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Yo! Good to see you back. Sounds like it was a pretty good trip all in all. You're a little broker than you were but I'll wager your batteries are charged back up. Time away is usually well worth the expense in my experience.
Debts has to be repaid, it is just matter of time.
Obama's kickin' ass and takin' names today. There's a new sheriff in town and he AIN'T TAKIN' NO SHIT FROM NOBODY.
Good riddance Bush! And don't show your face 'round this town again!
Don't call. Don't write. Don't use the internet(s) to email us.
FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST. Thank God almighty....we're FREE AT LAST!
U.S. could be facing debt 'time bomb' this year
Investors' thirst for American securities could finally be quenched
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28476798
Hi VIP...good to see ya'.
Go 2009! DOW broke out of it's trading range to the upside today after 27 days.
Hoping we get a decent run from here.
Cheers, and have a good weekend. :D
Good find. Read a couple of the blog entries as well. Whew...
A VERY interesting read here...
http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi-bin/D.PL?xct=gd.e071117
Happy New Year 2009 to you and yours as well.
Oh yes, I am so looking foward to this adventure...Lol.
Sante!
Happy New Year!
Looking forward to a better year ahead.
Enjoy your trip to old Mexico buddy. Wish I was goin' with ya'. Maybe next year.
Cheers!
Not down at all, actually. Just was thinking of the folks I cared about who are gone, when I wrote it on Christmas Eve...
Don't forget, I'm outta here the first week of January to Acapulco on a cruise to warmer climes. Can't wait! Lol.
Kind of like a last hurrah before hunkering down to see how 2009 pans out.
I caught a few blips of the Bond series too...gawking at the chicks mostly. But I spend most of my time on the DSC and HST channels these days.
Nice poem! Sad, but good.
Poetry is kind of like music to me. Its the melancholy ones that I find the most beautiful. Just have to be careful not to let them take me back to an emotional hell that I escaped from as a kid.
I'm still prone to depression/melancholy even to this day. Not a happy place to spend much time.
Hope you're not feeling too down. Happier days are coming.
Have a good weekend.
Yes, I just saw that guy on CNBC. Seems like he nailed some great short positions going into the downturn of August on into December 2008.
And yes, saw the chart showing upturn in late January and then June/July before a serious again downturn into December 2009.
As you know, I also follow Raymond Merriman's Market Week column, here: http://stariq.com/MarketWeek.HTM
CLNE duly noted.
Had a quiet Christmas here, like most older single guys do, thinking about all the good family and friends I've known who are gone now. And watched the Sean Connery Bond movies, the Laker/Boston Celtics game, and the Humphrey Bogart classics were on TCM.
Wrote this poem on Christmas Eve.
"Christmastimes Ago" December 24th, C 2008, Starboy
I always cry at Christmas,
for those who've gone before,
I miss their smiling faces,
that I shan't see evermore.
They only shine inside my mind,
of times so long ago,
of warm and cheery Christmases,
& somehow I trust they know.
That I think of them & send my love,
to wherever they may be,
at Christmastime and throughout the year,
they're in the heart of me...
Are you familiar with the Bradley Astronomic Model? I saw this guy on CNBC this morning and he's been right on the money for years. He uses a combination of astrology and technical charting and he's getting high on gold again along with some other commodities after selling all his commodities in January.
Looks very interesting, and he's picking a low for December and a high in January along with some others points during the next year...
Thanks for the Chrismas letter too btw. :D
Here's the link...
http://www.crawfordperspectives.com/pdfs/CP02Sep3.PDF
I'm also looking into CLNE...it's an "Obama stock". It's the largest LNG/CNG supplier to the transportation industry in the U.S., has had some really great news lately including a new buy rating, some extensions of existing supply contracts, expansion of some existing supply contracts, and one or two new supply contracts.
With natural gas supplies at a multiyear high and production capacity billions of cubic feet over demand, the price of NG will continue to drop making conversion of commercial vehicle even more attractive for a long time to come. Couple that with Obama's plans, T.Boone Pickens' constant drumbeat that commercial trucks were where he wanted to use NG while conversion to wind turbines was going to happen, and you have a pretty potent mix of positive forces in the LNG/NG/CNG sector.
Also, these guys don't produce NG, they only sell it through stations that they're constructing for all the various commercial entities.
Cramer had the CEO on his show once and really talked the guy and his company up.
HO HO Merry Merry and a Happy Happy NY to you. I'm not a religious man, but I think I'm gonna' start prayin for a better 2009 right after dinner tomorrow.
Couldn't hurt!
Hope you have a fun time this holiday season. See you on the other side.
Steve
Check this out. You'll find TONS of useful and interesting information/charts and more on commodites including gold. Enjoy...
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/commodities/
Frankly I'm wondering what shoes will drop before Obama takes office.
Then to see what measures he will take...
For the record, this Year of the Rat ends on January 25th, 2009.
And what a tumultuous year it has been...
It's bad now. Of that there is no doubt. But can you imagine if Bush and his cronie repubs had had another year...or TWO to go before they got the bum's rush? !!!
Can you IMAGINE!
And Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
Man, the lay of the land these days, as to what will happen when broke people have no money for food and shelter, and, what would be the governmental response to them and to a bankrupt economy makes me wonder if we really do need to have some food stockpiled and some silver and gold coins set aside to barter with...People in the more wealthier communities simply do not see any of what's coming.
I mean, this country is in debt up to its eyeballs, and they're going to keep the printing presses running overtime?
How long can the automakers last until they crawl back to beg for more? And if they go down? What then?
How much money will Obama have to print to even think of creating 3 million jobs and stabilizing a financial industry rotten with greed and corruption? One friend I talked to this a.m. called Madoff, 'Made-off' (with the money). Wonder how much he's got stashed somewhere in the world?
How will they forestall the millions of foreclosures said to be coming in 2009 and then, beyond, by the ARM's that had 3-5 year resets?
Screw it, I ordered both of Peter Schiff's books to read and get his take on the big picture and for how to prepare, if in fact a crash actually does take place.
USD broke the 50ma and tanked straight down to the 200ma when profit taking kicked in and it bounced back to the 100ma.
Now the the key question is whether that was a bear market rally for the dollar or was it just a correction in an ongoing bull market rally.
Just about everything in the known universe will depend on which way it goes from here.
I heard a couple of days ago on TV that Bush and Paulson changed one line in the TARP rules concerning exec pay. They changed it to read that no executives could take bonuses or excessive pay for ANY COMPANIES WHO HAD TOXIC ASSETS AUCTIONED OFF IN THE REVERSE AUCTIONS.
Well, they never auctioned any of those toxic assets in any reverse auctions. Paulson changed his mind on that remember. So the execs can take ALL THEY WANT with Bushie's blessings. LOL
He must have taken 10 minutes out of his "Legacy Burnishing/Historical rewrite" to get that taken care of. I expect some of that bonus money will go toward his "presidential library". LOL
That's going to be a pretty sparsely populated library I think. The Adventures of Dick and Jane are about the extent of his readings and that won't fill much space.
$1.6 billion went to bailed-out bank execs
Records show bonuses, chauffeurs, health club benefits, financial planning.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28337800?GT1=43001
If it wasn't this greedy corrupt society, I'd say unfucking believable. No wonder the commies got support back in the day. But they turned out just as greedy and corrupt.
Yeah, and you wonder how much he's got stashed away that'll never be found, too...Bastardo. Screwing charities as well. Totally not cool.
I think the market's worried about how more Bernie Madoff scum bags are out there.
I personally find it a virtual impossibility that he's only a singular anomaly. Boy when the next one hits I think that'll be the final nail in this market's coffin.
I expect to see more of these nuclear roadside bombs exploding in our faces over the next couple of years, or even longer.
The greedy lieing scumbags have written their own epitaphs.
CAPITALISM...R.I.P.
Threw the URE chart up on the chart board. Seems a little early for this one indeed, as commercial failures still seem ahead of us for 2009, imho.
Even Goldman Sachs showing first loss in many decades. This limbo period before Obama and team enter in late January has its perils.
I read that there are financial concerns re: credit default swaps that are intertwined with the auto industry potential failure if no assistance is given them. Seems to be an underlying negative not many are picking up on, as in yet another possible blow to the financial system.
I've always loved Latin music. Especially acoustic guitar. Love the culture, the music and the fermentations of the Latins, and their women are some of the most beautiful on the planet.
I think I'll go south if I ever get another vacation. It sounds especially nice this morning. 24 degrees and snow on the beach isn't exactly my preference for climates. BRRRRRRRRR!!!
Glad to hear you were so busy during T-day. Save those schekels(sp?).
Govt numbers just out...no inflation yet on the horizon.
PS: I know you said you don't have much dinero to play with these days, but just for chits and giggles I'll recommend you take a look at URE, it's huge divy and it's portfolio of very highly rated, well capitalized commercial reits. Might be something you'll want to play now or sometime in the future.
I think commercial real estate could be one of the first things to turn around and should gain favor for their divys early in the game. The charts are looking very promising already although it's still very early.
It's just that I was hammered with Thanksgiving deliveries. This be my jammin' time for food, on the Holidays. Christmas next, of course, then I am taking a break!
Naturally I digested what you posted, but just didn't have anything in particular to say in reply at the end of my nights after work.
Here's some Gypsy Kings, Bombaleo, to brighten your day.
Hey there...I've been around. I just noticed that you hadn't answered the last few posts I sent to you so I kind of figured you were getting tired of being hammered with so much info and speculation.
Don't blame you...I've been all over the map lately in my own analysis of this ever changing drama we call the "free market". LOL
All's well. Well, it's the same as always maybe a better way to put it. Not much changes 'round these parts anymore.
In fact, if it wasn't for this market drama to keep me thinking, I'd probably be bored out of my skull.
RE: From Peter Schiff's weekly column on his Euro Pacific Capital website...
December 12, 2008
What all these ANALysts seem to realize, or just conveniently fail to mention is that in this situation, ALL CURRENCIES are being inflated/printed/devalued simultaneously(with the possible exception of the JPY, which was inflated way back when).
So the "differential" between them will be highly buffered and probably minimal in the end.
A Nightmare Before Christmas
Like many pragmatic economists I have always warned that rapid expansions of government debt would result in inflation and higher interest rates. The explanation was always simple: rising supply of government debt inflates the money supply and weakens the government’s ability to service its debt through legitimate means.
But In recent months, government has flooded the market with hundreds of new Treasury obligations and telegraphed its intention to increase the deluge even more. In response, both bond prices and the dollar have risen. This benign reaction has led many to the happy conclusion that the doom and gloomers are wrong and that bailouts and economic “stimuli” can be financed with deficit spending without any adverse consequences on interest rates or consumer prices. Recent action in the foreign exchange markets suggests these hopes will prove illusory. The renewed strength in gold, together with the long overdue rupture of the correlation between the movements of foreign currencies and U.S. equities, is further evidence that recent market dynamics are changing.
When the financial crisis of 2008 kicked into high gear in September, the U.S. dollar began to rally furiously. While America’s economic ship was sinking from stem to stern, its currency was becoming the must have asset for public and private investors around the world. The dollar benefitted from the positive flows that result from massive global deleveraging. Treasuries got an added boost from a reflexive flight to “safety.” As a result, politicians were able to fill out their Christmas wish lists with complete confidence that Santa would deliver. However, as these dollar-positive forces appear to be giving way, the Grinch is about make an unwanted appearance.
Last weekend Barack Obama announced his intention to implement a New Deal-style stimulus and public works program. What he somehow forgot to mention is that the United States is wholly dependent on the willingness of foreign creditors to supply the funds. But a weakening dollar makes continued foreign purchase of U.S. Treasuries a much more difficult decision.
Once the dollar begins to collapse beneath the weight of all this new deficit spending, accumulation of contingency liabilities, and the socialization of our economy, commodity prices and interest rates will head skyward. In addition, once all the going out of business sales at U.S. retailers are over, and excess inventories have been reduced, watch for big price increases at the consumer level as well.
Once the government runs out of foreign and private sector bidders for new treasuries, the Federal Reserve will be the only buyer, and the hyper-inflation cat will be completely out of the bag. Sensing this, the Fed has recently indicated a desire to begin issuing its own bonds. However, since dollars are already recorded as liabilities on the Fed’s balance sheet (dollars are in actuality Federal Reserve Notes) the Fed already issues debt. The difference now is that they are proposing to issue interest bearing debt. Perhaps the Fed feels this will make holding its notes more appealing. However, since the interest will be paid in more of its own scrip, I do not believe this con will work.
In the end, rather than filling our stockings with Christmas goodies, our foreign creditors will likely substitute lumps of coal. Of course given how high coal prices will ultimately rise as a result of all this inflation, in Christmas Future perhaps our stockings will be stuffed with nothing but our own worthless currency. It might not burn as well as coal, but at least we will have plenty of it.
For a more in depth analysis of our financial problems and the inherent dangers they pose for the U.S. economy and U.S. dollar denominated investments, read my new book “Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse.”
PLD released their latest 10Q this weekend. It's not pretty...but then that's no surprise either.
On the other hand, if you're long you should read it. And if you're not but considering it you should read it.
If you don't give a crap about it and never did...don't read it. LOL
Next...."The case against Silver/Gold/Inflation". Stay tuned.
USD is still moving up. I don't expect paper silver or even gold to move up much in the face of that. It's going to take time if it happens at all.
As for stocks...notice the range between 8200ish and 8600ish?
Until that breaks down/up, might as well trade the volatility within the range.
EDIT::::Dow just broke above 8600! Will it hold? On a Friday? Who wants to be long for the Monday freefall? LOL...the newbies? I think I'll go back to cash for the weekend. Nice profits this week on the volatility! Look at that puppy flicker around the 8600 level. It's almost comical.
The market seems to be getting somewhat comfortable with this range/level and it's allowing the hedgies to deleverage while not killing anybody in the process.
It might be a good way for us to work our way out of this mess.
It offers chances for traders to make money and debt to be deleveraged at the same time.
The only ones going to get burned are the newbie type traders that'll get whiplashed like a wet towel in a gay bath for a while. LOL
Don't know about the Dubai thingy, but I'm sure we can find it somewhere.
Right now I'm dealing with a fabulous divy stock that's probably right up your alley.
Check out PLD...they just REDUCED their divy for 2009 to $1.00 per share from $2.77
Cool thing is...the stock was trading for under $4 when the news broke.
They also say they have plenty of cash and no probs getting financing, and are taking steps to reduce expenses, and more.
It's trading up fast now but still under 5 bucks. That makes it a pretty much guaranteed divy of 20%+ for '09 at this moment.
I'm in. You might want to check it out...!!!!!ASAP
Just FYI...today's top and bottom in the S&P 500 defined perfectly the top and bottom of that wedge I was talking about that's been forming. Until the eod. It just broke out to the downside. Big surprise eh?
I noticed the trading was WAY ERRATIC and choppy beyond trading and I kept waiting for a trend to develop but they were chopped off at every turn before they could get going...except the last one that's in play now...to the downside of course.
Look out below? Who the fk knows?
Volatility seems to be the keyword of the times. The old 'what could happen next' question is around every corner.
Will Detroit tumble?
Will they be rescued?
Who is next?
What will be the ultimate count of jobs lost and homes lost?
When will government interventions cease?
How far will they take their actions to become involved financially in so many sectors with bailouts and takeovers, and with partial ownerships of a kind?
Who'll suffer most? Wall Street or Main Street. Both in various ways?
Uncharted waters for the times, as the 30's is not really the right comparison, just all we have to refer to as regards the dips to come.
I think some of it will be pockets of problems in different states and different areas of each state, depending on what industry failed or survived.
Hedgies aren't done deleveraging yet, but they've gotten to a point where they don't have to panic sell and they're doing their level best to ration their selling just enough to keep the DOW at at least the 8600ish level.
If they manage to get a rally going above that I think it'll be violent, but I doubt they'll be able to keep from selling for long. They'll want to dump into strength.
This dynamic may actually hold the market relatively stable around this level for quite some time.
I've also discovered/charted a 2mth wedge forming in the DIA with a descending top(currently at just about 8600 and a bottom of 8000. It's getting very narrow and IT also helps explain why, inspite of the news/TA/futures that it rallied from just above 8000.
There's also a channel I've plotted in the same time frame with descending tops AND bottoms. The next top on that is around 9100-9200 and the next bottom is around 7600.
Don't know which one will prevail, but I'm pretty sure one of them will tell the tale.
Tomorrow there's INCREDIBLY BAD NEWS coming out of Europe and then on Friday we have the employment report which is also going to be very bad by most accounts.
I just don't believe that the market can withstand that much more bad news without breaking down below 8000.
I'm going to start buying my ultra short etfs as the DOW approaches 8600 today and/or tomorrow.
Have a good work day bud. Hope to talk at ya later.
Very very weird action in the market the last two days...something's up.
It should by all rights have traded down hard today and yesterday. The fact that it's up both days is just crazy, whether by looking at the technicals, the futures, or the news.
It feels artificial and manipulated to me.
I have a gut feeling that the hedgies have decided to take a break from liquidating for the moment, knowing that they'd be selling into a huge wave of weakness. This would explain the light volume in this "rally".
It really has that feeling I get during a big blowout top move just before the big crash begins.
Friday is by all measures "supposed" to be a HUGELY NEGATIVE DAY on the news due out that day.
Rather than chasing this little move up, I think I'll wait for tomorrow afternoon to see if the Friday sell-off begins then, or it may not come till Friday when the news actually hits. Then I'll be looking to go short again.
But this "rally" is giving me the willys.
There's a machine that turns all that "mail" into fireplace logs. I read about back in my hippie days in the Mother Earth News I think.
I remember people talking about subscribing to as many catalogs and newsletters etc as was needed in order to heat their houses. LOL
There might come a time when it'd be handy to have one of those contraptions. That is of course assuming that the electric grid is still in operation so one could operate the contraption. Maybe it'd be possible to adapt a hand crank to it. ???
LOL
48 days 'til Obama...think we can make it that long?
Monthly comparison charts of the USD/DIA only a little longer in order to simplify the appearance and capture all the relevant data/moves/trends...
The market topped 6 mths almost to the day before the USD bottomed. I wonder if that'll be the case on the other end of this? They always say the market anticipates the turn about 6 mths ahead of the data.
I'll tell ya', the way both of these charts are showing a lot of volatility and "congestion/noise", I'm beginning to believe we really are finally searching for the bottom.
Maybe Santelli has it backwards too! ??? If the USD is the key, and the markets anticipate by 6mths, then the markets will turn before the dollar does as they did at the other end. Hmmmmmm???
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The smartest guy on CNBC, and the most honest too IMO(Rick Santelli) believes that the key to spotting the bottom/turn in this market is the USD.
I've mentioned the very same thing myself quite a few times in not so many words when I said that stocks and commodities are where you'll want to be when the dollar plunges/turns down.
In the chart below it seems to me that the acceleration to the upside is at least beginning to slow as the resistance points are getting closer together and the stochastics are not showing as strong of tops and smaller breakouts beyond resistance levels.
I also think that now that it's official that we've been in recession for a full year (DUH!), that people are already comparing the length and depth of this recession to all the previous ones and thinking we're halfway or better through this mess. Right or wrong, that's the new thinking spreading around.
There's also talk of a bubble in bonds and that the dropping yields are unsustainable now that they're trading at levels not since since the early 1950's.
Santelli mentioned that this is a very unique situation and if the Fed begins buying bonds/treasuries as they've said they could do (and may already be doing according to Santelli) that the yields could go lower still.
But the key here is the USD according to Santelli and I agree. It's the one thing that umbrellas all other things, from gold to stocks to treasuries, to inflation/deflation.
That's what I'll be watching as I search for the bottom.
By the way! Speaking of the devaluation of the USD and inflation...it's been devaluing for the last 6 yrs since just after 9/11 of 2001. And inflation has been rampant since then until just recently. 2001 was the time to buy gold/silver.
CHART BELOW.....
Hey, it is what it is. It'd be worse if you were an innane cheerleader like Larry Kudlow who finds his ridiculous "mustard seeds" under every rock.
When I saw the futures this morning I went short right at the open and covered just as Obama come on the air since so far he's been able to spur some confidence in the market whenever he's spoken recently. But today's news conference was only about his Natl Sec team and the market didn't respond to it.
Then I sat out until the S&P broke below prior support levels and went all in SHORT again for the last 200 or so points to the downside and I'm still short overnight.
I've given up on trying to predict the final outcome(s) of this mess or the timing of it and I'm just day trading the trends until something changes
Nobody, and I mean NOBODY knows what's going to happen, and even the pros have been reduced to daytrading the volatility based on technicals. I made some good money again today.
One thing does seem clearer everyday though...the banks still arent' lending and I'm pretty sure it's because they KNOW it's worse than what it appears to be so far.
By the way, talk of the consumer credit card debt maturing is starting to bubble up and that will apparently dump another 2 trillion worth of debt onto the banks balance sheets. Maybe that's what they're worried about. ???
One thing about being single is:
90% of my mail is catalogs and requests from charities.
Because the less reputable among them have sold my name to other catalog companies and charities. Lol...
Shred, shred, shred...
I keep waiting, having had so many negative things to say about the economy, for my member marks to drift away. Sure couldn't blame anyone for it.
Who wants to hear bad news all the time? Actually, not me either!
I just want to warn people to be ready in case of a more serious meltdown, and, so many pointers are aiming in that direction, and the pace is accelerating.
Continued foreclosures
Bank failures continue
Automakers, even if bailed out, up against the wall because of lowering sales, causing more job losses in that industry and more dealerships, (whose cities counted on their tax revenue), closing
Homelessness, (where do the foreclosed people go, and the people who lose jobs and run out of money to rent or lease go?)
Job Losses
Malls, hotels, begin to close (more tax revenue lost to cities)
Credit card companies will cut back on available credit, raise fees. Some will almost immediately fall into poverty without access to money from somewhere.
Cities & towns will try to raise property taxes. People will revolt against this tactic
In the most direly affected areas, civil unrest will occur.
To continue our own discussion, I think oil going lower, and the dollar firming, will drag gold and silver down until the day there is a panic and people simply have to have a hard asset that isn't based on a suspect fiat currency. And especially if the USA government sovereign debt rating is lowered at some point.
Bet the Dow is at 6500 by end of this month and commodities continue to fall with it as even the strongest hedge funds sell off precious metals. Gold may end up in the 600's before people's and countries have fears that they don't have enough to ride out the massive deleveraging, and which will bring in more buyers, or, the Chinese begin stealth buying to shore up their PM holdings against dollar surpluses.
The coming hedge fund meltdown
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/the-coming-hedge-fund-meltdown.aspx
And we also have the Dubai effect as a potential upsetter.
Can a Dubai Silver ETF Send Global Spot Prices Higher?
by: Peter Cooper November 18, 2008 | about stocks: SLV
The Dubai Multi Commodities Center is understood to be putting the finishing touches to an exchange traded fund for silver with a launch likely next month as demand for silver has surged in the past six months.
Local bullion dealers are having to fly heavy silver bullion bars in from around the globe to meet demand as traditional sources closer to Dubai have been exhausted. The DMCC has successfully established itself as a regional hub for commodities trading over the past few years, and has its own swanky new business park with its gold, silver and diamond towers.
City of Gold
Around 20 per cent of the world’s physical gold trade is conducted through Dubai which used to be the epicenter of gold smuggling to India thirty years ago when import taxes were sky high. Nowadays Dubai is a convenient logistics center for commodities traders and still tax free.
The details of the silver ETF are being kept under wraps for the launch but plans seem advanced. Local jewelers have long used silver in a 25:75 amalgam with gold to create white-gold which is popular with consumers.
But clearly the ETF is an strictly an investment product, and demand for the shiniest of metals has been rising strongly, as evidenced by the high premiums now being paid on coins and bullion locally.
ETF price advantage
The latter also gives the ETF a natural advantage. Its price will be closely linked to the lower spot price for physical silver, and not be inflated by the high premiums now paid on physical silver.
Investors will no doubt appreciate this keen pricing advantage, and hope to also profit from the leverage silver offers to the gold price. In previous gold price booms silver has outperformed the yellow metal, and the gold-to-silver price ratio has fallen sharply.
Will the new Dubai silver ETF have a big enough impact on the tiny global silver market to send prices higher like the Hunt Brothers did in the late 1970s when they cornered the market? Well, nothing succeeds like success and a silver ETF in Dubai looks like being the right product in the right place at the right time.
Oil below fifty bucks, dollar up, and gold/silver taking a hit because of double indemity. Lol. No disconnect today.
All these pension plans are one of the biggest reasons that so many are saying that failing companies should be allowed to fail and declare bankruptcy.
In bankruptcy all prior agreements, including those with unions can legally be declared null and void.
I understand that there's some kind of insurance policy that automatically covers the situation in which a pension is disbanded, but I don't know all the details of it. I do think that there are some premiums involved and I THINK they become the responsibility of the pension receivers but don't quote me on that part.
By the way, I heard that retail sales for BLACK FRIDAY yoy are actually up, but I also heard that that's because the discounts are SO DEEP, and there's serious questions about the profits if any of the companies that are offering the discounts.
The entire yoy figures are much worse and break even for the full yoy figures is the VERY BEST anyone is hoping for, but that looks unlikely according to analysts.
They're saying we won't actually know until after the xmas season is completely over with.
10yr treasuries are hitting new all-time lows again today. Flight to quality is still in full power mode.
Futures are down pretty hard this morning, as I suspected they would be based on charts showing that the market is bumped up against the downtrend line of the highs of the previous 3 and 6 months and are appearing to fail to break out above them.
PLus we just had the largest 5 day point rally in 75yrs...profit taking was virtually inevitable.
Again I'm hearing that inflation won't hit until end of '09, and gold is heading down again reinforcing that seeming concensus.
Lots of news coming out from Obama this week and the Auto Hearings are of course scheduled to resume tomorrow.
Hang on to that hat. The wind is picking up again.
This lame duck period is a challenge to the USA, as the bailouts continue ala CITI, the Big 3 coming back on stage this week, and, now they're saying the pension plans are at risk.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/up-next-a-huge-pension-bailout.aspx
Plus the hotels and malls that will close when guests are lost to hard economic times, and mall store renters quit their spaces leaving the mall owners with property worth less than what they owe, just like some of the current home owners who are considering walking away.
We are headed for unknown waters and a lot depends on the public reactions to events here, and abroad, now that other major countries are in recession and the ugly spector of narrow-minded terrorists has again risen to the level of merciless abominations upon the innocent.
Perilous times. Who knows how many will end up unemployed, and homeless in 2009...Gold at $2,000? Hell, by 2010 it could be $4,000.
A customer of mine bought $50 grand worth of American gold Buffalo's this fall. They delivered them in a Brink's truck! he has a huge safe in his home office.
I'm not worried about those who are prepared, I'm worried about the masses who aren't. How far will the hand of charity and compassion reach when the going gets really tough...
DollarCollapse.Com
TONS of articles and commentary and news!!!!
A place where you can scare yourself absolutely shitless day in and day out.
Check it out. LOL
http://www.dollarcollapse.com/
Oh, and happy T-day to you and your's as well. Hope it went well. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Relax and rest up. We may need all the energy we can muster soon. Things could get crazy again soon. It's been a bit too quiet for my taste and I don't think it's going to last much longer.
Dollar is still going up, but seems to be decoupling from the inverse relation it's had to gold. A signal that all that money injected into the banks is about to hit the streets?
Everything else seems to be in place such as the libor rates and even the market is looking more optimistic which should bring about an uptick in borrowing/lending sentiment which in turn should encourage all that money to begin venturing out again.
Good for gold and stocks...bad for the dollar and any cash sitting on the sidelines. Time to put it to work in something solid like commodities/gold?
I feel like it's getting awfully close here, and the new Fed programs that is bypassing the banks and going directly toward mortgages and other credit facilities looks good to me and seems to be getting a good reception from the market/public too.
I'm thinking the 600 billion directed at mortgages should begin to put a floor under real estate which was and is the main problem.
Could Gold Sell for Two Thousand Dollars an Ounce?
We have been relatively vociferous of late about the state of the British economy, the state of the British government and the overall feelings of negativity and depression that are rising in the UK. Please forgive us for we are not normally politically motivated, but we have been reacting to the strong sentiment we’re hearing from increased numbers of our British readers.
And Britons are not alone in being aware that they are facing the very real prospect of unprecedented and frighteningly bad economic times. All across Europe and on the peripheries of Europe there is unease about the state of nations’ economies. And according to some of the most senior analysts at Citigroup, if the efforts that governments are currently committing to to drag their nations out of economic meltdown fail, we could enter: “a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars.”
So, could gold sell for up to two thousand dollars an ounce? Again, the analysts at Citigroup believe that this is possible as the gamble that governments are currently taking could either fail and lead to the aforementioned downward spiral of depression, or result in a resurgence of inflation - with both outcomes likely to cause a rush for gold.
Citibank’s Chief Technical Analyst, Tom Fitzpatrick, has commented on the fact that as the weeks pass and more and more frightening facts are revealed about the terrible state of the world’s financial markets, and as governments react in the most bizarre ways such as attempting to borrow more and spend their way out of recession, so confidence is being eroded. People are really beginning to feel that they are having their backs pushed up against the wall and it is at this point that civil unrest can follow. As Mr. Fitzpatrick points out: “There is a risk of domestic unrest, starting with strikes because people are feeling disenfranchised…what happens if there is a meltdown in a country like Pakistan, which is a nuclear power?”
Gold traders are watching everything unfolding very carefully indeed, they are aware that when the tough gets going every government in the world will be looking at boosting gold reserves. There’s already talk that China is thinking of boosting its reserves to the tune of some 3,400 tonnes, and naturally this would not only have a positive impact on the value of the commodity, it would probably persuade others to follow in China’s footsteps. Having already tripled in value over the past seven years, gold is currently way off this year’s high of USD 1,030 – but Citigroup believe that everything could start getting very exciting as soon as final quarter 2009, and that yes, it is feasible that if we enter a state of global meltdown that gold could sell for up to two thousand dollars an ounce. To buy your own gold or find out more about trading this commodity, go to www.bullionvault.com
PROSHARES...COMPLETE LIST OF LONG AND SHORT ULTRA ETFs
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/07/proshares-ultra.html
Entered 9/10/08....Cramer's prediction for the bottom in the housing market...June 30, 2009
THE GOLD/SILVER RATIO STRATEGY and THE CASE FOR SILVER http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_03/sanders030703.html
KITCO SILVER AND OTHER REAL TIME "SPOT" CHARTS http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
USDX DOLLAR INDEX...CHARTS/STATS/ & BULL/BEAR COMMENTARY http://www.fxtrademaker.com/usdx.htm
LIVE UPDATING PRICES/CHARTS...GOLD/SILVER/USD/FOREIGN CURRENCIES/LIGHT SWEET CRUDE http://www.post1.net/lowem/page/livequotes
SILVER INSTITUTE...THE REAL NUMBERS ON SILVER! http://www.silverinstitute.org/supply/index.php
SILVER/GOLD/DIA/$USD (side-by-side comparison charts)
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=27785873
Monex LIVE PRECIOUS METAL PRICES
http://www.monex.com/liveprices
Precious metals charts
http://www.infomine.com/Investment/HistoricalCharts/ShowCharts.asp?c=silver
Updating 'melt prices' and commentary on coinage
http://www.coinflation.com/
The Buillion Desk
http://www.thebulliondesk.com/
Yahoo Interactive chart link
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=HTE#chart1:symbol=hte;range=1y;indicator=split+dividend+rsi(7)+wpr(7);charttype=candlestick;crosshair=on;logscale=on;source=undefined
DOM PGH (drip divys)
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=DOM#chart2:symbol=dom;range=my;indicator=split+dividend+rsi(7)+wpr(7);charttype=candlestick;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=PGH#chart2:symbol=pgh;range=5y;indicator=split+dividend+rsi(7)+wpr(7);charttype=candlestick;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
Yahoo Basic Stock Screener
http://screen.yahoo.com/stocks.html
Big Board Solar Stocks
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cq?d=v1&s=AKNS+ASTI+CSIQ+CSUN+CTDC+EMKR+ENER+ESLR+DSTI+FSLR+JASO+LDK+QTWW+SOL+SOLF+SPIR+SPWR+STP+TSL+WFR+YGE
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