STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 1 June 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

Last edited Fri Jun 1, 2012, 11:10 AM - Edit history (1)

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 1 June 2012[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 31 May 2012

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 31 May 2012
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Dow Jones 12,393.45 -26.41 (-0.21%)
S&P 500 1,310.33 -2.99 (-0.23%)
Nasdaq 2,827.34 -10.02 (-0.35%)


[font color=green]10 Year 1.56% -0.04 (-2.50%)
30 Year 2.64% -0.04 (-1.49%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]

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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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[div]
Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = [/font][font color=red]12[/font]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison



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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Po_d Mainiac]

1. me first n/t

[Roland99]

29. Now this thread is a perfect "10"

[Demeter]

2. It doesn't look good for Wisconsin

One of the newest families in our community just arrived from Wisconsin. One could even say they fled the narrow-minded, bigoted, GOP-infested state.

I'm not sure that Michigan, with Governor Snyder (GOP idiot and venture capitalist) is an improvement.

[Po_d Mainiac]

3. Hail early this morning, gettin a spinal tap in the morrow morn.

Hope to put an old friend on rising fish tomorrow eve...

BS&T weekend?

[Demeter]

12. What is BS&T?

I sure wonder where you get all these acronyms...

[tclambert]

21. Blood, Sweat, and Tears?

[Demeter]

24. Sure, but I'm gonna need help with that

Not part of my general knowledge...

[Demeter]

4. What We Talk About When We Talk About Recession

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-30/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-recession

Three years after the Great Recession ended, 71 percent of small business owners indicated they “believe the United States economy is still in a recession,” according to a survey (PDF) of just over 1,000 of them released on Wednesday, May 30, by U.S. Bank (USB).

The recession that started at the end of 2007 nearly doubled the unemployment rate, crashed the stock market, and wiped out some of the nation’s biggest banks before it ended 18 months later, in June 2009. But it did end, and for three years the economy has been growing, if haltingly. Why the disconnect?

One reason for the confusion is that economists speak a different language than most business owners (and most other people). To economists, a recession is “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real [gross domestic product], real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales,” according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, which officially designates when a recession begins and ends.

That wonky definition doesn’t necessarily match how people perceive the economy, says Richard DeKaser, deputy chief economist at the Parthenon Group consulting firm. “It’s not uncommon to see these kinds of dramatic disconnects between experiences and perceptions,” he says. “Even though an economy may technically be expanding, as it has now for three years, most people feel the economy is in a recession if it’s operating below full employment” or its full potential...

AND OF COURSE, REALITY IS JUST YOUR LYING EYES, VERSUS THE PURELY MATHEMATICAL ECONOMIST MODELS...

[tclambert]

23. I move that we redefine recession as anytime unemployment exceeds 5%.

Jobs matter more than anything else. GDP, inflation rate, interest rates, deficits--none of those academic measures affects people anywhere near as much as jobs.

[FBaggins]

79. A good idea, but an unreasonable standard

If 5% were the threshold, we've spent all but 3-4 years out of the last several decades in a recession.

It wasn't all that long ago that it was considered impossible to get under 6% without runaway inflation.

[Tansy_Gold]

84. And your point is? n/t

[FBaggins]

87. That we aren't perpetually in a recession.

Though it certainly feels that way in recent years.

It's not unreasonable to focus on unemployment more than the standard model does... but a threshold of 5% isn't reasonable. Frictional unemployment alone makes up a big part of that. You can't spot cyclical unemployment troughs when your target rate leaves all but the tallest peak inside your definition of a trough.

Wasn't that clear?

[Demeter]

104. Speak for yourself

Aside from the late (very late) 70's (Volcker time) and the Clinton tech bubble, it's been recession in Middle America. Official or not. Borrowing ones way to riches covered it up.

[Tansy_Gold]

112. Actually, yes we are

And we have been since the housing crisis of the late 1970s, when mortgage rates soared to 18%, which I consider one of the beginning points of the far right's war on the middle class. Home ownership has ALWAYS been a hallmark of the middle class, and when people were effectively blocked out of the market, that's when the slide began.

Consider, too, that the statistics used to arrive at an "unemployment rate" have been manipulated out of all recognition. What if the "unemployment rate" recognized not only those who are out of work through lack of work but those who are working FTE hours but are not above the poverty line?

Troughs and peaks are always relative anyway. Just look at the charts at the beginning of this thread: alter the numbers on the axes and you exaggerate or ameliorate the highs and lows.

Personally, I think 5% is far too high a rate; anything over 2% strikes me as indicative of "recession." And certainly the decline of the middle class is an even stronger measure.

[tclambert]

131. I'm willing to negotiate. How about 6%?

[Demeter]

5. Barney Frank: Obama Rejected Bush Administration Concession to Write Down Mortgages

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/barney-frank-obama-rejected-bush-administration-concession-to-write-down-mortgages.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

Here’s Barney Frank, in an exit interview recently in New York Magazine, revealing unwittingly that Obama during the transition rejected a Bush administration concession to write down mortgages. Here’s what Barney said.

The mortgage crisis was worsened this past time because critical decisions were made during the transition between Bush and Obama. We voted the TARP out. The TARP was basically being administered by Hank Paulson as the last man home in a lame duck, and I was disappointed. I tried to get them to use the TARP to put some leverage on the banks to do more about mortgages, and Paulson at first resisted that, he just wanted to get the money out. And after he got the first chunk of money out, he would have had to ask for a second chunk, he said, all right, I’ll tell you what, I’ll ask for that second chunk and I’ll use some of that as leverage on mortgages, but I’m not going to do that unless Obama asks for it. This is now December, so we tried to get the Obama people to ask him and they wouldn’t do it.

This is consistent with other accounts. There were policy debates within Obama’s economic team about what to do about the mortgage crisis. The choices were to create some sort of legal entity to write down mortgage debt or to allow the write-down of mortgage debt through a massive wave of foreclosures over the next four to six years. He choice the latter. That choice was part of what led to roughly $7 trillion of middle class wealth gone, with financial assets for the elites re-inflated.

Since I pointed out that the growth of income inequality under Obama is worse than that under Bush, many people have responded by saying that somehow this is not Obama’s responsibility, that it was an inherited crisis and structural problems that caused a widening of inequality. They simply do not want to accept that policy matters, or, if it does, that Obama had any choice in the policy choices he made.

In fact, crisis response is the single most significant policymaking time imaginable, because all structural barriers are swept away. Think about it – this was literally a deal offered by Hank Paulson – one guy – to Barack Obama, with a multi-trillion dollar impact. No 60 votes in the Senate. No hearings. No confirmations. Just a handshake, basically. In other words, policy does matter, and Obama had a variety of choices and leverage, and he did what he thought was best. He did not want to write down mortgages, even though he was offered that choice by the Bush administration and Barney Frank. So he didn’t.

So yes, Barack Obama is worse than George Bush on economic inequality. While Paulson didn’t want to write down mortgages, the single biggest factor in determining whether the American middle class has any stored wealth, Paulson was willing to do so in response to pressure. Barack Obama was not.

[girl gone mad]

14. Ugh.

But itys, wtys, etc.

[Egalitarian Thug]

90. Missed the greatest opportunity this nation has seen in almost a century.

Just watched it sail right by...

[Fuddnik]

6. About time you got out of bed!

[Tansy_Gold]

8. I was out of bed at 4:30 a.m.

and I didn't even have to work today.

[Fuddnik]

7. Morgan Stanley CEO: Some Facebook investors were 'naive'

No shit Sherlock! And you knew that going in, and fleeced the shit out of them!
================================================

By Martin Wolk

Updated at 5:40 p.m. ET: Investors who expected a big opening day "pop" for Facebook (FB) stock were "naive" and bought it for the wrong reasons, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said Thursday.

Gorman, in an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, defended the investment bank's handling of the landmark initial public offering and urged investors to have patience, saying the story is still in its early days.

Gorman acknowledged there was "enormous confusion" around the pricing of the stock on its opening day, which he largely laid at the door of the Nasdaq stock market. Nasdaq has acknowledged serious problems in handling the enormous volume of the IPO May 18, which drew unprecedented interest from retail investors.

Referring to the initial hours of trading, when buyers and sellers were not getting price confirmations, he said: "That confusion frankly in a deal of almost unprecedented size, against a macro backdrop of everything going on in Greece, created a potent elixir, if you will, that really set this thing aflame."

Gorman defended the decision of underwriters to price shares at $38, the top end of the estimated range, and to increase the size of the offering, citing the huge demand. Facebook shares since have fallen more than 20 percent to under $30.

(snip)
http://marketday.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/31/11994350-morgan-stanley-ceo-some-facebook-investors-were-naive?lite

[Tansy_Gold]

9. "Dr. Mercurio's Magical Elixir"

sheesh

GMAFB

[Fuddnik]

10. "Gimme a Facebook?"

[Tansy_Gold]

11. No a

f***ing break.

[Demeter]

13. Since I can't think of any "right reasons" to buy shares in Facebook

regardless of the terms, that means everyone.

[AnneD]

70. Max Keiser was.....

all over this months before the IPO-stating what a con job it was. Again, I wonder if my words ever come back to that businessman.

There is something to be said for common sense. In fact, the older I get, the more of a misnomer I realize that phrase 'common sense' is. It doesn't seem to be as common as it once was.

[Demeter]

15. Anybody Have a Special Request for the Weekend?

I'm not motivated in any particular direction, and this is what happened on June 1st in history: (I eliminated the really uninteresting ones)

4000 BC - Approximate domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes near Dereivka, central Ukraine (hypothesis only)

1215 - Beijing, then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Beijing.

1495 - 1st written record of Scotch Whiskey appears in Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, Friar John Cor is the distiller

1533 - Anne Boleyn crowned queen of England

1638 - 1st earthquake recorded in US, at Plymouth, Mass

1774 - Boston Port Bill: British government orders Port of Boston closed
1789 - 1st US congressional act becomes law (on administering oaths)

1792 - Kentucky admitted as 15th US state

1796 - Last of Britain's troops withdraws from US

1796 - Tennessee admitted as 16th US state

1808 - 1st US land-grant university founded-Ohio Univ, Athens, Ohio

1813 - Capt John Lawrence utters Navy motto "Don't give up the ship"

1843 - It snows in Buffalo & Rochester NY & Cleveland Ohio

1855 - US adventurer Wm Walker conquers Nicaragua, reestablishes slavery (W's ancestor?)

1862 - Slavery abolished in all US possessions

1868 - Texas constitutional convention meets in Austin
1868 - Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed allowing the Navajos to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.

1869 - Voting machine patented (Thomas A Edison)

1935 - Driving test & license plates introduced in England

1938 - Superman Appears For The First Time

1967 - Beatles release Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in US & goes gold

1968 - Helen Keller dies

1971 - "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" opens at Golden NYC for 31 perfs

1975 - "Chicago" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 947 performances

1985 - Weird Al Yankovic released his Dare To Be Stupid LP

1990 - Dow Jones Avg hits a record high of 2,900.97

1991 - Warsaw Pact officially dissolves

1992 - Snowfall in Colorado

2009 - General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.

[tclambert]

25. You got Superman and Weird Al in there.

They should team up.

[Fuddnik]

27. Happy Hurricane Season!

Today is the first official day. Even though we've already had two named storms already.

The heavy rain woke me up at about 5:00am this morning, and I guess it's going to be like that all day. On the news this morning, my wife's usual route to work is closed because of flooding and stalled cars.

[Roland99]

37. Happy 220th to my home state!

[Fuddnik]

44. You'd think they'd learn how to make better tasting jelly after all these years.

[Roland99]

49. Just have to chase it with some Woodford Reserve

[AnneD]

72. Anne Bolyn....

would go nicely with Blood, Sweat, and Tears.... or not.

[Demeter]

16. Retirement: Where Corporate Executives Make the Real Big Bucks by: California Labor Federation

FOR STARTERS, THEY CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD TO RETIRE

http://www.calitics.com/diary/14373/retirement-where-corporate-executives-make-the-real-big-bucks


by California State Senator Mark Leno

With most of the attention focused on the rising level of CEO pay while executives are actively working, an even more important aspect of executive compensation has been overlooked. What a top corporate executive makes when he or she retires from a publicly traded corporation is an ongoing expense to the company every year for the rest of their lives, as opposed to their yearly pay, which is a one-time payment.

Many people don't realize that over the course of the last few decades, corporations have essentially spiked their top management's retirement pay as they exit, adding bonuses, stock options, perks and other incentive compensation to their retirement benefit calculations, exponentially increasing the total amount of money they will receive once they are no longer providing any services to the company. This has occurred at the very same time these corporations have restructured and eliminated pension benefits for average workers, and as public pensions are decried as exorbitant and unsustainable.

This has all been done under a cloak of darkness, as there is no requirement for companies to disclose how much a retired executive actually receives once they retire. All the Securities and Exchange Commission currently requires is an estimate, often severely low-balled by company accountants, of what an executive might make once they retire. No reporting is required once they actually do retire. Without this disclosure, the obligations of publicly traded corporations to pay these benefits are essentially concealed from the public and from the shareholders who own the company. What has occurred is a massive run up in unfunded liability at a time when our economy can least sustain it.

To bring some sunshine into the uncharted realm of retirement pay, I have introduced SB 1208, the Corporate Executive Retirement Sunshine Act, which will require corporations operating in California to annually report to the California Secretary of State how much their top five most highly compensated retired executives are paid, including all compensation, shares issued, options for shares granted, similar equity-based compensation, perquisites and personal benefits. The bill was inspired by Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Ellen Schultz's book, Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit from the Nest Egg of American Workers. It contains hundreds of examples of how companies have raided previously overfunded pension plans to boost earnings and provide golden parachutes to executives while eliminating pension and health benefits for average workers. This video clip of her being interviewed recently by John Stewart demonstrates the scope of the problem...SEE LINK

[Demeter]

17. Citigroup Still Committing Mortgage Fraud as Late as 2012

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/citigroup-committing-mortgage-fraud-this-year.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

...The HUD Inspector General reports unsealed after the settlement show that robosigning was still going on as late as this year. It’s just not a surprise that Citigroup was covering up fraud in their mortgage unit as late as this year.

After all, why shouldn’t Citigroup do so? It worked out for their executives last time, didn’t it?

SEE ALSO:

Matt Stoller: Robosigning Still Going on at Wells Fargo, Reports HUD Inspector General

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/03/matt-stoller-robosigning-still-going-on-at-wells-fargo-reports-hud-inspector-general.html

[Demeter]

18. Woman Who Wasn't Intimidated by Citi Wins $31M

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-31/woman-who-couldn-t-be-intimidated-by-citigroup-wins-31-million

LONG STORY WITH "HAPPY" ENDING FOR ONE, AT LEAST.

[Roland99]

47. wow

“All a dishonest person had to do was change the reports to make things look better than they were,” Hunt says. “I wouldn’t play along.”

Instead, she took her employer to court -- and won. In August 2011, five months after the meeting with Polkinghorne, Hunt sued Citigroup in Manhattan federal court, accusing its home-loan division of systematically violating U.S. mortgage regulations.

The U.S. Justice Department decided to join her suit in January. Citigroup didn’t dispute any of Hunt’s facts; it didn’t mount a defense in public or in court. On Feb. 15, 2012, the bank agreed to pay $158.3 million to the U.S. government to settle the case.

Citigroup admitted approving loans for government insurance that didn’t qualify under Federal Housing Administration rules. Prosecutors kept open the possibility of bringing criminal charges, without specifying targets.

[Demeter]

103. Nice Summary, Roland!

I couldn't wade through all that touchy-feely tripe. Stomach wasn't up to it.

[Demeter]

19. Facing Down the Bankers

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/business/kelleher-leads-a-nonprofit-better-markets-in-fight-for-stricter-banking-rules.html?_r=1

...Mr. Kelleher does not work for banks. He works against them.

“What is at stake is whether the American people are at risk of another Great Depression,” Mr. Kelleher, who is 54, said in a recent interview. “We exist to fight back against the forces trying to make us forget just how bad it was.”

Mr. Kelleher is the president of Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that pushes for a stringent interpretation of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law, which passed in 2010 but whose specific rules and regulations are currently the focus of an intense, complex and expensive behind-the-scenes battle.

Think of Better Markets as Occupy Wall Street’s suit-wearing cousin...

[Demeter]

20. Bill would give bank a $300M benefit

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76893.html

A one-sentence bill worth $300 million to a bank owned by a politically connected family that has doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations is about to get a big push forward.

Set to be approved by the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday, the legislation would help Emigrant Savings Bank of New York sidestep a costly mandate of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. No other bank in the country would be affected.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), but it’s backed by members of both parties on the financial services panel. Emigrant Bank is owned by billionaire Howard Milstein, a bundler for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and a major Empire State political player.

The bill has drawn no objections so far from bank regulators or the Obama administration, and proponents argue it is narrowly designed to help a community bank unfairly harmed by the controversial Dodd-Frank law.

But it is also an object lesson in how the rich and powerful — backed by a team of high-powered lobbyists — can get Congress to act on their issues, even as Capitol Hill wages partisan warfare on everything else.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76893.html#ixzz1wXQWM14i

[Hotler]

130. Another reason why...

I have no hope. I see no future. I have no fight left in me. Thank you all for SMW.

[Demeter]

22. On Campus, New Deals With Banks

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/business/on-campus-new-deals-with-banks.html?hpw

College campuses have long been attractive hunting grounds for financial institutions looking for new customers. In recent years, however, their efforts to woo students have gotten banks and other financial institutions in trouble with regulators. They are now effectively prohibited from providing gifts to students who sign up for credit cards. And the colleges themselves can no longer be paid by the lenders to steer students to student loans. But many colleges, struggling to offset cuts in state funds and under pressure to keep tuition down, are finding new ways to strike deals with financial institutions, by turning student IDs into debit cards and allowing lenders to take over disbursement of financial aid. Consumer advocates worry that financial firms are again profiting from unsuspecting students, by charging them fees and even gaining access to their financial aid funds. Now a prominent consumer group has tried to document the extent of the practice.

In a report released on Wednesday, the group, the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, found that nearly 900 colleges and universities have card partnerships with financial institutions; in some instances, the colleges receive hefty payments from banks for the exclusive access to students; in other instances, the schools save money by outsourcing financial functions to banks or other vendors. The participating schools include many of the nation’s best-known universities and represent two out of every five college students, the report says. The list includes big public universities like the University of Florida and University of Michigan and private schools like the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern.

Since the financial institution’s logo is often stamped on campus IDs, students may sign up for an account because they believe the university has endorsed the product, the report says. In some instances, students have to open an account if they want to obtain their funds quickly...

[Demeter]

26. Threw the NYT and WSJ this morning...feeling a bit faint

I'm going to catch some ZZZZ before the uproar....

[Fuddnik]

28. Looks like another dive day.

Dow futures are down over 100 pts. More losses in Asia.

Then, the shills at CNBC say this!

'Amazing' Time to Buy Asian Stocks, Even as Selloff Continues
CNBCCNBC – 5 hours ago

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazing-time-buy-asian-stocks-055935143.html

Guess I picked the wrong day to quit drinking. Screw it. I wasn't going to quit, anyway.

[Roland99]

30. .......

[Roland99]

31. Europe diving on US jobs report (more on that next)

[font color="red"]FTSE 100 5,280 -41 -0.76%
CAC 40 2,958 -59 -1.95%
DAX 6,099 -165 -2.64%
FTSE MIB 12,730 -144 -1.12%
IBEX 35 IDX 6,050 -40 -0.66%
GlobalDow 1,729 -14 -0.79% [/font]

[DemReadingDU]

33. Oops

[Roland99]

38. US futures down BIG...DJIA -193

[font color="red"]S&P 500 1,283.00 -26.25 -2.00%
DOW 12,190 -193.00 -1.56%
NASDAQ 2,477 -47.00 -1.86% [/font]

[Roland99]

39. Anyone willing to bet that the US markets finish in the black today, though? esp. after Europe close

[Demeter]

80. Not me

I am in hope that Reality wins out...and let the chips fall where they may, so that we can start cleaning up the mess...

Besides, making up +200 points in one day is a little too blatant.

[Demeter]

81. Have you seen how the price of oil is falling off the chart?

Not that gas has come down any this week....

[Roland99]

97. $3.32/gal 'round these parts is the lowest I've seen.

[We are Devo]

100. $4.09

is the cheapest here...

[Roland99]

102. Where is "here"? Cali? Hawaii?

[We are Devo]

127. "Here" is

South Pasadena, CA...

[Demeter]

106. $3.519 at Sam's Club in Ann Arbor

I should be grateful it didn't go up for the weekend...bought gas Monday and today. That's what the NYT route does for me...and only 2 days' worth...my buddy owes me big time.

[Warpy]

99. The billionaires seem to have given up driving the price of gas

on oil futures and are now focusing more on spot market futures in refined products.

I've seen a roll off in commodities prices across the board, but nothing approaching the summer, 2008 levels. Yet.

[Roland99]

40. US 10-year Treasury yield: ** 1.45% ** EURUSD hit 1.229

[Roland99]

32. Today's Reports

[Roland99]

34. U.S. adds 69,000 jobs in May; jobless rate 8.2% (March and April *both* revised down)

* U.S. economy adds 69,000 jobs in May
* Private sector generates 82,000 jobs in May
* U.S. unemployment rate rises to 8.2% from 8.1%
* New jobs in March revised down to 143,000
* New jobs in April revised down to 77,000
* Average workweek drops 0.1 hour to 34.4
* Average hourly wages climb 2 cents to $23.41

[Roland99]

35. Consumer spending / April inflation

* April consumer spending up 0.3% as expected
* April inflation-adjusted spending up 0.3%
* April PCE inflation flat, up 1.8% yr-on-yr
* Personal savings rate falls to 3.4% in April

[Roland99]

46. U.K. manufacturing PMI plunges to 3-year low

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-may-manufacturing-pmi-plunges-to-3-year-low-2012-06-01

[Roland99]

53. U.S. May ISM factory index 53.5% vs 54.8% April (consensus was 54.0)

* May ISM prices 47.5% vs 61.0% April
* May ISM production 55.6% vs 61.0% April
* May ISM new orders 60.1% vs 58.2% April
* April construction spending up 0.3%

[Roland99]

36. Global PMI Summary

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/global-pmi-summary

[xchrom]

41. wow -- what a day! i guess this fits for the jobs report

[Roland99]

42. We're all goin' to Hades...but don't pay the ferryman!

[xchrom]

43. JOBS REPORT DISASTER: JUST 69K NEW JOBS CREATED, UNEMPLOYMENT RISES, DOW PLUNGES 2.2%

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-may-non-farm-payrolls-report-2012-6



UPDATE:
The number is out.... It's bad.
There were just 69K net new jobs created in May. That's well below the Wall Street consensus of 150K.
Unemployment ticks up to 8.2%. It was 8.1% last month.
The market hates the news. Dow futures are off 202 points.
But what about revisions to past months? In the past they've been getting revised up.
But they were ugly too.
Last month was revised down from 115K to 77K.
Here's a bunch of stuff from the report, which you can read in full here.
------------------
Nonfarm payroll employment changed little in May (+69,000), and the unemployment rate
was essentially unchanged at 8.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today. Employment increased in health care, transportation and warehousing, and wholesale
trade but declined in construction. Employment was little changed in most other major
industries.

Household Survey Data

Both the number of unemployed persons (12.7 million) and the unemployment rate (8.2
percent) changed little in May. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.8 percent) and
Hispanics (11.0 percent) edged up in May, while the rates for adult women (7.4 percent),
teenagers (24.6 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and blacks (13.6 percent) showed little
or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in May (not seasonally
adjusted), down from 7.0 percent a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose from 5.1
to 5.4 million in May. These individuals accounted for 42.8 percent of the unemployed.
(See table A-12.)


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-may-non-farm-payrolls-report-2012-6#ixzz1wY0kFkZV

[bread_and_roses]

58. You have to see this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002752347

(btw, that smiley is titled "huh"

[xchrom]

59. oy vey! oy gevalt!

well pbd did his best -- but no one is going to listen.

[Roland99]

64. trying to add some reason in there, myself

[xchrom]

66. good! keep up the good work -- me? i can't talk to them. nt

[Tansy_Gold]

67. I get much better results

explaining all of this to the dogs. They NEVER argue. (Well, Mattie doesn't pay a lot of attention, but she's old and her hearing isn't what it used to be......)

[Roland99]

68. It can be ruff in GD

[Tansy_Gold]

74. bad, bad.

[xchrom]

71. LOL! when i talk to Petunia -- she burbbles at me.

i can never figure what the hell those sounds are that she's making -- never heard a dog do that.

[Demeter]

82. I wouldn't bother

The smart people come here. The rest will kick themselves soon enough, we don't have to.

[Roland99]

105. Good Gawd! It got worse there! It's like arguing with a Republican 10 years ago over WMDs!

[Tansy_Gold]

125. 10 years ago.

what
the
fuck.

[Roland99]

126. Can you believe it? The run up to the Iraq War was a decade ago now.

[Fuddnik]

62. Also failed to mention 383,000 NEW jobless claims last week.

[girl gone mad]

129. F*&^#%!

[Roland99]

45. S&P down 1.3% at the start...in danger of breaking thru support at 1,292

[Roland99]

48. Freefall abating...leveling out at 1.6- 1.65% down

[Roland99]

51. Oil at $83.75/bbl. Gold over $1,600/oz

[Fuddnik]

63. Support is history now. 1,282

[Tansy_Gold]

69. . . . . .

[AnneD]

75. LOL...

I always get more support from my bra than the Dem party these days. Guess they expect us to use our bra straps to pull us out of this "recession". I guess the guys are stuck using their jock straps...

[Fuddnik]

77. That's why they let go.

That hurts!

[AnneD]

78. Texans...

never gave up boots as 'manly' footware, so we are OK here. I guess you are SOL in Florida Fudd.

Nothing but love for ya man.....nothing but love.

[Roland99]

50. DJIA now negative on the year

[xchrom]

52. UK manufacturing in 'worst performance for three years'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18293411

The UK's manufacturing sector turned in its worst performance for three years in May, according to a survey.

The Markit/CIPS manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 45.9, down from 50.2 in April. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Manufacturers cut back on output, employment, purchasing and inventories, said the report.

The news follows the British Chambers of Commerce's revision of its UK 2012 growth forecast down from 0.6% to 0.1%.

[xchrom]

54. Spain's manufacturing sector sees contraction worsen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18293197

The rate of contraction in Spain's manufacturing sector was worse than that of Greece in May, according to a business survey.

Markit's eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers' index for the whole eurozone dropped to 45.1 from 45.9 in April.

Any figure below 50 suggests a contraction in the sector.

Spain's figure of 42.0 was the worst in the bloc, dropping below Greece's level of 43.1.

[AnneD]

55. Morning Marketeers......

and lurkers. If Hollywood ever makes a movie about my life. This month will be entitled Four Graduations and a Funeral. The most touching graduation will be tomorrow morning. My younger, long time friend that lost her husband in October will see her first child graduate from the DeBakey High School for the Medical Professions. She is with the wonderful Italian family that I always spend Thanksgiving with. Her son wants to build and design better prosthetics for people. He is very bright, responsible, and really could do anything he wants...and he chose this. In fact, he has the personality and manual dexterity more fitting a reconstructive plastic surgeon. We are so proud of him. He will go to UT-Dallas. We have him all set up so Mom will not have to worry about him.

Last night was the most difficult and emotionally wrenching thing I have done in a long time. A former co-worker and friend lost her only daughter to spinal cancer several days ago and the wake was last night. My co-worker is the sweetest and most creative person I know. Her daughter was in her early 30's and just really getting started. My friend and I would always talk and laugh at the crazy things our daughters would do. Her daughter complained about headaches and had some trouble walking. They went to the ER just thinking she maybe had migraines. It was advanced spinal cancer diagnosed in the ER. She was given 4-6 months at that time. Well, my friend took a leave and spent most of the time battling Docs that basically wanted to to use Cassandra as a guinea pig. My friend and her daughter accepted the eventual outcome and wanted to make her time as pleasant as possible. She lived almost 2 years after the diagnosis. During that time, there wasn't but a few days that I didn't think about or pray for my friend and her daughter. My friend, who is Cajun, told me that she didn't have time to cry while her daughter was alive, but that she would have plenty of time for tears later. Well, the dam bust last night. I know now even more so what the inconsolable cries of grief sound like. It just makes your blood chill.

I will wait a few days but I will visit my friend through out the summer. A strong pot of coffee and a sympathetic ear goes a long way to help mend a broken heart

So my dear Marketeers, our treasure is not only measured in money but in friend ships too. In really difficult times, I personally would rather have a few good friends than a pocket full of gold. Just something to think about.

Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.

[Roland99]

61. Given our warmongering admins, he'll have plenty of opportunities.

[harun]

56. How's that confidence fairy work'n out for everyone?

I think we have the perfect storm brewing. Have for a while.

Greece, Spain, Italy with a big US election thrown in, add a dash of horrible jobs numbers and ka-splat. Sh*t meet fan.

[Roland99]

60. Black Friday?

[AnneD]

65. Aside from the skid mark....

on my back and forehead.....

[xchrom]

57. Spain’s risk premium touches new euro-era high

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/06/01/inenglish/1338558583_391652.html

Spain’s risk premium hit yet another new euro-era high on Friday as doubts about the full extent of the banking sector’s problems continued to unhinge investors after the nationalization of Bankia and its request for the biggest bailout ever in Spanish banking history.

The spread between the yield on the Spanish 10-year government bond and the German equivalent touched 547 basis points in Friday’s session after opening at 534.

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said late Thursday that the crunch time had arrived for both Spain and Italy, which would decide where the euro zone is going. “The future of the euro will be played out in the next few weeks in Italy and Spain,” the minister said, in what was a clear call to Germany to reverse its opposition to measures that have been proposed to stabilize the situation.

De Guindos said the only way to prevent the break-up of the single-currency bloc is to move toward a “banking union” in Europe that would allow the direct injection of funds in banks. The European Commission on Wednesday defended this idea but Germany remains opposed to it. However, current rules of European rescue funds require national governments to apply for help for their banks.

[xchrom]

73. Ireland improves global ranking for competitiveness

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0601/1224317057584.html


IRELAND HAS improved its competitiveness, according to a global ranking, reaching 20th place.

While Hong Kong, the US and Switzerland topped the list of 59 economies, Ireland beat countries such as France, Japan and China, and performed well in a number of categories that are important to foreign direct investment.

The World Competitiveness Yearbook is compiled by Swiss-based business school IMD and measures how countries manage economic and human resources to increase prosperity.

Although Ireland was not among the most competitive nations in Europe – Switzerland, Sweden and Germany – the survey noted that it appeared the country, along with Iceland and Italy, was better equipped to “bounce back” compared with Spain, Portugal and Greece. These countries continued to “scare investors”, IMD said.

[Roland99]

76. Europe melts up just before close for 2nd day in a row

Are they mimicking our markets or is the PPT/Fed intervening in Europe now via the dollar swap facility?

quite curious.

[Demeter]

83. They've been running their presses a bit

Not anything like Helo Ben, but more than the Germans like....

[Demeter]

85. Pressuring Germany To Do The Wrong Thing Is A Short Seller's Dream

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-06-01/sophisticated-ignorance-part-2-pressuring-germany-do-wrong-thing-short-seller



Of course EU governments will try to bail out their banks again. The issue is that the bailout is not the question, neither is the success of said bailouts (this is rather a trick question, since the soveriegn states simply cannot afford to bailout their banks any more than a 100 lbs man can lift a 400lbs man). The fact of the matter at hand is that they simply can't afford to bail them out. The banking system is just too big.

[Demeter]

86. Spain reveals €100bn capital flight

The ECB president presses for the regulation of Europe’s most important banks to be taken out of the hands of national supervisors

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/4C3GGE/FDFZE/KQHCA8/XHS9OJ/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

[Demeter]

88. German calm belies vibrant eurozone debate

Germany’s public silence on the eurozone’s pain in Spain is deliberate – but beneath the surface a keen debate is raging on the best way forward
Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/4C3GGE/FDFZE/KQHCA8/NJ45UL/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

[Demeter]

89. Poland growth defies eurozone crisis

Poland’s consumers continued their role as the main support of the economy, something they have done for the last four years

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/4C3GGE/FDFZE/KQHCA8/L9M738/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

[Demeter]

91. China’s factory output weakens

An important gauge of China’s manufacturing sector has weakened sharply, adding to the pressure on the government to take more decisive action to support the flagging economy.

The official purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing fell to 50.4 in May, its lowest in five months, from 53.3 in April. Although it was the Chinese PMI’s sixth straight month above the 50 level, which signals an expansion of activity, the fall in the index highlighted a clear softening of growth momentum.

As the first item of official economic data for May, the PMI offers a timely glimpse into how
the Chinese economy performed over the past month.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/3JFELL/AMHCLD/204L2/YB5JNT/GDV04N/YT/t?a1=2012&a2=5&a3=31

[Demeter]

92. Slump in growth alarms New Delhi

With growth in the first quarter at the slowest rate in nine years, policy makers are panicking about how to turn things around

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/4C3GGE/FDFZE/KQHCA8/NJ45U7/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

[Demeter]

93. Leftwinger’s surge in Mexico poll hits peso

The peso hit a three-year low after an influential poll showed the leftwing candidate for the presidential election gaining on the centrist frontrunner

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/4C3GGE/FDFZE/KQHCA8/SPYDHB/QR/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

[Demeter]

94. US retail sales defy economic weakness

US shoppers increased their spending in May despite growing economic uncertainty, with sales rising 4 per cent thanks to holiday promotions

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/HYC4L9/HI3M9/62ELB5/16NFZ4/36/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1


YEAH, WELL, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BUY STUFF...AND THE PRICES WERE WAY DOWN. SO I'M BETTING IT WAS REPLACEMENT PURCHASING ONLY.

AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING.

[Demeter]

95. Regulators target ‘systemic’ insurers

Move part of worldwide effort by Group of 20 leading nations to prevent repeat of 2008 financial crisis which prompted taxpayer rescue of AIG

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/VKY5JJ/HYC4L9/HI3M9/62ELB5/KQ7Z31/36/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

&feature=related

[Demeter]

96. Yet another worrying jobs report for Obama (THIS IS HOW BRITAIN GLOATS)

Friday’s weak US employment report confirms a disappointing historical pattern: after an encouraging start to the year, job creation has again hit a soft patch. To make things worse, there is a distinct possibility that, absent major policy initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic, the US economy may not accelerate as quickly as many hope – thus increasing America’s vulnerability to the deepening crisis in Europe, writes Mohamed El-Erian.

The report again highlights the vulnerability of the employment situation. Net job creation in May amounted to only 69,000, well below consensus expectations
of 150,000 and nowhere near the pace needed to address the large shortfall that persists more than three years after the global financial crisis. The unemployment rate inched up to 8.2 per cent, with the employed to adult population ratio at a worrisomely level of only 58.6 per cent.

Read more >>
http://link.ft.com/r/M2ZOXX/DW8MZ5/RP6QL/ZG4R3Q/B58CPI/T3/t?a1=2012&a2=6&a3=1

[Demeter]

98. The price of a do-nothing Congress: Government layoffs, budget cuts making matters worse

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-price-of-a-do-nothing-congress-2012-06-01?siteid=YAHOOB

The latest employment data indicate that the U.S. job market is in a holding pattern — the price we pay for a do-nothing Congress focused more on austerity than job creation.

Our economy added 69,000 new jobs in May, for an average of 96,000 over the past three months, with a downward revision of 49,000 for March and April’s data. While this pace of job creation is fast enough to keep unemployment from rising, it remains well below that necessary to bring our economy back to full employment anytime in the near future.

Look no further than Congress for the reasons why this is the case. Last year, Congress refused to put in place the American Jobs Act, which would have helped to reduce unemployment and create jobs. By not acting Congress and the states are instead cutting off the long-term unemployed from any additional benefits and shrinking government spending. While the private sector has been adding jobs for 27 months, for a total of 4.3 million jobs since February 2010, state and local governments have been shedding workers in most months since the fall of 2008, for a total loss 660,000 jobs. These layoffs are pro-cyclical, meaning that they are dragging down economic growth.

While important steps were taken several years ago to boost government spending as the U.S. economy spiraled into the Great Recession of 2007-2009, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, in recent years cut-backs at the state and local level have cut spending so sharply that overall, government spending has grown very little. In the first quarter of this year, government spending fell by at an annual rate of 3.9%. This is happening even as those who are unemployed are having an exceptionally challenging time getting back into jobs. The share of the unemployed who are “long-term unemployed,” that is, out of work and searching for a job for six months or more, was 42.8% in May. This is the 30th month where that share has been at or above 40%. Prior to 2010, the share of the unemployed who were long-term unemployed had never risen above 26%, a high hit when the unemployment rate was just over 10% in mid-1983...MORE

[Roland99]

101. US Markets hitting new lows (S&P -2.3%) as Obama calls on Congress to act

umm...how exactly?





Obama: Congress must protect U.S. from Europe risk
1:31p

Fed will act in wake of jobs report: BBVA's Karp
1:25p

Obama: No excuse for Congressional inaction
1:24p

Obama: Economy still facing serious headwinds
1:23p

Obama: Job growth not as fast as we want
1:21p

Obama: Europe is 'casting shadow' on U.S. economy

[Roland99]

107. As the rain continues to fall in Orlando, so do the markets...S&P -2.41%

[Demeter]

108. Aesop's Fable: The Frogs Who Desired a King

A group of frogs who called on the great god Zeus to send them a king. He threw down a log, which fell in their pond with a loud splash and terrified them. Eventually one of the frogs peeped above the water and, seeing that it was no longer moving, soon all hopped upon it and made fun of their king. Then the frogs made a second request for a real king and were sent a water snake that started eating them. Once more the frogs appealed to Zeus, but this time he replied that they must face the consequences of their request...

Right now, we have King Log. The Log is getting worried. Think about how much of a problem there must be for a log to get agitated....

Oh! I forgot! Turn up the heat slowly and steadily, and you have freshly boiled frogs...Frog Soup!

This just in:

...one of Margaret Atwood's four short fictions in a 2005 issue of the magazine Daedalus engages with it directly. Titled "King Log in Exile", it features the deposed king musing on his ineffective reign, from which it gradually emerges that his inertia hid not harmlessness but a corrupt selfishness.

If the shoe fits, Cinderella, wear it!

[Demeter]

109. Home sweet home: Obama to sleep under own roof in Chicago

http://news.yahoo.com/home-sweet-home-obama-sleep-under-own-roof-180106861.html

President Barack Obama will spend the night in his own home in Chicago on Friday, the White House said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed the president would stay in the house in the upscale Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, and might even indulge in that simplest of pleasures - making his own breakfast.

Obama, joking with reporters last month after a NATO summit in Chicago, made it clear that security and traffic concerns had made it impossible for him to go home for a night during that visit, even though he was only a few miles away.

The president's wife and daughters were not expected to join him in Chicago on Friday, where he will attend three fundraising events after visiting Minneapolis to talk about the economy. Obama is scheduled to fly back to Washington on Saturday.

Obama last visited his Chicago family home in January, but did not spend the night on that occasion, the White House said.

NO COMMENT (BUT LOTS OF WICKED THOUGHTS)

[Tansy_Gold]

123. I hope he thinks about all the people who used to have their own roofs

over their own heads but no longer do BECAUSE HE HAS FUCKED UP SO BADLY.

[Demeter]

110. Hark! Is that a fairy I see?

They usually appear around this time of day....

[Roland99]

111. Still pretty early for them.

I think they're still finishing off their 3rd martini.

[Roland99]

113. Back down to daily lows. S&P500 now in a 10% correction.

[westerebus]

114. The Bernank has his cell off.

Jamie just shat hisself. Film at eleven.

[Roland99]

117. 17 min. left for the rescue and still languishing just a bit above the daily lows.

[bread_and_roses]

118. are the kids not clapping hard enough?

Tinkerbell's had hard work this week - or Lo! These many, many weeks, actually. Maybe the kids aren't clapping enough today and her little light is fading there in her little glass bell?

[Pale Blue Dot]

115. Well, you caught me lurking...

...and even that brief interaction raised my blood pressure enough to remind me why I just lurk.

I'm sure I'll stop in once or twice more before Romney is sworn in and the whole country finally goes to the hell it's been begging for.

Have a great weekend!

[Roland99]

116. It's one of those "well, I really know better but couldn't resist" kinda things

enjoy the weekend!

[Fuddnik]

119. We always knew you'd come crawling back!

[westerebus]

120. The last fragment of the Myan calander..

mn_y cal_s to

It goes blank from there for several passages then... Lig_ts _p sky

I'm thinking bullish for the market.

[girl gone mad]

124. Ola, PBD!

LTNS.

(keeping up w/ the acronym trend in this thread)

[Roland99]

121. Stick a fork in it......

[font color="red"]Dow 12,119 -275 -2.22%
Nasdaq 2,747 -80 -2.82%
S&P 500 1,278 -32 -2.46%
GlobalDow 1,709 -35 -1.98%
Oil 83.27 -3.26 -3.77%
Dollar Index 82.89 -0.17[/font]
10yr T-note 1.46 -0.10
Gold 1,626 +62 +3.98%

[Fuddnik]

122. Where's Rummy and the bath tub?

[TalkingDog]

128. Luckily I stole it.