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Monthly Archives: May 2012

Abnormal Returns: The Seeds of a New Secular Bull Market are Being Sown

Tadas presents the case for a new secular bull market. One of his considerations is thought-provoking:

One could also argue that (secular) bear markets don’t end in panic, but rather in disgust and there seems to be plenty of disgust in the stock market to go around at the moment.

Read the article here.

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BAILOUT: Former Bailout Watchdog Neil Barofsky to Release Tell-All Account Of Bush/Obama Administration Banking Policies

Matt Stoller at Naked Capitalism on the announcement of Barofsky’s new book, Bailout. Stoller hopes the book my allow a new impression of Obama to emerge:

A true impression of Obama would be both devastating and hilarious.  It would also require a profound level of bravery and skill to showcase a picture of the first black President as a corrupt plutocrat.

Read the article here.

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Days of Decline

Disturbing images of Greece as the population faces austerity, uncertainty, and a reality partially created by the banksters.

Full video

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Will the Individual Investor Prove to Be the Contrarian Trade Again ?

Oddly enough the individual investor has pulled funds out of a cyclical bull market for 52 of the past 56 weeks. One has to wonder if this is fear or a serious need to get at funds. At any rate, last week saw the 13th consecutive week of liquidation totaling $3.5 billion.

Full article

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#WINNING! Charlie Sheen Makes Winning Bid for Lawrence Taylor’s New York Giants’ Super Bowl Ring

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen (Photo by Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (WFAN) – At the end of last week, NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor’s Super Bowl XXV ring was sold for an ungodly price of $230, 401.

But who was the man (or woman) behind the acquisition of this prized piece of jewelry?

Nobody knew — and they still don’t for sure — but now there are some clues as to who made the purchase.

And here’s a hint: he’s still winning!

READ MORE HERE 

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New Orleans cuts its daily newspaper

The Times-Picayune, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina, announced on Thursday a plan to slash its print publication to three days a week—effectively leaving New Orleans without a daily newspaper.

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Bank Profits Highest Since ’07, Loan Portfolios Fall

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Bank profits rose in the first quarter of 2012, reaching their highest quarterly levels since the second quarter of 2007, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s quarterly banking report, released Thursday. However, total loan and lease balances on the books of banks declined by $56 billion in the quarter, a situation that FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said was “disappointing” after the industry saw three quarters of growth last year. Bank net income for the first quarter of 2012 was $35.3 billion, up by $6.6 billion from the first quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, revenues — driven partly by gains on loan sales — increased for only the second time in the past five quarters. Net operating revenue increased by $5 billion from the year-earlier querter. The FDIC said that once again lower provisions for loan losses contributed to earnings improvement. The number of banks on the FDIC’s “problem list” fell to 772 from 813 during the first quarter of 2012, and the assets of problem institutions declined to $292 billion from $319 billion.

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EU Leaders Ponder Greek Exit Contingency

ROME/HELSINKI (Reuters) – At least half of euro zone governments as well as banks and large companies are making contingency plans in case Greece decides to leave the single currency area, even though the preferred option is still for Athens to keep the euro.

Italy’s Deputy Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said his country was ready for such a possibility, if Greek voters on June 17 give power to parties that reject reforms agreed with the EU and IMF in exchange for emergency loans.

Greece’s deficit means that without the EU/IMF money, which would stop flowing if Athens were to tear up the agreement on reforms, it would not be able to pay salaries and would have to leave the euro zone and start printing its own currency.

“We always have to be ready in any case,” Grilli said, when asked by reporters if Italy was preparing for a Greek exit. “All options are possible, though our objective is to avoid that happening.”

Senior European Union officials have told member states to prepare contingency plans in case Greece quits the euro zone, sources told Reuters on Thursday.

European Union leaders have urged Greece to stay the course on austerity and complete the reforms demanded under its bailout program.

Read more here:

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China Claims US Green Energy Policies “Trade Barriers”

BEIJING (MarketWatch) — China’s Ministry of Commerce said Thursday that a months-long investigation had revealed that U.S. support for six clean energy projects violated World Trade Organization rules and acted as barriers to trade.

State-controlled Xinhua news agency said later that the ministry found that the U.S. government provided renewable energy companies unfair grants that are prohibited under WTO rules and distorted normal trade.

The ministry’s charges are likely to heighten trade tensions between the two countries. The U.S. and China have recently sparred more frequently over clean energy issues, ranging from copyright violations of wind-power technology to subsidies for manufacturers of solar and wind-turbine components. The two countries are also at odds over China’s rare-earth quotas and imports of Iranian crude oil.

The U.S. Commerce Department last week announced a preliminary decision to impose 31% tariffs on several of China’s largest solar-panel companies that it had found guilty of dumping.

The Chinese government blasted the U.S. decision as “protectionist”

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Chinese Manufacturing Under Stress

China’s manufacturing sector continued to shrink in May, according to preliminary data released Thursday.

HSBC’s Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.7 in May from 49.3 the previous month. Any reading below 50 indicates the manufacturing sector has been shrinking.

While the news comes as yet another sign of weakness for China, the outlook for the world’s second largest economy is still far from clear.

Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics, said the latest PMI report seems to indicate a slowdown in China’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy. He said it also runs counter to other reports showing that income is growing for urban households and migrant workers.

“This weak PMI reading, and the general climate of economic uncertainty, suggests that a pickup in consumer spending growth is unlikely to lift the economy out of its current malaise,” said Williams, in a research note.

But he believes the economy could gain steam going forward, with a boost from the government.

Read more here:

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