Saturday, February 27, 2010

Chicago Resource Expo

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software

The Chicago Resource Expo is being held on April 23rd and 24th, 2010 at the Rolling Meadows Holiday Inn Convention Center in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The Expo features 25 natural resource companies that range from gold miners to uranium explorers. The Chicago Resource Expo is one of the oldest natural resource conferences in the United States, the event began in 1977. The Expo is Chaired by Rich Radez, a veteran in the natural resource industry.
The event begins on Friday afternoon at 2:30pm and concludes on Saturday afternoon at 4pm. Q & A Discussion featuring newsletter writers, geologists, and analysts at 7pm Friday evening. Working Lunch Q & A at noon on Saturday, includes lunch buffet. Both Friday and Saturday afternoon feature a cocktail reception. Special teleconference featuring Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster begins at 3pm on Saturday. Hellix Ventures will be an exhibitor and welcomes you to visit their booth.
To read more about this FREE event, and to pre-register, please visit <http://www.chicagoresourceexpo.com> <http://www.chicagoresourceexpo.com> . Email any questions to info@globalresourceexpos.com <mailto:info@globalresourceexpos.com>
 


Subscribe to The International Forecaster

Subscribe to the complete issue of The International Forecaster for timely and in depth coverage of the Economy and world economic events. Published twice weekly.




Friday, February 26, 2010

Indications: U.S. stock futures flat as AIG tumbles

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were flat Friday, as worries surrounding the economy's health, interest-rate policy and sovereign debt continue while American International Group reported a multi-billion-dollar loss.

S&P 500 futures rose seven-tenths of a point to 1,103.00 while Nasdaq 100 futures were down a half point to 1,813.00. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged.

U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday amid disappointing economic data and concerns over Greece, though leading indexes finished off the session's worst levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53 points, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each lost 2 points.

Larry Hatheway, an economist at UBS, said policy uncertainty -- from China tightening to the Fed's discount-rate hike and the Greek debt woes -- aren't likely to be resolved quickly or easily.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

/conga/story/misc/international.html 53366

UBS advised a cautious stance -- a small overweight to high-yield credit; soft commodities, real estate and cash; a neutral allocation to global stocks; and underweight allocations to government bonds.

Some global economic news offered cheer, as the U.K. revised higher its fourth-quarter GDP view to 0.3% growth from 0.1% growth, while India reported slower-than-expected 6% growth but announced deficit-cutting measures that lifted stocks locally. See U.K. story. See India story.

The U.S. also will be reporting revised GDP figures for the fourth quarter, with consumer sentiment for February and existing-home-sales data for January.

American International Group /quotes/comstock/13*!aig/quotes/nls/aig (AIG 27.51, -0.48, -1.71%) dropped 9% as the New York insurer said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed to $8.9 billion from $61.6 billion. Its red ink swelled due to payments to reduce the New York Fed's credit facility as well as on the pending sale of Nan Shan Life, loss reserve strengthening and a valuation allowance charge for tax benefits that aren't presently recognizable.

Fluor /quotes/comstock/13*!flr/quotes/nls/flr (FLR 45.05, -0.23, -0.51%) fell 6% after the engineering group cut its earnings outlook.

The Gap /quotes/comstock/13*!gps/quotes/nls/gps (GPS 20.39, +0.10, +0.49%) rose 4% after the retailer said its 2010 earnings would be stronger than the market expected as it said it would repurchase $1 billion of stock.

The euro was back in favor, hovering around $1.36, and oil and gold futures made modest gains.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.


NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Friday, Feb 26, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Thursday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
CKR $8.90 $11.27 26.6% 505,809
RST $17.29 $21.28 23.1% 30,500
MGLN $39.51 $45.52 15.2% 1,100


10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $49,791,811 $110.73 0.0% | C 968,046 $3.39 ( 0.3%)
GLD $13,907,907 $108.56 0.2% | CKR 505,809 $11.27 26.6%
AIG $12,417,734 $25.73 ( 6.5%) | SIRI 497,139 $1.08 0.6%
QQQQ $10,547,456 $44.58 ( 0.1%) | AIG 484,462 $25.73 ( 6.5%)
AAPL $5,653,660 $202.42 0.2% | SPY 449,208 $110.73 0.0%
CKR $5,609,967 $11.27 26.6% | QQQQ 236,501 $44.58 ( 0.1%)
BHP $3,634,948 $72.15 ( 0.2%) | CROX 201,654 $7.00 (10.3%)
SDS $3,305,200 $35.01 ( 0.0%) | BAC 180,709 $16.51 ( 0.2%)
C $3,283,981 $3.39 ( 0.3%) | GLD 128,068 $108.56 0.2%
BAC $2,987,857 $16.51 ( 0.2%) | F 128,053 $11.80 0.3%


Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

This material is for informational purposes only.
NYSE Euronext and its affiliates ("NYSE Arca") are not soliciting any action based upon it.
This material is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal.
Any opinions expressed in this material are NYSE Arca opinions only.
NYSE Arca undertakes no obligation to update any of the information contained in this material in light of new information or future events.
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED BY NYSE ARCA "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NYSE ARCA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS TO THIS MATERIAL.
IN NO EVENT SHALL NYSE ARCA BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE
OF THIS MATERIAL, ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE OR OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES IN THE MATERIAL) WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATERIAL.

Copyright [2010] by NYSE Euronext. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without prior express consent.

Indications: U.S. stock futures edge higher

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged higher Friday, as markets continue their herky-jerky path as issues surrounding the economy's health, interest-rate policy and sovereign debt continue.

S&P 500 futures rose 3.3 points to 1,105.60 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2.75 points to 1,816.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20 points.

Sizing up India's Budget

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee walked a tightrope with India's budget. Did he fall off or make it to the other side? India bureau chief Paul Beckett speaks to WSJ's Amol Sharma.

U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday amid disappointing economic data and concerns over Greece, though leading indexes finished off the session's worst levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53 points, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each lost 2 points.

Larry Hatheway, an economist at UBS, said policy uncertainty -- from China tightening to the Fed's discount-rate hike and the Greek debt woes -- aren't likely to be resolved quickly or easily.

UBS advised a cautious stance -- a small overweight to high-yield credit; soft commodities, real estate and cash; a neutral allocation to global stocks; and underweight allocations to government bonds.

Some global economic news offered cheer, as the U.K. revised higher its fourth-quarter GDP view to 0.3% growth from 0.1% growth, while India reported slower-than-expected 6% growth but announced deficit-cutting measures that lifted stocks locally. See U.K. story. See India story.

The U.S. also will be reporting revised GDP figures for the fourth quarter, with consumer sentiment for February and existing-home-sales data for January.

American International Group (AIG) /quotes/comstock/13*!aig/quotes/nls/aig (AIG 27.51, -0.48, -1.71%) headlines Friday's list of earnings. AIG is expected to report a fourth-quarter loss of $3.94 a share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Fluor /quotes/comstock/13*!flr/quotes/nls/flr (FLR 45.05, -0.23, -0.51%) may see pressure after the engineering group cut its earnings outlook.

The Gap /quotes/comstock/13*!gps/quotes/nls/gps (GPS 20.39, +0.10, +0.49%) may climb after the retailer said its 2010 earnings would be stronger than the market expected as it said it would repurchase $1 billion of stock.

The euro was back in favor, hovering around $1.36, and oil and gold futures made modest gains.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.


Thursday, February 25, 2010

Indications: U.S. stock futures fall further after jobs data

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Kate Gibson & Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures weakened Thursday as markets took a cautious tone ahead of the second day of congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and after mixed economic data.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

/conga/story/misc/international.html 53366

S&P 500 futures fell 10.1 points to 1,093.5 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 14.5 points to 1,799.5. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 83 points to 10,272.

Stock futures fell further after early economic data had the count of those filing first-time claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rising last week, while orders for U.S.-made durable goods jumped 3% in January.

Snowstorms and other events in recent weeks have distorted the jobless data, rendering it less reliable, said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak.

Still, "it is quite clear that the labor market remains quite stressed with various indicators still suggesting robust employment growth remains elusive," Greenhaus said.

U.S. stocks climbed Wednesday as Bernanke soothed markets by repeating a low-interest-rate pledge, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 91 points, the Nasdaq Composite up 22 points and the S&P 500 up 10 points.

Greece remained in the spotlight as Standard & Poor's during Wednesday's session threatened the nation was on the verge of junk status within a month, while Moody's said it would keep the rating unchanged if promised spending cuts by the government are enacted.

The Greek jitters sent investors away from the euro /quotes/comstock/21o!x:seurusd (CUR_EURUSD 1.35, -0.01, -0.47%) , which fell to the low $1.35 area, and to government bonds, which rose in the U.S. and Germany.

Emerging Markets Hit Speed Bump

Financial troubles in Southern Europe and unrest in Turkey threaten investors in developing markets, says David Riedel, president of emerging-market analysts Riedel Research. MarketWatch's Jonathan Burton reports.

"The warnings from the credit agencies highlight the lack of an explicit E.U. backstop facility for Greece if market pressures intensify within the current impossibly difficult timeframe for the Greek government," said Lena Komileva, head of G7 market economics for Tullett Prebon in London. "Since the lack of a backstop facility for Greece explicitly links the euro to Greek policy risk, the market's appetite for cyclical trades has shifted from the axis of the Fed's ample liquidity provision to the tangent of credit quality at risk along the euro-zone periphery."

Europe stocks, however, wavered between gains and losses, after a number of forecast-beating results from companies including the Royal Bank of Scotland /quotes/comstock/13*!rbs/quotes/nls/rbs (RBS 11.62, +0.49, +4.40%) and Aegon /quotes/comstock/13*!aeg/quotes/nls/aeg (AEG 5.95, +0.03, +0.46%) . See related Europe Markets.

In the U.S., Coca-Cola /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 52.63, -2.53, -4.59%) announced a deal to buy Coca-Cola Enterprises /quotes/comstock/13*!cce/quotes/nls/cce (CCE 25.70, +6.52, +33.99%) North American bottling operations in a deal that's "substantially cashless."

Coca-Cola Enterprises shot up nearly 29% in pre-market trade. Coca-Cola fell 3%.

Asian markets generally slipped, with the Nikkei 225 down 1% in Tokyo and the Hang down 0.3% in Hong Kong.

Oil futures were below $80 a barrel and gold was below $1,100 an ounce.

Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York. Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.


Indications: U.S. stock futures drop amid cautious tone

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures weakened Thursday as markets took a cautious tone ahead of the second day of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the release of economic data.

S&P 500 futures fell 6.7 points to 1,096.90 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 10.5 points to 1,803.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 50 points.

U.S. stocks climbed Wednesday as Bernanke soothed markets by repeating a low interest rate pledge, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 91 points, the Nasdaq Composite up 22 points and the S&P 500 up 10 points.

The second day of Bernanke testimony will draw attention, as will weekly jobless claims and durable-goods-orders data for January due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

/conga/story/misc/international.html 53366

Meanwhile, Greece was still in the spotlight as Standard & Poor's during Wednesday's session threatened the nation was on the verge of junk status within a month, while Moody's said it would keep the rating unchanged if promised spending cuts by the government are enacted.

The Greek jitters sent investors away from the euro /quotes/comstock/21o!x:seurusd (CUR_EURUSD 1.35, -0.01, -0.43%) , which fell to the low $1.35 area, and to government bonds, which rose in both the U.S. and Germany.

"The warnings from the credit agencies highlight the lack of an explicit E.U. backstop facility for Greece if market pressures intensify within the current impossibly difficult timeframe for the Greek government," said Lena Komileva, head of G7 market economics for Tullett Prebon in London.

"Since the lack of a backstop facility for Greece explicitly links the euro to Greek policy risk, the market's appetite for cyclical trades has shifted from the axis of the Fed's ample liquidity provision to the tangent of credit quality at risk along the euro-zone periphery."

Europe stocks, however, wavered between gains and losses, after a number of forecast-beating results from companies including the Royal Bank of Scotland /quotes/comstock/13*!rbs/quotes/nls/rbs (RBS 11.13, +0.13, +1.18%) and Aegon /quotes/comstock/13*!aeg/quotes/nls/aeg (AEG 5.92, +0.09, +1.54%) . See related Europe Markets.

In the U.S., Coca-Cola /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 55.16, +0.33, +0.60%) announced a deal to buy Coca-Cola Enterprises /quotes/comstock/13*!cce/quotes/nls/cce (CCE 19.18, -0.09, -0.47%) North American bottling operations in a deal that's "substantially cashless."

Coca-Cola Enterprises shot up nearly 30% in pre-market trade. Coca-Cola fell 1%.

Asian markets generally slipped, with the Nikkei 225 down 1% in Tokyo and the Hang down 0.3% in Hong Kong.

Oil futures were below $80 a barrel and gold was below $1,100 an ounce.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.


NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Thursday, Feb 25, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Wednesday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
CCE $19.17 $25.00 30.4% 916,191
ANDS $2.32 $1.83 (21.0%) 9,600


10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $149120384 $110.08 ( 0.7%) | C 3,630,031 $3.43 ( 0.3%)
GLD $30,228,865 $106.97 ( 0.3%) | SPY 1,353,462 $110.08 ( 0.7%)
CCE $22,785,363 $25.00 30.4% | SIRI 1,262,567 $1.13 3.7%
C $12,443,489 $3.43 ( 0.3%) | CCE 916,191 $25.00 30.4%
SDS $9,120,626 $35.43 1.3% | PALM 555,911 $8.35 3.2%
OC $5,542,990 $23.74 ( 1.8%) | GLD 282,468 $106.97 ( 0.3%)
ESRX $4,664,462 $96.00 9.4% | SDS 257,853 $35.43 1.3%
PALM $4,510,950 $8.35 3.2% | BAC 239,209 $16.22 ( 0.7%)
EWZ $4,076,668 $66.24 ( 1.6%) | OC 231,150 $23.74 ( 1.8%)
BAC $3,877,560 $16.22 ( 0.7%) | VG 164,901 $1.86 8.8%


Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

This material is for informational purposes only.
NYSE Euronext and its affiliates ("NYSE Arca") are not soliciting any action based upon it.
This material is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal.
Any opinions expressed in this material are NYSE Arca opinions only.
NYSE Arca undertakes no obligation to update any of the information contained in this material in light of new information or future events.
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED BY NYSE ARCA "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NYSE ARCA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS TO THIS MATERIAL.
IN NO EVENT SHALL NYSE ARCA BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE
OF THIS MATERIAL, ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE OR OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES IN THE MATERIAL) WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATERIAL.

Copyright [2010] by NYSE Euronext. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without prior express consent.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Bonuses for Wall Street And Unemployment Elsewhere Continue To Grow

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software

People should not underestimate the rational of those in high places because their agenda may be totally different then what they say it is. That includes the predicament of Dubai and Greece and a host of other nations that include the US and UK. The credit crisis, borne of the subprime crisis just didn’t happen; it was planned that way. Are we supposed to believe that the Fed took interest rates close to zero and that they flooded the monetary system with money and credit, because they were incompetent or stupid, hardly? The Fed, banking and Wall Street knew subprime loans were not AAA, but triple BBB. They all knew the syndication of these bonds were a fraud, which they allowed and which kicked off the credit crisis. Again, all is not as it seems to be. Thus, those of you who believe it was greed and incompetence are wrong. Up until four years ago it was Sir Alan Greenspan who sold his soul out to the Illuminists, now it is Ben Bernanke.

The troubles that countries are having with sovereign debt are growing exponentially. First it was Dubai supposedly with $100 billion in debt problems, which in fact may be underwater three or four times that number. Then, of course, there are a host of others. In the case of Dubai, British banks are holding the bag and probably will go down in flames. Greece cannot find any support even from Goldman Sachs. The Germans don’t want to help even though they knew Greece never was qualified to be in the euro. Greece is in a state of denial; is demanding reparations from Germany, which in 1960 paid a substantial amount to Greece in compensation. Germans for some time have wanted to exit the euro and the eurozone, some 71%. They have been sick and tired of carrying most of the rest of the zone with their balance of payments surplus. Greece makes up about 2.4% of GDP of the zone hardly enough to be concerned about. Eurozone governments would be better of f writing off Greek bonds than subsidizing the country. Any bailout would be short lived, because so many other nations are in serious trouble. Let’s face it the eurozone is really Germany, France and the Netherlands.

For the last two months the dollar with the help of insiders Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, who knew the Greek problem was on the way, has had an unusual rally that is about to end. They obviously knew the IMF would announce another gold sale and that the Fed would raise the discount rate. How could they not know with Goldman controlling the Treasury and Morgan the Fed? They also knew like any other observant economic professional that M3 was being reduced to almost no expansion as was happening simultaneously by the ECB and England, an event that would tend to strengthen the dollar. Doing this they all are playing a very dangerous game. If they lose control deflation will overwhelm inflation and a deflationary depressio n could begin. That will happen eventually, but the elitists would like it to happen on their timetable. The US has to find a way to end monetization and they have run out of options. The only possibility is for government to steal Americans’ retirement plans. The trouble is almost all sovereign debt cannot be avoided. Now the only question is when will the big conference begin to revalue, and devalue currencies, settle debt default and form a new international currency-trading unit in part backed by gold? All nations have been well aware for a long time that sovereign debt and some corporate and individual debt will never be repaid. That is why nations have reduced dollar holdings from 64.5% of foreign reserves to 61.4%. With the exception of four nations sovereign debt is not worth the paper it is written on. They are Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Norway.

The dollar rally will soon end and speculators should begin to take short positions. All the good news for the dollar is out. For the moment it is the best of a bad lot. Then only real money is gold and silver. In the future more and more people worldwide will realize that and eventually there will be a stampede into the two precious metals. America will produce a debt to GDP ratio or 95% to 100% this year.

A staggering blow to the Illuminists is the exposure of the criminal cartel known as Goldman Sachs in their testimony to Congress and now helping Italy and Greece illegally circumvent eurozone rules. This will push the public away from investment and toward the safety of gold and silver.

In an attempt to smother inflation and hyperinflation the US government may follow China’s lead and increase reserve requirements. That may reduce inflation, but it would also bring the US closer to deflationary depression. One false step and the game is over. That risk also includes the ECB and England. Funds already are not being lent out and such further constriction could be disastrous. Credit has already dropped by trillions of dollars as unemployment continues to grow. There is now no question that there will be no recovery. How can there be when there is little money and credit available to grease the skids of recovery. All we are seeing is a switch to stage 2 of inflation. The question is will central banks lose control, and it is obvious they are acting in concert, and fall victim to a deflationary depression.

Domestically real estate foreclosures, both residential and commercial, continue to climb. The government’s attempt to assist the residential market has been pathetic in a situation that is overwhelming. By next year, 50% of homeowners could be under water. Business can’t get the loans they need, so they cannot increase employment and the more workers fired the more who have lost their homes.

The plight of the states in America is very serious. California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are close to insolvency. These are followed by Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Florida. Once the budget is passed some $25 billion will be split up among the states to keep them going. As we all know that isn’t the answer. Free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing have softened them up â€" now they are ready for failure.

Welcome to corporatist fascist America. Fiscal deficits of $2 trillion a year while most transnational conglomerates, Wall Street and banks haul in obscene profits and our nation suffers 21-3/4% unemployment. Making matters worse have been wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have cost taxpayers off-budget losses of $1 trillion. A nation simply cannot be that dumb. It has to have been planned that way.

The latest TIC data had to be sobering for anyone who follows America’s debt problems. Chinese holdings of US Treasuries fell by $34.2 billion, or 4.3%. Japan increased holdings by $11.5 billion. This gives Japan the dubious honor of being the Number 1 Treasury holder in the world. Worldwide Treasury holdings fell $53 billion in December. $53.2 billion of sales were the result of foreign central bank sales. In 2008, their holdings rose $456 billion and in 2009, they fell $500 billion. As a result in 2009 the Fed purchased 80% of Treasuries via monetization.

The 2010 fiscal deficit will range from $1.6 trillion and $2 trillion. That should push debt to 95% to 100% of GDP. It should be interesting to you all that Treasury debt is now higher than GDP at $14.3 trillion. The US may not be as bad as Greece, but it is getting there. Our Treasury Secretary Mr. Geithner tells us even though the Fed has to buy 80% of Treasury bond issues our AAA rating is not in danger of being downgraded. In spite of his opinion Moody’s rating service continues its farce as not only the US deserve downgrading, so does a host of other nations. The bottom line is that debt for many nations is overwhelming, getting worse and in all probability cannot be regenerated, allowing an economy to rebound and be repaired. If conservative fiscal policies are put in place to cut back and pay off debt then there can be no recovery. Stimulus will unceremoniously end.

This day of reckoning or of choice is upon us. You either purge the system of its excesses, and allow the bankrupt to fail, suffer a doubling of unemployment, bankruptcy in the states, a fall in stock and bond prices, or you continue to stimulate with more dire consequences later. The game of chicken has begun and it’s a game the Fed and the Treasury will lose, no matter which way they go. Government is not gong to tell you the truth; you have to figure it out for yourself by listening to talk radio and going on to the Internet. Government won’t tell you that over the past ten years debt has increased 120%, or by $6.7 trillion, or $677 billion annually. The new average projection of additional debt over the next ten years is $853 billion annually. That is hardly fiscal restraint and it renders the debt unpayable. This is not a happy story, but government and the Fed have no intention of changing anything, although we believe they will soon be forced too, due to similar problems worldwide.

There is no question Greece and others have very bad debt problems, but we look at Greece’s problems, as a diversion, something to distract investors and Americans away from America’s growing unserviceable debt bomb. Foreigners have dramatically reduced purchases of Treasuries and real interest rates on 10-year T-notes are up 3/8% to ½% in recent months as buyers demand more yield on long dated bonds and notes. The Greeks took a ratings cut and the US, UK and others had the heat taken off for the time being. Unfortunately, Europe has as a result had fallout in the form of pressure on the euro, which may be on its way to being a non-currency. In fact future events may not only end the euro, but the European Union as well.

Last week the Dow rose 3%; S&P 30%, the Russell rose 3.3% and the Nasdaq 100 rose 2.4%. Banks rose 4.2%; broker/dealers 2.9%; cyclicals jumped 4.2%; Transports 3.5%; consumers 2.8%; utilities 3.6%; high tech 2.8%; semis 3.1%; Internets 3.3% and biotechs 3.2%. Gold bullion rose $25.00 and the HUI rose 2.25. The USDX rose 0.4% to 80.57.

Two-year T-bills rose 9 bps to 0.87%, as 10-year notes rose 8 bps to 3.78%. German bund yields rallied 9 bps to 3.28%.

The Freddie Mac 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate declined 4 bps to 4.93%; the 15’s fell 1 bps to 4.33% and one-year ARMs fell 10 bps to 4.23%. The jumbo 30-year fixed rate fell 2 bps to 5.905.

M2 narrow money supply increased $14 billion. It has declined $27 billion ytd, as M2 expanded 14.9% yoy.

Total money market fund assets fell $37 billion to $3.161 trillion. In the first seven weeks of the year it has fallen $133 billion, dropping 18.5% yoy.

Total commercial paper outstanding increased $3.9 billion to $1.138 trillion. I has fallen $383 billion yoy, or 25.2%.

This week there is another $126 billion-series of Treasury auctions. The first tranche of 30-uear inflation-protected bonds was a very hard sell. The bid to cover was 2.45, which was only fair. Indirect participation was 42%.

The January Chicago National Activity Index was 0.02.

Four more banks were seized on Friday in an event we call the FDIC, Friday Night Financial Follies; that is 20 banks gone so far this year. We are looking for 500 to 1,000 failures over the next 1-1/2 years. The FDIC only has about $92 billion left.

The markets were again shaken, but they held up, as it was revealed that Goldman Sachs created three phony London firms to route cash for the Greek Central Bank to allow them to issue bonds to circumvent ECB rules. This again points out the systemic corruption in the international financial system, particularly in NYC and London.

The rise in the discount rate is meaningless, because very few institutions use the Fed’s discount window. As we mentioned before in the late 70s gold made its big run as interest rates rose. The BLS reports the CPI in at 2.63% when in reality it is over 7%. One fifth of all US mortgages are under water. Deflationary depression will come. The question is when? Worse yet the Treasury finds it harder and harder to sell bonds, as China sold $34.2 billion worth.

The Bank of America won approval of a $150 million settlement with the SEC over the Merrill Lynch merger and as usual nobody went to jail. Illuminists never go to jail. BoA failed to properly divulge Merrill’s losses; then it authorized $5.8 billion in bonuses. The shareholders get to pay the fine for the fraud. There is no longer a thing called crime and punishment.

The big teacher layoffs have begun. San Francisco will lay off 900; California could cut 100,000 jobs in K to 12 by the end of June. Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties are cutting law enforcement and shutting youth correctional facilities.

Twenty percent of workforce is underemployed by working part-time. They spent 36% less on household purchases then fully employed. They make up 16.5% of workers officially, but Gallup shows 19.9%.

Confidence among U.S. consumers fell more than anticipated in February to the lowest level since April 2009 as the outlook for jobs diminished, a sign spending may be slow to gain traction as the economy recovers.

The Conference Board’s confidence index declined to 46, below the lowest forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, from a revised 56.5 in January, a report from the New York-based private research group showed today. Concerns about the economy and the labor market pushed an index of current conditions to its lowest in 27 years.

Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in December for a seventh consecutive month, indicating the industry at the heart of the worst recession since the 1930s is stabilizing.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index increased 0.3 percent from the prior month on a seasonally adjusted basis, more than anticipated and matching the gain in November, figures from the group showed today in New York. The gauge was down 3.1 percent from December 2008, the smallest decline since May 2007.

New York’s budget deficit for this year may be $2 billion, or 43 percent wider t han projected earlier this month by the Division of Budget, comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

Tax collections by the March 31 end of the state’s fiscal year might be less than anticipated, according to DiNapoli. Also, a $300 million payment expected from developers of a gambling parlor at Aqueduct Racetrack, $200 million from the Battery Park City Authority and $250 million from a tax amnesty plan may not materialize, he said.

Problem lenders climbed to the most in 17 years, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. fund protecting customers against bank failures extended its deficit into a second quarter, the agency said.

The FDIC included 702 banks with $402.8 billion in assets on the confidential list as of Dec. 31, a 27 percent increase from 552 banks with $345.9 billion in assets at the end of the third quarter, the regulator said today. The agency said the deposit insurance fund had a deficit of $20.9 billion.

“Consistent with a recovering economy, we saw signs of improvement in industry performance,” FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in a statement. “But as we have said before, recovery in the banking industry tends to lag behind the economy, as the industry works through its problems assets.”

Regulators are closing banks at the fastest pace in 16 years, seizing 20 lenders through seven weeks this year after shutting 140 institutions in 2009 amid loan losses stemming from the collapse of the home and commercial mortgage market. A total of 28 banks failed in 2007 and 2008 combined.

The insurance fund deficit widened to $20.9 billion from $8.2 billion in the previous quarter, when the account posted its first negative balance since 1992. The FDIC last year required banks to prepay three years of premiums, raising about $46 billion for the fund on Dec. 30, the agency said today. The agency also has the authority to tap a $500 billion credit line with the Treasury Department.

The Obama administration is backing off a plan to bar commercial banks from engaging in proprietary trading, favoring instead a watered-down version of a key tenet of the proposed "Volcker rule" governing how banks operate, according to people familiar with the situation.

Sources told The Post that instead of issuing an outright ban on prop trading -- or trading done on behalf of only the bank itself -- the White House will propose that federally insured banks keep higher cash reserves if they want to run such trading desks.

The about-face comes amid signs the administration faced an uphill battle selling lawmakers and Treasury officials on an outright ban.

President Obama on Jan. 21 proposed sweeping banking industry reform, outlining plans that would bar a bank from owning, inve sting or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds, and running trading operations that did not specifically serve customers.

The proposals went by the shorthand name "the Volcker rule," as they were championed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

However, in the month since the announcement stunned Wall Street, sources said Volcker's ideas have been "marginalized" and are not expected to figure prominently in whatever the Senate formulates in the coming days.

"My understanding is the White House really does believe in it, but Treasury and the Hill do not, so it's not going very far," said one person close to the Treasury Department.

Wall Street bonuses rose 17 percent in 2009 from a year earlier as the securities industry rebounded from the financial crisis, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

Financial firms disburse d $20.3 billion compared with $18.4 billion in 2008, DiNapoli’s office calculated, basing its estimate on personal income-tax collections. It doesn’t include stock options or other types of deferred pay. The bonus pool was the second-largest ever, DiNapoli said in his yearly report.

Cash and stock bonuses fell about a third from 2007, he said. New York State’s budget deficit is estimated to be $8.2 billion, 10 percent more than estimated in January, because Wall Street’s cash bonuses are less than forecast, Governor David Paterson said Feb. 3. Personal income tax collections in January were $1 billion below the $7.08 billion the state projected.

“It would be preferable to have predictable growth and profitability,” DiNapoli said in an interview on Bloomberg Television today. “With New York depending on the sector for budget health, we need Wall Street to be profitable.”

The average bonus for the industry was $123,000 last year, the comptroller said. Wall Street has added 3,900 jobs through December and DiNapoli said he expects that trend to continue. He said the increase in tax revenue from higher bonuses won’t solve New York’s budget problems.

 



Subscribe to The International Forecaster

Subscribe to the complete issue of The International Forecaster for timely and in depth coverage of the Economy and world economic events. Published twice weekly.




Indications: U.S. stock futures in tight range before Bernanke

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures held steady Wednesday with traders unwilling to commit before testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

S&P 500 futures fell a tenth of a point to 1,097.10 while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 3.75 points to 1,804.70. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5 points.

U.S. stocks dropped sharply Tuesday after data showing a slide in U.S. consumer confidence as well as a dip in German business confidence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101 points, the S&P 500 dropped 13 points and the Nasdaq Composite lost 29 points.

U.S. Banks in Transition: Reforming and Recovering

Jayan Dhru, Standard & Poor's global head of Financial Services Ratings, says U.S. banks are still in recovery mode as they manage the credit cycle while reducing leverage and risk. Reforming the banking sector will have unintended consequences on the broader economy.

Wednesday's spotlight will be on Washington as Bernanke appears before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Though the Fed chairman has insisted that the economy still needs "accommodative monetary policies," last week's increase on discount window loans has raised concerns that the central bank may tighten earlier than some in the market had anticipated.

Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients the Q&A session will be of importance, and wants to know why the Fed expects underlying inflation to stop falling, why it's so reluctant to provide additional monetary stimulus and what indicators the central bank uses to determine if inflation expectations are still "low and stable."

Also at 10 a.m. Eastern time, data on new home sales for January will be released, while Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor /quotes/comstock/13*!tm/quotes/nls/tm (TM 71.55, -1.38, -1.89%) , will face questions on the safety of Toyota cars after a massive recall.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

/conga/story/misc/international.html 53366

Google /quotes/comstock/15*!goog/quotes/nls/goog (GOOG 535.07, -7.73, -1.42%) will also be in the spotlight as the European Union's antitrust enforcers are examining how the search giant deals with advertising partners, while three executives were separately convicted of privacy violations in Italy.

Toll Brothers /quotes/comstock/13*!tol/quotes/nls/tol (TOL 18.90, -0.49, -2.53%) , the luxury-home builder, reported a narrowing loss as the company's CEO, Robert Toll, said the housing market is in "choppy waters but the seas are getting calmer." Toll shares climbed 8.5% in premarket trade.

Europe stocks were wavering between gains and losses, and Asian stocks were particularly hard hit after Tuesday's big drop on Wall Street, with the Nikkei 225 retreating 1.5% in Tokyo.

The ISE National 100 fell 2% in Istanbul amid tension in that country as 40 were arrested over an alleged coup.

Oil futures were holding below $79 a barrel, while gold futures fell over $8 an ounce.

The euro /quotes/comstock/21o!x:seurusd (CUR_EURUSD 1.35, +0.00, +0.24%) recovered somewhat, up 0.3% to $1.3552, after an unexpected rise in industrial orders in the euro zone during December.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.


NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Tuesday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
BNE $6.96 $11.24 61.5% 2,496,769
STEC $13.40 $9.50 (29.1%) 308,390
IFLG $8.49 $9.94 17.1% 7,506


10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $53,778,788 $110.33 0.5% | BNE 2,496,769 $11.24 61.5%
GLD $34,162,119 $107.37 ( 0.5%) | C 2,291,449 $3.37 0.4%
BNE $28,015,685 $11.24 61.5% | SIRI 566,318 $1.14 2.1%
QQQQ $8,165,170 $44.44 0.7% | SPY 487,949 $110.33 0.5%
AAPL $8,014,569 $198.02 0.5% | WL 444,063 $13.85 0.1%
C $7,731,057 $3.37 0.4% | YRCW 399,154 $0.38 3.5%
WL $6,129,197 $13.85 0.1% | GLD 318,645 $107.37 ( 0.5%)
SDS $3,998,161 $35.29 ( 0.9%) | STEC 308,390 $9.50 (29.1%)
BHP $3,675,565 $73.66 0.4% | F 204,112 $11.75 1.2%
BBL $3,039,366 $61.68 0.7% | QQQQ 183,822 $44.44 0.7%


Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

This material is for informational purposes only.
NYSE Euronext and its affiliates ("NYSE Arca") are not soliciting any action based upon it.
This material is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal.
Any opinions expressed in this material are NYSE Arca opinions only.
NYSE Arca undertakes no obligation to update any of the information contained in this material in light of new information or future events.
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED BY NYSE ARCA "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NYSE ARCA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS TO THIS MATERIAL.
IN NO EVENT SHALL NYSE ARCA BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE
OF THIS MATERIAL, ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE OR OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES IN THE MATERIAL) WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATERIAL.

Copyright [2010] by NYSE Euronext. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without prior express consent.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Indications: U.S. stock futures point to second day of falls

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures drifted lower Tuesday as markets continue to debate interest-rate strategy, with a number of retailers reporting results.

S&P 500 futures fell 3.7 points to 1,103.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 7.75 points to 1,813.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 29 points.

U.S. stocks on Monday closed lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite dropping between 0.1% and 0.2%. But the loss came after four straight winning days for the Dow and S&P 500.

TODAY'S INTERNATIONAL MARKET STORIES

Global Dow

• MarketWatch Topics: Greece • Asia Markets | Europe Markets | LatAm Markets • Canadian Markets | Israel Stocks | London • U.S.: Market Snapshot | After Hours

Tools• Latin American/Canadian indexes • European indexes | Asian indexes

More on the Markets • Bond Report | Oil News | Earnings Watch • Currencies | U.S. Economic Calendar

/conga/story/misc/international.html 53366

The market is waiting for testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, due to start Wednesday, after last week's surprise hike in the discount rate.

Bernanke's former colleague at MIT, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, said Tuesday that the recovery in the world economy is "fragile" and that of the euro zone has "stalled." See King story.

Tuesday will also see the Case-Shiller home price index for December, consumer confidence data for February and the auction of $44 billion in two-year notes.

A key German business climate gauge fell in February for the first time in 10 months. See full story.

Earnings are due from the retail sector, with Home Depot /quotes/comstock/13*!hd/quotes/nls/hd (HD 30.92, +0.60, +1.98%) announcing its first dividend hike since 2006 as its earnings topped estimates, while Sears Holdings /quotes/comstock/15*!shld/quotes/nls/shld (SHLD 94.36, -1.30, -1.36%) announced a surge in profit. In January, Sears had guided toward a rise in profit. Both Home Depot and Sears rose by more than 1% in early premarket trade. See Home Depot story.

Brocade /quotes/comstock/15*!brcd/quotes/nls/brcd (BRCD 5.33, -1.63, -23.42%) stumbled nearly 13% in premarket trade as the network equipment maker offered up weaker-than-forecast revenue guidance.

Broker downgraded weighed on Palm /quotes/comstock/15*!palm/quotes/nls/palm (PALM 8.48, -0.63, -6.92%) , which fell nearly 4%.

International bourses were languid, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.5% while the FTSE 100 was fractionally lower in London.

Oil futures were trading below the $80 a barrel mark, and the dollar fell against the Japanese yen.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.


NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Monday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
IFLG $5.66 $7.00 23.7% 152
BRCD $6.96 $5.68 (18.4%) 2,408,076


10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $148025756 $110.84 ( 0.3%) | C 4,179,444 $3.43 ( 0.2%)
C $14,359,754 $3.43 ( 0.2%) | BRCD 2,408,076 $5.68 (18.4%)
BRCD $13,876,117 $5.68 (18.4%) | SPY 1,334,935 $110.84 ( 0.3%)
QQQQ $13,363,648 $44.66 ( 0.2%) | BAC 375,856 $16.15 ( 0.4%)
IWM $11,647,977 $63.17 ( 0.1%) | QQQQ 299,349 $44.66 ( 0.2%)
BAC $6,071,317 $16.15 ( 0.4%) | SIRI 270,990 $1.12 1.9%
GLD $5,918,054 $109.02 ( 0.0%) | IWM 184,336 $63.17 ( 0.1%)
BHP $5,544,648 $75.33 0.5% | FAZ 134,801 $18.01 0.9%
HD $4,087,711 $30.67 1.2% | HD 133,065 $30.67 1.2%
FSLR $3,260,104 $107.95 ( 4.5%) | TZA 114,000 $9.11 0.3%


Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

This material is for informational purposes only.
NYSE Euronext and its affiliates ("NYSE Arca") are not soliciting any action based upon it.
This material is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal.
Any opinions expressed in this material are NYSE Arca opinions only.
NYSE Arca undertakes no obligation to update any of the information contained in this material in light of new information or future events.
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED BY NYSE ARCA "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NYSE ARCA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS TO THIS MATERIAL.
IN NO EVENT SHALL NYSE ARCA BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE
OF THIS MATERIAL, ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE OR OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES IN THE MATERIAL) WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATERIAL.

Copyright [2010] by NYSE Euronext. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without prior express consent.

Monday, February 22, 2010

The Green Shopping Guide

The Green Shopping Guide is a free,
impartial guide to green and ethical product
and service providers. Working closely with
it's users, it is designed to help make finding
green and ethical products and services
easier with the least amount of hassle.

Our directory is constantly updated with new
businesses, organizations and charities it is
a simple but effective resource for like
minded people.

I highly recommend this site-st0ckman
Welcome to The Green Shopping Guide

If you found this article interesting please subscribe for updates with any reader or your email. Also be sure to check out my soon to launch membership website TheStockman.ORG,

Bookmark & Share on ANY social site:
Bookmark and Share



Indications: Stock index futures point to higher Wall St. open

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software Alert Email Print

By William L. Watts, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock index futures were pointing to a higher open for Wall Street Monday amid growing optimism over the strength of the economic recovery.

S&P 500 futures were up 3.30 points at 1,109.50, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 8.25 points to 1,827.50. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 30 points.

The Nasdaq Composite Index /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,244, +2.16, +0.10%) ended Friday with a gain of 0.1%, while the S&P 500 /quotes/comstock/21z!i1:in\x (SPX 1,109, +2.42, +0.22%) closed up 0.2%, with utilities and financials leading the way. The Dow gained ground in all four sessions of the holiday-shortened week to score a weekly gain of 3%.

European stocks were slightly weaker, while Asian shares ended mostly higher. See Europe Markets.

The euro slipped 0.1% versus the U.S. dollar in choppy trade to change hands at $1.3602. The European Union on Monday denied news reports that a European Union aid package worth around 20 billion to 25 billion euros ($27 billion to $33.8 billion) was in the works, news reports said. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Sunday told the BBC in a television interview that Greece wasn't seeking a bailout but needed political support for its deficit-cutting measures.

"Despite reassuring comments from Greek politicians on its budget, European investors are clearly still nervous that worse could be in store for the euro," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com.

Greek concerns, however, were having little impact on U.S. stocks, said Kenneth Broux, market economist at Lloyds TSB.

The S&P 500 index's close last week was a positive signal for U.S. equities, he said.

Among stocks in focus for Monday, GlaxoSmithKline /quotes/comstock/13*!gsk/quotes/nls/gsk (GSK 38.26, -0.58, -1.49%) was weaker in London after the New York Times said on Saturday that the group's diabetes medicine Avandia weakens the heart sufficiently to increase users' chances of heart attacks and heart failure. The newspaper based its story on a report it said it had obtained from the FDA.

In a statement, GlaxoSmithKline said it rejected those conclusions and that " the scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases ischemic cardiovascular risk or causes myocardial ischemic events."

Constellation Energy Group /quotes/comstock/13*!ceg/quotes/nls/ceg (CEG 34.58, +0.71, +2.10%) on Monday said it swung to a fourth-quarter net profit of $4.42 billion, or $21.96 a share, from a loss of $1.4 billion, or $7.75 a share, recorded in the year-earlier period. Stripping out one-time items, adjusted earnings in the latest quarter came in at 30 cents a share, a penny below the consensus forecast produced by a poll of analysts surveyed by FactSet Research.

No. 2 U.S. home-improvement retailer Lowe's Cos. /quotes/comstock/13*!low/quotes/nls/low (LOW 23.13, -0.02, -0.09%) said Monday its fourth-quarter profit rose to $205 million, or 14 cents a share, from $162 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, forecast profit of 13 cents a share, according to FactSet Research.

The company forecast profit of 27 to 29 cents a share in the first quarter and $1.30 to $1.42 a share for the full year.

Campbell Soup Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!cpb/quotes/nls/cpb (CPB 33.93, +0.08, +0.24%) said its fiscal second-quarter profit rose to $259 million, or 74 cents a share, from $233 million, or 64 cents a period, in the year-ago period. Sales rose 1% to $2.2 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected earnings of 73 cents a share on sales of $2.2 billion.

Quanta Services /quotes/comstock/13*!pwr/quotes/nls/pwr (PWR 17.88, -0.12, -0.67%) said its fourth-quarter net income declined to $43.9 million, or 21 cents a share, from $46.5 million, or 24 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had produced a consensus forecast of 20 cents a share. Revenue at the contracting services firm rose to $985.4 million from $921.5 million in the same period the previous year.

The U.S. economic data calendar is virtually bare for Monday, but closely watched figures are set for release Tuesday on home prices and consumer confidence, followed later in the week by durable goods orders and a revised look Friday at fourth-quarter GDP growth.

Economists expect growth for the quarter to be revised to 5.9% from a previous estimate of 5.7%. Read Market Snapshot.

But center stage will likely be occupied by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is scheduled to deliver his semi-annual outlook testimony to congressional panels on Wednesday and Thursday.

The testimony follows the Fed's decision last week to raise its discount rate. The move caught financial markets off guard, temporarily weighing on stocks despite the Fed's insistence that the move was a technical measure that wasn't meant to indicate an imminent tightening of monetary policy.

"Fed Chairman Bernanke is likely to sound cautiously upbeat on growth and inflation, consistent with the upward revisions to the central tendency forecasts within the January FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) minutes," wrote economists at Barclays Capital.

Oil futures were up 19 cents a barrel at $80 in electronic trade.

The dollar slipped 0.2% versus the Japanese yen to trade at 91.35 yen.

William L. Watts is a reporter for MarketWatch in London.


NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Monday, Feb 22, 2010 :

STOCKS TRADING ON NYSE Arca AT A PRICE 15% OR MORE AWAY FROM
THE PREVIOUS TRADE DAY'S CONSOLIDATED CLOSE PRICE (AS OF 08:30:00 ET)

Stock Friday's Close Current Price Pct Change Current NYSE ARCA Vol
No symbols with at least a 15% price change today

10 MOST ACTIVE STOCKS ON NYSE ARCA AS OF 08:30:00 ET

BASED ON DOLLARS TRADED: | BASED ON SHARES TRADED:
Stock $ Volume Price PctChg | Stock Share Vol Price PctChg
SPY $64,173,732 $111.55 0.3% | C 1,879,252 $3.44 0.6%
SII $43,223,524 $40.80 8.2% | SII 1,065,747 $40.80 8.2%
SLB $29,867,454 $60.99 ( 4.5%) | SPY 575,393 $111.55 0.3%
IWM $10,804,305 $63.45 0.6% | SLB 492,340 $60.99 ( 4.5%)
GLD $8,854,525 $109.97 0.5% | BAC 414,812 $15.99 0.8%
QQQQ $6,830,699 $45.03 0.4% | SIRI 238,985 $1.11 2.8%
BAC $6,628,341 $15.99 0.8% | LOW 215,066 $23.50 1.7%
C $6,431,570 $3.44 0.6% | YRCW 179,660 $0.38 3.2%
LOW $5,003,963 $23.50 1.7% | IWM 170,385 $63.45 0.6%
BIDU $4,811,544 $502.13 0.4% | QQQQ 151,646 $45.03 0.4%


Price changes may be affected by symbol splits and dividends.

Consolidated close price is the last print (excluding prints with trade
conditions) prior to 4PM ET.

This information is also updated on our web page every morning at 8:35ET:
http://www.tradearca.com/data/volume/daily_update.asp

This material is for informational purposes only.
NYSE Euronext and its affiliates ("NYSE Arca") are not soliciting any action based upon it.
This material is not to be construed as an offer to buy or sell any security in any jurisdiction where such an offer or solicitation would be illegal.
Any opinions expressed in this material are NYSE Arca opinions only.
NYSE Arca undertakes no obligation to update any of the information contained in this material in light of new information or future events.
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED BY NYSE ARCA "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.
NYSE ARCA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY, TITLE, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS TO THIS MATERIAL.
IN NO EVENT SHALL NYSE ARCA BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE
OF THIS MATERIAL, ANY DELAY OR INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE OR OMISSIONS OR INACCURACIES IN THE MATERIAL) WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATERIAL.

Copyright [2010] by NYSE Euronext. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution prohibited without prior express consent.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Signs of Recovery And Signs of Warning

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software

Industrial production in the U.S. rose more than anticipated in January as factories churned out more consumer goods and business equipment, leading the recovery of the world’s biggest economy.

The 0.9 percent increase in production at factories, mines and utilities followed a 0.7 percent gain the prior month, according to the Federal Reserve in Washington. Figures from the Commerce Department today showed housing starts climbed to a 591,000 annual pace, exceeding the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would no longer be able to rely on subprime mortgages to meet their government-mandated goals for helping lower-income Americans obtain mortgages, according to proposed regulations.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency i s seeking to restrict the companies from using so-called private-label securities backed by risky mortgages to achieve certain affordable housing goals, the agency said in proposed rules on its Web site today.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest sources of money for U.S. residential mortgages, have relied on private-label debt backed by Alt-A and subprime mortgages to satisfy federal goals of financing loans for low- and moderate-income homebuyers, according to FHFA. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized in 2008 largely because of regulators’ concern that the companies wouldn’t have enough capital to cover losses on that debt.

“The results of providing large-scale funding for such loans were adverse for borrowers who entered into mort gages that did not sustain homeownership and for the enterprises themselves,” the agency said in the proposal.

The companies have been required to devote a certain amount of their annual business to low- and moderate-income borrowers, economically depressed neighbourhoods and other disadvantaged groups. Those goals were suspended after the companies were seized by federal regulators in September 2008.

Humana Inc., the best-performing U.S. health-insurance stock this year, will reduce its workforce by 5 percent as the company faces shrinking private-sector enrollments and cuts in government-backed Medicare payments.

About 2,500 jobs will be eliminated through attrition, outsourcing and shedding positions, the Louisville, Kentucky- based company said today in a statement. The insurer also plans to hire 1,100 people in the growth areas of medical-co st containment, pharmacy management and specialty products, for a net reduction of 1,400 workers.

Marsh & McLennan Cos., the insurance broker that paid $850 million to end a probe by Eliot Spitzer in 2005, won release from restrictions on commissions criticized as conflicts of interest that hurt consumers.

The broker and its biggest rivals, Aon Corp. and Willis Group Holdings Inc., can again accept contingent commissions, the New York Insurance Department said yesterday. The once- secret payments from insurers had prompted bid-rigging probes from Spitzer, former New York attorney general.

“These are firms who have paid dearly in some cases in terms of a penalty in lost revenue over the last four or five years,” said Illinois Insurance Director Michael McRaith, whose office agreed with New York and Connecticut officials to lift the ban. “You can have a balanced approach which allows for the generation of legitimate revenue and at the same time it gives consumers the information to make the best choice,” McRaith said in an interview.

Marsh & McLennan and Chicago-based Aon appealed to officials for redress in 2008 as regulators opened a review. No. 4 broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., which won release in July from a ban of its own, has said it expects to make an extra $10 million annually by again accepting contingent payments. Marsh & McLennan said in 2004 that the payments totaled about $845 million a year, or 12 percent of brokerage revenue.

Prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose in January as the global economic recovery boosted costs for fuel, food and metals, a government report showed.

The import price index increased 1.4 percent in January, more than economists forecast, compared with a revised 0.2 percent gain the prior month that was higher than previously estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Prices excluding petroleum rose 0.4 percent last month and were up 1.3 percent from a year ear lier.

Housing starts in the U.S. rose in January to a higher level than anticipated, a sign that government support is helping to stabilize the real estate market.

Work began on 591,000 houses at an annual rate last month, up 2.8 percent from December, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Permits, a sign of future construction, fell less than anticipated after rising in December to the highest level since October 2008.

The extension and expansion of a homebuyer tax credit may boost demand in the coming months. At the same time, builders will have to contend with mounting foreclosures and an unemployment rate that’s projected to end the year at 9.5 percent.

For all of 2009, builders broke ground on 554,500 houses, the fewest since records began in 1959. The annual rate was down 39 percent from 905,500 in 2008, the second-lowest level on record.

Today’s report showed building permits in January decreased 4.9 percent to a 621,000 pace from a 653,000 rate in December. Permits were forecast to fall 5.1 percent to a 620,000 rate.

Construction of single-family houses increased 1.5 percent to a 484,000 pace.

Work on multifamily homes, such as townhouses and apartment buildings, climbed 9.2 percent to an annual rate of 107,000.

Three of four regions showed an increase in starts in January, led by a 10 percent gain in the Northeast. The West showed an 8.9 percent increase and the South posted a 1 percent gain.

Part of the increase in January housing starts may reflect warmer weather, compared with the monthly average and colder- than-average temperatures in December. The previous month was the 14th coldest December and the 11th wettest in 115 years of record-keeping, according to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell last week as demand for loans to purchase homes and refinance declined.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index dropped 2.1 percent in the week ended Feb. 12. The group’s purchase gauge decreased 4 percent, while the refinancing measure fell 1.2 percent.

Blizzards along the East Coast and winter storms in the South last week may have discouraged home buying and refinancing. While government incentives have helped stabilize housing, a lack of job growth and limited access to credit are hurdles for the real estate market.

The market is “going to be gradually recovering but it’s not going to be a straight-line trajectory over the next two or three years or so,” Derek Holt, an economist with Scotia Capital Inc. in Toronto, said before the report.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed loan held at 4.94 percent, the group said. The rate reached 4.61 percent at the end of March 2009, the lowest since the association’s records began in 1990.

At the current 30-year rate, monthly borrowing costs for each $100,000 of a loan would be $533.16, or about $3 less than a year ago, when the rate was 4.99 percent.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage held at 4.33 percent. The rate on a one-year adjustable mortgage decreased to 6.67 percent last week from 6.68 percent.

The share of applicants seeking to refinance a loan fell to 69.3 percent last week, from 69.7 percent the prior week.

The US Federal Reserve is sitting on significant paper losses on the real estate assets it acquired in the Bear Stearns rescue, with much of the red ink coming from debt used to back some of the most high-profile buy-out deals of the bubble years.

Among the debts weighing on the central bank’s portfolio are those used in financing the acquisitions of Hilton Hotels, which is being restructured, and hotel operator Extended Stay, which is in bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter say.

The Fed holds these and other real estate assets in a vehicle known as Mai den Lane I, which was set up to pave the way for JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of Bear. At the time the deal was struck in March 2008, JPMorgan feared that if it bought all of Bear’s assets it would be left with too much exposure to the real estate market. Bear, for example, originally had $5.4bn of Hilton debt, a huge concentration

The assets in Maiden Lane I â€" all of which came from Bear’s mortgage desk â€" were originally valued at $30bn when a final agreement on the portfolio was reached in June 2008 by the New York Fed, its advisers at asset managers BlackRock and JPMorgan. At the end of 2009 the Fed said the assets were worth $27.1bn (€20bn, £17.4bn).

People familiar with the portfolio said Maiden Lane I’s losses were concentrated in commercial real estate assets, which had a face value of $8.4bn and an estimated worth of $7.7bn when they were acquired by the Fed.

As of September they had been mark ed down to $4bn, filings show.

About two-thirds of the Maiden Lane I portfolio involved mortgage debt backed by government-created entities, people familiar with the matter said. Those people describe the debt as highly illiquid, a factor that has resulted in its failure to rally strongly as credit markets recovered and interest rates fell.

“It was the scrapings off the slaughterhouse floor,” said one person. “It started with the things that were not good enough to get securitised.”

The Fed has disclosed little detail on these or other assets in the Maiden Lane I portfolio, fearing such revelations could hurt sales efforts, a person familiar with the matter said. JPMorgan and the New York Fed declined to ­comment.

Maiden Lane I was funded with $28.8bn from the New York Fed and $1.15bn from JPMorgan, which agreed to absorb the first $1bn of any losses.

The struggl es of the portfolio could stir the debate on Wall Street over whether the New York Fed, then run by Tim Geithner, who is now Treasury secretary, struck a particularly good deal for taxpayers in the Bear rescue.

In a typical restructuring, creditors are made whole before shareholders are paid. In the Bear case, shareholders received $10 a share while creditors â€" in this case, the Fed â€" may lose money.

Mr. Geithner told Congress in 2008 that the central bank had three “risk mitigants” to protect its interests in the Bear deal: JPMorgan’s agreement to take the first $1bn in any losses; the Fed’s long-time horizon as an investor; and the fact that the central bank’s $28.8bn loan was backed by “a pool of professionally managed collateral”.

Testifying before Congress last month, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, said the New York Fed received “the less risky mortgage assets” on Bear’s b ooks. He added: “It would have been irresponsible for us to take on the full risk of all those assets at the time.”

The Obama administration on Tuesday said it was “on track” to spend 70 per cent of last year’s economic stimulus funds by the end of September, as it prepares to ramp up payments to thousands of infrastructure projects across the US.

Senior officials, speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of the signing of the legislation, sought to defend the benefits of the stimulus, claiming it helped the economy emerge from a deep recession.

“It did an enormous amount to jumpstart the economy and turn it around,” said one senior official in the administration, which claims 2m jobs were saved or created by the stimulus so far.

US officials said about 57 per cent of the stimulus cash â€" or $453bn â€" was accounted for in tax breaks, direct payments to local governments and individuals, and infrastructure.


'Meet the Press' transcript for February 7, 2010 MR. GREGORY: And you look at the stock market, the fact that it's been on a downward path for the past couple of weeks, down over 6 percent since January, what kind of warning sign is, is that?


MR. GREENSPAN: Well, it's more than a warning sign. It's important to remember that equity values, stock prices, are not just paper profits. They actually have a profoundly important impact on economic activity. And if stock prices start continuing down, I would get very concerned.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35270673/ns/meet_the_press/page/3/


Treasury officials today said they are still concerned about a coming wave of foreclosures, many from pay op tion ARMs and many from the prime jumbo basket, particularly hard hit by unemployment. Only 2/3 of borrowers in the HAMP program are current on their payments. That's why officials now say they are looking at unemployment options and more incentives to borrowers to keep paying on trial modifications and on loans that are significantly "underwater" with respect to the property value.


Andrew Sum and Ishwar Khatiwada at the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University: "Labor Underutilization Problems of U.S. Workers Across Household Income Groups at the End of the Great Recession: A Truly Great Depression Among the Nation’s Low Income Workers Amidst Full Employment Among the Most Affluent."


The number of employed civilians (16+) in December 2009 was more than 9 million below its estimated level in November 2007, the month before the recession got underway. To tal unemployment has more than doubled over the past two years, with double-digit unemployment rates prevailing between October and December. At the same time, the number of underemployed; i.e., those persons working part time for economic reasons, has also more than doubled, reaching a new record high of 6.4% of all of the employed in the fourth quarter of 2009.1 In addition, the nation’s civilian labor force has actually shrunk by nearly one million over the past year rather than rising by 1.5 million as earlier projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over 20 percent of the employed in the bottom decile of the income distribution were underemployed as were 17 percent of those in the second lowest decile (Table 1). The incidence of underemployment problems fell in the 5 to 6 percent range for those workers in the middle two deciles and declined to lows of 2.5 and 1.6 percent for those workers living in households in the top two decil es.

From the National Employment Law Project: WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION, NEARLY 5 MILLION JOBLESS WORKERS WILL LOSE BENEFITS BY JUNE - NELP: Long-Term Unemployment Crisis Requires Extension of ARRA Benefits by February 12th.

Today, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) released new national and state-by-state analyses finding that nearly 1.2 million jobless workers will become ineligible for federal unemployment benefits in March unless Congress extends the unemployment safety net programs from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). By June, this number will swell to nearly 5 million unemployed workers nationally who will be left without any jobless benefits.

Retiring Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN): "But if I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months…”

The lates t numbers on the performance of credit-card loans, from issuers including Capital One Financial Corp., Discover Financial Services, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. , indicate that consumers remain stressed by high rates of joblessness. Losses stemming from souring credit-card loans remain elevated.

CNN poll: 52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012 Obama faces a 44-52 deficit among both all Americans and registered voters, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Tuesday. Four percent had no opinion.

Different polls can produce significantly dissimilar results. The CNN poll is a survey of “all Americans and registered voters.” The more accurate polls survey ‘likely voters’.



Subscribe to The International Forecaster

Subscribe to the complete issue of The International Forecaster for timely and in depth coverage of the Economy and world economic events. Published twice weekly.




Subscribe to "The $t0ckman" via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner