________________

Report: Hugo Chávez in Critical Condition In Cuban Hospital

Hugo Chávez extended stay in a Cuban hospital is because he is in critical condition, according to a report in El Nuevo Herald.

The Venezuelan president, who was last seen in public June 9 and last heard from on June 12, on a phone call with Venezuelan state television, was said to have been treated for a pelvic abscess in Cuba.

During the call Chávez said that medical tests showed no sign of any “malignant” illness.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/06/25/report-hugo-chavez-in-critical-condition-in-cuba/#ixzz1QKzeM8gW

Comments »

________________________

Treasury prices extended their rally on Friday as more money flowed out of European bonds and equities and into safe-haven U.S. debt, but traders said prices could fall next week ahead of scheduled auctions.

The Treasury Department plans to sell $99 billion in new debt on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Selling ahead of the auctions to lower auction prices and raise yields could overpower the safety bid, which remained strong going into the weekend.

“There’s so much uncertainty, even beyond Greece, in Europe that we’re getting yields that are low despite the fact that we have nearly $100 billion of twos, fives and sevens to sell next week,” said David Coard, head of fixed income sales and trading at Williams Capital in New York.

“I think the street is going to do its level best to get a concession, because the only way these yields are justified is if we continue to have news out of Europe that creates this safe-haven buying. The economy is sluggish but it’s not falling out of bed and unless it were falling out of bed there would be no justification for these yields.”

Two year notes continued their rally for an 11th straight week, the longest in more than 30 years, coming close during trading on Friday to a record intraday low touched on November 4, 2010 at 0.3200 percent.

Two year notes closed unchanged in price from Thursday and yielding 0.346 percent.

Nervousness about the Greek debt situation potentially becoming “contagious” and affecting the euro zone and global financial system whetted investors’ appetite for Treasuries.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Comments »

Madoff Trustee Picard No Hero To Many Victims

Irving Picard, the bankruptcy trustee charged with recouping funds for victims of Bernard Madoff’s vast fraud, began his mission just over two years ago with the potential to emerge as a hero.

That would have made him a rarity among the long list of financiers, CEOs and politicians blamed for dragging the U.S. economy into the gutter and obliterating the savings of millions of Americans along the way. Think of Madoff and Allen Stanford, once prominent Wall Street wizards now accused of stealing billions; subprime mortgage king Angelo Mozilo, the former CEO of Countrywide Financial; Congressman Barney Frank, patron saint of teetering home loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and, in some people’s minds, just about anyone employed by Goldman Sachs (GS).

Like a new sheriff, Picard was going to ride into town and clean up the considerable mess left by Madoff, widely viewed as the biggest scoundrel of all.

But that hasn’t been the case.

Instead, among the many thousands of former Madoff clients who lost their life’s savings in the fraud and who may never see a dime in return, Picard’s name has been added to the list of bad guys.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/06/21/madoff-trustee-picard-no-hero-to-many-victims/#ixzz1QDsATBTV

Comments »

This is how quickly the European debt crisis devolves: Austerity, viewed by markets as saving grace for Greece just a day ago, has quickly moved into irrelevance as banks and insurers continue to find a path around default.

No doubt cutbacks are an integral part of the Greek future.

Violent street protests aside, the county’s financial standing simply won’t allow it to continue along the path of bloated government, massive public giveaways and the debt-on-top-of-debt strategy it has employed for too long.

But without some type of structural default on its current obligations, all the austerity in the world won’t make Greece’s problems go away.

“Greece and a number of other European countries cannot repay their debt. In fact they will never be able to repay their debt under current conditions because their economies are not competitive globally,” banking analyst Dick Bove at Rochdale Securities wrote in an analysis. “Therefore, these countries must, and in my judgment will, repudiate their debt.”

Indeed, looking at Greece’s onerous debt maturity schedule, it is almost impossible to imagine another alternative.

Starting with a 2.4 billion-euro repayment on July 15, Greece then has to pay, in euros: 900 million on July 19, 1.5 billion on July 20 and 1.6 billion on July 22. August doesn’t get much better, when the nation has a 1.6 billion-euro payment due on Aug. 19 and 9 billion euros due to the next day.

FULL STORY HERE

Comments »

_______________________

Nevada State Treasurer Takes on Meredith Whitney

Notable analyst Meredith Whitney told CNBC earlier this month that the fiscal situation in Nevada is “terrible,” something Nevada’s State Treasurer rebukes.

“If I take Nevada’s debt and if I add in the pension liability, and I add in the benefit liability, I’m still only at 8.6 percent. I can’t speak for Ms. Whitney … but I do have to say it would be nice if she did a little homework, drilled down a little bit into what those numbers are,” Kate Marshall told CNBC Friday.

“Basically what we think happened is she [Meredith Whitney] took a PEW report, which looked at the total pension plan, but the state of Nevada is one out of 180 employers that participate in that pension plan. We only represent about one-sixteenth of that plan, and in addition our state employees pay half,” Marshall explained.

“It’s as if she said, well, a family of four makes $100,000 a year and they buy a house for $200,000, oh my goodness that’s half their income is half the cost of that house, they can’t possibly afford it. But you and I know know that’s not [an] apples-to-apples” comparison, she went on to say.

SOURCE: CNBC

Comments »

U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa Inc said Friday it won a multiyear contract worth about $1 billion to supply its new, lighter aluminum-based alloys for Airbus commercial aircraft.

The news sent Alcoa stock up almost 1.8 percent to $15.55 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange on a day when the broader market fell. Later in the morning, the shares were up 8 cents to $15.36.

Alcoa said the deal with the European planemaker unit of EADS calls for Alcoa to provide aluminum sheet and plate using current and advanced-generation aluminum alloys, which are lighter and stronger than traditional metals and composites.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/06/24/alcoa-wins-1-billion-deal-with-airbus/#ixzz1QDM0zWRP

Comments »

No New Taxes…

Top Republicans insist no taxes in debt deal

President Barack Obama will hold separate talks with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders on Monday to try to resurrect stalled negotiations aimed at raising the U.S. debt limit and avoiding default.

Obama will meet on Monday morning with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and in the early evening that day with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Talks fell apart on Thursday when Republicans walked out over Democrats’ demands for tax increases as part of a deficit reduction plan. A deal must be reached by August 2 to avoid a potential default on the country’s $14.3 trillion debt.

The top Republicans in Congress, McConnell and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, held fast on Friday to their position that Congress would not accept any tax increases. Boehner said Obama must come to the negotiating table next week with deep spending cuts if he wants a deal.

“The president and his party may want a debt limit increase that includes tax hikes, but such a proposal cannot pass the House,” Boehner said in a statement.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Comments »

House rejects measure to continue US role in Libya

WASHINGTON – The House has voted down a measure giving President Barack Obama the authority to continue the U.S. military action against Libya.

The vote was 295-123 on Friday. The congressional action has no immediate effect on American involvement but represents a repudiation of the commander in chief.

The vote marks the first time since 1999 that either House has voted against a military operation. The last time was over President Bill Clinton’s authority in the Bosnian war.

House Republican leaders pushed for the vote, with rank-and-file members saying the president broke the law by failing to seek congressional approval for the 3-month-old war. Some Democrats accused the GOP of playing politics with national security.

UPDATING…

SOURCE: AP/YAHOO

Comments »

Italian Banks Plunge on Debt Concern

Italian banks slumped in Milan trading amid concern the European debt crisis may spread just as lenders face scrutiny from regulators over capital levels.

UniCredit SpA (UCG), Italy’s biggest bank, and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP), the second-largest, led lenders lower, tumbling as much as 8.9 percent and 7.2 percent respectively. Both stocks were briefly suspended after breaching limits on intraday swings. Italian 10-year bonds fell, increasing the additional yield investors demand to hold the securities instead of benchmark German bunds to the most since the euro was introduced in 1999.

“Contagion fears keep re-emerging as long as credible, lasting solutions in Greece are pending,” said Christian Weber, a Munich-based strategist at UniCredit.

Comments »

Courtesy of The PPT Algorithm, the copper plays have seen the highest weekly increases in their hybrid scores (combination of proprietary technical and fundamental factors), as a whole, out of any other industry in the market. Copper and copper stocks have been historically market-leading indicators. So, this is worth noting.

Click on image for full size.

Comments »

Data points to underlying factory strength

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods and a gauge of business spending plans rose in May, easing fears of a sharp slowdown in factory activity.

Durable goods orders increased 1.9 percent after dropping 2.7 percent in April, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

An improvement across the board in May and revisions to April’s figures that showed smaller declines than previously reported, pointed to underlying strength in a sector that has powered the economic recovery.

Source: Reuters

Comments »

______________________

Serious bets are being placed that online gambling will become legal in the U.S. in the near future. This is more than just wishful thinking for some at this point. A new age of gambling will soon be upon us. Who profits? The major casinos (WYNN LVS MGM, etc.) and governments on all levels who can easily tax and corrupt this.

U.S. Digital Gaming, a venture backed by prominent casino executives, on Monday is expected to name Jon Richmond, a former entertainment industry executive, as its new CEO—placing a bet that online gambling will become legal in the U.S.

U.S. Digital Gaming was founded in 2009 by former casino executive Richard Bronson, who once ran development operations for casino impresario Steve Wynn’s former company, Mirage Resorts, and remains close to Mr. Wynn.

The company, which currently has no revenue stream, is trying to position itself as a provider of all the services other companies would need to run online gambling sites, …

Source: The Wall Street Journal (pay wall for full story)

Comments »

_________________

With noted bond bull and Western economic bear Hugh Hendry (based out of London, by way of Scotland) all of a sudden back in style, dentists are apparently embracing Hendry’s style by “Doing the Hugh.”

From the AP:

Karen Butler has a British-sounding accent, but she’s never been to Europe. She woke up from dental surgery one day talking funny.

A year and a half later her “foreign” accent remains, and her story has traveled around the world.

The 56-year-old tax consultant from Toledo, Ore., has found her life transformed by the dental procedure, which left her with dentures, and – depending on whom you ask – an Eastern European, Swedish or British accent.

Full Story Here

Comments »

_______________

“I love Asia. It’s China’s turn to rule the roost. America is washed up, so I packed up and left. Let me give you some advice, sweetie, you’ll want to stick with a smart man like myself instead of Dr. Bernanke. The only impressive endowment that idiot is associated with is all of the free money that rolls into his alma mater, Princeton. I, on the other hand, am very well-equipped with my own my set of natural resources and commodities. Don’t forget: Buy commodities and they will go up in a bad economy as well as a good one. A can’t miss get rich plan if I ever saw one…Hey…hey…are you listening to what I’m saying? What’s your name again?” -Jim Rogers, CEO of The Bowtie Diaries

Comments »

Hat Tip: @NotStevieCohen

Comments »

____________

While all of these champagne socialists travel around the world by private jet, Hugh Hendry (’tis I) prefers the Smart Car. Why? Because I am smarter than all of you inflationist wankers, ya? I called Jimmy Rogers the other day just to remind him of the massive deflation we face. All of the central bankers are stupid socialists, who think printing money will actually work. Buy bonds, and stop behaving like a neanderthal. Oh yea, China will perish soon. I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU PANIC.

____________

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caI6R4UrDfg&feature=related 550 412]

Comments »

_______________

Bonds have been seeing nice inflows recently, making our beloved U.S Government bond bull and British hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry relevant again. Exhibit A: TLT threatening a major breakout.

_______________

Comments »

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHbBWC7w_Gk&feature=related 550 412]

Comments »

Don’t use a Band-Aid! Take the pain, let the wound heal, and then you can move on from a strong base. Only an IDIOT like Dr. Bernanke would put a Band-Aid on your wound. You’re making mistakes like those IDIOTS on CNBC did in 2000 when they went on the air every day and said, “Buy now! Buy dot.com!” Stop printing money and stop wearing Band-Aids!!!!!!! -Jim Rogers, The Bowtie Diaries

Comments »

The table was set for a recovery in restaurant sales; then something happened, it didn’t materialize.

The economy was improving, and families started to eat out more often, which is usually an early sign of the industry’s turnaround. After several years of tightening belts, it appeared consumers would start eating out more frequently.

But a double-whammy of high gasoline prices and rising food costs polarized consumers.

Full Story Here

Source: CNBC

Comments »