STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 29 October 2013

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Tuesday, 29 October 2013[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 28 October 2013

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 28 October 2013
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Dow Jones 15,568.93 -1.35 (-0.01%)
[font color=green]S&P 500 1,762.11 +2.34 (0.13%)
[font color=red]Nasdaq 3,940.13 -3.23 (-0.08%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.52% +0.01 (0.40%)
30 Year 3.62% +0.02 (0.56%) [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. Speaking of Congressmen

Here is Congressman Alan Grayson's commentary on domestic surveillance, from Friday's edition of the Guardian. Read the editorial, then share your thoughts at CongressmanWithGuts.com. http://cl.exct.net/?qs=4510462660a2d0e8b6077884b1933a6c75aa61533e9e89b28c9d6ea897a75ab1

In the 1970s, Congressman Otis Pike of New York chaired a special congressional committee to investigate abuses by the American so-called "intelligence community" - the spies. After the investigation, Pike commented:

It took this investigation to convince me that I had always been told lies, to make me realize that I was tired of being told lies.

I'm tired of the spies telling lies, too.

Pike's investigation initiated one of the first congressional oversight debates for the vast and hidden collective of espionage agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA). Before the Pike Commission, Congress was kept in the dark about them - a tactic designed to thwart congressional deterrence of the sometimes illegal and often shocking activities carried out by the "intelligence community". Today, we are seeing a repeat of this professional voyeurism by our nation's spies, on an unprecedented and pervasive scale.

Recently, the US House of Representatives voted on an amendment - offered by Representatives Justin Amash and John Conyers - that would have curbed the NSA's omnipresent and inescapable tactics. Despite furious lobbying by the intelligence industrial complex and its allies, and four hours of frantic and overwrought briefings by the NSA's General Keith Alexander, 205 of 422 Representatives voted for the amendment.

Though the amendment barely failed, the vote signaled a clear message to the NSA: We do not trust you. The vote also conveyed another, more subtle message: Members of Congress do not trust that the House Intelligence Committee is providing the necessary oversight. On the contrary, "oversight" has become "overlook".

Despite being a member of Congress possessing security clearance, I've learned far more about government spying on me and my fellow citizens from reading media reports than I have from "intelligence" briefings. If the vote on the Amash-Conyers amendment is any indication, my colleagues feel the same way. In fact, one long-serving conservative Republican told me that he doesn't attend such briefings anymore, because, "They always lie".

Many of us worry that Congressional Intelligence Committees are more loyal to the "intelligence community" that they are tasked with policing, than to the Constitution. And the House Intelligence Committee isn't doing anything to assuage our concerns.

I've requested classified information, and further meetings with NSA officials. The House Intelligence Committee has refused to provide either. Supporters of the NSA's vast ubiquitous domestic spying operation assure the public that members of Congress can be briefed on these activities whenever they want. Senator Saxby Chambliss says all a member of Congress needs to do is ask for information, and he'll get it. Well I did ask, and the House Intelligence Committee said "no", repeatedly. And virtually every other member not on the Intelligence Committee gets the same treatment.

Recently, a member of the House Intelligence Committee was asked at a town hall meeting, by his constituents, why my requests for more information about these programs were being denied. This member argued that I don't have the necessary level of clearance to obtain access for classified information. That doesn't make any sense; every member is given the same level of clearance.

There is no legal justification for imparting secret knowledge about the NSA's domestic surveillance activities only to the 20 members of the House Intelligence Committee. Moreover, how can the remaining 415 of us do our job properly, when we're kept in the dark - or worse, misinformed?

Edward Snowden's revelations demonstrate that the members of Congress, who are asked to authorize these programs, are not privy to the same information provided to junior analysts at the NSA, and even private contractors who sell services to foreign governments. The only time that these intelligence committees disclose classified information to us, your elected representatives, is when it serves the purposes of the "intelligence community".

As the country continues to debate the supposed benefits of wall-to-wall spying programs on each and every American, without probable cause, the spies, "intelligence community" and Congressional Intelligence Committees have a choice: will they begin sharing comprehensive information about these activities, so that elected public officials have the opportunity to make informed decisions about whether such universal snooping is necessary, or constitutional?

Or will they continue to obstruct our efforts to understand these programs, and force us to rely on information provided by whistleblowers who undertake substantial risks to disseminate this information about violations of our freedom in an increasingly hostile environment? And why do Generals Alexander and Clapper remain in office, when all the evidence points to them committing the felony of lying to Congress and the American people?

Representative Pike would probably say that rank-and-file representatives will never get the information we need from the House Intelligence Committee, because the spying industrial complex answers only to itself. After all, Pike, and many of the members of his special congressional committee, voted against forming it. As it is now constituted, the House Intelligence Committee will never decry, deny, or defy any spy. They see eye-to-eye, so they turn a blind eye. Which means that if we rely on them, we can kiss our liberty good-bye.

[Demeter]

2. Fuel Supply System Fixes Pick Up Gas After Superstorm Sandy

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/29/241415235/fuel-supply-system-fixes-pick-up-gas-after-superstorm-sandy?ft=1&f=1001

One of the effects of Superstorm Sandy a year ago could be seen at service stations throughout New York City and surrounding areas: motorists joined long lines outside the few stations that had both electricity and gasoline...Since then, the oil industry and policymakers have been working to shore up the region's fuel supply system. To fix the power problem, New York and New Jersey announced grant programs to help station owners install wiring to quickly hook up mobile generators. But the long lines were about more than just the lack of power. "I'm of the view that most of the problem came with the panic behavior by the public," says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Gasbuddy.com. He says next time governors should begin rationing gasoline sooner because that helped calm the panic.

The fuel supply problems went well beyond gas stations though. The storm surge from Sandy damaged local supply terminals, those big, round tanks that are often found near water. Kloza says these can't be moved to higher ground...While many of these facilities have been there for decades, climate change could mean that a facility that was once above flood level now is not. Making those facilities more resilient will require significant work. "It could be looking at berms, looking at elevating cables, looking at elevating motors — other equipment that traditionally has been at ground level, we need to raise that above that flood plain level to ensure that salt water doesn't impact that infrastructure," says Patricia A. Hoffman, assistant secretary for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy.

'Everybody's Blind'

Near some large tanks and a warehouse, Paul Riggins, president of Riggins Oil Company in Vineland, N.J., points to a shiny yellow-and-black generator that he installed last year. It cost $75,000 and it'll allow him to pump gas and diesel into his fleet of tanker trucks even if the electricity goes out. He was deluged with requests for fuel after Sandy and had to choose which shipments to prioritize. Riggins says he learned some valuable lessons during Sandy. For example he always assumed delivering generator fuel to police stations and medical facilities was the priority. But authorities told him that one of the most important things to keep running is cell phone towers. "Because they said, you know, without communication the fire, the police, the hospitals everybody's blind," Riggins says he meets regularly with government officials now. That helps policymakers understand his challenges during a disaster too. Since most of his customers buy on credit, a sudden surge in business can become a problem.

"We actually got into a position where we had $7,000 left in our bank account and every credit line with banks and suppliers extended," he explains. "And we had a million dollars in orders the next day. And it was like, 'OK, what are we going to do here?'"

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's office helped him get quick access to more credit so he could continue delivering fuel... considering all the things that can go wrong, there is still a lot more work the country needs to do to protect its fuel supply system.

[Demeter]

3. Somebody tell the government!

[Ghost Dog]

4. Silk Road economic belt proposal

ALMATY, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- The creation of an economic belt stretching along the ancient Silk Road coincides with Kazakhstan's foreign policy, says a Kazakh expert on international issues.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the idea during his recent visit to Central Asia, eyeing the the cultural revival of the Silk Road, which historically links China with Central Asia and Europe, as a way of developing political and economic ties.

Elnara Baynazarova told Xinhua that her country's foreign policy adheres to the concept of Kazakhstan being at the heart of Eurasia, the state connecting Western and Eastern values, and a bridge for communication between the two civilizations...

... It will first boost the development of the country's small towns and peripheral regions that will stand at the junctions of the main transport routes, she said, adding that it may help build more economic infrastructure in Kazakhstan's remote areas and create new jobs.

Moreover, the construction of the highway linking Western China and Western Europe could provide additional funds to Kazakhstan's state budget by imposing special fares for travel, registration of passengers and freight cargo, she said...

/... http://www.neurope.eu/article/kazakh-expert-hails-silk-road-economic-belt-proposal

Oh yeah. China & Central Eurasia closer, on the ground, to Western Europe. Cough. Interesting...

... Toll roads have existed for at least the last 2,700 years, as tolls had to be paid by travellers using the Susa–Babylon highway under the regime of Ashurbanipal, who reigned in the 7th century BC.[3] Aristotle and Pliny refer to tolls in Arabia and other parts of Asia. In India, before the 4th century BC, the Arthasastra notes the use of tolls. Germanic tribes charged tolls to travellers across mountain passes. Tolls were used in the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries.

A 14th-century example (though not for a road) is Castle Loevestein in the Netherlands, which was built at a strategic point where two rivers meet, and charged tolls on boats sailing along the river.

Many modern European roads were originally constructed as toll roads in order to recoup the costs of construction, maintenance and as a source of tax money that is paid primarily by someone other than the local residents. In 14th-century England, some of the most heavily used roads were repaired with money raised from tolls by pavage grants. Wide spread toll roads sometimes restricted traffic so much, by their high tolls, that they interfered with trade and cheap transportation needed to alleviate local famines or shortages... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll_road

[Demeter]

5. Yeah! A Great Autobahn

to facilitate the ease of moving troops, tanks and materiel...I can see that!

And if the trend is towards peace it can be converted, just as our interstate highway system was, to commercial, public use. Until the Revolution, of course.

It's a double-edged sword, technology. It's all in the application.

[Ghost Dog]

8. Double-edged, potentially, absolutely.

And, forgive me, Demeter, just exactly the (temerous?) attitude I'd expect out of the USA.

Think of all the potential cultural, political, diplomatic, econoomic, ecological benefits!

[AnneD]

21. Because most of us on SMW and WEE...

follow the money, we are not shocked. Even the depth and breadth of NSA spying, drone strikes, rendition and torture, and shreding of the Bill of Rights comes as no shock.

But what you in Europe and other States in the Union have not seen, is the persistant protests that have gone on, because our M$M mouth pieces refuse to cover it. We know the body has rotted but the head is not aware of it yet. As we vote to try and change things, we are learning that the vote is rigged. When there is no redressto wrongs via the ballot...all hell will break lose in the states. Remember, we are armed to the teeth here, a fact that is just now starting to dawn on those in charge.

[Ghost Dog]

25. I am seeing, as you know, from here on the periphery of Europe, amiga.

... And, I know we are not alone...

[AnneD]

26. I watch with great interest....

protests from Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. It is hard to get trustworthy news but always inspiring.

[Demeter]

6. Get Angela’s Number: The Indiscreet Charm of the N.S.A. by Amy Davidson

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/10/the-indiscreet-charm-of-the-nsa.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklyemail&mbid=nl_Weekly%20%2816%29

It has become painfully clear that what the National Security Agency lacks, above all, is discretion. That probably occurred to President Obama on Wednesday, when he got on the line with Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, who was calling with what was apparently unmitigated anger to ask why the N.S.A. was monitoring her cell phone. Obama told her that it isn’t, or won’t—a “wasn’t” seems to have been missing—but Merkel’s government had seen enough, in N.S.A. documents obtained by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, to know what it thought. (According to Reuters, one listed her mobile phone number.) Obama had a similar call with France’s François Hollande, and may have about thirty-three more, based on the latest Guardian report on the number of heads of state whose phones it tracked. But the N.S.A.’s wildly indiscreet character had already come well into the light in the first documents leaked, this summer, by Edward Snowden, about its mass, often indiscriminate collection of American telephone and Web communications. The Agency moves broadly and clumsily; it’s greedy in a way that is unhealthy; it tells itself that rules can mean what it wants them to mean; it is a poor judge of people; it has no real discernment—and that, for a spy agency, may be the worst part of all...



Aren’t spy agencies meant to be indiscreet—to look at hidden things, wherever they are, and never mind politeness? Isn’t that what spies do? Not exactly, or not unless we are talking about the sort of Stasi-like secret service whose role is as much or more to intimidate and stifle discourse as to actually learn anything. Merkel, who grew up in the former East Germany and exposed herself by taking part in the protests that brought that regime down, may have had that sort of spying in mind. “Spying on friends—that’s not how it goes,” Merkel said. Her spokesperson called it a “a grave breach of trust.”

Of course the United States gathers intelligence on Germany; of course it must. But that does not mean that we have a free pass to sweep up every last bit of data, from whatever source, and expect that there won’t be consequences. We don’t send agents to lurk behind every foreigner we see, no matter what we might learn. (And it’s worth imagining the reaction if the Germans were monitoring Obama’s phone.) If we grant ourselves the prerogative to listen in on foreign leaders, then we can’t really mind if they decide they have the right to be outraged about it—and to share less information voluntarily, to be less good friends themselves. That may have begun: leaders at an E.U. summit Friday issued a statement saying that “a lack of trust could prejudice the necessary cooperation in the field of intelligence-gathering.”

The Obama Administration may have belatedly realized this (thanks, as with many recent necessary conversations, to the Snowden leaks). In an op-ed in USA Today, Lisa Monaco, the White House counterterrorism adviser, wrote that the President “has directed us to review our surveillance capabilities, including with respect to our foreign partners. We want to ensure we are collecting information because we need it and not just because we can.”...The N.S.A.’s mandate is confined to gathering foreign intelligence; it is supposed to look away from Americans. That doesn’t mean it gets to stop thinking sensibly whenever it crosses a border. (Or ignore the way that pulling Internet traffic from, say, a transatlantic cable elides the difference.) Domestically, the Snowden papers show the N.S.A. being careless with our civil rights; internationally, they reveal that the Agency has recklessly disregarded the effect its work might have on diplomatic relations and the view of America in the world. Those are important to our safety, too.

The Germans are not being crazy. And their reaction does not seem to just be for show. Der Spiegel had—carefully, judiciously—gone to the Merkel government for comment before publishing a story about the phone monitoring. Far from asking the reporters to be quiet, or staying quiet themselves, officials immediately issued their own outraged statement. Many Germans had been bothered by Merkel’s relative quiescence about earlier rounds of N.S.A. revelations, and noted the change of tone. Now that she herself was a target, the Chancellor had no intention of being discreet.

[Demeter]

7. Hello! I must be going...

I'm a cross between Groucho and the Scarlet Pimpernel for at least a month....Have a good one, expect me when you see me. Anyone want to take a Weekend on? Pick a weekend, any weekend...

[Ghost Dog]

9. Economic recovery in US losing momentum

US manufacturing output barely rose in September and contracts to buy previously owned homes recorded their largest drop in nearly three and a half years, the latest signs the economy’s momentum ebbed as the third quarter ended.

The reports yesterday showed economic activity was on weak footing even before a 16-day partial shutdown of the US federal government early in October that is expected to weigh on fourth quarter growth...

... Manufacturing production edged up 0.1 per cent last month after advancing 0.5 per cent in August, the Federal Reserve said.

Factory output was held back by a 0.5 per cent drop in computer and electronic goods production. Output of electrical appliances also fell.

While automobile output increased 2.0 per cent, that was a sharp slowdown from the 5.2 per cent rise logged in August...

/... http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/business-news/economic-recovery-in-us-losing-momentum-1-6192924

[div]... Every Yorkshireman knows that there is no greater place on Earth to be, but the White Rose county has been singled out by independent travel experts as being among the very top places in the world to visit next year.

Yorkshire is the third best region in the world to visit in 2014, according to travel guide company Lonely Planet...

... “Recently this rough-around-the-edges gentleman of the north has kicked away the walking cane. Bradford has become the world’s first Unesco City of Film, fashion-thirsty Leeds has cut the ribbon on an ambitious retail development at a time when malls elsewhere in the UK are stalling, a new state-of-the-art gallery in Wakefield is giving London a run for its money, and Yorkshire now has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other county outside London. In 2014, this welcoming region of rugged moorlands, heritage homes and cosy pubs will be able to hold its head even higher when the Tour de France begins its grand départ from Leeds.”

In a list of the top ten regions around the globe, Yorkshire was placed only below the hotly-tipped and up-and-coming mountainous area of Sikkim in India and the beautiful barren landscape of The Kimberley on the Western Australian coast.

‘God’s Own County’ pipped other exotic locations in the list, including the top locations in Japan, New Zealand and Spain, as well as some well-established, travel itinerary musts such as Victoria Falls in southern Africa and Texas, the second largest state in the USA...

[center]
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/general-news/lonely-planet-yorkshire-in-top-three-of-world-travel-list-1-6191668 [/center]

[Ghost Dog]

10. External current account in EU records €39.4 billion surplus

The external current account in the EU recorded a surplus of €39.4 billion in the second quarter of 2013. The current account surplus increased by €36.8 billion compared with the same period last year.

On 17 October, Eurostat announced the second estimate for EU’s external account surplus. The current account includes imports and exports in both goods and services plus all other current transfers and is considered a closely tracked indicator of the ability of a country or area to pay its way in the world.

In the second quarter of 2013, compared with the second quarter of 2012, the deficit of the goods account moved into surplus (+€18.1 billion euro compared with -11.2 billion) and the surplus of the services account grew (+€41.7 billion compared with +39.7 billion). The deficit of the income account decreased (-€4 billion compared with -11.5 billion), while the deficit of the current transfers account increased (-€16.5 billion compared with -14.5 billion).

According to the press release, the surplus recorded in the services account (+€41.7 billion) was mainly the result of surpluses in “other business services,” which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+16.6 billion), financial services (+8.5 billion), computer & information services (+6.8 billion), transportation (+6.5 billion), travel (+4.7 billion), insurance services (+2.6 billion) and construction services (+1.9 billion), partly offset by a deficit in royalties & license fees (-2.5 billion).

In the second quarter of 2013, the biggest EU27 external current account surplus was recorded with the USA (+€26.0 billion) followed by Switzerland (+16.3 billion), Brazil (+9.6 billion), Hong Kong (+7.9 bilion), Canada (+5.6 billion) and India (+1.9 billion). On the other hand, the biggest external current account deficit was recorded with China (-€18.5 billion) followed by Russia (-11.4 billion) and Japan (-3.1 billion)...

/... http://www.neurope.eu/article/external-current-account-eu-records-%E2%82%AC394-billion-surplus

[Ghost Dog]

29. Nb. although this is a European source, I calculate that the "billions"

referred to are US billions (ie. thousands of millions "millardes","millardos") rather than International Standard (ie. French, Spanish; European) billions ("Billones, con 'B'": millions of millions - US "trillions&quot .

(Always keep your eye on the zeroes... on left and right...)

[center] [/center]

[xchrom]

11. INDIAN CENTRAL BANK HIKES RATE TO FIGHT INFLATION

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_ECONOMY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-29-08-15-16

MUMBAI, India (AP) -- India's central bank raised its key interest rate for the second time in two months Tuesday, underlining the determination of its new chief to control inflation despite concerns economic growth could slow further.

Reserve Bank of India Gov. Raghuram Rajan said the benchmark interest rate was raised by a quarter percentage point to 7.75 percent. His hard line against inflation increases pressure on the government to revive growth through reforms to make the economy more efficient, instead of relying on the short-term fix of cheap credit.

"It is important to break the spiral of rising price pressures in order to curb the erosion of financial saving and strengthen the foundations of growth," Rajan said. He said he expects both wholesale and consumer price inflation to remain elevated in the coming months.

India's September wholesale inflation rose to 6.5 percent, well over the RBI's target of 4.0-4.5 percent. Consumer price inflation, which factors in volatile food prices and hits hundreds of millions of poor Indians hardest, was even higher at 9.8 percent in September.

[xchrom]

12. LAWSUIT EXPENSES HIT DEUTSCHE BANK PROFIT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_EARNS_DEUTSCHE_BANK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-29-06-13-15

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Deutsche Bank said Tuesday net profit dwindled to a bare 51 million euros ($70 million) in the third quarter after it set aside 1.2 billion euros for losses from lawsuits.

The net profit compared with 754 million euros in the same quarter a year ago. Profit for the third quarter fell far short of the average analyst estimate of 320 million euros as compiled by financial data provider FactSet.

The bank also said its investment banking business slowed, leading net revenues to fall 10 percent to 7.7 billion euros.

It said the deduction to earnings for litigation costs were mostly related to legal action over U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities, investments that were based on mortgage loans to borrowers with shaky credit. The securities helped drive financial turbulence in 2007-2009 as they lost value.

[xchrom]

13. FUTURES IN HOLDING PATTERN AS FED GATHERS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WALL_STREET_PREMARKET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-29-07-51-00

NEW YORK (AP) -- Futures are barely moving with so much riding on upcoming policy decisions at the Fed.

The U.S. Federal Reserve opens its two-day meeting Tuesday. In the wake of the 16-day partial government shutdown, the guess is that it will continue an aggressive economic stimulus campaign.

Dow Jones industrial futures are up 8 points to 15,526. S&P futures have lost less than a point to reach 1,758.70. Nasdaq futures are also down less than a point to 3,382.50.

Outside of the Fed meeting, there's a bevy of economic indicators due Tuesday, starting with government reports on retail sales and wholesale prices for September. Those are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

[xchrom]

14. LLOYDS BANKING GROUP'S Q3 NET LOSS WIDENS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_EARNS_LLOYDS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-29-08-05-15

LONDON (AP) -- Britains' part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group has posted a sharply wider third-quarter loss, hurt by costs incurred from asset sales.

The lender reported a net loss of 1.3 billion pounds ($2.25 billion) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of 374 million pounds in the same period a year earlier.

Lloyds, which must sell part of its network to comply with the European Commission's terms for receiving a government bailout, said its overall performance was weighed down by losses of 709 million pounds on asset sales.

The bank also said it must put aside a further 750 million pounds to pay for the mis-selling of insurance products - bringing the total it has set aside over the scandal to 8 million pounds.

[xchrom]

15. FALL IN AUTO SALES LOWERS US RETAIL SPENDING

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fall-auto-sales-lowers-us-retail-spending

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharp drop in auto sales caused largely by a calendar quirk lowered U.S. retail spending in September. But Americans boosted their spending on most other goods, suggesting confidence in the economy ahead of the government shutdown.

The Commerce Department says retail sales dipped 0.1 percent, the weakest showing since March. Auto sales fell 2.2 percent, the largest decline since October 2012. But the drop was largely because the sales calendar pulled Labor Day weekend activity into August, the automakers have said. That means the drop is likely temporary.

Excluding autos, gas and building supplies, sales rose 0.5 percent in September, up from 0.2 percent in August and the same as July's figure. Economists exclude those categories to get a better sense of consumer demand.

[xchrom]

16. Rabobank fined $1bn over Libor

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24730242

Dutch bank Rabobank says it has agreed to pay fines of 774m euros ($1bn; £662m) imposed by US, UK and Dutch regulators over the Libor interest rate-fixing scandal.

The bank added that its chief executive, Piet Moerland, had stepped down.

Libor rates are used to set trillions of dollars of financial contracts.

These include many car loans and mortgages, as well as complex financial transactions around the world.

[Tansy_Gold]

17. And I'm sure he "stepped down"

with a golden parachute.

And the bank will just pass along its "fine" to its customers.

[xchrom]

18. don't they always?

and i don't know what the state of write offs are in europe -- but i would wager they are not non-existant.

[xchrom]

19. {neo-liberals are everywhere}France's 'Leftist Sarko': Popular Minister Rankles Ailing Socialists

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/french-interior-minister-manuel-valls-unsettles-socialists-with-new-popularity-a-930498.html

On the Far-Right of the Left

The story of Manuel Valls is one of a rapid ascent. In a country whose political class is now despised, the interior minister still manages to garner high approval ratings, most recently at 56 percent. Hollande is stagnating at a historical low of 23 percent, while Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and the rest of Hollande's government aren't faring much better.

For months, Valls' fellow cabinet ministers have had to endure positive media stories about him. The weekly news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur once dubbed him the "vice president" on its cover, though France's parliamentary system has no such office. According to a new poll, Valls stands a better chance of winning the 2017 election than Hollande does. This is the kind of news that arouses envy among his fellow Socialists.

They are suspicious of Valls because one source of his popularity is his general disregard for the traditionalist mainstream of the French left. Many Socialists doubt that he is even one of them in spirit. In Germany, Valls stances would make him one of the many conservative members of Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). But, in France's Socialist Party, he is viewed as a right-winger in disguise.

In 2008, a collection of interviews with Valls was published under the title "Enough With the Old Socialism. It's Time to Finally Be a Leftist!" When he ran in the Socialist Party presidential primary in 2011, he proposed removing the word "socialist" from the party's name, abolishing the 35-hour workweek and lowering labor costs. The result: He only captured 6 percent of the vote.

[xchrom]

20. The New York Times Shreds The Obama Administration As 'Pathetic' On NSA Spying

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-spying-nyt-editorial-board-obama-2013-10

The New York Times editorial board ripped the Obama administration as "pathetic" in its defenses and assurances on revelations about National Security Agency spying on foreign leaders and citizens of close world allies.
President Barack Obama wouldn't discuss on Monday his knowledge of the classified programs, but the White House and Democratic senators pledged that a review of all intelligence programs was ongoing.

"What we’ve seen over the last several years is their capacities continue to develop and expand, and that’s why I’m initiating now a review to make sure that what they’re able to do doesn’t necessarily mean what they should be doing," Obama told Fusion's Jorge Ramos.

The Times blasted that response in its editorial:

The White House response on Monday to the expanding disclosures of American spying on foreign leaders, their governments and millions of their citizens was a pathetic mix of unsatisfying assurances about reviews under way, platitudes about the need for security in an insecure age, and the odd defense that the president didn’t know that American spies had tapped the German chancellor’s cellphone for 10 years.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-spying-nyt-editorial-board-obama-2013-10#ixzz2j7bEebiW

[xchrom]

22. Hedge Funds Just Unloaded The Most Stock Since December 2008

http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-unload-most-stock-since-2008-2013-10



BofA Merrill Lynch equity strategists report data on what their clients are doing in the U.S. stock market on a weekly basis.

Last week, BAML's hedge fund clients unloaded the most stock since 2008, while institutions and retail clients were net buyers.


Bank of America Merrill Lynch
In a note to clients, BAML strategist Savita Subramanian writes:
Most selling by hedge funds since 2008

Last week, during which the S&P 500 was up 0.9%, BofAML clients were net sellers of $963mn of US stocks following the prior week’s large net buying. Net sales were entirely due to hedge funds, whose net sales were the largest since December 2008, and the second-largest in our data history. Despite this, hedge funds still remain small cumulative net buyers year-to-date. Institutional clients were net buyers for the second consecutive week—but remain the biggest net sellers YTD—while private clients continued their net buying streak (with purchases of equities in 21 of the last 22 weeks). Private clients are the largest net buyers of equities year-to-date, with $15bn of inflows into ETFs and $2bn of inflows into single stocks. By size segment, large, mid and small caps all saw outflows last week, and only mid caps have seen inflows YTD.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-unload-most-stock-since-2008-2013-10#ixzz2j8ApPIT9

[xchrom]

23. There's Another Trading Issue At The NASDAQ Today

http://www.businessinsider.com/nasdaq-issue-with-indices-2013-10

It appears that there's another glitch at the Nasdaq with the exchange halting trading in a bunch of indices today because of an issue with being able to disseminate values. [via @CNBC].

From the Nasdaq:

12:49:20—The NASDAQ OMX PHLX and NOM will resume trading in NDX, SOX, OSX, and HGX. PHLX will resume trading as of 12:55 PM . NOM will resume trading as of 1:00 PM . Please contact Market Operations at [phone] if you have any further questions.

12:18:37— NASDAQ OMX PHLX and NOM have halted trading in SOX, OSX, and HGX options because NASDAQ is not disseminating values for the indices. PHLX halted HGX as of 12:14:53, OSX as of 12:14:54, and SOX as of 12:14:55. NOM halted SOX as of 12:14:57, OSX as of 12:15:00, and HGX as of 12:15:03. If you have any questions please contact Market Operations at 215-496-1571.

12:18:37—NASDAQ OMX is investigating an issue with the dissemination of GIDS 2.0 index data feed. Issue is under investigation will advise.

12:09:11—NASDAQ OMX PHLX and NOM have halted trading in NDX options because NASDAQ is not disseminating values for the Nasdaq 100 index. PHLX halted NDX Options as of 12:06:29 and NOM halted NDX Options as of 12:06:49. If you have any questions please contact Market Operations at 215-496-1571.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nasdaq-issue-with-indices-2013-10#ixzz2j8BmY0Og

[xchrom]

24. This Index Of Gambling And Hookers Predicts Consumer Spending Patterns With Incredible Accuracy

http://www.businessinsider.com/southbays-vice-index-leads-pce-2013-10

Everyone has their little indulgences. For some, it's their morning Starbucks fix or a $2000 handbag. For others, it's hookers and blackjack.
And it's the latter that are most representative of consumer spending in the US economy, according to Andrew Zatlin of South Bay Research. Zatlin's one-man research consultancy based out of California, whose highly accurate, data-driven methods of forecasting jobs numbers have earned the title of 'The Moneyball of Economics' by the Wall Street Journal.

One of South Bay's products is the Vice Index, which according to Zatlin has an almost 90% statistical correlation with personal consumer spending and leads it by 4 months. The index measures spending on gambling and escorts, which, according to Zatlin, is a highly sensitive barometer for the 'wealth effect', or how rich we're feeling at any given time.

Zatlin's data for the index goes back 15 years and South Bay has been calculating the index for the last 2 years.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/southbays-vice-index-leads-pce-2013-10#ixzz2j8Cu0uVC

[Ghost Dog]

27. Huh.

Cough.

... Vice is a practice or a behavior or habit generally considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit (such as an addiction to smoking). Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption.

The opposite of vice is virtue...

... In the Sarvastivadin tradition of Buddhism, there are 108 defilements, or vices, which are prohibited. These are subdivided into 10 bonds and 98 proclivities.[6] The 10 bonds are the following:[6]

Absence of shame
Absence of embarrassment
Jealousy
Parsimony
Remorse
Drowsiness
Distraction
Torpor
Anger
Concealment of wrongdoing...

/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice

[xchrom]

28. Drowsiness!?! Oy I'm in trouble. Nt

[Ghost Dog]

30. Yeah, that's what I thought, too...

... But, I think I'll roll another one, all the same...

... And, I was thinking about the 'regular sleeping hours', diurnal rhythm thing just yesterday: I've been an offshore (under sail, English Channel) navigator, watchkeeping; I feel like I'm a hunter, basically (always aware of o'portunity...): I'll be awake when I need to be awake; drowse whenever there's time...



Please, take heart. Be ready, but hope not to have to pull, those triggers.

Ah. Hey! ... Simon Korsak: http://www.korsakmusic.com/the-band/simon-korsak/

... More Arid Island music out of Lajares, Fuerteventura...

[xchrom]

31. wow -- now those are some jobs...

love the music.

[Ghost Dog]

32. Thanks, x.

Mmmmmm...