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aww, lee. u sound so lonely
"Renewal rates for Enterprise Linux are under 85%."
novell has s.u.s.e. now, which will squeeze rhat. plus, they just gpl'd gfs (global file system), which they put alot of dev work into. so open source cuts both ways: low dev costs but also the margins will always be squeezed, cuz someone else can always support it for less ...
ot scob
'Gaping hole' lets hackers into Windows
By Sabi Phagura, Metro
28 June 2004
Computer users have been warned to avoid using Internet Explorer until a gaping hole in the browser's security is fixed by Microsoft.
The loophole, created by hackers, lets criminals take control of a PC.
The attack, known as the Scob outbreak, is considered more dangerous than than the recent Sasser and Blaster infections. It could mean the websites of banks and auction houses being targeted by people trying to steal credit card data, experts said.
[...]
http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/11620204?source=Metro
more on 990n. this seems to go hand in hand with some things mlsoft used to observe last summer ... from pruentbear.com
990N - Price pattern changes Bulldog
NEW 6/28/2004 9:47:51 AM
I was the person who went to the floor of the Mercantile Exchange on a fact finding mission. Having studied the S&P price action in every conceivable fashion, I wanted to find out why movement on the S&P had changed so much over the last 18 months. I (and others at a large hedge fund) first noticed a significant change in the trading patterns around July of 2002. After a month, the patterns returned to normal, as the market promptly went back down. Then around September 23rd (a fed meeting), we immediately noticed the trading anomalies returned, as the market promptly went back up. This is what we observed:
1. Dow 50 declines in a hour
Irrespective of the selling pressure, the Dow would not decline much more than 50 points during any one trading hour. Once it was down that much, volume of the futures would plummet (as if program trading restrictions had been triggered). (BTW; if you look in Barron's, you will notice that all domestic investment banks have now shut their program trading operations down. I wonder why they would shut down a huge profit center? Now, the largest index arbitrage operation is now ABN Ambro.) Then, after an hour, volume & price movement would pick up again as if the collar had been lifted. So, initially we thought that the Fed & NYSE had altered the program trading collars.
2. Overnight futures
In previous years, the overnight futures action was almost always wrong. Or, at the very least, the overnight price action would return to even (close the gap). Now we have so many unfilled gaps that I have lost count. However, current trading is more like someone is trying to obtain a price goal with the least numbers of futures contracts. So, bid the price up overnight, and maintain the price by sitting on the bid. There is no intraday ebb and flow whatsoever.
3. Managing the price
Once the price has been thrown up, the price level is maintained by sitting on the bid. At other times, the price is collared by putting a huge number of bids and asks on the screen. This discourages one from getting long or short. Often these orders are pulled unfilled. However, they are an effective deterrent from entering the market one way or another. Since when is most of the price on the S&P determined overnight? Any decline that is allowed to happen from these bid levels all but impossible to trade. If you short, the “inevitable” surge back to those levels is lightening quick as all the shorts cover.
4. Jam jobs
All of this leads to the number one anomaly. The massive surges in volume we have labeled “jam jobs.” Due to the lack of volatility and predictability in the S&P, the futures volume has slowed to a trickle. Thus, it has become easier and easier to maintain the price (and makes the manipulation all the more transparent). No one will short anymore for fear of the “jam jobs.” This occurs when, out of the blue, when trading is slow, someone drops market order for thousands and thousands of eminis. (we call it a “volume bomb.” It's a testament to how raw, and obvious, the manipulation is that we have a label for the routine. If you were actually trading the S&P, you would too. In fact, we find it very much like the movie Groundhog Day, every day the same tricks are used.) In the span of under 5 minutes, the price action will move (up, never down) several points.
The net effect of all this, is that shorting is impossible. Perhaps all of this does sound nutty, but if you are trading the S&P, you are dealing with this every single day. Rather than lazily dismissing something offhand, I encourage anyone to contact somebody who trades the S&P eminis (preferably on Globex). Then, ask them about the price action and the counterparty 990N.
5. Proof of price manipulation
The best proof of price manipulation is the price movement. We haven't had a 2% down day on the S&P in 278 trading days. Look at the change in the statistics of downside volatility:
-1.00% -2.00% -3.00% Price % Decline
Trading
Days
2004 121 11 - -
2003 250 58 13 3
7-12 03 122 17 1 0
1-6 03 128 41 12 3
2002 251 86 33 10
2001 248 67 16 4
2000 252 73 25 7
1999 252 67 15 1
1998 252 62 15 4
1997 252 61 11 2
2004 100.00% 9.1% 0.0% 0.0% % of Days
7-12 03 100.00% 13.9% 0.8% 0.0%
1-6 03 100.00% 32.0% 9.4% 2.3%
2003 100.00% 23.2% 5.2% 1.2%
2002 100.00% 34.3% 13.1% 4.0%
2001 100.00% 27.0% 6.5% 1.6%
2000 100.00% 29.0% 9.9% 2.8%
1999 100.00% 26.6% 6.0% 0.4%
1998 100.00% 24.6% 6.0% 1.6%
1997 100.00% 24.2% 4.4% 0.8%
Moreover, over the past 18 months we have had a slew of historic upside movements. Twice in the last 18 months, we have had 8 straight up days in the futures. (And up 7/8 days once.) This has not occurred once in the last eight years (other than the two mentioned). During one run, we were up 24 of 27 trading days, which occurs about once a decade since 1940. In May, the futures were up 12 of 14 days, which occurs about once every 5 years.
dunnno, so far gold has only done a 50% correction of the drop since march. to me, the jury is still out on that.
"I think a break of $400 is a lead pipe cinch and should lead to a beauty of a buying opportunity."
you're always such an optimist the volume on nem's decline here doesn't look very promising ...
re hui: well, the real action is in gold, and perhaps the dollar. but its the end of the month, and gold always settles where it wants to settle, and often in some rather violent way ...
"... to get on with the basic aim for going to Iraq -- begin
exerting increased pressure on Iran, Syria, Saudi, and
Egypt."
well, the neocons are discredited, so that's hardly likely.
iraq + north korea over the last 3 years has taught iran (at least) one thing: develop nuclear weapons. there's no other conclusion ...
"... but we're gonna pull our boys back, out of harm's way ... "
the consequences of that, in the history books, would be awful. methinks that tar baby will be with him a while longer.
"Those buying into conspiracies, and believing the stock market is being deliberately held flat by a conspiracy, may wind up as surprised as those who swallowed the gold conspiracy theory were, when gold soon reversed direction and began its powerful new bull market."
hunh? i don't think any of the "conspiracy theorists" in gold were surprised by the gold bull; heck, they were all expecting it!
hmm. this all seems kind of one-sided, though. haven't we taught iran, through the contrasting examples of iraq and north korea, that they need to acquire a nuclear capability?
------------
1984, 20 years late ...
US Imposes New Limits On Scientists
6-26-4
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is making it harder for scientists to speak to their global colleagues and restricting who can attend an upcoming major AIDS conference, a congressman charged on Thursday.
Rep. Henry Waxman said he has a letter showing that the Health and Human Services Department has imposed new limits on who may speak to the World Health Organization.
Under the new policy, WHO must ask HHS for permission to speak to scientists and must allow HHS to choose who will respond.
"This policy is unprecedented. For the first time political appointees will routinely be able to keep the top experts in their field from responding to WHO requests for guidance on international health issues," the California Democrat wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.
"This is a raw attempt to exert political control over scientists and scientific evidence in the area of international health," Waxman wrote.
"Under the new policy the administration will be able to refuse to provide any experts whenever it wishes to stall international progress on controversial topics."
An HHS spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Waxman also complained that HHS had cut back a list of scientists planning to attend the International AIDS Society conference in Bangkok, Thailand, next month. The conference is considered the premiere meeting for AIDS experts.
Waxman said that 40 presentations scheduled for the conference were withdrawn after HHS decided that only 50 U.S. scientists could attend. "The scientific community was outraged by this pullback," he wrote.
"I ask you to rescind this ill-advised policy until it can be adequately reviewed and justified," Waxman wrote of the restrictions on WHO requests.
He also urged Thompson to review his decision on the Bangkok conference
well, if he's smart enuf to do what everyone says, then he's smart enough to have an exit strategy. which i'd think would be easier now that others are trading along with him.
re ge: so how is russell 2000 rebalancing supposed to explain that g.e. candle? hrm.
whoa! someone please tell me it wasn't just a glitch in my software and that sbux really did dump $1 in the last minute.
good point.
i'm betting that jcp topped out here. sbux doing well to the downside
jcp - what an unlikely snorter :-P
well dan, i'm glad to see you're cautious here. it gives me some confidence to hold out. i told myself in the past that i'm going to do what the charts say to me, so i'm still looking for either new lows or a break over 100 on the xau before i get boolish ... and i hope its the former rather than the latter ...
marc faber's latest
the financial implications of reflation
http://www.gloomboomdoom.com/!gbdreport_samples/GBD0306.pdf
since everything is so quiet and the board is sort of on the topic of rough language, here's a cute reagan story that (i don't think) got much play:
Edmund Morris in the new New Yorker:
Perhaps the best of Reagan’s one-liners came after he attended his last ceremonial dinner, with the Knights of Malta in New York City on January 13, 1989. The evening's m.c., a prominent lay Catholic, was rendered so emotional by wine that he waved aside protocol and followed the President’s speech with a rather slurry one of his own. It was to the effect that Ronald Reagan, a defender of the rights of the unborn, knew that all human beings begin life as "feces." The speaker cited Cardinal John O’Connor (sitting aghast nearby) as "a fece" who had gone on to greater things. "You, too, Mr. President — you were once a fece!"
En route back to Washington on Air Force One, Reagan twinklingly joined his aides in the main cabin. "Well," he said, "that's the first time I've flown to New York in formal attire to be told I was a piece of shit."
"... using the F word ..."
this is acceptable nowadays, no?
VP Cheney to Sen. Leahy: 'F**k You'... Nearly a dozen senators witnessed ...
http://cnn.allpolitics.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Cheney+curse...
"Of interest to those who invest in Japanese equities and fret
about the dependence on foreigners, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun
reports today that trading on margin by individuals hit a
record high of ¥30 trillion in Jan-June this year, surpassing the
last time it was this high--in Jan-June 1989 (just before the
crash). Hmm."
-Barbara Rockefeller daily commentary 6/23
hmmm. and this is the beginning of a rally?
oh goodness! i thought one of the fed guys just reiterated that they don't see a housing bubble at all? (odd how they say they can't see bubbles except in hindsight, but the lack of bubbles can be determined ...)
first lollapalooza, now comdex:
Comdex cancelled due to poor attendence and shortage of exhibitors
Cool Tech Zone - 55 minutes ago
Comdex, one of the key events focused on technology, has been cancelled due to last year's poor attendence and shortage of key exhibitors. The show was scheduled to run from Nov. 14, 2004.
....
well, at least the reunited pixies released a cd
They have the products and technology for the convergence of the TV and PC.
gak! everyone has that stuff now - its "off the shelf". look at msft (xbox), tivo, sony (webtv), phillips (webtv), nvdia (any old graphics card with tv-out), etc etc etc.
OT rant "About time for some aggressive moves on these savages."
isn't that just the pavlovian reaction that they want? i mean, during the time of the 3 beheadings in the middle east, we've had 4 beheadings in the u.s. (those 2 kids in a project on the east, and the 2 guys in hollywood.) by contrast, the middle east cases all involve people who willingly walk into a dangerous situation because its lucrative.
i don't mean to defend anyone here, i'm just making a case for proportional response: terrorists seek to terrorize. they want a response. but what we need is a plan. um, one that will work.
laff! that's very funny! along the same lines: i thought they all gave maria buttaromo a going away party a few weeks ago ... yet i still see her face on cnbc .... hmmm.
btw: if anyone finds this kinda stuff useful, rassmussen does his own consumer and investor surveys that are updated daily:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com
information overload ....
yeah i saw that.
interesting: kopn was added to the nanotech index. does this mean anything? (kopn used to be my favorite short
"This is a joke, right?"
hrm. i thought snow was the joke. maybe this is the punch line?
re leading indicators dropping like a tank:
hmmm, you're right! so then ... is this boolish (less tightening) or bearish (slowing economy) for the markets?
http://www.businesscycle.com/
doesn't hold a candle to sbux which looks overbought on just about any timeframe i look at ...
i would have dismissed it as a scare/political piece, but its from the british medical journal. though i don't know the stature of the mag, i kinda doubt that its the "mother jones" of medical sciences ...
speaking of antidepressants ....
Bush To Screen Everyone For 'Mental Illness'
All 'Disruptive' Children To Be Forcibly Medicated?
By Jeanne Lenzer
British Medical Journal
6-19-4
NEW YORK -- A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July. The plan promises to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," according to a March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html). While some praise the plan's goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 to conduct a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system." The commission issued its recommendations in July 2003. Bush instructed more than 25 federal agencies to develop an implementation plan based on those recommendations.
The president's commission found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children. According to the commission, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviours and emotional disorders." Schools, wrote the commission, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission also recommended "Linkage [of screening] with treatment and supports" including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions." The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
Dr Darrel Regier, director of research at the American Psychiatric Association (APA), lauded the president's initiative and the Texas project model saying, "What's nice about TMAP is that this is a logical plan based on efficacy data from clinical trials."
He said the association has called for increased funding for implementation of the overall plan.
But the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm (15 May, p1153). He was sacked this week for speaking to the BMJ and the New York Times.
The Texas project started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas. The project was funded by a Robert Wood Johnson grant - and by several drug companies.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab" (http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJonesTMAPJanuary20.pdf ).
Larry D Sasich, research associate with Public Citizen in Washington, DC, told the BMJ that studies in both the United States and Great Britain suggest that "using the older drugs first makes sense. There's nothing in the labeling of the newer atypical antipsychotic drugs that suggests they are superior in efficacy to haloperidol [an older "typical" antipsychotic]. There has to be an enormous amount of unnecessary expenditures for the newer drugs."
Olanzapine (trade name Zyprexa), one of the atypical antipsychotic drugs recommended as a first line drug in the Texas algorithm, grossed $4.28bn (£2.35bn; Euro3.56bn) worldwide in 2003 and is Eli Lilly's top selling drug. A 2003 New York Times article by Gardiner Harris reported that 70% of olanzapine sales are paid for by government agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, has multiple ties to the Bush administration. George Bush Sr was a member of Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to a seat on the Homeland Security Council. Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000ó82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Jones points out that the companies that helped to start up the Texas project have been, and still are, big contributors to the election funds of George W Bush. In addition, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to the Texas Medication Algorithm Project.
Bush was the governor of Texas during the development of the Texas project, and, during his 2000 presidential campaign, he boasted of his support for the project and the fact that the legislation he passed expanded Medicaid coverage of psychotropic drugs.
Bush is the clear front runner when it comes to drug company contributions. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), manufacturers of drugs and health products have contributed $764 274 to the 2004 Bush campaign through their political action committees and employeesófar outstripping the $149 400 given to his chief rival, John Kerry, by 26 April.
Drug companies have fared exceedingly well under the Bush administration, according to the centre's spokesperson, Steven Weiss.
The commission's recommendation for increased screening has also been questioned. Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of Mad in America, says that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers," and that exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter programmes."
But Dr Graham Emslie, who helped develop the Texas project, defends screening: "There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene... and change their trajectory."
© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458
while, on the other hand, bull/bear heads back up, just short of its old highs.
http://www.vtoreport.com/sentiment/sentiment.htm
merck, eli lilly
Corruption probe in Brazil's health ministry blossoms into scandal
By Kevin G. Hall
Knight Ridder Newspapers
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A widening corruption probe in Brazil, complete with a Watergate-style break-in, is implicating the ruling Workers' Party, U.S. pharmaceutical giants and a sultry fashion model.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8959003.htm
well, one of my new favorite econ blogs has a discussion now on why greenspan won't be aggressive ... following the economist, etc.
http://oldman1787.blogspot.com/
so nobody traded bbbb here today?
i thought this is the kind of stock u guys like: 5MM shares offered, and it trades 8.5MM today ...
Investors Hit A Snag Shorting ETFs
06/17/2004
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
By Tara Siegel Bernard
A Dow Jones Newswires Column
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are often touted as an easy way to sell a basket of stocks short. But many retail investors have recently learned that they're too small to participate in the game.
ETFs are essentially a collection of securities that track an index. However, unlike traditional mutual funds, they trade on exchanges and price throughout the day like stocks. They're often praised for their tax efficiency, low costs, transparency and diversification.
They also have another benefit: securities law prevents selling a stock short unless its last trade was up in price, known as the "uptick rule." However, the same does not go for ETFs, so ETF short sellers don't have to wait for an uptick.
However, smaller investors have been having trouble shorting at all - particularly in ETFs that track a single sector or country.
"Being able to short anything is always a function of available stock," said Dave Fry, founder and publisher of ETF Digest, which offers investors trading strategies using exchange-traded funds. "And what they are saying is that there is no stock available for shorting."
Fry said many of his subscribers have recently reported having trouble with the iShares Trust Lehman 20-Year Treasury Bond (TLT), iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT), and the iShares Inc. MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM).
"There should never be a problem if you want to sell an ETF short, in borrowing the stock, as long as you are trading in adequate amounts," added Gary Gastineau, principal of ETF Consultants LLC. "But if you are trying to sell 1,000 shares, you are not even on the radar screen of their stock-loan desks."
Indeed, one ETF trader, who has also heard of the recent shorting bottleneck, said that he believes that if a stock-loan department doesn't have a lot of shares on hand, they may just tell customers they don't have them given the costs involved to get them or create them - and some may simply be lazy.
"If they don't have it internally, they should be making phone calls," the trader said. "We want all customers to be able to borrow the securities because if they don't they dismiss the product."
Barclays Global Investors, which offers ETFs under the iShares brand, acknowledged that some small investors have had trouble shorting, notably within sector ETFs. BGI spokesman, Tom Taggart, said that institutions who are market-makers typically create ETFs in "creation units" of 50,000 shares or more. "So if an investor is trying to short 1,000 shares of an ETF, depending on the broker-dealer and how big of a client they are with their broker-dealer, they might not get it done. This is an issue across the industry, not just with iShares."
A stock-loan desk executive echoed those sentiments: he said many of the smaller ETFs do not have large enough floats, and there isn't enough demand for institutions to create more shares.
It's easy to see why many investors have been trying to short TLT, or the iShares Trust Lehman 20-Year Treasury Bond, which tracks the eponymous Lehman index, which represents the long end of the Treasury market. When interest rates go up - which is obviously widely anticipated - the price of bonds goes down. So when investors short TLT, they are selling borrowed shares in hopes of returning them at a lower price and pocketing the difference. TLT has a short interest of 180% and there are 7 million shares outstanding, according to ETF Consultants.
But again, smaller orders create a problem: bond ETFs must be created in 100,000 share units, the stock-loan executive said, so that essentially squeezes the little guy out.
"They (brokerage firms) are not in the business of holding large amounts of these things on their books just to create liquidity," said Michael E. Kitces, director of financial planning at the Pinnacle Advisory Group in Columbia, Md. "Interest rates can move and they could end up holding shares they did not want to hold."
However, plenty of institutional investors, like hedge funds, and broker dealers, are using ETFs to short: At the end of May, the Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts SPDR (SPY) had a 23.6% short interest position, while the Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock (QQQ) had a 47.8% short interest position, and the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) had a 85.5% short position, according to ETF Consultants.
Barclays' Taggart said that smaller investors shouldn't have trouble in the larger broad-based market ETFs, and said investors "will see the ability to short more products more efficiently down the road. We are seeing real improvement as more people get into the lending game."
(Tara Siegel Bernard is one of four Getting Personal columnists who write about personal-finance issues ranging from new tax proposals to education-funding strategies to estate planning.)
-By Tara Siegel Bernard, Dow Jones Newswires
"TJ, you are much, MUCH older than I originally thought if you are still holding THAT investment!"
well, i inherited some. but actually, i did well enuf buying gold when it was out of favor, i figgered that tulips were probably one of the few unexploited commodities out there. and hey, they're self-renewing and all that ...
but maybe the future is all in blue roses ...
from lee's board: can anyone confirm this? or is it again just wild rumor?
----
990N by John Mackenzie
(vronsky) Jun 17, 12:06
Received this message from a member of my investment forum who is currently on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange :
" Only have a minute but, write more later but... The entire S&P price action in the futures is being controlled by one counter party. All the guys hate them: their CME clearing number is 990N and they clear through Gelbel trading.
That one account is solely responsible for the current level of the S&P.
They are the ones that are throwing the S&P up overnight.
Then they are the ones that are sitting on the bid all day long, supporting the market action. The S&P pits have been decimated, absolutely ruined.
There is no volatility, so all the traders have left.
Now the hot pit is the Eurodollar pit. Go figure, that used to be like watching paint dry.
All the traders I have talked to view the market as being rigged.
They keep waiting for the price action to break loose, but it never does. They are stunned by the lack of volatility. And furious. "Time after time after time 990 just sits there on the bid. Don't they ever go away. They just absorb the entire market and then push the price wherever they want it to go.’ Gee, I wonder who that counter party is. ’ They are all terrified of shorting, because every time they do, they get drilled. I thought it was just my systems that weren't working that well, but they are far more dispirited than I. "
Intervention at it’s finest, your tax dollars at work, providing the ultimate tax to us all.
We have watched 2000 contract market orders on the Bid at key down levels of - 50 and - 100 on those rare days when 990N decides the program trading will revert to a well defined pattern of "allowable" retracements. The Mini’s are being rigged in order to provide "support" for swollen price levels. They have to be for now, as without the daily rigging, "Price" would revert to it’s inherent "Value", a disturbing proposition to those benefiting from the financial economy’s adolescent denials.
Counterparties provide an important function in any exchange, liquidity. Given the incessant "intervention" by 990N, there is very little liquidity beneath these markets to provide real support.
Posted on behalf of John Mackenzie
sigh. but when are tulips coming back into fashion?