Crack Spreads Rebound

Following Friday’s 7% drubbing, 321 spreads are higher by 2% this evening to $24.14.

Asian markets are bouncing off the low, but still week.

Hong Kong -0.74%
Japan -0.9%
Korea -0.96%
China +0.4%

WTI crude is down 0.5% and S&P futures are down 2. They were down 6 earlier this evening.

Wikileaks Argentina report:

Argentinean Embassy Cable: Hugo Chavez died of heart attack yesterday in Cuba. 06/25/11 08:43AM 0438VZ/11

Jennifer Pitts/The Journal Record, via Associated Press, left; Mark Peristein for The New York Times

“It’s time to get bullish on natural gas,” said Aubrey K. McClendon, left, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy. “This could have profound consequences for our local economy,” said Deborah Rogers, a committee member at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

By IAN URBINA

Natural gas companies have been placing enormous bets on the wells they are drilling, saying they will deliver big profits and provide a vast new source of energy for the United States.

But the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents and an analysis of data from thousands of wells.

In the e-mails, energy executives, industry lawyers, state geologists and market analysts voice skepticism about lofty forecasts and question whether companies are intentionally, and even illegally, overstating the productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves. Many of these e-mails also suggest a view that is in stark contrast to more bullish public comments made by the industry, in much the same way that insiders have raised doubts about previous financial bubbles.

FULL ARTICLE AT THE NY TIMES

By PHRED DVORAK And STUART WEINBERG

TORONTO—The stream of high-profile departures from Research In Motion Ltd.’s marketing department over the last few months has put the spotlight on an area where the BlackBerry maker has traditionally been weak: understanding and talking to ordinary consumers.

Long a company whose primary customers were telecommunications carriers and corporate IT departments, RIM has been struggling in a world where the fast-changing desires of retail consumers are driving smartphone sales. For the past two years, RIM has had more consumer subscribers than corporate ones, analysts estimate.

Going Mainstream

Research in Motion’s annual corporate and consumer subscribers.

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RIM executives were slow to see that smartphone buyers wanted high-powered handsets to play games and surf the Web, putting them behind in the smartphone “arms race,” as co-Chief Executive Mike Lazaridis described it on a conference call last week. The slowness resulted in product delays, and a backed-up slate of six or more BlackBerry models as well as potentially a PlayBook tablet with a 10-inch screen to roll out between late August and early next year, say people familiar with RIM’s product strategy.

The Swiss franc rose against all of its 16 most-traded peers, reaching a record against the euro, as investors sought safety on concern an austerity plan to stabilize Greece won’t resolve Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.

The dollar gained for a third week against the euro, the longest since February, on speculation Greece’s parliament may reject Prime Minister George Papandreou’s plan to cut the budget deficit, win more aid and avoid default. The pound slid for a fourth week against the dollar after U.K. policy makers discussed more monetary stimulus. Growth in U.S. manufacturing cooled in June, a report next week may show.

“All these headlines continue to add to uncertainty and nervousness amongst investors and continue to create the choppy price action that we’ve been seeing,” said Paresh Upadhyaya, head of Americas G-10 currency strategy at Bank of America Corp. in New York. “Just as you feel you’re on top of the Greek situation, you get thrown a curve ball.”

The franc touched 1.1806 versus the euro yesterday, the strongest level since the shared currency’s 1999 debut. It gained 2.6 percent for the week to 1.1826 per euro, from 1.2142 on June 17. The franc gained 1.8 percent to 83.31 centimes per dollar, from 84.82 centimes a week earlier.

FULL FX ROUNDUP AT BLOOMBERG

Where’s the inflation now?

1 Cotton -28.55
2 Uranium -25.75
3 Tin -23.06
4 Nickel -19.00
5 Oil -15.10
6 Lithium -11.91
7 Coffee -9.51
8 Natural Gas -9.15
9 Cocoa -8.61
10 Coal -8.42
11 Silver -8.19
12 Copper -8.17

Cashing in on the Casey Anthony Trial

People are finding ways to try and make money off the Casey Anthony trial.

For one, Chirag Kabrawala, an attorney at Latham, Shuker, Eden and Beaudine LLP, is a spokesperson for Casey Tours LLC, an Orlando tour bus company that is planning to open next week. “Casey” Tours is in reference to Casey Anthony, the 25-year-old on trial for the 2007 murder of her then two-year-old daughter Caylee.

According to Kabrawala, Casey Tours will take tourists on a guided trip to places that have become famous in the trial, including the Anthony home, Universal Studios (where Casey claimed to have worked when her daughter had disappeared), the home of “Zanny the Nanny” (where Casey claimed her nanny lived), the place where Caylee’s body was found, and the courthouse.

Read more: http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/entrepreneurs/2011/06/24/cashing-in-on-casey-anthony-trial/#ixzz1QL5NdpyG

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Report: Hugo Chávez in Critical Condition In Cuban Hospital

Hugo Chávez extended stay in a Cuban hospital is because he is in critical condition, according to a report in El Nuevo Herald.

The Venezuelan president, who was last seen in public June 9 and last heard from on June 12, on a phone call with Venezuelan state television, was said to have been treated for a pelvic abscess in Cuba.

During the call Chávez said that medical tests showed no sign of any “malignant” illness.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/06/25/report-hugo-chavez-in-critical-condition-in-cuba/#ixzz1QKzeM8gW

The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, has thrown the eurozone a vital lifeline and pledged to buy billions of euros of European debt to keep the single currency project alive.

Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, made the offer of help for the eurozone abefore boarding a flight to Britain for a three-day visit.

The move, which will be a relief to struggling eurozone countries including Greece, Portugal and Ireland, was announced as Mr Wen continues his four-day trip to Europe, arriving in Britain last night from Hungary and going on to Germany on Monday night.

China’s plan to continue to invest in the continent’s volatile sovereign debt market comes as efforts continue to prevent Greece’s financial crisis making it the first nation to be forced out of the euro.

“China is a long-term investor in Europe’s sovereign debt market,” Mr Wen said at a press conference with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban.

“In recent years we have increased by quite a big margin our holdings of government bonds. We will consistently continue to support Europe and the euro.”

He added: “China is ready to work with Europe to share opportunities, cope with challenges and achieve common development and to make unremitting efforts for stable development of the world economy and an in-depth development of China-Europe ties.”

FULL ARTICLE

Stop and smell those roses folks……

Full article and charts

Perhaps helicopter ben should consider some food stamps for joey the plummer if the transitory inflation trend turns out  be a analysis gone wrong…..

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Chapter 2 Summary: The Name of the Game is Bailout

“The American people have no idea they are paying the bill.  They know that someone is stealing their hubcaps, but they think it is the greedy businessman who raises prices or the selfish laborer who demands higher wages or the unworthy farmer who demands too much for his crop or the wealthy foreigner who bids up our prices.  They do not realize that these groups also are victimized by a monetary system which is constantly being eroded in value by and through the Federal Reserve System.” — G. Edward Griffin, The Creature From Jekyll Island, pg. 33.”

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Book download

NKE, AM, FDO, GIS, KBH, MON, APOL, STZ, DRI, MKC, SCHN

Winners

Losers

Italy may the next debt issue for markets to worry about. Moody’s has tipped the markets off; also recent trade and offerings by Italy’s largest banks have spelled some future trouble.

Get your type 5 tickets yo….

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Analysts feel the short term price action will be affected by the strategic release, but it will not effect the long term structural supply chain. Essentially the move is to allow for more time for OPEC to get their act together since their recent meetings ended up in no increases to global supplies.

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Another article for your reading pleasure

Birinyi:

“We’re still positive. We can always have corrections,” the president of Birinyi Associates told CNBC. “We’re in a long-term bull market, and just as we always do, we have periods where we slow down and stop.”
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