Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Claims of Recovery But Results Nowhere To Be Found

Stock Assault 2.0 - Artificial Intelligence Stock Market Software

The American public is alarmed at what they see going on. Most of them do not understand what has been done to them. The propaganda fed to them daily has them completely confused and that is understandable. They know the financial sector has been bailed out and they somehow have to pay the bill. They have been deceived and few of them want to admit it. They have been told their economy is in recovery, but improvement is nowhere to be found. Government tells them inflation is 1.6% when they know it’s certainly higher than that and has been for some time. The only beacon of light, if they can discover it, is the truth of talk radio and the Internet. Through these methods of communication the truth can be found and it is reaching all around the world.

The American and European banking sectors are generally insolvent and have been so now for a few years. Almost every day there are bank mergers you never hear about and more t han 110 banks have gone under so far this year. Thousands of bank branches have disappeared and many unceremoniously have had name changes. The key to banking today is to carry two sets of books. One for the good assets and the other for the bad assets, as sanctioned by the Bank for International Settlements, the BIS, the governments in the US and Europe and the FASB. Most assets are marked to model, which means the bank determines their value arbitrarily, because no visible market exists for the assets. The bookkeeping is a travesty. The idea is to not let the public know how difficult and irreparable the situation really is. It is admitted that 829 banks are on a problem list, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Failures should accelerate during the coming year. This loss of trust in the system is going to take its toll. Confidence will continue to wane as more and more pressure is brought up to bear versus dollar, which in turn will force gold higher, as it continues to reassert itself as the world’s only real currency. In the end it will spell failure for dollar denominated assets. That will finally bring recognition that the system has failed. This will bring great pressure on the banking system and some major banks will fail. This is why only enough cash should be kept in banks for three months expenses, or six months for businesses and in your safe at home along with your gold and silver coins and weapons, you should have $5,000 in small bills, for emergencies.

It is important to remember that this is part of a plan to nationalize the American banking system, so that it fits into the new National Socialist structure - the corporatist structure that members of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateralists and the Bilderbergs have planned for us. This national banking system is to be the key to future World Government, or a New World Order.

As that effort moves forward the Fed is just short of two years of zero interest rates, a policy that they cannot easily change. If they raise rates at this juncture or stop increasing money and credit the bottom will fall out of the economy. These are the only methods they have of keeping the system alive. The Fed struggles to keep the ship afloat knowing this may be the last time this Band-Aid solution will work. The bubbles that were created, like in real estate, is in its fifth year of decline. Next will be bonds, the stock market and with them insurance companies and retirement plans. Looking at the scene objectively everything the Fed has thus far done has been a failure. A good part of the public is aware of all this and they seethe with anger. Just consider all the unemployed over 40, who will never have a job again and if they do become employed the wage will be ½ to 1/3 of what they once earned. We get letters every day describing the plight of the average American.

Bailing out the financ ial system hasn’t worked. The loans and special deals have only covered up the crimes these corporations were involved in and allowed them to escape bankruptcy, which they so richly deserve. There is no other way to describe what has transpired in the financial community than welfare for the mega rich. What is worse is that they go right on looting the public as if nothing has happened.

That brings us to the antithesis, which is gold.

We are sure you all remember the supposed swap of 349 tons of gold between commercial banks and the BIS, the Bank for International Settlements. Commercial banks usually work through central banks that represent them at the BIS; thus, this was an unusual procedure, only discovered when someone picked up a footnote in the BIS statement. Making the event more sinister was that there were no BIS official announcement and that the BIS refused to name the banks involved. This is similar to the Fed refusing to divulge to whom they lent $12.8 trillion. We believe these swaps terminate in January, so we anxiously wait to see what the conclusion will be. Will the gold be redeemed or will it become the property of the BIS, or will the swap terms be extended? We guess the real question is were those who did the swap gold bullion banks? Was the public sale of gold by the IMF a factor? Remember the IMF swore they would never dump gold on the open market, but yet they did just that. Adding to the mystery is that the BIS have seldom used gold swaps in recent years. Due to the secrecy involved we tilt toward a billion-bank bailout. In addition we saw fully qualified buyers rejected and gold sold into the market by the IMF. There can be only one reason for that and that is gold price suppression. As it has turned out every time the IMF sells the Russians go into the market and buy it. We also remember a similar episode in the late 1990s when Gordon Brown, the British Treasury Secretary, sold off half of England’s gold at about $275.00 an ounce to bail out London bullion banks.

For those who have an interest in gold they should be paying close attention to gold and silver shares. As of late they have been moving up strongly. Some eight to 20 percent depending on which indicator you watch. The tenor of the market has changed decidedly over the past several months. We could well be experiencing a renewal of share influence. Up until our government decided to manipulate gold and silver, bullion, share prices always led bullion.

We believe this renewal is being led by several factors. The triumph of gold as the only world currency as witnessed over the past 16 months; the use of massive amounts of money and credit in QE1, and now at the beginnings of QE2, which will have equally bad results; trillions of dollars being stolen by those in and around government; the realization that gold and silver production have fallen; t he lack of affect of massive naked net shorts in the bullion pits and the LBMA and Comex and the multitude of naked shorts in the shares, all of which have failed to deter higher prices. Higher inflation is on the way, thus $1,600 gold looks very probable this year and $3,000 next year.

Historically September sees higher gold prices 81% of the time. Between now and the end of February gold and silver should do very well. Silver is poised to soon break out to $25.00 or higher. We are also about to see a parting of the ways in gold and silver versus commodities, just like we began to see between the US dollar and gold. In the future gold and silver will be assisted by a major fall in confidence in the Federal Reserve, which is already underway. Their failure to produce a recovery with $2.5 trillion that they injected into the system, along with the administration, has not sat well in the business world. Now the Fed is beginning another $2.5 trillion rescue, which may end up being $5 trillion. Monetary expansion and monetization means higher inflation, which means higher gold and silver prices. As you see in this issue the administration is going to mark mortgages to the market and rewrite new loans. That will add to more monetary expansion. In fact it may be part of the QE2. Word is that this program could put $50 billion into consumer’s hands to spend, which the taxpayer would be on the hook for. We also estimate, even with the programs, 40% to 50% would go into foreclosures.

Rumors reach us that Bank of America was in serious trouble in July and had the Fed not poured in funds the bank would have failed. We described earlier in the year why BofA had such problems; it had been a dumping ground for the Fed. It now looks like the bank may be dismembered with the biggest and best pieces going to JPM and GS.

We are also getting disturbing reports that some kind of secret rules regarding g old and silver bullion. It seems that naked shorting has become a major problem. It may be the only way they can neutralize the problem; and that is to seize bullion accounts to cover their shorts. We are sure holders will be compensated, but they’ll lose their positions and have to buy them back somehow. We just saw the Swiss government and the banking community rollover for imperial America, so it is conceivable that they would pull something like this. Forewarned is forearmed. That is why we always recommend taking physical delivery if possible. All banks and governments are no longer to be trusted.

Second quarter GDP was 1.6%, we had predicted 1.5% months ago. As we forecast the third and fourth quarters will be dreadful, probably between minus 1 and plus 1. The quantitative easy is not coming fast enough; banks finally trying to lend to small and medium businesses, which create 70% of the jobs has had only moderate success and the new US government mark-to-market bailout of mortgage holders won’t affect the market until next year. Adjusting payments by bringing loans down will push $50 billion into the economy will only create more debt and still 40% to 50% of homeowners will fall into foreclosure. Without jobs there can be no solution.

Worse yet, corporate earnings for 2011 should be flat.

Unemployment still is going nowhere although recent numbers on the face were not all that had. Of the 67,000 in job growth 10,000 was the result of the end of a construction strike. A figure government loves to hide is those forced into part-time employment by an additional 331,000, which certainly keeps the figure close to 10 million. In case you didn’t notice all the gains were part-timers â€" hours worked were flat. Manufacturing lost 27,000 jobs. In April the diffusion index was 68 and in August it was 53. Probably the most important figure of all U6 rose in August to 16.7% from 16. 5% in July, as real unemployment after taking out the birth/death ratio rose again to 21-3/8%. This news should keep wage increases flat to slightly higher.

Retail was all over the place in distortion. There were jobless benefits that were released to those that had previously been cut off, and there were 17 states implementing tax holidays that added 2% to overall sales.

The Conference Index fell to 24.9 in August from 26.4 in July. We won’t quote the ISM manufacturing Index because we do not believe it. It was statistically impossible for it to be where it was reported to be. All employment increases were in the private service sectors in health and education, which was statistically impossible as well. We find no confusion, just more lies. The economy is slowing and it’s as simple as that. Productivity was dismal at a minus 1.8%; normal is plus 2.5%. This will negatively affect profit margins as labor costs grow 1.1% and that will force up prices and inflation. As far as GDP growth is concerned we are back to the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 officially. Who knows what the real numbers are. The momentum is gone and if it is to be regained QE2 had best come fast and furious. The loss of traction is now close to where it was when Lehman was destroyed, but 20% to 40% higher than other unfortunate events took place. The difference is the slowdown has been stealth and there has been no panic and no negative events. Such an event would bring the economy down to some of the worst levels in the last dozen years.

After seeing new home sales on an adjusted seasonal basis we suspect they are not correct. The unadjusted numbers fell 7% and that is hard to reconcile. We see no shift in direction. The coming mortgage giveaway will only delay the inevitable for a year or two. It is certainly no solution. Coming in September it amounts to cheap political pandering at the expense of all American taxpayers.

Business sees what we see and it does what it has to do to stay alive. You might call it a state of neutrality as business again dries up and more small and medium-sized businesses fall by the wayside. Owners are sick and tired of more regulations and taxes and idiotic car and appliance programs that do not work. They just steal future sales. The passing of the healthcare reform with onerous rules, additional taxes and confusion haven’t helped. The disagreements over the extension of the Bush tax cut renewals don’t help, especially with the President vowing to kill them. Then how dumb can rewriting underwater loans be? It’s just another temporary solution to aid the financial sector. Most small businesses will pay the fine and opt out of health care for employees completely, leaving valued employees at the mercy of the government and socialized medicine, as 25% of doctors, dentists and other professionals either r etire or leave the country. We saw the same thing happen in England in the 1950s. Why would businesses expand and hire under these woeful circumstances? They know real growth is zero.

We know tariffs on goods and services would turn everything around, but our House and Senate have been purchased by the New World Order crowd that want America and Europe on their knees financially and economically so the public will be forced to accept a corporate fascist world government. Free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing have been in full swing for 20 years and the damage done to the American economy has been incalculable. The only way the system can be saved before it crashes is for the system to be purged. The financial sector and others have to be allowed to go into bankruptcy and if they are not eventually chaos and revolution will ensue. Yes, we know that financial sector controls the government, so won’t voluntarily allow that to happen. That is why the November election is so important. All the incumbents have to be swept from Congress. Even removing half of these purchased criminals would give us a chance to heal the system. Without that there is little hope of a positive solution. At least you have been forewarned and at least you can protect what assets you have left by being invested in gold and silver related assets. It is all a sad commentary on our country and its citizens.

In addition, we found it illuminating that Sir Alan Greenspan, an Illuminist, is working with the Paulson Group advising them on monetary matters, money supply and gold prices. This is the same elitist who got us into this mess in the first place, at the direction of his controllers. Quantitative easing one and now quantitative easing 2 should cause inflation to surge and in that process gold and silver will surge as well. That has to be a reason why Greenspan is selling his services. That is to m ake sure Paulson understands the relationship created by the Fed, which is the creation of massive amounts of money and credit, overall monetary policy, inflation and hyperinflation and the prices of gold and silver.

The bottom line is the Illuminists, the Fed and Greenspan are advocating purchasing gold. The Fed as we have said so often has no other alternative but to reflate. This is the final stamp of approval on designating gold the only real world currency, which we have strongly forecasted for the past 16 months. They realize they have lost control of the dollar, finances and the economy. Gold is reassuming its rightful place as the only world currency.

Obama to Ask Congress to Pass $100 Billion Research Tax Credit

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-06/obama-to-propose-100-bil lion-permanent-extension-of-research-tax-credit.html

Obama to Propose Tax Write-Off for Capital Investments allowing businesses to deduct from their taxes through 2011 the full value of qualified capital investments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/us/politics/07tax.html

U.S. to Deploy Broader Mortgage Aid - mortgage balances for homeowners that owe more than their homes are worth.

Officials say between 500,000 and 1.5 million so-called underwater loans could be modified through the program, the first initiative to target homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments but are at risk of default because they have no equity in their homes.

http://online.wsj.com/articl e/SB10001424052748704323704575461920164400014.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

Obama to Link Tax Plan, Hiring With the job market stuck in neutral, the Obama administration is moving toward using the revenue from expiring tax cuts for the wealthy to finance about $35 billion of tax cuts for small businesses and workers, administration and congressional officials said Friday.

William C. Dunkelberg, chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Business, said small business doesn't need another tax cut and that allowing the money to stay in the hands of consumers including by extending all the Bush tax cuts is what will ultimately help the economy recover.

"History shows that letting Washington have the money and spend it is very ineffective," he said. "If you give a small biz guy $20,000, he'll say, 'I could buy a new delivery truck, but I have nobody to deliver to.' "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704855104575470063205601090.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

 

A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that will exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.

GOP leaders instantly assailed Obama's proposal, and many Democrats will likely be reluctant to approve additional spending and higher federal deficits just weeks before elections that will determine control of Congress. That left the plan with low odds of becoming law this year.

http://www.chron.com/disp/ story.mpl/ap/top/all/7188626.html

It appears that Obama’s latest Stimulus scheme is a political gambit that tries to get Republicans to vote against small business tax cuts. But there have already been several small biz tax cuts that have produced zilch. The plan will have little to no effect on the economy in coming months because businesses still see the record tax hike that will appear in four short months.

The BLS increased Birth/Death Model jobs to 115k vs. 98k last August. This is ludicrous and has been the prime ruse that the BLS has exploited to overstate job growth for years.

http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbd.htm

Another dubious fact in NFP is the 19k job gain in construction. 10k workers returned from strike. Part time workers for economic reasons soared by 331k. Working one hour per week counts as employment according to the BLS…Full-time employment tanked 254k per the Household Survey. According to the BLS, 331,000 Americans were forced to downgrade their employment status to part-time or some chunk of them would have lost their jobs.

 

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) increased by 331,000 over the month to 8.9 million. [This is a sign of econ weakness.]

If the ISM and Chicago PMI are so great and its employment component was so great why did August manufacturing jobs decline 27k vs. the expected gain of 10K? And why did stocks rally on negative manufacturing employment, when it rallied on ISM employment strength?

John Williams: The ability to play monthly games with seasonals, the nature of assumptions in the handling of hard data and revisions to same, and a 95% confidence interval of +/- 129,000 jobs around the reported payroll number change, provide significant reporting leeway should someone choose to target payroll reporting in the context say of consensus expectations tied to the financial markets, or of related media hype that could impact public political perceptions.

http://www.shadowstats.com

Please understand what John Williams is saying. Statistically, the confidence or accuracy of the employment report is 95% according to the BLS. This means any variance within +/-129k jobs is within the statistical margin of error.

Protection of money market investors at risk Investors in loss-making money market funds are less likely to be bailed out by fund sponsors in the future, increasing the risks of a run on the $5,000bn (£3,247bn, €3,896bn) sector, according to Moody’s, the ratings agency.

Justin Meadows, chief executive of the MyTreasury trading platform: “To be perfectly frank, neither the funds or their parents are prepared to wear the risk [of implicit guarantees] any more.”

One senior industry figure concurred, saying: “The bills are becoming bigger and bigger. $2.9bn is a big cheque and you wonder how long people are going to go on like this. “But the role that money market funds play in financing the economy is substantial. We are the ones that swallow all the short-term paper.” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e369db2a-b782-11df-8ef6-00144feabdc0.html

Banks Bought Bonds Amid Debt Crisis Even as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis intensified early this year, banks continued to load up on debt from Greece and other countries with the most acute fiscal problems, according to a report released Sunday that also suggest ed that the European Central Bank inadvertently encouraged institutions to increase their risk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/business/global/06bi.html?_r=1&ref=business

Fury Over Public Pensions Sparks Lawsuits - Several state and local retirement funds have balked at disclosing the pensions of individual government workers, triggering lawsuits that claim taxpayers have the right to such information.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575468012858784890.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news

 

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Indications: U.S. stock futures rise ahead of Fed's Beige Book

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

By Polya Lesova and Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged tentatively higher Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest report on U.S. economic activity and as Portugal's successful bond auction helped to calm worries about European banks.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 23 points to 10,361 after earlier trading down 25 points.

"Given that the markets are focused so much on fear at the moment, every bit of good news produces a small comeback in risk," said Mads Koefoed, market strategist at Saxo Bank.

What's behind gold's record run?

Gold futures finish at a record high, in a sign that the flight away from risk is continuing to gain steam. Brett Arends discusses.

S&P 500 futures gained 2.5 points to 1,094, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.75 points to 1,864.25.

The blue-chip Dow index /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 10,409, +68.19, +0.66%) dropped 1% on Tuesday, snapping a four-session winning streak.

The Fed will release its Beige Book at 2 p.m. Eastern time. Consumer credit for July and a speech by Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, are also on the calendar.

European stock markets also turned higher, erasing losses, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index /quotes/comstock/22c!sxxp (ST:SXXP 262.63, +2.87, +1.10%) rising 0.7% in intraday trade.

The Portuguese government sold 661 million euros ($839 million) of 3-year debt and 378 million euros of 10-year bonds. Demand was solid and boosted market sentiment.

"When Portuguese bonds are sold, then it's [the market] simply rallying on everything that can be interpreted as good news," said Koefoed.

The Portuguese auction offset weaker-than-expected German economic data.

Germany's exports dropped in July from the previous month, while industrial production edged up 0.1%, much less than economists expected. See more on Germany's economy.

The Bank of Canada lifted its interest rate to 1%.

BP reports on oil spill

In the energy sector, shares of BP PLC /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 38.38, +1.19, +3.20%) /quotes/comstock/23s!a:bp. (UK:BP. 412.15, +5.35, +1.32%) gained 3.5% in U.S. premarket trading. In its internal report released Wednesday, the firm said that "a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties" led to the explosion and fire that killed 11 people and caused an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.

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"It is evident that a series of complex events, rather than a single mistake or failure, led to the tragedy," said Tony Hayward, BP's outgoing chief executive. "Multiple parties, including BP, Halliburton and Transocean, were involved."

Shares of Halliburton Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!hal/quotes/nls/hal (HAL 30.18, +0.34, +1.14%) and Transocean Ltd. /quotes/comstock/13*!rig/quotes/nls/rig (RIG 54.00, +0.95, +1.79%) were little changed in premarket trading.

Shares of Talbots Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!tlb/quotes/nls/tlb (TLB 10.63, -0.48, -4.32%) dropped 9.5% in premarket trade after the clothing retailer reported quarterly results that disappointed investors.

Most Asian stock markets ended lower Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average index losing 2.2%.

U.K. mobile-telecom giant Vodafone Group PLC /quotes/comstock/23s!a:vod (UK:VOD 159.80, -0.10, -0.06%) said it's selling its entire 3.2% stake in China Mobile Ltd. /quotes/comstock/13*!chl/quotes/nls/chl (CHL 49.75, -0.50, -1.00%) in a deal that will generate 4.3 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) before taxes and costs. Read more on Vodafone.

The British pound /quotes/comstock/21o!x:sgbpusd (GBPUSD 1.5511, +0.0154, +1.0028%) gained 0.7% to $1.5447, buoyed by a report showing an unexpected rise in U.K. housing prices in August.

The dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 82.52, -0.30, -0.36%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, was little changed at 82.806.

In the commodity markets, gold for December delivery fell 40 cents to $1,258.9 after surging to a new settlement high Tuesday, fueled by safe-haven demand.

Crude-oil futures slipped 6 cents to $74.03 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The American Petroleum Institute will report data on oil supplies this afternoon, a day later than usual because of the Labor Day holiday. Analysts polled by Platts expect declines in oil and gasoline stockpiles.

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

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Indications: Stock futures gain after Portuguese auction

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

By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday, as Portugal successfully conducted a bond auction, easing short-term concerns about euro-zone sovereign debt.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 22 points to 10,360 after earlier trading down 25 points.

"Given that the markets are focused so much on fear at the moment, every bit of good news produces a small comeback in risk," said Mads Koefoed, market strategist at Saxo Bank. "When Portuguese bonds are sold, then it's [the market] simply rallying on everything that can be interpreted as good news."

The Portuguese government sold 661 million euros ($839 million) of three-year debt and 378 million euros of 10-year bonds. Demand was solid and boosted market sentiment.

What's behind gold's record run?

Gold futures finish at a record high, in a sign that the flight away from risk is continuing to gain steam. Brett Arends discusses.

S&P 500 futures gained 3 points to 1,094.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.75 points to 1,864.20.

European stock markets also turned higher, erasing losses, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index /quotes/comstock/22c!sxxp (ST:SXXP 261.70, +1.94, +0.75%) rising 0.7% in intraday trade.

The Portuguese auction offset weaker-than-expected German economic data.

Germany's exports dropped in July from the previous month, while industrial production edged up only 0.1%, much less than economists expected. See more on Germany.

The blue-chip Dow index /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 10,341, -107.24, -1.03%) dropped 1% on Tuesday, snapping a four-session winning streak.

The Federal Reserve will release its Beige Book at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Consumer credit for July and a speech by Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, are also on the calendar.

The Bank of Canada is expected to announce its decision on interest rates.

BP report on the spill

In the energy sector, shares of BP PLC /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 37.19, -0.24, -0.64%) /quotes/comstock/23s!a:bp. (UK:BP. 415.25, +8.45, +2.08%) rallied 3.2% in premarket trading. In its internal report released on Wednesday, the firm said that "a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties" led to the explosion and fire that killed 11 people and caused an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.

"It is evident that a series of complex events, rather than a single mistake or failure, led to the tragedy," said BP's outgoing chief executive, Tony Hayward. "Multiple parties, including BP, Halliburton and Transocean, were involved."

Shares of Halliburton Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!hal/quotes/nls/hal (HAL 29.84, -0.59, -1.94%) and Transocean Ltd. /quotes/comstock/13*!rig/quotes/nls/rig (RIG 53.05, -1.28, -2.36%) were little changed in premarket trading.

Shares of Talbots Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!tlb/quotes/nls/tlb (TLB 11.11, -0.38, -3.31%) dropped 10% in premarket trade after the firm reported quarterly results that disappointed investors.

Most Asian stock markets ended lower on Wednesday, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average index dropping 2.2%.

U.K. mobile telecoms giant Vodafone Group PLC /quotes/comstock/23s!a:vod (UK:VOD 159.45, -0.45, -0.28%) said it's selling its entire 3.2% stake in China Mobile Ltd. /quotes/comstock/13*!chl/quotes/nls/chl (CHL 50.25, -1.17, -2.27%) in a deal that will generate 4.3 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) before taxes and costs. Read more on Vodafone.

The British pound /quotes/comstock/21o!x:sgbpusd (GBPUSD 1.5439, +0.0082, +0.5340%) gained 0.7% to $1.5446, buoyed by a report showing U.K. housing prices unexpectedly rose in August.

The dollar index /quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0 (DXY 82.84, +0.02, +0.02%) , which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, was little changed at 82.797.

In the commodity markets, gold for December delivery touched an intraday high of $1,262.30 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. Gold futures surged to a new settlement high on Tuesday, fueled by safe-haven demand.

Crude-oil futures dropped 17 cents to $73.92 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The American Petroleum Institute will report data on oil supplies this afternoon, a day later than usual because of Labor Day. Analysts polled by Platts expect declines in oil and gasoline stockpiles.

Polya Lesova is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.

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NYSE Arca Morning Update - 08:30:00 ET

NYSE Arca Morning Update for Wednesday, Sep 8, 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
ZGEN $5.31 $9.73 83.2% 3,180,788
SKH $3.52 $4.64 31.8% 30,265
QXM $2.58 $3.32 28.7% 14,000
TUNE $2.47 $2.93 18.5% 201,857


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 $101119505 $110.17 0.5% | C 3,207,968 $3.87 1.0%
ZGEN $30,961,035 $9.73 83.2% | ZGEN 3,180,788 $9.73 83.2%
AAPL $14,866,953 $260.05 0.9% | SPY 919,160 $110.17 0.5%
GLD $14,595,610 $123.27 0.5% | BP 257,338 $38.46 3.4%
C $12,376,314 $3.87 1.0% | QQQQ 251,320 $45.96 0.6%
QQQQ $11,529,112 $45.96 0.6% | NOK 232,900 $9.71 2.4%
IWM $10,526,551 $63.42 0.5% | TBT 215,655 $31.52 0.3%
BP $9,876,202 $38.46 3.4% | TUNE 201,857 $2.93 18.5%
TBT $6,784,426 $31.52 0.3% | IRE 201,275 $3.56 ( 4.9%)
TLT $4,550,795 $105.16 ( 0.5%) | IWM 166,100 $63.42 0.5%


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.

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