Business Headlines For September 30, 2009

Asian Markets Trade Higher on Recovery Expectations

By Shani Raja

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks rose, lifting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to its seventh monthly advance, after China’s central bank said it will retain a “moderately loose” monetary policy and NGK Insulators Ltd. increased its profit forecast.

Poly Real Estate Group Co. rose 3.3 percent after the People’s Bank of China said stimulus measures to boost domestic demand will continue. NGK Insulators surged 8.8 percent in Tokyo after citing growing demand for products related to cars and electronics for its higher forecast. Billabong International Ltd., Australia’s biggest surfwear maker, climbed 4 percent on a better-than-estimated retail sales report.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.1 percent to 118.03 as of 7:20 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge is set for its second-straight quarterly advance, having climbed 14 percent in the past three months as economies around the world emerged from recession.

“The recovery is moving from being supported by governments and central banks to being a bit more self- sustained,” said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist at AMP Capital Investors, which manages about $75 billion. “Across Asia we’re seeing strong private demand as well as a strong pick-up in actual measures of economic activity.”

The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.9 percent in China, where markets are closed from tomorrow for a week-long holiday. The country’s central bank said it will maintain its moderately loose monetary policy to sustain an economic recovery.

Taiwan’s Taiex Index rose 1.1 percent, while Japan’s Topix Index added 0.7 percent. The Bank of Japan may decide as soon as next month to let its emergency corporate-debt buying programs expire as businesses regain access to private funding, people with knowledge of the discussions said….

European Stocks Move Higher

By Sarah Jones

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — European stocks rose for a third day, extending the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index’s biggest quarterly rally this decade, as Chinese manufacturing expanded and the International Monetary Fund reduced its estimate for bank writedowns. U.S. index futures and Asian shares gained.

Man Group Plc, the largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, soared 6.2 percent after assets under management increased. Adidas AG added 2.4 percent as rival Nike Inc. posted earnings that beat analysts’ projections. Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second-largest maker of semiconductors, climbed 6.7 percent after Exane BNP Paribas recommended the shares.

The Stoxx 600 rose 0.6 percent to 245.08 as of 10:57 a.m. in London. The benchmark gauge for European equities has surged 19 percent since the end of June, the steepest quarterly increase since 1999, as the European Central Bank kept interest rates at a record low and the French and German economies unexpectedly exited recessions.

“The market seems to be resisting skepticism about the economic recovery,” said Mark Bon, a London-based fund manager who helps oversee about $750 million at Canada Life Ltd. “There is increasing evidence that the recovery is coming through. You have to be in the market rather than standing on the sidelines.”

U.S. Futures

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent before data on gross domestic product, employment and business activity that may show the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression eased and the economy is probably now in the early stages of recovery. The measure is heading for the biggest quarterly increase since 1998……

Oil Trades Up A Stick Above $67pb

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The greenback tumbled to 1.4646 against the euro during early deals on Wednesday. This may be compared to Tuesday’s New York session closing value of 1.4589. On the downside, the next likely target for the greenback is seen around the 1.472 level.

Eurozone consumer prices were down 0.3% on a yearly basis in September, a flash estimate issued by the Eurostat said today. In August, prices had declined 0.2%. Economists were expecting the consumer price index to drop at the same pace of 0.2% in September.

The Eurostat is slated to release the final data on October 15. The European Central Bank, which aims to keep inflation rates below, but close to 2% over the medium term, raised its inflation outlook in September. The central bank now expects consumer prices to rise 0.4% in 2009.

Another report from the euro-area showed that the seasonally adjusted number of unemployed in Germany fell 12,000 in September, more than the revised decline of 5000 in August. The fall was surprising as economists were expecting an increase of 20,000 in the number of people out of work in September.

The US dollar slumped to a 6-day low against the UK currency and hit as low as 1.6099 by 4:50 am ET Wednesday. At Tuesday’s close, the pair was quoted at 1.5964. If the dollar slides further, 1.638 is seen as the next likely target level……

Australian Dollar, Retail Sales, & Home Lending Rise

By Jacob Greber

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Australian retail sales, approvals to build private homes and bank mortgage lending jumped in August, stoking speculation the central bank will raise borrowing costs from a half-century low in coming weeks.

Sales climbed 0.9 percent from July and approvals to build private houses increased 3.1 percent, the eighth consecutive month of gains, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Bank lending rose 0.1 percent and loans to consumers buying houses jumped 0.6 percent, a central bank report showed.

The nation’s currency jumped to the highest level in 13 months as investors bet rising demand for credit and sales at department stores such as David Jones Ltd. will add to pressure on central bank Governor Glenn Stevens to raise the benchmark interest rate from 3 percent. House prices have jumped 7.9 percent this year, according to a separate report today.

“It makes sense for the Reserve Bank to start withdrawing policy support at the earliest opportunity,” said Sydney-based JPMorgan Chase & Co strategist Stephen Walters, the only economist among 17 surveyed by Bloomberg News who expects Stevens to raise the overnight cash rate target next week. The rest expect an increase in November.

“The Reserve Bank took the cash rate down to ‘emergency’ and ‘unusually low’ settings earlier this year because there was an emergency,” Walters added. “Today’s evidence indicates the emergency has passed.”

Dollar Rises….

Bank of Japan Said To End Debt Purchases Soon

By Masahiro Hidaka and Mayumi Otsuma

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — The Bank of Japan may decide as soon as next month to let its emergency corporate-debt buying programs expire as businesses regain access to private funding, people with direct knowledge of the discussions said.

Officials are concerned that maintaining their purchases of corporate bonds and commercial paper beyond the scheduled end in December would distort capital markets, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private.

The decision would echo steps by central banks around the world to pare back unprecedented measures to unfreeze credit as the financial industry stabilizes. At the same time, because Japan’s economic recovery is threatened by rising unemployment and deflation, policy makers are likely to keep the benchmark interest rate target near zero into next year, analysts said.

“There is no doubt that the central bank is heading toward unwinding the credit-easing steps,” said Eiji Hirano, who worked at the central bank for 33 years until 2006 and served as an executive director. “BOJ policy makers are now signaling their intention to end them and they seem to be having a sort of dialogue with markets to test their reaction,” said Hirano, who is now a Tokyo-based director at Toyota Financial Services Corp.

Fed, ECB

The Federal Reserve this month said it would shrink programs that auction loans to banks and Treasuries to bond dealers, citing “continued improvements” in markets. The European Central Bank said Sept. 24 it will stop its longer- dated dollar liquidity operations because of limited demand.

Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Hirohide Yamaguchi said on Sept. 18 that the central bank needs to “be mindful that keeping the temporary measures for a long time may hurt an autonomous recovery of market functions and invite the distortion of the allocation of resources.” Earlier in the month, Miyako Suda, a Bank of Japan board member, said the need for the measures is “diminishing.”

The yen rose to 89.76 per dollar at 3:18 p.m. in Tokyo from 90.09 late yesterday in New York. The yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds rose one basis point to 1.29 percent after a Trade Ministry report showed industrial production climbed for a sixth month in August.

Waning Usage

Japan’s central bank found no lenders offering to sell it commercial paper on Sept. 18; as of the end of August, it had 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) of the securities on its balance sheet, about 3 percent of the 3 trillion yen the bank allowed itself to hold. The Bank of Japan held 200 billion yen of corporate bonds, only one-fifth of the limit set by officials….

Japans Industrial Output Rises 1.8%

By Jason Clenfield and Tatsuo Ito

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Japanese manufacturers increased production for a sixth month in August, capping the longest stretch of gains in 12 years, as emergency spending by governments worldwide rekindled global trade.

Factory output rose 1.8 percent last month after climbing 2.1 percent in July, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo, matching the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Companies said they plan to increase output by 1.1 percent this month and 2.2 percent in October, today’s report showed. Manufacturers including Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. are hiring workers to meet higher demand as production rebounds from a record collapse in the first quarter this year.

“We’re not going to fall back into recession, but these production increases don’t bring us back to where we started,” said Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “You’ve still got a lot of excess capacity.”….

China’s Manufacturing Expands For a Sixth Month

By Bloomberg News

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Chinese manufacturing expanded for a sixth month in September on government stimulus spending and record bank lending in the first half of the year, a purchasing managers’ index released by HSBC Holdings Plc showed.

The index dropped to a seasonally adjusted 55 from August’s 16-month high of 55.1, HSBC said in an e-mailed statement today. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.

Premier Wen Jiabao said Sept. 10 that it’s too early to withdraw stimulus measures that are countering a slump in exports. China’s State Council announced yesterday bans on building aluminum smelters for three years and the expansion of the steel industry for an unspecified period to prevent overcapacity problems undermining the recovery of the world’s third-largest economy.

“China’s economic activities will continue to accelerate and further cement the nation’s recovery,” said Xing Ziqiang, an economist at China International Capital Corp. in Beijing. “Exports may soon start to rebound as the U.S. and Europe emerge from recession.”

The yuan traded at 6.8268 against the dollar as of 2:36 p.m. in Shanghai, from 6.8275 before the data were released.

An output index fell to 57.6 from 58.4 in August, a measure of new orders declined to 58 from 59.3, and an export-order index dropped to 54.4 from 54.9. The employment index rose to 53, the highest level in 25 months, on climbing sales, HSBC said.

Cement, Coke

The government has this year highlighted overcapacity as one of the nation’s biggest problems. The detailed measures announced yesterday also include a temporary halt to new cement projects and a ban on expanding coke projects for three years.

The State Council’s warning that overcapacity has the potential to undermine the nation’s recovery contrasted with the positive signs from the PMI…..

ECB Lends $110bln Which Was Less Than Expected

By Gabi Thesing

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — The European Central Bank will lend banks less money than economists forecast in its second 12-month auction of unlimited funds, indicating banks’ need for cash has eased for now.

Banks bid for 75.2 billion euros ($110 billion) at the current benchmark interest rate of 1 percent, the Frankfurt- based ECB said today. It loaned a record 442 billion euros at the first auction in June and economists had forecast demand for 137.5 billion euros this month, according to the median of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

“That it came that low is a bit of a surprise,” said Jan Misch, a money-market trader at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart. “However, even expectations for anything beyond 100 billion were exaggerated in the first place. There isn’t just any major need for liquidity.”

The ECB, which will offer banks 12-month loans for a third time on Dec. 15, is flooding the system with money in the hope it will be lent on to companies and households. Money-market rates have dropped as the economy shows signs of emerging from recession and banks become less wary of lending to each other.

The euro extended its advance against the dollar after the announcement and was up 0.6 percent to 1.4667 as of 11:03 a.m. in London.

‘Encouraging’

“Weaker demand for ECB loans probably reflects the fact that banks feel more able to borrow from each other, which is encouraging,” said Jennifer McKeown, an economist at Capital Economists Ltd. in London. Still with banks “still concerned about further losses to come, there is a good chance that they will hoard the funds rather than lending them to firms and consumers.”…..

German Unemployment Rises

By Rainer Buergin and Christian Vits

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — German unemployment rose in September, posing a challenge for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s incoming coalition even as signs mount that the worst of the economic crisis is over.

The number of people out of work rose 10,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, before statistical changes are taken into account, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. Including the changes, unemployment declined by 12,000 to 3.46 million. The agency said there is “no turnaround” in the labor market and the economic crisis continues to affect joblessness.

Merkel, whose government introduced stimulus measures including subsidies to sustain employment, plans to form a coalition of her Christian Democrats and Free Democratic Party after the Sept. 27 elections. While consumer and business confidence is rising as Germany climbs out of its deepest recession since World War II, job-cutting by companies from Jenoptik AG to BASF SE is marring the economic outlook……

IMF Expects More Losses For Global Economies

By BOB DAVIS

ISTANBUL — Rising global securities prices reduced the International Monetary Fund’s estimate of bank losses, but banks around the world — especially in Europe — still are likely to face additional write-downs of $1.5 trillion by the end of next year, the IMF said.

Overall, the IMF calculates that the global financial crisis will produce $3.4 trillion in losses for financial institutions, between 2007 and 2010, a chunk of which already has been recognized. That estimate is $600 billion less than the IMF forecast in April, largely reflecting an increase in the prices of securities held by financial institutions since then.

The IMF projected total losses in the banking sector specifically will reach $2.8 trillion. That is the same as in April, but the figures aren’t directly comparable because the IMF reworked its methodology, in part to track potential losses in European banks. Of that amount, the IMF said, banks globally have written down $1.3 trillion and have additional potential losses of $1.5 trillion facing them.

As in past estimates, the IMF said that banks in the U.S. are further ahead in dealing with potential losses than those in Europe. Banks in the U.S. have recognized about 60% of anticipated write-downs, the IMF calculated. Banks in the Britain and continental Europe have recognized only about 40% of their potential losses.

The IMF said that U.S. banks’ portfolios rely more on securities, and thus have benefited from the recent gains in stock markets. Banks in Europe, however, are more dependent on loans to Eastern Europe and other beleaguered markets, whose economies remain vulnerable.

“Financial markets have rebounded, emerging-market risks have eased, banks have raised capital and wholesale funding markets have reopened,” the IMF said. “Even so, credit channels are still impaired and the economic recovery is likely to be slow.”

The IMF urged governments to continue pressing financial institutions to dispose of toxic assets and build capital cushions.

The fund estimated that bank losses in the U.S. and Europe over the coming year or so were likely to outpace the banks’ retained earnings over that time, reducing their equity. By several measures of capital, banks in the U.S. and the U.K. were in better shape than their counterparts in continental Europe, the IMF found.

Private-sector demand for credit is likely to remain “anemic,” the IMF said. But vastly increased public borrowing could put upward pressure on interest rates and undermine what is likely to be a tepid recovery.

Historical evidence suggests that a 1 percentage point increase in the fiscal deficit, if long lasting, helps produce an increase in long-term interest rates of between 0.1 and 0.6 percentage point. Picking the middle of that range, the IMF said increase in the budget deficits by sums equal to between 5 and 6 percentage points of gross domestic product — well within the range of possibility in the U.S. and Europe — could boost long-term interest rates by 1.5 to 2.0 percentage points. That, the IMF warned, would have “very adverse growth consequences.”…..

Boston Scientific To Settle With J & J

By KEITH J. WINSTEIN

Boston Scientific Corp. agreed to pay $716 million to Johnson & Johnson to settle 14 lawsuits over conlficting patent claims, including one that had resulted in a verdict in favor of J&J that Boston Scientific had appealed.

The settlement, announced Tuesday, resolves most of Boston Scientific’s legal liability to J&J after 12 years of lawsuits over stents, popular medical devices that prop open clogged arteries to relieve chest pains. At least three suits between the two companies remain unresolved.

In one, J&J won a court victory without a monetary judgment, but Boston Scientific has estimated the decision will cost it at least $237 million.

Also still alive is a case in which Boston Scientific won a patent verdict against J&J. That case also hasn’t had a sum attached to it…..

FDIC Paints A Deadly Picture For Bank Health

Via ZeroHedge, comes a smoking gun release today from the FDIC. I mentioned last week that the FDIC, which is essentially broke (and by the FDIC, I mean, of course, the DIF – the Deposit Insurance Fund which insures customer deposits up to $250,000), was discussing a plan to re-fund itself by borrowing from its member banks. Today’s FDIC press release confirms just that. “But wait, Kid Dynamite,” you might say, “the release says that the FDIC will have banks prepay 3 years worth of fees.” Yes – that’s the same as borrowing from the banks.

Sadly, the FDIC wants to go this route, instead of using a special assessment on the banks, because, in their own words:

“Furthermore, any additional special assessment or immediate, large increase in assessment rates would impose a burden on an industry that is struggling to maintain positive earnings overall.”

In plain English, that’s like saying “everyone wants to pretend that the banks are solvent, but if we make them actually pay us extra money, it will make it harder to cover up the fact that the banks are insolvent.” Thus, we wave a magic wand, and even though the FDIC is asking the banks for 3 years worth of money today, the banks will be able to recognize the cost over 3 years. Since when do we treat insurance as a depreciating asset? It’s not like when you buy an airplane and recognize the cost over 20 years! There is a simple, unarguable fact: if Citibank pays the FDIC $1B TODAY (I’m making this number up) in fees for the next 3 years, Citibank has $1B less in cash today. Not $333MM less in cash – $1B less in cash.

The FDIC’s release today is a must read – it contains some serious and scary truths about our national financial situation, despite what the press and the administration have been telling us over the past six months.

Take, for example, this gem:

“Staff’s current projection of $100 billion in failure costs from 2009 through 2013 is higher than staff’s projection in May of $70 billion over the same period. Projected failures have increased due to further deterioration in the condition of insured institutions, as reflected in the increasing number of problem institutions. Asset quality problems among insured institutions are not expected to abate in the near-term.”

In plain speak: While you read headlines every day about the end of the recession, improvement among all metrics, green shoots, and how great it is to have 9.7% unemployment and over 500k in new jobless claims weekly, the fact of the matter is that in the last 4 months, the estimate for losses from bank failures over the next 4 years has increased by 43%! And guess what – asset quality problems are not expected to abate!

The FDIC also reminds us of their previous time frame for restoring the Deposit Insurance Fund:

“In October 2008, the Board adopted a Restoration Plan to return the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF or the Fund) to its statutorily mandated minimum reserve ratio of 1.15 percent within five years. In February 2009, given the extraordinary circumstances facing the banking industry, the Board amended its Restoration Plan to allow the Fund seven years to return to 1.15 percent. In May 2009, Congress amended the statute governing establishment and implementation of the Restoration Plan to allow the FDIC up to eight years to return the DIF reserve ratio back to 1.15 percent, absent extraordinary circumstances.”

So, last year, the FDIC hoped to replenish the DIF within 5 years. As reality hit, they adjusted this estimate to a 7 year time frame in February. Then, in May, despite an epidemic spread of green shoots in the media, the FDIC again extended the estimate of time needed until the DIF was replenished to 8 years.

There is another terrifying tidbit in the FDIC’s release that’s easy to gloss over:

“At the beginning of this crisis, in June 2008, total assets held by the DIF were approximately $55 billion, and consisted almost entirely of cash and marketable securities (i.e., liquid assets). As the crisis has unfolded, the liquid assets of the DIF have been used to protect depositors of failed institutions and have been exchanged for less liquid claims against the assets in failed institutions. As of June 30, 2009, while total assets of the DIF had increased to almost $65 billion, cash and marketable securities had fallen to about $22 billion. The pace of resolutions continues to put downward pressure on cash balances. While the less liquid assets in the DIF have value that will eventually be converted to cash when sold, the FDIC’s immediate need is for more liquid assets to fund near-term failures.”

This is the doozy – the FDIC has been exchanging cash for trash – as banks fail, the FDIC takes assets (as they’ve admitted above: illiquid, presumably low quality paper – perhaps MBS that will turn out worthless?) and gives the failed banks cash to protect depositors. The last sentence of the quote above presumes that in the end, if they wait long enough, these illiquid assets will have value. The problem is, the FDIC needs cash now, and these assets simply cannot be sold for what we’re pretending they are worth right now. If you’ve been following the crisis, you should realize that this is no different from what the banks the FDIC has NOT yet seized have been hoping – that their trash assets will eventually recover. Everyone is sitting around extending and pretending, delaying and praying, refusing to mark to market, and keeping their fingers crossed that in the end, these assets will be worth what we pretend they are worth. What happens if they’re wrong?

Obviously, I’m adamantly against continued attempts to hide the health of the banking industry. The FDIC doesn’t want to impose special fees on the banks because it’s a tough time for the banks, so they concoct a plan to cook the books -they admit this! They acknowledge that the “prepayment” plan doesn’t really change the balance of the fund!

“Although the FDIC’s immediate liquidity needs would be resolved by the inflow of approximately $45 billion in cash from the prepaid assessments, it would not initially affect the DIF balance. The DIF would initially account for the amount collected as both an asset (cash) and an offsetting liability (deferred revenue).”

When you pull forward revenue, you’re not improving the long term health of the insurance fund- you’re taking money now, and giving up money later.

We need to have another round of special assessments on the banks to shore up the DIF, write trash assets down to realistic levels, seize the bad banks, take the pain, and then we’ll be able to move on unencumbered by a never ending pile of bad debt. As we stand now, failed banks have passed their problems on to the other banks, since the FDIC has inherited fantasy assets which are clogging up the balance sheet of its fund.

A Look @ The Housing Market & Bubble Dynamics

The housing market is quickly becoming the focal point of the market tug-of-war.   Many pundits and analysts are arguing that the housing market has bottomed, but recent data points to potential potholes in this idea.  As regular readers know, I believe the strength in housing has been mostly due to seasonal factors and the first time home buyers tax credit.  I still believe housing is in a long-term secular bear market and that future performance is likely to be very similar to past bubbles.  I.e., flat:

In an effort to reflect both sides of the coin David Rosenberg brings us these excellent points from both the bulls and the bears:

But the bulls will point to the fact that:

• Sales are up five months in a row;

• Sales have reached an 11-month high;

• Sales are up 30% from the January trough;

• Inventories have collapsed to their lowest level since Nov/92;

• The unsold inventory backlog is down to 7.3 months’ supply from 7.6 in July and the 12.4 MS peak at the turn of the year.

The bears will point to:

• Sales were all in the West as builders rapidly unwind inventories — up 12.2% in one region; the rest of the country posted a 3.0% decline. So, hardly a broad-based pickup.

• Sales were driven by massive deflation — median new prices collapsed 9.5% MoM to $195,200 — the lowest since October 2003.

• A growing share of homes are being priced below $150k — a 29% share of all sales; barely over 2% of sales are now comprised of homes priced over $750k. Thank you first-time buyers, but what happens when the tax credits expire?

• It took the builders of median of 12.9 months to find a buyer for their completed homes … a record: a year ago it took them 9 months to unload the property.

• While home sales have now managed to stabilize on a year-over-year basis, all of the growth is on plan or “spec” — sales of finished product are down more than 20%

Perhaps most overlooked in the housing story is the shadow inventory.  As with all bubbles, we have the early buyers (in this case the first time home buyers) who come out to nibble when they believe prices have stabilized.  Unfortunately, the laws of supply and demand always reassert themselves and take prices sideways or lower for years to come.  The shadow inventory will be the primary culprit on the supply side of the equation over the coming years.  Rosenberg elaborates:

The Shadow Inventory Is Still Huge:

The bulls had a field day with the “improved” housing inventory data in the August reports, but what they can’t explain is why it is that prices continued to deflate. That can only mean that at the last price point, there were still more sellers (supply) than buyers (demand). Indeed, the “shadow’” inventory that does not show up in the official data is closer to 7 million housing units (equivalent to two years of supply!) when you add up all the current foreclosures, the homes entering into the foreclosure process and the number of mortgage borrowers who have not made a payment in the past year.

Let’s examine the data:

• As of July, there were 1.2 million loans that had just entered the foreclosure process.

• There are an additional 1.5 million existing units making their way through the foreclosure process.

• And, a further 217,000 homes in which the borrower has not made a mortgage payment in the past year, but the lender has yet to file notice. In other words, 17% of the homes that are a year past due or more are not yet in foreclosure, up from 8% a year ago.

This inventory has yet to hit the market, but it will. So pundits that get excited about two or three months of Case-Shiller data are spending too much time looking out the back window. More deflation is coming in residential real estate — this bear market in housing ain’t over yet. Remember, homes that are foreclosed typically go on to the market at discounts ranging between 10% and 50%.

Perhaps my favorite piece of classic bubble data is this ad from Hovnanian.  They are not only calling the bottom but predicting a “bounce”.   If this doesn’t stink of a suckers bet then I don’t know what does.  Classic bubble mentality….

* All information on this website is provided for general purposes and should not be misconstrued as financial advice. Always consult your financial advisor before acting on any of the information herein. You should always assume that the author(s) could have a vested interest in topics described and may or may not own securities and instruments discussed.

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