Health Care Premiums Rise 9% For Employers; First Tick Above $15k For Family Benefits
Best Buy Will Hire Half of its Normal Holiday Staff
Geithner Proposes Business Support for Multilateral Development Banks
A centralized order for regional control; oh and to help foster exports to emerging markets…
Comments »Short Term Dollar Funding Truly Makes the Fed a Lender of Last Resort
This is Why Today’s Rally Was Cut in Half Into the Bell
“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.
Comments »Germany Tells White House Leveraging Bailout Fund is a “Stupid Idea”
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.
Comments »European Political Drama Continues With Doubts Merkel Gets Majority Vote on Leveraging EFSF
“……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…….”
Comments »How Operation Twist Has Worked So Far
Perhaps premature to judge, but some results are in; the question is what are longer term implications ?
Comments »Fed Economist: U.S. on “knife edge” of contraction
Greece Raises Enough Parliamentary Votes For Tax Measures; Bringing Them Closer to Receiving the Next Bailout Tranche
Early Lunch Break: Always Prepare for a Rainy Day
The State of the Union in Charts
The SEC Lowers the Threshold for Circuit Breakers
Via SEC website:
SEC to Publish for Public Comment Updated Market-Wide Circuit Breaker Proposals to Address Extraordinary Market Volatility
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2011-190
Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 2011 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the national securities exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are filing proposals to revise existing market-wide circuit breakers that are designed to address extraordinary volatility across the securities markets. When triggered, these circuit breakers halt trading in all exchange-listed securities throughout the U.S. markets.
The proposals being filed today would update the market-wide circuit breakers by among other things reducing the market decline percentage thresholds necessary to trigger a circuit breaker, shortening the duration of the resulting trading halts, and changing the reference index used to measure a market decline.
If approved by the Commission, the new market-wide circuit breaker rules would replace the existing market-wide circuit breakers, which were originally adopted in October 1988 and have only been triggered on one day in 1997.
“This new market-wide circuit breaker together with the other post-Flash Crash measures is designed to reduce extraordinary volatility in our markets,” said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. “We look forward to reviewing the comments, including any views on how the proposed circuit breaker changes might work together with the proposed limit up-limit down mechanism for individual securities.”
The SEC will seek comment on the proposed rule changes, which are subject to Commission approval following a 21-day public comment period.
Market-Wide Circuit Breaker Proposal
The proposals would revise the existing market-wide circuit breakers by:
Reducing the market decline percentage thresholds necessary to trigger a circuit breaker from 10, 20, and 30 percent to 7, 13, and 20 percent from the prior day’s closing price.
Shortening the duration of the resulting trading halts that do not close the market for the day from 30, 60, or 120 minutes to 15 minutes.
Simplifying the structure of the circuit breakers so that rather than six there are only two relevant trigger time periods — those that occur before 3:25 p.m. and those that occur on or after 3:25 p.m.
Using the broader S&P 500 Index as the pricing reference to measure a market decline, rather than the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Providing that the trigger thresholds are to be recalculated daily rather than quarterly.
The market-wide circuit breakers were not triggered during the severe market disruption of May 6, 2010, which led the exchanges and FINRA in consultation with SEC staff to assess whether the circuit breakers needed to be modified or updated in light of today’s market structure. In addition, the Joint CFTC-SEC Advisory Committee on Emerging Regulatory Issues recommended in February 2011 that the SEC and CFTC review the current operation of the market-wide circuit breakers, and consider appropriate modifications.
Other Post-May 6 Actions
The SEC has undertaken other initiatives to respond to the events of May 6, including:
Approving rules that require the exchanges and FINRA to pause trading in certain individual securities if the price moves 10 percent or more in a five-minute period. This pilot program applies to all exchange-listed stocks and exchange-traded products.
Approving new exchange and FINRA rules clarifying up front how and when erroneous trades would be broken.
Approving new rules of the exchanges and FINRA to strengthen the minimum quoting standards for market makers and effectively prohibit “stub quotes” in the U.S. equity markets.
The Commission also is considering a proposal by the exchanges and FINRA to establish a “limit up-limit down” mechanism to address extraordinary market volatility in individual securities.
In addition, the SEC has:
Adopted a rule requiring broker-dealers to have risk controls in place before providing their customers with access to the market.
Adopted a rule establishing a large trader reporting system to enhance the Commission’s ability to identify large market participants and more effectively collect information on their trading activity.
Proposed a rule to establish a consolidated audit trail system to better track orders and trades in securities across the national market system.
Next Steps
The proposed rules will be available on the SEC’s website. The Commission intends to promptly publish the proposed rules in the Federal Register for a 21-day public comment period, and then will review the comments received on the proposals.
Comments »Despite New EFSF Approach Merkel States Greece Needs a Firewall for Default
”
“I don’t rule out at all that at some point we will have the question whether one can do an insolvency of states…”
This quote, perhaps more than any other in the past few weeks and months of this impending(?) crisis, tips the E.U.’s economic hand to the markets and world: “We are set to distance ourselves from Greece.”
The never ending flip flop on sovereign debt crisis….
Comments »Greece Avoids Default as A New Tranche of Funds Make Their Way Into Their Coffers
Of course a full plate of austerity is being served with the cash milk shake…
A new tax is expected to be implemented and unions are expected to strike
Comments »S&P Sees Liquidity Crisis For Chinese Property Developers
The Chinese are suffer a liquidity crunch and it has all the makings of a home grown sub prime crisis….
Comments »Bid To Cover Climbs on Italian Bond Auction
Good news…Italians found interest in their bond market resurface with a recent auction of $19.6 billion in paper.
Comments »DICK bove: Government Has Broken U.S. Banking System
I’m going to try and challenge this notion.
The banks make a free vig off the tax payers back thanks to the federal reserve… a non government entitity owned by 12 corporations.
The banks do not lend for two reasons; a) they needed and still need the liquidity from time to time to write down bad assets off of the taxpayers back and b) the credit worthiness of the country has been lowered due to banks and greed racking up enormous debt.
Oh and there is a liquidity crisis occurring because of Europe which the banks had to have seen and know of for many years.
So no DICK it is not just uncle sam that has ruined the banking system.
Furthermore the rules, while admittedly restrictive, are a result of a blow back from greedy cocaine snorting criminals committing fraud and consipracy against the citizens of the planet and the global economy.
Comments »Goldman Sachs Rules the World…Full Stop
The cancer is growing. wonder what his thought are after today’s new EFSF approach is. With all the secrecy and stonewalling it is hard to know how big and how far along the european banking sovereign debt problem is…..but never mind that ’cause GS rules the world.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNKFKKmzri4 450 300] [youtube:http://ww.youtube.com/watch?v=R-O3kYrDPbI 450 300]Comments »
