STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 23 November 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 23 November 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 20 November 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 20 November 2015
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Dow Jones 17,823.81 +91.06 (0.51%)
S&P 500 2,089.17 +7.93 (0.38%)
Nasdaq 5,104.92 +31.28 (0.62%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.26% +0.02 (0.89%)
30 Year 3.02% +0.01 (0.33%) [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]

[antigop]

1. oh, my, a takeoff on "Springtime for Hitler" from "The Producers"

[Demeter]

2. Excellent cartoon choice, Tansy! Thanks for the musical links, antigop!

I'll be singing through the last two days of pre-vacation madness....

[Demeter]

3. I just found out that one of my favorite authors, Kage Baker of the "Company" series

died in 2010 at far too early an age...if you like Sci-Fi time travel combined with Corporate Overlords, lots of camp (and camping) and references to classic films, this is the one to read.

The main novel sequence goes:

In the Garden of Iden
Sky Coyote
Mendoza in Hollywood
The Graveyard Game
The Life of the World to Come
The Children of the Company
The Machine's Child
The Sons of Heaven

There's a bunch of short stories, but as I recall you don't need them for continuity; if you want to read them, interspersing them among the main books where LibraryThing suggests works pretty well. Of the prequels, you can read The Empress of Mars whenever you feel like it; it's set in the same universe, but it's a totally independent story. I haven't read Not Less Than Gods yet, but the summaries I've seen of it online make it sound really spoilerish, so you should probably save it for last or near-last.

Her surviving sister has taken over the franchise, trying to commit all the plot ideas left behind to paper. Her diary is a tribute to sisterhood, commitment, and art. It will make you cry.


Kathleen, Kage and the Company http://doctorzeus.co/

[Demeter]

4. Prospects dim for 2016 Pacific Rim trade vote in US Congress

http://www.ajot.com/news/prospects-dim-for-2016-pacific-rim-trade-vote-in-us-congress



A 12-nation Pacific Rim free-trade deal, facing stiff opposition from many Democrats and unexpected resistance from Republicans, is unlikely to be voted on by the U.S. Congress before President Barack Obama leaves office, according to some Republican lawmakers and aides. A veteran Senate Republican aide, who asked not to be identified, said Republican leaders intend to shelve the deal until after the November 2016 presidential election, which would dash administration hopes of a vote in the first half of next year.

Obama however said he was confident the deal would be ratified. Speaking in Manila on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic cooperation summit, he said there wasn’t a modern trade deal that had not seen opposition. “I’m confident that we’re going to get it done,” he said.

HE'S BEEN ABLE TO SQUEAK IT OUT BEFORE, BUT THIS ONE?

The Republican aide said much of the Senate Republican rank and file “is not supportive of the agreement” negotiated by Obama and 11 other countries that aims to liberalize trade for 40 percent of the world economy.

“I doubt seriously that we’re going to get that resolved by 2016,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch told Reuters on Tuesday regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

ORRIN'S ANOTHER SNAKE...HE'S LIED TO US REPEATEDLY

“Nobody wants to do it in the lame duck either so it will probably carry over,” Hatch said referring to the end-year session of Congress that occurs after the November elections but before the new Congress and president are sworn in. Hatch previously had said it would be difficult to bring TPP to a vote in Congress during the 2016 election year. Congressional aides’ comments suggested Hatch’s sentiment was widely held. With few Democrats in the House expected to vote for TPP, Obama has been relying on Republicans - who control both the Senate and the House of Representatives - to provide the votes needed for approval. Obama urged Congress to “move promptly” in early 2016 to approve the trade pact. He also hopes to build momentum at the Manila summit for the TPP, a key plank of the administration’s engagement with Asia.

But the outlook has soured in Congress. Although many farm lobby groups have come out in support, business groups are still mulling the fine print. New House Speaker Paul Ryan, a trade supporter, has yet to declare his view. A spokesman for Ryan said no decision had been made on the timing of a vote. Another House Republican leadership aide said TPP needs a long, thorough review by Congress, calling it a “complicated, lengthy deal.” The aide added: “The president doesn’t have the political capital (to get it passed) that he once had.”

AND HE DOESN'T HAVE A BLUBBERING ORANGE CRYBABY TO DO HIS DIRTY WORK, EITHER.

MORE AT LINK

[snot]

16. And the Repubs are pretty sure they can get their clients a better deal

with either Hillary or a Repub Prez?

[Demeter]

17. I don't think the modern GOP HAS any clients

The Koch Bros. don't count.

Corporations aren't going to support lunatics. All the corporations are shilling for Hill. Why else would the Kochs put up nearly a $billion? There aren't any other takers, because the GOP is full of Koch-funded fruitcake.

[Demeter]

5. Where Are The Screaming Actuaries?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/pensionresearchcouncil/2015/11/20/where-are-the-screaming-actuaries/

When Detroit went bankrupt in 2013, estimates of pension shortfalls multiplied overnight. The city’s regular actuarial firm had reported pension underfunding at $600 million. A special study performed by a second actuarial firm showed underfunding of $3.5 billion.

So which is it? Why two such different estimates? In a recent talk I gave at MIT, I explained the details.

Pension plans covering the employees of state and local governments are in trouble throughout the U.S. The California cities of San Bernardino, Stockton, and Vallejo filed pension-fueled bankruptcies in recent years. Prichard, Alabama simply ran out of money and stopped paying pension benefits. Illinois and New Jersey have become the poster states for public pension plan troubles, while Kentucky and Connecticut plans may be even more poorly funded. It is hard to tell which state plans are in the most difficulty and it is hard to know which Detroit estimate is better than the other.

Actuaries estimate future pension payout cash flows based on demographic and economic assumptions. They calculate “liabilities” by discounting pension cash flows using the expected returns on risky plan assets (presently in excess of 7%). But Finance 101 says that liability discounting should be based on the riskiness of the liabilities, not on the riskiness of the assets. Pension payouts, which are not supposed to be risky, should therefore today be discounted at rates below 3%. A payment of $1,000 due in 20 years has an actuarial (7% discount) value of $258 today. That same payment has a financial value (3% discount) of $554 today. It is the financial value that should prevail in any arms-length transaction in the world’s financial markets.

For many years, actuaries have mismeasured the value of pension plan payouts and therefore not produced economically pertinent nor decision-useful numbers. Actuarial reports further obscure the relevant values by applying actuarial methods that reassign the costs of already-earned pensions into the distant future. This deferral of costs means that benefits earned by today’s workers will have to be paid for by future taxpayers, not by those consuming their services today. Such consistent lowballing of pension costs over the past two decades has made it easy for elected officials and union representatives to agree on very valuable benefits, for very much smaller current pay concessions.

There are, however, measures of pension liabilities and plan funded status that are economically sound and decision useful. The present value of benefits already earned, based on current salary and years already worked, discounted at default-free rates, is both informative and easy to calculate. The New York City retirement systems have published this value for many years. NYC’s largest pension plan, 138% funded in 1999, had declined to 49% funded by 2013. The time series of funded ratios reveals the true volatility of funding progress over time, providing insight into the risky relationship between plan assets and liabilities, a relationship that is obscured in standard actuarial valuations. Economists Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh have estimated similar numbers for public pension plans nationwide. Although their work is well-respected by economists, it is unlikely to influence decisions in jurisdictions that don’t want to see large liabilities and poor funding ratios. Furthermore, Novy-Marx and Rauh must rely on official actuarial reports from which they estimate their alternative numbers. Plan actuaries, working with basic plan data and specialized software could, if they or their clients wished (or if they were directed to do so by the actuarial profession), produce more precise numbers like those in NYC...

RIGHT BEHIND THE SCREAMING RETIREES, I SUPPOSE

[Demeter]

6. The 47 scandals that prove governments would be mad to go soft on banks

http://www.ianfraser.org/why-well-all-end-up-paying-for-the-feeble-response-to-the-banking-crisis/


Bob-Jenkins

...As you have heard I had the honour to serve at the Bank of England. It was an exciting time. The banking system was undercapitalized. Greece threatened the eurozone. The eurozone threatened the banking system. The bankers threatened the politicians – lest the politicians threaten the bankers. And as I left, political leaders were leaning on the regulators not to lean too heavily on the banks.

“Too big to fail, bail and jail” summed up the challenge. Capital and accountability framed the regulatory response. There has been much activity. But though the motion has been great, the movement has not. Leverage remains high and accountability low. Sadly, the courage to address either seems lacking.

Capital, accountability and courage. All other issues pale in comparison. Allow me a word about each.

Capital

I will start with capital. We continue to work our way through the greatest credit bubble in history. Now bubbles are not new. They are always the same – and always a little bit different. They always feature heavy doses of greed, stupidity and leverage. What distinguished our recent episode from all past experiences was the degree and magnitude of leverage. Now we will not abolish greed. We cannot outlaw stupidity. But we can and must address excessive leverage. Have we done so? No.

It has not been for lack of trying. The first attempt involved a rewrite of Basel. The new rules tighten up on definitions of banking risk and place an overall cap on leverage. Are the rules tougher than before? Yes. Are they tough? No. Most importantly, are they sufficient to ensure stability? No.

MUCH MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

7. Obamacare's Fate May Rest on Patience of Insurers Aetna, Anthem

JUST PUT THIS ABOMINATION OUT OF OUR MISERY, ALREADY!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-20/obamacare-s-fate-may-rest-on-patience-of-insurers-aetna-anthem

The fate of Barack Obama’s signature health-care law may depend on how long Anthem Inc. and Aetna Inc. are willing to wait before starting to make money off it.

The two insurers are on the hot seat now that UnitedHealth Group Inc. appears unlikely to linger as a seller on the Affordable Care Act’s government-run markets. UnitedHealth, the U.S.’s largest health insurer, said Thursday that if it can’t turn a profit, in 2017 it may quit the health plan marketplaces where millions of Americans buy coverage. While UnitedHealth has a small share of that market, Anthem and Aetna are two of the biggest players. Like UnitedHealth, neither has had financial success there -- Aetna has said it’s losing money, while Anthem is making less than it would like. They’re both working to widen profit margins and have said their strategy is based on the expectation that covering people under the law will become more profitable.

“It looks like it’s more of a United issue, with some flavoring of national issues,” Bill Melville, an analyst who focuses on health insurance exchanges at Decision Resources Group, said by phone. “It’s a wake-up call that there’s been some pretty rough headwinds.”

Worrying Signs

There have been other worrying signs. Already 12 of the 23 nonprofit exchanges created to sell insurance under the Affordable Care Act have said they’re closing down, overwhelmed by financial losses. So far, though, Anthem and Aetna are holding steady in the market. Both companies said Friday they hadn’t seen any deterioration in their individual businesses through the end of October. That helped their shares recover some ground after a rout the previous day. Aetna rose 4.4 percent to $104.28 at 2:08 p.m. in New York, and Anthem climbed 2.5 percent to $131.10. UnitedHealth also rebounded, gaining 2.4 percent to $113.24.

“Anthem remains committed to enhancing access to high quality, affordable health care for all of our members inside and outside of the insurance exchanges,” Joseph Swedish, Anthem’s chief executive officer, said in a statement Friday. Anthem is “continuing our dialogue with policymakers and regulators regarding how we can improve the stability of the individual market,” he said.

Peter Costa, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., said Thursday that he expects Anthem and Aetna to lose money on the exchanges next year, potentially leading them to reconsider their postures.

“We believe UnitedHealth’s commentary that it would only participate in this market in 2017 if it expected to at least break even for the year is indicative of the mindset of many insurers,” Costa said. “We expect that the experience of insurers will either improve in 2017 and beyond, or they will choose to no longer participate in the market.”

WHAT IF THEY OPENED A MARKET, AND NOBODY PARTICIPATED?

[Demeter]

8. Venezuela Sees Crude in Mid-$20s If OPEC Doesn't Act

JIHAD BY OTHER MEANS....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-22/venezuela-sees-crude-in-mid-20s-if-opec-doesn-t-take-action

Oil prices may drop to as low as the mid-$20s a barrel unless OPEC takes action to stabilize the market, Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio Del Pino said.

Venezuela is urging the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to adopt an “equilibrium price” that covers the cost of new investment in production capacity, Del Pino told reporters Sunday in Tehran. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are considering his country’s proposal for an equilibrium price at $88 a barrel, he said.

OPEC ministers plan to meet on Dec. 4 to assess the producer group’s output policy amid a global supply glut that has pushed down crude prices by 44 percent in the last 12 months. OPEC supplies about 40 percent of the world’s production and has exceeded its official output ceiling of 30 million barrels a day for 17 months as it defends its share of the market. Benchmark Brent crude settled 48 cents higher at $44.66 a barrel in London on Friday.

“We cannot allow that the market continue controlling the price,” Del Pino said. “The principles of OPEC were to act on the price of the crude oil, and we need to go back to the principles of OPEC.”

AND YOU KNOW THAT WON'T HAPPEN, BECAUSE FRACKING. SO THERE WE ARE.

MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

11. Cut Oil Supply or Drop Riyal Peg? Saudis Face ‘Critical’ Choice

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-22/cut-oil-supply-or-drop-riyal-peg-saudis-face-critical-choice

The longer oil languishes, the more pressure builds on Saudi Arabia to abandon its currency peg. Contracts used to speculate on the riyal’s exchange rate in the next 12 months climbed to a 13-year high on Thursday, before trimming the increase a day later, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Six-month agreements rose to near the highest in seven years on Friday.

Saudi Arabia is pumping oil at a record level this year, leading OPEC’s effort to defend market share even as oil trades near the lowest level in six years. That’s forced the kingdom to tap savings and sell debt to make up for a plunge in revenue and defend its 30-year-old peg to the dollar. For Bank of America Corp., the country may face a choice next year: cut production to help boost prices or adjust the riyal’s rate to stem a decline in foreign reserves.

“A depeg of the Saudi riyal is our number one black-swan event for the global oil market in 2016, a highly unlikely but highly impactful risk," BofA strategists led by Francisco Blanch in New York wrote in a Nov. 19 report. “It is a lot easier politically to implement a modest supply cut at first than allow for a full-blown currency devaluation."

One-year forward points for the riyal jumped 167.5 points to 525 on Thursday, before falling to 455 a day later. That reflects expectations for the currency to weaken about 1.2 percent to 3.7962 per dollar in the next 12 months. Six-month agreements rose on Friday to 152.5, near the highest level since 2008. Weak global growth and inflation as well as a strong dollar will remain a “huge" headwind for dollar-based commodity prices, BofA said. Brent crude closed last week at $44.66 per barrel, down 44 percent from a year earlier.

Robust Reserves

Still, Saudi Arabia’s reserves are hardly depleted. While net foreign assets fell to a near three-year low in September as the government drew down financial reserves accumulated over the past decade, they’re among the highest in the region at $646.9 billion. The country’s peg survived low oil prices in the 1990s and revaluation pressure resulting from surging prices in the late 2000s, Shaun Osborne, the Toronto-based chief foreign-exchange strategist for Scotiabank wrote last week.

Pressure may also build on the Chinese yuan amid declining reserves at central banks across the world and with expected U.S. interest-rate increases, BofA said. A meltdown of the yuan may ultimately force Saudi Arabia’s hand because of the “very high sensitivity" of commodities to the currency, the bank said...Saudi Arabia produced more than 10 million barrels of oil a day in each of the past eight months and pumped a record 10.57 million barrels a day in July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

THEY ARE IDIOTS! BUT, YOU KNEW THAT

[Demeter]

14. Goldman eyes $20 oil as glut overwhelms storage sites

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/oilprices/12006554/Goldman-eyes-20-oil-as-glut-overwhelms-storage-sites.html

“The world is floating in oil. The numbers we are facing now are dreadful," said David Hufton from PVM Group... The world is running out of storage facilities for surging supplies of oil and may soon exhaust tanker space offshore, raising the chances of a violent plunge in crude prices over coming weeks, experts have warned.

Goldman Sachs told clients that the increasing glut of oil on the global market has combined with mild weather from a freak El Nino this winter. The twin-effect could send prices plummeting to $20 a barrel, the so-called ‘cash cost’ that forces drillers to abandon production. “Risks of a sharp leg lower remain elevated,” it said.

Oil has fallen from $110 a barrel early last year and is hovering near $40 for US crude, and $44 for Brent in Europe.

The US investment bank said the overall glut in the commodity markets may take another twelve months to clear. It cited ‘red flag’ signals on the Shanghai Future Exchange over recent days. Copper contracts point to “imminent weakening” in China’s ‘old economy’ of heavy industry and construction, it said.

MORE

[Demeter]

9. Wall Street Is Running the World's Central Banks

AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING, IS NOW, AND EVER SHALL BE, WORLD WITHOUT END.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-17/what-wall-street-s-return-to-central-banking-may-mean-for-policy

Last week’s appointment of Neel Kashkari to run the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis as of January means a third of the Fed’s 12 district banks will soon be run by officials with past ties to Goldman Sachs Group Inc...

It’s not just the Fed. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi both famously worked for Goldman before entering central banking, yet they have recently been joined by others with financial backgrounds.

The new head of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, spent 12 years at BNP Paribas SA, becoming its chief operating officer in 2011. Meanwhile, in September, Gertjan Vlieghe joined the BOE’s Monetary Policy Committee from hedge fund Brevan Howard having also previously worked for Deutsche Bank AG.

So what does the re-emergence of financiers in the halls of central banks mean for monetary policy at a time when it’s set to diverge internationally?

DON'T ASK QUESTIONS WHEN YOU AREN'T GOING TO LIKE THE ANSWERS...MORE AT LINK

[Demeter]

10. Emerging Markets Step Back From Abyss as Goldman Turns Bullish

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-22/emerging-markets-step-back-from-abyss-as-goldman-turns-bullish

BUT WHAT DOES GOLDMAN SACHS THINK ABOUT IT? -- can't remember which Treasury flunky said that

[Hotler]

19. Neel Kashkari, this guy again?????

In May 2006 President George W. Bush announced his intention to appoint Paulson as Secretary of the Treasury.[16] Kashkari contacted Paulson and asked to join him at Treasury. Despite not knowing Kashkari well,[17] Paulson had him flown to Washington, D.C., and offered him a job as a policy generalist shortly after Kashkari had begun his pitch. Kashkari accepted, and then Paulson remembered to confirm that Kashkari was a Republican.[18]

After the U.S. Senate confirmed Paulson, he and Kashkari started at Treasury on the same day.[17] Kashkari was one of several Goldman employees who followed Paulson to Treasury.[19]

[Demeter]

12. Wells Fargo Reconsiders Russia as Putin Steps Up Terror Response

I AM SURE THE FEELING IS NOT MUTUAL...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-22/wells-fargo-reconsiders-russia-as-putin-steps-up-terror-response

President Vladimir Putin’s move toward a more robust alliance against terrorism with the U.S. and Europe has Wells Fargo & Co.’s Brian Jacobsen considering a strategic shift of his own -- into Russian stocks.

Jacobsen, the chief portfolio strategist who helps manage $242 billion at Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, has stayed clear of Russia since 2014 amid a standoff with its former Cold War foes over the Ukraine conflict. Now he’s thinking about adopting a “mild overweight” standpoint as their foreign policies align in the fight against Islamic State.

“This could be a turning point in the relationship between Russia and the West,” Jacobsen said by phone last week. “We need some time to see how things unravel, but the timing might be right. The conflict in Ukraine abated, a decline in oil stabilized, we might see sanctions being lifted. So if you combine all these factors, we could see a good valuation opportunity.”

MORE GALL AT LINK

[Demeter]

13. Pfizer, Allergan Said to Be Close to $150 Billion Merger

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-22/pfizer-allergan-said-to-be-close-to-150-billion-merger

Pfizer Inc. and Allergan Plc may announce an agreement as early as Monday to combine into a single new company, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal, valued at more than $150 billion, would be the largest one ever in the rapidly consolidating pharmaceutical industry.

The boards of the companies are expected to sign off on the accord Sunday, said the person, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

Pfizer will give 11.3 shares for each Allergan share, said the person. The deal is structured so that Allergan is technically buying its much larger partner, a move that may make it easier for the company to locate its tax address in a lower-cost country. Based on Friday’s closing price of a Pfizer share, the agreement gives investors a premium of about 27 percent above Allergan’s stock price on Oct. 28, before news of the companies’ discussions became public. Pfizer shareholders will get a small cash amount, the person said.

Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Ian Read will be the head of the new company, with Allergan CEO Brent Saunders in a high position, the person said...

[Demeter]

15. Rebooting the Eurozone: Step 1 – Agreeing a Crisis Narrative

http://www.voxeu.org/article/ez-crisis-consensus-narrative

The Eurozone needs fixing, but it is impossible to agree upon the steps to be taken without agreement on what went wrong. This column introduces a new CEPR Policy Insight that presents a consensus-narrative of the causes of the EZ Crisis. It was authored by a dozen leading economists from across the spectrum. The consensus narrative is supported by a long and growing list of economists.

The Eurozone Crisis broke out in May 2010; it is a long way from finished. Although some positive signs have emerged recently, EZ growth and unemployment are miserable and expected to remain miserable for years.

A large slice of Europe’s youth have been or will be jobless during the critical, formative years of their working lives;

The economic malaise is feeding extremist views and nationalistic tendencies just when Europe needs to pull together to deal with challenges ranging from the migration crush to possible new financial shocks.

Worse yet, many of the fragilities and imbalances that primed the monetary union for this crisis are still present.

Many of Europe’s banks face problems of non-performing loans;
Many are still heavily invested in their own nation’s public debt – a tie that means problems with banks threaten the solvency of the government and vice versa;
Borrowers across the Continent are vulnerable to the inevitable normalisation of interest rates that have been near-zero for years.

As a first step to finding a broad consensus on what needs to be done to fix the Eurozone, we have written what we consider to be a consensus narrative of the Eurozone Crisis. It is published today as CEPR Policy Insight 85, which can be downloaded for free from:

http://www.voxeu.org/sites/default/files/file/Policy%20Insight%2085.pdf

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[Demeter]

18. In local news

It's still white and icy out there...only 25F with snow showers possible at lunchtime. We might get up to freezing, which will be warmer than yesterday.

It's as if someone flipped a switch, to go from Indian Summer to instant Winter. Supposed to rain Thurs and Fri and 50F....we will see. I stayed in yesterday, to protect my nerves and health. But today Duty calls, and I am a Slave to Duty...