STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 14 February 2014 VALENTINE'S DAY!

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 14 February 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 13 February 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 13 February 2014
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Dow Jones 16,027.59 +63.65 (0.40%)
S&P 500 1,829.83 +10.57 (0.58%)
Nasdaq 4,240.67 +39.38 (0.94%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.70% -0.01 (-0.37%)
[font color=black]30 Year 3.68% 0.00 (0.00%)[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]

[Demeter]

1. Happy Valentine's Day to Tansy Gold and All Her Loyal Fan Club!

Hugs all around! And chocolate!




And thank you for the pile of hearts! You shouldn't have!

[Hugin]

4. Happy Valentines to you all!

<3 <3 <3

[Demeter]

2. Weekly Jobless Claims Rise, As Do Hopes For Better News In Spring

YES, WELL, SPRING IS KNOWN FOR ITS DELUSIONAL INFLUENCE...SINCE EVERYBODY'S LAYING OFF, SHUTTING DOWN AND EXPORTING JOBS, WHAT CAN ONE EXPECT BUT HIGHER JOBLESS CLAIMS? knocking THE LONG-TERM OFF THE LIST ONLY WORKS ONCE.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/13/276411320/jobless-claims-rise-hope-is-that-spring-will-bring-better-news?ft=1&f=1001



There were 339,000 first-time claims filed last week for unemployment benefits, up 8,000 from the week before, .

So this week's takeaway would seem to be a lot like last week's and several before that.

It's yet another report showing that claims remain in a range . And as we've said before:

"When the economy is expanding and even when payrolls are growing, there are people being laid off who file jobless claims. But the stubbornly slow growth in employment in recent years has been underscored by the fact that there hasn't been a string of weeks below the 300,000-level since early 2006."

Before the report, Moody's Analytics economist Ryan Sweet told :

"Claims have been very choppy over the last several weeks. Once businesses recognize that this soft patch is only temporary, I think we'll start to see much stronger employment numbers as the economy begins to thaw from winter."

DEFINE TEMPORARY...AS SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE REST OF ONE'S LIFE, PLEASE....

[Demeter]

3. Making College Pay NYT EDITORIAL

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/making-college-pay.html

It seems logical: College graduates have lower unemployment and earn more than less educated workers, so, the thinking goes, the fix for today’s anemic growth in jobs and wages is to make sure that more people earn college degrees. But that’s a common misperception, deflecting attention from the serious work that has to be done to create jobs and improve incomes. A college education remains a path to more stable, higher-paying employment. The recent jobless rate for college graduates ages 25 and older was 3.2 percent, and their median pay at full-time, full-year jobs was $75,300 for men and $53,700 for women. That is a far lower rate of joblessness and a far higher pay level than for high school graduates and people without high school diplomas. But that doesn’t mean that enough good jobs are, or will be, available for college graduates. Though joblessness for college graduates ages 25 and older looks tame, the jobless rate for those under 25 averaged 8.2 percent in 2013, compared with 8 percent in 2012 and 5.4 in 2007, before the Great Recession hit in full force.

Recent graduates also face rising underemployment, meaning that they work in jobs that typically do not require bachelor’s degrees. According to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the rise in underemployment for graduates ages 22 to 27 never fully retreated after the recessions of 2001 and 2007-9; in 2012, it was a dismal 44 percent for that age group, compared with a steady underemployment rate of 33 percent for college graduates as a whole over the past two decades. Pay, meanwhile, has stagnated for college-educated workers over the past 12 years. That’s better than declining, as has been the case for less-educated workers. But it also shows that a college education, in and of itself, does not create good jobs at good pay. For that, a thriving economy is essential — including consistent pro-employment policies and investments by business and government.

Right now, the outlook for more good jobs at good pay is not good. According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 20 occupations expected to add the most new jobs from 2012 to 2022, only one — general and operations management — requires a bachelor’s degree. It also pays well — the median salary in 2012 was $95,440. Most of the other big-growth occupations offered very low or moderate pay, with the biggest growth areas generally being the worst paying, including home health care, retail sales and food service. The bureau also ranked the occupations that are expected to grow the fastest from 2012 to 2022. Of the top 20, seven require a bachelor’s degree or higher, including jobs as interpreters, information security analysts and health care professionals; median pay for those jobs in 2012 ranged from $45,430 for interpreters to $90,930 for physician assistants. Of the 13 fast-growing jobs that do not require a degree, most are in health care or building trades, with typical annual pay of about $20,000 to $30,000.

All of which means that a major challenge for policy makers and business leaders is to confront the obvious: that most new jobs are likely to be lower-wage jobs. That requires plans for creating pathways from low-wage work to better-paying jobs, say from home health aide to vocational nurse, as well as strategies to foster the development of higher-paying industries. The situation also demands support for policies and institutions that lift wages, including a robust minimum wage and unions.

On its own, more college won’t change the economy’s low-wage trajectory.

[Crewleader]

5. Warm Wishes For The Economy Group

You're All Top Notch in My Book!


'
TODAY'S CARTOON

[Demeter]

6. Cute!

[Demeter]

7. Gold broke $1300

The race is on....

[Uben]

26. Could you please.....

...make gold go up $500/oz so I can finally dump these gold and silver ETFs?

I'll even add a "pretty please"!

[Demeter]

31. Sorry, I'm not God nor 1%. I can sometimes move myself or the kids.

Why did you buy paper?

[Uben]

46. Wasn't me

My BIL has been handling my portfolio for the past 20 yrs. HE gambled on the gold and silver stuff and over committed. It looked good for a few months until the bottom fell out.
So, I've been watching it go down steadily. I can't complain, because he told me it was a risky move, and I figured he was a lot more savvy than I on stocks. Oh well.

I never touch that money anyway. It was left to me by my wife when she passed and was part of a family trust. Just feels a lot better watching it go up!

[Demeter]

8. I forgot to mention

We've had 6 feet of snow (and at least an inch of rain) this winter so far. About twice the average.

[Warpy]

45. We got a couple of inches of snow two weeks ago

but that's been all we've gotten since November.

I'm used to the idea that this is a desert, but this is ridiculous.

[Demeter]

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

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/12/us-usa-fiscal-idUSBREA1A18T20140212

...The Democratic-controlled Senate was likely to begin consideration of the measure on Wednesday. But Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a conservative Tea Party favorite, said on Tuesday night he would insist on a 60-vote threshold for the debt ceiling measure to pass the Senate. That would mean at least five Republicans would need to join the Democrats, who control 55 votes, for the measure to pass the chamber.

Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn said earlier on Tuesday there were "probably not" five Republican votes in the Senate for a clean debt ceiling increase. But Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber, voiced optimism there would be 60 yes votes if needed.

Senate passage this week would buy financial markets considerable breathing room before February 27, when the U.S. Treasury expects to exhaust existing borrowing capacity, putting federal payments at risk. Without an increase in the statutory debt limit, the U.S. government would soon default on some of its obligations and have to shut down some programs, a historic move that would likely cause market turmoil.

U.S. stocks reacted mildly to news of the House Republican decision to drop any conditions on the debt limit. Wall Street stocks rose for a fourth session as traders focused most of their attention on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's first congressional testimony....


CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT THIS WORDING "SUSPENSION OF THE DEBT CEILING" SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT THERE IS NO LIMIT ON US GOVT. BORROWING. IN WHICH CASE, THE DEBT CEILING AS A PROCRUSTEAN BED MAY EVENTUALLY GO AWAY ENTIRELY.

IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO BEGIN WITH, A BSDM FETISH FOR THE GOP....

[Demeter]

11. And that's the way it's done

I have to laugh at myself for this one...I want the condo board to get two webinars on just this sort of thing...

[Demeter]

12. Market abuse and insider dealing targeted by harsh EU legislation

THE MOUSE THAT ROARED...WITHOUT ANY TEETH

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sectors/financial-services/market-abuse-and-insider-dealing-targeted-by-harsh-eu-legislation-1.1679435

The European Parliament FEB. 2ND voted in favour of new EU proposals to penalise market manipulators, including the imposition of a minimum four-year prison term for serious offences such as the unlawful disclosure of information and insider trading. MEPs voted by 618 votes to 20 votes in favour of the directive, with 43 abstentions.

The new legislation on market abuse... was initiated by the European Commission in 2011 in the wake of the financial crisis. The rules will replace the 2003 market abuse directive, with the scope expanded to include new trading platforms and over the counter trading. It also explicitly bans the manipulation of benchmarks, such as Euribor and Libor.

While many countries already have strong sanctioning powers when it comes to market abuse, other EU member states’ criminal sanctions are limited or ineffective. The new directive provides common EU minimum criminal law standards, a procedure permissible under the Lisbon Treaty.

Once it is officially adopted in June, member states will have two years to transpose the directive into national law...Justice commissioner Vivian Reding said the directive was an important cross-border initiative, which would close the loopholes open to exploitation by criminals....

FROM CNBC:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101388192

"Criminals who get rich by manipulating markets and insider dealing should not get away with just an administrative penalty," British member of European Parliament (MEP) Arlene McCarthy, said in a press release.

OOOH, I'M SCARED!

[Demeter]

15. Bank of England says no evidence it was told of forex manipulation

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-boe-forex-idUSBREA1A0VZ20140211

The Bank of England has seen no evidence to back media allegations that it condoned or was aware of manipulation of reference rates in the foreign exchange market, it said on Tuesday.

The central bank discussed with top London currency dealers their process for setting foreign exchange benchmark rates at a meeting in April 2012, more than a year before a global investigation into alleged manipulation.

Two sources with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters last month that the traders had told the BoE about the use of online chatrooms in the run-up to the daily currency rate setting.

But Andrew Bailey, the Bank's deputy governor and chief executive of the Bank's Prudential Regulation Authority, told parliament's Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday it had no evidence to suggest that bank officials in any sense condoned the manipulation of the rate-setting process....

WELL, THAT'S ALL RIGHT, THEN.

[Demeter]

16. Negative interest rates an option for ECB, says Liikanen

IT'S ALL RIGHT WHEN WE DO IT...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/uk-ecb-liikanen-stagflation-idUKBREA1A0SA20140211

Negative interest rates are a policy option for the European Central Bank should the euro zone inflation outlook deteriorate, ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said on Tuesday.

The ECB left rates at a record low last Thursday but put markets on alert for a possible move in March, acknowledging that emerging-market turbulence could hit the euro zone.

The central bank held its main refinancing rate at 0.25 percent and the deposit rate it pays banks for holding their cash at zero on February 6.

Asked at a House of Lords' committee hearing in London whether negative rates were an option for the ECB, Liikanen replied: "If our inflation outlook worsens, we must be ready for that. Among all these tools, which we can consider and which we have discussed, negative deposit rates is one of those."

"But of course, when we take policy decisions in our monetary policy meeting, it's based on the most recent data and careful preparation," he added.

Euro zone inflation slowed to 0.7 percent in January, well below the ECB's target of just under 2 percent.

MORE

[Demeter]

13. Regulators Again May Clip Volcker: Agencies Weigh Whether to Loosen Provisions for CLO

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304680904579365091079694798

U.S. regulators are again weighing whether to ease the impact of the "Volcker rule," this time on a $300 billion market for loans to U.S. companies. Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo told lawmakers Wednesday that regulators are considering whether to loosen provisions that could affect collateralized loan obligations, or CLOs, which are securities backed by bundles of loans made to companies with low credit ratings. CLOs typically offer higher returns than corporate bonds and other loans.

"This issue is already at the top of the list" for an interagency group of regulators to consider, Mr. Tarullo said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. Both Democrats and Republicans on the panel pressed Mr. Tarullo and other regulators on the interagency group responsible for coordinating the implementation and enforcement of the Volcker rule to ease its impact on CLOs.

As a result of the Volcker rule's ban on certain types of trading, many banks that own CLOs may have to divest them, according to industry officials. Industry representatives have urged U.S. agencies to exempt CLOs by clarifying that they are debt investments and aren't equivalent to the equity investments prohibited under the Volcker rule, which five U.S. financial overseers completed in December...Last month, the five agencies tweaked the Volcker rule to allow banks to continue holding debt investments comprised of trust-preferred securities, which are investments that share characteristics of both debt and equity. Many small banks issued these securities before the financial crisis, and many lenders, in turn, bought them as investments. The five agencies are: the Fed, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bankers and their representatives have been pushing for a similar allowance for investments in CLOs. U.S. bank sales of CLO securities gained steam in December as firms moved to shed the investments before the Volcker rule ban takes effect next year.

In a letter to regulators Tuesday, Frank Perez, chief financial officer of First Federal Savings Bank in Elizabethtown, Ky., said the Volcker rule as it currently stands "could have a material negative impact to our capital base" if the bank has to divest its CLO holdings at a discount ahead of the rule's July 2015 deadline. "We should not be facing a threat like this related to investments that are performing perfectly well," he wrote

...MORE

[Demeter]

14. JPMorgan in exclusive talks with Mercuria on commodities sale

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/02/05/jpmorgan-commodities-mercuria-idINDEEA140BT20140205

Fast-growing trading house Mercuria, led by two former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) executives, has become the front-runner to buy the physical commodities unit of JPMorgan (JPM.N), one of the most powerful oil and metals desks on Wall Street, two sources told Reuters.

JPMorgan decided to sell its multi-billion dollar physical commodities division last year under rising regulatory and political pressure to retreat to the bank's core business of lending instead of speculating in raw materials...The final deal could take a few months to conclude, one of the sources said. If agreed, it would catapult Mercuria into the top tier of trading houses with Glencore Xstrata (GLEN.L), Vitol and Trafigura.

In recent weeks, Mercuria was competing with Australian bank Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) and private equity manager Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) to buy JPMorgan's unit, sources had said...Companies like Glencore and Russian oil major Rosneft (ROSN.MM) hired whole teams of traders from banks such as Morgan Stanley (MS.N) but Mercuria could become the first trading house to absorb an entire physical division from a bank.

...........

Mercuria was founded by Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi, who both worked as executives at Goldman Sachs and then trading house Sempra, which was later bought by JPMorgan from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L). In less than a decade, Dunand and Jaeggi have built Mercuria into one of the world's largest oil traders, with annual revenues of around $100 billion and 700 traders spread across the globe. But it is still much smaller than the world's largest trader, Vitol, which has revenues of $300 billion. The deal value has yet to be agreed and will depend to a large extent on the valuation of large stockpiles of oil and metals the bank holds, one source said. In documents circulated to potential buyers, JPMorgan valued its physical commodity business at $3.3 billion, with an annual income of $750 million. JPMorgan paid nearly $2 billion to buy the largest part of the business from RBS in 2010.

MORE

[DemReadingDU]

17. Are Your Savings Safe From Bail-Ins?

2/13/14 via Ilargi at The Automatic Earth...
But wait, there is a source of wealth left. People have savings in bank accounts, and those are all registered digitally, so we know exactly what everyone has. We’ll take that, give them some sort of guarantee they will think is valid, and hand it to the banks. Who can then lend it out to the same people whose savings these are in the first place, and charge interest for the privilege. That’ll boost the economy!
more...
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/debt-rattle-feb-13-2014-are-your-savings-safe-from-bail-ins/

[Demeter]

19. If the money isn't in the biggest 20 banks

and the holding institution is well-rated by BankTrack...or go credit union...or buy gold...or farmland....or bank in Iceland....

Safety is a relative thing. I think the last several years have shown that our financial crisis is an iceberg...we've only seen the top 10% of it. Who knows what the Banksters and 1%ers have devised in secret?

We could form our own Savings and Loan associations with trusted family, friends and neighbors...

[Demeter]

20. You have to read the whole column

US bail-in risk 8th in the world! That's a sign that TBTF is teetering....

[Demeter]

18. THE ZOMBIE RISES AGAIN!

Lehman settles with Freddie Mac over $1.2 billion claim

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/us-lehman-freddiemac-settlement-idUSBREA1C1DH20140213

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc settled with Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) a $1.2 billion claim, freeing up millions of dollars which will be available for distribution to the bank's creditors. Under the settlement, Lehman will make a one-time cash payment of $767 million to Freddie Mac, Lehman said in a court filing on Wednesday.

The dispute stems from two loans extended to Lehman by Freddie Mac in the months before the bank filed for bankruptcy. Lehman was scheduled to repay the loan on September 15, 2008, the day it filed for the biggest-ever bankruptcy.

Lehman had set aside $1.2 billion to cover the claim as a general unsecured claim, but Freddie Mac argued that the claim should get priority status. A priority claim would have allowed the government-controlled mortgage agency to be paid before several other creditors...

Lehman Settles Freddie Mac Claim for $767 Million

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/lehman-settles-freddie-mac-claim-for-767-million.html

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. asked a judge to approve a $767 million settlement with Freddie Mac (FMCC) to pay off a $1.2 billion bankruptcy claim, one of the biggest remaining against the defunct bank....

NOT A DONE DEAL, THEN, BUT HOPEFUL

Lehman on Jan. 31 won court approval of a similar deal with Fannie Mae, a related mortgage company, agreeing to a value of $2.15 billion for its $18.9 billion claim. The accords will speed up payments to creditors more than five years after the New York-based bank filed the biggest U.S. bankruptcy at the peak of the financial crisis.

Freddie Mac filed the claim over a loan it made to Lehman in 2008, which the bank never repaid as a result of the Chapter 11 filing. The settlement doesn’t resolve Freddie Mac’s derivatives claim against Lehman, amounting to $16.4 million, according to the filing.

Fannie Mae brought claims against Lehman over mortgages the bank packaged and sold. The companies’ accord required Fannie Mae to provide documents and information that would allow an administrator to sue third-party mortgage originators and sellers for breaches of representations and warranties made to Lehman, according to a court filing at the time. ...

Lehman Deal With Freddie Frees Up Cash for Creditors

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/02/13/lehman-deal-with-freddie-frees-up-cash-for-creditors/


...The settlement also provides Lehman Brothers with information held by Freddie Mac that will allow it to pursue claims against mortgage originators for alleged misrepresentations.

Prior to its collapse, Lehman Brothers purchased mortgages from originators, securitized them–creating now-infamous mortgage-backed securities–and sold them upstream to purchasers including Freddie Mac. The originators of the mortgages allegedly gave representations to Lehman Brothers, according to court documents, about the quality of the mortgages that eventually proved false.

With this settlement, the Lehman Brothers estate said it believes it will receive “substantial recoveries” from claims against the mortgage originators. Lehman also is released of any liability for allegedly passing on those representations to Freddie Mac.

The one-time cash payment settlement with Freddie Mac resolves one of the largest still-pending claims in the Lehman Brothers Chapter 11 case...

[Demeter]

21. EU Lawmakers Call for Program to Repair Bailout ‘Damage’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/eu-lawmakers-call-for-program-to-repair-bailout-damage-.html

Euro-area countries that received international bailouts saw their employment and social systems “destroyed” and should be given more support to revive them, European Parliament lawmakers said. Members of the assembly’s employment committee today backed a report calling for the European Union to set up programs to alleviate poverty, create employment and boost small businesses in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

“The moment has come to recover the employment and social situation that was destroyed, and to repair the damage,” European lawmaker Alejandro Cercas, a Spanish Socialist, said in a statement.

The parliament is carrying out an inquiry into how the so-called troika, made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, managed bailouts in the four countries worst hit by the debt crisis. The German-led prescription of aid in return for reforms and debt-reduction has seen 396 billion euros ($541 billion) committed to the four countries.

The debt turmoil pushed the euro area into the longest recession in its history. While the economy resumed expansion in the second half of 2013, unemployment remains near the record 12.1 percent reached last year.

[Demeter]

22. OECD Says Tax Evasion Plan to Include Broker Accounts

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/oecd-says-tax-evasion-plan-to-include-broker-accounts.html

Accounts at brokers and insurers need to be included along with banks in a plan designed to share data among governments to crack down on tax evasion, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

The 42 countries committed to a fast track for automatic information exchange on residents who have financial accounts abroad also need to insure common reporting standards for different types of investment income and capital, the OECD said today in a report.

The Paris-based organization is presenting the proposals ahead of a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers in Sydney next week. Eyeing what the European Union estimates is 1 trillion euros ($1.36 trillion) of lost tax revenue, governments are trying to develop a system whereby financial details of their residents are automatically exchanged by tax authorities.

Today’s report sets out common standards that countries participating should follow. The OECD intends to set out proposals on how to technically implement such measures by mid year.

[Demeter]

23. Inequality, Dignity and Freedom PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/14/opinion/krugman-inequality-dignity-and-freedom.html



...It’s all very well to talk in the abstract about the dignity of work, but to suggest that workers can have equal dignity despite huge inequality in pay is just silly. In 2012, the top 40 hedge fund managers and traders were paid a combined $16.7 billion, equivalent to the wages of 400,000 ordinary workers. Given that kind of disparity, can anyone really believe in the equal dignity of work?

In fact, the people who seem least inclined to respect the efforts of ordinary workers are the winners of the wealth lottery. Over the past few months, we’ve been harangued by a procession of angry billionaires, furious that they’re not receiving the deference, the acknowledgment of their superiority, that they believe is their due. For example, last week the investor Sam Zell went on CNN Money to defend the 1 percent against “envy,” and he asserted that “the 1 percent work harder. The 1 percent are much bigger factors in all forms of our society.” Dignity for all!

And there’s another group that doesn’t respect workers: Republican politicians. In 2012, Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, infamously marked Labor Day with a Twitter post celebrating ... people who start their own businesses. Perhaps Mr. Cantor was chastened by the backlash to that post; at a recent G.O.P. retreat, he reportedly urged his colleagues to show some respect for Americans who don’t own businesses, who work for someone else. The clear implication was that they haven’t shown that kind of respect in the past.

On the whole, working Americans are better at appreciating their own worth than either the wealthy or conservative politicians are at showing them even minimal respect. Still, tens of millions of Americans know from experience that hard work isn’t enough to provide financial security or a decent education for their children, and many either couldn’t get health insurance or were desperately afraid of losing jobs that came with insurance until the Affordable Care Act kicked in last month. In the face of that kind of everyday struggle, talk about the dignity of work rings hollow.

So what would give working Americans more dignity in their lives, despite huge income disparities? How about assuring them that the essentials — health care, opportunity for their children, a minimal income — will be there even if their boss fires them or their jobs are shipped overseas?

MORE

[Demeter]

24. Social Security’s real retirement age is 70 By Alicia H. Munnell

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/encore/2013/10/23/social-securitys-real-retirement-age-is-70/

Social Security’s retirement age is 70. The simple fact is that monthly benefits are highest at age 70 and are reduced actuarially for each year they are claimed before age 70. This is a relatively new development, which may explain why Social Security’s retirement age is the best-kept secret in town. But I think it’s time we told folks. And then we need to clarify what all this talk about raising the so-called full retirement age really means. (These issues are covered in more detail in a new issue brief from the Center for Retirement Research.)



Currently workers can claim their benefits at any time between 62 and 70. But benefits claimed before age 70 are actuarially reduced. That is, benefits claimed at younger ages are lower by an amount that compensates for the fact that they start earlier and will be paid for more years. The goal is to ensure that, based on average life expectancy, people who take a lower benefit early would expect to receive about the same total amount in benefits over their lifetimes as those who wait for higher monthly benefits but start receiving them later. In other words, the claiming age affects monthly benefits but, on average, does not alter total benefits paid over the lifetime.

So, we have a benefit structure that pays full benefits at an age when most people have stopped working. We have set that age at 70. If you claim after 70, lifetime benefits decline, because monthly benefits are not increased for claiming after 70. If you claim before 70, your monthly benefit is significantly lower.

Most people don’t understand how much claiming early reduces monthly benefits. As the example in the table above shows, claiming at 62 instead of 70 cuts the monthly benefit almost in half, from $1,000 to $568. Given that Social Security is a particularly valuable type of income – inflation-adjusted and lasting for as long as you live – it generally makes sense to postpone claiming as long as possible to get the highest monthly amount, assuming you are in good health for your age.

COMMENTARY PROVIDES ALTERNATE VIEWS...A CONTROVERSY WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION

[fasttense]

27. I was saying that back when they were pushing the Simpson plan.

Finally someone who understands that full retirement - for the maximum monthly payment - is already at 70 years old.

[kickysnana]

48. I think SSDI automatically becomes SSR at 65 but I am not sure. Nor am I sure how you find out.n/t

[Demeter]

49. Call the office? Website?

Someday I will have to find out for the Kid...

[Demeter]

25. Celente Warns: The Collapse of 2014: “If You Don’t Have Your Money In Your Pocket It’s Not Yours”

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/celente-warns-the-collapse-of-2014-if-you-dont-have-your-money-in-your-pocket-its-not-yours_10222013

If there’s one thing that should be clear, it’s that nothing the government or their banking partners have done to solve the economic crisis has been for your benefit. They’ve enriched themselves, yet again, on the backs of the American people.

All the while, they’ve told us that everything is getting better. But anyone who’s paying attention know that nothing of the sort has happened.

We continue to shed jobs. Hundreds of thousands of people are still losing their homes. Personal debt is rapidly approaching 2007 levels. The U.S. government has borrowed more money than what we can ever hope to repay.

We are still in the middle of it and it’s only going to get worse.

If you think it’s over, that they saved us and we’re out of the woods, then you’ve got a lot of pain coming your way.

And if you think you still have plenty of time to prepare, that it’s decades or years away, you’d better think again.

Trend forecaster Gerald Celente predicted the collapse of 2008 in remarkable fashion. And now he’s warning of a similar crisis to come next year.

There’s fear and hysteria running through the entire global financial community, because as everybody knows all they did was postpone the inevitable.

…

[They're going to] turn more of America into Slavelandia as well, where people can get those part-time jobs, have no insurance, no benefits, and not enough money to live on, and they’ll have to go on food stamps and other assistance…

…

I’m saying to everybody out there, If you don’t have your money in your pocket it’s not yours.

…

Any self-respecting adult that hears McConnel, Reid, Boehner, Ryan, one after another, and buys this baloney… they deserve what they get.

And as for the international scene… the whole thing is collapsing.

That’s our forecast.

We are saying that by the second quarter of 2014, we expect the bottom to fall out… or something to divert our attention as it falls out.

…

It’s the militarization of the United States… because of the grand scheme. And that is, these people may be stupid – the people running government – but they’re very shrewd. And they know… that there’s no way to solve these economic problems.

The mayhem that went on at Walmart when people couldn’t cash in their food stamps.

Multiply that by tens of millions. Multiply that by a breakdown in society.

Look what they did in Boston. To me that was a test. They closed down a hundred square miles… to hunt for a 19-year old kid.

Look at America’s most feared criminal of this last year. A 19-year old kids, Snowden, and Bradley Manning. Now there’s three faces of disaster you never want to meet in a dark alley.

So, you can see how this society is being controlled because they don’t want anyone to get out of line.

&feature=player_embedded

[xchrom]

28. Eurozone GDP growth gathers speed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26185159

The eurozone's economy grew by 0.3% in the final three months of 2013, up from 0.1% growth in the previous quarter.

It was the third quarter of growth since the end of an 18-month recession, the longest period of contraction to affect the single currency area.

The eurozone figures include 17 of the EU's economies. Latvia became the currency zone's 18th member in January.

Across the whole 28-nation EU, including the UK, growth for the October-to-December period was 0.4%.

[xchrom]

29. China's consumer inflation holds steady at 2.5%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26184151

China's inflation rate remained subdued in January, despite rising food prices during the New Year celebrations.

Consumer prices held steady at 2.5% from a year earlier, which was slightly higher than many economists expected.

The National Bureau of Statistics said there was a 3.7% rise in food prices during the month, which included both the Western and Chinese New Years.

Meanwhile, factory gate prices fell 1.6%, marking the 23rd consecutive monthly decline.

[Demeter]

30. Can You Guess the 10 Best Countries For Women? Hint: the U.S. Isn't One of Them

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36656.htm

So which countries ranked above the United States? Not surprisingly, Scandinavia (known for their kick-ass policies on promoting gender equality) scored extremely high yet again with the top 10 as follows:

1. Iceland

2. Finland

3. Norway

4. Sweden

5. Philippines

6. Ireland

7. New Zealand

8. Denmark

9. Switzerland

10. Nicaragua

[xchrom]

32. This Is the Dawning of the Age of Artificial Intelligence

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/this-is-the-dawning-of-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/283730/

The advances we’ve seen in the past few years—cars that drive themselves, useful humanoid robots, speech recognition and synthesis systems, 3D printers, Jeopardy!-champion computers—are not the crowning achievements of the computer era. They’re the warm-up acts. As we move deeper into the second machine age we’ll see more and more such wonders, and they’ll become more and more impressive.

How can we be so sure? Because the exponential, digital, and recombinant powers of the second machine age have made it possible for humanity to create two of the most important one-time events in our history: the emergence of real, useful artificial intelligence (AI) and the connection of most of the people on the planet via a common digital network.

Either of these advances alone would fundamentally change our growth prospects. When combined, they’re more important than anything since the Industrial Revolution, which forever transformed how physical work was done.

Thinking Machines, Available now

Digital machines have escaped their narrow confines and started to demonstrate broad abilities in pattern recognition, complex communication, and other domains that used to be exclusively human. We’ve recently seen great progress in natural language processing, machine learning (the ability of a computer to automatically refine its methods and improve its results as it gets more data), computer vision, simultaneous localization and mapping, and many other areas.

[Demeter]

41. Ah, No

It's not the machines doing the thinking real time. It's machines following programmed responses to pre-set situations.

Throw the machine a novel setup, and watch it kill somebody, entirely accidentally, because "nobody could have expected...".

Because, they really think we are stupid, and they want to make sure we are not only stupid, but powerless.

[Demeter]

33. About an inch of snow has fallen this morning so far

on an overcast, zero % chance of precipitation day...now they are even lying about the weather!

[Demeter]

34. Exclusive: Who Killed Michael Hastings?

http://www.occupy.com/article/exclusive-who-killed-michael-hastings

LONG ARTICLE WITH CHILLING MESSAGE. INTERESTING WEBSITE, TOO

[xchrom]

35. Companies Squeeze 401K Plans From Facebook to JPMorgan

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-14/companies-squeeze-401-k-plans-from-facebook-to-jpmorgan.html

Employers are squeezing their workers’ retirement savings, holding back on both the amount and the timing of 401(k) matching funds and dragging out vesting schedules. Taken together, these measures are making it more difficult to save for old age.

Major companies that have engaged in such practices in recent years include Whole Foods Market Inc., Facebook Inc., Oracle Corp., Caesars Entertainment Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The most frugal have been scaling back company matches and setting lower limits for the maximum annual payment they’ll make to a 401(k) account, according to hundreds of government filings analyzed by Bloomberg. A difference of three percentage points on a match can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars lost for employees over the course of their careers.

“There’s been an implicit contract for years and years -- workers save and companies match -- but now they’re changing the rules,” said Brigitte Madrian, a Harvard Kennedy School professor who studies retirement policy and corporate management. “Most individuals can’t do it on their own. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

[xchrom]

36. World’s Biggest Sovereign Fund Needs to Add Risk, Olsen Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/world-s-biggest-sovereign-fund-needs-to-add-risk-olsen-says.html


Oeystein Olsen, the governor of Norway’s central bank, said he’s planning to petition the government to allow the nation’s $830 billion wealth fund to cut bond holdings further to help it generate bigger returns.

“At some point we will write a letter to the Ministry of Finance -- that’s also our role as an adviser - and finally it’s their decision,” he said in an interview yesterday in Oslo. “It’s a decision by the government and the parliament.”

Olsen used the occasion of his annual speech yesterday to recommend that the fund cut bond holdings to 20 percent to 25 percent of its portfolio, from the current 35 percent to 40 percent. The investor is also mandated to hold 60 percent in stocks and as much as 5 percent in real estate. The central bank’s investment management unit runs the oil fund on behalf of the Finance Ministry, which has the final say on strategy.

It’s “really a longer run perspective discussing and analyzing what’s a reasonable division between assets -- equities or real estate or other infrastructure,” he said.

[antigop]

37. anyone having trouble accessing nakedcapitalism website today?

And thanks for my hearts.

[Demeter]

42. Now that you mention it, I tried two different links, and no luck

[antigop]

44. ok, thanks. nt

[xchrom]

38. Europe Stocks Climb on Growth as Yen Advances With Gold

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/japanese-stock-futures-fall-after-u-s-equities-advance.html

European stocks rose, extending the biggest weekly advance this year, as the region’s economy grew more than forecast. The yen appreciated and gold gained before data expected to show the recovery in the U.S. is moderating.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.4 percent at 8:50 a.m. in New York, headed for a 2.4 percent increase this week. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures swung between gains and losses. The yen gained 0.3 percent to 101.92 per dollar, while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell to a two-month low. Italy’s bonds were little changed as Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigned. Gold jumped 1 percent and silver rose 2.9 percent in the longest rally since March 2008.

The euro-area’s economy expanded 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 0.1 percent in the previous three months, with Italy growing for the first time since 2011, the European Union’s statistics office said. Reports in the U.S. will probably show industrial output slowed in January while consumer sentiment weakened this month, according to Bloomberg surveys of economists.

“This is the third consecutive quarter of positive growth in the eurozone, but comes with the additional charm of much broader-based growth spreading beyond the core countries,” Evelyn Herrmann, an economist at BNP Paribas SA in London, said in a note.

[xchrom]

39. Euro-Area Growth Eases Pressure on Draghi for Stimulus

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-14/euro-area-economic-growth-eases-pressure-on-draghi-for-stimulus.html

The euro-area economy expanded more than forecast in the final quarter of 2013, led by Germany and France, easing pressure on the European Central Bank to take action next month to counter low inflation and spur growth.

Gross domestic product in the euro zone rose 0.3 percent after a 0.1 percent increase in the third quarter, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That beats the median forecast of 0.2 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of 41 economists. For the full year 2013, GDP fell 0.4 percent.

ECB President Mario Draghi on Feb. 6 put investors on a month’s notice for further economic stimulus, saying the Frankfurt-based central bank needed “to get more information” on the recovery before making any decision. “We are willing and we are ready to act,” Draghi said after the ECB held its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.25 percent.

Today’s GDP report “slightly eases some of the appreciable pressure on the ECB to take immediate further stimulative action,” said Howard Archer, chief European and U.K. economist at IHS Global Insight in London. “Nevertheless, we expect persistent very low euro-zone consumer price inflation, ongoing difficulties in building growth momentum and still-tight euro-zone credit conditions will prompt further action from the ECB.”

[xchrom]

40. Argentine Bonds Rally After Government Comes Clean on Inflation

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-13/argentina-says-prices-rose-3-7-in-debut-of-inflation-index.html

Argentine bonds rallied the most in emerging markets after the government unveiled a new inflation index that marks the most concrete sign it’s ready to move away from policies that have alienated investors for more than a decade.

Yields on government dollar bonds due 2017 sold under local law tumbled 1.42 percentage point to 14.64 percent at 10:43 a.m. in Buenos Aires, the biggest drop in more than 11 months. The price on the securities rose 3.03 cents to 83.54 cents on the dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Consumer prices rose 3.7 percent in January from a month earlier, the most since 2002, when compared to the previous series that was limited to Greater Buenos Aires, Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said yesterday. That compares with a monthly inflation rate of 1.4 percent in December and 1.1 percent a year earlier. No annual inflation rate was published.

“Argentina finally comes clean and prints a monster month-on-month inflation figure in compliance with the IMF,” Donato Guarino, a strategist at Barclays Plc said in e-mailed comments. “In this case, bad news is good news. A bad inflation number that will trigger a rally.”

[Demeter]

43. Another banker bites the dust...they are checking for poisoning

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024498741

That makes 5 publicly known, plus a journalist.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

47. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (02/13/2014)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20140227.htm

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending February 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 339,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 331,000. The 4-week moving average was 336,750, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 333,250.
....

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 25 was 3,524,188, an increase of 57,339 from the previous week. There were 5,918,175 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.