STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 19 September 2014

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, 19 September 2014[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 18 September 2014

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 18 September 2014
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Dow Jones 17,265.99 +109.14 (0.64%)
S&P 500 2,011.36 +9.79 (0.49%)
Nasdaq 4,593.42 +31.24 (0.68%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.62% -0.01 (-0.38%)
30 Year 3.35% -0.01 (-0.30%) [font color=black]


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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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(click on link for latest updates)
http://tools.investing.com/market_quotes.php?
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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
Wall Street on Parade
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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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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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
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
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts







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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]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Several good 'toons today.

I expect crewleader will add a few.

[Crewleader]

5. adding a few :)

Dalton Returns



War or Work

[Demeter]

2. Teddy would have a stroke, if he were around today

[Demeter]

3. Weekend Economists in search of a theme / featured artist / anything

Post your candidates below....

[Demeter]

4. Another Corporate Scam

[xchrom]

6. i's talk like a pirate day - it's the last weekend of summer. nt

[Demeter]

26. Aye, aye, Cap'n. Arrrg!

I think I have a theme! Thanks, X!

[xchrom]

7. Most Japanese Companies Actually Want A Stronger Yen

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-three-quarters-of-japanese-firms-prefer-a-stronger-yen-reuters-poll-2014-9

TOKYO (Reuters) - The yen's rapid descent to six-year lows against the dollar is starting to push beyond comfort zones for three quarters of Japanese firms, a Reuters poll showed, highlighting the potential for profits to be squeezed as import costs climb.

Japan struggled with a strong currency for much of the past decade, only gaining sustained relief from late 2012 as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power and embarked on bold monetary stimulus.

But this past month, the yen has tumbled about 6 percent to trade around 109 yen against the greenback, pressured by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates sooner than forecast and speculation that the Bank of Japan may have to ease further.

That decline now threatens to further boost the cost of raw materials and fuel at a time when the economy is straining from the impact of a sales tax hike.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-three-quarters-of-japanese-firms-prefer-a-stronger-yen-reuters-poll-2014-9#ixzz3DkoWTO66

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8. Dollar Spikes To Highest Level Against Yen Since 2008

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-yen-just-fell-out-of-bed-2014-9

The Scottish vote for independence is sending shockwaves through the currency markets. And not just the British pound, because the Japanese yen just fell out of bed.

The yen has fallen to 109 against the US dollar, its lowest level since September 2008.

A report from Zero Hedge said that in addition to the turmoil being caused across currencies due to the Scottish vote, Japan's govrnment just downgraded its economic assessment for the first time in five months.

As results from the Scottish vote for independence have rolled in, it has looked increasingly grim for "Yes," and the British pound has been rallying against all major currency pairs, including the dollar, yen, and euro.



And as the pound rallies against all currencies, here's the chart of the pound's huge gains against the yen.

http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/541b895c6bb3f78b2e3c96d1-964-340/gbp:jpy.png

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-yen-just-fell-out-of-bed-2014-9#ixzz3DkpE6VUp

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-yen-just-fell-out-of-bed-2014-9#ixzz3Dkp0eF6r

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9. California Just Made A Big Move To Restore Hollywood's Dwindling Dominance

http://www.businessinsider.com/california-just-made-a-big-move-to-restore-hollywoods-dwindling-dominance-2014-9

California Governor Jerry Brown just signed a bill on Thursday tripling the state's tax breaks for entertainment companies doing business in Hollywood's home state.

The move is meant to combat California's economy has taken a $2 billion hit from runaway production in the past four years as producers sought cheaper places to do business, according to the California Film Commission.

Back in June, the research division at FilmL.A., a not-for-profit film office specializing in coordinating permits for on-location shooting in Los Angeles, released a report detailing L.A.'s struggle to hold onto TV projects.

The study stated that the “2013/2014 development cycle saw New York (with 24 drama projects retained) dethrone Los Angeles (with 19 drama projects retained) to become North America’s most attractive location for one-hour TV pilot production.”



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-california-triples-tax-breaks-for-film-production-2014-9#ixzz3DkrCjXBU

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10. MCDONALD'S BOOSTS DIVIDEND BY 5 PERCENT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MCDONALDS_DIVIDEND?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-18-16-47-45

NEW YORK (AP) -- McDonald's says it's raising its quarterly dividend by 5 percent to 85 cents per share.

The world's biggest hamburger chain said the dividend will be payable Dec. 15 to shareholders of record Dec. 1. The company noted it has raised its dividend every year since 1976.

McDonald's, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, has been struggling to boost sales in its flagship U.S. market amid intensifying competition and changing eating habits. The company reported a slightly lower profit in its most recent quarter. Sales in China also recently took a hit after a TV report showed a long-time supplier using expired meat.

Shares of McDonald's Corp. edged up 31 cents to $93.79 in after-hours trading. The stock is down about 5 percent over the past year.

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11. BRIGHTER ECONOMY DRIVING UP HOLIDAY HIRING PLANS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HOLIDAY_HIRING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-18-16-16-07

NEW YORK (AP) -- UPS will hire up to 95,000. Kohl's plans to take on 67,000 and FedEx 50,000. Wal-Mart will add 60,000.

One after the other, a flurry of major U.S. retail and transportation companies announced sharp increases this week in the number of temporary workers they plan to hire for the holiday season. Collectively, such hiring could reach its highest point this year for stores since 1999, when the economy was roaring and the Great Recession was still eight years away.

Credit the combination of a strengthening economy and optimism about consumer spending. Stores have determined that they'll need more temporary help for the holiday season, which accounts for 20 percent of the retail industry's annual sales.

Their stepped-up hiring plans reflect another reality, too: More retailers have come to recognize the need to improve their customer service in the age of online king Amazon. Many shoppers now jump back and forth between their mobile devices and physical stores and expect the same easy shopping experience at both.

[xchrom]

12. RUSSIAN PM: MOSCOW READY TO COOPERATE WITH WEST

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_SANCTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-19-05-38-10

MOSCOW (AP) -- Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says Russia is ready to cooperate with the West despite efforts to isolate Moscow with economic sanctions.

The United States and the European Union last week imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia for its support for pro-Russian separatists fighting government troops in eastern Ukraine.

Russia in August introduced an import food ban against some foodstuffs from the EU and the U.S.

Speaking Friday at an investment conference in Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Games, Medvedev said the West behaves as if they do not acknowledge that Russia has national interests.

[xchrom]

13. POUND, STOCKS RISE AS SCOTLAND VOTES TO STAY IN UK

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-18-17-20-38

KEEPING SCORE: Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 0.7 percent to 6,868.63 and France's CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent to 4,485.88. Germany's DAX added 0.8 percent to 9,881.94. U.S stocks were set to open higher, with Dow futures up 0.4 percent to 17,253.00. S&P 500 futures gained 0.4 percent to 2,011.60.

CURRENCIES: The yen is at its lowest in more than six years; its rapid decline against the dollar has been driven by expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next year while the Bank of Japan will maintain its stimulus program. The dollar strengthened to 108.92 yen from 108.77 yen late Thursday, after rising as high as 109.46. The pound jumped after Scottish voters rejected independence. Sterling rose as much as 0.4 percent to $1.6509 from $1.6445 though it later fell to $1.6391. The euro dropped to $1.2877 from $1.2919.

SCOTLAND: Investors were relieved that Scotland voted to stay in the United Kingdom. There were fears for the U.K economy and its financial markets if Scotland voted for independence. Companies and markets were heartened that that the final tally showed the campaign against independence won a clear victory.

THE QUOTE: "Trading desks have been staffed in London, with all hands on deck around Asia and Australia. The market was always positioned for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom and at no stage had the rates market displayed any signs of stress," said Chris Weston, chief strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, Australia.

ASIA'S DAY: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6 percent to close at 16,321.17, after climbing as high as 16,364.08, as the yen's weakness boost export reliant stocks. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.3 percent to end at 2,053.82. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.6 percent to 24,306.16 while the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China gained 0.6 percent to 2,329.45. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.3 percent to 5,433.10.

[xchrom]

14. Mom-and-Dad Banks Step Up Aid to First-Time Home Buyers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/mom-and-dad-banks-step-up-aid-to-first-time-home-buyers.html

The Bank of Mom and Dad is playing a growing role as lender of last resort for a housing recovery struggling to provide more traction for the U.S. economy.

Last year, 27 percent of those purchasing a home for the first time received a cash gift from relatives or friends to come up with a down payment, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. That’s up from 24 percent in 2012 and matches the highest share since the group began keeping records in 2009.

Those numbers will probably keep growing this year as younger Americans remain constrained by student debt, tough entry into the job market and stricter mortgage-lending rules that require more cash up front. At the same time, rising stock and property values give their baby boomer parents the ability to assist those wanting to lock in near record-low borrowing costs.

“Without them, the recovery’s not sustainable,” said Anika Khan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. Anything that gets more money into first-time buyers’ hands “just moves the housing recovery along,” she said.

[xchrom]

15. Portugal Weighs IMF Loan Payback as It’s Not Ireland Yet

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/portugal-weighs-imf-payback-as-it-s-not-ireland-yet-euro-credit.html

Portugal wants to wait for lower yields before deciding to go down a path taken by the Irish.

Ireland’s decision this month to make early repayments of its International Monetary Fund rescue loans has led some investors and strategists to see if Portugal may do the same.

An early repayment has “an advantage in terms of communication to the market of a return to normalcy,” said Diogo Teixeira, chief executive officer of Optimize Investment Partners, a Lisbon-based firm that manages 95 million euros ($122 million) in assets including Portuguese government debt.

The government says waiting for more advantageous market conditions is merited. Portugal has 76.4 billion euros in bailout funds from the European Union and the IMF with an average interest rate of 2.8 percent, debt agency IGCP said in a Sept. 8 presentation on its website. Loans from the Washington-based IMF of 26.5 billion euros carry an estimated rate of 3.4 percent and an average maturity of 7.25 years.

[xchrom]

16. Stiglitz Gave Idea of Solo Scotland Credibility as Nobel Winner

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/stiglitz-gave-idea-of-solo-scotland-credibility-as-nobel-winner.html

If you’re steering a populist movement that needs some economic advice, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz is your man.

Seeking to end Scotland’s three-century union with the rest of the U.K., Alex Salmond was the latest leader to ask the Columbia University professor for guidance. Stiglitz told him an independent Scotland could keep the pound, and oil revenue could guarantee its fiscal future.

“Independence may have its costs, although these have yet to be demonstrated convincingly; but it will also have its benefits,” Stiglitz said in an op-ed this month in the Glasgow-based Sunday Herald newspaper.


Fighting the mainstream is second nature to the 71-year-old former adviser to U.S. President Bill Clinton. This year alone he’s attacked Europe’s austerity policies as a “dismal failure,” sided with Argentina in its fight with bond investors, suggested a tax on high-speed trading and repeatedly rallied against growing income inequality.

[xchrom]

17. Putin Sanctions at Economic Tipping Point as Markets Fray

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/putin-sanctions-at-tipping-point-as-markets-fray-russia-credit.html


Russia’s ruble, bonds and stocks rallied on March 18, a day after the European Union announced sanctions against the nation as President Vladimir Putin prepared to annex Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

Fast-forward six months and escalating EU and U.S. penalties and the ruble is at a record low, Russian banks pay the most on record to gain dollar funding and government bonds have suffered the biggest losses among emerging markets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Micex Index of stocks is down 6 percent from this year’s high on June 24.

The reversal for the ruble is driving up inflation amid the slowest wage growth in more than three years, while rising yields have led to the scrapping of nine straight bond auctions, pressuring government revenue. The consequences are beginning to feed through to growth, said Ivan Tchakarov at Citigroup Inc.

“Sanctions at present are biting more with regard to financial markets and less with regard to the real economy,” Tchakarov, the chief economist at Citigroup in Moscow, said by e-mail yesterday. “We may see the real impact on the economy only next year.”

[xchrom]

18. ECB Eyes Banks’ Capital Quality as Supervisory Priority

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/ecb-eyes-banks-capital-quality-as-supervisory-priority.html


The European Central Bank may use its regulatory clout to make sure euro-area lenders are adding the right kind of capital, not just the right amount.

Policy makers say banks have added almost 200 billion euros ($258 billion) of additional capital since mid-2013 to boost their resilience. Yet only about a quarter of that sum is pure equity, as banks stock up on hybrid debt and tax arrangements whose loss absorbency is largely untested.

The ECB is wrapping up a year-long probe into asset valuations and capital levels at 131 of the region’s biggest banks as it prepares to assume its new role as the euro area’s bank supervisor on Nov. 4. Officials are already signaling they’ll take a tougher stance on lenders’ ability to withstand future losses.

“We need at some point to say, it’s not about nominal capital numbers, it’s about quality,” Elke Koenig, president of Germany’s bank regulator, Bafin and a member of the new ECB Supervisory Board, said in an interview in Milan. “We really have to differentiate. I’m pretty sure that one of the topics on the list of the SSM is the question about quality of capital.”

[xchrom]

19. U.S. Port Labor Talks Turn on Automation Cutting Workers

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/port-labor-talks-turn-on-automation-cutting-dock-workers.html

West Coast shippers and dockworkers are struggling to reach a labor agreement as terminal operators replace as many as half of laborers at some ports with robots in the largest technological change in half a century.

The two sides are discussing how to retrain and preserve jobs for dockworkers as automation reduces the number of positions at one Los Angeles terminal by 40 percent to 50 percent after changes are completed in 2016, according to a Harbor Department report released in April.

“In the U.S., the extent to which automation of container terminals affects the number of longshoremen’s jobs depends on negotiations between the employers and unions,” Neil Davidson, a senior analyst at Drewry Maritime Research in London, said by e-mail. “Employers aren’t simply free to decide to reduce jobs. In addition, it depends on the nature of the automation.”

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association are negotiating a new contract for 20,000 West Coast dockworkers, more than two months after a six-year agreement expired. A strike or lockout could cost the U.S. economy $2 billion a day, according to the National Retail Federation and National Association of Manufacturers.

[xchrom]

20. Asian Currencies in Longest Losing Streak Since January on Fed

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/asian-currencies-in-longest-losing-streak-since-january-on-fed.html


Asian currencies dropped for a third week, the longest run of losses since January, as the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates dims the appeal of emerging-market assets.

Indonesia’s rupiah and Malaysia’s ringgit led the declines after the Federal Reserve on Sept. 17 raised by 25 basis points its median estimate for where the federal funds rate will be by the end of 2015, while pledging to keep it near zero for a “considerable time.” Global funds pulled a combined $1 billion from stocks in Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, India and the Philippines this week. Scotland voted to stay in the U.K. in a referendum on independence.

“The key concern is capital outflows from Asia to the U.S.,” said Ho Woei Chen, an economist at United Overseas Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “The U.S. could raise interest rates at a faster pace than expected.”

The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks 10 regional currencies excluding the yen against the greenback, fell 0.2 percent this week to 115.74 at 4:32 p.m. in Hong Kong. The rupiah dropped 1.4 percent from Sept. 12 to 11,980 per dollar in Jakarta and the ringgit weakened 1.2 percent to 3.2373. The Philippine peso declined 1.2 percent to 44.43 yesterday, before the country’s financial markets were shut today because of rains and flooding.

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21. Regulators Weigh Delay for Separating Banks’ Swaps Units

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-19/regulators-weigh-delay-for-separating-banks-swaps-units.html

U.S. banks may get another year to shift some swaps trading from their government-insured units as regulators respond to demands to give them more time, according to two people familiar with the talks.

A delay until July 2016 in applying the Dodd-Frank Act separation requirement is being weighed in discussions between bank lobbyists and officials from the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to the people, who requested anonymity to talk about the matter.

The provision was included in the 2010 law as a way to shield taxpayers from the kind of risky trading that helped fuel the 2008 credit crisis. Groups representing JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) say the deadline should be delayed while rules are being completed.

Separating swaps units from banking operations is “one of the most important provisions of Dodd-Frank, and one of the ones the big banks fear the most,” Art Wilmarth, a George Washington University law professor, said in an interview. “They get huge cost advantages -- including margin advantages -- if they keep them inside the bank,” he said.

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22. Japan’s Idled Reactors, Weak Yen Drive Deficit on Energy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/japan-s-idled-reactors-weak-yen-drive-deficit-on-energy.html

Few are as eager as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to see Japan’s idled nuclear reactors brought back into operation. Since the country flicked off the switch to its nuclear energy program a little more than a year ago, expensive energy imports, particularly of liquefied natural gas, have worsened trade deficits. That’s placed an extra burden on an economy that contracted at an annualized rate of 7.1 percent in the second quarter, its worst showing since 2009, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Sept. 22 issue.

Abe’s push to restore Japan’s 48 functioning reactors faces deep opposition from a public that can’t forget the radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi reactor complex following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Revelations of the regulatory lapses that led to the leaks galvanized local governments to keep Japan’s other reactors idle after they were shut down for scheduled maintenance. By September 2013 the country was without nuclear power.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority, a new agency charged with overseeing the industry, is moving glacially to restart the idled reactors. So far, it has only deemed Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai reactor in the southwest ready. Yuji Nishiyama, an analyst with JPMorgan Securities Japan, says he thinks only half of the 48 reactors will come back, and that might take until 2018. “I don’t have confidence about the timing,” he says.

[xchrom]

23. European Stocks Rise With Pound, Spain Bonds on Scotland

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-18/pound-jumps-as-poll-shows-no-in-front-u-s-futures-climb.html

U.K. shares helped lead European equities to a 6 1/2-year high and the pound strengthened against most major peers as Spanish bonds surged after Scotland rejected independence. U.S. stock-index futures rose, while commodities fell to a five-year low.

The pound traded at the strongest level in two years against the euro at 11:49 a.m. in London. The FTSE 100 Index added 0.7 percent, and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6 percent. Spanish 10-year yields tumbled seven basis points to 2.21 percent, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures gained 0.3 percent. The Bloomberg Commodity Index fell 0.2 percent, as wheat declined to a four-year low.

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond conceded defeat after the anti-independence “No” camp garnered 55 percent of the votes. The result may ease pressure on Spain over calls for Catalonia to be given a similar choice. The S&P 500 climbed to a record yesterday as U.S. jobless data beat estimates a day after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep rates near zero for a considerable time after ending bond purchases. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. raised $21.8 billion selling shares in the biggest U.S. initial public offering.

“Now that the Scotland independence vote is out of the way, risk aversion in asset markets has subsided,” said Soeren Moerch, head of fixed-income trading at Danske Bank A/S. “People re-focus on fundamentals. The U.K. story is now back on growth and its first rate increase.”

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24. Germany's Ailing Infrastructure: A Nation Slowly Crumbles

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/low-german-infrastructure-investment-worries-experts-a-990903.html

Despite its shiny façade, the German economy is crumbling at its core. That, at least, is how Marcel Fratzscher sees it. With the country's infrastructure becoming obsolete and companies preferring to invest abroad, the government advisor argues that German prosperity is faltering.

When Fratzscher, the head of the German Institute for Economic Research, gives a talk these days, he likes to pose a question to his audience: "Which country is this?" He then describes a place that has seen less growth than the average among euro-zone countries since the turn of the millenium, where productivity has only increased slightly and where two out of three employees earn less today than they did in 2000.

Fratzscher usually doesn't have to wait long before people begin raising their hands. "Portugal," one person offers; "Italy," says another; "France," exclaims a third. The economist allows his audience to continue searching for the right answer, until, with a triumphant smile, he announces the answer. The country he is looking for, the one with the weak economic results, is Germany.

Perhaps it takes someone with Fratzscher's background to be so scathingly critical of own country. The Bonn economist worked as a government adviser in Jakarta in the mid-1990s during the Asian financial crisis. He conducted research at the renowned Peterson Institute in Washington when the dot-com bubble burst and wrote analyses for the European Central Bank in the darkest hours of the euro crisis. He has always observed developments in Germany "with a certain amount of distance," he says.

[xchrom]

25. By the Numbers: Income and Poverty, 2013

http://www.epi.org/blog/numbers-income-poverty-2013/

Income
-$7,337 (-11.2%) The decline in median non-elderly household income from 2000 to 2013 in level terms and percentage terms, respectively

$52,419 vs. $50,033 Median earnings for a man working full time, full year in 1973 and 2013, respectively

$29,687 vs. $39,157 Median earnings for a woman working full time, full year in 1973 and 2013, respectively

-6.8% vs. -0.5% The decline since 2000 in median earnings for full time, full year workers age 25 or older with a college degree, men and women, respectively

0.5% ($1,542) Income gains for the top 5 percent over 2009–2013 (this was the only income group to experience gains)

-$3,445 (-5.6%) The decline in median white, non-Hispanic household income from 2000 to 2013, in level terms and percentage terms, respectively

-$5,533 (-13.8%) The decline in median African American household income from 2000 to 2013, in level terms and percentage terms, respectively

-$3,904 (-8.7%) The decline in median Hispanic household income from 2000 to 2013, in level terms and percentage terms, respectively

[DemReadingDU]

27. With A Market Cap Of $168 Billion, Alibaba Is Bigger Than...

9/18/14 With A Market Cap Of $168 Billion, Alibaba Is Bigger Than...

With a market capitalization of $168 billion after its pricing at $68/share, the upper end of the range which makes this the largest US IPO in history and would be the largest in the world if the greenshoe is exercised, Alibaba, while not a member of the S&P 500 (at least not immediately), will have a market cap that is larger than the following index members:



http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-09-18/market-cap-168-billion-alibaba-bigger

[Demeter]

28. The Scotland Votes shows the Triumph of Fear and Inertia over Vision

I would guess things just aren't desperate enough in euroland yet.

[Demeter]

31. By Lambert Strether: Water Cooler 9/18/14: Scotland

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/09/200pm-water-cooler-91814.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29

“One of the most consequential democratic consultations in history” ---E.J. Dionne, WaPo.

Funny, I thought that in a democracy the people were sovereign. That’s not the same as being “consulted.” Maybe attitudes like eventheliberal Dionne’s are why The Upshot calls the Scot’s independence vote a “crisis of the elites”: [Times].

Scotland’s push for independence is driven by a conviction — one not ungrounded in reality — that the British ruling class has blundered through the last couple of decades. The same discontent applies to varying degrees in the United States and, especially, the eurozone. It is, in many ways, a defining feature of our time.

True, except I don’t think the elites “blundered”; that assumes a level of good faith that’s not in evidence. I think the elites made out like bandits, and are perfectly happy with the results.

MORE

[Demeter]

32. Scotland’s Independence Vote Shows a Global Crisis of the Elites

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/upshot/scotland-independence-vote.html?abt=0002&abg=1&_r=0

When you get past the details of the Scottish independence referendum Thursday, there is a broader story underway, one that is also playing out in other advanced nations. It is a crisis of the elites. Scotland’s push for independence is driven by a conviction — one not ungrounded in reality — that the British ruling class has blundered through the last couple of decades. The same discontent applies to varying degrees in the United States and, especially, the eurozone. It is, in many ways, a defining feature of our time...The rise of Catalan would-be secessionists in Spain, the rise of parties of the far right in European countries as diverse as Greece and Sweden, and the Tea Party in the United States are all rooted in a sense that, having been granted vast control over the levers of power, the political elite across the advanced world have made a mess of things.

The details of Scotland’s grievances are almost the diametrical opposite of those of, say, the Tea Party or Swedish right-wingers. They want more social welfare spending rather than less, and have a strongly pro-green, antinuclear environmental streak. (Scotland’s threatened secession is less the equivalent of Texas pulling out of the United States, in that sense, than of Massachusetts or Oregon doing the same.) But there are always people who have disagreements with the direction of policy in their nation; the whole point of a state is to have an apparatus that channels disparate preferences into one sound set of policy choices.

What distinguishes the current moment is that discontent with the way things have been going is so high as to test many people's tolerance for the governing institutions as they currently exist....The details of the policy mistakes (IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES) are different, as are the political movements that have arisen in protest. But together they are a reminder that no matter how entrenched our government institutions may seem, they rest on a bedrock assumption: that the leaders entrusted with power will deliver the goods.

Power is not a right; it is a responsibility. The choice that the Scots are making on Thursday is about whether the men and women who rule Britain messed things up so badly that they would rather go it alone. And so the results will ripple through world capitals from Athens to Washington: People don’t think the way things are going is good enough, and voters are getting angry enough to want to do something about it.

[Demeter]

29. France breaks deficit promise as Merkel sings praises of savings

http://www.dw.de/france-breaks-deficit-promise-as-merkel-sings-praises-of-savings/a-17912809



France has admitted it won't be able to fulfill a promise to its EU partners to rein in its budget deficit by 2015. But as Paris now seeks greater fiscal leniency from Brussels, Germany warns against easing austerity...

MERKEL IS SOME KIND OF DOMINATRIX, ISN'T SHE?

[Demeter]

30. Bank of Russia keeps powder dry for future inflation and growth problems

http://www.euronews.com/2014/09/12/bank-of-russia-keeps-powder-dry-for-future-inflation-and-growth-problems/

Faced with the twin problems of rising inflation and weakening economic growth, Russia’s central bank has kept the cost of borrowing unchanged.

At their regular monthly meeting, Bank of Russia policymakers decided to keep the bank’s key interest rate at 8.0 percent – it has risen by 2.5 percent since early March.

That suggests they want to hold measures in reserve to boost growth as Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis bite...

[Demeter]

33. THE FIRST INTERVIEW IS EXCEEDINGLY GRIM--GLOBAL DEPRESSION CONTINUES