STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 3 February 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 3 February 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 2 February 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 2 February 2015
[center][font color=green]
Dow Jones 17,361.04 +196.09 (1.14%)
S&P 500 2,020.85 +25.86 (1.30%)
Nasdaq 4,676.69 +41.45 (0.89%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.67% -0.02 (-1.18%)
30 Year 2.25% -0.02 (-0.88%) [font color=black]


[center][/font]

[HR width=85%]

[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
[center]
(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
[/center]

[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

[/center]

[center]

[/center]

[HR width=95%]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
[center]
Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
[center]
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
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
[center]
Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
[center]
LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center]

[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
[center]
Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
[/center]

[div]
[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







[HR width=95%]


[center]

[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[antigop]

1. IBM redefines failure as 'success,' gives underachieving CEO huge raise

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-ibm-redefines-20150202-column.html

The IBM board of directors did a huge favor for mediocre CEOs the world over on Friday by announcing (quietly) that it has granted Chairman and Chief Executive Virginia Rometty a $3.6-million bonus for 2014 and a $13.3-million stock incentive award payable in 2018. She's also getting a 6.7% bump in her base salary, to $1.6 million from $1.5 million.

Here's the record for 2014 the board thought was good enough to warrant a raise for Rometty: IBM's revenue declined by nearly 6%, and net income by 27%. IBM shares began 2014 at a dividend-adjusted $183.12 and ended the year at $160.44, a decline of 12.4%. During that period, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 12.4%. (As we write on Monday, IBM has fallen further to $152.12.) IBM has been the worst performing stock on the Dow Jones Industrial Average for two years running.

[Demeter]

2. Madame Rometty is the epitome of success!

She's being rewarded for failure, after all. If that's not success, nothing is!

[Demeter]

3. The Greek People Have Punctured the Smugness of the “Moneymen” by Adnan Al-Daini

http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/01/the-greek-people-have-punctured-the-smugness-of-the-moneymen/

Congratulations to the Greek people for democratically puncturing the smugness of the “moneymen”. For far too long politicians have been paralysed by the dogma imposed by the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission, that the only way out of the economic mess we are in is austerity that hurts those most vulnerable, while the elite continue to accumulate wealth at an accelerating rate. The lack of imagination to think outside the straightjacket imposed on politicians by the “moneymen” is staggering. The humiliation of Greece by foreign politicians and unelected bodies, dictating what Greece must do regardless of what harm it causes its people, must be too much to bear in a country that gave the world the concept of democracy.

Greece has said enough is enough. With the election of Syriza, austerity belongs to the past and hope is replacing despair. Austerity caused the Greek economy to shrink by 25%, unemployment to rise to 26% and to over 50% for the young. It is blindly obvious all this was immoral, stupid and counterproductive. Going down that route, Greece would never have been able to pay off the debt plus interest imposed on it. It would have meant the enslavement of the Greek people into the foreseeable future.

Successive governments in Greece and elsewhere in Europe have abdicated their responsibility to serve the ordinary people. Instead they have faithfully served the moneyed super-rich. Contrast that with the actions of Syriza with barely 48 hours in power. Helena Smith in an article in the Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/alexis-tsipras-athens-lightning-speed-anti-austerity-policies summarizes thus:

First the barricades came down outside the Greek parliament. Then it was announced that privatisation schemes would be halted and pensions reinstated. And then came the news of the reintroduction of the €751 monthly minimum wage. And all before Greece’s new prime minister, the radical leftwinger Alexis Tsipras, had got his first cabinet meeting under way. After that, ministers announced more measures: the scrapping of fees for prescriptions and hospital visits, the restoration of collective work agreements, the rehiring of workers laid off in the public sector, the granting of citizenship to migrant children born and raised in Greece.

This is true democracy in action, promises made and delivered in the first two days of being in power. Syriza has been elected and now Europe and particularly Germany have a duty to listen respectfully. Thus far Greece has been treated shabbily with hardly a thought for the extreme hardship and suffering inflicted on its people. It is instructive to remember that half of Germany’s post WWII debt was written off in the London conference of 1953. This led to a sharp increase in Germany’s economic growth. Why not do the same for Greece, asks Syriza?

The Greek people have seen through the fog generated by the elite and the “moneymen”. They have seen austerity for what it is – a con-trick to transfer more wealth from the 99% to the already bloated 1%.

Adnan Al-Daini (PhD, Birmingham University, UK) is a retired University Engineering lecturer. He is a British citizen born in Iraq. He writes regularly on issues of social justice and the Middle East. Read other articles by Adnan.

[mother earth]

13. TY, Ms. Demeter, for all of the very informative info you post tirelessly, and a big thanks

to xchrom and all the others here who give their time and effort, as well.

These are certainly interesting times and it's nice to come here and get a real handle on the daily happenings that we
often miss.

The situation in Greece is pivotal, and the more I learn of Varoufakis the more I am convinced this is a turning point. I hope the man stays safe.

[Demeter]

28. He has a lot of friends in the blogosphere who wish him well

We can but hope for change....to steal back a phrase.

[Demeter]

4. The Obama administration wants to dramatically change how doctors are paid

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/26/the-obama-administration-wants-to-dramatically-change-how-doctors-are-paid/


WATCH HOW SKILLFULLY YOU ARE ROBBED OF BOTH YOUR MONEY AND YOUR HEALTH BY THIS ONE...

The Obama administration on Monday announced an ambitious goal to overhaul the way doctors are paid, tying their fees more closely to the quality of care rather than the quantity.

Rather than pay more money to Medicare doctors simply for every procedure they perform, the government will also evaluate whether patients are healthier, among other measures. The goal is for half of all Medicare payments to be handled this way by 2018.

Monday’s announcement marks the administration’s biggest effort yet to shape how doctors are compensated across the health-care system. As the country's largest payer of health-care services, Medicare influences medical care generally, meaning the changes being initiated by the administration will likely be felt in doctor's offices and hospitals across the country.

“As a very large payer in the system, we believe we have a responsibility to lead," said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell in a press conference. "For the first time, we’re going to set clear goals and establish a clear timeline for moving from volume to value in the Medicare system.”

JUST WHAT WE NEED...GOVERNMENT DETERMINING WHAT "HEALTHY" IS.

[Demeter]

5. AS THE SOCIALISTS SAY: US announces plan to ration health care under Medicare

Last edited Tue Feb 3, 2015, 04:15 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/28/medi-j28.html

The Obama administration has announced a major shift in the way Medicare will pay hospitals and doctors. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced the initiative Monday following a closed-door meeting with representatives of the insurance industry, large employers and doctors’ professional organizations. The shift moves the health care counterrevolution embodied in the 2010 Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) into high gear. Over the next three years, payments to hospitals and doctors for a large percentage of health care provided under Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for the elderly, will be shifted from the traditional “fee-for-service” model to alternative methods in which health care providers are rewarded for cutting costs and rationing care. DEATH PANELS, HERE WE COME!

The radical revamping of Medicare will slash costs borne by the government, insurance firms and hospital chains by denying Medicare patients what is presently considered to be normal access to medical procedures, drugs and hospital care. The realignment of Medicare more directly with the profit dictates of the market will become the model for the American health care system as a whole. Burwell told the media following the meeting, “Today’s announcement is about improving the quality of care we receive when we are sick, while at the same time spending our health care dollars more wisely.” The official line about improving the quality of health care, repeated by Burwell, is a cynical lie.

Medicare provides health insurance for 50 million elderly and disabled Americans at an estimated government cost of $600 billion a year. It is the largest single buyer of health care services in the US. It has for decades been a prime target of corporate interests and politicians seeking to roll back the social reforms of the 1930s and 1960s, who have always encountered massive popular opposition. The program, notwithstanding the limitations, distortions and cutbacks inevitable within the framework of for-profit medicine, has played a major role in reducing the poverty rate of retirees in the US and extending life expectancy. It has taken a Democratic president, overseeing a conspiracy of the corporations and the state against the people disguised as a “progressive reform,” to initiate in earnest the drive to gut Medicare. The calculated aim is to throw millions of retirees into poverty and slash medical costs by shortening their life spans.

According to the time-table announced Monday, by next year Medicare will make 30 percent of its direct payments to doctors, hospitals and other providers in accordance with “alternative payment models.” Half of Medicare’s direct payments to providers are to be made in line with such models by 2018. These new models build on experiments begun under the ACA, particularly through the use of so-called “accountable care organizations,” or ACOs. Providers will be given a lump-sum payment for treating a patient throughout a specific episode of care, such as knee replacement surgery, instead of being reimbursed for the individual medical components of that care. HHS has also set a goal of tying 85 percent of all payments under traditional Medicare to measures of “quality” or “value” by the end of 2016, when Obama leaves office, rising to 90 percent by the end of 2018. How will this operate in practice? Hospitals with high rates of patients readmitted within a month of being sent home will face financial penalties, while those spending less on supposedly unnecessary treatments and tests will be rewarded. HHS is creating an agency with the Orwellian title “Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network” to enforce these changes. This panel presumably will be tasked with targeting “frivolous” procedures and screenings for elimination in the interest of restoring “value” to the health care system.

AND THERE'S STILL MORE STERN WARNING AT LINK

[Demeter]

6. Dilemma over deductibles: Costs crippling middle class

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/01/middle-class-workers-struggle-to-pay-for-care-despite-insurance/19841235/

Physician Praveen Arla is witnessing a reversal of health care fortunes: Poor, long-uninsured patients are getting Medicaid through Obamacare and finally coming to his office for care. But middle-class workers are increasingly staying away.

"It's flip-flopped," says Arla, who helps his father run a family practice in Hillview, Ky. Patients with job-based plans, he says, will say: " 'My deductible is so high. I'm trying to come to the doctor as little as possible. … What is the minimum I can get done?' They're really worried about cost."

It's a deep and common concern across the USA, where employer plans cover 60% of working-age Americans, or about 150 million people. Coverage long considered the gold standard of health insurance now often requires workers to pay so much out-of-pocket that many feel they must skip doctor visits, put off medical procedures, avoid filling prescriptions and ration pills — much as the uninsured have done....

[Demeter]

7. White House Seeks to Limit Health Law’s Tax Troubles

RIIIIGHT. THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU ALL THIS IMPOSSIBLE PAPERWORK ARE GOING TO "FIX" IT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/us/politics/white-house-seeks-to-limit-health-laws-tax-troubles.html?_r=1

Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties and as many people struggle with complex forms needed to justify tax credits they received in 2014 to pay for health insurance.

The White House has already granted some exemptions and is considering more to avoid a political firestorm...

I SAY, BRING ON THE FIRESTORM! LET IT BURN DOWN THIS POTEMKIN HEALTH "INSURANCE" FARCE SO WE CAN BUILD A TRUE UNIVERSAL, SINGLE PAYER HEALTHCARE MANDATE.

[bread_and_roses]

20. I agree. Bring it on

Some people are going to die - and I might be one of them. But people are going to die anyway - people are dying, going bankrupt now, still. The benighted ACA doesn't even cover anyone.

And all this "quality" blather is about nothing but rationing and funneling more profits to the vampire insurance companies. Are doctors perfect? No. Are some of them greedy profiteers themselves? No doubt. After all, that's what's rewarded in this system. I'd still rather have a DOCTOR decide what I need than the vampire insurance company.

[Demeter]

8. Two Judges Who Get It About Banks

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/business/01gret.html

Big banks hold great sway in Washington these days, far more than troubled homeowners do. But outside the Beltway, many people remain caught in the maw of the financial giants, which is why it is heartening when some judges step into the fray.

Consider two opinions involving Wells Fargo, a bank that enjoys a somewhat better reputation than many of its peers. On Monday, a judge in a state court in Missouri ordered Wells to pay over $3 million in punitive damages and other costs for abusing a borrower. Then, on Thursday, a judge in Federal Bankruptcy Court in suburban New York ruled on behalf of another borrower, concluding that there was substantial evidence Wells Fargo forged documents when it foreclosed on a property.

It was not a good week on the litigation front for Wells Fargo...

[Demeter]

9. U.S. proposes effort to analyze DNA from 1 million people

NO, I DON'T THINK SO....NOT UNTIL THE NSA, CIA, FBI, TSA IS REDUCED TO ASHES

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/us-usa-obama-precisionmedicine-idUSKBN0L313R20150130

The United States has proposed analyzing genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers as part of a new initiative to understand human disease and develop medicines targeted to an individual's genetic make-up.

At the heart of the "precision medicine" initiative, announced on Friday by President Barack Obama, is the creation of a pool of people - healthy and ill, men and women, old and young - who would be studied to learn how genetic variants affect health and disease. Officials hope genetic data from several hundred thousand participants in ongoing genetic studies would be used and other volunteers recruited to reach the 1 million total.

"Precision medicine gives us one of the greatest opportunities for new medical breakthroughs we've ever seen," Obama said, promising that it would "lay a foundation for a new era of life-saving discoveries."

The near-term goal is to create more and better treatments for cancer, Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), told reporters on a conference call on Thursday. Longer term, he said, the project would provide information on how to individualize treatment for a range of diseases.

I CAN'T THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO WIPE OUT YOUR COMPETITION THAN BY GENETIC TARGETING OF 'UNDESIRABLES"

[Hotler]

26. Saliva samples at traffic stops. Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

What a guy. Gee Mr. President don't you other stuff more worthwhile to do than to start this.

[Demeter]

10. IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME!

A Greek Burial for German Austerity

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/syriza-greece-eu-crisis-by-joschka-fischer-2015-01

Not long ago, German politicians and journalists confidently declared that the euro crisis was over; Germany and the European Union, they believed, had weathered the storm. Today, we know that this was just another mistake in an ongoing crisis that has been full of them. The latest error, as with most of the earlier ones, stemmed from wishful thinking – and, once again, it is Greece that has broken the reverie.

Even before the leftist Syriza party’s overwhelming victory in Greece’s recent general election, it was obvious that, far from being over, the crisis was threatening to worsen. Austerity – the policy of saving your way out of a demand shortfall – simply does not work. In a shrinking economy, a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio rises rather than falls, and Europe’s recession-ridden crisis countries have now saved themselves into a depression, resulting in mass unemployment, alarming levels of poverty, and scant hope.

Warnings of a severe political backlash went unheeded. Shadowed by Germany’s deep-seated inflation taboo, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government stubbornly insisted that the pain of austerity was essential to economic recovery; the EU had little choice but to go along. Now, with Greece’s voters having driven out their country’s exhausted and corrupt elite in favor of a party that has vowed to end austerity, the backlash has arrived.

But, though Syriza’s victory may mark the start of the next chapter in the euro crisis, the political – and possibly existential – danger that Europe faces runs deeper. The Swiss National Bank’s unexpected abandonment of the franc’s euro peg on January 15, though posing no immediate financial threat, was an enormous psychological blow, one that reflected and reinforced a massive loss of confidence. The euro, as the SNB’s move implied, remains as fragile as ever. And the subsequent decision by the European Central Bank to purchase more than €1 trillion ($1.14 trillion) in eurozone governments’ bonds, though correct and necessary, has dimmed confidence further...MORE

As Neoliberal Forces Lash Out, Solidarity with Syriza is Needed

http://bollier.org/blog/neoliberal-forces-lash-out-solidarity-syriza-needed

Now that Syriza has prevailed in the Greek elections, a new field of battle has emerged: the political maneuvering before debt-relief negotiations. Syriza’s decisive victory is sending some richly deserved shock waves through the citadels of finance capital and their partners in government, especially in Europe.

Not since the 2008 financial crisis have neoliberal policies and politicians suffered such a stinging public rebuke – through democratic elections, no less. The financial establishment and leading politicians around the world want nothing more than to staunch the damage. They clearly wish to isolate the new prime minister and undermine his party’s leadership. They would also love to kill in the cradle many socially minded initiatives that Syriza plans (protections against home foreclosures, restoration of pensions, basic healthcare, etc.).

Hence the fierce media propaganda war now underway to defame Syriza and lock in a negative set of images and ideas about it. I keep hearing the term “radical left” a lot (funny, the press never called austerity politics a program of the “radical right”). British Prime Minister David Cameron recently warned, “The Greek election will increase economic uncertainty across Europe” – as if that hasn’t been the case for years.

There are also many attacks on the coalition government as unprincipled and expedient, particularly after Syriza made a coalition government with ANEL (a conservative party whose acronym translates as “independent Greeks”). ANEL is socially conservative but it is also extremely hostile to big capital and the current banking system. It is more radical than Syriza in that it wants to nationalize banks and throw out the Greek oligarchy....MORE

[mother earth]

14. From your link:

Needless to say, the guardians of the “Washington consensus” are not eager for Greece to prevail and set a “bad example” that others might emulate. A successful Syriza might inspire oppressed taxpayers and jobless citizens in Spain, Italy, Ireland, the US and elsewhere to fight the crushing anti-social costs and unfairness of austerity politics. Occupy could happen again, but with a new determination not to be fooled again.

That says it all doesn't it? Pitchforks & mayhem? No, people united in understanding of the issues at hand, the oligarchy, the plutocrats, that l% that dictate all motivated by greed. The illusions are gone.

I wish them well, they are shining a light and showing the way.

[Demeter]

11. It's 5F at 7 AM

It's supposed to warm up into the 20's and snow....we'll see. Snow I don't mind. It's the bitter, unusual cold that annoys. Michigan houses aren't built for this.

[Fuddnik]

27. I'm debating whether to drive the car or ride the motorcycle this morning.

[mother earth]

12. K & R just for that toon, Koch Bros. indeed, aka the GOP & all the oligarch enablers

holding office/power.

[xchrom]

15. Oil is surging

http://www.businessinsider.com/oil-keeps-rallying-2015-2

At 11.30 a.m. GMT (6.30 a.m. EST) Brent was trading at $56.90 a barrel, up 3.92% from its previous value.

At the same time WTI crude was trading at $51.31, also gaining about 3.50% form last night.

This comes after two very positive days for oil prices on Friday and Monday.

Last Friday Brent grew by 8%, its biggest one-day gain since 2009.

Solid gains in early February are making up for the heavy losses in January, when Brent stumbled to six-year lows. Here's the chart:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/oil-keeps-rallying-2015-2#ixzz3QgXScxz9

[Demeter]

29. And prices at the pump are up nearly 60 cents in two weeks

some of the pumps...Costco and Sam's Club not so high, yet.

[xchrom]

16. Greece stocks are going nuts

http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-stocks-rallying-on-debt-deal-2015-2

Greek stocks are soaring Tuesday on hopes of a resolution to the debt standoff between Greece's new radical government and its creditors.

Right now, the Athens Stock Exchange General Index is up 8.91%.

Here's a one-week chart from Bloomberg:



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/greece-stocks-rallying-on-debt-deal-2015-2#ixzz3QgY0BxZU

[xchrom]

17. The 10 most important things in the world right now

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-feb-3-2015-2

1. Cairo police found two bombs in the city's main airport early Tuesday and are trying to determine who planted them.

2. Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy renounced his Egyptian citizenship to secure his release from jail after Australian journalist Peter Greste was freed.

3. Greece's new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis outlined a debt-swap plan, telling the Financial Times that instead of requesting a write-off of Greece's €315 billion foreign debt, the government would ask to swap Greek debt for two new types of bonds linked to growth.

4. The Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a record low, to 2.25% from 2.50%, following in the footsteps of other central banks that have recently moved toward easier monetary policy.

5. Cuba's state newspaper released the first photographs since August of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, allegedly taken in late January 2015, showing him slightly hunched over while seated.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-feb-3-2015-2#ixzz3QgYeQkJj

[xchrom]

18. BP fourth-quarter profits beat expectations

http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-quarter-results-heavy-losses-2015-2

Oil major BP beat profit expectations for the fourth quarter of 2014 on Tuesday while taking a $3.6 billion impairment charge and cutting capital expenditures due to low oil prices.

The firm reported underlying replacement cost profit at $2.2 billion versus expectations of $1.5 billion.

BP said it took a $3.6 billion post-tax net charge mainly relating to impairments of upstream assets in the North Sea and Angola due to lower oil prices and resulting in a fourth quarter replacement cost loss of $969 million.

The company said it would cut capex to $20 billion in 2015 from $22.9 billion in 2014. It maintained its quarterly dividend at 10 cents per ordinary share.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bp-quarter-results-heavy-losses-2015-2#ixzz3QgZcxPQd

[xchrom]

19. EXXON, CHEVRON SET TO BOOST PRODUCTION JUST AS PRICES FALL

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EXXONS_BAD_TIMING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-02-18-18-20

NEW YORK (AP) -- Exxon Mobil has been working for years on a fleet of enormous new oil and gas projects in places such as Abu Dhabi, Russia, Papua New Guinea, and the Gulf of Mexico designed to turn around what has been a consistent and alarming slide in oil and gas production.

A record eight of these mega-projects came on-line last year, Exxon said Monday - just as oil prices were falling by more than half.

"Investors would be more than happy to see production decline but oil prices higher," said Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.

No such luck this year. These enormous projects were conceived and started years ago, as prices were rising. Now they are starting to produce oil and gas at a time when the price of global crude has been eviscerated by rising supplies and weak growth in demand.

[xchrom]

21. MARKETS REBOUND ON SOFTER GREEK APPROACH TO DEBT FORGIVENESS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_BAILOUT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-03-07-49-42

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Hopes for a deal between Greece and its European creditors got a boost after the country's new government backed away from demands to write off a chunk of its bailout loans, a prospect that had horrified creditors and investors.

Greek stocks led a European market rally Tuesday after the finance minister said the new radical left government was willing to accept alternative strategies to making his country's debt load more bearable.

Signs of relief also came from the European Union, where the president of the executive Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said the bloc will "have to adapt a certain number of our policies" to accommodate Greece, though it is "not going to change everything."

The Athens stock exchange was up 8.9 percent in midday trading and Greek bond yields eased, a sign investors are less worried about default. The Euro Stoxx index of eurozone stocks gained 1.5 percent.

[xchrom]

22. US HOME PRICE GAINS WEAKENED IN DECEMBER ON SLOWER SALES

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOME_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-03-08-08-36

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. home values rose at a modest pace in December, a sign there are too few potential buyers to bid up prices.

Real estate data provider CoreLogic says home prices rose 5 percent in December from 12 months earlier. That is down from the 5.5 percent price gain recorded in November. It's much lower than the double-digit gains that occurred last year.

Yet those much larger increases in early 2014 priced many potential buyers out of the market. Sales actually slipped last year, after several years of gains. Smaller price increases, along with lower mortgage rates, may spur a rebound in sales.

The biggest yearly gains were in Colorado, Texas, New York, Nevada and Michigan. Just three states saw prices fall compared with 12 months earlier: Maryland, Vermont and Connecticut.

[xchrom]

23. AUSTRALIA STOCKS JUMP ON RATE CUT, CHINA INDEX REBOUNDS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-03-04-28-45

KEEPING SCORE: European shares were up in early trading. France's CAC 40 added 1.4 percent to 4,693.18 and Germany's DAX gained 1.4 percent to 10,974.63. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent to 6,869.18. U.S. stocks were poised to open higher, with Dow futures up 0.4 percent to 17,361. Broader S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 percent to 2,024.50.

DECISION DOWN UNDER: The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to a record low of 2.25 percent in an attempt to revive the economy, which is weighed down by falling commodity prices. Like other countries that have taken similar action recently, Australian policymakers felt that with inflation easing as oil prices slump, they have more space to maneuver to bolster economic growth by cutting rates.

THE QUOTE: "Global markets remain choppy but the medium-term fundamentals remain in check, with central banks being the key drivers of sentiment and price action," said IG strategist Stan Shamu in a commentary. Markets have been reassured by signs that Greece's new government could reach a compromise with other euro nations over the terms of its international bailout that has imposed harsh austerity on the country. "After all the negative tape about Greece after fears primarily fuelled by Syriza coming into power, it seems we are starting to see a degree of calm prevail," Shamu said.

CURRENCIES: The rate decision pushed the Australian dollar 1.8 percent lower to 76.5 cents from about 78 cents Monday. In other currencies, the dollar slipped to 117.40 yen from 117.45. The euro fell to $1.1338 from $1.1341.

ASIA'S DAY: Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.5 percent to close at 5,707.40, the highest level since May 2008, after the central bank's decision was announced at midafternoon Sydney time. The Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China surged 2.5 percent to 3,204.91. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 1.3 percent to 17,335.85 and South Korea's Kospi was little changed at 1,951.96. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 24,554.78.

[xchrom]

24. Corporate America Feels Downdraft While Recovery Lifts Households

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-03/corporate-america-feels-downdraft-as-recovery-lifts-households


(Bloomberg) -- Corporate America’s pain is U.S. consumers’ gain.

Company profits -- and their shares -- have been sideswiped by tumbling energy prices, a strengthening dollar and rising labor costs. Those same forces are lifting consumers’ spirits as they pay less for gasoline at the pump and for imported suits at the mall while reaping the benefits of a tighter jobs market.

“There are strong cross-currents in the economy” as households prosper and businesses suffer, said David Hensley, director of global economics for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. “The balance, though, is positive for growth.”

While consumer spending fell in December by the most in five years, households were taking a breather after a surge in buying during the previous two months. For the fourth quarter as a whole, household expenditures rose at the fastest clip in almost nine years, according to data from the Commerce Department in Washington.

Typically, a shift in income away from companies to workers marks the beginning of the end of an expansion: Stronger salaries lead to faster inflation, prompting the Federal Reserve to boost interest rates. But with wage gains muted and inflation below the central bank’s 2 percent target, Fed policy makers have signaled they’re in no rush to announce their first rate increase since 2006 and will be restrained in tightening credit once they do.

[xchrom]

25. German Yield Below Japan for First Time Bodes Ill for Europe

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-03/germany-s-10-year-bond-yield-falls-below-japan-s-for-first-time

(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s 10-year yields are below Japan’s for the first time on record.

Rates on German debt, the euro area’s benchmark sovereign securities, have tumbled in recent months as investors sought haven assets amid concern the region will fall into deflation. The European Central Bank starts a program of buying government bonds -- known as quantitative easing -- to combat this possibility in March. The slide in yields has drawn comparisons with Japan, where rates have been below 1 percent for almost two years amid decades of zero nominal economic growth and falling consumer prices.

“It doesn’t provide much in the way of reassurance in terms of the market’s take on the ECB’s ability to reflate the economy via its imminent foray into QE,” said Richard McGuire, head of European rates strategy at Rabobank International in London. “Japanification of Europe is quite a familiar theme. The market is of the view that the disinflationary forces currently gripping Europe are by no means transitory.”

Germany’s 10-year yield rose two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 0.33 percent as of 10:44 a.m. London time. The price of the 0.5 percent bund due in February 2025 fell 0.18, or 1.8 euros per 1,000-euro ($1,133) face amount, to 101.66. The yield dropped as low as 0.307 percent as markets opened.

[kickysnana]

30. In GD they think all seniors will come back to the party if they promote vaccines.

Effective vaccines are wonderful but our Dems threw even that under the bus with the Patriot Act etc, shadow government and deregulation, and insulation from liability of the pharmaceutical industry.

Sunday Minneapols Strib went to the firefighter turned arsonist, former Epidemiologist Osterholm who now has his very own bio-terror lab at the U of MN after writing a book about controlling state and local health departments and the American people by withholding medicines and access to them during crisis.

Translation: "Vote for us and we won't take away something people suffered or died for (except if it upsets the 1% of course.)"