The poll must have hit old age homes and rotary club meetings. By nature humans are social and thrive on friendship, recognition, and the ability to show off. So I’m not sure how Facebook could be a fad.
Comments »U.S. Concerned Netanyahu, Mofaz May Attack Iran Shortly
“The United States is worried that Shaul Mofaz and his Kadima party’sjoining a unity government with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could result in an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities at any given moment, according to a report on Channel 10 News on Thursday.”
Comments »When Will Main Street Return to Wall Street? Don’t Hold Your Breath
Contrarians note: average investors are shunning stocks. But it may not be enough to restart a bull market.
Read the article here.
Comments »LMFAO: Dinosaur Flatulence Caused Global Warming
You just can not make this shit up. Somebody wants carbon taxation awful bad…
Comments »UN Warns High Food Prices Will Spark Global Unrest
“Food prices may stabilize at high levels and keep government import bills near a record, increasing the risk of social unrest in the world’s least developed countries, the United Nations said.
The UN Food & Agriculture Organization is asking international lenders to accelerate the release of funds to help poor countries cope with high food costs through subsidies and avert riots, Hiroyuki Konuma, assistant director general at the FAO, said in an interview.”
Comments »“If I Wanted America To Be A Dictatorship”
[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUy860bjnPI 450 300] [youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jazdG3-ZETM&feature=related 450 300]
Comments »Killer Charts: Sell in May?
Ritholtz posted a fantastic set of charts covering the historical tendencies of the month of May.
See the charts here.
Comments »PROFESSOR: The World Is Overpopulated By 5 Billion People
[youtube://http://www.youtube.comwatch?v=AZ6_Nwlgqks 450 300]
Comments »
Bullish Sentiment Drops to Lowest Level Since September
Via Bespoke, see the chart and read the analysis here.
Comments »Karl Rove: OBAMA WINS
“Ever since Mitt Romney all but secured the Republican nomination, we were all waiting with bated breath.
Wait no more. Karl Rove has finally put out his inaugural 2012 electoral map. And who’s winning?
Barack Obama. Here it is, in all its glory:
 |
You can see there how it breaks down: Right now, 284 votes are either solidly for Obama or “leaning Obama.” Romney only has 172 solidly in his grasp or “leaning” toward him. The remaining 82 electoral votes are toss-ups.
Full article
Yale’s Shiller: US Housing May Not Rebound ‘in Our Lifetimes’
How the Fed Could Surprise the Markets This Week
Matt Taibbi Predicts a Death Spiral for Banks
“We haven’t been hearing a lot from Matt Taibbi lately because he’s on deadline.
But he took a break from his furious writing to comment on this week’s bank earning and the impending Moody’s downgrade of a few of the major Street players — BofA, Morgan Stanley, Goldman and Citi.
We know that earlier this week, Black Rock’s Larry Fink said that if some of these banks were downgraded, his massive asset management firm would have to stop doing business with them — they have stringent rules about ratings, you see.
To Taibbi, that’s a nail in the coffin. From Rolling Stone:
…when big money players stop trading with those firms, that’s when the death spirals begin.
Morgan Stanley in particular should be sweating. They’re apparently going to be downgraded three notches, where they’ll be joining Citi and Bank of America at a level just above junk. But no worries: Bank CFO Ruth Porat announced that a three-level downgrade was “manageable” and that only losers rely totally on agencies like Moody’s to judge creditworthiness. “A lot of clients are doing their own credit work,” she said.
As for the bank earnings, Taibbi focused on the bank he hates the most (right now)— Bank of America. It just so happens that, if you read BofA’s Q1 earnings report closely enough, it says the government forced the bank to reclassify some of its debt.
During 1Q12, the bank regulatory agencies jointly issued interagency supervisory guidance on nonaccrual policies for junior-lien consumer real estate loans. In accordance with this new guidance, beginning in 1Q12, we classify junior-lien home equity loans as nonperforming when the first-lien loan becomes 90 days past due even if the junior-lien loan is performing. As a result of this change, we reclassified $1.85B of performing home equity loans to nonperforming.
So yeah, basically Taibbi’s point (h/t to ZeroHedge who gave him a heads up on this) is that BofA tried to pass off a bunch of non-performing loans as gold. The government may have caught a batch of those, but how many batches are there, really?”
Comments »
FT: Big Investors Bet Fed Will Embark on More Easing
“While the economy is on the mend, markets shouldn’t discount the possibility of the Federal Reserve stepping in with a third round of large-scale bond buybacks from banks to make sure recovery doesn’t lose track, big investors say.
The Fed has twice pumped trillions into the economy buying bonds from banks to ensure price stability and encourage hiring, a stimulus tool known as quantitative easing (QE).
Market talk of a third round has come and gone this year, with calls for it growing when economic indicators disappoint and dismissals when indicators surprise.”
Comments »Europe May Be Faced with Keeping the Printing Press on 24/7
MORGAN STANLEY: 7 Reasons Why We’re Bearish On Stocks
Ben Duronio | Apr. 16, 2012, 3:31 PM
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is out with its latest Asset Allocation and Strategy Weekly report to its clients.
Adam Parker, Morgan’s top U.S. equity strategist, might be the most bearish name on Wall Strategist. Parker is calling for the S&P 500 to fall to 1,167 by year end.
So, it’s no surprise that the firm’s list of reasons to be bullish/bearish on stocks tilts bearish.
But they do have some positive things to say about stocks.
Read the rest here.
Comments »Geithner: ‘Buffett Rule’ Won’t Hurt U.S. Economy
“A proposal to impose at least 30 percent income tax on Americans making more than a million dollars a year will not hurt the economy by stifling investment and growth, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.
The so-called Buffett rule, a tax plan proposed by President Barack Obama to reduce income inequality, has been vigorously criticized by Republicans who argue it will discourage people from starting new businesses as it will raise capital gains tax and taxes on investment.
“No credible basis for that argument, in my judgment,” Geithner said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Comments »KRUGMAN: Europe Is Committing Suicide
“It’s really hard to argue with Paul Krugman’s latest column, which argues that Europe is committing economic suicide.
You probably know what the argument is: The peripheral economies, especially Spain, are in complete ruins, and yet they’re being asked to make things worse by undergoing austerity, as directed by Germany and the ECB.
Not only is the economy worsening, it’s not even helping to achieve the objective of improving the debt situation. Yields are surging again, and as Greece showed us, austerity doesn’t even improve debt dynamics.
So basically it’s suicide, because the outcome of the current path is so obviously economic disaster and everyone knows it.
Click here to read the whole column >“
Comments »
