STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday December 17

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday December 17, 2007

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 400 LONG DAYS
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2526 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 2248 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 2209
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 10
Enron execs conveniently deceased = 3
Other Arrests of Execs = 54

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U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES

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AT THE CLOSING BELL WHEN BUSH TOOK OFFICE on January 22, 2001
Dow - 10,578.24
Nasdaq - 2,757.91
S&P 500 - 1,342.90
Oil - $27.69/bbl
Gold - $266.70/oz.

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON December 14, 2007

Dow... 13,339.85 -178.11 (-1.32%)
Nasdaq... 2,635.74 -32.75 (-1.23%)
S&P 500... 1,467.95 -20.46 (-1.37%)
Gold future... 798.00 -6.00 (-0.75%)
30-Year Bond 4.66% +0.05 (+1.02%)
10-Yr Bond... 4.23% +0.06 (+1.49%)






GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver

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PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout the country. Details & links are added as they become available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing something, or would like to, contact actionpost@legitgov.org

For information on protests and other actions Citizens For Legitimate Government

---

Read more: du

Dow Theory Update
BY TIM W. WOOD

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

8:30 AM Current Account Q3
Briefing Forecast NA
Market Expects -$183.0B
Prior -$190.8B

8:30 AM NY Empire State Index Dec
Briefing Forecast NA
Market Expects 21.0
Prior 27.4

9:00 AM Net Foreign Purchases Oct
Briefing Forecast NA
Market Expects NA
Prior -$26.4B

http://biz.yahoo.com/c/ec/200751.html

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose Monday as another winter storm pummeled the United States with snow, sleet and freezing rain — weather conditions that were expected to boost fuel demand.

Around a foot of snow had fallen on parts of the Chicago area, with 10 inches in Vermont. The U.S. National Weather Service on Sunday posted winter storm warnings from Michigan and Indiana all the way to Maine. Meteorologists said 18 inches was possible in northern New England.

-cut-

Light, sweet crude for January delivery added 50 cents to $91.77 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.

The contract fell 98 cents to settle at $91.27 a barrel Friday after the U.S. government reported consumer inflation jumped 0.8 percent in November by the largest amount in more than two years.

Energy traders are concerned rising inflation will cut consumers' buying power and reduce demand for gasoline and oil. They also worry that higher inflation means the Federal Reserve will stop cutting interest rates. Many analysts cite the Fed's recent rate-cutting campaign, and its role in depressing the value of the dollar, as a major factor behind oil's rise in November to a record above $99 a barrel.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

NEW YORK - Economic woes have dumped a lump of coal on the nation's online retailers, which, like their brick-and-mortar rivals, have struggled with an uneven holiday business following a strong official start to the season.

ComScore Inc., an Internet research company, reported Sunday that online sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 14 rose 18 percent from the same period a year ago to $22.67 billion, but that's less than the 26 percent growth rate seen last year and the 20 percent projection for the season. And while online merchants are stepping up promotions even more and offering free shipping upgrades to extend the season, it's clear that e-retailers are as vulnerable to the economic challenges as their rivals with physical stores.

-cut-

ComScore's analysis of data shows that while households earning at least $100,000 have increased their online spending 28 percent versus a year ago, households making less than $50,000 have increased their spending by just 10 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071216/ap_on_hi_te/holiday_shopping_online_sales

NEW YORK - Following a lukewarm shopping weekend, the nation's stores are now focusing their attention on the final week leading to Christmas, as consumers seem to be postponing more of their buying to the last minute compared to a year ago.

Just as malls and stores ushered the official start of the holiday season with expanded hours and generous discounts, they plan to do the same in the final stretch. Macy's Inc. plans to pull all-nighters at several of its stores, including its Manhattan flagship, starting Friday. Toys "R" Us plans to keep its doors open until midnight every day until Dec. 24.

Based on early reports from analysts and malls on Sunday, sales results were generally unimpressive this past weekend, as shoppers were held back by a snow storm that spread a mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow from the Great Lakes states to New England. Consumers, fretting about economic worries, were also delaying their shopping even more this year, knowing there's a full weekend before Christmas, when the bargains will be even better.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071217/ap_on_bi_ge/holiday_shopping

it's been less and less every year since the beginning of the bush error.

This year has been especially hard - I was laid off twice from two different jobs (fortunately I was able to find a new job within a month), but my partner was laid off in Sept. and is still looking for a job.

gas/heating fuel prices way up - money we were saving for a trip to Hawaii next year went to buy cord wood so we could supplement heating the house this winter.

our electrical rates went up too - but we switched over to those curley-q light bulbs all over the house, so although the rates went up, our bill amount stayed around the same.

local property/school taxes went up

between the falling dollar and rising fuel costs it's been costing us more for groceries and other necessities.

all in all - not much left at the end of the year to spend on presents, and given that there's another year left in the bush-error and it will probably take an additional 3-4 years to recover from it - holiday spending over that time period will probably be cut back even more

because with white collar jobs going overseas, too, nobody is feeling particularly secure.

I have a feeling Xmas is going to once again become a day of feasting with the family, church for believers, and that's about it. There is nothing to put the nails in the coffin of commercialized Christmas like killing off the consumer market by a combination of low wages, high debts, and no prospects.

:donut: and lurkers. This last weekend was a whirlwind of activities-all of which were free, unless you count the toys I donated.

Friday night I had 2 parties to go to. The first was a wonderful thank you dinner from the TWO candidates that we managed to get elected onto the school board. We are so very happy, it completely changes the nature of the board into a more teacher/student friendly group. And it also sent a warning shot to the other members that the teachers union IS watching them and is willing to flex their muscle. We phone banked, block walked, and did countless fundraisers. The second party was our annual union Christmas. Our membership is up and building stewards like myself have been busting our butts.

Saturday we went to my daughter's work Christmas Party. I parked my car at her work and we went. We then carpooled and went to another party that a couple at our Bible study group was having. We were there for an hour and had a great time. I had my daughter drive me back to her workplace to get my car. AND WOULD YOU BELIEVE.....a tow truck driver was just seconds away from hooking my car up to his tow truck. He had already gotten my car out of the parking space. My car was legally parked, I had permission from the owner, yet my car was literally seconds away from towing (it was 10:55, supposedly they could tow after 11:00 per manager-but I had permission):nuke: He kept making excuses but this a real scam here in Houston-they charge you and arm and a leg for the towing and ream you for the storage fee. It is really hard to find out where your car is impounded. It can be several days before you can locate it. I am afraid I wasn't very graceful-but I think he was shocked that I came up when I did, and that I knew the owner by name etc. Thank God for small miracles.

On Sunday we were up early. Our Bible Study group did the Advent service. The pianist was out sick and our flautist had just finished his last round of chemo and had been in the hospital during the week. We found some one to pinch hit for the pianist, the flautist played well (he needs to build up his stamina but he is doing much better-he even stayed for Advent breakfast.
My daughter's misfortune with the Advent candles continued (she set a decoration on fire last year and this year the candle kept going out and she finally managed to get it going after the third attempt.) But she really earned her wings during the regular service. We had our children's Christmas pageant. She was the under study for the whole play (mercifully everyone was there). Several of the littlest angels in the heavenly choir were doing what little kids do.....figiting, pulling their robes over their heads and getting tangled up in the garlands. She managed to discretely untangle the angels from the garlands and occupied them-thus averting Christmas pageant chaos. Sunday evening was spent at Hubby's tabla player and good friend open house Christmas party. It was a great success. As his wife said-"It has been a bad year for us. I could either stay at home feeling sorry for myself or have my friends over and bring in some cheer. I don't have any money to buy gifts, but I can make some rice and we can make a chicken curry." Their house is tiny but it was crowded with musician playing, authors, politically active-left of center, and aunties trying to arrange marriages between their friend kids.

The funniest part of the evening was when they started trying to arrange marriages between an anglo friends. I tried to explain to our stunned anglo friends that these arranged marriages were fairly successful because friends and relatives act like personal shoppers for you. You don't have to wade through so many bad dates to get married. The only drawback is that they consider these marriages to be 'for life'-which actually makes you chose carefully.

After the party I went to the Target store to get some food for the dogs. It was like a ghost town in there. I ask the clerk how it was going. She said it was going badly. She said the store would be open until 11 but things slow to a crawl at 8. The only day it is busy is Sat. but even then folks are buying less. She said she had cut her spending and this is a part time job for her. They say the economy is good here but I have yet to have trouble finding a parking space or table.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

HONG KONG - Asian and European markets slid Monday after signs of accelerating inflation in the U.S. dampened hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates further to shore up the struggling American economy.

Benchmark indices in five Asian markets — Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Taiwan — sank more than 3 percent.

Investors dumped stocks after Wall Street tumbled Friday following figures that showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in November, the largest increase in more than two years. That raised questions about the Fed's options for supporting the economy, which has been buffeted by a credit crisis and housing slump.

The declines come after some investors were disappointed that the Fed cut interest rates by just a quarter point last week instead of a more aggressive half-point.

Asian investors pay close attention to the U.S. economy because it is a major export market.

.....

Britain's benchmark FTSE-100 dropped 1.5 percent to 6,303.6. Germany's DAX Index slipped 1.3 percent to 7,844 and France's CAC-40 fell 1.7 percent to 5,508.12.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071217/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell before the start of Wall Street trading on Monday with eyes on the Federal Reserve's first Term Auction Facility (TAF), a money market operation intended to ease the credit crunch.

Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE.O) is the only S&P 500 company scheduled to report quarterly results.

Economic data include third-quarter current account figures and the December Empire State manufacturing survey, both at 1330 GMT, and the NAHB December housing market index at 1800 GMT.

At 1020 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.7 percent, S&P 500 futures also fell 0.7 percent and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.6 percent.

.....

JPMorgan said the immediate threat to the world economy was that tightening credit conditions magnify other drags in place, "producing a U.S. recession that reverberates globally."

.....

Hence, a key focus later this week will be quarterly reports from U.S. investment banks Goldman Sachs (GS.N) on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) on Wednesday, and Bear Stearns (BSC.N) on Thursday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071217/bs_nm/markets_stocks_dc

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve's plan to provide $20 billion in cash to the world's money markets failed to reduce the cost of borrowing in euros.

The rate banks charge each other for three-month loans in euros stayed close to a seven-year high, rising 1 basis point to 4.95 percent, the European Banking Federation said today. That's 95 basis points more than the European Central Bank's interest rate. It was 4.58 percent a month ago.

The Fed will today make funds available to banks and financial institutions in an effort to increase the amount of cash available to the banking system. Central banks are responding to more than $70 billion of bank losses on securities linked to the collapse of the U.S. subprime-mortgage market. Money-market rates still indicate financial institutions are reluctant to lend to each other.

``It's going to take a long time for these problems to go away,'' said Nick Stamenkovic, a fixed-income strategist at RIA Capital Markets Ltd. in Edinburgh. ``These auctions might help stem the pressure until year-end, but the bottom line is until we get a clearer picture of how deep the problems are, the banks are going to hoard cash.''

The cost of borrowing for three months in dollars fell 3 basis points to 4.94 percent, the British Bankers' Association said today. That's still 69 basis points higher than the Federal Reserve's target rate, up from an average of 11 basis points in the first half of the year and 16 basis points at the end of October. The BBA's comparable euro rate also held at a seven- year high of 4.95 percent.
.
.
.
Policy makers in the U.S., U.K., euro region, Switzerland and Canada announced last week their first coordinated action to help financial markets since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The TED spread, the difference between the rate the government and banks pay for three-month loans, held at 2.1 percentage point today, signaling a muted response to the plan. It has risen 35 basis points since the start of the year.

read more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aU3REXSraT.Y&refer=home

over the weekend, did you also notice the graphic was provided by the White House?

I'll look around and see if I can find it.

Red everywhere and one lump of coal.

Highlights

Current:



30-day and 90-day vs.greenback:



30-day vs. Euro, Yen, UK Pound and Swiss Franc




Currency Comparison: http://members.shaw.ca/trogl/looniewatch.html

Detailed analysis: http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?r=CME_CD

Up-to-the-minute graph: http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=CME_CD.Y%24%24&v=s&w=5&t=l&a=1

Historical values http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/CAD/data30.html

2007-11-05 Monday, November 5 1.07101 USD
2007-11-06 Tuesday, November 6 1.0819 USD
2007-11-07 Wednesday, November 7 1.09075 USD
2007-11-08 Thursday, November 8 1.07492 USD
2007-11-09 Friday, November 9 1.06553 USD
2007-11-12 Monday, November 12 1.06553 USD
2007-11-13 Tuesday, November 13 1.03745 USD
2007-11-14 Wednesday, November 14 1.0408 USD
2007-11-15 Thursday, November 15 1.01999 USD
2007-11-16 Friday, November 16 1.02807 USD
2007-11-19 Monday, November 19 1.01636 USD
2007-11-20 Tuesday, November 20 1.01543 USD
2007-11-21 Wednesday, November 21 1.01071 USD
2007-11-22 Thursday, November 22 1.01071 USD
2007-11-23 Friday, November 23 1.01143 USD
2007-11-26 Monday, November 26 1.01245 USD
2007-11-27 Tuesday, November 27 1.00321 USD
2007-11-28 Wednesday, November 28 1.00939 USD
2007-11-29 Thursday, November 29 1.00725 USD
2007-11-30 Friday, November 30 0.9993 USD
2007-12-03 Monday, December 3 1 USD
2007-12-04 Tuesday, December 4 0.989511 USD
2007-12-05 Wednesday, December 5 0.987459 USD
2007-12-06 Thursday, December 6 0.987654 USD
2007-12-07 Friday, December 7 0.994926 USD
2007-12-10 Monday, December 10 0.989805 USD
2007-12-11 Tuesday, December 11 0.989413 USD
2007-12-12 Wednesday, December 12 0.989413 USD
2007-12-13 Thursday, December 13 0.978857 USD
2007-12-14 Friday, December 14 0.98668 USD

Current values

http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?r=CME_CD)

Market            Open   High    Low   Last  Change    Pct 
CD.Y$$ Cash     0.9869 0.9931 0.9869 0.9931 +0.0114 +1.16% 
CD.Z07 Dec 2007 0.9904 0.9948 0.9904 0.9935 +0.0116 +1.18% 
CD.H08 Mar 2008 0.9905 0.9977 0.9888 0.9940 +0.0117 +1.19% 
CD.M08 Jun 2008 0.9908 0.9955 0.9908 0.9955 +0.0136 +1.38% 
CD.U08 Sep 2008 0.9785 0.9785 0.9780 0.9816 +0.0024 +0.24% 
CD.Z08 Dec 2008 0.9750 0.9750 0.9750 0.9808 +0.0024 +0.25% 
CD.H09 Mar 2009 0.9870 0.9870 0.9870 0.9800 +0.0024 +0.24% 

Other combinations: (http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?c=currencies)

Market              Open    High     Low    Last   Change     Pct 
AUSTRALIAN $/CANADIAN $ (NYBOT:AS)
AS.Z07 Dec 2007 0.89400 0.89400 0.89400 0.87795 -0.01575 -1.79%
AS.H08 Mar 2008 0.88730 0.88730 0.88730 0.87265 -0.01540 -1.76%    
AUSTRALIAN $/US$ (NYBOT:AU)
AU.Z07 Dec 2007  0.8706  0.8815  0.8760  0.8623 -0.0133  -1.54% 
AU.H08 Mar 2008         0.85725 0.85725 0.85725 -0.01305 -1.52%  
CANADIAN $/JAPANESE YEN (NYBOT:HY)
HY.Z07 Dec 2007  108.87  108.87  108.87  111.33 +1.46    +1.31% 
HY.H08 Mar 2008 111.020 111.020 111.020 111.020 +0.775   +0.70%  
EURO/AUSTRALIAN $ (NYBOT:RA)
RA.Z07 Dec 2007 1.69260 1.68450 1.68450 1.67245 +0.00260 +0.16% 
RA.H08 Mar 2008  1.6885  1.6885  1.6875  1.6875 +0.0047  +0.28% 
EURO/BRITISH POUND (NYBOT:GB)
GB.Z07 Dec 2007 0.71930 0.71930 0.71930 0.71575 -0.00145 -0.20% 
GB.H08 Mar 2008  0.7177  0.7177  0.7155  0.7155 -0.0031  -0.43% 
EURO/CANADIAN $ (NYBOT:EP)
EP.Z07 Dec 2007  1.4855  1.4855  1.4855  1.4686 -0.0240  -1.63% 
EP.H08 Mar 2008  1.4563  1.4563  1.4563  1.4563 -0.0125  -0.85% 
EURO/JAPANESE YEN (NYBOT:EJ)
EJ.Z07 Dec 2007  162.67  162.67  162.67  162.67 -0.83    -0.51% 
EJ.H08 Mar 2008  161.21  161.57  161.19  161.19 -0.74    -0.46% 
EURO/US$ (LARGE) (NYBOT:EU)
EU.Z07 Dec 2007 1.43890 1.43890 1.43890 1.43890 -0.00355 -0.25%  
EURO/US$ (SMALL) (NYBOT:EO)
EO.Z07 Dec 2007 1.47400 1.46620 1.44620 1.44245 -0.01985 -1.38% 
EO.H08 Mar 2008         1.4427  1.4427  1.4427  -0.0200  -1.39% 

Blather (from http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?r=CME_CD)

The March Canadian Dollar was steady to slightly higher overnight as it consolidates above the 50% retracement level of this year's rally crossing at .9784. Stochastics and the RSI are diverging but are neutral to bearish signaling that sideways to lower prices are possible near-term. If March extends the decline off November's high, the 62% retracement level of this year's rally crossing at 94.88 is the next downside target. Closes above the 20-day moving average crossing at 99.83 are needed to confirm that a short-term low has been posted. First resistance is the 10-day moving average crossing at 98.72. Second resistance is the 20-day moving average crossing at 99.83. First support is the 50% retracement level crossing at 97.84. Second support is the 62% retracement level crossing at 94.88.

Analysis

I'm frantically busy here at the office but I dropped by SMW just for a peek and saw the loonie jump two cents in the course of two hours so this is primarily a...

:wtf:

...post. I posted both the December and March current values because I've rarely seen them this divergent.

I'll update when I figure out what's going on.

Complete article here: http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/12/17/monoline/