FLASH: S&P Futures Lower

Off by 6.5, ahead of European trade.

FTSE -84
DAX -57
CAC -41

Considering yesterday’s gorilla smashing 5% melt ups, I’d say this is rather subdued.

Interesting commentary on the dollar…

“So let’s get this straight: the funding hole was €109 billion two months ago, and it is €172 billion, an incremental diferential of €63 billion in two months, or €360 billion annualized. “ 

Couple that with this and your right back to volatility and gaps downs.

Forgive me for venting some EU bailout frustration, but his shit is getting out of hand.

All the folly, secrecy, rumors, and half baked commitments to solving the sovereign debt crisis is killing a generation of investors.

The lack of political will is crushing the global economy and has created unprecedented volatility.

So sick of the EU minsters ! 

Trow dem mellons awhey mon…(SIC; on the whole sentence)

“……In an internal vote on Tuesday, 11 deputies from Merkel’s CDU/CSU group voted against the motion and two abstained. Coalition sources said they expected between 2 and 5 FDP lawmakers to vote against and up to 6 to abstain.

If more than 19 coalition lawmakers vote against or abstain, Merkel will be dependent on opposition votes in a political humiliation that could weaken her ability to push through future rescues……..

Leverage would make it possible to borrow more, probably from the European Central Bank, for financial firefighting without increasing the EFSF’s size, but critics say it would also raise German taxpayers’ liability for any losses.

Some lawmakers are concerned that EU officials are just waiting for them to approve what they were assured would be the final increase before pressing ahead with bigger bailout plans.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin made clear there were tactical reasons to avoid discussing how to boost the fund’s firepower before the German decision.

“It is out of the question to put forward, three days from the Bundestag (lower house) vote, the issue of whether we should increase the fund… Let’s not open Pandora’s box on something that is a red flag for Germany,” he said.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliament France would set out proposals to step up the battle against “speculative attacks” on the euro zone once the German vote was over.

The fund’s status was bound to evolve but it was premature to say whether it might work “like an equity fund with a lever effect,” Baroin added.

Merkel assured Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou at a meeting on Tuesday evening in Berlin that Germany wants a strong Greece and would do everything necessary for that. She also said she was confident her coalition would have the votes on its own to pass measures boosting the euro zone rescue fund…….”

Full article

Asian Markets

Nikkei

A judge is allowing a lawsuit to proceed in limited form against the owners of the Mets by the trustee recovering money for investors who lost money to jailed financier Bernard Madoff.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said Tuesday the lawsuit brought by Trustee Irving Picard can seek to recover up to $295 million in profits that were paid out to the Mets’ owners during the multi-decade fraud. But he says Picard gain that sum only by proving the Mets’ owners were “willfully blind” to the fraud.

Rakoff says Picard’s claim otherwise would be limited to $83.3 million, the fictitious profits accumulated by the Mets’ owners in the two years before the fraud was revealed.

AP

Mets owner Fred Wilpon

Picard’s suit had been seeking up to $1 billion.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/judge_limits_madoff_related_suit_kzLd2rn7OLD7PAPkUWLyLI#ixzz1ZC7lslOU

Neutrinos

Full article

Dow up over 300 at one point.

	
Dow Jones
11,190.69	+146.83	(1.33%)
	
S&P 500
1,175.39	+12.44	(1.07%)
	
Nasdaq
2,546.83	+30.14	(1.20%)

FBI agents and Boca Raton police closed the offices of finance firm Imperial Holdings today.

At 1 p.m., an empty U-Haul truck was backed up to the entrance of the company’s headquarters at 701 Park of Commerce Blvd., apparently ready to be filled with documents.

Police declined to comment, and company officials couldn’t be reached. One person who spoke to an Imperial Holdings employee said workers were sent home while the FBI executed a search warrant.

It’s unclear what the raid means for shareholders of Imperial Holdings (NYSE: IFT, $6.30). Shares in the Boca Raton-based company have fallen steadily since it went public in February.

Imperial Holdings loans money to policyholders to pay life insurance premiums. It also buys so-called structured settlements, awarded to plaintiffs in lawsuits.

The company reported a loss of $15.7 million in 2010 and also lost money in 2008 and 2009. Imperial Holdings had 131 employees as of Dec. 31.

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_s_palm_beach_county/boca_raton/fbi-agents-and-boca-raton-police-closed-the-offices-of-finance-firm-imperial-holdings-#ixzz1ZBZ00EmA

Education seems to be his message.

Full article

Perhaps premature to judge, but some results are in; the question is what are longer term implications ?

Full article

Damn…telling it like it is hurts Jim. Where are the kid gloves ?

Really

Really

The  Greeks will be rioting as their Parliament have just about passed new tax measures…  

Parliamentary Vote Details 

No. Ticker % Change Market Cap
1 WAG -4.33 32,110,000,000
2 UAL -3.36 6,150,000,000
3 AMZN -2.55 87,940,000,000
4 NFLX -2.44 11,820,000,000
5 DFS -2.40 13,550,000,000
6 FMS -2.19 20,530,000,000
7 DCM -2.12 75,720,000,000
8 CMG -2.08 9,290,000,000
9 VRTX -1.60 9,150,000,000
10 MFG -1.53 64,270,000,000
11 DLTR -1.26 8,320,000,000
12 SNI -1.16 6,720,000,000
13 MJN -1.00 14,240,000,000
14 YHOO -0.98 17,270,000,000
15 REGN -0.92 5,370,000,000
16 LUV -0.80 6,980,000,000
17 SHW -0.69 8,010,000,000
18 DAL -0.60 6,130,000,000
19 PCLN -0.58 25,930,000,000
20 GMCR -0.47 15,110,000,000
21 NBR -0.47 5,320,000,000
22 SDRL -0.47 14,760,000,000
23 LTD -0.45 11,600,000,000
24 FDO -0.42 5,890,000,000
25 PGN -0.25 14,210,000,000
26 SO -0.19 35,250,000,000
27 FTR -0.16 7,360,000,000
28 AAPL -0.14 348,750,000,000
29 ORLY -0.10 8,870,000,000
30 D -0.06 28,220,000,000
31 GR -0.05 10,970,000,000
32 AZO -0.04 12,640,000,000
33 AGNC -0.04 5,110,000,000

No. Ticker % Change Short as % of Float
1 GMR 26.88 15.70
2 BORN 21.95 21.12
3 ZLC 21.15 15.50
4 MEG 12.97 17.15
5 SHLD 12.56 45.00
6 BAS 12.49 22.70
7 CIS 11.94 22.89
8 FRO 11.69 19.70
9 EK 11.49 37.60
10 PVA 11.20 23.30
11 YOKU 11.17 23.09
12 LLEN 10.86 18.19
13 BLTI 10.63 25.50
14 RDN 10.43 15.90
15 PQ 10.08 21.20
16 AREX 10.02 20.70
17 PMI 10.00 19.70
18 RLD 9.99 26.50
19 SHZ 9.87 16.10
20 MCP 9.37 23.40
21 CRZO 9.10 16.10
22 TWI 8.83 26.80
23 QTWW 8.80 18.20
24 EQY 8.55 18.10
25 HOV 8.46 32.40

Date provided by The PPT