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Monthly Archives: January 2012

How the Fed Can Prevent the Next Fiscal Crisis

By MARK THOMA, The Fiscal Times
January 17, 2012

The public’s faith in the Fed’s ability to protect the economy from economic problems has been shaken by the Fed’s failures before and during the Great Recession. The recent release of the transcripts from 2006 monetary policy meetings where Federal Reserve policymakers discuss and ridicule the suggestion that the economy is threatened by a dangerous housing bubble has undermined its reputation even further.

How did the Fed get things so wrong? How can policy be improved?

Read the rest here.

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Central Banks Increase Gold Lending

By Jack Farchy in London

Central banks increased the amount of gold they lent for the first time in a decade in 2011, as they used their bullion reserves to help commercial banks raise US dollars.

Although central banks hold one-sixth of all the gold ever mined in their reserves, their activities in the bullion market are opaque, with not a single institution revealing its day-to-day operations. In addition to holding gold for their reserves, some central banks also trade the metal, lending it on the open market in order to obtain a yield.

Thomson Reuters GFMS, the precious metal consultancy that publishes benchmark statistics on the gold market, on Tuesday said that the quantity of gold lent by central banks had risen last year for the first time since 2000.

Read the rest here.

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Iran cautions West against oil embargo

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s OPEC governor said Tuesday a European Union embargo on Iranian oil would be “economic suicide” for Europe, the latest stiff statement reflecting Iranian concern about the prospect of deeper sanctions over its nuclear program.

Iran is OPEC’s second largest oil producer, and oil exports account for 80 percent of Iran’s foreign currency income. Iran sells about 20 percent of its oil exports to Europe.

European nations are considering whether to go along with new U.S. legislation outlawing transactions with Iran’s central bank, indirectly limiting Iranian oil shipments by making it harder for customers to pay for them. The law takes effect later this year.

Iran has reacted with a string of strong pronouncements. It threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, where most of the Gulf’s oil exports pass, it scheduled war games in the area of the strait, it warned the U.S. not to send an aircraft carrier back into the Gulf — and now it is cautioning Europe over the consequences of abandoning Iranian oil.

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America’s lazy, fat children rejoice: BK home delivery

Now they can get that great taste of Burger King without getting up from X-Box live for 15 minutes. Of course, they must consume at least $10 at a time; not a problem per se, more of a logistics nightmare as then you will be inconvenienced in your quest to fake-kill others by trips to the bathroom.

Perhaps if you set up your video game in the bathroom, you would need not be disturbed by any force of God or man?

Read here:

Can’t make it out for a Whopper? Burger King just might bring it to you.

The fast-food chain has begun delivering to homes in Washington, D.C., USA Today reports. If the test goes well, the King may expand the service to other cities.

Home delivery has always been a challenge for the food and beverage business. Pizza restaurants obviously have found success, but burgers and fries don’t hold up quite as well in transit. They also lose some appeal in the microwave. Finally, the size of a fast-food order isn’t normally large enough to justify the expense of delivery.

So why is Burger King doing it? The now privately held company tells USA Today that it has created “thermal packaging technology” that can keep Whoppers hot and french fries crispy. So no need to reheat your order in the microwave.

The orders have to be fairly substantial — $8 to $10 at a minimum, depending on the store — and Burger King adds a $2 delivery fee.

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SHLD settles into close as rumor fades

Read here:

Two events were getting Sears Holdings (SHLD +9.39%) investors all ruffled Tuesday, sending the stock up 11% in morning trading.

First, there was the mysterious $159 million stock purchase last week from Eddie Lampert, the billionaire who already controls the company. Lampert bought the stock — nearly 4.5 million shares — for personal ownership from his hedge firm, ESL Investments. Lampert and his hedge funds own nearly two-thirds of the outstanding stock.

Why would Lampert put so much more of his personal money into an entity failing on so many levels? After a rough holiday sales meltdown, Sears is closing up to 120 stores. Some suppliers aren’t getting paid. The credit rating has been downgraded. Cash is dwindling. Unless something major happens, this retail chain is in a death spiral.

But then a rumor emerged. Maybe Lampert’s buyout is a sign that the company will be taken private? Of course! Why else would he be snapping up shares? Let’s jump on this one! And so Sears shares soar. Neither Sears nor Lampert has confirmed anything.

Analysts pooh-poohed the idea almost immediately.

“We think the company has bigger issues that could make a ‘going private’ transaction impossible, including significant cash burn with rapidly deteriorating financial performance and reduced liquidity, particularly if the major vendors become reluctant to fund holiday 2012 shipments,” Mary Ross Gilbert of Imperial Capital told Reuters.

There’s another possible reason for the stock gain, as the video points out. Perhaps we’re seeing a short squeeze as traders rush to cover their positions.

Aren’t investors tired of Sears’ drama yet? And with so many questions and mysteries at play here, why jump into the stock at all? “The fact is, no one really knows anything about Sears, and it’s becoming very dangerous to read anything into the stock price gyrations,” writes Shira Ovide at The Wall Street Journal.

Investor enthusiasm appears to be dampening a bit. Sears shares have fallen back from their 11% rise to about a 6.5% gain by Tuesday afternoon.

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Investor money flying “under the mattress”

Read here:

Investors have been running from stocks and even bonds as fast as their feet can take them, putting their cash instead in accounts that earn practically nothing but provide shelter from turbulent times.

Over the first 11 months of 2011, plain-vanilla savings and checking accounts attracted eight times the money as stock and bond mutual and exchange-traded funds, according to data from market research firm TrimTabs.

The pace accelerated to nearly 13 times from September to November, the most recent month for which data is available.

After contending with factors as ominous as the European debt crisis and as frustrating as Washington gridlock, investors have decided that the world looks best from the sidelines, despite historic efforts from the Federal Reserve to entice risk-taking.

“The real money these days is going straight under the mattress,” said TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman. “The Fed is doing almost everything in its power to entice investors to speculate in overpriced asset markets. Yet investors – particularly on the retail side – are mostly refusing to take the bait.”

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Slow Motion Bubble Bursting

If you missed the last documentary on Friday the 13th then i suggest you hold your nose on foreign policy accusation and read in between the lines…. I promise if you endure the 2 hours presented here; your mind will be blown away.

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbrjRKB586s 450 300]

 

 

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Obama to Visit Disney World to Do the Tourism & Travel Industry a Solid $DIS

(via) 

President Barack Obama will visit Walt Disney World during a planned trip to Orlando on Thursday, according to a White House aide. There, he will “unveil a strategy that will significantly help boost tourism and travel,” the aide added.

Details on that strategy were not disclosed. But it would be hard for Obama to pick a locale that’s better known than Disney for a tourism announcement. The resort giant in Orlando has four theme parks that collectively draw more than 45 million visitors a year.

It doesn’t appear, however, that he’ll get much love from local politicians. Aides to U.S.Sen. Bill Nelson said the Florida Democrat was unlikely to attend because the office “got word too late” of the visit and had meetings planned in other parts of the state. And Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is scheduled to be in Washington that day for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

While the details of the announcement are still unknown, there’s one topic at the top of the political wish list for Central Florida’s tourism industry: Visa reform. The tourism industry has been pushing Congress and Obama to make it easier for visitors from emerging nations such as Brazil, India and China to come to the U.S. as tourists.

In Brazil, where citizens have a reputation for loving Orlando’s theme parks, there are four consulate offices to conduct the required in-person interviews for people who want a visa to visit the U.S. That means families could have to travel several hundred miles before they are even approved to travel to the U.S.

But a recent Congressional appropriations bill gave the Secretary of State the authority to develop a pilot program to use videoconferencing to conduct remote visa interviews for leisure and business visitors. Such video conferencing would be high on Disney’s priority list, as it would likely cut the expense for international travelers who are interested in coming to see the Mouse.

Disney is bracing for heavy security around the Magic Kingdom. The giant resort recently reduced the Magic Kingdom’s hours for Thursday while extending hours and adding entertainment at its other three parks. The resort has also imposed parking restrictions around a nearby hotel, Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

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Defying Logic

So you think the market is defying logic ? Bank earnings were going to kill the market right ? The falling Euro was going to muck everything up. Not even EFSF and Sovereign debt downgrades can bring this levered game down. Now there pitching a Greek default is priced in.

Be prepared for a 200 point rally in your bear faccia. 1320 S&P is close……

I covered last week when the market gave me a chance down 150 intra-day closing down 48ish….Still holding ERY though; down a buck. Slowly selling long positions to get back to mostly cash.

YOUR FUCKING DEAD !

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv5PeJHBpuA 450 300]

 

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LONDON OLYMPICS SECURITY SECRETS LEFT ON TRAIN BY COP

(via)

A secret dossier detailing plans for policing this summer’s London Olympics was left on a train.

The file, which could have provided terrorists planning an attack with invaluable data, was lost by a cop.

A commuter found it and handed it to The Sun, who returned the file to the police, the newspaper reported Tuesday.

The chief inspector in Scotland Yard’s Territorial Policing branch is said to be “hugely embarrassed” by the potentially serious blunder.

“Restricted” files spell out the security plans in place at the sites of events and provide minutes of top-level meetings in which ways to beat terrorists were discussed.

The dossier contains dates and details of pre-Olympics rehearsals, explains emergency lockdown procedures and sets out plans to avoid traffic congestion.

It also reports at length on damning complaints from officers about the radios they will use during the Olympics.

 

The documents were found by a commuter on a train in Dartford in Kent, southeastern England, on Jan. 5.

“I couldn’t believe any policeman could have left this on a train. It’s a worry,” the unnamed commuter said.

London’s Metropolitan Police played down the incident, saying the files were not thought to be operationally sensitive.

A spokeswoman said, “An officer lost his bag containing a number of documents. He reported the loss. The Directorate of Professional Standards have been informed, as is routine.”

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ZAGG Moving on Volume

ZAGG has been approached by APPL and Samsung for their water repellent technology for phones ” HzO (majority owned by ZAGG). Story here

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RIMM Spiking

Hearing Research in Motion is in talks with Samsung for sale.

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Gold Bugs Get Freaky to Smuggle

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean customs officials say they have arrested eight men over a scheme to allegedly smuggle gold out of the country by hiding it in their rectums.

The Korea Customs Service said Monday the men allegedly transformed $260,000 in gold bars into small beads and smuggled them in their rectums to Japan two times in 2010 to avoid import taxes.

South Korea says Japanese custom officials caught the men on their second attempt and sent them home after imposing fines. Later, one of the suspects allegedly orchestrated an unsuccessful bid to smuggle gold bars from Mongolia to Hong Kong using a similar method.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials gathered evidence against them at home. They say the suspects recently admitted to the smuggling after initial denials.
Read more: http://trade.cc/zto

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