STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 12 December 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 12 December 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 11 December 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 December 2013
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Dow Jones 15,843.53 -129.60 (-0.81%)
S&P 500 1,782.22 -20.40 (-1.13%)
Nasdaq 4,003.81 -56.68 (-1.40%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.85% +0.04 (1.42%)
30 Year 3.89% +0.04 (1.04%)[font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.








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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Demeter]

1. Trying to start class warfare, Tansy?

[Tansy_Gold]

2. Diligently.

[Warpy]

3. We all hope so.

I've been trying for 40 years. It's somebody else's turn.

[jtuck004]

10. They went to war on our collective asses some time back.

But for some odd reason, the 99% is fighting back mostly by using their remotes to switch between The Voice and Dancing with the Stars, which is something I am having real trouble coming to grips with. They only see the few that try to protest, or anything else, for a few brief minutes on the news.

Most cannot seem to make the connection between their lack of action and the fact that we are going forward as the first U.S. citizens to do worse than the last generation. And it's very likely to get much worse from here on out for many people, even people who think they are fairly safe today, unless you are one of those with more stocks and bonds than the average person (among the few who actually own much), or unless you have the assets of someone in the 1% (an income greater than a couple hundred thousand a year or thereabouts) with little or no debt. And the lower you are in that group the higher the chances that you will join the rest of us at some point.

We went to the movie "Inequality for All" today, and Reich was speaking to a union group, very informal, very small. One of the guys seated in front was actually trying to make the argument that they NEEDED to lower their wages to make sure the corporation made money.



Reich was trying to help them understand that this was the problem.

I never understood until now how sad Reich was over Clinton's actions during the last part of his term. He showed a clip of Clinton stumping during the initial run, and how he then turned his back on the people and those ideas, and enabled the bankers to do what they did. Say what one will, Reich looked heartbroken when he talked about it.

I guess that's what one gets living up through the Carter era and watching all that investment in people spin apart since then. I do wish I could show people what that was like, (free tuition at Berkely, now $15,000 a year or so, among lots of other things) but people I talk with can't even seem to conceptualize what that might be like.

[DemReadingDU]

4. Chris Arnade, former Wall Street Trader

12/10/13 Why Chris Arnade Quit His High-Paying Wall Street Job to Photograph Extreme Poverty and Addiction

Chris Arnade was a trader on Wall Street for 20 years. He had a secure spot on a foreign exchange desk at one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. Yet after two decades on Wall Street he quit his job and began spending much of his time in an area of the South Bronx where the average household income is just $16,000 per year.

“I effectually became disillusioned with Wall Street following the financial crisis,” says Arnade. “As a way to try to find something to fill in the gap I started walking around New York with my camera talking to [and photographing] people.”

His photography led him to Hunts Point, one of the poorest and most violent neighborhoods in New York. “I started really talking to the addicts and the prostitutes there and I felt like their story needed to be heard, and I’ve focused my last three years on doing just that," he tells The Daily Ticker's Lauren Lyster.

Arnade posts photos of the people he meets in Hunts Point (an area that is often considered a “red light” district) on his Tumblr and Flickr pages along with their stories.

So what has he learned by frequenting these two entirely separate worlds? “The poor go to jail and the rich make mistakes,” says Arnade. He gives the example of Takeesha, a prostitute and drug addict.

“I’ve been close with [Takeesha] now for three years," he says. "She has been in jail off and on about 15 times. The gentleman who I worked with who lost about $1.5 billion never got fired, got paid his $400,000 in salary and now runs a hedge fund somewhere.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/why-chris-arnade-quit-his-high-paying-wall-street-job-to-photograph-extreme-poverty-and-addiction-155638003.html

[DemReadingDU]

5. Chris Arnade: Here's why Wall Street has a hard time being ethical

11/25/13 Here's why Wall Street has a hard time being ethical
A new report finds 53% of financial services executives say that adhering to ethical standards inhibits career progression at their firm. A former Wall Street trader describes why

My first year on Wall Street, 1993, I was paid 14 times more than I earned the prior year and three times more than my father's best year. For that money, I helped my company create financial products that were disguised to look simple, but which required complex math to properly understand. That first year I was roundly applauded by my bosses, who told me I was clever, and to my surprise they gave me $20,000 bonus beyond my salary.

The products were sold to many investors, many who didn’t fully understand what they were buying, most of them what we called “clueless Japanese.” The profits to my company were huge – hundreds of millions of dollars huge. The main product that made my firm great money for close to five years was was called, in typically dense finance jargon, a YIF, or a Yield Indexed Forward.

Eventually, investors got wise, realizing what they had bought was complex, loaded with hidden leverage, and became most dangerous during moments of distress.

I never did meet the buyers; that was someone else's job. I stayed behind the spreadsheets. My job was to try to extract as much value as possible through math and clever trading. Japan would send us faxes of documents from our competitors. Many were selling far weirder products and doing it in far larger volume than we were. The conversation with our Japanese customers would end with them urging us on: “We can’t fall behind.”

When I did ask, rather naively, if this was all kosher, I would be assured multiple times that multiple lawyers and multiple managers had approved the sales.

One senior trader, consoling me late at night, reminded me, “You are playing in the big leagues now. If a customer wants a red suit, you sell them a red suit. If that customer is Japanese, you charge him twice what it costs.”

I rationalized that our group was careful by Wall Street standards, trying to stay close to the letter of the law. We tried to abide by an unwritten "five-point rule": never intentionally make more than five percentage points of profit from a customer.

more...
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/25/wall-street-hard-time-ethical

[BlueToTheBone]

6. Thanks Tansy Gold

I've missed you guys.

[Tansy_Gold]

7. We've been right here, so welcome back!

C'mon in and set a spell.....

[BlueToTheBone]

8. Thanks for the invite

My feet are a bit tired and a lemonade would be great if only it were summer! Do you think that Yellen will be an answer in the Fed? Or am I being naive?

[Fuddnik]

9. Probably naive.

It's still late summer down here in Florida, and my extra vodka infused lemonade would be just what the doctor ordered.

But, let's face reality. Although Summers was the textbook asshole, Obama wasn't going to appoint anyone who would upset the banksters applecart.

Nope. DLC, Third Way nominees all the way. Just look at the rest of his staff and cabinet, and you'll get the picture.

[jtuck004]

11. America’s Economy Is Officially Inside-Out

From The Harvard Business Review, by Umair Haque | 1:00 PM December 9, 2013

This is the first generation of Americans in modern history expected to enjoy lower living standards than their forebears. It is the first generation in modern history whose life expectancy is dwindling. It is the first generation of modern Americans whose educational attainment is declining. It is the first generation of modern Americans who face less opportunity than their parents.

Shorter, nastier, dumber, harder, bleaker. That’s the future for not only Americans, but for many in the world’s richest countries.
...
I can think of almost no other example in the history of modern democracies of progress actually becoming regress. Short of war or cataclysm, it is literally unprecedented. And that’s not the half of it. It’s unprecedented…because it should be impossible. If the rich get richer, it should be precisely because they create goods of real value to people, which elevate their living standards. In a working economy, “growth” should reflect real prosperity multiplying.

But when growth rises and living standards fall? That begins to hint that there is something wrong—very wrong, perhaps terribly wrong—with the way things are. It suggest that what is happening to this society is not merely a simple, passing, self-healing ailment; but a chronic, possibly permanent, definitely debilitating condition. Not a flu—but a cancer.
...
I won’t pretend to smile, pat you on the back, and offer you bullet-pointed “solutions.” Because to a phenomenon this great, this unprecedented, this historic? I don’t believe there are any.

Here.

He suggests that our wheel of progress isn't just stopped, it is turning backwards for the first time in history. Which means, unless we find a way to reverse it and begin to invest in ourselves and the country the way we used to, a lot more people than realize it today, especially people who have worked for 30 or 40 years or more, may well find out that little cushion of safety they thought would sustain them hasn't got a chance.

[Demeter]

12. AND FOR NO GOOD REASON!

We haven't been invaded, famined, plagued, or any other of those outside-force forms of deprivation.

No, this has all been economic warfare waged upon us by our own government, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Corp. Inc., and with far too many really stupid citizens buying into the idea that they can have theirs, if the neighbor they don't like is ground down and ground up.

It's Calvinism gone wild!

[xchrom]

13. Cinda: China 'bad bank' shares surge on debut

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25344327


Shares in Cinda Asset Management, which handles bad debts run up by Chinese banks, have surged on their debut.

The firm's share rose as much as 23% to HK$4.79 in early trading in Hong Kong.

The state-owned firm is one of the four asset management companies created in the 1990s to take on bad loans of government controlled Chinese banks.

It has raised nearly $2.5bn (£1.1bn) via a share sale to fund new purchases of distressed assets amid a fresh rise in bad loans in China.

[xchrom]

14. Earnings rise slower than inflation for fifth year running

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25347403


Average earnings in the UK have risen by less than the rate of inflation for the fifth year running, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In the year ending April 2013, the ONS said pre-tax pay reached £27,000 a year, an increase of 2.1% over 2012.

However, inflation over the same period, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), was 2.4%.

The figures show that workers continue to see a squeeze in their pay.

[xchrom]

15. Jobless Claims in U.S. Surge in Week After Thanksgiving

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-12/jobless-claims-in-u-s-surge-in-week-after-thanksgiving-holiday.html


Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits jumped last week from an almost three-month low, highlighting the difficulty in adjusting the data around the year-end holidays.

Jobless claims surged by 68,000 to a two-month high of 368,000 in the period ended Dec. 7, exceeding the highest forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The 300,000 applications filed in the prior week, which included Thanksgiving, were the fewest since Sept. 7.

The data reflect seasonal adjustment volatility around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released. A report last week showed the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low and companies added more workers than forecast, pointing to further labor-market progress.

“I wouldn’t put too much stock in the ups and downs of initial jobless claims over the next several weeks because seasonal volatility is pretty high this time of year,” said Ryan Sweet, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and the top-ranked forecaster of jobless claims in the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “Layoffs are low. Other jobs data suggest layoffs are not the problem, it’s the lack of hiring.”

[xchrom]

16. Retail Sales in U.S. Increase by Most in Five Months

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-12/retail-sales-in-u-s-rose-in-november-by-most-in-five-months.html

Retail sales in the U.S. rose more than forecast in November as Americans bought cars and took advantage of discounts going into the holiday-shopping season.

Purchases climbed 0.7 percent, the most since June, after a 0.6 percent advance in October that was larger than previously reported, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 83 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.6 percent advance. Excluding cars, sales rose 0.4 percent, also more than projected.

Higher stock prices, rising home values and stronger job growth have helped buoy consumer sentiment, raising the odds that household spending will rebound this quarter from the weakest performance in almost four years. Nonetheless, companies such as Gap Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. aren’t taking chances as they mark down merchandise to spur demand.

“We’re getting a tailwind from lower gas prices, significant tailwinds from higher wealth through equities and real estate and last, but certainly not least, an acceleration in wages,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York, who accurately forecast the gain in retail sales. “We’re going in the right direction.”

[xchrom]

17. Stanford Economist Piazzesi Influences Fed Forecasts

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-12/stanford-economist-piazzesi-influences-fed-forecasts.html



Monika Piazzesi found inspiration for her career at France’s top statistics school in a math class that initially was too hard for her.

A Bonn University economics major on an exchange program in Paris, she audited a course taught by math legend Nicole El Karoui and was captivated by the concept of asset pricing. The experience at the Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Economique, or Ensae, became a key turning point for Piazzesi, now a Stanford University economics professor whose research helps inform Federal Reserve forecasting models.

She “had this immensely successful career, is an amazing lecturer, and I took that course and I thought, ‘This is cool all right; if she can do it, I can also do it,’” Piazzesi said of El Karoui, who’s known for training top derivatives traders. “She had a huge effect on me.”

Piazzesi, 44, now works to do what El Karoui did for her: inspire a new generation, particularly women, to embrace her field. Nearly three times as many men as women major in economics in U.S. colleges.

[DemReadingDU]

18. Living In A Steel Box: Londoners Live In Shipping Containers Due To Soaring Rents

11/2/13 Living In A Steel Box: Londoners Live In Shipping Containers Due To Soaring Rents
A London charity has imported steel containers from China and converted them into bargain basement homes, as part of a novel solution to try and solve homelessness amid soaring rents in the British capital.

video appx 2.5 minutes

Read more at ZeroHedge...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-12/living-steel-box-londoners-live-shipping-containers-due-soaring-rents

[snot]

23. That's $531 per month.

Container sizes vary, but I understand a standard footprint is 8 x 20 = 160 s.f.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report {12/12/2013}

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read more: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20132354.htm

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 368,000, an increase of 68,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 300,000. The 4-week moving average was 328,750, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average of 322,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.1 percent for the week ending November 30, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 30 was 2,791,000, an increase of 40,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,751,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,793,500, a decrease of 4,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,798,250.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 461,422 in the week ending December 7, an increase of 146,241 from the previous week. There were 429,188 initial claims in the comparable week in 2012.
....

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending November 23 was 3,800,667, a decrease of 296,234 from the previous week. There were 5,641,066 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2012.

== == == ==

Good morning, Freepers and DUers alike. I ask you to put aside your differences long enough to read this post. Following that, you can engage in your usual donnybrook.

That's a huge increase for initial claims, but just as huge a decrease for "total number of people claiming benefits in all programs." When you see that, you have to think there's some external event involved.

I have been posting the number every week for at least a year. I seriously do not care if the week's data make Obama look good. They are just numbers, and I post them without regard to the consequences. I welcome people from Free Republic to examine the numbers as well. They paid for the work just as much as members of DU did, so I invite them to come on over and have a look. "The more the merrier" is the way I look at it.

I do not work at the ETA, and I do not know anyone working in that agency. I'm sure I can safely assume that the numbers are gathered and analyzed by career civil servant economists who do their work on a nonpartisan basis. Numbers are numbers, and let the chips fall where they may. If you feel that these economists are falling down on the job, drop them a line or give them a call. They work for you, not for any politician or political party.

The word "initial" is important. The report does not count all claims, just the new ones filed this week.

Note: The seasonal adjustment factors used for the UI Weekly Claims data from 2007 forward, along with the resulting seasonally adjusted values for initial claims and continuing claims, have been revised. These revised historical values, as well as the seasonal adjustment factors that will be used through calendar year 2012, can be accessed at the bottom of the following link: http://www.oui.doleta.gov/press/2012/032912.asp

[DoBotherMe]

20. KNR

[Tansy_Gold]

21. Four Iceland Bank Executives JAILED. yessssssss!

Thanks to hedgehog in GD for posting this


http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1212/492500-four-iceland-bank-executives-jailed/

An Icelandic court sentenced four former Kaupthing bankers to jail for market abuses related to a large stake taken in the bank by a Qatari sheikh just before it went under in late 2008.

...

A Reykjavik district court today sentenced Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, Kaupthing's former CEO, to five-and-a-half years in prison.

Former chairman Sigurdur Einarsson received a five-year sentence.

Magnus Gudmundsson, former CEO of Kaupthing Luxembourg, was given a three-year sentence.

Olafur Olafsson - the bank's second largest shareholder at the time - got three-and-a-half years.

**************************

It wasn't clear from the article if the four are actually in Iceland and/or in prison, but at least they got the sentences.

More info here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eab58f7e-6345-11e3-a87d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2nHfvCANE

[Demeter]

22. They LENT the Sheik the money to buy their bank!

"None of the bankers, now based in London and Luxembourg, were present today."

BLESS YOU, OF COURSE THEY WEREN'T!