Sometimes the shit be too f’d up! Yesterday, the markets opened up plus 150 points and they pretty much stayed there, today they opened down 50 points and finished down 10… which is to point to the extremely unlikely fact that despite there being no good news anywhere, the markets remain inexplicably up.
Which is merely belaboring the obvious, the Dow, S&P and the Nasdaq are all meaningless. They could zero them all out and the only thing that would happen is the pundits would have a difficult time explaining how it happened…but explain it they would!
There’s nothing but ‘hot air’ under the markets good citizen and if you’re not frightened by that now, you will be. We’re only a couple of inches away, which is another way of saying it is only the sheerest of veils separating what we perceive to be money and the awful truth, that what you’ve been told was the ‘storehouse of value’ no longer exists…you’ve literally been working for nothing.
Worse, you won’t be allowed to stop…because you owe, oh yes, you owe them bigtime!
But I digress, Today’s lead story wasn’t the demise of the dollar, no today’s story was more ‘mundane’, a commonplace event in the realm of government statistics.
Yes, good citizen, tonight’s offering we witness once again how data that drove the Dow up 100 plus points when it was revealed, was revised downwards today, causing a mere 10 point loss…Why should this piss you off, good citizen? Let me remind you one more time just who owns 99% of the stock, the richest 1 percent. In fact, it is share prices that determine how rich they are on any given day! Do any of you still wonder why share prices keep climbing?
Wall Street Slips After G.D.P. Revised Lower
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 24, 2009
Shares on Wall Street were slightly lower at Tuesday after a report showed that the economy grew at a slower pace in the third quarter than first anticipated.
Investors are entering trading cautiously as the updated report from the Commerce Department showed the nation’s economy grew at a 2.8 percent rate in the third quarter, down from an initial estimate of 3.5 percent — fresh evidence that while a recovery is under way, it is slow and bumpy. [Fresh evidence my ass! The only ones saying things were terrific are the bone-headed pundits (because that’s what they’re paid to say!)]
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted the growth rate would be revised to 2.9 percent. [Nice call, now that the revised data has already been released!]
Slow consumer spending, weakness in commercial construction and the nation’s trade gap all likely contributed to the lower growth expectation. [Oh and this was data we didn’t have at the time? What a bunch of thieves and liars!]
Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of all economic activity and a rebound in shopping is considered vital for a strong recovery. [In case any of you actually forgot, there it is…again…for the 4 millionth time.]
In mid-morning trading,
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 27 points or 0.27 percent. The broader Standard & Poor’s and Nasdaq were flat. Overseas markets were mostly lower as China’s central bank warned commercial banks in the country to control their lending.
Investors waiting for further clues about an economic recovery are also getting data on consumer confidence.
A report from the Conference Board is expected to show consumers are still nervous about the economy. The group’s Consumer Confidence Index for November was likely unchanged at 47.7, compared with October. A reading above 90 would signal the economy is on solid footing.
A housing report showed home prices improved for the fourth straight month in September, providing further evidence of a modestly improving housing market. [There is another piece in today’s NY Times that directly contradicts this report!]
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, which tracks prices in 20 major metropolitan markets, rose 0.3 percent in September, compared with the previous month. Prices rose in 11 areas. [Apparently it is the October data that shows the dip and it is November after all…]
The home price report comes a day after an upbeat report on existing home sales in October helped stocks snap a three-day losing streak. A weakening dollar also helped major indexes rally on Monday. Major indexes rose more than 1 percent. [As I explained yesterday, only investors were ‘happy’ about the downturn of the dollar, which is another ‘slap in the face’ for Adam Smith’s ‘theory’ that greed inadvertently helps everyone because that’s not what’s happening now. People holding dollars are taking it up the poop chute. So, while investors see their ‘assets’ appreciate in value, everyone else merely gets a sore ass!]
The National Association of Realtors said October home sales rose more than 10 percent, easily topping the 1.4 percent increase predicted by economists. [The other ‘shoe’ here is this ‘rush’ is marked by cheap condo’s and run down starter homes bought by, you guessed it, our pal ‘Flipper’, the ‘wannabe slumlord’.]
A weakening dollar has bolstered commodities and stocks of energy and materials companies, helping drive shares higher in recent weeks. [Wait a minute, since when are rising prices something to be ‘celebrated’? What’s wrong with these morons? Or did I just answer my own question?]
The dollar was mixed Tuesday against other major currencies, while gold prices also rose.
Meanwhile, bond prices rose modestly. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.34 percent from 3.36 percent late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.05 percent from 0.03 percent. [In other readings today, bond prices and the resultant interest rates are the next ‘ticking time-bomb’, with some speculating that Mr. Bernanke will have his hand forced as soon as the beginning of next year!]
Overseas, China’s Shanghai index fell 3.5 percent, its biggest decline in three months, while Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.1 percent, and France’s CAC-40 declined 0.2 percent.
In London, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, said in a parliamentary hearing in London on Tuesday that there were “signs that a recovery will soon be under way” but added that “profound challenges” remain.
Mr. King said that inflation is likely to accelerate in the coming months because of higher petrol costs and as a temporary reduction in retail tax expires but that consumer prices would probably fall again after that.
“Powerful forces are continuing to restrain spending in the economy,” he said. “Banks are actively trying to reduce their leverage,” households and companies remain reluctant to spend because of concerns about future income and the government is likely to cut spending to reduce a record deficit.
There is just so much seriously bad news out there, good citizen, that you can’t pick a starting place.
Under the ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ category there are rumors that Jamie Dimon will replace Tim Geithner…and this is an improvement, how?
Then there is the status of our finances, which are downright frightening! We have something like 4 trillion dollars worth of short-term debt that needs to be rolled over in the next 12 months…or we’ll default.
You’d think an individual like Ben Bernanke would be smart enough to take the toxic debt he removed from the banking system through the ‘special lending facilities’ and parked it in long term notes, knowing that interest rates can’t stay ‘zero bound’ forever…but no!
It’s all in short term paper that needs to be rolled over in the next couple of months or it will default…and if you don’t think the situation is ‘interesting enough’ now, wait until you see what they look like after even a partial default!
Can you say ‘cascading systemic failure’? I hope you can’t because once it starts, there’s no stopping it!
Simply put good citizen, the monkey’s are tap-dancing on a land mine, which leads us to the only question that matters…’do you feel lucky today?
Well, do ya punk?
Thanks for letting me inside your head,
Gegner
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