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Yankee, That reminds me of when I was a kid going to HS my friend and I laughed at his mother for buying Spun Honey. It is just air whipped into honey.
"Yes, thats it put more on, it is half air, ha ha ha" or, "how much extra did you have to pay for the air, heh heh heh".
That to me is what much of the "green" is, just some self indulgence fed to the unwashed masses to distract from what is really going on.
gasohol, ethanol in gas, takes about the same E to produce as are produced. -SUBSIDIZED
Wind Mills, too expensive -SUBSIDIZED
Solar Panels, too expensive -SUBSIDIZED
Hydro Fracture NG production, not so clean as one might think. Plus, NG has properties of great value, namely, quick on/off for peak load on the grid. -SUBSIDIZED (Exempted from much fed reg.)
There is but a fraction of NG reserves compared to coal. With Fracking there has developed a glut of NG, to the point where it competes with coal on price. ~ 2.80$ presently, bottomed at around 2. NG is much higher outside N America, 8-12 dollars in Europe and Asis, expensive to Liquify and Transport.
I have a position in JRCC. I like coal, not sure I picked the right one. This is sort of longer term for me.
http://www.finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=NG&p=w1
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=JRCC&t=2y&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=aci%2Canr%2Cbtu%2Cpcx
If Canni still posted here I would have learned about Andy Griffith much earlier today.
ARNA Intriguing post from j_butler195 on the YF mb (no tetanus shot needed for this articulate and informed post)
MG .. http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=ARNA
ARNA option scam, manipulation, and buyout! 2-Jul-12 06:51 pm Yes, we all know the manipulation involved with ARNA falling from $13.50 to $9.25 all in the name of options. At a strike of $10, over 50,000 option contracts, mostly calls, expired worthless! What an absolute scam. Think about it. It would only take 500,000 shares or something to that degree sold at market to crash the run and instill fear into a stock where 75% investors are retail. That is why all bear raids have been so effective. Crash the stock, hit the stops, end the run. Drive the price down to pre-approval levels allowing shorts to cover at a smaller than expected loss. Furthermore, brokerage houses were ordered to find shares immediately and pay retail investors at least 15% interest in loaning those shares out. These very same shares that were borrowed were used in each bear raid. I should know. I received a phone call and a letter asking for those shares. I hold a substantial position. Each phone call was followed by a bear raid the following day.
I have seen this time and time again with DNDN and HGSI. The corruption never ends. The oversight is non-existent, yes you SEC! I'm talking about you!
Now that ARNA has established a nice base at $9.25 it is time to move up. Retail investors bought and drove this stock from $1.25 to $12.50 people. Retail investors held through dangerous times, the most dangerous being AdCom.
Now that all uncertainty has been removed, retail investors and institutes are free to return. Buyout of ARNA is in the works, hence no PRs from ARNA mgmt. This is critical to understand. Silent period.
Buy the stock! Do not buy the options. You will get creamed and lose out on a huge announcement.
If you are long the stock, do not sell covered calls!. You will get creamed and lose out on a huge announcement.
I remember Pfizer buying out Warner Lambert back in the day just to get its grubby hands on Lipitor. What a buyout that was. It netted Pfizer tens of billions if not more in profits. A smart investment no doubt. fizer has the infrastructure in place to market lorcaserin effectively. It took Viagra and Lipitor to the moon. It will do the same for Belviq.
Talks have begun. Are you ready? Hold on to your hats and expect the unexpected. Arena mgmt has been rather quiet lately despite FDA approval? Hmmmm...
;)
Thanks for that quote!
Humorous and reminds me of Ray Charles' telling of one of his earliest memories from his childhood. Seems that in a school for the blind, the kids all sat next to their buddies until one day some administrator decided to move white kids to one side and blacks to the other. Since color was an unknown to most of these kids, needless to say it was most bizare to them.
ARNA..it's pregnant with potential, Z- little tussle between the manipulators and the "you know it's going to go" crowds.
I've been enjoying it- doing a few modest DT's daily which keeps my funds in it for that next, quite possibly special move.
It's no anxiety and allowing me to get some other things done.
I wouldn't be short ARNA, in more than one way!
MG
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=ARNA
(Re-printed)
It's fairly obvious that you have no facts gt, otherwise you wouldn't be so bullheaded. Your rediculus reasoning makes no sense.
As I said previously, if the facts are not with you "pound the table". Just keep pounding! Heheh
MHR, KOG, ANR, KBH, NBR, DNR, WTI
stocks being currently held, I like them foir a variety of reasons, but charts usually drive those decisions. How long I will hold them is up to the market, but at least Thursday would be nice, until then.
ACI, and ANR are two coal stocks that have been beaten down for quite some time, ANR has always been my favorite, and I might not like the sector, they just seem to be acting well.
As for happens next belong's to the market, or some high speed machine.
Enjoyed that article, HFT has nothing to do with value, or what a company is worth, they are just machines that drive a price range to take a small profit, some days I watch million os shares get traded, in many stocks, and the movements are just so tight, its like stocks are just being held, or strangled.
Enjoyed that article, HFT has nothing to do with value, or what a company is worth, they are just machines that drive a price range to take a small profit, some days I watch million os shares get traded, in many stocks, and the movements are just so tight, its like stocks are just being held, or strangled.
Richard Russell - Is Anything Safe In Our New World?
July 3, 2012
With continued uncertainty surrounding global markets, the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, asked an important and intriguing question, “Is anything completely safe in our new world of central bank fiat paper?” Russell also discussed gold at length, but first, this is what Russell had to say about the action in stocks: “I wanted a mechanical way to follow the secular (primary) bear market. This required a moving average that was insensitive to secondary reactions and also insensitive to cyclical (short-term) bull and bear markets. In other words, I needed a long-term moving average that would portray the primary trend while screening out most minor and secondary movements.”
“After much experimenting, I came up with a 233-week moving average. The chart below starts in the year 1983 and continues to the present. The 233-week moving average is the curved blue line. (233 is a Fibonacci number: 144 + 89 = 233.)
If we are now in a secular bear market, then the 233-week moving average should trend mildly southward. Towards the end of the bear market, the decline in the moving average should accelerate as it heads down.
Russell also had this to say regarding gold: “Gold had been in one of the most fabulous bull markets in history. Each year since 2000 gold has ended higher (see list below) -- this has continued for eleven consecutive years.
2000 -- $273.60
2001 -- $279.00
2002 -- $348.20
2003 -- $416.10
2004 -- $438.40
2005 -- $518.90
2006 -- $638.00
2007 -- $838.00
2008 -- $889.00
2009 -- $1096.50
2010 -- $1421.40
2011 -- $1566.80
2012 -- ?
In 2011 gold ended at 1566.80 on the last day of the year. And I'm wondering whether gold will end this year above 1566. Gold is 1554 now, which means it will have to really ‘step it up’ if it is to surpass 2011's 1566.
If gold can't do it, is the gold bull market over? In my opinion, it is not over. I believe the gold bull market is still intact. If gold cannot make a new high in the year 2012, be prepared to hear the anti-gold element scream to high heaven that the gold bull market is over. They will be wrong. We still have not seen the third speculative phase of the gold bull market, but that phase lies ahead.
Gold surged 54 dollars last Friday, and from the looks of the daily chart below, gold has established strong support around 1550.00
Another question -- what about all the billionaires if fiat money collapses and becomes worthless? If fiat money goes down the drain, what happens to all those people who today claim that they are rich in terms of the millions of dollars they own? In other words, in many cases our wealth is dependent on the viability of fiat money. Is anything completely safe in our new world of central bank fiat paper?”
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/7/3_Richard_Russell_-_Is_Anything_Safe_In_Our_New_World.html
% Losers
Symbol Price Change Volume
RIC -0.64 (-13.39%) 0.3M
EDMC -0.67 (-9.37%) 0.1M
TRIT -0.37 (-8.63%) 45,977
CTCM -0.64 (-8.02%) 0.4M
INWK -1.06 (-7.61%) 0.2M
GALE -0.12 (-7.36%) 0.9M
EVC -0.09 (-6.47%) 12,711
TGAL -0.33 (-6.37%) 85,602
GSV -0.11 (-5.76%) 0.1M
BCRX -0.23 (-5.66%) 0.1M
Joe Saluzzi: HFT Parasites Are Killing The Market Host
Submitted by Tyler Durden
07/02/2012 - 20:38
Joe Saluzzi, expert on algorithmic trading -- also known as high-frequency trading, or HFT -- returns as a guest this week to explain how the players behind this machine-driven process act as parasites that are destroying our financial markets (and, increasingly, even themselves). Since Joe first spoke with us last year, HFT firms have only increased in size and share of market activity. Here are some staggering statistics on how influential they have become:
• HTFs make up between 50-70% of the volume seen across market exchanges today
• 2% of the traders on many exchanges (HFTs, specifically) represent 80% of the volume
• a single large HFT firm (referred to as a Direct Market Maker) can account for 10%+ of a market's volume on a given day
• Large HFT firms make between $8 to $21 billion a year
• HFT trades occur in milliseconds (i.e. a small fraction of the time it takes your eye to blink)
With such scale, speed and profitability, HFTs have turned the market away from being an efficient price-setting mechanism and perverted it into a casino where the clientele (i.e. human investors) gets fleeced. And our regulators are so outmatched by the scope, complexity and funding of these titanic HFT players that at moment, there are pretty much zero consequences for bad actors.
Interestingly, these HFT parasites, which live by generating fractions of pennies in millisecond-timed trades, may be sowing the seeds of their own demise through their blind gluttony and hyper-competitiveness. As their quest for incremental advantage begins to bump up against the limits of physics (such as the speed of light), the marginal cost of the next increment of advantage increases exponentially. Profitability is being squeezed out and will disappear entirely some day.
Sounds good to the rest of us investors, right? Not so fast. A key question to ask should these parasites experience a self-induced mass-extinction effect:
What will happen to asset prices when all that volume suddenly disappears?
HFT's Bloodsucking Role In the Financial Markets
There is a host-parasite relationship. The host is the traditional order or the retail or institutional order. They will always lose. There is no doubt about it. The parasites are circling around that host all day long trying to find where they are going to take advantage of them – whether it is a VWAP order (Volume-Weighted Average Price) or something like that. If there are no hosts or the hosts are starting to decrease – because they are based on the mutual fund outflows that we talked about before – the parasites find it hard to make money. There is no more to feed off of. So they start to feed off of each other, which means that their margins by definition are going to have to start shrinking until it becomes unprofitable. And it will become unprofitable when all of a sudden they have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to gain an extra microsecond, yet they are not getting their returns back.
The real fear that we have is that when it becomes an unprofitable opportunity or venture for them, what will they do? Will they walk away? Who will be left holding the bag? Where did all that “liquidity” go? Who is left now? Hopefully what will happen was the market will find its own solution at that point. But you would have some scary days, I can bet, between now and then.
The Bastardization of "Investing"
If you are an investor and you want to diversify -- which everybody should be doing, right? -- you want to pick different asset classes. You want to get things that are inversely correlated because that is how you can prevent yourself from taking a large loss, especially if you are a conservative investor.
There was actually a report – I think it was a couple of months ago and it was produced by the U.N. -- they studied the correlation between oil and stocks. And they found it at record levels over the last five years. It just shot up off the charts where oil would normally be a negative correlation with stocks. And they were scratching their heads. And one of the things they pointed to was the correlation effect of the high frequency traders trading multiple asset classes.
So this has been documented now. It is not just us kind of guessing, saying, “Well, I bet it was the HFT’s correlating asset classes.” Everything trades together. That does not make for a healthy market. That does not make me feel comfortable that I can hedge my position right now unless I was just trading around a zero position all day, like most of these guys do in the high frequency trading world.
So what do you do as an investor? How do you diversify yourself? It is very, very troubling and at this point there really is not an answer to it.
The Impotence of Our Regulators
When you are dealing with this type of computing power and this heavy amount of quote traffic as well as trade traffic, the quote traffic is enormous. Every time an exchange tries to update their capacity, it immediately jumps up to the capacity level. It is a constant amount of quotes, trades, and cancellations. They do not have the systems available to track this type of behavior.
So you have got one of two options if you are a regulator. Either, a) get up to speed quickly so that you can track this behavior so the investing public could feel confident again. Or, b) you have to start limiting this type of behavior. There is no other option. You cannot allow this to continue to go on. And by limiting it, something that we would suggest is maybe a real cancellation fee, not the ones that have kind of been suggested. Maybe a minimum order timelife. If I said to you, “Hey, we want a 50 millisecond minimum order timelife, would that be a problem?” And I would think it would not be a problem. Because, guess what? I just blink my eyes and it took me 200 milliseconds to do that. So 50 milliseconds really should be that big of an issue. And there have actually been reports – studies by academics that have said, “Any order less than 50 milliseconds really does not contribute to any liquidity.” So do not give me that you are going to be hurting liquidity.
So the bottom line is the regulators are overmatched and they need to do something now. And they have really one of two options. And the option of getting up to speed probably is not in their budget right now.
Good woman usually are, but thats because there is more to them, then just there outward appearance. Most days Mary is quiet, but say something badly, or do something even worse, and she will come at you with both barrels loaded.
I also have no agenda, except to make enough money to pay my bills, its not like I am good for much else anymore.
Like everyone who plays the market each day, I try and find stocks that make a movement that is more than a few pennies. Its rare I play a penny paler like LVWD, but I did, it is illiquid thou, and have cut down my position. But I keep looking for a home run stock, or at least something that makes me enough money to do something more than just pay my bills. I am quilty, secretly I am greedy, but wise enough not to get caught in a losing position, or one that requires to much capital.
The stock market has changed over the years, now we have high speed machines, and volumes to that over whelm the average trader. But you have to adjust to stay in this game.
Lastly I type poorly, my grammer is even worse, my fingers are becoming like my feet, and legs, they have problems.
Keep them coming. Only needle-butts are concerned!
Bailed on some issues this morning, MMR as an example, just taking the scalps, and will probably reload later on in the day.
Suzy might knock you over the head with a frying pan, Mary threathen my winston for any mis-behvior.
Lastly I type poorly, my grammer is even worse, my fingers are becoming like my feet, and legs, they have problems.
You're gonna slice off my winston? Shocking. I will provide dinner, and if Suzy is with me, it could be you dropping 14 feet to the hard scrabble. She's a tough broad, when necessary.
My antagonism towards Zab is due to two factors:
1. his repeated blatant violation of "No Politics" in the middle of the trading day;
2. his pumping of illiquid penny stocks.
IMHO, those reading this board deserve a counter-point. I usually reserve my non-market comments to non-market hours.
"when was the last time you ever offered any stocks. "
On the day before Gold ran up $40 in one day, I offered:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=77008596
Just before the most recent market bottom, I offered:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=77038178
I do not comment on specific illiquid penny stocks, because doing so makes one suspect of engaging in pump-and-dump schemes.
The coffee is always Columbian, the eggs are usually scambled, there is always beer in my upstairs office refrigerator, other than that, the house is cool, and my chair, is my chair, so sit someplace else in the room.
Don't touch my pills, and if you can occassionly supply a dinner, I would appreciate it, otherwise you eat what I make each evening.
I play an honest game of cards, so if you ever thought about dealing seconds, be prepared to be thrown off my porch, and the fall is at least 14 feet, and the ground is hard.
Other than that its usually Mary's way, so if you cross her, be prepared to have your Winston sliced off. You have been warned.
Thanks zabber. Stay well.
Again, I am not here for anyone's sentiments, I came here when Zeev had the room, and I was always amazed on his trading, and wondered why I couldn't trade like he did.
The one thing I will always take from him, was his first position, his second position, third and fourth position, and then watch him sell those psoitions during the day as those stocks came back up.
He would play very few stocks, and he was consistent, at that time I was still all over the place in finding stocks to trade, but not Zeev, he would stick to his stocks and trade them like a good book, one chapter at a time, most days he would make more in a day then I would make in a month.
I am just tired of other issues that come during the day, I do admit some days like we all experienced last week, they can over shadown the trading day, but thats the exception, not the rule.
I also saw Lee's comment this morning, and want to assure him that he has the support of most on this forum to restore it to stock trading, and stock selection.
I wish you all a good July 4th holiday, thou I would hope that fireworks would be reduced due to heat and high tempertures through america.
I am holding my positions this morning, all of them long, and might even add one or two more.
I'll be 'knockin on your door shortly. I like my coffee black, my eggs scrambled. Snap to it zabber.
Major U.S. stock markets will close early at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday July 3, for the Independence Day holiday. The Extended Hours session will be available from 1 - 4 p.m. ET.
All major stock markets will be closed on Wednesday July 4.
To preserve Zeev's.. refrain from anymore on obama care.
We are able to find our own info. The corruption , the debt, the worthlessness of paper currency are real issues relevant to making money here. Information on these topics is meaningful.
Other chit chat is exceedingly tedious.
Finally I still do not like Finacials or Coal stocks, I occassionly go through the New high list each day, always trying to find something that I could take a chance on. Most days many stocks make a very small move, and like Lee or other traders I sell it toward the end of the day.
There are stocks I like holding for a day, maybe two or three, and there have been occassions where I have held them for a week, but when you get to Friday and the weekend, then thats a new decision to make. It depends on the time of year, or how the market has been performing.
I have traded stocks online since 1993, and this is my third trading room, the other two were with Crazyman 25, and JDTRADE. I have never hyped a stock, and expect anyone who plays or trades stocks to do there own DD, and risk funds that they can afford to lose. There are no guarantees in the stock market, and any day any of us can wake up and get blind sided buy some news event that none of us were expecting.
When it comes to politics, at this stage of my life, I could care less, to me they are all crooks and whores.
Lastly I am an American, and proud of it, and would kick anybody's ass who came on my property or my home.
I come here for information, and ideas on stocks, in the last year I have found Twitter, and there are many people I follow, and two sites that I monitor all day long. I suggest anyone who trades visit it and see for themselves the many stocks that are sometimes being touted, but also see how many good stocks that have been researched.
the Tyranny of Obamacare
"A government with the power to force us to buy health insurance can also force restaurants to serve black people."
(sarcasm alert)
- Reagan and Bush I adviser Bruce Bartlett, on Facebook
brightnes: That's a shot across zab's bow. I think you should say you're sorry.
WTI chart looks interesting, there are many in this sector, PTEN, BAS, WFT others I follow, but if oil turns around maybe some of these will pick themselves back up.
WTI chart looks interesting, there are many in this sector, PTEN, BAS, WFT others I follow, but if oil turns around maybe some of these will pick themselves back up.
The refiners have also been doing well of late, oil stocks catching a bid, WLL, CLR, KOG
One penny stock, and thats only cause it supposedly reported an increase of 50% in sales due to becoming a Facebook preferred advertiser, when was the last time you ever offered any stocks.
I have listed the Mututal Funds that I put Mary back into, and her account is always a more long term account, as for me, I trade constantly, except for those few weeks I was dealing with some medical issues.
Besides attacking, why don't you just offer some stocks, or a sector you follow, when was the last post on anything on stocks.
At least some put forth stocks to either look at, or check out.
ARNA is interesting.
MMR has been a fovorite of mine for some time, along with XCO, which has been a dog mover for awhile.
Housing stocks have been doing well, BLDR, SPF, KBH, PHM, TOL, USG.
So here''s your chance to get back on topic of stocks and the market. Otherwise to quote a nice old term, " BITE ME. !!!!
Major U.S. stock markets will close early at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday July 3, for the Independence Day holiday. The Extended Hours session will be available from 1 - 4 p.m. ET.
All major stock markets will be closed on Wednesday July 4.
Appreciation for Lee's control would have been much more sincere if you had not tried to put in one more shot this morning when everyone else kept quiet.
As for your tout of the day, nah, you need to tout more penny stocks (under $5) to get paid today.
You could have said the same right after the Dred Scott decision, coudn't you?
Tuesday morning federal headlines - July 3, 2012
Tuesday - 7/3/2012, 8:22am ET
The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.
• The federal government is on its second day of a modified work schedule. Hundreds of thousands of people in greater Washington are still without electricity. Utilities say it will be Friday night before everyone is turned back on. Non emergency workers are asked to notify supervisors if they plan to use unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. Emergency employees must report on time. The Defense Information Systems Agency at Fort Meade in Maryland is open today. The same policies apply. All DISA employees must let their supervisors know if they plan to telework. (Federal News Radio)
• The Government Accountability Office has turned back a protest over a multibillion dollar TRICARE contract. TriWest HealthCare Alliance lost a bid in March to United Health Military and Veterans Services. TriWest protested, and said it would consider its options now that GAO has rejected its claim. The six-year contract was worth more than $20 billion and covered service members and families in the western region. TriWest still has the option to appeal to the to the court of federal claims. The Defense Department awarded three major contracts starting in 2009 for TRICARE. Losing bidders protested in all three cases. (Federal News Radio)
• The new Stock Act meant to prevent insider-trading among lawmakers will hurt science. That's the claim that federal researchers are making in a letter to lawmakers. The Assembly of Scientists represents National Institutes of Health researchers. It asked senators to repeal a section of the law that requires the government to post top career feds' financial information online. It said the provision left employees open to cyber crimes and fraud. It said it discouraged scientists at universities from joining national labs. This letter followed a white paper from The Senior Executives Association that claimed the law unfairly snared government executives in a net meant for lawmakers and political appointees. (Federal News Radio)
• Two powerful lawmakers think the Justice Department is intimidating whistleblowers. They want it to stop. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked the Justice inspector general to investigate. They wanted to know whether the department has effective whistleblower protections in place. Issa and Grassley referred to comments made earlier this year by Scott Thomasson, a public affairs official at Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They said Thomasson made negative comments about employees he supervises. They spoke publicly about the gun-walking operation known as Fast and Furious. (Federal News Radio)
• Federal employees who use mass-transit to get to work will have to dig a little deeper. The Transportation Bill Congress passed last week does not extend a tax deduction for users of public transportation. The deduction was worth $230 a month until the end of last year. It then dropped to $125 a month. The new bill, which the president is expected to sign this week, keeps the lower subsidy level. But a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee said it was possible Congress would reconsider raising it. One union estimated tens of thousands of federal workers are affected by the lower subsidy. (Federal News Radio)
• Agencies are gearing up for another round of SAVE Awards. It will be the fourth year and the White House wants to make sure it doesn't hear the same penny- pinching ideas over and over. It is encouraging agencies to use a three-star rating system to evaluate employees' plans to save the government money. The Office of Management and Budget told agency chief financial officers that only compelling, practical and specific ideas should merit that top rating. OMB said it would announce deadlines for submissions later this month. Then the public will choose a winning idea from among the finalists. (Federal News Radio)
• The White House's campaign to cut government waste could move a bit faster, according to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) He pointed to the proliferation of government websites. A year ago, President Barack Obama told agencies to slash the more-than-1,700 sites by half. But they have shut down just 300 sites, falling well short of that goal. In response, the White House told Government Executive that 600 more websites are on the chopping block. It also said the campaign has cut billions of dollars in contracting costs, data consolidation, fraud prevention and real-estate sales. Coburn asked the Congressional Research Service for an update on the other aspects of the waste-cutting initiative, but researchers found much of the data is only available to executive branch employees. (Sen. Tom Coburn)
• If you're headed to the Grand Canyon this summer, you might want to bring ear plugs. Not because of the roar of the water but because of the hum of the tourist planes and helicopters above. The National Park Service wants to restore tranquility, but it's not getting help from Congress. Arizona and Nevada lawmakers have crafted legislation to stop the Park Service from imposing tougher noise standards. The agency had planned to issue final rules this month that would have limited "audible" aircraft to flying in just a third of the park most of the time. But USA Today reported the agency's proposal could cost the tourism industry $120 million a year. The lawmakers' bill would maintain the current, more lenient rules. (USA Today)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LIBOR Rate Upset
There's an interbank market in London
To set rates where one's fellows will fund one,
But if dubious sorts
Give phony reports,
Then faith in the market is undone.
-Dr Goose
http://tinyurl.com/clf3nso
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
July 3, 2012
Libor claims Diamond's scalp. Bob Diamond today bowed to intense political pressure and resigned as CEO of Barclays (BCS) following the Libor-manipulation scandal. Marcus Agius, who was supposed to be quitting as Chairman, will stay and lead the search for a new CEO. Investors might be wondering what happened since yesterday, when Diamond was reportedly ready to "fight back" and reveal potentially embarrassing details about regulators. Barclays shares were +1.95% premarket.
Microsoft's Internet black hole swallows $6.3B acquisition. Microsoft's (MSFT) perennial loss-making Online Services division will take a $6.2B non-cash charge, primarily to write down its $6.3B acquisition of Internet ad agency aQuantive in 2007. With analysts expecting Microsoft to make a net profit of $5.25B in FQ4, the charge means the company will now probably make a loss for the period.
J.C. Penney reverting back to old strategy. J.C. Penney (JCP) has sent an e-mail to shoppers advertising thousands of discounts for the holiday week. Though the company hasn't officially moved off of its new pricing strategy, it's increasingly relapsing into offering promotions and discounts.
BlackRock buys P-E unit from Swiss Re. BlackRock (BLK) has agreed to acquire Swiss Re's $7.5B private equity arm, taking advantage as the insurer streamlines its business in the face of new regulations on risk-asset holdings. Terms of the all-cash deal were not disclosed, but BlackRock expects it to close in Q3, and for it to be neutral or modestly accretive to 2012 earnings.
Samsung, Google work closely in battle against Apple. Samsung (SSNLF.PK), scrambling to respond to a U.S. Galaxy Nexus injunction, is "working closely" with Google (GOOG) to create a common legal front against Apple (AAPL), The Korea Times reports. The patents Google acquired from Motorola Mobility might help Samsung's cause. Meanwhile, a judge has rejected Samsung's request to lift her ban on U.S. sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Potash firms could face billions in damages in cartel suit. Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. Those critics are now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed. Potash Corp. (POT), Agrium (AGU) and Mosaic (MOS) could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose.
Groupon chairman cuts down duties. Groupon (GRPN) Chairman and co-founder Eric Lefkofsky is reducing his role at the daily deals giant, and will spend more time working with VC firm Lightbank. The news, in addition to a note from Susquehanna, probably contributed to Groupon's 10.5% selloff yesterday, particularly given the Street's lingering concerns about CEO Andrew Mason.
Universal's EMI acquisition in danger of EU veto. The EU has warned Universal Music (VIVHY.PK) that its $1.9B acquisition of EMI's (C) recorded music arm will significantly hurt competition in the region, Reuters reports, indicating that regulators could block the deal in the absence of significant concessions from Universal. The company has until today to respond.
Eurozone producer prices weaken to 27-month low. Eurozone PPI fell to +2.3% in May, the lowest for over two years, from +2.6% in April as inflationary pressures continued to weaken amid the eurozone's slowing economy and falling energy prices. The PPI reading, which also dropped 0.5% on month, has raised hopes for an interest rate cut when the ECB meets on Thursday.
GOP states lead opposition to Medicaid expansion. Several Republican-led states, including Texas and Iowa, are considering opting out of the expansion of Medicaid under the Healthcare Act following last week's Supreme Court decision. Florida Governor Rick Scott has already pledged to not take part. Still, former White House budget director Peter Orszag thinks most states will opt in because of the attractive subsidy.
Mammoth Lakes set to join Stockton in bankruptcy. Mammoth Lakes in California will file for bankruptcy, just days after Stockton filed for Chapter 9 protection. The ski resort of around 8,000 residents said it saw no other choice after its largest creditor refused to negotiate concessions on a $43M legal judgement against the town.
Gasoline on three-month losing streak. Gasoline prices have notched their 13th straight weekly decline, which hasn’t happened since a 15-week streak that ended in December 2008. However, gasoline generally has been on an upward trend since then, and it’ll take a lot more before prices aren't a weight around consumers' necks. Moreover, analysts think the slide will end soon.
Today's Markets:
* In Asia, Japan +0.7%. Hong Kong +1.5%. China +0.1%. India +0.1%.
* In Europe, at midday, London +0.3%. Paris +0.3%. Frankfurt +0.6%.
* Futures at 7:00: Dow -0.05%. S&P flat. Nasdaq -0.1%. Crude +2% to $85.39. Gold +0.7% to $1609.10.
Today's economic calendar:
Auto sales
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
10:00 Factory Orders
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LIBOR Rate Upset
There's an interbank market in London
To set rates where one's fellows will fund one,
But if dubious sorts
Give phony reports,
Then faith in the market is undone.
-Dr Goose
http://tinyurl.com/clf3nso
ANIK, STAA, IPG, AVD MON, stock market feels like its going to explode higher, as I look through my charts this morning, there are so many that are above there 200 day moving average, some are moving well, others are just staying above.
All this market needs is some more positive news from Europe, or this Friday's unemployment numbers.
The market is always looking ahead six months, its probably already factoring in an Obama win in Novemeber and a continuation of his policies, which would be even more certainties.
Stock selection, and sector still key, and not being blindsided, GBX had negavtive news yesterday and got nailed.
Thanks Lee for exercising control.
The market looks primed for another solid day ahead, after checking the Mutual Funds yesterday, they all moved up quite well, and that was on a rather dull day.
The underlying strength is sometimes shown by the many Mutual Funds I watch and follow each day.
Very hard to always pick out individual stocks, but a basket of stocks is usually a better indicator.
MMR is my tout of the day.
So many on this board are not interested in the real facts, but instead want keep hammerring away at an issue that is now written in stone, time to move on to more important things.
Most American's are starting to come around to the Afforadabke Health Care Act, and not listenting to the Conservative point of view, something to think about, as you keep spinning this latest issue, time to move on to much more important things, like the economy, the stock market, and trading individudal stocks.
Most posters here respond well to the gentle pressure of moral suasion Shelley. Banning is a bit draconian but always possible if necessary.
<<<"Fascism is the combining of government power and corporations. How does a government that requires you to buy an insurance policy from a pre-approved list of big corporations sound in that context?">>
It sound's to me like Fascism is now Constitutional???
Ughhhh the horraaaa to come....
<<"With guaranteed issue requirement under ACA driving up insurance premium by 30-50% annually in the coming years, how many people will continue to carry insurance before they are sick? especially the penalty is lower than the cost of any insurance that would meet the legal mandate (as it is currently designed)
It's like if there were a legal requirement that a house already on fire or burned down has to be accepted for insurance underwriting as an undamaged house . . . many people would wait for the fire before buying insurance; then the insurance company would have to raise premium, making more and more people drop buying insurance until there is fire.
Soon enough, the mandate becomes a tax on the bulk of the population indeed, as most would choose to pay the tax most years and buy insurance only after they are sick. That's how the ACA is designed. It's a backdoor tax plan that will hit the typical middle class American family.">>
It is easy to see how this system will completely fail and the quality of health care will deteriorate as well as the US "standard of living" for all.
We need real critical thought and change in the heath care mess of the USA.
<<"Since you are so worked up about medical industry seeking profit, when was the last time you volunteered at a hospital or a pharmaceutical company? What makes you think Europeans and Canadians are the Socialist Newman donating their lives to "the Greater Good"? Why do you think the typical biotech and pharma company in the US is full of young interns from Europe? Since you don't volunteer yourself, but demand others to provide voluntary service (using government coercion if necessary), you are essentially advocating slavery.
There were indeed many problems in the American medical system, most of which were the result of earlier government meddling, especially that of LBJ. Obamacare is a step in the wrong direction, and will make it even worse.">>
Well said.
Why I'm afraid of the Supreme Court's ruling on ObamaCare
By John Stossel
Published June 27, 2012http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/06/27/why-im-afraid-supreme-court-ruling-on-obamacare/
I’m scared.
I fear that even if the Supreme Court overrules most of ObamaCare, Republicans will join Democrats in restoring “good” parts of the law, like the requirement that insurance companies cover kids up to age 26 and every American with a pre-existing condition.
Those parts of ObamaCare are popular. People like getting what they think is free stuff. But requiring coverage to age 26 makes policies cost more.
Even "Factor" host Bill O’Reilly lectures me that government should ban discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Most Americans agree with him.
Who likes discrimination?
Racial discrimination was one of the ugliest parts of American history. None of us wants to be discriminated against. But discrimination is part of freedom. We discriminate when we choose our friends or our spouse, or when we choose what we do with our time.
Above all, discrimination is what makes insurance work. An insurance regime where everyone pays the same amount is called “community rating.” That sounds fair. No more cruel discrimination against the obese or people with cancer. But community rating is as destructive as ordering flood insurance companies to charge me nothing extra to insure my very vulnerable beach house, or ordering car insurance companies to charge Lindsay Lohan no more than they charge you. Such one-size-fits-all rules take away insurance companies’ best tool: risk-based pricing. Risk-based pricing encourages us to take better care of ourselves.
Car insurance works because companies reward good drivers and charge the Lindsay Lohans more. If the state forces insurance companies to stop discriminating, that kills the business model.
No-discrimination insurance isn’t insurance. It’s welfare. If the politicians’ plan was to create another government welfare program, they ought to own up to that instead of hiding the cost.
Obama -- and the Clintons before him -- expressed outrage that insurance companies charged people different rates based on their risk profiles. They want everyone covered for the same “fair” price.
As I write in “No, They Can’t: Why Government Fails -- but Individuals Succeed,” the health insurance industry was happy to play along. They even offered to give up on gender differences.
Women go to the doctor more often than men and spend more on medicines. Their lifetime medical costs are much higher, and so it makes all the sense in the world to charge women higher premiums. But Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry pandered, saying, “The disparity between women and men in the individual insurance market is just plain wrong, and it has to change!” The industry caved. The president of its trade group, Karen M. Ignagni, said that disparities “should be eliminated.”
Caving was safer than fighting the president and Congress, and caving seemed to provide the industry with benefits. Insurance companies wouldn’t have to work as hard. They wouldn’t have to carefully analyze risk. They’d be partners with government -- fat and lazy, another sleepy bureaucracy feeding off the welfare state. Alcoholics, drug addicts and the obese won’t have to pay any more than the rest of us.
But this just kills off a useful part of insurance: encouraging healthy behavior. Charging heavy drinkers more for insurance gives them one more incentive to quit. “No-discrimination” pricing makes health care costs rise even faster. Is it too much to expect our rulers to understand this?
Of course, the average citizen doesn’t understand either. When I argue that medical insurance makes people indifferent to costs, I get online comments like: “I guess the 47 million people who don’t have health care should just die, right, John?”
The truth is, almost all people do get health care, even if they don’t have health insurance. Hospitals rarely turn people away; Medicaid and charities pay for care; some individuals pay cash; some doctors forgive bills.
I wish people would stop conflating the terms “health care,” “health insurance” and “ObamaCare.” Reporters ask guests things like: “Should Congress repeal health care?” I sure don’t want anyone’s health care repealed.
Reporters also routinely called ObamaCare health “reform.” But the definition of reform is: making something better. More government control won’t do that. We should call politicians’ insurance demands “big intrusive complex government micromanagement.”
Let the private sector work. Let it discriminate.
To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2012 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS, INC. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM.
John Stossel is host of "Stossel" on the Fox Business Network. He's the author of "No, They Can't: Why Government Fails-But Individuals Succeed," "Give Me a Break" and of "Myth, Lies, and Downright Stupidity." To find out more about John Stossel, visit his website at johnstossel.com.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/06/27/why-im-afraid-supreme-court-ruling-on-obamacare/#ixzz1zXEdvkCK
Well said! Agreed. eom
Lee, we're seeing complaints about this as well. Please let us know if anyone doesn't heed your request and needs to be banned here.
10 Things You Get Now That Obamacare Survived
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/06/obamacare-supreme-court-regular-americans
1) Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime coverage limits on your insurance. Never again will you face the risk of getting really sick and then, a few months in, having your insurer tell you, "Sorry, you've 'run out' of coverage." Almost everyone I've met knows someone who had insurance but got really, really sick (or had a kid get really sick) and ran into a lifetime cap.
2) If you don't know someone who has run into a lifetime cap, you probably know someone who has run into an annual cap. The use of these will be sharply limited. (They'll be eliminated entirely in 2014.)
3) Insurers can no longer tell kids with preexisting conditions that they'll insure them "except for" the preexisting condition. That's called preexisting condition exclusion, and it's out the window.
4) A special, temporary program will help adults with preexisting conditions get coverage. It expires in 2014, when the health insurance exchanges—basically big "pools" of businesses and individuals—come on-line. That's when all insurers will have to cover everyone, preexisting condition or not.
5) Insurance companies can't drop you when you get sick, either—this plan means the end of "rescissions."
6) You can stay on your parents' insurance until you're 26.
7) Seniors get $250 towards closing the "doughnut hole" in their prescription drug coverage. Currently, prescription drug coverage ends once you've spent $2,700 on drugs and it doesn't kick in again until you've spent nearly $6,200. James Ridgeway wrote about the problems with the doughnut hole for Mother Jones in the September/October 2008 issue. Eventually, the health care reform bill will close the donut hole entirely. The AARP has more on immediate health care benefits for seniors. Next year (i.e., in nine months), 50 percent of the doughnut hole will be covered.
8) Medicare's preventive benefits now come with a free visit with your primary care doctor every year to plan out your prevention services. And there are no more co-pays for preventative services in Medicare.
9) This is a big one: Small businesses get big tax credits—up to 50 percent of premium costs—for offering health insurance to their workers.
10) Insurers with unusually high administrative costs have to offer rebates to their customers, and every insurance company has to reveal how much it spends on overhead.
UPDATE: Here's one more big benefit we've found out about since the ACA passed:
11) Free birth control and other preventative services for women, unless you work for a faith-based organization that opposes birth control.
The facts are out there for anyone to see that wants to. Don't try and pin me to any standard you have arbitrarily set as I don't play other people's games.
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