Markets Fall Based On Blog Entry From White Supremecist Claiming Access To Stress Test

[Median Democrat]

I have read some references to rumors of leaked bank stress test results. Well, according to Public Radio, the genesis of these rumors is a blog entry by a white supremecist. You have to love our stock market!

http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/scratchpad/2009/04/it_just_gets_weirder_and_weird.html

/snip

It just gets weirder and weirder

A blogger claims he was leaked the results of the bank stress tests. He backs it up with a bunch of numbers, including that 16 out of the top 19 banks are technically insolvent. The Financial Times links to his post. The Treasury issues a statement in response. The stock markets trade on it. Oh, did I mention the blog is run by a white supremacist?

* * *

I guess this is what can happen when you try to keep secrets in an age where it’s extremely difficult to keep them. People want to know so badly, they’ll believe just about anything. And this is what can happen when a respected newspaper blog doesn’t practice due diligence. Ben says correctly in the comments section below that Turner’s stress test “results” come directly from a press release dated April 6th by a Dr. Martin Weiss to promote his book.

/snip

[SeeHopeWin]

1. Whatever...

[joeybee12]

2. The real crime is when Citi and Wells Fargo invent miraculous earnings...

...and the stock market skyrockets.

[Median Democrat]

3. I Think That The Banks Are Trying To Invent Good News Ahead Of Disclosure Of The Stress Test Results

Unfortunately, the earnings are so inflated that it sets up rumors like the one referenced in the OP because banks are trying to manipulate the market by indirectly suggesting that their test results are fine.

[joeybee12]

7. I read that the way the SEC rules read now if there is a month or time

frame within a quarter that you have a loss, and it adversely affects your earnings, simply disregard that. Either way, you're right, it's market manipulation.

[mike_c]

4. is Treasury or whomever denying the numbers...?

I mean, even white supremacists can tell the truth about unrelated topics, after all. I'm less interested in the origin's personal politics than I am about the source of his information-- how reliable is it?-- and about whether the Treasury denies his information in a credible way, as opposed to ad hominem attacks meant to undermine the credibility of the source without directly denying the reports.

[marketcrazy1]

6. see martin weiss

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090406006133&newsLang=en

[mike_c]

8. I gather the Turner site didn't give attribution?

Weiss is certainly credible. Not necessarily right-- credibility isn't infallibility-- and I didn't see anything in his press release about the stress tests per se, but it's interesting that the OP is about Hal Turner for repeating the information rather than about the source of the information itself. Might the focus on the "white supremacist" be a veiled attack on Weiss's assertions by trying to link them with a less credible source?

[marketcrazy1]

12. weiss came out with his article a while ago

they did a 94 page white paper on the banks but i have not been able to find it yet. I dont know much about turner except what I have read today while checking him out ( all EXTREMELY bad! ) and it does appear he got some of his stuff from weiss, was it THE source? who knows... apparently turner got a call from the SEC today......... inquiring minds want to know, it seems......... all I want is the truth, not holding my breath!! here it is, the WEISS report i referenced above titled 'Dangerous and Unintended Consequences' read it here ... http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/files/documents/banking-white-paper.pdf

[DemReadingDU]

21. Martin Weiss: Big bank profits are bogus! Massive public deception!

4/20/09 Big bank profits are bogus! Massive public deception!
Martin Weiss

A big bank CEO on a mission to deceive the public doesn’t have to tell outright lies. He can con people just as easily by using “perfectly legal” tricks, shams, and accounting ruses.

First, I’ll give you the big-picture facts. Then, I’ll show you how big U.S. banks are painting lipstick on some of the fattest pigs ever raised.

Six of America’s Largest
Banks at Risk of Failure

As we have written here so often … as we documented in our recent white paper … as we showed in our presentation to the National Press Club … and as we explained again with new data in our follow-up press conference, the nation’s banking troubles are many times more severe than the authorities are admitting.

First, look at the megabanks: The authorities SAY that all of the 14 largest banks have earned a “passing” grade in their just-completed “stress tests.” But just six months ago, the authorities swore that, without a massive injection of taxpayer funds, those same banks would suffer a fatal meltdown.

Was the bad-debt disease magically cured? Did the economy miraculously turn around? Not quite. In fact, we have overwhelming evidence that the condition of the nation’s banks has deteriorated massively since then.

How can our trusted authorities be so blatantly deceptive and still keep their jobs? Perhaps you should ask Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Not long ago, for example, he declared that the total losses from the debt crisis would not exceed $100 billion, while conveying the hope that most of those losses could be soon written off. Also around that time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the losses would be $1 trillion, with only a small percentage written off.

The IMF’s latest estimate: $4 trillion in losses, with only one-third of those written off so far. Bernanke’s error factor: He was 4,000 percent off the mark, in a world where 50 percent errors can be lethal.

Meanwhile, based on fourth quarter Fed data, we find that, among the nation’s megabanks, six are at risk of failure in our opinion (seven if you count Wachovia and Wells Fargo as separate institutions).



click to read about the Mega banks, regional banks, and recommendations
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/big-bank-profits-are-bogus-massive-public-deception-33228

[Subdivisions]

11. Treasury is denying the leak:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30307192

There's a story on Bloomberg too.

[mike_c]

16. ah, thank you....

eom

[MercutioATC]

5. Weren't they supposed to release the results on May 1?

I guess we'll know in a week and a half...but I don't think the "leaked" numbers sound unreasonable.

[Median Democrat]

9. I Would Assume Any News Good Or Bad, Is BS Until Then

This is a great time for day traders when everyone is seizing upon rumors.

[MercutioATC]

15. BS or not, it very well may be accurate.

[Subdivisions]

10. What better way to discredit reports of bad stress test report cards than to

leak the info to a white supremecist and known conspiracy hoaxer and then have the compliant media point out that very fact, just as CNBC and Bloomberg have done today?

[anonymous171]

14. Leaking them out at all is a bad idea. nt

[anonymous171]

13. Hal Turner also claims to possess an Amero.

Just sayin'

[progressoid]

17. Great - lets privatize social security!!

[girl gone mad]

18. That had nothing to do with it.

Markets were due for a decline based on recent trading patterns. BACs debt level was what most were paying attention to.

[Median Democrat]

19. According to Fox News, Last Week's Rally Was Due To The Tea Parties...

Yup, they seriously said this...

http://mediamatters.org/items/200904180004?f=h_top

[girl gone mad]

20. They're nuts.

If you want to know what was going on today, look at the collapse in the oil markets and the rise in VIX. I think the rally could be doomed. Sell in May and go away.