STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 7 July 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 7 July 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 6 July 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 6 July 2015
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Dow Jones 17,683.58 -46.53 (-0.26%)
S&P 500 2,068.76 -8.02 (-0.39%)
Nasdaq 4,991.94 -17.27 (-0.34%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.28% -0.02 (-0.87%)
30 Year 3.08% -0.02 (-0.65%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
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.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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

[Demeter]

1. Attention, Weekenders!

Want a chance to start something?

I'm going to run away for this Weekend--it's Celtic Festival in Saline...Men in Kilts!

If you have been longing to make a Super Guest Appearance and get the WEE thread off the ground, Friday is your chance! You can pick your special topic, theme, artist, whatever, and let it rip!

Please post your acceptance below, or PM Demeter....

otherwise, the WEEkend may never get started!

[Demeter]

2. Greece and Puerto Rico

http://www.cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/greece-and-puerto-rico

Since several commentators have raised questions about the similarities between the debt situations of Greece and Puerto Rico, it is worth pointing out some important ways in which they differ. Puerto Rico gets the benefit of several important federal government programs which will continue regardless of the finances of its own government. This means that if its own government ceases to exist due to financial paralysis, the people of Puerto Rico can still count on their monthly Social Security checks, their Medicare payments for their health care, and food stamps for low-income families. The people of Greece do not receive any comparable benefit from the European Union.

The banks and financial system in Puerto Rico is also supported by the FDIC, the Fed, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This means that if every bank in Puerto Rico goes belly up because its economy is a wreck, all the depositors can still count on getting their money back up to the FDIC limit. If the housing market collapses, people will still be able to buy homes because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are prepared to buy up the mortgages.

The bulk of aid to Greece has taken the form of the I.M.F., the E.U., and the E.C.B. making payments to Greece's creditors. This was initially the banks who were bailed out of their bad loans and more recently to themselves. It has not gone to help the Greek people. If the Syriza government were offered terms comparable to those Puerto Rico now has, the only fight would be over how quickly they could get a pen to sign the deal.

This doesn't mean Puerto Rico doesn't have very serious economic problems as a result of being tied to the U.S. dollar, but it has a range of supports that are beyond the dreams of the people of Greece.

[Demeter]

3. Puerto Rico Is Emptying of People as Its Economy Disintegrates

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/puerto_rico_is_emptying_of_people_as_its_economy_disintegrates_20150703

As Puerto Rico begins to ration water, close schools and lose its health care system under the weight of a $73 billion debt, tens of thousands of its inhabitants are fleeing to the United States, where prospects of finding a better life are dim.

Forty-five percent of Puerto Ricans live in poverty.

The Guardian reports:

“This new wave of immigration can be compared with the immigration in the 1930s and 40s,” said Edgardo González, coordinator of the Defenders of Puerto Rico, an activist group. The Great Depression and second world war spurred the so-called “Great Migration”, when tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans moved to New York every year for nearly two decades.

Now most Puerto Ricans are arriving in central Florida, González said, but many cannot find jobs or even housing. “Some might stay with family for a few weeks, but for those who don’t have family, people end up homeless because of the lack of services,” he said. ...

In particular, González said that professionals with higher degrees were leaving the island in search of work, draining Puerto Rico of the talent it needs to resuscitate its economy and healthcare sector. …

“Puerto Rico continues to have people leave to the tune of 100 individuals on a daily basis,” said Díaz, who is himself of Puerto Rican descent. “We’re losing a doctor a day that is leaving the island and coming over here.

MORE AT LINK: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/02/puerto-rico-economy-exodus-us-mainland

[Demeter]

4. The Sixties . . . In 2016?

TREMBLE, CAPITALIST PIGS!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/billwhalen/2015/07/06/the-sixties-in-2016/



Some have suggested that the 1960s all but died on May 4, 1970, and the shootings at Kent State. But if the news cycle of the past few days has taught us anything, it’s that the ’60?s still resonates.

That begins with the reported death of Burt Shavitz, whose first name you might recognize if you use any of Burt’s Bees’ personal care products (lip balm, soap, etc.). As the company posted on its website: “We remember him as a bearded, free-spirited Maine man, a beekeeper, a wisecracker, a lover of golden retrievers and his land. Above all, he taught us to never lose sight of our relationship with nature.”


EVENTUALLY GETS OUT OF BEES AND INTO POLITICS AND THE COMING ELECTION OF 2016...ENTERTAINING, MORE THAT ENLIGHTENING.

BUT, I AM THINKING THE 60'S ARE MAKING A COMEBACK--BECAUSE THE MILITARY/ INDUSTRIAL/ INTELLIGENCE/ BANKSTER/ COMPLEX IS DESTROYING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE. "THE BERN" IS THE PRIMARY MANIFESTATION OF THIS BELIEF OF MINE BUT NOT THE ONLY ONE, BEDSIDES, IT'S TIME, ANYWAY. TO BRING IT BACK..

[mother earth]

13. New and improved...

[Demeter]

14. Yes! We have learned a lot, and have the power of the Internet now

People have made connections, both factual and political. we aren't the idealistic teens any more, and our children and grandchildren have been deprived of their childhoods, so it's 3 generations strong!

[Demeter]

5. Meet JPMorgan's newest vice chairman—a former SEC director who investigated Enron and WorldCom

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/man-succeed-legendary-jpmorgan-dealmaker-153814721.html

JPMorgan Chase has appointed its general counsel, Stephen M. Cutler, to vice chairman, the bank said in a press release.

Cutler's appointment comes a few weeks after Jimmy Lee, the bank's beloved legendary dealmaker/vice chairman unexpectedly died last month.

As vice chairman, Cutler will serve as an adviser to JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon and continue assist with legal and regulatory matters, the bank said. Cutler's role as the firm's general counsel will be assumed by Stacey Friedman.

Cutler's new role will take effect early next year, the press release indicates.

Stacey Friedman, the general counsel for the corporate and investment bank, will assume the role of the firm's general counsel early next year. Friedman joined JPMorgan in 2012 from Sullivan & Cromwell where she was a partner in the firm's litigation group. She received her JD from Duke University School of Law. ,,,

MORE

[Demeter]

6. Greeks Vote NO To EU-Imposed Austerity By Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42311.htm

With 90% of the votes counted, the Greek people have voted 61% to 39% against accepting the latest round of austerity that the EU is trying to impose on the Greek people for the benefit of the One Percent. What is amazing is that 39% voted for the One Percent against their own interests. This 39% vote shows that propaganda works to convince people to vote against their own interest.

The vote was not a vote to leave the EU. With the backing of the Greek nation, the Greek government hopes to reopen negotiations with the EU and to find a solution to the debt problem that will actually work. The EU objects to the Greek people having a voice in their fate, and unless common sense prevails is inclined to disregard the vote and to maintain the EU’s inflexible position that the debt issue can be resolved only on the EU’s terms. As has been made perfectly clear, these terms are more looting of the Greek economy by the One Percent.

As the Greek banks are closed and evidently cannot reopen without a resolution of the issue, EU inflexibility would force Greece to leave the euro and return to its own currency in order to reopen the banks. This would not require Greece’s departure from the EU as the UK and one or two other EU member states have their own currencies. However, most likely the EU and Washington and Washington’s Japanese, Canadian, and Australian vassals would attack the new Greek currency and drive its value in exchange markets to such a low value that Greece could not import and wealth held in Greek currency would be worthless abroad.

An inflexible EU creates conditions for Russia and China to act. These two powerful nations have the means to finance Greece and to bring Greece into the economic relationships established by these two countries and by the BRICS...

[Demeter]

7. Greece’s Fight is for Democracy in Europe. That’s Why We Must Support It By Owen Jones

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/owen-jones

From the cradle of democracy, a lion has roared. It is difficult to overstate the pressure the Greek people have both endured and defied. A country that has already experienced an austerity-induced economic disaster with few precedents among developed nations in peacetime has suffered a sustained campaign of economic and political warfare. The European Central Bank – which has only recently deigned to publish some of the minutes of its meetings – capped liquidity for Greek banks, driving them to the verge of collapse. There were stringent capital controls, and desperate queues outside banks followed. A country desperate to stay within the euro was told it would be ejected, and with calamitous results.

Martin Schulz, the European parliament’s president and a so-called social democrat, whose attitude towards democracy can be generously described as ambiguous, called for the removal of Greece’s elected government in favour of a technocratic government. It wasn’t bluster. That’s what the EU and the markets previously pulled off in Greece and, yes, in Italy: however much justifiable distaste exists for Silvio Berlusconi, it should have been his own people who removed him. In Greece itself, the oligarch-owned “free media” acted as a political machine (sound familiar?), pumping out relentless propaganda in favour of capitulating to the creditors’ demands. An alliance between Greece’s economic elite and the EU great powers told the Greek people: however tough your lives have been in the last few years, your world will cave in unless you acquiesce. And still the Greek people voted no – not narrowly, but overwhelmingly. The referendum was, of course, a rejection of an austerity programme that has unleashed what is commonly described in Greece as a humanitarian crisis. Since Lehman Brothers crashed in 2008, austerity has always relied on the displacement of blame from elites to elsewhere. It was Goldman Sachs who helped the then Greek government to cook the country’s books to win entry into the euro. It was German and French banks who profitably and recklessly lent to Greece, just as US banks disastrously showered subprime mortgages on low-paid Americans. It was Germany who benefited from being able to export its consumer goods to peripheral European countries such as Greece.

After the crash, Greece was forced to implement measures that sent debt hurtling to 180% of GDP, doubled poverty, left a quarter of Greeks and over half of young people without work, raised the suicide and infant mortality rate, left many without healthcare, and shrunk the economy by a quarter. Precious little of the bailouts went to Greece; instead they went to the European banks that had recklessly lent in the first place. While Germany’s postwar economic renaissance owed everything to debt relief – including from war-devastated countries such as Greece – Athens was denied the write-offs it desperately needed. As French economist Thomas Piketty points out, “Germany is the single best example of a country that, throughout its history, has never repaid its external debt”, and Berlin is “profiting from Greece” because of its high-interest loans. The weak euro makes German goods so internationally competitive, and has been a linchpin of the country’s recent economic success.

But this revolt was about something much bigger, and that is why Greece remains in great danger. This is about the very nature of the European Union itself. The European project was founded in the rubble of a war of annihilation, genocide and totalitarianism. It was intended to secure peace, prosperity and democracy for the people of Europe. This dream has become something of a nightmare for a growing number of Europeans. A democratic deficit is unaddressed. The Transatlantic Treaty Investment Partnership is negotiated in secret with large corporations, conspiring to give them the power to sue elected governments in secret courts to try to stop policies they believe hit their profits. The EU treaty negotiated in 2011 effectively forbade any future eurozone government from pursuing an expansionary fiscal policy. Other treaties and directives enshrine free-market dogma in law. Austerity is mindlessly implemented across the eurozone with terrible human consequences: in Spain, too, around half of young people are out of work.

Syriza was a revolt against this Europe of austerity and corporate power, in favour of a democratic, socially progressive Europe. Podemos in Spain is part of this revolt, as is Sinn Féin in Ireland. If the referendum had produced a yes, then it would have represented a potentially terminal defeat for this gathering pan-European revolt. Instead, it has now been emboldened. Unfortunately the EU elites are not stupid, and realise this. They fear – justifiably – that if Syriza is seen to win concessions, the rebellion will spread. The resignation of Yanis Varoufakis is almost certainly part of an attempt to allow them to save face and do a deal. But the EU is in a genuine bind. If Greece is ejected from the eurozone, the currency is no longer an indivisible union and a precedent will be set for the ejection of its members. If the ECB abandons Greece, the eurozone’s reputation will not recover. This is why Greece has bargaining power in its quest for debt relief and for an abandonment of austerity that has already ravaged the country. The EU still wishes to make an example of the country: by forcing Syriza to implement policies that will destroy the government, by making “the economy scream” (to quote Henry Kissinger) until it is ejected from office, or even a disastrous default and removal from the eurozone. It may still succeed. And that is why Greece desperately needs support.

Owen Jones is a columnist and the author of Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class and The Establishment – And How They Get Away With It

[Demeter]

8. Minister No More! By Yanis Varoufakis

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42309.htm

The referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage.

Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms.

Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.

I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum.

And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.

We of the Left know how to act collectively with no care for the privileges of office. I shall support fully Prime Minister Tsipras, the new Minister of Finance, and our government.

The superhuman effort to honour the brave people of Greece, and the famous OXI (NO) that they granted to democrats the world over, is just beginning.

Yanis Varoufakis is the current finance minister of Greece.

[Demeter]

9. Our NO is a Majestic, big YES to a Democratic, Rational Europe! By Yanis Varoufakis

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42308.htm

On the 25th of January, dignity was restored to the people of Greece.

In the five months that intervened since then, we became the first government that dared raise its voice, speaking on behalf of the people, saying NO to the damaging irrationality of our extend-and-pretend ‘Bailout Program’.

We

• spread the word that the Greek ‘bailouts’ were exercises whose purpose was intentionally to transfer private losses onto the shoulders of the weakest Greeks, before being transferred to other European taxpayers
  
• articulated, for the first time in the Eurogroup, an economic argument to which there was no credible response
  
• put forward moderate, technically feasible proposals that would remove the need for further ‘bailouts’
  
• confined the troika to its Brussels’ lair
  
• internationalised Greece’s humanitarian crisis and its roots in intentionally recessionary policies
  
• spread hope beyond Greece’s borders that democracy can breathe within a monetary union hitherto dominated by fear.

Ending interminable, self-defeating, austerity and restructuring Greece’s public debt were our two targets. But these two were also our creditors’ targets. From the moment our election seemed likely, last December, the powers-that-be started a bank run and planned, eventually, to shut Greece’s banks down. Their purpose?

• To humiliate our government by forcing us to succumb to stringent austerity, and
  
• To drag us into an agreement that offers no firm commitment to a sensible, well-defined debt restructure.

The ultimatum of 25th June was the means by which these aims would be achieved. The people of Greece today returned this ultimatum to its senders; despite the fear mongering that the domestic oligarchic media transmitted night and day into their homes. Today’s referendum delivered a resounding call for a mutually beneficial agreement between Greece and our European partners. We shall respond to the Greek voters’ call with a positive approach to:

• The IMF, which only recently released a helpful report confirming that Greek public debt was unsustainable
  
• The ECB, the Governing Council of which, over the past week, refused to countenance some of the more aggressive voices within
  
• The European Commission, whose leadership kept throwing bridges over the chasm separating Greece from some of our partners.

Our NO is a majestic, big YES to a democratic Europe.
It is a NO to the dystopic vision of a Eurozone that functions like an iron cage for its peoples.
It is a loud YES to the vision of a Eurozone offering the prospect of social justice with shared prosperity for all Europeans.

Yanis Varoufakis is the current finance minister of Greece.

[Demeter]

10. Greek ‘No’ May Have Its Roots in Heroic Myths and Real Resistance NYT

ONE GETS THE IMPRESSION FROM THIS ARTICLE THAT NO "ORDINARY", MODERN-DAY PEOPLE WOULD RESIST THE OPPRESSION OF THE EU--JUST THOSE CRAZY GREEKS WITH THEIR MYTHS OF NOBLE SACRIFICE AND HISTORICAL TENACITY IN THE FACE OF OVERWHELMING ODDS...

WHAT KIND OF A NATION HAS THE US BECOME, THAT TINY NATION BORN IN 1776, BORN OF THE SAME MYTHOS? THE ELITES ARE HOPING WE'VE FORGOTTEN OUR HISTORY, SO THEY CAN TRY THEIR SLAVERY ON US...

In the early 1800s, Greek fighters rebelled against their Ottoman overlord by blowing themselves up instead of submitting to captivity. In the mountains of Zalongo, by legend, women flung their children off a cliff and then danced off after them rather than be sold as slaves.

In October of 1940, Greece boldly defied an Italian ultimatum, prompting Mussolini to invade from the north. While fighting gallantly, beating the Italians back into Albania, the Greeks were eventually undone by the advance of Nazi troops from Bulgaria. By April of 1941, the Axis occupation was complete.

Whether Greeks’ overwhelming rejection on Sunday of the latest European loan deal proves to be a master stroke or a monumental blunder remains to be seen. What is clear, experts and analysts say, is that it sprang from a deep cultural and historical strain of defiance in apparently hopeless situations, honed over centuries under Ottoman rule and nurtured by the telling of heroic tales from one generation to another.

PRESENT MISERY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, THEY ASSURE THE POWERS THAT BE....JUST A LITTLE BRAIN FART, NOTHING TO STOP YOUR PLANS OF GLOBAL DOMINATION...


...Few Greeks were regretting their no choice, however, even after watching a day of television, which provided back-to-back meetings of various eurozone officials, few of them having much encouraging to say for Greece.

Theodoris Sourdis, 38, who was sitting in his electronics repair shop in Athens, said that voting no felt good and offered a sliver of hope for a better deal. Business has been so bad lately that he can barely afford food. On Monday, the phone rang twice.

“It was a mix of being fed up and a slice of hope that something could change,” Mr. Sourdis said of the vote. “It was a matter of pride, too.”

But he added with a slight shrug that he had spent the day listening to the radio, and that the news made it “sound like exactly nothing had changed. Just another day of negotiations.”

DON'T BELIEVE IT, MR. SOURDIS. THE ELITE ARE RATTLED TO THE BONE

[Demeter]

11. U.S. At Odds With Germany Over Greek Debt

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/06/us-germany-greek-debt-crisis_n_7739422.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

The ongoing Greek debt crisis is pitting the United States against its German ally, as the U.S. pushes for a solution that keeps Greece in the eurozone currency union.

On Monday, the Obama administration renewed its calls for a resolution to Greece’s debt crisis, but in a notable change from recent months, focused its remarks on Greece’s creditors.

"The task before the leaders of Europe remains the same," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a press briefing. "We have long indicated that it's our view that it's in their collective interest for these differences to be resolved."

“It will require both a package of financing and reforms that will allow Greece to achieve, or at least be on a path towards, some debt sustainability, but also be on a path towards economic growth," Earnest said, referring to the results of Sunday’s referendum. "This was a pretty clear expression from the Greek people that they do seek greater economic opportunity."

But Germany, which is the largest single holder of Greek government debt, and considered by many to be the continent's most powerful nation, would not even commit to a deal that keeps Greece in the eurozone...


OBAMA'S SKILL AT DIPLOMACY WILL ENSURE THE GREXIT AND THE END OF THE EURO. IF I WERE ANGELA MERKEL, I'D BE VERY WORRIED AT THIS POINT...

AND TO ADD FROSTING ON THE CAKE, OBAMA'S FINANCIAL ACUMEN MAY KEEP UNCLE SUGAR FROM HAVING TO BAILOUT DEUTSCHEBANK AND ITS ILK.

OBAMA SERVES THE NATION BEST BY FAILING AT WHAT HE'S TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH. HIS "ACCOMPLISHMENTS" HAVE BEEN BAD FOR US, THE PEOPLE.

[Demeter]

12. HALF A WORLD AWAY, THE CHINA SYNDROME IS UNDERWAY

"China Syndrome" is a fanciful term—not intended to be taken literally—that describes a fictional worst-case result of a nuclear meltdown, where reactor components melt through their containment structures and into the underlying earth, "all the way to China."

except it's not fanciful, as witness Fukushima.

And it's not confined to nuclear power plants, as witness China's stock market...

China stocks fall again despite support measures

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/07/us-china-markets-idUSKCN0PH08Q20150707?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Chinese stocks fell on Tuesday, taking little comfort from a slew of support measures unleashed by Beijing in recent days, and unnerved by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's failure to mention the market chaos in a statement on the economy.

Before the market opened, Li said in comments posted on a government website that China had the confidence and ability to deal with challenges faced by its economy, but had nothing to say on the three-week plunge that has knocked around 30 percent off Chinese shares since mid-June.

After a brief pause in the slide on Monday, the CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen ended down 1.8 percent on Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC lost 1.3 percent. [.SS]

The ChiNext growth board .CHINEXTC, home to some of China's giddiest small-cap valuations, fell 5.1 percent.

Qi Yifeng, analyst at consultancy CEBM, said government measures were not strong enough to reverse the downtrend, especially as it was a liquidity issue for many who had borrowed to buy shares and were now forced to sell to meet margin calls.

"It's just a matter of whether it will fall more slowly, or continue to slump in freefall," he said.

Exchange data shows the balance of outstanding margin loans has fallen more slowly than the market drop and that leveraging has consequently increased to a record proportion of the market, creating a vicious cycle of pressure to sell.

Global investors have grown increasingly concerned that a full-blown crash could destabilize the world's second-biggest economy.

Commodities markets are also taking fright at what the slump says about the underlying economy, with prices of copper CMCU3, coal CRFRMc11, natural gas LNG-AS and iron ore .IO62-CNI=SI falling toward their 2015 lows...MORE

[Warpy]

15. When a bubble pops (and Chinese stocks represent a huge one)

nothing will stop it until all the panicky people have sold out. Then people with a little cash set aside will go on a buying spree and it will rebound somewhat.

And if you think the stock bubble popping is bad, wait until their real estate bubble pops.

Here in the US, commodities are taking a hit. Our stock market is still hyperinflated and if there's one thing we all know, anything that goes up too far will eventually go down too far, too fast, before things normalize.