STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 20 March 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 20 March 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 19 March 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 19 March 2014
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Dow Jones 16,222.17 -114.02 (-0.70%)
S&P 500 1,860.77 -11.48 (-0.61%)
Nasdaq 4,307.60 -26.00 (0.00%)

[font color=red]10 Year 2.77% +0.08 (2.97%)
30 Year 3.65% +0.03 (0.83%)[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.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.








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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. Happy Spring, All!

I'm overwhelmed this week, and not with Spring fever. See you on the Weekend, at least, when I will PLAGUE you with posts...

[Demeter]

2. Fifth financial executive with ties to JPMorgan found dead Trey Garrison

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/29341-fifth-financial-executive-with-ties-to-jpmorgan-found-dead


Marks the 11th in a rash of reports of banker, financial suicides... Just over 11 weeks into 2014 comes tragic news that an 11th financial executive has apparently committed suicide. The New York Post reported Monday that a 28-year-old Manhattan investment banker who formerly worked for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)) reportedly jumped from the roof of his sixth-floor East Side apartment building. Kenneth Bellando, who worked at Levy Capital since January, was found dead on the sidewalk outside his East Side building on March 12 after allegedly jumping from the sixth-story roof, sources said. The Post reported that Bellando’s brother is John Bellando, the chief investment officer with JPMorgan.

This marks the third such suicide in three weeks and the 11th since late January. HousingWire – with an acknowledgement to ZeroHedge, which initially broke the story – has been covering this rash of reports of the suicides of financial executives and bankers. Interest in these stories has been widespread, in part because of similarities shared among the victims, the firms for which they worked, or the sometimes puzzling circumstances of their deaths. Many were prominent, or worked for firms under investigation or facing allegations from regulators both in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Five of the 11 that HousingWire has covered worked for or formerly worked for JPMorgan.

Zerohedge has compiled this list of the 11 bankers and finance executives.

1 - William Broeksmit, 58-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, was found dead in his home after an apparent suicide in South Kensington in central London, on January 26th.

2 - Karl Slym, 51 year old Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym, was found dead on the fourth floor of the Shangri-La hotel in Bangkok on January 27th.

3 - Gabriel Magee, a 39-year-old JP Morgan employee, died after falling from the roof of the JP Morgan European headquarters in London on January 27th.

4 - Mike Dueker, 50-year-old chief economist of a US investment bank was found dead close to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State.

5 - Richard Talley, the 57-year-old founder of American Title Services in Centennial, Colorado, was found dead earlier this month after apparently shooting himself with a nail gun.

6 - Tim Dickenson, a U.K.-based communications director at Swiss Re AG, also died last month, however the circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown.

7 - Ryan Henry Crane, a 37-year-old executive at JP Morgan died in an alleged suicide just a few weeks ago. No details have been released about his death aside from this small obituary announcement at the Stamford Daily Voice.

8 - Li Junjie, 33-year-old banker in Hong Kong jumped from the JP Morgan HQ in Hong Kong.

9 - James Stuart Jr, Former National Bank of Commerce CEO, found dead in Scottsdale, Ariz., the morning of Feb. 19. A family spokesman did not say what caused the death

10 - Edmund (Eddie) Reilly, 47, a trader at Midtown’s Vertical Group, committed suicide by jumping in front of LIRR train.

11 - Kenneth Bellando, 28, a trader at Levy Capital, formerly investment banking analyst at JPMorgan, jumped to his death from his 6th floor East Side apartment March 12.

[flying rabbit]

3. K&R

[Demeter]

4. Bill Black Explains it ALL

http://static.nonoisenews.com/podcastgen/?name=2014-03-16_no-noise-news-1.mp3


The origin, care and feeding of corruption in America, banks, and the global political economy.

[Demeter]

5. The Untaxed Americans: The Speculators, Hustlers, and Freeloaders of Wall Street

http://www.alternet.org/economy/untaxed-americans-speculators-hustlers-and-freeloaders-wall-street?akid=11602.227380.Fql7vS&rd=1&src=newsletter971084&t=24&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark


There are at least 5 good reasons why our country is ready for a financial transaction tax (FTT):

1. The Top Four "Freest Economies" All Have FTTs

2. The Top "Sin Tax" Candidate is Not Taxed At All

3. Quadrillion-Dollar Trader CME Has the Highest Profit Margin in the Corporate World

4. The Wall Street 'Liquidity' Argument is Bull Roar

5. Stocks Gained $4.7 Trillion in 2013 while Schools and Food and Libraries Were Cut

DETAILS AT LINK

[Demeter]

6. Bitcoin is Not a Currency

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/03/bitcoin-currency.html



Japan has just decided that Bitcoin is not a currency, which subjects it to sales and income taxes. This is consistent with the view of the Canadian Revenue Service, which has found Bitcoin to be property and not a legal currency, and the United Kingdom, which leaning towards treating Bitcoin as a voucher and subject to VAT.

Bitcoin is not a currency any more than gold bars or collectable baseball cards are. Or as tax maven Lee Sheppard puts it in a recent article in TaxNotes, Busting the Bitcoin Myths: “If Bitcoin is a currency, any tradable store of value would be a currency.”

That means the branding of Bitcoin as a “cyrpto currency” or “digital currency” is promoter hype which credulous journalist have repeated verbatim. As we’ll see, the fact that Bitcoin is not a currency in the eyes of many tax authorities, and the US will probably follow suit, has serious implications for this “innovation”.

The US Treasury will be determining what Bitcoin is for tax purposes. Sheppard is pretty confident that, like the Japanese, the US will deem Bitcoin not to be a currency. And Sheppard is not shooting from the hip. She’s a world-recognized tax authority and her article (sadly paywalled) is chock-full of references to the tax code, court cases, and regulatory practice.

MORE, AND 128 COMMENTS TO DATE AT LINK

[xchrom]

7. Euro zone can do better than 1.2 percent growth in 2014 - Merkel

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/uk-eu-growth-merkel-idUKBREA2J0H420140320

(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech in parliament on Thursday that the euro zone could generate stronger growth this year than the 1.2 percent forecast by the European Commission.

"The Commission expects growth of about 1.2 percent in 2014, which is somewhat better than what was forecast in the autumn," she said, referring to its forecast the eurozone as opposed to the wider European Union, for which it sees 1.5 percent growth.

"But we know that we can do better than 1.2 percent," the chancellor told parliament in a speech.

[Demeter]

13. But it won't

because the Euromess continues to spread and deepen, like an invasive cancer, eating up its economy and the poeple.

[xchrom]

8. Credit Agricole eyes four billion euros net profit by 2016

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/uk-credit-agricole-idUKBREA2J09Q20140320

(Reuters) - Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) aims to lift net profit by 60 percent to over four billion euros (£3.33 billion) in 2016, the French bank said on Thursday, helped by cost cuts and more product cross-selling at a time of slow growth at home.

The number-three listed French bank by market value, which is holding an investor day in London, is aiming for growth after slashing its balance sheet and pulling out of markets such as Greece in order to offset tougher post-crisis regulatory and economic conditions.

It is also following in the footsteps of rivals such as Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) by promising a higher capital return to investors: it pledged to increase its dividend payout ratio to 50 percent in 2015 from 35 percent in 2013, with a cash component of about 50 percent.

Credit Agricole said it was aiming to cut 520 million euros in costs over the next three years in order to lift its return on tangible equity (ROTE) to 12 percent in 2016 versus 9.3 percent in 2013. This measure of profitability strips out intangible assets such as goodwill.

[xchrom]

9. Europe reaches deal to complete banking union - draft

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/uk-eu-bankingunion-idUKBREA2J0IW20140320

(Reuters) - European policymakers agreed on Thursday to complete a banking union with an agency to shut failing euro zone banks but there will be no euro zone backstop for the new fund to help cover the costs of such closures.

All-night talks ended a stand-off between the European Parliament and euro zone countries over the new scheme, completing the second leg of banking union that is due to start this year when the European Central Bank takes over as watchdog.

The banking union, and the clean-up of banks' books that will accompany it, is intended to restore banks' confidence in one another and boost lending across the currency bloc, helping foster growth in the 18 economies that use the euro.

It is also supposed to break the vicious circle of indebted states and the banks that buy their debt, treated in law as 'risk-free' despite Greece's default in all but name.

[xchrom]

10. Japan ready to roll out more stimulus to cushion sales tax hike

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/uk-japan-economy-boj-idUKBREA2J0IN20140320

(Reuters) - Japan stands ready to unleash further monetary and fiscal stimulus as needed to support the economy if the impact of a coming sales tax hike proves worse than expected, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Japan's economy is on a firm footing due to brisk domestic demand but the government will closely monitor developments after the April 1 sales tax rise, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told Reuters in an interview.

The remark, by a close aide to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, comes as investor expectations are rife that the BOJ will top up its unprecedented asset-buying later this year in a bid to hit its 2 percent inflation target.

Some analysts also expect the government to resort to more fiscal stimulus as early as summer to cushion the economy from the impact of the sales tax rise.

[xchrom]

11. Japan firms want Abe to cool it on China; see demand ebbing - Reuters poll

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/uk-japan-survey-china-idUKBREA2J0GA20140320

(Reuters) - Japanese companies are concerned about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's forceful diplomacy with neighbours like China, at a time when demand from Asia's giant appears to be ebbing, a Reuters survey showed.

More than half the executives in the Reuters Corporate Survey said demand from China is peaking or declining.

The survey showed a quarter are concerned about the impact of Abe's approach to foreign policy, which has inflamed tensions with China and South Korea. Forty-six percent said it has not affected them, and 29 percent said they were unsure.

Japan's ties with China and Korea have worsened over bilateral territorial disputes and a feeling in Seoul and Beijing that Tokyo has not atoned for its wartime aggression, especially with Abe's December visit to the Yasukuni shrine, which Japan's neighbours consider a symbol of its wartime and colonial brutality.

[xchrom]

12. Analysis - Egypt investors believe Sisi presidency will bring stability

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/uk-egypt-investment-sisi-analysis-idUKBREA2J0EY20140320

(Reuters) - Egyptian Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi may not look like a model democrat, but foreign and local businessmen believe he can deliver stability to open up investment opportunities in the most populous Arab nation.

Sisi - whose smiling face, framed in sunglasses and capped by a beret, appears across Egypt on posters, t-shirts and even chocolates - inspires fear in his opponents that the country will soon have a military man as its president once again.

But to investors, and many Egyptians, Sisi offers the hope of relief from three years of political turmoil that began with the Arab Spring uprising, even though he was the man who toppled Egypt's first freely-elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi.

"I think most investors would say it doesn't appear all that democratic, but it's more stable, so my investment will be safer," said Gabriel Sterne of Exotix, a frontier market bank in London which handles investments in Egypt.

[xchrom]

14. JANET YELLEN’S AWKWARD DAY

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/03/janet-yellen-unemployment-awkward-press-conference.html

There is good reason to hope that Janet Yellen may go on to become one of the great leaders of the Federal Reserve: she’s a first-rate economist, a gifted explicator of complicated concepts, and an experienced hand at navigating Washington. (At her first appearance as Fed chief on Capitol Hill, last month, the Republican senators may not have been eating out of her hands, but they treated her with unusual deference.) In policy terms, she’s on the side of the angels: passionately committed to getting the economy growing and bringing down unemployment, particularly for the long-term jobless, who have been the biggest victims of the Great Recession and its aftermath.

On Wednesday, though, at her first press conference as chairwoman of the Fed, Yellen had an awkward time, conveying a message that she may well not have intended to, and spooking the markets. This may not be a big deal: Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke made similar errors in their early days and quickly recovered. But it did indicate some of the challenges Yellen faces in extricating the Fed from the emergency policy actions it has taken during the past five years.

Her first task was to explain a U-turn in the Fed’s communications strategy. In December, 2012, in an effort to keep down long-term interest rates, particularly mortgage rates, the Federal Open Market Committee, a policy-making body that Yellen heads, publicly stated that it wouldn’t even consider raising the short-term interest rate that it sets—the federal funds rate—until the unemployment rate had fallen to 6.5 per cent. At the time, the jobless rate was 7.8 per cent, and the 6.5-per-cent threshold for a possible interest-rate hike seemed a long way off. But unemployment has fallen rapidly in the past year, and the rate is now down to 6.7 per cent. The markets wanted to know what the Fed would do if it reached 6.5 per cent.

Yellen’s answer today was that it almost certainly wouldn’t do anything, but we’d have to trust the judgment of her and her colleagues on it. In place of its firm “forward guidance” regarding the 6.5-per-cent figure, the F.O.M.C. said, in a statement, that its assessment of when to start raising rates would “take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial developments.” The statement also said that the committee believed that it would be appropriate to maintain its rock-bottom target for the funds rate (between zero and a quarter of one per cent) for “a considerable time” after its policy of quantitative easing—printing money to buy bonds—ends, which, at the current pace of drawdown, is likely to happen in October.

[xchrom]

15. Erdogan and the Traitors: Scandal and Protests Threaten Turkey's AKP

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/turkish-prime-minister-erdogan-facing-corruption-scandal-protests-a-959453.html

It took a while before the surveillance cameras in Mehmet Baransu's office became apparent. But the audio bugs remained elusive. Perhaps they are hidden behind the electrical outlets, or above the windows that offer a view of the Bosporus. They are definitely there, Baransu believes. He is, after all, the most hated journalist in Turkey at the moment.

"I installed the cameras myself. They are my only protection," he says. "A few weeks ago, they documented two men trying to load incriminating documents onto my computer." He recognized the pair immediately: They were the bodyguards made available by the state for his protection. Baransu recounts how they also tried to deposit papers in his home, snooped around in his private life and uploaded films about him to YouTube. He complained to the Istanbul governor and asked for replacement bodyguards. But they never came.

Until recently, Baransu had long been a favorite of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. The 37-year-old investigative reporter, who writes for the small daily Taraf, was instrumental in uncovering an alleged military conspiracy targeting the government in 2010. Hundreds of officers were convicted and the Kemalist elite disempowered as a result.

But today, Erdogan's party, the AKP, scorns him. Baransu is currently reporting on corruption accusations that have been levelled against Erdogan and members of his cabinet. The prime minister has even mentioned the journalist at campaign events, calling Baransu a traitor as he spits his name out. State prosecutors are currently investigating him for "high treason" and the "disclosure of state secrets."

[xchrom]

16. Leading Candidates Square Off: The Race for Europe's Top Job

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-commission-candidates-square-off-in-spiegel-debate-a-959565.html


SPIEGEL: Mr. Juncker, at the party event in Dublin at which you were named the conservatives' leading candidate for the upcoming European Parliament election, U2 lead singer Bono called Martin Schulz a "great European." Was he right?

Juncker: As the competing candidate, it isn't a very prudent answer, but yes.
SPIEGEL: Why?

Juncker: Because Martin Schulz represents European values and knows just how important European integration is.

Schulz: When he's right, he's right.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Schulz, Jean-Claude Juncker has been a member of the European Council, the powerful body that includes the leaders and ministers of the 28 member states for almost two decades. As president of the Euro Group, he also ensured that the common currency didn't implode. Would it really be so bad if he were to become the next president of the European Commission, the EU's executive branch?

Schulz: There wouldn't be anything bad about it. But I have a better plan for Europe. I believe the people should have the opportunity to have a greater influence on European politics with their ideas. We need a new impulse for renewal.

[xchrom]

17. Economic War with Russia: A High Price for German Business

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/germany-to-play-central-but-expensive-role-in-sanctions-against-russia-a-959019.html

Some of the guests attending a ball organized by German companies high above the rooftops of Moscow brought along machine guns and pistols. It was a James Bond-themed evening and the weapons in question were, of course, toys. The party also featured a scantily clad woman slithering in a giant martini glass.

With champagne and cigars, the owners of mid-sized companies toasted the dazzling profits they earn in Russia. At the time, everything all was still rosy in the world of German-Russian business relations. The event took place two Saturdays ago.

Just days later, there is no longer much reason to celebrate. Relations between the West and Russia have sunk to the lowest levels seen since the Cold War because of the Ukraine crisis. The leaders in Moscow are preparing to take over the Crimean Peninsula -- a development that came an important step closer to reality on Sunday after 97 percent of those who turned out for a referendum voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation. The West is responding to the vote by imposing new sanctions on Russia, including the freezing of bank accounts and travel restrictions.

Germany has taken a leadership role in those efforts -- a role that Berlin has sought to claim for itself since the early days of the unrest in Kiev. At the beginning of the year, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pledged that Germany would become more active in its foreign policy, and the current initiative is one manifestation of that aspiration.

[xchrom]

18. 'No Reason for Concern': Energy Exec Says Ukraine Crisis Not Bad for Business

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/eon-ceo-teyssen-crimea-crisis-no-danger-to-economic-ties-with-russia-a-959037.html

SPIEGEL: Mr. Teyssen, E.on has invested almost €6 billion ($8.3 billion) in modern power plants in Russia and and has risen to become the largest foreign energy supplier in the country. Do you worry about the future of your investments given the intensification of the crisis in Ukraine?

Teyssen: No. There is no reason for concern.
SPIEGEL: Please explain.

Teyssen: If we earned our money with speculation, then I would perhaps be worried. But we provide something that is beneficial to people. We have constructed what is likely the most modern power plant complex there, employ 5,000 Russians and provide electricity and heat to thousands of customers.

SPIEGEL: The crisis could get even worse. Sanctions are in the offing and your power plants could come under state control. The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry has warned of possible expropriations.

Teyssen: Our company has been active in Russia for 40 years. It is a period spanning the Cold War as well as invasions of Afghanistan from both the West and the East; much tenser times than now, in other words. Our business relations have remained consistently positive throughout all those years. There was little reason for us to complain. I assume that everyone will react responsibly in the present situation as well and that the ties will remain stable.

[xchrom]

19. YELLEN'S TIGHTROPE WALK IN FIRST Q&A AS FED CHAIR

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FEDERAL_RESERVE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-20-00-04-43

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At her first news conference as Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen had a message for the financial world: The U.S. economy may need several more years to fully heal from the Great Recession.

With investors around the world hanging on her words, she conveyed the calm voice of authority she's been known for in her decades as a policymaker, regulator and professor.

Yet, as with her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, in his news conferences, Yellen's performance wasn't quite stumble-free. Speaking of when the Fed might raise short-term interest rates from their record lows, she was surprisingly specific. Her remark appeared to muddy her overarching message that rates are bound by no single economic indicator or time frame.

The slip-up occurred as Yellen was discussing the Fed's benchmark short-term rate, which has remained at a record low near zero since 2008.

[xchrom]

20. WINTER'S SNOWY BARRAGE HAMMERS US ROAD BUDGETS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WINTERS_BUDGET_TOLL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-20-02-17-52

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- In Michigan's way-up-north Keweenaw Peninsula, where 200 inches of snow in a single season elicits barely a shrug, officials know there's nothing in the budget more important than keeping the roads passable.

Yet even they have been caught short this merciless winter. Houghton County planned to spend around $2.1 million for plowing, salting and related maintenance, which experience suggested would be plenty, but has overshot it by $500,000 and counting.

State and local governments across a huge swath of the nation, from the Great Plains to the Upper Midwest and the Deep South to New England, are experiencing sticker shock after one of the coldest, snowiest, iciest winters in memory. Many have spent two or three times as much as they budgeted for clearing roads. More bad weather could send costs higher.

Even as Thursday's official arrival of spring presages warmer weather, it's clear that winter's bitter aftertaste will linger much longer as officials compensate for untold millions in unexpected spending that includes patching a rash of potholes. In some states, legislatures are already preparing emergency appropriations. Elsewhere, road agencies are delaying repaving projects, cutting back on roadside mowing and summer hires, dipping into rainy-day funds and making do with battered equipment instead of buying more.

[xchrom]

21. US ENVOY: CYPRUS PEACE MAY EASE EUROPE GAS SUPPLY

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_CYPRUS_ENERGY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-03-20-07-54-16

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) -- The U.S. ambassador to Cyprus says an agreement to reunify the ethnically split island could ease the supply of newly-found offshore gas to Europe by allowing it to go through Turkey.

John Koenig says that easier access to eastern Mediterranean gas deposits after a peace accord would help diversify Europe's energy sources and feed the needs of energy-hungry Turkey.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Koenig said a peace deal could also boost bailed-out Cyprus' ailing economy, years before the Mediterranean island nation starts reaping its potential gas rewards.

Turkey doesn't recognize Cyprus as a sovereign country. Cyprus was split into an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

[xchrom]

22. Janet Yellen is the Wolf of Main Street

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/19/janet-yellen-fed-wall-street-press-conference

Wall Street is finally being forced to think for itself.

Today marked the first press conference for Janet Yellen, the first female chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Fed holds these press conferences regularly to let the public know how the nation’s central bank is delivering on its two major tasks: lowering the unemployment rate so that nearly all Americans have jobs; and controlling inflation, to make sure you’re not paying too much at the supermarket.

It was historic enough to see a woman deliver the official diagnosis on the US economy: the economy is growing, but slowly. Unemployment is still too high. Millennials are living at home.

Yet Yellen’s first policy statement was historic for another major reason: she showed she is running a very different kind of Federal Reserve than the one Ben Bernanke ran. Unlike Bernanke, who often catered to Wall Street’s fears, this new Federal Reserve appears reluctant to play the usual reindeer games.

The Fed is stepping away from its reputation as a bunch of economics nerds eager to please the cool frat boys on the trading floors.

[Tansy_Gold]

27. Pardon me while I

grab a cellar of salt and don't hold my breath.


Y'know?

[xchrom]

23. Budget 2014: George Osborne's record is a dismal failure even in his own terms

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/19/budget-2014-osborne-record-dismal-failure

Most budgets have little impact on either the economy or most people's lives, and are soon forgotten. Ministers love them, of course, because they provide an unmatched opportunity to parade in front of the cameras and dominate the news for days on end. Titbits are leaked in advance to a pliant media, as a vision of economic plenty and technocratic cunning is conjured up in what amounts to a glorified government spinfest.

Marginal changes to duty on this or that, far outweighed in real life by day-to-day corporate decision-making, are heralded as acts of high drama, while economic forecasts revealed every year to be as good as worthless are hailed as the work of prophecy. So it was yesterday, as George Osborne threw off the burden of his omnishambles budget, to claim the mantle of fiscal triumph.

"We have won," the chancellor has been telling "friends" in private, his fists clenched in victory, as he manoeuvres to see off the threat from Boris Johnson to his hopes of becoming the next leader of the Tory party. But even on the basis of the notoriously unreliable projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility, it's difficult to work out why.

Any sort of growth, it seems, along with the prospect that the British economy might this year return to the size it was six years ago, is now enough to count as a political breakthrough. As living standards continue to fall for the majority in the slowest and shallowest economic recovery for over a century, it's hard to see that being accepted as a "win" across most of country.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (03/20/2014)

ource: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/ui/eta20140429.htm

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending March 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 320,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 315,000. The 4-week moving average was 327,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 330,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.2 percent for the week ending March 8, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 8 was 2,889,000, an increase of 41,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,848,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,897,250, a decrease of 16,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,914,000.

UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 285,316 in the week ending March 15, a decrease of 16,995 from the previous week. There were 300,951 initial claims in the comparable week in 2013.
....

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 1 was 3,350,028, a decrease of 100,729 from the previous week. There were 5,369,007 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2013.

== == == ==

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.

[xchrom]

25. Federal Reserve axes another $10bn from economic stimulus programme

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/19/federal-reserve-economic-stimulus-programme-yellen

The US Federal Reserve cut another $10bn from its economic stimulus programme on Wednesday even as chairwoman Janet Yellen warned that harsh winter weather had hampered the country’s economic recovery.

After a two-day meeting, the first to be chaired by Yellen, the central bank insisted that it would continue its efforts to keep interest rates down beyond the point at which it stopped buying government bonds in support of domestic economy.

Yellen also announced that the Fed has decided to alter its guidance on when interest rates would rise. Previously the central bank had indicated that rates could rise when the unemployment rate dipped below 6.5%. The unemployment rate hit 6.7% last month but some sections of US society remain hard hit. Unemployment for black people was 12% last month, for teenagers it was 21.4%.

The Fed has now dropped the reference to the 6.5% jobless rate. Instead, the central bank said it would “assess progress … toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2% inflation”. The central bank has kept rates at close to zero for more than five years in an attempt to stimulate the economy in the aftermath of the recession.

[xchrom]

26. Merrill's Irish Bank Rescue Estimate EU47 Billion Off Mark

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-20/merrill-s-irish-bank-rescue-estimate-eu47-billion-off-mark.html

Merrill Lynch & Co. told the Irish government in 2008 it would cost 16.4 billion euros ($22.8 billion) at most to rescue its banks, a quarter of the eventual bill for bailing out its financial system.

Merrill produced the estimate in a 45-page presentation to the Dublin-based Irish finance ministry on Nov. 18, 2008, according to documents released by the government after a freedom-of-information request by opposition lawmaker Pearse Doherty. Ireland paid the firm 7.3 million euros for banking advice in 2008 and 2009.

Since the estimate, Irish taxpayers have been forced to pledge about 64 billion euros to rescue the nation’s banks after the worst real estate crash in Western Europe. In November 2010, the country sought an international bailout as it struggled with the mounting cost of propping up the banks.

“Merrill Lynch completely underestimated the capital shortfalls within the banks, but the whole exercise was rushed after the guarantee,” Doherty, finance spokesman for Sinn Fein, said in an interview. “The role of external advisers, including bank auditors, really needs to be looked at as part of the banking inquiry.”