ECB May Raise Rates Next Month

Trichet made some strong comments yesterday, suggesting that the ECB might begin tightening- starting with the April 7th meeting.

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The IAEA is reporting radiation levels as much as 1,600 times normal have been detected 12 miles from the Fukushima plants.

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Make no mistake, wind turbines still suck as a form of alternative energy, but at least they do not kill as many birds as cats.

“While public attention has focused on wind turbines as a menace to birds, a new study shows that a far greater threat may be posed by a more familiar antagonist: the pet house cat.

A new study in The Journal of Ornithology on the mortality of baby gray catbirds in the Washington suburbs found that cats were the No. 1 killer in the area, by a large margin.”

Read rest of article here.

Opens up 2%+

Update: NIKKEI now up 3.7%.

Here we go.

“Gov. Scott Walker was right: The angry crowds in Madison didn’t tell the whole story of how Wisconsinites felt.

In the week after Walker announced his plan to dramatically curtail public employees’ collective bargaining rights in the state budget repair bill, a wide majority of the emails to him expressed support, an analysis of those emails indicates.”

Read the rest here.

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1102/1102.2620v1.pdf

This study speculates that when the prices move in one direction, as in a momentum-driven market, then there is real danger of a crash. If this is true, then we are royally screwed as the market has everyone moving in the same direction and just waiting for the “tipping point”.

The Fed lost the lawsuit to keep the names of financial institutions, who received emergency loans, private.

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In recent memory, I cannot think of a firm who has been more wrong, on so many ideas, than Global Hunter.

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The share price action in Chinese related names have been nothing less than abysmal, following disclosures of fraud in a slew of names. As a result, right or wrong, investors have been fleeing from anything related to China, fearing the books are being stir-fried.

The following names have posted 20% losses in share price over the past month.

SBAY -56%
SHZ -46%
CBEG -36%
HSFT -36%
CHGS -36%
CHBT -35%
FFHL -35%
CIIC -33%
AMCN -33%
SIHI -31%
UTA -30%
HEAT -29%
NOEC -28%
FUQI -28%
DANG -28%
CCSC -28%
BSPM -27%
CAAS -27%
CVVT -26%
SCEI -26%
AOB -26%
XING -25%
CISG -25%
CHLN -24%
OSN -24%
CIS -24%
GFRE -23%
SEED -22%
CHINA -22%
DEER -21.5%
TSTC -21%
KGJI -20%
ZNH -20%

There are dozens more with double digit losses. This is quite notable.

Top 5 winners and losers with market caps over 100mill.

GSAT +25%
URZ +25%
VGZ +19%
URG +18%
LEAP +15.5%
————–
DEER -21%
CELL -15%
GMR -13.5%
S -13%
HEAT -10%

In response to Tokyo developments, GM has been temporarily laying off employees.

If local governments fail to cut costs, they may face repercussions, warns Michigan’s governor.

Discussions range from regaining cost of living adjustments to – in the case of Ford – much stronger demands.

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Unbelievable.

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