STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 9 March 2016

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, 9 March 2016[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 8 March 2016

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 8 March 2016
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Dow Jones 16,964.10 -109.85 (-0.64%)
S&P 500 1,979.26 -22.50 (-1.12%)
Nasdaq 4,648.83 -59.43 (-1.26%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.83% -0.02 (-1.08%)
30 Year 2.64% -0.01 (-0.38%) [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
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
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Brad DeLong
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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
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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
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.
2/25/16 Jason Keryc sentenced to 9 years in prison, 3 years supervised release and to pay back $180MM to investors he bilked in a Ponzi scheme while an acct. mgr at Agape World.



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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. In honor of yesterday's 'toon - Trump suits, ties made in China

(I had no way of knowing when I posted yesterday's 'toon that this would show up on CNN today. I am sooooo good!)

Donald Trump suits and ties are made in China

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/08/news/economy/donald-trump-trade/

Donald Trump blasts companies like Ford and Apple for manufacturing products outside the United States. He even threatened to stop eating Oreo cookies after he learned some production was moving to Mexico.

But Trump does the same thing. Many of his products are made outside the United States. Most Donald J. Trump ties are made in China. Some Donald J. Trump suits are also made in China.

Donald J. Trump signature men's dress shirts are made in China, Bangladesh or "imported," meaning they were made abroad.

And it's not just Donald's products. Harvard professor and trade expert Robert Lawrence analyzed over 800 items in the Ivanka Trump fashion line. There are shoes, dresses, purses and scarves. All are "imported."

[Hotler]

2. Fasten your seat belts, because there’s turbulence ahead in the stock market

Talk about a nice ride: The S&P 500 Index of the biggest U.S. stocks is now up over 9% since I suggested buying equities Feb. 9 because the stars were aligned.

But all good things come to an end. Now it’s time for momentum investors and traders to take some money off the table. If you have a longer time horizon, hang in there because the likely weakness in stocks just around the corner won’t signal the end of the bull market.

The U.S. economy is too strong for that. A recession is just about the only thing that will kill this bull. Economic expansions just don’t die of old age, as recent Federal Reserve research confirmed.

However, there’s going to be some near-term volatility over the next few days or weeks, possibly touched off by nervousness about the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting March 15-16.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/fasten-your-seat-belts-because-there%e2%80%99s-turbulence-ahead-in-the-stock-market/ar-AAgzdqM?li=BBnb7Kv&ocid=iehp


Michael Brush gives six reasons why there may be near-term downside volatility. He also thinks that the U.S. economy is strong. I want what ever he is drinking.

[Hotler]

3. China State-Backed Venture Funds Tripled to $338 Billion in 2015

China is getting into the venture capital business in a big way. A really, really big way.
The country’s government-backed venture funds raised about 1.5 trillion yuan ($231 billion) in 2015, tripling the amount under management in a single year to 2.2 trillion yuan, according to data compiled by the consultancy Zero2IPO Group. That’s the biggest pot of money for startups in the world and almost five times the sum raised by other venture firms last year globally, according to London-based consultancy Preqin Ltd.

The money’s in what are known as government guidance funds, where local and central agencies play some role. With 780 such funds nationwide and a lot of experimentation, there’s no set model for how they’re managed or funded. The bulk of their capital comes from tax revenue or state-backed loans.

The money is part of Premier Li Keqiang’s effort to bolster the slowing Chinese economy through innovation and reducing its dependence on heavy industry. The country began a campaignto support entrepreneurship in 2014 and has since opened 1,600 high-tech incubators for startups.

The huge influx of cash raises the possibility of a boom- and-bust cycle like the government-led investment in China’s solar and wind power sectors, said Gary Rieschel, founder of Qiming Venture Partners.

“They have a fantasy that if they give everyone money they’ll create entrepreneurs,” he said. But inexperienced or corrupt managers are likely to invest in dozens of regional copycats unable to get big enough to be profitable, he said. “What it will result in is catastrophic losses for the government.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-state-backed-venture-funds-tripled-to-dollar338-billion-in-2015/ar-AAgxtA4?li=BBnb7Kv&ocid=iehp

China's government a bit worried about its economy.

[Hotler]

4. Check out this gem from Zero Hedge...

GOP Leaders, Tech Execs Plot Against Trump At Secret NeoCon Island Meeting.

Last Thursday, in a speech delivered at the University of Utah, Mitt Romney blindsided Donald Trump in what amounted to a scathing indictment of the billionaire’s ability to lead the country.

"If we Republicans choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished," Romney said, in an apparent effort to play party elder. "If Donald Trump’s plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into prolonged recession."

Party elder.....

This is it folks. Trump is on the verge of winning the nomination and although most still think he can't beat Hillary, the national election is a wildcard. If Trump can go from laughingstock to presumed GOP nominee in nine months, there's no reason to think he can't ride the populist wave all the way to The White House.

With diplomats the world over voicing their concern, and with America's reputation on the line (of course we can debate about what's left of that reputation after Bush and Obama) heavyweights from across America's political aristocracy and business community are scrambling to figure out how to derail Trump's momentum. In short, the Michael Bloomberg deus ex machina isn't coming and Joe Biden isn't likely to ride into the race in a red Camaro and save the day either, so what now?

That question, apparently, was on the agenda at the American Enterprise Institute's annual World Forum, a secretive affair held on Sea Island, Georgia.

"A specter was haunting the World Forum--the specter of Donald Trump," the Weekly Standard founder Bill Kristol wrote in an emailed report from the conference, borrowing the opening lines of the Communist Manifesto. "There was much unhappiness about his emergence, a good deal of talk, some of it insightful and thoughtful, about why he's done so well, and many expressions of hope that he would be defeated."

Fucking Bill kristol, what a shit stain. If any of the Neocons needed a punch in the nose it is him. This is a good little read at the link.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-08/gop-leaders-tech-execs-plot-against-trump-secret-neocon-island-meeting

[Punx]

13. Quote from the comments that I like,

“yup - a group of billionaires meeting at an exclusive resort debating how to circumvent the democratic process, failing to consider that's the exact description of what's wrong with America (and the GOP)”


And my own feelings: This from a from a man that has profited from forcing thousands in to unemployment during leveraged buyouts which made you filthy rich. Trumps trade policies would be far better than anything from a shit like you Mitt. Beware, even the dupes who vote GOP are starting to figure this out.

Is that worth a tRump presidency, no…

[Hotler]

5. The Financial System Is A Larger Threat Than Terrorism

In the 21st century Americans have been distracted by the hyper-expensive “war on terror.” Trillions of dollars have been added to the taxpayers’ burden and many billions of dollars in profits to the military/security complex in order to combat insignificant foreign “threats,” such as the Taliban, that remain undefeated after 15 years. All this time the financial system, working hand-in-hand with policymakers, has done more damage to Americans than terrorists could possibly inflict.

The purpose of the Federal Reserve and US Treasury’s policy of zero interest rates is to support the prices of the over-leveraged and fraudulent financial instruments that unregulated financial systems always create. If inflation was properly measured, these zero rates would be negative rates, which means not only that retirees have no income from their retirement savings but also that saving is a losing proposition. Instead of earning interest on your savings, you pay interest that shrinks the real value of your saving.

This is a good read. And I agree that the bankers are parasites.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-08/financial-system-larger-threat-terrorism

Central banks, neoliberal economists, and the presstitute financial media advocate negative interest rates in order to force people to spend instead of save. The notion is that the economy’s poor economic performance is not due to the failure of economic policy but to people hoarding their money. The Federal Reserve and its coterie of economists and presstitutes maintain the fiction of too much savings despite the publication of the Federal Reserve’s own report that 52% of Americans cannot raise $400 without selling personal possessions or borrowing the money.

Negative interest rates, which have been introduced in some countries such as Switzerland and threatened in other countries, have caused people to avoid the tax on bank deposits by withdrawing their savings from banks in large denomination bills. In Switzerland, for example, demand for the 1,000 franc bill (about $1,000) has increased sharply. These large denomination bills now account for 60% of the Swiss currency in circulation.

The response of depositors to negative interest rates has resulted in neoliberal economists, such as Larry Summers, calling for the elimination of large denomination bank notes in order to make it difficult for people to keep their cash balances outside of banks.

Larry Summers, another Neocon that could use a punch in the nose.
(snip)

What this picture shows is that government, economists, and presstitutes are allied against citizens achieving any financial independence from personal saving. Policymakers have a crackpot economic policy and those with control over your life value their scheme more than they value your welfare.

Throughout the Western world the financial system has become an exploiter of the people and a deadweight loss on economies. There are only two possible solutions. One is to break the large banks up into smaller and local entities such as existed prior to the concentration that deregulation fostered. The other is to nationalize them and operate them solely in the interest of the general welfare of the population.

The banks are too powerful currently for either solution to occur. But the greed, fraud, and self-serving behavior of Western financial systems, aided and abeted by governments, could be leading to such a breakdown of economic life that the idea of a private financial system will become as abhorent in the future as Nazism is today.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-08/financial-system-larger-threat-terrorism

[Gungnir]

6. Phantom Goods Disguise Billions in China Illicit Money Flows

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-08/phantom-goods-disguise-billions-in-china-illicit-money-outflows


Days after the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements played down fears over capital flight out of China, new trade data has put the spotlight on a channel used to ferret out billions worth of illicit money flows: phantom goods.

A steep rise in China’s reported imports from Hong Kong has raised concerns that trade invoices are being manipulated to get capital out of the country amid fears the yuan will continue to weaken. February data released Tuesday show those imports jumped 89 percent from a year earlier, even as total imports fell 14 percent. While the rise wasn’t as great as in January, economists said the spike follows similar patterns in recent months that point to companies using trade channels to pay for goods far in excess of their value or even that don’t exist at all.
...
While China has strict rules on moving capital offshore, those seeking to evade limits can disguise money flows as payment for goods exported or imported to foreign countries or territories, especially Hong Kong. Economists have said they suspect China’s December and January trade numbers were also skewed by this activity.

"Data distortions from hidden capital flows remain a problem," Bloomberg Intelligence economists Tom Orlik and Fielding Chen wrote in a note, adding that the reported $880 million in imports from Hong Kong in January were "implausible."

[Gungnir]

7. Crisis-hit Greeks put own woes aside to help refugees

http://www.ekathimerini.com/206708/article/ekathimerini/community/crisis-hit-greeks-put-own-woes-aside-to-help-refugees

Their own wages and pensions have been slashed by the debt crisis, but thousands of Greeks are putting their economic woes aside to help desperate refugees trapped in the country by the Balkan border blockade.

People old and young, from couples with babies to pensioners and teenagers, came to Athens' Syntagma Square on Sunday loaded with bottles of water, medicine, pasta, nappies and clothes.

Panayiotis, a 32-year-old accountant, was just one of those determined to help. "Greek people know what it is to be a refugee," said Panayiotis, a volunteer with the Red Cross at the Sunday donation organized by a social solidarity network.

"My grandmother came from Turkey in the 1920s. She had to leave everything there and she arrived in Thessaloniki with nothing. A lot of people in Greece have grandparents who experienced this exodus. This is maybe why we are helping those people," he said.

[Gungnir]

8. Welfare recipients seen as immoral for buying ethical products, study finds

http://phys.org/news/2016-03-welfare-recipients-immoral-ethical-products.html

Shoppers making ethical purchases, such as buying organic food or environmentally friendly cars, are generally seen as more virtuous - unless they're receiving government assistance. If ethical shopping is funded by welfare cheques, those shoppers are judged as immoral for taking advantage of public generosity, according to a new UBC Sauder School of Business study.

"People on welfare tend to be seen as undeserving of more expensive options and of wasting taxpayers' hard-earned cash," said study author Darren Dahl, senior associate dean of faculty at UBC Sauder. "We discovered a double standard where people are judged differently for making identical choices, depending on where their money comes from."

Dahl and his co-authors were curious about the interaction between two prized values: making prosocial choices and thrift. They found that people reliant on government assistance are only praised when they're frugal, and are seen as less moral if they go for ethical but more expensive products.

In a series of five studies, more than 1,300 participants in the United States were asked to judge people on measures of morality based on their grocery lists (either including organic foods or not) or their chosen rental car (either environmentally friendly or not). When choosing a more expensive ethical product, those on welfare were seen as less moral while more wealthy shoppers were seen as more moral.


more at link

[Gungnir]

9. Research shows impact of student debt on small business creation

http://phys.org/news/2015-07-impact-student-debt-small-business.html#nRlv

Small business creation—a critical economic engine—is significantly hampered in areas of the country where residents carry more substantial student loan debt, according to research co-authored by Brent W. Ambrose of the Penn State Smeal College of Business.

The recently updated study "The Impact of Student Loan Debt on Small Business Formation" examined student loan debt across the United States by county and compared it with small-business creation in those areas. Between 2000 and 2010, one standard deviation increase in student debt reduced small businesses by 14 percent, on average .

Ambrose, the Smeal Chaired Professor of Real Estate and director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies, along with Larry Cordell and Shuwei Ma at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, concluded that potential entrepreneurs are so encumbered by student debt they can't borrow more money to start a business.
...
This correlation could have broad implications for the economy, the researchers said. They cited United States Small Business Association (SBA) data showing that small businesses account for approximately half of the private-sector economy and 99 percent of all businesses—and almost 60 percent of new jobs in the private sector are created by small businesses.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-impact-student-debt-small-business.html#jCp

[Gungnir]

10. How Much Can You Fight Inequality? Canada's About to Find Out

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-07/canada-s-answer-to-trump

Duclos has an assignment that progressive politicians in the U.S. can only dream of: Reduce inequality without regard to partisan politics -- or fear of deficits. Because Canada's new Liberal government won a majority of seats in October's elections, it can pass legislation over the objection of opposition parties. This gives the party something like free rein to implement two promises central to its election campaign: reversing the decline of Canada's middle class, and stimulating the economy by running deficits. Big ones. For at least three years.
...
But just as telling as what Canada is doing is what it's not. A few months before he was elected to Parliament, Duclos published a paper arguing that the increase in inequality in Canada between 1980 and 2010 mainly reflected the rising earnings of the top 0.1 percent. Yet the new tax rate for high-earners will reduce their after-tax earnings by an average of C$5,255 ($3,960) in 2016 -- which would be no small amount for the typical household but is not enough to change the trajectory of wage growth at the very top.
...
There is a final constraint on what Canada's government can undertake: Free trade can be criticized in its particulars, but it can't be rolled back. In his paper last year, Duclos wrote that after controlling for education and experience, wages had stagnated since 1980, which he attributed to "deeper macroeconomic trends." One of those trends is the ever-growing exposure of workers to foreign competition. Yet the Liberal government, in addition to promising better living standards for the middle class, is also pursuing trade deals with Asia (through the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and the European Union.
...
And if the dream of a constantly rising living standard for the middle class no longer holds, then a government's job is to search for more creative ways to make whatever new reality emerges less arbitrary, or at least less unpleasant. That is not quite the promise Canada's Liberals ran on, but it could be their great achievement -- and it could help define the limits of what future U.S. governments can hope to achieve as well. Whether that's enough to satisfy the anxieties of the middle class is another question.

[Gungnir]

11. 25 percent of Texans say they don't understand basic health insurance terms

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-03-percent-texans-dont-basic-health.html

Approximately 25 percent of Texans say they lack confidence in understanding some of the most basic terminology about health insurance plans, according to a new report released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF). The report found uninsured, low-income and Hispanic Texans were least likely to understand health-plan terms like "premium," "copayment" and "provider network."

The survey asked Texans about their confidence level in understanding seven terms that describe various features of health insurance plans. While one-quarter of all the respondents lacked confidence in their understanding of the terminology, there are significant differences among various subgroups.

Researchers found at least half of those who are uninsured said they didn't fully understand five of the seven terms. In fact, the rates of lack of confidence for uninsured Texans were nearly double that of those with health insurance.
...
Of the five health insurance terms relating to costs, 25 percent of all adult Texans who were surveyed – both insured and uninsured – said they lacked confidence in understanding the concepts of "premium," "deductible" and "copayment." More than 35 percent of Texans said they didn't understand "maximum out-of-pocket expenses," and 45 percent didn't understand "coinsurance." In addition, 30 percent of Texans said they lacked confidence in understanding the terms "provider network" and "covered services."

much more at link

[antigop]

12. in a civilized society, there would be no "deductible", "copayment", "coinsurance".

The terms shouldn't even exist.

Or "provider network", etc., etc.