Clusterstock from The Business Insider. This channel is automatically updated! http://myprops.org/channels/Clusterstock/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:09:28 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Jordan Wimmer's latest claim against her former boss is that she was one of three "Mark's Angels" hired to lure millionaire investors to his fund, Nomos Capital. Among the allegations she's brought so far: He made her watch a lapdance, he talked a lot about his Asian fetish, and he was demeaning to her, making fun of her hair color and intelligence. Now, she says, Mark Lowe also used to brag about her and the other two "Charlie's Angels" when he introduced them to ... http://myprops.org/content/Blonde-Suing-Hedgie-Was-One-Of-Three-Marks-Angels/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:16:08 GMT And here they come. Victims of Scott Rothstein's alleged $1 billion Ponzi scheme are looking to get their money back, and the lawsuits are piling up. Some, like businessman Todd Snyder, are going after Rothstein himself. Snyder says he put in $2 million to buy part of Rothstein's purported $500 million settlement with Dole Food, according to the Miami Herald. Others are looking beyond the still-free south Florida lawyer. A major lawsuit announced today takes aim at Toronto Dominion (TD) ... http://myprops.org/content/Scott-Rothstein-Victims-Sue-TD-Bank/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:15:53 GMT As explained in Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail, Morgan Stanley received a $9 billion investment from Mitsubishi UFJ in the fall of 2008 that kept the firm from collapsing. The payment was supposed to be wired electronically, which is how most large banking transactions are done. But because it needed to be made on an emergency basis on Columbus Day, when banks in the US and Japan were closed, Mitsubishi cut a physical check. Sorkin, on his book blog, says that this may have been the ... http://myprops.org/content/Behold-The-9-Billion-Check-That-Rescued-Morgan-Stanley/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:39:55 GMT Ordinary shareholders of Goldman Sachs should be worried about the Wall Street Journal report that major shareholders of Goldman Sachs have been putting pressure on the firm to cut down on its compensation. The Journal didn't explain who these major shareholders might be. But we can imagine they are professional money managers whose interests diverge markedly from retail investors in the investment bank. Individual investors who are saving for retirement often plan to hold stock for the ... http://myprops.org/content/Whining-Goldman-Shareholders-Might-Be-Hurting-Individual-Long-Term-Investors/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:18:20 GMT For anyone waiting for the next Global Warming setback (or just ammunition to fire at the Climate Change greenies), some recent hacking into computers at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit might do the trick. An email chain between "prominent scientists" allegedly reveals a conspiracy to exaggerate the data behind Global Warming and conceal evidence to the contrary. Telegraph.co.uk: Here are a few tasters. (So far, we can only refer to them as alleged emails because - ... http://myprops.org/content/EMAIL-LEAK-Global-Warming-Researchers-Caught-Doubting-Their-Own-Claims/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:53:51 GMT It sounds as though the embattled Connecticut Senator is realizing that being a Fed-skeptic, or Bernanke-critic is good business. (via Yves Smith) Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Chris Dodd Wants To Help: Be Afraid!4 Reasons Chris Dodd's Fed Proposal Is DumbBen Bernanke's Fed Tries To Reinvent Itself As A Pro-Consumer Watchdog http://myprops.org/content/Chris-Dodd-Dont-Be-So-Sure-Bernanke-Will-Get-Re-Confirmed/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:06:32 GMT (This guest post originally appeared at the oil drum, and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License) One of the features of many models that are used to predict future events is that they focus on target years. Decadal years are the most common target years, so that whether talking of climate or the amount of oil or natural gas available, models focus on, for example, the amount that will be available in 2030. The problem with this approach is that ... http://myprops.org/content/Sadly-CERAs-Optimism-Over-Oil-Production-Is-Total-Nonsense/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:56:23 GMT Maybe Goldman Sachs (GS) really does do "God's work." Sure, the $500 million philanthropic commitment this week to help struggling small businesses was nice. And "Vampire Squid" CEO Lloyd Blankfein's financial crisis apology represented a new tact for the succesful but maligned firm. But this may be the most humbling: Goldmanites will be taking out the trash: [AP via Cityfile] The Salvation Army plans to serve 10,000 free dinners across the city this Thanksgiving ... http://myprops.org/content/300-Goldman-Sachs-Employees-Will-Volunteer-As-Trash-Haulers/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:35:19 GMT This sounds familiar . Felix Salmon: What are the consequences of allowing multi-billion-dollar systemically important multinational corporations to report their assets using proprietary mark-to-model tools involving discredited Monte Carlo simulations? I think we all know the answer to that one. But unbelievably, after such shenanigans contributed enormously to the greatest financial meltdown in living memory, the SEC is now set to allow more or less exactly the same thing in the oil ... http://myprops.org/content/The-SEC-Lets-Oil-Companies-Use-Fantasy-Mark-To-Model-Numbers-To-Report-Their-Holdings/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:35:06 GMT Dick Bove says that shareholders and management of Bank of America want outgoing Chief Executive Ken Lewis to stay. The Rochdale Securities analyst has been a big supporter of Lewis. But today he took it a step further, saying that it appears shareholders and executives want Lewis to stay. His enemies are just politicians and bureaucrats who know nothing about banking, Bove wrote in a client note.   "He knows this company better than anyone else and he knows how to operate it ... http://myprops.org/content/Dick-Bove-Bank-Of-America-Should-Just-Keep-Ken-Lewis/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:58:32 GMT (This guest post comes via Institutional Risk Analytics) Reading through the Qs for this quarter, a picture starts to emerge of utter chaos when it comes to how banks are implementing -- or not -- the changes by the FASB as to how organizations account for off balance sheet ("OBS") exposures. Let take two examples:  Wells Fargo and PNC Financial. In the case of WFC, the bank has taken the position that NONE of its conforming residential exposures should be brought on balance ... http://myprops.org/content/Banks-In-Utter-Chaos-Dealing-WIth-Off-Balance-Sheet-Assets/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:31:14 GMT Devry touts a number of pretty prestigious company names in a NY subway-ad campaign, "Great companies hire great grads." The poster is littered with the names of companies that it says their students go on to work for, like JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America and IBM. A career services advisor interviewed by Business Insider eagerly said a career as a hedge fund manager, trader or financial analyst is widely available for a Devry grad, but come on. Is it really? No one ... http://myprops.org/content/Come-On-Is-There-Really-A-Devry-Grad-At-Goldman-Sachs/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:08:06 GMT This is a really awesome video about oil drilling going on today in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. (via Houston Chronicle) Join the conversation about this story » See Also: How To Make Money Hoarding OilRussia Gives Europe Yet Another Reason To Stop Buying Its Gas (UNG)'Tis The Season For Natural Gas To Rally http://myprops.org/content/Energy-Hungry-America-Drilling-For-Oil-In-Beverly-Hills-And-Hollywood/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:40:51 GMT Manufacturing has been one of the hardest hit sectors around, but the pain is going away. Today's chart shows the number of mass layoff events (at least 50 people whacked in one blow) per month in manufacturing, and as you can see, it's way down from its peak, and now below the peak of the 2001-2002 recession. Still, we've got to see a lot of improvement before we're at pre-crisis levels. Get This Delivered To Your Inbox You can get this dropped in your inbox every afternoon as The ... http://myprops.org/content/CHART-OF-THE-DAY-The-Bloodbath-In-American-Manufacturing-Is-Over/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:10:25 GMT You've probably heard of the controversial investment schemes buy people's life insurance policies, pay them an annual amount, and then collect money when each people die. If the people die early, and you only end up subsidizing them for a few years, you get big gains. But when people live to be freakishly old, and you end up subsidizing them for a long time before the payoff, it's a big loser. It's somewhat macablre, but not necessarily scandalous. But investors in a Deutsche Bank ... http://myprops.org/content/How-Deutsche-Bank-Bet-On-Americans-Dying-Young-And-Lost-Millions-For-Investors/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:42:32 GMT Warren Buffett warns that while some parts of the U.S. system need to be updated, there is "nothing more important to economic future of the country than to have an independent fed." He believes this was proven over the course of U.S. history, and even during the latest crisis. "I think it's done a good job over the years. I think it's had good leadership most of the time. I think it has terrific leadership now. And I think that curbing the independence of the Fed could lead ... http://myprops.org/content/Buffett-Nothing-Is-More-Important-To-The-U.S.-Than-An-Independent-Fed/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:28:50 GMT People are staying together in South Florida.  But not because they want to. Miami Herald:  With the economy sputtering, South Florida couples are staying together more or attempting do-it-yourself divorces rather than paying pricey divorce lawyers. As a result, local divorce lawyers say they are facing their slowest period ever, and are discounting rates, offering sliding payment scales and military discounts and accepting credit cards. One said her business is down 35 percent ... http://myprops.org/content/The-Economy-Is-Too-Bad-To-Get-A-Divorce/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:28:28 GMT Bank of America wants to quickly end the ongoing embarrassment over its inability to settle internal disputes and pick a sucessor to chief executive Ken Lewis. So it's aiming to make a decision on its next CEO as early as Sunday, Charlie Gasparino reports. Unfortunately, Bank of America is such a mess this may just be wishful thinking. Gasparino writes at the Daily Beast: So they want to move and move fast, at least as fast is defined down there in Charlotte, the headquarters city where ... http://myprops.org/content/Gasparino-Bank-Of-America-Wants-To-Pick-A-CEO-By-Sunday-Night/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:13:59 GMT Geithner's Resignation (3 min): Grandstanding congressmen said the public has lost faith in Geithner Geithner-to-Goldman clock now ticking louder... Should the Treasury Secretary resign? When? See Also: Geithner-To-Goldman Clock Now Ticking Louder... Produced By: Kamelia Angelova & William Wei Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Geithner-To-Goldman Clock Now Ticking Louder... http://myprops.org/content/When-Will-Tim-Geithner-Resign/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:36:44 GMT Executives at Goldman Sachs have been quietly finding ways around the firmwide holiday party ban, people familiar with the matter say. Several executives who lead business groups inside of Goldman have been organizing holiday dinners for employees, as a way of compensating employees for the loss of holiday parties. The dinners are typically paid for by the executives themselves rather than out of the firm's budget. "It's an important morale booster at a time when lots of Goldman ... http://myprops.org/content/Goldman-Executives-Quietly-Revolt-Against-Holiday-Party-Ban/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:36:31 GMT The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has hit the highest point all year, staging a stunning rebound that is earning dry bulk shipping companies substantial amounts of profit for the time being. The latest BDI rally has been particularly spectacular given the massive amount of new vessel supply, which generally sinks rates all else equal, it has overcome. The sudden spike in new vessel supply this year is well by this chart from Johannes Moller at Danske Bank. Note the BDI rallied against this upward ... http://myprops.org/content/Freight-Forwards-Curve-Warns-Of-Baltic-Dry-Index-Collapse/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:36:19 GMT Deck the halls! JP Morgan Chase has announced that it is holding a holiday party this year! The megabank will hold its holiday party in the cafeteria at one of its two Park Avenue headquarters. This is a change from last year, when the party was cancelled. News that the party was back on was first reported by our friend Bess Levin at DealBreaker. The cafeteria is actually where JP Morgan has traditionally held its holiday party. And the venue doesn't get the highest reviews from JP Morgan ... http://myprops.org/content/Jamie-Dimon-Saves-Christmas/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:35 GMT For all the difficulty of measuring inflation, most countries use something similar to our CPI to do it. Obviously, though, the components are totally different, and so they provide a nice insight into what people are buying and eating all around the world. The food component of the Chinese CPI should be particularly amusing to most Westerners, who would think of carp is a key food item, and they certainly wouldn't think to differentiate two kinds of carp. Courtesy of the Chinese ... http://myprops.org/content/The-14-Craziest-Foods-In-The-Chinese-CPI/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:10:48 GMT Windfall taxes are a ghastly idea. They are a sop to prejudice, a burden on risk-taking and a form of arbitrary confiscation. No sensible person should support them. So why do I now find the idea of a windfall tax on banks so appealing? Well, this time, it really does look different. First, all the institutions making exceptional profits do so because they are beneficiaries of unlimited state insurance for themselves and their counterparties. As Andrew Haldane of the Bank of England argues, ... http://myprops.org/content/Tax-The-Windfall-Wall-Street-Bonuses/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:10:35 GMT In case you missed it, treasury bill yields went negative yesterday which means investors were willing to lose money in order to own them. Even simply keeping cash idle would get earn higher return, in either an inflationary or deflationary environment, so negative yields clearly don't any investment sense. When this happened back during the end of last year, Post-Lehman, one potential reason was that institutional investors were so panicked that they simply wanted to protect the value of ... http://myprops.org/content/Why-T-Bill-Yields-Just-Returned-To-Crisis-Levels/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:35:15 GMT The following excerpt is from "Surviving In Argentina," by Fernando Ferfal Aguirre.  Fernando lived through Argentina's economic implosion in 2001.  Here, he shares some of his secrets to survival. So, guys, things don't look good. It pains me to see America going through this and the consequences it will bring. These are critical days.  Now is when we'll get a better picture of how bad things will actually get, how long until we see the economy back on its ... http://myprops.org/content/How-To-Survive-The-Coming-Global-Economic-Collapse/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:35:02 GMT Goldman Sachs employees received a voicemail announcement instructing them not to organize private Christmas parties for the firm's employees even at their own homes, a person familiar with the matter said. The firm has canceled its annual holiday party, just as it did last year. It also instructed the smaller business units that they should not organize their own smaller parties, which had been a long tradition at the firm. The parties are banned even if no firm money goes to pay for ... http://myprops.org/content/Goldman-Tells-Employees-Not-To-Have-Christmas-Parties-In-Their-Homes/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:21:24 GMT Some of the class of 2008 at Lehman Brothers say they are being asked to repay the $40,000 signing bonus they got when they joined the firm. A former Lehman Bro says Price Waterhouse Coopers sent a letter demanding repayment to more than 60% of the 2008 class of associates that were laid off from Lehman's UK office. He's currently seeking legal advice to see if he has to pay it back.  He might have to.  There is some debate over the terms in which Lehman gave them the ... http://myprops.org/content/Lehman-Bros-Asked-To-Re-Pay-Signing-Bonuses/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:21:03 GMT A new industry has taken root in Detroit with the opening of the city's new 'MedGrow Cannabis College'. Here students learn how to grow marijuana professionally, debating the 'finer points of inhaling' and which plants 'give the biggest hit'. And no this isn't some tiny research lab, it's clear what this is about -- making money and building an industry. Apparently Michigan issues 1,000 medical marijuana certificates each month, after becoming the 14th state to legalize medical ... http://myprops.org/content/Detroits-New-Cannabis-College-Raises-Hopes-For-Higher-Value-Jobs/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:55:07 GMT Lloyd Blankfein delivered a presentation about Goldman Sachs last week in which he explained what Goldman Sachs is and what its plans for expansion are. His comments were made at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch banking and financial services conference in New York City. The presentation basically made three points: Goldman, despite its reputation as mostly a prop trading outfit with lots of conflicts of interest between its own profits and those of its clients, is mostly a client ... http://myprops.org/content/Goldman-Sachs-Heres-What-Makes-Us-Awesome/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:35:22 GMT The 11th Circuit will hear arguments today about a man who is not so fond of filing tax returns. But it's a famous one!  Wesley Snipes is appealing his convictions on three misdemeanor counts for failing to submit tax returns. Snipes may or may not be looking forward to this day -- he's been out of jail on bail awaiting the argument. But, as the Tax Prof Blog points out, it isn't as if circuit court appearances end in an immediate decision; even if the conviction is upheld, Snipes ... http://myprops.org/content/New-Tax-City-Wesley-Snipes-Appeal-To-Be-Heard-By-11th-Circuit-Today/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:15:37 GMT UPDATE: Secretary Tim Geithner got hammered on Capitol Hill yesterday.  Congressmen said the public has lost faith in him and asked for his resignation. Why has the Geithner rage flared up now, a full year after he reamed taxpayers to save Wall Street? Because a year ago, everyone was worried about the whole world ending, so no one cared about the details. Now, for Main Street, the world has ended: The unemployment rate is over 10%. On Wall Street, meanwhile, times have never been ... http://myprops.org/content/Geithner-To-Goldman-Clock-Now-Ticking-Louder/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:15:25 GMT Earlier this week, The Business Insider alerted Yale's general counsel to a errors in its filings with the SEC. Yale had accidently reported that its $17 billion endowment had $60 billion worth of stock investments. When we brought this to Yale's attention, it promptly admitted the mistake and were thankful for the heads-up. Yesterday, Yale posted three amendments to correct the errors. So the report now accurately shows that their reportable second quarter investments were $60 million, ... http://myprops.org/content/Yale-By-Billion-We-Meant-Million/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:02:12 GMT // The ETF industry has sliced and diced the investment universe in every way possible. One wonders if there might be more ETFs than stocks one day. During this entrepreneurial process of industry birth and mutation, some real freaks have been let loose. Some are just uselessly funny, but others are deceptive, and even losing people a lot of money. So do your homework. See The Ten Most Ridiculous ETFs >>> Join the conversation about this story » See ... http://myprops.org/content/The-Most-Ridiculous-ETFs-Of-All-Time/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:01:57 GMT Somehow Citi snagged the domain finance.com before every million other financial institution. The site www.finance.com re-directs automatically to citi.com, where you can sign up for a credit card with 0% APR financing! Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Citi Raises Salaries For CFO, Global Markets Head (C)It's Back: Citi To Relaunch Disastrous Alternative Investments UnitCiti Is Forfeiting $8 Billion Per Year By Hoarding So Much Cash (C) http://myprops.org/content/Citi-Snagged-The-Domain-Finance.com/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:34:29 GMT Stuart Saft, a partner at Dewey & LeBoef, argues over at Forbes (via SquareFeet)that judges are exacerbating the pain in commercial real estate. In the last few weeks there have been a series of court decisions that will have repercussions in the credit markets for years to come making an already cautious lending community absolutely paranoid, and restricting credit even if available. In Syracuse, N.Y., a state court refused to allow Citigroup to foreclose a mortgage on what was to be ... http://myprops.org/content/The-Court-System-Deals-The-Commercial-Real-Estate-Death-Blow/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:34:16 GMT Will we ever know why AIG was bailed out and why its credit default swap counterparties were made whole? When AIG first began to ask for a bridge loan from the Federal Reserve, the public was told that AIG wanted additional "liquidity" to avoid a ratings downgrade. This implied that AIG's problem was relatively modest, related only to a temporary gap between funding for liquidity and its obligations. As we now know, AIG needed far more than the $40 "bridge loan" it ... http://myprops.org/content/The-AIG-Bailout-Is-Still-A-Mystery-Shrouded-In-Lies/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:34:03 GMT Conversations with his therapist are being held against a hedgie in an insider trading case. During David Zilka's divorce hearings, his psychologist told the court divorce that Zilka was fired by his boss, Arthur Samberg, after he stopped providing inside information. Bloomberg: "He said that Mr. Samberg wanted him to get inside information on Microsoft," the transcript quotes Thomson as saying, recalling their conversations. "Mr. Zilkha stopped providing it, he was ... http://myprops.org/content/Hedgie-Told-His-Therapist-About-Inside-Trades-At-Pequot-Capital/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:25:26 GMT As long as American perceive the economy to be weak, Obama will keep getting poll readings below 50%. It's as simple as that. Nate Silver: What we have is a comparison of Barack Obama's approval ratings on the economy to his approval ratings overall. It includes all polls in the Pollster.com database that asked about both approval of Obama on the economy and his overall job performance -- a total of 109 polls dating back to the start of his term. I've then drawn in some LOESS curves to ... http://myprops.org/content/Obama-Must-Create-Jobs...-Or-Else/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:12:41 GMT When Glenn Beck started discussing the dollar carry trade, we figured that this seemingly-wonky notion had gone completely mainstream. Here's proof: Google Trends, via Pazzomundo, confirms that everyone wants to know what the hell it is. Amazing. (via @mickwe) Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Asian Nations Threaten To Kill The Dollar Carry TradeNow Even Glenn Beck Is Freaking Out About The Dollar Carry TradeBernanke Teams With Asian Banks To Rescue The Cratering ... http://myprops.org/content/Proof-That-Everyone-Is-Obsessed-With-The-Dollar-Carry-Trade/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:12:38 GMT The NYT brings us yet another lovely story about the FHA's relentless drive to create a new bubble in housing, by returning to the worst of the pre-bust practices. This story takes place in San Francisco In January, Mike Rowland was so broke that he had to raid his retirement savings to move here from Boston. A week ago, he and a couple of buddies bought a two-unit apartment building for nearly a million dollars. They had only a little cash to bring to the table but, with the federal ... http://myprops.org/content/FHA-Loans-Help-Three-Broke-Dudes-By-A-Million-Dollar-Building-In-San-Francisco/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:04:09 GMT The psychological rollercoaster continues.  After reaching 8 month lows just a few weeks ago sentiment is swinging wildly in the opposite direction.  David Rosenberg notes the latest Barron's Big Money Poll which found that the most bullish positions also highly correlate to the highest net speculative futures positions: Chart 2 highlights the latest Barron's consensus on the various asset classes - percent bullish and bearish. Equities followed by oil and credit would seem to be ... http://myprops.org/content/Growing-Positive-Sentiment-Now-Favors-The-Bears/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:25:45 GMT Stocks have jumped 65% from the March lows.  They have also blasted past fair value, which is about 900 on the S&P 500 on a cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio (see professor Robert Shiller's chart below).  So, unless it's different this time, they're now more than 20% overvalued. (Jeremy Grantham puts fair value at 880 on the S&P 500.  That seems a bit precise.  Let's call it 900). Of course, today's overvaluation doesn't tell you much about what stocks ... http://myprops.org/content/Whoops-Stocks-Now-20-percent-Overvalued/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:25:31 GMT The governments of India, South Korea, and Indonesia are threatening potential capital controls as a tool to limit 'hot money' entering their economies in search of higher returns and non-dollar currency appreciation. While such actions may help keep a lid on Asian currency appreciation, they could be bad news for each nation's local stock market. Bloomberg: Officials from India, South Korea and Indonesia are among those expressing concern over overseas capital stoking stock and real ... http://myprops.org/content/Asian-Nations-Threaten-To-Kill-The-Dollar-Carry-Trade/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:15:56 GMT Morgan Stanley reads the tea-leaves post-Bernanke's speech on Monday, and basically says there's nothing to worry about. Intervention not imminent.  We believe that a key reason why policymakers have not translated their talk into action is that the USD decline has been orderly and backed by fundamentals.  In Bernanke's speech, he characterizes the USD moves as a 'retracement' from abnormal levels. Indeed, in the big picture, the USD's current decline (15% from the March 2009 high) ... http://myprops.org/content/Morgan-Stanley-No-Dollar-Rebound-Until-Late-2010/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:15:31 GMT Honestly, we're not sure how an economy that's been in a near-constant deflationary slide since the early 90s can ever have a double-dip recession. Octuple-dip sounds more like it. But, Japanese leaders are out with a fresh warning that deflation is still causing new problems, and that despite some recent good economic growth (though we flagged it for being deflationary, mainly) a backslide is still possible. WSJ: Weak domestic demand has caused the world's second largest economy to enter ... http://myprops.org/content/Japan-Deflation-Is-Roaring-Again-A-Double-Dip-Back-On-The-Table/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:53:45 GMT After yesterday's selloff, Asian markets are down again. The Nikkei is riding a 5-day losing streak. Europe, however, has rebounded a little, and US futures are roughly flat. ------- BANGKOK (AP) -- Asia's stock markets mostly retreated Friday following a glum session on Wall Street as evidence of a weak economic recovery continued to pile up. European shares rose. Benchmarks in Tokyo, Sydney and Hong Kong fell half a percent or more while oil lingered under $78 a barrel following a big ... http://myprops.org/content/Asian-Markets-Continue-To-Push-Lower/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:44:31 GMT Whenever the issue of Wall Street bonuses comes up, it's usually activist types complaining, not shareholders. And so the obvious rejoinder is that if the company were actually paying too-high bonuses, then the shareholders could either try to do something about it or dump the stock. Well, apparently some are complaining now, at least according to WSJ, though the report is unhelpfully un-specific. The investors hold tens of millions of shares in Goldman Sachs, which is on track to make ... http://myprops.org/content/Revolt-Shareholders-Demand-Goldman-Pay-Lower-Bonuses/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:44:19 GMT In the New York magazine profile earlier this month, Andrew Ross Sorkin said that one of the ways he's able to land big sources is by not being "adversarial or coming to the table with an ax to grind." The piece also claimed that many of ARS's colleagues at the Times think it has to do with the fact that he's too buddy-buddy with his high-profile pals, and goes way too easy on them in print. Not true, says Joe Scarborough. Not only is it a lie that Sorkin's reporting process entails calling ... http://myprops.org/content/Do-Wall-Street-Executives-Defecate-In-Their-Pants-When-Andrew-Ross-Sorkin-Calls-Them/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:45:08 GMT Goldman Sachs today tapped that 272 of its bankers to be managing-director positions, which is the next step down the ladder from becoming a partner at the firm. In an email sent out to employees today, Chief Executive Lloyd C. Blankfein and President Gary D. Cohn said  that those named helped the bank survive the financial crisis. Goldman appoints new managing directors annually. The new partners are named every other year. The Wall Street Journal points out that this year's ... http://myprops.org/content/Meet-The-272-Most-Fortunate-People-On-Wall-Street-Today/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:41:57 GMT The first big fight in the Senate on healthcare reform will come to a head Saturday night. Republicans have vowed to block the proposal and are planning on filibustering a vote scheduled for Saturday night that would clear the way for a lengthy debate on the substance of the reforms next month. Democrats will need 60 votes to prevail. Otherwise, the bill may never even come up for debate. If it doesn't get done in the next few weeks, health care reform may struggle after Senators and ... http://myprops.org/content/Saturday-Night-Healthcare-Showdown-On-Capitol-Hill/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:24:41 GMT (This guest post originally appeared at the author's blog) Merrill Lynch downgraded several semiconductor names this morning citing unfavorable cyclical trends and a normalization in inventory restocking.  The semis are tanking3.5% on the report and many investors fear the inventory restocking that has powered much of the fundamental strength in the sector could be slowing.  The Merrill analysts wrote: "We are downgrading our view on the sector given unfavorable indications from ... http://myprops.org/content/Why-Merrill-Thinks-The-Tech-Run-Is-OVER/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:53:56 GMT Dell just posted terrible Q3 results, and the stock is down 8% in after-hours trading. Adjusted EPS came in at $0.23, missing the Street's $0.28 consensus. Sales came in $12.98 billion vs. $13.18 billion consensus. Dell's gross margin was 17.3% during the quarter. More in Dell's release > Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Dell Launching Smartphone In ChinaWindows 7 Delivers A Spike In PC Sales (MSFT, DELL, HPQ, AAPL)CHART OF THE DAY: Apple's Big Ad Budget ... http://myprops.org/content/Dell-Blows-Quarter-Stock-Tanks-269320/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:37:26 GMT The Mortgage Bankers Association released a grip report today revealing that nearly one in seven households with mortgages is behind on payments or already in foreclosure. Last year, only one in 10 were behind. Two years ago, the number was just 7.3%. We're now in what is clearly the second leg downward of the mortgage mess. While the early days of the mortgage crisis were driven largely by people saddled with complex mortgages they couldn't afford to pay, now even homeowners with ... http://myprops.org/content/Yow-One-In-Seven-Homeowners-With-Mortgages-Are-In-Trouble/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:24:11 GMT It was an ugly day, but it could have been much worse. In the end, the Dow only fell 93.71, less than 1%. Other indices were down worse than 1%. Today might even be considered a win for the bulls, given the slew of negative news out of late. The 800-lb gorilla in the room: housing, is not anywhere near recovered, according to the latest data. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: CHART OF THE DAY: How The Old Gold Bugs Lost Control Of Gold (GLD)Wall Street ... http://myprops.org/content/Today-Was-A-Win-For-The-Bulls/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:23:59 GMT The Dow is down over a hundred points today and it's making professional traders nervous. We spoke to a friend this morning at a large prop trading desk inside an investment bank and we've never heard him so bleak. He says that all the equities traders on his desk think the market will do nothing but go down for the rest of the year. "We're all waiting for the market to crack. And it looks today like it has cracked. We've had all this upward momentum with no volume. But now that thin ... http://myprops.org/content/Wall-Street-Equities-Traders-Panic-The-Dow-Is-Down/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:10:13 GMT The last time Bill yields turned negative (in essence investors paying the Government to hold their money for them) was in the days after the Lehman bankruptcy, when the entire world was about to blow up. So why did Bill yield for January maturity just turn negative once again? In other words, why are investors suddenly running for the hills? As Dow Jones reports, January and February bills hit a yield of -0.03% earlier. Read the whole thing at Zero Hedge >> Join the conversation about ... http://myprops.org/content/Post-Lehman-Deja-Vu-As-T-Bill-Yields-Turn-Negative-263387/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:09:58 GMT Latest data from the World Gold Council shows just how much the gold market has changed in just under two years. Essentially, the more traditional sources of demand for gold, ie. jewelry, industry, gold bar hoarders, and coins have been falling. Meanwhile, gold demand from new retail investment products has skyrocketed from just 7% of total gold demand in 2007 to a whopping 27% most recently. That's almost a 4x increase in their share of demand in under two years. Given that market prices ... http://myprops.org/content/CHART-OF-THE-DAY-How-The-Old-Gold-Bugs-Lost-Control-Of-Gold/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:38:59 GMT John Mack says he loves post-crisis fed regulation. Morgan Stanley's CEO spoke at the "Covering the Crisis" conference about what it is like to have 15-20 federal regulators in their headquarters patroling their activity 24/7. Mack: "Someone said today, 'What do you think of it?' -- I love it." Hearing anything good said about federal rules and regulations is unusual, especially from the mouth of a bank that only dealt with them beginning last year, but why wouldn't ... http://myprops.org/content/John-Mack-I-Love-Regulation/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:19:29 GMT Investors continue to flee U.S. equities based on the latest data from the Investment Company Institute. If anyone tells you that the market is just going up 'due to liquidity' show them this flow data. Mutual funds investors are pulling money out of U.S. equities...and piling into bonds and foreign stocks. There are many good arguments why stocks can't keep rallying, but 'too much liquidity' isn't one of them. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Global Fund Flows ... http://myprops.org/content/Investors-Storming-Out-Of-U.S.-Equities/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:19:17 GMT Wells Fargo joined a long list of banks that will return money to clients whose funds were frozen in the auction-rate-securities market. The $1.4 billion settlement comes after "more than a dozen" other such settlements totalling $61 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.  Companies previously settling include Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS.  WSJ: The combined payouts represent the largest return of investor ... http://myprops.org/content/Wells-Fargo-Agrees-To-Return-1.4-Billion-For-Frozen-ARS-Funds/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:06:34 GMT (This guest post originally appeared at the author's blog) Most people are familiar with the concept of risk free return.  Today I want to tell my personal anecdote about return free risk and how I should have seen the liquidity bubble forming back in 2006.  Don't be alarmed by the mention of arbitrage spreads, cost of capital, and short rebates - the concepts are simple. When I was on the buy side of the business - working for an internal hedge fund at a major sell side firm - ... http://myprops.org/content/How-The-Fed-Is-Literally-Forcing-Investors-Into-Making-Risky-Bets/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:06:16 GMT The king of financial bloggers, Felix Salmon, is annoyed by me. Specifically, if I read him correctly, Felix is annoyed that: 1) I have a job that in a just world would belong to a normal out-of-work journalist who hasn't been at the center of a huge financial scandal, and 2) I have not explained every last detail of my scandalous background in my Business Insider bio, which states merely that, at the end of my Wall Street career, I was "keelhauled by then-Attorney General Eliot ... http://myprops.org/content/Felix-Salmon-Henry-Blodget-Should-Be-Banned-From-The-Industry/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:29:34 GMT U.S. rail traffic last week fell 8.9% year over year and was 17% lower than the same week in 2007. Thus while traffic is still down substantially, it appears to be getting better. We'll bet that Warren Buffett ends up picking up Burlington Northern (BNI) during one of rail's darkest hours, and right before traffic starts to stabilize. AAR: Canadian railroads reported volume of 71,802 cars for the week, up .9 percent from last year, and 41,443 trailers or containers, down 10.9 percent from ... http://myprops.org/content/U.S.-Rail-Traffic-Sinks-9-percent/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:29:08 GMT Financial writer Jason Kelly recently made a startling discovery about investor appetite for insanely risky ETFs. Last Friday, he posted a satirical article called First 100x Leveraged ETFs. It made fun of the trend toward higher leverage among ETF products. He used the bogus symbols SOAR and SINK for the two fake ETFs mentioned, the former following the index at 100x and the latter following the inverse of the index at 100x. Soon after he published the piece he was deluged with emails. ... http://myprops.org/content/Is-It-Possible-To-Invent-An-Investment-Product-Too-Stupid-To-Find-Buyers/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:28:55 GMT This is hilarious. UK's The Daily Mail is trying to turn the weird, but innocent practice of offshore oil storage into a major scandal. (via Alphaville) Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Oil Traders Get Even More Bullish On OilRoubini: 10 Reasons The Recovery Will Be U-ShapedAsia, Europe, Oil, Gold Keep Climbing http://myprops.org/content/UK-Media-Blasts-Offshore-Oil-Tankers/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:14:37 GMT Still bearish, Nouriel Roubini predicts a slow recovery.      In an email to Roubini Global Economic's clients, he predicts that the economy will recover in a U-Shape. His forecast is in line with Goldman Sachs, who also recently predicted that "gradually is the watch word and a V-shaped recovery remains unlikely." A V-shape recovery might be visible in Q3 private consumption rates, which grew a healthy 3.4%, in line with consumption rates before the ... http://myprops.org/content/Roubini-10-Reasons-The-Recovery-Will-Be-U-Shaped/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:44:41 GMT Real estate mogul Sam Zell had choice words Thursday for billionaire Wilbur Ross and all the other wannabe experts on the commercial real estate crisis. Apparently taking issue with recent comments Mr. Ross made to the press about a huge crash hitting commercial property markets, Zell said for "all the new savants on commercial real estate (like) Wilbur Ross.I find their comments..are inversely related to our knowledge of the industry." Continue reading » Join the conversation ... http://myprops.org/content/Sam-Zell-Slams-Wilbur-Ross-Calls-Him-A-Commercial-Real-Estate-Wannabee/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:32:21 GMT Lou Dobbs, the long running anchor at CNN who abruptly resigned last week, will be making an appearance tonight a 7 pm on CNBC's Kudlow Report. Both Dobbs and CNN claim the split was amicable, although many outsiders suspect Dobbs might have been nudged into leaving as the network grew increasingly concerned about the conservative tinge of his commentary and criticism of the president. Dobbs is rumored to have received an $8 million from CNN. here are also rumors that Dobbs might ... http://myprops.org/content/Lou-Dobbs-Will-Be-On-The-Kudlow-Report-Tonight/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:17:02 GMT During his testimony today, two Republican Congressmen urged Tim Geithner to resign, or said he should be fired. The commentariat seemed shocked that something like this would come up during an official Congressional hearing. And yet, now they're discussing it on CNBC, as a serious question, which is exactly what the Congressmen hoped. It's like when that one Congressman screamed "you lie" during Obama's speech about healthcare. Everyone was scandalized, but it accomplished ... http://myprops.org/content/Tim-Geithners-Resignation-Is-Now-On-The-Table/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:16:45 GMT If prosecutors are serious about going after white collar crime, there could be a lot of rich guys doing perp walks. Before quickly posting bail, of course. And then it's back to their respective penthouse suites and mansions, lying awake all night thinking about the grim reality of jail -- wasting away on a rock-hard bed in a five-by-ten cell next to a guy named Bruno. Suddenly, that chalet in Switzerland starts looking pretty good. We've compiled a list of rich guys who jumped bail ... http://myprops.org/content/10-Super-Rich-Guys-Who-Jumped-Bail/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:59:25 GMT Yesterday, it was reported that analysts at SocGen had sent out a guide on what to do if the world goes completely to hell. Well, the full report has surfaced, via ZeroHedge, and it's very, very fun if you like doom and gloom. Basically, they're extremely concerned about public debt, and the effect that will have on developed economies, and they draw extensive parallels to Japan. Now, see the presentation >> Join the conversation about this story » See Also: 12 Places To ... http://myprops.org/content/SocGen-Prepare-Yourself-For-The-Worst-Case-Scenario/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:59:13 GMT Just a few months ago, experts were saying it would take years for ordinary people to recover the losses they suffered from the horrific stock market decline at the end of 2008 and begining of 2009. But a new study from Fidelity indicates that many ordinary investors are actually quite well--as long as they didn't panic and kept putting money into the markets. How is this possible? Mostly because the huge fall in the stock market created a buying opportunity of a lifetime. Investors who ... http://myprops.org/content/Great-News-If-You-Didnt-Panic-Your-401K-Is-Now-Above-Water/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:02:09 GMT Joe Weisenthal, Deputy Editor, The Business Insider Your Questions (8 min): How long can the Fed keep inflating the current bubble? They look to me quite breathless, recently. - Sir Lorenz Do you think the Republicans will win or lose net seats in Congress in the mid-term elections? Do you think Obama will win re-election? - Gordon Do you think the stock market will have an up or down year in 2010? Will gold crash in 2010? - Gordon Is the suspension of "mark-to-market" by the ... http://myprops.org/content/What-Would-You-Buy-With-400000/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:34:35 GMT Barnes & Noble (BKS), Chipotle Grill (CMG), DIRECTV (DTV), Alliance Data Systems (ADS), KB Home (KBH) have the largest amount of shorts as a percentage of float, out of the Russell 1,000 according to Bespoke Investment Group. They also list stocks with the least shorts, check out the full post here. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Watch Lending Spreads To See When Shorts Pile Into StocksBarron's: AIG Shares Are All But Impossible To Sell Short (AIG)Oklahoma ... http://myprops.org/content/Check-Out-These-Stocks-Packed-Full-Of-Shorts/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:18:56 GMT Flights across the country have been delayed this morning because of a computer glitch in Atlanta. The computer outage started at 5:10 a.m. EST and service was restored at 8:22 a.m. EST, according to CNN. But people are still stuck in the airtport. And extra time and frustration means one thing today: angry tweets. SEE THE TOP FLIGHT DELAY TWITTER UPDATES>>> Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Why Does The FAA Flight Plan System Keep Failing?Tweets From ... http://myprops.org/content/Americans-Express-Outrage-Over-Air-Delays/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:18:43 GMT // Nicolas Cage is a big movie star with an even bigger name. A member of the famous Coppola family, Cage spent lavishly over the years, accumulating 9 Rolls Royces, 30 motorcycles, exotic pets, multiple luxury vehicles, a castle, and homes throughout the world. It's no wonder he's now being hunted by the IRS for tax evasion - he's broke! Currently, Cage owes $6.5 million in back taxes and is being sued by former business manager Samuel Levin. Click here to see how Cage spent his ... http://myprops.org/content/How-Nicolas-Cage-Spent-His-Way-To-The-Poorhouse/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:18:31 GMT Any thought that chaos and fear is a friend of gold must be disabused by days like today, when the market is down, and the precious yellow metal is acting like this. The easiest answer here is that both gold and stocks are being helped by the same thing -- excess cash. So when that trade turns, or isn't working, both gold and stocks go the same way. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Markets Plunge As Nation's Air System Dives Into Chaos And Housing Double Dips http://myprops.org/content/Gold-Tanking/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:18:17 GMT Bill Gross's latest market update proposes an interesting view -- as the U.S. moves towards an increasingly regulated economy, businesses will start to resemble utilities, that is, heavily protected (by regulations that muck up new entrants) yet with capped returns (earn too much, the government comes after you). Given the very low interest rates that are available today for money market funds, and the fact that bonds don't offer much and stocks have already run up quite far, perhaps ... http://myprops.org/content/Bill-Gross-Its-Time-To-Buy-Utilities/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:53:24 GMT We're looking at two down days, and once again an opportunity for the bears to get some traction. The culprit: a slew of new data, from housing to jobs that just aren't that good. Any bulls who thought they were betting on a "V' now must be re-questioning that thesis. The dow is off 135, and the NASDAQ is off 40. Meanwhile, the nation's airline system is in crisis, as the FAA's computers have gone down once again. (Via Flicker user mikeinlondon) Join the conversation about ... http://myprops.org/content/Markets-Plunge-As-Nations-Air-System-Dives-Into-Chaos-And-Housing-Double-Dips/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:53:10 GMT The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased this week by 6,500 to 514,000... Continue to the full piece here. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Unemployment Claims Drop Nicely, Now Below 500,000...10%+ Unemployment Through 2015, Says MishRosenberg: Here's Why Unemployment Is Going To 13% http://myprops.org/content/Claims-Data-Still-Bad-Expect-Job-Losses-In-November/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:37:25 GMT So you want to go to work on Wall Street. Fine. But the first thing you need to figure out is what it is that Wall Street does. As it turns out, Wall Street does a lot of things.  Unfortunately, there's very little reliable information on what these things are. Even job seeking MBAs often can't describe exactly what it is they expect to do when they land a position in investment banking So we're putting together a multi-part series on Let's get started --> Join the ... http://myprops.org/content/Getting-Your-Start-On-Wall-Street-Part-I-What-The-Heck-Is-A-Wall-Street-Job/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:24:11 GMT This is the third time in a little over three years that a glitch in the FAA system that collects airlines' flight plans has caused massive delays. And as far as we can tell, there's never been an adequate explanation for the outages. Nearly all commercial flight plans for the east coast are processed through a facility south of Atlanta. It appears that this is again the facility that has run into a glitch. The Atlanta facility also ran into problems processing data in August of 2008 and June ... http://myprops.org/content/Why-Does-The-FAA-Flight-Plan-System-Keep-Failing/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:58 GMT The net long position of oil traders has ramped up most recently, according to Alan Heap of Citi Investment Research. The table below shows long vs. short positions, with net-long exposure indicated by the black line clearly rising. Citi uses data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Join the conversation about this story » See Also: How To Make Money Hoarding OilCalifornia Has No Idea How Bad Soaring Oil Is Going To HurtFitch: European Refiners Facing ... http://myprops.org/content/Oil-Traders-Get-Even-More-Bullish-On-Oil/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:46:30 GMT Phibro is rebounding well from the $100 million pay scandal involving its star trader, Andy Hall.  Phibro opened its unit to hedge fund investors this month through Park Hill Group, a Blackstone subsidiary.  Citi relinquished the energy-trading unit last month, selling to Occidental (OXY) after news of government-owned Citi's contract-bound obligation to pay Hall $100 million as part of a profit-share agreement. Hall's team earns under 30% of Phibro's profits, which ... http://myprops.org/content/Phibro-To-Hedge-Funds-Who-Wants-In/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:30:42 GMT It's "a huge win" for shareholders suing Bank of America over the Merrill Lynch merger. The documents Bank of America turned over to Congress, the SEC and other governmental entities, most likely including those formerly protected by the attorney-client privilege, will soon be turned over to lawyers representing shareholders, a Manhattan federal judge ruled yesterday.   American Lawyer has full coverage here.   Am Law calls this a "huge win" for the ... http://myprops.org/content/Private-Litigation-Plaintiffs-Will-Get-Documents-BofA-Turned-Over-To-Government/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:30:29 GMT Meredith Whitney made a brief appearance on Bloomberg radio this morning, but it doesn't sound like she said anything potentially market-moving, like she did Monday on CNBC. Instead she talked about regulation, and whether new government limits would help or harm Wall Street. On the subject of pay caps, she noted that people always leave Wall Street for new opportunities (Goldmanites have left to start hedge funds, she left to start her own shop) so the effect of pay caps may be ... http://myprops.org/content/Meredith-Whitney-Even-Without-The-Pay-Czar-Good-People-Always-Ditch-Top-Firms/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:30:14 GMT Unemployment insurance claims were flat last week on a seasonally-adjusted basis, and even fell 53,132 on an unadjusted basis. Department of Labor: The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending Oct. 31 were in Puerto Rico (6.1 percent), Oregon (5.5), Nevada (5.2), Alaska (5.0), California (5.0), Arkansas (4.9), Wisconsin (4.9), Michigan (4.8), Pennsylvania (4.8), and Washington (4.7). The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Nov. 7 were in Michigan (+6,001), ... http://myprops.org/content/Unemployment-Claims-Fall/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:17:20 GMT Dividends: some people think they're totally meaningless, and other people view them as central to their investing strategy. Goldman Sachs (GS) has a new piece of research aimed at the latter. First, here's a chart indicating where you should begin your hunt. So, telecom, utilities, beverage/food/tobacco, pharama all are obvious, solid choices. But of course, a fat dividend could be a big red flag that's something's wrong, so you can just chase the highest yield. What does Goldman ... http://myprops.org/content/Goldman-Sachs-Like-Dividends-Check-Out-These-Names/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:16:58 GMT There are clearly two sides to this coin. Either it shows the worst inflation ever, or perhaps a rare example of U.S. currency kicking gold's tail. WSJ: When is a penny worth a million dollars? When it's a 1795 reeded-edge U.S. penny, one of only seven known to exist. It recently sold for nearly $1.3 million at auction-the first time a one-cent coin has cracked the million-dollar price barrier. ... Today's coin market is largely defined by high-end investors grabbing the rarest of ... http://myprops.org/content/Old-U.S.-Penny-Sells-For-1.3-Million/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:49:10 GMT Morgan Stanley's Stephen Roach still believes in the long-term China story, but he warns investors to wait for a much-needed market correction first. Still, in the video below he explains that we should not blame the yuan-peg for America's problems. He also believes China's imbalances are far easier to fix than those of the U.S.. Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Stephen Roach: 1-In-3 Chance We're ScrewedStephen Roach: Greenspan Guilty as ChargedChina's 14 ... http://myprops.org/content/Roach-Chinas-Market-Will-Crumble/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:35:44 GMT Identifiable gold demand fell 34% year over year in tonnage terms during the third quarter according to The World Gold Council. This was partly due to the third quarter of 2008 having been a particularly strong period for gold demand given the global financial crisis. On a 12-month trailing basis, gold demand has risen 2% vs. the preceding 12-month period. Still, one should note that even if we use this 12-month trailing comparison, Jewelry demand has slumped 20% year over year. Bar hoarding ... http://myprops.org/content/World-Gold-Demand-Dropped-34-percent-In-Q3/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:57:16 GMT The man called "G" in the criminal complaint filed earlier this month in the wide-reaching New York inside trading case is a former Galleon executive.   Wall Street Journal: A defendant accused of exchanging a case of cash for inside information has ties to Galleon Group's former No. 2 executive-the first link between a top executive at the hedge fund and smaller-time players cited in a sprawling insider-trading case. The defendant, a trader who was wiretapped by the ... http://myprops.org/content/Former-Galleon-No.-2-Linked-To-Insider-Trading-Defendant/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:57:03 GMT The White House finds itself in a pickle: How to extend the TARP bank bailout without so enraging voters that incumbent Dems get the heave-ho next year. And here's one creative solution on the table: Use the rest of the TARP to reduce the national debt! Doesn't that sound good? Well, of course it does.  Except that it's ridiculous spin.  The government borrowed money for the TARP.  Using what remains to "reduce the national debt" would simply mean giving our ... http://myprops.org/content/Obama-Trying-To-Figure-Out-How-To-Extend-Bank-Bailout-Without-Triggering-More-Public-Outrage/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:56:50 GMT Check out chemical and energy storage company Vopak (Euronext Ticker VPK.NX), the largest 'conditioned storage' company in the world. This Dutch company has been hoarding products for other people for nearly 400 years, and operates in 32 countries around the world, thus provides broad exposure. Better yet, earnings just spiked 29% due to massive demand for oil storage in particular. Just be aware that the stock has already performed very well year to date, thus the 'easy money' has been ... http://myprops.org/content/How-To-Make-Money-Hoarding-Oil/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:46:12 GMT (This guest post originally appeared at the author's blog) The next BLS release of unemployment data for California comes this Friday, and its bracing to think what the numbers might be. Currently, the broad measure of unemployment for California-or U6- is running at 19.9% and the more conservative measure, which will be updated this this week, is at 12.2%. I've written quite alot on the subject of California this year. So, I watch the macroeconomic newsflow that emerges from the state each ... http://myprops.org/content/California-Has-No-Idea-How-Bad-Soaring-Oil-Is-Going-To-Hurt/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:46:00 GMT How things have changed from June. Forecasts are ramping up big time, even for the U.S.. Bloomberg: The combined economy of the group's 30 member countries will expand 1.9 percent next year and 2.5 percent in 2011, the Paris-based organization said in a report today. Output will contract 3.5 percent this year. The OECD, which advises members on economic policy, forecast 2010 growth of 0.7 percent in June. ... The U.S. economy will grow 2.5 percent in 2010 instead of the 0.9 percent ... http://myprops.org/content/OECD-U.S.-Labor-Market-To-Bounce-Back-Faster-Than-Others/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:13:19 GMT We've been following the story of Jordan Wimmer, the 29-year old hedge fund employee in the UK suing her boss Mark Lowe over all manner of boorish and sexist behavior. Among the allegations she's brought: He mader her watch a lapdance, he talked a lot about his Asian fetish, and he was demeaning to her, making fun of her hair color and intelligence. The Telegraph reprints one of the jokes he sent around to clients: "A blonde asks her boyfriend for help assembling a difficult jigsaw ... http://myprops.org/content/Accused-Hedge-Funder-Was-Terrible-At-Making-Dumb-Blonde-Jokes/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:13:07 GMT One of the most reliable indicators around is the value of Sotheby's (BID), which always forms sharp peaks as speculative froth gets the most ridiculous. Here's a long-term chart, and you'll see exactly what we mean. But now it's coming back, sitting at a one-year high: The world has completely changed since the March lows, particularly as it pertains to rich people spending cash on expensive, unnecessary luxuries. Here's Marion Maneker on last night's Latin art auction: Tonight's ... http://myprops.org/content/A-HUGE-Night-At-The-Art-Auctions-As-Sothebys-Hits-One-Year-High/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:03:45 GMT Ah, the good old days... WSJ: As [Citadel founder Ken Griffin's] wealth grew, he became a collector of art and Ferraris. He occasionally dispatches his driver on a 200-mile round trip to fetch milkshakes from LeDuc's Frozen Custard in Wales, Wis., near where Mr. Griffin grew up. The folks at LeDuc's refer to the financier as "the man of a thousand shakes," based on a birthday order in 2004 that was so big, it got shipped to Chicago in a truck. But Mr. Griffin's driver ... http://myprops.org/content/Ken-Griffin-Used-To-Send-Driver-200-Miles-To-Pick-Up-Milk-Shakes/ Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:38:19 GMT