Monthly Archives: March 2012
Investors Bet on Bernanke Breaching the 2% Inflation Target in Order to Bolster Employment
ADP Employment Report: Prior 170k, Market Expects 218k, Actual 216k
Australia’s GDP Grows at Half Expectations
“Australia’s economy expanded at half the pace economists forecast last quarter as a housing slump deterred consumer spending, sending bond yields falling and the local currency to a six-week low.
Gross domestic product advanced 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, when it rose a revised 0.8 percent that was weaker than previously reported, a Bureau of Statistics report showed today in Sydney. The result compared with the median of 25 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey for a 0.8 percent gain.”
Comments »German Factory Orders Fall Unexpectedly
“German factory orders unexpectedly declined in January as foreign demand for investment goods such as machinery slumped.
Orders (GRIORTMM), adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, fell 2.7 percent from December, when they gained 1.6 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said today. Economists forecast a 0.6 percent increase, according to the median of 37 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year ago, orders dropped 4.9 percent when adjusted for work days.
“It’s an ugly number but it was caused by a sharp drop in big-ticket items so it masks the overall robustness of the German economy,” said Alexander Koch, an economist at UniCredit Group in Munich. “The confidence indicators signal a gradual recovery.”
Comments »Oil Lifts On Hopes Employment and Demand Pick Up
Bargain Hunters Step In and Lift Gold From Three Week Lows
The Euro Rises Against the Dollar
“The euro strengthened from an almost three-week low against the dollar on bets private investors will accept terms of a Greek bond exchange needed for the nation to receive a second rescue package.
The 17-nation currency rallied amid speculation options traders bought it to prevent automatic trades from triggering after recent declines. Australia’s dollar fell to a six-week low versus the greenback, before rebounding, as a government report showed the economy expanded by less than analysts had forecast. The pound rose versus the dollar as U.K. stocks advanced…”
Comments »European Stocks and U.S. Futures Rise on Hopes of a Good Jobs Report Later This Week
Italian and Spanish Bond Yields Fall on Hopes a Greek Debt Swap Goes Off Smoothly
“Italy’s bonds rose for the first time in three days as Societe Generale SA joined companies saying they would take part in Greece’s debt swap.
Spanish government securities also advanced after European Union Economic and Monetary Commissioner Olli Rehn was said to be confident that enough private investors will sign up to the bond exchange. German 10-year yields were within three basis points of a seven-week low after factory orders unexpectedly declined in January. Germany sold 3.3 billion euros ($4.33 billion) of five-year notes.
“The news related to the Greek deal isn’t fantastic but there’s nothing that looks like it might be derailing the whole thing,” which is helping higher-yielding assets, said Marc Ostwald, a strategist at Monument Securities Ltd. in London. “The German factory orders don’t make for great reading, there’s a loss of momentum and that means there are a lot of people who are a little bit wary, so trading will be choppy.”
Comments »Brazil’s Industrial Out Put Falls by The Widest Margin in Three Years; Dovish Hopes Abound
“Brazil’s industrial production in January fell the most in more than three years, reinforcing bets that the central bank may accelerate today the pace of interest- rate cuts to shore up economic growth.
Output fell 2.1 percent from the previous month, more than twice the median estimate of a 0.8 percent decline from 45 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. For the year, production fell 3.4 percent, the national statistics agency said in Rio de Janeiro today.
President Dilma Rousseff’s administration is using stimulus measures including interest ratecuts, tax reductions and looser bank lending requirements to boost growth. Traders are split on whether the central bank will cut the benchmark interest rate by 50 or 75 basis points today, according to Bloomberg estimates based on interest rate futures. Policy makers have cut the rate by 50 basis points at each of their last four meetings to 10.50 percent.
The 6 percent rise in the real against the dollar this year has made imports cheaper and exports more expensive, undermining the international competitiveness of Brazilian manufacturers.
The situation is “alarming,” the National Industry Confederation said on March 6, after the statistics agency announced gross domestic product figures showing industrial output fell 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months.
The currency declined 0.2 percent to 1.7610 per dollar at 9.16 a.m. Brasilia time….”
Comments »Asia Continues To Sell Off While Europe and U.S. Futures Bounce
FDA Acknowledges Statin Drugs Like Lipitor, Crestor, & Zocor Can Cause Hyperglycemia, Diabetes, and Memory Loss
Buried No Longer: Confronting America’s Water Infrastructure Problems
Water Bills are expected to triple over the coming years to decades. This is due to poor infrastructure that needs to be updated or maintained at the very least. Huge investment, long term, potentials here.
A report from the American Water Works Assoc.
Comments »Introducing Google Play
Comments »Google’s Android Market has undergone some tremendous changes over the last year or so. What started as just a standalone app store has quickly grown to encompass e-books, music, videos, and now Google feels like the “Android Market” moniker is getting to be too restrictive, too constraining for what they’re really trying to deliver to their users.
That’s why Google is officially putting the Android Market name to rest. Starting today, all of Google’s digital media services have been rebranded to fly under a brand new banner: Google Play. That’s right gadget buffs, despite some delectable new rumors Google Play isn’t a new tablet from the folks at Mountain View, but rather a unified brand that seeks to tie the company’s digital media services together.
Sleeping Pills Linked to a 460% Increase of Sudden Death
Your Tax Dollars @ Work: Welfare Cards Being Used At Casinos, Strip Clubs, Amusement Parks, and Bingo Halls
“Debit cards issued to provide assistance to welfare recipients were used to withdraw cash at ATMs in strip clubs, casinos, bingo halls and amusement parks, a 9News investigation found.
As a result, more than $1 million in welfare funds goes to ATM owners and banks through transaction fees every year.
“When you see the type of obvious abuses that you’ve shown, it says there are people on welfare that should not be,” said Jon Caldara of the conservative watchdog group Independence Institute.
The 9News investigation included the review of 222,000 transactions involving Colorado Quest cards, the state-issued debit cards welfare recipients use to access cash at ATMs. The transactions occurred during a six-month period in 2011 involving a total of $8.1 million in ATM withdrawals…”
Comments »Wall Street marks first big loss of 2012
Comments »NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Dow dropped more than 200 points on Tuesday, handing Wall Street its worst day in three months on renewed fears of a disorderly default in Greece and concerns that China’s slowdown would hit global growth.
Analysts have expected a pullback for weeks, citing an overstretched market. Despite the day’s decline, the S&P 500 is still up almost 7 percent for the year. If fourth-quarter gains are included, the benchmark index is still up almost 20 percent since September 30.
