STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday February 21

[ozymandius]

Wednesday February 21, 2007

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 698LONG DAYS
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2249 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 1953 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 1913
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 9
Enron execs conveniently deceased = 3
Other Arrests of Execs = 54


U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES




AT THE CLOSING BELL WHEN BUSH TOOK OFFICE on January 22, 2001
Dow - 10,578.24
Nasdaq - 2,757.91
S&P 500 - 1,342.90
Oil - $27.69/bbl
Gold - $266.70/oz.

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON February 20, 2007

Dow... 12,786.64 +19.07 (+0.15%)
Nasdaq... 2,513.04 +16.73 (+0.67%)
S&P 500... 1,459.68 +4.14 (+0.28%)
Gold future... 661.00 -11.80 (-1.79%)
30-Year Bond 4.78% -0.01 (-0.17%)
10-Yr Bond... 4.68% -0.01 (-0.21%)






GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver


PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout the country. Details & links are added as they become available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing something, or would like to, contact [e-mail]

For information on protests and other actions Citizens For Legitimate Government

[ozymandius]

1. Today's Market WrapUp

Changes on the Margin
BY FRANK BARBERA, CMT

While no two business cycles are ever the same, the dynamics in this credit cycle has been unlike any cycle ever seen in this country's, or for that matter, any country's history. The shear size and scope of today’s credit and monetary figures, bandied about in hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars, ends most quantitative comparisons dead in their tracks. To this end, it has been the ever abundant ‘sea of liquidity’ that has buoyed up stock markets, forced down long-term interest rates, and moved the financial economy to the fore. And never before has the Fed been forced to walk such a high wire balancing act, trading off ‘Dollar Stability’ against the frightening backdrop of exploding trade imbalances, with ‘Credit Market stability’ and the insatiable need to keep credit availability high, and the cost of funds down.

Will the Fed go one tightening too far and cause the credit markets to unwind, yielding another financial accident of the Amaranth Advisors or LTCM variety? Or will the Fed delay easing too long, denying a monetary rescue to the thousands of homeowners desperately in need to lower rates? It is a perilous high wire act hinged on the good will and confidence of foreign capital – this, in a world of combustible geo-political issues. War in the Middle East, increasing nationalistic competition over scarce natural resources, globalization and its endemic protectionist trade issues, the age of overt state sponsored terrorism incorporating the nuclear issue, with the nuclear issue the devolution of MAD and the rise of ‘Plausible Deniability’,-- we live in a world where “confidence” of all sorts, and trust, is increasingly under attack. This is a high-risk condition, and will likely test derivative mechanisms that have never needed to find traction in difficult times before. Under such conditions, confidence can be a fleeting friend, as there is much we do not know, and little we can know for sure. While the daily revolving tickers on cable TV announce new highs in the stock market, for most investors, a good hard look at the surrounding environment would seem to be the order of the day. In this vein, it seems to this writer that things are quietly starting to change.

-see chart-

For example, every quarter, the Federal Reserve Board conducts its Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey as an indication of lending conditions within the credit system. In my view, at the present time absolutely nothing could be more important as the key aspect of noting a change from Credit Boom to Credit Bust is a change in the perception in the lending environment. In their 1999 study for the American Economic Review, authors Graciela L Kaminsky and Carmen M. Reinhart, “The Twin Crisis: The Causes of Banking and Balance of Payments Problems” analyze the links between banking and currency crisis. In their study of Latin American economies in the 1970’s, they found that severe problems in the banking sector typically precede a currency crisis and that a currency crisis will in turn deepen the banking crisis in a vicious circle. The two point out that a long period of financial liberalization often precedes the preliminary banking crisis accompanied by a long boom in economic activity fueled by credit, capital inflows and an overvalued currency. Sound familiar?

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Reports

8:30 AM CPI Jan
Briefing Forecast 0.2%
Market Expects 0.1%
Prior 0.4%

8:30 AM Core CPI Jan
Briefing Forecast 0.2%
Market Expects 0.2%
Prior 0.1%

10:00 AM Leading Indicators Jan
Briefing Forecast 0.3%
Market Expects 0.2%
Prior 0.3%

10:30 AM Crude Inventories 02/16
Briefing Forecast NA
Market Expects NA
Prior -589K

2:00 PM FOMC Minutes Jan 31

http://biz.yahoo.com/c/e.html

[UpInArms]

17. 8:30 reports - check out those medical care prices!

02. U.S. Jan. food prices up 0.7%, most in 2 years
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

03. U.S. Jan. tobacco prices up 3.1%
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

04. U.S. Jan. medical care prices up 0.8%, most in 16 years
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

05. U.S. Jan. owners' equivalent rent up 0.2%, lowest in a year
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

06. U.S. Jan. energy prices fall 1.5%
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

07. U.S. CPI up 2.1% year-on-year
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

08. U.S. core CPI up 2.7% year-on-year vs. 2.6% previously
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

09. U.S. Jan core CPI rises 0.3% vs. 0.2% expected
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

10. U.S. Jan. CPI rises 0.3% vs. 0.1% expected
8:30 AM ET, Feb 21, 2007 - 2 minutes ago

[54anickel]

27. U.S. Consumer Prices Increase More Than Forecast (Update2)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aejCu2z1NxFc&refer=home

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Consumer prices in the U.S. rose more than forecast last month even as energy costs declined, suggesting inflationary pressures won't dissipate quickly.

The consumer price index increased 0.2 percent after rising 0.4 percent in December, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Prices excluding food and energy rose 0.3 percent, the most since June, after a 0.1 percent gain.

Treasury yields rose as the figures suggested lower energy costs have yet to damp price pressures as Federal Reserve policy makers had forecast. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told lawmakers last week that the central bank's ``predominant'' concern is that inflation may not ease.

``This is kind of a wake-up call,'' said Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. Inflation ``is sticky, so it's still on the front burner of concerns for the Fed,'' he said.

snip>

A similar measure, the personal consumption expenditures index minus food and energy, the Fed's preferred gauge, rose 2.2 percent in December from a year earlier, matching the prior month's figure as the smallest since May, the Commerce Department reported on Feb. 1.

The gauge has been at or above Bernanke's ``comfort'' range of 1 percent to 2 percent for 33 months. Bernanke, in his semiannual testimony to lawmakers last week, indicated that the Fed's ``predominant'' concern remains that inflation may not ease as anticipated.

more...

[54anickel]

28. Speaking of medical costs -- Health-Care Spending in U.S. May Be $4.1 Trillion by 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aIqMWqKYwGkQ&refer=us

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. health care costs may almost double over the next 10 years to $4.1 trillion annually, or 20 cents of every dollar spent, according to a study by federal economists and actuaries.

The estimate is based on a 6.9 percent average annual growth rate in health-care spending. The study, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, was published today in the Web edition of the journal Health Affairs.

Federal health programs such as Medicare, which covers seniors aged 65 and older, will grow at a faster rate than private spending, the study's authors said at a news conference yesterday in Washington.

``As the nation moves from more traditional sources of insurance, such as employer-based coverage, to more federal and state-provided health care, we will continue to face tough questions about how we finance our health-care bill,'' John A. Poisal, deputy director of health statistics for the Medicare and Medicaid centers, said in a statement.

The study estimates health spending in 2006 at $2.1 trillion, 16 cents of every dollar spent in the U.S. economy.

Public spending on health care increased an estimated 9.9 percent last year, up two percentage points from 2005, mainly because of the start of Medicare's prescription drug plan, researchers said. From 2008 to 2016, public spending is projected to grow 7.5 percent a year.

more...

[AnneD]

47. Well....

It isn't going to the Nurses. Nurse wages were FLAT during the Dotcom heydays (in fact I know grad nurses that didn't get jobs in 92-95). They finally started going up in some regions in 98-99. They went up everywhere after 2000. They are now flattening (2005-). It depends a bit by you specialty. If I had no morals-I could work as a traveling Nurse and specialize as a strike breaker and make lots of loot-but I just can't and still have my self-respect. Every now and then I think about going overseas and earning the really big bucks the last 5 years before I retire.

[54anickel]

30. Leading indicators rise 0.1% in January - U.S. economy is 'resilient," Conference Board says

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/leading-indicators-point-modest-growth/story.aspx?guid=%7BE7AB6BB0%2DD8D3%2D4E18%2DA3EA%2D3FFB7B05BC6D%7D&dist=morenews

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A gauge of future economic activity points to continued modest growth in the U.S. economy.

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1% in January after rising 0.6% in December and falling 0.1% in November, the Conference Board reported Wednesday.

Economists expected the index to rise 0.3%, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch. See Economic Calendar.

"Despite the hike in energy prices and the slump in housing, the economy remains resilient--especially consumer demand," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the private research organization, in a press release. The latest data point to continued growth in the second quarter, "or even a little more growth." Read the full report.

"Slow to moderate economic growth is likely to continue in the near term," the organization said.

Four of the 10 leading indicators expanded in January, led by money supply and consumer expectations. Jobless claims and stock prices also pointed to growth. Six of the indicators fell: the factory workweek, building permits, capital-goods orders, the interest-rate spread, vendor performance and consumer-goods orders.

more...

[ozymandius]

3. Oil prices drop below $59 a barrel

SINGAPORE - Oil prices fell Wednesday as traders anticipated a decline in fuel demand after forecasts of warmer-than-average weather in the United States.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 25 cents to $58.60 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midmorning in Singapore. The session was quiet, with some Asian traders still away for the Lunar New Year holidays.

-cut-

Data from the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to show domestic crude oil stockpiles rose in the week ended Feb. 16, while distillates are seen falling, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts.

Crude oil inventories are expected to build by about 700,000 barrels, according to the mean of nine analysts' forecasts. Distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are expected to fall by 2.8 million barrels.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[ozymandius]

4. Oil falls for third day, hovers above $58

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil slid for a third day on Wednesday but remained in a narrow trading range below $60 a barrel with little impetus to break out in either direction.

"Prices are stuck in a three-week range but capped below key resistance. We (expect) to see further downside price moves, although in the near-term, we are resigned to sideways activity," said Barclays Capital technical analysts, who study past price moves to predict future direction.

At 1048 GMT U.S. crude was down 68 cents at $58.17. London Brent was down 57 cents at $57.41.

-cut-

But gasoline demand will start to build into summer. Reuters reported on Tuesday that more than seven percent of refining capacity in northwest Europe, supplier to the main U.S. market, would be shut for maintenance in March, cutting gasoline supply.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070221/bs_nm/markets_oil_dc_17

[UpInArms]

16. Exxon to Abandon a Big Investment in Qatar

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/worldbusiness/21exxon.html?ex=1329714000&en=69994bf9ace276af&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

HOUSTON, Feb. 20 — Exxon Mobil announced on Tuesday that it would abandon one of its biggest investments ever, a project with Qatar’s state-run oil and gas company to produce clean-burning diesel from natural gas.

Instead, Exxon Mobil said that it could concentrate on a new gas drilling project in the emirate’s rich Barzan field, which is close to the site of the gas-to-liquid project. The Barzan project will initially produce 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day and eventually much more for the fast-growing Qatar domestic market in 2012.

The Exxon project is apparently a victim of those costs, although the company would not explicitly say so.

“This decision to not progress with G.T.L. is in line with our focus on maximizing the value of resources for both our host government as well as our shareholders,” said Jeanne Miller, an Exxon spokeswoman, using the initials for gas to liquid.

Ms. Miller said the gas-to-liquid project had been slated to cost $7 billion three years ago, “and we have not discussed project costs since then.” She added, “I’m not denying costs were a factor” for the change in company strategy in Qatar.

...more...

[54anickel]

60. Oil Rises Above $60 on Signs U.S. Fuel Supplies Fell Last Week

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aWS21UYCe9EI&refer=news

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $60 a barrel in New York on speculation that an Energy Department report tomorrow will show that U.S. fuel supplies fell and that unexpected refinery shutdowns will curb stockpiles in the weeks ahead.

Inventories of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell 2.9 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 16, according to the median of forecasts by 12 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Fires and interrupted power supplies trimmed output at refineries in Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ontario and Delaware over the past two weeks.

``On the distillate side people have written off winter a little too early,'' said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York. ``Supplies of distillate fuel usually fall through mid-April, which is two months away.''

Crude oil for April delivery rose $1.34, or 2.3 percent, to $60.19 a barrel at 1:12 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $60.25, the highest since Feb. 9. Prices are down 1.5 percent from a year ago.

Home-heating demand in the U.S. Northeast will be 3 percent above normal through the end of the month, according to Weather Derivatives of Belton, Missouri. The Northeast is responsible for 80 percent of the nation's heating oil consumption.

``There's a dichotomy in the market,'' said James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois. ``The heating oil market is weak because of the weather while there's a firm gasoline market because of all the refinery problems.''

more...

[ozymandius]

5. Merck suspends lobbying for vaccine

TRENTON, N.J. - Pediatricians, gynecologists and even health insurers all call Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a big medical advance.

But medical groups, politicians and parents began rebelling after disclosure of a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by Gardasil's maker, Merck & Co., to get state legislatures to require 11- and 12-year-old girls to get the three-dose vaccine as a requirement for school attendance.

Some parents' groups and doctors particularly objected because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted disease, human papilloma virus, which causes cervical cancer. Vaccines mandated for school attendance usually are for diseases easily spread through casual contact, such as measles and mumps.

Bowing to pressure, Merck said Tuesday that it is immediately suspending its controversial campaign, which it had funded through a third party.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/ap_on_bi_ge/merck_cancer_vaccine

[54anickel]

23. I'm am torn on this subject - while I think Garasil could be a great thing, I agree

this is going too fast. Clinical trials are one thing, but it should be out there for a while to establish a safety track record before the states (mine was one fo the 20) get involved in mandating it. My guess is that Merck was looking for a fast-track on adoption for profits (see my sig line). When are we going to close down K Street and revisit that corporate personhood crap?

More from the article:

snip>

"Our goal is about cervical cancer prevention, and we want to reach as many females as possible with Gardasil," Dr. Richard M. Haupt, Merck's medical director for vaccines, told The Associated Press.

"We're concerned that our role in supporting school requirements is a distraction from that goal, and as such have suspended our lobbying efforts," Haupt said, adding the company will continue providing information about the vaccine if requested by government officials.

snip>

Even two of the prominent medical groups that supported broad use of the vaccine, the American Academy of Pediatricians and the American Academy of Family Practitioners, questioned Merck's timing, Haupt said Tuesday.

"They, along with some other folks in the public health community, believe there needs to be more time," he said, to ensure government funding for the vaccine for uninsured girls is in place and that families and government officials have enough information about it.

snip>

"I believe that their timing was a little bit premature," she said, "so soon after (Gardasil's) release, before we have a picture of whether there are going to be any untoward side effects."

Given that the country has been "burned" by some drugs whose serious side effects emerged only after they were in wide use, including Merck's withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, Francis said, it would be better to wait awhile before mandating Gardasil usage.

snip>

The vaccine also is controversial because of its price — $360 for the three doses required over a six-month stretch. Because of that cost and what pediatricians and gynecologists say is inadequate reimbursement by insurers, many are choosing not to stock the vaccine or requiring surcharges to administer it, increasing the cost for many families and making the vaccine hard to come by.

And of course, this decision caused their shares to drop :eyes:

[AnneD]

29. Morning Marketeers...

:donut: we are having that debate in Texas right now. Gov. Perry-never known for his concern for the little people or children of Texas-signed an executive order to require all 6th grade girls to have the shot. By doing the executive order, he circumvented the legislature. Everyone was shocked until it became known that his campaign received donations from Merck. I think it is a good idea but 1) I am suspicious of any new vaccine-because of possible new and unknown side effects that pop up in a new vaccine in a 'mass trial' 2) question why, if it is a good vaccine, Merck feels the need to donate to politicians. 3)we don't even properly fund education here in Texas-where are we going to get the money to fund this at their wholesale price.
I SMELL a loaded diaper in Austin.


Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[ozymandius]

6. Stock futures slip ahead of price data

U.S. stock market futures touched lower Wednesday ahead of a key reading on consumer prices, with shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. indicated to open lower after the company reported its fiscal first-quarter earnings.

S&P 500 futures lost 1 point at 1,460.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures ticked 1.25 points lower at 1,837.50. Dow industrial futures lost 8 points.

-cut-

Also on the economic agenda Wednesday is U.S. consumer price data for January. Analysts expect the consumer price index to rise 0.1 percent, following a 0.5 percent rise in the previous month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

[ozymandius]

7. Slight hike in inflation rate expected

WASHINGTON - Analysts expect a 0.1 percent rise when the consumer price index for January is released at 8:30 a.m. today. The CPI was up 0.5 percent in December.

-cut-

Inflation in 2006 eased to the slowest pace in three years as consumers finally got some relief on energy and medical bills. In further good news, inflation-adjusted wages rose at the fastest clip in nearly a decade.

-very short-

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

33. Well, I Guess They Were Wrong, Eh?

The market will only rise 50 points today instead of 100 I guess.

I'm sure if they look long enough, they'll find some good news in this report, and will SPIN it in their favor to explain how their estimate was wrong.

And of course, next month, they'll probably revise the number higher.

[ozymandius]

8. Supreme Court puts new rules on damage awards

WASHINGTON - An Oregon jury violated constitutional principles of fairness when it levied a $79.5 million punitive-damages award against the Philip Morris tobacco company in a single smoker lawsuit.

In a 5-to-4 decision announced Tuesday, the US Supreme Court struck down the verdict because it said the jury violated due-process protections when it sought to punish the tobacco company for injuries suffered by nonparties to the litigation.

Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said the jury could consider Philip Morris's alleged deceptive conduct toward all smokers in Oregon in determining the reprehensibility of its conduct. But he said the jury could not then punish Philip Morris for that same conduct without violating the tobacco company's constitutional rights.

In reaching its decision, the court avoided addressing the most closely watched issue in the case: whether a nearly $80 million punitive-damages award for the widow of a smoker is constitutionally excessive.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0221/p03s02-usju.html

[Tace]

9. Mind-Control Rays The CIA Are Beaming Into My Head Have Affected My Golf Game (Mogambo)

Richard Daughty, the angriest guy in economics -- World News Trust

Feb 21, 2007 -- Among the vile, sulfurous things I am muttering to myself under my breath is that the mind-control rays that the CIA are beaming into my head have affected my golf game, and now I'm slicing my irons into the sand traps and topping the ball off the tee! The bastards!

Even worse, the Federal Reserve increased Total Fed Credit by another $5.7 billion last week, thus creating more money (when loans are actually made by the banks) and/or putting downward pressure on interest rates (by increasing the amount of credit available), both of which are designed to entice people to borrow money for one reason or another (anything will do, but stocks, bonds and houses are preferred). The bastards!

The important part, from the Federal Reserve's point of view, is that somebody is borrowing and spending money, and lots of it, the more the better. Sort of like my family wants to do (and will do, if I don’t watch them every minute!), only the Fed gets to print their money, and I have to earn it, which I can't because I am lazy and incompetent, which, I patiently explain, "Puts us back to square one, jerk, so shut up!"

And as for foreign central banks, who knows what in the hell they are up to? I mean, they speak foreign languages that we Americans can’t even understand, for crying out loud! Anyway, this suspicious group of outsiders bought up another whopping $13.4 billion of American government and agency debt last week, too, and stashed it into their accounts at the Fed. Even Cash in Circulation got a little boost, up another $2 billion last week!

more

http://www.worldnewstrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1224&Itemid=10185

[ozymandius]

10. JetBlue says delays may cost $30M

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- JetBlue Airways said on Tuesday it would cost $30 million or more to reimburse the 130,000 or so passengers affected by canceled flights over the past six days and to meet extra costs caused by the cancellations, sending its stock down sharply.

"It's going to be very expensive," CEO David Neeleman said in an interview on NBC television. "I don't have the final number, but it's going to be maybe $20 million or $30 million and maybe a little bit higher."

-cut-

JetBlue is struggling to make up ground after the worst crisis in its eight-year history, as it canceled 1,096 flights following an ice storm in the U.S. Northeast last week, leaving many passengers stranded. During that time, the airline had about 3,500 scheduled flights.

The low-cost carrier, which has won fans in the past for its reluctance to cancel flights because of bad weather, is blaming the problems on its inability to cope with rescheduling so many flight crews.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/02/20/jetblue.delays.reut/

[ozymandius]

11. Japan's Topix hits 15-year high; BOJ lifts key rate

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday, with Japan's broadest stock market index, the Topix, rising to a more than 15-year high on gains in Nippon Steel Corp. and other steelmakers on speculation of further industry consolidation.

Banking shares rose after the Bank of Japan said it would raise its benchmark lending rate a quarter of a percentage point.

Traders said the market was volatile with exporters under pressure in early afternoon trading following Japanese media reports that Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui had proposed lifting interest rates at the central bank's policy board meeting. The BOJ later confirmed it had lifted the overnight call rate via a statement on its Web site, about an hour before the close of trading in Tokyo.

-cut-

The Japanese rate hike, which brought the overnight call rate to 0.5%, was the first change in stance since the BOJ revised monetary policy in July, ending its zero-percent interest-rate policy with a quarter-point hike. Banking shares rallied on the move.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/japans-topix-index-hits-15-year/story.aspx?guid=%7B9F88FC8D-40C7-4848-A7DA-C795C6A2226F%7D

[ozymandius]

12. Mortgage applications at lowest mark of '07

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- U.S. mortgage applications dropped more than 5 percent last week, hitting their lowest level this year, even as interest rates fell, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and purchasing loans, for the week ended Feb. 16 fell 5.2 percent to 606.6.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/21/real_estate/mortgage_application.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007022107

[ozymandius]

13. Health care spending to double in decade

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. spending on prescription drugs, hospital care and other health services is expected to double to $4.1 trillion over the next decade, up from $2.1 trillion in 2006, a government report released Wednesday found.

Despite relative stability in recent years, nearly 20 cents of every dollar spent in 10 years will go toward health care, National Health Statistics Group economists said in their projections looking at 2006 to 2016.

Last year's health spending should make up about 16 cents for every dollar spent, they wrote in the journal Health Affairs.

Lead author John Poisal told reporters a major factor was an aging population as the "leading edge of the baby boom generation becomes eligible for Medicare," the nation's insurance program for those age 65 and older.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/21/news/economy/bc.health.spending.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007022106

[UpInArms]

14. dollar watch

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 84.26 Change +0.08 (+0.10%)

Japanese Yen Weakens Despite BOJ Hike; Cable Cut Down by Dovish MPC

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/dailyfx_reports/daily_brief/Japanese_Yen_Weakens_Despite_BOJ_1172057733447.html

BOJ raised rates to 50bp in late Asia trade tonight, but Governor Fukui’s cautious tone in the post announcement press conference cast doubt on any additional rate hikes in the near future and as a result the market ignored the news and pushed the yen to new lows for the week with USDJPY nearing the 121.00 level. Mr. Fukui stated that the BOJ will raise rates slowly only after a careful analysis of economic data. Furthermore he sidestepped the issue of carry trades, noting that, “we are not directly taking them into account when we make important monetary policy decisions." The BOJ’s slow-as-they-go message essentially invited currency traders to plow right back into the carry trade on the assumption that tonight’s hike was a one off event much like the first rate hike in July of 2006. Since time, the bank waited 7 months before hiking rates another 25bp tonight and while such a long gap between rate hikes is unlikely, any pause for 3 month or more will still provide carry traders with ample opportunity to collect the interest rate differential between the yen and much higher yielding currencies such as the dollar, the pound and the Aussie.

Although carry trade flows continued fast and furious throughout the European session the one currency that failed to get much traction against the yen was the pound. Tonight’s release of the MPC minutes offered a more detailed look into central banks thinking on rates and the net takeaway from the discussion was that the BOE is likely to remain stationary on rates for at least several months forward. Although some analyst still expect another tightening move in May, we see little chance of further rate hikes unless UK wage growth suddenly accelerates. Given the fact that this months wage growth figures actually printed below expectations the likelihood is that the BOE monetary policy in the next few months will continue to be neutral rather than hawkish. As the MPC members themselves noted, "a closely spaced series of interest rate increases might lead to excessive tightening."

...more...

US Markets Look To Catch Draft From CPI, BoJ Carry Implications

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/dailyfx_reports/cross_markets_data_reaction/US_Markets_Look_To_Catch_1172013237634.html

How Will The Markets React?

Coming off of an extended holiday weekend, traders in the US capital markets have had sufficient time to prepare for two of the biggest events the economic calendar has to offer: tonight’s Bank of Japan rate decision and tomorrow’s CPI report. The inflation data will have a more direct impact on local markets, especially for the dollar and treasuries. According to the most recent survey, economists expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ calculations to reveal softer headline inflation for the month of January while the core indicator stands pat at 2.6 percent. Alone, these number would not encourage a market reactions either way; but with speculation and recent Fed chatter factored in, the data could encourage movement. Many market participants are looking to the inflation numbers (and the FOMC minutes due later in the day) to clarify the additional dovish rhetoric from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s in the short statement offered at the last rate decision and in his testimony before Congress last week. Should the official communiqué offer up the same soft language for inflation and growth projections, expectations of later hikes and cuts will evaporate. Before the US data hits the wires though, the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy group may already have set the tone for the entire currency market with its rate decision. In fact, the decision may exert greater pressure on the greenback than the price gauge. In FX circles, the term carry trade is as well known as trendline. Considering its popularity, the very foundations of the simple trading strategy could be rocked if the belief that the most prolific funding currency (the yen) is expected to receive further rate hikes, to cut into set rate differentials.

Bonds – 10-Year Japanese Government Bond Futures

Treasury traders have clearly changed their outlook for the Fed’s interest rate regime in the past month. Since bottoming out at 106-07 back in late January, the benchmark T-note futures contract has consistent climbed back towards the 108 level. This turn lines up rather well with the FOMC’s policy decision on January 31st, which produced a notable change of the dovish sort in the official statement. Looking ahead, the consumer inflation report and FOMC minutes due tomorrow may extend Treasuries’ gains should the both reports print as expected – the price gauge softer and the policy comments issuing a stable growth outlook with fewer warnings assigned to possible price growth. Another event to watch for is the BoJ decision. Should a pass evolve, US yields will look especially attractive.

...more...

[54anickel]

18. Yen Weakens as Bank of Japan Says Rate Increases to Be Gradual

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601083&sid=aBKviVqE37Cw&refer=currency

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The yen fell for a fourth day after the Bank of Japan said further interest-rate increases would be gradual.

Japan's currency traded near a record versus the euro after Governor Toshihiko Fukui said the central bank won't raise rates consecutively and that borrowing costs will remain low. The lowest benchmark rate among major economies has encouraged investors to borrow in yen to buy higher-yielding assets, so- called carry trades.

``The fact they've said rate increases will be gradual means the yen will remain the funding currency of choice,'' said Paul Chertkow, head of global currency research at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in London. ``Euro-yen will move higher to new records.''

The currency dropped to 120.87 against the dollar at 7:24 a.m. in New York, from 120.02 yesterday. The yen slid to 158.71 per euro from 157.68. Chertkow expects the Japanese currency to drop to 165 versus the euro ``very soon.''

Fukui said carry trades could distort the economy, though the foreign exchange market wasn't the main reason for today's decision to increase the overnight lending rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.5 percent.

more...

[54anickel]

39. The Bank Of Japan Raises Rates! - Today's Pfenning

http://www.kitcocasey.com/displayArticle.php?id=1236

Good day... Well... The Bank of Japan DID raise rates last night by 25 BPS to 50 BPS, or 1/2%... One would have thought that this move would have motivated traders and investors to begin to accumulate yen... Unfortunately, that did not happen, as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) threw cold water all over their rate announcement with gibberish about rate expectations not getting bold, and that future rate increases would be gradual...

No Duh! We had to wait 7 months for this rate hike since the last one! Talk about "gradual"! Anyway... The fact remains that the BOJ DID raise rates... I guess I won't be hearing from all those folks that used to send me emails telling me what a dolt I was calling for rate hikes in Japan. Shoot, Rudy... With growth at 4.8% in 2006, the BOJ had better step up the "gradual" rate hikes before inflation becomes a problem! That's right, the country/economy that endured 10 years of deflation could very well see inflationary pressures, given that Private Consumption (Consumer Spending) increased 1.1% in the 4th QTR, or annualized 4.4%! For the last dozen years, that's unheard of in Japan...

So... All those short sellers of Japanese yen had better be careful...

OK... The currencies range traded yesterday with a bias to sell dollars, which was OK with me... Australian and New Zealand dollars both saw big positive moves after the BOJ doused their rate hike with cold water... The reasoning here is simply that their rate differentials will remain intact longer, given the "gradual" indication of future moves by the BOJ.

snip>

Here in the U.S. today, we will see the color of the January CPI (Consumer inflation)... I tell you... I sit here and shake my head in disgust every time I have to deal with CPI, given my distaste for how that data is calculated... But my disgust goes more to the markets that believe this data is the "Holy Grail" when it comes to measuring inflation, and that the Fed lives and breathes by the report.

But since the markets do follow this, I have to! So... Get this! CPI is forecast to come in at a mere .1% for January. What a crock! That would put annual CPI at 1.9%! Oh... I believe that one! Yeah, and my first wife was a young Elizabeth Taylor... Yeah, that's the ticket!

Anyway... If the data does come through that weak, the dollar won't get any love today... Yes, this goes back to the Pfennig I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how things have changed over the years, and that low inflation doesn't warrant a strong currency any longer... The markets crave high interest rates... And you don't get high interest rates without inflation!

This thought process is demented... Unfortunately, that's the thought process in the markets these days, so we have to play the game.

more...

[Ghost Dog]

40. Euro strikes record high against yen

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070221/afp/070221161101eco.html

LONDON (AFP) - The euro struck its highest ever level against the Japanese currency on Wednesday, reaching 159.03 yen in late European trade.

/..

[54anickel]

25. Gold bounces back after sharp sell-off

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/gold-bounces-back-after-sharp/story.aspx?guid=%7B741B0E6A%2D0774%2D421E%2D9C4B%2DA8E3A50DA334%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Gold futures rose early Wednesday to recoup some of their prior-session losses, although gains were capped by a stronger dollar and falling crude-oil prices.

snip>

Trading exhibited a "decidedly different tone" early Wednesday, as market participants tried to lift gold prices, said Jon Nadler, an investment-products analyst at bullion dealers Kitco.com.

"Their efforts still resembled bailing out water from a dinghy that had sprung a leak," he said. "One can expect brief reversals as some buyers materialize, but as this morning's price patterns reveal, action is nervous and the ticker turns from plus to minus on a dime."

On Tuesday, gold closed down $11.80 at $661 an ounce, as the U.S. dollar strengthened and oil traded lower, providing an excuse for traders to lock in gains.

snip>

On the currency markets, the strength of the U.S. dollar will likely pressure gold downward, just as it did during Tuesday's session. The greenback rose to a one-week high against the yen and gained against European currencies on Wednesday, following a Labor Department report that showed U.S. consumer prices rose more than forecast last month.

more...

[Ghost Dog]

48. UPDATE 3-Gold recovers with oil, technical signals

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=goldMktRpt&storyID=2007-02-21T163403Z_01_L2125487_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-PRECIOUS-UPDATE-3.XML
Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:34am ET

LONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Gold prices climbed on Wednesday after a key support level held and a rise in oil prices triggered a burst of speculative buying, traders said.

Spot gold <XAU=> was up at $662.50/663.20 an ounce by 1614 GMT, from an earlier trough at $656.90 and $658.40/659.15 late in New York on Tuesday, when it fell as far as $655.40 to touch its lowest since February 8.

...

Earlier this week gold hit a seven-month high of $673.20.

"We didn't make further progress on the downside and gold refused to stay below $658. When the oil price started to recover we had a rally," a trader said.

"It seems to be consolidating now around the $660 level and the market could build a range around that."

Crude oil <CLc1> edged higher on technical buying, but was struggling to break above $59 a barrel.

/...

[54anickel]

57. Heh, look at the chart - up $16 now. A real battle going on around that $675 mark. n/t

[Ghost Dog]

62. Quite a spike. And stock market jitters all over the world...

But "still not quite time yet for the correction we're all expecting" (I paraphrase), the pundits predictably pronounce.

[54anickel]

65. Nothing to see here - move along now. n/t

[54anickel]

58. NYMEX silver volume sets record on Globex

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2007-02-21T172116Z_01_N21297705_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-COMEX-SILVER-CORRECTED.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - NYMEX Holdings Inc.'s (NMX.N: Quote, Profile , Research) New York Mercantile Exchange said on Wednesday it set a daily volume record for silver futures contracts on the CME Globex electronic trading platform on Tuesday.

COMEX silver futures volume reached 24,959 contracts, surpassing the previous high of 18,608 contracts traded on Feb. 2.

The NYMEX also said that COMEX miNY gold futures traded a record 297 contracts, exceeding the 217 contracts traded on Feb. 9.

The NYMEX migrated COMEX electronic trading in gold, silver, copper and aluminum futures contracts to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME.N: Quote, Profile , Research) Globex platform on Dec. 3, retiring the outdated NYMEX ACCESS electronic trade system.


Zowie! Check the charts Gold at 680.30 and Silver at 14.21!!!.....and climbing?!?!

[54anickel]

26. Treasurys drop as consumer prices rise above forecasts

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/treasurys-fall-consumer-prices-rise/story.aspx?guid=%7B3B08C31A%2D1575%2D4DCB%2D9542%2D2B1907C107F6%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasurys dropped, sending yields higher, early Wednesday, after higher-than-expected consumer prices in January fueled concern that inflation pressures are not ebbing.

snip>

The consumer price index increased 0.2% in January, while core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.3%. Economists were looking for a 0.1% gain on the CPI and for a 0.2% gain on the core rate.

The Federal Reserve recently signaled it would continue to monitor incoming data before considering a change in its current bias towards tightening monetary policy.

"This is fairly negative for the bond market," said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. "It will keep the Fed's bias towards tightening in the short term."

"The core rate has moved to the upper end of the Fed's comfort range," Guatieri said.

"There are a number of temporary factors that will ebb in the near future. But the fact is we'll be starting from a higher point, so this reduces the chances of the Fed cutting rates later this year."

more...

[Ghost Dog]

38. Loonie storms higher on retail data

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=54a09fc7-7f5b-49f8-909c-10e2149e3f4a&k=61142

TORONTO -- The Canadian dollar raced to its highest level in more than seven weeks on Wednesday as domestic retail sales data surpassed expectations and oil prices rose.

Canadian bonds, which started the day on a five-session win streak, turned lower as the retail sales data are expected to leave the Bank of Canada comfortable keeping rates on hold.

At 10:20 a.m. ET, the Canadian currency was at C$1.1612 to the U.S. dollar, or 86.12 U.S. cents, up from C$1.1709 to the U.S. dollar, or 85.40 U.S. cents, at Tuesday's close.

The Canadian dollar got an early boost from the 2.3% jump in retail sales for December, which was more than twice the 1.0% rise forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Crude oil prices also helped support the currency's rise as they pushed closer to US$59 a barrel, due mainly to technical buying, and helped strengthen the appeal of the Canadian dollar's commodity profile.

/...

[UpInArms]

15. Fannie Mae to Withhold Bonus Pay for 46

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/21fannie.html?ex=1329714000&en=b1912fd1a23374cd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Fannie Mae, the largest United States mortgage finance company, will withhold $44.4 million in long-term incentive pay to former and current executives, including its chief executive, Daniel H. Mudd, the company said yesterday.

After reviewing three-year periods ended in 2003 and 2004, the company, which is government-chartered, said it would deny the bonuses to 46 former and current executives, a Fannie Mae spokeswoman, Janis Smith, said after the company submitted a federal filing.

In December, Fannie Mae said it overstated earnings from 2001 until mid-2004 by $6.3 billion. Mr. Mudd, who has been with Fannie Mae since 2000, will not receive $4 million in pay from that period because of the inflated performance. The chief business officer, Robert J. Levin, will be denied $2 million, and the chief operating officer, Michael J. Williams, will not get $1.85 million.

Franklin D. Raines, the former chief executive who was ousted in 2004 because of the accounting mistakes, will be denied $11.2 million, Fannie Mae said. The company will also keep $3.37 million from a former chief financial officer, J. Timothy Howard, and $370,000 from a former controller, Leanne G. Spencer.

“The board concluded that the then-management team did not meet the prescribed performance standards,” the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said in a statement. The decision “was not directed at any specific individual.”

...more...

[54anickel]

19. Bad mortgage debt not widespread problem, Fed official says

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-02-20-mortgage-debts-problems_x.htm

DURHAM, N.C. (Reuters) — Federal Reserve Board Governor Susan Bies Tuesday said the bulk of the mortgage market was not troubled by bad debt problems, which were concentrated in the subprime, tarnished-credit sector.
"One segment of this market ... is starting to behave in a very problematic way and that is the subprime adjustable rate mortgages," she said in a speech to the Duke University Fuqua School of Business.

"In the aggregate, what I'm talking about is a sliver that is 7 to 8% of all outstanding mortgages," she said.

Mounting debt delinquency and foreclosures in the subprime market, which lends to those with spotty or thin credit histories, as the U.S. housing market cools has been a source of concern for policymakers.

Most subprime mortgages carry adjustable interest rates — known as ARMs — with borrowers facing higher monthly payments as loans reset at higher interest rates.

But Bies' remarks played down the risk that mounting problems in the subprime market was having a broader impact on homeowners, which could have serious implications for spending and growth.

"I don't think there will be a large impact (from subprime market risks) on the prime mortgage industry. On the fringes there may be some. ... I think it's really in the subprime ARM market, it's isolated at this point," she said.

more.....

Guess we should ignore those articles I posted yesterday then....My bad :eyes:

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

31. How Do These IDIOTS Get To Their Positions?

The thing I hate the most, is these self-appointed geniuses who downplay everything.

Cheerleaders, that's all they are. PUPPET SPINMASTERS. They live in their own little dreamworld, where everything is wonderful, and problems just melt away.

Of course, once they're proven wrong, they'll just say...."oh, our bad. Guess we made a mistake." Actually, I doubt they would even admit to that. Just make up some excuse probably and place blame elsewhere, since of course, they could never see a problem coming like a freight train at them.

There's probably people on this board with less stature and experience, who know more about what's going on with the economy than the LOSERS at the Fed, trying to manipulate our economy.

[54anickel]

34. Notice how, whenever they have a BIG lie to push, the messenger is on

their way out the door anyway? Retiring Fed-heads - they usually tend to go out with a BANG. Those with integrity (few and far between) shine a little light. Those without....well, just another tool? Or is there something else going on behind the scene? She's leaving pretty early, and was a proponent of tighter mortgage underwriting rules. :shrug:

http://movermike.powerblogs.com/posts/1171078316.shtml


Where are all the Fed-heads going and why anyway?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/17065815

Susan Schmidt Bies, who has been a governor at the Federal Reserve since 2001, said she will resign her position at the end of March, giving President Bush a fresh opportunity to put his stamp on the central bank.

snip>

Bies' resignation will leave two open seats on the normally seven-strong Fed Board, the nucleus for U.S. monetary policy-making. Mark Olson stepped down last June and Bush has yet to nominate anyone to replace him.

She took the job as Fed governor in December 2001, three months after the terror attacks on New York and Washington, with a full term that ends Jan. 31, 2012.

snip>

Her departure comes amid an unusual amount of turnover at the central bank. The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank announced a new president on Thursday and the heads of both the Chicago Fed and Boston Fed have announced they will step down this year.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

35. So Dickhead Gets To Make All These Appointments?

We're in deep, deep trouble. This guy's legacy will probably last through my generation, if we make it. He's going to appoint more IDIOTS to try and manipulate our economy.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

37. Spending More Time With Family?

Thank you for the intriguing article Nickel.

Now why would someone leave a cushy, extremely high stature, $$$$$$$ making position, 5 years early, and only halfway through their First term?

And why, on their way out, would they make rosy scenario statements, meant to make everyone believe there's nothing to see here, move along?

I guess, perhaps to save face? So they don't get any blame when the sh$# hits the fan?

[AnneD]

50. Thanks 54 and OCD,

I had never really noticed that folks give the bad news before they leave....but your RIGHT. OMG. Then the continually leaving from the Fed Reserve Board doesn't bode well.:tinfoilhat::hide:

[Lucky Luciano]

87. heheh I guess you noticed Novastar Financial...(NFI)

Getting absolutely murdered and bitchslapped today....but not just today...look at the chart for the last three or four months...

Getting REDRUMed!!!

Subprime is a bad place to be today. RESCAP is getting smacked around in credit world too.

[54anickel]

20. Pension gap divides public and private workers

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2007-02-20-pensions-cover_x.htm

Johnnie Nichols, a civilian Defense Department employee, contributes to a federal pension that will let him retire at age 56, after 32 years of service.
His wife, Kimberly, a math teacher at a private business college, has no pension after two decades of teaching and running a horse farm. Their marriage reflects the new world of retirement: government employees who have secure benefits and private workers who increasingly are on their own.

"If we were both in her shoes, we'd be in a world of hurt," says Nichols, 45, an information technology manager in Middletown, Ind. "We wouldn't be able to retire until age 67."

As the first wave of 79 million baby boomers heads to retirement, the nation is dividing into two classes of workers: those who have government benefits and those who don't. The gap is accelerating in every way — pensions, medical benefits, retirement ages.

Retired government workers are twice as likely to get a pension as their counterparts in the private sector, and the typical benefit is far more generous. The nation's 6 million retired civil servants — teachers, police, administrators, laborers — received a median benefit of $17,640 in 2005, according to the Congressional Research Service. Eleven million private-sector retirees covered by traditional pensions got $7,692.

Governments' generosity could have serious consequences for taxpayers and pensioners. Some states — including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia — have troubled retirement systems that may require huge tax increases, spending cuts or even defaulting on promised benefits. The U.S. government has a bigger unfunded liability for military and civil servant retirement benefits ($4.7 trillion) than it does for Social Security ($4.6 trillion).

more...

[AnneD]

52. The fact that I am a

state worker is the only thing saving my butt now. I lost about 1/3 of my 401k in the 401 bust. I don't want to take more chances closer to retirement. I fret about the risky strategies and some of the crooks that Perry is appointing to the board of the Teacher's Retirement System. We are pretty well funded for the moment, but that is like blood in the water for some of these sharks.

[54anickel]

21. Investors zing SEC on hedge fund rule

The agency's proposal to sharply raise eligibility triggers hundreds of e-mails, mostly negative.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hedge21feb21,1,935776.story?coll=la-headlines-business

A Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to sharply limit the number of Americans who can invest in hedge funds has triggered a public backlash — and the latest controversy over the booming private investment pools.

The agency has received hundreds of e-mails and letters since December, when it proposed raising the financial bar for hedge fund eligibility for the first time since 1982.

The vast majority of those writing have advised the SEC to back off. Some of the comments have an angry tone, unusual for matters of securities regulation.

"This has got to be unconstitutional if not communistic," wrote M. Joan Conrad, a Naples, Fla., resident who said she has had money in hedge funds for the last decade.

The commission proposed limiting participation in the largely unregulated investment vehicles to investors who have a minimum of $2.5 million in investable assets, excluding the value of their primary residence.

Currently, investors must have a minimum of $1 million in net worth, including real estate, or earn at least $200,000 a year.

The change would restrict hedge funds to 1.3% of U.S. households, down from about 8.5% now, the SEC said.

more....:freak:

[54anickel]

22. E-Trade to handle foreign stocks

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wrap20.1feb20,1,7505449.story?coll=la-headlines-business

E-Trade Financial Corp. unveiled a global trading platform that makes it the first U.S. discount brokerage to give customers the ability to trade foreign-listed stocks online.

The pilot project, which begins with 1,000 E-Trade customers this week, allows them to buy, hold and sell stocks in Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Britain.

The rollout is expected to take two months before all customers have access, and could one day expand to 42 international markets.

snip>

E-Trade will give customers the ability to move U.S. dollar accounts into foreign currencies. The brokerage will charge a $20 commission fee.

bit more...

[54anickel]

24. Credit raters leery of $5-billion Kraft buyback plan

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070220kraftbuy,0,6872066.story?coll=chi-business-hed

The plan Kraft Foods Inc. unveiled today -- which calls for the repurchase of up to $5 billion of its common shares following its spinoff from parent Altria Group -- landed with a thud among credit-rating companies.

At a high-profile presentation this morning, Kraft Chief Executive Officer Irene Rosenfeld told Wall Street analysts and investors that the Northfield-based company plans to spend significant sums on initiatives designed to boost product quality, develop new products and bolster Kraft's marketing effort.

Excluding restructuring charges, the company said in a press release, Kraft now thinks the food producer will have per-share earnings for 2007 of $1.75 to $1.80 a share. That projected performance will fall short of the $1.92 a share analysts had been expecting.

snip>

Kraft also announced Tuesday that it plans to buy back as much as $5 billion of its own shares following the spinoff . The buyback, Rosenfeld said, "will help to support shareholder returns until we fully achieve our growth targets."

In New York, Moody's Investors Service reacted to the buyback plan by putting Kraft Foods' about $10 billion in long-term debt, currently rated a solid A3, under review for possible downgrade.

The repurchase program "which comes at a time when operating performance has weakened in recent years," Moody's said, "could lead to a significant and prolonged decline in debt-protection measures."

more...

[54anickel]

32. Fed's Inflation Analysis Ranks With Zimbabwe's

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=ay1z8.g4u9d8&refer=columnist_baum

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Maybe it was the repetition, the iteration of the same monetary policy testimony on back-to-back days last week, that did it, that left the words grating on my consciousness.

Here was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, one of the outstanding monetary economists of his time, talking about inflation as if it were the result of some pesky exogenous forces.

``A waning of temporary factors that boosted inflation in recent years will probably help foster a continued edging down of core inflation,'' Bernanke said in testimony delivered to the Senate Banking Committee on Feb. 14 and the House Financial Services Committee the following day.

What's more, the contribution ``from rents and shelter costs should also fall back,'' he said.

There's a big difference between an inflation measure, which Bernanke was talking about, and the inflation process. Policy makers -- Bernanke, Alan Greenspan before him, the Fed governors and bank presidents -- talk about the effect oil prices or imputed rental costs have on inflation gauges, such as the consumer price index. That's not the same as the inflation process, which is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

more...

[54anickel]

59. Police Ban Rallies in Zimbabwean Capital

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070221/API/702212896&cachetime=3&template=dateline

Police in Zimbabwe banned demonstrations in parts of the capital of Harare on Wednesday in an effort to crack down on the opposition as the country's autocratic ruler celebrated his 83rd birthday by vowing to stay in power.

Police issued a three-month ban on protests in two districts considered hotbeds of opposition support. The districts include several working-class suburbs and include sporting grounds usually used by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for rallies.

Police on Sunday arrested and beat up opposition party supporters who planned to demonstrate against deteriorating living conditions and plans by President Robert Mugabe to postpone presidential elections from 2008 to 2010. The government cited looting and destruction of property over the weekend as the reason for the protest ban.

In an interview with state-run television late Tuesday, Mugabe made it clear he did not intend to relax his grip on power.

more......

Hey Caroline, maybe there's even more in common with Zimbabwe than you realize :evilgrin:

[AnneD]

88. I keep waiting for Bush...

to declare this temporary job as a permanent one, afterall he is a war President and so was Roosevelt. Roosevelt was President for how many terms? Forget that the GOP added the amendment to limit presidential terms to two.:eyes:

[54anickel]

36. 11:14 and this morning's number brought to you by the color red

Dow 12,727.84 58.80 (0.46%)
Nasdaq 2,509.30 3.74 (0.15%)
S&P 500 1,454.64 5.04 (0.35%)
10-yr Bond 4.70% 0.02
30-yr Bond 4.80% 0.02
NYSE Volume 790,279,000
Nasdaq Volume 723,951,000

11:00 am : So much for Energy holding onto its small gains as the only sector in positive territory. Oil prices languishing in near session lows, coupled with reports that Kazakhstan has threatened to suspend Chevron's (CVX 69.35 -0.77) license in the Caspian Sea, now leave all 10 sectors posting losses.

Larger losses in more influential sectors like Financials, Technology and Health Care, though, remain the biggest obstacles for the bulls to overcome this morning. DJ30 -67.38 NASDAQ -5.98 SP500 -6.00 XOI -0.2% NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1712/1071/612 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2070/931/332 mln

10:30 am : Equities are paring their losses, but the major averages continue to languish in negative territory. There is little else than a modest reversal in oil prices to account for the recent bounce. Crude for April delivery is now down 0.7% near $58.40/bbl.

Not only has oil's reversal prompted a turnaround in the Dow Jones Transportation Average, which had run into some profit-taking pressure earlier after closing at an all-time high, but the Energy sector not sacrificing too much in the way of upside leadership is also noteworthy from a leadership standpoint. DJ30 -48.23 DJTA +0.2% NASDAQ -3.64 SP500 -3.93 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1573/1106/410 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1842/1047/206 mln

10:00 am : The indices extend their reach to the downside as nine out of 10 sectors are now trading lower. Technology (-0.6%) is pacing the way as the Computer Hardware group's (HWI -0.5%) year-to-date gains are nearly halved after Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ 41.83 -1.30) Q2 outlook barely exceeded analysts' expectations.

Fellow Dow component Intel (INTC 20.86 -0.32) is also under pressure following downbeat commentary out of Prudential while analyst downgrades on Motorola (MOT 18.93 -0.23) and Qualcomm (QCOM 42.36 -0.33) are also taking a toll on tech. The absence of leadership from the influential Financials sector, as the diminished hopes of a Fed easing in the near future prompts consolidation in rate-sensitive banks and brokers. DJ30 -68.98 NASDAQ -10.66 SOX -0.5% SP500 -6.38 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1569/937/204 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1788/818/76 mln

09:40 am : As if overbought conditions weren't already in the front of investors' minds, especially with several indices closing at record levels yesterday, a modest warning signal about a potential firming in inflation rates is exacerbating the temptation to lock in recent market gains.

Earlier, the Labor Dept. showed total CPI for January rose just 0.2%, reflecting the fact that falling energy prices remain a factor in pulling down overall inflation rates. More notably, however, core CPI rose 0.3%, the biggest increase since June. That pushed the year-over-year increase in the core rate to 2.7%, clearly above the Fed's desired range, and follows three consecutive tame reads of 0.1%. While the one month read on inflation does not signal a new trend, it does signal that inflation pressures may not have diminished as much as the market had hoped following Bernanke's recent testimony and removes some of the enthusiasm regarding the likelihood of a rate cut anytime soon. DJ30 -49.23 NASDAQ -8.66 SP500 -4.78 NASDAQ Vol 82 mln NYSE Vol 48 mln

09:15 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -6.2. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -8.8.

09:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -6.0. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -9.2. Futures trade continues to deteriorate since investors were pricing in more evidence of moderating inflationary pressures, especially following Bernanke's surprisingly dovish commentary last week. Even though the 0.3% rise in Jan. core CPI could prove to be a one-month aberration, since the core rate had been up just 0.1% in each of the prior three months, the Goldilocks scenario from last week has diminished.

Throw in a Q1 report and Q2 guidance from Dow component Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) that failed to impress Wall Street and the stage remains set for participants to take some money off the table.

08:35 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -4.6. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -8.0. Futures trade weakens within the last few minutes, taking a bearish cue from a reversal in Treasuries following the latest read on consumer inflation. Total CPI rose 0.2% in January (consensus 0.1%).

Core CPI rose 0.3% (consensus 0.2%), the biggest increase since June. That lifts the year/year rate to 2.7%, compared to the Fed's comfort zone of below 2.5%, piquing some uncertainty about the potential for a rate cut anytime soon. The 10-year note, which was up 1 tick to yield 4.66% before the data, is now down 6 ticks to yield 4.69%.

08:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -2.9. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -4.5. Early indications are pointing to a lower start for stocks. That's not surprising, though, considering the influence that the upcoming January CPI report (8:30 ET) can have on the direction of Fed policy while also setting the tone for both stocks and bonds.

Economists are expecting a 0.2% gain in the closely-watched core rate. A downward surprise to 0.1% will lend validation to Fed Chairman Bernanke's remarks last week that inflationary pressures were "beginning to diminish." A gain of 0.3% or more, though, will increase the risk that a repeat of the stronger first half growth of last year may force the Fed to push rates still higher.

Mindful that so many indices -- from the Dow Industrials, Transports and Utilities to the S&P 400 MidCap and Russell 2000 -- are at record highs, a sense that stocks are overbought on a short-term basis is also contributing to an underlying sense of nervousness.

06:21 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -2.4. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.5.

[Ghost Dog]

42. Bourses mirror weak US stocks

http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft2-com/html-story.asp?dateid=39134.4957638889-890058155&guid={505EC99B-A594-4E32-A7DC-F63F345FBDB5}

European bourses closed weaker on Wednesday as US stocks fell on fears there could be a rate rise following higher than expected US inflation data. In corporate news, Capitalia, the Italian bank in which ABN holds an 8.6 per cent stake, was down 1.7 per cent at €6.60 following heightened expectations that chief executive Matteo Arpe will be ousted at Thursday’s board meeting. Metrovacesa, the Spanish property group, fell 10.1 per cent to €106 as its shares returned from suspension after the company announced a split involving its French unit Gecina. Numico, the Dutch food group, fell 3.3 per cent to €39.91 after delivering in line full-year profits, but disappointing on its 2007 outlook. By the close, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.6 per cent to 1,535.51, while Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax lost 0.6 per cent to 6,941.66, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.3 per cent to 5,694.56 and London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9 per cent to 6,357.1.

[Ghost Dog]

43. FTSE closes lower dragged by miners; weak Wall Street

http://mwprices.ft.com/custom/ft2-com/html-story.asp?dateid=39134.4922222222-890057813&guid={505EC99B-A594-4E32-A7DC-F63F345FBDB5}

London equities lost ground on Wednesday amid weakness in the mining sector and after a sharply lower open on Wall Street followed higher than expected US inflation data, sparking fears of a rate rise. Despite announcing plans to return $3bn to shareholders and a 46 per cent rise in annual profits, Anglo American slipped 2.5 per cent to 2536p. Some in the market expected Anglo to return a larger sum - a figures of up to $5bn had been mooted. The rest of the mining sector also fell back. BHP Billiton lost 1.7 per cent to 1070.5p and Vedanta Resources dropped 0.7 per cent to 1285p. Alliance & Leicester topped the blue-chip leaderboard as the bank pledged to buy back shares worth £300m, which is more than expected. The bank also reported a 7 per cent rise in operating profit of £585m, narrowly up on forecasts. A&L shares closed up 7.8 per cent to 1148p. Takeover speculation sent Imperial Tobacco 1.9 per cent higher to 2197p. According to the Spanish press, Phillip Morris, part of Altria of the US, has initiated contacts with Altadis about a possible joint bid for Imperial. The FTSE 100 ended down 0.9 per cent at 6,357.1 and the mid-cap FTSE 250 fell 0.4 per cent to 11,543.0.

[Ghost Dog]

45. Swiss SMI Stuck In The Red

http://www.postfinance.ch/pf/content/en/topics/etrade/news/stockreportchev.html

Swiss shares couldn't find a way out of the red and closed Tuesday's session in the red after Wall Street opened on a negative note.

The Swiss Market Index closed 41.22 points or 0.44% lower at 9,304.40 with 7 gainers and 19 decliners. The broader Swiss Performance Index slipped 24.21 points or 0.33% to 7,390.19.

Holcim firmed 0.63% to CHF 127.10 after the cement maker denied a report in an Indian newspaper that it has acquired the remaining 33% stake in Indian rival Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd's unit Ambuja Cement India Ltd. In June 2005, Holcim bought the 67% stake for USD 800 million.

...

Roche inched up 0.09% to CHF 230.60 after the pharma group has granted GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare an exclusive license for the non-prescription rights to its anti-obesity medicine Orlistat/Xenical in non-US countries excluding Japan. In a separate transaction both companies agreed to settle all arbitration procedures between the two companies relating to the licensing and co-marketing of carvedilol. Novartis closed 0.55% lower at CHF 72.65.

Elsewhere, Nestle shed 0.26% to CHF 470.50, banking heavyweight UBS lost 0.32% to CHF 77.65, Credit Suisse eased 0.21% to CHF 93.40 despite an upgrading at WestLB from "buy" to "add". Swiss Re added 0.87% to CHF 104.70 after DKIB upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold".

/...

[54anickel]

41. KKR, Blackstone Push for Record Low LBO Loan Rates (Update1)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a0J7Vy9q0ESw&refer=us

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Henry Kravis and Stephen Schwarzman never had an easier time getting the lowest interest rates on loans from their bankers.

Just three months after borrowing $12.8 billion to pay for hospital operator HCA Inc. in November, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and its partners negotiated a new loan with lower rates. Schwarzman, chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP, is doing the same for a $3.5 billion loan that financed the takeover of Freescale Semiconductor Inc., the mobile-phone-chip maker.

Leveraged buyout firms are leading borrowers refinancing $64 billion of loans so far this year, more than in all of 2006, according to ratings company Standard & Poor's. Banks are giving in and reducing rates because corporate defaults are near all- time lows.

``This is the best loan market for borrowers I have ever seen,'' said Kenneth Moore, a managing director at First Reserve Corp., a private equity firm in Greenwich, Connecticut, that manages more than $12.5 billion and specializes in buying energy companies.

more...

[54anickel]

44. Before the Fall - An uneasy calm has settled over financial markets

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/8729561/c_8730680?f=home_todayinfinance&x=1

It is a scene familiar to all Western lovers. The cavalry is riding through a mountain pass. One officer turns to a comrade. "I don't like it," he says nervously. "It's too quiet." The next second, an arrow hits him in the chest.

The financial markets are in a similar state of nervous anticipation. Things have been going extremely well. According to David Rosenberg of Merrill Lynch, the American stockmarket has sustained its longest run since 1954 without a day's decline of 2 percent. The interest-rate spread offered by high-yield, or junk, bonds over Treasury bonds is thinner than ever. Volatility is low. A market "correction", aimed straight at the chest, seems overdue.

The terminology of financial markets can be imprecise. A crash is a sudden, precipitate decline like "Black Monday" in October 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22.6 percent in one day. A bear market is a longer-lasting event such as the period from March 2000 to March 2003 when British share prices fell by half. A correction is somewhere between the two, neither as violent as a crash nor as prolonged as a bear market, with prices falling by around 10-20 percent.

Bull markets are generally interrupted by a few corrections. Apart from the 1987 crash, the great bull market of 1982-2000 saw setbacks in 1990, 1994 and 1998. There was a wobble in May-June last year (emerging markets took the biggest hit), but this bull market has trotted on pretty serenely for four years.

more...

[AnneD]

53. We are all

waiting for that second shoe to drop.....any one care to guess where it will come from? I have been rolling that thought around in my brain for a few days now. Maybe hedge funds, maybe defaults on loans, who knows? If the feds do raise rates that will escalate things-so I think that is why they are holding rates at the moment. Just my 2 cents.

[54anickel]

56. Wish I had a crystal ball. One thing I'll be watching for is the BOJ

to surprise the carry trade after their fiscal year ends next month. They have a "tradition" of keeping the yen low to help the books of their corporations as they close out the year. There maybe some surprises there. Aside from that, I think we're surrounded by "troubled waters". It could come from just about any direction now.

The one thing that wouldn't surprise me is the markets totally ignoring any escalation of the war in the ME. Don't ask me why, but it just doesn't seem to bother them much - it's like Iraq has proven the notion of "War is good for the economy". :eyes:

[54anickel]

46. Mortgage applications at lowest mark of '07

Weekly activity index falls more than 5 percent, even as interest rates tumble, industry trade group reports.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/21/real_estate/mortgage_application.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007022107

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- U.S. mortgage applications dropped more than 5 percent last week, hitting their lowest level this year, even as interest rates fell, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and purchasing loans, for the week ended Feb. 16 fell 5.2 percent to 606.6.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.19 percent, down 0.05 percentage point from the previous week. Interest rates were slightly below year-ago levels of 6.22 percent.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index fell 4.8 percent to 381.4, its lowest since the week ended Oct. 27, 2006, when it stood at 375.6. The index was also below its year-ago level of 408.7.

The purchase index is considered a timely gauge of U.S. home sales.

more...

[54anickel]

49. In 5-4 ruling, Supreme Court curbs punitive damages

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/02/21/MNG2GO886Q1.DTL

The U.S. Supreme Court set new limits Tuesday on punitive damages against makers of dangerous products and other corporate wrongdoers, ruling that jurors can award damages only for harm suffered by the plaintiff and not by other victims of the same conduct.

snip>

In 2003, the court said punitive damages would usually be unconstitutional, a deprivation of property without due process of law, if they were more than nine times the amount awarded as compensation.

That ruling has prompted courts around the nation to scale down jury awards. But one question the Supreme Court did not answer was whether its 2003 decision, which involved an auto insurance dispute, left room for higher ratios than 9-1 in cases of serious wrongdoing.

snip>
In a ruling that crossed the court's usual ideological lines, Breyer was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and Samuel Alito. The dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

While prohibiting juries from awarding damages to punish a defendant for harming others, the court allowed them to consider evidence of such conduct when considering whether a company's actions were "particularly reprehensible,'' an important factor in determining punitive damages.

more...

[54anickel]

63. Appeals court sides with Bush on detainees

RULING ON GUANTÁNAMO CAPTIVES SETS UP FIGHT IN SUPREME COURT

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16746643.htm

Setting the stage for a U.S. Supreme Court showdown, a federal appeals panel sided 2-1 with the Bush administration Tuesday and denied Guantánamo Bay captives the right to challenge their detention in lower federal courts.

The Justice Department hailed the decision from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia as a victory in its campaign to close the files on hundreds of Guantánamo captives' challenges at the U.S. District Court in the nation's capital.

Amnesty International USA urged Congress to quickly pass new legislation that would effectively reverse the decision, and attorneys for detainees urged the Supreme Court to take up the issue promptly.

``Federal courts have no jurisdiction in these cases,'' Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote for himself and Judge David Sentelle. Two successive acts of Congress, they said, had sufficiently stripped detainees of traditional recourse to the writ of habeas corpus.

``The arguments are creative but not cogent. To accept them would be to defy the will of Congress,'' Randolph wrote for the two men, who were appointed to the court by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Congress, when led by the Republicans, twice passed legislation that stripped so-called enemy combatants of their right to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts: the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

more...

[54anickel]

51. Best Buy to open 130 stores in U.S., China, Canada

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2007-02-21T150459Z_01_N21288791_RTRIDST_0_BESTBUYSTORES-UPDATE-1.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY.N: Quote, Profile , Research) plans to open about 130 stores in the United States, Canada and China during its fiscal year beginning March 4, the company said on Wednesday.

The top U.S. consumer electronics retail chain said it expects global retail square footage of about 46 million square feet, representing growth of around 10 percent, by the end of the year.

In the United States, the company expects to open about 90 stores and to operate more than 900 by the end of the year.

In China, Best Buy expects to open up to 23 Five Star stores during the fiscal year, and also plans to open two or three Best Buy locations in the next 12 to 18 months. It expects to generate about $100 billion in annual sales in China by 2010.

more...

[54anickel]

54. Corporate push for action against warming

Nearly 100 companies sign statement urging global strategy by 2012

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17257868/

NEW YORK - The leaders of several worldwide corporations — including General Electric, Volvo and Air France-KLM — called Tuesday for prompt, decisive action on climate change created by the emission of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide.

Nearly 100 companies followed a meeting at Columbia University by endorsing a formal statement to fight for clean energy and against climate change caused by people and businesses. The companies are members of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change, formed in 2004 to explore issues critical to shaping public and industry policy on climate change.

snip>

The statement by the international business community seeks to lay out a framework for global action to mitigate the impact of human-made climate change without adversely affecting energy and economic growth, according to Sachs, who also spoke at the United Nations on Friday. The business leaders hoped that a permanent plan could be in place by 2012.

snip>

The business community wants a framework because it provides predictability. It said that generally politicians lag behind the business sector in addressing the need to reduce human-made climate change.

snip>

China will soon replace the United States as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide, he said.

snip>

On Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C., chief executives of 10 major corporations urged Congress to require limits on greenhouse gases this year, contending voluntary efforts to combat climate change are inadequate.

In his State of the Union address, President Bush said that climate change needs to be addressed, but he has opposed any mandatory emission caps, arguing that industry through development of new technologies can deal with the issue.

more...



http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=29c62bbb-becd-4a0e-9697-f9837d263010&k=16463
Hot for green investing
Investors looking to profit from the global warming bandwagon are buying into anything with 'solar' or 'wind' in its name

Be honest: amid all the recent consternation over melting icecaps, starving polar bears and vicious storms, you've wondered how you can make a little money off this whole global warming thing.

You're not alone: Climate change has become the hot investment theme this year, and a number of financial institutions -- including some of the world's top investment banks -- have put their best brains on the case.

snip>

The prospect of scoring triple-digit returns in just seven weeks certainly makes green investing look like a worthwhile pursuit. Recent rallies aside, though, adopting climate change as an investing theme is no simple matter, largely because these are early days: it is still too soon to put an upside value on promising environment-friendly solutions or a downside value on prominent polluters.

That is, no one knows yet how much greenhouse gases -- or carbon emissions, which receive most of the blame for global warming -- will be worth when emission limits are imposed on certain sectors of the economy.

In the United States, the creation of a cap-and-trade system is building momentum, with support from key politicians such as John McCain and Barack Obama making it look like all but a done deal.

snip>

For example, if carbon is priced at just US$2 a tonne, big-name emitters won't be heavily penalized and offsetting technology such as wind or solar power won't be seen as viable alternatives. As a result, stocks in alternative energy companies could sag, while the stocks of carbon-belching utilities and miners could hold up. On the other hand, if carbon is priced at, say, US$50 a tonne, greenhouse gas emitters will suffer major financial consequences and alternative energy companies will get the spotlight.

snip>

Other reports on climate-change investing have taken a scattershot approach, encompassing just about any company that takes a conscientious view of the environment or does something to lessen human impact upon it.

Citigroup's list of "climatic consequences companies," which was released last month, contains no less than 74 different names from seven sectors and 18 countries.

more...

[54anickel]

55. 12:41 lunchtime check

Dow 12,749.79 36.85 (0.29%)
Nasdaq 2,512.30 0.74 (0.03%)
S&P 500 1,456.85 2.83 (0.19%)
10-yr Bond 4.70% 0.02
30-yr Bond 4.80% 0.02
NYSE Volume 1,233,042,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,077,830,000

12:30 pm : The market is kicking off the afternoon session at improved levels. The Dow has nearly halved its recent losses, as has the S&P 500; but the Nasdaq turning positive has been the most noticeable change to today's proceedings.

Market leaders like AAPL (+3.4%), GOOG (+1.3%), AMAT (+1.0%), and ERTS (+1.0%) are among the biggest reasons behind the tech-heavy Composite's recent turnaround. DJ30 -28.28 NASDAQ +0.67 SP500 -1.96 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1573/1323/1.0 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1885/1245/600 mln

12:00 pm : Stocks remain under modest selling pressure midday as inflation data suggesting that the Goldilocks scenario from last week has diminished exacerbate the temptation to take some money off the table.

As if overbought conditions weren't already in the front of investors' minds, especially a day after the Dow Industrials, Transports and Utilities hit record highs, a worrisome rise in core CPI has sparked some consolidation.

Before the bell, total CPI for January rose 0.2%, reflecting the fact that falling energy prices remain a factor in pulling down overall inflation rates. More notably, however, core CPI rose 0.3%, the biggest increase since June. That pushed the year-over-year increase in the core rate to 2.7%, clearly above the Fed's desired range.

Even though the 0.3% rise in Jan. core CPI may prove to be a one-month aberration, since the core rate had been up just 0.1% in each of the prior three months, it does signal that inflation pressures may not have moderated as much as the market had hoped, especially following Fed Chairman Bernanke's surprisingly dovish commentary last week.

Diminishing hopes of the Fed easing anytime soon has also taken a toll on Treasuries, which in turn has made rate-sensitive areas like Utilities and Financials less attractive. The latter and more heavily-weighted Financials sector is under additional pressure amid more evidence of subprime lending woes. Albeit not an S&P 500 constituent, NovaStar Financial (NFI 10.96 -6.59) losing a third of its value after posting an unexpected loss and putting its REIT status in jeopardy is acting as an added source of nervousness for other mortgage lenders.

Technology, though, has been the focal point today since all eyes last night were on Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ 41.35 -1.78) Q1 report. However, the Dow component's Q2 outlook barely exceeding analysts' expectations has given shareholders an excuse to lock in recent gains. Fellow Dow component Intel (INTC 20.78 -0.40) is also under pressure following downbeat commentary out of Prudential while analyst downgrades on Motorola (MOT 18.90 -0.27) and Qualcomm (QCOM 41.95 -0.74) are also removing notable leadership from the S&P 500's second most influential sector. DJ30 -51.75 NASDAQ -3.17 SP500 -3.78 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1568/1295/888 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1886/1219/514 mln

11:30 am : The major averages are still consolidating recent gains as sellers remain in control of today's action. It is worth noting, though, that if it weren't for a 1.0% rise in Dow component Microsoft (MSFT 29.13 +0.30), after a Bear Stearns note showed a slight gain in MSFT's share of the Internet search market, tech would be an even bigger thorn in the bull's side.

A more than 3% surge in Apple (AAPL 88.56 +2.66), after Prudential raised March quarter EPS estimates, is also helping to minimize tech sector weakness and preventing this year's best performing major index (Nasdaq) from succumbing to even more aggressive profit-taking efforts. The Dow and S&P 500 are down 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively, while the Nasdaq is down only 0.1%.DJ30 -57.72 NASDAQ -3.15 SP500 -4.02 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1629/1219/772 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2002/1065/432 mln

11:00 am : So much for Energy holding onto its small gains as the only sector in positive territory. Oil prices languishing in near session lows, coupled with reports that Kazakhstan has threatened to suspend Chevron's (CVX 69.35 -0.77) license in the Caspian Sea, now leave all 10 sectors posting losses.

Larger losses in more influential sectors like Financials, Technology and Health Care, though, remain the biggest obstacles for the bulls to overcome this morning. DJ30 -67.38 NASDAQ -5.98 SP500 -6.00 XOI -0.2% NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1712/1071/612 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2070/931/332 mln

[54anickel]

61. Cheney’s trip to Japan and Australia: the preparation for new war crimes

http://wsws.org/articles/2007/feb2007/chen-f21.shtml

US Vice President Dick Cheney’s trip to Japan and Australia this week is an affront to the democratic rights of the American, Japanese and Australian people. In defiance of majority antiwar sentiment in all three countries, Cheney’s goal is stepped up support for the criminal occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq and for the Bush administration’s preparations for war against Iran.

Just three months ago, in the November congressional elections, the American people overwhelmingly repudiated the Iraq war. Four years of bloodshed have virtually destroyed Iraq and killed or displaced more than four million of its people. Over 3,100 American soldiers are dead and another 50,000 injured. In Japan and Australia, large majorities oppose their government’s support for the US-led occupation. A recent BBC poll, for example, found that 78 percent of Australians disapprove of the war.

Cheney has played a central role in the lead-up to, and prosecution of, the Iraq war. More than any other figure within the White House, he scripted the false claims that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction” in order to fabricate the justification for war. Defining the theme that shaped every public utterance by US government officials up to the March 2003 invasion, Cheney declared on August 26, 2002: “Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”

Since the early 1990s, Cheney’s political life has been bound up with plotting the neo-colonial takeover of the Middle East. He represents that faction of the American ruling elite that aspires to establish a stranglehold over much of the world’s supply of oil and to use it to block other powers, such as the European Union, Russia and China, from challenging the global hegemony of American imperialism. Iran, with the third largest reserves of oil and second largest reserves of natural gas, is the next target after Iraq. Cheney’s national security advisor John Hannah reportedly told a recent meeting that the Bush administration considers 2007 “the year of Iran”

The US vice-president personifies the sinister relationship between the Bush administration’s foreign policy and the interests of major American energy corporations. While serving as the chief executive officer of the Halliburton oil conglomerate between 1995 and 2000, he also co-founded the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), which agitated for a military build-up to ensure US global domination through an invasion of Iraq and a confrontation with Iran.

more...

[54anickel]

64. Bush Is Badly Screwing Up the War on Terror

http://www.alternet.org/story/48277/

Al-Qaeda's resurgence in new Pakistani strongholds is the latest sign that George W. Bush is losing the 'Global War on Terror' and has become a dangerous liability to the American people.

Despite the sacrifices in lives, treasure and liberties, the painful reality is that the United States is losing the "war on terror" -- in large part because too many people in the Middle East and across the globe view George W. Bush as a bully and a hypocrite.

Bush has become the ugly face of America, mouthing pretty words about freedom and democracy while threatening other nations and bludgeoning those who get in his way. Perhaps even worse, Bush has shown himself to be an incompetent commander, especially for a conflict as complicated and nuanced as this one.

Indeed, it is hard to envision how the United States can win the crucial battles for the hearts and minds of key populations if Bush remains President. Arguably, Bush has become a "clear and present danger" to the interests of the American people -- yet he still has almost two years left in his term.

This predicament -- the desperate need for new U.S. leadership and the difficult fact of being stuck with Bush -- was underscored by the Feb. 19 lead article in the New York Times describing the revival of al-Qaeda as a worldwide terror network operating out of new bases in remote sections of Pakistan.

snip>

Al-Qaeda's favorite president

Over the past six years, the wily and ruthless leaders of al-Qaeda also came to understand that Bush was their perfect foil. The more he was viewed as the "big crusader," the more they could present themselves as the "defenders of Islam." The al-Qaeda murderers moved from the fringes of Muslim society closer to the mainstream.

more...

[Ghost Dog]

68. Shinzo Abe and the Diverging US-Japan Relationship

http://www.counterpunch.org/china02202007.html
Setting Sun
By CHINA HAND

One element that continues to amaze is how cavalierly the United States threw Shinzo Abe under the bus while negotiating the North Korea agreement. The abductee issue-which Abe had ridden to power and which forms the core of his image as Japan's new generation assertive foreign policy hard case-was dismissively pushed off to the working groups.

While President Bush poured praise on the Chinese for facilitating the deal, Japan was left as the odd man out, refusing to join the energy aid program. And it's not as if Abe extracted any political capital by packaging this embarrassing outcome as a piece of principled intransigence. Unwilling to denounce the deal, he meekly asserted that, despite its absence from the North Korean consensus, Japan was "not isolated".

...

The suddenness of the switch, the obvious flaws in the deal, and the violence it did to the interests of our key ally in the region support my contention that the conciliatory posture of the Bush administration at the North Korean talks was a strategic fire sale: a matter of short-term tactical urgency driven by the mid-term electoral disaster. {ed. <-- or, in order to concentrate on Iran}

Meant to buy the Bush administration time and diplomatic credibility, it resulted in a hastily concluded deal that will either fall apart because of its own flaws or be discarded once the Bush administration feels that its diplomatic options and freedom of action as a unilateral superpower have been restored.

What is most striking is how casually Japanese prestige and interests were sacrificed, at a time when Prime Minister Abe could least afford it.

...

In addition to the divergence on the Iraq and North Korea issues, the United States has shown itself to be less than enthusiastic in backing Japan's campaign for a permanent Security Council seat.

Another major source of friction in the alliance is Okinawa. Chalmers Johnson describes the massive U.S. infrastructure-which is used for force projection in the region and not for Japanese defense-as follows: "thirty-eight are located in Okinawa, where they occupy some 23,700 hectares or 19 percent of the choicest territory of the main island. Okinawa is host to some 28,000 American troops plus an equal number of camp followers and Defense Department civilians".

The Koizumi government cut a deal with the United States for a realignment plan that would send 8,000 Marines to Guam, and relocate an airfield, but leave the massive military footprint on the island group largely unchanged.

...

In these unpromising circumstances, the Diet will begin debating legislation, sure to be unpopular, that would obligate Japan to pay up to $6 billion on relocation costs for the 8,000 U.S. troops who are to move from Okinawa to Guam as part of the realignment.

If that wasn't enough, Japan was forced to back out of a key Iranian energy project, Azadegan-which by itself was expected to account for 6% of Japan's total oil imports-- out of loyalty to the Bush administration's policy of intransigence and no economic ties with the Tehran regime. The loss of this project was followed by the dismaying news that a major Exxon Mobil gas project on Sakhalin had signed a preliminary agreement to sell its output to China instead of Japan. At the same time Russia began threatening a restructuring of another Royal Dutch Shell natural gas project in Sakhalin that was supposed to be a joint venture with Mitsubishi and Mitsui Trading.

In another looming problem, the aggressive U.S. push on sanctions against Iran that Tokyo is loyally supporting, if implemented, would endanger Japan's access to Iranian oil, which currently accounts for over 10% of its imports. The Japanese are supposed to be compensated with preferential access to Iraq opportunities but-in an ironic development considering that the Iraq war was intended to exclude competing powers and turn Iraq's oilfields into a bonanza for the West-another energy-hungry power is muscling in:

Japan is clearly interested in increasing its profile in Iraq's energy sector, but the main obstacle to ramping up investment remains the endemic violence that persists in that country. Despite Tokyo's calls for domestic firms to pump more money into overseas oil and gas projects, investment in Iraq will be difficult as violence is unlikely to cease anytime soon.

Japanese officials and analysts also worry that countries such as China might have an edge over Japan in gaining access to Iraq's energy resources, since it has more experience operating in inhospitable environments such as Sudan and Angola.

In fact, the new Iraqi government has courted Beijing because Chinese producers have been willing to invest in countries that are considered dangerous or politically isolated. Beijing had previously been thought to be out of the running for major contracts in postwar Iraq, with the best deals going to the U.S. and its allies. But the upsurge in violence there has made the country less attractive to Western producers.

Perhaps as a result of these revelations of the downside of acting as America's sheriff in North Asia, support for Abe's signature initiative-revision of the pacifist constitution to permit Japan to participate in hairy-chested overseas military adventures with its freedom and democracy loving brethren in the West-has evaporated.

/...

ed. to add: Eurasia, India, China and Japan united in common interest (and also, perhaps, a lot of Europe). Now that would be a truly awesome geostrategic diplomatic achievement by this current US administration. Not to mention, of course, most of the Moslem world; and the :sarcasm:, but probably not the :irony:, intended.

[54anickel]

66. 1:49 and headed back down before the "magical hour"

Dow 12,735.61 51.03 (0.40%)
Nasdaq 2,509.91 3.13 (0.12%)
S&P 500 1,455.93 3.75 (0.26%)
10-yr Bond 4.70% 0.02
30-yr Bond 4.796% 0.016
NYSE Volume 1,549,968,000
Nasdaq Volume 1,318,231,000

1:30 pm : The indices are still mixed as recent remarks from a notable Fed official do little to sway investor sentiment following today's worrisome CPI report and ahead of the FOMC minutes. The market was waiting for comments from Fed Vice Chairman Kohn to potentially set a more definitive tone to this afternoon's action; but no mention of the U.S economy or monetary policy in his prepared testimony leaves the minutes from the January 30-31 FOMC meeting as today's last scheduled economic release and potential catalyst.

However, while the report (2:00 ET) will be studied carefully for comments relating to the debate on inflation and the pace of economic activity, its impact on trading is also likely to be diminished since Fed Chairman Bernanke just provided his semi-annual testimony on the economy and monetary policy. DJ30 -29.00 NASDAQ +2.59 SP500 -1.38 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1510/1423/1.22 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1784/1397/750 mln

1:00 pm : The major averages are still trading in split fashion, but recent recovery efforts have stalled as oil prices hit fresh session highs. Crude for April delivery is now up 1.8% near $59.90/bbl, in sympathy with a spike higher in gasoline futures amid reports of refinery disruptions. Fortunately for the bulls, subsequent leadership in the Energy sector, coupled with the Dow Transports' resilience in the face of oil's uptick, are acting as currently offsetting factors.

Be that as it may, crude at $60/bbl brings the commodity's inflationary potential back into focus among policy makers, which is a bearish factor for stocks since the Fed continues to echo its tightening bias. DJ30 -27.45 DJTA +0.6% NASDAQ +1.39 SP500 -1.62 XOI +0.8% NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1558/1363/1.12 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1793/1349/680 mln

12:30 pm : The market is kicking off the afternoon session at improved levels. The Dow has nearly halved its recent losses, as has the S&P 500; but the Nasdaq turning positive has been the most noticeable change to today's proceedings.

Market leaders like AAPL (+3.4%), GOOG (+1.3%), AMAT (+1.0%), and ERTS (+1.0%) are among the biggest reasons behind the tech-heavy Composite's recent turnaround. DJ30 -28.28 NASDAQ +0.67 SP500 -1.96 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1573/1323/1.0 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1885/1245/600 mln

[54anickel]

69. 2:00 blather

2:00 pm : Stocks have taken a turn for the worse within the last 30 minutes as oil prices eclipsing the psychological $60/bbl barrier aggravate an intraday mindset already concerned about inflationary pressures. Crude for April delivery is now up 2.8% at $60.50/bbl in anticipation tomorrow's weekly inventories report will show a larger than expected drawdown in distillates.

Even though total CPI rose just 0.2% in January, reflecting the fact that falling energy prices remain a factor in pulling down overall inflation rates, oil prices above $60/bbl raise concerns about the commodity's potential to curb spending and worsen what is already expected to be a year of decelerating earnings growth. DJ30 -48.31 NASDAQ -2.61 SP500 -3.35 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1570/1388/1.32 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1790/1408/830 mln

[Ghost Dog]

67. Australia’s summer crop production slashed 60%

http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=9905&formato=HTML

Australia’s summer crop production is forecast to fall by nearly 60% in 2006-07 as most of the main growing areas in southern Queensland, northern New South Wales and the Riverina remain in the grip of drought, the February issue of ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics) Australian Crop Report reveals.

‘Production is forecast to fall to around 1.9 million tons, making it the smallest summer crop in over 20 years,’ said Mr Phillip Glyde, Executive Director, ABARE when releasing the report Tuesday.

Severe ongoing drought conditions experienced throughout the major cropping areas of Australia, particularly since August 2006, resulted in significant depletion of soil moisture profiles and the lowest water storage levels on record.

The very dry spring and lack of irrigation water caused total summer crop area to be cut by half in 2006-07, to 743.000 hectares.

/...

[54anickel]

70. Here are the FOMC minutes

http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/minutes/20070131.htm

[54anickel]

71. Fed members in Jan. saw more favorable outlook for economy

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-members-jan-saw-more/story.aspx?guid=%7B4CF6D08B-0333-46AE-9B38-B531A5B95325%7D

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Federal Reserve officials at their January meeting shrugged off past concern and said the outlook for growth and inflation was looking promising, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday. The minutes of the Jan. 30-31 meeting said that FOMC members saw "a more favorable outlook" for prices and growth than had been anticipated. Only one month earlier, FOMC members had been concerned that a "subdued tone" of economic data meant risks to growth had increased. The Fed members maintained their view that inflation was the top concern of the central bank. Despite the recent good news on inflation, members said it was not clear yet that a downtrend on core inflation had been "definitively established." After all, the drop in energy and rent prices could well be temporary, members said

[Ghost Dog]

72. Venezuela's Revolution: Giving Power to the Poor

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1963
By: Stuart Munckton - Green Left Weekly

“We, and millions of people around the world … believe another world is possible, a world free from war, poverty and hunger. Here in Venezuela the along with the majority of the people in our country are fighting hard to build this new world, despite the attempts of the old elite and the US government to prevent us from succeeding.” This is what 25-year-old university student Germania Fernandez told Pablo Navarrete, according to a December 1 article on Venezuelanalysis.com.

Fernandez was participating in a November 26 demonstration in Caracas of 2.5 million people, in a city of only 5 million, in support of Chavez’s re-election on December 3 and his call to deepen the pro-poor revolutionary process his government is leading. Repeatedly slamming the “perverse” system of capitalism, Chavez insisted that December 3 would be a referendum on the construction of a “new socialism of the 21st century” — a “democratic” and “humanist” socialism that did not repeat the errors of the Soviet Union.

The results were spectacular. Chavez scored 7.3 million votes (63% of the total), the highest number for a presidential candidate in Venezuelan history and more than double his votes in the 2000 elections. Chavez has since declared: “All that was privatised, let it be nationalised.” The nationalisation of the telecommunications firm CANTV and Electricity of Caracas, both owned by US interests and amounting to 50% of daily trading on the Caracas stock exchange, has already been carried out. Chavez has given five oil multinationals in the Orinoco Belt until May 1 to give the state-run oil company PDVSA at least 60% controlling interests in their ventures, and has promised to nationalise gas.

...

The revolution is also thoroughly democratic. Pro-Chavez forces have won 11 straight national elections and introduced a new constitution guaranteeing popular participation in government, including the right to overturn any legislation via a national referendum. The government has announced an extension of direct democracy, via the promotion of grassroots communal councils, and is also discussing workers’ councils in workplaces across the country to enable working people to exercise control over production.

‘Death of history’?

“This is not supposed to be happening”, you can almost hear them cry out in the corporate boardrooms. There is an air of disbelief in much of the corporate-owned media’s coverage of Venezuela. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc, socialism was supposed to be dead and buried. History was supposed to have ended, with capitalism triumphant. What kind of weird, throwback retro act is playing in Caracas?

Yet no-one should be surprised. The “new world order” has brought the world fresh wars for corporate profit, worsening poverty and environmental destruction. In the 1990s, poverty greatly increased across Latin America at the same time as some 4000 publicly owned companies shifted into the hands of multinational corporations. Russian revolutionary V.I. Lenin’s comment that the world was living in an “epoch of war and revolution” rings true today.

/...

[Ghost Dog]

73. The Coming Naval War With Venezuela

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsub/articles/20070221.aspx
(Lamentable source, but to add this coda:)

February 21, 2007: Venezuela is negotiating with Russia to buy nine diesel-electric submarines from Russia, for about $335 million each. That would nearly double the $3.4 billion in weapons Venezuela has already bought from Russia. Venezuela wants the subs in order to defend itself from American attack. U.S. aircraft carriers would be a crucial part of any American attack force. The U.S. has denied any intention of attacking, but no matter.

Venezuela already has two 1970s era German Type 209 subs. The Russians would provide much more modern Kilo class boats. Iran, China and several other nations, already use the Kilo. Venezuela has also approached France and Germany, but these nations are reluctant to pursue such an offer. Mainly because Venezuela is seen squandering billions on weapons it doesn't need, while domestic needs are ignored. Thus, it's not the prospect of supplying weapons for use against the United States navy that discourages the French and German sub builders, but the fear of being seen as less than politically correct regarding the way Venezuela is being misgoverned.

/.

'Nother front, then.

[54anickel]

84. Well ya see, the world just don't get it. We could all live in peace and

prosperity if everyone would be "just like me". Seems to be what US diplomacy under this mal-admin has come down to. Emulate the US, allow our banks and corporations to take over your "misgoverning", resources and methods of production and we could all get along just fine. Remember, the US knows best! Just look at us, a shining example of democracy. Our childruns is learnin', our rich are richer, our infant mortality rate puts most third world countries to shame, everyone that can afford it has healthcare, etc, etc, etc :puke:

[citizen snips]

74. JetBlue Trims Guidance but Shares Rise

NEW YORK (AP) -- JetBlue Airways Corp. said Wednesday it expects a wider first-quarter loss and lower full-year profit, as it absorbs the effect of more than 1,000 cancellations caused by last week's winter blast in the Northeast.

But shares of the low-cost carrier, which has battled withering criticism since operations melted down at its New York hub, still rose after Merrill Lynch said the stock has been oversold and recommended buying it.

JetBlue said it's now looking for first-quarter pretax margins of between negative 8 percent and negative 10 percent. It previously predicted pretax margins of negative 2 percent to negative 4 percent.

The revision equates to about a $37 million reduction in first-quarter results, Prudential Equity analyst Bob McAdoo wrote in a research report. A day earlier, JetBlue said the winter woes mean it will have to hand out up to $30 million in refunds, credits, worker overtime and other expenses.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/jetblue_outlook.html?.v=12

[citizen snips]

75. Consumer Prices Rise 0.2 Percent in Jan.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Inflation at the consumer level rose by a larger-than-expected amount in January as falling energy prices only partially offset big increases in the cost of medical care, food and airline tickets.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that prices rose by 0.2 percent in January. That was down from a 0.4 percent rise in December, but it was higher than the 0.1 percent increase that Wall Street had been expecting.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food components, also was up more than analysts had been expecting, rising by 0.3 percent. It was the largest one-month gain in seven months.

In other economic news, a key gauge of future economic activity rose a tiny 0.1 percent in January, held back by the ailing housing and auto markets.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/economy.html?.v=10

[citizen snips]

76. Medco Health Solutions 4Q Profit Climbs

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Medco Health Solutions Inc., the country's biggest prescription-benefit manager, said Wednesday its fourth-quarter earnings soared 29 percent on higher overall revenue and improved results in its key specialty pharmacy business.

The results beat Wall Street expectations, the company raised its full-year forecast, its board authorized a bigger share buyback and its shares climbed more than 7 percent to a new 52-week high in morning trading.

Net income increased to a record $228.8 million, or 77 cents per share, in the three months ended Dec. 30, from $176.8 million, or 57 cents per share, in the previous year. Excluding a 9-cent charge for the gradual writedown of intangible assets -- the value of contracts Medco received when it was spun off from Merck & Co. in 2003 -- earnings per share would have been 86 cents.

Revenue edged up 1 percent to $10.93 billion from $10.8 billion, even though the quarter included 13 weeks, compared with 14 weeks a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting revenue of $11.09 billion and earnings per share of 79 cents, excluding the one-time charge.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/earns_medco_health_solutions.html?.v=9

[citizen snips]

77. Chips Snap: Techwell Down, Himax Up

NEW YORK (AP) -- Chip stocks fell modestly in Wednesday's trading, with few dramatic gainers or losers in the sector.

Techwell Inc. was one of the biggest losers in the group. The stock fell sharply in afternoon trading after the company presented at an investment conference in California.

Shares of Techwell, which designs decoder chips used to convert analog video into digital form, were down 49 cents, or 3.5 percent, at $13.45 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded between $8.75 and $19.25 over the last 52 weeks.

Elsewhere in the sector, Marvell Technology Group Ltd. shares climbed modestly, following an upgrade from Pacific Growth Equities analyst Satya Chillara.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/semiconductors_sector_snap.html?.v=1

[citizen snips]

78. Sector Snap: Video Game Stocks Mixed

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of video game publishers were mixed Wednesday following the release of January sales data from the NPD Group, a market research company, showing solid year-over-year growth in software sales.

Analysts reported that based on NPD figures, video game software sales grew 22 percent year-over-year when adjusted for an extra week in the 2007 retail calendar. Sales of games for next-generation systems -- Sony's PlayStation 3, the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360 -- drove console software sales, said Prudential analyst John McPeake in a note to investors.

Sales of games for handheld systems grew 17 percent when adjusted for the extra week, and sales from Nintendo DS titles more than doubled, according to McPeake.

Activision Inc. and THQ Inc. are growing at a rate above the rest of the industry, while sector leader Electronic Arts Inc. recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year sales declines, McPeake noted.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/video_games_sector_snap.html?.v=2

[citizen snips]

79. Gold Rises to 9-Month High on Inflation Concerns; Silver Gains

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Gold surged to a nine-month high in New York after the U.S. said inflation accelerated more than forecast in January and commodity prices jumped.

The consumer-price index increased 0.2 percent last month, more than the 0.1 percent economists estimated, boosting the appeal of gold as a hedge. Crude oil jumped above $60 a barrel and corn reached a 10-year high, helping to send the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index to the highest level this year.

``Commodities are up across the board,'' said Ron Goodis, director of Equidex Brokerage Group Inc. in Closter, New Jersey. ``There's still inflation. People want to own assets and they run for gold.''

Gold futures for April delivery rose $23, or 3.5 percent, to $684 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier reaching $686.40, the highest for a most-active contract since May 19. Gold has climbed 23 percent in the past year.

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=aRw.yu9e2hYQ&refer=commodities

[Ghost Dog]

85. The "People", in gold/silver markets, don't usually move that fast, I think.

But well-connected market-movers certainly do.

[citizen snips]

80. Treasuries Remain Lower as 2-Year Note Sale Draws 4.83% Yield

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries remained lower after the government's $18 billion sale of two-year notes drew a yield of 4.83 percent.

The Treasury received bids for 3.04 times the amount offered for sale, the most since November 2000. Indirect bidders, the class of investors that includes foreign central banks, bought 52.2 percent of the notes, the most since November 2006.

The 10-year note's yield rose 2 basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 4.70 percent at 1:15 p.m. in New York, according to broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP. Yields move inversely to prices. The price of the 4 5/8 percent note due in February 2017 fell 1/8, or $1.25 per $1,000 face amount, to 99 13/32.

The securities, which mature in February 2009, yielded 4.832 percent in pre-auction trading. The average forecast of five bond-trading firms surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 4.835 yield.

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=aI_KM0CKGoh0&refer=bond

[citizen snips]

81. Apple Rises Most in 6 Weeks After Prudential Boosts Estimates

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. shares rose the most in six weeks after Prudential Equity Group LLC increased its second-quarter profit estimates on expectations of rising sales of Macintosh personal computers and higher gross margins.

Weaker iPod sales are ``being more than offset by stronger Mac sales and higher margins due to a favorable component cost environment,'' wrote analysts including Jesse Tortora.

The analysts raised their earnings projections for this quarter by four cents to 68 cents. Apple is expected to earn 61 cents in the second quarter, according to the median estimate of analysts' forecasts compiled by Bloomberg News. The Prudential analysts also increased their forecast for gross margins to 31.5 percent from 30.5 percent.

Apple rose $2.57, or 3 percent, to $88.47 at 11:30 a.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares, which were having their largest advance since Jan. 10, have climbed 28 percent over the past year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601084&sid=awMoA4k38ADA&refer=stocks

[citizen snips]

82. U.K. Stocks Drop, Paced by BHP, Rio; Anglo American Declines

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks fell, paced by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group, as copper slid for a third day.

Anglo American Plc declined the most in six weeks after the company said it's in no hurry to sell its stake in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. Alliance & Leicester Plc led banking shares higher after the U.K.'s eighth-largest lender reported earnings that beat analysts' estimates. Imperial Tobacco Group Plc jumped on bid speculation.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index lost 55.2, or 0.9 percent, to 6357.1. The FTSE All-Share Index decreased 0.8 percent to 3299.94. Ireland's ISEQ Index slid 0.1 percent to 9968.48.

Indexes erased gains after U.S. consumer prices rose more than forecast in January even as energy costs declined, suggesting inflation pressures persist.

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601084&sid=aiS.Gm68jxeg&refer=stocks

[citizen snips]

83. Corn Surges to 10-Year High as Rains May Limit U.S. Planting

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Corn rose to a 10-year high in Chicago, extending this month's rally, as wet weather in the Midwest threatened to prevent U.S. farmers from planting enough grain to meet surging demand for ethanol.

Most fields from Arkansas to South Carolina will receive 1 inch of rain beginning Feb. 23, delaying seeding that must be completed by late March to avoid losses during June and July, said Joe Widenor, a meteorologist at CropCast Services Inc. in Rockville, Maryland. Above-normal rains in March and April from St. Louis to Columbus, Ohio, may delay planting, Widenor said.

``There is concern about adverse weather hurting U.S. production,'' especially with global corn inventories forecast to drop to a 29-year low, said James Barnett, a market analyst for Man Research Inc. in Chicago. ``There is just no margin for error'' for the crop in the U.S., the world's largest producer.

Corn futures for May delivery rose 10.75 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $4.39 a bushel at 1:14 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier reaching $4.4125, the highest since June 1996. Prices are up 82 percent in the past year as record ethanol production and global demand for livestock feed reduce world inventories for a sixth time in seven years.

more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601012&sid=acV9fAWUeHPI&refer=commodities

[Ghost Dog]

86. No problem. Food price inflation can easily be finessed downwards

with the help of a little 'hedonistic' substitution. :-(

(Note to self: must re-read some Epicurian and Stoic philosophers.)

[AnneD]

89. Corn as high

as an elephant's eye. If you want to get into a sleeper-I'd look into rye. It can have the same use in ethanol production and grows at a different cycle (winter) as corn. It is possible to increase cause most folks on WS don't know farming. Just my 2 cents worth.:evilgrin:

[citizen snips]

90. Dow Closes Down 48, Nasdaq Finishes Up 5

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks finished mixed Wednesday after consumer prices showed a larger-than-expected increase in January and minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed the central bank considered but decided against taking a more dovish tone on the threat of inflation.

The Nasdaq composite index closed at a new high for the year, while the Dow Jones industrials fell.

Inflation again commanded Wall Street's attention, with the latest readings leaving some investors unnerved. Only last week Wall Street rallied after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that inflation appeared to be moderating as the economy was showing sustainable growth. The Fed minutes showed policy-makers saw economic threats spurred by the weak housing market were easing but not sufficiently to sound the all-clear on inflation.

The Labor Department's report that the consumer price index rose 0.2 percent in January came as a surprise to Wall Street, which had expected an 0.1 percent increase. Declines in energy prices didn't fully offset a rise in costs of medical care, food and airline tickets. The core figure, which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices, rose a greater-than-expected 0.3 percent.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/wall_street.html?.v=33

[citizen snips]

91. Abercrombie 4Q Earnings Rise 20 Pct.

NEW ALBANY, Ohio (AP) -- Abercrombie & Fitch said on Wednesday that its fourth quarter earnings jumped 20 percent, powered by strong sales as the teen retailer continues to expand its Hollister line of stores that cater to teens with surfer-inspired looks.

Abercrombie said it made $198.2 million, or $2.14 per share, for the quarter ended Feb. 3 compared with profits of $164.6 million, or $1.80 per share, a year ago. Sales rose 18 percent to $1.14 billion from $960.4 million a year ago. Same-store sales for the quarter fell 3 percent.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings of $2.14 a share on revenue of $1.1 billion.

The results were released after the New York Stock Exchange was closed. Abercrombie shares ended the day at $82, down 64 cents.

Abercrombie shares have been trading near their record high of $83.82. The shares have been as low as $49.98 in the past year.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/earns_abercrombie.html?.v=4

[citizen snips]

92. delete

[citizen snips]

93. DJIA Leaders & Laggards: HPQ, MSFT

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. suffered the biggest loss Wednesday on the Dow Jones Industrial Average amid concerns about rising inventories in its fiscal first-quarter report.

The index gave up 48.23 to close at 12,738.41.

Shares of H-P, the Palo Alto, Calif., computer and printer maker, gave up $2.03, or 4.7 percent, to end at $41.10 on the New York Stock Exchange.

General Motors Corp. slipped 58 cents, to $35.37 on the NYSE.

Intel Corp., the world's biggest chip maker, lost 30 cents to close at $20.88 on the Nasdaq Stock Market as investors traded on concerns about a difficult quarter for chip makers.

On the winning side, Microsoft Corp. gained 52 cents to $29.35 on the Nasdaq.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/djia_laggards.html?.v=1

[citizen snips]

94. S&P 500 Leaders & Laggards: HPQ, VMC

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. helped drag the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lower Wednesday after concerns about an inventory buildup, heated competition and pressure on margins weighed on the stock.

Shares of the Palo Alto, Calif., computer and printer maker gave up $2.03, or 4.7 percent, to $41.10 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The S&P 500 Index ended down 2.05, at 1,457.63.

Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. fell $2.52, or 4.6 percent, to close at $52.02 on the New York Stock Exchange after the company posted a steep slide in sales of defibrillators in the U.S.

H&R Block Inc. also finished lower, after a UBS analyst cut the stock's price target by $1 to $24 on concerns about the tax consultant's year over year client growth and its subprime mortgage lending business.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/hewlett_packard_s_p_500_laggards.html?.v=1

[citizen snips]

95. Nasdaq Leaders & Laggards: JOYG, SYMC

NEW YORK (AP) -- Joy Global Inc. emerged as the biggest winner among the Nasdaq 100 stocks Wednesday as the sector benefited from outlooks for strong demand for mining machinery and other heavy equipment.

Shares of the mining equipment maker added $3.85, or 7.7 percent, to finish at $53.98.

The Nasdaq 100, which includes 100 of the largest nonfinancial securities on the Nasdaq, ended up 5.42 at 1839.13. The broader Nasdaq composite index closed with a gain of 5.38, at 2518.42.

Apple Inc. also ended higher after Prudential Equity Group said the computer and iPod maker is poised for a solid fiscal second quarter amid strong Macintosh sales.

more...
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070221/apfn_nasdaq_laggards.html?.v=1

[ozymandius]

96. Here's the formal ending.

Dow 12,738.41 Down 48.23 (0.38%)
Nasdaq 2,518.42 Up 5.38 (0.21%)
S&P 500 1,457.63 Down 2.05 (0.14%)
10-Yr Bond 4.692% Up 0.012
NYSE Volume 2,626,833,000
Nasdaq Volume 2,077,007,000

4:20 pm : The indices finished mixed Wednesday as a modest warning signal about a potential firming in inflation rates weighed on sentiment and exacerbated the temptation to take some money off the table.

Mindful that so many indices -- from the Dow Industrials, Transports and Utilities to the S&P 400 MidCap and Russell 2000 -- hit record highs a day earlier, a sense that stocks are overbought on a short-term basis contributed to an underlying sense of nervousness as investors awaited the latest read on consumer inflation.

Valuation concerns came under additional scrutiny around 8:30 ET when the Labor Dept. showed that core CPI in January rose 0.3%. That was the biggest increase since June and followed three consecutive tame readings of 0.1%. It also pushed the year-over-year increase in the core rate to 2.7%, clearly above the Fed's desired range.

While the one month read on inflation does not signal a new trend, it does signal that inflation pressures may not have diminished as much as the market had hoped, which tarnished the Goldilocks scenario painted last week by Fed Chairman Bernanke's surprisingly dovish commentary.

With the Dow fresh off closing in record territory for four straight days, it wasn't surprising to see the blue-chip average come under some profit-taking pressure. The Dow's biggest disappointment was Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 41.09 -2.04), which plunged 4.7% after failing to impress shareholders with its earnings release last night. H-P's Q1 earnings topped Wall Street forecasts, but Q2 guidance that barely exceeded analysts' expectations gave investors an excuse to lock in recent gains. The stock is up 50% since bottoming in June of last year.

Fellow Dow component Microsoft (MSFT 29.35 +0.52), however, fared much better and was the biggest reason behind the Nasdaq's ability to hold onto a small gain. Microsoft, the tech-heavy Composite's most heavily-weighted component, was up 1.8% following reports that the state of Texas is expected to generate more than $6 bln of Windows Vista-related products and services this year.

Of the eight sectors closing lower, Utilities turned in the worst performance but the absence of leadership in the more influential Health Care sector was more noteworthy. Medtronic (MDT 51.91 -2.63) topped Wall Street expectations last night, but management narrowing its full-year revenue and earnings guidance earmarked the stock as the sector's biggest laggard (-4.8%).

Dow component Merck (MRK 43.94 -0.56) plunging 1.4% after reportedly suspending its Gardasil mandatory-vaccination campaign also offset strength among PBMs -- one of the day's best performing S&P industry groups. Medco Health Solutions (MHS 67.66 +6.07) soared nearly 10% to an all-time high after following up a 29% rise in Q4 profits by projecting 2008 EPS growth of at least 20%.

Materials was the day's best performing sector, but that was due in large part to gold prices, which can act as an inflation hedge, surging 3.2% to nine-month highs. Energy also finished to the upside and helped to offset some of the losses on the S&P 500. However, renewed enthusiasm for beaten down energy names also came at the expense of surging oil prices.

Crude for April delivery rose 2.1% and closed above the psychological $60/bbl mark in anticipation that tomorrow's weekly inventory report will show a larger than expected drawdown in distillates. Even though total CPI rose just 0.2% in January, reflecting the fact that falling energy prices remain a factor in pulling down overall inflation rates, oil prices above $60/bbl raise concerns about the commodity's potential to curb spending and worsen what is already expected to be a year of decelerating earnings growth. DJ30 -48.23 NASDAQ +5.38 SP500 -2.05 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1488/1531/2.05 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1799/1479/1.37 bln