Wheatland, Wyoming seems to have the cheapest gas in the nation:
Picture courtesy of the Sheridan Press (PDF)
Hat tip John B
In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone. —John Kenneth Galbraith
Asian currencies continue to sell off vs the $ on the heels of the news yesterday that South Korea said they will look into hot money inflows stemming from the $ carry trade and the Bank of Indonesia said they are looking into the foreign buying of bills. This follows the news a few weeks ago that Taiwan was limiting foreign deposit holdings and Brazil was taxing foreign inflow transactions. As I mentioned yesterday, we may have reached a short term pain threshold in terms of $ weakness and foreign countries are fighting back as they certainly won't wait for...
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Take a long look, this might be the last time in your lifetime you see that price. Gasoline taxes are coming…
December 30th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
There’s our little “Santa Rally” just in time to clean up those year-end mutual fund statements just a wee bit……..not much but any little bit helps.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Great rally…on less than half average volume…just what I wanted so I could get a better price when I re-invest my QID capital gain distributions tomorrow…thanks sheeple.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Bought very small amounts of EEV, FAZ and SRS today. Probably will buy more QID tomorrow or next week. Still hanging on to decent holdings in ACI, VLO, GDX (although trimmed holding a bit), MOS, and COP for the time being.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I did some selling and put on some DXD overnight. Now about 60% long: 20% cash: 20% short.
This has been one of my better weeks as some of my November picks came good.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Steve Barry Says:
“Great rally… just what I wanted so I could get a better price when I re-invest my QID capital gain…”
Yes, stock market road sign: Shorting Opportunity Ahead
I just don’t know if I should do it before or after the passage of O’s stimulus package. Any thoughts?
December 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Tough call KJ. Probably save a lot of powder for after the stimulus package though. Anything I do now is going to be really small until after O takes office…..
December 30th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
“Gasoline taxes are coming…”
Rightly so. Tax it back up to $3.50/gallon and use the proceeds to prepare for energy hyperinflation beginning 2013 – 2015.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
@KJ:
With 10 day put call MA at 2 year lows…21 day at 2 year lows…and 10 day nicely below the 21 day (indicating it likely will rise in the short-term) you probably have a great short opportunity now. The other times in the last 2 years put/call was close to this were Oct 07 and May 08 (check what the market did those times). Right after the new year, we’ll get tons of earnings warnings.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
CNBC reporting BlackRock, Goldman, PIMCO and Wellington going to manage the Mortgage-Backed security program. The usual suspects (aside from maybe Wellington). They, apparently, haven’t made out enough by cashing in on the Feds’ bailouts…..
It’s good to be King, no make that, GREAT, to be King.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
and today, the government bailed out GMAC, so they could turn right around and lower their current credit standards to sell more cars. Crazy country.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
@SB: Someone commented on Calculated Risk that the Repo Man is happy man today. In fact, I might have to look that business, assuming lowering credit standards will get subprime applicants with no income back at the trough buying cars they can’t afford……….
The people who CAN afford these new cars that already have good cars (like me and my wife) probably aren’t ponying up for a new car anytime soon, so what does this actually do? Oh yeah, that’s right. It bails out the very people/companies who got us into this mess. This country is now officially a three-ringed circus. All we need to do is add the elephants and freak show (Hank might be able to fill the latter capably) and we’re all set.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Is this quote hilarious via briefing.com? “Stocks staged a solid advance without the help of any major news items or encouraging economic data. Each of the major indices rallied in the final minutes of trading, finishing at session highs.”
Those in the know knew the news… and instead of buy the rumor, sell the news; it is sell the rumor (nov 25 press release), buy the news (dec 30).
The Federal Reserve said Tuesday it expects to begin a program to buy mortgage-backed securities in early January.
The program was announced in a Nov. 25 Fed press release.
The Fed also said it has picked private investment managers to act as its agents in implementing the program.
Under the program, the Fed will buy MBS backed by Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Ginnie Mae.
“The program is being established to support the mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in financial markets more generally,” the Fed said.
The managers selected are BlackRockInc., Goldman Sachs Asset Management, PIMCO, and Wellington Management Co., LLP.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Is this a big deal that will extend the rally tomorrow or already priced in? Any ideas?
Fed to start buying mortgage-backed securities
12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve says it will begin purchasing up to $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities early next month in an effort to bolster the housing market.
The Fed first announced the purchases in late November, but did not say when they would begin. The central bank says it will purchase securities that are guaranteed by home loan giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.
The Fed also says BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Asset Management, PIMCO and Wellington Management Company LLP will operate the program.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
anyone with the nerve to go short this Fed is a bigger man than i am.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
BR and TBP People:
This is a thought-provoking look into the crystal ball. I favor some version of Paul’s “double dip” forecast, FWIW.
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/12/30/scenarios_for_2.html
December 30th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
The January 2009 gasoline futures contract is at $.89 right now; the December 2011 gasoline futures contract is at $1.44.
In principle, a motorist could at least lock in the $1.44 price, thereby hedging against price increases beyond that.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
KJ Foehr @ 4:13
At least wait until the Messiah delivers a speech of some sort (he’s on vacation right now).
December 30th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Volume since the Nov. low is so pathetic, I see the whole move getting wiped out the first few days volume picks up to average.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I definitely want to see the first week’s action after the missing traders are back in the mix and volume is normal.
December 30th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Why does the Fed need investment managers to buy Agency issues? They haven’t had any problems buying these in the past. Is this just a case of the government throwing more money at the iBanks?
December 30th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Donald Thompson is right about the wind. We’ve got 90 mile an hour gusts out here in the wind zone today. If you can stand up without being blow over, then you can go ahead and pump some cheap gas.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I don’t understand why the “good news” of the GMAC bailout wasn’t already “priced in”.
December 30th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
DL Says:
“At least wait until the Messiah delivers a speech of some sort (he’s on vacation right now).”
OK, I’ll be waiting for Godot, scratch that, I mean Barack.
wunsacon Says:
“I don’t understand why the “good news” of the GMAC bailout wasn’t already “priced in”.”
It probably was. I am thinking the last hour ramp was caused by a leak of the MBS news that broke after hours. It still seems to be an inside game to a significant extent: some privileged few on Wall Street often get the good stuff ahead of the MSM and the rest of us.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
KJ,
w/this: “some privileged few on Wall Street often get the good stuff ahead of the MSM and the rest of us.”
I’m glad that you see aspect of our current *Reality, as a, continuing, Reality.
Maybe, as a ‘News Flash’, you’ll see that “K Street” makes more by feeding ‘Greenwich’, than it does by ‘whoring out’ Congress..
December 30th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
What I really wonder about is the timing; coming now, GMAC “bank” and MBS buying, just in time to save ’08 from being the worst year… A last minute attempt to scrape a little excrement off W’s soiled rep?
December 30th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
“Maybe, as a ‘News Flash’, you’ll see that “K Street” makes more by feeding ‘Greenwich’, than it does by ‘whoring out’ Congress..”
I think you are alluding to something you said a few weeks ago, some group or org, I think. I did read a little on it, but I’m afraid it escapes me now; I need another clue.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
KJ,
all that, and more..all the B*llish agitprop saturating the airwaves, enticing MutFund/401(k)-victims to ’stay the course’–if it didn’t have tangible influence, it’d be Fun to watch..
December 30th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
and, KJ,
I forgot, with your advanced case of BDS, you should have, bandwidth enourh, the patience to read this:
http://meltdown2011.wordpress.com/2008/12/30/best-way-2-control-the-masses/
it’s charming..
December 31st, 2008 at 12:04 am
Ha! It’s not Bush; it’s those that pull his strings who warped my mind.
December 31st, 2008 at 7:21 am
“The program is being established to support the mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in financial markets more generally,” the Fed said.
—————
I guess they are going whatever they can to save a few % of the ALT-A batch coming due.
December 31st, 2008 at 9:42 am
Tax Gas!
December 31st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
David writes in:
We live in Sheridan now and saw that in the evening paper too.
Here’s the deal why those prices are so low that you might want to mention to readers:
This is what you get when you have oil refineries in your state: low gas/diesel prices.
All the people who keep carping and whining about “not in my backyard” can suffer higher fuel costs. Those of us who are willing to put up with things like natural gas production (all around Sheridan), coal production (all over northeast WY) and oil drilling & refining in their backyards get the just desserts: low fuel prices. There are at least four refineries in WY, and while none of them are huge, they do make a dent in our fuel prices. Wyoming consistently has the cheapest fuel prices I see all over the west, aside from perhaps the area north of Salt Lake City, where they also have refineries.
Oh, and BTW — this also results in a state budget that is doing quite well while the rest of the “blue states” are quickly disappearing up their own budget backsides. We not only have a surplus, we even have a rainy-day fund of money put aside.
All because we don’t turn up our noses as energy development. We regulate it, we police it, but we don’t eliminate it.