STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 6 May 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 6 May 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 5 May 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 5 May 2015
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Dow Jones 17,928.20 -142.20 (-0.79%)
S&P 500 2,089.46 -25.03 (-1.18%)
Nasdaq 4,939.33 -77.60 (-1.55%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.18% +0.06 (2.83%)
30 Year 2.91% +0.06 (2.11%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
Market Updates
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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







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

[Tansy_Gold]

1. and the bonus toon

[Fuddnik]

2. Well, I volunteered for the campaign today, and sent him $100.

I'll go all in on this one. No more holding my nose to vote for DLC New Dems. Screw the Third Way.

However, I'll have to change my party affiliation back to Dem to vote for him in the primary. I'll do that tomorrow.

[DemReadingDU]

15. No Dems ran in our county primary yesterday

There were a few Republican candidates, and some nonpartisan issues.

Bernie gets my vote too in 2016, hope he stays in the race.

[Demeter]

3. Finally back from a horrible day at the polls

They gave us the same machine that broke in November, after it was "fixed".

The only true fix for that machine would be a bowl down a long concrete staircase...

It died, we sat around waiting for a fix, and I got home at 11PM, after starting the day at 4:30.

What did I miss?

[kickysnana]

4. A Socialist Govt was elected somewhere in Canada; Hillary is scared and fighting dirty;

You can go to prison for 15 years for having sex on a beach in Florida; Cooler weather is coming for you for a while, it is here already; I really really miss our on leave member everywhere on DU; For some reason 20 somethings are getting drunk this spring and drowning almost every day here. I am officially under-employed today after a week sabbatical waiting for the state to catch up on its paperwork.

[Demeter]

13. Have you heard anything from or about Xchrom?

I am worried.


Hillary doesn't know any other way to fight...it is embarrassing!


Two good things happened yesterday, the people rejected the regressive bullshit tax grab in Michigan, and I replaced the zipper in my fanny pack (totally by hand, no less). So it wasn't a total waste. And tehre's the extra hour of pay due to faulty equipment...although I'd rather an extra hour of sleep...I am having muscle spasms due to a lack.

[DemReadingDU]

14. X hasn't posted since March 18

Not posted anywhere on DU. Maybe taking a break? that has happened before with xchrom.
It is worrisome.


You gotta be the expert in replacing zippers!

[kickysnana]

24. Alter egos are gone..I remember a wish me luck post but I cannot remember what it said..

[neverforget]

5. I work for a major railroad and business has died. We've gone from working overtime in March and

not having enough people to furloughing (laying off) people in April to the present. It's like someone turned off the faucet it has died that quick. All sectors too: grain, oil, vehicle and commodities (freight). I understand oil since the price has fallen and grain too, but vehicles and freight? Anyone hear/know anything as to what is going on? Strong dollar?

And yes, I am in danger of being furloughed too.

[Fuddnik]

7. Which RR?

I had 31 years as an Engineer on the RT (steel) in Cleveland. Got to retire at 49 on a RRB occupational disability.

[neverforget]

20. bnsf. I hired out 2 years ago. So far they've furloughed

about 30 people in my terminal. My time is coming in the next few days.

[Demeter]

9. Here's What Analysts Are Saying About The Biggest U.S. Trade Deficit in Six Years

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-05/here-s-what-analysts-are-saying-about-the-biggest-u-s-trade-deficit-in-six-years



The big question about today's awful trade report is how much of it was just a blip and how much of it was a sign that the strong dollar is weakening U.S. competitiveness in global markets. The trade deficit ballooned to $51.4 billion in March, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said on Tuesday. That's more than the agency assumed when it made its initial estimate of first-quarter economic growth, meaning that when the next estimate comes out, the government will probably report that the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter, rather than growing at a 0.2 percent annual rate.

Clearly, a big reason for the biggest trade deficit in six years is that West Coast ports got back to business, and imports arriving through them then surged. More imports mean a bigger deficit. That's nothing to worry about for the long term, because once the backlog is cleared, imports will drop back to normal and the trade deficit will shrink. (The trade deficit is the difference between imports and exports.) More worrisome is the possibility that the strong dollar is making American exports too expensive abroad, while encouraging imports by making foreign goods cheaper in the U.S. That's more than a blip because the longer the dollar stays strong, the more people will switch away from costly American-made goods and services. JPMorgan Chase economist Daniel Silver wrote to clients that "we do not know" if the weakness of exports is port-related, "or if the recent weakness in the data is mainly due to the stronger dollar." Other economists put the blame mainly on the port disruptions. Deutsche Bank Securities Chief U.S. Economist Joseph LaVorgna wrote to clients that averaging out February (when imports were depressed by port troubles) and March (when they rebounded), the trade deficit ran "only modestly" above the past year's trend.

"Yes, the stronger dollar is playing a role here, but currency shifts simply don't feed through into real trade flows that fast and that dramatically," Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a client note. What he meant is that it takes time for people to change their buying patterns after a shift in exchange rates.

"That said," Barclays Capital economist Jesse Hurwitz wrote, "we do expect the net trade balance to drag on overall growth over the next several quarters." That's partly because Americans are consuming more and partly because of the stronger dollar, he said.

The trade deficit in manufacturing rose to a record of $72 billion.

"This is just the latest reminder that claims of a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing just don't past the laugh test," Alan Tonelson, creator of the RealityChek blog, said in an interview.

[neverforget]

21. thank you for the information! I had heard rumors that's what it was

but nothing to back it up.

[Demeter]

6. The Saudis have decided to hold the world hostage for oil

No doubt to pay for their ridiculous war on Yemen.

Hence the price of crude over $60 and climbing....


This may be the saving of US fracking. I have mixed feelings about that...

I'd really like to see Arab Spring on the House of Saud....

[Demeter]

8. Oil bulls drive crude to 2015 high on fall in U.S. stocks

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/06/us-markets-oil-idUSKBN0NQ05T20150506

Oil prices rose more than a dollar to 2015 highs on Wednesday, as a month-long rally gained further impetus from a fall in U.S. crude stocks and conflict in the Middle East. Brent crude jumped by $1.36 to $68.88 a barrel by 0855 GMT, after hitting a 2015 peak of $69.14. U.S. crude traded $1.51 higher at $61.91 a barrel, near an intraday high of $62.05.

"We haven't seen hedge funds and money managers to be as optimistic and bullish as they are currently," said Vyanne Lai, an oil analyst with National Australia Bank.

"They are at their most bullish since July last year, when the oil market fundamentals haven't really changed that much."

Industry group the American Petroleum Institution (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude oil stocks fell for the first time this year, giving a lift to oil prices. The API said that overall stocks fell by 1.5 million barrels while stocks at the key delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma fell by 336,000 barrels. [API/S] The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration will issue official stockpiles data later on Wednesday.

Conflict in Yemen continued on Wednesday after witnesses said planes from a Saudi Arabia-led coalition struck Yemeni towns overnight, following mortar attacks from Iran-allied Shi'ite Houthi rebels. While Yemen is only a small oil producer, it sits on key shipping routes and any conflict involving its neighbor Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, shakes the market.

In Libya, protests have stopped crude flows to the eastern port of Zueitina. Libyan output is currently below 500,000 barrels per day, a third of what the country pumped before 2010.

Oil prices also drew support as the dollar fell 0.3 percent against a basket of currencies, on course for a fourth straight weekly loss. A weaker dollar makes greenback-traded commodities like crude oil more attractive for holders of other currencies.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would not take part in nuclear talks if threatened with military force, state television said, as Iran and world powers try to meet a June 30 deadline for a final deal. Any breakdown in talks with the West and Iran would prolong any possible return of Iranian crude exports at full throttle, denying the market additional oil.

Oil's May rise followed a rally of 20 percent for Brent and 25 percent for U.S. crude prices in April, despite indications from some OPEC delegates that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may keep production unchanged at current high levels at a meeting next month.

[Demeter]

10. JAPANESE Govt to disclose TPP deals provisions

MIGHT BE THE WAY TO FIND OUT WHAT'S IN THAT BAG OF MYSTERIES

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002129307

The government plans to disclose soon proposed provisions of a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal for multilateral free trade to lawmakers, a senior official said Monday. Government officials will hold talks with representatives of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, as early as next week on the scope of disclosure and rules to prevent information leak, Yasutoshi Nishimura, senior vice minister of Cabinet Office, said at a news conference in Washington.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has disclosed the proposed TPP provisions to members of the U.S. Congress, who are bound by confidentiality obligations. In March, staff members of the lawmakers were also given access to the information.

THIS IS INSANE....IF YOU CAN'T PUBLICLY DISCUSS IT, YOU CAN'T EXPECT PEOPLE TO OBEY. OR EVEN SUPPORT. WE ARE NOT IDIOTS. WE KNOW WHEN POWER IS BEING ABUSED.

If the U.S. government fails to win congressional approval of TPA (Trade Promotion Authority, AKA FAST TRACK) and the U.S. Congress demands a revision after the TPP talks reach a conclusion, Japan will not comply with such a demand, Nishimura said.

[Demeter]

11. NO DEAL!

[Demeter]

12. Make the Rich Panic By Chris Hedges

I THINK WE ARE GETTING THERE...BUT NEED TO ADD SOME HANDCUFFS TO THE DEAL

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41756.htm

It does not matter to the corporate rich who wins the presidential election. It does not matter who is elected to Congress. The rich have the power. They throw money at their favorites the way a gambler puts cash on his favorite horse. Money has replaced the vote. The wealthy can crush anyone who does not play by their rules. And the political elites—slobbering over the spoils provided by their corporate masters for selling us out—understand the game. Barack and Michelle Obama, as did the Clintons, will acquire many millions of dollars once they leave the White House. And your elected representative in the House or Senate, if not a multimillionaire already, will be one as soon as he or she retires from government and is handed seats on corporate boards or positions in lobbying firms. We do not live in a democracy. We live in a political system that has legalized bribery, exclusively serves corporate power and is awash in propaganda and lies.

If you want change you can believe in, destroy the system. And changing the system does not mean collaborating with it as Bernie Sanders is doing by playing by the cooked rules of the Democratic Party. Profound social and political transformation is acknowledged in legislatures and courts but never initiated there. Radical change always comes from below. As long as our gaze is turned upward to the powerful, as long as we invest hope in reforming the system of corporate power, we will remain enslaved. There may be good people within the system—Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are examples—but that is not the point. It is the system that is rotten. It must be replaced.

“The only way you can get the parties’ attention is if you take votes away from them,” Ralph Nader told me by phone. “So,” he said of Sanders, “How serious is he? He makes Clinton a better phony candidate. She is going to have to agree with him on a number of things. She is going to have to be more anti-Wall Street to fend him off and neutralize him. We know it is bullshit. She will betray us once she becomes president. He is making her more likely to win. And by April he is done. Then he fades away.”

We must build mass movements that are allied with independent political parties—a tactic used in Greece by Syriza and in Spain by Podemos. Political action without the support of radical mass movements inevitably becomes hollow, and that, I think, will be the fate of the Sanders presidential campaign. Only by building militant mass movements that are unrelentingly hostile to the system of corporate capitalism, imperialism, militarism and globalization can we wrest back our democracy.


MORE

I'D LIKE TO PROVE NADER WRONG, THIS TIME

[antigop]

16. well, you know the DNC will do everything it can to marginalize Bernie. nt

[Fuddnik]

22. Yeah, Debbie Weaselman-Schlitz has been in the tank for Hillary for years.

Back at the fall 2007 Florida Democratic Convention, it was Hillaryfest all day and ONLY Hillary. A good friend of mine, a 2 time Democratic Congressional nominee, had the nerve to show up with a few Edwards signs, and tried to set up a table.

They (with encouragement from the leaders) roughed him up a bit, refused him admission, even though he was a registered delegate, and threw him out. And he was banned from Disney for life. He has video of the whole episode up on YouTube.

[mother earth]

17. I love Hedges & Nader, there are many ways to a Syriza like party in the US, presently I believe

Bernie Sanders may be the start of a wave. You know, that social movement everyone keeps telling us (and rightly so) that we need. The thing is we have to stop waiting for it & start being it.

[DemReadingDU]

18. Database of Corporate Fines and Settlements - Wow!

5/6/15 Database of Corporate Fines and Settlements
By Charles Hugh Smith

I am honored to share a remarkable data base of Corporate Fines and Settlements from the early 1990s to the present compiled by Jon Morse. Here is Jon's description of his project to assemble a comprehensive list of all corporate fines and settlements that can be verified by media reports:

"This spreadsheet is all the corporate fines/settlements I’ve been able to find sourced articles about, mostly in the period from the 1990’s up to today (with a few 80’s and 70’s). This is by far the most comprehensive list of such things online. At least that I could find, because the lack of any decent list is what made me start compiling this list in the first place."

What struck me was the sheer number of corporate violations of laws and regulations--thousands upon thousands, the vast majority of which occurred since corporate profits began their incredible ascent in the early 2000s--and the list of those paying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and settlements, which reads like a who's who of Corporate America and Top 100 Global Corporations.

I encourage you to open one of the three alphabetical tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet on Google Docs and scroll down to find your favorite super-profitable corporation.

Many have a long list of fines and settlements, and many of the fines are in excess of $100 million. Many are for blatant cartel price-fixing, not disclosing the dangers of the company's heavily promoted medications, destroying documents to thwart an investigation of wrong-doing, etc.

In other words, these were not wrist-slaps for minor oversights of complex regulations-- these are blatant violations of core laws of the land.

more...
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay15/corp-fines5-15.html


Link to the Database of Corporate Fines and Settlements
The link is also embedded in the essay above
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t0Tb5H7V_OkOuLM9kaiPmszXb3L5wS2g7Tc5dG7v9yM/edit?pli=1#gid=0

[Demeter]

19. And no perp walks---that would be an interesting list!

[mother earth]

23. About this author...

Charles Hugh Smith is an American writer and blogger. He is the chief writer for the site "Of Two Minds".[1] Started in 2005, this site has been listed No. 7 in CNBC's top alternative financial sites.[2] His commentary is featured on a number of sites including: Zerohedge.com.,[3] The American Conservative[4] and Peak Prosperity.[5] He graduated from the University of Hawaii, Manoa in Honolulu. Charles Hugh Smith currently resides in Berkeley, California and Hilo, Hawaii.

Mr. Smith's articles, which critique the status quo, had influence from Braudel's historical account of early capitalism. Smith's economic works stress the value and efficacy of decentralizing power and wealth, the individual's power of self-determination and the value of community, which in his view has been diminished by the state.

Mr. Smith's first published work, Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis, appeared in 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hugh_Smith

***********

Again, the same names pop up in the truth-to-power short list, his work always makes for good reading, the stuff of which one never hears of in MSM.