Crack Spreads Close +7.5%

to $32.8.

Please do not tell the refinery stocks.

Berlusconi pledges to do more.

Add in QE from the ECB, QE3 on our side of the pond,  and a potential stimulus; and you have DOW 15k by 2014.

Sounds crazy right ? But in a boom bust cycle world it is possible.

Enjoy your weekend!

We need a new paradigm

No. Ticker 2-week Return % Change Technical Score Market Cap
1 PMI -70.30 -28.90 1.51 66,250,000
2 DNDN -67.65 8.98 1.51 1,700,000,000
3 GTIV -58.24 -13.45 1.36 270,440,000
4 LEAP -55.43 0.15 1.41 522,680,000
5 SQNS -54.85 1.59 1.21 230,700,000
6 FBC -49.70 -2.91 1.26 360,260,000
7 AIB -48.89 3.23 1.51 1,140,000,000
8 SKH -48.24 -5.86 1.16 188,280,000
9 CYTR -47.17 -9.76 1.41 44,340,000
10 ENTR -46.96 3.62 1.46 354,700,000
11 IO -46.93 -2.27 1.49 955,430,000
12 STEC -46.53 1.69 1.21 487,060,000
13 MIPS -45.29 -30.33 1.36 320,520,000
14 SCOR -45.07 8.08 1.41 414,400,000
15 HOLI -44.79 -4.18 1.31 327,060,000
16 GOL -44.09 -3.82 1.31 1,770,000,000
17 SVNT -43.95 -4.66 1.46 324,430,000
18 PCS -43.88 2.90 1.26 3,340,000,000
19 SMSI -43.73 -1.35 1.41 79,630,000
20 ISTA -43.14 1.33 1.36 152,660,000
21 WLT -42.84 -4.33 1.31 4,850,000,000
22 MCZ -42.15 -31.53 1.36 70,390,000
23 PCX -42.08 -3.45 1.31 1,350,000,000
24 BRCD -41.90 -28.53 1.31 2,340,000,000
25 AKS -41.81 -0.43 1.40 1,020,000,000
26 IMAX -41.48 -2.91 1.26 1,110,000,000
27 USU -41.26 -12.55 1.40 291,360,000
28 FEED -40.11 -2.68 1.31 64,950,000
29 KFRC -39.96 2.66 1.36 342,470,000
30 EMKR -39.66 7.19 1.46 147,520,000
31 CLGX -39.50 -30.59 1.26 1,570,000,000
32 CLWR -39.11 4.26 1.36 433,320,000
33 IPHI -39.03 -5.19 1.16 298,520,000
34 AGP -38.52 0.65 1.11 2,380,000,000
35 HUN -38.15 3.60 1.46 2,990,000,000
36 NTSP -37.80 10.83 1.31 420,530,000
37 DVR -37.71 -6.72 1.47 383,520,000
38 CEDC -37.64 4.29 1.51 473,230,000
39 VPRT -37.63 0.89 1.41 1,210,000,000
40 HOV -37.50 2.14 1.51 132,210,000
41 FTWR -37.40 -18.17 1.31 45,480,000
42 MWA -37.15 0.00 1.51 345,160,000
43 SOMX -36.42 -5.93 1.36 53,100,000
44 BSFT -36.36 -8.00 1.21 699,590,000
45 WNC -36.30 -8.99 1.46 411,660,000
46 VHC -36.11 -1.44 1.71 1,140,000,000
47 OPWV -35.92 -1.27 1.31 134,640,000
48 GMR -35.83 -8.16 1.31 97,650,000
49 ITMN -35.82 -6.07 1.46 1,490,000,000
50 ACPW -35.78 -4.76 1.16 117,660,000

Tent cities keep popping up

Full report

Bifurcation in our society is alive and well. Some have and most have nothing.

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🙂

This could be the bottom folks…short term that is since we have many structural problems; at least good for some mom trade. Berlusconi speaks in 25 minutes

Traders are trying not to trade the rumors out of Europe, but the futures can keep you informed as to where we are going.

Over 1200-1204 S&P futures may be a good indicator buyers are coming back to the table.

Live S&P futures

short covering coming into the markets…..

+7% to $33.

Berlusconi put together a budget plan that passed the senate on July 15th.

Apparently the ECB wanst him to do more in terms of reform and austerity.

If anyone has some info concerning his character and belief structures it would help dramatically in determining if this sell off is close to being over.

Will Italians protest austerity the way Greece did ?

Unfortunately this may be our answer: ““We are radically against your economic policies, your policies in Europe, and this austerity plan,” Pier Luigi Bersani, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, said in the Chamber today. “Our bond spreads are widening again today, showing that this plan won’t shield us from the crisis.”

The Italians have been protesting the question is resolve….

Background budget passing

Read here:

Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, lost about $8 billion this week.

The Mexican billionaire’s stock portfolio, measured in U.S. dollars, has dropped about 11 percent since July 29, before today, and is valued at about $63 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 7.1 percent slide in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Slim, 71, has taken a hit as Mexico’s benchmark IPC index dropped 7.4 percent and the peso slid 2.5 percent against the dollar on concerns that the flagging U.S. economy will hurt demand for assets in its southern neighbor. The removal of three of Slim’s companies from the IPC index has made matters worse for the billionaire.

“He’s been particularly hurt by those companies leaving the IPC,” said Leon Cabrera, a trader at Mexico City-based Vanguardia Casa de Bolsa. “It reflects the nervousness out there. It’s part of being in the market.”

The ECB is probably looking for certain types of austerity measures, reforms on taxes, employment, and pensions…

The question now is will Berlusconi agree quickly or will he and Italians fight similar to Greece ?

Background

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in.

Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online.

The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds, has struggled to overhaul its business as mail volumes fall. It has said personnel costs weigh heavily and is facing a massive retiree health benefit prepayment next month.

“We are experiencing a severe cash crisis and are unable to continue to maintain the aggressive prepayment schedule,” Joseph Corbett, the agency’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.

“Without changes in the law, the Postal Service will be unable to make the $5.5 billion mandated prepayment due in September.”

Congress, which last week ended a vitriolic debate about the U.S. government’s debt levels and budget deficit, is now in recess until early September.

USPS cut work hours during the quarter by 3.1 percent compared to the previous year, when quarterly net losses were $3.5 billion.

The Postal Service said it lost $5.7 billion during the nine-month period ended June 30, compared to $5.4 billion in the same period of 2010.

In its fourth straight year of declines, the agency had a net loss of $8.5 billion for the 2010 fiscal year.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS0IjrQViCA&feature=player_embedded 450 300]

Wiedemer is a decent shot caller so his comments are not taken with a grain of salt…

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Great just what we need in  such a perilous moment….

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