The Monday rally was pretty much predictable in the markets. The happy-talk worked (look surprised, ok?) and the Dow tacked on 118 points to the upside Monday, right on plan.
The futures are up in anticipation of the Housing report, but looking ahead, the rally may be one to fade since once the housing number is in, what’s left for an encore? Car and truck sales today may offer hints. If all goes according to schedule, we’ll turn down today or tomorro3w and then with a Friday decline, we’ll be set to rally again next Monday. Like things ever work out so neatly.
Meantime there are a few folks who see the problems of this Depression as analogs to the first one. Take Jim Rogers who was on Squawk Box the other say explaining how the “Federal Reserve is worsening the depression“.
Robin Landry’s watching to see if this is a wave 2 up (which would be clear somewhere north of 10,260) or whether it’s a wave 4…I’ll let you know tomorrow if this gets resolved on the technical side in today’s trading.
Sweet
Hershey earnings are out – and impressive.
Always liked food stocks and utilities during depressions. Not a recommendation to buy anything, but certainly something to think about.
More than Poppies
You see where the geological reserves of Afghanistan are now valued in excess of a trillion dollars? Oil, minerals and drugs – what’s not to fight for?
Spies Versus Spies
You saw where a supposed CIA black-ops crew was popped in what was first painted as a burglary of senator Mary Landrieu’s office? Getting hard to tell who’s on what side, anymore,; isn’t it?
Better Late Than….Department
Oh, claims a critic of the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War that the “UK cabinet ‘misled’ over Iraq war”.
You mean the Niger uranium docs were fakes? You mean Schwarzkopf wanting to go all the way to Baghdad the first time made sense? Well, golly…how about that.
Still, can’t expect a nation of soapbox standers to wake up all at once.
We haven’t.
As the Climate Turns
I see where the British press is still rooting out Climategate under headlines like “Strange case of moving weather posts and a scientist under siege“. See also how “Leaked climate change emails – scientist ‘hid’ data flaws...”
Had Our Phil of Winter
Not really – seems Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday and you know what than means in Gobbler’s Knob, right? (Go rent “Groundhog Day” if you’re not keeping up…
Here’s the scoop: I think Homeland Security ought to investigate this groundhog fellow as a terrorist. Why, already there’s talk about how “Heavy rain in Miami forces changes in Super Bowl plans.”
My theory – and I’m sticking with this – is that the Pennsylvania rat is wreaking terror on football fans. All in favor of changing from pigskin to groundhog skin raise your hands! Hasn’t someone seen this rat in a Steelers’ jersey?
Mooned
OK, ignore the radiation problem of the Van Allen Belt just for a minute and go read the story about how “Politicians fight to keep America’s moon mission alive…“ Oh, and as long as you’re going there, look carefully at the picture of the spacecraft over the moon – and tell me where the light source is? There should only be one – and the shadows don’t match where the light source is according to the earth in background…with me on this?
“OK, so what’s really going on George?”
First, the Van Allen radiation issue raised by anti-moonists, doesn’t make sense. A trip through the Van Allen Belt in a spacecraft over a day’s time is no big deal since the annual exposure is 2,500 rem which pencils to 6.8 rem for a whole day and that’s a no real impact dose.
Hate to ruin a good conspiracy theory with a pencil. On the other hand, the picture of the spacecraft over the moon with earth in background doesn’t look right because I can place the Sun (which is far enough away to be essentially a single vanishing point) to make the shadows you see…so at least the conspiracy theory door is still open a few inches.
Best guess? The Black Ops budgets come funneled in part through NASA and the PTB of that faction don’t want their money cut off.
Just a guess, but worth keeping in mind to see how events hang. You know the drill: Come up with preposterous theory, watch events, if they are consistent with preposterous theory, then keep preposterous theory until disproven.
Naked Power Department
To scan, or not to scan…that is the question. Well, maybe not quite. Plans are afoot to keep people who refuse full-body scans from flying at all. Your body or your flight, huh?
Healthscare Data
With the head of Newfoundland/Labrador coming to the US for heart surgery, we might want to ask “If national healthcare is soooo bloody good in Canada, why’s this guy coming here?”
Like we often say, “What’s good for the goose is good for the Newfies…”
Biting the Hand That…
Here’s a fine example of humans working together: “Haiti earthquake: voodoo high priest claims aid monopolised by Christians.”
And this is an issue because…help me here?
Can We Pass Math?
“Coast-to-coast double-digit college tuition hikes” are spiking up all over the place, notices MSNBC.
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Several reasons for this: Lots of anxious students who think that a higher education will ensure them a job. Nope.
Then we have congress which thinks money sp3ent on higher ed will come back to bolster the economy. Guess again…or Sorry Charley.
Flu2 4 U
You are, I trust, watching North Carolina where the Flu2 is being hatched out in what’s called the “Duke death cluster’?
The predictive linguistics may be somewhat off in that we expected the release of Flu2-2screwU to be released at the Winter Olympics, but we’d consider it a fit/fill if it were to pop contemporaneous to the Olympics…there is, after all, no book on this crap.
So, stand by for big Flu2 by Feb. 12. Meantime, stories like “Swine flu count plagued by flawed data” are just probably softening us up for Flu2.
My, ain’t social engineering fun? I mean, wouldn’t it be if it were real, huh?
