In the pre-open on Wednesday I suggested that the Dow would drop a couple of hundred points, which it dutifully did right on schedule. How Bank of America managed to hold just under 16½ is nothing short of levitation given their wide miss, although the ‘things are getting better’ discussion played well on the street.
So well, in fact that the market rallied a hundred back from the lows and that is set to continue at least in the opening today.
However, in a discussion with Robin Landry after the close, he told me that he’s looking at the 10,200 area and if the market breaks below a few critical trend lines today then he way opens for a bigger decline. The flip side: We could still go higher from here to the 11,260 kind of range on the Dow and maybe not that until Late March, at that.
Meantime, the markets will have to deal with higher unemployment numbers just out:
“In the week ending Jan. 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 482,000, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 446,000. The 4-week moving average was 448,250, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 441,250.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Jan. 9, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.5 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Jan. 9 was 4,599,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,617,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,750,500, a decrease of 109,750 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,860,250.
The fiscal year-to-date average for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment for all programs is 5.412 million.
Just looking at the 200 point down day during the worst of Wednesday, I can see another 20 to 40 points of Dow upside – but maybe only briefly. We shall see….
Reining in Banksters? Ha!
Although “President Obama looks to limit banks’ size, rein in risky business” it could just be one of those moves which will ensure incumbents in the house in this year’s election an almost unlimited supply of campaign funding.
“Damn , due, you aren’t cynical or anything, are you?” Well…er…maybe now that you mention it…but am I wrong? Watch the spending reports later on this year and it oughta to become obvious that the status quo comes at a price point just like potatoes have a price; know what I mean?
We’ll grant you that it could be argued as anything from ‘legit governance’ to systemic demcorp hold-up or ‘staged’ coach robbery…
Buffett and the Banksters
While reading that Warren “Buffett says he can’t see rationale for Bank Levy” I was struck by his comment “Likens plan to Taxing congress.”
Well, hold on a minute there, sage. One of the reasons we are in the mess of things we’re in now is that people don’t go to Washington to serve. Mostly they seem to go to get rich and get connected with the PTB.
Personally, I think a plan that would tax all members of congress so none could come back from Washington with any more money than they left their state or district with, would go a long ways toward bringing back a citizen legislature.
Limit congress to no more than 20% lawyers, while we’re at it, too. Here’s the point The Sage missed: America is supposed to be a land of ‘representative government’. Is America 90% lawyers? Obviously not. So why is congress near that? Tell me again: How are rich lawyers ‘representative’ of our interests, especially when they know how to ‘work the law’? Maybe this is just too damn obvious. Hand me the ink…
Just Print Me Some!
I see where “Democrats propose a $1.9 trillion increase in debt limit.” Why if they’d up it to an even $2-tillion there’d be enough for you and me to throw one hell of a party, wouldn’t there?
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Of course, it will never happen. Texas has an odd law about registering as a republicorp or democorp, which is how the mindless duopoly maintains power. They don’t have a choice called “Semi-libertarian, right-thinking, fiscally responsible, rational thinker capable of independent thought, thank you”, so I put down that I was a republicorp. A hangover from when the GOP actually stood for liberal on civil rights but firm on small government and minimal foreign entanglements. Boy, is that a whopper now, or what?
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If we want to really get America back on track, seriously (or nearly so) why not just put on a national block party and send everyone enough for brats and brewskis with neighbors? Tofu and veggie burgers if that’s your taste.
Never happen, of course. The art in politics is keeping people divided and quibbling about our differences rather than pulling us all together. Which is why we’re a conquered land occupied by the shadow government that no one elected, all done in concert with the corptocracy.
With Friends Like This…
Over at fxKnight.com there’s a very interesting little blurb about some new CFTC rules. Been watching this since a reader in Prague sent this:
“Executive summary: If any FOREX broker has even one American client, regardless of location or jurisdiction, it will,, effective 1 April, force the broker to apply US regulations on all of their clients, regardless of residence or citizenship.
Of course, we cannot determine how the CFTC or NFA will be able to enforce its will in a foreign court. For example, Brasil, perhaps Greece. Such cases would last longer than the time the United States has left. Like well past 2012. Try it in the Czech Republic.”
Where this got particularly interesting was a reply I was cc’d on:
“The link to the CFTC proposal below no longer works – I guess they wanted it offline during the public comment period.
I have the full text available here.
They will likely enforce by filing lawsuits in American courts against any broker found to be “not in compliance” (having US clients but not registered as a member of a US regulatory body). It is the old American way… you don’t have to sue to win, rather sue and sue again to bankrupt your competition into non-existence.
Look at Michael Jackson (wild example, but somehow appropriate). He won his court case, proved his innocence. But it cost him his fortune, his ranch, his reputation, his career, and -ultimately- his life.”
Not worth reading the whole proposal unless you’re heavy into FX, but it really does serve to underscore how government uses process to occasionally ‘make up’ laws on its own.
I’ve seen this done in other areas than securities. For example, I know a one-time college president whose institution was hounded out of existence by malicious auditing. In came the auditors, new rules about financial aid were applied retroactively without authority. This drove the owner to lose his school and pressed him toward personal bankruptcy. The auditors simple ground him down until he couldn’t afford to defend, even though he was right. But right doesn’t matter much to runaway government.
Then again, you knew that….
Appeasement?
Word that “Pakistan snubs US over new Taliban Offensive” strike me as a Lord Chamberlain-like appeasement move. This is definitely NOT a god development methinks.
Twisted Winds
Seems a little early for tornado season, but a couple of pop-up thunderstorms down here in East Texas on Wednesday got folks attention. “Tornado his just west of Waskom, Texas“ as the storms headed toward Louisiana last night. Also a possible tornado in Canton Texas 50 miles north of us was reported.
But that’s not nearly so strange and tornado warnings being up for the Santa Cruz, San Jose, and other parts of the SF Bay Area Wednesday. Causing the LA Times to headline “Tornadoes aren’t just for Kansas“. Especially in an el Nino year.
Terra Shakes
I suppose you’ve seen that “Yellowstone earthquake warm continues into third day (Wed.) and intensifies”?
The USGS earthquake rap sheet mentions a 4.8 in Alaska out in the Aleutians. Why we ever did underground nuke testing at Amchitka is still one of those great mysteries of life.