MarketGuy

Temp hiring rises for the fourth month in a row, after 19 months of decline - and if businesses retain confidence past the holidays, it could point to permanent hiring.

wishful thinking, but unfortunately the reality to come is a sharp drop.

Nov. Chicago Fed National Activity Index: -0.32, up sharply from -1.02 a month ago. Three-month moving avg. -0.77 vs. -0.87 in October.

A short spike that's 100% seasonal activity. Plunge after the holidays to come.

The "Super Saturday Snowstorm" preparing to dump on the Atlantic corridor should have effects reaching from holiday shopping (Bon Ton (BONT), for one, has 76% of its store base receiving snowfall) to travel (holiday fares have already been cut, signaling already low traffic) to natural gas (winter draws have helped drive futures prices up nearly 19% this month; ETF: UNG).

long: rock salt, grocery stores and auto body part replacement companies.

short: everything else.

Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) suspend evictions through Jan. 3, joining in with Citigroup (C), who earlier suspended foreclosure and eviction activity for the holidays.

awww, how sweet. real humanitarians.

New BofA (BAC -2.4%) CEO Brian Moynihan tells a packed house of employees that the bank won't sell the U.S. Trust unit it bought in 2006 for $3.3B - despite speculation that BofA had no need for the wealth-management arm after taking on Merrill Lynch's wealth business, and amid other divestitures.

Yep, "nothing to see here"...business as usual (which means, get ready to dig a bit deeper in the furture taxpayers)

Hidden Truths from Citibank

The break up of Citi, and selling of it's units, is not a matter of if, but when. Some sort of event will spur outrage and demand to return to "mark to Market" accountability. That's when we'll see what lies beneath.

Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told reporters on the sidelines of a Chamber of Commerce conference in Little Rock, Ark., that inflation still looks mild: "I don't see anything yet that ruffles my hawkish feathers." He expected the economy to grow between 3-4% in the fourth quarter, after the 2.8% growth in Q3.

See? This is the problem with the Fed.
All the printing, QE, and "using all available tools"...IS inflationary. You can't flood the system with trillions in liquidity and tout "deflation".

While Bernanke's fate hangs in the balance on Capitol Hill, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan backs calls for creation of a bipartisan commission on deficit reduction: "For more than two centuries, we have been able to hold the level of U.S. federal debt to well below our long-term capacity to borrow. But for the next decade or two, on some reasonable sets of assumptions, our borrowing cushion shrinks significantly, threatening to test our capacity to raise funds to finance unprecedented deficits."

Someone dig a hole and throw that useless corpse of stinking organic matter in it. That idiot should only be allowed to speak from behind prison walls.

Goldman Sachs' (GS) newest critic: Jimmy Hoffa. The Teamsters chief says Goldman is actively soliciting trades for clients to help them benefit from a collapse of YRC Worldwide (YRCW), America's biggest trucker.

You know your a "real" crook when...

A Teamsters Leader with a family name that invokes "mob" ties criticizes your ethics and business "practices".

Congrats GS...you've truly arrived.

Initial Jobless Claims: 480K vs. 465K expected, 473K last week. Continuing claims +5K to 5,186,000.

I see bbro and mach are at it again. Scratch the surface a little more boys. Oh, and some apples to apples with the "good times" comparisons might help as well.

A day before the Senate Banking Committee votes on Bernanke's renomination as Fed chairman, Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders promises to block his confirmation. Sanders is using procedure to delay action, though 60 senators could clear a vote.

I'm glad someone in Congress has the moral fortitude to boot Bernanke out. The rest seem to be in some sort of weak minded "Stockholm Syndrome" paralysis by him. Have we all forgotten how he's one of the key architects of this mess we're in?

More from the Fed statement: Key language on rates and inflation expectations was the same as last month, but with some more upbeat words on recovery. Deterioration in labor markets abating; housing improving; financial market conditions are supporting growth. Most special liquidity facilities will expire on time, Feb. 1.

"Deterioration in labor markets abating; housing improving; financial market conditions are supporting growth."


None of this is happening on ANY timescale of legitimate meaning. This guy's unreal, and needs to go for a walk in downtown America.

Fed Open Market Committee: Few surprises, unanimously voting to maintain rates at zero to 0.25%, anticipating conditions "are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period." Gradually slowing purchases of agency MBS and agency debt, still on track to wrap by end of first quarter.

Bernanke translation, "GS told us they need to build their bonus reserves back up, so we're keeping the monetary flood gates open"

80% of fund managers predict economic growth in 2010, up from just 69% a month ago, according to BofA Merrill Lynch's monthly survey. Expectations for corporate profits are at their highest level since December 2003, and respondents predict global stock markets will offer investors 7.7% returns next year.

Fund managers talking their book. There's WAY too much optimism when you consider the underlying issues growing exponentially (i.e.- foreclosures, unemployment, bank defaults, credit defaults, deficit growth, war costs, states defaulting)

U.S. Forfeiting Billions in Future Taxes So Citi Can Exit TARP

and what was their bonus pool amount? over 5B. How about other executives that will "forego" bonuses backdooring it with up to 50% pay raises?

How about their "real" book value? not the Mark to Make Believe we're seeing?

Where's the "logic" and "objectivity" there?

You, know...I think I'll keep my outrage here where it's justified.



On Dec 16 08:39 AM Red Foreman wrote:

> Angry banker is right. The rest of you are morons. Why should Citi
> lose its otherwise valid tax carryforwards just because it received
> government assistance? Harrison, you need to apply some logic and
> objectivity--you come off as just another typical attention seeking
> journalist trying to create controversy at the expense of common
> sense.