STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 23 January 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 23 January 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 22 January 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 22 January 2014
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Dow Jones 16,373.34 -41.10 (-0.25%)
[font color=green]S&P 500 1,844.86 +1.06 (0.06%)
Nasdaq 4,243.00 +17.24 (0.41%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.87% +0.02 (0.70%)
30 Year 3.76% +0.01 (0.27%) [font color=black]


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








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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. It ain't over until the fat lady sings

FCC needs to do its duty.

[Tansy_Gold]

2. I'm not holding my breath. n/t

[xchrom]

3. Banks Aid U.S. Forex Probe, Fullfilling Libor Accords

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-23/banks-aid-u-s-forex-probe-fullfilling-libor-accords.html

Banks bound by cooperation agreements in an interest-rate rigging probe are providing a windfall of information to U.S. prosecutors investigating possible currency manipulation, according to a Justice Department official and a person familiar with the matter.

“We’ve seen tangible, real results,” Mythili Raman, the acting head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in an interview. The cooperation “expanded our investigations into the possible manipulation of foreign exchange and other benchmark rates,” said Raman, who declined to name the banks or comment further on the probe.

The accords have compelled some lenders to conduct internal examinations of their foreign-exchange businesses and share findings with the Justice Department, speeding the government’s criminal probe into the $5.3 trillion-a-day market, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

Some banks are handing over lists of potential witnesses, making employees available for interviews and giving up documents without subpoenas, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is confidential. Investigators are holding weekly and sometimes daily phone calls with the banks, the person said.

[xchrom]

4. Global Factory Growth Diverges From Europe to China: Economy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-23/euro-area-january-factory-output-expands-more-than-forecast.html

Euro-area factory output expanded faster than economists forecast in January and a gauge in China signaled a surprise drop in manufacturing, highlighting the uneven nature of the global recovery.

A euro-area manufacturing index increased to 53.9 from 52.7 in December, Markit Economics said in a statement today. That exceeded the median estimate of 53 in a Bloomberg News survey of 39 economists. A Chinese gauge dropped to 49.6 from 50.5, weaker than even the most pessimistic forecast in a survey. A number below 50 indicates contraction.

Asian stocks fell and Treasuries rose after the report from China. The drop in the index may reinforce the view in the Bloomberg Global Poll published this week that showed China’s slowing economy as the biggest concern among investors. That poll also indicated growing optimism about the U.S. and euro-area economies.

“The momentum is clearly with advanced markets,” Christian Schulz, an economist at Berenberg Bank in London, said in a telephone interview. “Whereas emerging markets, which have had a strong run over the past couple of years, are now back to reality. There are many vulnerabilities in emerging markets that are now being uncovered as cheap money flows are fading.”

[xchrom]

5. Iceland Traps Hedge Funds in Refusal to Discuss Bank Claims

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-23/iceland-traps-hedge-funds-with-refusal-to-negotiate-bank-claims.html

More than five years after its biggest banks defaulted on $85 billion, Iceland’s government is refusing to speak to the hedge funds and other creditors that are still trying to get their claims paid out.

The island, which the International Monetary Fund has held up as a model for crisis management, says addressing the needs of bond investors in Kaupthing Bank hf, Glitnir Bank hf and Landsbanki Islands hf isn’t its concern. Instead, Prime Minister Sigmundur D. Gunnlaugsson says he’ll fight to ensure any steps taken protect the nation’s financial markets.

Creditors, represented through winding-up committees, want the government to let them sidestep currency controls that were created back in 2008, when Iceland was hemorrhaging capital. Gunnlaugsson says such a settlement isn’t viable.

“Because these actors have such huge funds in the agreement, or will have, if such an agreement is reached, it will affect whether or not, and when, we can lift the capital controls,” Gunnlaugsson said yesterday in an interview in Reykjavik. “It’s in everyone’s interest to create a situation which would allow for the lifting of controls.”

[Demeter]

25. Translation: You can have your money in Kroner?

and you can't take it with you?

I can live with that.

[xchrom]

6. Spanish Unemployment Stays Above 25% as Rajoy Seeks Growth

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-23/spanish-unemployment-stays-above-25-as-rajoy-seeks-growth.html


Spain’s unemployment remained above 25 percent for a sixth straight quarter, underpinning the extent of the damage wrought by a six-year slump in the euro region’s fourth-largest economy.

The jobless rate was at 26.03 percent of the workforce in the three months through December compared with 25.98 percent in the previous quarter, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said today. Economists expected the rate to remain unchanged, according to the median of seven forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

Over the same period, the economy grew 0.3 percent from the third quarter, while it contracted 1.2 percent in 2013 from the previous year, the Bank of Spain said today, confirming the government’s estimate. That’s its first two straight quarters of expansion in over two years.

Spain, which accounts for about 10 percent of the euro region’s population, is home to close to a third of its jobless people. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy forecasts economic growth of at least 0.7 percent will generate net jobs this year after a slump triggered by the end of a real-estate boom in 2007 more than tripled the nation’s unemployment rate.

[xchrom]

7. Emerging Stocks Drop on China Factory Data; Lira Plunges

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-22/nikkei-futures-rise-as-yen-drops-oil-to-natural-gas-jump.html

Emerging-market stocks and currencies fell with industrial metals after a gauge of China’s manufacturing contracted. The euro strengthened and most stocks in the region rose on signs the economy is improving, while Turkey’s lira slid to a record in the longest slump since 2001.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 0.7 percent at 10 a.m. in London, with a measure of Chinese shares in Hong Kong tumbling 2.1 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) futures fell 0.2 percent. The euro rose against all but two of its 16 major peers, climbing most against currencies from commodity-producing nations. The lira weakened for a ninth day. Copper and Brent crude dropped 0.3 percent.

Chinese factory output may contract this month, a preliminary survey from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics signaled today as the People’s Bank of China added further funds to the financial system to ease a cash shortage. Gauges of manufacturing and services industries in the euro area expanded more than forecast, according to Markit Economics. Reports on home sales and jobless claims in the U.S. today may back the case for further cuts to stimulus. McDonald’s Corp. and Microsoft Corp. report earnings.

[xchrom]

8. Detroit Judge Denies Creditors a Role in Valuing Art

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-22/detroit-judge-denies-creditor-request-for-role-in-valuing-art.html


Detroit’s bankruptcy judge denied a creditors’ request for an official role in overseeing how the city values and uses its art collection to reorganize.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes said he lacks authority under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code to force the city to accept and fund a creditor committee with the authority to participate in decisions on the art. Chapter 9, which governs local-governmental bankruptcies, gives judges less power over municipalities than they have over companies.

“Even if the court had the authority to grant the motion,” Rhodes said, the court wouldn’t do so. Decisions on whether to use the art to pay creditors owed more than $18 billion should be made as part of a plan the city is preparing, Rhodes said yesterday.

Rhodes also declined to bar the city immediately from imposing cuts to retiree health care. Instead, he will consider a request to stop the city from imposing the reductions as part of the normal objection process. If necessary, he will hold a hearing later this month on the cuts, he said.

[Demeter]

26. Who do they think they are, anyway?

How rude! How greedy! How unprofessional! How crooked!

Sounds like a Mafioso's shakedown to me...


You got some good ones, today, X! Congrats!

[xchrom]

9. Aussie Bulls Bolstered by Inflation Surprise

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-22/aussie-bulls-bolstered-by-inflation-surprise-australia-credit.html

Bulls on the Australian dollar, the world’s worst-performing major currency in the past year, are predicting a rally after a surprise acceleration in inflation forced traders to slash bets on further interest-rate cuts.

The trimmed mean of core prices rose 2.6 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, data showed yesterday, above the mid-point of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 2 percent to 3 percent target range. Traders dropped the odds of a Feb. 4 rate cut to 7 percent from 17 percent and the Aussie rose as much as 0.9 percent yesterday.

RBA Governor Glenn Stevens must now weigh unexpectedly high price pressures against the worst unemployment in four years as he struggles to ignite an economy the central bank estimates grew in 2013 at the weakest pace in four years. Declines in mining investment and commodity prices spurred a 15 percent drop in the Aussie in the past year, the biggest decline among 10 developed nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation Weighted Indexes.

“The inflation number and the subsequent move in the Aussie show the risk of everyone thinking alike and positioned the same way,” said Nader Naeimi, the Sydney-based head of dynamic asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors, which manages $131 billion. “You could see not just an inflation surprise but also surprising growth numbers from Australia as global growth gains traction. The bearish Aussie sentiment has gone too far.”

[xchrom]

10. Roubini's New Doom Scenario

http://www.businessinsider.com/roubinis-new-doom-scenario-2014-1

With many parts of the world gearing up to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the start of the First World War, Nouriel Roubini has solidified his hold on the title "Dr. Doom" by suggesting parallels between 2014 and 1914.

There may be no Austro-Hungarian empire or Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but Roubini tweeted this from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos today:

Nouriel Roubini ✔ @Nouriel
Follow
#wef14 many speakers compare 2014 to 1914 when WWI broke out & no one expected it. A black swan in the form of a war between China & Japan?

He then tweeted some of the reasoning behind this train of thought.

Nouriel Roubini ✔ @Nouriel
Follow
#wef14 Echoes of 1914: backlash against globalization, gilded age of inequality, rising geopolitical tensions, ignoring tail risks

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/roubinis-new-doom-scenario-2014-1#ixzz2rDqJc95u

[xchrom]

11. Why Dan Loeb Held An Unofficial Gay Rights Event In Davos

http://www.businessinsider.com/dan-loeb-gay-rights-davos-2014-1



This morning in Davos, hedge funders Dan Loeb and Paul Singer, along with sponsors that included The Huffington Post and Microsoft, held a panel on gay rights around the world.

Interestingly, the event — as Maggie Haberman first reported a couple days ago — wasn't an official event of the World Economic Forum. In fact, there are no official panels or events devoted to gay rights (even though there are events associated with other big social topics, including gender equality).

We caught up with Loeb about why he got involved in this event.

"It's an important issue to me... I'm a value investor, and I like to find things that are not appreciated broadly. This is an issue that's at a tipping point. We've had a lot of attention on it in the states with the marriage equality fight... I think this was a great panel because it focused on the plight of gay people. It's not about marriage in these countries. (It's about) gay people being murdered in Jamaica and imprisoned in Nigeria."



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/dan-loeb-gay-rights-davos-2014-1#ixzz2rDrQaAHj

[xchrom]

12. Here's What A Fast-Food Cheeseburger Costs In Davos

http://www.businessinsider.com/davos-cheeseburger-2014-1


Want to get a sense of the prices in Switzerland?

Here are the prices at the cheapest fast-food place in Davos. The prices are in Swiss Francs, so in U.S. dollars we're looking at $13 for the regular burger and nearly $19 for the double.

Now maybe at a high-end place in, say, New York, $13 for a cheeseburger is normal, but this place was assuredly not high-end. Compared to McDonald's pricing, we're looking at well over double what you'd expect to pay for this kind of sandwich.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/davos-cheeseburger-2014-1#ixzz2rDs3KDpo

[DemReadingDU]

15. I would starve

Those prices are outrageous!

[xchrom]

16. i don't eat that food anyway.

there must be good home made restaurants in the area -- travel all that way to get something i can walk down and get right here?
what a waste.

[DemReadingDU]

21. Swiss chocolate, Yum!

Probably good local restaurants too.

[xchrom]

22. OOOOH! now i want chocolate.

[Demeter]

27. I got it right here

and it's all mine! Mine!

All right, you can have some...

[xchrom]

32. ...

[xchrom]

13. Here's The Excuse Everyone's Giving For The Ugly Chinese Manufacturing Report

http://www.businessinsider.com/lunar-new-year-impacted-china-pmi-2014-1

China rocked the Asian markets on Thursday when it was revealed that manufacturing sector activity unexpectedly contracted in January.

The HSBC Flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.6 in January from 50.5 in December. Economists were expecting a reading of 50.3.

"The marginal contraction of January’s headline HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI was mainly dragged by cooling domestic demand conditions," said HSBC's Hongbin Qu. "This implies softening growth momentum for manufacturing sectors, which has already weighed on employment growth."

But many economists are cautioning against going into full freak-out mode because a big national holiday is coming.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/lunar-new-year-impacted-china-pmi-2014-1#ixzz2rDsiILQl

[xchrom]

14. France Is Still Struggling

http://www.businessinsider.com/france-is-still-struggling-2014-1

Private sector firms in France reported the third straight monthly drop in output in January.

Flash PMI moved up to 48.5 from 47.3 the previous month, according to Markit.

"Slower falls in activity were recorded in both the service and manufacturing sectors," according to the report. "In each case, the latest drop was the least marked since October."

From Markit's Jack Kennedy:

Weakness in the French private sector persisted in January, with output falling further, albeit at a reduced rate. Moderate falls in new orders, employment and backlogs of work were also recorded, in each case across both the service and manufacturing sectors, pointing to a general softness that seems to show little sign of lifting. Meanwhile, contrasting trends in input and output prices were recorded, with the gap between the survey’s respective indices widening to the largest in nearly three years, as strong competitive pressures eroded firms’ pricing power and prevented the pass-through of higher purchasing costs to clients.

Here's the chart from the report:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/france-is-still-struggling-2014-1#ixzz2rDtlTuUr

[xchrom]

17. Why Are American Colleges Obsessed With 'Leadership'?

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/why-are-american-colleges-obsessed-with-leadership/283253/

Earlier this month, more than 700,000 students submitted the Common Application for college admissions. They sent along academic transcripts and SAT scores, along with attestations of athletic or artistic success and—largely uniform—bodies of evidence speaking to more nebulously-defined characteristics: qualities like—to quote the Harvard admissions website—“maturity, character, leadership, self-confidence, warmth of personality, sense of humor, energy, concern for others and grace under pressure.”

Why are American colleges so interested in leadership? On the Harvard admissions website quoted above, leadership is listed third: just after two more self-evident qualities. So too the Yale website, which quotes former Yale president Kingman Brewer's assessment that “We have to make the hunchy judgment as to whether or not with Yale’s help the candidate is likely to be a leader in whatever he [or she] ends up doing.” Our goals remain the same today” before going on to stress that “We are looking for students we can help to become the leaders of their generation in whatever they wish to pursue.”

The language of Princeton dean Janet Lavin Rapeleye in The New York Times is strikingly similar: “We look for qualities that will help [students] become leaders in their fields and in their communities.” (So too Princeton's admissions website, which lists leadership prominently in its section on extracurriculars: “We look for students who make a difference in their schools and communities, so tell us about your leadership activities, interests, special skills and other extracurricular involvements.”) In his study The Gatekeepers, Jacques Steinberg describes how the admissions officers at Wesleyan scored the “personal” section of an applicant's portfolio: “A 9 [out of 9] at Wesleyan...someone 'sure to “have significant impact on campus in leadership roles”; a 7 or 6 would be assigned to someone who was “likely to be a leader in some areas, contributor to many.”

[Demeter]

28. I recall an anecdote of decades ago

Parent filling out the form for a child....

admits that daughter is a follower, not a leader.

She got in. College said they needed a few followers to dilute all those leaders in the freshman class.

[xchrom]

18. IRAN PRESIDENT PLEDGES COOPERATION, TRADE TIES

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_DAVOS_FORUM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-23-07-27-30

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his country is ready to do business and cooperate on global issues like climate change and Syria's crisis, in a speech aimed at persuading world leaders that Tehran is committed to ending years of international isolation.

Rouhani claimed the spotlight at the annual World Economic Forum on Thursday owing to a variety of factors: Iran's pivotal role in the Middle East; its exclusion from peace talks to end the 3-year Syrian conflict; and a nuclear deal with world powers that has businesses in Europe and beyond preparing to rush back into the country.

Iran, he said, is "fully prepared and ready to engage with all neighboring countries to achieve shared practical solutions" on a range of issues including environmental concerns, business ventures, Palestinian rights, Persian Gulf security and Syria's humanitarian crisis.

The Iranian president, accompanied by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who negotiated a deal with world powers to limit Iran's nuclear program, emphasized that Tehran will abide by the terms of that deal in exchange for some sanctions relief and the unfreezing of about $4.2 billion in overseas assets. Over the next half-year, Iran and world powers will try to forge a permanent deal.

[xchrom]

19. PLATINUM MINERS STRIKE IN SOUTH AFRICA

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_SOUTH_AFRICA_MINE_STRIKE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-23-06-47-46

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Tens of thousands of platinum miners in South Africa went on strike Thursday, demanding higher wages in a protest that is disrupting one of the country's major industries.

Protesters from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union sang and danced outside one mine shaft in Rustenburg, the center of major platinum operations. Some wore hard hats, and one donned a zebra mask.

South Africa is the world's leading producer of the metal, which is used in medical, electronic and other industries.

Stephen Dijo, a union representative, acknowledged reports that the South African economy will suffer if the strike is protracted, but said many workers who go underground struggle to pay for basic needs. The union demands for a monthly entry-level wage for underground workers of the equivalent of $1,140.

[xchrom]

20. GERMANY TO HOLD 2015 G8 SUMMIT AT ALPINE SPA

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_G8_SUMMIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-23-07-29-44

BERLIN (AP) -- Germany says it will hold next year's Group of Eight summit at a secluded spa hotel in the Bavarian Alps.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday the meeting of leaders from the world's top eight economic powers will be held in the summer of 2015 at Schloss Elmau, near the ski resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and close to the Austrian border.

The G-8 summit has become a major security challenge for host countries over recent years, with protesters kept well away and many hosts choosing out-of-the-way venues. Russia, which holds the rotating G-8 presidency this year, plans to hold the 2014 summit in Sochi, the site of next month's Winter Olympics.

Germany last hosted the summit in 2007 in Heiligendamm, a small resort on the Baltic Sea coast.

[Demeter]

23. this is for all those rosy scenarios the corporate economists are predicting

[Demeter]

24. Is there anybody here who DOESN'T feel that urge?

I thought not. We all have good instincts here.

How about that DOW? 155pts straight down at open....

[Demeter]

29. You knew it was coming---the Weekend Is Nearly Here!

Nothing comes to my mind for a theme or anything....unless we want to go with Davos?

(Save me! Suggest something, anything!)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

30. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (01/23/2014)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20140092.htm

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending January 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 326,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 325,000. The 4-week moving average was 331,500, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week's revised average of 335,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending January 11, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 11 was 3,056,000, an increase of 34,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,022,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,939,000, an increase of 31,000 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,908,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 411,678 in the week ending January 18, a decrease of 121,020 from the previous week. There were 436,955 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.
....

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 4 was 3,706,087, a decrease of 1,003,734 from the previous week. There were 5,659,482 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2013.

== == == ==

Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I ask you to put aside your differences long enough to read this post. Following that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

The word "initial" is important. The report does not count all claims, just the new ones filed this week.

Note: The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2007 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised. These revised historical values, as well as the seasonal adjustment factors that will be used through calendar year 2012, can be accessed at the bottom of the following link: http://www.oui.doleta.gov/press/2012/032912.asp

[DemReadingDU]

31. Decoding Mutual Fund Brochures - LOL

https://twitter.com/ReformedBroker/status/425794867478798336

or
https://twitter.com/ReformedBroker/status/425794867478798336/photo/1