Market Updates – That Dirty Word

 

Index	Percentage %	Volume
Dow	-1.04%	down
NASDQ	-0.48%	down
S&P500	-1.00%	down
Russell2000	-0.46%	-

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Trends, Politics & Economics

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“Vengeance is Mine…”

“saith the Lord.” Another list of the top 25 people to blame for the financial crisis from Time magazine. Here’s the top 5:

 

1. Angelo Mozilo- CEO of Countrywide. America’s biggest mortgage leander popularized exotic mortgages.
2. Phil Gramm-  Head of Senate Banking wrote the infamous 1999 legislation and championed deregulation
3. Alan Greenspan- Fed chair who admitted his mistake “that financial firms could regulate themselves.”
4. Chris Cox- SEC chair whose  hands off attitude  and lax enforcement  failed to act against over leveraging and fraud.
5. The American Consumer-  Borrowing, borrowing, borrowing.

 

That Dirty Word – Nationalization

First it starts as a whisper then the voices grow.  Now more and more from every political and economic stripe are considering controlled reorganization under the government – Nationalization The unlikely trio of R – Phil Graham, D Maxine Waters & R Peter King have all used the N word. Obama has left the door open. Harvard’s ultra bear Niall Ferguson Economist Nouril Roubini makes the case for nationalization and so does Joe Nocera of the NYT business page. So has Simon Johnson from MIT’s Sloan Business School.

Who is going to pay for all this hell our deregulated, over leveraged financial/banking industry has brought down on us? Bank bond holders, shareholders, China,management, employees, pensioners, taxpayers(you). How big a haircut is each group going to take? How many of you want just your tax dollars to go to bailing out banks?

The Roubini and Nocera editorials bring up all the times we have successfully temporarily reorganized banks or put them into “receivership.”(why not include GM)

 

1. The USA in the 1980′s – called “bridge banks”
2. Sweden in 1992
3. The International Monetary Fund – This is exactly what the IMF tells emerging markets to do
4. Indy Mac – A 9 billion dollar bank was recently taken over by the FDIC and emerged far more solvent 6 months late

 

The downside here is Wall Street doesn’t like the idea because bond, shareholders, and management would take a hit.  So would the stock market. Many banks in Europe are already being temporarily nationalized.

 

 

Stocks

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

 

Short Term Outlook

Danger Will Robinson Danger Danger - The growing threat of nationalization is going to start taking its toll on stocks – especially financials. (see above)  Even though volume was low (volume not confirming downside price move) technicals especially on the Dow are deteriorating. Sort of like a death of a thousand cuts (See Dow chart on right)

Its time to bring out the old Lost in Space robot with all its bells and whistles shouting Danger Will Robinson Danger Danger. – The threat of nationalization could cause another leg down in the markets.

Our Positions

These are listed under Recommendations or Stocks Picks on the Blog. Also the strategy of when to buy is listed under the strategy section on the blog.  Why fundamentally were these Exchange Traded Funds chosen?

 

GLD (Gold) – Investors usually buy gold when everything else is going bad. The second reason is all the stimulus plans around the world in the long run means inflation and that’s also good for gold.

FXI (China) Simply relative to the USA China is far better off.  They have a surplus of money while we are massively in debt. Their stimulus plan is is a greater percentage of GDP than ours. Our military costs are huge and w are deeply involved in wars/conflicts throughout the world. China is far less involved militarily. Vhina has a growing middle class and our is shrinking.

EWZ (Brazil) Brazil simply has an abundance of natural resources – Both oil and alternative energy.  About 5 years ago a left wing government took over and spread the wealth to more middle class working families. Even more so than China they are vulnerable to the worldwide recession because oil prices fall in recessions and they have lots of oil.

GEX – (Alternative Energy)  If we do not start developing alternative energy resources then our future as an industrial, economic power will decline even faster.  Obama was elected, in part, because of his belief in alternative energy.  The stimulus plan begins to deliver on this commitment to energy indpendence and America’s economic well being.

UWM (small caps) & QLD (mostly technology) over  SDS (S&P 500) and DXD (Dow).  The later two are short positions and the first two long positions.  Small caps and technology are less impacted by the financial crisis.  The are far less likely to be over leveraged. (See strategy section of blog)

Cash is king.

Long Term Outlook = Bears Rule

(see strategy section of blog for more)

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Trends, Politics & Economics

Index	Percentage %	Volume
Dow	-0.12%	down
NASDQ	-0.01%	down
S&P500	+0.15%	up
Russell2000	-0.59%	down

Banks – Is the Sky Falling?

Answer – No, but its being held up by smoke and mirror

The simple truth is, if you were to value the assets vs. the liabilities of most major banks and many smaller banks you would find that they do NOT have the collateral to back their loans.  Plane and simple – If the government (your tax dollars) paid the market price for troubled assets now these financials would go bankrupt . No assets would be left. If this happened, the whole banking sector would probably meltdown in panic. What’s more – as the unemployment figures grow this problem is going to increase.

Tim Geithner , like Paulson before him is going to take a shot at blowing the smoke and moving the mirrors today at 11:00AM EST.  The question is can he keep the banking/financial sector afloat long enough for the economy to turn positive and some of over leveraged positions become more solvent.

The ultimate answer or last line of defense to this problem that nobody wants to even take about is NATIONALIZATION .

The Bottom Line –  there is a massive shift in wealth from those who created this problem (they made truckloads of $) plus those who own the banks/financials, and you the American taxpayer who is bailing out banks to prevent an economic collapse. MAD? – smoke should be coming out your ears. The co director for The Center for Economic Research, Dean Baker makes the case Nationalization or Welfare

Obama on Stimulus

Lost count last night of the times Elkhart Indiana (middle class America) was mentioned is Obama’s stimulus speech  You can read or watch videos of the Obama’s speech at CNN – Paraphrasing his money quote – "It s only government that can break this cycle of recession."

Early review- NYT – unfortunately concludes "Odds are…even an $800 billion stimulus package will fall short of what’s needed to combat today’s downturn, and that more will be needed later. When the Obama administration asks for more, it will need to be able to make a compelling case that the first round was the best it could possibly be. It’s certainly not there yet."

#1 Progessive Voice in American Media

He’s quoted by everyone from Pelozi to Limbaugh – Nobel prize winning, NYT columnist Paul Krugman . His latest editorial "The Destructive Center"

What’s Pork?

A Bridge to Nowhere, Compensation for Filipino WW 2 Vets as part of the stimulus plan are certainly pork. But as one of you suggested does a "water park" wanted by a governor as part of the stimulus program constitute pork? Thanks for this and all your emails .

First a water Park like Disney World or a baseball park creates jobs to build the facility. Both workers and suppliers benefit. Once built it continues to create jobs for workers and revenue for products it sells (food, souvenirs, etc) It also generates tax revenue for the state.  So is a Water Park pork?   I’d certainly prefer money going to education bridges etc., but a ready to go water park in the right location (not Alaska) could create jobs jobs jobs and increased tax revenue for states.

Stocks

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Technicals

US stock markets held onto last weeks gains. Technically, this is a positive sign .

Troubled GE shot up like a rocket reversing most of last weeks losses.  Another positive.

Both volume and how markets react to news (our primary indicators) still show a rally building .

Secondary Indicators

Both Treasury Bonds and LIBOR have moved in a bullish direction over the last few months. The Baltic Dry Sea Index that measures the flow of goods between countries, is on fire +48% over the last 4 days and another +10% on Monday. = Big Time Short term bullish signal.

Fundamentals

Today we learn what Tres. Secretary Timothy Geithner and what he plans to do with the second 1/2 of the TARP money. (see yesterday’s comments) Can’t over emphasize the impact the importance of this plan to both financial stocks and world markets.

Dr. Doom and the Black Swan – These two guys predicted the current financial crisis. Their comments "Even if we play our cards right…it will take at least 12 months to get out of this recession." That’s the good news. For the bad news read full article on Roubini and Taleb

Short Term Outlook/Strategy

Technically signs of a rally building are about as strong as they get. Fundamentally, the stimulus package has passed the Senate and that’s a whole lot of money about to juice US economy. However, what Geithner says about allocating the the TARP money is key to any short term rally.

Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney, a financial bear,  is on a winning streak and therefore the analyst that has Wall Street’s ear. If she goes thumbs down on Geithner so will the markets according to CNBC’s Jim Cramer

Bottom Line – Still no long term light at the end of the tunnel, but technical signs for the rally to continue exist.

Long Term Outlook = BEARS RULE

• On a 1 to 5 scale Bears Rule is at the bottom.
• This section rarely change s
• Changed are bolded and in plum or crossed out

Technicals - Best read of the tea leaves – 2009 Markets range bound between Dow 7449 (last year’s low) and 9654 (November 08 high )

Fundamentals – Problem in financial sector is far far far far far bigger than fist imagined. Impact of mess is going to take years to resolve.

Asset Allocation

15% to 30%+ Stocks (Depends on your level of risk) Buy/nibble the dips below 8,000 – the bigger the better.  -

Recommended Sectors

• 5%+ US Index ETF’s - UWM (Exchange Traded Fund does @ 2x what Russell 2000 does ) & QLD (does 2X what NASDQ does)
• 5%+ Emerging Markets - FXI (China ETF) & EWZ (Brazil ETF)
• 5%+ Alternative energy - GEX (alternative energy fund)
• 5%+ Gold - GLD (ETF for gold)

Chief Strategy -

Buy the dips. Use the Dow as a barometer for all of the above sectors except GLD. This is NOT your fathers buy and hold market. Under 8 years of Bush the Dow went from 11,000 to 8,000 and left a whole dung heap of economic problems.

Protect your gains – After rallies you can protect your long positions by using ETF’s that short the market. Two ETF’s that short major indexes (@ 2x the loss). These indexes go down you make money. The closer markets get to 9000 the more you think about shorting. Until the long term outlook changes this hedging strategy will remain.  Note – long positions/ETF’s  NASDQ & Russell, short positions/ETF’s S&P & Dow

• SDS – Ultra short S&P 500
• DXD – Ultra short Dow

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

On Friday the government’s employment numbers for last month will be published. ADP National Employment numbers (a private group) yesterday released a figure of 693,000 jobs lost in December. This is way up from the 500,000+ jobs lost in November. There was a huge jump in the number of lost service sector jobs. After US markets closed Monster’s Online job’s Index echoed the ADP estimates. CNBC (financial channel) story on job loss figures.

8% job loss seems to be the figure economists are projecting for the future. The frightening aspect of the ADP #s are how fast the job loss is growing.

Jobs are perhaps the most crucial component of the whole financial mess. One significant result – The bigger the job loss the less the ability to pay mortgages = more defaults = lower home prices.

Economic Outlook 2009 and beyond

The Financial Times today has an editorial by Nouriel Roubini, the economist who definitively and accurately predicted the whole financial meltdown titled "Warning: More Doom Ahead "

The last 1/2 of this editorial clearly sets out the enormity of the problem and outlines the credit bubbles that have yet to burst. Roubini does end on a relatively positive note.

"Thanks to the radical actions of the G-7 and others, the risk of a total systemic financial meltdown has been reduced. But unfortunately, the worst is not behind us. This will be a painful year. Only very aggressive, coordinated, and effective action by policymakers will ensure that 2010 will not be even worse than 2009 is likely to be."

Tomorrow

Will go over recommended ETF positions instead of focusing on credit and trade market flows (BDI & Treasury bonds)

Stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Jobs Jobs Jobs

Index % Change Volume

Dow -2.72% up
NASDQ -3.23% down
S&P500 -3.00% down
Russell2000 -3.42% –

italics = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals – Just when technical factors seemed to be on the brink of another upside move some sobering fundamental numbers on JOBS spoil the party. Technically volume was not a forecasting factor in the significant price drop. Volume figures were mixed and a bit below average.

Bottom Line – If we can hold onto gains this week, another leg higher is very possible. Next major resistance level is around Dow 9650. See charts.

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals – See above editorial. ADP numbers take investors by surprise. 8% unemployment seemed built into stocks, but the rapidness of the decline has caught everyone with their pants down.

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 in a week.

Three Month Treasury Bill & LIBOR

Credit markets are the dog and the Stock Markets are the tail. Without credit the tail won’t wag.

Real progress is being made . LIBOR continues to fall 3.4% two months ago to about 1.40% LIBOR rates have fallen significantly and leveled off inthe last few days. LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other, not businesses. Some credit cards, loans and mortgages are tied to LIBOR so this is good news. Some credit cards & mortgage rates are tied to Fed prime rate.

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasury Bonds

The 3 month T Bill fell to 0.07% Shorter term yields fell. Longer term rose yields rose. The 30 year T bond rate is just above 3%. .
Fearful investors are putting their money in Treasury bonds for 3 months to 30 years, they are NOT investing in stocks. Investors are willing to pay an unbelievably low 2.47% for a ten year treasury bond.

Yields keep falling = Continued deterioration of credit market. Low Yields = There is simply NO confidence in the credit markets PANIC STILL RULES

Baltic Dry Index

The Baltic Dry Index is a forward looking indicator that measures pre production materials that are shipped around the world. For better definition see LINK
Bloomberg data and chart LINK (If the link does not work Google – bloomberg baltic dry index) Set range indicator to one month and you will see this chart.

BDI rose yesterday (+almost 2%) to 789 We have had a significant rally off the lows of @660 three weeks ago week.

Long term picture The BDI had seen an almost 90% loss since June. It seems, a least for a week international trade has picked up but has again begun to slowly fall. These shipping figures confirm world wide recession.

Short Term Outlook

Reading the Tea Leaves-

PANIC STILL RULES the credit markets and trade markets

Without credit (treasury bills/bonds) and goods (BDI) flowing, a long term stock rally is unlikely.

Strategy - Volatility rules and a 6+% move higher in the Dow is a big move in a week. Personally, will start adding some SHORT positions to protect the gains of last week. The higher we go the more short positions.

Shorting rallies to protect gains is working. Until we some light at the end of the recession tunnel VOLATILITY continues to be the most predictable major stock market trend.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded

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+3 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

Going to London and Paris over holidays. May be able to send abbreviated Updates from Europe.

"Recession Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble to Invest In."

The above headline is from "The Onion" Sometimes humor tell the truth better than analysts. After an internet and housing bubble American’s are looking for the next Ponzi scheme.

Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman expects "were in for months, perhaps a year of economic hell ."

Paulson and Bernanke as Heroes

In the past few month Updates has spent a lot of time punching holes in the TARP bailout and other financial moves. The government loans/bailouts have been termed "Not accountable," "did not fix the lack of regulation problem," "not transparent," "arrogant" and "what looks like Paulson giving $ to cronies (banking buddies like Rubin)" While there is a clear negative side the actions taken it does not necessarily add
up to failure.

Herbert Hover failed to act. He let bank after bank go under and the end result was the Great Depression . When Lehman Brothers failed this year the almost $400 billion of bad over leveraged debt shook countries and banking systems worldwide.

Twice the entire world economic/financial stood on the brink of the abyss.

1. The AIG bailout. The world’s largest insurance collapse would have taken down the entire insurance industry. AIG was/is overloaded with credit defaults swap obligations. – just like Lehman.
2. The TARP financial/bank bailout and the second bailout to the world’s largest bank Citigroup. Again Citi and banks are over leveraged with obligations like credit default swaps.

Paulson and Bernanke have not fixed the problem - but they have kept the entire world’s financial system ticking . The ships been hit by an iceberg, but it is still afloat. Bernanke and Paulson do deserve some credit.

Solutions

There are many. Some of the more obvious ones

1. We need laws to regulate financial companies, – free markets and especially Financials (credit default swaps etc.) need some structure or else they go wild.
2. The over leveraged situation needs to get reduced.
3. Temporarily stop building houses or find some other way to stabilize housing/foreclosure market.
4. Stimulus – This worked for FDR until he tried to balance the budget too soon in 1937. Then he needed the a huge stimulus package (WW 2) to ultimately fix things.

"What Me Worry" Alfred E Neuman

Huge financial entities (domestic and foreign) knees are trembling with worry.

1. Banks are not loaning money – they are probably over leveraged and need the cash just to stay in business.
2. Big money is all hiding in Treasury Bonds. – the Yields are ridiculously low
3. Corporate bond yields are ridiculously high – this means a whole mess of defaults should happen in the future.
4. Check out the drop in the Baltic Dry Index (see below)
5. We’ve entered this mess with an already huge deficit.

Hope Krugman is right and "we are in for months, perhaps a year of economic hell" and not something worse.

Stocks

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Still Consolidation
Index % Change Volume

Dow -0.69% down
NASDQ -2.04% down
S&P500 -1.83% down
Russell2000 -2.30% –

italics = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals-

This week and next have historically had light trading. Also the next three weeks have historically been positive.

The shorter term mojo is still with the bulls until stock’s close below their opening price on last Tuesday. This area just above 8500 held for three days in a row (last Friday, Mon. and Tues.) and is a short term support level – 8500

The Dow fell below 8500, but rallied to close above it at 8517 So technical support while threatened, held yesterday.

Today again will be a test of this level.

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals-

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

Lots of down grades of companies by brokers was most cited reason stocks fell yesterday.

Here’s about a disastrous an outlook as I can find from a self described Dr Doom and Gloom .

Three Month Treasury Bill & LIBOR

Credit markets are the dog and the Stock Markets are the tail. Without credit the tail won’t wag.

Real progress is being made. LIBOR has fallen from [MISTAKE 4.8 is the European LIBOR rate high 3.4% is the US high] two months ago to about 1.46% LIBOR rates are on their second leg down and have again fallen significantly. LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other, not businesses. Some credit cards, loans and mortgages are tied to LIBOR so this is good news. Some credit cards & mortgage rates are tied to Fed prime rate.

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasury Bonds

The 3 month has basically flatlined at 0.01% Longer term rose yeilds rose slightly

Fearful investors are putting their money in Treasury bonds for 3 months to 30 years, they are NOT investing in stocks. Investors are willing to pay an unbelievably low 2.17% for a ten year treasury bond.

Yields keep falling = Continued deterioration of credit market. Low Yields = There is simply NO confidence in the credit markets PANIC RULES

Baltic Dry Index

The Baltic Dry Index is a forward looking indicator that measures pre production materials that are shipped around the world.

Bloomberg data and chart (If the link does not work Google – bloomberg baltic dry index) Set range indicator to one month and you will see this chart.

BDI fall more than -2% yesterday to 801. We have had a significant rally off the lows of @660 two weeks ago week, but again have started to fall. Big long term picture The BDI had seen an almost 90% loss since June. It seems, a least for a week international trade has picked up but has again begun to slowly fall. These shipping figures confirm world wide recession.

Dollar Falling

Dollar was flat yesterday.

Wild ride over the last three weeks – especially last week. Basically, the dollar has gone from a high of $88 to low of $78 and at the end of the last
two days setteled at $81. These are historically big moves for the dollar. Chart.

The dollar is falling because of the low US interest rates and it looks like the Fed will bee printing a whole lot of $ to keep the financial system liquid.

Short Term Outlook

Reading the Tea Leaves-

PANIC RULES the credit markets and its hard to see money flowing into stocks while so many potential investors are putting $ in treasuries at ridiculously low rates. Long term stock rallies simply do not have the money supply to exist as long as the credit panic continues.

Dow 8500 is the technical support level that’s closest and 9000 is the upside resistance level.

Historically the markets turn before the economy, however fundamentally its hard to see signs of any long term economic turn.

Hedges

As I’ve discussed with many of you, personally I am long (bought lots of) FXI (the China ETF) and I’m hedging it with a short position in US equities – SDS or others listed below. The higher FXI gets the more I hedge. The lower it goes the less I hedge.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded .

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule. Obama/stimulus rally part 2 seems to be taking hold. Look for range between 7449 and 9654 for rest of year .
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 fathers market – over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 8,500 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

"Too Big Not to Fail"

Bailouts of Big Insurance, Big banks, Big Financials, Big Fannie & Freddie, and now Big Autos. The problem here is in the word BIG. All these companies,industries have been deemed too big to fail without catastrophic results and you know who bails them out – YOU And you know what started this disastrous economic snowball rolling the unregulated financials full of over leveraged debt.

He’s back. Elliot Spitzer has an editorial in Slate based on the unregulated bailouts of giant financial companies that have presented NO new business plans. What we really need is smaller institutions. Do we keep bailing out the giants and/or make them part of the government. There is a different path. Spitzer – "The better policy is to return to an era of vibrant competition among multiple, smaller entities—none so essential to the entire structure that it is indispensable. "

Especially with financials all we are doing is rebuilding the same edifices that have so horribly failed and helped push many other industries into failure.

Competitive Advantage

Other countries have 4 major advantages over American companies that compete with them.

1) They get government subsidies. (latest example – GE buys 5 midsize planes from China’s sponsored CACC)
2) Other developed counties have universal health care and our companies have to pay for this.
3) We have much freer trade policies than other countries. Jobs and $ are flowing out far faster than they are coming in.
4) Other countries are increasing their support for education and science while we focus on tax cuts and wars.

Stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Volatility

Index % Change Volume

Dow -2.51% down
NASDQ -3.14% down
S&P500 -3.21% down
Russell2000 -3.14% –

italics = same comments as yesterday.

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals-

Major reversed the previous days gains. Volume was down. A good technical sign for bulls. Dow closed at 8376 . Dow upside resistance level is 8831 and downside support at Monday’s low @8175

Technically, bulls still have the short term momentum.
Chart of the benchmark S&P 500
Chart of the Russell 2000
Chart of the NASDQ
Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals-

Auto executive continue hearings in front of congress. This time in front of the House.

Unemployment numbers for last month are the what everyone’s watching – The expectations – 350,000 loss The results -533,000 HOLY SH_T Largest monthly loss since 1974. September revised up to 403,000. Oct. up to 320,000

Three Month Treasury Bill & LIBOR

Credit markets are the dog and the Stock Markets are the tail. Without credit the tail won’t wag.

Real progress WAS being made. LIBOR has fallen from 4.8% six weeks ago to @2 .2% LIBOR rates have flattened over the last three weeks. LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other, not businesses. LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other. LIBOR has flatlined.

LIBOR chart (3 month)
Treasury Bonds

Again 3 Month Treasury Bond held steady at 0.01%. 6 Month, 2,3,5, 10 & 30 year all fell again.
Example – a 30 year Treasury Bond fell from 3.53% last week to 3.15% two days ago to 3.04% yesterday – Fundamentally BEAR’s RULE

If investors are putting their money in Treasury bonds for 3 months to 30 years, they are NOT investing in stocks.

Yields keep falling = Continued deterioration of credit market. There is simply NO confidence in the credit markets PANIC RULES

Baltic Dry Index

The Baltic Dry Index is a forward looking indicator that measures pre production materials that are shipped around the world.

Set range indicator to one month and you will see this chart has dropped to 661 – @7% loss this week on top or a 13+% loss last week – An over 90+% loss since June. This is a clear indication that worldwide recession is growing.

Short Term Outlook

Reading the Tea Leaves-

PANIC RULES the credit markets and its hard to see money flowing into stocks while so many potential investors are putting $ in treasuries at ridiculously low rates. The Balitic Dry Index chart another major concern. Oil prices fell to $43.67 a barrel – another indication of economic deterioration. Fundamentals continue to show worldwide recession growing.

Fundamentally its hard to see any extended stock rally if fundamentals keep getting worse. Technically, a short term rally seems possible.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE

Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded .

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule
Look for range between 7449 and 9654 for rest of year.

Fundamentals – Financial mortgage transparency problem (credit default swaps $50 to $70 trillion?) 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+% 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 fathers market-over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 8,500 and 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

Mumbai

Obama can say I told you so – The center of terrorism is located in Afghanistan and Pakistan not Iraq.

Hopefully, India will not repeat the same mistakes the US did and over react. Still the best site/blog for information that is detailed and certainly is much more accurate in analysis than American Corporate Media is Informed Comment . You have to scroll down to Dec. 1. for India.

Green

If Spain can generate 30% of its electric power from renewable sources by 2010. Why can’t we do the same by 2020. = See Wikipedia

Deficits and the Future

Every right wing commentator and stock analyst loved to bash NTY’s Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman (like other Nobel Prize winner he does make mistakes) But he was out in front of the current financial crisis. His latest editorial – LINK

Conclusion- "The best course of action, both for today’s workers and for their children, is to do whatever it takes to get this economy on the road to recovery."

"American’s Look for Next Bubble to Invest In."

The Onion headline from yesterday (above) Updates labeled the "shadow" banking system – the bubble folks were investing in last week.

In one sense the financial sector with all its toxic debt desperately needs investors. If it does not get investors the giant financials crash and the taxpayers will again have to bail them out with loans. The trouble here is who wants to invest in something that is not transparent and full of "toxic" debt.

Volatility

It’s almost impossible to recognize any trend when stocks take such huge moves. Fundamental economic factors like peak oil and globalization become less relevant in the face of a growing long term recession.

The technical series of lower lows and lower highs (on price charts) certainly is still in place creating one clear trend = Bears Rule

Stocks

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Headline – Volatility

Index % Change Volume

Dow -7.70% -
NASDQ -8.95% -
S&P500 -9.93% -
Russell2000 -11.85% –

US Market & Foreign Markets

Technicals

US markets got clobbered again with another one of those major meltdowns. Volume the chief confirmation factor was below average. Friday was a 1/2 day so volume was obviously up relative to Friday.

The massive flight by Americans and foreigners to US Treasury bonds (See chart of 3MTB and other Treasury bonds listed below.) shows potential investors are willing to to put their $ in other places than stocks in some cases for a long period of time.

Still a massive sell off in weak volume means volume did NOT confirm the rally. Therefore, a wild swing in any direction is possible likely today and for the rest of the week.

Chart of the benchmark S&P 500

Chart of the Russell 2000

Chart of the NASDQ

Chart of the Dow

Fundamentals

Citibank and other financials led a rally – but no other indicators followed. You can have a technical rally for so long, but if major fundamental factors don’t follow the rally will run out of steam. Too many people were putting their $ in treasuries, not stocks. There are only a very limited amount of investors out there and most folks playing the markets are short term traders.

Its official – we’ve been in a recession for a year.

Auto makers are back in front of congress asking for $ this week.

Three Month Treasury Bill & LIBOR

Credit markets are the dog and the Stock Markets are the tail. Without credit the tail won’t wag.

Real progress WAS being made. The credit spreads are tightening and LIBOR has fallen from 4.8% a five weeks ago to @2 .2 LIBOR rates have flattened over the last three weeks. LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other, not businesses. LIBOR is the rate banks charge each other.

The 3MTB fell -50.0% yesterday and closed at a rate of 0.01% The Fed rate is 1.00% . A normal 3MTB would be just under the Fed rate. – The situation is beyond dismal.

PANIC REIGNS in the credit markets again (check out chart)

3 MTB chart

LIBOR chart (3 month)

Treasury Bonds

All yields fell dramatically from 3 MTB to the 30 year treasury bond. If investors are putting there money here for 3 months to 30 years they are NOT investing in stocks.The silver lining in this panic to find a safe place for money is people all over the world are choosing the USA. This is part of the $ we use for bailouts or loans.

{Now using data from Yahoo financial – In part because it also lists municipal and corporate bonds.}

These is simply NO confidence in the credit markets and a massive flight to US Treasury bonds at all levels. PANIC RULES

Baltic Dry Index

The Baltic Dry Index is a forward looking indicator that measures pre production materials that are shipped around the world.

Bloomberg has a good interactive chart on this. You can see how this measurement of goods shipped throughout the world has dramatically dropped. Its fallen over 90% this year.

Set range indicator to one week and you will see this chart has dropped from 825 to 715 or a drop of @ 13%.. So while stocks rallied 15+% last week the amount/ price/measurment of raw goods shipped around the world fell dramatically. This is a clear further indication that worldwide recession is growing.

Short Term Outlook

Reading the Tea Leaves – italics = same comments as yesterday.

PANIC RULES the credit markets and its hard to see money flowing into stocks while so many potential investors are putting $ in treasuries at ridiculously low rates. The Balitic Dry Index chart alsois a major concern

Going Out on a Limb – Dow at 8929. We could rally some more. But, its hard to see the major 9654 resistance level fall and perhaps some of the more minor resistance levels will reverse the rally.
Start thinking to adding SHORTS (see list of ETF’s that short) to protect any long term gains you made when stocks had their last major dip. Best guess – today up tomorrow down in wild swings.

Looks like adding shorts to protect gains was the right call – However in the short term (today +) Volatility Rule. There are no logical long term positive trends. Short term traders are going to swing the market up and down.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Long Term Outlook – BEARS RULE
Changes to Bottom Line Section Bolded

Technicals – Series of Lower Lows and Lower Highs = Bears Rule

Reading tea leaves – Look for range between 7449 and 9654 for rest of year.

Fundamentals – Financial mortgage transparency problem (credit default swaps $50 to $70 trillion ?) is far far far far far far far far far bigger than anyone thought.

We are in a recession. How bad/long the worldwide recession will be is be is the major question. 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 – This depends on your risk tolerance – Long Term Investors (up to 15+% stocks – only buy big dips) Wait for the next big dip to add 5 to 10%
Be Cautious and PROTECT YOUR MONEY (15% Longs ) when stocks 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
FXI (China ETF)

*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 fathers market-over the 8 Bush years the Dow has gone from 11,000 to 8,500 and 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 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