This past week the Dow rose 0.8%, the S&P 1.3%, Nasdaq 1.5% and the Russell 2000 4.4%. Banks rose 2.7%; broker/dearlers 3.9%; cyclicals 2.8%; transports 4.6%; consumer 0.8%; utilities 3.8%; high tech 2.3%; semis 8.2%; Internets 2.4% and biotechs 2.7%. Gold bullion fell $16.00 and the HUI was virtually unchanged. The dollar index USDX rose 1% to 75.75.
Two-year T-bill yields rose 15 bps to 0.84%, the ten-year notes rose 27 bps to 3.48% and the German 10-year bund rose 7 bps to 2.23%.
Freddie Mac 30-year fixed mortgage rates fell 7 bps to 4.71%. The 15’’s fell 2 bps to 4.27% and one-year ARMs fell 10 bps to 4.25%. The 30-year fixed jumbos rose 9 bps to 5.99%.
Fed credit fell $2.8 billion to $2.187 trillion. It has declined $59.5 billion ytd, but has grown $69.3 billion yoy. Fed foreign holdings of Treasuries and Agencies increased $6.2 billion to a record $2.932 trillion. Custody holdings for foreign central banks expanded at a 17.9% rate ytd, and 17.5% yoy, or $437 billion.
Total money market assets declined $10.2 billion to $3.319 trillion. They have declined $511 billion ytd, or 14.4% annualized. This is a result of the end of government guarantees on 9/1809 in order to force big savers out of these funds into Treasuries and Agencies.
M2 narrow money supply was little changed at $8.391 trillion, it is up 4.9% yoy and 2.7% ytd.
European socialists and Marxists are calling for a tax on financial transactions and American Democrats agree. Unfortunately, these types never saw a tax they didn’t like.
Some of the most controversial financing practices of the credit-bubble years – from cov lite loans to Pik toggle notes and dividend recap exercises – have returned to Wall Street, stoking fears that debt markets are growing overheated. The techniques fell into disrepute during the financial crisis. In a cov light – short for covenant light – loan, borrowers are granted credit with few, if any, conditions. Pik toggle transactions make it possible for debt to be repaid with more debt – payment-in-kind notes. In a dividend recap, companies take on additional debt to pay dividends to their owners. The reappearance of such instruments in recent weeks has stirred concerns that government efforts to stimulate lending are having unintended consequences, encouraging lenders to take positions based on rest-of-all-possible-worlds’ assumptions.
Former US Treasury Undersecretary Timothy Adams said financial markets will be unstable next year as nations seek to withdraw emergency policies undertaken during the global recession. My biggest concern is that ‘we are simply creating new bubbles,’ Adams… ‘2010 is a year of volatility, as capital sloshes around the global markets in the search of yield as exit strategies are put in place at different times and at different magnitudes.
Highway-construction companies around the country, having completed the mostly small projects paid for by the federal economic-stimulus package, are starting to see their business run aground. Tim Word, vice president of Dean Word Co., a heavy-construction company said his income is now coming mostly from projects that are winding up. Having something to bid on is the lifeblood of the industry, and it’s running out, said Mr. Word. He isn’t sure what will happen next year without new projects. There’s no pavement fairy that’s going to help.
The Federal Housing Administration, faced with rising losses on home loans that it insures, is set to announce a raft of measures it is considering to protect its dwindling reserves. Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, plans to ask Congress to raise the cap on the annual insurance premium that the FHA can charge borrowers he will also outline steps the agency is considering to set minimum credit scores, to require home buyers to put more money down, and to make lenders more accountable for loans that the agency insures. Those measures are designed to begin rebuilding the agency’s depleted capital reserves.
The commercial mortgage default rate on loans held by US banks more than doubled to 3.4% in the third quarter as vacancies rose and rents declined, Real Estate Econometrics LLC said. Defaults climbed from 1.37% a year earlier and from 2.88% in the second quarter. Mortgages originated in 2006 and 2007 are experiencing the most significant shortfalls in current cash flow relative to current debt-service obligations, Sam Chandan, chief economist said.
New issues of Build America Bonds, the type of subsidized taxable debt Massachusetts will offer today, may rise 40% from this year’s monthly average to total $110 billion in 2010, JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists said.
Long used to manageable property tax bills, California homeowners have been lamenting over the last few years that their assessments did not reflect the enormous slide in the value of so many homes here. Now, for the first time in more than 30 years property tax bills will reflect negative price inflation, reducing most homeowners’ tax bills come January.
Two members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have called on the group to take back the Oscar awarded to former Vice President Al Gore for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
Roger L. Simon and Lionel Chetwynd made the request based on the e-mails that a hacker/whistle blower released revealing that so-called scientists at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England systematically falsifying data to support the theory that the earth is heating up and that humans caused it.
"An Inconvenient Truth," a film based on a climate-change speech that Gore developed, won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2007. (Coincidentally, the next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered that Gore’s Nashville home guzzled 20 times more electricity than the average American household.)
That same year, the Academy elevated Gore's PowerPoint lecture, helping him to snag a Nobel Peace Prize as well.
The academy members' request that Gore return his statue is happening as preparations are under way for next week's United Nations climate change meeting in Copenhagen, where 16,500 people from 192 countries will fly in using private jets, consume 200,000 meals, and produce an estimated 41,000 tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the same as the carbon emissions of Morocco in 2006.
Our government continues to do its best to suppress gold and silver and commodity prices. Their ham-fisted presence was quite evident this past week and it was only marginally successful. All they accomplished was to make an unnatural correction in a market that could have needed a natural correction. The underlying fundamental factors are still very bullish. The technicals and the long-term charts as well as pro-gold and silver psychology are still in place. The reality is that gold, silver and commodities are still in bull markets and intervention by the President’s “Working Group on Financial Markets” cannot and are not capable of stopping what are going to be the biggest bull markets in history. In both gold and silver bullion and shares the shorts eventually have to cover and that could prove to be one of the biggest bloodbaths of all time and the American taxpayer will get to pay for the losses. What else can one expect with the world financial system collapsing and hyperinflation on the way. Today’s strength in gold and silver have nothing to do with inflation and everything to do with a flight to quality. It has nothing to do with a falling dollar and a great deal to do with a loss of confidence and trust in the G-10. The other factors will add to the fire a bit later. The sophisticated of world finance are starting to realize the US financial system has been run by criminals for a long time. The ringleader of this gang of thieves is the Federal Reserve. That is why S604, HR1207, now attached to HR3996 is so important. It will lead to exposure of what the Fed has been up too for 96 years. These are the people who own the Fed, who have had a revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, particularly our Treasury Department, for many years. They created Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and FHA. Socialist-Fascist programs initiated by Wall Street to bring great profits to the wealthy lenders and great debt to the American people. Worse yet, there are no longer rules, regulations and laws, because the government regulators at the SEC and CFTC are always looking the other way under government guidance. These agencies absolutely refuse to protect the public against crooks in the fields of banking, ratings, investments and insurance. They are an integral part of the problem. Who in their right mind would take over these agencies instead of letting them fail, as they should have along with AIG, GM and Chrysler? The bottom line is the dollar and every other currency in the world has been falling against gold for six years and almost all general stock market indices have fallen 50% to 80% versus gold for the past nine years. Why don’t CNBC, CNN and the major media tell you that? It is because they are all bought and paid for – that is why. What market couldn’t go up in value with $12.7 trillion at its disposal? This has nothing to do with a healthy economy and everything to do with the Fed creating money out of thin air for its owners and throwing it at the stock market creating the second such bubble in the last 13 years. Do not be fooled readers. This is all just another scam that every American will get to pay for.
This isn’t a double dip recession; it is a depression and has been one since last February. Wall Street tells us a lower dollar will again bring prosperity. That is hardly true. At best it can add ½% to 1% to GDP and at the same time boost inflation by 10%. Some trade off.
We spoke in the last issue of the Federal Reserve’s opinion that by the end of 2010 there would be an official devaluation and default and that old money would replace old money. We are told a trial run by banks was held in late October. This would be accompanied by a bank holiday and perhaps to Martial law and a declared state of emergency. Similar drills were held worldwide.
The public, of course, knows little of these exercises and bank personnel and management found them disturbing as did stock clearing operations. Bank management says something big is going on, something governments cannot control. The recent comments by the Fed obviously are well known to top banking executives worldwide. Bankers seeing what is happening are obviously fleeing to other currencies, buying gold, silver and commodities and selling the dollar. They know what is coming and are struggling to stay afloat. As we get more Intel we will keep you abreast of what we learn. Get out of CDs, cash value life insurance policies, annuities and exit the stock market with the exception of gold and silver shares. Only have three months cash for operating expenses at the bank. For businesses only six months cash for operating on hand. All assets should be in gold and silver coins and shares. Those with wealth who want liquidity and diversification can own Canadian and Swiss Treasuries.
Do not under any circumstances keep your records or gold and silver in bank safe deposit boxes. The Patriot Act forbids the use of boxes for valuables and during an emergency they can be confiscated. This has already happened and Bank of America has been the most cited for violations. In California, the state is now faced with the task of returning $5 billion worth of property to its rightful owners. Banks want to continue the practice nationwide and even pay commissions to contractors to locate and seize assets. Your Gestapo marches on.
As you know bankers believe they are doing God’s work in looting the public and they are protected in this endeavor by a supplicant government. These parasites live off the host – the American citizen.
At the core of the problem is the Federal Reserve and its owners, such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, among a number of others both in the US and Europe. Under corporatist fascism the bankers, Wall Street, insurance and corporate America act as one to enslave the populace. These firms control the Fed and form a revolving door with Washington, particularly the Treasury Department. The Fed engineers the booms and busts for them so that they are always on the right side of the trade. As a result, the profits for these firms are huge. They are all blood sucking satanic vampires. As part of this system of looting they have deftly bought almost every member of the House and Senate with campaign contributions and other goodies. They tell us they serve the greater good. The only good they serve is for themselves. Is it any wonder 75% of the public want the Fed audited and investigated? These are the people who control the “Working Group on Financial Markets,” which has been twisted into a grand vehicle for theft. This gang allows little to trickle down; they simply want it all. They could care less if real unemployment is 22.2% or 35%. As a former professional trader I know you cannot be right as often as they are unless the game is rigged. Like clockwork the markets rise and fall as an instrumentality of the Fed usually in ten-year cycles. The most recent game is taking taxpayer funds amply distributed by the Fed, gamble in the rigged markets with leverage, make billions of dollars, and shamelessly distribute bonuses in the billions of dollars, while many Americans are living under bridges and in dumpsters. Goldman, Morgan and Citi call that social justice. These are the same people who control the regulators and the media. If any of the networks step out of line they get a call and whatever they are doing stops. For 20 years Goldman Sachs has been running Washington and JPMorgan Chase has been running the Fed. Morgan’s control stretches back 120 years. Their vast wealth allows them to control Congress, which closes all avenues to change. Our purchased judicial system is the laughing stock of the world. Every kind of white-collar crime is their Hallmark and they often engage in murder to shut up those who would interrupt their game. Their imperialistic colonialist method of operation allows them to keep the masses under-educated and in poverty. They control the funds from narcotics operations worldwide. The Illuminists believe themselves to be the true masters of the universe as they do the work of Satan across our world. Those like us who defy them risk our lives and have to hide to function. They are now so arrogant and powerful that they do not ever care if you find out what they are doing. All we can promise you is that we will win. Victory will only go to those who have the courage and spirit to fight.
Our new President promised change. In the financial sphere we got none. JPMorgan Chase runs the Fed and Goldman Sachs runs the Treasury. The looting of the financial system goes on unabated. The dollar remains under pressure as credit derivatives are used to keep the system running. In gold and silver, not as easily controllable, massive short positions attempt to control the market. The dollar is being deliberately destroyed in order to replace it with an international trading unit made up of G-20 countries. In order to make this acceptable a 10% to 15% gold banking will be part of the package. The Western governments will continue to not only destroy the dollar as a world reserve currency, but also their own currencies in order to transfer strength to currencies of the second and third world, as a method of transferring wealth. This political, social, economic and financial destruction is calculated to bring the economies of the first world down to the level of the second and third world, forcing America and Europe in particular to accept world government. This will eventually bring about a military coup controlled by the Pentagon in which the Illuminists believe they will solidify power by force. That we believe will be unsuccessful and will finally begin the fall of the elitists. It will fail because our military knows what these people are up too and they won’t allow it to happen. As this attempt is made the financial system will unravel, as a mercenary force of a few hundred thousand attempts to protect the power of the elitists.