STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday, March 21, 2011

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday March 21, 2011

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON March 18, 2011

Dow 11,858.52 +83.93 (+0.71%)
Nasdaq 2,643.67 +7.62 (+0.29%)
S&P 500 1,279.20 +5.48 (+0.43%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.33 +0.06 (+1.84%)
30-Year Bond 4.46 +0.04 (+0.88%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours

Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
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Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. One report today

Mar 21 10:00 Existing Home Sales Feb 4.80M 5.05M 5.36M

Read more: http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm#ixzz1HEXiBXNs

[Ghost Dog]

45. Existing Home Sales Off 9.6% in February

After three consecutive months of higher existing home sales, they fell in February. Existing sales were down 9.6% from January to 4.88 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. Although analysts expected a decline, the month's performance was worse than the 5.1 million they predicted. This data suggests that home sales are probably settling around the 5 million mark, not in an enduring upward recovery.

... (charts, analysis) ...

Credit may be "unnecessarily tight" according to NAR, but banks would likely disagree. They have instituted enhanced credit criteria for a reason -- to avoid the sorts of losses seen during the housing bubble when credit was too loose. Moreover, these contract cancellations sound like sales that should not be occurring. If a buyer and seller agree on a price based on a bogus valuation, then the sale should not happen.

The other likely issue that Yun does not mention is simply weak demand. Unemployment remains high and home prices have begun declining again. That's a pretty obvious recipe for relatively weak home buying demand on the part of consumers.

/... http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/03/existing-home-sales-off-96-in-february/72784/

Also: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4780904

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Oil near $103 as allied coalition bombs Libya

SINGAPORE – Oil prices jumped to near $103 a barrel Monday in Asia after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed a "long war" amid a second night of allied strikes in the OPEC nation.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up $1.89 to $102.96 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 35 cents to settle at $101.07 per barrel on Friday.

In London, Brent crude was up $1.68 at $115.61 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.

A military coalition of the U.S., France, U.K. and other nations bombed tanks and anti-aircraft sites Sunday and deterred Libyan fighter jets from flying. Gadhafi said he would not resign and pledged to continue to attack the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

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

[Robbien]

24. Putin says the UN NFZ order "resembles medieval calls for crusades."

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/putin-blasts-defective-and-flawed-libyan-air-strikes-compares-them-oil-crusade-cautions-us-a




It is a shame that the media keeps calling it a No Fly Zone order when in reality it is an authorization to wage war on Libya. But shush, don't tell anyone.

[AnneD]

48. I don't understand all the hoopla over...

the no fly zone. I would think some pest strips would suffice. They seem to be setting wasp traps instead. :evilgrin:

[Pale Blue Dot]

3. Stock-Index Futures Rise as Japan Nuclear Crisis Eases; AIG, Hartford Gain

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 may extend a rebound from losses early last week, as concern eased that Japan may suffer a nuclear meltdown.

American International Group Inc. (AIG), Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) and Aflac Inc. (AFL) were among American insurers that gained in Europe as workers succeeded in cooling pools at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear complex. AT&T Inc. (T) rose 1.9 percent in Germany after agreeing to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) for about $39 billion.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June climbed 1.2 percent to 1,289.2 at 10:36 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 1 percent to 11,912, while Nasdaq-100 Index futures added 1.2 percent to 2,247.75.

U.S. stocks fell last week, sending the S&P 500 to the biggest drop since August, amid concern that Japan’s nuclear crisis and violence in Libya and Bahrain may curb the global economy. The benchmark for American equities declined 1.9 percent in the five days, following a 1.3 percent drop in the previous week and erasing at one point its 2011 gains.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-21/stock-index-futures-rise-as-japan-nuclear-crisis-eases-aig-hartford-gain.html

[Pale Blue Dot]

6. Sorry everyone!

Life turmoil may mean that the timing of the SMW thread may be a little erratic for a little bit. Rest assured that it will be there, however! :-)

[xchrom]

we appreciate it PBD. nt

[xchrom]

7. with smoke coming out of the reactors -- now we're not sure it's improving. nt

[Fuddnik]

36. Probably just hippies sitting in there getting high.

:hippie: :smoke: :hippie: :smoke: :hippie: :smoke: :hippie:

Nothing to worry about.

[xchrom]

37. ...

:spray:

[AnneD]

49. Cheech and Chong....

in Say nara Sucker.
Overview: Our 2 hippie slackers try to hide their stash of hash from the Japanese customs agents. Accidentally place it in a nuclear reactor and hilarity ensues.

[Demeter]

42. Oh, Really! The Crisis Has Eased

Meaning, the elites are ready for war games, and don't want to deal with it any more.

[rfranklin]

4. First rec! And it's snowing outside...

How exciting! NJ gets its annual March snowstorm. It was 70 degrees during the past week.

[Demeter]

9. Michigan has Snow forecast for the entire week starting tomorrow

or ice pellets....

the thunderstorm last night was quite loud, and it's damp and foggy out now.

[tclambert]

57. LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA! I can't hear you!

No snow! No! Take it back!

[xchrom]

5. recommend

[rfranklin]

8. Japan a "buying opportunity," will recover: Buffett

Japan a "buying opportunity," will recover: Buffett
1:40am EDT
By Hyun Joo Jin

DAEGU, South Korea (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett believes Japan's devastating earthquake is the kind of extraordinary event that creates a buying opportunity for shares in Japanese companies.

Japan, the world's third-largest economy, has been battling to bring an overheating nuclear plant under control after it was battered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that rattled global markets and prompted massive intervention in currency markets by the Group of Seven industrial nations.

"It will take some time to rebuild, but it will not change the economic future of Japan," Buffett said on Monday on a visit to a South Korean factory run by a company owned by one of his funds. "If I owned Japanese stocks, I would certainly not be selling them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-buffett-korea-idUSTRE72K0DL20110321

Good opportunity to profit on funeral homes!

[xchrom]

10. oy -- the vultures are circling. nt

[Po_d Mainiac]

40. Da Fukker is probably is creamin his shorts

waiting for the Cascadia to lurch, or the Yosemite caldera to burp.

Geez the cold-hearted :puke: is showing his true self.

[tclambert]

58. Well, that's what he does. When everybody else panic sells, he buys.

He plays the psychology of the market as well as the financial numbers.

[Po_d Mainiac]

41. dupe

[Demeter]

11. Wind Turbines Survive Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/19/958072/-Wind-Turbines-Survive-Earthquake-and-Tsunami-in-Japan

As the world collectively holds its breath and watches the Japanese attempt to squelch one disaster after another at the Fukushima Nuclear plant the question that doesn't seem to get asked is, so how did alternative energies do during the unfathomable earthquake and tsunami in Japan?

According to Kelly Rigg at the Huffington Post, the Country's Wind Turbine farms survived consecutive natural disasters so well that the Japanese Government is asking that the operators of the facilities step up production to make up for the lost power supply left by nuclear plant failures around Japan's North Island.

Yes, you read that right.

[maddogesq]

28. Gawd forbid our MSM reports that stuff.

All that cooky flower child energy from nature stuff wouldn't benefit their puppet masters, now would it?

For those of us who invest in wind and solar, it can be very frustrating to listen to the dweebs on CNBC who hype oil and gas stocks all day long. I actually saw First Solar on the NASDAQ ticker the other day and thought I was dreaming.

[Fuddnik]

35. Report?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

My dad owns two gas wells in West Virginia. When he was here last year, I had "Gasland" tivo'ed, and got him to watch about half of it. He asked, "How come I don't hear about this anywhere else?" He watches Faux more often than not. I keep telling him that's PART of the problem. The rest of the corporate media don't report shit either.

[AnneD]

50. Wind Power vs Nuclear Power in a disaster situation....

Is the difference between oops and oh shit!!!!!!

[plumbob]

60. There are 60 beautiful turbines 15 minutes from my house that produce

enough electricity for 44,000 homes, just the size of my hometown of population 100,000.

We switched from a provider using 99% nuclear, coal and oil charging 18.9 cents per KWH to one that uses 75% wind, and our 13 month contract is for 6.37 cents per KWH. So our average bill of around $250 has dropped to around $85 per month.

Switch back? Yeah, right after you shoot me....

[Demeter]

12. FRACKING: Tackling Corporate Power, One Town at a Time

http://www.truth-out.org/tackling-corporate-power-one-town-a-time68619

What’s a town to do when state regulatory agencies don’t keep corporate drilling out?

As more information about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," (a technique used during natural gas drilling) emerges, more and more cities and municipalities are organizing to keep drilling and fracking out of their own communities, but are surprised to find that they do not have the legal authority to say “no” to these corporate activities.

Last week, Mountain Lake Park, Maryland, with fewer than 2,500 residents, became the latest community to do something about this, adopting the state’s first ordinance banning corporations from natural gas drilling.

Drafted with the help of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, the ordinance comes on the heels of the City of Pittsburgh’s ordinance banning drilling by corporations, adopted in November. Both ordinances also eliminate the authority of corporations to wield their constitutional rights to override the municipality's wishes. Such constitutional rights and powers are often used by corporations to overturn local and state laws adopted to protect the environment and public health.

More and more communities are organizing to fight drilling and fracking, but are surprised to find that they do not have the legal authority to say “no” to these corporate activities...

[Demeter]

13. QE2: Richard Koo: How the West is Repeating Japan’s Mistakes

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/03/richard-koo-how-the-west-is-repeating-japans-mistakes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

VIDEO INTERVIEW

[Demeter]

14. WITH DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, CAN TAX SEASON BE FAR BEHIND?

TWO ARTICLES ON A TIMELY TOPIC:

Breaking News: Tax Revenues Plummeted

http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EL2Y8?OpenDocument

We take you now to the official data for important news. Federal tax revenues in 2010 were much smaller than in 2000. Total individual income tax receipts fell 30 percent in real terms. Because the population kept growing, income taxes per capita plummeted.

Individual income taxes came to just $2,900 per capita in 2010, down 36 percent from more than $4,500 in 2000. Total income taxes and income taxes per capita declined even though the economy grew 16 percent overall and 6 percent per capita from 2000 through 2010.

Corporate income tax receipts fell 27 percent and declined 34 percent per capita, even though profits boomed, rising 60 percent.

Payroll taxes increased slightly overall, but slipped per capita because the nation's population grew five times faster than the number of people with any work. The average wage also declined slightly.

You read it here first. Lowered tax rates did not result in increased tax revenues as promised by politician after pundit after professional economist...

MORE--A MUST READ!


What Should Corporate Tax Reform Look Like?

http://www.offthechartsblog.org/what-should-corporate-tax-reform-look-like/

With Congress likely to consider corporate tax reform this year, we’ve issued a report outlining the tests that a well-designed reform proposal should meet:

1. Contribute to long-term deficit reduction. Corporate tax revenues are now at historical lows as a share of the economy (see graph), at a time when the nation faces deficits and debt that are expected to grow to unsustainable levels. Although the top statutory corporate tax rate is high, the average tax rate — that is, the share of profits that companies actually pay in taxes — is substantially lower because of the tax code’s many preferences (deductions, credits and other write-offs that corporations can take to reduce their taxes). Moreover, when measured as a share of the economy, U.S. corporate tax receipts are actually low compared to other developed countries. All parts of the budget and the tax code, including corporate taxes, should contribute to deficit reduction. Well-designed corporate tax reform can improve economic efficiency and help on the deficit-reduction front at the same time.

2. Reduce the tax code’s bias towards debt financing. The current corporate tax code encourages corporations to finance their investments with debt (e.g., by issuing bonds) rather than equity (e.g., by selling stock). This encourages corporations to rely excessively on debt, which, as the recent financial crisis demonstrated, poses risks for both the firms and the broader economy. The tax code should be more even-handed in treating these two types of financing.

3. Reduce the tax code’s bias toward overseas investments. U.S. multinationals pay much lower taxes on profits from their overseas investments than on profits from their domestic investments. That gives corporations a strong incentive to shift economic activity and income from the United States to other countries. Policymakers should address the features of the corporate tax code that allow so much business activity to escape taxation and that favor foreign investments over domestic ones.

4. Improve economic efficiency by reducing special preferences. The corporate tax code taxes different kinds of corporate investments at very different rates. This “unlevel playing field” encourages businesses to choose among investments in substantial part based on their tax benefits, instead of making those decisions based entirely on investments’ real economic value. Policymakers should level the playing field through corporate tax reform.

5. Provide more neutral treatment of corporate and non-corporate businesses. Over time, various policy changes have made it easier for companies to enjoy the benefits of corporate status without being subject to the corporate income tax. Reform should reflect the guiding principle that firms engaging in similar activities and enjoying similar legal benefits should be taxed at similar rates.

6. Take specific steps to discourage tax sheltering. If policymakers lower thestatutory corporate tax rate to well below the top individual tax rate, they should also establish safeguards to prevent high-income individuals from sheltering their income in corporations in order to pay taxes at a lower rate.

Click LINK for the full report.

[Demeter]

15. Insurance and Banking: Risk, Resiliency and Harmonisation

http://londonbanker.blogspot.com/2011/03/insurance-and-banking-risk-resiliency.html

COMPARING risk management BY insurers with bankers: The two sectors manage risk quite differently, which is why there are rarely insurance crises and frequently banking crises. Insurance crises tend to occur when insurers act like banks (AIG Financial Products, MBIA and other monolines). Bank crises tend to occur when banks act like investment banks.

Insurers must not underwrite risks that they will not be able to cover in the event, and must therefore have reserves sufficient to perform at all times. This makes the insurers much more cautious about taking on risk, about pricing risk accurately at the time of contracting, and about managing reserves to be liquid when claims require payment. Regulation is fundamentally about solvency and selling.

Banks undertake risks on their books that they can only cover so long as they continue to have access to liquidity (funding, deposits, repos or central bank support). Bank capital is never enough to ensure performance without market liquidity for reserve assets. Banks are generally much less cautious about taking on risk, rely overmuch on incomplete models to price risk, and manage capital to optimise returns rather than ensure survival. Regulation focuses on capital (never enough on its own) rather than conduct, common sense and functional suitability.

One risk manager observed that in insurance the risks are exogenous, generally independent in occurrence, and finite. In banking the risks are too often endogenous, correlated in unpredictable ways, and of unknowable magnitude. As a result, a single bank failing has systemic consequences for the banking system, where a single insurance company failure has no systemic consequences for the insurance sector.

MORE

[Demeter]

16. "We Will Force You To Be Free" Broadcast 25 March, 2007

the concepts of positive and negative liberty introduced in the 1950s by Isaiah Berlin. Curtis briefly explained how negative liberty could be defined as freedom from coercion, and positive liberty as the opportunity to strive to fulfill one's potential. Tony Blair had read Berlin's essays on the topic, and wrote to him in the late 1990s, arguing that positive and negative liberty could be mutually compatible. He never received a reply, as Berlin was on his deathbed.

3 PART VIDEO

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17371.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17377.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17443.htm

[Demeter]

17. Time for Breakfast

Maybe food will make the day look better. Have at it, Marketeers!

[hamerfan]

21. I hope food works for ya,

Demeter. Coffee here and it looks as crappy out there as ever to me. :donut:

[AnneD]

52. I may begin taking up smoking....

coffee and cigs-the breakfast of the champion French Olympic team. Oh, wait....

[xchrom]

18. Loophole in Mortgage Fraud Settlement Could Give Billions to Biggest Banks

http://www.allgov.com/Where_is_the_Money_Going/ViewNews/Loophole_in_Mortgage_Fraud_Settlement_Could_Give_Billions_to_Biggest_Banks_110321

When is a $20 billion legal settlement not such a bad thing? When the fine print contains potentially tens of billions of dollars in future savings to make up for it.

A loophole in a foreclosure fraud settlement case could change the way banks and other creditors are treated during loan modifications.

Imagine a homeowner who has a mortgage and also a home equity line of credit or a second mortgage. The way it works now, if the homeowner can no longer pay and must give up the house, the proceeds from the sale of the house go first to the lender that holds the first mortgage. If there is money left over after the mortgage holder is paid off, then—and only then—does the holder of the second mortgage collect.



thanks to straight story.

[Ghost Dog]

19. (China) Economists urge selling US Treasuries

BEIJING – China faces high risks in holding a large amount of US Treasury bonds and should be cautious about further purchases, said economists home and abroad.

"China has to consider the safety of the huge amount of the US Treasuries it owns, it will do good to the nation if China could reduce it," said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to the Chinese central bank, during the China Development Forum 2011 held in Beijing.

China holds foreign exchange reserves worth $2.8 trillion, among which $1.15 trillion is used for buying into US Treasuries. "It's really a huge figure," said Yu.

"We could possibly buy much less than now when China wants to change the US Treasury bonds into commodities someday, thanks to the rising price of the commodities and decreasing price of the US bonds. Selling of the bonds will bring benefits to China," he added.

/... http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-03/19/content_12197090.htm

[Ghost Dog]

20. LEAP/E2020: Second half of 2011 – Get ready for the meltdown of the US Treasury Bond market

- Non-Copyright Public announcement GEAB N°53 (March 17, 2011) -

Beyond its tragic human consequences (1), the terrible disaster that has just hit Japan weakens the shaky US Treasury Bond market a little more. In the GEAB No. 52, our team had already explained how the sequence of Arab revolutions, this fall of the “petro-dollar” wall (2), would translate during 2011 into the cessation of the massive purchases of US Treasury Bonds by the Gulf States. In this issue, we anticipate that the sudden shock experienced by the Japanese economy will lead not only to the halt in US T-Bond purchases by Japan, but it will force the authorities in Tokyo to make substantial sales of a significant portion of their US Treasury Bond reserves to finance the enormous cost of stabilization, reconstruction and revival of the Japanese economy (3).

With Japan and the Gulf States alone accounting for 25% of the total 4.4 trillion USD of US federal debt (December 2010), LEAP/E2020 believes that this new situation which is asserting itself during the first quarter of 2011, against a background of China’s increasing reluctance (holding 20% of US Treasury Bonds) to continue to invest in US government debt (4), carries the seeds for the collapse of the US Treasury Bond market in the second half of 2011, a market that now has only a single buyer: the US Federal Reserve (5).

...

But beyond the Japanese and Arab shocks (see GEAB N°52 ), the process of US Federal debt market implosion in the second half of 2011 is accelerating under the effect of four other events:

. the introduction of budget austerity in the US (as anticipated in GEAB No. 47) which condemns US local authorities to a major crisis in the market for their debt ("Munis")
. impossible for the Fed to introduce QE3
. the inevitable rise in interest rates against a backdrop of global inflation
. the end of safe-haven status for the US currency.

Of course, these events are related and, characteristic of a major crisis, we are entering a period that will see a mutual strengthening of their effects, leading to this sudden shock in the second quarter of 2011. Incidentally, we could add a fifth event: the complete decisional paralysis of the US powers. The daily confrontation on virtually all subjects, between Republicans (hardened by the "Tea Parties") and Democrats (demoralized by an Obama administration that has betrayed the substance of its campaign promises (7)), tends to show, a little more each day, that Washington has become a sort of "Ship of Fools ", tossed about by events, without any strategy, without willpower, incapable of action(8); in other words, according to LEAP/E2020, when the US Treasury Bond collapse begins, one cannot expect anything from Washington other than a colossal squawking that will only worsen the crisis.

/Continues... http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-53-is-available-Global-systemic-crisis-Second-half-of-2011-Get-ready-for-the-meltdown-of-the-US-Treasury-Bond_a6091.html

--

[Fuddnik]

22. It looks like the end is fast approaching.

BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY!

[DemReadingDU]

31. Sobering stuff

and yet, the markets keep rallying. Party on, until we can't.

[Fuddnik]

34. Delusion mixed with 24 hour propaganda is a strong drug.

[Demeter]

44. It's not the Market--It's the Market-Makers

Who have programmed their portfolios so that the DOW MUST continue to levitate at 12k. They probably have target numbers for everything. They call it stability.

The question is, who is the target, the sheep they want to sheer? Everyone besides them is broke. Unless they are trying jujitsu on each other in a battle for Master of the Universe.....

[AnneD]

54. You notice that too....

how many months, despite the news, it really has not moved in any significant direction.

[Ghost Dog]

47. Treasury-Fed Ponzi Scheme:

... The truth is that the Ponzi Scheme of the U.S. Treasury issuing bonds and the Federal Reserve buying them up cannot last forever as PIMCO's Bill Gross noted in his March newsletter....

"Basically, the recent game plan is as simple as the Ohio State Buckeyes’ “three yards and a cloud of dust” in the 1960s. When applied to the Treasury market it translates to this: The Treasury issues bonds and the Fed buys them. What could be simpler, and who’s to worry? This Sammy Scheme as I’ve described it in recent Outlooks is as foolproof as Ponzi and Madoff until… until… well, until it isn’t."

Gross also noted in his recent newsletter that the Federal Reserve is currently buying up about 70 percent of all new U.S. government debt.

So now that Japan is out of the picture, how high will that figure go now?

/... http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/debt-problem-who-in-the-world-is-going-to-buy-the-billions-of-dollars-of-debt-the-u-s-government-is-constantly-pumping-out-now

[Hotler]

33. Wow! That sure brightened up my day.

This country is going to crash and crash hard and there is nothing we can do about it. 15 million unemployed and we can even get 1,000 to march on Washington.

[Ghost Dog]

46. Shaken: 10 Economic Disasters Threatening Global Financial Markets

... Unfortunately, it does not appear that things are going to settle down any time soon. The Japanese economy has been dealt a critical blow, the European sovereign debt crisis could flare up again at any moment and the U.S. economy could potentially plunge into another recession by the end of the year. The global economy and world financial markets were really struggling to recover even when things were relatively stable. If all of this global instability gets even worse, it could literally rip world financial markets apart.

Yes, things really are that bad. The mainstream media has been really busy downplaying the economic impact of the disaster in Japan and the chaos in the Middle East, but the truth is that these events have huge implications for the global economy. Today our world is more interconnected than ever, so economic pain in one area of the planet is going to have a significant effect on other areas of the globe.

... (List of 10) ...

Most people simply do not realize how fragile the global economy is at this point. The financial crash of 2008 was a devastating blow. The next wave of the economic crisis could be even worse.

So what will the rest of 2011 bring? Well, nobody knows for sure, but a lot of experts are not optimistic. David Rosenberg, the chief economist at Gluskin Sheff and Associates, is warning that the second half of the year could be very rough for the global economy: "A sharp slowing in global GDP in the second half of the year cannot be ruled out."

/... http://seekingalpha.com/article/259298-shaken-10-economic-disasters-threatening-global-financial-markets

--
(There are of course many voices saying essentially the same)...

[oberliner]

23. Here's what today's going to look like in the stock market...

Market up fairly big early - dips a bit late morning - gets back up slightly mid-afternoon - drops substantially towards the end of the day - closes slightly down.

[hamerfan]

26. So far you're right!

At 9:40:
DOW... +162
NASDAQ... +37
S&P500... +16

[DemReadingDU]

32. +206

trying to keep above 12,000 today

[oberliner]

38. Here comes the late-morning slump

DOW never seems to hold their early gains.

[xchrom]

25. Stock futures point to gains on Wall Street AT&T in focus after $39 billion deal for T-Mobile USA

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-rally-t-mobile-deal-in-focus-2011-03-21?dist=beforebell

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures pointed to strong opening gains Monday, as wireless carrier’s AT&T Inc.’s $39 billion deal for T-Mobile USA was followed by news of other corporate acquisitions.




hmmmph.

[xchrom]

27. U.S. stocks sharply up; Dow above 12,000

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-sharply-up-dow-above-12000-2011-03-21

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks started sharply higher Monday as Wall Street embraced AT&T Inc.'s /quotes/comstock/13*!t/quotes/nls/t (T 28.47, +0.53, +1.90%) planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA in a move that would make it the nation's biggest wireless player.

[Demeter]

53. And that's worth 170 points? I don't buy that

It's all phony.

[xchrom]

29. Housing, durables data may answer economy’s tough questions

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-durables-data-may-answer-tough-questions-2011-03-20

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The struggling economy will undergo an MRI exam this week that should provide useful information about what is ailing the expansion and when it might get back to normal.
MarketWatch consensus
See economic calendar
date report Consensus previous
March 21 Existing-home sales 5.1 mln 5.36 mln
March 23 New-home sales 290,000 284,000
March 24 Jobless claims 385,000 385,000
March 24 Durable-goods orders 1.6% 3.2%
March 24 Durables ex-transportation orders 2% -3%
March 25 Q4 GDP revision 3.1% 2.8%
March 25 Final UMich consumer sentiment 68.0 68.2
/conga/economy-politics/calendars/preview widget.html 134892

[cbdo2007]

30. Awesome - just sold some stuff that had been dragging me down for profits.

drinks are on me tonight!

[Corruption Winz]

39. Sorry... I only look at graphs and charts that have scope crosshairs on them. n/t

[Festivito]

43. Debt: 03/17/2011 14,223,730,274,180.80 (DOWN 9,119,719,774.30) (Thu, DOWN a lot.)

(Good day.)
Oh, I'm full. How many courses was this lunch.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,604,705,993,165.07 + 4,619,024,281,015.73
DOWN 14,916,428,437.31 + UP 5,796,708,663.01

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,209.36 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.63, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 311,588,192 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,649.13.
A family of three owes $136,947.39. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 20 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 20 reports is 5,007,048,349.52.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,338,032,233.01.
The average for the last 28 days would be 3,576,463,106.80.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 116 reports in 168 days of FY2011 averaging 5.71B$ per report, 3.94B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 675 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.7T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/17/2011 14,223,730,274,180.80 BHO (UP 3,596,853,225,267.72 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,662,107,243,289.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,438,506,808,336.44 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
02/25/2011 +025,792,712,781.54 ------------**********
02/28/2011 +054,201,582,504.95 ------------********** Mon
03/01/2011 -002,977,641,960.04 --
03/02/2011 +000,044,996,229.28 ------------*******
03/03/2011 +008,400,855,808.94 ------------*********
03/04/2011 +000,116,571,384.45 ------------********
03/07/2011 +000,111,602,744.60 ------------******** Mon
03/08/2011 +000,276,984,022.19 ------------********
03/09/2011 +000,555,472,651.94 ------------********
03/10/2011 -020,814,859,511.27 -
03/11/2011 +000,832,058,508.78 ------------********
03/14/2011 +000,380,093,829.66 ------------******** Mon
03/15/2011 +066,006,214,426.70 ------------**********
03/16/2011 +001,148,655,957.01 ------------*********
03/17/2011 -014,916,428,437.31 -

119,158,870,941.42 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4776591&mesg_id=4777794

[Festivito]

59. Debt: 03/18/2011 14,224,862,420,919.33 (UP 1,132,146,738.53) (Fri, UP a little.)

(Good day.)
Leftovers help to charge my new battery.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,605,322,229,226.30 + 4,619,540,191,693.03
UP 616,236,061.23 + UP 515,910,677.30

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 312-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.21 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,209.29 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.63, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 311,595,392 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $45,651.71.
A family of three owes $136,955.13. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 20 reports in the last 30 to 28 days.
The average for the last 20 reports is 5,001,527,056.40.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,334,351,370.93.
The average for the last 28 days would be 3,572,519,326.00.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 117 reports in 169 days of FY2011 averaging 5.67B$ per report, 3.92B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 674 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 15.1 and 17.7T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
03/18/2011 14,224,862,420,919.33 BHO (UP 3,597,985,372,006.25 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,663,239,390,027.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,432,440,102,722.33 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
02/28/2011 +054,201,582,504.95 ------------********** Mon
03/01/2011 -002,977,641,960.04 --
03/02/2011 +000,044,996,229.28 ------------*******
03/03/2011 +008,400,855,808.94 ------------*********
03/04/2011 +000,116,571,384.45 ------------********
03/07/2011 +000,111,602,744.60 ------------******** Mon
03/08/2011 +000,276,984,022.19 ------------********
03/09/2011 +000,555,472,651.94 ------------********
03/10/2011 -020,814,859,511.27 -
03/11/2011 +000,832,058,508.78 ------------********
03/14/2011 +000,380,093,829.66 ------------******** Mon
03/15/2011 +066,006,214,426.70 ------------**********
03/16/2011 +001,148,655,957.01 ------------*********
03/17/2011 -014,916,428,437.31 -
03/18/2011 +000,616,236,061.23 ------------********

93,982,394,221.11 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4780594&mesg_id=4780932

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

51. Right on!

[DemReadingDU]

55. Final Count: Pittman Wins, Fed Loses

3/21/11 Final Count: Pittman Wins, Fed Loses, As Supreme Court Refuses To Grant Confidential Data Disclosure Appeal Sought By Banks

In a crushing blow against the Fed and the banks that own it, in this case represented by the Clearing House Association, the Supreme Court rejected an industry appeal set forth by the CHA, that sought to keep critical bailout data from going public. The lawsuit was originally started by the great and late Mark Pittman, who tragically passed away around Thanksgiving 2009: we are confident we would be delighted to learn that his unprecedented act of suing the Fed in order to generate more transparency has finally succeeded.
.
.
.
We can only hope that the "Pittman precedent" forces millions more to send in FOIA requests for any and every aspect of Fed operations, forcing the US politburo to eventually brings its decision making process in the open, as much as Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein detest that.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/final-count-pittman-1-fed-0-supreme-court-refuses-grant-confidential-data-disclosure-appeal-

[Demeter]

56. The War on (Elizabeth) Warren By PAUL KRUGMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/opinion/21krugman.html

Last week, at a House hearing on financial institutions and consumer credit, Republicans lined up to grill and attack Elizabeth Warren, the law professor and bankruptcy expert who is in charge of setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Ostensibly, they believed that Ms. Warren had overstepped her legal authority by helping state attorneys general put together a proposed settlement with mortgage servicers, which are charged with a number of abuses...But the accusations made no sense. Since when is it illegal for a federal official to talk with state officials, giving them the benefit of her expertise? Anyway, everyone knew that the real purpose of the attack on Ms. Warren was to ensure that neither she nor anyone with similar views ends up actually protecting consumers...When the 2008 financial crisis struck, many observers — myself included — thought that it would force opponents of financial regulation to rethink their position. After all, conservatives hailed the debt boom of the Bush years as a triumph of free-market finance right up to the moment it turned into a disastrous bust.
But we underestimated the speed and determination with which opponents of regulation would rewrite history. Almost instantly, that free-market boom was retroactively reinterpreted; it became a disaster brought on by, you guessed it, excessive government intervention...

(Elizabeth Warren) took the lead in pushing for consumer protection as an integral part of financial reform, arguing that many debt problems were created when lenders pushed borrowers into taking on obligations they didn’t understand. And she was right. As the late Edward Gramlich of the Federal Reserve — another unheeded expert, who tried in vain to get Alan Greenspan to rein in predatory lending — asked in 2007, “Why are the most risky loan products sold to the least sophisticated borrowers?” And he continued, “The question answers itself — the least sophisticated borrowers are probably duped into taking these products.” Given Ms. Warren’s prescience and her role in shaping financial reform legislation — not to mention her effective performance running the Congressional panel exercising oversight over federal financial bailouts — it was only natural that she be appointed to get the new consumer protection agency up and running. And it’s hard to think of anyone better qualified to head the agency once it goes into action...The fact that she’s so well qualified is, of course, the reason she’s being attacked so fiercely. Nothing could be worse, from the point of view of bankers and the politicians who serve them, than to have consumers protected by someone who knows what she’s doing and has the personal credibility to stand up to pressure.

The interesting question now is whether the Obama administration will see the war on Elizabeth Warren for what it is: a second chance to change public perceptions...By the sheer craziness of their attacks on Ms. Warren... Republicans are offering the administration a perfect opportunity to revive the debate over financial reform, not to mention highlighting exactly who’s really in Wall Street’s pocket these days. And that’s an opportunity the White House should welcome. 

...
In retrospect, the financial crisis of 2008 was a missed opportunity. Yes, the White House succeeded in passing significant new financial regulation. But for whatever reason, it failed to change the terms of debate: bankers and the disaster they wrought have faded from view, and Republicans are back to denouncing the evils of regulation as if the crisis never happened...
And Republicans were clearly also hoping that if they threw enough mud, some of it would stick. For people like Ms. Warren — people who warned that we were heading for a debt crisis before it happened — threaten, by their very existence, attempts by conservatives to sustain their antiregulation dogma. Such people must therefore be demonized, using whatever tools are at hand.