STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 14 March 2016

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, 14 March 2016[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 11 March 2016

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 March 2016
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Dow Jones 17,213.31 +218.18 (1.28%)
S&P 500 2,022.19 +32.62 (1.64%)
Nasdaq 4,748.47 +86.31 (1.85%)


[font color=red]10 Year 1.98% +0.04 (2.06%)
30 Year 2.75% +0.06 (2.23%) [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.
12/17/15 Martin Shkreli, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals and notorious price gouger, arrested on securities fraud charges. Posted $5M bail, resigned as CEO.
2/25/16 Jason Keryc sentenced to 9 years in prison, 3 years supervised release and to pay back $180MM to investors he bilked in a Ponzi scheme while an acct. mgr at Agape World.



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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]

[Gungnir]

1. Nassim Taleb Sums Up America's Election In 17 "Black Swan" Words

Ding! Ding! We Have A Winner!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-12/nassim-taleb-sums-americas-election-17-black-swan-words

Sometimes, less is more, and in infamous "Black Swan" philosopher Nassim Taleb's case, summing up the chaos that is enveloping America, and its forthcoming election was as simple as the following:

"The *establishment* composed of journos, BS-Vending talking heads with well-formulated verbs, bureaucrato-cronies, lobbyists-in training, New Yorker-reading semi-intellectuals, image-conscious empty suits, Washington rent-seekers and other "well thinking" members of the vocal elites are not getting the point about what is happening and the sterility of their arguments."

To which he appended the following 17 perfectly succinct words:

"People are not voting for Trump (or Sanders). People are just voting, finally, to destroy the establishment."

[Gungnir]

2. Much More Than Just Trump

Interesting: going back to Vietnam era to show how deep and long the discontent is. I think it works

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-13/much-more-just-trump

It started in Vietnam. The men who chose to fight for America on Vietnam’s front lines did so for honorable reasons. While there was no immediate threat to the US, some were concerned about falling dominoes and the march of communism. Some were animated by an idealistic desire to secure democracy and liberty in a land that had never known those blessings. Perhaps some went believing that if the leaders of the country said this war was in America’s best interests, it must be so. For those who were drafted, they did, perhaps reluctantly, what they perceived to be their duty.

Whatever their motivations, those who fought found their idealism shattered. Many of the South Vietnamese they thought they were fighting “for” despised the US as the latest in a succession of imperial powers using a corrupt, puppet government as the cat’s paw for its domination. Short of total immolation of both friend and foe—it was often impossible to differentiate the two—there was no effective strategy against guerrilla warfare waged by the enemy fighting on its home turf. The Vietcong proved as difficult to vanquish as hordes of ants and mosquitos at a picnic. The victory the generals and politicians insisted was just another few months and troop deployments down the road never came, and the soldiers knew it never would, long before reality was acknowledged and the troops brought home.

Brutal disillusionment gave way to abject disgust when they returned stateside. They cynically, but understandably, concluded that the antiwar protests had more to do with fear of the draft (there were no major protests after Nixon ended it), and readily available sex and drugs than heartfelt opposition to the war. That conclusion was buttressed by their reception from the antiwar crowd. If they were expecting support and understanding, they didn’t get it. The US victims of the war, those who fought it—the wounded, the physically and psychologically maimed, the dead—were branded as subhuman thugs and baby killers. (Gungnir: thanks to Reagan's operatives) It was the first time in the history of the US that a substantial swath of the population turned on those who had fought its wars. Those who fought regarded (or, in the case of the dead, would have regarded) those doing the branding as preening, posturing, spoiled children. A subterranean fault line split into a gaping fissure, since widened to a yawning chasm.
...
Not much has changed since Vietnam. The decent besieged are taking fire from all sides, valiantly fighting their way through it, while preening, posturing, spoiled idiots congratulate themselves for running a once great country into the ground. It is a mark of the decent besieged’s decency that they are turning to the ballot box, the politically correct way to change a democratic government. The idiot class should be grateful for their forbearance. Instead, it resorts to means fair and foul to subvert them and maintain its power. Whether Trump does or does not make it all the way to the White House, the wave he’s riding will only grow stronger, tsunami-strength when the economy collapses and the world descends into war. If the idiot class and its rabble subvert him, a quote from John F. Kennedy, recently featured on SLL, will surely come back to haunt them.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

[Gungnir]

3. This Election Is The Biggest Threat To The US Aristocracy (Biggest Opportunity For Voters) Since At

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-12/election-biggest-threat-us-aristocracy-biggest-opportunity-voters-least-1932

The historical significance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential contest isn’t yet generally recognized. Consider the evidence regarding this historical significance, in the links that will be provided here, and from which the argument here is constructed:
...
On Clinton’s side will be Wall Street — and this includes the ‘shadow banks’ (the non-“bank” sellers of what Bill Clinton and the Republicans caused to become unregulated credit derivatives), from which Hillary Clinton is also receiving donations, and from which the Clinton Foundation is supported and overseen — along with other Clinton funders).

Clearly, this is the first Presidential contest since 1932 in which the interests of the aristocracy versus the interests of the public will be presented to the voters, for them to decide which of the two sides they’re actually on.

And, if the election turns out to be between Trump versus Sanders, then this will be the first U.S. Presidential election ever in which both of the major-Party nominees will have committed themselves to policies (Trump clearly on foreign affairs, Sanders clearly on domestic affairs) that the aristocracy vigorously oppose, and that presents a severe threat to the aristocrats' continued rule of the country.

[Gungnir]

4. "Stay Angry My Friends" (chart porn on why the people are raging)

Links has charts showing why everyone but the 0.0001% are raging and several good cartoons on the Rage.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-11/stay-angry-my-friends

[Gungnir]

5. As Trump Momentum Grows, An Unexpected Supporter Emerges (Hollywood)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-11/trump-momentum-grows-unexpected-supporter-emerges

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the entertainment industry's rare conservatives (and independents) are lining up behind Trump — the real-estate mogul considered one of their own as a former TV star and producer.
...
The numbers in support of Trump are staggering: "For every Cruz or Rubio supporter I talk to, there are 10 Trump supporters,” says one conservative wealth manager who has a deep bench of entertainment industry clients. He didn't want to speak publicly, though he admitted most of his firm's left-leaning clientele support Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

“I tell them, ‘if you don’t want to feel the Bern, convert your IRAs now rather than pay his 92 percent tax rate.’ I know they like their Teslas, private schools and million-dollar-mansions, but they won’t afford all that if they’re allowed to keep only 8 percent of their income.”
...
To be sure, there's the conservative stars that are openly Republican. Actor John Voight, whose daughter Angelina Jolie is famously Liberal-leaning, threw his support to Trump on March 8. “I pray all Americans who have seen and felt the meltdown of America with the Obama years, to please fight for Donald Trump,” Voight said in his endorsement. Beyond Voight, celebrities outwardly supporting The Donald include Ted Nugent, Kid Rock, Stephen Baldwin and Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson, though there are many more in Hollywood are supportive but less vocal.

[Gungnir]

6. Why Trump Haters Really Hate Trump

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-10/why-trump-haters-really-hate-trump

There’s a different, more subtle reason why the Republican establishment, donor class, political operatives, and the news media in general hate Donald Trump.

The reason can be found in a New York Times best selling business book, Stacking The Deck, by Wharton professor David Pottruck.

Pottruck, the Charles Schwab CEO who took the genial brokerage house online and into the big time, says that organizations hate change. Hate it with a PASSION!
...
Change renders meaningless the value of their hard-won experience and know-how. In politics, it may means family member lose their cushy jobs and perks.

more at link

[Gungnir]

7. The Status Quo Plan – Convince The American Public To Accept Serfdom

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-12/status-quo-plan-%E2%80%93-convince-american-public-accept-serfdom

Yves Smith introduces the piece with the following poignant passage:

Let us not forget that the “things are going to get worse for you” story also conveniently diverts attention from the degree of rent extraction and looting that is taking place. US corporate profit share of GDP has been at record levels, depending on how you compute if, of 10% of 12% of GDP, when no less than Warren Buffett deemed a profit share of over 6% of GDP as unsustainably high as of the early 2000s. That higher profit share is the direct result of workers getting a far lower share of GDP growth than in any post-war expansion. So the increased hardships that ordinary people face is not inevitable, but is to a significant degree due to the ruling classes taking vastly more than their historical share out of greed and short-sightedness.

...
Indeed, the American public has two clear choices: Fight back, or accept serfdom.

What’s it gonna be?

[Gungnir]

8. Rigged Democracy – Nearly 10% Of Democratic Party Superdelegates Are Lobbyists

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-10/rigged-democracy-%E2%80%93-nearly-10-democratic-party-superdelegates-are-lobbyists

On July 25, these superdelegates will cast votes at the Democratic National Convention for whomever they want, regardless of primary and caucus outcomes. Democrats like to describe superdelegates as mostly elected officials and prominent party members, including President Obama and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

But this group, which consists of 21 governors, 40 senators and 193 representatives, only makes up about a third of the superdelegates. Many of the remaining 463 convention delegates are establishment insiders who get their status after years of donations and service to the party. Dozens of the 437 delegates in the DNC member category are registered federal and state lobbyists, according to an ABC News analysis.

In fact, when you remove elected officials from the superdelegate pool, at least one in seven of the rest are former or current lobbyists registered on the federal and state level, according to lobbying disclosure records.

– From the ABC News article: The Reason Why Dozens of Lobbyists Will Be Democratic Presidential Delegates

[Gungnir]

9. Democracy, Be Damned - The "Sea Island" Conspiracy Reveals The Deep State

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-11/democracy-be-damned-sea-island-conspiracy-reveals-deep-state

Over the long weekend before the Mississippi and Michigan primaries, the sky above Sea Island was black with corporate jets.

Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, Napster’s Sean Parker, Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk, and other members of the super-rich were jetting in to the exclusive Georgia resort, ostensibly to participate in the annual World Forum of the American Enterprise Institute.
...
As revealed by the Huffington Post, Sea Island last weekend was host to a secret conclave at the Cloisters where oligarchs colluded with Beltway elites to reverse the democratic decisions of millions of voters and abort the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Among the journalists at Sea Island were Rich Lowry of National Review, which just devoted an entire issue to the topic: “Against Trump,” and Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the Trumphobic New York Times.

much more at link

[Gungnir]

10. A Rigged And Rotten System

Good read, lets both "sides" have it.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-12/rigged-and-rotten-system

Feeding Like Leeches

The poor Republicans! A Washington Post story wonders if the party could “break in two.” Party stalwarts are threatening to desert to Hillary. And a Texas newspaper worries that the GOP could be “on the verge of extinction.”

Not much to report from Wall Street lately. The Dow is still teetering on the 17,000 level… like a school bus on the edge of a bridge. Several readers wrote in to complain about our fact-ish item: that $176,000 was the cost of “salaries” for the typical third-grade classroom.

The figure came from Conspiracies of the Ruling Class, a new book by Lawrence Lindsey, the director the National Economic Council during the G.W. Bush administration. The title was so provocative, we picked it up.

The idea of a “conspiracy” at the top of U.S. politics… and a “ruling class” in what is supposed to be a republic… suggested that the author, a Republican insider, had lost his party membership… or his mind. We opened it eagerly… hoping it was the former, not the latter.

[Gungnir]

11. Daylight saving time: Why many Americans are riled

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35798253

Sleep disruption

Along with other commentators, they say that the problems caused by disrupting people's body clocks such as car accidents and increased rates of hearts attacks, could be avoided by making daylight saving time a permanent fixture.
...
Research from Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University has also suggested that sleep disruption caused by the "spring forward" effect causes an increase in traffic accidents.

Using data from the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration over a 21-year period they found a small but significant, increase of fatal road accidents on the Monday after the clocks went forward. They also found a significant increase in crashes on the Sunday of the autumn shift.
...
Research carried out by the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science said that couples reported more conflict following poor nights of sleep.

Can't we all just get along and end the time changes?

[Gungnir]

12. The builder who changed how the world keeps time

Good Read

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160310-the-builder-who-changed-how-the-world-keeps-time

Britain introduced daylight saving time 100 years ago – and was quickly followed by countries worldwide. Love it or hate it, there’s a stubborn British campaigner you can thank.

He lived in the south-east London suburb of Chislehurst. He was a builder. He was of average wealth. His name was William Willett and without him Britain – and a quarter of the world, including the US – might never have adopted daylight saving time (DST).

A lover of open spaces, Willett was horseback riding one summer morning in 1905 when, ruefully, he observed how many curtains remained drawn against the sunlight. A solution occurred to him: why not move the clocks forward before each summer began?
...
Why is it such a contentious subject? Chiefly because the pros never convincingly overwhelm the cons. For every compelling DST argument, there’s always a persuasive counter. Broadly speaking, DST is thought to aid retail, sports and tourism – but hurt those in agriculture and mail delivery.

Who said one person can't change the world? Can we get one to change it back?

[Gungnir]

14. Here's why we should just scrap daylight-saving time already (video)

good 30sec clip:

http://www.businessinsider.com/should-we-get-rid-of-dst-daylight-saving-time-2016-3

[DemReadingDU]

18. DST should be scrapped

I feel like I am getting up and hour earlier, and going to bed an hour later. I am so tired throughout the spring, summer, and fall.

[Gungnir]

13. Greenhouse gas 'bookkeeping' turned on its head

http://phys.org/news/2016-03-greenhouse-gas-bookkeeping.html

For the first time scientists have looked at the net balance of the three major greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—for every region of Earth's landmasses. They found surprisingly, that human-induced emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from ecosystems overwhelmingly surpass the ability of the land to soak up carbon dioxide emissions, which makes the terrestrial biosphere a contributor to climate change. The results published in the March 10, 2016, Nature, revises our understanding of how human activity contributes to global warming.

Co-author Anna Michalak of Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology remarked, "Typically we think of land as a net 'sink' of carbon dioxide. But we found that the sign of the human-induced impact is reversed if we also take into account methane and nitrous oxide."
...
Lead author of the study, Hanqin Tian director of the International Center for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University said, "This finding reveals for the first time that human activities have transformed the land biosphere to a contributor to climate change."

"This study should serve as a wake-up call to governments, policymakers, and individuals around the world," said Michalak. "We must expand our focus and devise strategies that target the biogenic emissions of these other greenhouse gases if we are to change the course of climate change."


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-greenhouse-gas-bookkeeping.html#jCp

[Gungnir]

15. The US government interviewed the heroes of 'The Big Short' — here's what they had to say

http://www.businessinsider.com/national-archive-on-gregg-lippman-jamie-mai-2016-3

Greg Lippmann at Deutsche Bank
In his interview with the FCIC, from May 2010, he set outs how he came to recognize the weakness in the US housing market.

When I looked at the home prices to defaults across America, I was struck by two things; one, the big difference between the default rate in the parts of the United States where home prices were going up three or four percent per annum, and the much, much lower default rate in places where home prices were going up more like 12 or 13 percent per annum. I was also surprised at how many people were defaulting even in those areas where home prices were going up so much, which made me question the viability of these loans in a more modest home price environment.
...
Steve Eisman at FrontPoint
His interview with the FCIC was especially entertaining. He said:
(You'll have to go to the story to see the 9 humorous statements)

...
Ben Hockett and Jamie Mai at Cornwall Capital
Here are the highlights from the memo summarizing the interview with Hockett and Mai:

The October 6, 2006 Grant’s Interest Rate Observer was what gave Cornwall the idea for their trades shorting subprime MBS through credit default swaps. The article includes a chart from Paul Singer, general partner of Elliott Associates, showing that if home prices stay flat to appreciating by 4%, the entire double-A tranche of a subprime CDO would fail.

Much more at link

[Gungnir]

16. Wall Street is obsessed with this technology that no one quite understands (blockchain)

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-blockchain-barclays-2016-3

"A blockchain is simply a specific type of database (or ledger) that stores transactions," Hill wrote. But there are a number of features that differentiate it from typical ledgers.

1. "Transactions are stored in a string of digital blocks, with each block referencing the prior one."

2. "A block of transactions is only added to the chain if it is verified by cryptographic techniques using significant computing power. Crucially, the nature of the verification process is such that the validity of any block can be verified easily and quickly, effectively eliminating the possibility of fraudulent transactions and making it virtually impossible to retroactively alter any single block of the chain."

3. "The database is distributed, i.e. all users are notified immediately of new additions to the blockchain. The distributed nature of the blockchain allows for all users to have a verified and secure version of the blockchain at all times."

Here's a helpful diagram from Hill:

[DemReadingDU]

17. Happy Pi Day!

[Hugin]

23. Yep! It's THE Pi day!

[Hotler]

19. There's Only One Buyer Keeping S&P 500's Bull Market Alive

Demand for U.S. shares among companies and individuals is diverging at a rate that may be without precedent, another sign of how crucial buybacks are in propping up the bull market as it enters its eighth year.
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index constituents are poised to repurchase as much as $165 billion of stock this quarter, approaching a record reached in 2007. The buying contrasts with rampant selling by clients of mutual and exchange-traded funds, who after pulling $40 billion since January are on pace for one of the biggest quarterly withdrawals ever.
While past deviations haven’t spelled doom for equities, the impact has rarely been as stark as in the last two months, when American shares lurched to the worst start to a year on record as companies stepped away from the market while reporting earnings. Those results raise another question about the sustainability of repurchases, as profits declined for a third straight quarter, the longest streak in six years.
“Anytime when you’re relying solely on one thing to happen to keep the market going is a dangerous situation,” said Andrew Hopkins, director of equity research at Wilmington Trust Co., which oversees about $70 billion. “Over time, you come to the realization, ‘Look, these companies can’t grow. Borrowing money to buy back stocks is going to come to an end.”’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-14/there-s-only-one-buyer-keeping-the-s-p-500-s-bull-market-alive

[Hotler]

20. Here is an interesting read with a little miner...

that goes down as you scroll down the page. I think this is the land that Obama vetoed giving to the mining companies a week or so back pissing off a bunch of politicos.

Inside the Billion-Dollar Dig to America’s Biggest Copper Deposit
Miners are 7,000 feet down and they aren’t turning back.

The entrance to America’s deepest mine shaft sits on a plateau high above the Arizona desert, about an hour east of Phoenix. Tucked against the base of a ridge of steep cliffs, it looks southeast over miles of ragged boulder fields. What looks like a large capital A rises above its entrance. It’s the steel headframe used to hoist equipment in and out of the shaft, a concrete tube 30 feet wide that goes 6,943 feet straight down.

The No.?10 mine shaft, as it’s called, is on the southern edge of an old underground mine. For 86 years, the Magma Superior mine pulled copper and silver out of the surrounding mountains before closing in 1996 when the minerals ran out. Over its lifetime, Magma grew to include nine separate shafts, some of them miles apart. The final shaft, No.?9, was finished in the 1970s. After Magma closed, No.?9 sat abandoned for nearly 20 years before becoming part of the new Resolution Copper mine. It’s now the ventilation shaft for its younger, deeper cousin, No.?10, just a few hundred feet away.

Visited on a chilly day in December, the area around the top of the mine, the “collar” in mining terms, doesn’t look inviting. Steam clouds pour from the mouth of No.?9. It’s the hot air being drawn from the cave dug at the bottom of No. 10. That far down, rocks formed billions of years ago still carry heat from the molten core of the earth. Without the elaborate refrigeration system that pumps chilled air down No. 10, the bottom of the mine would be 180F, far too hot for a human to withstand. “You’d cook,” says Randy Seppala, 60, project manager for shaft development. Miners have long called this heat the “hand of the devil,” reaching up from the depths.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-arizona-copper-mine/

[Hotler]

21. I have no hope. I see no future.

My oh my how not just this country, but the world has descended into a pit of shit. Or the rebirth of the Nazi party.

Germans Turn to Trump-Style Politics in Challenge to Merkel.

Leader Petry says police must shoot if refugees come illegally
AfD has seats in eight regional assemblies after Sunday votes

If you think Donald Trump has some outrageous ideas, wait until you meet Germany’s AfD party.

The Alternative for Germany, to give the party its full name, has shaken up the country’s consensus-driven politics with headline-grabbing policies that include telling Germans to have more children to avoid the need for immigration. Frauke Petry, the AfD’s co-leader, has said that police must “prevent illegal border crossings, using firearms if necessary.”

Like Trump, her rhetoric hasn’t damaged AfD support but rather struck a chord with those disgruntled with the establishment parties, in particular nabbing voters unhappy with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy for refugees. The party surged to record support in Sunday’s regional elections, taking seats in all three states that voted and boosting its representation to half of Germany’s 16 state assemblies. The AfD had its strongest showing in Saxony-Anhalt with 24.2 percent, making it the second-biggest party in the former communist eastern state, according to preliminary official results.

The rise of the AfD in Germany mirrors growing support for populist politicians such as National Front leader Marine Le Pen in France and Trump, who has called for banning Muslims from emigrating to the U.S. Like Trump, Petry regularly gives the media that hang on her every word a tongue-lashing. The Bavarian public broadcaster reported Monday that one of its reporters was roughed up at a Sunday AfD rally. One German newspaper even ran a quiz asking readers to attribute statements to Trump or Petry.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-13/german-anti-immigration-party-surges-to-record-high-in-votes

More hate, More hate, more hate, chant with me...

[Hotler]

22. And this guy will be hailed as a pioneer.

A High-Speed Trading Pioneer Spots a New Way to Make Big Returns.

Manoj Narang starts firm to meld HFT and hedge fund strategies
Industry veteran left Tradeworx, which he co-founded, in 2015

Way up in a Manhattan tower, next door to the fabled Carnegie Hall, a pioneer of high-frequency trading explained his new idea for reaping big returns from modern markets.
Dressed in baggy jeans and a blue hoodie, Manoj Narang drew a red line across an Expo marker board. He wrote “structural” at one end and “statistical” at the other. The former, he explained, represented his old industry -- the computer-driven traders who are all about speed. The latter he identified as statistical arbitrage, a slower strategy where orders are driven by mathematical models, often based on historical price relationships.
What no one has done until now, Narang said, is focus on the middle of that red line -- the place where the two approaches meet.

“What I’m talking about is inventing and marketing something that’s in between these two strategies,” he recently told a group of employees at Mana Partners LLC, his new hedge fund firm. “You can see the economic appeal of being able to do this.”

For Narang, who founded one of America’s most prominent high-speed trading companies in 1999, the attempt at a second act reflects both his own circumstances and those of the wider HFT industry. He left his old firm -- Tradeworx Inc. -- a year ago because of what he said were differences in vision among its leaders. HFT strategies, meanwhile, have become less profitable after years of escalating competition.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-11/a-high-speed-trading-pioneer-spots-a-new-way-to-make-big-returns

And of course to play in this new hedge fund you probably need to be at least $100,000.00 tall to ride. (play) Couldn't this guy use his thinking talents to make the world better for all instead of helping rich people get richer?
He's most likely goods friends with the likes of Jamie Dimon and pals.