chicken that was undercooked or improperly handled. The company has implemented a salmonella control program that has reduced the prevalence of salmonella to well below the USDA-measured industry benchmark, according to Foster Farms.

Symptoms of a salmonella infection include diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever.

[Demeter]

45. Fla. bitcoin case tests money laundering limits

http://news.yahoo.com/fla-bitcoin-case-tests-money-laundering-limits-152957544.html

Two police officers burst through a hotel room door with guns drawn, yelling "Police! Get Down!" just after an alleged money laundering transaction went down. But instead of briefcases stuffed with a drug dealer's cash, this exchange involved an undercover officer with supposedly stolen credit cards and the virtual currency bitcoin. The February arrests of Pascal Reid and Michell Espinoza marked the first time any state has brought money laundering charges involving bitcoins, according to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. And it's likely to be a closely-watched test of whether criminal law can adapt to new digital forms of payment.

"These cybercriminals are way ahead of the rest of us in terms of trying to figure out ways they can launder dirty money," Rundle said.

Investigators trolled through an online directory of bitcoin traders to find the 29-year-old Reid and 30-year-old Espinoza, setting up separate meetings with each of the men at restaurants and coffee shops. They were arrested at the same Miami Beach hotel on the same day, at different times. Defense attorneys said the men have no previous criminal records and were simply enthusiasts of the payment format that allows people to convert cash into digital money for online transactions. Still, undercover officers with the U.S. Secret Service and Miami Beach police told both clearly that they wanted to buy bitcoins with cash supposedly generated by the hacking of Target Corp. customer information. The undercover officers said during the secretly videotaped meetings that they planned to use the bitcoins to acquire still more stolen credit cards. SO IT'S ENTRAPMENT...A VERY LAME FORM OF ENTRAPMENT Attorneys for Reid and Espinoza, both of whom have pleaded not guilty, say they will challenge the very legal foundations of the cases, which are being prosecuted separately. The arrest affidavits for both Reid and Espinoza refer to bitcoins as "electronic currency with no central authority."

"My client has never dealt in the area of stolen credit cards," said Espinoza's attorney, Rene Palomino Jr. "My client was simply selling a piece of personal property, which is what a bitcoin is. It has not been recognized as currency yet in the United States."

The Internal Revenue Service issued guidance last month concluding that bitcoins can only be taxed as property and are not legal tender. Federal law enforcement agencies are watching whether bitcoins are used increasingly in criminal activity, such as the now-defunct Silk Road illegal drug marketplace. HOIST ON THEIR OWN PETARD...CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, UNCLE SAM! MUCH AS YOU LIKE TO TRY, AND NOT JUST IN THIS CASE!

"The idea that illicit actors might exploit the vulnerabilities of virtual currency to launder money is not merely theoretical," said Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, in a recent Florida speech to bankers.

Still, bitcoins have been gaining popularity among mainstream businesses. Overstock.com recently became the first major retailer to accept digital money and the NBA's Sacramento Kings in January announced the team would accept bitcoins, another first. They are increasingly used in restaurants, coffee shops and elsewhere. Bitcoin users exchange cash for digital money using online exchanges, then store it in a computer program that serves as a wallet. The program can transfer payments directly to merchants or individuals around the world, eliminating transaction fees and the need for bank or credit card information...In the Florida criminal case, Reid and Espinoza each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of money laundering and engaging in an unlicensed money services business. Reid is free on $100,000 bail but Espinoza has been unable so far to make bail. The transactions started small — one payment of $500 translated into about half a bitcoin — and eventually built to a proposed swap involving $30,000 in Reid's case.

"Ice cold money. Ice cold cash. Right out of the freezer," the undercover agent, holding a plastic bag of cash tells Reid on the surveillance tape. Just after Reid accepts the bag, the undercover agent says, "We're cooking with gas," an apparent signal to the officers outside to come in.

"You're a cop?" Reid is heard saying on the tape. "You're a cop?"

Reid attorney Ron Lowy said the prosecution was manufactured. I'LL SAY IT WAS! THE ONLY CHARGE THAT WOULD BE FEASIBLE IS CONSPIRACY--BUT IF THERE WAS NO CRIME, CONSPIRACY TO WHAT?

"The government is frightened of bitcoin. Apparently, they see it as an emerging, new type of economic medium of exchange, and they're worried that they're not regulating it close enough," Lowy said. "These facts do not constitute a crime."

[xchrom]

46. Stocks Retreat Amid Tech Rout as S&P 500 Futures Decline

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-10/asian-futures-sink-as-tech-selloff-resumes-kiwi-weakens.html

European stocks fell with emerging markets amid a selloff in technology shares, and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures dropped after JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported profit declined. Treasuries gained, Turkey’s lira weakened, and nickel extended its longest rally since 2010.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 1.6 percent at 8:15 a.m. in New York, its biggest decline in a month. S&P 500 futures slid 0.6 percent after the index fell the most in two months yesterday. Nasdaq 100 Index futures sank 0.7 percent, signaling the rout in U.S. technology stocks will continue. The 10-year Treasury yield fell three basis points to 2.62 percent. A gauge of Chinese shares in Hong Kong slid the most since Feb. 4. The lira retreated as Moody’s Investors Service cut the nation’s credit-rating outlook to negative. Nickel rose for a 10th day.

The Nasdaq Composite Index slid the most since 2011 yesterday in the U.S. amid concern that valuations aren’t justified as earnings start. JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank, reported profit fell 19 percent in the first quarter on lower revenue from fixed-income trading and mortgages. China’s producer price index declined 2.3 percent in March, adding to signs of weak demand after data yesterday showed shrinking trade.

[xchrom]

47. Citigroup Mexico Worker Said to Take Papers Tied to Fraud

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/citigroup-mexico-worker-said-to-take-papers-tied-to-fraud.html

A Citigroup Inc. (C) employee in Mexico left the bank’s offices with documents related to a suspected $400 million loan fraud, according to two people briefed on the incident.

The junior worker at the bank’s Banamex unit took invoices bearing forged signatures from an office in Ciudad del Carmen on the Gulf Coast after the New York-based lender discovered the fraud in February, said one of the people, who requested anonymity because the information wasn’t public. The employee has since been fired, the other person said, declining to specify whether the documents have been recovered.

Mark Costiglio, a bank spokesman, declined to comment.

Bogus loans to oil-services firm Oceanografia SA, also based in Ciudad del Carmen, reduced the bank’s 2013 profit by $235 million, Citigroup announced on Feb. 28. At the time, Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat called it an isolated incident and a “galling example” of what happens when employees fail to act with the highest ethical standards.

[xchrom]

48. U.S. as Global Growth Engine Putt-Putts Instead of Purring

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/u-s-as-global-growth-engine-putt-putts-instead-of-purring.html

The U.S. is resuming its role as an engine of global growth, this time one that just putt-putts along instead of purring.

As the International Monetary Fund declares the strengthening U.S. economy is providing a “major impulse” to the world, economists are questioning just how powerful it will prove to be. The U.S. contribution to global expansion from 2014 to 2019 will likely average about two-thirds that of the quarter-century before the recession started in 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on IMF projections.

“The U.S. is still the most important engine of global growth although perhaps not as much as it once was,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Zandi is among the optimists in arguing acceleration in U.S. growth has spillover effects on other economies by spurring trade and investment. Skeptics at Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings Plc say America’s diminished demand for exports and energy as well as the potential for higher interest rates mean it won’t be as helpful as it once was.

[xchrom]

49. Turkish Lira Drops With Bonds as Moody’s Lowers Rating Outlook

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/turkish-lira-drops-most-in-three-weeks-as-moody-s-cuts-outlook.html

Turkey’s lira weakened for a third day, while bonds and stocks fell, as Moody’s Investors Service lowered the nation’s credit-rating outlook to negative 11 months after upgrading the debt to investment grade.

Moody’s cut the outlook from stable, citing “increased pressure on the country’s external-financing position driven by heightened political uncertainty and lower global liquidity,” which hurt investor confidence. Turkey was raised to Baa3 by Moody’s in May 2013, the lowest investment grade and on par with India and Ireland.

The lira lost 0.5 percent to 2.1175 per dollar as 1:49 p.m. in Istanbul, the biggest retreat among 24 developing-nation peers tracked by Bloomberg. The currency has gained 3.5 percent since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party won most seats at March 30 local elections. The Borsa Istanbul 100 Index dropped 0.7 percent, while two-year note yields rose seven basis points to 9.9 percent.

[xchrom]

50. Wells Fargo Posts 14% Profit Increase

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/wells-fargo-posts-14-profit-increase.html

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the most profitable U.S. bank in 2013, posted a 14 percent rise in first-quarter earnings as fewer customers missed loan payments.

Net income advanced to $5.89 billion, or $1.05 a share, from $5.17 billion, or 92 cents, a year earlier, the San Francisco-based company said today in a statement, marking the 12th consecutive record quarter. The average estimate of 31 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 96 cents a share excluding special items. While the results beat estimates, revenue fell 3 percent and profit was down 2 percent before taxes and changes in reserve levels.

Wells Fargo’s $21.9 billion of net income last year surpassed JPMorgan Chase & Co., its largest U.S. rival by assets. Those profits helped boost capital at Wells Fargo, which ranks first in market value and home lending. Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf gained clearance last month to raise the quarterly dividend to 35 cents after passing Federal Reserve stress tests.

“Revenue remained relatively stable despite the impact of fewer days in the quarter, reflecting contributions from our diversified sources of fee revenue,” Chief Financial Officer Tim Sloan said in the statement.

[Hotler]

51. 267 point drop. Just a blip. n/t

[Demeter]

58. the Fairies Are Really Humping It Today--Nearly dropped below 16K!

I have declared Spring officially open, here in Ann Arbor.

Instead of the endless list of nasty tasks I could be doing, I planted two flats of Siberian pansies, the only flower (besides snowdrops and crocus) that can stand to go below freezing as it is STILL doing....

I feel much calmer. My Persephone is home and the Earth is reviving from a long winter's nap.

The grandpuppy lay in the sun while I planted flowers for his mommy....hope she likes them!

[Warpy]

60. The Fairies are getting out of equities and back into commodities

and that trend will continue until the western drought breaks, probably into next fall.

I love pansies. They overwinter and bloom a second spring, then heat kills them off. These days, my little patch of garden by the front door is all desert plants, some of which bloom if we get enough moisture over the winter. We didn't this year.

[Demeter]

52. The sneaky way car insurers raise your rates: Data mining PICKS which customers will tolerate hikes

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sneaky-way-car-insurers-raise-your-rates-2014-04-11?siteid=YAHOOB

Car insurance companies charge higher rates if you’re poor, less educated or just plain lazy, two new studies show. The companies calculate which customers are least likely to shop around after price increases and then slowly bump up their premiums, according to a letter two advocacy organizations sent to insurance commissioners nationwide. And less-educated drivers and those with non-professional, non-managerial jobs, which are often lower-paying, pay almost $1,000 extra in premiums, the New York Public Interest Research Group found.

“It’s clear that some people are being charged more for the exact same coverage, and those people come from low income backgrounds or communities of color. We think that presents a serious problem, possibly a civil rights violation,” says Andrew Morrison, campaigns director at NYPIRG and an author of the study.

Inputting fictional information for a 30-year-old single woman on the websites of four of the five largest auto insurers in New York, the group found that on average, a bank executive with a college degree is quoted at $1,247. A college-educated bank teller is charged $30 more. The rate increases by $200 or more for bank executives, tellers and retail cashiers who only have a high school diploma. The quotes for this “30-year-old single woman” were taken from January to April, and based on a woman who drives a 2008 Honda Civic 7,500 miles annually and has driven for 14 years. Her home locations were across middle-income areas in New York, including Albany, Queens, Poughkeepsie and Staten Island.

Progressive gave the fictitious high school-educated retail cashier and bank teller quotes of $5,021 annually, $916 more than a woman with the same driving patterns who was a college-educated bank teller. Geico asked the less educated retail cashier to pay an average of 41% more than the college-educated bank executive. Progressive uses “many different rating factors, which sometimes include non-driving factors that have been proven to be predictive of a person’s likelihood of having a claim,” spokesman Jeff Sibel said in an email. Geico did not return requests for comment.

Advocates also say auto insurance companies are creeping up rates for consumers they deem less likely to shop around — a factor that isn’t associated with their level of risk. That makes a customer who has stuck around with the same insurance provider for years, despite rate hikes, more likely to see continued price increases.

“They’re maximizing profit by figuring out, how high can a rate go, prior to too many people leaving to make it not profitable,” says J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America.

Sixty-three percent of auto insurance companies in the U.S. and Canada employ the practice called “price optimization” or plan to do so in the future, according to a survey of 73 representatives by Earnix, a company that runs a pricing analytics software.

“You can’t just charge people willy-nilly for certain things just because that’s what the market will bear,” says Birny Birnbaum, executive director of the Austin-based Center for Economic Justice and a former associate commissioner at the Texas Department of Insurance. “Price optimization is really just a fancy term for price gouging.”

The two consumer groups sent a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, urging them to ban the practice. The NAIC declined to comment for this story. That letter calls out Earnix, the software company, for helping insurers set rates based on a consumer’s sensitivity to price changes. Meryl Golden, general manager of the company’s North America operations, said in an interview that insurers commonly make judgments on how customers will respond to rate changes and the company’s software offers an analytical, data-based tool to help reach those decisions.

“Every company is responsible for setting their prices and they make the decision of what their business goals are,” she says.

The insurance industry is seeing a “technical evolution” in pricing methods as data mining becomes the norm, and “responsible use of these techniques that imposes higher prices on truly risky behavior should be permitted,” according to a December 2013 report by the Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office.

“However, simply because data may be available regarding consumers does not mean that any data is relevant to determining the insurance premium they should pay,” the report reads.

[Demeter]

59. A probably true unfunny

more unfunny but may be true



some that are actually slightly funny