would like to thank the Academy
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Ouch, hope they don't have the wild stuff about EZ in any of that.
Hope you kept those Calls, they will be VERY nice this week. I am liking $16 at this pace. (AGH! Still kicking myself in the butt for being a wimp)
Stocks to Watch: Costco, Bon-Ton, Dole
Costco shares are likely to be active on Tuesday as the membership warehouse club chain reports quarterly results.
By Sue Chang
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Costco Wholesale Corp. shares are likely to be active on Tuesday as the membership warehouse club chain reports quarterly results.
Costco is expected to report second-quarter earnings of $1.06 a share, according to a consensus survey by FactSet.
“COST was one of few retailers showing consistent traffic gains throughout 2012 despite a membership fee increase, and we anticipate continued strength in 2013 as the company continues to gain market share due to its value proposition and accelerated club growth,” David Strasser, an analyst at Janney Capital Markets, said in a recent note.
Bon-Ton Stores Inc. is projected to post fourth-quarter earnings of $3.54 a share. The department store operator’s stock is down about 2% for the year to date.
Dole Food Co. is forecast to report a loss of 2 cents a share in the fourth quarter. The fruit and vegetable producer plans to complete the sale of its packaged foods and Asia fresh produce units to Itochu Corp. for $1.69 billion by April 1.
Stage Stores Inc. is likely to post fourth-quarter earnings of $1.15 a share. The stock is up about 8% for the year.
Yen, sterling slip, shares tread water
By Marc Jones
LONDON | Tue Mar 12, 2013 5:03am EDT
(Reuters) - The yen and sterling slipped against the dollar on Tuesday as expectations of fresh central bank efforts to kick-start the Japanese and British economies prompted fresh selling.
Both currencies have come under pressure in recent months due to the prospect of aggressive easing from a new leadership team at the Bank of Japan, and more bond buying to combat Britain's economic weakness from the Bank of England.
The yen carved out a fresh 3-1/2-year low versus the dollar of 96.71 yen after reports new BOJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda may take easing steps swiftly after he takes office next week rather than wait for the bank's April 2-3 meeting.
"We have this theme of a better dollar that is being recognized across the board. Overnight there were comments from Japan which again sounded dovish....what's different this week is the stronger dollar tone as well as the (weaker) yen tone," said Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank.
The pound has been one of the worst performing major currencies in 2013, falling 8.4 percent against the dollar and 7.6 percent against the euro.
MORE - http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/12/us-markets-global-idUSBRE88901C20130312
I guess they are TOO BIG TO JAIL.
If the government commits fraud, no problem, nothing to see, move along. If WE commit fraud, we get tarred and feathered, and thrown in jail.
It is ok to waste the taxpayer money and lie about it, I guess.
I love the fines part. They have no MONEY anyway, how would they pay the fine, lol.
Oh yeah, Ben would print them some.
I MAY jump into some TZA $10 calls for the week, like 10 lottos at about a nickel just to have some skin in the game. IF the retail numbers stink, will make a nice spike there. It won't last long, so I will dump them hopefully early tomorrow.
You kicked butt on options yesterday, way to go!
Still on the sidelines, watching and waiting to pounce.
Good morning Stuff. Tomorrow will be the market moving day if the retail data sucks. From the eranings I have seen, I expect the data to suck....
BUT...
with POMO and such, will cause a dip, and the crazy BTFD people will be out. I am guessing if there is a dip, it will be gone by the afternoon, or the next day.
Futures a little red now, that won't last long. Probably another day like yesterday, down in the morning, and nicely green by the end of the day.
European Stocks Are Little Changed
By Sofia Horta e Costa - Mar 12, 2013
European stocks were little changed before a report that may show U.K. manufacturing output stalled in January. U.S. index futures were also little changed, while Asian shares declined.
St. James’s Place Plc dropped the most in six weeks after Lloyds Banking Group Plc reduced its stake in the wealth- management business. Antofagasta Plc posted its biggest gain in more than three months after the copper producer proposed an increased dividend.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) rose less than 0.1 percent to 295.34 at 8:29 a.m. in London. The gauge has surged 5.6 percent this year as U.S. lawmakers agreed on a compromise federal budget. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.4 percent.
“We’re getting more cautious about this top of the equity market, and we’re beginning to think maybe you should take some risk off the table as we’ve had a great run for the past four to six months,” said Philippe Bonnefoy, who oversees $566 million as chief investment officer at Newscape Capital Group, in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “Analysts have been pretty positive and aggressive on earnings and you’ve seen earnings downgrades rather than upgrades in many cases.”
The Stoxx 600 rallied 2.3 percent last week, its biggest advance in two months, as a report showed the U.S. economy created more jobs than forecast and optimism mounted that central banks will continue to stimulate their economies. The index closed at its highest level since June 2008.
U.K. Manufacturing
U.K. manufacturing production was unchanged in January after increasing 1.6 percent in December, economists estimated before a report today. Total industrial production in the European Union’s third-largest economy rose 0.1 percent in January after gaining 1.1 percent the previous month, economists predicted. The Office for National Statistics will release the data at 9:30 a.m. in London.
European Union leaders will meet at a summit in Brussels on March 14-15 to discuss the terms of a bailout for Cyprus. These include the nation’s debt sustainability and whether to impose losses on depositors.
St. James’s Place lost 3.1 percent to 520 pence after Lloyds sold 102 million shares in the company, leaving the bank with a 37 percent stake. Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said it will make a gain of 400 million pounds ($596 million) from the sale. Lloyds climbed 1.3 percent to 50.7 pence.
Antofagasta jumped 4.3 percent to 1,142 pence after the copper producer controlled by Chile’s Luksic family proposed a dividend of 98.5 cents a share. The average analyst estimate had called for a dividend of 58 cents.
SBM Offshore NV surged 18 percent to 12.62 euros after agreeing to pay $470 million to settle a dispute over the Yme platform with Talisman Energy Inc. The world’s biggest supplier of floating oil rigs said it will take a provision of $270 million in addition to the $200 million that it set aside in December.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sofia Horta e Costa in London at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net
Nexst up to write about, the Man o War Virtue.
Yummy! Another EXCELLENT cigar. When you take a puff of this sucker, you get a nice, mild taste that lingers without being wimpy. I would rate it mild to medium, another finger burning good cigar that goes nice with watching the lake! Small hint of butter after a nice puff, really a good smoke. Pretty much the opposite of the Obsidian which is a real bold smoke.
Rough life GP, lol.
Here is the Pinar Del Rio Sampler I had:
5 different cigars in all. Don't remember all the names, but the Yellow one is the one you give to one of your friends you don't like. The other 3 colored ones are ok, but the Obsidian is MAGNIFICO!
Bold deep taste, nice draw, really fills the mouth with earthy richness. I can almost taste the soil that the tobacco was grown in. (In a good way, lol) It was finger burning good, and a cigar I put on my list of all time faves! The 10pk at CI was $25, a great deal for these smokes.
After that, the red label one was REALLY good, then the black label, blue label, and the yellow label you give to the dog.
Tuesday's economic calendar:
7:30 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index
7:45 ICSC Retail Store Sales
8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
1:00 PM Results of $32B, 3-Year Note Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget
Notable earnings before Tuesday’s open: $AMED, $BONT, $BPI, $COST, $EJ, $TICC
Notable earnings after Tuesday’s close: $DOLE, $GERN, $HRZN, $IRET, $KTOS, $PPHM, $VELT
Mapping The Sequester Sticker Shock Into The Payrolls Of March, April, And May - BofA Merrill http://stks.co/r54W
Gold Sales From Soros Reveal 12-Year Bull Run Decay: Commodities
By Nicholas Larkin and Debarati Roy - Mar 12, 2013
Gold’s worst start to a year in a quarter century and the biggest sales by investors on record are increasing concern that bullion’s longest rally since the end of World War I is ending.
Investors sold 106.2 metric tons valued at $5.4 billion from exchange-traded products in February, the most since their creation in 2003, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Another 26.1 tons was cut since then. Credit Suisse Group AG and Barclays Plc say the 12-year rally will peak in 2013 and billionaire George Soros reduced his stake in the biggest ETP by 55 percent in the last quarter. Prices are within 4 percent of a bear market after the longest run of monthly losses since 1997.
Hedge funds are now their least bullish since 2007 as economies accelerate and Federal Reserve policy makers review stimulus. Bullion as much as doubled after central banks, led by the Fed, started buying more than $3.5 trillion of debt from December 2008 to restore growth. With global equities at a four- year high and the dollar at its strongest in seven months, eight of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said they expect lower average gold prices in 2014 than this year.
“There is a belief that the world economy is improving,” said John Toohey, a San Antonio, Texas-based vice president of equity investments at USAA Investments, which manages more than $54 billion of assets. “We are especially seeing the signs in U.S. and that may at some point lead to higher interest rates. It seems as if the fast money is moving out of gold.”
Worst Start
Gold slid 5.8 percent to $1,578.78 an ounce in London this year, the worst start since 1988. It averaged a record $1,669 last year. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI gauge of 24 commodities rose 0.3 percent since the start of January and the MSCI All- Country World Index (MXWD) of equities gained 6.1 percent. Treasuries lost 1.1 percent, a Bank of America Corp. index shows.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its three-month forecast by 12 percent to $1,615 on Feb. 25 and expects $1,550 in a year. Gold is “significantly overvalued” and unlikely to return to its September 2011 record of $1,921.15, Credit Suisse said Feb. 1. The bank, along with Barclays Plc, Societe Generale SA, Natixis SA, BNP Paribas SA, ABN Amro Bank NV, Danske Bank A/S and TD Securities Inc., is predicting lower average prices next year than in 2013.
About $6.6 trillion was added to the value of global equities since November as China accelerated for the first time in two years. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect U.S. growth to gain every quarter this year and the International Monetary Fund predicts global expansion will climb to 3.5 percent in 2013 from 3.2 percent in 2012. U.S. unemployment fell to a four-year low of 7.7 percent last month, as job growth surged from automakers to builders to retailers.
‘Asset Bubble’
Soros Fund Management LLC, founded by the 82-year-old who called bullion the “ultimate asset bubble” in 2010, owned about $97 million of metal through the SPDR Gold Trust as of Dec. 31, a regulatory filing showed last month. Louis Moore Bacon’s Moore Capital Management LP sold its stake in the SPDR fund, valued then at $16 million, and cut holdings in the Sprott Physical Gold Trust by 53 percent to $12.1 million in the fourth quarter. Spokesmen for both investors declined to comment.
John Paulson, the largest SPDR investor, kept his holding unchanged last quarter, his filing showed. The stake is now valued at $3.3 billion. New York-based Paulson & Co.’s investors can choose between gold-and dollar-denominated versions of most of its funds. The 57-year-old told clients March 6 that his Gold Fund fell 26 percent this year. Stefan Prelog, a spokesman, declined to comment.
Mario Draghi
Central bank asset buying won’t end any time soon and concern about currency debasement combined with rising expectations for inflation will spur demand for gold, Morgan Stanley said in a Feb. 25 report. The median estimate of the 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg is for a record annual average of $1,700 in 2013, falling to $1,638 in 2014.
Bank of Japan Governor-designate Haruhiko Kuroda said last week the central bank should bring forward open-ended asset purchases scheduled to start next year. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said March 7 that officials discussed cutting borrowing costs further. Gold usually earns returns only through price gains, increasing its allure at a time of record- low interest rates.
“Just because it feels that the economy is improving does not necessarily mean that is actually happening,” said Michael Cuggino, who manages $17 billion of assets at Permanent Portfolio Family of Funds Inc. in San Francisco. “We could continue to see governments trying to boost growth.”
Argentinian Pesos
Bullion isn’t declining for all investors, amid mounting rhetoric over currency wars. Gold priced in yen rose 4.5 percent this year and in British pounds advanced 2.8 percent.
Central banks added 534.6 tons to reserves last year, the most since 1964, in part to diversify their currency holdings, according to the London-based World Gold Council. Barclays forecasts 300 tons of buying in 2013 and the same in 2014. Lower prices and improving economies may boost jewelry purchases, the biggest source of demand, with the bank predicting a 3.2 percent gain this year, from an 8.2 percent drop in 2012.
The slump in gold is curbing profit for those extracting the metal, in some cases from as deep as 2.4 miles underground. As bullion almost quadrupled since 2003, mining costs jumped more than fivefold, data compiled by New York-based Kenneth Hoffman and other analysts at Bloomberg Industries show. For as many as 11 of the world’s biggest miners, production costs averaged $991 an ounce in the first nine months of 2012.
Future Production
The 30-member Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index, including Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX), fell 20 percent this year, extending retreats of 8.3 percent in 2012 and 20 percent in 2011. Mining companies have so far held off locking in prices by selling future production, with Barclays anticipating net hedging of 20 tons this year and 35 tons in 2014. Annual production is about 2,700 tons.
Options traders are increasing bets on more declines. Puts that profit should the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) fall 10 percent cost 2.1 points more than calls betting on a 10 percent rally, according to three-month options data compiled by Bloomberg. The price relationship known as skew reached a record 3.3 points Feb. 21. Combined ETP holdings stand at 2,484.1 tons, from a peak of 2,632.5 tons in December.
Hedge funds are 84 percent less bullish on gold than they were the month before prices reached a record in September 2011. Speculators held a net-long position of 39,631 futures and options in the week ended March 5, the fewest since July 2007, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.
The U.S. Mint sold 753,000 ounces of American Eagle gold coins last year, 25 percent less than in 2011, data on its website show. Coin and bar sales from Australia’s Perth Mint fell 17 percent last year, the company said March 6.
“People are seeing less need for gold,” said Michael Mullaney, the chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust in Boston, which manages $9.5 billion of assets. “The end of loose money supply is making gold less attractive.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net; Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
WTI Falls From Two-Week High as Crude Stockpiles Seen Climbing
By Ben Sharples - Mar 12, 2013
West Texas Intermediate oil fell from the highest price in almost two weeks before a report that may show U.S. crude stockpiles rose to an eight-month high. Refining in China dropped to the lowest level in four months.
Futures slid as much as 0.4 percent in New York after rising a third day yesterday. U.S. crude inventories probably climbed an eighth week in the seven days through March 8, the longest run of gains since May, a Bloomberg News survey showed before Energy Department data tomorrow. China cut oil-processing last month as factories slowed or halted production because of the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, figures from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing showed in Beijing.
WTI for April delivery declined as much as 37 cents to $91.69 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $91.70 at 2:27 p.m. Singapore time. The volume of all futures traded was 30 percent above the 100-day average. The contract rose 11 cents yesterday to $92.06, the highest close since Feb. 27. Prices are down 0.1 percent this year.
Brent for April settlement was down 47 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $109.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 10 percent below the 100-day average. The European benchmark grade’s premium to WTI futures was at $18.05. The differential shrank for a fourth day yesterday to $18.16, the narrowest spread since Jan. 31.
Technical Analysis
Brent oil platforms in the North Sea except for Cormorant Alpha, where a leak shut the pipeline system this month, are operating normally, Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) said yesterday. The operator known as Taqa didn’t give a flow rate for the Brent Pipeline system in an e-mailed response to questions. The company shut the network, which has a capacity of 90,000 barrels a day, after discovering a leak at Cormorant Alpha on March 2. Initial flow resumed March 7.
U.S. crude supplies probably increased by 2.25 million barrels to 383.6 million, the highest level since June, according to the median estimate of eight analysts in the Bloomberg survey. Gasoline inventories dropped 1.25 million barrels, the survey shows. Distillate stockpiles, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, probably slid by 1.65 million barrels. The Energy Department is scheduled to release the weekly report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.
Cheaper U.S. Gasoline
The average retail gasoline price in the U.S. fell 1.3 percent to $3.71 a gallon last week, according to the Energy Information Administration Gasoline and Diesel update. It declined from $3.759 a gallon the previous week.
Daily oil-refining volumes in the China, the world’s second-largest crude consumer, dropped to 9.9 million barrels a day last month, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. That’s the lowest level since October. January processing was at about 10.1 million, combined data for the first two months of the year show. The nation’s crude output increased 0.8 percent to 16 million tons in February.
Oil in New York has technical support along its 100-day moving average, around $90.83 a barrel today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Futures halted intraday declines along this indicator for the past two days, signaling buy orders may be clustered close to it.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net
Asian shares pause from rise after record Dow, yen slips
By Chikako Mogi
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares eased on Tuesday but growing confidence in the U.S. economy underpinned risk sentiment, while the yen touched fresh lows on speculation over imminent monetary easing.
In the absence of key data to drive direction, regional equities that recently rose on the back of Wall Street's record highs took their cues from local factors. Assets typically linked with risk aversion underperformed, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yields pinned near an 11-month high around 2.07 percent in Asia.
Financial markets continued to draw support from global monetary accommodations, and expectations for more easing drove the yen and the pound down against the Australian dollar, often used as a gauge for risk appetite.
The Australian dollar climbed to fresh 4-1/2 year highs against the yen of 99.55 yen while the pound hit A$1.4451, the lowest since early 1985.
"There may be adjustments from time to time, but as long as developed countries compete with accommodative monetary policies, assets prices broadly are likely to try their upside," said Takeo Okuhara, fund manager in Tokyo at Daiwa SB Investments.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.3 percent, erasing earlier gains.
Australian shares lost 0.6 percent after earlier reaching a fresh 4-1/2-year high, weighed down by the miners as metal prices weakened and disappointing local data showed business confidence fell.
China shares could post a fourth-straight daily loss as mid-sized banks were dragged down after official media reported that the country's banking regulator has launched a nationwide probe of wealth management products. Hong Kong shares .HSI eased 0.3 percent while Shanghai stocks .SSEC slid 1.5 percent.
Seoul shares .KS11 dropped 0.5 percent as hopes for a sustainable U.S. economic recovery were overshadowed by concerns about the weaker Japanese yen and tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
European markets were likely to see a subdued opening, with financial spreadbetters predicting a flat start for London's FTSE 100 .FTSE, Paris's CAC-40 .FCHI and Frankfurt's DAX .GDAXI. U.S. stock futures, with a 0.1 percent drop, indicated a soft Wall Street open. .L.EU.N
The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 stock index .SPX extended its winning streak to seven sessions and touched its highest intraday level since October 15, 2007 on Monday while the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI closed at a record 14447.29.
Reflecting rising risk appetite in the wake of Friday's solid U.S. jobs data, the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, which is often used as a gauge for risk, ended Monday at the lowest level since February 2007.
DOLLAR EYES UPSIDE
Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225 also retreated from earlier 4-1/2-year highs and ended down 0.3 percent. But the yen's drop helped curb losses. .T
The dollar has benefited from last week's strong U.S. jobs data while the yen came under renewed pressure from a report the incoming Bank of Japan governor might convene an extraordinary meeting soon after taking office this month to launch fresh easing to beat Japan's stubborn deflation.
MORE - http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/12/us-markets-global-idUSBRE88901C20130312?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28Business+News%29
Where the US Dollar May Be Headed? http://stks.co/gOGG
LOL, glad you like it Scoopz. Emoticons are fun as heck sometimes. Here is EZ in the morning:
This is Stuff at the Casino. Note she hits the jackpot daily with options!
This is YOU at the gym:
This is LongHorn with Red (She is the one in the mask, of course)
Last for now, is SkeBall Larry:
Just TOO much fun.
Be good Long. I am out of here as well! Need to sleep. Zzzzzz
Be good Lottos!
Stuff, great work on BBRY!
Scoopz, no puking!
EZ, take care of that nerve, and leave my poor innocent wife alone!
LOL spot on. THis morning, pre-market, BBRY was under $13, and I said "hmmm, looks good for calls, short squeeze, but I am just getting back into the game, will wait until next week to buy anything, it can drop more."
And now, POW!
WAHOO! At 14.06 now, beat my 1100 call by 20 minutes. Now, $15 by lunch!!
That, my friend, is probably a VERY wise course.
I am a cash king now, too scared to push any of the damn buttons. Of course, if I DID, BBRY would be under $10 by now, and CEDC would be at a nickel. It is when I do NOT play them, that they fly.
POW! BBRY really starting to move now. I hate chasing, so I am just gonna watch. Kicking myself in the butt for being a wimp and staying on the sidelines this week.
Friggin CEDC now over 30%! AAAAGGGHH!
Wow! Surprised this isn't exploding. That is an event that should cause the shorts to run for cover.
Hey Scoopz! Watching on the sidelines, and watching BBRY blast up like I thought it would, and now CEDC, a lotto I had my eyes on, up over 20%!! Ugh. All this money I am making in my head....
SPY in a real tight range this morning. When you think it is going to go green, it turns back and heads down. When you think it is gonna drop and fall, it props back up and stays steady.
My guess, it goes deeper red. Would be looking at $155 weekly Puts if I were daytrading this sucker today.
Sneaky! I like it.
LOL, well, she IS a professional massage therapist, so I hope she is helping with your pinched nerve.
And hey, PLEASE at least mow the lawn and leave some cold ones in the fridge.
Way to go Stuff! I wish I were in it with you. On paper, I am, and in spirit. In cash, I am on the sidelines, watching.
I talked to my wife on the phone the other day, she said she made a lot of changes in the house, she is so excited, she can't wait for me to see them. Deep in my head, I said to myself, I probably wouldn't even NOTICE whatever the heck she did. So the note to MYSELF is to remember to make POSITIVE comments about any changes. (Just hope I know what they are when I get there.)
CEDC, which took a nasty pounding last month, also making a bold move today.
I am sure she has got ALL new curtains, new bath mats, new pretty shaped soap for the bathroom, etc... It is what they do. I believe it is some sort of conspiracy, but I haven't been able to prove it yet.
<zh> The Erosion Of The U.S. Economy In Two Words: Jobs And Wages
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/11/2013 09:47 -0400
Gross Domestic Product Home Equity M2 Money Supply Purchasing Power recovery
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds
The Erosion Of The U.S. Economy In Two Words: Jobs And Wages
The current de facto policy of inflating asset bubbles to spark a "wealth effect" is no substitute for policies that make it less burdensome to start new enterprises and hire employees.
The Status Quo is shameless when it comes to hyping the recovery by whatever metric is most positive. Recently, that has been the stock market, but if GDP rises significantly (and recall GDP increases if the government borrows and blows money), then that number is duly trotted out by politicos and Mainstream Media toadies.
If we scrape away this ceaseless perception management, we find that legitimate broadbased prosperity is always based on rising employment and increased purchasing power of wages. The phantom wealth that is conjured by asset bubbles vanishes when the bubbles inevitably pop, leaving all those who borrowed against their ephemeral bubble wealth hapless debt-serfs.
Since very few households own enough productive assets (i.e. financial assets above and beyond the family home equity) to replace earned income (i.e. a job) with unearned income, rising asset yields and prices do little to improve household wealth or income.
Those with investable assets of more than $1 million are labeled "high-net-worth individuals" or HNWIs. There are about 3 million Americans who qualify as HNWIs; roughly 1.8 million Americans own $2 million or more in investable assets. Number of Rich Americans Fell in 2011.
For context, the U.S. has about 307 million residents and about 110 million households. Roughly 112 million people have full-time jobs and about 38 million are self-employed or have part-time jobs.
Recall that thanks to the Federal Reserve's zero-interest rate policy (ZIRP), $1 million invested in short-term Treasury bonds earns around $10,000 a year in interest--less than a job paying minimum wage. Owning $1 million in stocks that pay a 2.5% dividend yields $25,000 a year in income, considerably less than the median wage of around $35,000. So even $1 million isn't necessarily generating enough income to replace earned income (wages).
If prosperity ultimately depends on employment and earned income (wages), how are we doing as a nation? Unfortunately, the answer is "terrible." As a percentage of the population, full-time employment is down. Only 36% of the population has a full-time job.(Charts 1 & 3 were reprinted by permission from mdbriefing.com; charts 2,4 & 5 are courtesy of frequent contributor B.C.):
MORE, with charts - http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-11/erosion-us-economy-two-words-jobs-and-wages
Nice! If you make a boat load of money, you will have to take me out for a nice dinner, or make me a bowl of your famous soup!
Pool party should be soon. Time to start thinking about opening that sucker up and getting the BBQ going. EZ will bring the speedos again.