“ECB Bond Buying Likened to Work of the Devil”

“The devil may have much more than the best tunes. To listen to the president of Germany’s Bundesbank, he also offers the best cautionary tale about the perils of state financing by a central bank.

Hannelore Foerster | Bloomberg | Getty Images Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), signaled the bank will join forces with governments to buy sovereign bonds in sufficient quantities to remove all doubts about the future of the euro on Aug. 2, 2012.

After weeks of macro-economic sniping following his isolation at the European Central Bank over its new bond-buying policy, Jens Weidmann, on Tuesday resorted to Goethe’s Faust to make his point. The classic play highlighted, he argued, “the core problem of today’s paper money-based monetary policy” and the “potentially dangerous correlation of paper money creation, state financing and inflation”.”

Gapping up

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MT -1.4%,  CSX -1.1%, UNP -0.9% , BRCM -1.5%,  IDIX -2.7%, BONT -2.8% ,  ASNA -5.9%, AZO -3.6%,

ACHN, ATI, AGN, AEO, BBT, BRCM, SCHW, CLNE, GLW, DOW, DD, GNRC, HBAN, IDIX, LRCX, MANU, MRO, MAT, MON, NTRS, SHW, STI, WM, WPRT,

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On the Wires 

“General Mills Inc. (GIS), the maker of Cheerios cereal, reported first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates as sales gained in Europe and Canada.

Net income rose 35 percent to $548.9 million, or 82 cents a share, from $405.6 million, or 61 cents, a year earlier, the Minneapolis-based company said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit totaled 66 cents a share. Analysts projected 62 cents, the average of 17estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

International sales increased 27 percent to $1.09 billion. On a constant-currency basis, sales gained 51 percent in Europe and 28 percent in Canada. Results were helped by its Yoplait International acquisition, General Mills said. Total sales rose 5.3 percent to $4.05 billion.”

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“PROVO, Utah (AP) — Blackstone is leading a group that has agreed to buy home security providerVivint for more than $2 billion.

Provo, Utah-based Vivint is one of the largest providers of home automation and security services inNorth America. Its shareholders include Goldman Sachs, Peterson Partners and Jupiter Partners.

Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Vivint will be acquired by a fund managed by the New York-based investment firm on behalf of its private equity investors.

“Vivint is the premier provider of home technology solutions — improving customers’ lives with world-class home security, energy management, home automation, and solar energy,” Peter Wallace, senior managing director at Blackstone, said in a statement. “We believe that the company is well positioned to capture significant share of these emerging markets.”

The company said it supports more than 675,000 customers in the United States and Canada.”

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“Mario Draghi sees reason to be “optimistic” about the euro-area financial crisis now that he’s committed the European Central Bank’s balance sheet to ending it.

That confidence depends on political leaders who have rarely missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity since Greece’s 2009 deficit blowout began upending the 17-nation euro zone. Their track record and the compromises required to put their promises into action leave Juergen Michels, chief euro- area economist at Citigroup Inc. (C) in London, skeptical.”

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“Japan’s bond market is signaling the nation’s central bank won’t succeed in emulating theFederal Reserve in printing its way to an economic recovery.

Japan’s 30-year bond yield was 1.19 percentage points lower than for similar-maturity U.S. Treasuries on Sept. 14, the most since May 10 and suggesting little concern among investors that inflation will eat into the value of the yen-based debt. A Bloomberg News survey of economists showed that none anticipate inflation to meet the Bank of Japan’s 1 percent target through the end of March 2014.

Since Fed Governor Ben S. Bernanke unveiled open-ended bond purchases last week, expectations for U.S. price gains climbed to a 16-month high. The BOJ, which bolstered monetary stimulus at the end of a two-day meeting today, has so far failed to turn around a decade of falling prices that weighs on growth. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has joined the deflation fight too, pledging to beat it within a year as he faces party elections on Sept. 21.

“There is a big difference in the degree of enthusiasm between the BOJ and the Fed,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist in Tokyo at Norinchukin Research Institute Co. “The BOJ just takes a wait-and-see attitude despite its inflation goal, while the Fed is striving to reduce unemployment.”

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“Gold was seen gaining in London after reaching a six-month high on speculation central banks’ moves to bolster growth will spur demand for the metal as a protection of wealth.

The Bank of Japan (8301) said it will add 10 trillion yen ($127 billion) to its 45 trillion-yen fund that buys assets including government debt. The Federal Reserve announced Sept. 13 a third round of quantitative easing, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave details this month of a plan to buy debts of member states and China approved infrastructure spending plans.

“Gold is given a boost on the back of anything that is a form of quantitative easing,” Bernard Sin, head of currency and metal trading at bullion refiner MKS Finance SA in Geneva, said today by phone. “At some point there’ll be some profit-taking but we’ll continue to trend higher.”

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“Oil extended losses amid speculation that crude-producing countries will increase supply, outweighing the impact of Japan’s expanded program of monetary easing and economic stimulus.

Futures fell as much as 1 percent. Saudi Arabia is taking action to reduce the price of oil by pumping about 10 million barrels a day of crude and will produce more if customers demand it, a Persian Gulf official with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The Bank of Japan (8301)said it will increase its asset- purchase fund to 55 trillion yen ($697 billion) from 45 trillion yen. The BOJ joins the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank in taking steps to prod the economy.”

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“Asian stocks rose, with a regional benchmark index poised to close at the highest level since May, as the Bank of Japan boosted asset purchases, joining moves by the Federal Reserve last week to stimulate economic growth.”

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Permits were at 803k

World Markets

Currencies

Commodities

USD Libor

Euribor

Yields for Italy, Spain, France,  and Germany …

It will be an asterisk in the history books, if it gets a mention at all.

Read the article here.

Equities have managed to pare early morning losses. The DOW has led the charge to greener pastures.

The dollar continues a bounce off recent lows.

Gold, silver, and other metals are in positive territory.

Black gold remains just under the unchanged line.

Apple tops $700 per share while Google hits 52 week highs.

Overall, the markets are digesting last weeks gains and trying to determine how serious a problem Spain may become and what will become of earnings after the down note given by FedEx today.

Market update

European markets

A Pakistani protestor has died after inhaling smoke from burning U.S. flags during a rally against the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims.
Abdullah Ismail died in Mayo hospital in Lahore having complained of feeling unwell during the angry demonstrations in the eastern Pakistan city yesterday.
Around 10,000 people are estimated to have taken part in the protest organised by the group Tehreek Hurmat-i-Rasool.

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[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFii8vqVTTg 450 300]

Everyone is criticizing him for these remarks. Meanwhile, he fucking nailed it.

Cool stuff here!

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_s6ofhyqWw 450 300]