Tuesday, April 1, 2008

...Whatever


Yeah, I have a lot of questions too. And my reply to a lot of the answers would probably be, "bullshit!" Let's take a look and see what we can find out about "today".


Stock Market Climbs After UBS and Lehman Brothers to Issue New Stock
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street is rallying in early trading, with investors pleased by news that two banks are raising cash.

Swiss bank UBS has said it will issue up to $15 billion in new stock, while the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has said it will sell 3 million shares. Investors are interpreting the news as more evidence that financial services companies are taking aggressive action to boost cash levels depressed by big losses in mortgage-related...

Okay, let me get this straight. Two of the biggest banks in the world are all but bankrupt, are going to raise cash by issuing new stock, and there's euphoria on Wall Street? LOL, I have truly seen it all now. Who in the hell would buy these banks stock? The Fed? Well, I suppose if the Fed is going to guarantee banks solvency, what's to lose by buying the banks stock? UBS is a Swiss bank, Fed can't buy them...$19 billion is write-offs, $12 billion in losses...put on the party hats and buy some stocks!

US March ISM manufacturing index 48.6 vs 48.0 expectedWASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - Manufacturing activity across the US rose slightly in March but still remained in contraction territory for the second straight month, according to a key survey out Tuesday.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of US manufacturing activity rose to 48.6 in March, up from the 48.3 reading in February. A reading below 50 signals contraction, while any reading above 50 signals expansion.

Analysts polled by Thomson's IFR Markets were looking for a slight decrease from the previous month to 48.0.


U.S. dollar rises sharply on stronger-than-expected ISM data
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The U.S. dollar rose sharply following a stronger-than-expected ISM survey on manufacturing activity.
The survey showed the headline ISM manufacturing index rose to 48.6 in March. Although this remains below the 50 level that signals contraction in the sector, the reading is above February's 48.3 and well above forecasts for a drop to 48.0.

Stronger than expected? LOL! 3/10ths of 1 percent! Weeeeeeeeeee! Oh, but it was "well above" forcasts...6/10th of 1 percent above. I guess it depends on how you define "well above". The FACT is the ISM number is STILL showing contraction as it is STILL below 50. Three tenths of one percent is hardly much to get excited about. Unless I counted wrong, March has 31 days, February this year only had 29. Sounds like 3/10ths of 1 percent to me. Damn that's a lot, I should sell all my Gold and Silver and buy stocks...preferably in banks of course.

The Dollar started the morning off stronger because the Euro was weaker. Why? Because of news from the Euro-zone where German Retail Sales missed badly to the downside printing at -1.3% versus 0.5% projected. Get this into your heads people, the ECB is not going to cut interest rates because of any growth issues. Their focus by mandate is price stability and controlling inflation. The ECB is not the European version of the wayward US Fed. And for the record, the Euro is as much a piece of toilet paper as the US Dollar is. It presently is the lesser of the two evils, but is is still just another color of monopoly money...all of them worthless.

So the Dollar has a we-bit of a bounce this morning. Is it legitimate? Hardly. Is the 200+ rise in the Dow warranted? Hardly. The "perception" that things are getting better on Wall Street is just that...perception. Are things getting better on Wall Street? Hardly. There are perceptions, and then there is reality...

Dollar Heads for Biggest Quarterly Loss Against Euro Since 2004
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar headed for its biggest quarterly loss against the euro since 2004 after inflation accelerated in the common-currency bloc, giving the region's central bank more reason to keep interest rates unchanged while the Federal Reserve lowers borrowing costs.

The US Dollar is ca ca. The depths to which it will plumb over the coming months will stun people. There is NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, the Fed can do to change this. Well they could begin to raise interest rates, but since that would certainly destroy an already ransacked economy, consider that highly unlikely. The International Forecaster, Bob Chapman sums things up presently with his usual penned eloquence:

Everything we hear from Wall Street is a request to bail them out after they have destroyed our country and probably the worldwide financial system along with it. This is the most despicable group of businessmen and politicians ever assembled in the history of the world that we have running our government and our financial system. They are traitors all with few exceptions. And the financial devastation that has occurred on their watch, even that which is just showing on the surface, is worse than anything we have ever seen in over 50 years of following and/or commenting on financial markets. The truth that lies beneath is far worse than any of us can even imagine in our worst nightmares, and has already become an unstoppable juggernaut that the Fed and all the central banks of the world are powerless to prevent. Only gold, silver, commodities and their related stocks have the capability to save you from the forthcoming devastation from a hyperinflationary recession. And only gold coins and bullion, stored food, weapons and ammunition will be of any use in the upcoming destruction of America that will be wreaked by the coming Very Large Depression.

But for some insightful and brilliant commentary on what we have been witnessing today please take the time to read the following commentary from Ed Bugos and the Daily Reckoning:

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