inthemoney

Barney Frank says a cap of $200B will apply to a fund the Financial Services Committee wants to establish to dismantle large failed firms. The fund would draw from large institutions and hedge funds with $10B in capital or more.

will that be inflation-adjusted?

What Volume Signals Indicate for the Markets

Every correction so far has been stopped by buying on the dip. I wonder why this time should be different.

The New Normal: A Secular Bear Market

China is a bubble at this point. Everybody who visited recently says it is smoke and mirrors - a lot of new nice and empty buildings.
Let's check back on your investment advice in 6 months.

Who Is the Mystery Buyer?

> Secondly, how do you deem the purchase of equities at market value "insider trading" ?

It would be insider trading because those executing the trades have information that can move the markets and the information is not available to anyone else.

I guess, it is the same thing as the currency intervention, which is an acceptable practice by many governments. But the difference here is that currency trades executed directly by the government. The stock market /futures trades, if such actually exists are executed via a proxy and the proxy profits from them.
Also, currency interventions are expected because there have been many precedents. Stocks market interventions are not expected.

Who Is the Mystery Buyer?

> Again, who cares? The culprit has done absolutely nothing wrong except to scorch a few greedy miscreants who themselves are trying to short (manipulate) the market. Why should thousands of pension funds suffer at the expense of another's gluttony?

It would be fine if "the culprit" acknowledged this "program" in advance. Otherwise it amounts to insider trading , potentially with taxayers money, which includes said miscreants.

Who Is the Mystery Buyer?

JPM or GS - you pick. Usually, it looks like JPM.

Stocks Soar, Unemployment Rises, Dollar Slumps

> We grossly overuse health services here- soccer moms running kids to the doctor at the first sneeze. I don't remember it that way even thirty years ago. No matter, something must be done about it.

That is because you need a presription for everything these days. In many other countries basic antibiotics are sold without a prescription.
I see it as a job security for doctors. Nobody wants to go to the doctors more than they need to, but often we re being forced to.

Why Are Markets Rising When Unemployment Is Soaring?

Corporations have obligations to shareholders to increase their profits through any legal way possible. The fact that US tax code is so favorable for multinationals and allows many loopholes, who's fault is that?
The fault lies with US Congress - paid and bought for by the money of the said corporations through various lobbies and donations. May be if we stopped allowing donations and lobbying from non-persons, that would change ?

Asset Reflation Takes Over the Recovery Trade

Yep, the market doesn't care about anything other than liquidity. as long as the money is flowing, the market will keep going up. Who cares about the real economy? It turns out, FED and the markets can operate completely independently of the real economy. IN fact, the worse the economy, the more FED will print.
How naive of us to try analyzing market moves using fundamental analysis.

Futures tick down on disappointing nonfarm payrolls data indicating double-digit unemployment is here for the first time in 26 years. Some profit-taking is likely in order after yesterday's across-the-board rally. Benchmark S&P futures -0.1% to 1056.

> Now the unemployment rate is a joke. Shouldn't be jumping ..4% on 100K job losses.

Right, it is a jok e because 800K adjustment losses are currently not being included, and will be incliuded in March. What is it going to do to the official unemployement rate, do you think?

Consumer Confidence Is a Lagging Indicator: Expect Post-Recession Gloom Through 2010

Consumer confidence and unemployement only become lagging indicators when they stop declining and stabilize, until then they are leading indicators.

Bemused by GDP Figures

I agree with Golman on their more pessimistic outlook, but really Goldman is just a trading house. All it tells me is that Goldman thinks all the money has been made on the long side and now it is time for a "correction" and for them to get short to make more money.

Buffett Sees 'Enormous' Economic Progress over Last Year

> "We made enormous progress since a year ago... What happened in September and October of 2008 will particularly be remembered for a long, long time,"

Reaqlly, it seems to me it is all but forgotten, considered an anomaly now, it is all back to old tricks in the martket, nothing changed.
What "enourmous progress" Buffett means, other than his profits I have no idea.

Obama lashes out at health insurers in his weekly radio address, calling their efforts 'deceptive and dishonest.' "For decades, whenever we have tried to reform the system, the insurance companies have done everything in their considerable power to stop us," he said.

> Give me a break, public healthcare has not worked any place. I used to run a UK company and here are the facts you so conveniently ignore: We paid higher taxes for public healthcare our employees would not use, we paid for private healthcare for our employees because they would not work for us without it

And this is how it should be .There has to be very cheap basic healthcare accessible to all. And then there should be private healthcare for extras, like faster better service. Denying helathcare to 20% of the population is not an answer.

Housing Is Moving Towards Disaster

> One big problem is largely unnoticed - the whole appraisal reform has grossly damaged something that actually did work.

Are you serious? I am, fo one, very glad of appraisals coming back to reality. I am sick and tired of paying property taxes every year , increase 10% every year (the cap) because of inflated appraisals. I didn't plan for 10% yoy increase when I bought the house.

Extending the tax credit for the poorest segment of borrowers is also a bad idea. These are poeple who are already overextended with prior debts, falling wages, cash for clunckers, and now we are pushing them into home ownership. They probably just foreclosed on a house they bought in boom years. they are not in a position to buy new one, tax credit or not.