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Edit:Link to my annotated SPX chart drawn 7/17/08. Key right now to me is the 20ema.
i had as my first mildly significant resistance at 1292, and SPX had a strong pullback from that level.
That is not a sign of a strength that SPX can make a run to its maximum rally point of 1350/1360 i(and others) had projected as possible.
Look at 20ema, it has fallen below its present 1271 level.
This is battle point now.
i also see my upper blue line as now a MAJOR resistance.
We have had a reasonable 7+% Bear Market rally.
i am cautiously saying that the Bear Market Rally is likely over.
What to do? Watch that 20ema:)
Note: 1256 i see as immediate importance.Its 3/17 low.
the chart http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=30783257
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
(This about the the ultimacy of individuality in a world ruled by psychopaths, i feel): This my take on this passage written by Kristina Kisthinios
"One big problem today is that many narcissists sit in places of power and their worst nightmare is to look within or for others to look within them. It is EMPTY inside of them and they are therefore focused on compensating the outside with extreme blingbling. These people will do anything to keep the power and are FULL of fears and inadequacies. Most people are afraid but their true selves are intact, although hidden. But these people ARE REALLY empty inside. There is nothing to fix. We can just stop more people from becoming like this (extreme childhood wounding) and also see through their manipulations.
Unfortunately these people make it to the top FAR more often, as other’s stand no chance when they undermine, manipulate and control. They are ready to do ANYTHING for power, which ordinary people are not. These people are not Leaders, they are Self-Serving Predators (even if they can be quite smart and show a very “friendly” face when needed). When people act from their heart/from a loving place/higher self, these people get extremely triggered, because of their complexes and they will systematically try to suppress and sabotage these “bright” people. Only people who are more like them (power and control issues) or extreme codependents will be allowed to advance or have the spotlight.
These self-absorbed, old paradigm people can spot a “bright” person from miles away and will do anything to sabotage them. They have no chance. This is a vicious circle where the losers become winners in this society and the “real” people get pushed aside, hurt or are used.
With the real people I don’t mean those who have pushed away their dark side, but integrated, balanced, full of good stuff people. Empathic. Real. Genuine. Trustworthy when it all comes down to it.
Unfortunately a LARGE percentage of spiritual gurus are like this as well (and that’s why it’s better to always THINK FOR YOURSELF in the end). They like the power trip and want people to do as they say, not to find their own way. That is why I don’t believe in people who create “programmes”, as everyone must find their own unique way. You can be a pathfinder or guide, but that’s it. Controlling people want followers and dependants and they do not want you to think for yourself. Because this means they cant control you! They want to control your feelings, wellbeing, actions, knowledge, yes everything. This is not FREEDOM."
i link to her blog site and say, for me at times, as above, i think she is right on, at other times too new agey hippie harmony blah blah----what i quote above i "dig man":).
Since i was 19 i have rejected with fervor to being LEADER, my motto "Never Have Followers, ever"
If what i communicate sometimes rubs off onto others, it is then totally theirs it has ZERO to do with me--NOTHING.Max
p.s. i argue with myself oft, i carry within a "devil's advocate":)
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
Lord Martin Rees, Astrophysics regards Dark Matter(missing mass)
"All these multiverse ideas lead to a remarkable synthesis between cosmology and physics...But they also lead to the extraordinary consequence that we may not be the deepest reality, we may be a simulation. The possibility that we are creations of some supreme, or super-being, blurs the boundary between physics and idealist philosophy, between the natural and the supernatural, and between the relation of mind and multiverse and the possibility that we're in the matrix rather than the physics itself." Martin Rees
This The Same Damned Bull Sh-t, just from a different mouth.
Bush/McCain/Omama all the bloody same utter crap.
Those that vote for McCain or Obama is an endorsement for WAR against Iran, and to think otherwise is a colossal LIE to one's self.
************************************************************
Obama says nuclear Iran poses "grave threat"
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=264340
REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service
Jul 23, 2008 10:00 EST
SDEROT, Israel, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday a nuclear Iran would pose a "grave threat" and that the world must stop Tehran from obtaining an atomic weapon.
Obama told reporters during a visit to Israel that if elected, he would take "NO options off the table"(edit: i advise those that care to define just exactly what "NO options off the table" means--max) in dealing with the Iran issue and said tougher sanctions could be imposed.
"A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama told reporters after visiting the Israeli town of Sderot, which lies close to the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
He said the international community should immediately offer "big sticks and big carrots" to persuade Iran to halt its nuclear programme. The West suspects Iran wants to build atom bombs but the Islamic Republic says its aims are peaceful.
"Iranians need to understand that whether it's the Bush administration or the Obama administration, this is a paramount concern to the United States," he said in Sderot, which has been hit by cross-border rockets fired by Gaza-based militants.
Israel says Iran provides funds and weapons to Hamas.
"I think there are opportunities for us to mobilise a much more serious regime of sanctions on Iran, but also to offer them the possibility of improved relations to the international community if they stand down on these nuclear weapons." (Writing by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Adam Entous)
Source: Reuters North American News Service
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
UFOS,Max?:) One MUST understand for actual meaningful space travel it can NOT be done by beings or vehicles of elemental mass.
i AVOID all UFO discussion that involve elemental mass.
i am on a whole OTHER level on this mattter.
People need understand i find stuff like Roswell and Area 51 and cattle multilation by aliens in Nevada as absurdly comical.
i consider shows like Albert Bell and such to be of zero interest.
It is a just another billions of dollar huckster industry based on FLUFF.
i ask someone that religiously listens to/ watches/ joins pay for websites of the occult and supernatural and UFOS: and i asked him what he knew about Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and he knew NOTHING!!! ENUFF SAID!!!!
i view BOTH the typical UFO Crowd AND the typical UFO scoffing Crowd to BOTH be in KINDERGARTEN
i think that should make a point, no??????????
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
Faber yesterday regards Crude:Crude Oil price will fall to $100: Marc Faber
Commodity Online(edit: i add that he believes after the correction Crude will be the best place to go: He does support Peak Oil Theory--otraque/max)
MUMBAI: Commodities and investment guru "Marc Faber, who told investors to bail out of U.S. stocks before 1987's so-called Black Monday crash, said oil prices may fall to $100 a barrel as demand slows in a global economy at the ``tail end'' of its expansion.
Accelerating inflation and rising interest rates worldwide are likely to dent the value of commodities including oil, said Faber, who publishes the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, at an investment forum in Sydney today.
Real-estate in India and Cambodia were among his favored Asian investments, he said. ``Global liquidity is under some relative tightening, and that is unfavorable for all asset classes,'' said Faber, 62. There will be ``sharp corrections'' in commodities prices."
Some of the commodities that have really been hard-hit of late are the noble metals; platinum, palladium, and rhodium. After taking a pounding at the end of last week, the platinum price dropped sharply and analysts turned negative on the short-term outlook for the metal.
SPIR: on watch. http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=spir
You Know The Banking System Is Unsound When.... Excellent bit by Mish Shredlock --he came up up with 25 reasons.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/07/you-know-banking-system-is-unsound-when.html
You Know The Banking System Is Unsound When....
1. Paulson appears on Face The Nation and says "Our banking system is a safe and a sound one." If the banking system was safe and sound, everyone would know it (or at least think it). There would be no need to say it.
2. Paulson says the list of troubled banks "is a very manageable situation". The reality is there are 90 banks on the list of problem banks. Indymac was not one of them until a month before it collapsed. How many other banks will magically appear on the list a month before they collapse?
3. In a Northern Rock moment, depositors at Indymac pull out their cash. Police had to be called in to ensure order.
4. Washington Mutual (WM), another troubled bank, refused to honor Indymac cashier's checks. The irony is it makes no sense for customers to pull insured deposits out of Indymac after it went into receivership. The second irony is the last place one would want to put those funds would be Washington Mutual. Eventually Washington Mutual decided it would take those checks but with an 8 week hold. Will Washington Mutual even be around 8 weeks from now?
5. Paulson asked for "Congressional authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE)" just days after he said "Financial Institutions Must Be Allowed To Fail". Obviously Paulson is reporting from the 5th dimension. In some alternate universe, his statements just might make sense.
6. Former Fed Governor William Poole says "Fannie Mae, Freddie Losses Makes Them Insolvent".
7. Paulson says Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "essential" because they represent the only "functioning" part of the home loan market. The firms own or guarantee about half of the $12 trillion in U.S. mortgages. Is it possible to have a sound banking system when the only "functioning" part of the mortgage market is insolvent?
8. Bernanke testified before Congress on monetary policy but did not comment on either money supply or interest rates. The word "money" did not appear at all in his testimony. The only time "interest rate" appeared in his testimony was in relation to consumer credit card rates. How can you have any reasonable economic policy when the Fed chairman is scared half to death to discuss interest rates and money supply?
9. The SEC issued a protective order to protect those most responsible for naked short selling. As long as the investment banks and brokers were making money engaging in naked shorting of stocks, there was no problem. However, when the bears began using the tactic against the big financials, it became time to selectively enforce the existing regulation.
10. The Fed takes emergency actions twice during options expirations week in regards to the discount window and rate cuts.
11. The SEC takes emergency action during options expirations week regarding short sales.
12. The Fed has implemented an alphabet soup of pawn shop lending facilities whereby the Fed accepts garbage as collateral in exchange for treasuries. Those new Fed lending facilities are called the Term Auction Facility (TAF), the Term Security Lending Facility (TSLF), and the Primary Dealer Credit Facility (PDCF).
13. Citigroup (C), Lehman (LEH), Morgan Stanley(MS), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Merrill Lynch (MER) all have a huge percentage of level 3 assets. Level 3 assets are commonly known as "marked to fantasy" assets. In other words, the value of those assets is significantly if not ridiculously overvalued in comparison to what those assets would fetch on the open market. It is debatable if any of the above firms survive in their present form. Some may not survive in any form.
14. Bernanke openly solicits private equity firms to invest in banks. Is this even close to a remotely normal action for Fed chairman to take?
15. Bear Stearns was taken over by JPMorgan (JPM) days after insuring investors it had plenty of capital. Fears are high that Lehman will suffer the same fate. Worse yet, the Fed had to guarantee the shotgun marriage between Bear Stearns and JP Morgan by providing as much as $30 billion in capital. JPMorgan is responsible for only the first 1/2 billion. Taxpayers are on the hook for all the rest. Was this a legal action for the Fed to take? Does the Fed care?
16. Citigroup needed a cash injection from Abu Dhabi and a second one elsewhere. Then after announcing it would not need more capital is raising still more. The latest news is Citigroup will sell $500 billion in assets. To who? At what price?
17. Merrill Lynch raised $6.6 billion in capital from Kuwait Mizuho, announced it did not need to raise more capital, then raised more capital a few week later.
18. Morgan Stanley sold a 9.9% equity stake to China International Corp. CEO John Mack compensated by not taking his bonus. How generous. Morgan Stanley fell from $72 to $37. Did CEO John Mack deserve a paycheck at all?
19. Bank of America (BAC) agreed to take over Countywide Financial (CFC) and twice announced Countrywide will add profits to B of A. Inquiring minds were asking "How the hell can Countrywide add to Bank of America earnings?" Here's how. Bank of America just announced it will not guarantee $38.1 billion in Countrywide debt. Questions over "Fraudulent Conveyance" are now surfacing.
20. Washington Mutual agreed to a death spiral cash infusion of $7 billion accepting an offer at $7.85 when the stock was over $13 at the time. Washington Mutual has since fallen in waterfall fashion from $40 and is now trading near $5.00 after a huge rally.
21. Shares of Ambac (ABK) fell from $90 to $2.50. Shared of MBIA (MBI) fell from $70 to $5. Sadly, the top three rating agencies kept their rating on the pair at AAA nearly all the way down. No one can believe anything the government sponsored rating agencies say.
22. In a panic set of moves, the Fed slashed interest rates from 5.25% to 2%. This was the fastest, steepest drop on record. Ironically, the Fed chairman spoke of inflation concerns the entire drop down. Bernanke clearly cannot tell the truth. He does not have to. Actions speak louder than words.
23. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the FDIC is looking for ways to shore up its depleted deposit fund, including charging higher premiums on riskier brokered deposits.
24. There is roughly $6.84 Trillion in bank deposits. $2.60 Trillion of that is uninsured. There is only $53 billion in FDIC insurance to cover $6.84 Trillion in bank deposits. Indymac will eat up roughly $8 billion of that.
25. Of the $6.84 Trillion in bank deposits, the total cash on hand at banks is a mere $273.7 Billion. Where is the rest of the loot? The answer is in off balance sheet SIVs, imploding commercial real estate deals, Alt-A liar loans, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds, toggle bonds where debt is amazingly paid back with more debt, and all sorts of other silly (and arguably fraudulent) financial wizardry schemes that have bank and brokerage firms leveraged at 30-1 or more. Those loans cannot be paid back.
What cannot be paid back will be defaulted on. If you did not know it before, you do now. The entire US banking system is insolvent.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List
You Know The Banking System Is Unsound When....
Posted by Michael Shedlock at 11:38 AM Print
World's Biggest Food Storage Supplier Empty Through ALL 2009
Learn How to Pack Your Own
(edit; i am NOT going to make a big deal of this, no "run for the hills" stuff, but it is interesting, a, what i call a "hmmmmmmm?" article.BTW i have no food stored nor intend to---NO FEAR, que sera,sera. But others do think otherwise---so i post this "hmmmm?" article.Max:)
July 21, 2008
By Holly Deyo
It came to our attention today, that the world's largest producer of storable foods, Mountain House, is currently out of stock of ALL #10 cans of freeze dried foods, not just the Turkey Tetrazzini (pictured right). They will NOT have product now through ALL of 2009.
This information was learned by a Mountain House dealer who shared it with me this morning. In personally talking with the company immediately after, Mountain House verified the information is true. Customer service stated, "I'm surprised they don't have this posted on the website yet." She said they have such a backlog of orders, Mountain House will not be taking any #10 can food requests through the remainder of this year and all of the next.
Five Part history of DarkMatter/DarkEnergy, has its definite major limitations but gives a fine foundation to getting at the history of this: it is huge CONCEIT that are 4% Universe is the only one that contains life.This is RANK STUPIDITY and once again revealing the collosal NARROW MINDEDNESS of Man.
The presumption that because the Universe is Expanding into absolute destruction is ONLY the evaluation(and correct one i believe) for the minute little bit we know, the meagre 4%.
As one Nobelist has stated, these latest awakening are implying we, THIS WHOLE UNIVERSE WE STUDY, is like IRRELEVANT, like it is some pollution in the rest.
Man people that can't lite up over that i do not comprehend
Key point scientist MUST in their for publication work MUST be very conservative in what is said, but i assure you off the record The OutRiders are ablaze with conjecture about the AWESOME implications--it is not uncommon to hear the phrase "Mind-Blowing".
One key, this darkness bit is so misunderstood, for instance it could indeed BE LIGHT, but out of the spectrum of Human technology to perceive, yes, as it could well be ANOTHER kind of Light, this is a wide open mystery.
There is nothing to say it could not move at speeds far faster than the "Speed of Light" for that is ONLY a limitation for Einstein's Universe(we already have the concept of Shadow Speed).
Yes we are here stepping beyond Einstein's Universe, and it appears Einstein's Universe is ONLY 4% of what is, when Saganite Level knowledge believed it was ALL that is----yes this is A REVOLUTION, but facr, hard fact, the majority in the world do NOT like revolutions in knowledge.
So we that do will remain in our private realm networking while the rest SNOOZE(that is the nature of the human race, it is NO WAY oneness, there is always(Thank G-d!) the roques/the outsiders/the explorers of the unknown, but they are ALWAYS a small minority and society does all it can to destroy them, but they NEVER WILL!!!!!
i dedicate this to the rebels/the outsiders/those that are born to fight CHAINS, those that seek the OUTER LIMITS and then to go beyond.otraque/max)(The 5 parts up to about 45 minutes)
From Yahoo! Board <<For those confused by the action... 3 minutes ago In TSO while Oil goes down...here is all you need to know.
Last 10 days:
Oil down 15%
Gasoline down 16%
They are getting the oil for cheaper...and sellin the gas for cheaper...this isn't rocket science people.
Sentiment : Hold >>
Note: TSO could have a savage breakdown, this has been the case since it blew through 17.50 support.
Once that happened 10 dollars came inplay.
i am watching this motha closely because 1) there are ONLY three major refiners in U.S., TSO is one of them.
And 2}These are NOT Airline Stocks that all have a potential of going to zero and being nationalized.
TSO once sold for 2 bucks.
Catch a bottom, they are big money makers.
Tesoro and Valero are what i call stocks that Buffet is likely watching closely for one his Buffet buys.Max
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
No mystery of high volume trading. The spike point of day happened JUST before inventories came out.
Crude was Down and Gasoline Up.
Crude-oil stockpiles fell last week, gasoline rose
Wednesday July 23, 11:09 am ET
Energy Department says crude-oil stockpiles fell, gasoline inventories rose last week
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Crude-oil inventories fell last week but gasoline stockpiles rose more than expected, according to government data released Wednesday.
For the week ended July 18 crude-oil inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels to 295.3 million barrels, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.
Analysts had expected a draw of 1.9 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
Gasoline inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels to 217.1 million barrels. Analysts expected stockpiles of the motor fuel to rise by only 500,000 barrels.
Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended July 18 was 2.4 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging more than 9.3 million barrels a day.
At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 87.1 percent of total capacity on average, a drop of 2.4 percentage points from the prior week. Analysts expected capacity to remain steady last week.
Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.4 million barrels to 128.1 million barrels for the week ended July 18. Analysts expected distillate stocks to rise by 2.2 million barrels.
At the pump, gas prices fell over a penny overnight to a national average of more than $4.04 a gallon, but are well above the year-ago average of about $2.96 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
In morning trading, light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $2.47 to $125.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Just online and looked at TSO. It is now close to conclusive Mega-Traders are whipsawing TSO for scalping ever since it dove to 14.93. If i trade this it i would go at 10K shares as liquidity is fast.
There is are the threat of massive breakdown so stop sell MANDATORY at -10cents .
Going over Yahoo to TSO thread, a couple over their that are refinery sharp.
They said it has done well even though it Crack Spread at going from -5cents to +20cents on daily basis, they are STILL refining the backlog of Crude they bought at -5cents spread.
Also rumour that they may have been caught hedging Crude long side. There earnings will be July 31, in the morning.
No way i make a move right here, not in high attentiveness status right now----it's sunny outside--- i am just goinggo to YAHOO! see if there is that sharp poster there today. Max
Welcome to The Fall---The FallTheFallTheFall
Hello and Welcome to the
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TSO just ANNOTATED: it is a possible shorterm play
.S. stocks close sharply higher as financials shift gears
By Kate Gibson
Last update: 4:16 p.m. EDT July 22, 2008Comments: 11
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday afternoon after crude closed below $129 a barrel and Wachovia Corp. fronted a turnaround among financial shares after the large regional bank said it would not sell stock to raise capital. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU:Dow Jones Industrial Average
Last: 11,602.50+135.16+1.18%
WSJ wrap-up:Banks Rally; Oil Drop Lifts Stocks
July 22, 2008 3:49 p.m.
A plunge in oil prices soothed the stock market, which was roiled Tuesday by a mixed batch of earnings reports and lingering worries about the U.S. economy.
Major indexes opened lower but were mixed in recent trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 30 points, or 0.3%, at 11497.71, despite a nearly 10% plunge in component American Express. The credit-card giant rattled investors late Monday when it posted worse-than-expected results and shelved its growth forecast for the remainder of the year.
The announcement underscored how the credit-market stress that began more than a year ago with mortgage lenders and the bankers who bundled and traded their loans has spread to affect a broader swath of financial firms. But market participants are increasingly inclined to interpret red ink in the sector as part of a painful-but-necessary process nearing an end.
"We need to hear about the average guy having stress," which is better exemplified by weakness at a credit-card company than an investment bank, said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Investments, a unit of SunTrust Banks. "This is all part of what we need to get out in the open so that the (credit) cycle can play itself out."
The Dow was helped Tuesday by gains of about 2% each for Caterpillar and DuPont. Caterpillar reported a 34% increase in its second-quarter net on strong world-wide sales. DuPont's earnings jumped 11% as its agricultural unit saw strong growth. DuPont noted price increases averaging about 7% partially offset an estimated 15% rise in costs for energy, raw materials and freight.
Heading into this earning season, many analysts were worried that companies would be facing severe margin compression amid rising energy costs and a fall in demand due to the weakening economy. And indeed, DuPont CEO Charles Holliday Jr. noted that the company is facing "accelerating" materials costs and a "challenging environment."
But oil prices have dropped sharply in recent weeks, plunging from highs of more than $145 a barrel. Crude-oil futures dropped $3.80 to $127.25 a barrel in New York Tuesday as Tropical Storm Dolly appeared likely to steer clear of major oil-drilling and transport hubs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Analyst Phil Flynn, of Chicago brokerage Alaron Trading, said it also appears that speculative money is flowing out of commodities and into stocks, reversing an unusual trade that many hedge funds and other deep-pocket players had employed using raw materials, especially crude oil, as a type of safe haven.
"In a way, the worries about weakness in the broader economy initially helped oil, because people's first reaction was to get out of the stock market," said Mr. Flynn. "As we've seen some that systemic concern recede, it's given oil more of an opportunity to focus on fundamentals," including widespread expectation that demand will remain soft.
Strong gains for financial stocks also helped push the stock market upward. Banks and brokerages were rallying despite bleak quarterly reports from Wachovia and a number of regional banks. Wachovia shares rose about 16%. Bank of America surged about 7% and J.P. Morgan Chase leapt more than 3%.
After a brutal month June, financial stocks have rallied well off their lows over the last week. A series of better-than-forecast quarterly results from lenders and regulatory efforts to crack down on some short-selling of certain large financial institutions has driven the rally, as has an eagerness among investors to call the bottom of the sector's slide.
"I think everybody is interested -- I don't want to say excited -- about finding a bottom with the financials, but I don't think we're at that point," says Stephen Carl, head trader at Williams Capital. "If some are alluding to it, I think they're forcing it."
The S&P 500 rose nearly five points to 1264.94, helped by a 2.8% gain in its financial sector and a 0.3% gain in its industrial sector. But the broad measure was hobbled by a drop of nearly 3% in its energy sector spurred by the drop in oil.
Airlines, which have also suffered amid soaring fuel prices, jumped on Tuesday. US Airways Group, UAL, and JetBlue Airways all swung to second-quarter losses amid surging fuel costs and write-downs. UAL announced another 5,500 job cuts. JetBlue plans to cut capacity later this year. But shares of all three carriers rallied, with UAL soaring more than 55%, US Airways up nearly 53% and JetBlue gaining more than 18%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was up nearly five points at 2283.99. The tech-heavy index was held in check by a 4.4% slide in Apple, which offered bleaker-than-expected guidance late Monday. Texas Instruments also disappointed investors with a weak third-quarter outlook. Its shares plummeted nearly 17%.
Overseas, Asian markets finished mixed while European stocks dropped.
Treasury prices fell. The two-year note was off 7/32, yielding 2.712%. The benchmark 10-year note fell 19/32 to yield 4.115%.
Today a SlamDunk for the let's keep this rally going "Big Time Traders". Max
Crack Spread, it now appears one must pay to see a Crack Spread chart on a regular , anytime basis.
One can calculate it if one had the patience--i don't:)
He said that about 5 weeks ago.
But sees GOLD as relatively safe, worst case a drop to 800.
i myself am not in agreement with him:) ( i see correction to be faster and over in shorter time)
Marc faber himself refuses to make hard calls, this correction if harder and faster than he thinks could sharply change his mind.
Marc Faber does NOT believe ANYONE has a crystal ball, not one person in the entire GURU world.
Faber has made 7 great calls over 35 years--awesome really(fortune makers)(with 3 bad calls in that time--which he constantly reminds people).
He is presently recommending NOTHING longterm(but is not discouraging accumulating gold if one can stomach a pullback to possibly that 800 i mentioned)
i stress longterm.
Hell any trader could have made nice bucks buying FNM at its low.
But that sure as hell doesn't mean it's a longterm buy.
Regards SPX he sees a MAXIMUM potential rally to 1350 and then we drive hard down to new YTD lows.
i agree with him on that.
i will be watching DBA on a TA basis.
TA wise this is danger point for DBA.
The last time here it rallied. And i recommended a buy at 36.xx, but i don't feel that way NOW. Max
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
To calculate crrack spread one must use NYMEX RBOB, i am still searching for someplace that quotes the crack spread.So far no luck. Max
If we do not sell down below SPX 1357 or more at close this would show the rally boys had excellent damage control today: i would rate it then a BULLISH day.Max
Oil Falls to Six-Week Low on Forecast Storm to Miss Gulf Fields
By Mark Shenk
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell more than $4 a barrel, dropping to a six week low, on forecasts a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico will miss oil fields and refineries, easing concern that supplies will be disrupted.
Oil fell below $126 a barrel, down more than $21 from a record $147.27 reached on July 11, as forecasts showed Tropical Storm Dolly moving toward the Texas border with Mexico. The drop in prices accelerated after futures fell below $129 a barrel, triggering orders to sell.
``It looks like Dolly will be a big rainmaker and nothing else,' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston.
Crude oil for August delivery fell $4.42, or 3.4 percent, to $126.62 a barrel at 12:34 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract touched $125.63, the lowest since June 5. Futures are up 66 percent from a year ago. The August contract expires today. The more-active September contract declined $4.28, or 3.3 percent, to $127.54 a barrel.
Gasoline for August delivery fell 10.43 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $3.1128 a gallon in New York. Futures reached a record $3.631 a gallon on July 11. ( this indicates only a slight improvement in CrackSpread of just 0.2%--max
Pump prices are following changes in futures. Regular gasoline, averaged nationwide, fell 1.4 cents to $4.055 a gallon, AAA, the nation's largest motorist organization, said today on its Web site. Pump prices reached a record $4.114 a gallon on July 17.
Dolly Strengthens
Dolly strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico, and may become a hurricane before making landfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said today. Offshore fields in the Gulf are responsible for about 25 percent of U.S. oil production.
``Nervousness about Dolly was the main reason we rose yesterday,' said Rick Mueller, director of oil practice at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Massachusetts. ``It now looks like Dolly will miss all of the important stuff.'
The storm's maximum sustained winds strengthened to almost 70 miles (110 kilometers) per hour, the agency said in an advisory on its Web site at 10 a.m. central time. Dolly was 230 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and moving west at 12 mph, with a turn toward the west-northwest forecast.
Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico's state oil company, reopened an oil-export terminal that shut yesterday because of the storm. Pemex spokeswoman Martha Avelar said in a phone interview today that Gulf of Mexico operations were running normally. The company produces about 1.07 million barrels of oil a day in the Bay of Campeche and is the third-biggest supplier of oil to the U.S.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc have cleared offshore installations of personnel in the Gulf. None of the companies anticipate an impact on output.
Katrina and Rita
U.S. crude oil and fuel production plunged and prices rose to records when hurricanes Katrina and Rita shut refineries and platforms as they struck the Gulf of Mexico coast in August and September 2005. Katrina shut 95 percent of offshore output in the region. Almost 19 percent of U.S. refining capacity was idled because of damage and blackouts caused by the hurricanes.
Brent crude oil for September settlement dropped $4.08, or 3.1 percent, to $128.53 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices climbed to a record $147.50 on July 11.
Oil futures also declined as the dollar strengthened against the euro, reducing the appeal of commodities as a hedge against the U.S. currency's drop.
`Dual Causes'
``There are dual causes to today's move lower,' said Brad Samples, commodity analyst for Summit Energy Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. ``There's a strong move by the dollar, which always puts pressure on energy prices. We aren't worried about Dolly anymore, also putting pressure on prices.'
The U.S. currency rose as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson predicted lawmakers will pass a bill this week to shore up confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said the Fed should raise interest rates ``sooner rather than later' to lower inflation.
The dollar increased 0.8 percent to $1.5798 per euro at 11:22 a.m. in New York, from $1.5922 yesterday. It fell to $1.6038 on July 15, the weakest since the European currency's 1999 debut.
Senate Democrats cleared the first hurdle for legislation that aims to curb speculation in energy markets, part of an effort to respond to record prices. The legislation won approval to proceed to debate, in a 94-0 vote today. Democrats said the measure could reduce oil prices as much as 50 percent.
The legislation ``should immediately and sustainably lower prices,' said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. There's ``no doubt' speculation is ``a major part of the problem.'
Airlines, truckers and chemical makers have been hurt by the rise in fuel prices and their limited ability to pass on the costs to consumers. United Airlines parent UAL Corp., US Airways Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. today posted second-quarter losses as record fuel prices have forced the industry to ground planes and cut jobs.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 22, 2008 13:00 EDT
He played his video game night and day.
The MAZE of Death.
But that is the game we all are in, the trick, don't believe it.Get above it all and imagine nothing is what it seems.Kill the machine.otraque
Has TSO bottomed? Tough Call: Chart
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=30490948
Need find a Crack Spread chart, this and VLO live and die regards the Crack Spread. Max
DBA-Alert This chart is at rally or watch out below.
It has reached its 200sma, if it were to break 34.50 it could go to 25.
Marc Faber has called for a roughly a 6-month correction in Commodities, at which point they would be a SCREAMING BUY, as the bull in commodities would then restart with a vengeance.
Don't look at this as the end of Bull in commodities, look at it as an opportunity to restart a long side play, watch closely as this plays out.
GOLD and Silver as been relatively quite TOUGH compared to rest.
WatchOutStat:<<"Consider: Only 20 years ago, the U.S.'s total outstanding mortgage debt made up roughly 30% of our GDP. Homeowners held large stakes in their houses – close to 70% of the equity on average. Today, mortgage debt equals nearly 80% of GDP. The average homeowner owns less than half the equity in his home. This seismic change in the nature of home ownership and debt financing occurred nearly overnight – in less than one generation.">>Historic Financial Collapse Underway?
by: Porter Stansberry posted on: July 20, 2008
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=30856096
Air Force Cyber Command: Building the Infrastructure for High-Tech War Crimes
by Tom Burghardt / July 21st, 2008
What do you get when you combine U.S. militarism, fantasies of domination and an administration that views the internet as a hot-bed of “evil-doers” and “subversives”? Cyber Command, of course! Only this scheme has the potential of inflicting massive suffering on civilian populations across the planet.
Currently situated at the secretive Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Air Force Cyber Command, the newest Pentagon command since the 1990s, is dedicated to the notion that the “next war” will be fought in the electromagnetic spectrum, one that envisions computers as “network-centric” weapons.
With a unified organizational structure and a $2 billion budget for the first year of operations, Cyber Command is touted as the next “big thing.” According to a recent piece in Air Force Times, Cyber Command “has established 17 new enlisted and officer Air Force Specialty Codes — creating major changes in the career paths of more than 32,000 airmen.”
Eventually, if Air Force securocrats have their way, it “will grow into one of the service’s largest commands.” With a mission to “deceive, deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy” an enemy’s information infrastructure, the potential for mischief on the part of American “warfighters” and “public diplomacy” black propaganda specialists shouldn’t be underestimated.
Although the “Strategic Vision” proffered by the Air Force is couched in defensive language, by its very nature Cyber Command represents a qualitative leap by the Pentagon towards creating an offensive capability, one with far-reaching and potentially catastrophic consequences for societies that fall under the baleful gaze of American cyberwarriors.
This is clearly spelled out by Air Force theorists. In their view, the “strategic environment” confronting imperialism is described as “unpredictable and increasingly dangerous,” characterized “by the confluence of globalization, economic disparities, and competition for scarce resources.”
And as “economic disparities” grow ever-more glaring, newer and more effective means for obtaining “compliance” are required by our corporate masters and their militarist attack dogs. This is underscored by Cyber Command’s stated goal “to achieve situational dominance at a time and place of our choosing.” [emphasis added] According to the Air Force,
Global vigilance requires the ability to sense and signal across the electromagnetic spectrum. Global reach requires the ability to connect and transmit, using a wide array of communications networks to move data across the earth nearly instantaneously. Global power is the ability to hold at risk or strike any target with electromagnetic energy and ultimately deliver kinetic and non-kinetic effects across all domains. These cyberspace capabilities will allow us to secure our infrastructure, conduct military operations whenever necessary, and degrade or eliminate the military capabilities of our adversaries. (Air Force Cyber Command, “Strategic Vision,” no date)
According to Wired defense analyst Noah Shachtman,
The Air Force wants a suite of hacker tools, to give it “access” to — and “full control” of — any kind of computer there is. And once the info warriors are in, the Air Force wants them to keep tabs on their “adversaries’ information infrastructure completely undetected.” …
Traditionally, the military has been extremely reluctant to talk much about offensive operations online. Instead, the focus has normally been on protecting against electronic attacks. But in the last year or so, the tone has changed — and become more bellicose. “Cyber, as a warfighting domain . . . like air, favors the offense,” said Lani Kass, a special assistant to the Air Force Chief of Staff who previously headed up the service’s Cyberspace Task Force. (”Air Force Aims for ‘Full Control’ of ‘Any and All’ Computers,” Wired, May 13, 2008)
How might this play out in the megacities of the global south, identified by Pentagon planners as “the strategic high ground” of the 21st century?
Durham University geographer Stephen Graham describes the ideological mind-set guiding contemporary Pentagon doctrine thusly: On a theoretical level military strategists, particularly proponents of “network-centric warfare”–the Rumsfeldian “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA)–believe that dominance can be achieved through “their increasingly omnipotent surveillance and ’situational awareness’, devastating and precisely-targeted aerial firepower, and the suppression and degradation of the communications and fighting ability of any opposing forces.”
An integrated process in other words, that draws from contemporary corporate management theory to create “continuous, always-on support for military operations in urban terrain.” Call it the deranged “battlespace” where Wal-Mart morphs into The Terminator. Graham writes,
The overwhelming rhetoric in such efforts emphasises that new military techno-science, specifically developed to address cities, will turn global south urban environments into areas that US forces can completely dominate, using their technological advantages, with minimum casualties to themselves. New weapons and sensor programmes, specifically designed to enhance the ability of future US forces to control and dominate global south cities through network-centric means, are already emerging from the wider efforts at physical and electronic simulation, wargaming, and the evaluation of the experience of the Iraq insurgency. These centre, first, on unveiling global south cities through new sensor technologies, and, second, on developing automated and robotic weapon systems linked to such sensors. (”From Space to Street Corner: Global South Cities and US Military Technophilia,” Unpublished paper, 2007)
How might Cyber Command fit into the mix? Under the heading “Cyberspace Attack Operations,” Air Force theorists aver,
Cyberspace effects gained from emerging technology, such as directed energy, include: sensor disruption, data manipulation, decision support degradation, command and control disruption, and weapon system degradation. Cyberspace attacks can be conducted on an adversary’s terrestrial, airborne, and space-based communication infrastructure as well as his forces, equipment and logistics.
Indeed such operations are fully theorized as a means of achieving “full-spectrum dominance” via “Cyberspace Offensive Counter-Operations,”
Cyberspace favors offensive operations. These operations will deny, degrade, disrupt, destroy, or deceive an adversary. Cyberspace offensive operations ensure friendly freedom of action in cyberspace while denying that same freedom to our adversaries. We will enhance our capabilities to conduct electronic systems attack, electromagnetic systems interdiction and attack, network attack, and infrastructure attack operations. Targets include the adversary’s terrestrial, airborne, and space networks, electronic attack and network attack systems, and the adversary itself. As an adversary becomes more dependent on cyberspace, cyberspace offensive operations have the potential to produce greater effects. (”Strategic Vision,” op. cit.) [emphasis added]
“Greater effects” in this context mean nothing less than the capability of rendering “target” societies completely vulnerable to imperialist attack. Nearly a decade ago, NATO forces dropped what was described as a graphite “blackout bomb,” the BLU-114/B “soft-bomb” on Belgrade and other cities during its aggressive war against the remnants of the former Yugoslavia–with devastating effects. Marty Mclaughlin wrote:
A particularly dangerous consequence of the long-term power blackout is the damage to the water systems in many Yugoslav cities, which are dependent on pumping stations run by electrical power. Novi Sad, a city of 300,000 which is the capital of the Vojvodina province of Serbia, has been without running water for eight days, according to residents. Families have been compelled to get water from the Danube river to wash and operate the toilet, and a handful of wells to provide drinking water.
Sewage treatment plants have also been shut down, with the result that raw, untreated sewage has begun to flow into the network of rivers that feed into the Danube, central Europe’s most important waterway. (”Wall Street celebrates stepped-up bombing of Serbia,” World Socialist Web Site, May 5, 1999)
With technological advances, imperialist cyberwarriors believe they can simply turn an adversary’s networked infrastructure into a “zombie” system under its control to achieve the same, if not greater, devastation. As Marty Graham reported in Wired,
Comparisons between nuclear and cyberweapons might seem strained, but there’s at least one commonality. Scholars exploring the ethics of wielding logic bombs, Trojan horses, worms and bots in wartime often find themselves treading on ground tilled by an earlier generation of Cold War nuclear gamesmen.
“There are lots of unknowns with a cyberattack,” says Neil Rowe, a professor at the Center for Information Security Research at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, who rejects cyberattacks as a legitimate tool of war. “The potential for collateral damage is worse than nuclear technology…. With cyber, it can spread through the civilian infrastructure and affect far more civilians.” (”Welcome to Cyberwar Country, USA,” Wired, February 11, 2008)
Which is precisely why the Air Force has expressed an interest in building a robust Cyber Command!
According to an Air Force Fact Sheet, “Cyberspace 101,” they conceive their “mission” as one that will “afford us offensive capabilities and deliberate target sets.”
With an official launch date set for October 1, 2008, Cyber Command as yet has no permanent home but one can predict that the congressional “leader” who can deliver the goods for his “constituents” will reap the rewards of a long-term basing agreement. From Hampton, Virginia to Yuba City, California, local “leaders” are falling all over themselves with sweetheart deals negotiated behind the backs of their citizens.
And according to Wired, prospective local “stakeholders” are “throwing in offers of land, academic and research tie-ins, and, in one case, an $11 million building with a moat.”
With billions of dollars in “outsourced” government contracts hanging in the balance, Cyber Command is no laughing matter. Back in December, Aviation Week reported that “U.S. Air Force leaders working on the nascent cyber command believe there will be a ‘huge’ need for contracted services to support the embryonic effort as it faces personnel, technology and funding headwinds.” Michael Bruno wrote,
“There’s going to be a huge contracting requirement,” said Maj. Gen. Charles Ickes II, Air National Guard special assistant to the deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements.
“I don’t think anyone can tell you how big,” he told the Northern Virginia chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s Air Force information technology conference Dec. 5. (”New Cyber Command to be ‘Huge’ Business Opportunity,” Aviation Week, December 6, 2007)
In May, Washington Technology reported that the Air Force “is calling for white papers on how it might conduct successful offensives against cyberspace adversaries.” And to back-up its call, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is offering $11 million in funding for the proposed two-year project.
If past Pentagon projects are any indication of where AFRL proposals may lead, the estimated $30 billion cost for its initial 5-year project has the all the hallmarks of another massive taxpayer-funded black hole for enterprising defense contractors.
Indeed, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will play a critical role for the Air Force and is currently designing a “National Cyber Range” that “will create a virtual environment where the Defense Department can mock real warfare, both defense and offense,” according to Wired defense analyst Sharon Weinberger.
According to an announcement posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the project, designed by DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office, is described as a test zone that will enable the state “to conduct cyber operations by providing a persistent cyber range.” Many of the program details are classified.
Envisioned as a force conducting “sustained offensive and defensive operations throughout the electromagnetic spectrum fully integrated with air and space operations,” Air Force Cyber Command will “leverage…cyberspace capabilities…in all domains, to create global and theatre effects in support of the Joint warfighting team.”
War crimes at the push of button? The future is now and its looking mighty grim.
Tom Burghardt is a researcher and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to publishing in Covert Action Quarterly, Love & Rage and Antifa Forum, he is the editor of Police State America: U.S. Military "Civil Disturbance" Planning, distributed by AK Press. Read other articles by Tom, or visit Tom's website.
This article was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under Empire, Imperialism, Military/Militarism, Science/Tech, War Crimes.
Keys--yesterday SPX high hit it's 20ema 1267(on a rising) and now is below 13ema(1257) for this day to be saved by market powers it needs to close above 13ema and break 20ema tomorrow.
Bad levels 1243/1236---a break of 1236 would be indicating this bear market rally was extremely weak and future not good.
i am a great believer in support/resistance lines.Max
A Brazen Evil
A Brazen Evil
Benny Morris argues for nuclear genocide against Iran
by Justin Raimondo 7/21/2008
Evil usually hides its face, because the sight of it repulses all but the depraved. However, in the case of Benny Morris, writing in Friday's New York Times, we see something new: a proud evil, glorying in pure malevolence. His piece is a cold, calculated attempt to simultaneously shock and intimidate, one that succeeds at the former but fails miserably at the latter.
Here's the shocker, really a double jolt: "Israel," he avers, "will almost surely attack Iran's nuclear sites in the next four to seven months." Either that, he writes, or else Israel will eventually have to launch "a preemptive nuclear strike." His message to the West: take out Iran, or we'll nuke 'em!
The Israelis have been threatening to strike for the past six months, so nothing new there, except for the tone of certainty. Morris is no fringe nut-job flailing away on his obscure blog; he's a prominent Israeli historian writing on the most noted opinion page of them all, a veritable bulletin board for governing elites worldwide. As such, he is almost certainly speaking with some insight into Israeli government plans. It is, in any case, almost inconceivable that he wrote his piece without the foreknowledge and consent of Israeli government officials.
As to whether he – and they – are bluffing, well, I wouldn't count on it. With all this talk of Iran's alleged attempt to build nuclear weapons – which our own intelligence services say was abandoned years ago – Israel is the one country in the region we know is armed to the gills with nukes. Given their history, the increasing extremism of their leadership and polity, and their fanatical devotion to the doctrine of preemption – indeed, they invented it, while George W. Bush merely adopted it – the Israelis are far more likely than any other member of the nuclear club to actually use nukes, as Morris makes all too clear.
In what has to be the most widely circulated blackmail note ever written, Morris announces, "It is in the interest of neither Iran nor the United States (nor, for that matter, the rest of the world) that Iran be savaged by a nuclear strike" – so take out the Iranians, or we will. To be fair, he also says it won't be a good thing if "both Israel and Iran suffer such a fate," but since Iran has no nuclear weapons and has given up all attempts to make them, this is just window-dressing for a genocidal agenda.
Morris's rationale for mass murder is oddly hollow and formulaic: Well, you see, "Every intelligence agency in the world believes the Iranian program is geared toward making weapons, not to the peaceful applications of nuclear power." To begin with, this has got to be a misprint. Surely what Morris meant to say was that every Israeli intelligence agency thinks Iran is on the verge of acquiring nukes. Why else are the Israelis slated to make a series of trips to the U.S. to convince their American counterparts that they are right, and the Americans' National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is wrong?
Aside from that, there is a dispute as to where to draw the "red line," the point-of-no-return, the passage of which acts as a tripwire provoking military intervention. The Israelis have a far tighter timeline, as you might imagine, and their forecast – "one to four years" – is wildly improbable. It is based on the development of the ability to weaponize nuclear processes in a purely theoretical sense, quite aside from the problems posed by construction, possible detection, and delivery.
Reading the Morris screed, one wonders how he came to write such an unimaginative apologia for what would rank among the worst crimes in human history: "everybody knows" the Iranians are trying to build nukes (where have we heard that before?), the sanctions aren't working, the Russians and the Chinese won't cooperate, oh, and "the American public has little enthusiasm for wars in the Islamic lands."
As anyone with the least amount of historical or common sense could easily figure out, even if Iran did develop a nuclear weapons arsenal, it would create a nuclear stalemate analogous to the Cold War standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Morris claims this example doesn't apply, due to "the fundamentalist, self-sacrificial mindset of the mullahs who run Iran." Aside from the ruling by Iranian Shi'ite religious authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – the real leader of Iran – that forbids the development, stockpiling, and use of nuclear weapons, what about his own genocidal mindset, which glories in the prospect of ethnic cleansing? No Iranian personage of any prominence has called for the nuclear extermination of Israel in quite the same terms as Morris, not even Iranian President Ahmadinejad, whose vague remark about Israel "disappearing from the page of history" has been interpreted as a threat to use nukes.
Morris neither knows nor cares about Iran's alleged nukes. Lurking behind his mundane laundry list of complaints is, I fear, a darker motive: sheer bloodlust. Morris simply wants to kill as many Muslims as possible, so why doesn't he just come out and say it? After all, it isn't like he hasn't said it before:
"There are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing. I know that this term is completely negative in the discourse of the 21st century, but when the choice is between ethnic cleansing and genocide – the annihilation of your people – I prefer ethnic cleansing."
It isn't very often that we get to see pure, unmitigated evil, in all its Satanic darkness, expressed openly on the printed page. Morris and the Times have given us one of the rare modern examples of the genre. One might compare it to Hitler's maleficent vision in Mein Kampf, but that would be giving Morris too much credit. Unlike the Nazis, who blamed their victims for the horrors visited upon them, Morris also blames Israel's friends and allies – the West, and specifically the antiwar American public, which "curtails the White House's ability to begin yet another major military campaign in pursuit of a goal that is not seen as a vital national interest by many Americans."
We must forget our national interests and go to war for Israel's sake, or else the Israelis will unleash their illegal and unaccounted-for nukes, killing tens of thousands, poisoning the atmosphere, and forever scarring human history with the mark of their heinous crime. This is like one of those hostage dramas in which a mad gunman grabs someone and uses them as a human shield, braying his demands to horrified onlookers.
Americans must reject this attempt at moral blackmail with the contempt it deserves – and perhaps begin to reexamine the "special relationship" that enables Israel to even contemplate such crimes against humanity. As for Morris, he should be shunned by every decent human being, although perhaps that description doesn't apply to the editors of the New York Times.
~ Justin Raimondo
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13168
SPX futures -10 NDX futures -30 Why? Let's see------
O MY dear dear The Apple disappoints and AmEx warns and i see the Ted Spread is climbing again, now 1.56.
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Post-Close Report: AmEx's Warning Trumps Apple's Tepid Guidance
Posted Jul 21, 2008 05:11pm EDT by Aaron Task in Investing, Electronics, Banking, Biotech
Related: AXP, TXN, AAPL, MRK, SGP, DNA, TXN
After weeks, if not months, where the market's focus alternatively shifted from financials to crude and back, Monday brought something (almost) completely different as pharmaceutical stocks dictated much of the day's action.
But the post-close news will likely bring the focus back to financials tomorrow, and not in a positive way. American Express share tumbled nearly 11% Monday evening after the financial services giant dampened enthusiasm about the road ahead after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results.
“In light of the weakening economy, we are no longer tracking to our prior forecast of 4-6% earnings per share growth," AmEx's CEO Kenneth Chenault said in a statement. "That outlook was based on business and economic conditions in line with, or moderately worse than, January 2008. The environment has weakened significantly since then, particularly during the month of June."
Apple shares also dipped after-hours despite the company posting "the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple's history," according to Steve Jobs.
Apple's third-quarter earnings of $1.19 per share and revenue of $7.46 billion both easily surpassing consensus estimates. But the company's fiscal fourth-quarter guidance of $1.00 in EPS and revenue of $7.8 billion were well below expectations of $1.24 and $8.32 billion. Apple shares dipped about 0.75% head into its conference call at 5 p.m. EDT.
Texas Instruments, meanwhile, reported weaker-than-expected results of 44 cents per share on revenue of $3.35 billion. Analysts were expecting EPS of 46 cents and revenue of $3.39 billion.
Prior to the open and early Monday, shares rose after Roche bid nearly $44 billion for the 44% of Genentech it doesn't already own, while Bank of America reported better-than-expected earnings.
But early gains faded and the S&P fell 0.7% to 1260, weighed heavily by Merck and Schering-Plough. The Dow fell 0.3% to 11,467 and the Nasdaq dipped 0.1% to 2279.53.
Shares of Merck and Schering-Plough both tumbled after their jointly marketed drug Vytorin had disappointing trial results for patients with aortic stenosis. Merck shares fell 3.5% while Schering lost 11.6% on the study, which prompted both companies to delay their earnings reports from earlier in the day, as expected.
10 votes|Recommend this
Dollar Declines as American Express Increases Slowdown Concern
By Bo Nielsen and Ye Xie
July 22 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar may extend its decline against the euro after American Express Co. said profit decreased 37 percent as more consumers defaulted on loans, raising concern a slowdown in U.S. growth may deepen.
The currency also weakened before reports forecast by economists to show this week that U.S. homes sales and durable- goods orders dropped in June. The pound depreciated versus the euro as a report showed U.K. house prices decreased in July for the first time since data began in 2002.
``We haven't worked through the dollar's problems by any stretch yet,'' said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto. ``The housing sector will continue to weaken, and that will affect the economy going forward.''
The U.S. currency traded at $1.5926 per euro at 6:33 a.m. in Tokyo after dropping 0.5 percent yesterday. The dollar was at 106.43 yen, following a 0.5 percent decline. The yen was little changed at 169.51 per euro after touching 169.91, the weakest level since the European currency's 1999 debut.
The pound dropped yesterday for a second day versus the euro, decreasing 0.2 percent to 79.48 pence.
The average asking price for a home fell an annual 2 percent, Rightmove Plc, Britain's most-used property Web site, reported. Bank of England policy maker David Blanchflower told the Guardian newspaper the British economy is entering a recession that may last more than a year and the bank must lower its 5 percent target lending rate.
U.K. `Below Trend'
``I would agree that the next move in U.K. rates will be downward and sterling will fall on the back of that,'' said Michael Metcalfe, head of macro strategy at State Street Global Markets in London. ``Given that the U.K. economy is going to grow below trend, why do we need tight policy in the U.K.?'' The pound may decline to $1.80 within a year, he said.
Futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade showed a 7 percent chance the Federal Reserve will increase its 2 percent target rate for overnight lending between banks by a quarter- percentage point at its Aug. 5 meeting, compared with 12 percent odds a week ago.
The U.S. budget deficit will put pressure on the dollar, according to Bill Gross, who manages the world's biggest bond fund, at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, California.
``Three years hence, we will see a trillion-dollar deficit to support the U.S. economy,'' said Gross in an interview on Bloomberg Television. ``That's a lot of paper, and that's a lot of compression downward of the value of the U.S. dollar against most other currencies.''
American Express
Profit from continuing operations at American Express was $655 million, or 56 cents a share, missing the 82 cent average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg for the biggest U.S. credit-card company by purchases.
Combined sales of new and existing homes dropped 1.3 percent last month, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. A report from the National Association of Realtors on existing-home sales is due July 24, and new-home sales figures are due from the Commerce Department the next day.
Orders for durable goods probably fell 0.3 percent last month. The Commence Department's report on goods meant to last several years is due July 25.
``We are looking for cracks in the U.S. economy,'' said Mike Moran, a senior currency strategist at Standard Chartered in New York. ``The dollar looks quite precarious.''
Crude Oil
The price of crude oil rose as much as $3.17 to $132.05 a barrel yesterday as a tropical storm entered the Gulf of Mexico, where oil rigs are located. Leading economic indicators dropped 0.1 percent in June after a revised 0.2 percent decline the prior month, the Conference Board reported today. The decrease matched the median forecast of 62 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
South Korea's won dropped for a sixth day yesterday, decreasing 0.4 percent to 1,018 versus the dollar. A five-year rally in emerging-market currencies is coming to an end as central banks from South Korea to Turkey struggle to contain inflation, according to DWS Investments and Morgan Stanley.
To contact the reporters on this story: Bo Nielsen in New York at bnielsen4@bloomberg.net; Ye Xie in New York at yxie6@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: July 21, 2008 17:36 EDT
Market:Extreme Oversold conditions are now annihilated.
Market can decide to turn down again, or rally a bit more.
Tomorrow will be important regards that matter.
If chooses to push on i see major resistance developing at 1292SPX.
Toyah MasterChef--just plain sweet!!!:) from 2006(27 years post that video of IEYA).
For the record why don't any of you know Toyah????????
She is strictly England.:) Max
The wonderful Toyah performing "Blue Meanings" with the horror backdrop of Human Creation, the CITY.(This would be about 1980)
The brilliant brilliant Toyah Wilcox speaks of her dyslexia.
She reveals one key detail of DYSLEXIA in this brief clip that all gifted dyslexics know "we have a very quick trick of visualizing it". This is how we survive.But we take on knowledge with the pleasure of actually reading---weird, i know.
Regards her saying she has recently actually read 4 books in 10 days--wow! i have NEVER done that!!!
Toyah and her awesome "Danced with Jesus", otherwise simply known as "Danced".(originally done in 1979)
All here Dedicated to Shell/Rochelle
Atrocity Exhibition(alternate title "Come and See this place called Earth")
"I am NOT Jesus!" Corey Taylor.
One thing i guarantee is the real Jesus would LOVE this fucking song--- he would just fucking scream out "RIGHT ON!!!RIGHT ON!!!!" Max
i just leave this behind and then leave aj to his Bourgeois Glory.
Interviewing the average american:
"WallStreet is robbing you blind Jane Doe, rank criminals slowly destroying your life, it will be hell for you in the future what have you to say?" "Bah, bah, bah"
"John Doe, you heard Jane's response to what should cause outrage in her, feel fire and anger,what say you? "Moo,Moo,Moo"
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People wonder why i LOVE and am one with, and work with people like this???????????
They only happen to be 1,000 times more ALIVE then the vast majority.
Time again to play "Jump Da Fuck Up!!!!"
Just to remind me NOT everybody is DEAD DEAD DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!