Goooooooold! Another record $1261.50…
Gold going vertical again….and you know what that means….
Gold: We’re an all time high…
GOLD hit an all time high..again….1237.90 now…let’s switch Bond theme songs…
GOLD traded overnight over 1240! yowsa! probably get a pullback soon but as insurance against devaluing dollars it is still IMO a must for 20% of your holdings, hard gold not ETFs, and a safety deposit box at the bank!
Update: Gold breaks $1200 an oz; Gooooooold!!! Hits another record $1196.80 an oz…
Update: 11:30am EST: Gold just broke $1200! 1200.3 , wow. Dollar is falling and stocks are up again, ignoring the reality that this is very bad for our economy long term a weak currency, DOW up 130 to 10,474.70…keep printing that money
And you know what that means! It’s Shirley Bassey Burl Ives time!!
Update 2: US Dollar hits 15 month low..
Update 2: US Dollar hits a 15 month low, this as Geithner said in Tokyo today that we fully support a strong US Dollar. I wonder if he got more laughter? He has been ham handed on Dollar policy since March.
The dollar dropped to a new 15-month low as the the euro rose above $1.50 Wednesday morning, even as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated the administration’s stance that a strong dollar is good for the U.S. economy.Geithner, in a speech in Tokyo on his way to a summit of Asian finance ministers in Singapore, also said low interest rates and other government supports for the economy were still needed.
The expectation that the Federal Reserve will keep the key U.S. interest rate near zero has been weighing on the dollar. Higher interest rates make a currency more attractive for investors, since bets made in that currency can earn higher returns.
Against a basket of six major currencies, the dollar hit a 15-month low of 74.775.
“The momentum and the conviction that the Fed will not raise rates any time soon, coupled with the fact that the major central banks continue to provide liquidity liberally” means the “fundamental force” weighing on the dollar will persist, said Brown Brothers Harriman analyst Marc Chandler in a research note Wednesday….
China is making noises about letting the Yuan rise. This would be helpful to all the other economies whose exports are suffering as we let our dollar fall, they are trapped while the Yuan is pegged. Let’s see what shakes out. IMO it is a bad sign for the doollar. This would have been GREAT 5 years ago. Now it is a commentary on the weakness of our currency.
China sent its clearest signal yet that it was ready to allow yuan appreciation after an 18-month hiatus, saying on Wednesday it would consider major currencies, not just the dollar, in guiding the exchange rate.
In its third-quarter monetary policy report, the People’s Bank of China departed from well-worn language on keeping the yuan “basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level.” It hinted instead at a shift from an effective dollar peg that has been in place since the middle of last year…
Zombie Bull Rides Again! Dollar drops, Dow roars plus Gooooold! hits another high
Goooooooooold hit ANOTHER high now up $7.5 to $1103.2, you know what that means…it’s Bassey time!
See Zombie Bull Ride.
Ride Zombie Bull Ride.
Ride Zombie Bull Market Ride!
Who will catch the US Dollar when Zombie Bull realizes he cannot afford to buy feed with his devalued currency?
American minds want to know. Since we LIVE in, you know, the dollar.
Moron market thinking really short term I do not see the future gazing markets of my youth at play here.
DOW about to close up 188.71 now 10,212.13
S & P up 21.85 – 1091.15
NAS up 37.06 to 2149.50
and of course all due to the US Dollar hitting a recent low IMO. 10 yr 3.48% Oil is up $1.75 to $79.18
Update: .DXY (US Dollar Index) 75.04
Update: TOTUS throws Larry Summers unda da bus; will reappoint Ben Bernanke head of Fed manyana…
Update 2: Rally fizzled but we stayed positive, DOW closes up 30+…
Update: TOTUS just made the announcement. Ben thanked his colleagues at the FED and thanked TOTUS for backing a STRONG and INDEPENDENT FED.
BWAAAAHAAAA!!!!! Another TOTUS promise broken, Larry Summers must be eating his liver..you KNOW the ONLY reason he wasn’t named Sec of Trez was because head of the FED was promised to him….
…As the nation’s top financial authority, Geithner will inherit oversight of the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout for Wall Street and a U.S. economy struggling with recession.
He will be flanked by former Treasury chief Lawrence Summers, who will head Obama’s National Economic Council. Analysts say this appointment puts Summers in line to succeed Ben S. Bernanke as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2010….
WSJ –Several options were on the table, including naming Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, as Fed chief. Mr. Summers, the gruff, brilliant economist, would likely have run up against resistance on Capitol Hill, too.
Privately, many economists including Fed officials worried that Mr. Summers’ sharp-tongued style could undermine the collegial halls of the Fed…
IMO TOTUS was informed that in light of the new deficit projections to be released tomorrow, the ONLY way China would feel comfortable continuing to purchase our ENDLESS debt issuance was under Bernanke going forward. Ben being seen as a non-political appointment, having gained his position under GWB, and having earned his chops these past 9 months…
Oct 2008 Economic Club: Tim and Ben (Reuters Photo / Lucas Jackson) Tim demonstrates Paper Beats Rock economic plan..
And that is because Bernanke WILL IMO take the steps necessary to tighten when recovery is imminent, thus avoiding the HYPERinflationary Carteresque scenario…
Thanks China! Are you having fava beans and a nice Chianti with that liver Larry?
Larry Summers was SHOCKED to learn of Bernanke's reappointment, as he had slept through the team meeting...
We should have a killer rally tomorrow! I may have to get out my DOW 10,000 hat if Gentle Ben will be in that chair for another term…it was the idea of Summers calling the shots at the Fed when we needed to tighten that really freaked me out….still a double dip IMO but one we can correct with Ben at the helm…
President Barack Obama will announce Tuesday that he is nominating Ben Bernanke for a second four-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said.
Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Obama will make the announcement from Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday. He said the president credits Mr. Bernanke for “pulling the economy back from the brink of depression.”…
The amazing Snowball (TM) courtesy of BirdLoversOnly rescue organization
Obama Economic Team 'Vogues' last November
Update: Stress Test White Paper lacks detail…
Update: From WSJ:
Fed White Paper on Stress Testing Procedure pdf here: FED Press Release here; Market averages back to their trend line of the day, Dow up 130 to 8086, S&P up 14 to 86 NAS up 39 to 1691
For release at 2:00 p.m. EDT
A white paper describing the process and methodologies employed by the federal banking supervisory agencies in their forward-looking capital assessment of large U.S. bank holding companies was published on Friday.
The white paper is intended to assist analysts and other interested members of the public in understanding the results of the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program, expected to be released in early May. All U.S. bank holding companies with year-end 2008 assets exceeding $100 billion were required to participate in the assessment, which began February 25. These institutions collectively hold two-thirds of the assets and more than half the loans in the U.S. banking system.
More than 150 examiners, supervisors and economists from the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation participated in this supervisory process. Starting from two economic scenarios–a consensus estimate of private-sector forecasters and an economic situation more severe than is generally anticipated–they developed a range of loss estimates and conducted an in-depth review of the banks’ lending portfolios, investment portfolios and trading-related exposures, and revenue opportunities. In doing so, they examined bank data and loss projections, compared loss projections across firms, and developed independent benchmarks against which to evaluate the banks’ estimates. From this analysis, supervisors determined the capital buffer needed to ensure that the firms would remain appropriately capitalized at the end of 2010 if the economy proves weaker than expected.
The Supervisory Capital Assessment Program: Design Summary (287 KB PDF)
Released now, the parameters were apparently already out there, they used Case Shiller Housing Value Futures in their projections…CITI already tested itself against that same metric…
they are not giving the Tangible Common Equity number they want from the banks is it 3%? 4%? and they are also not giving out the specific projected losses or the size of the capital buffer the regulators want…..meanwhile the NY Post is reporting Vikram Pandit is out as CITI CEO shortly….
They gave the categories of loans they looked at and the counterparty risk but not the other parameters, reporters asked on the conference call…..
Will get up the CNBC clip as soon as it’s available
It’s managing expectations they say..a whole lotta nothin’ just came out…they Put on the Ritz for us…they don’t want anyone running the numbers before the banks shore up capital..
Next words will be the results of the stress tests on May 4th, I think the banks will begin to leak their own inner results before that..
The markets are turning down now, were up over 100 now up 50 on the Dow….
Submitted by IrishC
Moderate in the Middle 