STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 21 January 2016

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 21 January 2016[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 20 January 2016

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 20 January 2016
[center][font color=red]
Dow Jones 15,766.74 -249.28 (-1.56%)
S&P 500 1,859.33 -22.00 (-1.17%)
Nasdaq 4,471.69 -5.26 (-0.12%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.98% -0.01 (-0.50%)
30 Year 2.75% -0.01 (-0.36%) [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
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.
09/22/15 Stewart Parnell, CEO Peanut Corp. of America, sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling salmonella-tainted peanut butter that killed nine.
12/17/15 Martin Shkreli, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals and notorious price gouger, arrested on securities fraud charges. Posted $5M bail, resigned as CEO.




[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]

[Proserpina]

1. I'm getting a migraine, so this may be short

Looks like a big storm trying to push in

[Proserpina]

2. Weak U.S. inflation, housing data lower March rate hike chances

they can't be seriously thinking of hiking the interest rate again?

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-inflation-idUSKCN0UY1LH?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly fell in December as the cost of energy products and food declined, offering signs of weak inflation that further diminish expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in March.

Other data on Wednesday showed a drop in housing starts and building permits last month, adding to weak reports on retail sales, industrial production, exports, inventory and manufacturing surveys that have suggested a significant slowdown in economic growth at the end of 2015.

Against the backdrop of renewed weakness in oil prices, which touched new lows on Wednesday, economists say the expected reversion to the Fed's 2 percent inflation target is slowing.

The Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index slipped 0.1 percent after being unchanged in November. The CPI was also weighed down by moderate increases in rents and healthcare costs.

"The broad-based nature of the decline in inflation will hardly be encouraging news at the Fed, and if anything it is likely to temper their confidence in the outlook for inflation," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

more

[Proserpina]

3. Oil plumbs new lows below $27 as oversupply woes persist

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKCN0UY04U?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

U.S. oil prices crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets with traders also worried that the crude supply glut could last longer.

Oil has fallen more than 25 percent so far this year, the steepest such slide since the financial crisis, piling more pain on oil drillers and producing nations alike. Yet they keep pumping more oil into an oversupplied market.

Sure enough, fresh data from the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday showed U.S. crude stocks rose more than expected last week. Crude inventories rose by 4.6 million barrels in the week to Jan. 15 to 485.2 million, well above analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.8 million barrels, the industry group said.

Venezuela requested an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss steps to prop up prices, but other delegates dismissed the idea...more

[Proserpina]

4. Wall Street tumbles to 2014 low as oil prices sink

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-idUSKCN0UY1EW?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Wall Street's recent selloff deepened on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing at its lowest in over a year as U.S. oil prices plummeted to 2003 lows.

The equities rout was widespread, hitting nine of the 10 major S&P sectors. The small-cap Russell's 2000 index .RUT fell 3.6 percent before reversing its loss late in the session.

The beaten-down S&P energy sector .SPNY fell 2.93 percent, leading the losers. Exxon (XOM.N) dropped 4.21 percent and Chevron (CVX.N) slumped 3.10 percent.

Collapsing oil prices and fears of a slowdown in China, the world's second largest economy and a key market for U.S. companies, have led the S&P 500 to drop 9 percent this year. In the past six months, the energy sector has fallen 26 percent.

"The fear is, 'Is tomorrow going to bring more selling?' People are not even thinking about today, they're thinking about tomorrow," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

[Proserpina]

5. How Flint water crisis reveals limits of running a state as a business

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0120/How-Flint-water-crisis-reveals-limits-of-running-a-state-as-a-business

Michigan’s governor did something highly unusual Tuesday night: He apologized to a city.

“I’m sorry and I will fix it,” GOP Gov. Rick Snyder told the people of Flint in his State of the State address. “Government failed you at the federal, state and local level.”

Governor Snyder spent much of his address taking on the water crisis in Flint, where more than 8,500 children have been exposed to lead after the city, in a cost-saving measure, began pumping its supply from the Flint River in 2014. The corrosive water caused lead to leach out of pipes. Although the city switched back to sourcing its drinking water from Lake Huron in October, the water remains unsafe to drink.

In his speech, the governor, who has long billed himself as taking a pragmatic, business-like approach to challenges in his state, laid out a plan to fix the problem – even as protesters called for his resignation outside the Michigan Legislature in Lansing...

[Proserpina]

6. How to Make Sense of Plummeting Global Markets

Retribution?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/upshot/how-to-make-sense-of-plummeting-global-markets.html?_r=0

If you look only at the global economy, and what leading forecasters think it will do in 2016, things look to be in a reasonably solid state. The world economy will grow 3.4 percent this year, economists at the International Monetary Fund projected this week, up from 3.1 percent in 2015. Private sector forecasters mostly have similar expectations.

If you look only at global financial markets, it’s Aaack, Run for the Hills! The Sky is Falling!

That is to say, global stock, bond and especially commodity markets have, in the first three weeks of the year, swung in ways that suggest this is a perilous time. Their volatility and direction are consistent with the prospect of a new crisis or global recession. (The Standard & Poor’s stock index closed down 1.2 percent Wednesday after dropping more than 3 percent earlier in the day.)

The price of oil is where most of the action is, with West Texas Intermediate Crude trading below $27 a barrel Wednesday, down from around $37 at the end of December, $60 in June and $100 in mid-2014. The broad S.&P. is down 9 percent so far in 2016, and stock indexes in many emerging economies are down even more. Bond and currency markets point to economic troubles in oil-producing nations. (Considering a trip to Quebec? Good move. The Canadian dollar is down 19 percent against the United States dollar since May).

What makes these falling prices unnerving is that it’s hard to tell a simple story about what is driving them. It could be that the markets are moving according to their own internal logic, driven by money managers’ psychology, with their habitual toggle between fear and greed turning back toward the former. More frightening: The markets could be pricing in some darker facts about the outlook for the world that economists don’t fully understand.

In the past, when signals were so negative, there usually was a clearer story to tell...

[Proserpina]

7. Europe on the verge of collapse: Soros

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/europe-verge-collapse-soros-161420378.html

Billionaire financier George Soros has warned that the European Union is on the "verge of collapse" over the migrant crisis and is in "danger of kicking the ball further up the hill" in its management of the issue which has seen more than a million migrants and refugees arrive in the region in 2015.

In an interview with the New York Review of Books, Soros added that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is key to solving the crisis.

Merkel led Europe's response to the migrant crisis, opening Germany to the refugees that had travelled from the Middle East, in particular Syria, to try and find a new home in Europe. The decision by the German leader marked a sea-change in her policy. In the interview, Soros said he welcomed Merkel's move.

"There is plenty to be nervous about," the financier said.

"As she (Merkel) correctly predicted, the EU is on the verge of collapse. The Greek crisis taught the European authorities the art of muddling through one crisis after another. This practice is popularly known as kicking the can down the road, although it would be more accurate to describe it as kicking a ball uphill so that it keeps rolling back down."

"Merkel correctly foresaw the potential of the migration crisis to destroy the European Union. What was a prediction has become the reality. The European Union badly needs fixing. This is a fact but it is not irreversible. And the people who can stop Merkel's dire prediction from coming true are actually the German people. "

"Now it's time for Germans to decide: Do they want to accept the responsibilities and the liabilities involved in being the dominant power in Europe?"

That would be a Nein

[Ghost Dog]

17. Not so much the liabilities,

nein.

[Proserpina]

8. TEA PARTY AND THE RIGHT Inside the New Book That's Giving the Koch Brothers a Heart Attack

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/inside-new-book-thats-giving-koch-brothers-heart-attack?akid=13891.227380.c7VSpD&rd=1&src=newsletter1049099&t=25

Lots of American industrialists have skeletons in the family closet. Charles and David Koch, however, are in a league of their own.

The father of these famous right-wing billionaires was Fred Koch, who started his fortune with $500,000 received from Stalin for his assistance constructing 15 oil refineries in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. A couple of years later, his company, Winkler-Koch, helped the Nazis complete their third-largest oil refinery. The facility produced hundreds of thousands of gallons of high-octane fuel for the Luftwaffe, until it was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1944.

In 1938, the patriarch wrote that “the only sound countries in the world are Germany, Italy and Japan”. To make sure his children got the right ideas, he hired a German nanny. The nanny was such a fervent Nazi that when France fell in 1940, she resigned and returned to Germany. After that, Fred became the main disciplinarian, whipping his children with belts and tree branches.

These are just a handful of the many bombshells exploded in the pages of Dark Money, Jane Mayer’s indispensable new history “of the billionaires behind the rise of the radical right” in America.

lovely

[Fuddnik]

10. Jane Mayer was on Democracy Now this morning, for the entire show.

Great interview.

[DemReadingDU]

18. 1/19/16 Jane Mayer also interviewed on NPR Fresh Air by Dave Davies

" there are two really big groups of dark money, superrich donors. On the Democratic side, you've got something called the Democracy Alliance. And on the Republican side, you've got the Koch network. Here's the difference if you look at it right now. For the 2016 election cycle, the Democracy Alliance has pledged to raise $40 million. On the Republican side, the conservative side, the Koch network has pledged to raise $889 million."

more more...
http://www.npr.org/2016/01/19/463565987/hidden-history-of-koch-brothers-traces-their-childhood-and-political-rise

[Proserpina]

9. Obama unveils wage insurance plan to spur job seekers

it is beyond insane, and a poor substitute for an infrastructure jobs program

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-wage-insurance-idUSKCN0UU0HY

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday laid out a plan to help support the income of workers who lose their jobs and end up in lower paying positions, as part of a push to get unemployed Americans back to work.

The proposal would offer experienced workers who now make less than $50,000 a form of wage insurance, allowing them to replace half of their lost pay. The benefit would cover up to $10,000 over two years.

"It's a way to give families some stability and encourage folks to rejoin the workforce - because we shouldn't just be talking about unemployment; we should be talking about re-employment," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, broadcast on Saturday.

The wage insurance proposal will be included in a broader effort to overhaul the unemployment insurance system. Details about the program's proposed funding will be further outlined in Obama's budget for fiscal year 2017 expected to be released next month.

Obama promised in his State of the Union earlier this week to advocate for legislative action on issues with bipartisan support during his last year in office. During the address, he pointed to wage insurance as one measure where lawmakers may be able to work together.

The White House plan would require states to provide insurance for workers laid off from jobs they had held for at least three years. The plan would be federally-funded, but it would be administered through state unemployment insurance programs....

make policy, not excuses!

[snot]

12. Still no help for free-lancers!

[Mad-in-Mo]

15. This would have been wonderful for me in 2009

when I was "retired" from a job making $15.60 an hour and ended up finding an $11.00 an hour job. Even with COLAS and step increases, if I work till I retire from the $11.00 job, I will never get back to the $15.60 I was making in 2009.

[Proserpina]

11. Obama declares emergency in Michigan over bad water: White House

but not a disaster....doesn't meet the criteria, and Snyder doesn't get the money

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-water-idUSKCN0UU13G

U.S. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Michigan on Saturday and ordered federal aid for state and local response efforts in the county where the city of Flint has been contending with lead-contaminated drinking water.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder had asked the president to declare both an emergency and an expedited major disaster in Genesee County to protect the safety of Flint residents.

Obama is authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts there, the White House said in a statement.

The action is being taken to "lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Genesee County," it said.

it's a little late for that

more

[Roland99]

13. Futures point to slight recovery

S&P 500 +0.3%
DOW +0.2%
NASDAQ +0.4%

[Roland99]

14. Jobless claims jump 10,000 to 293,000, hit highest level since July

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-jump-again-to-7-month-high-2016-01-21

initial jobless claims climbed a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 293,000 in the seven days stretching from Jan. 10 to Jan 16, the government said Thursday. That’s the highest level since last July.

What’s more, the four-week average of initial claims rose by 6,500 to 285,000, the Labor Department said. The last time the more reliable monthly average was that high was last April.


Initial claims are still at very low levels — any number below 300,000 is viewed as evidence of a strong labor market. And other gauges such as the more valuable U.S. monthly employment report show that hiring is still going strong.

Still, initial claims have risen more than 14% after touching a post-recession low of 256,000 in early October.

supposed to be seasonally adjusted so that should rule out post-holiday downsizing, eh?

[Roland99]

16. Draghi Says ECB May Boost Stimulus in March on Global Risks

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-21/draghi-says-ecb-may-ramp-up-stimulus-in-march-on-global-risks

Mario Draghi said the European Central Bank may bolster stimulus in March as threats to the euro-area recovery mount. The single currency slid.

“Downside risks have increased again amid heightened uncertainties about emerging-market growth prospects,” the ECB president told reporters in Frankfurt on Thursday after officials kept interest rates unchanged at record lows. “The credibility of the ECB would be harmed if we weren’t ready to revise the monetary-policy stance.”

The ECB risks seeing its inflation-boosting package of negative interest rates and at least 1.5 trillion euros ($1.6 trillion) in bond purchases thwarted by a Chinese economic slowdown that threatens to cool global growth. Emphasizing the central bank’s commitment to its ultra-loose policy settings, Draghi began his statement by reverting to forward-guidance language and declaring that interest rates will “remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time.”

The ECB kept its deposit rate at minus 0.3 percent and the main refinancing rate at 0.05 percent. The president didn’t announce any adjustments to stimulus and said policy makers “didn’t want to discuss today the specifics of the instruments” that might be used.

Wonder if the Fed's move last month is a one-and-done then?