STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 12 February 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 12 February 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 11 February 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 11 February 2015
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Dow Jones 17,862.14 -6.62 (-0.04%)
S&P 500 2,068.53 -0.06 (0.00%)
[font color=green]Nasdaq 4,801.18 +13.54 (0.28%)


[font color=red]10 Year 2.01% +0.03 (1.52%)
30 Year 2.58% +0.01 (0.39%) [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)
Market Updates
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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]

[Demeter]

1. Because schools don't make money off their scholarship students

unless the kids hit it rich and are guilted into big donations, much later in life.

Scholarship kids COST money.

Some ignoramus tried to make the case that U of Michigan's new coach was costing $7million in money that the school or the state could have spent on scholarships.... except his salary comes out of the $66million + that U of M football brings in each year....hence, costing not one red cent to the public.

[Demeter]

2. 5 Steps to Creating Your Digital Estate Plan

http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2012-05/5-steps-creating-your-digital-estate-plan


A will is essential — and these days it should include all your online accounts. The new Google Inactive Account Manager feature can also be a useful tool....Will drawn up? Check. Trusts created for the kids? Check. Executor of the estate named, health directives signed, and funeral arrangements specified? Check, check, and check. With all that done, you may think your work is finished. But there’s one key facet of 21st century estate planning that many people overlook: a digital estate plan.

This plan lays out your digital assets — both financial (such as online bank and brokerage accounts purchasing and download destinations like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Expedia) and social (like Facebook and Flickr accounts) — and provides directions on how to access and handle them upon your death. To help make the process simpler, Google just launched an Inactive Account Manager feature, which lets you tell the company what you want done with your digital assets on its services (Gmail, Blogger, Google Drive, Google+, Picasa, Google Voice and YouTube) when you die.

The Importance of a Digital Estate Plan

Maybe you never thought of your Facebook account, your eBay shop, or your virtual land on FarmVille as an “asset.” In fact, 63 percent of people don’t know what will happen to their digital assets when they die, according to a survey by Rocket Lawyer, an online legal service. But think about all the information and docs and apps (such as what may be stored in the cloud) in these accounts and the potential value they represent. If you're a photographer, for example, much of your valuable work may be digital and stored in password-protected areas of your computer or in the cloud.

“In this day and age, your digital assets should be a part of your estate planning,” says Rick Salmeron, founder of Salmeron Financial in Dallas. “You need to pass on the keys to your digital kingdom.”

A 5-Step Digital Estate Plan

Here are five steps to help you create a digital estate plan:

Step 1: Make 2 inventory lists of your digital assets and how to access them. One should have your online passwords and the other should have your online account numbers. If all that information is in one place and someone steals that list, he or she can easily hack into all of your digital accounts. The lists might be long; you may not be able to put them all together in one sitting. (You should also have a record of your non-digital assets, as a blog post by Next Avenue Money & Security editor Richard Eisenberg explains.)

Your digital inventory could include the following:


Your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media accounts.
Blogs and websites you own.
Bank, brokerage, retirement plan, credit card, loan, and insurance accounts that you access online.
Your email accounts.
Online retail accounts and apps from stores, flash sale sites or marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and iTunes.
Photo- or video-sharing sites like Flickr or YouTube.
Music sites like Pandora.
PayPal or other online payment accounts.
Utility bills you pay online.
Any other online accounts such as ones from airline sites with your frequent flier miles and document and data storage accounts like Google Docs


If you use a “digital wallet” product on your cell phone — like a prepaid Starbucks app that lets you pay for your lattes from your phone — this too might be worth adding to the list. Try to update these inventories at least once a year — or, ideally, whenever you change a password, or close or open a digital account.

Step 2: Find a safe place to store this information. Since your digital inventories contain personal information that could lead to identity theft and financial losses if it gets into the wrong hands, “you have to be very careful" about where you put them, says Susan Slater-Jansen, a trusts and estates attorney at Kurzman Eisenberg Corbin & Lever in White Plains, N.Y.

One option is to store the lists in a safety deposit box at your bank. Or you might put them in a site like Legacy Locker or SecureSafe, which securely encrypts and stores all of your account information and passwords in one place. You can also use one of these sites to store copies of important documents such as your wills and trusts, the deed to your house, stock certificates and birth certificates. When you die, your beneficiaries get access to everything you’ve stored. Legacy Locker costs either $29.99 a year or $299.99 a one-time fee plan. SecureSafe plans range from free to $12.90 a month, depending on how much information you want to store. You can also give the lists, or a copy of them, to a trusted person like your spouse, child or best friend, as well as your digital executor (see below).

Step 3: Name a “digital executor.” This is the person you designate to carry out your digital estate plan upon your death, ensuring that your end-of-life requests are met. Your digital executor should be impartial and mature, able to handle this sensitive information responsibly, and technologically savvy, says Charley Moore, founder and executive chairman of Rocket Lawyer. Once you’ve settled on someone who fits that description, name him or her as your digital executor in your will, says Moore. Be sure your digital executor knows how to access your digital estate plan, including instructions that spell out how to handle your online accounts upon your death. You should also give your digital executor power of attorney over your digital accounts, since he or she may need it to access the accounts after you die. Let your digital executor know if you have automated any of your digital assets by using something like Google's Inactive Account Manager.

Here's how that feature works: Google will automatically send you a text or an email alert if you've been inactive for a certain amount of time (you pick the duration when signing up in the Account Management area of one of your Google accounts). If you don't respond, Google will notify your friends or family members whose contact information you've provided. Once they've confirmed that you're deceased, Google will do what you've instructed and either share your accounts with these people or delete them. Although Google is ahead of the curve on this, Salmeron says that "there is no doubt in my mind that companies will be following its lead." Even though Google Inactive Account Manager process is automated, it's important to let your executor know that you've set it up, so he or she isn't trying to figure out what to do with these accounts.

Step 4: Write out instructions for what should happen to your digital assets after you die. Your will most likely lays out the distribution of all your bank and brokerage accounts, so you probably don’t need a separate written plan for the ones you access online, says Michael Sears, vice president and trust officer of Great Plains Trust Company in Overland Park, Kansas. Just make sure the executor of your will knows how to obtain your list of online financial accounts, since this can make divvying up your estate faster and easier, he adds.

Your non-financial digital assets, however, are a different story. Sears says it’s a good idea to create a to-do list outlining how you want all things digital — from your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to your Flickr and YouTube accounts — to be handled when you die. Then give this document to your digital executor.

The to-do list should answer questions like these:

Do you want your Facebook account deactivated when you die, or do you want it to remain online as a memorial of your life?
Do you want prints of your Flickr photos sent to your family members?

Before you create this list, you should review the terms of services on your digital social media accounts, says John O’Grady, a trusts and estates lawyer at the O’Grady Law Firm in San Francisco. The terms of service for social media sites can take precedent over state laws. Typically, you will need to give your digital executor or someone else the user name and password for your social media accounts, so they can log in after you die. Otherwise, your wishes may not be honored.

In general, Facebook won’t grant access to an account to anyone other than the account holder (or your digital executor, if you’ve given him or her permission to enter your user name and password). Instead, the company can do one of two things when a Facebook user dies. It can “memorialize” the user's profile so friends and family can still see it and post on the wall, but can’t log into the account or find the deceased in a search. Or it can deactivate the profile at the request of the user's family.

Twitter lists only the option of deactivating the account on its “Help Center” site. And it doesn’t make this process easy: You need to fax Twitter copies of the death certificate and your government-issued ID (such as a driver’s license), along with a signed, notarized statement and either a link to an online obituary or a copy of the obituary from a local paper.

To access your YouTube account after you die, the person you appoint will need to send YouTube a copy of your death certificate and a copy of a document saying he or she has power of attorney over the account.

As for Gmail, Google says that it will only grant a family member access to a deceased person’s email “in rare cases.” The family member requesting this access must send Google a copy of his or her government-issued ID and the death certificate. But even then, the company doesn't promise that it will let anyone into a loved one’s email account.

Step 5: Consider whether you want to post a final message online. Your digital estate plan can also explain how you want to send a final online message (or messages) to friends and family. Do you want to record a video of your life story and have it posted on your YouTube channel when you die? Do you want to create a photo album chronicling your life and have someone put it up for you on Flickr?
Whatever you decide to do, be sure your digital estate plan provides specific instructions for your digital executor about any content you want to be posted online upon your death, as well as how and when it should be posted.

[Demeter]

5. How to Give Away Your Digital Fortune

http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2014-02/how-give-away-your-digital-fortune

Your 20,000-song iTunes library is valuable both monetarily and as an artifact of your life, so you’d like to leave it to your children. Legally, you probably can’t, at least not yet. But, as a practical matter, you can share your digital wealth (including ebooks, online photos and other assets) in a limited fashion — as long as you plan ahead. For those who purchase music, this digital asset may add up to a sizable chunk of change. “I have about 12,000 songs in my library. In theory, in today’s prices, that’s $15,000 worth of music,” notes Ken Moraif, a senior adviser at Money Matters, a wealth-management firm.

Passing On What You Don't Fully Own

The problem is that generally you don’t actually own the digital music and books you buy on your computer and mobile devices — you’ve simply bought licenses to listen and view those products. Plus, the rules governing your account will vary by service provider; it’s all in the fine print of those terms and conditions to which you agreed when you opened the account. But there are some ways to share these assets with your heirs and creating a digital estate plan may smooth the process.

Digital Music Files

The Apple iTunes terms of service agreement generally states that your license is nontransferable and will end automatically if you fail to comply with the terms of the agreement. The agreement “doesn’t seem to contemplate a transfer of the license after death,” said Sharon Klein, managing director of family office services and wealth strategies at Wilmington Trust, in New York City. “It’s silent about what happens when someone dies. It just says you can’t transfer it, period,” she said. Until the language changes (if it changes) or until state laws do a better job supporting executors’ ability to manage digital assets, your safest bet might be to give your heirs the access information for your iTunes account. (The terms of service allow up to five computers on one account.) Another option with some music files is to save them to your computer or a hard drive, and bequeath that to your heirs, but whether this will work depends on the type of music file.

E-books

Generally, you’re not going to be able to transfer your e-books to your heirs, because the service agreements usually say the license is nontransferable and e-books often are protected by digital rights management (DRM) software, so you can’t copy them. But, like an iTunes account, you could simply give your Kindle, Nook or e-reader log-in credentials to an heir, and he or she can at least read the books you’ve already purchased while your account remains active (which, according to this New York Times opinion piece, may be a long time).

Bitcoins

If you own Bitcoins, it might take some computer expertise to employ some of the highly secure strategies for passing on this digital currency. But there is also a quick and easy way. Currently, many people store their Bitcoins in a digital wallet, usually via an app on their phone or laptop, said Jinyoung Englund, director of public affairs for the Bitcoin Foundation, a member-supported group that aims to standardize and promote Bitcoin, among other goals.

“If you store it in a digital wallet, you would just have to provide your user ID and your password to your designated heir and they can access your account,” Englund said.

While digital wallets do provide some level of security, there is the danger that hackers might access your account. To avoid that problem, it’s possible to pull your Bitcoins — which essentially consist of serial numbers — off the network and put them into “cold storage,” such as in a safe in your house or a bank safety deposit box, Englund said.

“You’ve completely taken your Bitcoins off line,” she said. And you can leave those assets to your heirs.

Currently, however, pulling Bitcoins off the network and putting them into cold storage requires some computer-science sophistication. “Because it’s such a new technology, the consumer-focused companies haven’t come along yet to build services to make it super easy,” she said. Need help? Contact the Bitcoin Foundation via email: [e-mail]. Also, the Foundation is revamping its website to include a best practices section, including information on how to store your Bitcoins, among other information.

Online Photos

If you’ve posted photos online that you want your heirs to receive, read your terms of service to see what the provisions are for an inactive account. But, it might be easier to simply make backup copies, store them in a safe place and be sure your executor knows where to find such items.

“Maybe your executor can’t get access to Flickr, but if I’ve backed up all my photos on a hard drive, then it’s fine,” said Alexandra Gerson, a lawyer with Helsell Fetterman in Seattle.

E-mail

Grieving families are often shocked to find they can’t gain access to their loved one’s email messages. That said, some companies will provide copies of emails to an executor, though it can be a time-consuming and difficult process. In other cases, the account may simply be deleted. For example, the terms of service for Yahoo email state that all rights to your account terminate on your death and that the data can be deleted. Some estate-plan experts advise people to create a digital estate plan. You name a “digital executor” and state in your will that you’re giving that person the authority to deal with your digital assets. You provide that person with a list of your accounts, including each account’s username and password (such information should not be included in your will), plus instructions as to what you’d like done with each account.

“The mechanism that people are trying to use is to designate that person as an authorized user to try to make that designation compatible with the terms of service agreement and applicable laws,” Klein said.

“Whether providers respect that and it works perfectly or not is yet to be seen, but you have to do the best you can to make it as easy as possible for your designee to access the information,” she said.

That is, naming a digital executor is no guarantee. “Whether that works perfectly if there’s a terms of service agreement that conflicts with that, that’s unclear, but it’s certainly better to be proactive and nominate someone,” Klein said.

“Then that person has the ability to say, ‘This person authorized me to have access.’ That will certainly facilitate things after death,” she said.

Earlier this year, Google eased this process by launching its Inactive Account Manager. The tool lets you control how your Gmail and any other Google accounts are handled after your death. You dictate who should be notified in the event your account is inactive for a specified period; you also decide whether your trusted contact should be able to download the data, or whether the account should be deleted.

Social Media Sites

With your social media accounts, at this point it appears most sites won’t give another user access to an inactive account, so you may want to ask your digital executor to manage your accounts on your behalf. that is, you provide a list of your log-in credentials for each account, though this could violate the terms of service.
If you don’t provide access to your account, here are the options available to your executor for Facebook and Twitter:

Facebook will delete an account or allow the user’s timeline to be memorialized once the company receives proof of death and proof of the relationship between the decedent and the person making the request. Read more about memorializing Facebook accounts here.

Twitter won’t give you access to a deceased relative's account, but the company will delete an account if certain information is provided.

Read more about managing a decedent's Twitter account AT LINK IN OP

[Demeter]

7. THIS INFO COURTESY OF MY SIS

She is dealing with the affairs of a recently deceased relation who died suddenly, intestate, and may have had bitcoins squirreled away somewhere...

It's a nightmare.

[Demeter]

13. She sent along this story for your amusement (I don't THINK it's hers)

Several days ago, as I left a meeting, I desperately gave myself a personal search. I was looking for my keys. They were not in my pockets. A quick search in the meeting room revealed nothing. Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot. My husband has warned me many times about leaving the keys in the ignition. My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them. His theory is that the car will be stolen.

As I scanned the parking lot I came to a terrifying conclusion! His theory was right. The parking lot was empty. I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been stolen. Then I made the most difficult call of all.

"Hello My Love," I stammered. I always call him "My Love" in times like these. "I left my keys in the car, and it has been stolen."

There was a period of silence. I thought the call had disconnected, but then I heard his voice. He was not happy as he said, "I dropped you off!"

Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, "Well, please come and get me."

He responded, "I will, as soon as I convince this policeman that I didn't steal your car!"

[DemReadingDU]

22. LOL!

and thanks for the tips about a digital estate planning. It's a long process to ensure everything is documented.

[xchrom]

3. Ukraine is getting a $40 billion international bailout

http://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-40-billion-bailout-russia-imf-2015-2

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced early Thursday that Ukraine is getting a massive bailout totalling $40 billion (£26.2 billion) to prop up its struggling economy.

The overthrow of Ukraine's previous government and the war in the country's eastern region, which has been raging since last March when Russia annexed Crimea, have been a huge hit to the country's public finances. The IMF will give the Ukraine government $17.5 billion (£11.5 billion). Combined with financial assistance from the international community, the financial package amounts to about $40 billion in support over the next four years.

In a statement, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said:

I am pleased to announce that the IMF team working in Kiev has reached a staff-level agreement with the Ukrainian government on a new economic reform program that would be supported by an Extended Fund Facility of SDR 12.35 billion (about $17.5 billion, €15.5 billion) from the IMF, as well as by additional resources from the international community. I intend to recommend this program for consideration to the IMF Executive Board. This new four-year arrangement would support immediate economic stabilisation in Ukraine as well as a set of bold policy reforms aimed at restoring robust growth over the medium term and improving living standards for the Ukrainian people...

The change in the IMF-supported program (from Stand-By Arrangement to Extended Fund Facility) will itself provide more funding, more time, more flexibility, and better financing terms for Ukraine to implement its reform agenda. These IMF resources will be complemented by other bilateral and multilateral financing. In addition, as the Ukrainian government has previously announced, it intends to hold consultations with the holders of their sovereign debt with a view to improving medium-term sustainability. From these various sources taken together, a total financing package of around $40 billion is estimated over the four year period.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-40-billion-bailout-russia-imf-2015-2#ixzz3RWneLpjr

[Demeter]

9. More Austerity, More Debt, More US-bankster-backed BS

The economic jackals never sleep.

Ukraine might want to talk to other IMF clients before agreeing to any such "charity" because charity it certainly isn't.

By hook or crook, they are going to steal the gas and oil fields from the Ukrainians, and if that isn't enough, the arable land that made Ukraine Europe's bread basket, too.

Too bad they can't get the ports and sell them off. Putin ruined that gambit early on.

[xchrom]

4. BANK OF ENGLAND: DEFLATION IS COMING

http://www.businessinsider.com/bank-of-england-inflation-report-2015-2

Here's a breakdown of their main forecasts:

2015 growth forecast at 2.9%, no change from the last conference

2016 growth forecast at 2.9%, up from 2.6%

Inflation is forecast at 0% in Q2 and Q3 this year, with a likely month or two of deflation during the summer
Inflation won't return to 2% until the end of 2017

Oil prices will sit at around $58 this year, $65 next year and $69 the year after

Falling unemployment‎ will slow down. The bank expects 5.4% unemployment this year, 5.2% next year and 5% in 2018
Carney's letter says that the Bank is putting two thirds of the drop in inflation can be put down to energy, food and goods prices.

They're pretty relaxed about that, but unlike the US Federal Reserve (which currently looks set to hike rates during the summer), it doesn't sound like they're planning to raise interest rates any time soon.

A BoE press officer says inflation will "more likely than not" slump below zero in the summer. But they're expecting that to be brief.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bank-of-england-inflation-report-2015-2#ixzz3RWoJGz4n

[xchrom]

6. The 10 most important things in the world right now

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-feb-12-2015-2

1. The International Monetary Fund has agreed to a $40 billion (£26.2 billion) bailout for Ukraine's economy.

2. Greece rejected a deal over its debt crisis at an emergency meeting of Europe's finance ministers on Wednesday.

3. US President Barack Obama has officially asked Congress for authorisation to use military force against Islamic State militants.

4. After all-night negotiations in Belarus, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany are said to be close to reaching a a deal on a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, where a war has been raging ever since Russia annexed Crimea last March.

5. Russia has lost its ability to detect ballistic missiles from space, due to technical problems that have delayed the launch of early warning satellites.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-most-important-things-in-the-world-right-now-feb-12-2015-2#ixzz3RWp1jQRW

[xchrom]

8. US foreclosures hit a 15-month high in January

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-foreclosure-activity-rises-5-percent-in-january-realtytrac-2015-2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. properties in foreclosure upon rose 5 percent in January, driven by a jump in bank repossessions, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

A total of 37,292 homes were repossessed in January, a 15-month high. Overall, 119,888 properties were at some stage of the foreclosure process, still down 4 percent from a year earlier.

The unwinding of distressed housing assets, a multiyear legal process in many states, was gathering pace, RealtyTrac said.

A nationwide increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions in 21 states in January reflected that they were "coming off somewhat artificially low levels last year," RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-foreclosure-activity-rises-5-percent-in-january-realtytrac-2015-2#ixzz3RWpj9LBr

[Demeter]

10. After reading what X has posted, I'm sorely tempted to go back to bed

and stay there for a decade or so....until things get sorted out....

This Weekend we continue to bask in sunny, friendly, peaceful Cuba. Friday is Euchre Night, so the thread will start late, but it will start. Definitely by Saturday!

Today it's 16F at 6:30 AM, and heading straight down to zero over the next 24 hours. Wind chill advisory posted.

Staying in bed seems like a better and better idea...

[xchrom]

11. SHARES GAIN AS EARNINGS OFFSET WORRIES OVER GREEK DEBT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-04-53-36

KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX gained 1.3 percent to 10,890.97 and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent to 6,843.73. France's CAC 40 was 0.7 percent higher at 4,713.20. Wall Street appeared set for gains. Dow futures rose 0.4 percent to 17,901 and S&P 500 futures gained 0.3 percent to 2,072.30.

GREEK DEBT: Shares were lackluster in many markets after an emergency meeting Wednesday between Greece's new government and finance ministers from nations that use the euro ended in a stalemate. Greek officials proposed renegotiating the terms of an international bailout that has imposed years of punishing austerity on the country. There is a risk the standoff could eventually end with Greece defaulting on its debts and leaving the euro common currency.

THE QUOTE: "Global markets seem to be in unchartered waters right now with the Greece issue presenting significant uncertainty," IG market strategist Stan Shamu said in a commentary. "As a result, it certainly seems caution is warranted and investors are quite happy to take some profits off the table as markets consolidate."

EARNINGS RESCUE: Sentiment was lifted by improvements in profitability for some major companies reporting quarterly results. Resource giant Rio Tinto said its full year net profit jumped 78 percent in 2014, while French automaker Renault reported its net profit more than doubled.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.9 percent to 17,979.72 after being closed for a holiday Wednesday and Shanghai's Composite Index rose 0.5 percent to 3,173.42, but most other Asian markets fell. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.2 percent to 1,941.63, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4 percent to 5,743.60 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.2 percent to 24,261.83.

[Demeter]

12. In international events, I think February is taking over from April as the Cruelest Month

It's as if we were reliving 2008 all over again...an ocean away, and yet its effects will lap our shores, and our criminals are intimately involved in it all, as usual.

[xchrom]

14. US BUDGET DEFICIT RUNNING 6.2 PERCENT HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BUDGET_DEFICIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-11-16-49-36

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government ran a bigger deficit in January, pushing the imbalance so far this budget year up 6.2 percent from the same period a year ago.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday the deficit for January stood at $17.5 billion compared to $10.3 billion a year ago. For the first four months of the budget year that began in October, the deficit widened to $194.2 billion from $182.8 billion during the same period last year.

The budget deficit has gradually narrowed since 2012, which was the fourth straight year in which it topped the $1 trillion mark. The improvement reflects the country's economic recovery from recession. The government is seeing higher tax revenues as people go back to work and smaller payments for safety-net programs such as unemployment assistance. It also represents efforts by Congress to control deficits through higher taxes and across-the-board spending cuts.

Last year's deficit benefited from a $24 billion special payment Freddie Mac made for the support it received during the financial crisis. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts a deficit of $468 billion for the full 2015 budget year, 3.1 percent lower than in 2014.

[xchrom]

15. TOTAL WRITE DOWNS VALUE OF CANADIAN, US OIL FIELDS AMID LOSS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_FRANCE_EARNS_TOTAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-06-34-11

PARIS (AP) -- French energy producer Total wrote down the value of oil and gas fields in Canada and the United States and said it would slash investment after the collapse in market prices led to a net loss of $5.66 billion for the fourth quarter.

Total SA said Thursday its earnings were weighed down by $6.5 billion in charges, mainly against the value of oil sands in Canada and unconventional gas fields in the United States.

Overall, its oil and gas production slid 2 percent to 2.23 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter.

After falling nearly 60 percent from a peak last June, the price of oil bounced back more than 20 percent in recent weeks. On Wednesday, the price of oil fell $1.18 to $48.84 a barrel in New York.

Total followed European peers BP and Royal Dutch Shell in announcing sharp spending cuts in response to falling oil prices. Total will lower investments more than 10 percent to between $23 billion and $24 billion this year, and will also cut its exploration budget by about 30 percent to $1.9 billion. It also raised its forecast for operating cost cuts to $1.2 billion, well above the $800 million planned previously.

[xchrom]

16. SWEDEN CUTS KEY RATE TO MINUS 0.1 PCT, LAUNCHES BOND-BUYING

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SWEDEN_RATE_CUT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-05-11-33

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Sweden's central bank has cut its key interest rate to a record low -0.1 percent and launched a program of government bond purchases worth 10 billion kronor ($1.2 billion) to stimulate the economy.

The Riksbank on Thursday lowered the key interest from 0 percent, in the first change since October, saying there is a risk that inflation, which it believes has reached its lowest point, will not rise fast enough.

The bank warned that although it expects the global economic recovery to continue in the years ahead, it will be at a "slow rate." It added that growth in Sweden will benefit from low oil prices, a weaker krona and low interest rates.

The Riksbank joins a growing number of central banks who are lowering rates to bring inflation higher.

[Demeter]

17. Finance chiefs vow action to bolster growth at G20 meet

LATER REPORTS SAY THIS IDEA WAS TRASHED EARLY INTO THE MEETING...GERMANY PROBABLY SAID "NEIN"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/10/us-g20-meeting-idUSKBN0LE10V20150210

Finance officials from the Group of 20 leading economies sketched an uncertain outlook for global growth on Tuesday and vowed to use monetary and fiscal policy if needed to stem any risk of stagnation.

The United States urged nations at the G20 meeting not to resort to currency devaluations to boost exports, an indication Washington is starting to feel wary of its allies manipulating their exchange rates to support growth. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew signaled that Germany and others in Europe should engage in deficit spending, saying it would not be a "good ride" for the global economy if only the United States was strong.

"In Europe, there's a need for more fiscal policy. There's a demand shortfall. Different countries have different amount of fiscal space. With the fiscal space, they need to use it to grow demand," he told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

"I've used the metaphor of a car that has one tire fully inflated, and the other three not so much. It's not going to be a good ride for the global economy if the one strong wheel is the United States."

The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Istanbul comes at a difficult time, with major economies running at different speeds, monetary policies diverging and Greece casting a new shadow over Europe.

Germany, which boasts a record current account surplus, has been unbending in the face of G20 calls to spend more and boost demand. The final G20 communique also pledged to put debt as a share of output on a sustainable path. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble nonetheless gave a more upbeat view of the European outlook, saying forecasts for global growth were improving, and not just because of a strengthening in activity in the United States...

GERMANY WILL BE THE DEATH OF EUROPE, THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN GENERAL, AND WORLD PEACE.

[xchrom]

18. WEST COAST SEAPORTS MOSTLY SHUT DOWN AMID CONTRACT DISPUTE

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PORT_LABOR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-03-40-08

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Seaports in major West Coast cities that normally are abuzz with the sound of commerce are falling unusually quiet.

Companies that operate marine terminals said they weren't calling workers to unload ships Thursday that carry car parts, furniture, clothing, electronics - just about anything made in Asia and destined for U.S. consumers. Containers of U.S. exports won't get loaded either.

The partial lockout is the result of an increasingly damaging labor dispute between dockworkers' and their employers.

The two sides have been negotiating a new contract, and paralysis at the bargaining table is all but paralyzing 29 ports that handle about one-quarter of U.S. international trade - around $1 trillion worth of cargo annually.

[Demeter]

19. S&P, Fitch warn on long-term ratings of four Greek banks

IN OTHER NEWS, WATER IS STILL WET

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/10/sp-ratings-greekbanks-idUSL4N0VK65M20150210

Ratings agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's warned on the long-term ratings of four Greek banks as uncertainty surrounds Greece getting financial support from the European Central Bank.

The European Union aims to clinch an interim debt deal with Greece although there are "low expectations" for a breakthrough at meetings of ministers and EU leaders this week, a European Commission spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Fitch placed the long-term ratings of Alpha Bank AE , Eurobank Ergasias SA, National Bank of Greece SA and Piraeus Bank SA on negative watch.

S&P maintained its CreditWatch negative warning on the four banks, meaning that they could be lowered again...

[Demeter]

21. Tsipras, Syriza clear Greek confidence vote ahead of debt talks

http://www.dw.de/tsipras-syriza-clear-greek-confidence-vote-ahead-of-debt-talks/a-18248756



Prime Minsiter Alexis Tsipras' government in Athens has cleared a vote of confidence, a day before Syriza presents its financial plans in Brussels. In parliament, Tsipras had strong words for Germany's finance minister. ...

DOESN'T EVERYONE?

[xchrom]

20. ECB OFFICIAL: STIMULUS NEEDS HELP FROM GOVERNMENTS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPEAN_CENTRAL_BANK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-04-47-06

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- A top European Central Bank official says the bank's new 1.1 trillion euro ($1.2 trillion) monetary stimulus could "fall on barren ground" if governments do not cut red tape and excessive regulation.

The bank will start purchasing government bonds with newly printed money next month, a step aimed at increasing alarmingly low inflation and warding off long-term stagnation.

ECB executive board member Peter Praet said in the text of a speech in London on Thursday that "perhaps the biggest risk we face with our new measures is that they fall on barren ground because governments are not doing enough to raise confidence in the future."

The ECB announced the stimulus Jan. 22 in an effort to raise growth and an alarmingly low rate of inflation. Prices in the 19-country euro currency union fell 0.6 percent annually in January. The stimulus should lower interest rates even further. Some bond-market yields have even fallen below zero ahead of the start of the program.

[Demeter]

23. Plaintiff in Obamacare case unaware Obamacare case would cause millions to lose coverage

http://www.vox.com/2015/2/9/8005985/king-burwell-plaintiffs

The Supreme Court case that could dismantle Obamacare, King v. Burwell, has at its core one plaintiff who called President Barack Obama the "anti-Christ" and another who doesn't want to see anyone lose their health insurance and isn't sure how she became part of the case in the first place...

A case that could destroy Obamacare

In Obamacare's first year, 36 states defaulted to Healthcare.gov, the federally coordinated exchange. An estimated 87 percent of individuals who enrolled through the website are receiving subsidies - the precise subsidies that this court case calls into question.

MAP OF OCAMACARE SUBSIDY ACCESS

Without subsidies, private insurance become unaffordable for many people who have already enrolled. The judicial process is still playing out, but according to recent analysis from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this decision could affect over 7.3 million people expected to receive federal subsidies in 2016. If the plaintiffs prevail and subsidies are withdrawn, healthy people would drop their coverage, and only the people who are very sick - and therefore very expensive to insure - would keep their plans.

This sets up the classic insurance "death spiral". By putting coverage out of financial reach for so many people, it would undermine the entire purpose of the Affordable Care Act. King v. Burwell is arguably the Affordable Care Act's greatest existential threat since the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate in 2012. The lawsuit, if successful, would rip the subsidies out of 36 of the law's state insurance exchanges — effectively destroying much of Obamacare in those states.

On July 22, two federal appeals courts issued competing rulings on this issue. On November 7, the Supreme Court decided to take up the case. According to the challengers, the plain text of the Affordable Care Act limits its financial assistance to states that established their own insurance exchanges. In Obamacare's first year, only 14 states and the District of Columbia did that. The plaintiffs argue that the part of the Affordable Care Act that authorizes the subsidies specifies that those subsidies are available to people who enrolled "through an Exchange established by the State under 1311" - the section that sets up state-based exchanges. Because it's written that way, the plaintiffs hold that subsidies are only available on state-based exchanges, not on the Healthcare.gov exchanges used by the majority of states.

The staffers who wrote the law think that's ridiculous. "It was always intended that the federal fallback exchange would do everything that the statute told the states to do, which includes delivering the subsidies," says Chris Condeluci, who worked as tax and benefits counsel for the Senate Finance Committee Republicans during the Affordable Care Act debate. Otherwise, they note, Congress would have been setting the law up to fail. Without subsidies, private insurance would become unaffordable for many people who have already enrolled. The judicial process is still playing out, but according to recent analysis from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this decision could end subsidies for over 7.3 million people in 2016.

[xchrom]

24. Global Oil Layoffs Exceed 100,000

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/oil-layoffs-top-100-000-as-job-pilgrims-dreams-shatter

(Bloomberg) -- The promise of plentiful jobs and salaries as high as a quarter-million dollars a year lured Colombia native Clara Correa Zappa and her British husband to Perth, Australia, at the height of the continent’s oil and gas frenzy.

Engineers were in high demand in 2012, when oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel, making the move across the world a no-brainer. Within two years, though, oil plunged to less than half the 2012 price and Zappa lost her job as a safety analyst. Now she’s worried her husband, who also works in the commodities industry, could also lose his job.

Such anxieties are rising at a time when the number of energy jobs cut globally have climbed well above 100,000 as once-bustling oil hubs in Scotland, Australia and Brazil, among other countries, empty out, according to Swift Worldwide Resources, a staffing firm with offices across the world.

“It’s shocking,” Zappa, 29, said in a telephone interview. There is “so much pressure for him to keep his job and even work extra.”

[xchrom]

25. AmEx Is Losing Its Millionaires

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/amex-grip-on-wealthy-consumers-seen-slipping-as-rivals-take-bite

Hedge-fund manager Whitney Tilson used his American Express card for three decades to buy groceries, trips to Europe and just about everything else. A few months ago, he switched.

“I charge a lot of money on my credit card,” said Tilson, 48, who manages more than $83 million at Kase Capital Management in New York. He said the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World MasterCard gives him more cash perks while rewarding him for the money he spends on travel. “The difference between getting 1 percent and 2 percent cash back is thousands of dollars and for that amount of money, Barclaycard has a better offer,” he said.

American Express Co., long the envy of the industry for its wealthy clientele, is fighting to retain its grip on affluent cardholders like Tilson. Rivals including Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are courting them with enhanced perks, lower fees and more incentives. And as AmEx seeks to diversify by pursuing tech-savvy millennials and underbanked Americans, the risk of eroding its brand—and its biggest source of revenue—is rising.

[Fuddnik]

27. Us rich people appreciate that.

I just got my American Express (Costco) rewards check in the mail yesterday. I'm $12.53 richer today. But, I can only spend it at Costco, which I love, but it's almost 20 miles away, so I don't get there very often.

[xchrom]

26. Freddie Mac Catching Up in Apartment Boom: Mortgages

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-12/freddie-mac-catching-up-in-apartment-boom-mortgages


(Bloomberg) -- Operating in the shadow of Freddie Mac’s business as America’s second-largest guarantor of home loans, the company’s unit serving apartment landlords is booming as borrowers take advantage of looser lending terms.

The mortgage company underwrote $21.2 billion of debt on apartment buildings in the second half of 2014, triple the total in the first six months. The surge meant the McLean, Virginia-based lender almost surpassed the larger Fannie Mae last year to become the biggest provider of U.S. apartment financing, following changes by the agency that oversees both companies.

Melvin L. Watt, who took over as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency last year, is rolling back policies aimed at shrinking the government-controlled finance companies, letting Freddie Mac push into segments of multifamily lending that had been off limits. That’s helping bolster demand for apartment buildings, already the hottest part of the commercial real estate market, as values rise to a point of possible overinflation.

“Rents have been growing at a significantly faster clip than wages,” said Sam Chandan, president of Chandan Economics. “The outlook for rental growth is more measured than what we’ve seen over the last couple of years.”

[mahatmakanejeeves]

28. ETA News Release: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (02/12/2015)

Source: Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20150230.pdf

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Release Number: USDL 15-230-NAT

Program Contacts:
Tom Stengle [phone]
Tony Sznoluch [phone]
Media Contact: [phone]

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, February 12, 2015

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending February 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 304,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 278,000 to 279,000. The 4-week moving average was 289,750, a decrease of 3,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 292,750 to 293,000.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8 percent for the week ending January 31, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 31 was 2,354,000, a decrease of 51,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 5,000 from 2,400,000 to 2,405,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,404,000, a decrease of 18,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,250 from 2,421,250 to 2,422,500.
....

UNADJUSTED DATA

....
The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending January 24 was 2,884,119, an increase of 44,284 from the previous week. There were 3,497,108 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2014.