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George Norboe’s

American Nightmare -

Foreclosure

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Each year since 2008 millions of US homes have been foreclosed on. Last October saw a 7% rise. In that month alone there were 230,678 home foreclosed on in America. That’s 1 out of 560 homes in a month.

29% of homes in the USA are underwater – Their mortgages are worth more than their homes.

Stories of illegal evictions abound from  5000 veterans to fellow artist George Norboe nightmare on his CT home.

Few Americans Care

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George’s Story in his Own words

“I’m looking for some opinions…

Here’s my story (as short as possible).

I’m an artist and I make my living at shows like some of you.

Approximately, two years ago, my home went into foreclosure. Several months into it the foreclosure process was put on hold because I was able to show a reasonable amount of equity on this lakefront home.

The court felt I was entitled to try to sell the home and benefit from the equity. I built this home with my own hands.  Every board and nail. I entered a mediation process and applied for some Obama programs. I did not qualify and the foreclosure process is still on hold….  Here’s why. This is the good part.

Approx. 18 months into this, someone at this very large bank decided that I abandoned my home. I still lived there. On three occasions they sent sub-contractors to break into my house. On the third occasion they took tools, clothes and a generator.

The first two times the bank admitted wrong doing and said it wouldn’t happen again. Two thieves were arrested for burglary, 3rd larceny, 4th criminal mischief,  2nd…

It turns out that my home had been illegally entered at least seven times. Everything I own had been photographed. The foreclosure is still on hold and the bank never got a court order allowing them to enter my home. There is over $3,000 damage to the doors. I will be suing the bank on a civil level.

However, I want to hold the bank accountable criminally. ( since no-one else ever does). They think they are above the law.  How do I go about this?? Maybe Elizabeth Warren has a thought on this.”

George Norboe

(You can read George’s original comment and replies in yesterday’s comments section -scroll down)

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If this is what a bank can do to George, Think what they can do to you.

Is The Occupy Wall Street refrain right?

“Banks got bailed out

We got sold out”

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Investors411 will return to its regular format tomorrow

Baby Bull

Smoke & Mirrors

Reality always seems to be managed by others in some kind of smoke and mirror game for their benefit (usually a powerful oligarchy) and not yours.

• Headline this AM on CNBC – Investors Lack Confidence in Regulators to Fix Markets
• Basel 3 (most of you have never heard of this, but it was supposed to be the conference that regulated worldwide banking) They gave banks till 2019 to get their act together. That’s  and unbelievably long 8 years How many financial meltdown are possible before then? Just how bad is the European banking system that it needed 8 years to get solvent?
• Of course big US shadow banks can still hide hundreds of billions (trillion+) in off sheet accounts. Here an account of just how phony the US & European banking systems have become by Karl Denninger

Politically we have groups of radical fear mongerers who collaborate and seek out the worst examples of behavior of Islam and 24/7 broadcast the results with their well financed media domination. This is exactly what Osama Been Forgotten and his crew try to do against the west.

Hate, fear, and unregulate financial systems work as a means to power money and war.

As one of you stated in the comments section we are generating so much hatred (smoke and mirrors) that one terrorist incident could set off a conflagration. (not the exact words)

Casino capitalism and fear mongering Islamaphobia does not instill confidence in the future.

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 – Forex (FX) - From Investopedia – “The market in which currencies are traded. The forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the world with an average traded value that exceeds $1.9 trillion per day and includes all of the currencies in the world.” The Dollar is the #1 currency in the world.

US Markets – Moved higher in increased but average volume. Average volume right now is much less than the volume in the spring & much much less than the volume that started the 2009 bull run. There was a key breakout in emerging markets and breakdown in the dollar that significantly impact US stocks. (see below)

Part of this rally was due to Basel 3 (see above) as the financial sector shot higher on weak worldwide regulations.

Today is a confirmation day of Monday’s rally.

Significant Indexes

• The Dollar (USD) [Anything daily price move over +/- 0.50 is significant. Dollar moves inversely to stocks] The dollar, fell a HUGE -0.96% yesterday. It also broke down to a closing low below its 4+ week long trading range. For stocks =Bullish
• The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) [measures cost of world trade. Also proxy for China & emerging markets] Fell a minor -0.63%yesterday.  The BDI does not have the immediate impact that the MO or Dollar does. It also often makes long slow moves in one direction (see chart for patterns)  Right now longer term chart pattern = Bullish
• McClellan Index – (MO) [The rough guideline is over +60 = overbought market = sell positions or short stocks, & -60 = oversold market = buy stocks.] MO rose to +61.65 yesterday.= Bearish

Reading Tea Leaves

The dollar breakdown is the key factor behind yesterday’s rally. If dollar continues to fall stock will continue to rise. The dollar ETF - UUP (check out one nasty bearish chart for dollar by clicking on previous UUP ticker symbol)

MO has reached overbought territory. But right now the massive Forex (FX)/dollar market is the dog wagging the stock market tail. If the dollar starts to melt down we could see the MO reach the 97 it reached in July or even the 122 it reached at the start of 2009. (last very unlikely)

Still this is a time to think more about selling than buying. Going to stick with our strategy of selling into big rallies  (Dow 100+ points) when the MO is above +60. If the dollar continues to fall. then we will have to adjust our MO guidelines. +80 or +90  could become the selling/shorting point and falling to zero or +20 could be a buying point.

This all depends on the dollar. – UUP is still the what to watch.

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) – This ETF has broken out and gapped higher yesterday. Along with IFN (India)  they have broken out to new highs and are getting overextended or too far above 50 day moving average.

EEM – The emerging market ETF has broke out and gapped higher in increased volume. Again volume very overextended from 50 DMA. Volume is 1/2 of what it was in May & June when everything went down. Just another sign that the dominating traders are the BB/HFT’s.

Comparison to US indexes – 200DMA is still above 50 DMA. Emerging market have broken out and are dragging the US indexes along for the ride.

Long Term Outlook Upgraded

WHY – Several important technical barriers fell & we are rapidly approaching others for US indexes

• The major breakdown through resistance for the dollar in a massive move. US equities move inversely to the dollar.
• Emerging Markets broke out through major resistance. The 50 crossed the 200 DMA two weeks ago and a gap higher through resistance in increased volume is bullish.
• All these factors that should push stocks higher are happening with US equities now being overbought (over +60 on the MO) So there is rsistance to the baby bull market.

This Bull is a baby and it has yet to really start running. Because markets are so overbought right now the baby bull may never get its legs.  So the CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH long term outlook may be changed back.  This means we have to set a bit higher standards for overbought on the MO. (see above)

Long Term Outlook - CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

DOUBLE CHECK ALL DATA, I MAKE MORE THAN GRAMMAR MISTAKES

Obama in the Matrix – Everyone is taking shots at Barack/Neo, but…. Military budget gets announced to fearful Americans fighting the Evil Empire. The two, Two Cows – understanding AIG and Market to Market accounting with humor. They are back – after 101 years of trying – will they succeed?

photo from About.com: political humor

Obama in the Matrix

Obama is being totally dissed by the right that wants him to fail. Even lefties like Nobel Prize winners like Krugman  &  Stigletz as well as this blog are taking some shots at his administration. But his poll numbers remain high and USA Today headlines Obama’s trip to Europe as a “Success”

Military Budget

Today’s the day the Pentagon budget gets announced.

Lots of us hoped our paranoid country that spends what the entire rest of the world does on weapons would cut back just a wee bit this year. But alas our 3% of the population has to be armed and ready to fight the rest of the world. You thought only the NY Yankees were the Evil Empire, but to fearful Americans the rest of the world is still the Evil Empire. Well, Obama is giving the Pentagon less than they asked for, but more than last year. Another record budget story

The Two Cows

photo from Clusterstock

John Carney  has some easy to understand, humorous ways to comprehend, both the Mark to Market and AIG using two cows. You can spend hours reading different editorials, like me, and still have a zillion questions, or simply skim his two, two cow stories. 

101 Years

Finally – Spring is in the air and that means the professional game of baseball that started in 1870 will be filling dozens of stadiums with thousands of excited fans. The dreaded evil empire, the New York Yankees, will once again take on the forces of good – the beloved Boston Red Sox.

The major Major league baseball story is about the team that will field nine players as they have for the last 101 years without winning a world series – The Chicago Cubs.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

The Bulls retake the mother of all support/resistance levels. Are the Bailout Banks lying? Why Pakistan’s lawyers matter to you. Obama’s gets earmarked. Why you should date and not marry stocks and who got clobbered last night in the Jim Cramer (CNBC/financial channel) vs. Jon Stewart (comedy central) Showdown.

Opening a Can of Whup Ass

Are Bailout Banks Lying? 

(See comment section comments by Robert H)

Pakistan’s Lawyers March

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Obama get Earmarked

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Barack blew it when he approved a budget that contained almost 2% earmarks.  OK some of these earmarks are relevant, but the focus was suppose to be on creating jobs jobs, jobs then energy, health care and education, not congressional members pet projects. Story from MN Star Tribune.

CAUTION: All the old problems still exist.  Technically ,retesting the bottom (an ominous 666 on the SPX) is more likely than not.

But right now ride the wave. Two days ago Investors411 suggested it was time to “nibble” again (for investors with large cash positions)  

Best Guess – flat day and rally continues next week. But, if volume continues to fall duck and cover.

Ben Bernanke will be on TV show 60 Minutes this weekend

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Another Shoe Drops

Remember the wealthy wife of Philippines Dictator Ferdinand Marcos – Imelda?  Well she truly loved shoes.   The above is a photo of a very minor potion of Imelda’s collection.

Imelda is no longer with us, but her shoes are raining down on Wall Street in increasing numbers every day. It’s not just the other shoe that’s falling but  but a symphony of shoes that are hitting their marks each day and destroying what’s left of the non transparent American Financial system.

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Bernanke and the Shoes

Smoke was coming out of the Fed chairs ears as he angrily denounced AIG in front of a congressional committee. AIG is an Insurance company that was running an (unregulated) “hedge” fund according to Bernake . We gave these crooks another $30 billion because the collapse of the company (shares now worth $0.42) would devastate the world’s financial system. Yahoo news on Bernanke: Bail Out Bad Borrowers Too

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Imelda’s revenge

The shoes are not only clobbering their targets – other companies that ran similar “hedge” funds full of over leveraged toxic assets – but are also hurting the entire world. AIG has tanked. Citigroup is 27 cents away from becoming a stock counted in pennies. GE down over 95% from highs. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and the other “usual suspects” stock and bond prices are disintegrating. XLF (the Financial market basket of good and bad financial companies) has fallen from 30 to under 7 within a year and many stock markets all over the world hit new lows yesterday.

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Senator Bernie Sanders and the Shoes

Vermonters love their independent (socialist) Senator. Here’s why – Sanders to Bernanke – Tell us what banks have sought bailout money. Bernanke – We have a new web site… Sanders again – tell us what banks. Bernanke NO. Sanders dropped a shoe on more than Bernake

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Why are Bernanke Obama and Geithner’s lips sealed?

First any bank that has taken bailout money is likely (like AIG and CitiGroup) to keep asking for more. Who knows how vast the “hedge” fund trading or toxic debt is?  It’s all hidden.  Therefore, the shoes keep falling and the markets keep melting down.  If the government & companies exposed the facts investors would realize the dreaded N word – Nationalization – would get used. These stocks would fall off a cliff and the markets would take a big hit. So we keep dying a death of a thousand cuts from falling shoes and the market slowly melts down. Which is worse?

Stop hiding the facts. Take the hit. Stop the shoes. Let’s start fixing the financial problem.

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AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Stocks

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Technicals & Fundamentals

We did NOT get the predicted oversold bounce yesterday. Instead markets consolidated in declining volume. Perhaps we’ll get some sort of over sold bounce today, but more and more its looking like the short term momentum is totally owned by the bears. 

The benchmark S&P 500 closed below 700 yesterday. These round numbers are support levels. So another support barrier fell. 

Reading the tea leaves – Until there is clarity in the financial sector (see above) stocks have little chance of sustaining a rally.

Major fundamental for the week is the monthly jobs report on Friday.

How will you know when there’s a chance for a sustainable rally? When there’s bad news and the market’s ignore it or even better – move higher on negative news.

Long Term Outlook = BEARS RULE

See STRATEGY, POSITIONS, OVERVIEW  & ARCHIVES sections of blog for more

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

A Stiff Upper Lip 

You’ve got to admire the Brit’s for their stiff upper lip. Across the pond they’re in a lot more trouble than we are from England to the Ukraine. Most of the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe bought into what they thought was the American dream. It turned into an over leveraged toxic asset bubble with banks/countries wobbling on the cliff of insolvency nightmare.  

But at least the Brits  have some degree of transparency. Here almost everything  except the amount of bailout and stimulus funds is a deep dark secret. Take the deeply troubled Bank of Scotland now all but completely nationalized by the Bank of England.

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Transparency

The Royal Bank of Scotland has put admitted to  $722 billion of “troubled assets” of over leveraged toxic debt and are trying to wind down those liabilities. This loss is staggering England with about 1/5th the gross GDP of the USA.  But, they are dealing with the problem in the open.  We don’t even know the staggering amount of over leveraged debt of AIG, GE, GM or any of our major/minor banks.  The only thing we do know is the near meltdown of the financial system when Lehman Brothers went belly up and its toxic debt brought the entire worldwide banking system to its knees.

Unfortunately we also know this problem is going to get worse. Because more defaults are on the way,  unemployment is growing, home prices declining, and esoteric mortgages will soon start charging higher rates of reurn.

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Obama Pass/Fail

Let’s give the guy credit for a transparent budget. He’s getting some excellent reviews because he stopped hiding many items like the Iraq war as part of the overall budget. 

But on the other hand he’s getting clobbered with his rosy economic assessment of the future. Whose he kidding? The US GDP will be -1.2% this year and +3.2% next year. A consensus of Economists believes otherwise as Peter Goodman in NYT point out. (Many thanks to one of you who emailed me this article)

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“Geithner’s Folly”

Our new Sec. of Treasury has come up with something called a “stress test” for big banks.  Let’s get real. The vast majority of these toxic institutions invented the stuff that the Bank of Scotland has already admitted to. Big banks are broken. Wake up and smell the coffee – Geithner “is asking the wrong question. The question he is posing is: how can the government save Citigroup? The right question is: how can the government rebuild the banking system?”  Bob Kuttner, columnist for BusinessWeek, Boston Globe and co founder of the American Prospect on no matter how good the rescue plan is it doesn’t matter a lick if you don’t fix the banks.

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AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Stocks

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Technicals & Fundamentals

Just about every front page is covering the biggest ever quarterly loss - $62 billion by AIG. 

From Friday – “The Ugly news” would be - “The SPX ends closing  a bit below 741.  This would just establish a lower low (see chart on right side of blog) and further entrench the bears rule chart pattern.”  

The SPX ended up at 735 (A bit below its mother of all support barriers) and technically this along with no climax selloff  shows there’s more down side to come. Perhaps today we may see a climax selling panic today and a chance to nibble. To have a “climax” sell off you need both a big fall and big volume.

Big news of the week is the employment numbers for February come out Friday. 

Reading the Tea Leaves – How many Danger Will Robinson Danger Danger signals can there be?   – Hope you protected any long investments.

Long Term Outlook = BEARS RULE

See STRATEGY, POSITIONS, OVERVIEW  & ARCHIVES sections of blog for more

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!