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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Break the Resistance line?

It's a foregone conclusion.

The Euro will destruct. The path to destruction is not a foregone conclusion: could be a new treaty where members are kicked out, could be a dissolution, could be a reformation which might include Turkey. "Will See". In any case, it will take time, and the Eurozone will be in our sights for awhile on the psychological side of the market because any solution will take a long time. Same as with our debt resolution.

In the short term, EuroBanks are in serious liquidity trouble, and will sell assets. Will they sell price-depressed assets? Or valuable ones? Like Gold? Is that why gold’s falling? Again, that's not clear but in order to re-capitalize, they will have to raise capital on their own. That model is formed by Merkle. So during this liquidity problem I think we'll see the U$D will strengthen, and the Euro will grow weaker. Putting pressure down on the market.

I will trade this by buying SKF on pullbacks. The reasoning behind this is that US banks are swapping assets with foreign banks, and we know what’s happening in Europe.

Here’s the Stockcharts.com $SPYA50, the number of stocks trading above their 50 day MA.



Notice the chart is at a high, but in actuality, the number is lower than the chart indicates because of the market’s volatility. The current value is dislpayed in the middle and is 245. Just slightly less than half. So we’re seeing yet another turnaround. It’s so fast, the 3LB can’t keep up. And because we’re in the middle, there’s more room to go downward.

Finally, here’s the SPY. I’ve drawn a retracement, (ignoring the bear trap) and it’s interesting how many times we’ve hit the line labeled support/resistance (see the red lines), and how it aligns with the 38% fibo retracement of our latest big move.



So technically speaking if we see a break of this support/resistance line, and we see some significant rise in volume, we could easily have a bear flag formation, and some capitulation down to WolfStreet’s 120 or lower. But volume is the key. Volume will tell us there’s more short money entering. I said before I didn’t think we’d see 120 or below. I still believe that, and will be waiting the next Policy Manager’s statement to halt the market downturn. However, if we don’t get a PM statement soon, well it’s to 120 and below we go.

The next statement may come from S&P. I heard that a French sov debt downgrade is imminent.

123 comments:

  1. Here's the article describing the "soon" eurozone sov debt downgrade:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20111214-708450.html

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  2. Somebody told me about the TLT chart. Looks ready for one more stab up.

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  3. We have another government shutdown looming in three days. That's got to be good for at least a 500 point move in either direction at some point over the rest of the week. . .

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  4. China's Shanghai composite is below April'09!

    bespokeinvest.com/thinkbig/2011


    ICan

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  5. From Mish's blog.

    Hungrians who took out mortgages in Swiss Franc are revolting. Didn't take currency devaluation in to account. Same thing is going to happen to Indians who took U$D denominated loans. Default and walk away?

    Another post on China.

    "China prepared to let housing prices sink inspite of economic slowdown, transition to new regime underway, decoupling in reverse".

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  6. ICan - the wheels are starting to wobble. . .

    This is good

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/12/from-bad-to-worse-for-the-imf.html

    In a country review, the IMF said Tuesday the Greek economy is forecast to contract by up to 6% in 2011, versus Greece’s official estimate for negative economic output of 5.5%, ahead of a downturn in 2012 in the region of 2.75% to 3%. In its fourth year of recession, Greece has already revised lower its growth figure to 5.5% of output for 2011 from a forecast of negative 3.8% earlier in the year.

    “The economy is trending notably lower than what was expected. Investor sentiments have not improved as hoped, given the unexpected turmoil in other countries in the euro area periphery, uncertainties among investors about the framework for a comprehensive policy response to the crisis, and also uncertainties about private sector involvement in reducing Greece’s debt,” it said.

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  7. Watching DXY, to see if a relief rally is coming. I guess not yet.

    Japan Tanken: Big manufacturers mood darkens -marktetwatch.com

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  8. oooh, even better

    High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d75ccb8-25b5-11e1-856e-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1gZAMtejZ

    Franco-German hopes for a sweeping new treaty to bind the region’s economies more closely came under strain on Tuesday as several European Union leaders warned of difficulties pushing a far-reaching pact through their national parliaments.

    The pressure was particularly acute in non-eurozone countries, where at least four governments warned that the precise legal text would determine whether they could sign up to the treaty or otherwise join the UK on the sidelines.


    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3d75ccb8-25b5-11e1-856e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gZ9tJ7pQ

    Ruh Roh

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  9. Ican - I was just reading about that!

    Executives said their sentiment will worsen further into 2012 as an appreciating currency and Europe’s debt crisis threaten profits at companies from Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) to TDK Corp. (6762) Half of the analysts in a Bloomberg News survey forecast that the economy will contract this quarter, bolstering the case for more stimulus from the central bank.

    “This clearly shows that the economy is getting worse and it was surprising to see that the outlook is bleaker,” said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo and a former BOJ official. “If sentiment keeps worsening and raises the chance of Japan falling into a recession, the BOJ will have to take more decisive action rather than simply buying more assets.”

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  10. Watching.

    DXY,

    AUD/JPY

    AUD/USD.

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  11. Meanwhile in China . . .

    Bulletin: China preliminary manufacturing survey shows further contraction: HSBC

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  12. @Thor(9:36)

    That mean your country's economy looks best in the world right now.

    Obama wins next year.

    One good news, U.S. atleast out on 'dumb' war - Iraq.

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  13. Ican - It does seem as though the stars have aligned for Obama next year.

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  14. I wonder if gold is falling because people are having to cover losses. . .

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  15. Thor(9:53)

    I highlighted an article in bloomberg - Eu banks under pressure from regulators to bolster capital.

    "EU banks selling 'crown jewels' for cash".

    They could also be selling gold.

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  16. It use to be that during distress time gold was bought, not the U$D.

    Lately, if you've checked, gold has become a risk asset, just like other commodities and equities.

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  17. Newt and Romney.

    "Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir"- www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14

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  18. Looking fugly in Asian markets AGAIN. Uh oh. Katy bar that door.

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  19. Now's the part where a last minute "deal" is reached sometime tomorrow or Friday and the market will ZOOM. Until the next government shutdown looms. Or Italy's interest rate goes over 7 for the 10th time.

    Queue . . .

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpc5_3B5xdk

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  20. Thanks Rock for the analysis. From what I've read, European banks have been selling emerging markets. As for a downgrade of France, "will see". But you're right, the question is when..

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  21. @Mannwich:

    RE: police state

    Dow Jones Newswires:

    "BANGKOK (AFP)--A court in Thailand sentenced a "Red Shirt" political activist to 15 years in prison Thursday for insulting the monarchy, the latest in a series of convictions under the kingdom's lese majeste laws."

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  22. "Same thing is going to happen to Indians who took U$D denominated loans."

    Huh? Could you explain this in more detail?

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  23. I can't find the PM statement which popped us up. I bought the VXX this AM for a trip back to 40 and above.

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  24. Banksters are getting canned. (sorry, ICan, it's just a term)

    Morgan Stanley is firing 1600. That's a significant percentage of their global workforce.

    @emmanuel117:
    If you take a loan out in a currency that strengthens compared to the currency you get paid in, that loan suddenly gets quite expensive. As the U$D appreciates compared to lets say the peso, if a mexican took out a loan to buy a US property (in hopes he could get a green card and live here, ha) as the $ goes up in value, his mortgage becomes more expensive. It takes more pesos to make a buck.

    I suspect the rupee is depreciating WRT the U$D.

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  25. This is really, really good. Should be pretty basic economics but tough to convince a bunch of hardened ideologues when their whole worldview is shaped by false theories.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/millionaires-island-2011-12

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  26. There goes our rally. Seems as if each recent rally has petered out intra-day, each one earlier than the one before it. Not a good sign for Mr. Market.

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  27. @Emmy(9:43)

    Re, "Indians borrowing in U$D"

    To be clear, many business have taken loans denominated in U$D, NOT retail consumers like Hungarians.

    How much Indian Rupee has depreciated:

    On July 27, 2011

    1U$D = 44.09

    Today 1U$D = 53.645 at this moment.

    I just saw a story, trying to find the link, where some business had borrowed from a U.S. bank and the currency depreciation was making it very hard to pay back interest!.

    ICan

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  28. Morning guys!

    Manny, reading now!

    ICan - ooooh, didn't know that. . . either about the USD loans by Indian Business or that weakening Rupee!

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  29. Foreign Direct Investment - people have to realise they may make profit in the local currency, but conversion could kill all that.

    My family and friends have poured lot money there, but bring back will be hard. Maybe India doesn't want thatway.

    Losing 20% to currency devaluation?

    ICan

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  30. External Commercial Borrowing =ECB


    "Will India Inc. move back to rupee loans instead of ECB" -www.moneycontrol.com/rupee

    "India Inc have realised that borrowing loans in Indian rupee would have been far more prudent than External Commercial Borrowing".

    ICan

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  31. Rally losing steam this morning too. . .

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  32. Rock - this is very good. Yves commenting on Rehypothecation.

    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/12/revisiting-rehypothecation-jp-morgan-markets-its-latest-doomsday-machine-or-why-repo-may-blow-up-the-financial-system-again.html

    We’ve been loath to comment on a Thomson Reuters article that claimed that rehypothecation of assets in customer accounts was the reason MF Global customer funds went missing. The reason we’ve stayed away from this debate is that the article, despite its length, did not provide any substantiation for its claim. While it did contend that US customer accounts were set up so as to allow assets to be rehypothecated using far more permissive UK rules, and described how rehypothecation could be abused, it did not provide any proof that this was what took place at MF Global. Note that this does NOT mean we are saying that rehypothecation did not play a role, merely that the article was speculative.

    The bombshell testimony of CME chief Terry Duffy yesterday, that a CME auditor heard an MF Global employee say that “Mr Corzine was aware of the loans being made from segregated [customer] accounts,” suggests that some of the money went missing via much more straightforward means, namely, taking it and hoping to be able to give it back if the firm survived.

    But there is plenty of reason to be worried about rehypothecation. Richard Smith, in a post last January, described not only how rehypothecation played a major role in the last crisis, but also waved a big red flag regarding JP Morgan’s push to promote unrestricted rehypothecation.

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  33. India has approx. $311B of foreign reserves and approximately same amount of foreign liabilites so they can't actually buy back the rupee to halt the currency's slide.

    I guess good for exporters.

    ICan

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  34. "Victoria's Secret Revealed In African Child Labor". www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15

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  35. Whatever happened to good old hedges?


    ICan

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  36. @Mannwich:

    good article. However, the writer forgot one small detail: foreign trade, including outsourcing. Suddenly the model falls apart.

    As did the US. Or should say "as is doing the US".

    It's almost funny, while I was in Sing, the outsourcing was ramping up and the common people were beginning to complain (remember the chart where Sing people worked more hours than anybody).

    Outsourcing only helps the rich, and corporations doing the outsourcing. I suspect outsourcing is a significant contributor to the fall of the chart "wages as a % of GDP vs years" chart in the article. BTW, I don't think that chart was normalized for the depreciation of the dollar or increase in GDP. I suspect if it were, the slippery slope would look more like the cliffs of Marblehead.

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  37. Rock - I wonder though, how much of that outsourcing was to find cheaper labor as opposed to trying to find qualified labor? We outsource a fair amount of our development here at work, but that's more because we can't find enough qualified developers in this part of the country. The one's we DO find are making a mint, but we have several positions that go unfilled for months because there are no qualified applicants. . . .

    Very sad to see, American kids just have no interest in this kind of work, at least not in the same numbers they're getting degrees in Art History, Sociology, and Communications. . .

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  38. Exactly Rock and the Global Sheeple got snookered into thinking it would help them. I think they know that's not the case now, at least most who aren't still suffering from Stockholm Syndrome do.

    Global "free trade" or the race to the bottom only helps the rentiers or owners, the uber-wealthy, not labor. Problem is the elites got a problem once enough of the Sheeple figure that out and strike back.

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  39. @Thor: Your 11:23
    Corzine testified that he did know that customer's funds were being invested, and there's some rule regarding the segregation of customer's funds regarding *only futures and commodities administrated by the CFTC* that does permit this to happen. I don't know the rule, but saw the vignette on Bloomberg. I haven't seen any documentation that requires segregation of funds for anything other than CFTC transactions. As I pointed out, for sure, banks aren't under that requirement when they invest in T-bills. Which is *exactly why* t-Bills have *always* been exempt from any limits on rehypothecation. Tier 1 capital.

    The article doesn't say how these funds are applied, and used for what trades, or whether this is even possible. I mean, If I have income from two sources, when I go to McDonalds and buy a cheeseburger, how do I or anyone know the funds I used came from Source A or Source B?

    Anyway, Corzine did say that he knew customers' funds were being used to invest. And paragraph 7 which was in the MFGlobal agreement permits this.

    I think investors simply took a haircut. I took one in one account last night because I was short that account.

    Corzine also testified that the sovereign debt trade made profit.

    "Will see".

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  40. Rock - Agreed. Whether the claim are unsubstantiated or not, my guess is that they're right on, regardless of Yves thoughts. I tend to always ere on the side of corruption when it comes to world finances.

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  41. @Thor: That's a good point, but I remember the rush to become programmers during the dot.com days when everyone was making $100-$150/hour, only to see many of those jobs dry up (and many outsourced) after that crash. I wonder if that influenced some kids today?

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  42. Manny - oh, that was more media hype than anything else. I had some friends that went to classes to become a programmer back in the .com days. There were never anywhere near as many people going into that kind of work as there were new jobs coming up.

    Even during the .com implosion, it was never the developers who took the hit, my friends who code for a living have never had a problem finding work. I'd imagine it's the same in a lot of Western Countries. I'll bet Wolfie never has a problem finding work ;-)

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  43. Outsourcing I think is another one that's interesting to look at. A lot of work is outsourced to India, but I know we keep a lot of the very important work here in house because we cannot trust the developers in India to produce work at the same quality that we do here in the states, not sure what that is, but I've read articles on how India is graduating some huge number of engineers every year but that the vast majority of those would not even qualify for a BA in engineering in US college, a very high quantity of graduates, a very low quantity of qualified graduates.

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  44. 1 and 2 people are poor or low income in the U.S.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/census-shows-1-in-2-peopl_1_n_1150128.html

    Meanwhile, never been a better time to be a CEO. Pay jumps 27%.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/ceo-pay-sees-huge-boost-survey_n_1149535.html

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  45. @Thor: Problem is, it's hard to get that kind of entry level experience that gives one the experience to do the "important work". Unless one moves to India, of course. Dees your company hire entry level programmers?

    I think that companies are at least partially to blame for the skills gap because many refuse to train and invest in their workers thinking that not enough of them will stay long enough for the company to reap the benefits. Now who's fault is that?

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  46. Manny - that's sort of like hiring an entry level Fluid Dynamics Engineer, that's not an entry level job, no one would hire someone without the skills and train them to be a Fluid Dynamics Engineer. Learning how to code is a highly skilled job, not something companies are going to train for internally I'm afraid. We do hire people right out of college though, yes, quite a bit. Just not that many Senior Oracle Manufacturing Functional Analysts coming out of the universities these days. . .

    PS - I pulled that title from one of our long time open positions :-P

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  47. Manny, it could also be that technology is changing far faster than Universities can alter their coursework. We've been hiring a lot of App developers lately, those positions didn't even exist 4 years ago.

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  48. @Emmanuel

    What's your opinion of EMs? Chindia in particular?

    ICan

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  49. I think that's probably it, Thor, but how does one acquire those skills over time? Gotta start somewhere and entry level jobs are usually the feeders to do that, if companies are thinking long term about retaining their best talent. Most don't do a good job of that anymore because of the short-term focus on everything - namely ensuring the CEO can make his hay for the usual 4-5 period he/she's the CEO. That's a big issue. All about short term. Your company may be different but I've seen way too much of this when I was in HR and recruiting. It definitely impacts how the talent pool behaves.

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  50. I also think that more kids would consider these fields if they felt there was a long term career in them. Too many probably think that these fields will be gone by the time they get up to speed on things.

    Why invest a lot of time and money in a certain field if it's only going to be sent overseas at some point in the near future? I really think that's a problem.

    I also think that our university system is ill equipped to respond to this kind of rapid change.

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  51. @Thor: Your 12:07

    Yes. As you and I know, Engineering school is hard. And it's only for guys. (the %age of female applicants is much smaller, and the dropout rate is much higher--it was even in my day).

    The problem is that managers, like I was, look for qualified individuals who can contribute immediately to the task at hand. We can't look out 1 year to know the tasks coming, and how to hire and invest in a workforce that can handle those tasks. And we don't pay the true cost of development, because that includes the cost of gaining the knowledge to perform those tasks. We expect those costs to be borne by the employee.

    I was extremely guilty of this. I would not pay for an employee of mine to take a year off, go to school and learn the task I needed a year from now.

    Your comment shows your company is equally guilty--you want to defer the cost of gaining the asset you need.

    That is something that should be done by corporations with all these profits. But they aren't. They are not investing in their most valuable asset: their people.

    Corporations used to do it. We used to have in-house training courses. I was sent by my company to get my MBA from Wharton. But that's not done anymore.

    My advisor, Dr. Dertouzos started a program where you could rent tapes from MIT which were lectures. You could rent an entire course, and teach it at your company. It had very limited success, I understand.

    Companies refuse to invest in what they need in lieu of profits for the (senior executives) shareholders. They would rather buy-back shares, driving up their EPS.

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  52. @Thor

    I was composing the 12:54, and I see MAnnwich already answered.

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  53. Manny - Rock just explained what I was trying to get across far better than I ever could :-) Thank you Rock!

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  54. Rock - and I agree with you 100%, companies should be putting ALL profits right back into the company, in either salaries, or training for their workforce. It's the workforce who's responsible FOR those profits in the first place.

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  55. You nailed it, Rock. Everyone, of course, wnats to exeternalize as many costs as possible.

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  56. @Thor:

    re: outsourcing

    The reason you outsource development is because you believe one or two salesmen, or perhaps "CEO"'s that appear in your conference room and promise they have fully trained people to immediately assign to your development task.

    I know a couple of these guys. In fact, they do not have people. But they speak Russian or Hindi very very well, and can't exactly answer your detailed questions very well. They come with a proposal, and when they leave with a check, they canvass the net looking for contractors that can start your project immediately. Those contractors bid against themselves.

    The system stinks.

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  57. @Emmy

    My 12:45

    I asked because I know you read a lot. I remember the link-o-fest.

    You still read M. Pettis?

    Always appreciate you thoughts.

    ICan

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  58. And why is that? So the company can share those newfound profit margins with workers? Ah, no. So it can fill the pockets of the CEO and other execs, who can show how smart they were short-term by pointing a spreadsheet that doesn't tell the true or ofentimes real story because there's often hidden or deferred costs there. It's smoke & mirrors due to badly constructed incentives at the top.

    And who drives this mentality for public companies? You guess it, Wall Street.

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  59. Excuse the rant:

    One of these guys got a project, put together a team of on-line developers, and when the project fell behind and the delivery quality was poor, he took an executive-level position in the purchasing company to "better manage" the development and integration in the company's product.

    He was still getting a salary in rubles and taking a new salary all for the exact same job he was supposed to be doing.

    Go figure. That guy is a Genius. Also, he took 20,000 from a good friend of mine to invest in options for her, and lost it all.

    Frigging genius.

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  60. @ICan

    Your link:

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15/victoria-s-secret-revealed-in-child-picking-burkina-faso-cotton.html

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  61. Entry Level Fluid Dynamics EngineerDecember 15, 2011 at 1:37 PM

    Now THAT is hilarious.

    I would have to strongly agree that the problem with the more technical jobs is there really is no way to train someone for those positions.

    I see several jobs that I believe I would be good at - If I could be given the time to learn them.

    But those jobs want qualified canidates now, they are not interested in training them, in fact a lot of times, they probably would not know how to train them in the first place.

    Also you can sit through programming classes, study the text and be a straight A student and still not know how to be a good programmer, the best progammers I know are self taught.

    Mutt

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  62. re Thor,12:23PM:" I'll bet Wolfie never has a problem finding work ;-)

    Indeed. I'm on the Java/J2EE technology. Lots of work there. :)

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  63. Wolfie - Hah, we have a hard time finding qualified J2EE developers!

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  64. RE: Euro

    PM speaks: (DJ Newswire)

    "France's Fillon: We'll Never Give Up On The Euro"

    I wonder who "we" is.

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  65. GS, always looking after themselves.

    "As D.C. Deliberates Europe's Impact, Goldman Warns of Big Risks to U.S." -finance.Yahoo.com


    ICan

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  66. Iran should thank the U.S. for doing it's dirty work.

    "Iraq war: A $4 trillion IOU". marketwatch.com

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  67. "Former French President Jacques Chirac found guilty of corruption". www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world

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  68. Thought this was interessting and mostly on point:

    https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/14-6#.Tuod_L5VRGV.facebook

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  69. @ICan:

    RE: your 3:04

    The news is all bad.

    As we know, Europe is in recession. Their GDP growth is lower than their inflation.

    The Euro is weakening. John Taylor of FX Concepts says it will reach par with the U$D.

    start:
    1. So as the U$D strengthens, the market recedes.

    2. As the market recedes, corporate buying slows (to protect the cash on the balance sheets). This causes US recession.

    3. Now here's the worst part: the U$D strengthens durina a US recession. Go look it up.

    goto start

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  70. @ICan:

    Iran better look out. Last year we sold over 30 F16's to Iraq.

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  71. U$D strenghtens, commodities price come down, consumers have more money in their pocket, they spend more, and economy rebounds. Life will go on...

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  72. @Anon: Life will go on but it could precipitate a deflationary spiral in the short-term with those hoarding dollars. Will help my TLT though.

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  73. And my stockpile of cash will be worth more.

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  74. @ICan:

    I hope so. However, commodities are going down next year.

    http://www.checkgoldpricetoday.com/

    But of course you can't believe everything you read....

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  75. I really, REALLY should have held my RIM short for the long term. What an idiot I am.

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  76. @Rock(5:55)

    "..Of course you can't believe everything you read".

    That's QOFTD!


    ICan

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  77. There is a big debate going in media whether gold's lost it's shine.

    Public fight and a million $ bet:

    "Grandich willing to bet Gartman $1-million gold bull still kicking". business.financialpost.com/2011/12/14

    Grandich is saying gold will hit US$2000 before it hits US$1000.

    From the TBP blog:

    "Griess: Use Gold's 300 Day Moving Averages". www.ritholtz.com/blog

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  78. @MAnbwich:

    Your 6:00

    That's good. We can all move in with you.

    Please send $666 for the ticket; I found the best fare on American to St. Paul.

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  79. @ICan

    I haven't had the time to pay much attention to China other than reading through Pettis' website.

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  80. @Emmy(9:46)

    So what's your impression of Pettis' view? China's going to muddle along?

    ICan

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  81. GS says 1.8T$ in exposure to Eurodebt.

    With the Euro going to $1 par, I hope the swaps the Fed gave them are insured.....I have 2 questions:

    1. Does that insurance stuff work?

    2. Is GS making profits again?

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  82. If you go to www.finance.yahoo.com/blogs and play back the blog tiitled "As DC deliberates Europe's Impact....." you can cut an excerpt out where one of the announcers says:

    "Let's call a spade a spade, Obama"

    hmmmmmmm......good thing this isn't Thailand.

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  83. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  84. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  85. @Mannwich: Instead of "your 6:00" I meant "your 4:07". And no I'm not drinking again.

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  86. Now let's see if I can get this comment right.

    Here's today's report that popped the market. You can see what's important.

    http://www.trade.gov/mas/ian/MBU/index.html

    "Third quarter 2011 profits for all non-financial industries (manufacturing being a subcategory) increased $21.1 billion from the second quarter of 2011 to $967.0 billion."

    "Real hourly compensation in the total manufacturing sector decreased -2.7 percent in the third-quarter of 2011"

    It's pretty clear that corporations are robbing their people in order to increase profits and EPS. But there's a problem here. If you take the 2.7%, and add the overhead factor (you know, health insurance, 401K etc) you'll get a whole lot more money than the 21 Billion profit increase. So what happened?

    Not one, but two Red flags here. (rob the workers, loss of efficiency)

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  87. @ICan:

    DXY still over 80. Down a little today. Mackie says buy the end of the year if the Euro stays at or above 1.30.

    I don't think it's going to. I think our pop today was the report I quoted above, but the euro is a big drag-zone.

    Additionally, when the Euro hits $1 par with Bucky, those Fed-sponsored Euro swaps will really look bad. I see wings on my tax dollars, streams and streams of them flying over to Germany. Repatriations in reverse. I guess this is how Germany gets their money back.

    I see another lawsuit between Bloomberg and the Fed coming.

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  88. @Rock,

    Our Dec.15 comments,(mine 3:04pm), your(11:45),
    re. GS, what about "hair cuts" on that exposure?

    Greece aren't paying 50% of their debt forsure. The rest is iffy!

    ICan

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  89. Re. GS' exposure to Europe:

    "Fitch cut the viability ratings of banks that are considered 'systemically important' because of their sensitivity to chanllenges.........".

    www.businessinsider.com/10-things-december-16-2011-12

    ICan

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  90. Morning all - getting ready to head to the airport to head up to SF for another birthday.

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  91. LOL Rock. I wire you the money if/when the Euro reaches par with bucky. Deal?

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  92. Equities AND TLT up today. Euro money still pouring into both?

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  93. Zynga IPO not looking too hot out of the gates. Read a bit about them recently and have a hard time believing they have a long term biz model that's viable.

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  94. @ICan

    Your 9:24

    I think GS has pretty much worked itself out of the eurozone debt exposure, except the contagion exposure we all have as Fitch or Moody's downgrades the eurobanks and eurodebt.

    I hear they sold it all to MFGlobal......

    :-)>

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  95. I found an interesting website that hasn't surfaced here as a reference:

    http://www.eoddata.com/

    It has stock lists if you use a screener.

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  96. There goes our rally? Again.

    Gotta believe each failed attempt to rally is going to increase the likelihood of a major selloff at some point soon, no?

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  97. I wonder how much unemployment bene's expiring is creating a drag on the economy, combined with those who may have gone through most or all of their savings during the last 2-3 years with a reality slap now hitting them all at once on both fronts?

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  98. The volume's up for the last 20 minutes. I see that a lot at the tops and the bottoms, as I've indicated several times, and is in the chart above.

    The bucky didn't go positive (yet, but it's up to unch. So I'm expecting to see the market rally ho for a little while.

    Will see.

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  99. I didn't mean tops and bottoms. I don't call tops or bottoms. I meant trend line direction changes. The SPY's fisen above its trend channel the last several minutes.

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  100. Unemployement BenefitsDecember 16, 2011 at 1:53 PM

    Mannwich - Even though I strongly believe in the benefits of having unemployment benefits, I have never thought any sort of extend unemployment benefits was a good idea.

    At some point they have to end, otherwise they become welfare benefits, many of the people who are receiving UE Benefits are hold out for quality jobs but at the same time allowing their working skills to deteriorate.

    It is always easier to find a job or advance in the job market when you already have a job.

    And in all honestly how inclined would you be to hire someone who has not worked for over 2 years?

    If they would not have given extended benefits many of these people (Albeit at a lower pay) would already be back to work or finding other means to support themselves.

    Also how many of these people not only went through their savings, but also wracked up their credit cards.

    Mangy Mutt

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  101. True Mangy, but ending unemployment bene's should coincide with a real, concerted effort to goose the economy from the fiscal side too, don't you think? If not, you're just creating a whole new underclass of unemployable people who won't likely ever find a job again.

    Throwing them out on the street and making them work in any job they can find is all well and good but it still doesn't solve the root of the problem, enough good jobs for qualified people who want them.

    Pulling the plug also has a way of damping the economy further in the short term, thereby further risking throwing us back into recession or worse.

    Or do we care about Puritannical morality plays more than common sense and the bigger picture at this point?

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  102. @You Two Guys

    I can't find it now, but on today's DJ Newswire, somebody important said or otherwise indicated that our unemployment is systemic, not cyclic in nature.

    In other words, we're stuck as a society without enough jobs. For a look at the "why" this is happening, have a read of a pretty good 3-part article at

    http://www.npri.org/publications/why-unemployment-persists-part-i

    I think the guy makes some valid observations. I'm not an economist, but I wonder if any society had the free lunch of infinitely available capital at 0 interest rate for an extended time, and what happened to that society.

    As we know, the housing industry had very low interest rate and pretty much loads of capital, and we built a housing bubble. But I think that's short-term recent history, and I'm wondering if it happened before.

    Anyway, the article makes some good points, IMHO.

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  103. Reading now, Rock. Very good so far.

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  104. Kim Jong Il, Dear Leader's passing must obviously be the reason for the Asian markets tanking right now.

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  105. You'd think they'd be going through the roof.

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  106. I'm sure that will do wonders for global stability though. His successor is in his 20's? Uh oh.

    Is that our next military front? And Iran?

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  107. I was being sarcastic, Thor. I think they have bigger problems in Asia, although instability in N. Korea could end up being another one.

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  108. Manny - in a perfect world, maybe they'd open up a bit. But all those generals would fight that wouldn't they? Or would they, I don't follow Korean news all that much :-/

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  109. I doubt that's going to happen any time soon, Thor, at least not without much bloodshed and revolution there. But they are a SERIOUSLY oppressed people, probably the worst in the world so I don't think the climate is ripe for that right now.

    What's worrisome is a new, young leader may come in and flex his muscles a bit.

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  110. And possibly even crazier than his Dad. If that's possible.

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  111. I mentioned to a friend when I went up to SF for a birthday part this year. I moved away 8 years ago, and every year that I go back, and this last time, it had been three years, it is amazing to see how much visibly nicer things have become. Rock, you have to have noticed that coming back this time. Silicon valley has transformed the bay area.

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  112. Manny - How depressing, as if we need yet another area in the world getting ready to go septic.

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  113. Trading radar:

    --Monday, Dec. 19: EUR1.22 billion of Greek debt falls due. ECB's weekly bond-purchase data.

    --Tuesday, Dec. 20: Spanish T-bill auction. Announcement by ECB of 13-month long-term refinancing operation.

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  114. This one's for you, Thor. In your (our and Hugh Hendry's & Jim Chanos') wheelhouse about China's bubble bursting...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/opinion/krugman-will-china-break.html

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  115. Thor - I hope you had a great time in SF over the weekend glad you made it back safe and sound.

    Rock - I will make time to read the article you posted Saturday about jobs.

    Mannwich - Hey,

    Ican - You carzy Canadian you :p

    Emmanuel117 - I hope everything is going well with your trades.

    So I started a new position last week, better title better pay, except I had to give up all my accrued time off and of course I was given the oppertunity on when I wanted to start, last week or this week.

    Well of course I chose last week and last Monday came down with a terrible cold...Of course had no sick time, so "got" to work, then on Tuesday I still wasn't feeling good, but still "Got" to work, but on the way to work the thermostate froze (Cover your ears for this Thor) as the tempature got below 30 over night.

    So I "got" to walk back home and by the time my car was taken care of I was 2 hours late, so I "got" to stay late that night and the next and go in early too as we had our Chirstmas....Errrr Holiday party last week.


    So anyway to make a longish story short, that is why I have not been around too much last week.

    See Ya All
    Mangy Mutt

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  116. @Mutt,2:28PM:Funny coincidence: I started a new job last week too!

    Good luck with the new position then.

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  117. Hello 1200! Now let's see if it can hold.

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  118. No Santa Rally for us, it looks like.

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  119. We're real close to WolfStreet's 120. Closed just a little higher today. The PMs let me down.

    But I guess they tried--looks like another 150B Euros for the IMF coming from the eurozone. Should have boosted our market because one would think that liquidity creation would have some effect. Granted it's not enough, but the small dirbs and drabs seem to come easier than the 1T+ requirement.

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  120. This is just awesome. Ratings agencies usefulness only as the perfect contrarian indicator? I remember buying boatloads more of TLT on this.....thanks a lot guys!

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-18/s-p-downgrade-proves-absurd-as-global-investors-make-u-s-assets-preferred.html

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  121. I'll put up a new thread! Sorry guys!

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