Written by Gary
Late afternoon trading brought the averages back up near the unchanged line, but on very low volume. The global issues that we had this morning still exist and are not likely to go away tomorrow.
Investors remain skittish amid concerns about a Greek default, a tumble in Chinese shares and an unexpected rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Avago to buy Broadcom for $37 billion in biggest-ever chip deal (Reuters) – Avago Technologies Ltd agreed to buy Broadcom Corp for $37 billion in the largest chip industry deal ever, turning a lesser-known company run by a ferocious dealmaker into a rival to the biggest in the field. |
| Wall Street falls amid worries about China and Greece (Reuters) – U.S. stocks dipped in early afternoon trading, a day after the Nasdaq closed at a record high and amid concerns about a Greek default, a tumble in Chinese shares and an unexpected rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims. |
| No change in Greek debt talks after another day of spin BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro leapt, Greek bond yields fell, global financial markets brightened, but nothing actually changed in another day of conflicting statements on Greece’s long-running debt talks with international creditors. |
| The “Revolving Door” Goes Full Retard: SEC Hires Goldmanite Who Previously Worked At The SECJust when you thought the US regulators may have finally become less tone deaf to the shame of the revolving door, especially following last year’s latest scandal confirming Goldman runs the New York Fed (and every other central bank), here comes the SEC with an absolute shocker, not only proving once and for all that when it comes to regulatory capture, there is nobody in charge quite like Lloyd Blankfein, but unveiling what may have been the first ever double revolving door in SEC history, after the SEC announced it had hired as its new chief of staff a former Goldman worker who had previously worked at… the SEC. And with that the we have gone not only full circle but full retard as well.
From the SEC:
|
| More and More Outlets Are Suggesting a Carry Tax on Physical CashA carry tax… or tax on physical currency… is coming. The Fed and other Central Banks literally took the nuclear option in dealing with the 2008 bust. Collectively, they’ve printed over $11 trillion and have cut interest rates to zero for nearly six years. All of these efforts were focused on driving in trashing cash and forcing investors/ depositors into risk assets. But these policies have failed to generate growth. Rather than admit they are completely wrong, Central Banks are reverting to more and more extreme measures to destroy cash and force investors to move into risk against their will. Things went into hyperdrive last June when the ECB cut interest rates to negative, thereby CHARGING depositors to keep their money in cash. Since that time, Denmark, Switzerland and other nations have followed suit. The banks are following in their footsteps. Julius Baer, JP Morgan, and other firms have begun to charge large account holders for parking in cash. JP Morgan openly stated it wanted to LOSE $100 billion in deposits. This is just the beginning. More and more we’re seeing hints that Central banks are planning on charging individuals who sit on cash… or possibly even banning physical cash entirely. Now comes the interesting part. There are signs of an innovation war over negative interest rates. There’s a surge of creativity around ways to drive interest rates deeper into negative territory, possibly by abolishing cash or making it depreciable… As long as paper money is available as an alternative for customers who want to withdraw their deposits, there’s a limit t … |
| U.S. reaches deals with four more banks under Swiss program WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Four more Swiss banks have cut deals with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid possible prosecution for helping Americans evade taxes, the department said on Thursday. |
| Stock Traders Pile In at CloseThe middle of the day has become awfully quiet on the U.S. stock market, as index funds and computer models push the action toward the end of the trading day. |
| Fed’s Bullard: low rate vow is ‘not helpful,’ GDP targeting is (Reuters) – Forward guidance and bond-buying, two mainstays of global central banking since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, may actually be of little use in jump-starting a moribund economy, a study by a top Federal Reserve official showed on Thursday. |
| Poroshenko Threatens To Declare Martial Law In Ukraine Within Hours “To Demonstrate Readiness For War”In the case of any advance of Ukrainian army positions – and who is to say whether there is or not – Ukraine’s President Poroshenko says he will declare martial law across his country within hours. As RT reports, Poroshenko added that Ukraine will “demonstrate its readiness for war, for victory, for defense and for peace.” For martial law to be enacted, the parliament has to approve a corresponding ruling by the Ukrainian president. It can be declared in the whole country or selected regions. And as RT reports,
|
| The Stock Market – A Picture Of ExcessSubmitted by Pater Tenebrarum via Acting-Man.com, More Ominous Charts We have decided to expand a bit on our recent post about “ominous charts” and show a few more charts that should at least give one pause. We hasten to add that none of them should be seen as timing indicators. It must be stressed that we continue to be in unprecedented situation, with central banks worldwide cutting interest rates to the bone with policy rates in the major currency areas having been kept at or near zero for an unusually long time period.
Party on dudes! At the same time, central banks have actively printed money to replace the lack of credit expansion by commercial banks (resp. are continuing to do so), and not surprisingly they have proved quite adequate at this task. Most of this newly created money has flowed directly into securities markets. A few central banks such as the SNB and the BoJ are even buying stocks outright (the SNB e.g. holds a very large position in AAPL, among others). This mountain of newly created money keeps growing at an astonishing pace and is still rippling through the securities markets and the economy. In light of this, many formerly tried and true indicators have seemingly ceased to provide us with any meaningful signals. However, we believe this has to be qualified a bit: the signals may not be meaningful in the short term, but they are likely to turn out to be of great long term significance. Right now, several imp … |
| Delta Air Lines says seeks Asia alliances TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines is interested in forging alliances with carriers in Asia, the airline’s president said on Thursday. |
| It’s Official: Austria Repatriates Gold, Confirms Loss Of Faith In Bank Of EnglandOne week ago, the world was not exactly shocked to learn that after Germany and the Netherlands, one more country had unofficially joined the ranks of nations who have seen this all before and know how it ends, when reports emerged that Austria would repatriate 140 tons of gold from the Bank of England (appropriately immortalized in “this is what happens when you hand your gold over to The Bank of England for “safekeeping”.) As of today, it is official. Earlier today the Austrian Central Bank confirmed the Kronen-Zeitung report, and said that by the year 2020, it would hold 50%, or 140 tons, of its gold domestically, up from 17% currently. This means that Austria will withdraw some 140 tons of gold from the BOE which holds 80% of Austria’s gold currently (and will soon hold only 30%) and send 92.4 tons back home to Vienna with another 47.6 tons being sent to Switzerland. Which is also the biggest news: Austria is explicitly demonstrating a lack of confidence in the “pro-western” system of which the Bank of England is a critical cog, and instead opting for “neutral” Switzerland, which will hold nearly 50 tons of the gold formerly located at the Bank of England. Why? As AFP notes, the central bank said it took the decision after recommendations made by the Austrian Court of Audit in February, which warned of a “heightened concentration risk” linked to storing the majority of its reserves in Britain. At the time, the bank had argued the policy was warranted because London was a major international centre for the gold trade.” Well, London still is a major international center, but in the past three months the bank surprisingly changed its mind a … |
| Abercrombie signals better year as Hollister sales improve (Reuters) – Abercrombie & Fitch Co said its business was showing signs of recovery as sales of its Hollister-branded clothes improved, suggesting that recent efforts to revitalize the teen apparel retailer may be starting to pay off. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated:
