Tuesday Reading
An interesting variety of readings today:
• Holiday Cliffhanger: Stores Pin Hopes on Last-Minute Shoppers (WSJ)
• The Equity Culture Loses Its Bloom (Institutional Investor):
‘The equity party is over. After a 25-year bender in which stocks catapulted Wall Street to such dizzying heights that financial firms managed to tip off a worldwide recession, the cult of equities is declining in earnest. The resulting hangover could fundamentally change the game for Wall Street.”
This one has a certain “Death Of Equities” smell to it . . .
• Interview with Dr. Marc Faber: US vs China: Watch the power game play out (FT)
• Lower loan payments = fewer redefaults for homeowners (CNN/Money)
• Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up (Wired)• Taxpayers Help Goldman Reach Height of Profit in New Skyscraper (Bloomberg)
• Healthcare Reform has More Corporate Sponsors than NASCAR
• Twitter:
-Profitable? (Bloomberg)
-Or Not? (GigaOm)• Apple TV-Service Proposal Gets Some Nibbles (WSJ)
• My lazy American students (Boston Globe)
What are you reading?
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December 22nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Read this one about GDP:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Sorry for re-posting but it’s a goodie:
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a $290 million judgment against Microsoft Corp. and issued an injunction that will prevent the sale of its popular Word software. The court injunction is set to go into effect Jan. 11. Microsoft has said such a bar would prohibit the sale of all currently available versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/12/22/court_microsoft_violated_patent_cant_sell_word/
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for pointing out the Wired article.
I am currently looking at the following: http://mathematicsofwar.com/
And will be reading the article: Common Ecology Quantifies Human Insurgency
Also wrt Argentina, here’s an interesting article on current goingson in their bonds:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aUZyxenGDTmA
Bloomberg reporter (Drew Benson) covers this well.
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:55 pm
The Top ‘Recession Porn’ Stories of 2009
http://money.blogs.time.com/2009/12/22/the-top-recession-porn-stories-of-2009/
December 22nd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I know it is light volume…but a market put/call of .59 yesterday, now printing .55, is at least a 3 year low for a 2 day period.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
what if wall street ran the airlines?
http://baselinescenario.com/2009/12/21/if-wall-street-ran-the-airlines/
or if it was run like health care?
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/st_20090926_4826.php
more details on financial reform
http://baselinescenario.com/2009/12/21/more-details/
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
>>Healthcare Reform has More Corporate Sponsors than NASCAR
Of course, what better way to shift costs to the taxpayers?
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
A very cool site: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The Sith Lords really do run NYSE — look, it’s all true! Here’s photographic evidence:
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/12/darth_vader_com.html
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
another great read from Hussman…sounds like the S is FINALLY about to HTF.
http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc091221.htm
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Steve Barry: Enjoyed the Hussman column. Thanks.
I’m attempting to get in the good humor / holiday spirit. Difficult to do this year — don’t know if it’s age or if it’s just been a helacious year.
My article for the day: Don’t hate on the fruitcake.
http://www.slate.com/id/2238779/?GT1=38001
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Dylan Ratigan moving to 4:00 pm
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/msnbc/dylan_ratigan_moving_to_4_pm_on_msnbc_145875.asp
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Sith Lords At The NYSE! Alert Patrick Byrne!
http://lolfed.com/2009/12/22/sith-lords-at-the-nyse-alert-patrick-byrne/
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Meant to add to previous post, Barry: The Wired article is a great find.
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Dylan Ratigan:
He has the cáilíocht but his temperament sometimes gets the better of him. His ‘bezerker’ switch needs adjustment (I say that in all good faith, Dylan- tell me now, my advice about the ties, good wasn’t it?).
Maybe this journal entry will offer Mr. Ratigan some food for thought.
http://www.leonardobrian.com/writing/journeys-of-janus/epilogue.html
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/108445/gold-is-the-new-tupperware-and-youre-invited-to-the-party
liked the lazy student article. another reason why we should not fear legal immigration. bring it on.
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Related to you Boston Globe Article (I guess the NY Times Editorial board is All American)
http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2009/11/shameful_innumeracy_in_the_new.php
“Financial instruments could be spiked with unfindable risks”
http://www.physorg.com/news180640677.html
Can’t wait for round two in a few years (of too big too fail, especially since it is popular on license plates).
If you thought Bush 2 was bad, it may get worse (especially including the lack of financial reform):
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/12/22/obama-thinks-lying-to-the-american-people-is-the-best-strategy/
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/the_bottom_line.php
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Ladies and Gents (technicals aside) I see No Way in which this Market continues higher much longer with interest rates and the U.S dollar doing moonshots and energy prices hanging tough–not without more Federal Intervention from Bernanke and Co. I expect the dollar to resume it’s downtrend, interest rates to ‘correct’, and then commodities to push higher with the falling dollar. If the Fed does not continue to intervene to keep mortgage rates low, with the employment situation the way it is, kiss this stock market rally goodbye.
The technicals would seem to suggest another push higher in the stock markets and then a SELL SIGNAL that hits even the CNBS crowd square in the face.
December 22nd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
China shot down the Copenhagen climate deal because they wanted to humiliate the West…They wouldn’t even “allow” the West to announce voluntary emissions control targets!
I actually made use of this story to good effect, though. I sent it to my lefty friends and told them that this is the best argument I’ve seen for preserving our nuclear strike capability.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas
December 22nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Sith Lord-
I think you got scopped on your Darth Vader/NYSE story by TZ
December 22nd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
The Bush/Obama administration have a special present for you on X-Mas for the next decade:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-tavakoli/treasury-cover-up-of-gold_b_400300.html
http://www.newdeal20.org/?p=7092
http://www.newdeal20.org/?p=7088
Amazing how many of these type of stories during the holiday season.
Merry Christmas
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:06 pm
financial wizardry investigation?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/12/financial-crisis-inquiry-commission-angelides-fcic-hearings.html
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Wired is a Magazine worth Subscribing to, and it’s inexpensive..
also, “You’ve heard it before, how the pharmaceutical industry has a giant “revolving door” through which corporations and government agencies frequently exchange key employees. That reality was driven home in a huge way today when news broke that Dr. Julie Gerberding, who headed the Center for Disease Control (CDC) from 2002 through 2009, landed a top job with Merck, one of the largest drug companies in the world. Her job there? She’s the new president of the vaccine division.
How convenient. That means the former head of the CDC was very likely cultivating a relationship with Merck all these years, and now comes the big payoff: Heading up a $5 billion division that sells cervical cancer vaccines (like Gardasil), chickenpox vaccines and of course H1N1 swine flu vaccines, too.
So what’s the problem with all this? The problem is that private industry and government health offices such as the CDC or FDA should never be so cozy. When they are, it creates an environment of collusion between Big Government and Big Pharma. We’ve already seen this with the government-led push for swine flu vaccines that are manufactured (and sold) by drug companies like Merck.
You might even say that the CDC already functions as the marketing division of the pharmaceutical industry….”
http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/former-head-of-cdc-lands-lucrative-job-as-president-of-merck-vaccine-division/
“The symbiotic partners of “Chimerica” both present symbolic economies which mask the structural rot in their real economies.
I am indebted to Australian analyst John Craig of the Centre for Policy and Development Systems for the concept of a symbolic economy which is presented as “evidence” of “healthy growth.” Behind the symbolic facade, the real economy is devolving toward structural implosion.
Such a substitution by the Power Elites/State partnership of symbolic prosperity for broad-based, real prosperity is what I term a simulacrum of prosperity in the Survival+ analysis.
For China, the symbolic economy is a highly suspect GDP growth rate of 8%, mostly fueled by stupendous Central Government stimulus and unprecedented borrowing….”
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec09/symbolic-economy12-09.html
“Troubled home loans continued to mount in the nation’s banks in the third quarter as even once-solid borrowers increasingly fell behind on their mortgage payments.
For the first quarter ever, the number of homes in foreclosure with mortgages serviced by U.S. national banks and savings and loans topped the 1-million mark, according to figures released Monday by the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency…”
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-foreclosures22-2009dec22,0,7969044.story
Pharm-fueled PoliSci-Fi surreality~ good times ! (?)
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Feds errors?
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/12/21/the-feds-regulatory-errors/
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:32 pm
OT, but any body have info on the Tips Etfs. I am trying to find out more so I close out some positions and transfer some cash into LTPZ (so as to not get in front of the D-train near term), yet I don’t know how this fund actually works since it is so new. The fact sheet says it’s .2 expense load and pays a monthly dividend, but i haven’t seen the dividends show up on finance sites i frequent. Anybody familiar with LTPZ and how it is working?
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Mark, you might have heard the saying among medical researchers: “No conflict, no interest.”
If anybody ever wants to take an Internet trip down a rabbit hole, do some online research into the FDA approval process for some of these exotic manmade antibodies that have shown up in the last 10 years. Take a look at some of the MDs and PhDs on the review panels. Watch the fun as the small labs that owned and developed the initial biomed IP get gobbled up and turn into profitable units of Big Pharma. Watch stock prices rise on press releases around promising early results from initial trials. Read the reports of adverse patient effects that were unreported or deliberately mis-attributed by corrupt MD researchers to other underlying conditions in patients rather than use of the drugs. Watch the drugs pass final stage clinical trials. Watch the billions roll in.
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
finally found it on morningstar. Paid approximately 29 cents a share in dividends for the first 3 months of existence for apy of 2.26 percent if anybody is interested(without load).
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
is wall street fraud inevitable and we have to just live with it? or is it so rigged against the investor that its nothing but smoke mirrors to convince them otherwise
?
http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/singer-rajaratnam-galleon-intelligent-investing-regulation.html?partner=yahootix
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Transor,
yes, BioTech is a fascinating facet of the political Economy..
those FDA ‘panelists’, often, have their trousers so filled with shares of the co.s that are ‘under review’, I’m surprised that they can button their suit coats, let alone fit in their Aerons–
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=Herman+Miller+Aeron+GSA+approved
though, lest we forget the U. -funded Research, often sold, complete, at Wholesale prices..
http://www.genomeweb.com/biotechtransferweek/big-pharma%E2%80%99s-academic-courtship-continues-pfizer-ucsf-glaxo-idi-research-pacts
“…And the magic words, repeated over and over like an incantation, are research, innovation, and American. Research. Innovation. American. It makes a great story.
But while the rhetoric is stirring, it has very little to do with reality. First, research and development (R&D) is a relatively small part of the budgets of the big drug companies—dwarfed by their vast expenditures on marketing and administration, and smaller even than profits. In fact, year after year, for over two decades, this industry has been far and away the most profitable in the United States. (In 2003, for the first time, the industry lost its first-place position, coming in third, behind “mining, crude oil production,” and “commercial banks.”) The prices drug companies charge have little relationship to the costs of making the drugs and could be cut dramatically without coming anywhere close to threatening R&D.
Second, the pharmaceutical industry is not especially innovative. As hard as it is to believe, only a handful of truly important drugs have been brought to market in recent years, and they were mostly based on taxpayer-funded research at academic institutions, small biotechnology companies, or the National Institutes of Health (NIH)…”
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244
LSS: sing it Sheryl.. “Lie to me, I promise I will believe..”, then, cue Aretha..”Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
ya know, it’d be funny … if they weren’t Killing People.
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:41 pm
BR: RE: Recession Porn story.
The “Money” quote:
“We’ve gone through recessions before, but we’ve never been hit from every side like this.”
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Thanks for that link.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Steve Barry and MRegan:
Great links. Thanks
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 am
@MEH: Correct. “Chimerica” . I think that term just about sums it up.
Health Care Reform: Just another DC euphemistic misdirection term.
More sponsors than NASCAR? I’d say. Just look at the armored cars lined up outside the White House dropping off money. And Congressional offices.
My, my, their campaigns will be well funded for at least another five years.
Slick Willie taught them well.
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 am
As Marc Faber points out, Reserve bank of India is very nimble footed. They are always looking ahead of the curve with specific credit growth targets. It is quite opposite to what happens here. There is very good saving rate. Financial sector is still not opened up. There was a talk about opening the sector. I don’t think so they are willing to open up any time soon. Banking sector is still dominated by public sector banks. It has been 5 years since they gave permission to open up a last private sector bank. They have different and stringent set of rules to non deposit taking financial institutions which are called NBFC (non banking financial company). Basically they do not have huge FDIC sort of guarantees. Deposits are insured for 1 lakh INR which is equivalent to $2500. Still, they are considered very safest.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:49 am
who needs people when you can use robots?
http://apps.detnews.com/apps/multimedia/player/index.php?id=1189