STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday August 18

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday August 18, 2009

Bush Administration Officials Under Indictment = 2
Financial Sector Officials In Prison = 6

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON August 17, 2009

Dow... 9,135.34 -186.06 (-2.00%)
Nasdaq... 1,930.84 -54.68 (-2.75%)
S&P 500... 979.73 -24.36 (-2.43%)
Gold future... 935.80 -12.90 (-1.36%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.47 -0.09 (-2.64%)
30-Year Bond 4.32 -0.10 (-2.22%)

---

U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES..............................................S&P FUTURES

Market Conditions During Trading Hours

GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie, Silver and US$

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

[ozymandius]

1. Market Observation

Intermarket Analysis
BY RYAN J. PUPLAVA

.....

Early last week, Gary Dorsch wrote a timely article titled: "Chinese Red-Chips Show Signs of Fatigue." In his article, Gary pointed out the parabolic move in the Shanghai stock market and signs of a possible reversal. I especially liked one of his charts (below) that discussed the psychological underpinnings to the reversal because that's what charting is—the sum of mass psychology.

-see chart-

The 5% down day on July 29th for the Shanghai Stock Index was a warning shot and it caught my attention. Why? Because the Shanghai market bottomed four months before our stock market; now it is showing a top. Credit has taken off at an exponential rate in China during 2009 as Gary points out in his article. News the Chinese central bank recently started to issue some sterilization notes has had its due effect. Deflation is caused by the net withdrawal of credit and money supply. There isn't a net withdrawal in credit and money supply yet for China, but the rate of increase in credit has fallen (356 billion Yuan in July vs. 1.5 trillion Yuan in June) and perceptions have changed along with it.

Monday’s market events mark some key breakdowns and warnings in the wake of China's credit change. Some of that starts with the Shanghai Composite Index. A double top has formed and completed in the Index. Two additional red flags have formed since the double top. The first is the reversal at the 38% Fibonacci level. When a bear market rally fails to break above the 38% retracement line, it is a bearish indication that buyers couldn't take back significant control from the bears...

.....

The violation of the 50-day average in the Shanghai Composite Index is the first sign we have of a major reversal for intermarket purposes. The Shanghai Composite Index has been a leading trend indicator for global markets since the bottom in the index last October. The break in the 50-day average is a major blow to the bull market recovery story. China's growth story is earmarked as the demand story for commodities. If China's market is falling, so can commodities. If the market recovers from this correction, it is likely that commodities may underperform.

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[Ghost Dog]

40. China pares its holdings of US Treasury bonds

CHINA cut its holdings of US Treasury bills in June by the largest amount in nearly nine years in what economists viewed as a bid to diversify the country's foreign reserves and increase returns.

China trimmed its net Treasury bill holdings by 3.1 percent to US$776.4 billion in June, down from May's US$801.5 billion, the US Treasury Department said.

...

"The June cut may have been driven by an incentive to cash in, as the bonds' interest rates rose recently," Lu Zhengwei, an Industrial Bank senior economist, said yesterday. "The cut also fell against the backdrop of China's diversification of its foreign assets," Lu said. "However, diversification is a long-term and gradual move. The recent change showed that China's US Treasuries holdings may fluctuate in the future to maximize returns." China's central bank did not make a public statement on the June move.

China cut its US Treasuries holdings for the first time in 11 months in April. But in May, China increased its Treasuries purchases.

The US Treasuries remain a major investment option for China given their high liquidity and the size of the US economy, Lu said. Economists also said that China may keep its US assets relatively stable despite measurable fluctuation, as though China is telling the world it is actively seeking alternatives.

China has already shown concerns over the safety of its mounting US assets and called for diversification. In March, China suggested the creation of a new global currency, possibly based on the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Rights, which are used as the monetary standard for dealings between the fund and member governments.

China' foreign-exchange reserves grew by 18 percent year on year to US$2.13 trillion at the end of June, making it the only country in the world with forex reserves exceeding US$2 trillion.

/. http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=411123&type=Business

[ozymandius]

2. Today's Reports

08:30 Housing Starts Jul
Briefing.com 580K
Consensus 598K
Prior 582K

08:30 Building Permits Jul
Briefing.com 565K
Consensus 576K
Prior 570K

08:30 PPI Jul
Briefing.com -0.2%
Consensus -0.3%
Prior 1.8%

08:30 Core PPI Jul
Briefing.com 0.1%
Consensus 0.1%
Prior 0.5%

http://www.briefing.com/Investor/Public/Calendars/EconomicCalendar.htm

[UpInArms]

18. 8:30 reports:

US July PPI down 0.9% vs down 1% expected
8:30am Today

US July core PPI down 0.1% vs gain 0.1% expected
8:30am Today

US July PPI energy prices down 2.4%
8:30am Today

U.S. July housing starts fall 1% to 581,000
8:30am Today

US July PPI food prices down 1.5%
8:30am Today

U.S. July building permits fall 1.8% to 560,000
8:30am Today

US PPI down record 6.8% in past 12 months
8:30am Today

U.S. July single-family permits up 5.8%
8:30am Today

US core PPI up 2.6% in past 12 months
8:30am Today

U.S. July multifamily starts fall 13.3%
8:30am Today

U.S. single-family permits rise 4 months in a row
8:30am Today

U.S. July starts weaker than 596,000 expected
8:30am Today

[Po_d Mainiac]

20. Nice weed patch n/t

[Demeter]

24. Looks Like a Death Spiral

not to be confused with a Death Panel, since Death Spirals can and do exist.

[ozymandius]

3. Oil rises above $67 amid mixed economic signals

SINGAPORE – Oil prices rose above $67 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as investors looked for clues on the strength of the global economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 64 cents to $67.39 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract fell 76 cents to settle at $66.75.

.....

Investors will be watching if the first hurricane of the year threatens oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Bill was a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph (160 kph) and will likely be near Bermuda by the end of the week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

.....

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for September delivery was steady at $1.95 a gallon and heating oil held at $1.83. Natural gas for September delivery rose 4.9 cents to $3.21 per 1,000 cubic feet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[ozymandius]

4. Summary Box: Fed extends lending program

WHAT HAPPENED?: The Federal Reserve said it's extending a program that was due to end Dec. 31. The major part of the program, aimed at boosting consumer and business lending, will now run through March 31. Another part that supports new loans for commercial mortgage-backed securities will be extended through June.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fed_credit_crisis_summary_box

...very short...

[ozymandius]

5. With credit tight, Fed extends consumer loan plan (more details)

WASHINGTON – With banks limiting the availability of auto, student and other consumer loans, the Federal Reserve said Monday it would extend a program intended to help spur more lending at low rates.

The program is set up to provide up to $1 trillion in low-cost financing to investors to buy securities backed by consumer and commercial loans. But private economists said the program, Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, or TALF, has so far provided little benefit for consumers and businesses still struggling to get credit.

The program, originally set to expire at the end of the year, has two parts.

The part aimed at boosting consumer and business lending is being extended through March. The part geared toward boosting new commercial real estate lending will run through June, because of the extra time typically needed to complete such deals. Delinquency rates on such loans have soared as companies have downsized or closed their doors, the Fed has said.

.....

In a joint statement with Treasury, the Fed said even though TALF is being extended, the two agencies decided against expanding it to allow other types of collateral to be used for loans. The agencies said this decision could be reversed if market conditions do not improve in coming months.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fed_credit_crisis

[ozymandius]

6. Lowe's 2Q profit falls 19 pct; shares fall

NEW YORK – No. 2 home-improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. on Monday said second-quarter earnings fell 19 percent on weaker-than-expected sales, adding fresh fuel to doubts about the ability and willingness of consumers to lead the U.S. economy out of recession.

Lowe's shares and the broader market fell sharply as investors worried that consumers remain tight-fisted in their spending habits. A recovery in consumer spending is crucial for an economic recovery because it accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.

.....

The No. 2 home-improvement retailer says profit fell to $759 million, or 51 cents per share, from $938 million, or 64 cents per share, last year.

Revenue fell 5 percent to $13.84 billion from $14.51 billion last year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_lowe_s

---

When all other means of logic fails - blame the weather.

[Robbien]

14. CIT Group : Q2 EPS of -$4.30 vs. consensus of -$1.53, the ninth quarterly loss in a row.

But that is GOOD news as the headline ignores the consensus and blares out

CIT Loss Narrows

The company's net loss of $4.30 a share for the quarter ended June 30 compares with red ink of $7.88 a share a year earlier, when the company reported an $8 charge per share from discontinued operations.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125051204896536669.html

[ozymandius]

7. Rates drop at weekly Treasury auction

WASHINGTON – Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction with rates on six-month bills dropping to the lowest level this year.

The Treasury Department auctioned $31 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.180 percent, down from 0.185 percent last week. Another $30 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.270 percent, down from 0.285 percent last week.

.....

The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,995.45 while a six-month bill sold for $9,986.35. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.183 percent for the three-month bills and 0.274 percent for the six-month bills.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_bi_ge/us_treasury_bills_1

---

I wonder if anyone other than the Federal Reserve showed up to buy these bills. One more thing: this sounds like Treasury conducted a Dutch Auction: in which they had to accept the highest bid, regardless of price.

[ozymandius]

8. Stanford warnings ignored, US senators are told (Chapter 213 of Bush Really Sucked)

BATON ROUGE, La., Aug 17 (Reuters) - Investors who say they lost their life savings to accused swindler Allen Stanford told a congressional panel on Monday that U.S. authorities were also to blame, and a former Stanford employee said she warned regulators about him as early as 2003 but was ignored.

.....

Leyla Wydler, a former Stanford Group financial adviser, said she came forward in 2003 with allegations that Stanford was operating a Ponzi scheme and was largely ignored by securities regulators -- including the National Association of Securities Dealers, which became the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2007.

Wydler, who said she made a similar allegation to the SEC in 2004, was hired by the company in 2000 and fired in 2002 for refusing to push the certificates of deposit (CDs) on her clients, she told the hearing.

.....

The SEC has been criticized for not acting quickly enough to shut down Stanford's alleged $7 billion fraud. The agency's internal watchdog said last month the SEC's efforts to pursue Stanford were hampered by a lack of cooperation by the Texas billionaire and the head of Antigua's financial regulator.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1742174920090817

---

Remember: SEC Chairman Chairman and former Republican Congressman, Christopher Cocks, took over at the SEC in July of 2004. William Donaldson, former hedge fund manager and president of the NYSE, left the post to make room for Cocks.

[ozymandius]

9. Stock index futures point to gains; housing data eyed

(Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday, a bounce from Monday's decline, as investors braced for data on new housing starts.

At 5:21 a.m. EDT, futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up between 0.6 and 0.7 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was up 0.8 percent at 929.38 points, regaining some of the ground lost on Monday, and helped by stronger-than-expected data from Germany's ZEW survey.

U.S. housing starts probably increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 600,000 units last month, after rising to 582,000 units in June, according to a median forecast of 62 economists, adding to evidence that the economy is coming out of recession. It would be the third straight month of increase and the highest level in eight months.

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE57325J20090818

[ozymandius]

10. Obama: knowing when to be an asshole by Edward Harrison

Damn! Mr. Harrison is a good writer. - ozy

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/08/obama-knowing-when-to-be-asshole.html

Barack Obama’s health insurance reform initiative is clearly foundering. So, his administration has pulled out the big guns. Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius on the Sunday morning talk shows. Obama himself had a prime time press conference on the issue. He has hosted a number of town hall meetings. The President has even written an opinion piece in the New York Times.

Yet, most pundits are still acting as if his healthcare efforts are on life support. I have read any number of posts from pundits of all political stripes asking why Obama is not having success on healthcare. The answer is simple: Barack Obama needs to learn when to be the conciliator-in-chief and when to be an asshole.

Wasting political capital on banks

Let’s rewind a bit to explain. Back in July, I wrote that Obama had wasted a lot of political capital by caving in to the financial services lobby. In my view, this goes to the core of the issue. The US and global economy were poised on the precipice. Obama rightly put economic issues first as he entered office in January, dealing with economic stimulus and financial sector reform. However, his crisis solution has been a massive giveaway to big banks, effectively transferring money from taxpayers to the banks in order to shore up their bottom lines and keep them solvent.

.....

Populism is rising

And now we are getting that anger on health care. People are angry that the economy has suffered for so long and they are angry that the economic elite are prospering again but they are not. The realization that this did not have to be is sinking in.

Barack Obama campaigned for President as a change agent. In effect, he was promising to change Washington, so that ordinary citizens benefitted as much as, if not more than, special interests. However, it seems that Washington has changed him. You have the banks getting bailed out, GM and Chrysler, a stimulus bill which many see as laden with pork-barrel spending, the secret deal with the drug lobby, and on and on.

These are not ordinary times, folks. This is a depression. People are afraid – afraid of losing their jobs and their homes, afraid their standard of living will fall, afraid they will be the first American generation ever to be permanently, worse off than their parents. Most of all, Americans are afraid of America’s standing in the world. This economic period is shattering a world view that the American dream is attainable for everyone.

---

[ozymandius]

11. Opinion pieces such as this by Edward Harrison are popping up across the Internets.

The outrage is focused on the apparent selling out of populist causes that swept Obama to victory. This is healthy. As a citizen who is neither a banker, broker, lobbyist, nor wealthy, well-connected nor influential - I feel that Obama needs a "come to Jesus" moment. He has allowed Geithner and Summers to hijack the process of economic reform and appears to ignore, willfully, the Rubin-esque reasons for our horrible situation. This smells of Change in reverse. He has disappointed me, for what it's worth, in that the staggering incompetence and piracy that conveyed us to this point have not been addressed. Change has come in the form of a lick of paint and drywall mud to repair gaping fissures in our foundations.

updated for clarity and to say bye...

Off to work. Have fun today folks! I hope the outrage stays at a healthy simmer. :hi:

[willing dwarf]

12. Amen brother, preach it!

Obama needs a come to Jesus moment because Jesus stood with the poor, the oppressed and the dispossesed and that is where we ordinary Americans are. For the last 25 years we've been sold down the river to credit card companies, overseas merchants, oil companies and the industrial military complex. Our real wages are lower than ever, our buying power is nil, and the threat of one catastrophic health event will wipe out a family's life savings. -- If Obama can't turn around and say "I see I've gone down the wrong path in siding with commercial banks over we the people" then he hasn't got real religion on this stuff.

He needs to stand up and walk up the aisle now!

[Tansy_Gold]

15. If only they were popping up across the MSM

I was fortunate enough to watch part of Olbermann and Maddow last night, and the outrage there is great, but that's not enough. Not nearly enough. The spin from the TPTB is still far stronger.




Tansy Gold, whose pitchfork needs a new handle

[KoKo]

27. A little bright note on MSNBC...Dylan Ratigan did a segment on Senators from small states

running the show on Health Care Reform this morning. He asked why are Senators from states that have less than 2% of the American population allowed to obstruct? I couldn't stay to listen to it all but he tends to be like a dog with a rag that won't let go...so it probably was a good watch.

I think that there are Dem forces trying to get that message out about this. Although for the most part folks tend to watch Fox News and CNN so they get the Repug Talking Points.

[ozymandius]

53. I found Maddow's scorn for wasted political capital over "reform" a brilliant bit of prose.

She is rapier sharp in her insight and absolutely fearless in her delivery.

[Tansy_Gold]

57. :sigh: I wish she would give our prez some of her fearlessness.

Know what I mean?

He really is becoming (?) such a freakin' wimp.



TG

[Demeter]

26. I Would Call It a "Come to Your Senses" Moment

or feed the hand that votes for you.

[Robbien]

13. Matt Taibbi's take

I’ll say this for George Bush: you’d never have caught him frantically negotiating against himself to take the meat out of a signature legislative initiative just because his approval ratings had a bad summer. Can you imagine Bush and Karl Rove allowing themselves to be paraded through Washington on a leash by some dimwit Republican Senator of a state with six people in it the way the Obama White House this summer is allowing Max Baucus (favorite son of the mighty state of Montana) to frog-march them to a one-term presidency?

[sendero]

16. Exactly..

.... Bush got what he wanted regardless of the makeup of congress. About the only substantial loss he incurred was over Immigration Reform.

Other than that, he steamrolled congress in a way we can only dream about Obama doing.

Bush might have been an idiot, but he was an effective idiot and we are instead stuck with an ineffective genius.

Or, is it just that he is unwilling or unable to confront the powers that be.

[DemReadingDU]

17. Bush also didn't get privatization of Social Security, n/t

[Hugin]

22. Also, he was unable to close down the Credit Unions.

Yeah, Bush had his share of failures... But, for some reason *coff*theyownthecorporatemedia*cough* we didn't hear much play about the failures.

Also, deconstruction is far easier than construction... and since Bush's emphasis was on tearing apart the very fabric of the social safety net... He was effective at that.

That reminds me... They're saying that a conversion of Medicare to cover everyone would cost less than one of Bush's Iraq War allotments. JUST ONE!

I seem to remember a number of Democratic politicians who gathered like puppies at dinner time to vote on those spending measures, but, now that "We the People" are looking for help there is a cry of "Too Expensive" from those same politicos.

I don't get it.

[DemReadingDU]

23. It comes down to the status quo

Politicians get large amounts of money from lobbyists who work for insurance, pharma, big business.

If 'Medicare for All' actually were to happen, the cash cow would dry up. And politicians can't have that.

[KoKo]

29. I don't get why there's not a coordinated Dem effort to defend the costs of Public Option or Single

Payer. It's never explained simply using the kind of clever Talking Points that the RW always comes up with. It's not like our Dems wouldn't have learned about issue "framing" given our long dark days in the wilderness. I think they even brought in Lakoff to do "Framing Issues" workshops in House and Senate.

So...it's gotta be the Special Interests who have many of the leading Dems in their pockets like the Bankers have.

[Demeter]

42. Because Nobody In Leadership Except Howard Dean Is Supporting It

Not Obama, Pelosi, Reid, DNC Chairman, whoever that is....certainly not Rahm the Ass Emanuel!

They all love to hate Howard, but he and Kucinich are the only real advocates the American people have, plus a few stalwart Progressives in the Congress...

[mullard12ax7]

51. It's easy, just ask any person who calls themselves a dem what's in their 401K

You'll hear all the wondrous virtues of the companies that are lying to and stealing from the exact same greedy dupes. The excuses will range from "my family needs the money" to "shut up you America hater". Greed rules the minds of the easily manipulated.

[Tansy_Gold]

21. Bush had TPTB with him, in the White House.

he was just a figurehead -- Rove and cheeeeeney were the real mover and shakers. THEY got what "boooosh" wanted, which was really what they wanted.

As someone said yesterday, Obama wants to preside; we need him to lead.




As I was saying at supper last night, Obama's weakness -- imho -- was his inexperience with the ways of Washington, and especially with the ways of the senate. I thought his selection of Biden as VP -- and VP being also president of the senate -- was also a strategy to enable the white house to work WITH a Democratic senate, regardless how large or small the Dem majority, to get essential legislation passed. I haven't seen evidence that Biden has done that.

And with the substantial pro-public-option majority in the House, the ONLY thing that's standing in the way of meaningful health care reform is that tiny minority of Dem senators who are in thrall to the health insurance industry. Biden needs to be lobbying them -- and yes, I use that term intentionally.

If nothing else, the pukes have always been united when it comes to opposing those they perceive as their enemies, even when it's not in their own best interests. The Dems have never learned that, and the one who seems to have learned the least is Obama himself.


Tansy Gold

[KoKo]

31. Yes...Biden was supposed to influence the Senate and Emmanuel to whip the House...

But, given the results so far it would seem they are whipping the wrong folks.

[Demeter]

28. He Never Got His Filthy Hands on Social Security, Either

although he mucked about with Medicare and that Doughnut Hole of a prescription drug plan...and screwed over the VA but good.

[Ghost Dog]

43. *coff* theyownthecorporatemedia *cough*

seems to be at the heart of it, as far as public opinion is concerned.

Inability or unwillingness to confront the PTB on the part of a President, PTB-controlled Special Interests in Senate and Congress, Mass Media on behalf of those interests spinning and spewing in everyone's minds.

[UpInArms]

19. dollar watch

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?acs=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 79.243 Change -0.100 (-0.13%)

Dollar rises on continued worries about consumers

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g8xN5q0b0X5GBVkEEfWfxdWKr6FAD9A4RMBG0

NEW YORK — The dollar rose Monday as investors continued to worry about consumer spending, while the Federal Reserve said most banks expect their lending to remain tight through the second half of next year.

In late trading Monday, the 16-nation euro fell to $1.4085 from $1.4170 late Friday, while the British pound slid to $1.6340 from $1.6506.

The dollar slipped to 94.49 Japanese yen from 94.87 yen.

A key report showed Friday that American consumer confidence was weaker than expected in early August. Coupled with disappointing retail sales data, the report gave investors more reason to fear growth in the world's largest economy will remain tepid for some time even once the recession is technically over.

Traders got more bad news about the consumer Monday when home improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. said poor weather and cautious spending caused sales to fall 19 percent in the second quarter. The company's results missed analysts' forecasts.

Consumer spending is crucial for the economy to emerge from recession as it accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.

Stocks fell by the sharpest amount in six weeks and Treasury prices soared Monday. Worries about the economy drive investors to the relative safety of the U.S. currency and government bonds.

Meanwhile, the Fed's latest survey of loan officers found that about 20 percent of U.S. banks tightened their lending standards on prime home mortgages in the April-June quarter, down from around 50 percent in the previous quarter and a peak of about 75 percent a year ago.

...more...

and now for news of the weird wired:

Traces of cocaine found on up to 90% of dollar bills in American cities

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/17/cocaine-dollar-bills-currency-us

It's an image much beloved of Hollywood directors: the head lowered over a mirror, a crisp greenback tightly rolled and inserted in a nostril, then applied at the other end to a line of white powder.

Researchers from the American Chemical Society in Washington have discovered that the practice of consuming cocaine through rolled up paper money is far more than just a cinematic cliché. They found that in big cities in the US, up to 90% of the notes tested positive for traces of the drug.

In Washington itself, the percentage of notes with cocaine residue reached 93%, a prevalence almost matched by other urban areas such as Boston, Detroit and Baltimore.

Though some of the contamination can be blamed on cocaine crystals being rubbed from one note onto others in bundles of currency, the researchers did find an apparent growth in the phenomenon. Similar tests conducted two years ago found that only 67% of US banknotes had cocaine traces.

The study put that growth down to a probably increase in cocaine consumption in America, where there are thought to be as many as 6 million regular users of the drug.

For the first time, the researchers compared the results with tests on banknotes from other parts of the world. After the US and Canada, Brazil recorded almost as high a frequency of cocaine residue, at 80% of its paper money.

...more...

[Hugin]

25. There's a real sign of the times for you... The story they used to tell was about how the $100s were

tainted with coke.

I bet if I searched around enough, I could trace the decreasing value of the bills used over time! $100 -> $50 -> $20 -> $10 -> $5 -> and now it's at $1 (one dollar) bills.

If I did... I could write it up and submit it as my long anticipated doctoral thesis! :woot:

[Demeter]

30. I Want to Thank the Angel Who Donated and Gave Me a Star

or whatever it is that DU is using this time.

Thank you! Thank You! THANK YOU!!! :) :-) ;-) ;) :D O8) :party: :toast: :bounce: :hi: :loveya: :hug: :grouphug: :pals: :fistbump: :yourock:

[Dr.Phool]

35. Congratulations!

It wasn't me, but you're one of our best assets here.

I officially ended my DU donation boycott about a half-hour ago. I gagged when I saw an ad asking for donations for Pat Toomey. A man can only take so much.

[ozymandius]

56. I think of the donation as insurance against The Stoopid.

I also think that by donating to DU is adding coins to my schadenfreude piggy bank. Eventually the day will come to relish that DU will be able to pay its bills and Glenn Beck will not.

[Demeter]

32. Just to Rub Salt in the Wound: AIG says it will pay new CEO $7 million annual salary

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aig-says-it-will-pay-new-ceo-7-mln-annual-salary-2009-08-17-162300?siteid=yahoomy


Government-owned insurer says pay czar approves package in principle

By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- American International Group said Monday that it agreed to pay new Chief Executive Robert Benmosche an annual salary of $7 million as the insurer tries to attract enough talent to help it repay huge government support while limiting public outrage over compensation.

The compensation consists of $3 million in cash and $4 million in fully-vested common stock of AIG, the insurer explained in a regulatory filing. Benmosche will also be eligible for a performance-based, long-term incentive award of up to $3.5 million a year in the form of stock or phantom stock units in AIG, the company added. He won't get any severance on termination of his employment for any reason.

Kenneth Feinberg, the government's Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation -- also known as the pay czar -- has approved the pay package in principle, AIG /quotes/comstock/13*!aig/quotes/nls/aig (AIG 23.58, +0.16, +0.68%) said in the filing.

The compensation agreement has been submitted for review and approval as required by regulations stemming from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the company said.

Under former Chief Executive Edward Liddy, AIG set off a national furor after paying retention bonuses of about $160 million to employees of the insurer's troubled derivatives unit. Many recipients agreed to pay the money back, but the incident has sparked widespread debate about executive compensation. See MarketWatch special report: Pay Dirt.

AIG shares fell 4% to $23.40 in afternoon action on Monday.

MetLife retirement

MetLife Inc., the insurer Benmosche used to run, has reportedly considered buying some of the businesses AIG is selling.

Benmosche still owns roughly 500,000 shares of MetLife common stock and has 2.1 million options on MetLife common stock at varying exercise prices. He also continues to collect retirement payments from the life insurer.

Benmosche's large financial interests in MetLife have sparked concern that he may not be able to negotiate deals with the life insurer that are in the best interests of AIG shareholders, including the government.

However, AIG's board has concluded that Benmosche will be able to perform his duties objectively and effectively, the company said in its Monday filing.

Any potential conflict can be addressed by the implementation of guidelines that make sure Benmosche isn't involved in any significant business decision involving MetLife, AIG said in the filing.

"Benmosche will not participate directly or indirectly in the negotiation or consideration of any transaction between AIG and MetLife or their respective subsidiaries, either in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer or as a director," AIG said.

Instead, the board will form a special committee of at least three independent directors which will oversee any deal with MetLife, AIG explained.

Benmosche may be able to get materials that the board gets to help it decide how to vote on a deal. He may be able to discuss his views about such a deal during a board meeting. But he won't be allowed to attend the meeting when the boards consider a deal and he won't be able to vote, AIG explained.

Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.

[Demeter]

34. Or As the New Yorker Sees It:

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?sitetype=1&sid=131116&did=4&utm_campaign=CartoonOfTheDay&utm_medium=RSS-Feed&utm_source=RSS-Feed

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our third quarter 2009 fund drive. Democratic Underground is
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[Hugin]

36. K&R

Just so it can't ever be claimed Grovelbot killed the SMW Thread.

[DemReadingDU]

37. CNN: another recession?

8/18/09Beware the double dip
There are growing fears that talk of a recovery is a Wall Street illusion and that the economy could dip into recession again if the job market doesn't improve soon.

There is a growing sense that the current recession is over. Too bad there are already worries about the next one. It's a phenomenon economists refer to as a double dip -- and it's just as unsavory as the chip-eating practice of the same name that got George Costanza in a heap of trouble. A double-dip recession is a downturn that technically ends, but is followed by a fleeting period of growth and another period of economic declines.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/18/markets/thebuzz/index.htm?postversion=2009081812



We were out of the recession???? What!!!!
Excuse me, but I thought we were still in the recession, on the cusp of a depression.

:wtf:


edit: The toon, today, is a perfect depiction for this article.

[Ghost Dog]

44. There will be a double-dip in the Wall Street Illusion.

Global recovery has started, says IMF - WASHINGTON: The global economic recovery has begun but sustaining it will require refocusing the United States toward exports and Asia toward imports, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist said.

In an article released by the IMF on Tuesday, Olivier Blanchard also said potential economic output may be lower than it was before the financial crisis struck. “The turnaround will not be simple,” Blanchard said. “The crisis has left deep scars, which will affect both supply and demand for many years to come.”

He said US consumption, which accounts for about 70% of the US economy and a large chunk of global demand, would not quickly return to pre-crisis strength as households cope with trillions of dollars in losses from the falling housing and stock markets.

He said the financial crisis had made Americans more conscious of “tail risks” — events that are unlikely to occur, but when they do have devastating consequences. That means US consumers are unlikely to return to their free-spending ways, and both the United States and its trading partners will have to adjust. Emerging Asian countries, especially China, must play a big role.

...

“Both higher Chinese import demand and a higher (yuan) will increase US net exports,” he said.

/... http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International-Business/Global-recovery-has-started-says-IMF/articleshow/4908536.cms

[DemReadingDU]

46. But people aren't spending

Already too full of debt, have lost jobs.

These economists are nuts.

[Ghost Dog]

49. They're PTB economists. Here's one with a different perspective, though:

... extract ...

There is a big tension developing in the world economy right now in terms of who’s going to pull whom along. The good thing is at least few of the large emerging markets, especially China and India, have begun to grow at quite rapid rates. That is good for the world economy, not necessarily because these economies are going to pull in a lot of imports from abroad. Other than commodity imports, their ability to import consumer goods is very limited. But at least these economies are not relying that much on the world for their revival.

But then, when one starts looking deeper behind what is underlying the growth in some economies such as China, one gets worried. In China, much of the stimulus is being directed towards investment growth that is financed by bank lending.

So, in China, you have these large state-owned banks that are lending to large state-owned enterprises and this lending is not taking place on a commercial basis. There is this fear of creating excess capacity in sectors that already have spare capacities.

So the Chinese may be getting into the position where income and employment growth cannot keep pace, in terms of generating consumer demand, with the amount of capacity that is being built up in the economy. Then they end up in a situation, may be in a couple of years from now, where they have to export this excess capacity. The other concern in particular for China is about any change in their exchange rate policy because their export sector is very important in generating employment growth. Even in the period before the crisis enveloped the world, when they were growing at an average of 10-12 per cent a year in real terms, net employment growth was only 1 per cent a year.

This is because the state enterprises were laying off workers, so it was only the export sector that was generating jobs. Both in terms of generating jobs and exporting, the Chinese are going to need external markets.

Then, when you look around at the other big economies, especially Japan and Germany, they are also very dependant on exports and their economies are very weak right now and can’t pull in too many imports. So, they need exports to maintain whatever little growth they can hope to eke out in the next year or two.

Looking at all the major economies of the world, you find that it is only the US that is left standing in terms of being able to provide a market for these goods.

So we are coming back to a position where everyone wants to ride on the coat-tails of the US and that is a serious concern because the US economy itself is in a fragile state. And if the rest of the world is going to rely on the US to import more, that will hamper US recovery, which is far from settled as there is a lot of headwind in the US economy.

One aspect is that the toxic asset issue in the financial system seems to have come under some degree of control but there is a very serious non-toxic asset problem that is still there.

There are two particular dimensions, one is corporate real estate and the second is credit cards. So there are real risks in the US financial system. The property prices in the US have kept falling and if they do not stabilize reasonably soon many of the assets that the financial institutions have in terms of corporate real estate are going to become non-performing assets.

Credit card delinquencies are already rising so they have tightened lending standards and have reduced the amounts that people can take as loans on their credit cards. So that has a negative effect in terms of consumer recovery. But if the economy doesn’t pick up soon and if credit card delinquencies continue to rise the lending norms are going to get tighter, so it feeds on itself.

The second issue is that State Governments in the US are in terrible financial state. Now that has a very important implication on the stimulus package because even if the US Federal Government has a big stimulus package the way the stimulus works is that it has to be matched with money from the State Governments and these Governments do not have the money. So the State Governments are not able to absorb the stimulus money ando that has hampered the effectiveness of the stimulus package in the US.

The third issue relates to consumer demand. Households in the US had a savings of zero per cent of their disposable income until the crisis hit, which has gone up to 7 per cent of disposable income now. In the US direct consumption accounts for about 70 per cent of GDP. So if we have a structural change in the pattern of consumption where the average household savings is around 6-7 per cent and if consumption continues to account for 70 per cent of GDP, there is a potential loss of the GDP which has to be made up somewhere.

In the short run the Government can step into the breach but there is a limit to this as the debt levels are already very high in the US. So the growth has to come from somewhere and the only area left is exports. Right now the other economies given their problems are clearly in no position to absorb US exports. So these issues are going to create fairly serious tension in the coming days in terms of the world economic recovery.

The endgame has to involve the value of the adjustment of the dollar. There are two possible scenarios here, one is that the dollar continues its depreciation against other major currencies right now so then the US will start having a smaller trade deficit. But that puts a very painful adjustment to the rest of the world economy.

Another scenario, which will be very benign in the short term, is to go back to where we were in 2007. So the US starts going crazy with its consumption again, the rest of the world happily exports its goods and services to the US to fuel this consumption binge and also buys US Treasury bonds, which keeps interest rates there low. So we go back to an era of large global macroeconomic imbalances but at least everybody is as happy as they were in 2007.

But then you increase the risk of a very substantial dollar adjustment because the level of the debt in the US gets even more worrying. So we could face a very sharp and abrupt dollar adjustment. That is the big concern right now. None of these scenarios is particularly benign or pleasing but there is some appeal to the latter scenario which, at least in the short run, appears benign.

But eventually the dollar has to depreciate as the US has built up so much obligation to the rest of the world that debt has to be paid back. It was remarkable that the rest of the world was willing to fuel US consumption at such cheap interest rates for such a long time, it clearly served the rest of the world’s interest but this cannot go on.

/more... http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/08/19/stories/2009081950840900.htm

[ozymandius]

50. I think Germany squandered an opportunity over the past year to dump

its export model economy. It really needs to diversify. Japan - not as much - as Japan has so many protectionist, domestic consumption policies in place.

[Festivito]

38. Debt: 08/14/2009 11,669,783,083,275.80 (UP 6,952,201,395.73) (Up a little, mostly FICA.)

(Debt up .0718B$, FICA debt we owe to ourselves, up 6.9B$.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 7,334,828,367,708.06 + 4,334,954,715,567.74
UP 17,806,259.60 + UP 6,934,395,136.13

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 307-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.26 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.77, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain a another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 307,091,942 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 05/25/2009 01:14 -> 306,504,012
Currently, each of these Americans owe $38,000.94.
A family of three owes $114,002.83. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 24 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 24 reports is 5,866,342,347.30.
The average for the last 30 days would be 4,693,073,877.84.
The average for the last 31 days would be 4,541,684,397.91.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 143 reports in 206 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.24B$ per report, 5.06B$/day so far.
There were 218 reports in 318 days of FY2009 averaging 7.55B$ per report, 5.17B$/day.

PROJECTION:
There are 1,255 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.4 and 18.2T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
08/14/2009 11,669,783,083,275.80 BHO (UP 1,042,906,034,362.72 so far since Obama took office.)

Fiscal Year ends: Sep 30
Borrowed in FY1993: (Maybe later.)
Borrowed in FY1994: 281,261,026,873.94
Borrowed in FY1995: 281,232,990,696.07
Borrowed in FY1996: 250,828,038,426.34
Borrowed in FY1997: 188,335,072,261.61
Borrowed in FY1998: 113,046,997,500.28
Borrowed in FY1999: 130,077,892,735.81
Borrowed in FY2000: _17,907,308,253.43 Bill alone
Borrowed in FY2001: 133,285,202,313.20 Bill and George
Borrowed in FY2002: 420,772,553,397.10 All George
Borrowed in FY2003: 554,995,097,146.46
Borrowed in FY2004: 595,821,633,586.70
Borrowed in FY2005: 553,656,965,393.18
Borrowed in FY2006: 574,264,237,491.73
Borrowed in FY2007: 500,679,473,047.25
Borrowed in FY2008: 1,017,071,524,650.01
Borrowed in FY2009: 1,645,058,186,363.40 so far this fiscal year.

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
07/27/2009 +000,077,777,899.40 ------------******* Mon
07/28/2009 +000,420,333,618.55 ------------********
07/29/2009 +000,733,026,310.02 ------------********
07/30/2009 -026,031,384,097.19 -
07/31/2009 +095,534,108,940.65 ------------**********
08/03/2009 -005,083,538,887.00 -- Mon
08/04/2009 -000,056,382,262.77 ----
08/05/2009 +000,017,974,078.47 ------------*******
08/06/2009 -000,578,106,269.92 ---
08/07/2009 +000,290,467,707.81 ------------********
08/10/2009 +000,222,135,743.03 ------------******** Mon
08/11/2009 +000,246,752,500.45 ------------********
08/12/2009 +000,081,638,592.29 ------------*******
08/13/2009 +004,096,319,823.99 ------------*********
08/14/2009 +000,017,806,259.60 ------------*******

69,988,929,957.38 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power.
Since then US borrowed $2,005,151,280,016.73 in last 330 days.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4018479&mesg_id=4018499

[Festivito]

39. Debt: 08/17/2009 11,682,544,443,828.72 (UP 12,761,360,552.92) (Up, mostly debt, with a little FICA.)

(Debt up 12B$, FICA up half a billion.)

= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 7,347,052,559,307.50 + 4,335,491,884,521.22
UP 12,224,191,599.44 + UP 537,168,953.48

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 307-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.26 each THAT'S 1B$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.77, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain a another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 307,113,542 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 05/25/2009 01:14 -> 306,504,012
Currently, each of these Americans owe $38,039.82.
A family of three owes $114,119.47. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 22 reports in the last 30 to 31 days.
The average for the last 22 reports is 3,729,828,052.07.
The average for the last 30 days would be 2,735,207,238.18.
The average for the last 31 days would be 2,646,974,746.63.
There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 144 reports in 209 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.28B$ per report, 5.05B$/day so far.
There were 219 reports in 321 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.

PROJECTION:
There are 1,252 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 13.4 and 18.1T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
08/17/2009 11,682,544,443,828.72 BHO (UP 1,055,667,394,915.64 so far since Obama took office.)

Fiscal Year ends: Sep 30
Borrowed in FY1993: (Maybe later.)
Borrowed in FY1994: 281,261,026,873.94
Borrowed in FY1995: 281,232,990,696.07
Borrowed in FY1996: 250,828,038,426.34
Borrowed in FY1997: 188,335,072,261.61
Borrowed in FY1998: 113,046,997,500.28
Borrowed in FY1999: 130,077,892,735.81
Borrowed in FY2000: _17,907,308,253.43 Bill alone
Borrowed in FY2001: 133,285,202,313.20 Bill and George
Borrowed in FY2002: 420,772,553,397.10 All George
Borrowed in FY2003: 554,995,097,146.46
Borrowed in FY2004: 595,821,633,586.70
Borrowed in FY2005: 553,656,965,393.18
Borrowed in FY2006: 574,264,237,491.73
Borrowed in FY2007: 500,679,473,047.25
Borrowed in FY2008: 1,017,071,524,650.01
Borrowed in FY2009: 1,657,819,546,916.30 so far this fiscal year.

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
07/28/2009 +000,420,333,618.55 ------------********
07/29/2009 +000,733,026,310.02 ------------********
07/30/2009 -026,031,384,097.19 -
07/31/2009 +095,534,108,940.65 ------------**********
08/03/2009 -005,083,538,887.00 -- Mon
08/04/2009 -000,056,382,262.77 ----
08/05/2009 +000,017,974,078.47 ------------*******
08/06/2009 -000,578,106,269.92 ---
08/07/2009 +000,290,467,707.81 ------------********
08/10/2009 +000,222,135,743.03 ------------******** Mon
08/11/2009 +000,246,752,500.45 ------------********
08/12/2009 +000,081,638,592.29 ------------*******
08/13/2009 +004,096,319,823.99 ------------*********
08/14/2009 +000,017,806,259.60 ------------*******
08/17/2009 +012,224,191,599.44 ------------********** Mon

82,135,343,657.42 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power.
Since then US borrowed $2,017,912,640,569.65 in last 333 days.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4019955&mesg_id=4020809

[Hawkowl]

41. History rhyming again with the 1930's?

"The Great Depression began with the crash of the stock markets in October, 1929, and did not end until World War II. At its height in 1932, more than 8 million men and women, one-third of the non-farm workforce were out of a job.
Below are images of headlines, stories, and political cartoons published in the Joliet Herald-News during the first years of the depression that illustrate the problems faced by people in Joliet and around the nation as a result of the Great Depression, and the responses to those problems by the people and government of Joliet, and the Illinois and U.S. governments.

In the early years of the Great Depression, many economists and businessmen believed that the depression was a mild one , and that prosperity was "just around the corner". "


Found this sobering link with actual headlines from the 1930's. Sounds disturbingly modern, especially in light of the IMF's announcement that the global recession is officially over.

http://www.jolietpubliclibrary.org/Digitization%20Projects/The%201930s/Depression.htm

[Ghost Dog]

45. Market Illusions?

http://dshort.com/

[DemReadingDU]

47. Looks like we're due for a downturn, n/t

[ozymandius]

48. I chuckled at the closing blather.

Dow 9,217.94 82.60 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 1,955.92 25.08 (1.30%)
S&P 500 989.67 9.94 (1.01%)
10-Yr Bond 3.526% 0.035
NYSE Volume 4,908,547,500
Nasdaq Volume 1,778,054,750

4:30 pm : Stocks made a broad-based rebound from the previous session's sharp decline, but there wasn't much conviction behind the advance since trading volume was exceptionally low. What's more, stocks struggled to break above near-term resistance levels.

The major indices got off to a solid start as many buyers looked to capitalize on lower prices following the previous session's loss, which was the worst in six weeks for the S&P 500. That favored financial stocks, which suffered the worst losses in the previous session by dropping more than 4%. Financials led gains by climbing 1.9% this session.

Other buyers were enticed by better-than-expected earnings and an increased outlook from Dow component Home Depot (HD 26.93, +0.82). Target (TGT 44.32, +3.11) also supported a positive bias by unveiling upbeat results, which drove the stock to its best single-session percentage gain since April and led retailers to a 1.8% gain.

Interest among buyers helped stocks shake off news that housing starts and building permits for July came in at a slower-than-expected annualized rate of 581,000 and 560,000, respectively. Though the July figures were above second quarter averages, they seemed to suggest expectations for the economy have become somewhat overextended.

Meanwhile, overall producer prices for July declined 0.9%, which was more than what had been expected. Core prices made a surprise 0.1% decline, which suggests that inflationary pressures remain restricted.

Stocks were able to finish just a few points shy of session highs. Gains were broad with nine of the 10 major sectors closing in positive territory. Health care (-0.1%) logged the only loss after outperforming in the previous session.

Despite the seemingly strong performance, the S&P 500 struggled to sustain any move above the 990 mark, which marks a near-term point of resistance. Instead, the broad-market index spent the entire afternoon dancing along the line.

Trading volume was exceptionally low this session as fewer than 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE. That's well below the approximate 1.5 billion shares that have been averaged during the past 200 sessions and the 1.2 billion shares that have been averaged during the past 50 sessions. The lack of participation this session suggests there wasn't much behind Tuesday's advance. DJ30 +82.60 NASDAQ +25.08 NQ100 +1.4% R2K +1.5% SP400 +1.3% SP500 +9.94 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1949/1.77 bln/714 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2415/991 mln/610

[54anickel]

52. Hi Ozy and all! Just a quick observation. I think complacency is back in vogue. My dear,

somewhat Wing-nut BIL was bragging the other day of how glad he is that he had the where-with-all to "hang tough". He is now only down 5% on his portfolio. I'm thinking he's full of you know what, but haven't been following the markets enough to know one way or the other. He was originally down 40-50%....of course Obama was to blame for the down turn and the invisble hand of the market is credited with the upswing - never mind the stimulus, the bailouts, etc, etc, etc. Those were just ploys to raise taxes to line the pockets of big government - donchaknow. :eyes:

:hi:

[ozymandius]

54. I feel sorry for that guy.

Wait a year. I predict that he will wish he were only down 5%. Overall - I wonder how much that portfolio is worth compared to its 1999 value.

Good to hear from you 54anickel! It really is a rare treat to hear from you. :hi:

[54anickel]

55. Thanks for all you and the Marketeers do each and every day. I don't make it

to DU very often these days, or online for that matter.

It's all good though - I just really needed the mental break from info overload. Hoping to get back this fall/winter. :hi: :hug:

[KoKo]

58. Glad to see you for this little bit "54"...Miss You!

But, it's good you are so occupied you don't let this stuff get you down.

:hi: Still got a good wad in "baggies" under that mattress. We were smarter than most...weren't we? :D

[54anickel]

59. Hey KoKo! My fellow "baggie" lady!!!! Good to see you still hanging out!

:hi: Miss you too! :hug: