STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 11 February 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 12 February 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 11 February 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 February 2014
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Dow Jones 15,994.77 +192.98 (1.22%)
S&P 500 1,819.75 +19.91 (1.11%)
Nasdaq 4,191.04 +42.87 (1.03%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.72% +0.02 (0.74%)
30 Year 3.69% +0.02 (0.54%)[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.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.








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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]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. The 'toon is more like wishful thinking than

commentary on what really is.

[Demeter]

2. It's the Age of Sarcasm

The Age of Irony is dead and gone.

[jtuck004]

3. And the crowd murmurs its agreement... n/t

[Demeter]

4. U.S. Resets Obamacare Deadline For Some Businesses To 2016

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/10/274896609/u-s-resets-insurance-deadline-for-some-businesses-to-2016?ft=1&f=1001



The Obama administration says businesses employing 50-99 people now have until Jan. 1, 2016, to provide health insurance, rolling back part of the requirement known as the employer mandate. Under the Affordable Care Act, larger companies must offer the coverage in 2015.

NPR's Julie Rovner filed this update for our Newscast desk:

"Employers with fewer than 50 workers are unaffected by the health law's requirements. The new rules give those businesses just larger — those with 50-99 workers — an additional year to provide health insurance, until Jan. 1, 2016. In order to get the extension, however, they'll have to promise not to cut existing staff."

It's the second time the requirement for middle-size businesses . Julie will have more analysis of the change later, for the .

The change by the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. The agencies say the delay will affect only about 2 percent of U.S. employers.

The agencies also announced a new rule allowing large employers to phase in the percentage of workers they cover, "from 70 percent in 2015 to 95 percent in 2016 and beyond."

As the announcement notes, many of those firms, which employ 100 or more people, already offer insurance coverage.


FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS I HAVE BOUGHT MY OWN INSURANCE (WHEN I COULD AFFORD IT). MY AGENT CALLED TO CHAT, AND TOLD ME HER CLIENTS WERE SIMPLY APPALLED AT THE COST OF OBAMACARE WHEN CONTRASTED WITH WHAT THEY HAD BEEN PAYING. SHE ALSO WARNED THAT IN 2015, THE INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL TRY TO MAKE UP ALL THE PROFITS THEY LOST WHEN THEIR GUESS AS TO HOW MUCH THEY WOULD NEED TO COLLECT IN FEES COMPARED TO HOW MUCH THEY WOULD PAY OUT PROVES INADEQUATE...

[Demeter]

5. Former Madoff aides get their day in court

http://news.yahoo.com/former-madoff-aides-day-court-110201735--sector.html

Four months into a criminal trial for five former employees of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, witnesses have made it clear that no one but Madoff himself knew the whole truth about his massive Ponzi scheme, from his top lieutenant on down.

With prosecutors expected to wrap up their case on Monday, the defendants' lawyers will try to convince a federal jury that their clients were completely in the dark, unaware that they were propping up an unprecedented fraud.

The defense's task is twofold: to persuade jurors that cooperating witnesses are lying to secure lighter sentences, and that whatever improper acts the defendants may have committed were done unwittingly.

"In white-collar cases, the issue often is not who did what," said Robert Anello, a partner at Morvillo Abramovitz Grand Iason & Anello, who is not tied to the case. "It is often whether what you did, based on your knowledge, is a crime."

MORE INTRIGUE AT LINK

[Demeter]

6. 5 Valentine’s Day scams to avoid

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-valentines-day-scams-to-avoid-2014-02-10?siteid=YAHOOB

1. Infected e-cards
2. Google gotchas
3. Facebook fiends
4. Sale-related spam
5. Romance ruses

DETAILS AT LINK....CAVEAT EMPTOR AND WEB-CRAWLER!

[Demeter]

7. How to invest like a cockroach: Building a portfolio that can survive anything

THE HEADLINE ALONE GIVES ME THE GRUE

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-invest-like-a-cockroach-2014-02-10?siteid=YAHOOB



Main Street investors withdrew billions of dollars from the stock market last week—just before stock prices rallied. And according to reports, they put the money into bonds—just before they fell. This latest example of bad timing was a reversal of what was happening in the weeks before Christmas. Back then, Main Street investors were pulling money out of bonds and throwing it into the stock market. Naturally, this was just before stock markets tumbled and bonds rose...So many investors act like the proverbial cat on a hot tin roof, always in motion, always trying to guess which way to jump next. Will new Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen stop “tapering” bond purchases if the job market remains weak? Will China tank? Will Puerto Rico default? Will inflation take off?

By lucky happenstance, last week SG Securities’ quantitative strategist Andrew Lapthorne directed my eye toward an absolutely fascinating piece of research, published just over a year ago by his erstwhile colleague Dylan Grice (who has since vanished into the maw of fund management).

To put it in a nutshell, Grice has advice for all of us: Don’t be a cat on a hot tin roof…be a cockroach....Grice’s cockroach is a portfolio divided into four equal parts: Stocks, bonds, cash (i.e. deposits or Treasury bills), and gold bullion.

MORE BABBLE AT LINK

[Demeter]

8. House approves 'clean' debt limit after Republicans drop demands

http://news.yahoo.com/house-republicans-aim-pass-39-clean-39-debt-151114953--business.html

The House of Representatives narrowly approved a one-year extension of federal borrowing authority on Tuesday after Republicans caved into President Barack Obama's demands to allow a debt limit increase without any conditions.

The 221-201 vote, carried mainly by Democrats, marked a dramatic shift from the confrontational fiscal tactics House Republicans have used over the past three years, culminating in last October's 16-day government shutdown.

It came after House Republicans repudiated House Speaker John Boehner's latest plan to link an increase in the $17.2 trillion borrowing cap to a repeal of planned cuts to military pensions.

Although Boehner called his decision to advance a "clean" debt limit a "disappointing moment," it sets aside a difficult and divisive issue until after the 2014 congressional elections in November, allowing Republicans to focus their campaign efforts on the rocky launch of Obama's health care reform law.

MORE

[Demeter]

9. The American Precariat DAVID BROOKS

YES, IT'S DAVID BROOKS. HE DOES NOT, HOWEVER, INJECT HIMSELF AND HIS WEIRD MODEL OF REALITY AND POLITICS INTO THIS MOSTLY FACTUAL PIECE...AND DRAWS NO CONCLUSIONS.

THANK HEAVEN FOR SMALL BLESSINGS.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/opinion/brooks-the-american-precariat.html?_r=0

...In the past 60 years, for example, Americans have become steadily less mobile. In 1950, 20 percent of Americans moved in a given year. Now, it’s around 12 percent. In the 1950s and 1960s, people lived in the same house for an average of five years; now people live in the same house for an average of 8.6 years. When it comes to geographic mobility, we are now at historic lows, no more mobile than people in Denmark or Finland.

Why is this happening? A few theories offer partial explanations, but only partial ones.

It is true that we are an aging nation and older people tend to move less. But today’s young people are much less mobile than young people from earlier generations. Between the 1980s and the 2000s alone, mobility among young adults dropped by 41 percent.

It’s also true that many people are locked into homes with underwater values. But as Timothy Noah pointed out in Washington Monthly, mobility among renters is down just as sharply as mobility among homeowners.

It’s also true that labor markets are getting more homogeneous. It used to be that the jobs found in Pittsburgh were different than the ones found in Atlanta. But now they are more similar, so there is less reason to move from one city to another. But that also fails to explain the tremendous drops over decades.

No, a big factor here is a loss in self-confidence. It takes faith to move. You are putting yourself through temporary expense and hardship because you have faith that over the long run you will slingshot forward. Many highly educated people, who are still moving in high numbers, have that long-term faith. Less-educated people often do not.

SELF-CONFIDENCE? I THINK NOT, DAVID. IT'S CONFIDENCE THAT ONE WON'T BE SCREWED OVER BY A BASTARD EMPLOYER THAT IS LACKING, AN EMPLOYER THAT FIRES YOU 6 MONTHS AFTER MOVING, FOR EXAMPLE...

[Demeter]

10. BofA, Goldman among banks facing $16 billion in fines

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-bofa-face-16-billion-in-fhfa-related-fines-2014-02-11?siteid=YAHOOB

The settlements of lawsuits so far with major banks pave the way for some $16 billion in additional penalties to be paid by banks including Bank of America and Goldman Sachs Group over mortgage securities sold to government-seized housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING...

[Demeter]

11. Better Markets sues Justice Department over JPMorgan deal

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/10/us-lawsuit-justice-jpmorgan-idUSBREA191ET20140210

The non-profit group Better Markets filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Monday to block what it called an "unlawful" $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase & Co over bad mortgage loans sold to investors before the financial crisis. The record settlement, which was reached in November, does not release JPMorgan from potential criminal liability over the mortgages it packaged into bonds. But Better Markets said it was still appalled that the settlement gave the bank "blanket civil immunity" for its conduct without sufficient judicial review.

"The Wall Street bailouts were bad enough, but now taxpayers are being forced to accept a secretive backroom deal that may well have been another sweetheart deal," said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets.

"The Justice Department cannot act as prosecutor, jury and judge and extract $13 billion in exchange for blanket civil immunity to the largest, richest, most politically connected bank on Wall Street," he said.

Better Markets was founded in 2010 to advocate for tough Wall Street reforms. The lawsuit, which names the Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder, was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. Better Markets is seeking to have the court prevent the Justice Department from enforcing the settlement until a judge reviews it....Justice Department spokeswoman Ellen Canale said the agency was confident the settlement complied with the law. JPMorgan spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli declined to comment on the lawsuit...Lawmakers and others have criticized the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama for failing to hold Wall Street banks, executives, and other parties accountable for the excesses that resulted in the housing crisis.

The Justice Department in November negotiated a wide-ranging deal with the largest U.S. bank that included a $2 billion civil penalty to resolve Justice Department claims. It also included a $4 billion consumer relief package, and a separately negotiated $4 billion settlement with the regulator of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Another $1.4 billion of the $13 billion package resolved a lawsuit from the National Credit Union Administration. The settlement was released to the public, but not filed in federal court...While the Justice Department enters into non-prosecution agreements on the criminal side without filing them in court, it rarely enters into similar out-of-court settlements over civil violations. The agency also did not release a complaint that it had prepared to file against JPMorgan before it negotiated the deal...In its complaint, Better Markets claimed the settlement with the bank lacked critical facts that could help justify the deal, such as failing to name any individuals responsible for the wrongdoing, how much damage investors had suffered or even "which specific laws were violated."

"No one has any ability to determine if the $13 billion agreement is fair, adequate, reasonable, and in the public interest or if this is a sweetheart deal entered into behind closed doors," the complaint said.

Kelleher, a former attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, has become well-known for his critique of both Wall Street banks and regulators who he has often accused of failing to hold the banks accountable for wrongdoing. Kelleher announced the lawsuit during a press conference at the National Press Club on Monday, armed with large posters including one with photos of Holder and JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.

[wilsonbooks]

12. The 1% Should Be Afraid: The New Norm in the Workplace Is Unstable

http://truth-out.org/news/item/21785-the-one-percent-should-be-afraid-the-new-norm-in-the-workplace-is-unstable


A new study from Oxfam published just ahead of this year's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, reported that just one percent of the world's population controls nearly half of the planet's wealth and 70 percent of the world's people live in countries where income inequality has been growing in the last 30 years. In the US, the gap between rich and poor has grown faster than in any other developed country. The top one percent has captured 95 percent of all growth since the putative "recovery" of 2009. This is the "new normal." Is it sustainable?
Barbara Garson is the author of a series of books describing American working lives at historically important turning points. If this is one of those turning points, it's one in which the one percent have won:
"That the so-called recovery that everyone is bragging about is this," Garson told GRITtv in a recent interview. "We've recovered, we've taken your full-time job away and given you a part-time job, and we've given the difference to our stockholders."
The trouble is, this cockeyed situation is not stable, and even the capitalists, maybe especially the capitalists, should be worried.
"There are capitalist solutions, like redistribution, but they're not doing it. That may be why we have a socialist solution this time," she concludes. "If seventeen percent of the houses are vacant, we'll just move into them."

[Ghost Dog]

13. Meanwhile, at Asia's arms bazaar...

... Many of the uniformed officers from Asia's militaries who are visiting the biennial Singapore Airshow make a beeline for the aircraft.

For the most part, the Poseidon is a Boeing 737, the world's most commonly seen passenger jet. But first looks can be deceiving - this plane can be fitted with torpedoes, depth charges and anti-ship missiles. Inside are packed some of the world's most advanced avionics, radars and sensors, making it the only long-range marine patrol aircraft that can hunt and destroy submarines.

"When you want the best long-range anti-submarine warfare aircraft in that class, we have the product that's most developed," said Chris Raymond, an executive vice president in Boeing's defence, space and security division.

Defence analysts say maritime surveillance is the most pressing security need in East and Southeast Asia, made up of predominantly littoral states. Rival maritime claims that have pitted China, which has one of the world's fastest growing militaries, against Japan and other Asian nations have made the South and East China Seas dangerous flashpoints.

Piracy and smuggling are also rife in the region. And natural disasters strike with depressing regularity, leading to a need for search and rescue aircraft.

"Maritime patrol is the buzzword at the moment, especially in Singapore," said Gareth Jennings, an aviation expert at IHS Jane's...

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/uk-airshow-singapore-defence-surveillanc-idUKBREA1B04F20140212

[Demeter]

14. I'd worry more about drones, frankly

They are relatively cheap, relatively undefeatable, and the US Droneboy loves them to pieces.

[Demeter]

15. A great big hug and kiss to you ananymous people for Valentine's hearts!

You do wonders for my self-esteem. I love you all back, all of you.

[xchrom]

16. ASIAN STOCKS JUMP ON YELLEN EASY-MONEY REMARKS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-12-04-09-13

TOKYO (AP) -- Global stocks were higher Wednesday after the new head of the U.S. Federal Reserve vowed a continuation of low interest rates. Stronger Chinese trade figures and the shelving of another U.S. debt limit battle also boosted markets.

Gains in Asia outpaced Europe where trading was more muted. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent to 6,680.93 and France's CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent to 4,294.79. Germany's DAX climbed 0.5 percent to 9,522.13. Futures augured a higher open on Wall Street, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both up 0.1 percent.

Yellen's remarks worked to calm some of the jitters in global markets about slowing growth in China, the world's No. 2 economy.

"Basically, it's all about her comments," said Takuya Takahashi, strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. in Tokyo.

[xchrom]

17. CHINA'S TRADE GROWTH ACCELERATES IN JANUARY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_TRADE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-11-23-50-23

BEIJING (AP) -- China's trade growth accelerated in January, possibly helping to ease fears about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy that could dent global demand.

Imports rose 10 percent to $107.2 billion, up from January's 8.3 percent growth, trade data showed Wednesday. Exports rose 10.6 percent to $126.7 billion, more than double the previous month's 4.3 percent expansion.

Growth was "much stronger than we had expected," said RBS economist Louis Kuijs in a report. "This should make markets more relaxed about both global demand and demand in China's own economy."

Last year's economic growth of 7.7 percent was stronger than the United States, Japan or Europe but tied 2012 for China's weakest annual performance since 1999.

[xchrom]

18. GERMANY RAISES 2014 GROWTH FORECAST

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-12-06-25-43

BERLIN (AP) -- The German government is raising its growth forecast for 2014 slightly to 1.8 percent, saying that low unemployment and rising wages should spur domestic demand.

The Economy Ministry had previously predicted 1.7 percent growth.

The growth forecast Wednesday marks a big rebound from 2013 when Germany managed to eke out only modest 0.4 percent growth.

Germany has managed to keep growing while other countries using the euro currency have stagnated or slumped. It currently has an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent while others such as Spain and Greece have rates above 25 percent.

[xchrom]

19. Europe or Democracy? What German Court Ruling Means for the Euro

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/german-court-calls-ecb-bond-buying-into-question-a-952556.html

Last Friday, when six justices on Germany's Constitutional Court cast doubt on European efforts to save the euro, the man who initiated the case was sitting obliviously at his desk. It was only when his secretary burst excitedly into his office that Peter Gauweiler understood that his case had created legal history.

Gauweiler, a member of German parliament who also has a legal firm located in Munich, managed to convince a majority of justices on the court's second senate that the ECB's program to save the European common currency is contrary to European law. The court referred the case onward to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, a first for the Karlsruhe-based German court. "Karlsruhe has shown ECB President Mario Draghi what a bazooka really is," Gauweiler crowed.

Gauweiler is likely the only German parliamentarian for whom the ruling is cause for such elation. The case regarding the legality of ECB efforts to assist ailing euro-zone member states has been ongoing for more than a year -- and Friday's move to refer the issue onward to Luxembourg has triggered concern and impatience among politicians in Berlin and the rest of Europe.

Sending the case to Luxembourg only appears to be an act of European conviction at first glance. In truth, it is nothing less than a final reckoning with the crisis-management strategy pursued by the ECB. There can be no doubt about it: The Constitutional Court is threatening to cause trouble.

[xchrom]

20. Why Silicon Valley's Top Dogs Fought Back So Feebly Against NSA Spying

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/02/why-big-tech-didnt-fight-day-we-fight-back

Remember the SOPA blackout? The 2012 protest against the expansion of online copyright enforcement was pretty hard to ignore, with Google and other major sites blacking out their homepage logos or going offline entirely.

Yesterday's "The Day We Fight Back" protest against NSA surveillance was supposed to have been similarly huge, but unless you follow this sort of thing closely, you might have missed it. It was covered lightly in the press, and only briefly trended on Twitter. Given how much Edward Snowden's revelations have supposedly insulted the sensibilities and threatened the profits of Silicon Valley, the "we" in "The Day We Fight Back" has proved surprisingly small.

This is not to say the NSA protest didn't get any attention: It generated 350,000 Facebook shares, some 75,000 phone calls and 150,000 emails to Congress, and 215,000 signatures on an online petition. Yet that can't touch the impact of the protest against Stop Online Piracy Act—the largest protest in the short history of the internet. The SOPA campaign took off because "people find it much easier to rally around a specific 'ask'" such as killing SOPA, says Adi Kamdar, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which helped organize yesterday's protest—"a much broader ask and a much more nuanced ask."

Yet the anti-NSA action might have gone viral had major tech companies put their weight behind it. While the Reform Government Surveillance Coalition (which includes Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft) endorsed the protest, and Google and Twitter issued supportive statements, you wouldn't have known it from their homepages.

[xchrom]

21. Double Good News For Emerging Markets

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-yellen-boost-emerging-markets-2014-2

Suddenly people aren't worried so much about emerging markets.
Their currencies haven't been tanking lately — in fact they've been quite strong, especially the Lira.

And already the story is changing.

The latest? Good news for emerging markets from both China and the US.

Here's Kit Juckes of SocGen:

It would be crazy to declare markets ‘safe' from a return of EM fears and volatility, but the Fed Chair's testimony, the lack of major US data today, double-digit export and import growth in China in January (with all due caveats about data quality), and a calendar which will see Mark Carney try to sound dovish before Australia reports a rebound in employment tonight, doesn't seem too threatening.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-yellen-boost-emerging-markets-2014-2#ixzz2t73r06lj

[xchrom]

22. An 'Unusual' And Deadly Ice Storm Is Slamming The Deep South

http://www.businessinsider.com/an-unusual-and-deadly-ice-storm-is-hitting-the-deep-south-2014-2



WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) - A deadly winter storm packing ice, sleet, and heavy snow hit the southeastern United States on Wednesday, threatening road and air travel and widespread power outages, forecasters said.

The worsening storm stretched from eastern Texas to the Carolinas, and is likely to reach up into the Middle Atlantic states by late on Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Edwards said.

"It's unusual to have an ice storm that far east in the Deep South," he added.

President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration for Georgia, where the state government will be closed on Wednesday, and governors in other southern states declared weather emergencies.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/an-unusual-and-deadly-ice-storm-is-hitting-the-deep-south-2014-2#ixzz2t74RcKgg

[xchrom]

23. UH-OH: Corporate America Is Finally Getting Nervous About Record-High Profit Margins

http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-margin-expansion-difficult-in-2014-2014-2

Corporate America has managed to deliver sky-high profits on little revenue growth thanks to expanding profit margins.
Cheap debt, low tax rates, and increased productivity have fattened profit margins to record levels.

While managers believe margins can move higher this year, their conviction behind that call seems increasingly shaky.

"Companies once again presented mixed outlooks for margins, but many indicated that expansion will be difficult," said Goldman Sachs's David Kostin citing earnings conference calls. "Consistent with our forecast that profit margins will remain roughly flat near historical peak levels for the next two years, managements highlighted difficult pricing and higher input costs as key factors offsetting operating leverage, efficiency gains, and continued cost controls."



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-margin-expansion-difficult-in-2014-2014-2#ixzz2t75Jy8iK

[xchrom]

24. Ugly Eurozone Industrial Production

http://www.businessinsider.com/eurozone-industrial-production-2014-2

[xchrom]

25. Prince Alwaleed: I Have $11 To $12 Billion In 'Hidden Treasures' That Aren't Publicly Traded

http://www.businessinsider.com/alwaleed-has-12-billion-hidden-wealth-2014-2



Prince Alwaleed, Saudi Arabia's self-proclaimed Warren Buffett, has seen his fund, Kingdom Holdings, return 52% since Sept. 5, when it hit a 52-week low.
And the prince has told Bloomberg that there's more where that came from.

“We have hidden treasures, lots of rich assets that aren’t publicly traded,” Alwaleed, 58, said by phone from Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where he was vacationing with his family. “They are worth more than $11 billion to $12 billion, and the market could value them at more than double that.”

His big winners recently have been Twitter, the Fours Seasons, and Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com Inc. It's the second biggest e-commerce site in China and is considering an IPO.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/alwaleed-has-12-billion-hidden-wealth-2014-2#ixzz2t77NpsTn

[xchrom]

26. The Mobsters of Wall Street

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/02/12


Assume that you ran a business that was found guilty of bribery, forgery, perjury, defrauding homeowners, fleecing investors, swindling consumers, cheating credit card holders, violating U.S. trade laws and bilking American soldiers. Can you even imagine the kind of punishment you'd get?

How about zero? Nada. Nothing. Zilch. No jail time. Not even a fine. Plus, you still get to stay on as boss, you get to keep all the loot you gained from the crime spree, and you even get an $8.5 million pay raise!

Of course, you and I would never get such outrageous, absurd, kid-glove pampering by legal authorities. But, then, we're not the capo of JPMorgan Chase, America's biggest bank and a crime syndicate that apparently is too big to jail.

Jamie Dimon is the slick, vainglorious, silver-haired boss of the JPMorgan house of banksters. This CEO has fostered a culture of thievery during his years as a top executive at JPMorgan, leading to a shameful litany of crime. Yet, federal prosecutors have bowed to the politically connected Wall Streeter, refusing to ruffle his feathers with even a single criminal charge.

[xchrom]

27. Homebuyers Get Break as Loan Rates Defy Fed Tapering: Mortgages

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-12/homebuyers-get-break-as-loan-rates-defy-fed-tapering-mortgages.html

Ashley Underwood is taking advantage of the unexpected drop in mortgage rates by rushing to buy her first home before they go up again.

“I’m ready to cancel plans at a moment’s notice to go look at a house,” said Underwood, 27, who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. “I didn’t expect to see rates falling again, and I want to lock in something before I lose out.”

The drop in the last month proved forecasters wrong, said Douglas Duncan, chief economist of Fannie Mae in Washington. After the Federal Reserve announced in December that it would begin tapering purchases of mortgage-backed securities, all the major housing forecasters said rates would jump this quarter. Economists didn’t foresee that investors would react to the Fed’s retreat by moving money from emerging markets into U.S. Treasuries, driving down home-loan rates.

“I was surprised by what happened in the bond market,” Duncan said. “Everyone was surprised. It was completely unexpected that mortgage rates would fall after the Fed began tapering.”

[Demeter]

28. Today's comics

[antigop]

29. um, any idea what this is? IBM Finally Put Its Money Where Watson Is

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12330708/1/ibms-watson-group-flashes-startup-cash.html

Not only is this IBM's first investment from the Watson Group, it actually helps promote the ecosystem around Watson, the Jeopardy-winning supercomputer. Welltok is going to build CafeWell Concierge, a new application that uses Watson's cognitive computing capabilities. The app will use Watson's ability to uncover insights from big data, which can understand human speech, and is able to read millions of pages of data in seconds.

Welltok allows the the Watson Group to enter the enormous consumer health market, helping push consumers towards healthier behavior, as well as drive value for the healthcare system itself.

"We must transform beyond the current 'sickcare' system built for patients to one that optimizes each consumer's health status. To do so, the industry needs a practical, but radically different approach to engage the 85 percent of the nation's population who are making daily choices that impact their health," said Jeff Margolis, chairman and CEO of Welltok in the press release. "Our Platform as a Service solution meets this need by revolutionizing the way population managers partner with consumers and connecting them to the right resources and incentives. We have the vision, industry expertise and financial strength to lead the charge in optimizing consumers' health and maximizing rewards."

[Demeter]

30. Sounds like Skynet, to me

[antigop]

31. almost sounds like they want to monitor everyone's eating habits?

Color me paranoid.

[antigop]

32. and what the *&^% is a "population manager"?

"Our Platform as a Service solution meets this need by revolutionizing the way population managers partner with consumers and connecting them to the right resources and incentives.