STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday March 7

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday March 7, 2008

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 320
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2602 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 2328 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 2619
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 10
Enron execs conveniently deceased = 3
Other Arrests of Execs = 54

---

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

---

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 March 6, 2008

Dow... 12,040.39 -214.60 (-1.75%)
Nasdaq... 2,220.50 -52.31 (-2.30%)
S&P 500... 1,304.34 -29.36 (-2.20%)
Gold future... 977.10 -11.40 (-1.17%)
30-Year Bond 4.58% -0.03 (-0.56%)
10-Yr Bond... 3.62% -0.07 (-1.92%)






GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver

---

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

BY GARY DORSCH

“Too much money, chasing too few commodities,” might be the best way to explain the historic rally that has lifted the Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index into the stratosphere. Central bankers in 18 of the top 20 economies in the world have been expanding their money supplies at double digit rates for the past several years, trying to prevent their currencies from rising too quickly against the terminally ill US dollar.

In response, fund managers have turned to commodities as a hedge against the explosive growth of the world’s money supply, competitive currency devaluations, escalating inflation, and the negative interest rates engineered by central banks. To the chagrin of central bankers, much of the explosive money supply growth is flowing into the commodities markets, and elevating inflation rates to multi-decade highs.

The Federal Reserve is the chief culprit behind the explosion in global commodity prices, slashing its federal funds rate at a frenzied pace, to arrest a year long slide in US home prices, which if left unchecked threatens to topple the US economy into a severe recession. Nearly 8.8 million US homeowners hold mortgages that are larger than the value of their homes, providing an incentive to abandon houses bought on speculation. And according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the delinquency rate for 3.6 million sub-prime mortgage loans was 17.3% in the fourth quarter.
.....

In a world of fiat (paper) currency, the full faith and trust in a nation’s currency often lies in the policy actions and honesty of its central bankers. Under the Bernanke Fed, global confidence in the US dollar is being torn apart, and the Fed rookies hand picked by Mr. Bush are not telling the public the truth about the inflationary consequences of their actions. The Bernanke Fed is playing Russian roulette with the greenback, and a speculative run on the dollar is now in motion. Yet the Fed’s propaganda machine remains defiant, “I don’t think that foreign investors have lost confidence in the United States by any means,” Bernanke told the Senate on Feb 28th.

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

All signs point to the international market not wanting the devalued US dollar, yet Wall Streeters are screaming for more cuts which will turn the value of the dollar into little more than used toilet paper.

Who's got too much money around here? Could you lend me a few so I can get my daughter sprung from the tender mercies of Adult Protective Services?

"In a world of fiat (paper) currency, the full faith and trust in a nation’s currency often lies in the policy actions and honesty of its central bankers. Under the Bernanke Fed, global confidence in the US dollar is being torn apart, and the Fed rookies hand picked by Mr. Bush are not telling the public the truth about the inflationary consequences of their actions. The Bernanke Fed is playing Russian roulette with the greenback, and a speculative run on the dollar is now in motion. Yet the Fed’s propaganda machine remains defiant, “I don’t think that foreign investors have lost confidence in the United States by any means,” Bernanke told the Senate on Feb 28th."

Bu*h does it again.

Heckuva job, Bernanke.

8:30 AM Nonfarm Payrolls Feb
Briefing Forecast 30K
Market Expects 25K
Prior -17K

8:30 AM Unemployment Rate Feb
Briefing Forecast 5.0%
Market Expects 5.0%
Prior 4.9%

8:30 AM Hourly Earnings Feb
Briefing Forecast 0.3%
Market Expects 0.3%
Prior 0.2%

8:30 AM Average Workweek Feb
Briefing Forecast 33.7
Market Expects 33.7
Prior 33.7

3:00 PM Consumer Credit Jan
Briefing Forecast $10.0B
Market Expects $7.0B
Prior $4.5B

http://biz.yahoo.com/c/e.html

01. U.S. Dec., Jan. payrolls revised down by 46,000
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

02. U.S. Feb. jobless rate falls on 450,000 drop in labor force
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

03. U.S. Feb. factory jobs fall 52,000, construction down 39,000
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

04. U.S. Feb. hours worked fall 0.1%
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

05. U.S. Feb. average hourly earnings up 0.3% as expected
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

06. U.S. Feb. unemployment rate falls to 4.8% vs. 5% expected
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

07. U.S. Feb. nonfarm payrolls fall 63,000 vs 20,000 gain seen
8:30 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 57 seconds ago

Discouraged workers dropping out.

This is more unsettling than the loss of actual job creation.

Forget this information immediately.

I'm just fortunate to have inherited enough to get completely out of debt and to be able to live on unless inflation really gets going, in which case I'm stuck being poor again.

At least I know how to do it. It's going to be a real struggle for those credit card addicted yuppies out there.

"Economists expect the report due on Friday to show non-farm payrolls rose by 25,000 in February, recovering from a drop of 17,000 in January. However, the estimates for February ranged widely from a fall of 110,000 to a rise of 100,000."

/... http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0620851820080307

the eCONomists are too stuuuppid for words

:argh:

WASHINGTON - Employers slashed jobs by 63,000 in February, the most in five years. It was the starkest sign yet the country is heading dangerously toward recession or in one already.

A new report from the Labor Department on Friday also shows the nation's unemployment rate dipped to 4.8 percent as hundreds of thousands of people — perhaps discouraged by their prospects — left the civilian labor force. The jobless rate was 4.9 percent in January.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy_53;

:eyes:

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut payrolls for a second straight month during February, slashing 63,000 jobs for the biggest monthly job decline in nearly five years as the labor market weakened steadily, a government report on Friday showed.

The Labor Department said last month's cut in jobs followed an upwardly revised loss of 22,000 jobs in January instead of 17,000 reported a month ago. In addition, it said that only 41,000 jobs were created in December, half the 82,000 originally reported.

The back-to-back January and February job losses were the first consecutive monthly declines since May and June of 2003.

...

During February, the national unemployment rate eased to 4.8 percent from 4.9 percent in January, but that was because fewer people were in the labor force. The department said the number of people in the workforce fell by 450,000 in February.

Job losses were widespread. Some 52,000 jobs were lost in the manufacturing industries, the largest decline since July 2003 when 92,000 jobs were cut. Construction businesses eliminated another 39,000 jobs on top of 25,000 that were cut in January, a reflection of the housing industry's deepening woes.

The department said that since the housing boom peaked in September 2006, construction businesses have cut 331,000 jobs.

One bright spot was that the government added 38,000 jobs in February on top of 4,000 new-hires in January.

/.. http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7366155

What a load of centrifuge. :freak:

And Feb payrolls are down by another 63,000, doesn't that mean that employment is actually down by 109,000 from what was previously reported?

Edit to add: The government is still trying to hide the bad news in prior month revisions, I see.

But I type slower, I guess.

This is a thing that always nags at me. Ok, so jobs fell 63,000... but is that 63,000 down from the "old" number of jobs in January, or the "new" number?

And, come to think of it, is the "new" number (22,000) in January down from the "old" number in December, or the "new" number?

and suspend all logic in reading the reports and the daily/weekly/monthly/annual revisions

:hi:

04. U.S. Jan. consumer credit up $6.9 bln or 3.3% rate
3:00 PM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 14 minutes ago

SINGAPORE - Oil prices were steady Friday after jumping to a trading record near $106 a barrel in the previous

Analysts believe the steadily weakening dollar is the reason oil prices have jumped to a number of new inflation-adjusted record highs this week. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.
.....

Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 3 cents to $105.44 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore.

The contract rose 95 cents Thursday to settle at a record $105.47 a barrel after earlier spiking to a trading record of $105.97.

Analyst estimates for where oil goes from here vary widely. Some predict an eventual decline to the $65 or $70 range as supplies continue to grow and demand falls. Others see prices rising as high as $120 as investment capital continues to flow into oil.

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

01. Crude surges to break $106 a barrel
11:29 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - Confidence in the economy dropped to a new low as worries about a possible recession, persistent problems in the housing and credit markets and lofty energy prices put people in a more gloomy mind-set.

According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence sank to a mark of 33.1 in early March, down from 48.5 in February. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002 and surpassed the previous low reached in February.

"The U.S. consumer is definitely in full defensive mode," said T.J. Marta, a fixed-income strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

The continued deterioration in confidence comes even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has signaled that the central bank will keep on cutting a key interest rate to bolster the economy. Congress and the White House, meanwhile, have speedily enacted a relief package that includes tax rebates for people and tax breaks for businesses. Rebates of up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples should start going out in May.

Over the past year, consumer confidence has fallen sharply, underscoring the toll of the ailing housing market and a credit crunch that has made it more difficult for people to secure financing for big-ticket purchases such as homes and cars. Last March, confidence stood at 92.3. The index is based on results of the international polling firm Ipsos.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/ap_on_bi_ge/consumer_confidence

:donut: and lurkers. We have know on this thread that these jobs numbers were bogus for some time. Looks like the truth is finally catching up to these folks. And whoever wins the Presidency (DEM that is) needs our full support, because God only knows what kind of mess we will be left with.

I hope the government prosecute these folks and get some of our money back (or at least has them spend all their ill gotten gain on attorneys). We may not see justice in our lifetime. We may become too busy just surviving...to the point that justice is more a luxury. I hope not, but that may be the new reality.

Today should be a 'fun' day at the casino.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

SEOUL, South Korea - Asian and European markets fell Friday after another overnight drop on Wall Street that was spurred by news about rising foreclosures on U.S. mortgages, intensifying concerns about the world's largest economy.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 3.3 percent to close at 12,782.80 as investors sold exporters' shares amid the dollar's drop to a three-year low against the yen during Asian trading.

Hong Hong's Hang Seng index closed down 3.6 percent, bringing its decline since the start of the year to 19 percent.

Australia's benchmark index sank 3.2 percent while in Seoul the Korea Stock Price Index declined 2 percent. India's benchmark Sensex was down 4 percent in afternoon trading, paring earlier losses of over 5 percent.

In early European trading, the U.K.'s benchmark FTSE 100 sank 1.3 percent, while Germany's DAX fell 1.5 percent. France's CAC 40 declined 1.3 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

Fri Mar 7, 2008 12:04pm GMT
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - European shares slipped more than 1 percent by midday on Friday, led by banks and miners, as investors, worried by fresh credit market problems, stayed on edge ahead of key U.S. jobs data.

At 1145 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3: Quote, Profile, Research) index of top European shares was down 1.4 percent at 1,265.11 points.

Financial shares were the largest sector drag on the broader market, with ING (ING.AS: Quote, Profile, Research), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and insurer AXA (AXAF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) falling more than 2 percent.

Miners followed close behind, reflecting concerns over the U.S. economy. Vedanta (VED.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research), BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) fell between 3 and 5.5 percent.

With economy worries at the forefront of investors' minds, the focus was on U.S. non-farm payrolls data due at 1330 GMT.

...

"There are rumours that if the reading comes in negative for a second consecutive month, this could spark another emergency Fed rate cut," ABN Amro said in a note, adding a 75 basis point cut in interest rates by the Fed on March 18 was almost fully priced in.

The Fed has served up two rate cuts this year, totalling 125 basis points and sparking a recovery in European stocks after they hit their low for the year so far in January.

The FTSEurofirst 300 escaped with a 1 percent fall in February after sliding 12 percent in January. It is down 3.8 percent in March.

...

Veolia Environnement (VIE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest listed water supplier, fell 6.6 percent after posting 2007 profit below expectations.

...

"The market is really under downward pressure, and we're only starting to see earnings being cut. Volatility is still very high and economic news still weak," said UBS's Evans. "We're set up for another rotation into defensives."

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUKL0775737520080307?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0

Fri Mar 7, 2008 1:41pm GMT
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - European shares extended losses on Friday after data showed the U.S. labour market saw a second consective surprise fall in February, which heightened concern over the strength of the world's largest economy.

The U.S. government said 65,000 workers were lost from non-farm payrolls, compared with forecasts for a rise of 25,000. January payrolls were revised to show a fall of 22,000 from a fall of 17,000.

By 1338 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3: Quote, Profile, Research) of top European shares was down 1.6 percent at 1,262.57 points compared with a 1.3 percent loss before the data.

"People went short 20 minutes ahead of the release, thinking that if it was really bad, markets would tank very quickly, and if it was good, they'd have plenty of time to cover their shorts," one London-based trader said.

"In the afternoon, I would expect them to start to sell off...if there's any rally, people will start selling into strength."

/.. http://uk.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUKL0764034820080307

Fri Mar 7, 2008 6:02pm GMT
LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - European shares hit their lowest close in more than six weeks on Friday as data showing the U.S. labour market was struggling fanned worries over global growth, keeping financial and commodity stocks under pressure.

The FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3: Quote, Profile, Research) index of top European shares closed down 1.1 percent at 1,269.42 points, its lowest close since Jan. 23.

It hit the day's low of 1,258.27 after data showed U.S. employers unexpectedly cut jobs in February at the steepest rate in nearly five years. But a brief rebound in U.S. stocks, which analysts attributed to short-covering, towards the European close helped the index off its lows.

Mining stocks BHP (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Antofagasta (ANTO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) dropped between 4.1 and 5.4 percent, while among banks HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 1.1 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) both lost 2 percent.

"In a way it's surprising, given how much economic gloom there is around, that the equity markets haven't cracked more than they have," said Andrew Bell, a strategist at Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management.

...

Of some comfort to investors, the Federal Reserve said it will conduct a series of weekly term repurchase agreements worth $100 billion, with the goal of alleviating the funding tightness that has unsettled credit markets. The move will inject more money into the financial system and aims to encourage lending.

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/eurMktRpt/idUKL0729826620080307?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

^ATX ATX 3,689.13 11:33AM ET Down 57.92 (1.55%)
^BFX BEL-20 3,635.06 12:07PM ET Down 38.24 (1.04%)
^FCHI CAC 40 4,618.96 12:11PM ET Down 59.09 (1.26%)
^GDAXI DAX 6,513.99 11:45AM ET Down 77.32 (1.17%)
^AEX AEX General 435.09 12:08PM ET Down 2.18 (0.50%)
^OSEAX OSE All Share 478.91 10:29AM ET Down 9.59 (1.96%)
^MIBTEL MIBTel 24,673.00 11:40AM ET Down 475.00 (1.89%)
^IXX ISE National-100 85.74 2:06PM ET Down 1.12 (1.29%)
^SMSI Madrid General 1,377.19 11:38AM ET Down 12.01 (0.86%)
^OMXSPI Stockholm General 306.58 11:43AM ET Down 4.34 (1.40%)
^SSMI Swiss Market 7,174.15 11:30AM ET Down 95.72 (1.32%)
^FTSE FTSE 100 5,699.90 11:35AM ET Down 66.50 (1.15%)

http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=europe

NEW YORK - Nervous homeowners and economic analysts have been wondering how much worse the housing market could get. On Thursday they got an answer: Plenty.

Foreclosures are at a record high. Home equity is at a record low. The housing market is spiraling down with no end in sight — and taking people's sense of economic security with it.

For the first time since the Federal Reserve started tracking the data in 1945, the amount of debt tied up in American homes now exceeds the equity homeowners have built.

The Fed reported Thursday that homeowner equity actually slipped below 50 percent in the second quarter of last year, and fell to just below 48 percent in the fourth quarter.

And that was just one example in a day of dismal housing reports.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_bi_ge/housing_woes

WASHINGTON - The heads of three companies implicated in the mortgage crisis have been asked to explain how they collectively received hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation while their companies were losing money.

Slated to appear Friday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee were Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender; Stanley O'Neal, formerly of Merrill Lynch & Co.; and Charles Prince, formerly of Citigroup Inc.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has held several hearings on the issue of high executive compensation. Last December it looked at large, publicly traded companies that hire compensation consultants who are receiving millions of dollars from corporate executives whose compensation they were supposed to assess.

.....

It said that Countrywide announced a $1.2 billion loss in the third quarter of 2007 and lost another $422 million in the fourth quarter. By the end of the year the company stock had fallen 80 percent from its five-year peak in February. During the same period, Mozilo received a $1.9 million salary, received $20 million in stock awards contingent upon performance and sold $121 million in stock.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/ap_on_go_co/mortgage_crisis_ceos

I realize that as Democrats, we don't believe in the practice, but if we could figure out a way to threaten these guys with Waterboarding, perhaps they MIGHT start telling something resembling the Truth.

Instead, these guys get REWARDED!! FUCKING REWARDED!!! It makes me SICK!!

It makes me want to SCREAM! Not only does the lower 98% Suffer greatly, but these SOB'S improve their lot.

This country is such a joke, and if there is any justice, unfortunately, history will not judge us kindly. By then it will be much too late though.

They're starting to SPIN at the "oversight" committee.

It doesn't matter to these people. They will do EVERYTHING they have to, in an attempt to LIE & DECEIVE the people of this country, and the world.

Is there Any justice? Will anyone suffer, other than the people who are least able to survive it all?

Shares of Merrill Lynch & Co. fell in Thursday trading a day after the investment bank said it was closing down its subprime mortgage lending unit and resetting the conversion rate on debt that converts to common stock.

Analysts said the selloff was overblown.

.....

Shares of Merrill Lynch fell $3.46, or 7 percent, to $45.86 Thursday. Earlier in the session, shares hit a 52-week low of $45.70.

On Wednesday, Merrill Lynch said it was officially closing First Franklin, a subprime mortgage lending subsidiary the bank bought for $1.3 billion in 2006 at the peak of the lending market. Subprime mortgages are loans given to customers with poor credit history. Merrill Lynch had been reducing the size of the operation, and analysts were not surprised by the move to close the company.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8V88ASO0.htm

There's a chill spreading across the hedge fund industry. With more portfolios falling victim to the credit crunch, managers by the dozen are freezing investor redemptions, preventing a mad rush to the exits that would force funds to sell beaten-down assets to raise cash. But is this unprece­dented move just postponing the day of reckoning for funds and the market?

Since November at least 24 hedge funds have barred or limited investors from taking their money out, tying up tens of billions of dollars for an indefinite period. Among them: GPS Partners, a $1 billion fund that bets mainly on natural gas pipelines; Pursuit Capital Partners, a $650 million portfolio with troubled debt; and Alcentra European Credit, a $500 million fund that owns slumping loans used to finance private equity buyouts. The new rules affect not only the pension funds, endowments, and well-to-do families that buy the funds directly but also smaller individual investors exposed through diversified portfolios of hedge funds, known as funds of funds. Some hedge funds have broad powers under their contracts with investors to make such changes at their discretion. "It's the largest period of redemption suspensions in the industry's history," says Jonathan Kanterman, a managing director with Stillwater Capital Partners, a money manager.

.....

Mad Scramble

In such fire-sale situations, the results can be ugly. The $2 billion Peloton Partners ran into trouble in February when Wall Street banks began tightening their lending requirements. The fund's managers scrambled to pay back the banks by quickly selling off assets. Peloton is now in the process of liquidating all its investments and closing the fund. Sailfish Capital Partners, a onetime $2 billion fund, got hit by investor withdrawals following a bad bet on mortgages. Instead of navigating the murky market, Sailfish shuttered last month to return as much money as possible to investors.

To prevent such scenarios, managers are trying to buy time until there's a recovery. It's a big gamble since many of the funds blocking withdrawals specialize in asset-backed securities, such as bonds made up of risky mortgages or debt for private equity buyouts. That quadrant has been the hardest hit in the $1.6 trillion hedge fund universe. In some cases, there are simply no buyers for the securities sitting in these funds' portfolios. If the turmoil continues for too long, other types of hedge funds, such as big multi-strategy portfolios that hold billions in stocks and corporate loans, may follow the trend and lock in investors.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_11/b4075000870869.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

Evidently, not the investors!

Carlyle Capital Corp. Ltd., a listed mortgage-bond fund managed by private equity firm the Carlyle Group, said Friday it was considering "all available options" after lenders started liquidating securities from its $21.7 billion portfolio.

Shares in the fund, which trade on Euronext Amsterdam, were suspended Friday pending a further statement. The stock closed down Thursday nearly 60 percent at $5.

The fund said it received additional margin calls and default notices Thursday from banks that help finance its portfolio of residential mortgage-backed securities. It indicated it may not be able to meet the increased requirements, and that further liquidations were possible.

Carlyle Capital on Thursday said it had been unable to meet margin calls with four banks the day before, roiling financial markets and raising fears that its entire portfolio could be liquidated. Such a move would further depress prices on fixed-income securities, which have dropped sharply in recent weeks as banks pull back on their lending to funds and investment vehicles, leading to forced asset sales.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8V8HBJ00.htm

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group's mortgage-bond fund was suspended in Amsterdam trading after creditors forced the sale of some holdings, jeopardizing shareholders' capital.

Lenders who issued default notices have liquidated some residential mortgage-backed securities held by the fund and may sell more as talks continue, Carlyle Capital Corp. said in a statement today. The fund had ``substantial'' margin calls and additional default notices from lenders yesterday, it said.

Carlyle Capital said yesterday it had failed to meet margin calls, prompting creditors to seek immediate repayment. Started by David Rubenstein in 1987, Carlyle increased its mortgage holdings last year, selling $300 million of shares in Carlyle Capital. The fund used leverage to buy about $22 billion of AAA rated mortgage debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

``This marks a further savage step in the ongoing credit implosion of recent months,'' Keith Baird, an analyst at Bear Stears Cos. in London, wrote in a note to clients today. ``The liquidation of the fund cannot be excluded nor the potential loss of capital, rendering the shares worthless.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=home&sid=aQNTCxSEI3kA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080307/bs_nm/carlyle_ccc_exposure_dc

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S.-based buyout giant the Carlyle Group (CYL.UL) said on Friday its exposure to troubled mortgage-backed security investor Carlyle Capital (CARC.AS) is a $150 million credit facility.

The credit line is a $150 million revolving loan facility, said a spokeswoman for the Washington DC-based firm.

and if you believe that their exposure is limited to this, I have a bridge to sell you

:eyes:

Carlyle Group is said to have over 30 billion in assets. Why is it allowing this public default of one of its subs only giving it a mere $150 million? One would expect they would up the size of that pot just to keep CCC troubles private.

Like spinning off KBR to save Halliburton.

From the press release on its origination:

The Company is a Guernsey investment company that was formed on August 29, 2006. The Company's long-term objective is to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns for shareholders primarily through current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation. In the future, management will seek to achieve this objective by investing in a diversified portfolio of fixed income assets consisting of mortgage products and leveraged finance assets. Management employs leverage to finance the Company's investments and its income is generated primarily from the difference between the interest income earned on our assets and the costs of financing those assets.

http://www.pr-inside.com/carlyle-capital-corporation-limited-issues-r473113.htm

What a disaster operational plan. Yep, you are probably right, Carlyle Group is cutting loose its mangy dogs.

:tinfoilhat:

01. Carlyle Capital cut to sell by Citigroup analyst
10:45 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 39 minutes ago

it appears that mangy dog is dead :eyes:

It started out with $300M in assets. Now holding $33B of derivatives.

Sometimes the actual numbers are just mind blowing.

Ozy-gram is for us all. It's better than anything you can find in your newspaper, and it's free right here on DU.

This thread is a daily treasure trove of good information, interesting opinion, and humor. I read it every day. It is the highlight of my internet day. Thanks to Ozy and everyone who posts in these threads. :)

my top read for the economic news BushCo, Inc. isn't telling us (and doesn't want us to know)!

And all the others who also post--it's a great education!

when I log on.

Ozy and the Stock Market Watch
regulars...I salute you all.

:yourock:

I can shut down my boss (who majored in economics in college and didn't learn a damn thing) without even trying.

Just 2 days ago, he admitted I was right about the economy tanking, he'd been vehemently denying it for months and months.

You guys make me look so smart. :)

this thread is the only reason I even bother to check in on the DU

thanks, radfringe

:hi:

somebody else sort of started it, and ran a stock watch on and off... I just picked up the ball and gave it a daily format

so the real credit goes to that UNKNOWN DUer...

I'm hanging out elsewhere these days, better forums, less flames and stoopid crap (pm me for more info, unless this little note gets me TD's or deleted)

And thank you for recognizing this long-standing tradition. As you can see, it has been a huge group effort.

I appreciate all the hard work that everyone has put into keeping this thread together. It keeps getting better all the time!

:toast:

thanks Ozy for digging that up!

I started reading this thread when Rad was started it each day - got me hooked and I've been lurking ever since... Thanks to all who post such enlightening information. :toast:

talk when looking at the overall health and how it relates to Main Street around me. This is also now one of my daily checks and one of the best parts about DU overall. Keep up the good work!

This is the best place for real information.

And it's not just Ozy, although he's unquestionably the champ for starting it each day... it's also Ghost Dog with his/her over seas coverage, JNelson's gold-bug contributions, Up In Arms, 54aNickel... too many to think of off the top of my head, but all the regulars are my favorite people in the world for what they do. Thank's for starting a "thank you and kudos" subthread, as I too often forget to giv'em the props they're due!!

:toast: to the SMW "reporters"!!!

**edited for tyop!**

TOKYO (AFP) - The euro hit a fresh record high against the dollar in Asian trade Friday as the market braced for pivotal US jobs data, dealers said.

The euro hit a record high of 1.5405 dollars in Tokyo afternoon trade, breaking through the symbolic 1.54-dollar barrier for the first time.

The greenback languished close to three-year lows against the yen, falling to as low as 102.46, before recovering to 102.65 by late afternoon here. The euro was steady at 157.90 yen.

/.. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080307/bs_afp/forexasia_080307074239;_ylt=Aie2LP9HIN0hr_nPG1xK.MCmOrgF

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- China will favor yuan appreciation against the euro rather than the dollar as policy makers seek to reduce a record trade surplus and calm criticism from European officials, according to Calyon.

The yuan may strengthen 15 percent to 9.5 against the euro by the end of 2008, reversing a 3.3 percent loss last year, said Sebastien Barbe, a strategist at the investment banking arm of Credit Agricole SA, France's second-biggest bank. That will top the yuan's advance versus the dollar, Hong Kong-based Barbe said. Forward contracts show traders betting on an 11 percent advance to 6.39 versus the dollar in the next 12 months.

The currency has halted its 2.8 percent rally against the dollar this year as central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan doused speculation the yuan's gains will accelerate. Vice Commerce Minister Ma Xiuhong said on March 5 the pace of appreciation will not last ``forever.''

``They still want to appreciate the yuan basket in order to cap the trade surplus,'' which is causing money supply growth and inflation, Barbe said in an interview. ``The yuan could potentially appreciate strongly versus the euro,'' especially if the dollar rebounds this year, he said.

The yuan traded at 7.1072 to the dollar as of 3:12 p.m. in Shanghai. Against the euro, it traded at 10.95329 from 10.7491 at the end of 2007. The yuan has gained 16 percent against the U.S. dollar since abandoning its peg in July 2005 and fallen 8 percent versus the euro.

/... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aoFy_vGmchjM&refer=asia

When a bag of potato chips in the grocery costs $3.49, you know something is wrong.

Fisher Says Credit Markets May Not Force Fed to Act (Update1)

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said investors shouldn't assume that rising credit costs will force the central bank to cut interest rates as deeply as it did in January or in an emergency meeting.

``We reacted with very deliberate actions that took place over a very short timeframe'' in January, Fisher said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Paris. ``That shouldn't lead markets to expectations that we will continue to react in that manner.''

Fisher also downplayed speculation that the Fed is set to reduce its benchmark interest rate before policy makers' next scheduled session on March 18. Yesterday, yields on agency mortgage-backed securities rose to a 22-year high relative to U.S. Treasuries, while the cost to protect corporate bonds from default climbed to a record.

``I would discourage you from thinking that simply because of a significant action in the credit markets, like we had yesterday, that suddenly we're going to have an Open Market Committee meeting, and that suddenly we're going to move Fed funds rates in response,'' said Fisher. ``It doesn't work that way.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ae3m1BE35Q5s&refer=home

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Federal Reserve official said on Friday that financial globalization does not take away the Fed's ability to control inflation, but raises stakes for central banks because investors can flee a depreciating currency.

"Globalization does not undermine the ability of the Fed, or any other central bank for that matter, to control inflation over an appropriate time horizon," Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said in remarks prepared for delivery to a Banque de France symposium in Paris.

"But it does challenge us -- you might say it disciplines us -- to conduct monetary policy more prudently," said Fisher, who is a voting member of the U.S. central bank's interest rate-setting panel this year.

"In today's world, where investors can move their funds instantly from one currency to another to avoid depreciation, the price central bankers pay for inflation is much higher than in the past."

/... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080307/bs_nm/usa_fed_fisher_dc;_ylt=Asgkf7xKpxemcRy.QziHe82573QA

Uh huh.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080307/bs_nm/markets_stocks_dc;_ylt=AvEYj7TnLNsX7WRqOuEU_Sis0NUE

Stocks set to fall ahead of key jobs figures
31 minutes ago

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a drop on Wall Street on Friday, ahead of the monthly employment report that could help determine the extent of the slowdown of the world's largest economy.

Record high credit spreads, record rates of U.S. mortgage foreclosures in late 2007 and "jumbo" mortgage lender Thornburg Mortgage was in default pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 (.SPX) index to its lowest in 18 months on Thursday.

Markets show investors are fully pricing in a 75 basis point cut in U.S. rates when the Federal Reserve meets later this month and financial futures reflect a 20-25 percent chance of a full percentage point cut to 2.0 percent.

Fed officials have stressed that the risk to growth is such that they are willing to overlook pick-ups in inflation.

The jobs report at 8:30 a.m. EST is expected to show a 25,000 rise in the number of workers on U.S. nonfarm payrolls, against January's shock-17,000 fall.

By 5:55 a.m. EST March Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq 100 futures were all down between 0.3 and 0.4 percent.

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 72.668 Change -0.224 (-0.29%)

5 Reasons Why the US Dollar Will Continue to Fall

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio1/5_Reasons_Why_the_US_1204842556421.html

The US dollar has fallen to a record low against the Euro and there are at least 5 reasons why the weakness will continue. The first is the most immediate, which is tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls report. Although the market is looking for a rebound in job growth, we actually believe that there could be significant job losses. As we mentioned in yesterday’s Daily Fundamentals, the last time service sector ISM contracted for 2 months in a row was back in late 2001. During that period there was actually 15 consecutive months of job losses with -300k being the biggest single month job loss and -147k the average. In comparison to these numbers, a back to back month of negative job growth seems like nothing. However if we do see two months of consecutive job losses, the dollar will continue to fall, taking the EURUSD up to another record high. The second reason is interest rates. Two year bond yields are currently yielding slightly more than 1.50 percent while the Fed Funds rate is at 3 percent. That is a difference of 150bp which means that in order for the gap to be neutral, the Fed would need to immediately cut interest rates by 150bp. Since 1990, the average spread between the 2 year treasury rates and Fed funds is approximately +50bp and over the past 10 years, it is +25bp. Therefore it is not rocket science to see that a gap of -150bp is a huge discrepancy. Lower interest rates equal a lower US dollar. The third reason is technicals. According to our Technical Analyst Jamie Saettele, a spike above 1.56 in the EUR/USD is very possible before dollar bulls see relief. Our latest FXCM Speculative Sentiment Index which is a contrarian indicator also calls for further gains in the Euro against the US dollar as speculative short positioning continues to grow. The hawkishness of the European Central Bank is the fifth and final reason why the US dollar could extend its losses. Not only did they leave interest rates unchanged today, but they also let the market know how serious they are about maintaining price stability, which means that rates should remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.

...more...

Dollar Weak Across the Board - Will NFP Rescue or Sink It?

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio2/Dollar_Weak_Across_the_Board_1204885121470.html

A typically quiet night of pre-NFP action with only the USDJPY making newsworthy moves as the pair broke the 102.00 figure knocking out one touch options at that barrier. After coming close several times during the night USDJPY finally traded below 102.00, the first time it has done so in more than 3 years.

Japanese officials remained muted in their comments about the latest bout of yen strength, with Finance Minister Nukaga only noting that policymakers were closely watching the FX markets without mentioning any specific levels. Still, Tokyo fiscal officials cannot be comfortable with the idea of USDJPY at 100 or worse below it. Exporters continue be the lifeblood of the Japanese economy and the current dynamic of unfavorable exchange rates and slowing global demand is sure to put a squeeze on their profits from both sides.

The question however is whether the BOJ will be able intervene effectively to stop the greenback’s slide against the yen. With Japan hosting the G-7 this year many analysts feel that the BOJ’s hands are tied diplomatically. Furthermore, it is not at all clear that intervention may work this time. The massive speculative unwind of the carry trade continues and given those flows the BOJ would have to spend an enormous amount of capital to stem the tide. Last time the BOJ expended nearly 250 Billion dollars to arrest the decline of the dollar. That trade actually became enormously profitable for the Japanese when the Fed began raising rates in 2005. This time however, the US monetary policy continues to call for further rate cuts. Whether Japanese officials will have the political willpower to expend enormous amounts of capital on what may turn out to be a losing cause, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the marquee event risk of the day in the currency market is the US NFP report. Wednesday’s ADP release suggested that we may see two consecutive months of job losses in the US labor market. Were this scenario to occur, dollar’s weakness could persist with EURUSD easily rallying to 1.5500. However, several analysts have suggested that because of the seasonality of the BLS birth/death model the numbers may produce a positive surprise as the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes adjustments for the creation of new businesses. Furthermore, it is also possible that last months numbers may be revised upward alleviating some of the gloom surrounding the buck. In either case, today’s NFP data could help settle the debate between dollar bulls who argue that the economy is merely in a slowdown and dollar bears who claim that it is already in a recession.

...more...

Last trade 72.494

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

3/6/08 Exec defends his limited understanding of National Century

The only National Century Financial Enterprises executive to testify in the fraud trial involving him and four co-workers underwent heavy questioning Thursday from Justice Department lawyers, who suggested he knew more about the company's operations than he told jurors earlier in the day.

James Dierker, once vice president of marketing at Dublin-based National Century, testified earlier that he considered himself a small cog in a large machine at the company and was responsible for marketing, client development and little else. Dierker refuted testimony from a government witness who earlier in the month-long trial alleged he withheld knowledge from investors of ongoing fraud at the company.

The government has charged Dierker, 40, with two counts of concealing money laundering and a count each of conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy in connection with National Century's 2002 bankruptcy. He has been on trial in U.S. District Court in Columbus with former executives Rebecca Parrett, Donald Ayers, Roger Faulkenberry and Randolph Speer. They have all denied the charges.

During the government's questioning of Dierker, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen McGovern probed about how much he knew of the company's finances.

Noting how Dierker climbed National Century's corporate ladder quickly and how his salary nearly tripled during his tenure at the health-care financing business, McGovern asked about his knowledge of the company's operations.

When McGovern asked whether he was telling jurors he didn't know how National Century operated, Dierker replied that he had a specific understanding of how of his departments worked but only a general knowledge of the business' other departments.

McGovern also asked Dierker about why he left the company in the fall of 2002, suggesting he may have known the company would collapse and file for bankruptcy that October. In addition to family-related reasons, Dierker said he left because he was concerned about an overdue audit on the firm.

Deloitte & Touche was scheduled to deliver an audit of National Century's books in March 2002 but it wasn't completed by June. Dierker said he read a letter from Deloitte that indicated the audit might never be finished because it needed scores of additional documents from the company. Dierker said he asked National Century CEO Lance Poulsen about the letter and became frustrated with Poulsen's seeming lack of urgency about the audit and its delay.

McGovern also spent a good deal of her cross examination asking Dierker about the overfunding of health-care clients. The government has alleged the executives allowed National Century to overfund certain medical businesses that were owned by National Century's principals - Poulsen, Parrett and Ayers - by hundreds of millions of dollars. That allowed the principals to enrich themselves, Justice Department lawyers have claimed.

National Century was a financier for health-care providers, buying medical firms' receivables at a discount and packaging them as asset-backed bonds for sale to investors.

Dierker said he heard claims of overfunding during his time at National Century, but added that he when he checked those claims he found they were false.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/03/03/daily35.html

link to previous articles...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3212130&mesg_id=3212233

and for what? charging too much for insurance premiums?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bluecross5mar05,0,184024.story





Cuomo expanding his probe, too.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jMO7FBIiPKNl8H7RQZi1TiKNJEYwD8V86E002

Insurance companies need to be investigated. I could carry on a diatribe about health insurance, but this is a stock thread.

:P

Those rat b*stards refused to pay for my treatement.

So, I ended up paying out of pocket, wiped out half my nest egg for grad school.



A special circle of Hell was created just for people who work in the Insurance industry.....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/ap_on_bi_ge/sharper_image_gift_cards

SAN FRANCISCO - Sharper Image Corp. said Thursday that it would immediately resume honoring gift cards and other vouchers that were suspended last month when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The luxury retailer said it would redeem gift cards issued before it sought bankruptcy protection on Feb. 19 if customers use them in full during one transaction and apply them toward items costing double the value of the cards.

In a statement, the company explained that a customer holding a $25 gift card could only use it to buy at least $50 worth of items.

Shaper Image said customers could also hold onto their cards in case it could accept them in the future without any restrictions.

...more...

better take money in with you!

They jack up the prices a bit.

They force you to spend the equivalent of the gift card, effectively turning it into a 50% offer, on merchandise they need to liquidate anyways.

Are they restricting it to non sale items also?

WHAT A JOKE!!! But some will rush to make sure they're able to get something out of their cards. If it were me, I'd probably just not give them the dignity of my $$$, and wait to see what happens.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's so-called "vulture" debt investors aren't exactly racing to buy billions of dollars of complex U.S. mortgage-related bonds that have sunk in value amid the troubles in global financial markets.

That's a bad omen for banks and other holders of dicey mortgage investments since it shows even the market's riskier players see no bottom to the downward spiral of mortgage defaults, bond rating downgrades, bank losses and stingier lending that is sapping the strength of the U.S. economy.

While mainstream investors might be expected to take flight whenever prices stop making sense and newspaper headlines scream of losses, distressed or "vulture" investors tend to eventually pick over assets more carefully, helping balance markets by providing a floor for thinly-traded bonds.

But despite plummeting prices and a regular drumbeat of fire sales by mortgage vehicles called collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, many vultures aren't touching subprime mortgage securities with a ten-foot pole.

"The CDO space is in a state of distress beyond repair," says Stuart Goldberg, a managing director at $10.7 billion hedge fund Marathon Asset Management in New York.

"It's a melting ice cube," Goldberg says. "The CDO of (asset-backed securities) is a very different animal than the typical generic distressed marketplace. There are literally deals and many assets within the ABS CDO space that have no value."

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0642202920080306

Even the vultures won't pick at this rotting pile of garbage.

and repenting. Lots of repenting.

01. Fed says in close contact with foreign central banks
8:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 2 minutes ago

02. Fed announces $100 bln in 28-day term repos
8:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 2 minutes ago

03. Fed increases size of March TAF auctions to $100 bln
8:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 2 minutes ago

04. Fed says steps needed to address high liquidity pressures
8:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 2 minutes ago

05. Fed takes new steps to add cash to banking system
8:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 2 minutes ago

Chopper Ben springs into the printing press room!

The Daily Reckoning PRESENTS: The S&P 500 peaked in January 1973 and five months after the peak was the start of the horrible 1973-1974 bear market. Sound familiar? Read on...

WORSE THAN 1973 by Nathan Lewis

When I tell people that the present situation resembles the 1970s, they immediately think of July 1979, when Jimmy Carter gave his famous "malaise" speech on national TV. The stock market had been dead for six years, and blue chip U.S. stocks had price-earnings multiples in the single digits. The CPI was rising at double-digit rates, and interest rates were galloping higher to keep up.

"It's not that bad," people say today. But I'm not thinking of 1979, I'm thinking of 1973. And it's true, it's "not that bad." It's worse.

Where are we on the dollar devaluation timeline today, compared to the 1970s? In the 1950s and 1960s, the dollar was pegged to gold at $35/oz. In the 1980s and 1990s, the dollar floated, but its value stayed fairly stable around $350/oz. In 1971, the dollar's link to gold was destroyed, and the dollar devaluation began. In May of 1973, it hit $95/oz for the first time. This roughly equivalent to where we are today, having gone from $350/oz. to about $950/oz. When Jimmy Carter was making his speech, the dollar was in its last great collapse, to a nadir of 1/850th oz. of gold just seven months later. The equivalent today would be a move to $8,500/oz. of gold.

The S&P 500 peaked in January 1973, so mid-May 1973 was about five months after the peak. This was the start of the horrible 1973-1974 bear market. The S&P 500 most recently peaked in October 2007, so mid-March 2008 is about five months after that peak.

However, we seem to have diverged quite a bit from the 1973 script. Arthur Burns, the Fed's Chairman in 1973, might be nicknamed "Easy Art" today for his efforts to get the economy going again in 1971. His cheap-money, low interest-rate policies started the trend of 1970s devaluation. However, by May 1973, he was already getting nervous. Commodity prices were soaring, and the dollar's value kept sinking against gold. The economy was roaring. The Fed funds rate ended 1972 around 5.3%, but by May 1973 it was already up to 7.84%. In July 1973, it averaged 10.40%. It was primarily this increase in interest rates – an effort by a hawkish Fed to stop the devaluation trend – that led to the breakdown of the stock market. Combined with the inflation, the economy crumbled soon after.

It is safe to say that the Fed will not be at 10%+ in a couple months. The ECB was recently termed "ultra-hawkish" in the U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper, for a policy of keeping a 4.0% rate unchanged. Today's breakdown in credit markets, caused by a lending binge that did not exist in the early 1970s, has effectively eliminated any chance of serious inflation-fighting activity.

Ah, the bulls say, but certainly that is a positive, no? The Fed is expected to cut rates further. The two-year U.S. Treasury bill yields less than 2.0%. The deteriorating economy is expected to put a lid on inflation.

But in economics, two wrongs don't make a right. With Ben Bernanke pouring gasoline on the dollar pyre in an effort to warm up "frozen" debt markets, the inflation in coming years may well exceed that of the 1970s. People may look back on the 11.2% increase in the official CPI in July 1979, from a year earlier, and laugh that such a wimpy figure could be considered "malaise." On top of that, the credit breakdown and housing collapse will do whatever additional damage they have left to do. Most people didn't even have credit cards in the early 1970s, much less a debit card that makes withdrawals from 401(k) plans.

The Fed's lower interest rates haven't helped the situation much. But then, today's problems were not caused by rates that were too high. Were lower rates ever really the point? The dollar's slide may not be just an unfortunate side effect, but the real goal of the Fed's easy policy. You could argue that, today or in the 1930s, a devaluation would have made debts easier to pay back, by inflating workers' salaries and other prices. Ben Bernanke himself has made this argument, in a coy way. Unfortunately, the Fed is finding that today's credit-collapse recession is indeed "putting a lid on inflation" – namely a rise in wages – while inflation of household expenses continues unabated. The resulting squeeze on household budgets has made debt service even more unlikely. Whoops!

If there's a lesson to be learned from the 1970s, it is that even a hawkish Fed and 10%+ interest rates are not a reliable solution to currency decline. Neither Easy Art nor Hawkish Art produced a healthy economy. The real problem, in the 1970s, was that the dollar left its golden anchor. The real problem, today, is that it never went back.

The credit collapse recession is grabbing all the headlines now, but in six years, when Barack Obama appears on TV wearing a sweater, with a new batch of government solutions to the $600/barrel oil price, will we even care? By that time, I think people will be ready to do what should have been done many years ago: repeg the dollar to gold. No more of this floating currency, inflation/devaluation, Fed manipulation nonsense.

Regards,

Nathan Lewis
for The Daily Reckoning

Nathan Lewis is the author of Gold: the Once and Future Money , published by Agora Books and J Wiley. He runs an investment fund in New York.

Gold is now so close to the $1,000 it can feel the body heat...While gold, commodities and oil soar, price deflation in the housing market brings millions of Americans closer to sanity. They’re finally realizing that they can’t get rich by spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need...
Bankruptcy filings rose 18% in February. One of the big mortgage lenders, Thornburg, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, defaulted on a $320 million loan. Investors sold the stock. Just a week ago, it was a $12 stock. Now it’s a $3 stock.

Everything is getting ‘marked to meltdown,’ says the Wall Street Journal . Lenders approach a new loan as they might come upon the rim of an active volcano...worried that it might blow up in their faces at any minute. Yields on auction rate financing for municipalities and hospitals have almost doubled. And when the auctions fail, they can really explode. That’s why the Port Authority found itself paying a 20% rate on money it needed.

All of this is tempting the feds to intervene. Look at it from their point of view: if they do nothing and things get worse, they’ll be accused of inaction...or worse, insensitivity. Nothing is worse than inaction. The people curse it. The professionals loathe it. Doing nothing is always and everywhere detested by practically everyone. In marriage, it is grounds for annulment. In business, it is cause for dismissal. And in war it is a ticket to a court martial.

Of course, an economy is never inactive. It is always doing something – as millions and millions of people go about their business as best they can. When the feds ‘do something’ to an economy, it is not as if they were writing on an empty piece of paper. Instead, they are scratching out the verses written by private citizens and replacing them with their own clumsy doggerel...and pushing the economy in some direction it doesn’t want to go. Sometimes they are successful – as, for example, at the beginning of this century, when a torrent of new cash and credit produced the world’s biggest housing bubble. But sometimes, Mr. Market insists on going where he wants to go.

After five rate cuts and one massive tax rebate program, the feds are wondering what to do now. The New York Times reports that Bush and Bernanke are “inching towards” a federal bailout of homeowners. Already, Bernanke has been urging bankers to forgive a portion of their mortgage loans. And Rep. Barney Frank, who wrote in the Financial Times recently that laissez-faire capitalism was all very well...as long as politicians got to tell the capitalists what to do, has proposed that the federal government buy distressed mortgages. George W. Bush, who will go along with anything, is said to be studying the legislation with the sharp eye of a Helen Keller.

A bailout is probably coming . But will it work?...We’re not sure they’re oblivious to the dangers; we just doubt that they can do anything to make things better. On the other hand, we don’t doubt that what they will do will make things worse.

*** ***

And finally, we leave you with a note from colleague Chris Mayer:

“Arresting fact of the day: Between March 10, 2000 and January 31, 2008, the average annual return from the S&P 500 is 1.52%, according the Financial Times . That's nearly eight years of earning practically nothing on stocks. After factoring in inflation, the returns are negative.

“Inflation is rearing its ugly head again in a way we've not seen since the 1970s. The top story after the first two months of the year must be the commodity price surge. Commodities – things like wheat, gold, oil, metals – are off to their best start in more than half a century.

“The historic global benchmark for commodities, the CRB Spot Index, jumped 12% in February, the highest since July 1974. It's up 15% for the first two months of the year, its best showing since 1956.

“Still, we have the Federal Reserve chairman saying: ‘I don't think we're anywhere near the situation that prevailed in the 1970s.’

“Is he smoking something, or what?

“The American economy is definitely slowing. Whether it is or isn't actually contracting is a matter of debate. Just looking at how companies are doing, it's not hard to see that North American operations are off. Overseas, though, it's a different story. Companies with operations in China or India report that business is good.

“So it's an interesting market for investors. Sometimes, it's like picking over a minefield, because the price swings seem so great. But it's that volatility that creates room for the stock picker to operate.”

Chris is looking into a quirky and unappreciated commodity that could pay off big for his Capital & Crisis readers. Stay tuned for that...and in the meantime, be sure and check out his recently released book, Invest Like a Dealmaker: Secrets from a Former Banking Insider .

Until tomorrow,

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning

http://www.uxc.com/review/uxc_Prices.aspx

There is no formal exchange for uranium as there is for other commodities such as gold or oil. Uranium price indicators are developed by a small number of private business organizations, like The Ux Consulting Company, LLC (UxC), that independently monitor uranium market activities, including offers, bids, and transactions. Such price indicators are owned by and proprietary to the business that has developed them. The Ux U3O8 Price is one of only two weekly uranium price indicators that are accepted by the uranium industry, as witnessed by their inclusion in most “market price” sales contracts, that is sales contracts with pricing provisions that call for the future uranium delivery price to be equal to the market price at or around the time of delivery.




Attention shoppers:
Marie A. is currently passing out samples with delicious Fudge frosting.

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down...
Someone left the cake out in the rain
and I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to bake it
and I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!

This newsletter sneaks them in so sneakily....

http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/248226

3/6/08 Risk of a systemic crisis is rising: the markets are becoming “utterly unhinged”, the financial system is “broken” and “everybody's in de-levering mode'' by Nouriel Roubini

I have been away from blogging most of the week as I have been traveling to Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Turkey.

Certainly concerns about the US economy, the credit crunch, the stability of the US financial system and the plunging value of the dollar are rising even among official authorities (central banks and sovereign wealth funds) that I have met in region in recent days.

Here are some of the spreading financial concerns and rising risks in financial markets…

My 12 steps scenario to a systemic financial crisis is becoming more likely by the day. First of all, credit losses are spreading in every corner of the financial system and the credit crunch is getting more severe by the day. We are also observing a return of the liquidity crunch as interbank spreads are widening again.

And this time around central banks will be less likely to control such spread via massive liquidity injections as such spreads are now reflecting more widening credit premia that central banks cannot control than widening liquidity premia that central banks can partially control. Now the liquidity and credit crunch in the muni bonds market, the TOB and ARS markets is becoming more severe. And as I argued in my previous piece the seizure of the market for state and local government debt reflects in part a significant increase in the actual risk that local government will default.

Indeed, local governments that are rapidly losing their tax base (as fees from developers collapse and property taxes plunge) are having massive problems in cutting spending: a lot of such spending in on the salaries of unionized public employees. And local governments having to choose between firing such employees and defaulting on their debt will choose to default.

In my 12 step scenario analysis I pointed out how a falling stock market, rising margin calls and fire sales in illiquid markets could lead to a vicious circle of cascading asset prices well below market fundamentals and further financial distress
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/242290

http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2008/03/06/ignoring-americas-recession/

Back in 2001 the US Fed was considering the very real risk that the US government would be able to pay off their entire national debt. The government had been running a fiscal surplus for five years and was projected to continue with this to 2010. It was this which underpinned George W Bush’s (then recently elected) $1.3 trillion tax cut. Why worry about paying off all the debt? Well, the Fed controls money supply by using dollars to buy the bonds which the US government issues to cover its debt. No debt, no bonds … and the Fed had to consider new ways of controlling money supply.
At the time then Fed Governor, Alan Greenspan, would rather that additional capital went to prepare the US economy for the pressure to be placed on it through obligations in Social Security and - especially - Medicare.

Squandering the Surplus

As events played out, shortly after the tax cuts were made permanent (for any given value of permanent) events changed dramatically. It turned out that the massive tax bonanza was as a result of short-term capital gains which were being unwound. The surplus turned into a hair-raising deficit overnight. Bush’s tax cut did have another unintended consequence. The Fed lowered interest rates to counteract the sudden liquidity crunch that came from the tax shortfall (and stock exchange shrink). This made Americans feel richer. They bought property.

Banks had long packaged their debt into what are known as Collateralised Debt Obligations (CDOs). It works like this. If you know the chance of default is 1.5% then you can package a whole bunch of loans together (say $10 million in a single tranche) and sell it as a single package. Banks do this for a simple reason. By international banking law (updated to Basel II in 2008) banks may only carry a certain amount of debt relative to their total deposit base (this keeps them solvent in case of a bank run on their deposits, since they can’t call in their debts immediately). By packaging the debts and selling them, they then remove this debt from their books. Companies would buy CDOs for some discount rate relative to the expected default (so, perhaps that $10 million tranche would be sold for $9.5 million). However, in case of default the buyer would lose both the capital and the interest in one go. If the risk had been calculated correctly, no problems. If the risk hadn’t been …
This resulted in a moral hazard situation. Since the banks weren’t carrying the actual risk, and the people buying the debt weren’t that familiar with risk profiles, the banks started lending to people who shouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting a loan. Those people (with no jobs, no assets, and no income) are known as the “sub-prime” borrowers. These loans got packaged in amongst the rest. Because the loans are sold as solid packages, though, the standard risk of default continues but is astonishingly high on sub-prime loans over and above the predicted rate of failure. Companies took out very elaborate insurance on these risks in the form of derivatives and hedges.

Losing the Plot
All of this clever financial packaging had the effect of immeasurably complicating debts until no-one was really sure who had what, or what the impact would be. Hence the slow and erratic declaration of write-downs all across the world that significantly exceed the real value of sub-prime losses (some 1.5% of all home loans issued). The more amusing thing (for those who find humour in this) is that the hedge funds and insurance companies who bought these CDOs often took out loans from the other banks who were also selling CDOs in order to cover the debts. In other words, the debts never left the bank’s books.

So, this has resulted in a liquidity crunch (exactly what Basel II was supposed to prevent) and the rapid devaluation of US housing stock. All those unfulfilled loans are now not backing all the US dollars in circulation. Rapid devaluation of the US dollar has followed to soak up the excess money supply. At the same time the US has not reformed either of Social Security or Medicare and fully 76 million people out of the total 150 million of the US employment base are due to retire over the next 10 years as the Baby Boomers hit 65. This will increase consumption while reducing production. Leading to inflation and tax collection shortages which would make Medicare even more unsustainable than it is now.

Dealing with the Morning After

Hence, hoping that the US economy is simply suffering from a bout of investor negativity is a somewhat optimistic given the overhead still to be dealt with.

Both inflation and the obligations facing Medicare are within the ambit of US government control. Neither the current democratic contenders for the presidency (Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama), nor John McCain, have given any indication that they take this seriously. In other words, worries are likely to continue over the medium term.

And, for the rest of the world, a shrinking dollar and recessionary America is continued cause for concern.

In the final analysis, what Americans may consider the lasting legacy of GWB’s administration won’t be the war in Iraq, but the lingering headache of the opportunity to reform Medicare lost for good.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0731186720080307?sp=true

CHICAGO, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. short-term interest rate futures were sharply higher on Friday, setting up for aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts after an unexpected drop in U.S. February nonfarm payrolls.

A second straight decline in monthly job creation was taken by dealers as a definitive sign the U.S. economy is in or on the verge of recession.

"The market has moved liked gangbusters on this," said Rudy Narvas, analyst at 4CAST in New York.

Futures FFJ8 now fully reflect a 75 basis-point rate cut from the Federal Reserve this month, which would take the bank's benchmark lending rate to 2.25 percent, and a 24 percent chance for 100 basis points in cuts.

<snip>

"The 101,000 decline in private employment brings the labor market data fully back into the zone consistent with recession," said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut.

...more at link...

this will drive a stake right through the dollar

Its all the rage right now with the talking heads on CNBC that another emergency fed cute of 75 basis point will happen on Monday.. They also stated that its not the time to be LONG in this market..

Dow 11,921.62 118.77 (0.99%)
Nasdaq 2,203.80 16.70 (0.75%)
S&P 500 1,293.18 11.16 (0.86%)
10-Yr Bond 3.505% 0.117

NYSE Volume 103,289,250
Nasdaq Volume 69,224,312.5

09:14 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -12.1. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -12.0.

08:59 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -9.8. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -9.0. Stock futures are trading slightly above their lows that were reached shortly after the worse than expected payroll reading. At current levels, a lower start to the trading day is expected.

08:30 am : S&P futures vs fair value: -6.0. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.8. Futures retreated into the red after the Fed dashed speculation of inter-meeting cut when it announced its increasing its Term Auction Facility (TAF) to $100 billion. Futures then continue to slide on a recently reported worse than expected payroll reading. The Dept. of Labor said February nonfarm payrolls fell by 63K (consensus +20K). The unemployment rate decreased to 4.8% (consensus +5.0%), from the previous reading of 4.9%.

08:19 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +4.5. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +9.0. Futures get a boost and then quickly give up most of those gains on news that the Fed has increased the TAF outstanding amount to $100 billion.

08:00 am : S&P futures vs fair value: +5.5. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +5.2. Futures point to a modestly higher start following yesterday's steep declines. There has been some speculation that there will be an emergency Fed rate cut, which may be helping to fend off selling interest this morning. Futures may go on the move at 8:30 ET, with the release of the February jobs report. Economists are expected a modest 20,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls and for the unemployment rate to tick higher to 5.0%

Index Last Change % change
• DJIA 11995.86 -43.23 -0.36%
• NASDAQ 2215.35 -5.15 -0.23%
• S&P 500 1300.38 -3.96 -0.30%

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down...
Someone left the cake out in the rain
and I don't think that I can take it
'cause it took so long to bake it
and I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!
- Jim Webb

I lost count of it's many points of ironic concurrencies, but, I went for the love song. :)

Maybe I ought to revise my guesstimate, AnneD. Looks like even the PTB and the PPT can't levitate this dead cat anymore.

Chopper Ben's message earlier this week. The Fed is done... But, then was anyone listening?

Of course, they can't go below 0.875% or so, not too much further in any case. When the end is reached, deflation and depression begin.

Or, perhaps it is our creditors who are deciding for us where the end limit is?

Only time will tell, tho.

Seems like we are getting closer by the week now. Guess the date the DJIA rolls back to the level it was when the chimp took office-10,578.24. You can revise your dates up until Labour Day (the working man's holiday)or the DJIA hits 11000 (got to have a cut off). Anyone can join, just give a date and your reasoning for that date.

the other one.....1/30
DemReadingDU.....2/29
Ther-s a.....3/15
Demeter.....3/24
Talking Dog.....3/28 at 2 pmish
Warpy...3/20
Dr. Phool.....4/1
FinnFan.....4/10
Karenina.....4/15
ProgressiveRealist.....4/17
Mattsh.....4/22
GhostDog.....4/28
MilesColtrain.....5/2
Happyslug.....5/9
AzDemDist6.....5/15
InkAddict.....7/3
UIA.....7/15
Roland99.....7/28
Abelenkpe.....8/2
Kineneb.....8/8
Prag.....9/5
MoJo Rabbit.....9/5
MuleBoy(aka hiz honna da mayor).....9/11
Nickster.....9/12
Birthmark....10/10
AnneD....10/24
Neshanic.....10/24
MsLeopard.....10/31
Wordpix.....11/3
Ship wrack.....11/5


Remember-you can change the dates as we learn more. The winner get the praise and admiration of those on the Stockwatch Thread. There is still time to place your bets.....

when all the fables about resurrection of the US economy are shown to be fairy tales....

Not picking a date, but I'll be surprised if it's still up by May Day.

the system better than they have....you might be right.

For a "red state update" I really don't have any problem with the list of stories listed here. Each is from a reputable source. And there are no comments. It reads like a compendium of news articles from people who are just as concerned about the mismanagement of our economy as we are.

Did I miss anything?

:loveya:

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/thosewere.htm

YOu can sing along to this:

Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I'd see you in the tavern
We'd smile at one another and we'd say

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely woman really me

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we're older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la...
Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days

of my youth. I'm 19 and sitting in a coffee house listening to that song, eating pancakes at midnight with some friends.

Ah, those were the days.......

Dow 12,041.53 Up 1.14 (0.01%)
Nasdaq 2,235.84 Up 15.34 (0.69%)
S&P 500 1,308.18 Up 3.84 (0.29%)
10-Yr Bond 3.6000% Down 0.0220
NYSE Volume 1,076,786,750
Nasdaq Volume 643,301,500

Nope:

10:35 am : After some choppy action, the major indices are trading near their best levels of the session. The Dow has made into the green, although its advance is slight.

The Nasdaq Composite is outperforming after taking out a fresh 52-week closing low yesterday. Cisco (CSCO 24.63, +0.69) is leading the way with a 3% gain. Microsoft (MSFT 27.97, +0.39) is also showing strength.

The Fed said its decision to increase the size of its Term Auction Facilities (TAF) had nothing to do with with this morning's employment report. The Fed advertised its use of TAFs on Dec 12. The TAFs are designed to improve liquidity by allowing depository institution borrow short term funds in an anonymous manner. Also, the Fed allows a broader range of collateral than what can be typically used.

Crude oil is taking a modest breather after hitting all-time highs yesterday. Oil is down 0.5% to $104.90 per barrel. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Kohn said it is "more likely" that oil prices will flatten out. Crude prices have rallied roughly 56% since one year ago.DJ30 +1.47 NASDAQ +13.01 SP500 +3.58 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1220/1350/530 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1444/1456/372 mln

10:00 am : The major indices are in recovery mode, as traders are encouraged that the opening was not as weak as feared. The Nasdaq and S&P are now trading with a slight gain. Four of the ten sectors are higher, with notable buying interest in the financial sector (+2.4%).

The sector is being led by thrifts & mortgages (+4.0%), regional banks (+3.7%), and diversified banks (+4.0%).

The tech sector (+0.8%) is also playing a role in the recent surge.DJ30 -23.12 NASDAQ +11.65

I just heard another talking head on CNBC claim that the any Fed action is useless because we have much bigger problems because derivatives have dropped over the past 6 months by $100 trillion.. He stated they have gone from $500T to $400T..

Anyone know what's going on here??

For example, let me use the example of stock options, which are derivatives. If I bought an option for $2 to buy a stock at $100, that thing is valued under the way it is reported in the press as being a $100 derivative.

there are anywhere from 10 to 37 dollars of derivatives built on top. Then on top of that more derivatives are piled (amounts unknown because they are almost unregulated and unreported).

So if banks/investment firms have written off about $180B of CDO's, a hundred trillion doesn't sound surprising.

Might have to fire up "We're All Alright"

Dow 11,994.07 -46.32
Nasdaq 2,228.44 7.94
S&P 500 1,303.01 -1.33
Oil $104.90 $-0.57
10 YR 3.56% -0.07
Gold $977.50 $0.40

Dow 11,965.66 74.73 (0.62%)
Nasdaq 2,222.45 1.95 (0.09%)
S&P 500 1,299.89 4.45 (0.34%)
10-Yr Bond 3.568% 0.054

NYSE Volume 1,339,137,125
Nasdaq Volume 804,882,062.5

11:00 am : The major indices dip off their best levels as the Dow slips back into the red. Five of the ten economic sectors are still managing to trade higher. This is in contrast to shortly after the open, when all ten sectors were lower.

Financials (+1.5%) and tech (+1.1%) continue to see the most buying interest. Even including this session's advance, the two sectors have been hit hard this year. Both sectors are down 16.4%.DJ30 -9.44 NASDAQ +13.12 SP500 +1.87 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1229/1396/649 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1354/1587/453 mln

10:35 am : After some choppy action, the major indices are trading near their best levels of the session. The Dow has made into the green, although its advance is slight.

The Nasdaq Composite is outperforming after taking out a fresh 52-week closing low yesterday. Cisco (CSCO 24.63, +0.69) is leading the way with a 3% gain. Microsoft (MSFT 27.97, +0.39) is also showing strength.

The Fed said its decision to increase the size of its Term Auction Facilities (TAF) had nothing to do with with this morning's employment report. The Fed advertised its use of TAFs on Dec 12. The TAFs are designed to improve liquidity by allowing depository institution borrow short term funds in an anonymous manner. Also, the Fed allows a broader range of collateral than what can be typically used.

Crude oil is taking a modest breather after hitting all-time highs yesterday. Oil is down 0.5% to $104.90 per barrel. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Kohn said it is "more likely" that oil prices will flatten out. Crude prices have rallied roughly 56% since one year ago.DJ30 +1.47 NASDAQ +13.01 SP500 +3.58 NASDAQ

apologies to Elton John

The roses in the window box
Have tilted to one side
Everything about this house
Was born to grow and die

Oh it doesn't seem a year ago
To this very day
You said I'm sorry honey
If I don't change the pace
I can't face another day

And love lies bleeding in my hand
Oh it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn't hold you
So I split the band
Love lies bleeding in my hands

I wonder if those changes
Have left a scar on you
Like all the burning hoops of fire
That you and I passed through

You're a bluebird on a telegraph line
I hope you're happy now
Well if the wind of change comes down your way girl
You'll make it back somehow

03. Longer repos aimed at primary dealers: Fed staffer
10:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 1 hour ago

04. Fed liquidity announcement not timed to job data: staffer
10:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 1 hour ago

05. Fed likely to take more mortgage products in repos: staffer
10:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 1 hour ago

06. Credit market woes accelerated in recent days: Fed staffer
10:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 1 hour ago

07. Broad downturn in credit markets spurred action: Fed staffer
10:15 AM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 1 hour ago

ummmmm ... methinks they deny too loudly and too much

:eyes:

???

http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/pomo/display/index.cfm

Operation Date: 03/07/2008

Operation Type: Outright Bill Sale

Release Time: 10:31 AM

Close Time: 11:15 AM

Settlement Date: 03/10/2008

Maturity/Call Date Range: 05/08/2008 - 06/05/2008


Total Par Amt Accepted (mlns) : $10,000

Total Par Amt Submitted (mlns) : $52,595

That is the date I believe the market will drop below the # it was at when King IDIOT STOLE office.

I hope everyone is able to find a replay of Larry going off on democrat's today on CNBC before the start of congressional hearing into CEO's compensation.. He's attacking democrat's and unions..

Considering a large part of that was the internet bubble, I kinda doubt it but the plight of the poor and middle class can finally be addressed and the rich and the uber-rich will have to do without 24K gold-plated toilet paper holders.

Outraged. They can barely contain themselves.

"How dare Congress look into CEO Pay. It isn't any of their business and they should keep their nosy noses out."


Just yesterday the pundits were screaming for the government to come and bail out the banks.

They remind me of bratty spoiled children.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0732738820080307?sp=true

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday its Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein was awarded about $53.97 million of compensation in its 2007 fiscal year, when the Wall Street bank largely skirted subprime mortgage losses that plagued many rivals.

Blankfein also realized $45.76 million from the vesting of stock, bringing his compensation and other awards to about $100 million, according to Goldman's proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The compensation amount reflects a methodology used by many executive pay consultants. It differs from Goldman's calculation of Blankfein's "approved 2007 compensation" of $68.5 million, which incorporates a $67.9 million "year-end bonus" payable in cash, restricted stock and stock options.

According to the proxy filing, Blankfein was awarded a $600,000 salary, a $26.99 million bonus and $384,157 of other compensation for fiscal 2007, which ended in November.

Blankfein was also granted restricted stock and stock options valued at $26 million as of the December 2006 grant date, the filing shows. Other compensation included $233,053 for a car and driver, and several other items.

<snip>

According to the same methodology, compensation for other top Goldman executives included a respective $53.04 million and $52.91 million for Co-Chief Operating Officers Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, $42.58 million for Chief Financial Officer David Viniar, and $39.85 million for Chief Administrative Officer Edward Forst, the filing shows.

...more...

:argh:

she says... pitchfork in one hand, file in other...
:evilgrin:

whiny bastards...poke, poke, "cough up the dough, ya' asshat"...

Just wait until later and Larry Kudlow comes on. :puke: I can probably accuractly predict that all these reports and down weeks are "all the Democrats' fault". :puke: Why? He says the same crap day after day after day....

now -134.81

01. Bush has confidence economy will prosper in coming months
1:58 PM ET, Mar 07, 2008 - 2 minutes ago

Dow 11,849.73 190.66 (1.58%)
Nasdaq 2,195.05 25.45 (1.15%)
S&P 500 1,286.29 18.05 (1.38%)
10-Yr Bond 3.532% 0.09

NYSE Volume 2,473,741,250
Nasdaq Volume 1,404,314,250

2:00 pm : The major indices fall to fresh session lows. The only sectors that have not participated in the recent downturn are consumer staples (-0.2%) and utilities (-0.7%).

It keeps getting worse for Thornburg Mortgage (TMA 1.24, -0.41). The company has been hammered recently on news that it was unable to meet margin calls on its loans. The stock is down another 25% today after the company said it has $610 in margin calls exceeding liquidity. The company's shares are down 95% from their 52-week high as traders fear the worst.DJ30 -172.42 NASDAQ -21.82 SP500 -15.70 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1853/983/1.36 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1015/2055/943 mln

:eyes:


Dumbass.


Checks for the "rebate" won't even be cut for 2 more months!


FRIGIDIOT!

Dow 11,871.22 169.17 (1.41%)
Nasdaq 2,198.24 22.26 (1.00%)
S&P 500 1,288.60 15.74 (1.21%)
10-Yr Bond 3.554% 0.068

NYSE Volume 2,384,173,750
Nasdaq Volume 1,353,468,250

1:30 pm : The stock market falls near its lows that were reached shortly after the opening bell. All ten sectors have retreated into the red. The AP reports that President Bush's top economic advisor said economic growth may be negative this quarter.

The materials sector (-3.4%) is posting the largest loss this session due to a confluence of factors. The weak jobs report has raised economic concerns, which is fueling some of the selling interest in the cyclical sector.

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 99.52, -4.82), a mining company, and aluminum company Alcoa (AA 36.56, -1.81) are two of the main laggards. Both companies were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings. Meanwhile, agriculture chemical company Monsanto (MON 108.06, -6.36) is posting a hefty -5.5% decline. This session's slide in corn (-3.5%), soybeans (-3.4%), and cotton (-5.3%) prices are weighing on the company's stock. Monsanto produces seeds for these and other commodities.DJ30 -118.67 NASDAQ -7.68 SP500 -9.30 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1676/1150/1.24 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1890/1174/862 mln

1:00 pm : Selling pressure has eased as the major indices try to regain some lost ground. Market Breadth is somewhat bearish. Declining stocks outpace advancing stocks by 1.5-to-1 on the NYSE and by 3-to-2 on the Nasdaq. Within the S&P 500, 65% stocks are posting a loss.

Commodities are in the red this session. The CRB Index is posting a loss of 0.8%. Soybeans are down 3.4%, and corn is down 3.5%.DJ30 -92.07 NASDAQ -7.12 SP500 -2.88 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1575/1209/1.14 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1793/1258/791 mln

Dow down 169.17

*waves at everyone in the super cool and informative daily econ thread*

good to see you here at the SMW!

:hi:

come on in, the water's fine!

Wow. lowest level in 18 months.

and we will be back to the level when Bush took office.
The piehole effect.

Will we make it or not? Can Bush crash through his own bottom?

the market will be below that before he leave. I don't blame him for the market dropping when he first came on board (that was part of the DOTCOM bust----but since then and a few months into the next Presidency-it's Bush's baby).

...i.e. achieve complete cranio-rectal inversion?--all but 19% already agree: "Mission Accomplished"!

-64 at the moment (via CNBC)

More detail from MarketWatch:

Dow 11,968.75 -71.64
Nasdaq 2,225.87 5.37
S&P 500 1,299.18 -5.16
10 YR 3.54% -0.08
Oil $105.15 $-0.32
Gold $974.50 $-2.60

there is no tampering???? Yeah, right:eyes:

nice stuff.

Program trading?

Manipulation?

Suckers?

All of the above?

Index Last Change % change
• DJIA 11889.05 -151.34 -1.26%
• NASDAQ 2208.39 -12.11 -0.55%
• S&P 500 1290.83 -13.51 -1.04%

Dow 11,895.56 144.83 (1.20%)
Nasdaq 2,210.03 10.47 (0.47%)
S&P 500 1,292.78 11.56 (0.89%)
10-Yr Bond 3.541% 0.081

NYSE Volume 3,962,139,250
Nasdaq Volume 2,246,107,500

Borrow & Spend

(Borrow the kid's future & give it all to the Republican 1% of have's and havemore's).

Until THAT doesn't CHANGE...

It was another day of volatile trade on Friday. A worse than expected jobs report and news that the Fed made an unexpected move to improve liquidity dominated headlines. After a late-day recovery effort faded, the stock market finished the day with a significant loss on increased economic and credit fears.

The Department of Labor said February nonfarm payrolls fell by 63,000, which marks the largest decline since March 2003. The reading fell short of the expected 20,000 increase in jobs. The decline follows January's poor reading, which saw a decrease of 22,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.8% from 4.9%, likely due to discouraged workers, which are people that are able to work but have stopped looking for employment. Discouraged workers are not included in the unemployment calculation.

In a move to improve liquidity, the Fed announced it is increasing the size of its Term Auction Facility (TAF) to $100 billion. The Fed advertised its use of TAFs on Dec. 12. The TAFs are designed to improve liquidity by allowing depository institutions to borrow short term funds in an anonymous manner. Also, the Fed allows a broader range of collateral than what can be typically used. The Fed said its move was unrelated to the weak employment reading.

The financial sector (+0.3%) finished the day as a relative leader thanks to strength in real estate investment trusts. However, the sector closed well off its high when it was up 2.7%. Financials fell off their highs on news that Thornburg Mortgage (TMA 1.29, -0.36) has $610 million in margin calls that exceeds its liquidity. The fear is U.S. financial companies may face a chain reaction in selling off assets at fire-sale prices.

Washington Mutual (WM 10.75, -1.01) saw a steep decline of 8.6%. The Wall Street Journal reported that WaMu is seeking a capital infusion from private equity and sovereign-wealth funds.

The materials sector (-3.7%) finished the day as the main laggard. The weak employment reading increased economic concerns, and an easing in commodity prices (-0.9%), weighed on the cyclical sector. Also adding to the decline was weakness in mining company Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 99.59, -4.75) and aluminum company Alcoa (AA 36.66, -1.71). Each company was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings.

Traders upped their bets on the size of the March 18 fed funds rate cut. Traders currently expect a 2% chance of a 100 basis point cut with the rest of the bets on a 75 basis point cut. Yesterday, there was a 74% chance of 75 basis point cut, with the rest of the odds on a 50 basis point cut.

Friday's poor finish capped off a disappointing week. For the week, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell 3.0%, 2.6%, and 2.8%, respectively. DJ30 -146.70 NASDAQ -8.01 NQ100 -0.3% R2K -0.4% SP400 -1.0% SP500 -10.97 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1801/1111/2.38 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1996/1138/1.69 bln

3:30 pm : The major indices pare a large portion of their losses on a quick surge in buying interest. The recovery effort is being led by financials (+0.7%) and tech (+0.3%). The financial sector's recovery has been broad-based with 15 of its 18 industry groups trading higher.

Bond insurer Ambac (ABK 7.25, -0.17) is trading at its best level of the session on news that its CEO bought 25,000 shares at $6.75. Several other directors and a vice president also made share purchases.DJ30 -98.58 NASDAQ -3.06 SP500 -6.93 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1729/1180/1.97 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1864/1258/1.35 bln

have a great weekend everyone!

:hi:

March 30, 2008.