STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 12 November 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 12 November 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 11 November 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 November 2015
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Dow Jones 17,702.22 -55.99 (-0.32%)
S&P 500 2,075.00 -6.72 (-0.32%)
Nasdaq 5,067.02 -16.22 (-0.32%)


[font color=black]10 Year 2.34% 0.00 (0.00%)
[font color=red]30 Year 3.11% +0.01 (0.32%) [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
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.
09/22/15 Stewart Parnell, CEO Peanut Corp. of America, sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling salmonella-tainted peanut butter that killed nine.





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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. Wednesday won. I will try to post in the morning. Right now, need rest!

G'night, all!

[Demeter]

2. The last windows update messed with my machine

First the cursor would freeze, and I called Microsoft, then suddenly, the screen was displaying upside down, and the cursor moving in mirror directions...I had to do a restore! Let's hope that fixed it. Maybe somebody hacked microsoft? Serve them right if they did.

Needless to say, didn't do anything else for hours...

[DemReadingDU]

11. This computer had 28 updates Wednesday evening

So far, it appears normal. But there is the whole day ahead.

[Demeter]

13. Microsoft trying to get me to go to windows 10, i'll betcha

[DemReadingDU]

15. That would be a worse nightmare

I keep getting pop-ups to upgrade to Windows 10. No thanks.
I'm still getting used to windows 7.

[Demeter]

16. I'd switch to Linux first and I know nothing about how to do that

but I'm sure it's learnable.

[Demeter]

3. The US economy is turning into a nightmare for recruiters

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-economy-turning-nightmare-recruiters-201802903.html

The US economy is turning into a nightmare for recruiters: They just can't find enough qualified people to fill jobs. In a recent note to clients, Macquarie Research analyst David Doyle cited a survey of HR executives conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggesting that firms are having an increasingly difficult time recruiting workers and filling positions. Both the manufacturing and the services sectors are having a harder time recruiting people today than they did during the credit bubble in the mid-2000s. HR folks are particularly struggling in the services sector, which follows the larger trend of the US services sector outperforming US manufacturing as of late.

As Doyle points out, the net share of services firms that are reporting difficulty is almost triple that of 2005-2007's average...This is a high-quality problem in that it's the result of an improving economy in which the unemployment rate is collapsing and all of the qualified labor available to work is now working. For quite some time now, small businesses have been pointing out the difficulty in attracting qualified workers. In the most recent NFIB report, 48% of respondents reported that there are "few or no qualified applications" for the positions they were trying to fill, slightly up from September's 45%. This number has been hovering in the mid-to-upper 40s since May 2014, and has trended higher since 2009.

Additionally, many small businesses have increasingly singled out "labor quality" as a bigger concern than "sales." This shift toward labor quality becoming the most important problem for more employers suggests that economic concerns are shifting from weak demand to tight supply.

Theoretically, this suggests that American workers could be seeing higher wages soon. To put it simply, if HR people can't find qualified workers on the market, then they could try and incentivize a broader field people by offering more money.

THEORETICALLY, THAT IS...OF COURSE, THEY WILL TRY EVERYTHING ELSE, FIRST

[DemReadingDU]

12. The workers are out there

Companies don't want to pay them higher wages.

[Demeter]

14. Companies are also terrified of adults with relevent experience

because they get argumentative...and turn out to be right, to boot! Puts the infantile noses right out of joint.

Adults usually won't go along with the latest scam or degradation, either.

[mother earth]

19. Cue the need for h1-B visas...

[antigop]

20. beat me to it. nt

[Demeter]

4. Draghi stimulus hint underpins stocks, knocks euro

MORE LIKE A MEGA-BLAST THAN A HINT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/12/us-global-markets-idUSKCN0T101X20151112?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

A signal from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi that further policy easing is coming next month drove European markets on Thursday, sparking a brief rebound in stocks and pushing the euro and bond yields lower.

In an address to the European Parliament Draghi said inflation dynamics had somewhat weakened and that a "sustained normalization" of inflation could take longer to achieve than thought.

"At our December monetary policy meeting, we will re-examine the degree of monetary policy accommodation," Draghi said.

Stocks reversed earlier losses, although high-profile corporate profit warnings eventually weighed on sentiment, while the euro sank half a percent below $1.07 and the gap between 5-year U.S. and euro zone bond yields hit its highest since 1999.

MORE SPECULATION....AT LINK

[Demeter]

5. Facebook reports spike in government requests for data

BECAUSE BOTH THE CHIC AND THE STUPID TERRORISTS POST ON FACEBOOK...

OR MAYBE IT'S AN ATTEMPT TO THROW THE ELECTION?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/12/us-facebook-data-government-idUSKCN0T02EY20151112?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Facebook Inc (FB.O) said in a report on Wednesday that government demands for its user data surged in the first half of 2015, taking a trend that began at least two years ago when the company started revealing such requests to new heights.

Government access to personal data from telephone and Web companies has become a contentious privacy issue since former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed surreptitious surveillance programs.

The technology industry has pushed for greater transparency on government data requests, seeking to shake off concerns that they are working with the government and violating user privacy.

Facebook's biannual report is one of the chief indicators of government interest in the company's data. The social media giant is generally not allowed to publicize specific requests by law enforcement and spy agencies. Government requests for account data globally jumped 18 percent in the first half of 2015 to 41,214 accounts, up from 35,051 requests in the second half of 2014, Facebook said in the report posted on its website. (bit.ly/1LayIL2)

MORE

[Demeter]

6. Young women are living at home at record levels

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/young-women-are-living-at-home-at-record-levels-2015-11-12?siteid=YAHOOB

A record 36.4% of young women were living at home with their parents or other relatives last year, the highest share of the population since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president.

This is according to Pew Research Center, which analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data. “Young” includes women ages 18 to 34. The research shows that a greater percentage of men (42.8%) are living at home than women, but men living at home still haven’t reached the peak levels they did in 1940, the earliest year for which similar data on living arrangements is available.

The trend of more young women living at home can be attributed to “a conspiracy” of economic metrics, said Anthony Carnevale, the director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

For instance, as Pew’s report notes, women are less likely to be married than they were in the past; the median age for women to be married for the first time is now 27, up from 21.5 in 1940...

[Demeter]

7. Inside the Secretive World of Tax-Avoidance Experts

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/elite-wealth-management/410842/

A sociologist realized that if she were ever going to understand global inequality she would have to become one of the people who helps create it. So she trained to become a wealth manager to the ultra-rich...CREATE, OR STEAL?

...Wealth management is a profession on the defensive. Although many people have never heard of it, it is well known to both state revenue authorities and international agencies seeking to impose the rule of law on high-net-worth individuals. Those individuals—including the 103,000 people classified as “ultra-high-net-worth” based on having $30 million or more in investable assets—pay wealth-management professionals hefty fees to help them avoid taxes, debts, legal judgments, and other obligations the rest of the world considers part of everyday life. The general public doesn’t hear much about these professionals, since there are only a few of them worldwide (just under 20,000 belong to the main professional society) and they strive to keep a low profile, both for themselves and their clients.

But they are very much on the radar of regulatory agencies, due to the central role wealth management plays in tax avoidance. Media coverage of the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney noted that his $250 million personal fortune was spread out through a network of offshore trusts and bank accounts, lowering his effective income-tax rate to just under 15 percent. Few outlets, however, noted the professional interventions that made that happen: Mitt Romney employs at least one wealth manager to create and maintain those offshore shelters.

By the same token, when Oxfam estimates that just 1 percent of the world’s population will own more than 50 percent of the world’s wealth by 2016, it’s important to realize that such a state of affairs doesn’t just happen by itself, or even through the actions of individual wealthy people. For the most part, the wealthy are busy enjoying their wealth or making more of it; keeping those personal fortunes out of the hands of governments (along with creditors, litigants, divorced spouses, and disgruntled heirs) is the job of wealth managers.

MORE (AND MORE! AND MORE!) AT LINK

[Demeter]

8. European Opposition To The TTIP Trade Pact Worries US

AND THE US SHOULD WORRY. IT SEEMS THAT EUROPE HAS HAD ITS GOGGLES TAKEN OFF, AND SEES US FOR WHAT WE REALLY ARE: AND THEY AREN'T GOING TO BE VICTIMS OF US POLICY ANY MORE.

THEY JUST WANT TO BE VICTIMS OF THEIR OWN STUPID EUROZONE....

BUT THAT'S AN AWAKENING FOR ANOTHER DAY.

http://www.ibtimes.com/transatlantic-trade-investment-partnership-european-opposition-ttip-trade-pact-2164814



Whenever he goes on Twitter, David O’Sullivan can see opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership growing. The European Union’s ambassador in Washington lamented to a group of lobbyists recently that a single tweet about the Europe-U.S. trade deal generally yields “one or two retweets, favorites from some people.” At the same time, he said, “I get about 10 people telling me, ‘You traitor to the European people; you're selling us out.’”

Twitter is hardly a harmonious place anyway, but the vitriol expressed there against the TTIP is a sign that the bitter debates about trade that have torn at American politics for the last 20 years have arrived in Europe. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the 3-year-old effort between the United States and the 28-nation European Union aims to ease barriers to commerce across an ocean that carries some of the world’s most valuable goods and services. So far, it has instead become an unmet challenge for European politicians and businesses, and a worrisome development for the White House.

Since the U.S. reached the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada in 1994, trade agreements have been a tough sell to the public, running up against charges that they foster the export of more jobs than goods, despite academic opinion that the case for free trade is strong. Not so in Europe, which quietly entered a series of trade deals with other countries, including Mexico, even as it expanded its own membership to the east.

Now, Europeans are having what U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman calls Europe’s “NAFTA moment.” Froman, who wants to finish the TTIP before President Barack Obama leaves office in 2017, has privately and publicly urged European countries to get ahead of the critics. “This is really the first trade agreement that has become a public controversy in Europe, and I think the member states are still wrestling with the challenge they face in educating their publics,” Froman told Bloomberg News.

EDUCATING, OR INDOCTRINATING, MICHAEL? MORE

[Demeter]

9. Biography Traces the Pathology of Allen Dulles and His Appalling Cabal

A MUST READ---MONEY AND SPIES AND SECRET CONSPIRACIES

ONLY, IT ISN'T A NOVEL.

https://theintercept.com/2015/11/02/the-deepest-state-the-safari-club-allen-dulles-and-the-devils-chessboard/

[DemReadingDU]

17. More Dulles from 8/1/14 weekend thread

I had this one bookmarked!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111655804

[Hotler]

18. DUer octafish always has good reads on the crooks. n/t

[Demeter]

10. It's rainy, 50F and there's a high wind advisory

Typical Thursday, in other words. I will be wearing my engineer's raincoat today (modified trash bag). Sigh.