Elizabeth Warren

Fireworks Again

23 Comments yesterday. WOW. You tied a record. Most on politics. It ended at midnight with Yankee Bob on Fascism. You can scroll down to the bottom HERE to read them all. Some strong opinions, and let’s try to be civil.

I told Jim J I would publish his list of candidates to donate to Monday or Tuesday. You can be sure Tea Party candidate that JS (not me) called a “Whack Job.” will not be on it.

Elizabeth Warren

Bravo Elizabeth Warren has been chosen by Obama to set up the Consumer Protection Agency and start running it. The Right Appointment at the Right Time editorial by Simon Johnson.

Poverty Rate Rises

Poverty is on rise. Republican response to their fellow Americans “Let Them Eat Cake” or repeal all of health care. There are many parts of the health care bill I oppose, but repealing the whole thing is just wrong. More on the poverty rate in the US declining for a decade – The Lost Decade from WSJ

Back in 2008 Investors411 warned that the economic meltdown was “far, far, far, far, far, worse” than what people expected. One forecast you hate to have come true.

Digging In Heals

You may think of him as Darth Vader (Democrats – Larry Summers and Chris Dodd constantly compete for this title) But when he speaks its usually policy. Larry Summers – “Maintaining tax cuts for top wage-earners should take a back seat to other more pressing measures, White House economic advisor Larry Summers said, in a signal the administration could be digging in its heels on the issue. ”  From CNBC – All right Larry – something positive. Darth Vader title goes to Senator Chris Dodd for now.

KISS & Stocks (Keep It Simple Stupid)

If you don’t understand a term look in up at Investopedia.com dictionary

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

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Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

Investors411 record – 5 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

Mantra for September - “The Black Box/High Frequency Traders BB/HFT control the majority of trades. Jim Cramer -”BB/HFT make up 80% of trades.”

Term for the Day – Baltic Dry Index – From Investopedia

“A shipping and trade index created by the London-based Baltic Exchange that measures changes in the cost to transport raw materials such as metals, grains and fossil fuels by sea. The Baltic Exchange directly contacts shipping brokers to assess price levels for a given route, product to transport and time to delivery (speed)

Changes in the Baltic Dry Index can give investors insight into global supply and demand trends. This change is often considered a leading indicator of future economic growth (if the index is rising) or contraction (index is falling) because the goods shipped are raw, pre-production material, which is typically an area with very low levels of speculation.”

US Markets – It’s a ghost town out there as volume remains pitifully weak.

This is the third Friday of the month when options expire. Almost always this day lacks technical significance unless a major fundamental surprise occurs.

Significant Indexes

• The Dollar (USD) [Anything daily price move over +/- 0.50 is significant. Dollar moves inversely to stocks] The dollar, fell  -0.31% yesterday.  Falling dollar trend for stocks = Bullish
• The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) [measures cost of world trade. Also proxy for China & emerging markets] Fell a -3.63% yesterday.  The BDI does not have the immediate impact that the MO or Dollar does. Fourth down day in a row with rate of fall increasing. After 8 week bull run trend changing to bearish, but still= Neutral
• McClellan Index – (MO) [The rough guideline is over +60 = overbought market = sell positions or short stocks, & -60 = oversold market = buy stocks.] MO fell again to +22.38 yesterday. Note while zero is the center of this chart the 50 DMA is at 19.33 That’s a support level. = NEUTRAL

Reading Tea Leaves

If the baby Bull, pictured earlier this week is going to get on its feet, this would be the time to rise.

However, it’s hard to put significance on an options expiration Friday. Perhaps Monday will be the key.

Positions

The  Positions Section link to latest & former buys and sells  - These are positions I actually own

(I do manage 6 accounts that have other positions)

Current positions –  EWS (Singapore).

Same basic outlook for traders- Short term trend is bullish for stocks. If we can get @ a 100 point drop in Dow and you can tolerate risk – you could nibble

Investors – Wait for a bigger drop in MO before going long.

Also if, we get up over +60 on the MO and  the Dow/major indexes rally – that would be a selling or shorting point.

Long Term Outlook - CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

DOUBLE CHECK ALL DATA, I MAKE MORE THAN GRAMMAR MISTAKES

The ongoing war over the “Shadow Banking” System –  the major battles – whose winning - the sides -. Is London Burning? – The G 20 meeting – winners and losers – The Critic. Economic tends for the future – more regulations, delevering, & degloblization.

Photo of riots in London over G 20 meeting from the Atlantic

Shadow Banks

Definition – Over a decade ago Shadow Banks were formed when the US congress began to strip regulations from the financial system. Huge “to big to fail” institutions (from AIG to GE) were created and allowed to hide their over leveraged assets. This created false wealth and 100′s of billions for those crooks who ran the scam. It brought the entire world to the precipice of economic meltdown.

The Battle – Shadow Institutions are winning (so far)

• Trillions of taxpayer dollars and printed money are being given prop up shadow banks
• Programs designed to have taxpayers bailout banks (See nobel prize winner Joe Stiglet’s in NYT editorial
• Accounting rules (Mark to Market) are being changed to allow less transparency
• almost nothing outside of political jaw boning has been done to break up  ”to big to fail” shadow institution

The Sides - These sometimes fluctuate  and politicians know how to hide their true colors, but basically a partial list looks like

• Defenders of shadow banks – The Bush administration, the Obama administration, Wall Street and the shadow institutions. 
• Opponents – unlikely and less powerful group- Most notable Paul Krugman, France Pres. Sarkozy, Alan Greenspan, Joe Stiglets, Lindsey Graham (R senator), some other major Republicans and Democrats & American taxpayer who is going to pay.

Is London Burning?

One photo says a thousand words (see above). No matter how right you think your position is – is it right to break into institutions, hold CEO’s hostage, cause the death of an innocent bystander, destroy property, attack your employer when the business folds, write letters to the families of workers for banks threatening their kids?

Both the media far left and far right are pouring oil on this fire. The lefties in London are hurting their own cause. See comments made by “The Critic” on right hand side of blog.

One big positive coming out of G 20 is greatly increased funding for IMF (International Money Fund). MIT’s  Simon Johnson has an editorial on this and credits Obama.

Long Term Trends

Future trends depend on if or how much major Shadow Institutions are able hide their toxic assets and keep their to big to fail  size.  The following trends (good or bad) seem to be gaining at least a foothold.

• The desire for more regulations to prevent bubbles.
• “Delevering” – Over leverage risk will get reduced as everyone saves more
• “Deglobalization” – Nationalization, protectionism, will grow as countries turn from greed to survival

Very interesting editorial on this by PIMCO (bond giant) Bill Gross and its negative long term future for stocks

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Tom Friedman, over the years has, perhaps, been the most quoted columnist in Investor’s411. No one is always right, but he sets himself apart by innovation. (also, 3 Pulitzer’s and many best selling books) Friedman’s column yesterday on socializing the risk and privatizing the gains for finance and the environment pulls two diverse problems together. Also today- other economic editorials & executions for sexuality.

Friedman

There a lot of meat in his NYT editorial “The Price is Not Right” chew on some of it.

After illuminating “creative destruction” he concludes  “Destructive creation” has wounded both the Market and Mother Nature. Smart regulation and carbon taxation can heal both.

Other Editorials

(If you have an editorial or comment you’d like to share post it on the comment section of the blog – Thanks)

Here’s  diverse group of editorials

•  Rally is Built on Sand? FASB Can Help – by  Chris Ciavocco (Ciavocco vs Reilly below)
• Banks Demand Perfume for Rotting Balance Sheets - by David Reilly – Bloomberg
• How the Financial Crisis Is Shaping the Corporate Model – NYT
• Automakers and Banks: A Double Standard – by James Suroweicki – The New Yorker

Executions for Sexuality

Here’s a story American Corporate media will ignor

Ahmadinejad said there were no gays in Iran and his fellow Shia who now dominate Iraq are having a mass execution of 100 supposed “criminals” many of them for the “crime” of just being gay. This is the supposedly wonderful democratic government we created in Iraq that is killing “gays by the batch” (story) “20 criminals” in each batch.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

The more you know about investing, the more you realize that everyone else (especially the more $ they have or control) knows more, has a bigger support team , more computers, better access to data and knows how to bend/manipulate whatever they are investing in.  These wealthy investors/entities/countries are like huge slow moving/turning super tankers. Therefore, your advantage is to recognize which way the fleet of tankers is moving and get their first.

Baltic Dry Sea Index

Nothing could be less exciting than something called the BDI.  But it is one way to measure the FLOW of money or direction our globalized world is moving in. The top 20 economic countries are meeting in London (see comments by “Critic” from London on right side of blog) The G 20 meets later this week and perhaps the drop in the BDI shows how fractured or nationalized the worldwide response to the recession is.  (Lots more below on BDI under fundamentals)

Money Flows

• To start realize that the standard of living just in the USA has or will drop from 20 to 50%. My guesstimate is combining the loss in home value, investments, jobs and the increase in debt. 
• Other countries, especially those like England, Iceland, and Eastern European countries whose banks adopted the same “free market” unregulated, over leveraged financial system are in worse shape. 
• Protectionism, just like in the Great Depression stops money flows, and we are a global economy. The world wide recession’s greatest danger is nationalism stopping money flows.
• Money flows best when goods are bought and sold. The more people that spend  money the faster it flows. When money is hoarded by an oligarchy or debt is forced on working folks money flows dry up.
• The major question emerging from our “Great Recession” is how to get the money flowing again and whose going to pay for the past mistakes.

Investment Choices

 Our huge debt, over leveraging and reliance on credit before the meltdown hit has put this country in much worse long term position to fix the problems created. This is why Investors411 recommends using hedges (ETF’s that short the markets – see Position sections) when markets rally to far too fast in the USA.

This is also why Investors411 recommends in Brazil and especially China (see Positions section of blog). They don’t have debt, but do have other resources.

Gold, GLD, is also recommended because in the long term all the money thrown by super takers (governments and other entities) to fix the problem is going to create inflation and devalue currency. This usually makes gold and other commodities more valuable. 

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Today - How many more bubbles have to burst before we take action? Obama’s getting hammered by the far left, far right, & reporters  - yet he pulls off another another press conference with grace, substance, and and purpose. YOUR comments bring up some different and provocative points of view.  The one chart or index that’s on the cutting edge of the rally .  IBM and Green technology. 

Meet The Press

You can read a full transcript of last night’s press conference here. American’s demands microwave solutions and turning around the economy is not something that’s going to happen overnight. The last 8 years built a massive deficit and a massive financial problem. What Barack showed was a command not only as a communicator but in the details of what he’s trying to accomplish.

Obviously, this blog takes its shots at his administration, but I truly hope he succeeds.

You

Three different comments bring up well reasoned and different points of view. See comment section on the side of blog. 

• Popeye – References a Bill Gross article (check out the graph in the editorial) on Shadow Banks
• Fred Mays – Seemed to know exactly what Obama would say in his press conference and called for patience and long term thinking.
• ewanapat - Also defended Obama and brought up his editorial that was published in 31 papers across the world.

The One Chart

Will the stock rally fizzle again? There’s one chart that’s on the cutting edge. See technical analysis section below.

IBM goes Green

IBM is helping to build high speed energy efficient trains in China, Taiwan and the Netherlands. Also this is going to mean a lot of new jobs for those countries. One wonders how much of Obama’s alternative energy proposals will get cut from the budget. Full story from CNET

Cyclical vs. Structural

There are those who think that all we have to do is do nothing, others believe the shadow banking system will fix itself, others think the only problem is toxic assets. These are all reactionary solutions 

Investors411 looks at economics structurally. Granted its hard to structurally solve economic problems like energy, education and heath care with the deficit we’ve built up.  But unless we structurally change the bubbles will keep bursting and America will keep sinking. For more see Overview section of blog.

How many more bubbles have to burst before we deal with the structural problems?

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AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING! 

Since Health Care  is clearly part of the long term structural economic problems of the USA and 3 of the last 5 comments on the blog have been about heath care (see/click on right hand side of blog for your comments) today’s focus is health care.  But first one of the best adds ever happened to be recently contained in the Atlanta Journal’s personal section –  

These two words were supposed to put the intended victim in a hypnotic trance in an old 60 or 70 comedy movie. For Barak Obama the two key words don’t rhyme – Afghanistan Iraq .

In the last few days a US predator drone killed @20 al Qaeda or civilians at the Afghan/Pakistan boarder (depends on which news account you believe in) and there is a promised surge of another 30,000 troops in the face of diminishing foreign support.

It is heartening to see increased diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However even US military commanders say Afghanistan "cannot be won on the battlefield" AP report .

Afghan/Pakistan/India is the center of Sunni terrorism. However, If like Iraq the focus is on guns and bullets instead of hearts and minds we’ll get the same results. We may be able to eliminate some despicable people like Saddam but the end result is worse. The level of violence that we created by "unjustly" invading has diminished but -

* 3 to 5 million refugees (mostly Sunni’s) displaced or killed
* a corrupt religious Shia government replacing a corrupt secular government
* Militia’s that rule throughout Iraq an infiltrate the army.
* Radial leaders like Sadr who hold sway over the Shia majority (60+% of pop.)
* a new pro instead of anti Iranian government – making Iran more powerful to export terrorism
* loss of our positive image throughout the world Abu Ghraib and Gitmo.
* a war simmering between Turkey and the 20% Kurdish minority
* cost of $3 trillion dollars to American economy
* deaths and long term wounds of American soldiers.
* an economic disaster in Iraq.
* a inspiration or factory for producing terrorists
* a deeply divided America on Iraq

Yes there is a quazi elected government in Iraq, but the terrorists of Hamas were also elected.

Geithner Genuflects

Yesterday Wall Street favorite Tim Geithner was appointed Obama’s Treasury secretary. In his acceptance he payed homage or genuflected to Larry Summers, Obama’s chief economic advisor. Geithner is a Summers protegee. Larry Summers, as reported several times before, was instrumental in deregulating the banking industry in 1998 under Clinton. The guys who played a role in digging this economic hole should not be the major players in leading us out.

Far preferable to this dynamic duo would be Nobel prize winning economists like Stiglets and Krugman. Hero’s like Former Fed Paul Volker does have a more minor role in the Obama administration.

Lifting Global Gag

One of Obama’s first act was lifting the Global Gag on giving funds to any organization that in any way supported abortion. Bravo. Several of you emailed me on this. Thanks. Story at LINK

Stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Treading Water/Drifting Higher

Index % Change Volume

Dow -0.48% down
NASDQ +0.82% down
S&P500 +0.56% down
Russell2000 +1.28% –

Brown = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals – Major US indexes are treading water and foreign indexes are doing the same. Even though we are treading water major indexes are drifting in the right direction. The Dow closed at 8116 and is now 150+ points above its strong support level at 7950. We are a long ways from the 9088 Dow resistance level (see chart) established in early January.

Volume did NOT confirm the drift higher.

XLF is the financial sector ETF Chart here. Financials declined – 1.78 yesterday. A relatively minor move considering some of the wild swings. Financials are the major reason stocks are in trouble. This is the index to watch.

The area around DOW 7950 to 8000 is turning into a strong support level. The more times its tested and holds the stronger it becomes. Of course, this also means if it breaks down we should have a major fall.

Stocks are down 8% in January. Old Wall Street saying – "as January goes do goes the year."

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals-

7 Major Companies announced 56,000 more layoffs yesterday, Earnings news continues to disappoint, and we have a huge expected-5.2 to-5.5% GDP loss expected to be announced on Friday. Despite this chorus of bad news major indexes managed to tread water and drift ahead. What do investors see that they remain slightly bullish in the face of a pie of bad news?

A stock market is after all just a market of stocks. If major companies like Caterpillar (builds major construction equipment) (chart link ) falls over 8% after a dismal earning report yesterday and is perilously close to breaking through its low (support level) are in trouble be very cautious. CAT stands to to be one of the companies that gains from Obama’s stimulus plan.

If Financials are the index to watch, then CAT is the stock to watch. If CAT can keep treading water and drift ahead there is hope.

Forecasting Future Trends

LIBOR – LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other. It price has fallen from 3.4% three months ago to about 1.18% Its held steady in this area for about a week. (good news for stocks)

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasuries – T Bills yields show how fearful investors are. The lower the rate the more the fear. Short term yields – 3 month T bill flat at 0.07% yesterday and the longer term rates again rose a bit. The ten year rose 2.64% (low yields show fearfull investors flooding to Treasuries instead of stocks)

Treasury Bonds chart

Baltic Dry Index – Measures flow of goods between countries. Yesterday ir rose again almost 1.5% . Almost 85% drop since June. (We’ve had a solid steady gain since the early December lows of around 660 to 995, but we fell from pre recession figures of around 12,000 – That’s along way to go)

BDI chart

Short Term Outlook/Strategy

Reading the Tea Leaves – Strategy – Shorting rallies to protect gains is working. (see below) Until we see some light at the end of the recession tunnel VOLATILITY continues to be the most predictable major stock market trend. Obama rally (stimulus package) is holding up equities right now.

Technically, markets are consolidating despite some horrible economic news. That’s bullish news. Volume is not confirming or denying the bulls or bears right now. Secondary indicators (LIBOR Treasuries and BDI) are improving. The area around Dow 7950 has turned into one strong support level . It has bent but it has nor really been broken.

Therefore, Some sort of short term rally seems probable. Buying/nibbling close on dips at Dow 8,000 is much better than doing the same at 9,000. Protecting any purchased position as stocks rally (get closer to 9,000) seems to be working.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

This Section Rarely Changes
Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded and in Plum or crossed out

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule.. Technical Range for 2009 – 7449 (low) and 9654.- This is a wild guess. Any sustained move above Dow 9650 is bullish.

Fundamentals – Financial transparency/accountability problem is far far far far far far far far far bigger than anyone thought. Cleaning up this mess is going to take years and growth will suffer.

Asset Allocation/Recommended Sectors (long term)

50% to 90% Cash – Long Term Investors (up to 15 to 25+% stocks – only buy big dips) Wait for the next big dip to add 5 to 10%
Be Cautious and PROTECT YOUR MONEY (use ETF’s that short major indexes) when stocks have a big rally

*5+% US Index Funds
UWM (ETF that does 2x what Russell 2000 does) & QLD (ETF that does 2X the NASDQ ) DDM (ETF that does 2X the Dow ) SSO (ETF does 2X the S&P 500)

*5%+ Emerging Markets
EWZ (Brazil) should out perform other emerging markets in a rally and under perform in a fall – highest risk and dependent on oil prices
FXI (China ETF) should outperform USA

*5%+ Alternative Energy
GEX(Alternative energy ETF) Obama administration will focus on this area

*5+% Gold
GLD is the ETF for gold-

Chief Strategy – Buy the DIPS of trending sector – This is not your father’s buy and hold market – over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 8000 and huge uncertainty clouds the future.

The major trend now is volatility.

Traders who have a strong tolerance for risk jump in on dips and invest more. Sell and/or go short into major rallies. Long term Investors who can tolerate risk and are 100% in cash nibble just a little on big dips. (5% on each big dip) Do not buy into rallies.

Shorting – Three ETF that short 2x what the major indexes do.

SDS – ultra short S&P 500
DXD – ultra short Dow – (Both small caps and tech stocks are outperforming the DOW and S&P)
SKF – ultra short Financials (this is the sector that’s most broken)

As Always Do Your Own Research Before Investing

Obama’s first two days are "a burst of executive sunshine " and "transparency".

Here’s 10 of Obama’s orders and/or acts

#1 Closing Guantanamo within a year
#2 Stopping the unfair and unconstitutional trials there
#3 Directing federal agencies to err on the side of transparency and not the Bush delay/secrecy over public records.
#4 tough new limitations on power of lobbyists
#5 Countered Bush’s order that allows past Presidents and VP to keep potentially embarrassing order from the public.
#6 Barred anyone in his administration from leaving and becoming a lobbyists while he is in office
#7 No one can serve in Obama administration who was a lobbyist over past two years.
#8 Both Obama and his future AG declared waterboarding "torture" and prohibited.
#9 Appointed competent top level envoys to Mideast and Afghanistan/Pakistan (Mitchell and Holbrooke) as negotiators.
#10 Spoke to all Mideast leaders (minus terrorist group Hamas)

George Washington and company when confronted with a massive foreign army not only won the day but came up with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Freedom. George Bush when confronted with a small band of religious terrorist – declared war on secular Iraq, denied some basic freedoms that Washington had won and created far more adversarial and confrontational world – "You’re either with us or against us."(I know you could add to this list)

Certainly Obama is going to make mistakes, but its heartening to see America move back in the direction of our founding fathers.

Stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Major Support Level Cracking

Index % Change Volume

Dow -1.28% up
NASDQ -2.76% ?
S&P500 -1.52% ?
Russell2000 -3.05% –

Brown = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals – Sorry could not accurately read volume figures on charts. Looks like volume was above average and flat. Because there was no significant increase volume, the #1 confirmation factor behind a price move, tells us little. Stocks were much lower but recovered some losses by the end of the day.

XLF is the financial sector ETF Chart here. As the chart shows financials after two huge swings (down then up) lost -6.35%. While this is a substantial amount it is not close to the 15% swings of the previous two days.

The financial sector is currently leading the US and world markets. Overall even though we had a massive gain yesterday the XLF has a multiyear series of lower lows and lower highs (change setting on chart to weekly to see this) – Technically this chart is about as bearish as you can get. In the shorter term a major move like yesterday’s in big volume indicates at least a short term low.

The area around DOW 7950 to 8000 is turning into a strong support level. The more times its tested and holds the stronger it becomes. Of course, this also means if it breaks down we should have a major fall.

For those of you who like to invest in individual stocks internet advertising and education stocks are doing well.

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals -

MSFT fell over -11% yesterday (poor earnings report). When you consider this and the bad unemployment/housing figures and slowing +6.8% China GDP growth, the markets did a bit better than expected.

The emperor of internet advertising Google beat earnings expectations last night and was up 4+% in after hours trading. Now up +1.3% 9:22 EST

Another giant GE earnings met expectations (a loss of 44%) Analysis of their troubled financial unit. So much of GE’s business comes from financial part of business and it is way over leveraged. GE is down this AM.

Forecasting Future Trends

LIBOR – LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other . It price has fallen from 3.4% three months ago to about 1.16% Its held steady in this area for about a week. (good news for stocks)

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasuries – T Bills yields show how fearful investors are. The lower the rate the more the fear. Short term yields – 3 month T bill fell to 0.07% and the longer term rates rose a bit. The ten year rose 2.58% (low yields show fearful investors flooding to Treasuries instead of stocks)

Treasury Bonds chart

Baltic Dry Index – Measures flow of goods between countries. Yesterday ir rose again 5+% . Almost 85% drop since June. (We’ve had a solid gain since the early December lows of around 660 to 945, but we fell from pre recession figures of around 12,000 – That’s along way to go)

BDI chart

Short Term Outlook/Strategy

Reading the Tea Leaves – Strategy – Shorting rallies to protect gains is working. (see below) Until we see some light at the end of the recession tunnel VOLATILITY continues to be the most predictable major stock market trend. Obama rally (stimulus package) is holding up equities right now.

All three forecasting indexes are beginning to indicate a positive move for stocks.

LIBOR has fallen significantly and even mortgage rates have fallen. Treasuries while low are starting to rally and we have seen a significant move higher in worldwide trade (the BDI) Looks like a stock rally is possible. Overall PANIC does still rule the credit markets, but it is easing.

Financials are the problem and will be until the toxic debt question is resolved. Could take years for this to happen. But now with a new administration there is hope. Hope of future transparency, accountability and rules in this area are vital for the economic health of the US and the world.

The other major negative is the employment numbers.

The Dow is hanging in at 8123. Still above its major support level. Even though there are some positives out there, Financial Companies and Employment numbers are overwhelming investors. Bad earnings reports like MSFT led to an 11% decline. This means that bad news is NOT built into market prices. The strong 7936 to 8000 Dow support level is in danger of collapsing today. You can feel a major downside move building.

Financials/Banks are in a lot of trouble with no resolution of their toxic assets in sight. Dow 7449 is last year’s low and the next major support level.

Long Term Investors who can handle risk and are less than 10% invested in stocks – Nibble a little on any major dip. Shorter term investors keep protection (short ETF’s) for now. You may want to drop some as we get closer to 7449.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded and in Plum or crossed out

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule.. Technical Range for 2009 – 7449 (low) and 9654.- This is a wild guess. Any sustained move above Dow 9650 is bullish.

Fundamentals – Financial transparency/accountability problem is far far far far far far far far far bigger than anyone thought. It’s looks like the recession will last through 2009 – perhaps longer Cleaning up this mess is going to take years and growth will suffer.

Asset Allocation/Recommended Sectors (long term)

50% to 90% Cash – Long Term Investors (up to 15 to 25+% stocks – only buy big dips) Wait for the next big dip to add 5 to 10%
Be Cautious and PROTECT YOUR MONEY (use ETF’s that short major indexes) when stocks have a big rally

*5+% US Index Funds
UWM (ETF that does 2x what Russell 2000 does) & QLD (ETF that does 2X the NASDQ ) DDM (ETF that does 2X the Dow ) SSO (ETF does 2X the S&P 500)

*5%+ Emerging Markets
EWZ (Brazil) should out perform other emerging markets in a rally and under perform in a fall – highest risk and dependent on oil prices
FXI (China ETF) should outperform USA

*5%+ Alternative Energy
GEX(Alternative energy ETF) Obama administration will focus on this area

*5+% Gold
GLD is the ETF for gold-

Chief Strategy – Buy the DIPS of trending sector – This is not your father’s buy and hold market – over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 8000 and huge uncertainty clouds the future.

The major trend now is volatility.

Traders who have a strong tolerance for risk jump in on dips and invest more. Sell and/or go short into major rallies. Long term Investors who can tolerate risk and are 100% in cash nibble just a little on big dips. (5% on each big dip) Do not buy into rallies.

Shorting – Three ETF that short 2x what the major indexes do.

SDS – ultra short S&P 500
DXD – ultra short Dow – (Both small caps and tech stocks are outperforming the DOW and S&P)
SKF – ultra short Financials (this is the sector that’s most broken)

As Always Do Your Own Research Before Investing

The overwhelming crowd in Washington was certainly uplifting. However, at our hotel far more Jamaican’s than white American’s on holiday joined together to watch Obama take the oath of office. Tears flowed freely in the room. Obama’s inauguration has had a major impact on Jamaican’s and others throughout the world. At least now there is hope, but hope alone in not enough.

Another interesting point is that the resorts and plane flights were packed with people = what recession.

Banks

Updates has warned over the impending meltdown in financial/bank stocks. (see below) Bank prices collapsed yesterday and the FLX (see below) reached new lows. Now Bank of America and Citi group, two huge financials loaded with credit default swaps, are again melting down. Will the Obama administration, like the Bush administration just throw money at these and other institutions without any accountability or transparency?

One major concern – It was Obama’s new chief economist Larry Summers (as Clinton’s Tres. Sec. Clinton) who enthusiastically supported the deregulation that opened the door for most of the problems are swamping financial companies.

Few banks made any loans with the cash they were given in part 1 of the TARP. England and other countries have nationalized trouble banks that were "too big to fail" and are forcing these institutions to make loans instead of buying other banks, paying dividends, & handing out bonuses. Obama’s administration this AM halted the regulatory process pending review.

Bottom Line – Over the last few decades we have cut government so that it became too weak to regulate big business. Mega companies from CitiGroup to General to GM proved that left to themselves they were incapable of self regulation.

The absolutism of "free trade" and "free markets" have let greed run wild. Combine this with no real central planing and an eviscerated government. The result is a stock market, country and world facing the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Remember – You should be very critical of TARP part 1, but it did prevent a worldwide run on the banks. While major banks are in trouble there is currently no run on the banks.

Stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Financial Meltdown

Index % Change Volume

Dow -4.01% down
NASDQ -5.78% down
S&P500 -5.28% down
Russell2000 -7.03% –

Brown = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals – Major meltdown led by financials. The Dow broke through its major support at 8,000 and ended the day at 7949.

XLF is the financial sector ETF Chart here. As the chart shows financials fell another -16.53% yesterday to new lows. Financials used to be the largest sector of the market and may no longer hold that distinction. But, they are certainly capable of leading all major indexes lower. Other banking indexes are approaching or have broken through November lows. Mega banks Bank of America and Citigroup are leading this deterioration. The problem is all their over leveraged debt. (credit default swaps)

Bank Sector is collapsing. Volume did NOT increase (probably because of the inauguration). However this sector could easily drag the rest of the American and foreign markets with it.

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals – All the talk of passing the second 1/2 of the TARP ($350 billion) is focusing investor attention on the problems of the markets.

IBM – Had a very positive earnings report.

Both Citi and BAC are leading financials and the rest of stocks DOWN. State Street Bank and others are also getting clocked.

Forecasting Future Trends

LIBOR – LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other . It price has fallen from 3.4% three months ago to about 1.12% (good news for stocks)

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasuries – T Bills yields show how fearful investors are . The lower the rate the more the fear. Short term yields – 3 month T bill was falt at 0.07% and longer term treasuries were basically fell 10 year rose to to 2.38% (low yields show fearfull investors flooding to Treasuries instead of stocks – Bad news for stocks)

Treasury Bonds chart

Baltic Dry Index – Measures flow of goods between countries . Yesterday it remailed flat . Almost 85% drop since June. (short term good news are the gains over the last two weeks)

BDI chart

Short Term Outlook/Strategy

Reading the Tea Leaves-

PANIC STILL RULES the credit markets

Strategy – Shorting rallies to protect gains is working. (see below) Until we some light at the end of the recession tunnel VOLATILITY continues to be the most predictable major stock market trend. Obama rally (stimulus package) is holding up equities right now.

Support levels have broken for all major indexes. Dow at 8200 and has a minor support level at 8148 (see chart) and the psychological 8000 number. Both these levels have broken and the Dow is at 7949. The 8000 level is the line in the sand. If the Dow can regain 8000 today there is a chance we could rally.

The short term Obama inauguration rally has been OVERWHELMED by the financial meltdown.
We could stabilize today, but confidence in banks seem shattered. Economist Nourille Roubini yesterday announced that banks are basically insolvent. Any extended rally is impossible without a solvent banking sector.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded and in Plum or crossed out

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule.. Technical Range for 2009 – 7449 (low) and 9654.- This is a wild guess. Any sustained move above Dow 9650 is bullish.

Fundamentals – Financial transparency problem is far far far far far far far far far bigger than anyone thought. It’s looks like the recession will last through 2009 – perhaps longer

Asset Allocation/Recommended Sectors (long term)

50% to 90% Cash – Long Term Investors (up to 15 to 25+% stocks – only buy big dips) Wait for the next big dip to add 5 to 10%
Be Cautious and PROTECT YOUR MONEY (use ETF’s that short major indexes) when stocks have a big rally

*5+% US Index Funds
UWM (ETF that does 2x what Russell 2000 does) & QLD (ETF that does 2X the NASDQ ) DDM (ETF that does 2X the Dow ) SSO (ETF does 2X the S&P 500)

*5%+ Emerging Markets
EWZ (Brazil) should out perform other emerging markets in a rally and under perform in a fall – highest risk and dependent on oil prices
FXI (China ETF) should outperform USA

*5%+ Alternative Energy
GEX(Alternative energy ETF) Obama administration will focus on this area

*5+% Gold
GLD is the ETF for gold-

Chief Strategy – Buy the DIPS of trending sector – This is not your father’s buy and hold market – over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 8000 and huge uncertainty clouds the future.

The major trend now is volatility.

Traders who have a strong tolerance for risk jump in on dips and invest more. Sell and/or go short into major rallies. Long term Investors who can tolerate risk and are 100% in cash nibble just a little on big dips. (5% on each big dip) Do not buy into rallies.

Shorting – Three ETF that short 2x what the major indexes do.

TWM – ultra short Russell 2000
QID – ultra short NASDQ
SDS – ultra short S&P 500

As Always Do Your Own Research Before Investing

No Updates till Wednesday – Short vacation to somewhere warm.

Green Investments

You can make a positive return on your investment within a year on the following three item’s for your home
* Programable thermostat
* Power strips
* Compact fluorescent bulbs

For more details and why they are cost effective from Daily Green .

Green Stocks/ETF’s – GEX and PBW have been the two green ETF’s Updates has recommended in the past

Tom Friedman controversial editorial on Gaza

This editorial has created a lot of buzz because of its focus on collateral damage.

War is hell. We dropped atomic bombs on Japan to hasten the end of WW 2 and the Allies firebombed/obliterated Dresden Germany in order to hasten the end of WW 2. In both cases there was a huge loss of civilian life. Friedman believes, contrary to most, that Hezbollah actually lost its 2006 war with Israel because Israel inflicted so much damage on Hezbollah’s infrastructure. This is what Israel is now doing to Hamas.

LINK to editorial

Also in NYT is a depressing and different point of view on how the war is marginalizing moderate Palestinians. LINK

The Bottom Line – Always happens after the fighting stops. Do the fundamentalists gain or loose from the results.

Osama Been Forgotten Speaks

Osama for the first time in 8 months spoke. He issued an audio tape urging jihad against Israel. LINK

Stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Reacting Badly

Index % Change Volume

Dow -2.94% down
NASDQ -3.67% up
S&P500 -3.35% up
Russell2000 -4.35% –

Brown = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals – As predicted major indexes all have broken down through their support levels. This fall is being led by financial stocks. Volume slightly declined on the NASDQ, but up and above average on the other major indexes. As you know – Volume rising with prices falling is a bad combination for future prices.

XLF is the financial sector ETF Chart here . As the chart shows financials fell another -5.77% yesterday and XLF is close to its November low. Financials used to be the largest sector of the market and may no longer hold that distinction. But, they are certainly capable of leading all major indexes lower. Other banking indexes are approaching or have broken through November lows. Mega banks Bank of America and Citigroup are leading this deterioration. The problem is all their over leveraged debt. (credit default swaps)

Bad news is priced into markets, but as exemplified by the retail numbers published yesterday the bad news was worse than expected.

American stock indexes are technically oversold – you can only have so many down days in a row without some kind of bounce. However we have not had the big volume climax volume that usually shows capitulation by investors and indicates an end to stocks falling.

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals – All the talk of passing the second 1/2 of the TARP ($350 billion) is focusing investor attention on the problems of the markets.

JP Morgan beat earnings expectations LINK . but unfortunately prices are slightly down on this good news. The big news this AM is the poor health of Apple’s chief Steve Jobs. Apple was down over 10% in post market trading yesterday. LINK

Nobel prize economist (Phelpes) on CNBC this morning is calling for TARP 2 and possibly Tarp 3. Another Nobel Prize winning economist (Spense from Stanford) on same show is echoing negatives. Mainstream economist do NOT see a recovery in 2009 that some investors still do.

The bottom line – Many thought bad news was built into market prices, but the news is coming out worse than expected. If good earnings (JPM) cannot lift a major financial stock price, stocks are still in trouble. Stocks are REACTING BADLEY Good news should mean prices move higher and bad news gets ignored/absorbed in bull markets

Obama Rally = HOPE A whole bunch of stimulus that has already been thrown at stocks, plus the composition of Obama’s economic team & his proposed stimulus package.

Earnings season begins this week. However, Citigroup remains the stock to watch. Citi reports on Friday.

Forecasting Future Trends

The following is a group of indexes that are all interrelated and strongly influence how stocks moves. At different times one index may be more influential than the other.

LIBOR – LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other. It price has fallen from 3.4% three months ago to about 1.09% (good news for stocks)

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasuries – T Bills yields show how fearful investors are. The lower the rate the more the fear. Short term yields – 3 month T bill was falt at 0.07% and longer term treasuries were basically fell 10 year fell to 2.19% (low yields show fearfull investors flooding to Treasuries instead of stocks – Bad news for stocks)

Treasury Bonds chart

Baltic Dry Index – Measures flow of goods between countries . Yesterday it rose another 1% yesterday. Almost 85% drop since June. (short term good news a 2, 4, 6, 2, 2, & 1% gains in last 6 days)

BDI chart

Short Term Outlook/Strategy

Reading the Tea Leaves-

PANIC STILL RULES the credit markets

Strategy – Shorting rallies to protect gains is working. (see below) Until we some light at the end of the recession tunnel VOLATILITY continues to be the most predictable major stock market trend. Obama rally (stimulus package) is holding up equities right now.

As predicted Support levels have broken for all major indexes. Dow at 8200 and has a minor support level at 8148 (see chart) and the psychological 8000 number. Oversold conditions exist (6 down days in a row). This could temper any downside move. However the short term momentum is still with the bears

Dow 8200 within 800 points of last years low. Long term investors who can handle risk better might want think about nibbling just a little in any further dip (Obviously the bigger the fall the better). The Obama administration should get a honeymoon and perhaps stocks will get the same. This would be Obama/stimulus rally part 3. However, you should also be prepared to add a short ETF in any rally. (see below)

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded and in Plum or crossed out

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule. Obama/stimulus rally phase 2 is underway . Technical Range for 2009 – 7449 (low) and 9654.- This is a wild guess. Any sustained move above Dow 9650 is bullish.

Fundamentals – Financial transparency problem is far far far far far far far far far bigger than anyone thought. It’s looks like the recession will last through 2009 – perhaps longer Hopes of a more competent Obama administration have rallied stocks.

Asset Allocation/Recommended Sectors (long term)

50% to 90% Cash – Long Term Investors (up to 15 to 25+% stocks – only buy big dips) Wait for the next big dip to add 5 to 10%
Be Cautious and PROTECT YOUR MONEY (use ETF’s that short major indexes) when stocks have a big rally

*5+% US Index Funds
UWM (ETF that does 2x what Russell 2000 does) & QLD (ETF that does 2X the NASDQ ) DDM (ETF that does 2X the Dow ) SSO (ETF does 2X the S&P 500)

*5%+ Emerging Markets
EWZ (Brazil) should out perform other emerging markets in a rally and under perform in a fall – highest risk and dependent on oil prices
FXI (China ETF) should outperform USA

*5%+ Alternative Energy
GEX(Alternative energy ETF) Obama administration will focus on this area

*5+% Gold
GLD is the ETF for gold-

Chief Strategy – Buy the DIPS of trending sector – This is not your father’s buy and hold market – over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 9000 and huge uncertainty clouds the future.

The major trend now is volatility.

Traders who have a strong tolerance for risk jump in on dips and invest more. Sell and/or go short into major rallies. Long term Investors who can tolerate risk and are 100% in cash nibble just a little on big dips. (5% on each big dip) Do not buy into rallies.

Shorting – Three ETF that short 2x what the major indexes do.

TWM – ultra short Russell 2000
QID – ultra short NASDQ
SDS – ultra short S&P 500

As Always Do Your Own Research Before Investing