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Comments »Monthly Archives: October 2012
Small Business Confidence Falls, Plans For Future Hiring Drop
“Confidence among U.S. small businesses cooled in September as fewer companies said they planned to hire or invest in new equipment, a survey found.
The National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index fell to 92.8 from an August reading of 92.9. Four of the 10 components that make up the gauge decreased, the Washington- based group said.
The fourth decline in the past five months for the measure showed business leaders may be putting off some of their hiring and investment decisions because of a lack of clarity on tax and regulatory policy. At the same time, more companies expected better economic conditions in six months, signaling a pickup in sales and employment may take time to develop.
Small-business “owners are in maintenance mode; spending only where necessary and not hiring,” William Dunkelberg, the group’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Owners are unwilling to put their own capital on the line until the future path of the economy and economic policy becomes clear.”
Comments »Merkel Finds a Red Carpet Full of Egg
The Greeks are upset over austerity and have taken to the streets bringing the capital city of Athens to a halt. Instead of red carpets Merkel is getting a joyful reception of eggs being pelted.
Comments »Oil Rises Back Above $90 on European Finance Meeting Hopium
The IMF Cuts Global Growth Estimates Due to European Sovereign Debt Woes
“The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts as the euro area’s debt crisis intensifies and warned of even slower expansion unless officials in the U.S. and Europe address threats to their economies.
The world economy will grow 3.3 percent this year, the slowest since the 2009 recession, and 3.6 percent next year, the IMF said today, compared with July predictions of 3.5 percent in 2012 and 3.9 percent in 2013. The Washington-based lender now sees “alarmingly high” risks of a steeper slowdown, with a one-in-six chance of growth slipping below 2 percent.
“A key issue is whether the global economy is just hitting another bout of turbulence in what was always expected to be a slow and bumpy recovery or whether the current slowdown has a more lasting component,” the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook report. “The answer depends on whether European and U.S. policy makers deal proactively with their major short-term economic challenges.”
Comments »The Aussie Dollar Bounces Off 3 Month Lows on European Finance Meetings
Europe met to discuss sovereign debt woes. They announced that the fund to aid stressed EU nations is fully operational and ready to used.
Comments »World’s Most Accurate Forex Analyst: Dollar to Strengthen Despite QE 3
“The world’s most-accurate foreign- exchange strategists say the dollar will strengthen even as the Federal Reserve debases it, unlike the previous two rounds of economic stimulus, when cash injections weakened the currency.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s $40 billion-a-month of bond purchases will leave a stronger currency in 2013, say nine of the 10 forecasters with the lowest margins of error in the six quarters ended Sept. 28 as measured by Bloomberg. Wells Fargo & Co. and Westpac Banking Corp., which tied for most-accurate, expect little damage from efforts to stimulate the economy and the so-called fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax increases scheduled for next year.”
Comments »Copper Consumption Estimated to Fall 8.5% in China, First Drop Since 2008
“Copper consumption in China will contract this year for the first time since 2008 as demand falters and inventories climb in the largest user, before rebounding in 2013, according to Simon Hunt Strategic Services.
Consumption will drop about 8.5 percent to 5.6 million metric tons in 2012, said Simon Hunt, chief executive officer of the Weybridge, Surrey-based consultancy, which compiles analysis for users and fabricators. Next year, usage may grow 5.6 percent to 5.9 million tons, Hunt said in an interview in Singapore after visiting China for two weeks last month.
Hunt’s assessment adds to signs that China’s slowdown is hurting demand for commodities. Copper, used in wires and cables, helps set the pace for other base metals and the drop in China’s consumption may hurt prices and cut profits at mining companies including Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) Copper rose 6.8 percent last quarter as central banks in the U.S., China, Japan and Europe expanded stimulus to try to revive economic growth.”
Comments »Global Markets Trade Mixed, U.S. Futures are Flat
The Chart That Should Scare Every Bond Investor
Bonds look very, very, expensive compared to stocks when focusing on their ability to generate income. Large Cap Stocks (the S&P 500) are now paying a higher dividend yield than the 10-year treasury. This is very unusual. Since 1990, the treasury note / S&P 500 Dividend yield ratio has averaged 2.4. As stocks have a track record of dividend growth and a treasury bond has a fixed coupon payment, it makes sense that stocks should generate less income than bonds. However, something right now is not right!
Read the rest here.
Comments »The Dollar’s Days as Reserve Currency are Numbered
As the International Monetary Fund and World Bank redouble their warnings on the prospects for global growth, central banks continue to flood the markets with liquidity. The US Federal Reserve began its third round of quantitative easing last month; the European Central Bank is offering unlimited purchases of bonds of troubled eurozone countries. The People’s Bank of China, responding to slowing growth, has cut interest rates repeatedly and trimmed reserve requirements.
It may seem a strange time to worry about a shortage of global liquidity. But precisely this risk looms and, if nothing is done, it will threaten 21st-century globalisation.
Read the rest here.
Comments »White House Scientists Struggle to Contain Outbreak of Scrutonium
WASHINGTON DC – Engaged a relentless battle against time and fatigue, a select group of message scientists assembled by the White House’s Center for Narrative Control say they will take “all steps necessary” to contain a recent outbreak of scrutonium, a deadly poll-eating supervirus that attacks the immuno-hope system, leaving victims vulnerable to material facts.
“Failure is simply not an option,” said an exhausted Mission Chief David Axelrod. “If left unchecked, this virus may actually force us to move back to Chicago.”
Read the rest here.
Comments »Mysterious Algorithm Was 4% of Trading Activity Last Week
A single mysterious computer program that placed orders — and then subsequently canceled them — made up 4 percent of all quote traffic in the U.S. stock market last week, according to the top tracker of high-frequency trading activity. The motive of the algorithm is still unclear.
The program placed orders in 25-millisecond bursts involving about 500 stocks, according to Nanex, a market data firm. The algorithm never executed a single trade, and it abruptly ended at about 10:30 a.m. Friday.
“Just goes to show you how just one person can have such an outsized impact on the market,” said Eric Hunsader, head of Nanex and the No. 1 detector of trading anomalies watching Wall Street today. “Exchanges are just not monitoring it.”
Read the rest here.
Comments »Michael Wolff: Facebook is . . . MySpace?
2:17PM EST October 8. 2012 – The media business eats itself. General-interest magazines, national television networks and all-purpose portals are always succeeded by an ever-narrower special-interest approach.This has tended to happen over a reasonably long span of time, a generation or two, but in an ever-quickening world, the term du jour is the “disassembling” of Facebook, which, arguably to its detriment, has just added its billionth monthly user.
Not only is Facebook challenged by its inability to grow advertising revenue fast enough — the primary culprit in its 50% share-price plunge — but now it’s facing a carve-up of the social experience.
Read the rest here.
Comments »Bombshell: Obama.com Owned by Bundler in Shanghai with Business Ties to Chinese Government
In an explosive report set to send shockwaves through official Washington, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign and fraudulent Internet campaign donations in U.S. federal elections (visit campaignfundingrisks.com to download the full report).
Breitbart News obtained an advance copy of the bombshell report which reveals that the Obama.com website is not owned by the president’s campaign but rather by Obama bundler Robert Roche, a U.S. citizen living in Shanghai, China. Roche is the chairman of a Chinese infomercial company, Acorn International, with ties to state-controlled banks that allow it to “gain revenue through credit card transactions with Chinese banks.”
There’s more.
Read the rest here.
Comments »Market Update
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SvqyeuUReU 450 300]
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Chart Chomping $AAPL and What it Means for Markets Down the Road
“Amid rosy scenarios, serious signs of trouble are developing on AAPL charts. There is also a major fundamental factor that indicates a much more bumpy road ahead.
Charts reflect buy and sell orders coming to the exchange from all market participants: big money and little money, insiders and outsiders, investors and traders. Their orders are behind ticks, which coalesce into patterns reflecting the sum total of current actionable knowledge about a stock.
Some patterns are noisy and have little value, while others have a good record of showing how a stock is likely to move in the near future. To help you review these patterns on AAPL AAPL -1.95% charts, please click on any chart below to see it in full size and color.”
Comments »Consumers and Investors Share Negative Sentiment on the Economy
“More and more Americans feel the U.S. economy is mired in a recession, a new Rasmussen Reports survey finds.
The poll found that 62 percent of consumers believe the U.S. economy is currently in a recession, while 22 percent disagree.
Among investors, 61 percent say the economy is in a recession, while 24 percent say it’s not.”
Comments »Another Reason to Consider a Silver Lining in Your Portfolio
I’ve been a gold bug since ’99 and recently over the past few years have turned my attention to silver. Here is an interesting outlook on the consumption of silver by industry that may boost pricing beyond the common mantra of protection from central bank debasement of currency.
Comments »$PLCM Launches Real Presence Access Suite
A recommendation of mine a while back that helped me bank some serious coin. Looks like this company is doing better than i thought for the long term investment. After a recent earnings stumble the stock is back to the levels where i first found interest. I’ll be buying over time and not price for another moon shot down the road.
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