U.S. Futures Bounce off the Lows

In a recent press conference, government spokesman, Yukio Edano, said radiation levels outside of Fukushima were not at dangerous levels.

Japanese markets rallied off the lows, closing down a modest 10 point fucking five percent. In sympathy, global markets staged “idiot runs” to cash.

US futures have moderated a bit and are barely down 200.

Related: the fireman company posing as some sort of high tech electricity firm, Tepco, was placed on credit watch negative by the pigs at S&P.

Oil is down almost 2% and the dollar is up for a change to the tune of 0.5%.

Worldwide markets are in full-blown panic mode. It has taken a nuclear crisis to act as the straw that breaks the camels back. And I don’t need to list the litany of thing that have gone wrong over the past two months.

The markets inability to trade “normally” (ebb & flow) is going to add to the market vacuum as we should not have been anywhere near pre-creditcrash levels. Because of the unlimited and never-ending bid, the market is totally divorced from anything that resembles reality even before this shit hit the fan. So many trader-types said that they would remain long until the uptrend line brakes. It broke on Friday.

If you are stock or commodity heavy, you will have to stop quickly or “hope” the market comes back like it has so many times. In the meantime, get your buy lists ready. Futures are indicating SPX 1260 and there will almost undoubtedly be a bounce after a sharp drop. But I won’t be doing any real buying until SPX 1200-1230.

The two day decline in Japan has erased more than 500 billion in market cap and represents the largest two day decline since 1949.

I know some of you pikers out there don’t have a futures feed, let alone a way to chart them.

Things aren’t looking good for Tuesday’s open.

Kyodo is reporting radiation levels 40x normal has been detected just outside Tokyo.

Japanese markets are now down more than 12%

UPDATE: Now down 13.5%. US futs down 2.5%

Australia is the largest supplier of uranium in the world, with over 23% of the world’s supply. As you could imagine, the slow motion meltdown occurring in Japan is absolutely destroying the share prices of Australia’s biggest and best uranium stocks.

Shares of Uranex are down 24%, Rum Jungle down 18%, Northern Uranium down 17% and Uranium equities are down 18%, just to name a few.

Kyodo is reporting radiation levels at Fukushima, reactor #4, has been measured at 400x the “legal limit.”

Perhaps the cat fuckers at the Hague will issue warrants for their arrests shortly, as they are clearly in violation of international law.

As oil drops, spread are widening, a huge windfall for refinery stocks. Essentially, crude is dropping faster than heating oil/gasoline, leading to widening spreads. At the moment, spreads are at $24+, up 1.18%

Track crack spreads here.

In a posturing that may help shore up the stock of nuclear companies and relax the run in other energy related names, the Obama administration has come out in support of nuclear energy as having an important place in all future policies.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said nuclear power, “remains a part of the president’s overall energy plan. When he talks about reaching a clean energy standards it’s a vital part of that. And as we get more information from Japan and what happened there, that can be incorporated, but right now we remain committed to the clean energy standards and the other aspects of the president’s energy plan.”

Monday, energy names not related to nuclear power ran higher as traders prepared for the reactions of the public and public officials to the events unfolding on Japan.

Exactly how this catastrophe will effect Japan’s economy, or that of other global markets, remains unclear as cheap liquidity has begun to flood the system. Like everyone else, the credit rating agency seems to be playing things as they develop.

“No fiscal crisis is imminent in Japan after the earthquake. Debt markets are likely to fund government deficits at low cost, given Japan’s deep and liquid government debt market. However, a tipping point may be reached at some point if the market loses confidence in the soundness of government finances, and demands a risk premium on government bonds.”

They have been slightly more adventurous when discussing Japan’s largest and most decentralized organizations.

“While the situation in Japan remains uncertain and fluid following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, at this point we do not believe there will be rating implications for most large Japanese corporates and banks. Most entities are broadly diversified and therefore do not demonstrate material concentration risks to the most affected prefectures.”

“There is no melt-down occurring in Japan. Go home and continue to use all the electricity you need.”

-Baghdad Bob

Information Minister, Japan

Australia -1.3%
Hong Kong -2.3%
China -1.1%
Singapore -1.7%
Korea -0.24%
Taiwan -0.8%
Japan -6.5%

Related: U.S. futures are down 1.25%

UPDATE: Markets are deteriorating. Check markets here.

Japanese futures are now down 14%

It’s being reported that there is a fire at reactor #4, at Fukushima. Although there are no fuel rods there, the spent fuel caught fire as a result of debris falling into it when reactor #1 and #3 occurred.

UPDATE: Officials are telling people to “stay indoors” in order to avoid radiation contamination. Essentially, don’t breathe the fucking air. How quaint and nice. I am sure the Japanese government will follow up this statement with more Baghdad Bob propaganda bullshit.

UPDATE 2: It’s being reported that the fire has been extinguished.

Toshiba, 2nd largest maker of NAND chips with 30% worldwide market share, has shut down 5 vital factories in Japan, due to power disruptions. The result: DRAM charged ahead to the tune of 7% yesterday, before the exchange shut down thanks to uncertainty. NAND flash memory prices exploded higher, as much as 20%.

UBS cites Micron (ticker MU) as a main beneficiary to the current price spikes, as their Japanese fabs (2) have been unscathed by the ongoing crisis.

Shares in Japan are now down about 6% and there are no safe havens. Yesterday, construction related stocks surged on the prospects of massive rebuilding contracts. However, today has the look and feel of a rout, as managers run for the exits.

Industrial related names like Toyota and Toshiba are down anywhere from 4-8%, while yesterday’s winners, construction stocks, are down anywhere from 6-23%.

Leading the downside, head tilted to the right, full retard on ambien, are shares of Miyaji Engineering, TOA Corp and Toyo Construction.

Refiners JX and Cosmo oil are down about 10%+, lending to a rise in crack spreads.

Japan opened down by almost 4%, extending the retarded drubbing it took yesterday.

Facebook announced plans to sell local discount offers to its 500+million user base, a move that directly competes with Groupon.

The launch will go live in San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, and Austin. If successful, I am sure those fuckers will expand worldwide to become the stingiest company on the face of the globe.

Revenues rose 157.0% year/year to $29.3 mln vs the $21.2 mln consensus.

Stock is little changed in ah’s trade.

Cash flow positive with no debt…..

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iPad/Pod folks ask what is a Zune ? Apparently demand is falling and MSFT will stop making new versions while trying to transfer the software licenses to other products…

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