March 22, 2011 posts

Business / Economic / Financial

[ This link to a somewhat more cumulative blog posts page will precede current days news since most all topics remain current in terms of impact and longer-term effect and can be searched by topical index term more easily. The same is provided since the blog site http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com has just been censored as to size by google which is typical for google as nsa / cia / gov’t shill as more are becoming aware of. The same is true for microsoft, another co. that’s seen their best days and relies on the government to maintain their monopoly. Up to now the better page http://www.scribd.com/alpeia is provided for ease of formatting and clarity thereby while the Washington Post page is the real deal but without formatting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/community/mypost/index.html?plckPersonaPage=PersonaComments&plckUserId=alpeia&newspaperUserId=alpeia (Only up to 3-11-11 - (Washington Post) [ Comments COMMENTS ARE CLOSED WHILE WE UPGRADE OUR SYSTEMS ] the comments are no longer archived on their site ) . The following is the cumulative archive of blog posts / topics for 2010 as the new year starts anew: http://albertpeia.com/December312010postsarchive.htm or PDF formatted version
http://albertpeia.com/December312010postsarchive.pdf ]

Their pet goat (Washington Post) [ Oh come on! How can Mr. Milbank defend the indefensible; viz., 'wobama the b' (for b*** s***). Not that the gop is particularly credible … I mean aren't they the wimps on their so-called 'budget plan' (Davis ‘… This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! ‘ ). That wobama is a failed president, there is no question. Yet, the gop's 'never saw a war conflict they didn't like' for the sake of the military industrial complex, war profiteers, israel, war criminals, the few, etc., despite the defacto bankruptcy of the nation is quite beyond the pale. ‘US is broke, dollar down, yet policy is to divide & conquer’ RT | America is getting involved in another long-term war, which will ruin its economy. US Approaching Insolvency, Fix To Be ‘Painful’: Fisher CNBC | The United States is on a fiscal path towards insolvency and policymakers are at a “tipping point,”. Kucinich: War is a swamp, Obama Libya action unconstitutional Amid the ongoing coalitional bombardment of Libya it turns out President Obama may have had no constitutional authority for ordering US military involvement. Drudgereport: FED: US Approaching Insolvency... DEM LAWMAKER: IMPEACH OBAMA.. ] The GOP takes Obama from tyrant to wimp in one quick trip.

Cost Of Libya War: $100 Million Dollars A Day With U.N. coalition forces bombarding Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi from the sea and air, the United States’ part in the operation could ultimately hit several billion dollars — and require the Pentagon to request emergency funding from Congress to pay for it.

‘US is broke, dollar down, yet policy is war’

Fox News Contrives “Human Shield” Hoax To Sell Libya War Just as Bill Clinton’s bombardment of Serbia was launched on the back of a humanitarian hoax about fake concentration camps, establishment media outlets are already busy contriving phony stories about Gaddafi using “human shields” to convince the American people that the $100 million dollar a day attack on Libya is virtuous and noble.

Economic problems could cross Pacific (Washington Post) [ Could? Is this one of those trick / 'understatement' statements / questions? You know … like … do bears s*** in the woods?... is the Pope catholic? … etc.. Japanese Meltdown Will Inhibit U.S. Recovery Hansen '…Immediately following an economic disaster, there is dislocation. Modern supply chains are disrupted. Transport is problematic. Like a tsunami, the inter-linkage of modern supply chains ripple through all products. Japan is an exporting nation. There are products made only in Japan, or disruption of production of a product where Japan is a significant producer, or the need for Japan to import a product normally not traded internationally. In other words, a ripple will go through availability and prices - both positive and negative.The global supply chains will adapt and improvise. What will go on inside Japan will be different.Japan will have lost forever six nuclear power plants units. A loss of six nukes leaves a huge hole in a nation's ability to produce energy. It will take many years to replace permanently - and the short term solution is building conventional fossil power plants. Manufacturing needs energy. But I fear energy may be a small component of the fallout for this event. In the short term, this is a true black swan event for investors. ...' Fears over Japan impact grow (Washington Post) [ As indeed they must, in keeping with some semblance of reality. ] Some analysts predict the tragedy could dramatically disrupt the fragile global economic recovery. [ You can bet that some bets already placed regarding Japan’s prospective action in the markets; ie., buying or rolling over government securities of such as the u.s., particularly, now fall under that foreboding platitude, ‘all bets are off’. This is an economically / financially staggering event and found the stock market rise of the last two days incomprehensible until I realized as set forth immediately hereafter: ...' ] The earthquake in Japan has led to some supply shortages in the automotive and electronics industries, and analysts say the effect could be widespread.

What They’re Covering Up at Fukushima Hirose Takashi | You get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe?

Radionuclide Blankets United States; Authorities Insist Levels Are Harmless Paul Joseph Watson | Radioactive Xenon 133 from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant will cover most of the planet.

AT&T’s lobbyists well positioned (Washington Post) [ The ultimate regression. You'd think that with all the negative fallout / consequences from unbridled k street lobbying, that such a scenario as this could not be … yet in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, 'it is!' … AT&T, T-Mobile USA merger deal questioned (Washington Post) [ Questioned? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending.] A day after AT&T announced it would buy T-Mobile USA to create the biggest wireless carrier in the country, consumer advocates and some members of Congress blast the deal.

Merger a disconnect for consumers (Washington Post) [ Yeah! True enough! I had to drop my land line (att/sbc – jersey/bushland) which I kept for the public listing and which became disfunctional / unusable to the point where it was impacting my DSL line; both of which I dropped in favor of MagicJack (I recommend it) and Time Warner Cable / Internet (also better). Deal to combine AT&T, T-Mobile raises questions (AP) [Questions? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending. AP - AT&T's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA will force federal regulators to confront a difficult antitrust question: Can American consumers get good wireless service at a ... ] OPINION | Your choice for wireless service would get smaller should AT&T carry out its plan to buy T-Mobile USA. ] Firm confident it will win over regulators to its bid to buy T-Mobile USA, even as critics continue to bash the deal.

U.S. appears closer to turning over command(Washington Post) [ I can't precisely pinpoint exactly when, but at some point, if not for the real tragedy and horrific consequences, national / world events and particularly pervasively corrupt / defacto bankrupt america's lead role in them became a comedy of errors, at best. Working to maintain Arab support (Washington Post) [ Sounds like a plan! … Riiiiight! … I just had to say this here … Doesn't gaddaffy (who forgot to duck) bear a striking resemblance (now, not when he was younger) to David Patterson, former governor of new york (no slight to David Patterson … you've got to be at least a little blind to take an oath upholding law in corrupt, fraudulent, sinkholes new york / mob infested jersey, and america, generally. Mob's man cuomo? What's up with that (as per SNL's Thompson's bit)? Or is it just SNL's Fred Armisen's impression of both that leads me to such a conclusion. But this should help: US Army ‘kill team’ in Afghanistan posed for photos of murdered civilians infowars.com Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of “trophy” photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenseless Afghan civilians they killed … Russia “Regrets Armed Action” Killing 48 in Libya Kurt Nimmo | In a statement issued today, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said 64 civilians were reported to have been killed and 150 wounded in air strikes on Libya. Lukashevich called on Britain, France and the United States Sunday to stop air strikes on non-military targets.

Western Air Strikes Kill 64 in Libya

[I have been under constant barrage / hack / intrusions which has my antivirus working overtime and flashing savesfrom a multitude of threats. I think this particular thrust by what I reasonably suspect to be paranoid american / israeli criminals / lunatics was probably affected particularly by that blazing full ‘supermoon’, but continues when for now just limited moments I’m logged into windows xp, literally a virus magnet/so-called op system. I thereupon downloaded and installed linux / unbuntu 10.10 (most recent) which also makes available an ‘installer’ (separate download, both free from their official website-I will provide the link I used next session http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download ) that facilitates essentially a dual boot (you may choose your operating system for the session – windows or linux/ubuntu). Works like a charm and I strongly recommend it. Microsoft’s a dyingosaur american monopoly company which is an american tale and story of america as a pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, dying / declining nation.]

Gates’s message (Washington Post) [ Which one? And I don't mean which gates. I mean which message? It's hard to keep up, especially if you have a good memory and remember what the meaning of the word 'is', is. Candor? CIA man gates? Are you just funnin' with us? Come on! Wake up! Oh wait … here's an incisive statement you can take to the bank … Uncertain outlook for Middle East: Gates [Sounds like a plan!] (Reuters) Overseas official trips amidst crises (Washington Post) [ It’s really quite incredible indeed. It was the espn basketball brackets that got me … so stereotypical … I mean what are they thinking, or not. Riiiight! Not! Well, gates is gone and as a cia man, what he says means absolutely nothing … they kind of pride themselves on that … On the receiving end you gotta think they’re already checking air force one’s return trip schedule hoping to ‘hold out’ and escape potential invasion themselves … After all, what nation in the world can or does trust desperate, meaningfully lawless, pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america … oh yeah, maybe fellow war crimes nation israel and orwellian, me-too old-biddy britain.… Gates's warning: Avoid land war in Asia, Middle East, and Africa Christian Science Monitor - In a speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Gates's message was clear: The US military services, as well as the elected and appointed civilians who send them to war, need better ways of foreseeing and preparing for ... Gates Tells US Army to Take New Approach Voice of America Warning Against Wars Like Iraq and Afghanistan New York Times [ Better said, than unsaid; but, methinks a bit late for that in light of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s consummate decline and fall! If only they had listened and not shot at the messenger … things could have been different! ] ]As war clouds gathered over Libya on Friday, the U.S. commander in chief and his defense secretary were each preparing to leave Washington to visit places far removed from any military operations. ] The defense secretary is a voice of candor on the Mideast.

[I have been under constant barrage / hack / intrusions which has my antivirus working overtime and flashing savesfrom a multitude of threats. I think this particular thrust by what I reasonably suspect to be paranoid american / israeli criminals / lunatics was probably affected particularly by that blazing full ‘supermoon’, but continues when for now just limited moments I’m logged into windows xp, literally a virus magnet/so-called op system. I thereupon downloaded and installed linux / unbuntu 10.10 (most recent) which also makes available an ‘installer’ (separate download, both free from their official website-I will provide the link I used next session) that facilitates essentially a dual boot (you may choose your operating system for the session – windows or linux/ubuntu). Works like a charm and I strongly recommend it. Microsoft’s a dyingosaur american monopoly company which is an american tale and story of america as a pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, dying / declining nation.]

I was somewhat nonplussed by the suckers’ market bounce those few days but there was also that ‘shock and awe’ Libyan thing; and then, ‘Eureka!’ … there it was, staring down for all to see … a blazing full moon. Yes, they have such affects on lunatics as in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america et als; but particularly on wall street, and it certainly doesn’t take much to push the frauds on wall street over the edge and into their predisposed fraudulent madness. In fact, you could say, ‘it’s in their genes’. This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding ‘Many important global stock markets, including China, Brazil, India and Hong Kong, have been in fairly significant corrections since November, down between 12% and 17%. Their major concerns have been rising inflation and the resulting monetary tightening by their central banks to combat the inflationary pressures...So was this week’s stumble the beginning of a more serious correction? The events and reports this week did provide more evidence that the stock market may be ahead of reality regarding prospects for the economy, and therefore corporate earnings, going forward, which should at least limit the market’s upside potential. Limited upside potential equals more downside risk? It might be wise to lighten up some into strength that may develop over the next few days during the ‘monthly strength period.’ BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows

Global Meltdown? [ Looks like … feels like … seems like … Yes, it is! A global meltdown! ] Nyaradi ‘Global meltdown. Scary words, indeed. However, as we look around our world, it certainly does appear that a global meltdown is in progress…’

4 Phases of a Bear Market Meshkati NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- 'Almost exactly one month ago, I described the 4 phases of a bull market cycle. My reason for writing the article was to warn market participants of the impending disaster that tends to strike right around the time a certain class of investor (termed "phase 4" investors) becomes involved in the financial markets...'

Deal to combine AT&T, T-Mobile raises questions (AP) [Questions? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending. AP - AT&T's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA will force federal regulators to confront a difficult antitrust question: Can American consumers get good wireless service at a ...

M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds. POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you...'

Japanese Meltdown Will Inhibit U.S. Recovery Hansen

Another H&S Pattern at Hand: Dave's Daily 'We've seen some major H&S top formations over the past year but none of them were effective. Why was that? POMO and zero interest rates made for a dip buyers' market. How long will this continue? Until POMO ends perhaps which is supposed to occur in June but some may front-run that in May. Markets were subdued Tuesday as investors paused to assess what's really going on. The Fed stated they thought the recovery was gaining traction. This might be some self-congratulations, jawboning and rationalization of money printing. ("See it worked!!") There was little in the way of economic news. Earnings new late showed Adobe earnings beat but forecast was cut due to disruptions in Japan. Crude oil keeps rising (bullish for it, not markets), precious metals and the dollar were mixed and bonds rose. Volume returned to ultra-light status while breadth was mildly negative overall...'

Stocks End Barely in Red, Snap Latest Win Streak Midnight Trader '4:17 PM, Mar 22, 2011 --

· NYSE down 27.95 (-0.3%) to 8,228.41

· DJIA down 17.90 (-0.2%) to 12,019

· S&P 500 down 4.61 (-0.4%) to 1,294

· Nasdaq down 8.22 (-0.3%) to 2,684

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

· Hang Seng up 0.76%

· Nikkei up 4.36%

· FTSE down 0.43%

UPSIDE MOVERS
+) DG beats with earnings.
(+) NFLX upgraded.
(+) RIMM to roll out notebook in Best Buy stores April 19.
(+) HNR selling Utah gas and oil assets.
(+) DANG upgraded.
(+) YONG inks partnership.
(+) HOTT said late Monday it's CEO resigns.
(+) BMY said late Monday its investigational compound ipilimumab meets endpoint of improving overall survival in previously-untreated patients with metastatic melanoma.

DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) WAG gives up initial gain; earnings well above year-ago result.
(-) PLAB plans convertible note offering.
(-) AGP downgraded.
(-) LEAP expects Q1 net customer adds.
(-) JEF beats with Q1 results, declares dividend.

MARKET DIRECTION

Major U.S. stock averages ended modestly lower after a choppy session for most global markets. Oil traded to $104 a barrel, stirring concerns over its impact on the economic recovery. Consolidation kicked in on Wall Street. On Monday, the blue-chip DJIA posted its biggest gain since early September and finished above 12,000 for the first time since Japan's March 11 earthquake.

There were no major U.S. economic reports released Tuesday. U.S. housing prices fell to a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in January, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported.

Commodities finished trading higher as the new May crude oil contract surged to close above $104. Light, sweet crude oil for May delivery finished up 1.6% to $104 a barrel. In other energy futures, heating oil was up 0.15% to $3.05 a gallon while natural gas was up 1.92% to $4.24 per million British thermal units.

Meanwhile, gold futures finished fractionally higher in a volatile day of trading for the commodity. Gold for April delivery finished up $1.20 to $1,427.60 an ounce. In other metal futures, silver was up 0.69% to $36.25 a troy ounce while copper traded up 0.68% to $4.31. The U.S. dollar index (DXY) is up 0.03% to $75.43.

In company news:

Shares of Research In Motion (RIMM) gained in U.S. trading on news that its long-awaited tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, will go on sale in the United States and Canada on April 19 at a base price of $499. RIM plans to sell the PlayBook through retailers and wireless carriers including Best Buy (BBY), AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Radioshack (RSH), Sears Canada and Wal-Mart (WMT). The Wi-Fi-enabled PlayBook will compete against Apple's (AAPL) iPad.

Prana Biotechnology (PRAN) jumped after it said late Monday new data were published on the ability of its drug, PBT2, to repair the damage in an Alzheimer's affected brain thereby facilitating the restoration of cognition in Alzheimer's Disease.

Hot Topic (HOTT) rose after the company said late Monday Betsy McLaughlin has resigned as its Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company's board of directors, effective as of March 21, and that Lisa Harper, currently a member of the company's board of directors, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, also effective as of March 21.

Shares of Citigroup (C) fell after the bank said the Federal Reserve had no objection to the capital plan submitted to regulators as a part of industry stress tests. Yesterday, the bank said it would resume paying a quarterly dividend of 1 cent per share, Bloomberg reported.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) slipped despite announcing a five-year, $176 million contract this morning. The contract with Nevada's Medicaid fiscal agent requires HP to upgrade and manage the state's Medicaid management information system. HP said it will also work on staff productivity and the delivery of services to Medicaid clients, according to the AP.

Deutsche Bank's (DB) U.S. traded shares fell as a German federal judge on Tuesday ruled against the institution in a case that could change the way banks in the country market some derivatives to clients, The Wall Street Journal reports. The German Federal Court of Justice found that Deutsche Bank didn't give a bathroom-supplies company appropriate advice on the risks involved in a derivatives deal that was intended to limit interest payments on its loans, according to the report.

Humana (HUM) today announced that its subsidiary, Concentra, has acquired the assets of Cascade Occupational Medicine Physicians, including its five medical centers in Portland. Concentra hopes to gain a stronger presence in Portland with the acquisition and to provide more expansive medical services to meet growing demand for quality and convenient medical care, according to the company.

In earnings news:

--Express (EXPR) says Q4 sales were $621.5 million and EPS were $0.55. The Thomson Reuters mean was for sales of $589.9 million and EPS of $0.49. Q1 EPS are seen between $0.38 to $0.41 and FY11 EPS are seen between $1.48 to $1.60. Estimates are for Q1 EPS of $0.38 and FY11 EPS of $1.52.

--Walgreen (WAG) reports Q2 sales of $18.5 bln, better than the analyst consensus of $18.39 bln on Thomson Reuters and up nearly 9% over last year. EPS was $0.80, in line with expectations, and up from $0.68 per share in the year ago quarter.'

Days Of Technical Reckoning Ahead Salamone 'A brewing nuclear crisis in Japan was the catalyst for “watch out below!” expiration-week volatility this past week, with the S&P 500 Index closing down 25 points, or 1.9%.

In reviewing the price action driven by the Japan catalyst, one has to wonder: How much of the selling was related to expiration-week delta hedging? Delta hedging is a process in which sellers of index and exchange-traded fund (ETF) puts short S&P futures in order to maintain a neutral position, and heavy put strikes below act as magnets due to their increasing sensitivity to the decline in the underlying index or ETF.

We found it interesting, for example, that the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was driven down to the 125 strike at Wednesday’s lows, as this was the site of the last significant put open interest in the expiring March series. Even as headline news remained bleak, the ETF managed to bounce strongly — perhaps due to the major delta-hedge selling being exhausted. As you can see in the chart below, the put open interest at the 123 and 124 strikes was minimal compared to the put open interest at the 125 through 128 strikes.

[chart http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/commentary/content/monday+morning+outlook+two+major+risk+factors+for+the+bulls/observations.aspx?click=home&ID=105587 ]

To the extent that some of last week’s selling was driven by hedging activity related to the huge put open interest on expiring index and ETF options, it would favor the bulls, as investor anxiety climbed amid the selling. For example, the latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) revealed only 28% of those surveyed were bullish — the lowest percentage of bulls since late August 2010, which was a buying opportunity.

Despite the rising fears, the SPX managed to close the week above its 80-day moving average, which we identified as a potential support area in the event of a decisive break below 1,300. The rising 80-day moving average began this week’s at 1,277.60. Coincidentally, this area marks a 50% retracement of the prior week’s close and last week’s low.

Moreover, we found it interesting that the SPX, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 Index pulled back to their respective breakevens for the year, and closed the week in positive territory after rallying from these year-to-date breakeven numbers — which are 1,257.64, 11,577.51 and 783.65, respectively. The Nasdaq Composite, however, closed the week barely in negative year-to-date territory, below its Dec. 31, 2010 close at 2,652.87.

These “year-to-date” breakeven numbers can be viewed as potential support for the upcoming week. Meanwhile, potential resistance levels would be the familiar round-number areas, such as 12,000 on the Dow, 1,300 on the SPX and 800 on the RUT.

The two major risk factors working against the bulls in the short term are:

1. Volatility, as measured by the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX), is rising. We noted in prior weeks that bulls should be encouraged by the fact that the VIX was getting capped at long-term trendlines, such as its 200-day and 80-week moving averages, which are situated at 21.69 and 22.26, respectively. While the VIX peaked in the 30 area around mid-week, we won’t have confirmation that a top has been reached until we see a decline below these long-term trendlines and the 20 level. Finally, it is interesting that the VIX’s peak at 31.28 last week is approximately double the lows that have been in place since mid-December.

2. Another concern is that our analysis of activity in the options market indicates that hedge funds are still not showing interest in accumulating equities. And if retail investors continue to bail, as they have done during the past couple of weeks, this absence of institutional and retail interest could create a challenge for equities in the near term.

One alternative you could consider amid the global uncertainty is a stock-replacement strategy, where you sell stocks that you like and buy in-the-money or longer-dated call options on those same equities. We noticed equity implied volatilities did not experience the pop that index implied volatilities experienced last week. Therefore, many equity options remain reasonably priced.

Options allow you to put less dollars at risk, but offer you returns that are a multiple of the comparable return on the underlying equity. This strategy allows you to participate in a rally if volatility has peaked, while simultaneously exposing fewer dollars to the market. If you are looking for equity put plays, we recommend hunting in the large-cap technology space, as hedge funds appear to be bailing on these equities.'

[$$] Believe Only What You See Little 'Are you a believer? If you are buying this market after the spike off the lows, you had better believe the worst is behind us. Either that, or your trading horizon is very short. Although I would like to believe this, I simply can't at this juncture. I believe what I see, and that is a financial sector that can't move higher. I see the strongest NYSE sector, energy, setting up for a likely failed attempt to break higher. I am witness to pathetic attempts to lift in the semiconductors. Everywhere I peer, I see issues, and not answers. Many sectors want to trade sideways at best from here. What I see is a much higher probability of lower prices on the near-term horizon, and I began gearing up in earnest for that trade yesterday...'

Top 3 Reasons Markets Were Down Like Chris Brown Wall St. Cheat Sheet 'Markets closed down on Wall Street: DJI -0.15% SP500 -0.36% Nasdaq -0.31% Gold +0.09 % Oil +1.63% .

Today was all about Energy ( NYSE:XLE ). Oil ( NYSE:USO ) is back on fire as prices rose to $105 — a scary proposition for the economy as we head into the summer months for travel, air conditioning, and new clothes. In big news, Japan ( NYSE:EWJ ) has restored power to the six nuclear reactors and Libya continues to be the focus for the Middle East. Markets opened flat to down and basically chopped in a narrow trading range all day.

Today’s markets were down because:

1) Defensive stocks were in play. As we mentioned above, Energy ( NYSE:XLE ) was the story of the day. However, investors also sought out shares of other safe-havens like Healthcare ( NYSE:XLV ) and Utilities ( NYSE:XLU ). Outperformers include St. Jude Medical ( NYSE:STJ ), Entergy Corporation ( NYSE:ETR ), and Royal Dutch Shell Don’t Miss: 3 Defensive ETFs to Hedge a Market Pullback .

2) Walgreen Co. ( NYSE:WAG ) disappointed on earnings. The drugstore pissed off Wall Street and sold off to the tune of 6.58%. Rite Aid ( NYSE:RAD ) got slammed 3.74% on the news, and CVS Caremark ( NYSE:CVS ) escaped with a more narrow 0.95% loss. Now check out our Retailer Roundup: Your Cheat Sheet to the Winning and Losing Stocks .

3) Research in Motion ( NASDAQ:RIMM ) and stole the tech spotlight. Research in Motion ( NASDAQ:RIMM ) announced the Blackberry Playbook will go on sale April 19th for $499. PlayBook will be available through Best Buy ( NYSE:BBY ), AT&T ( NYSE:T ), Verizon ( NYSE:VZ ), Radioshack ( NYSE:RSH ), Sears Canada and Wal-Mart ( NYSE:WMT ). However, shares of Apple ( NASDAQ:AAPL ) shrugged off the new as iPad2 is now on backorder for 4-5 weeks.

Now that you’re in the know, try to stay away from R&B disaster Chris Brown!'

‘US is broke, dollar down, yet policy is to divide & conquer’ RT | America is getting involved in another long-term war, which will ruin its economy.

US Approaching Insolvency, Fix To Be ‘Painful’: Fisher CNBC | The United States is on a fiscal path towards insolvency and policymakers are at a “tipping point,”.

Gold key to financing Gaddafi struggle FT | Gaddafi mercs reportedly paid in gold.

Fed and Inflation Blame for the most recent round of price increases has been laid at the feet of the Federal Reserve’s program of credit expansion for the past three years. The current program, known as QE2, sought to purchase a total of $900 billion in US Treasury debt over a period of 8 months. Roughly $110 billion of newly created money is flooding into commodity markets each month.

Cost Of Libya War: $100 Million Dollars A Day With U.N. coalition forces bombarding Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi from the sea and air, the United States’ part in the operation could ultimately hit several billion dollars — and require the Pentagon to request emergency funding from Congress to pay for it.

Lindsay Williams: Silver Heading To $100 Lindsay Williams predicts a Silver bull run.

Central Banks Catch Gold Fever At WealthCycles.com, one of our favorite factors driving gold’s rise over the past couple of years has been increased interest in a truly safe asset by central banks around the world.

(3-22-11) Dow 12,018 -18 Nasdaq 2,683 -8 S&P 500 1,293 -5 [CLOSE- OIL $105.25 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.57 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.91 REG./ $3.93 MID-GRADE/ $4.05 PREM./ $4.13 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,427 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $36.26 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,737 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 80 YEN, .60 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/update 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.33% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

What They’re Covering Up at Fukushima Hirose Takashi | You get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe?

Flashback: Alex Jones’ classic interview with Dr. Paul Kossey, HAARP program director Infowars | Alex Jones’ June 24, 2008 interview with Dr. Paul Kossey, H.A.A.R.P. Program Manager for Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate

Bottom Line, Libya Will Remain a Transnational Oil Fiefdom Kurt Nimmo | It is business as usual in Libya — never mind the little war now underway.

Radionuclide Blankets United States; Authorities Insist Levels Are Harmless Paul Joseph Watson | Radioactive Xenon 133 from stricken Fukushima nuclear plant will cover most of the planet.

Strangling of the Free Internet Begins Matt Ryan | It’s becoming clear that communication is becoming more restricted and more expensive.

Ron Paul: Obama Moving Us Toward One World Government Steve Watson | Congressman goes on media blitz to denounce illegal war of aggression against Libya .

The Reality Detached American Infowars.com | The signs are everywhere for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Radioactive particle traces from Japan reach Iceland, Canada Reuters | Miniscule numbers of radioactive particles have been detected as far away as Iceland.

International Support For The Libyan War Is Collapsing Business Insider | Support for Operation Odyssey Dawn is withering.

Egypt Interior Ministry Building Burning (Again) Zero Hedge | It seems Egyptians are so enamored with revolting they have decided to do the whole thing all over again.

White House Admits Goal In Libya Is Regime Change The White House suggested Tuesday the mission in Libya is one of regime change, despite emphatic statements from President Obama and military brass that the goal is not to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power.

Radionuclide Blankets United States; Authorities Insist Levels Are Harmless Contradicting Barack Obama’s assertion last week that radiation from Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant would not even reach Hawaii, the mainland United States has been blanketed with radioactive Xenon 133 particles, while spent nuclear fuel pools at Fukushima have now reached boiling point and threaten to spew out more radioactive smoke.

Bottom Line, Libya Will Remain a Transnational Oil Fiefdom Like Saddam Hussein in oil-rich Iraq, Muammar al-Gaddafi is a PR disaster and does not fit into the new Middle East envisioned by the globalists and their multinational mega-corporations.

Ron Paul: Obama Moving Us Toward One World Government Congressman Ron Paul made a sweep of television appearances yesterday to voice his strong opposition to the attack on Libya, and making it clear that the president is subverting US national sovereignty by bypassing Congress to engage in illegal acts of aggression.

Photo Evidence: Temperature in Fuel Rod Pool Above Boiling Point It looks like the Japanese and Obama will try to cover-up the out of control reactors and exposed fuel rods at Fukushima the same way the U.S. government covered-up the Gulf oil disaster.

Kucinich: War is a swamp, Obama Libya action unconstitutional Amid the ongoing coalitional bombardment of Libya it turns out President Obama may have had no constitutional authority for ordering US military involvement.

‘US is broke, dollar down, yet policy is to divide & conquer’ Fresh explosions and gunfire have been heard in Tripoli, as international coalition forces continue to bombard Libya.

Fox News Contrives “Human Shield” Hoax To Sell Libya War Just as Bill Clinton’s bombardment of Serbia was launched on the back of a humanitarian hoax about fake concentration camps, establishment media outlets are already busy contriving phony stories about Gaddafi using “human shields” to convince the American people that the $100 million dollar a day attack on Libya is virtuous and noble.

More Republicans doubt Obama's Libya action and Costly Operations (Reuters)

Uncertain outlook for Middle East: Gates [Sounds like a plan!] (Reuters)

Israel kills 9 Civilians in Gaza in deadliest day in months (Reuters) Israeli strike misses target, kills 4 Palestinians including 3 children (AP)

Paris Hilton prosecutor arrested for buying cocaine (Reuters)

Drudgereport: FED: US Approaching Insolvency...
BOMBED BUT NOT BROKEN

Obama seeks to break impasse...
Allies in disarray...
No one wants to run operation...
French PM: 'We are not at war'...
DEM LAWMAKER: IMPEACH OBAMA...
US rescue chopper shoots 6 villagers welcoming pilots of downed jet...

UPDATE: Soldier to Plead Guilty in Afghan Murder Case...
Will testify against fellow 'kill team' troops...
Mainstream media ignores 'trophy' photos; White House mum...
Oil tops $105 per barrel...

Ex-President of Israel Sentenced to Prison for Rape...
Violence warning in UK as unions plan mass march Sunday...

DEFIANT

Gadhafi 'may become target of air strikes'...
Libya claims missiles struck Gadhafi's complex...
Arab League criticizes...
Waning support from China, Russia...
Boehner to Obama: Define mission...
Lib Dems in uproar...
Gadhafi: 'To my Dear Obama, our son'...
Saudis take to streets to demand release of prisoners held without trial...

NEWSWEEK: 38% fail basic citizenship test...

WAR NO. 3: US FIRES MISSILES INTO LIBYA
U.S., allies launch broadest international military effort since Iraq war...
Fire 112 Tomahawk missiles into Tripoli, Misrata...
LIVE: 'Operation Odyssey Dawn'...
Gadhafi to speak on 'the Crusaders' aggression'...
MARCH 19, 2011
OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...

MARCH 19, 2003
BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger...

Anti-war protesters arrested near White House...

OBAMA DOES RIO...
Met with violent protests...
Cancels Public Speech in Rio Square...
Cancels Press Conference...
...picks UConn to win 3rd straight women's basketball championship...

Farrakhan to Obama: 'Be Careful, Brother. Who The Hell Do You Think Your Are?'

RADIOACTIVE IODINE DETECTED IN TOKYO DRINKING WATER...
Nearby Milk, spinach radiated, too...
FOOD SALES HALT CONSIDERED...

RADIOACTIVE IODINE DETECTED IN TOKYO DRINKING WATER...
Nearby Milk, spinach radiated, too...
FOOD SALES HALT CONSIDERED...

Japan Nuclear Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports...

Working to maintain Arab support (Washington Post) [ Sounds like a plan! … Riiiiight! … I just had to say this here … Doesn't gaddaffy (who forgot to duck) bear a striking resemblance (now, not when he was younger) to David Patterson, former governor of new york (no slight to David Patterson … you've got to be at least a little blind to take an oath upholding law in corrupt, fraudulent, sinkholes new york / mob infested jersey, and america, generally. Mob's man cuomo? What's up with that?)? Or is it just SNL's Fred Armistan's impression of both that leads me to such a conclusion. But this should help: US Army ‘kill team’ in Afghanistan posed for photos of murdered civilians infowars.com Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of “trophy” photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenseless Afghan civilians they killed … Russia “Regrets Armed Action” Killing 48 in Libya Kurt Nimmo | In a statement issued today, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said 64 civilians were reported to have been killed and 150 wounded in air strikes on Libya. Lukashevich called on Britain, France and the United States Sunday to stop air strikes on non-military targets. 64 civilians reported killed, 150 wounded in the attacks.

Western Air Strikes Kill 64 in Libya — Health Official

Roscoe Savages Obama: No Congressional Approval For Attack On Libya

UN Powers Violate Their Own Resolution By Targeting Gaddafi [...the obvious attempt to assassinate Gaddafi violates not only U.S. law, but the UN’s own charter.] U.S. and European diplomats move quickly to rally wavering support for military intervention.

[I have been under constant barrage / hack / intrusions which has my antivirus working overtime and flashing saves from a multitude of threats. I think this particular thrust by what I reasonably suspect to be paranoid american / israeli criminals / lunatics is probably affected particularly by this blazing full ‘supermoon’. I thereupon downloaded and installed linux / ubuntu 10.10 (most recent) which also makes available an ‘installer’ (separate download) that facilitates essentially a dual boot (you may choose your operating system for the session – windows or linux/ubuntu – linux/ubuntu comes loaded with very functional software; ie., open office suite, firefox web browser, etc.). Works like a charm and I strongly recommend it. Microsoft’s a dyingosaur american monopoly company which is an american tale and story of america as a pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, dying / declining nation.]

Fed to name banks that took out emergency loans (Washington Post) [Note the skullduggery by the fed which taxpayers are and will further be paying for as pointed out by Dave: M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you… (see infra)’ Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding ‘Many important global stock markets, including China, Brazil, India and Hong Kong, have been in fairly significant corrections since November, down between 12% and 17%. Their major concerns have been rising inflation and the resulting monetary tightening by their central banks to combat the inflationary pressures... It might be wise to lighten up some into strength that may develop over the next few days during the ‘monthly strength period.’ BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows ] The Federal Reserve loses a court battle to keep the information private.

AT&T, T-Mobile USA merger deal questioned (Washington Post) [ Questioned? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending.] A day after AT&T announced it would buy T-Mobile USA to create the biggest wireless carrier in the country, consumer advocates and some members of Congress blast the deal.

Merger a disconnect for consumers (Washington Post) [ Yeah! True enough! I had to drop my land line (att/sbc – jersey/bushland) which I kept for the public listing and which became disfunctional / unusable to the point where it was impacting my DSL line; both of which I dropped in favor of MagicJack (I recommend it) and Time Warner Cable / Internet (also better). Deal to combine AT&T, T-Mobile raises questions (AP) [Questions? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending. AP - AT&T's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA will force federal regulators to confront a difficult antitrust question: Can American consumers get good wireless service at a ... ] OPINION | Your choice for wireless service would get smaller should AT&T carry out its plan to buy T-Mobile USA.

In Libya, rifts open in NATO coalition (Washington Post) [ Rift? Murky? New rifts? Sounds more like profound disappointment that a feeding frenzy analogous to those BP oil eating bacteria in the gulf is not imminent . After all, the so-called nato coalition, almost to a nation, is both defacto bankrupt and oil-starved. ] Three days of heavy airstrikes highlight the murky nature of the coalition involved in the effort.

Libya, Hypocrisy and Betrayal by the United Nations: US-NATO’s New War in North Africa of Death and Destruction Infowars.comThe bombing of Libya will begin on or nearly to the day, of the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq, 19th March, in Europe.

A People Betrayed: West Launches New War for Oil in Libyainfowars.com And so now, another war. Led by the United States and the religious extremists in Saudi Arabia, the UN Security Council voted to intervene on behalf of one side in the Libyan civil war. Having already armed and trained Moamar Gadafy’s armies and security forces, the Western war-profiteers have now decided to do the same for his opponents.

[I have been under constant barrage / hack / intrusions which has my antivirus working overtime and flashing saves from a multitude of threats. I think this particular thrust by what I reasonably suspect to be paranoid american / israeli criminals / lunatics is probably affected particularly by this blazing full ‘supermoon’. I thereupon downloaded and installed linux / ubuntu 10.10 (most recent) which also makes available an ‘installer’ (separate download) that facilitates essentially a dual boot (you may choose your operating system for the session – windows or linux/ubuntu – linux/ubuntu comes loaded with very functional software; ie., open office suite, firefox web browser, etc.). Works like a charm and I strongly recommend it. Microsoft’s a dyingosaur american monopoly company which is an american tale and story of america as a pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, dying / declining nation.]

I was somewhat nonplussed by the suckers’ market bounce these past two (now three) days, and then, ‘Eureka!’ … there it was, staring down for all to see … a blazing full moon. Yes, they have such affects on lunatics as on wall street and it certainly doesn’t take much to push the frauds on wall street over the edge and into their predisposed fraudulent madness. In fact, you could say, ‘it’s in their genes’. This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you… (see infra)’ Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding ‘Many important global stock markets, including China, Brazil, India and Hong Kong, have been in fairly significant corrections since November, down between 12% and 17%. Their major concerns have been rising inflation and the resulting monetary tightening by their central banks to combat the inflationary pressures...So was this week’s stumble the beginning of a more serious correction? The events and reports this week did provide more evidence that the stock market may be ahead of reality regarding prospects for the economy, and therefore corporate earnings, going forward, which should at least limit the market’s upside potential. Limited upside potential equals more downside risk? It might be wise to lighten up some into strength that may develop over the next few days during the ‘monthly strength period.’ BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows

Global Meltdown? [ Looks like … feels like … seems like … Yes, it is! A global meltdown! ] Nyaradi ‘Global meltdown. Scary words, indeed. However, as we look around our world, it certainly does appear that a global meltdown is in progress.At Wall Street Sector Selector, we are nearly fully positioned on the “short” side of global markets and so were fortunate to have had a pleasant day, unlike so many investors and citizens of our small world. I sincerely hope and pray that many pleasant days lie ahead for the people of Japan, Bahrain and Libya.Of course, the big news is in Japan, where the struggle to contain the potential of nuclear meltdown goes on after the tsunami and earthquake. I can’t add much to this discussion other than to say that from a human standpoint, we need to do what we can to help our allies in their time of need.I travel often to Japan and this is a modern Western country now without power and water and basic essentials for many days, and to fully understand this unthinkable tragedy, just try to imagine a 30 foot wall of water coming through your neighborhood, entire neighborhoods and towns disappearing, followed by the threat of nuclear catastrophe and no water and power for days on end during these cold early spring nights.Aside from the human catastrophe, the economic toll of this event will be felt for years. Some analysts estimate that Japan will have to import an additional 200,000 barrels of oil per day to make up for the lost output of the damaged nuclear plants, while insurance and GDP losses are only guestimates at this early hour but will be surely significant. Across the globe, unrest continues in the Middle East as Bahrain is under martial law, the Libyan government continues to quell the revolution (while the United Nations dithers) and Portugal’s credit rating is downgraded and totters again on the edge of financial collapse. At home, Congress continues putting band aids on our national budget deficit while home sales plunge to new lows…’

4 Phases of a Bear Market Meshkati NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- 'Almost exactly one month ago, I described the 4 phases of a bull market cycle. My reason for writing the article was to warn market participants of the impending disaster that tends to strike right around the time a certain class of investor (termed "phase 4" investors) becomes involved in the financial markets...'

Deal to combine AT&T, T-Mobile raises questions (AP) [Questions? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending. AP - AT&T's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA will force federal regulators to confront a difficult antitrust question: Can American consumers get good wireless service at a ...

M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds. POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you. Monday, AT&T announced it will buy rival T-Mobile (including Katherine Zeta-Jones?) for $39 billion in cash (financed no doubt) and stock. This energized bulls overall. Meanwhile a few Tomahawk missiles here and there got the Libya situation tamped-down from hot to probably a long drawn-out quagmire. Gadhafi isn't happy meaning he might turn loose some sleeper cell revenge; but, that's for another day. In Japan things still remain "white hot" despite a cool-down in two reactors but troubles with others. But, both news from Japan (Buffett said "buy, buy, buy") and MENA receded to the background as markets rallied. Existing Home Sales fell sharply which can only be termed as bullish since bulls believe the Fed will keep rates friendly to stocks. One thing set aside by pundits and the media are building margin pressures being felt by companies. This will need to be passed to consumers and end users. You saw this with Nike's recent report. Should this continue, it will cause consumer inflation worries no matter how the data is rigged or spun. Stocks rallied sharply primarily on the M&A news while commodity markets, including oil, precious metals, soared. Bonds fell as did the sacrificial lamb--Uncle Buck...'

Japanese Meltdown Will Inhibit U.S. Recovery Hansen 'Modern economic theory implies spending for any reason is good. The rebuilding following a disaster would logically be a plus economically. Destruction triggers rebuilding - an economically positive event.

Immediately following an economic disaster, there is dislocation. Modern supply chains are disrupted. Transport is problematic. Like a tsunami, the inter-linkage of modern supply chains ripple through all products. Japan is an exporting nation. There are products made only in Japan, or disruption of production of a product where Japan is a significant producer, or the need for Japan to import a product normally not traded internationally. In other words, a ripple will go through availability and prices - both positive and negative.

The global supply chains will adapt and improvise. What will go on inside Japan will be different.

Japan will have lost forever six nuclear power plants units. A loss of six nukes leaves a huge hole in a nation's ability to produce energy. It will take many years to replace permanently - and the short term solution is building conventional fossil power plants. Manufacturing needs energy. But I fear energy may be a small component of the fallout for this event.

In the short term, this is a true black swan event for investors.

Modern nuke design currently on the drawing boards is presumably fail safe. On the other hand, almost all existing worldwide plants require active measures (core cooling) to shut down the plant. Having been a start-up engineer on a GE Mark1 nuke - I have not heard the type of information I would need to make an assessment on how this crisis will unfold. But what images I see indicate man is no longer able to control the events at some of the units.

Throwing water on an overheated plant provides steam as a carrier to spread radioactive contamination. Plant operators are already selecting the best of the terrible options available. Observation tells that we are far beyond the design solutions available to cool the core. Hail Mary plays are in progress.

The plant systems themselves are fairly robust - but conditions in the plant with heat, water and radiation have been unmonitored - and we have heard that operators have no clue if the monitoring systems are reading correctly. Status is unknown. Let me assure you, if your monitoring systems are suspect - the control systems are suspect. The plant likely requires electrical jumpers to actuate cooling systems which must be installed by humans in a radiated environment.

Even if pumps can start, what about the operated valves? Are the correct ones open? Are pressure levels too high for actuation? If the remote operated valves cannot cycle, can human's get close enough to the valves to manually cycle? What are the conditions in the piping in the suppression pools post venting - which is the Achilles Heel of Mark 1's? The suppression pools for the runaway reactors maybe dry due to a rupture.

So many options are available if the operators have electric power and radiation is low and access to the plant was not restrained. Radiation levels alone have removed most options from the table as crews cannot spend enough time in the plant to execute modifications. All the core cooling systems are closed loop. There is likely debris in these loops if reports of meltdown is true - and this debris will likely take out the pumps if they start. At this point, the systems need modification to open these cooling loops directly to the sea - it is one of the better terrible options.

The systems now require some modifications to bring the plants under control - and that means humans must be able to work in the reactor building - and possibly some time inside of the primary containment structure. This does not seem likely based on the commentary and pictures.

Likely, the current thinking may be towards building a Chernobyl type sarcophagus - a concrete coffin. How do you build one without killing those who build it?

Further, it is sad the spent fuel rods are kept in the plant (due to resistance to reprocessing by the greens) and will increase the potential for radiation release during the disaster - and make subsequent cleanup more difficult. This thought continues to rattle around in my brain - clean up of a radiation contaminated environment is slow. At this point, I am beginning to lean towards a very slow cleanup and reconstruction.

Investors are too optimistic on Japan's future in the next 6 months to a year. The situation, based on current wisdom, will never be as bad as Chernobyl, but it is already worse than Three Mile Island because of 6 units in close proximation.

Certainly, over the next few years, Japanese GDP will rise caused by the reconstruction. GDP theory is that building things - regardless of reason or usefulness - is good. This reconstruction flies in the face of the basic rationale of GDP which is intended to count productive use of the economy. The only productive use is the slice of the rebuilding which is an improvement over the old.

Money spent is money spent. The economy, in a broader sense - is simply money flows. Money moving is good for business - productive or not.

Japan, however, is not suffering from structural unemployment - but suffering from massive sovereign debt and deflation. For now, this disaster will not help the ills facing the pre-disaster Japanese economy.

But money flows are money flows - and money flowing is the real economy, productive or not.

The question: Is what is good for business good for the economy? Whatever the answer, in the medium term - disasters are good for business after absorbing the initial losses.

With the loss of life and hardships the Japanese citizens now face - it is hard to see any economic good coming out of this disaster.

Economic News this Week:

Econintersect’s economic forecast for March 2011 points to a moderately improving economy with all segments of its non-monetary index positive. This week the Weekly Leading Index (WLI) from ECRI improved from an upwardly revised 6.8% to 7.1%. This level implies the business conditions six months from now will be approximately the same or slightly improved compared to today.

click to enlarge http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/20/saupload_ecri_11_march_2011.jpg

Initial unemployment claims in this week’s release dropped slightly. The data for the last two months as been quite noisy, and it remains important to follow the four week moving average for analysis of unemployment to smooth out the reporting idiosyncrasies. Overall, the loss of jobs is improving – and is now roughly the same as mid-2008.

The data released this week was positive and consistent with Econintersect’s January, February and March forecasts of slightly improving economic conditions overall. The economy, similar to this period last year at this time, is gaining strength. [chart]http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/20/saupload_z_unemployment1_3_18_11.png

Weekly Economic Release Scorecard:
Item	Headline	Analysis
February Leading Economic Indicator	Up	Not Indicating real economy dynamics
March Philly Fed Survey	Up	New Orders at record levels
February Industrial Production	Down	In this case down is up – manufacturing improved
February Consumer Price Index	Up 2.1%	Energy & food driving forces
February Producer Price Index	Up 5.6%	Again driven by food and energy
February New Housing Permits	Down	The data is bad and the trend remains down
February Sea Container Counts	Up	Although up, data is much less good in February
February Import/Export Prices	Up	USA is exporting inflation
January Home Prices	Down	CoreLogic says prices fell 5.7%
March Empire State Survey	Up	Everyone's eyes are on Japan
Exchange Rate Appreciations		Currency appreciations can cure global imbalances
Global Crisis		What we think are important relate to energy
January JOLTS		Shows why January Jobs Report was so bad
Oil Prices		How Libyan unrest will play out in energy prices
Dividend Paying Stocks		How dividends stabilize portfolio returns
Market Volatility		Jeff Miller questions if it Is time to head to the door?
U.S. Equities		Eric McCurdy says market broke support levels
India		Ajay Shay suggests how to break bad governance
MERS Crisis		William Black points out unintended consequences of mortgage industry actions
U.S. Dollar		Michael Pettis discusses the future of the world reserve currency
Economic Theory		L Randall Wray discusses reasons economics has gone astray

...'

10 U.S. Companies With A Heavy Reliance On Japanese Sales

Dangerous and Fluid Times, Hostile Market Environment Nyaradi The news flow this week certainly reminded me of the old colloquialism, “raining cats and dogs,” as startling headlines bombarded us from all quadrants of the world.

At Wall Street Sector Selector, we remain in a defensive posture, expecting lower prices ahead.

On My Radar

The Point and Figure Chart displays the technical damage done this week as a “sell” signal was generated and now the bearish price objective is 1160. Support is found at 1250 and again at 1220 while the long term uptrend remains intact. Overhead resistance is now at the 1300-1320 level. Click to enlarge: http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/20/saupload CHART_spxpf031911.png

chart courtesy of stockcharts

So it appears that we are clearly in a short term “correction” within a still ongoing uptrend.

Depending upon your outlook, this could be a good opportunity to “buy the dip” or there is further downside potential to at least 1220 or beyond to the 1160-1180 level.

My view is that there is currently more risk than reward in the market.

The View From 35,000 Feet

It was another week of almost unbelievable news as events unfolded in Japan, Libya and Yemen which all created intense volatility in global equity and currency markets.

Japan was at the top of the news, of course, and while the situation surrounding the nuclear accident seems to be stabilizing over the weekend, there appears to be a long way to go before victory can be claimed in what is being called the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The death toll exceeds 7,000 with more than 10,000 still missing, and the economic toll is likely to be huge, as well, as we are bound to see supply chain disruptions and delays and the very likely possibility of a return to recession in the world’s 3rd largest economy.

The extent of the nuclear accident remains unknown and it’s likely that the winds will be carrying radiation to Tokyo by the end of the weekend which could generate a whole new series of economic and human misery and danger.

In Libya, Gaddafi declared a cease fire after the U.N. threatened imminent military action, but then apparently continued his invasion of the rebel stronghold in Benghazi. Clearly this is a fluid and rapidly changing situation, but what is certain is that Libyan oil production is dropping as foreign companies have pulled out their employees and major oil facilities have sustained major damage.

Bloomberg reported that production has declined to 400,000 bbl/day and “could reach a halt.” Bloomberg

A protest in Yemen on Friday resulted in more than 40 deaths and reportedly thousands of injuries and a state of emergency is now in effect in the country where 20% of the population lives on $2/day.

China raised their bank reserve requirements for the 3rd time this year while at home, the Federal Reserve said that growth is on “firmer footing,” and that employment is “improving gradually.”

Economic reports were largely mixed this week with positive news coming from March Empire Manufacturing Index, the NAHB Housing Index, initial and continuing unemployment claims, and the Philly Fed. On the negative side of the ledger, Housing Starts, Building Permits and Industrial Production all disappointed in February.

What It All Means

The times, of course, remain dangerous and fluid and we can expect more volatility ahead depending upon how future weeks’ news flow unfolds and if the “cats and dogs” deluge continues.

Technically, major damage was inflicted on markets this week and so a resumption of the recent rally will be a challenge for the bulls in what can only be described as a hostile environment. Finally, the rapidly approaching conclusion of “QE2” in June also casts more uncertainty on an already uncertain environment.

The Week Ahead

It’s a relatively quiet week of economic reports which probably a good thing given the drama unfolding around the world.

Monday: February Existing Home Sales

Wednesday: February New Home Sales

Thursday: Initial Unemployment Claims, Continuing Unemployment Claims, February Durable Goods

Friday: Q4 GDP 3rd Estimate, March Michigan Sentiment

Sector Spotlight

Winners: (NYSEArca: ICLN) Global Clean Energy, (NYSEArca: TLT) 20 Year Bond

Losers: (NYSEArca: FEFN) Far East Index, (NYSEArca: NUCL) Nuclear Eenrgy Index

Wishing you a great weekend wherever you may be...'

Congressional Budget Office Projects $9.5 Trillion In Deficits By 2021, $2.3 Trillion More Than Obama’s Estimate Today the Congressional Budget Office slammed the president’s unrealistic budget presented recently, concluding that the cumulative deficit over the decade between 2011-2021 would be $9.5 trillion, or $2.3 trillion higher than that estimated by the White House.

US Cost of Living Hits Record, Passing Pre-Crisis High One would think that after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Americans could at least catch a break for a while with deflationary forces keeping the cost of living relatively low. That’s not the case.

Oil prices soar as UN approves no-fly zone in Libya Crude oil prices rose in Asian trade on Friday, after the United Nations (UN) approved the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, raising fresh fears over oil exports from the country.

Obama Budget to Produce $9.5 Trillion Deficit: CBO CNBC | Obama’s February budget submission is enacted into law it would produce deficits totaling $9.5 trillion over 10 years.

NY Fed intervenes in Yen currency trade Nikkei | The NY Fed bank is confirming its first currency intervention for a decade.

Our Enemy, the Fed by Ron Paul Ron Paul | There is perhaps no topic as important to the average American today as rising prices.

Libya Oil Chief Says Crude Production ‘Could Reach a Halt’ Due to Conflict Libya’s oil production fell to less than 400,000 barrels a day after foreign companies pulled out their staff, the chairman of the country’s state-run National Oil Corp., Shokri Ghanem, said in a televised media conference from Tripoli.

(3-21-11) Dow 12,037 +178 Nasdaq 2,692 +48 S&P 500 1,298 +19 [CLOSE- OIL $103.38 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.57 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.91 REG./ $3.93 MID-GRADE/ $4.05 PREM./ $4.13 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,430 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $36.25 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,747 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 80 YEN, .60 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/update 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.33% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

Russia “Regrets Armed Action” Killing 48 in Libya Kurt Nimmo | So-called coalition bombs Gaddafi’s Bab Azizia residence with human shields. In a statement issued today, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said 48 civilians were reported to have been killed and 150 wounded in air strikes on Libya. Lukashevich called on Britain, France and the United States Sunday to stop air strikes on non-military targets. 48 civilains reported killed, 150 wounded in the attacks.

Western Air Strikes Kill 64 in Libya — Health Official Sixty-four people have been killed and 150 others wounded in the air strikes launched by western forces since Saturday, Libya’s health officials said on Sunday.

Roscoe Savages Obama: No Congressional Approval For Attack On Libya “The United States does not have a King’s army. President Obama’s unilateral choice to use U.S. military force in Libya is an affront to our Constitution.”

UN Powers Violate Their Own Resolution By Targeting Gaddafi As the contrived moral high ground behind the absurdly hypocritical “humanitarian” pretext of the attack on Libya collapses in the wake of Russia, the Arab League and the African Union condemning the US-led NATO bombings, so does any pretense of legality that the “no fly zone” resolution holds, because the obvious attempt to assassinate Gaddafi violates not only U.S. law, but the UN’s own charter.

Fukusima Radiation Levels Being Covered Up Radiation levels observed in food and milk grown and produced significant distances from the stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima do not correlate with readings supposedly found in the immediate vicinity, suggesting that the real levels are being withheld from the public

US Army ‘kill team’ in Afghanistan posed for photos of murdered civilians Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of “trophy” photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed.

Libya denies report of Gaddafi son’s death Media outlets affiliated with the Libyan opposition reported Monday that the son of Muammar Gaddafi, Khamis Gaddafi, was killed in a suicide attack on the Bab al-Azizia barracks in Tripoli.

West in “medieval crusade” on Gaddafi, Putin says Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday a U.N. resolution authorizing military action in Libya resembled “medieval calls for crusades” after Western forces launched a second wave of air strikes.

China intensifies condemnation of Libya air strikes The Middle East is an important source of oil for China. On the weekend, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco announced its latest proposal to supply crude to a refinery in the southwest of China, where Beijing is building an oil pipeline that slices through Myanmar.

Neo-Cons Applaud Obama’s War, Call For Occupation Of Libya While applauding Barack Obama’s involvement of U.S. forces in air strikes, influential neo-con Bill Kristol told Fox News that America should go further than merely bombarding Libya and send in ground troops as “peacekeepers,” embroiling the bankrupt United States in yet another foreign occupation while enabling Muslim extremists fighting Gaddafi to rise to power.

Bilderberg To Meet In Switzerland James P. Tucker Jr. | Bilderberg will be gathering in St. Moritz, southeastern Switzerland, June 9-12.

Obama’s Bay of Pigs in Libya: Imperialist Aggression Shreds UN Charter Webster Tarpley | Webster Tarpley’s newest article on the state of affairs in Libya.

Let’s Send Ann Coulter to Fukushima Kurt Nimmo | Faux conservative argued exposure to radiation reduces cancer.

UN Powers Violate Their Own Resolution By Targeting Gaddafi Paul Joseph Watson | Attack on Libya is illegal under both U.S. law and UN charter.

Gaddafi Calls For Immediate Cease Fire; Arab League Splits From West Over Libya Bombing The new world order has just lost its contrived “moral high ground” for the bombardment of Libya under fake “humanitarian” auspices. This clearly indicates that the civilian deaths claimed by Gaddafi did in fact take place as a result of the air strikes.

Libyan TV parades “civilian casualties” of allied raids Libyan state television has broadcast pictures of what it says are civilian victims of the allied bombing.

Libya: Another War, Another Pack of Lies The corporate-financiers are dangerously flirting with their entire official narrative collapsing, as their progressive, Peace-Prize wearing puppet President Obama and the “radical reformer” David Cameron lead yet another war based on an Iraq-style pack of lies.

Nations bombing Libya are ‘terrorists,’ Gadhafi says CNN | ibyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi called the allied nations bombing his country “terrorists” Sunday.

U.S. Government Backs Libyan Al-Qaeda While Hyping Terror Attacks Inside U.S. Paul Joseph Watson | Obama administration fearmongers about Libyan-backed terrorists carrying out reprisal attacks in America.

Here Are The Downstream Effects From The Fukushima Catastrophe Zero Hedge | As the world awakes, Japan discloses another round of good news/bad news about the Fukushima crisis.

WWIII: One Nation at a Time

King Hypocrite Obama: There Will be Blood in Libya Kurt Nimmo | Soon after assuming office, Barry Obama put “yes we can” to work killing Pakistani children.

Another Obama War Lew Rockwell | For weeks, American officials have been decrying Gaddafi’s bloody attacks on his people, but does the US really have a problem with dictatorship of his sort?

Mainstream media halts accurate reporting on Japan’s worsening nuclear catastrophe; disinfo campaign now underway Mike Adams | The mainstream media today halted nearly all accurate reporting of the worsening situation in Japan.

5 Theories Why We’re Experiencing Increased Earthquake Activity Infowars | Here are five theories as to the cause of increased earthquake activity.

More War Propaganda? Downed Plane Presented As Evidence Gaddafi Is Not Observing Ceasefire Steve Watson | Gaddafi is not observing a ceasefire, paving the way for Western military action against Libya.

Chossudovsky: Libya no-fly zone means war RT | Michel Chossudovsky says western nations are interested in Libyan oil and other resources.

The Great Anglo-American Gaddafi Deception Ron Holland | The fiat US dollar only survives as the world’s reserve currency because the majority of the oil producers demand payment in dollars.

King Hypocrite Obama: There Will be Blood in Libya On Friday, the teleprompter reader in chief and NCAA basketball picker Obama bellied up to the podium in the East Room of the White House and read his script. He said Libyan thug Moammar Gadhafi has to stop attacking civilians or face military retaliation.

U.S. Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Hit Targets in Libya; State Media Claims Civilian Casualties WESTERN warplanes had bombed civilian targets in Libya’s capital today, causing casualties, state media said. “Civilian targets are being bombed by the ‘Crusader’ enemy fighter planes in Tripoli,” Libyan state television said.

More War Propaganda? Downed Plane Presented As Evidence Gaddafi Is Not Observing Ceasefire A crashed Libyan jet is cited by the media as proof there is no ceasefire, paving the way for Western military action. But there are a few questions that need to answered here.

Rebels shoot down fighter jet as Gaddafi’s forces ‘break ceasefire and tanks roll into Benghazi’ Colonel Gaddafi’s proclaimed ceasefire was in tatters this morning after a fighter jet was shot down in flames by rebels over Benghazi.

Chossudovsky: Libya no-fly zone means war The UN Security Council adopted a resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya. Michel Chossudovsky, director of Centre for Research on Globalization, says western nations are interested in Libyan oil and other resources, not protecting the people and that is why they care more about the fight in Libya, than elsewhere in the Arab world.

World War III: One Nation at a Time The globalists are infiltrating, corrupting, and turning the entire planet, one nation at a time in a combined scientific-geopolitical dictatorship that will be effectively impossible to reverse once it is completed.

You Can View Official EPA Radiation Readings Update: The EPA’s servers have either been crashed by too much traffic generated by this post, or the EPA has taken down the radiation data. Check back later to see if the EPA’s servers are working.

Paris Hilton prosecutor arrested for buying cocaine (Reuters)

Drudgereport:DEFIANT

Gadhafi 'may become target of air strikes'...
Libya claims missiles struck Gadhafi's complex...
Arab League criticizes...
Waning support from China, Russia...
Boehner to Obama: Define mission...
Lib Dems in uproar...
Gadhafi: 'To my Dear Obama, our son'...
Saudis take to streets to demand release of prisoners held without trial...

NEWSWEEK: 38% fail basic citizenship test...

WAR NO. 3: US FIRES MISSILES INTO LIBYA
U.S., allies launch broadest international military effort since Iraq war...
Fire 112 Tomahawk missiles into Tripoli, Misrata...
LIVE: 'Operation Odyssey Dawn'...
Gadhafi to speak on 'the Crusaders' aggression'...[1]
MARCH 19, 2011
OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...

MARCH 19, 2003
BUSH: 'American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger...

Anti-war protesters arrested near White House...

OBAMA DOES RIO...
Met with violent protests...
Cancels Public Speech in Rio Square...
Cancels Press Conference...
...picks UConn to win 3rd straight women's basketball championship...

Farrakhan to Obama: 'Be Careful, Brother. Who The Hell Do You Think Your Are?'

RADIOACTIVE IODINE DETECTED IN TOKYO DRINKING WATER...
Nearby Milk, spinach radiated, too...
FOOD SALES HALT CONSIDERED...

RADIOACTIVE IODINE DETECTED IN TOKYO DRINKING WATER...
Nearby Milk, spinach radiated, too...
FOOD SALES HALT CONSIDERED...

Japan Nuclear Disaster Caps Decades of Faked Reports...

Overseas official trips amidst crises (Washington Post) [ It’s really quite incredible indeed. It was the espn basketball brackets that got me … so stereotypical … I mean what are they thinking, or not. Riiiight! Not! Well, gates is gone and as a cia man, what he says means absolutely nothing … they kind of pride themselves on that … On the receiving end you gotta think they’re already checking air force one’s return trip schedule hoping to ‘hold out’ and escape potential invasion themselves … After all, what nation in the world can or does trust desperate, meaningfully lawless, pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america … oh yeah, maybe fellow war crimes nation israel and orwellian, me-too old-biddy britain. ] As war clouds gathered over Libya on Friday, the U.S. commander in chief and his defense secretary were each preparing to leave Washington to visit places far removed from any military operations.

Gaddafi’s forces enter Benghazi as U.S., allies plan military action (Washington Post) [ Ron Paul: Libya Airstrikes Unconstitutional – Only Congress Can Declare War Infowars / Libya, Hypocrisy and Betrayal by the United Nations: US-NATO’s New War in North Africa of Death and Destruction The bombing of Libya will begin on or nearly to the day, of the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq, 19th March, in Europe. A People Betrayed: West Launches New War for Oil in Libya And so now, another war. Led by the United States and the religious extremists in Saudi Arabia, the UN Security Council voted to intervene on behalf of one side in the Libyan civil war. Having already armed and trained Moamar Gadafy’s armies and security forces, the Western war-profiteers have now decided to do the same for his opponents. Another Illegal War Of Slaughter Couched In “Humanitarian” Doublespeak Those who were asking what the “international community” planned to do in response to the escalating global crisis surrounding the nuclear plant in Fukushima now have their answer – bomb Libya. As if the world wasn’t experiencing enough turmoil and devastation, another illegal war of aggression has been launched in a volatile region, couched in the retching Orwellian doublespeak of ‘no fly zones’ and ‘humanitarian’ rhetoric. ] Obama warns that Libyan leader faces imminent military action unless troops withdraw from disputed cities, but assaults on rebel-held towns continue.

Pressure on nuclear regulators heats up in U.S. (Washington Post) [ You can bet that g.e. will be feeling some heat … and the courts in Japan, unlike those in the pervasively corrupt u.s. where g.e. would probably have their way regardless of merits, will be very unsympathetic.] The Union of Concerned Scientists released a study citing 14 “near-misses” at domestic plants last year.

Senators call on Obama to join deficit reduction talks (Washington Post) [ I truly believe they have totally lost touch with reality (Davis ‘… This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). Furthermore, I think they substantially underestimate the ‘geese and gander’ effect (ie., Ellen Bente Oliver ‘Salary of House/Senate...$174,000. Salary of Speaker of House...$223,500. Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders...$193,400. Average US Salary...$33,000 to $77,000. Maybe our elected officials should make an average salary too...It's a time of sacrifice after all...Pass along, post on your own page if you agree…’). Fears over Japan impact grow (Washington Post) [ As indeed they must, in keeping with some semblance of reality. ] Some analysts predict the tragedy could dramatically disrupt the fragile global economic recovery. [ You can bet that some bets already placed regarding Japan’s prospective action in the markets; ie., buying or rolling over government securities of such as the u.s., particularly, now fall under that foreboding platitude, ‘all bets are off’. This is an economically / financially staggering event and found the stock market rise of the last two days incomprehensible until I realized as set forth immediately hereafter: I was somewhat nonplussed by the suckers’ market bounce these past two days, and then, ‘Eureka!’ … there it was, staring down for all to see … a blazing full moon. Yes, they have such affects on lunatics as on wall street and it certainly doesn’t take much to push the frauds on wall street over the edge and into their predisposed fraudulent madness. In fact, you could say, ‘it’s in their genes’. This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! ] The act is a powerful sign of bipartisan willingness to abandon long-held positions on entitlement spending and taxes.

Fears over Japan impact grow (Washington Post) [ As indeed they must, in keeping with some semblance of reality. ] Some analysts predict the tragedy could dramatically disrupt the fragile global economic recovery. [ You can bet that some bets already placed regarding Japan’s prospective action in the markets; ie., buying or rolling over government securities of such as the u.s., particularly, now fall under that foreboding platitude, ‘all bets are off’. This is an economically / financially staggering event and found the stock market rise of the last two days incomprehensible until I realized as set forth immediately hereafter:

I was somewhat nonplussed by the suckers’ market bounce these past two days, and then, ‘Eureka!’ … there it was, staring down for all to see … a blazing full moon. Yes, they have such affects on lunatics as on wall street and it certainly doesn’t take much to push the frauds on wall street over the edge and into their predisposed fraudulent madness. In fact, you could say, ‘it’s in their genes’. This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding ‘Many important global stock markets, including China, Brazil, India and Hong Kong, have been in fairly significant corrections since November, down between 12% and 17%. Their major concerns have been rising inflation and the resulting monetary tightening by their central banks to combat the inflationary pressures...So was this week’s stumble the beginning of a more serious correction? The events and reports this week did provide more evidence that the stock market may be ahead of reality regarding prospects for the economy, and therefore corporate earnings, going forward, which should at least limit the market’s upside potential. Limited upside potential equals more downside risk? It might be wise to lighten up some into strength that may develop over the next few days during the ‘monthly strength period.’ BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows

Global Meltdown? [ Looks like … feels like … seems like … Yes, it is! A global meltdown! ] Nyaradi ‘Global meltdown.Scary words, indeed. However, as we look around our world, it certainly does appear that a global meltdown is in progress.At Wall Street Sector Selector, we are nearly fully positioned on the “short” side of global markets and so were fortunate to have had a pleasant day, unlike so many investors and citizens of our small world. I sincerely hope and pray that many pleasant days lie ahead for the people of Japan, Bahrain and Libya.Of course, the big news is in Japan, where the struggle to contain the potential of nuclear meltdown goes on after the tsunami and earthquake. I can’t add much to this discussion other than to say that from a human standpoint, we need to do what we can to help our allies in their time of need.I travel often to Japan and this is a modern Western country now without power and water and basic essentials for many days, and to fully understand this unthinkable tragedy, just try to imagine a 30 foot wall of water coming through your neighborhood, entire neighborhoods and towns disappearing, followed by the threat of nuclear catastrophe and no water and power for days on end during these cold early spring nights.Aside from the human catastrophe, the economic toll of this event will be felt for years. Some analysts estimate that Japan will have to import an additional 200,000 barrels of oil per day to make up for the lost output of the damaged nuclear plants, while insurance and GDP losses are only guestimates at this early hour but will be surely significant.Across the globe, unrest continues in the Middle East as Bahrain is under martial law, the Libyan government continues to quell the revolution (while the United Nations dithers) and Portugal’s credit rating is downgraded and totters again on the edge of financial collapse. At home, Congress continues putting band aids on our national budget deficit while home sales plunge to new lows…’

Gadhafi Does a Head Fake: Dave's Daily ‘He declared an immediate cease fire to perhaps buy some time; however, he didn't stop his troops advance. The rebels also didn't stop fighting back correctly believing he was lying. It's unclear if his forces can retake important Benghazi before multinational forces enforce the "no fly zone." The UN vote was interesting with all BRIC countries plus Germany abstaining. Russia and China don't want to be on the world team and have their own agendas of global domination. The rest are a harder read. Markets were higher early on the belief Libya fighting would subside, Japan's reactor issues would be resolved and hopeful signs from GE (later a bust), CSCO and bank dividend schemes. However, as the news developed, Libya proved it wasn't about to stop its aggression and the Japan reactor issues remained heightened causing markets to decline into the close. There wasn't any economic data to speak of although the government noted (admitted?) the unemployment was higher in most of 372 markets in January throwing doubt on previous claims of lower data. The Fed is also continuing its POMO actions although Friday's buying was low. Bonds were somewhat weaker, Uncle Buck is homing in on all-time lows, commodities overall were higher as were precious metals. In the end nothing much mattered given quad-witching antics which have little to do with the news or much else--it's just a spectator sport. Volume remains elevated especially with quad-witching on Friday. Breadth per the WSJ was positive relieving much short-term oversold conditions…’

Why To Distrust The Snap-Back Rally Harding ‘Thankfully the news out of Japan regarding the potential for nuclear meltdowns has subsided, and global stock markets have rallied for two days in relief. Many on Wall Street are claiming the correction in global stock markets is therefore over, and it’s a buying opportunity.

Let’s think this through and not react too quickly. The human toll and economic damage in Japan was from the earthquake, not the subsequent potential problems with nuclear plants.

Let’s consider first what was going on prior to the catastrophe.

Global markets were in quite significant corrections. For instance Brazil, China, India, and Hong Kong, topped out in November and were down 12% to 17% prior to the earthquake. Markets in Europe and the U.S. peaked in mid-February and were down 3% to 4%.

So an important question is whether the factors that had global markets already topped out prior to the earthquake have gone away. Unfortunately, the answer is that they remain in place, and if anything have worsened, and the aftermath of the disaster in Japan will likely add to them.

Those continuing problems are:

• Rising global inflation.
• Increasingly aggressive monetary tightening by important countries like Brazil, China, India, Hong Kong, and smaller emerging markets, in efforts to tackle the rising inflation, moves likely to also slow their economic growth.
• Uncertainties created by political uprisings in oil-producing countries.
• The on-going European debt crisis.
• Austerity programs in European countries aimed at tackling the debt crisis, including cuts in government spending and jobs.
• The coming cutbacks in U.S. federal, state, and local government spending to tackle their record budget deficits.
• The approaching end of the Fed’s QE2 pump-priming program.

Now added to those problems is the massive natural disaster in the world’s third largest economy, Japan, a very important part of the global manufacturing and high-tech supply chain. It has come at the worst time for the struggling Japanese economy. The damage has already forced the closing of factories by Nissan, Toyota, and Sony, as well as several oil refineries, while large agricultural areas were wiped out, which can only add to concerns about rising food prices. Japan’s problems will affect other global economies.

Optimists are pointing to reconstruction as being a positive for Japan’s economy, noting that six months after the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995 almost all of Kobe’s factories and infrastructure had been rebuilt. They are leaving out that Japan’s stock market declined for six months after the smaller Kobe earthquake and during the re-building stage, losing 32% of its value. At the present time, the Japanese market is down only 15%.

Meanwhile, European central banks have now acknowledged inflation concerns, and the UK says it could begin raising interest rates as soon as its April meeting.

The uprisings in oil-producing countries have not gone away, and indeed have become more violent. In Libya, Dictator Muammar Gaddafi launched military operations this week to crush demonstrators, and the U.N. authorized military attacks against Gaddafi forces to assist the demonstrators. The previously peaceful uprising in Bahrain became violent after Bahrain’s royal family called in military forces from Saudi Arabia to help it put down the revolt.

The uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen, and unrest in Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, reportedly even have leaders in Russia, Cuba, and China nervous.

In the European debt crisis, Portugal’s credit rating was downgraded further this week, and its Prime Minister said he will quit if Portugal’s parliament does not consent to his proposed austerity measures.

And on it goes. The previous problems that had global stock markets topped out on fears of rising inflation and concerns about the sustainability of the fragile global economic recovery, have not gone away, and if anything worsened while attention was diverted by the disaster in Japan.

On the technical analysis side, the additional five-day market plunge following the disaster in Japan had markets short-term oversold, and likely to see a short-term rally off the oversold condition, but it’s questionable whether a bottom is in yet, particularly in the U.S.

At their peaks, global stock markets, including that of the U.S., were extremely overbought above their long-term 200-day moving averages, to a degree that almost always results in a decline at least down to retest the support at that moving average. In their corrections, some of which began in November, others in mid-February, markets in Asia and Europe did decline to that moving average. In several cases the support did not hold and they broke below it.

But the U.S. market so far has pulled back only 6%, leaving it still 7% above its 200-day m.a.

Additionally, investor sentiment in the U.S. does not indicate a bottom. This week’s poll of its members by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) shows bearishness has increased to 40.1%, but that is still well below the 55% to 65% bearishness usually seen prior to market lows.

So for now anyway, I still like the safe haven of treasury bonds, which I wrote up in my column last weekend. The iShares 20-yr bond etf, symbol TLT, has gained more than 5% in the five weeks since its early February low. And I still like gold bullion and the SPDR Gold etf, symbol GLD. Gold is the long-time hedge against rising inflation. I even like the idea of some downside positions against the U.S. market, and I’m looking at some toppy looking stocks that might be short-sale candidates.’

Stocks Achieve Back-to-Back Gains, But Nasdaq's 2.7% Drop Leads Weekly Declines Midnight Trader ‘4:13 PM, Mar 18, 2011 --

• NYSE up 51.16 (+0.6%) to 8,116.02
• DJIA up 83.93 (+0.7%) to 11,859
• S&P 500 up 5.48 (+0.43%) to 1,279
• Nasdaq up 7.62 (+0.3%) to 2,644

GLOBAL SENTIMENT

• Hang Seng up 0.07%
• Nikkei up 2.72%
• FTSE up 0.64%

DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) NKE continues evening decline that followed earnings miss.
(-) AN downgraded.
(-) AEO downgraded.

UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) LO down as FDA weighs restrictions on menthol cigarettes.
(+) EL reaffirms earnings guidance that's below Street view.
(+) CRA sold to Quest Diagnostics for $8 a share.
(+) F initiated with Buy rating.
(+) RIMM initiated with Buy rating.
(+) GE finding some traction after early-week post-quake drop.

MARKET DIRECTION

Stock averages end firmer though in the middle to lower end of the day's range. Weekly losses follow Japan's earthquake, one week ago today, and its nuclear aftermath. The Nasdaq ends down 2.7%; the S&P off 1.9%; the DJIA also lower.

Reports of the government's call for a ceasefire in Libya, gains for U.S. banking shares amid revived dividends and global help to cool the Japanese yen combined to lift stocks Friday. Stocks did give back some of their earlier gains in afternoon trading shortly after President Obama said the U.S. and some of its allies were prepared to launch military action in Libya if the fighting there doesn't cease.

Markets moved higher early on in response to Group of Seven action to curb a surging yen though Japan's nuclear risks remain in focus and the situation is still volatile. There were no U.S. economic reports scheduled.

Light, sweet crude oil for April delivery finished down 0.4%, or $0.35 to $101.07 a barrel. In other energy futures, heating oil was down 1.33% to $3.02 a gallon while natural gas was down 0.02% to $4.15 per million British thermal units. Meanwhile, gold futures rose on safe-haven investing despite positive developments in Libya. Gold for April delivery finished up 0.9% to $1,416.10 an ounce. In other metal futures, silver was up $2.43 to $35.09 a troy ounce while copper traded up 0.08% to $4.34.

The U.S. dollar index (DXY) is down 0.48% to $75.67.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) and other major U.S. banks plan to boost their dividend payments after passing stress tests evaluated by the Federal Reserve, they announced today.

The dividends, and announcements of share buybacks in some cases, signal that regulators view banks as being healthy enough to withstand the remaining uncertainties in the economy, after the banking system has been profitable for a year, Reuters said.

In company news:

Cisco (CSCO) is higher after it says it will pay its first ever quarterly cash dividend to shareholders. A quarterly dividend of $0.06 per common share will be paid on April 20 to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 31. Future dividends will be subject to Board approval, it said.

Amgen (AMGN) says the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a negative opinion for the company's application to extend the marketing authorization in Europe for Vectibix to include combination with chemotherapy to treat patients with wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

General Mills (GIS) has entered into exclusive talks with French private equity group PAI Partners and French dairy cooperative Sodiaal SA to buy a 50% stake in the entity which owns yogurt-maker Yoplait SAS and affiliated companies. As part of that offer, General Mills would take a controlling stake in the operating company. The U.S. company did not put any figure on the deal, saying negotiations are in progress. General Mills said via a partnership with Sodiaal, it plans to expand and grow the Yoplait brand and business in France, Europe and globally. General Mills licensed the Yoplait brand in 1977, and is its largest licensee.

Morgan Stanley (MS) shares are higher after Bloomberg reported that the investment bank is beginning to win more business from smaller private equity firms after forming a group to concentrate on the sector. The bank trying to make more in fees from buyouts, the report said.

Teva (TEVA) says the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion for NOMAC-E2, an investigational contraceptive pill combining 1.5 mg of 17-beta-estradiol with 2.5 mg of nomegestrol acetate in a 24/4 monophasic regimen. The CHMP issued its positive opinion following a review of data derived from clinical trials evaluating NOMAC-E2.

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) is in talks with several firms, including Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile-phone operator, as it seeks to advance a planned exit from the four ventures housing its broadband-wireless licenses, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Bharti Airtel's planned bid for the assets of the U.S. mobile-phone chip maker appears to be the most advanced, although any actual transaction may take at least another two to three months, the report said.’

Housing Starts and the New Bear Market [ Actually, this has been a manipulated bull (s***) cycle in a (continuing) secular bear market. ] Suttmeier ‘Housing Starts and Building Permits disappoint. Part of my bear market theme is that Federal Reserve policy has failed to help cure the original catalyst that began the bear market of October 2007 to March 2009. Homebuilder stocks peaked in mid-2005, community banks peaked at the end of 2006, and regional banks including those considered "too big to fail" topped out in March 2007. Housing remains depressed, and community banks continue to fail on "Bank Failure Friday!" You would think that the zero to 0.25% federal funds rate in effect since December 16, 2008 would have helped, but it has not. You would think that QE2, which comes to an end on June 30 would have helped, but it has not. Meanwhile the FOMC ignores the rising cost of living on Main Street USA. Ben Bernanke needs to be replaced as Fed Chairman!

Wednesday morning we learned that housing starts and building permits for new home construction posted unexpected declines. Housing Starts plunged 22.5% from January to a seasonally adjusted 479,000 units, the second slowest pace on record. Building Permits fell 8.2% to a record low pace of 517,000. How come the zero percent money from the Fed and QE2 cannot get to the cause of "The Great Credit Crunch," which continues since March 2007?

The New Bear Market – Most of my readers know that I was bearish beginning in March 2007 led by housing and financials. The broader market continued to rally into October 2007. With the Dow above 14,000 I predicted that the next 2000 Dow points would be down, not up. I became a bull on March 5, 2009 for a 40% to 50% bear market rally. Sure I missed some of the rally in 2010, but in September called for Dow 11,235 by election day on the prospect of a Republican victory, and re-iterated that call in early-October in anticipation of QE2. My call for 2011 is that strength would fail below 12,600, and I predicted the top on February 18 at 12,391.29 for both fundamental and technical reasons. We had a ValuEngine Valuation Warning with 68.6% of all stocks overvalued. Today only 49.6% of stocks are overvalued. Today 11 of 16 sectors are overvalued, but just one by double digits. The Dow Industrial Average was extremely overbought on its weekly chart. A close on Friday below 11,856 will pull momentum (12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic) below 8.0, which to me is the confirmation of a cycle high. On February 18 this reading was 9.5. My first downside objective is my annual risky level at 11,491. Given a close in March below 11,491 the downside is to semiannual value levels at 10,959 and 9,449.

10-Year Note – (3.210) This yield declined to 3.139 on a continued flight to quality on Wednesday closing in on the 200-day simple moving average which lines up with my monthly risky level at 3.015 and 3.002. Today’s pivot is 3.264 with weekly value level at 3.634.

Comex Gold – ($1396.7) The 50-day simple moving average is $1379.6 with my annual value level at $1356.5, and my weekly pivot at $1404.1, which was tested on Wednesday. Monthly and quarterly pivots are $1437.7 and $1441.7 with my semiannual risky level is at $1452.6.

Nymex Crude Oil – ($98.28) Held my monthly value level at $96.43 on Wednesday and stayed below my annual pivots at $99.91 and $101.92. My daily pivot is $98.23 with semiannual and quarterly risky levels at $107.14 and $110.87.

The Euro – (1.3890) It appears that my weekly risky level at 1.4089 is a barrier. My quarterly value level is 1.3227 with a daily pivot at 1.3846, and weekly, semiannual and monthly risky levels at 1.4089, 1.4624 and 1.4637.

All daily charts for the major equity averages are negative – The Dow is below 50-day simple moving average at 12,011 with declining daily momentum (12x3x3 daily slow stochastic). There are no oversold measures as yet. Wednesday’s low was 11,555.48…’ Housing Starts Point to Weakening Housing Market Suttmeier ‘Housing Starts, Building Permits Disappoint -- Part of my bear market theme is that Federal Reserve policy has failed to help cure the original catalyst that began the bear market of October 2007 to March 2009. Home builder stocks peaked in mid-2005, community banks peaked at the end of 2006, and regional banks including those considered “too big to fail” topped out in March 2007. Housing remains depressed, and community banks continue to fail on Bank Failure Friday! You would think that the zero to 0.25% federal funds rate in effect since December 16, 2008 would have helped, but it has not. You would think that QE2, which comes to an end on June 30, would have helped, but it has not. Meanwhile the FOMC ignores the rising cost of living on Main Street, USA. Ben Bernanke needs to be replaced as Fed Chairman!

Wednesday morning we learned that housing starts and building permits for new home construction posted unexpected declines. Housing starts plunged 22.5% from January to a seasonally adjusted 479,000 units, the second slowest pace on record. Building permits fell 8.2% to a record low pace of 517,000. How come the zero percent money from the Fed and QE2 cannot get to the cause of “The Great Credit Crunch," which continues since March 2007?

The New Bear Market -- Most of my readers know that I was bearish beginning in March 2007 led by housing and financials. The broader market continued to rally into October 2007. With the Dow above 14,000 I predicted that the next 2000 Dow points would be down, not up. I became a bull on March 5, 2009 for a 40% to 50% bear market rally. Sure I missed some of the rally in 2010, but in September called for Dow 11,235 by Election Day on the prospect of a Republican victory, and reiterated that call in early October in anticipation of QE2. My call for 2011 is that strength would fail below 12,600, and I predicted the top on February 18 at 12,391.29 for both fundamental and technical reasons. We had a ValuEngine Valuation Warning with 68.6% of all stocks overvalued. Today only 49.6% of stocks are overvalued. Today 11 of 16 sectors are overvalued, but just one by double digits. The Dow Industrial Average was extremely overbought on its weekly chart. A close on Friday below 11,856 will pull momentum (12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic) below 8.0, which to me is the confirmation of a cycle high. On February 18 this reading was 9.5. My first downside objective is my annual risky level at 11,491. Given a close in March below 11,491 the downside is to semiannual value levels at 10,959 and 9,449.

10-Year Note -- (3.210) This yield declined to 3.139 on a continued flight to quality on Wednesday closing in on the 200-day simple moving average which lines up with my monthly risky level at 3.015 and 3.002. Today’s pivot is 3.264 with weekly value level at 3.634.[chart]

Comex Gold -- ($1396.7) The 50-day simple moving average is $1379.6 with my annual value level at $1356.5, and my weekly pivot at $1404.1, which was tested on Wednesday. Monthly and quarterly pivots are $1437.7 and $1441.7 with my semiannual risky level is at $1452.6. [chart]

Nymex Crude Oil -- ($98.28) Held my monthly value level at $96.43 on Wednesday and stayed below my annual pivots at $99.91 and $101.92. My daily pivot is $98.23 with semiannual and quarterly risky levels at $107.14 and $110.87.[chart]

The Euro -- (1.3890) It appears that my weekly risky level at 1.4089 is a barrier. My quarterly value level is 1.3227 with a daily pivot at 1.3846, and weekly, semiannual and monthly risky levels at 1.4089, 1.4624 and 1.4637.[chart]

All daily charts for the major equity averages are negative -- The Dow is below 50-day simple moving average at 12,011 with declining daily momentum (12x3x3 daily slow stochastic). There are no oversold measures as yet. Wednesday’s low was 11,555.48.[chart]

Key Levels for the Major Equity Averages

• The Dow Industrial Average (11,613) -- My annual value level is 11,491 with a daily pivot at 11,746, and weekly and monthly risky levels at 12,400 and 12,741.
• The S&P 500 (1256.9) -- My annual value level is 1210.7 with my quarterly pivot at 1262.5, my daily pivot at 1266.3, and weekly and monthly risky levels at 1327.3 and 1381.3. A weekly close below 1284 shifts the weekly chart profile to negative.
• The NASDAQ (2617) -- My daily pivot is 2611 with weekly, quarterly and monthly risky levels at 2753, 2853 and 2926. Semiannual and annual value levels are 2363, 2335 and 2172.
• The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) (2203) -- My daily pivot is 2201.8 with weekly, quarterly, and monthly risky levels at 2333, 2438 and 2499. Semiannual value levels are 2006.8 and 1927.6.
• Dow Transports (4950) -- My quarterly value level is 4671 with a weekly pivot at 4995, and daily and annual pivots at 5051 and 5179.
• The Russell 2000 (781.90) -- My quarterly value level is 765.50 with daily and annual pivots at 778.07 and 784.16, and a weekly pivot at 805.37, and monthly risky level at 850.79. Semiannual value levels are 631.62 and 567.74.
• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) (412.44) -- My daily value level is 396.87 with weekly, monthly and quarterly risky levels at 447.74, 453.89 and 465.93. Semiannual and annual value levels are 296.89, 270.98 and 259.30. ‘

NY Fed intervenes in Yen currency trade Nikkei | The NY Fed bank is confirming its first currency intervention for a decade.

Our Enemy, the Fed by Ron Paul Ron Paul | There is perhaps no topic as important to the average American today as rising prices.

Michigan passes ‘financial martial law’ bill Politico | Michigan legislators have approved a bill authorizing state-appointed emergency financial managers to break union contracts.

US Cost of Living Hits Record, Passing Pre-Crisis High One would think that after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Americans could at least catch a break for a while with deflationary forces keeping the cost of living relatively low. That’s not the case.

Oil prices soar as UN approves no-fly zone in Libya Crude oil prices rose in Asian trade on Friday, after the United Nations (UN) approved the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, raising fresh fears over oil exports from the country.

Debt Problem: Who In The World Is Going To Buy The Billions Of Dollars Of Debt The U.S. Government Is Constantly Pumping Out Now? Is the U.S. government on the verge of a massive debt problem? For years, the U.S. government has been able to borrow all the money that it has wanted to at extremely low interest rates.

G-7 Sells Yen in First Joint Intervention in More Than Decade The Group of Seven will jointly intervene in the foreign exchange market for the first time in more than a decade after Japan’s currency soared, threatening its recovery from the March 11 earthquake.

(3-18-11) Dow 11,858 +83 Nasdaq 2,643 +7 S&P 500 1,279 +5 [CLOSE- OIL $102.39 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.57 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.91 REG./ $3.93 MID-GRADE/ $4.05 PREM./ $4.13 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,418 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $35.23 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,717 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 80 YEN, .62 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/update 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.26% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

Massive Japanese Storm Headed for U.S. West Coast Infowars | A massive storm in the Pacific is headed directly for the U.S. and Canadian West Coast.

Infowars has some of the only Potassium Iodide in the U.S. [ Before you go freaking out, let me just say that if you’re that concerned, read the label of your multi-vitamin which probably contains more than sufficient quantities of potassium iodide; mine do (I use two Rite Aid multis – inexpensive multi and their more expensive male whole source with vitamins, minerals, herbs / no iron) ] Infowars | Infowars has taken action and secured some of the only remaining dose-ready potassium iodide (KI) in the country.

Nuclear plant boss breaks down crying, admits radiation levels deadly Mail Online | Officials said rating was raised after they realized the full extent of the radiation leaking from the plant.

When An ill Wind Blows From Afar! (Like from Japan, Iran or N. Korea) Shane Connor | Surviving radioactive fallout & radiation contamination from Japan, Iran or North Korea.

Reports Of “Harmless” Radiation Reaching California Are a Whitewash Paul Joseph Watson | Bulk of radioactive particles from Fukushima blasts will not reach west coast until Saturday to Monday.

Ron Paul: Libya Airstrikes Unconstitutional – Only Congress Can Declare War This is black letter law, not some aspirational statement by our Founders. Their intent was indisputably clear: Congress alone, not the Executive Branch, has the authority and the obligation to declare war if hostilities are to be initiated against a foreign state that has not attacked the United States.

Globalist Crimes Against Humanity Expanded Over Libya In an unsurprising move that was all but inevitable, the UN has decided to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to save the globalist-backed rebellion sputtering in failure and bordering on a “Bay of Pigs” disaster. Canadian, US, French, Arab, and UK jets are already reported to be preparing for the operation.

MOX plutonium fuel used in Fukushima’s Unit 3 reactor two million times more deadly than enriched uranium Largely absent from most mainstream media reports on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is the fact that a highly-dangerous “mixed-oxide” (MOX) fuel in present in six percent of the fuel rods at the plant’s Unit 3 reactor.

Obama tells Americans: Do NOT prepare for radioactive fallout, just listen to your government In a truly incredible example of the complete disregard for the health and safety of the American people, President Obama today told Americans that they should NOT prepare for radiation from the possible meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.

Nuclear Crisis in Japan Follows Decades of Faked Safety Reports, Accidents The unfolding disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant follows decades of falsified safety reports, fatal accidents and underestimated earthquake risk in Japan’s atomic power industry.

Libya, Hypocrisy and Betrayal by the United Nations: US-NATO’s New War in North Africa of Death and Destruction The bombing of Libya will begin on or nearly to the day, of the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq, 19th March, in Europe.

A People Betrayed: West Launches New War for Oil in Libya And so now, another war. Led by the United States and the religious extremists in Saudi Arabia, the UN Security Council voted to intervene on behalf of one side in the Libyan civil war. Having already armed and trained Moamar Gadafy’s armies and security forces, the Western war-profiteers have now decided to do the same for his opponents.

Saving Money? Not In This Economy – 22 Facts That Prove Middle Class Families Are Being Savagely Crushed The 22 facts that you are about to read are all real, although admittedly they are hard to believe. The sad truth is that millions of middle class families in the United States today are being savagely crushed by this economy.

“Humanitarian Wars are Good for Business”…. Speculators Applaud A war directed against Libya would push the price of crude oil up to abysmally high levels, potentially triggering a global inflationary spiral, which would result in the impoverishment of large sectors of the World population.

Bloodbath in Yemen: No UN Action for the Peace Laureate’s Pal The regime in Yemen will not face military intervention by the UN to stop its slaughter of unarmed civilians. There will be, at most, a few stern words from the Obama Administration urging “restraint on both sides” — even as the Peace Laureate carries on his secret bombing campaigns and covert military operations in Yemen.

U.S. Arming Libyan Rebels Via Egypt If all goes well for the globalists, this servile proxy Arab conglomerate, after being marshaled to raid Libya on behalf of the West, will then be organized and ready to turn its attention east toward Iran at the behest of their globalist masters.

War Propaganda Begins: Media Reports Gaddafi is “Collecting Bodies” To Blame Deaths On UN Bombing Libyan government officials say they have declared a ceasefire. Libyan rebels say the ceasefire is a hoax. The Western military industrial establishment says it will send fighter jets anyway.

Nuclear plant chief weeps as Japanese finally admit that radiation leak is serious enough to kill people The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears – as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens.

Reports Of “Harmless” Radiation Reaching California Are a Whitewash Exactly as we predicted would happen, authorities have cited “miniscule” levels of radiation reaching California as an excuse with which to downplay the threat to Americans of fallout crossing the Pacific from Japan, completely ignoring the fact that the bulk of the radiation from the two blasts at the Fukushima power plant will not reach the west coast until Monday.

Globalists To Bomb Libya Despite Cease-Fire; US Deploys More Ships The United States will deploy additional amphibious ships to the Mediterranean, the military said on Friday, as part of the Obama administration’s plans for responding to ongoing violence in Libya.

Another Illegal War Of Slaughter Couched In “Humanitarian” Doublespeak Those who were asking what the “international community” planned to do in response to the escalating global crisis surrounding the nuclear plant in Fukushima now have their answer – bomb Libya. As if the world wasn’t experiencing enough turmoil and devastation, another illegal war of aggression has been launched in a volatile region, couched in the retching Orwellian doublespeak of ‘no fly zones’ and ‘humanitarian’ rhetoric.

Drudgereport: US SHIPS DEPLOY; LIBYA ACTION
FRENCH, BRIT JETS SET FLY OVER
Japan govt finally admits radiation leak serious enough to kill...
Drives back crews attempting to rein in reactor...
'Very Grave'; Winds Shift...
AP: 'Minuscule fallout' reaches USA...
REUTERS: 'Very low radiation' detected on west coast...
Rads Whitewash?
Storage pools big worry...
HEAD FAKE: Libya Renews Attacks After Cease-Fire Offer...
BOMBS POWER STATION IN REBEL STRONGHOLD...
Claims 'No Bombardments' Since Cease-Fire...
US: Gaddafi still on the march...
DOJ to white males who are bullying victims: Tough luck...

Cost of Living Hits Record...
Unemployment rises in nearly all metro areas...

Obama understates deficits by $2.3 trillion...

Top big-wave surfer killed in wipeout off California...
REPORT: Pentagon Overpaid Billionaire Oilman By Up to $200 Million...
Fmr. Dean of White House Press Corps Still Talking About 'the Jews'…[Come on! It’s true of course … quite amazingly since it’s been self-destructive and self-defeating for presidencies and the nation generally … look at the mideast policies, no-pros on the wall street frauds with those ‘goldman’ boys ‘sniffin’ around, etc. ]...

Helen Thomas to Playboy: Jews 'own the White House'

Helen Thomas is not sorry, nor were the comments that ended her career accidental.

“I knew exactly what I was doing – I was going for broke,” she told Playboy in the magazine’s April interview. “I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up … I finally wanted to speak the truth.”

Thomas, of course, left her perch as the dean of the White House press corps last year after telling a rabbi and blogger that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.” Her family is Lebanese and she grew up in the Detroit area, home to one of the country’s densest populations of Arab Americans.

She spoke to Playboy at length about the situation in Palestine, her feelings on American support of Israel, and her take on Jews.

But her most controversial comments echoed ones she’s made before about the influence of Jews in American life, which have contributed to her name being stripped from journalism awards.

"[The Jews are] using their power, and they have power in every direction,” she told Playboy. “Power over the White House, power over Congress … Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There's total control … It isn't the 2 percent. It's real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power. [To the interviewer] You don't deny that. You're Jewish, aren't you?"

She also had some controversial views about memorializing the Holocaust.

"There's nothing wrong with remembering it, but why do we have to constantly remember?" she said. "We're not at fault. I mean, if they're going to put a Holocaust museum in every city in Germany, that's fine with me. But we didn't do this to the Jews. Why do we have to keep paying the price and why do they keep oppressing the Palestinians? Do the Jews ever look at themselves? Why are they always right? Because they have been oppressed throughout history, I know. And they have this persecution. That's true, but they shouldn't use that to dominate."

New York Times to charge for access (Washington Post) [ They’re dreamin’. Who’d be dumb enough to pay for regurgitated, filtered news? ] Some users soon have to pay for Web and mobile access.

G-7 to intervene in currency markets (Washington Post) [ Well there you go … nothing to worry about … now that the G7 is intervening … riiiiight! After all, their track record has been surperlative in precipitating this global meltdown (see infra). ] Major industrialized nations will combine in a rare coordinated currency intervention to keep the Japanese yen from rising too sharply in value in the wake of the country’s recent natural disaster.

This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding ‘Many important global stock markets, including China, Brazil, India and Hong Kong, have been in fairly significant corrections since November, down between 12% and 17%. Their major concerns have been rising inflation and the resulting monetary tightening by their central banks to combat the inflationary pressures...So was this week’s stumble the beginning of a more serious correction? The events and reports this week did provide more evidence that the stock market may be ahead of reality regarding prospects for the economy, and therefore corporate earnings, going forward, which should at least limit the market’s upside potential. Limited upside potential equals more downside risk? It might be wise to lighten up some into strength that may develop over the next few days during the ‘monthly strength period.’ BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows

Nuclear emergency could last for weeks, U.S. official warns (Washington Post) [ I must say, and it brings me no joy to say it, but for those looking for some silver lining in all this as the ‘glass-half-full’ perma-bulls have been intimating as the markets rose; well, they’re just dreaming. Japan’s economy, though better than that of defacto bankrupt america’s, was already in the tank, particularly looking forward. Indeed, you could cut current level stock prices in half and still be over-valued inasmuch as this is far more serious in terms of prospective impacts than is being peddled by the pundits. Poor g.e. … like Lucy, they got a ‘lotta splainin’ to do. ] As Japan sprays stricken reactor with tons of water from helicopters and water cannons, the U.S. warns of a long crisis. | Rick Maese and Rob Stein, 9:47 p.m.

Global Meltdown? [ Looks like … feels like … seems like … Yes, it is! A global meltdown! ] Nyaradi ‘Global meltdown.Scary words, indeed. However, as we look around our world, it certainly does appear that a global meltdown is in progress.At Wall Street Sector Selector, we are nearly fully positioned on the “short” side of global markets and so were fortunate to have had a pleasant day, unlike so many investors and citizens of our small world... Japan, Bahrain and Libya.Of course, the big news is in Japan, where the struggle to contain the potential of nuclear meltdown goes on after the tsunami and earthquake. I can’t add much to this discussion other than to say that from a human standpoint, we need to do what we can to help our allies in their time of need.I travel often to Japan and this is a modern Western country now without power and water and basic essentials for many days, and to fully understand this unthinkable tragedy, just try to imagine a 30 foot wall of water coming through your neighborhood, entire neighborhoods and towns disappearing, followed by the threat of nuclear catastrophe and no water and power for days on end during these cold early spring nights.Aside from the human catastrophe, the economic toll of this event will be felt for years. Some analysts estimate that Japan will have to import an additional 200,000 barrels of oil per day to make up for the lost output of the damaged nuclear plants, while insurance and GDP losses are only guestimates at this early hour but will be surely significant.Across the globe, unrest continues in the Middle East as Bahrain is under martial law, the Libyan government continues to quell the revolution (while the United Nations dithers) and Portugal’s credit rating is downgraded and totters again on the edge of financial collapse. At home, Congress continues putting band aids on our national budget deficit while home sales plunge to new lows…’

Fantasy? You should be on wall street! U.S. stocks rise (Washington Post) (on b*** s*** alone) [ This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength – Harding ] Investors speculate

U.N. approves ‘all necessary measures,’ including no-fly zone, to protect Libyans (Washington Post) [ The u.n. has spoken … just not to israel lately … Hamas says Israeli fighter jets bomb facility in Gaza, killing 2 Palestinians [ War crimes nation israel keeping america looking bad in the Mideast, when defacto bankrupt america can least afford it. ] Washington Post - GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli fighter jets pummeled a Hamas security facility in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing two Palestinian civilians / freedom fighters and wounding four, officials in the Palesinian coastal ... Two killed in Israeli air strike on Hamas compound in Gaza Jerusalem Post Palestinians: Three killed in Israel air strike on Gaza Ha'aretz ] The resolution, passed 10 to 0 with 5 abstentions, opens the door to air and naval attacks against the forces of leader Moammar Gaddafi as he vowed to level the city of Benghazi, the last major rebel stronghold.

Neo-Libs Rejoice As UN Declares War On Libya Neo-libs everywhere are rejoicing. Remember – war is evil unless it’s sprinkled with the magic pixie dust of UN endorsement and “humanitarian” rhetoric, in which case the dead bodies, the terror, and the screaming children are all worth it. The fact that Libya is the richest oil nation on the entire African continent is a mere coincidence. Go back to sleep – basketball is on the TV. Soon you’ll be able to crack open a 6 pack and enjoy the air strikes like you would a Dwyane Wade slam dunk.

VIDEO: EU Naval Forces Fight Piracy off Somali Coast [ Yeah! With all their nation-bankrupting, self-defeating, wasteful, adventuring, warring for no good reason in Afghanistan, etc., I have been at a loss to understand why they are not blasting the skinnies out of the water, along with bombing the skinny-places of refuge! ]

This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s short-covering / suckers’ rally provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding ‘Many important global stock markets, including China, Brazil, India and Hong Kong, have been in fairly significant corrections since November, down between 12% and 17%. Their major concerns have been rising inflation and the resulting monetary tightening by their central banks to combat the inflationary pressures...So was this week’s stumble the beginning of a more serious correction? The events and reports this week did provide more evidence that the stock market may be ahead of reality regarding prospects for the economy, and therefore corporate earnings, going forward, which should at least limit the market’s upside potential. Limited upside potential equals more downside risk? It might be wise to lighten up some into strength that may develop over the next few days during the ‘monthly strength period.’ BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows

Global Meltdown? [ Looks like … feels like … seems like … Yes, it is! A global meltdown! ] Nyaradi ‘Global meltdown.Scary words, indeed. However, as we look around our world, it certainly does appear that a global meltdown is in progress.At Wall Street Sector Selector, we are nearly fully positioned on the “short” side of global markets and so were fortunate to have had a pleasant day, unlike so many investors and citizens of our small world. I sincerely hope and pray that many pleasant days lie ahead for the people of Japan, Bahrain and Libya.Of course, the big news is in Japan, where the struggle to contain the potential of nuclear meltdown goes on after the tsunami and earthquake. I can’t add much to this discussion other than to say that from a human standpoint, we need to do what we can to help our allies in their time of need.I travel often to Japan and this is a modern Western country now without power and water and basic essentials for many days, and to fully understand this unthinkable tragedy, just try to imagine a 30 foot wall of water coming through your neighborhood, entire neighborhoods and towns disappearing, followed by the threat of nuclear catastrophe and no water and power for days on end during these cold early spring nights.Aside from the human catastrophe, the economic toll of this event will be felt for years. Some analysts estimate that Japan will have to import an additional 200,000 barrels of oil per day to make up for the lost output of the damaged nuclear plants, while insurance and GDP losses are only guestimates at this early hour but will be surely significant.Across the globe, unrest continues in the Middle East as Bahrain is under martial law, the Libyan government continues to quell the revolution (while the United Nations dithers) and Portugal’s credit rating is downgraded and totters again on the edge of financial collapse. At home, Congress continues putting band aids on our national budget deficit while home sales plunge to new lows…’

Oversold Market Rally: Dave's Daily ‘It was time for a good oversold short squeeze and we got it today. Wednesday's large selloff took the McClellan Oscillator to sub -60 readings; the VIX nearly broached the fear level of 30; and, daily RSIs in some sectors also pushed below 30 meaning more oversold conditions. The initial stimulus for today's rally came from FedEx which actually reported results that missed, but gave a cautiously positive forecast. The stock rallied 5% on the news initially. Jobless Claims also fell just matching expectations; headline CPI was up .5% (I refuse to report the bogus "core" rate); Industrial Production was a large miss lower (-.1% vs. +.5%); Leading Indicators missed expectations (.8% vs 1% expected) but the Philly Fed knocked the cover off the ball with a reading of 43.4 vs 28 expected. Little noticed by bulls was the huge rise in prices that will surely be noted in the next PPI report. The Fed tossed-in another $7B in POMO to grease the trading desks and "wink-wink" they know what they're supposed to do with that cash. As to problems with Japan and MENA, bulls just put those aside for today. Also options expiration is at hand and can add significantly to volatility. And, what the hell, it is St. Patrick's Day after all! So let's put our worries aside and rally. Volume was still high but about 45% lower than Wednesday. Breadth was positive but moderately so…’

US says plant's spent fuel rods dry; Japan says no (AP) AP - Nuclear plant operators trying to avoid complete reactor meltdowns said Thursday that they were close to completing a new power line that might end Japan's crisis, but several ominous signs have also emerged: a surge in radiation levels, unexplained white smoke and spent fuel rods that U.S. officials said could be on the verge of spewing radioactive material. Lessons from the long tail of improbable disaster (Washington Post) [ No! I disagree with the implication of the article! Modern life advantages? What, new fangled frauds? That was the bottomline to the real estate debacle; that is, the ‘pretend’ was creating an ongoing plethora of profits derived from literally worthless paper. If not for financial incentive (from fraud), and certainty of prosecution for the fraud (to date such has not occurred), this still extant debacle in the trillions would not have occurred. Moreover, and this is not 20/20 hindsight, I had no idea of the prevalence of earthquakes in Japan (but was aware of their nuclear energy commitment) and clearly, conscious decisions for the sake of extra profits were made regardless of risk. Some (ie., earthquake-prone) nations just have to suck it up and make do without nuclear (and pay more for fossil fuels, etc., which would affect margins). The BP disaster was the consequence of a known flaw, even warned against by personnel close to the debacle (the solution possibly affecting executive bonuses, yacht, plane, exotic vacation home, etc.). New Orleans? … well, who’d want to live there anyway outside of the Mardi Gras celebration…just kidding. All the attention in the world does not change the ‘facts of life’. No, not those facts of life, but reality. ] The lesson of disasters such as the one in Japan is that more attention must be paid to extra risks that come with all the advantages of modern life

[video] Analyst Sees Fibonacci Retracement

[video] Market Rallies on Oil [ Yeah … riiiiight … that’s bullish … keep the inflation comin’ … talk about inmates running the asylum! ]

Market in a Slow-Burn Mode and Starting to Wilt the Inflation Trader ‘…and now, I’m supposed to be a nuclear engineer? Financial engineering is in some ways similar to nuclear engineering, which is one reason we use terms in finance like “nuclear waste” to mean a particularly toxic tranche of a deal that no one wants to have, or refer to a particular credit as being “radioactive.” The credit crisis has also been called a “financial meltdown.” But most of the products that Wall Street creates don’t actually kill people (on the other hand, they also don’t get better when you pour water on them, so perhaps the jury is still out on which is worse).

Markets reacted poorly for most of the day yesterday on the news coming out of Japan. The Federal Reserve was forced to cancel its scheduled bond buy-back in mid-stream when the Dow Jones newswire ran headlines saying “EU ENERGY CHIEF: SITUATION AT JAPAN NUCLEAR PLANT OUT OF CONTOL” and “EU ENERGY CHIEF: POSSIBLE CATASTROPHIC EVENTS IN NEXT HOURS.” Bonds predictably shot straight up and stocks tumbled until the EU energy chief admitted that his “analysis” had been gleaned from details in news reports. The Fed re-initiated and complete the bond buyback, and everybody learned a lesson not to listen to the EU Energy Chief. Ever. Again.

The U.S. stock market, however, is also in slow-burn mode and starting to wilt. Yesterday’s 2% decline in the S&P on the highest volume of the year (1.4bln shares or so) took the index to flat on the year. Easy come, easy go. Meanwhile, the Nikkei rallied overnight (5.7%) and the Yen strengthened to match its all-time strongest level, 79.80 yen to the dollar, last seen in 1995. Yes, you read that correctly. The U.S. market is all aflutter now while the Nikkei is rallying and the Japanese currency is actually rallying. Maybe nuclear engineering would be easier.

Speaking of the 2008 meltdown, a reminder of it was called up yesterday when the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled “Banks Probed in Libor Manipulation Case.” In 2008, there was another Journal story – and it probably prompted this investigation, as that is the way these things go – that pointed out that LIBOR was exceptionally low given the apparent difficulty many banks were having funding themselves in the LIBOR market. It was clear that it was predominantly hedge funds that were upset by the settings and stirring up trouble; after all, the banks are lending money tied to LIBOR and most of us are borrowing that money…so why would we get all bent out of shape because LIBOR was being mismarked too low?

This whole issue wouldn’t even exist if the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) hadn’t changed the way the LIBOR survey was conducted some years ago. Until 1998, LIBOR was set by a survey in which a large number of money market dealers were asked the following question: “At what rate do you think interbank term deposits will be offered by one prime bank to another prime bank for a reasonable market size today at 11am?” On the basis of that question, the crisis of 2008 wouldn’t affect the setting since it became merely hypothetical. There were no prime banks in late 2008, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to speculate where such banks might have lent to each other. This was a smart way to word the question because it meant that (a) no bank was forced to reveal its own cost of funds to its competitors and (b) it abstracted from the occasional funding difficulties that a bank or two might have in special circumstances. That bank, during its problem, wasn’t a prime name bank so it could be ignored for the purpose of the survey.

However, as the swaps market grew and with it, the importance of the LIBOR rate, I suppose the BBA thought it oughtn’t be so hypothetical. So the survey procedure was changed, and now banks are asked “At what rate could you borrow funds, were you to do so by asking for and then accepting inter-bank offers in a reasonable market size just prior to 11 am?” (Thanks to MM for helping me find that.)

This is obviously a very different question. Now banks are expected to trumpet to the world when they are having funding difficulties. Moreover, the question leads to absurdities in the circumstances of late 2008. Complainers think that LIBOR should have been marking higher than it was, but how are you supposed to answer this when the real answer is “infinity. No funds are being offered to me or to any other bank at any price”? And that was in fact the situation. Banks were being ordered not to put out 12-month, 6-month, 3-month, and for a time even 1-month and shorter money.

If you had offered 100% and been lifted, you would have lost your job (especially if that bank then collapsed the next day and your unsecured LIBOR deposit went down the hole with it). So there was literally no correct answer. Obviously, some banks unilaterally altered the question they were answering (since they are required to answer it, and amended to the question “…and the market was functioning normally.” Or perhaps they merely decided to answer the question in the original, pre-1998 spirit. Can we blame people for giving a bad answer to a stupid question? I suppose it makes sense to look to see if there was collusion among the twenty banks that make up the LIBOR survey, although it is a little hard to imagine how a secret agreement could have been kept with so many conspirators.

This just in: the housing market is still radioactive as well. Yesterday’s Housing Starts figure printed at 479k, only 2k above the absolute low of April 2009. This is good, in a way, since less construction means less inventory, which means existing inventory gets worked off more quickly and more homebuyers get shunted to the existing home market where the inventories are really ugly. But it also means that construction is not going to be adding much to the growth figures for a while…

The housing data was lost in the global geopolitical news, as is appropriate. But it was harmonious with what the market wanted to do anyway. Stocks wanted to fall, and they did. Bonds wanted to rally, and the 10y yield declined 10bps to 3.20%, the lowest yield since December and starting to make Bill Gross look kinda bad (but seriously, Mr. Gross has many powers but the ability to predict earthquakes, I suspect, is not among them).

Commodities were flat, with the Ags and Industrial Metals down and energy up. Crude oil regained the $98 level. Opinions on oil vary widely, but I’m a bull. Monetary policy, respectable global growth, damage to MENA production environments, and a decrease in the BTU that can be output from nuclear – that seems like a bullish mix to me.

Today’s data includes Initial Claims (Consensus: 388k from 397k), Industrial Production/Capacity Utilization (Consensus: +0.6%/76.5%), Leading Indicators (Consensus: +0.9%), and the Philly Fed Index (Consensus: 28.8 vs 35.9).

But by far the most important data is the CPI report. The consensus calls for +0.4% on headline and +0.1% on core, raising the year/year headline number to +2.0% and maintaining +1.0% on core.

I think there is risk to the upside on core inflation. Last month, the print surprised on the upside at +0.17% m/m, which brought the y/y number to +0.95% (rounded to +1.0% in news reports). What are the chances of another similar number, more than 0.1% but not quite 0.2%?

I think the odds are reasonable. Recall that last month, major subindices of the CPI constituting 83.5% of total inflation showed acceleration in the year-on-year numbers (to review what I wrote last month, follow this link). And, as I pointed out just 10 days ago, the recent rise in inflation swaps, especially combined with the decline in forward energy quotes, implies that the market also expects core to rise (updated chart below, click to enlarge). [chart]

Purple line is expected core inflation over the next 1 year implied by current inflation swaps and forward energy futures.

As I said in that recent comment, however, the aggressive expectations that are embedded does create the potential for disappointment. The inflation market is far more likely to respond negatively to an as-expected print than it is likely to respond positively to a higher-than-expected core print. We’d need a strong 0.2%, not just a weak 0.2%, to really goose the market I think, and that seems a stretch.’

BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Blodget ‘Investors have gotten wildly bullish of late, as the bull market that started in early 2009 keeps driving stocks to new highs. But the pigs are about to get slaughtered, says Bob Prechter, president of Elliott Wave International and editor of the Elliott Wave Theorist. Prechter still thinks the new bull market is just a cyclical "retracement" of some of the bear market losses that we've had since the market crashed in 2008. Prechter expected this retracement to drive stocks 50% above the market lows, but stocks have since soared 30% higher than than he expected. So when the day of reckoning comes, Prechter thinks, it will be even more startling. And Prechter still thinks that stocks will eventually crash to new bear-market lows (read: below 6,800 on the DOW). What makes Prechter think this day of reckoning may come sooner rather than later? Sentiment indicators and other technical analysis. Investor bullishness has now gotten so extreme, Prechter says, that it has exceeded the levels in 2008 before the market crashed. Investors could still get even more bullish, of course, but eventually they'll pay for this optimism. And Prechter's not just bearish on stocks: He thinks oil, silver, and other commodities are absurdly overvalued, too. The only thing he's bullish on is the dollar. And lest he be dismissed as a perma-bear, Bob Prechter is quick to add that he hopes there will come a day when he can come on the show and tell everyone that stocks are finally so crushed and hated that it's a historic opportunity to buy them. When will that be? Stay tuned...’ The Case for a Bear Market for Stocks Suttmeier ‘In making a bearish call on the U.S. stock market, I base it on both fundamental and technical factors. The fundamentals show that stocks are overvalued and we have had three ValuEngine Valuation Warnings so far this year. The January warning was ignored by the market but so far stocks peaked with the warning issued on February 18 and re-iterated on March 3. During this period we have seen many days where all 16 sectors have been overvalued, with eight to 11 by double-digit percentages. Today 63.8% of all stocks are overvalued, and all 16 sectors are overvalued, 11 by double-digit percentages…’

Ellen Bente Oliver ‘Salary of House/Senate...$174,000. Salary of Speaker of House...$223,500. Salary of Majority/Minority Leaders...$193,400. Average US Salary...$33,000 to $77,000. Maybe our elected officials should make an average salary too...It's a time of sacrifice after all...Pass along, post on your own page if you agree…’

World's richest are almost $1 trillion richer [ And the other 95% trillions poorer. ]

Utilities Are Warning the Correction Is Here Gayed ‘The utilities sector (IDU) may not be the most fascinating sector of the market to watch, but in many ways can be one of the most important. Legendary technical analyst Edson Gould, known for being one of the best market timers of all time, believed that the performance of utilities was an early indicator for broad market movements. He noted often times that when utilities performed exceptionally well, within a short period of time, markets would experience a period of volatility and declining prices…’

Is the Bear Market Back? [ The bear market never left … This has been a manipulated bubble-bull cycle in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and hence, is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you can since there's much worse to come! ] Michaud ‘Financial Markets at Critical Junctures

Michigan passes ‘financial martial law’ bill Politico | Michigan legislators have approved a bill authorizing state-appointed emergency financial managers to break union contracts.

Another Ron Paul Critic at the Fed: ‘I Know Some Powerful People’ Robert Wenzel | Paper money as issued by the Fed can be, I guess, considered a liability.

Currency Meltdown Coming USA Watchdog | A ball of debt is growing. It is on course to swamp the system.

G-7 Sells Yen in First Joint Intervention in More Than Decade The Group of Seven will jointly intervene in the foreign exchange market for the first time in more than a decade after Japan’s currency soared, threatening its recovery from the March 11 earthquake.

Japanese Politician Suggests Closing Financial Markets For A Week Yesterday’s speculation that a bank holiday was suggested and may be imposed in Japan due to unprecedented market swings and tens of trillions in support from the BOJ has just been confirmed.

Tokyo Exodus Part 3: ATM Shutdowns, Power Outages Put Citizens On Edge, Gold Hoarded In Evacuation Preparations The resilience of those living in the Japanese capital has been beyond admirable. After experiencing a record earthquake, hundreds of aftershocks, a historic tsunami, radioactive catastrophy 160 miles away and constant fears a northeasterly wind can bring in radioactive snow, and now unending rolling blackouts and ATM service interruptions, one has yet to hear about any mass exodus let alone coordinated complaining.

How the NY Fed Gifted An Extra $15.7 Million To Wall Street Yesterday As part of the Federal Reserve’s ongoing QE2 program, nearly each day, the NY Fed purchases US Treasury securities from a select group of primary dealers in what is called a permanent open market operation (POMO).

National / World

Infowars has some of the only Potassium Iodide in the U.S. Infowars | Infowars has taken action and secured some of the only remaining dose-ready potassium iodide (KI) in the country.

Alex Jones: Pentagon preparing for Martial Law RT | Is the system itself collapsing?

Neo-Libs Rejoice As UN Declares War On Libya Paul Joseph Watson | War is evil unless it’s sprinkled with the magic pixie dust of UN endorsement and “humanitarian” rhetoric.

U.N. Security Council Passes Libya No-fly Resolution Financial Times | Diplomats vote 10-0 for military action, with five nations, including Russia, China and Germany, abstaining.

Preview: Charlotte Iserbyt – The Miseducation of America PrisonPlanet.tv | Part one of exclusive interview, coming in April 2011.

Last remaining potassium iodide available at Infowars.com Infowars has taken action and secured some of the only remaining dose-ready potassium iodide (KI) in the country.

Neo-Libs Rejoice As UN Declares War On Libya Neo-libs everywhere are rejoicing. Remember – war is evil unless it’s sprinkled with the magic pixie dust of UN endorsement and “humanitarian” rhetoric, in which case the dead bodies, the terror, and the screaming children are all worth it. The fact that Libya is the richest oil nation on the entire African continent is a mere coincidence. Go back to sleep – basketball is on the TV. Soon you’ll be able to crack open a 6 pack and enjoy the air strikes like you would a Dwyane Wade slam dunk.

NY Times Maps Underplaying Extent Of Radiation The radiation plume illustrated on the map is from the original release over last weekend. A far larger and more deadly plume of radiation from the explosions and fires earlier this week will soon follow.

Swedish Government: Radiation To Cover Entire Northern Hemisphere Suggesting that levels of radiation leaks from the stricken Fukushima plant are being grossly underreported by Japanese authorities, a Swedish government agency told Reuters today that not only will the radiation reach North America, but it will subsequently cover the entire northern hemisphere.

Pentagon’s Actions Suggest Nuclear Disaster Is Much Worse Than Feared The Pentagon’s actions regarding the nuclear crisis in Japan reveal that the true scale of the disaster is being withheld from the public.

Tokyo Passengers Trigger U.S. Airport Detectors, N.Y. Post Says Radiation detectors at Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare airports were triggered when passengers from flights that started in Tokyo passed through customs, the New York Post reported.

Harmless? Chernobyl Radiation Killed Nearly One Million People “No citizen of any country can be assured that he or she can be protected from radioactive contamination. One nuclear reactor can pollute half the globe,” they said. “Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere.”

MSNBC LIES About Three Mile Island Health Effects They never mentioned studies by the Radiation and Public Health Project, including a “new analysis of health statistics in the region found that death rates for infants, children, and the elderly soared in the first two years after the Three Mile Island accident in Dauphin and surrounding counties.”

Western Response to Japan: The real crime against humanity The Anglo-American multi-trillion dollar global military machine has been defended ad nauseum as essential to protecting free humanity and its progress into a promising future.

Newly Released Images Show Devastated Nuclear Reactors The Tokyo Electric Power Company has released new images that show the devastated nuclear reactors at the stricken Fukushima plant, as authorities confirm that a second reactor containment vessel has been damaged, leading to yet more deadly radiation being released into the atmosphere.

French claim Japan is hiding full scale of nuclear disaster The French government accused the Japanese of losing control of the situation and hiding the full scale of the disaster.

27 Signs That The Nuclear Crisis In Japan Is Much Worse Than Either The Mainstream Media Or The Japanese Government Have Been Telling Us How much of a threat is the nuclear crisis in Japan? That question is on the minds of millions of people around the globe tonight. The Economic Collapse March 16, 2011

How much of a threat is the nuclear crisis in Japan? That question is on the minds of millions of people around the globe tonight. Unfortunately, the Japanese government and the mainstream media have both been doing their best to downplay this crisis. Even though there have been massive explosions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility, authorities in Japan have still been very stingy with information and they keep insisting that the situation is under control. But the situation is not under control. In fact, it just seems to get worse with each passing day. Radiation levels are now incredibly high at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex and the radiation cloud is starting to spread. Radiation levels in Tokyo are already 10 times above normal levels, and there are reports in the international media that some people have begun to flee the city. It is imperative that the Japanese government tell the truth about what is going on because this could potentially affect the health of millions of people. There are over 12 million people in the city of Tokyo alone. If this nuclear crisis continues to get worse it could potentially end up killing more Japanese than the tsunami just did.

Yes, things really are that serious.

We are not just talking about a repeat of Chernobyl.

We are possibly talking about “many Chernobyls”.

It is somewhat understandable that the Japanese government and the mainstream media do not want to panic the public, but the reality is that people need the truth about what is going on.

Unfortunately, it is not likely that the Japanese government or the mainstream media are going to “change their stripes” overnight, so in order to try to get an idea of what is really going on we need to look at the clues.

Sometimes it is much more important to watch what people are doing rather than what they are saying.

For example, a significant number of foreign governments are now evacuating personnel from Tokyo.

Why would they be evacuating if there was no threat?

Posted below are 27 signs that the nuclear crisis in Japan is much worse than either the mainstream media or the Japanese government have been telling us. When you take all of these clues and you put them together it really does paint a frightening picture….

#1 Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is urging all people living within 30 kilometers of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility to stay indoors.

#2 Andre-Claude Lacoste, the head of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority, says that the containment vessel surrounding the No. 2 reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex is “no longer sealed“.

#3 Radiation levels in Tokyo are already 10 times above normal levels.

#4 Reuters is reporting that some residents of Tokyo are already starting to flee the city.

#5 Radiation levels in one city north of Tokyo, Utsunomiya, were recently reported to be 33 times above normal levels.

#6 Radiation levels in the city of Saitama have been reported to be 40 timesabove normal levels.

#7 According to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the “possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening.”

#8 The Japanese government is admitting that radiation levels near the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex are very harmful to human health.

#9 According to the World Nuclear Association, exposure to over 100 millisieverts of radiation a year can lead to cancer. At this point the level of radiation being measured right outside the number 4 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex is 400 millisieverts per hour.

#10 A U.S. Navy crew that was assisting in relief efforts was exposed to a month’s worth of nuclear radiation in just a single hour.

#11 According to the U.S. Navy, low levels of radiation have been detectedat their bases in Yokosuka and Atsugi.

#12 The USS Ronald Reagan recently detected significant levels of radiation 100 miles off the Japanese coast.

#13 The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex has pulled out 750 of the 800 workers that were working at the facility.

#14 The French embassy in Tokyo is advising French citizens to leave the city.

#15 The German embassy in Tokyo is advising all German citizens to leave the country entirely.

#16 German technology company SAP is evacuating their offices in Tokyo.

#17 Austria has announced that it is moving its embassy from Tokyo to Osaka due to fears about the radiation.

#18 Finland is urging all of their citizens to leave Tokyo.

#19 The Czech military is sending planes to Japan specifically to evacuate the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

#20 Air China is canceling many flights to Tokyo.

#21 The Chinese Embassy has announced that it will be evacuating all Chinese citizens from the Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate prefectures.

#22 Russia is making preparations to evacuate civilians and military unitsfrom the Kuril Islands.

#23 Physicist Frank von Hippel recently told the New York Times the following about this disaster: “It’s way past Three Mile Island already”.

#24 The president of France’s nuclear safety authority says that this crisis is now almost as bad as Chernobyl was….

“It’s clear we are at Level 6, that’s to say we’re at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.”

#25 There have been reports of extremely high radiation at another nuclear facility in Japan. It has been reported that at the Onagawa nuclear plant radiation that is 700 times the normal level was detected at one point.

#26 One anonymous senior nuclear industry executive told The Times Of India that Japanese power industry managers are “basically in a full-scale panic” and that “they don’t know what to do”.

#27 It is also being reported that there were over 600,000 spent fuel rodsstored at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex. Most of these rods were apparently stored near the top of the 6 reactor buildings. There have already been major explosions at three of those buildings. It is now feared that there is now nothing to prevent many of these spent fuel rods from releasing radiation into the atmosphere. That is really, really bad news.

So is there a threat that nuclear radiation from Japan could reach the United States?

Well, actually everyone agrees that radiation could reach the United States. The controversy is whether or not it will be enough to be harmful to human health.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is admitting that it is “quite possible” that nuclear fallout from this disaster could reach the United States. In fact, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre says that there could already be radiation from Japan over America….

Right now it’s quite possible that there could be some radiation floating over the United States.

But most government officials in the U.S. are insisting that there is “no threat” to the health of American citizens from this crisis at this point.

So how would nuclear radiation from Japan get transported to the United States?

Well, if radiation released by a damaged nuclear reactor got up into the jet stream, the first major land mass that it would encounter would be North America. In fact, the jet stream commonly takes air from over Japan directly over the west coast of the United States. The following video demonstrates this fact beautifully….

So is there any reason for those of us living in the United States to be concerned?

According to the Japanese government, the U.S. government and the mainstream media there is not.

But do you believe them?

The truth is that they seem much more concerned with keeping the public calm rather than telling the public the truth.

Radiation levels are increasing all over northern and central Japan. People are starting to leave Tokyo and other major cities in the region. Foreign governments are evacuating personnel. Fires continue to erupt at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex. The authorities in Japan seem to have no idea how to solve this crisis.

If even one of those damaged nuclear reactors fully melts down it is going to be a complete and total nightmare. If you live in an area that could potentially be affected by nuclear radiation from Japan you might want to start figuring out how you and your family are going to handle this crisis’

Hamas says Israeli fighter jets bomb facility in Gaza, killing 2 Palestinians [ War crimes nation israel keeping america looking bad in the Mideast, when defacto bankrupt america can least afford it. ] Washington Post - GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli fighter jets pummeled a Hamas security facility in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing two Palestinian civilians / freedom fighters and wounding four, officials in the Palesinian coastal ... Two killed in Israeli air strike on Hamas compound in Gaza Jerusalem Post Palestinians: Three killed in Israel air strike on Gaza Ha'aretz

VIDEO: EU Naval Forces Fight Piracy off Somali Coast [ Yeah! With all their nation-bankrupting, self-defeating, wasteful, adventuring, warring for no good reason in Afghanistan, etc., I have been at a loss to understand why they are not blasting the skinnies out of the water, along with bombing the skinny-places of refuge! ]

Drudgereport: UN AUTHORIZES MILITARY STRIKES ON LIBYA...
HILLARY'S WAR
Strikes Could Come Within Hours...
'ALL NECESSARY MEASURES'...
THE BOOT: Sorties from Italy...
Canada on the march...
GADDAFI: 'WE ARE COMING TONIGHT'...
'THERE WON'T BE ANY MERCY'...
Japan's increasingly frantic efforts at nuke plant...
'Like suicide fighters in a war'...
Mayor of town near nuke: 'They're leaving us to die'...
DESPAIR TURNING TO ANGER...
'We're Very Close Now to the Point of No Return'...
U.S. Officials Alarmed By Japanese Handling of Crisis...
Life Among the Ruins...
AP... BBC... KYODO... NHK... REUTERS...
US, JAPAN SPLIT ON NUKE DANGER
Debt Jumps $72B Same Day House Votes to Cut Spending $6B...
Tiny tim geithner to Congress: More Debt, Please...
OBAMA SETS WEEKEND IN RIO!
Family will take in the sights...
SPRING BREAK: Obama the invisible; Anti-leadership amid world crises … [ wobama’s presidency is over, he should be impeached / removed from office ! ] ...
VIDEO: T_rump Says He'll Spend $600 Million on Prez Run… dreamin’, schemin’, to no avail … even this mobster’s bribes couldn’t put him over the top … he’s a joke, a lightweight, and a loser! And, from the nation’s foremost drains / sinkholes, corrupt / mob infested new york / new jersey (he and his corrupt sister judge maryanne should be in jail – Jerry Springer would make a more serious candidate, and that also would be a joke; but at least Springer pioneered that mindless entertainment genre and is intelligent.)...
RACE TO SAVE CORE...

(Washington Post) [ Comments COMMENTS ARE CLOSED WHILE WE UPGRADE OUR SYSTEMS ]

Dana Milbank In state legislatures, Tea Partyers take democracy to absurd lengths. (Washington Post) [ I love to pick on Mr. Milbank … we’re so … ‘opposite’. ‘Louis Brandeis’? As they say on Saturday Night Live, ‘What’s up with that, what’s up with that’. I concede he was a brilliant jurist (my personal favorite was Holmes, especially Holmes’ discussion of the law as providing foreseeability of consequences to actions, ie., threatening to do what one legally can do which enables the other party to avoid such consequences, etc.. – Boy, did he get that wrong with pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt ‘modern america’ where meaningfully lawlessness reigns supreme (see, ie., RICO case [ http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ] ). Yet Brandeis’ powers of foresight were sorely lacking [ Upon completion of his first semester exams he was packing his bags to leave (I think harvard) certain he had failed out. In fact, he ‘aced’ them all. (I can empathize with that feeling which unlike anytime after a test I felt after the 3 day bar exam. I felt drained and ‘certain’ I had failed. In fact, I scored so high on the multi-state that my ‘jersey part’ of the exam became irrelevant (how prescient a circumstance). ] Laboratory?... I don’t think so … unless you’re talking of that of Dr. Frankenstein himself.

2chambers: McConnell, McCain draw the line (Washington Post) [ mccain recently said that if he had been elected president, defacto bankrupt america would be fighting 3 wars. Talk about a race to the ‘bottom’. Earth to mccain … that’s why you weren’t elected (mccain’s a loser, from wrestler, to downed pilot, to songbird pow, to keating 5 man who should have gone to jail, etc.; although wobama the b (for b*** s***), despite promises to the contrary, has been no better; viz., maybe 2 and a half wars despite the nation’s defacto bankruptcy. Never trust a *********** Go ahead, fill it in … whatever comes to mind … don’t feel guilty, his presidency’s done! Obama Laments He’s Not President Of Communist China [ Time to relieve wobama the b’ (for b*** s***) of his burden by impeaching / removing him from office without delay! He may not have been the first black president (Clinton is generally considered the first black president by blacks and whites alike, a moniker Clinton accepted and wore proudly – that 18% vote), but he is certainly the last! Drudgereport: City Lowers Police Testing Standards Because Not Enough Blacks Passed... Under pressure from Obama administration... Illinois mayor says Obama still owes city $55,457... Obama to party with Washington reporters... Golf in the afternoon... ] Weekly Standard | “Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China.” Dave’s Daily: ‘…Where is the president? This has been a universal question raised by both right and left. Obama appeared on ESPN to go over his NCAA basketball bracket, is hosting a $30K a plate fund raiser in Harlem and heads this weekend to Rio. The president's disconnect is beyond belief and his ears have turned to tin…’ Obama Plays While Japan Begs for Help [ ‘Wobama the b’ (for b*** s***) is a typical ‘***************’ … Go ahead, fill it in … whatever comes to mind … don’t feel guilty, he’s already a failed president who should be impeached / removed from office without delay and a total incompetent and fraud. ] Watson/Jones | With the world on fire, the President goes AWOL again … ’ Financialization and Our Increasingly Unstable Economy Roche ‘I finally got around to seeing the movie Inside Job, the story behind the credit crisis and winner of the Academy Award for best documentary. It’s very good and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. It will certainly infuriate you. The movie doesn’t place nearly enough blame on homeowners, but all in all it does an excellent job of showing how Wall Street and government have become overrun by deregulation and sheer greed. A combination of flawed economic theory and greed have combined to create the beast that we now call a “functioning” economy. The worst part of it all is that President Obama, who vowed change, has done almost nothing to fix any of it and in fact continues most of the policies that helped get us here in the first place. ]

US says plant's spent fuel rods dry; Japan says no (AP) AP - Nuclear plant operators trying to avoid complete reactor meltdowns said Thursday that they were close to completing a new power line that might end Japan's crisis, but several ominous signs have also emerged: a surge in radiation levels, unexplained white smoke and spent fuel rods that U.S. officials said could be on the verge of spewing radioactive material. Lessons from the long tail of improbable disaster (Washington Post) [ No! I disagree with the implication of the article! Modern life advantages? What, new fangled frauds? That was the bottomline to the real estate debacle; that is, the ‘pretend’ was creating an ongoing plethora of profits derived from literally worthless paper. If not for financial incentive (from fraud), and certainty of prosecution for the fraud (to date such has not occurred), this still extant debacle in the trillions would not have occurred. Moreover, and this is not 20/20 hindsight, I had no idea of the prevalence of earthquakes in Japan (but was aware of their nuclear energy commitment) and clearly, conscious decisions for the sake of extra profits were made regardless of risk. Some (ie., earthquake-prone) nations just have to suck it up and make do without nuclear (and pay more for fossil fuels, etc., which would affect margins). The BP disaster was the consequence of a known flaw, even warned against by personnel close to the debacle (the solution possibly affecting executive bonuses, yacht, plane, exotic vacation home, etc.). New Orleans? … well, who’d want to live there anyway outside of the Mardi Gras celebration…just kidding. All the attention in the world does not change the ‘facts of life’. No, not those facts of life, but reality. ] The lesson of disasters such as the one in Japan is that more attention must be paid to extra risks that come with all the advantages of modern life

A Tragedy of Epic Proportions: Dave's Daily ‘No Mr. Wise Guy today. The world is facing two crises in Japan and MENA. The nuclear issue in Japan appears out of control. At the same time, this tragedy is masking what's going in MENA as Gadhafi takes control and in Bahrain where the weird Sunni/Shiite battles rage. With the latter, it's like a primitive religious war the west experienced centuries ago (save Ireland) with Catholics fighting Protestants. Where is the president? This has been a universal question raised by both right and left. Obama appeared on ESPN to go over his NCAA basketball bracket, is hosting a $30K a plate fund raiser in Harlem and heads this weekend to Rio. The president's disconnect is beyond belief and his ears have turned to tin. Hillary Clinton meanwhile has announced she won't serve a second term as Secretary of State should Obama be reelected. Perhaps she'll serve as Vice-President to beef-up Obama's reelection chances; but, she hasn't distinguished herself in foreign affairs lately. Last night the BOJ injected many trillions of yen helping markets rebound. With rapidly changing "current" news this may not occur tonight. Bulls hope for reconstruction that will help U.S. industries within materials and manufacturing sectors providing the stuff they need to rebuild. But, that's a longer term positive for U.S. markets. For now, we need to know how this situation will play out from a humanitarian and safety view. The yen has hit fresh all-time high with repatriation paramount. Bonds are still climbing while crude oil rose and precious metals were up a touch. Other commodities were mixed…’

U.S. home construction drops sharply (Washington Post) [Well, there you go … just like ‘no-recession b.s. bernanke’ said: green shoots … comin’ up roses! ] The level of home construction plummeted in February from a month earlier to its lowest level since April 2009.

Top 3 Reasons Markets Continued to Get Hammered Wall Street Cheat Sheet ‘On Wednesday March 16, 2011, Markets closed down on Wall Street: DJI -2.04% SP500 -1.95% Nasdaq -1.89% Gold +0.24 % Oil +1.46% .Japan ( NYSE:EWJ ) continues to spook the world and Saudi Arabia has an escalating issue with Bahrain. Moody’s ( NYSE:MCO ) also downgraded Portugal’s credit rating again and PIIGS like Spain ( NYSE:EWP ) got slammed as austerity is becoming the new normal in Europe.

Today’s markets dropped because:

1) Japan ( NYSE:EWJ ) is about as scary a situation as possible. Fukushima is the center of the world at this point, and reports on Japan’s wire indicate problems are not contained at the nuclear power plant. General Electric ( NYSE:GE ) has been dumped on fears of legal liability for the design and construction of the facility at issue, and you better believe the Japanese government will look for a scapegoat (and deep pockets) once the situation stabilizes and the blame game begins. The next BP ( NYSE:BP )? Possibly. But there is still hope for a successful rebuild .

2) US producer prices are heating up and housing starts are drastically slowing down. Ironically, the best thing that could happen to the housing market is a slowdown in adding new supply. But don’t tell that to Homebuilders ( NYSE:XHB ) who got slammed today . And the last thing producers need is higher input costs as the economy remains as fragile as a Hollywood ego at the Oscars . Hey, let’s all focus on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and everything will seem fine … for a few days.

3) Apple ( NASDAQ:AAPL ) had its tiara dented. Ready for a complete shocker? The iPad2 is sold out, yet some Excel jockey over at JMP Securities (who??) downgraded Apple . On a more important note, tablet computing rival Motorola ( NYSE:MMI ) announced the new Xoom WiFi will compete at Apple’s price point and run on Google’s ( NASDAQ:GOOG ) Honeycomb OS. All this added up to a staggering 4.4% one day drop for Wall Street’s darling.

Now that you’re in the know, good luck using logic or reason to predict tomorrow’s market activity.’

A Snapshot of Global PE Ratios and Dividend Yields Horowitz ‘Below, presented without comment, an interesting view of some of the major world markets and their P/E or "cheapness" ratios. Spain's IBEX checks in with the lowest P/E ratio and highest dividend ratio on a relative basis, while the two countries with the lowest dividend yield are Japan's Nikkei 225 and Mexico's IPC Index. [chart] ‘

Stock Market Decline Develops Exactly as Expected McCurdy‘The S&P 500 index has declined nearly 5% during the last five sessions, erasing all of the previous gains for the year.
[chart]

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Of course, mainstream financial media have attributed much of the recent weakness to the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. But market behavior was telling us to expect a sharp decline long before this natural disaster occurred.

As we often note, the stock market is a discounting mechanism that sees several months into the future. It represents the cumulative judgment of all market participants, reflecting the best fundamental information available along with investor and trader sentiment. Those who do not understand how the market functions attempt to explain its behavior via the daily news flow, attributing up days to positive data or developments and down days to negative information. However, doing so misses the big picture and ignores basic market dynamics. Market behavior on any given day only has meaning when viewed in its proper context.

Prices are influenced by trends and cycles across multiple time frames that range from decades to days. Secular trends drive market movements for 10 to 20 years at a time, while cyclical component trends dominate price swings for 2 to 5 years. You also have intermediate-term weekly moves and short-term daily trends and cycles. Most importantly, each time frame exhibits relatively independent behavior. Sometimes all trends are aligned across all time frames, but most of the time they are not, so they must each be analyzed and properly characterized in order to develop a comprehensive, accurate understanding of market behavior.

Tragedies such as the Japanese natural disaster do influence market behavior, but their primary functions are as catalysts, setting in motion processes that were already likely. In the case of the current market environment, the process in question was the violent correction of an extremely over-extended rally from September. From early September until late February, the S&P 500 index advanced 28% without experiencing a meaningful retracement. Such extreme moves are always followed by volatile counter-trends, and by early February market behavior was warning us that the inevitable violent correction was becoming more likely. Broad market internals began to exhibit weakness as treasury yields continued to rise and market sentiment held at irrationally bullish extremes. When the overextended rally finally broke below uptrend support during the final week in February, market internals such as volume summation followed suit, strongly suggesting that the correction was about to begin.
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[chart]
The Japanese disaster then acted as a catalyst that set the process in motion. The sharp rally from September to February is representative of the current environment and reflects heightened market volatility that has persisted since the crash in 2008.
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[chart]
Again, extreme moves such as these are always followed by violent countermoves, and careful study of market behavior will indicate when the next reversal is becoming likely. For example, in February 2009, chart analysis suggested that historically oversold conditions would soon lead to the best trading opportunity in a generation, and the catalyst that set the massive rally in motion was a surprise positive earnings announcement from Citigroup on March 10.
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[chart]
As expected, the subsequent oversold reaction was equally violent in character, resulting in the development of an extremely overbought condition in April 2010. Once again, market behavior warned us when the inevitable correction was imminent, and the European debt crisis in May 2010 acted as the catalyst that set the decline in motion.
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[chart]
Returning to the present, now that the violent correction we have been awaiting is in progress, market behavior during the next several weeks should provide a reliable assessment of cyclical bull market health and produce clarity with respect to long-term direction. The decline from early March has caused the current short-term cycle to transition to a bearish bias.
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[chart]
The next Short-Term Cycle Low (STCL) should occur sometime during the next two weeks, and the character of the subsequent reaction will likely tell us if the cyclical bull market is simply taking a breather or preparing to terminate.’

Don't Ignore Weak Housing Market and Bank Stress Issues Suttmeier ‘Japan’s nuclear nightmare will stall global growth, which begins with housing and banking in the United States. With the world’s third-largest economy slowed to a crawl, the impact will be felt around the globe. Here in the United States, I worry about the housing market and the banking system where problems have been kicked down the road since 2008. The Fed says that the housing market remains depressed! The scars of “The Great Credit Crunch” could be opened as the economic impact from Japan slows business activities here in the United States.

The NAHB Housing Market Index Rose by a Point to 17 -- The National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index has been 20 or lower since September 2007 after being as high as 72 in June 2005, when I predicted that housing stocks were extremely overvalued and overbought and long overdue for a bear market. [chart]

In March the HMI inched up to 17 from 16 where 50 is the neutral zone so home builders have been in a depressed mood since May 2006 when this index first dropped below 50. Today home builders face the same obstacles talked about in the last several reports: competition from short sales and foreclosures, potential new home buyers’ inability to sell existing homes, home appraisals falling below the costs of new construction, and tough lending standards for both home builders and home buyers.

Economies on Main Street, USA depend upon the construction industry, and the housing market is a major component of this. Community banks are reluctant to lend to home builders, as they still have $321.6 billion in Construction & Development (C&D) loans on the books, where collections are problematic.

The NAHB Tells Congress that the Housing Market Needs Access to Credit

The National Association of Home Builders tried to give a positive spin on the housing market, anticipating an improving job market, but hedge that with the fact that builders cannot get construction credit from community banks. C&D loans declined 9.2% or $32.5 billion sequentially in the fourth quarter and down 28.7% year-over-year. This is a slight acceleration of this component of Commercial Real Estate loans, which is a natural occurrence as the total is down to $321.6 billion. C&D are down $307.4 billion since the end of 2007, or 48.9%. Back between the end of 1988 and the end of 1992 this category of Commercial Real Estate Loans declined 54.7%, and “The Great Credit Crunch” we are in today will likely exceed that percentage.

The NAHB is worried that this contraction in construction lending will force more small builders out of business resulting in more job losses industry-wide and across the country. I have been saying that construction jobs are the most significant catalyst for job growth on Main Street, USA. Keep in mind that housing represents about 15% of our nation’s GDP. The NAHB told Congress that residential construction jobs declined by 1.4 million since April 2006.

The NAHB urged Congress to have a solution to the Fannie and Freddie dilemma as an affordable source of credit for housing, and to preserve the mortgage interest tax deduction, and the capital gain exclusion. Without these protections home prices are likely to continue to decline. The NAHB s worried about raising the down payment to 20%, but I agree with that restriction.

The NAHB is way too optimistic forecasting a modest gain in new home sales of 8% to 347,000 units in 2011 with 516,000 units in 2012.

Bank Failure Friday -- Two private banks were closed by the FDIC last Friday, and one had an extreme overexposure to Commercial Real Estate loans.

• 25 banks failed in 2008
• 140 banks failed in 2009 with a peak of 50 in the third quarter
• 157 banks failed in 2010
• 25 banks have failed year to date in 2011
• 347 banks have failed since the end of 2007
• I still predict 500 to 800 bank failures in total by the end of 2012 into 2013.

The Number of Underwater Mortgages Rose at the End of 2010 -- According to CoreLogic approximately 11.1 million households or 23.1% of all mortgages were underwater in the fourth quarter of 2010. Another 2.4 million have only 5% of less equity. Underwater mortgages had declined in the prior three quarters because more homes came off the market because of foreclosures. The total negative equity in the mortgage market rose to $751 billion at the end of 2010 up from $744 in the third quarter. The number-one cause of underwater mortgages is lower home values. Home prices hit there lowest point of the crisis in 11 of 20 cities tracked by Case-Shiller in December.

Foreclosure Related Notices Decline, but That's Misleading -- Foreclosure filings fell to a 36-month low in February because lenders delayed activities against homeowners due to heightened scrutiny over the way banks are handling home repossessions. Information from RealtyTrac shows foreclosures down 14% in February to 255,101 homes, down 27% year over year.

Lenders repossessed 16% fewer homes in February, down 41% year over year to 64,643 units. Once the procedures are streamlined the pace will pickup as homeowners in default stay longer living in their homes. Meanwhile the backlog of potential foreclosure action and repossessions will grow.

The delay of foreclosure actions will likely delay a housing recovery until 2014 into 2015. Meanwhile home prices should continue to slump as around 5 million homeowners are at least two months behind on their mortgage payments.

Quite often an unexpected event from abroad will divert attention away from key market factors, which can expose old wounds!

Fed Policy Statement Implies That the US Economy Isn't Out of the Woods

The Federal Reserve says that the economic recovery is on firmer ground with an overall gradual improvement in the labor market. The key to the fact that Main Street economy is not out of the woods? Investment in nonresidential structures remains weak and the housing market continues to be depressed.

The Fed recognizes that commodity prices are putting upward pressure on inflation, but they say that it's temporary. They recognize the sharp run-up in energy costs caused by supply concerns, but have blinders on saying that longer-term inflation expectations is stable with underlying inflation still subdued. This theory will be put to a test with PPI released Wednesday and CPI on Thursday. The FOMC still believes that Americans do not need to eat and buy gasoline.

The Fed will continue to expand their balance sheet via the $600 billion QE2 (quantitative easing), which continues through June and they will continue to buy additional US Treasuries to replace maturing mortgage-backed securities. In addition they are continuing to keep the federal funds rate at zero to 0.25% for an extended period which began December 16, 2008.

10-Year Note -- (3.323) This yield declined to 3.203 on a continued flight to quality. The 200-day simple moving average lines up with my monthly risky level at 3.016 and 3.002. With the rebound in Japanese stocks overnight this yield is up to 3.351 this morning. [chart]

Comex Gold -- ($1396.9) The 50-day simple moving average was tested at Tuesday’s low at $1380.2. My annual value level is $1356.5 with my weekly pivot at $1404.1, and daily, monthly and quarterly pivots at $1420.1, $1437.7 and $1441.7, and semiannual risky level at $1452.6. [chart]

Nymex Crude Oil -- ($97.50) Tested $96.71 on Tuesday versus my monthly value level at $96.43. My annual pivots at $99.91 and $101.92 have been strong magnets. My monthly value level is $96.43 with daily, semiannual and quarterly risky levels at $102.18, $107.14 and $110.87. [chart]

The Euro -- (1.3991) My quarterly value level is 1.3227 with a daily pivot at 1.3913, and weekly, semiannual and monthly risky levels at 1.4089, 1.4624 and 1.4637. [chart]

All daily charts for the major equity averages are negative -- trading below 50-day simple moving averages with declining daily momentum (12x3x3 daily slow stochastic). There are no oversold measures as yet. Tuesday’s low was 11,696 and Monday’s low was 11,897.[chart]

The weekly chart for the Dow Industrial Average remains overbought, but will join the other major averages with momentum (12x3x3 weekly slow stochastic) declining below 8.0 given a close on Friday below 11,856. This will confirm the Friday, February 18 high at 12,391.29 as a cycle high. My prediction has been a March high below 10,600. [chart]

While we are no longer under a ValuEngine Valuation Warning, stocks remain overvalued with 53.4% of all stocks overvalued. This measure needs to fall below 35% to call stocks cheap. Fifteen of 16 sectors remain overvalued, but now only one by double-digit percentage.

Key Levels for the Major Equity Averages

• The Dow Industrial Average (11,855) -- My annual value level is 11,491 with a daily pivot at 11,835, and weekly and monthly risky levels at 12,400 and 12,741.
• The S&P 500 (1281.9) -- My quarterly and annual value levels are 1262.5 and 1210.7 with a daily pivot at 1276.3, and weekly and monthly risky levels at 1327.3 and 1381.3. A weekly close below 1284 shifts the weekly chart profile to negative.
• The NASDAQ (2667) -- My daily value level is 2646 with weekly, quarterly and monthly risky levels at 2753, 2853 and 2926. Semiannual and annual value levels are 2363, 2335 and 2172.
• The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) (2260) -- My daily value level is 2238 with weekly, quarterly, and monthly risky levels at 2333, 2438 and 2499. Semiannual value levels are 2006.8 and 1927.6.
• Dow Transports (5020) -- My quarterly value level is 4671 with weekly and daily pivots at 4995 and 5040 with my annual pivot at 5179.
• The Russell 2000 (791.33) -- My quarterly value level is 765.50 with daily and annual pivots at 785.84 and 784.16, and a weekly pivot at 805.37, and monthly risky level at 850.79. Semiannual value levels are 631.62 and 567.74.
• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) (421.79) -- My daily value level is 404.53 with weekly, monthly and quarterly risky levels at 447.74, 453.89 and 465.93. Semiannual and annual value levels are 296.89, 270.98 and 259.30. ‘

Look at How Producer Prices are Getting More Expensive Wall St Cheat Sheet ‘On Wednesday March 16, 2011, The Producer Price Index for finished goods increased 1.6 percent in February, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today . This rise followed advances of 0.8 percent in January and 0.9 percent in December, and marks the largest increase in finished goods prices since a 1.9-percent advance in June 2009.

At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods moved up 2.0 percent, and the crude goods index climbed 3.4 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods advanced 5.6 percent for the 12 months ended February 2011, the largest 12-month increase since a 5.9-percent rise in March 2010. (See table A.)

Monthly Changes Breakdown[chart]

Finished Goods (seasonally adjusted)[chart]

Finished Goods (not seasonally adjusted)[chart]

Intermediate Goods (seasonally adjusted)[chart]

Intermediate Goods (not seasonally adjusted)[chart]

Crude Materials (seasonally adjusted)[chart]

Crude Materials (not seasonally adjusted)[chart]’

Uptick in Wholesale Prices, Lower U.S. Home Construction Data Weighing On Markets Barron’s ‘As Japan’s nuclear crisis widens and several Arab states contemplate taking a more active role in Libya, stock ETFs are pointing down this morning.The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is slipping slightly in pre-markets following disappointing reports on housing construction and wholesale prices. The PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ) is down 0.4%.Overseas, the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) is sliding by 0.5% and the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) is down 1.4%.Weighing on investors this morning is a report on U.S. housing starts that showed that construction activity took the steepest monthly plunge in nearly 27 years in February. Also, U.S. wholesale prices surged 1.6% last month on higher energy and food prices.’

Marc Faber On The Japanese Disaster, On A 20% Market Correction And On QE18 Marc Faber appeared earlier on CNBC in response to a plunging market, and gave his latest updated outlook on QE3… and 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (not to mention 18). Tyler Durden Zero Hedge March 15, 2011 ‘Marc Faber appeared earlier on CNBC in response to a plunging market, and gave his latest updated outlook on QE3… and 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (not to mention 18). “We may drop 10 to 15 percent. Then QE 2 will come, (then) QE 4, QE 5, QE 6, QE 7—whatever you want. The money printer will continue to print, that I’m sure. .. I meant to say QE 18.”… No fear of that here: Zero Hedge has been rather vocal in our opinion of the world’s most destructive central planning buro from day one. We will continue being so, regardless how low the S&P plummets… Perhaps even to its fair value south of 500.’

Is the Bear Market Back? [ The bear market never left … This has been a manipulated bubble-bull cycle in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and hence, is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you can since there's much worse to come! ] Michaud ‘Financial Markets at Critical Junctures’ (see infra)

U.S. Stocks in Red, Though Markets Cut Early Losses Amid Fed Optimism [ Fed optimism? You mean ‘fed b*** s*** ‘! Yes, we’re spoon fed ‘fed b*** s*** ‘. The same ‘no-recession’ b*** s*** that wall street frauds are made of and thrive on. What do you expect them to say? After all, it’s the fed’s incompetence, complicity and wall street’s greed, fraud! ] Midnight Trader (see infra)

The sad, hypocritical retirement of Evan Bayh Klein (Washington Post) [ What’s so sad about it? Maybe only that the entire congress hasn’t stepped down with him, along with ‘wobama the b’ and the rest of his executive branch except law enforcement, and that other so-called judicial branch of plushly accoutered lifetime appointees. After all, someone must bear responsibility for the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt state of the nation. If not them, then who. In the figurative (and I mean figurative not literal) sense, we should all burst out with that familiar refrain from ‘Another one bites the dust’.]

Obama Laments He’s Not President Of Communist China [ Time to relieve wobama the b’ (for b*** s***) of his burden by impeaching / removing him from office without delay! He may not have been the first black president (Clinton is generally considered the first black president by blacks and whites alike, a moniker Clinton accepted and wore proudly – that 18% vote), but he is certainly the last! Drudgereport: City Lowers Police Testing Standards Because Not Enough Blacks Passed... Under pressure from Obama administration... Illinois mayor says Obama still owes city $55,457... Obama to party with Washington reporters... Golf in the afternoon... ] Weekly Standard | “Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China.” Dave’s Daily: ‘…Where is the president? This has been a universal question raised by both right and left. Obama appeared on ESPN to go over his NCAA basketball bracket, is hosting a $30K a plate fund raiser in Harlem and heads this weekend to Rio. The president's disconnect is beyond belief and his ears have turned to tin…’ Obama Plays While Japan Begs for Help [ ‘Wobama the b’ (for b*** s***) is a typical ‘***************’ … Go ahead, fill it in … whatever comes to mind … don’t feel guilty, he’s already a failed president who should be impeached / removed from office without delay and a total incompetent and fraud. ] Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones | With the world on fire, the President goes AWOL again … ’ Financialization and Our Increasingly Unstable Economy Roche ‘I finally got around to seeing the movie Inside Job, the story behind the credit crisis and winner of the Academy Award for best documentary. It’s very good and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. It will certainly infuriate you. The movie doesn’t place nearly enough blame on homeowners, but all in all it does an excellent job of showing how Wall Street and government have become overrun by deregulation and sheer greed. A combination of flawed economic theory and greed have combined to create the beast that we now call a “functioning” economy. The worst part of it all is that President Obama, who vowed change, has done almost nothing to fix any of it and in fact continues most of the policies that helped get us here in the first place. …’ ‘INSIDE JOB’ Ferguson wins Oscar for Documentary on the unprosecuted massive extant fraud in the (many) TRILLIONS by the frauds on wall street ( and declares with oscar in hand that not one high level wall street exec has been prosecuted … despite ‘earning’ billiions from the fraud ), the commentator / experts recommend getting rid of the corrupt eric holder ( now what do holder and wobama have in common … is it wall street money ………… is it a proclivity for jive-talking / b*** s*** ………all of the above, some of the above ……….. or is it something else …… here’s a hint - UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL TO PURSUE FED PROBE IN BLACK PANTHER CASE... ‘In emotional and personal testimony, an ex-Justice official who quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims ...’ US v. AZ... Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud Washington Post | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. ) (see this film, I strongly recommend the complete documentary – the following is a preview/summary) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffHFjlqIzKE&feature=related


[Here’s an archived version

’Inside Job’ New Documentary Exposes Wall Street Fraud And How Banksters Continue To Steal Our Money

Web site Link / Path to archived file: http://www.albertpeia.com/insidejob.flv [45mb ]

http://www.albertpeia.com/insidejob.mp4 [ 65mb ] ]

] Former general counsel inherited part of a Bernard Madoff account.

Ethics code urged for Supreme Court (Washington Post) [ Sounds like a plan! Come on! Wake up! After all, what can you expect from two guidos from ‘jersey (alito and scalia, colloquial – note that I have refrained from using what some might consider disparaging terms as w*p*, gui***s, or da***s … and let me state for the record that I truly loved and respected my grandmother who was 100% Italian/Bari,Italy and as well my grandfather/Lake Como,northern Italy with greek ancestral roots and I thereby claim standing/right to posit the criticism in light of my direct experience. ). How ‘bout starting with enforcing laws as to judges, liars, etc., within the very corrupted american illegal system; and, particularly bribes which in one form or another are rampant . I don’t know about Thomas ( 3-4-11 Throw Clarence Thomas Off the Bench (The Daily Beast) ) , but I do know about alito and ‘jersey … :

October 15, 2010 (*see infra)

Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director In Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation, USDOJ
11000 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1700

Los Angeles, CA 90024

Dear Sir:

I enclose herewith 3 copies of the within DVD rom autorun disk (which will open in your computer’s browser) as per your office’s request as made this day (the disk and contents have been scanned by Avast, McAfee, and Norton which I’ve installed on my computer to prevent viral attacks / infection and are without threat). I also include 1 copy of the DVD as filed with the subject court as referenced therein (which files are also included on the aforesaid 3 disks in a separate folder named ‘112208opocoan’). The (civil) RICO action (as you’re aware, the RICO Act is a criminal statute which provides a civil remedy, including treble damages and attorney fees, as an incentive for private prosecution of said claims probably owing to the fact that the USDOJ seems somewhat overwhelmed and in need of such assistance given the seriousness and prevalence of said violations of law which have a corrupting influence on the process, and which corruption is pervasive). A grievance complaint against Coan was also filed concurrently with the subject action and held in abeyance pending resolution of the action which was illegally dismissed without any supporting law and in contravention of the Order of The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District Connecticut. The files below the horizontal rule are the referenced documents as filed. (Owing to the damage to the financial interests of both the U.S. and the District of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, viz., Los Angeles, the Qui Tam provisions of the Federal False Claims Act probably would apply and I would absent resolution seek to refer the within to a firm with expertise in that area of the law with which I am not familiar).

The document in 5 pages under penalty of perjury I was asked to forward to the FBI office in New Haven is probably the best and most concise summary of the case RICO Summary to FBI Under Penalty of Perjury at Their Request (5 pages) [ ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://albertpeia.com/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf ].

The correspondence I received from the Congresswoman by way of email attachment (apparent but typical problem with my mail) along with my response thereto is included on the 3 disks as fbicorrespondencereyes.htm . With regard to the calls to the FBI’s LA and New Haven, CT offices: There was one call to the LA office and I was referred to the Long Beach, CA office where I personally met with FBI Agent Jeff Hayes to whom I gave probative evidentiary documents of the money laundering which he confirmed as indicative of same (he was transferred from said office within approximately a month of said meeting and his location was not disclosed to me upon inquiry). The matter was assigned to FBI Agent Ron Barndollar and we remained in touch for in excess of a decade until he abruptly retired (our last conversation prior to his retirement related to the case and parenthetically, Rudy Giuliani whose father I stated had been an enforcer for the mob to which he registered disbelief and requested I prove it, which I did – he served 12 years in prison, aggravated assault/manslaughter? – and no, there is no Chinese wall of separation – Andrew Maloney’s the one that prosecuted gotti).

In contradistinction to the statement in said correspondence, there is a plethora of information including evidence supporting the claims set forth in the RICO VERIFIED COMPLAINT (see infra). Such includes and as set forth in the case, inter alia,

1. A judgment had been entered in my favor in the case, United States District Court Case #3:93cv02065(AWT)(USDCJ Alvin Thompson), worth approximately now in excess of $300,000 remains unaccounted for and which could be used for payment to creditors, Los Angeles, etc..
2. Counsel Robert Sullivan on my behalf documented by way of certification upon investigation that Alan Shiff, USBCJ, had falsely stated a dismissal upon which false statement he predicated a retaliatory and spurious contempt proceeding against me causing substantial damage, and for which he sought Judicial Notice of those and related proceedings as did I in some of my filings.
3. The Order of Dismissal With Prejudice by Alan Shiff, USBCJ, owing to Defendant Coan’s failure to file anything whatsoever by the court’s deadline causing creditors and me substantial damages: [ Shiff Order of Dismissal With Prejudice on Coan’s Failure to File Page 1 Page 2 ]
4. Defendant Coan had filed an action against me to prevent me from suing him which necessitated me to fly to Connecticut for a hearing before The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District of Connecticut, who denied Coan’s requested relief as to Coan but precluded my action against Shiff (although there is no immunity, judicial or otherwise, for criminal acts, ie., fraud connected with a case under Title 11, USC, etc.) . [ transcript in pertinent part - crossexamofcoanbypeia.pdf ]
5. Newly appointed judge, Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump’s sister, was assigned the RICO case despite the conflict of interest in light of hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegal (drug) money being laundered through the Trump casinos by the RICO defendants, and despite my motion to recuse her which motion she heard herself and denied, and U.S. Trustee Hugh Leonard with whom I met personally refused to join or file a separate motion to recuse and not long thereafter left said office for private practice at Cole, Shotz, et als on retainer with the RICO defendants as his primary client.
6. Probative and evidentiary documents, affidavits, exhibits, including those turned over to FBI Agent Jeff Hayes in Long Beach, CA, had been given to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lacey with whom I met personally at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, N.J., at which time Samuel Alito was U.S. Attorney, and went over said documents and their probative value with him. Within approximately a month thereafter upon inquiry I was told that Jonathon Lacey was no longer with the office, that the file/documents could not be located, and that there was no further information available concerning contacting him or his location. I thereupon delivered by hand, copies of said documents to the office of then U.S. Attorney Alito, addressed to him, with assurance they would go directly to him. In addition to being inept [ I looked in on the one mob case he had brought, bungled, lost (accidently on purpose?) since I was suing some mob-connected under RICO and the court (I had known / previously met outside of court the judge Ackerman through a client) was absolute bedlam and a total joke since incompetent corrupt Alito brought in all 20 mob defendants (rather than prosecute one or a few to flip them first) who feigning illness had beds/cots in the courtroom along with their moans during testimony and had the jury in stitches. As much as I hate the mob, it truly was funny, if not so tragic.], Alito is also corrupt (and maybe corrupt because he is inept). After a reasonable (but still rather short) time I called to determine the status and was told that Alito was no longer with the Office of the U.S. Attorney, that he was (appointed) a federal judge, and that neither the documents nor any file or record of same could be located. Alito did parley the same / cover-up into quid pro quo direct lifetime appointment to the Court of Appeals, 3^rd circuit, despite the absence of judicial experience or successful tenure as U.S. Attorney (Maryanne Trump Barry as well). This is the same Sam Alito that now sits on the purported highest court in the land. The real application of the illegal rule ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’.

There is applicable insurance / surety coverage and neither LA, nor creditors, nor I should continue to have been damaged by this brazened corrupt and illegal scenario, which should be resolved in accordance with the meaningful rules of law apposite thereto.

Sincerely,

Albert L. Peia

611 E. 5^th Street, #404

Los Angeles, CA 90013

(213) 219-**** (cell phone)

(213) 622-3745 (listed land line but there are unresolved problems with the line, computer connection may be the reason but I hesitate to chance greater non-performance / worsening by their ‘fix’ so cell phone best for contact).

] Group of law professors' appeal comes after controversies involving travel and appearances at political events by several justices.

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The complete url: http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrysinvestmentadvisory.flv ( 146mb – approx. 1 hr. 17 min. ) http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrysinvestmentadvisory.mp4 ( 374mb ) Written text of presentation (without pictures / charts) http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrypresentation.htm ]

Go to following pages for above links:
http://www.albertpeia.com/currentopics2ndqtr10108.htm
http://www.albertpeia.com
http://www.albertpeia.com/alresume.htm

http://www.albertpeia.com/wallstreetlunacy2ndqtr10108.htm

http://www.scribd.com/alpeia

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