Economic Calendar
10/27/2009 U.S. Case/Shiller Home Price Index - Aug
U.S. Consumer Confidence - Oct
U.S. Durable Orders - Sept
10/28/2009 U.S. Crude Inventories - 10/23
U.S. New Home Sales - Sept
10/29/2009 U.S. Chain Deflator (Adv) - Q3
U.S. Continuing Claims - 10/17
U.S. GDP (Adv) - Q3
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims - 10/24
10/30/2009 U.S. Chicago PMI - Oct
U.S. Employment Cost Index - Q3
U.S. Michigan Sentiment (Rev) - Oct
U.S. Personal Income - Sept
U.S. Personal Spending - Sept
Brazil’s September current account was not quite as good as expected, but that has not prevented further gains in the Brazilian real. The September current account deficit was $2.31B, slightly wider than expected, while September foreign direct investment was $1.82B, slightly less than expected.
China, India, Brazil and Russia this year called for a replacement to the dollar as the main reserve currency after the financial crisis sparked by the collapse of the U.S. mortgage market led to the worst global recession since World War II. China, the world’s largest holder of dollar reserves, said a supranational currency such as the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights, or SDRs, may add stability.
“There’s a much better chance of achieving a stable pattern of exchange rates in a multilaterally-agreed framework for exchange-rate management,” Heiner Flassbeck, co-author of the report and a UNCTAD director, said in an interview from Geneva.
Watch the numbers. The QE gang will insist the left hand will benefit, and the right to rail for God and Country. Meanwhile, back at the ranch the fly over States ponders is there any adults to fiscal sanity and the insider creator's of paper pusher's of CDO"s wonder why treasury printed overprinted. Left or Right I hope Independants who instill sanity when they step up to be a vote to reason.
Nick at ZH posted a good observation:
Testing the 50-dma in AUDUSD would alost be a victory in itself, as sad as it is to say. But this move by the Brazilian authorities could be the first of several by other governments. A friend pointed out to me last week on a couple occasions that New Zealand is very uncomfortable with the NZD where it is, and that rates expectations there are grossly overstated. Apparently he was citing some discussions with central bank staffers there, and his arguments were very convincing. Maybe this kind of news will embolden them to take matters into their own hands. In the meantime I will be watching carefully trend following indicators to assess the level of pain of carry traders. After all we are only overdue for some payback! As per our trade update yesterday and this morning it seemed the Dollar Index was due for some short-term strength and equities for a retracement. We haven't even breached the intermediary support at 1,082 in S&P futures, and the DXY is a touch short of our short-term target of 75.80. Our short-term entry was good, but there is little reason to get too excited just yet. So let's take a few minutes to thank Brazil and remain vigilant.
Nic Lenoir of ICAP
I cannot disagree to date with his assessment to date but all Government’s have problems so yes it a numbers game in any area. But remember when the Aussie PM was in Washington in the spring for his alleged CDO's chat ? And posted recently was the current AUD since when does anyone come to Washington for just a chat? Yea as a taxpayer I would like to see that twisted exchange, but alas, the news missed that per se money call I assume of my tax dollar.
Bloomberg: Today’s announcement reverses last year’s decision to end such taxes. In October 2008, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva eliminated a tax, known locally as IOF, of 1.5 percent on foreign investments in certain financial products and of 0.38 percent on foreign-currency loans. “Excess global liquidity could lead to an over-appreciation of the real,” Mantega said. That would threaten to hurt the country’s exporters and further fuel demand for imports. Foreign investor will pay a 2 percent tax when they enter the country to buy stocks or fixed-income securities. In the short term, the measure may help keep the real above 1.7 per U.S. dollar, said Antonio Madeira, chief economist at MCM Consultores Associados Ltd. As the market creates new investment strategies to bypass the tax, the impact in the currency market will be lost, he said. Mantega said the measures may not lead the real to weaken, but are designed to slow its appreciation and prevent the creation of bubbles in Brazilian markets. “These are to prevent excesses,” he said.
Andy Xie: Why One Bubble Burst Deserves another:
Financial markets are still maximum bearish on the dollar. Liquidity is being channeled out of dollar into all other assets. This is why there is such a high correlation between the dollar and other assets. I think this is the most crowded trade in the world. When the dollar reverses, the short squeeze could cause a global crisis.
I think Galleon may have solved that issue but we will see... meanwhile, back at SEC coma cave. An informant in the Galleon Group insider trading scandal had a history of sending tips to the firm, according to a court document that surfaced on Friday. The hedge fund run by billionaire Raj Rajaratnam received highly confidential nonpublic information about Intel Corp from the informant, Roomy Khan, as early as 1998
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091024/bs_ ... alleon_wsj
Slosh: The number of active dark pools transacting in stocks that trade on major U.S. stock markets has tripled since 2002. Given this growth of dark pools, a lack of transparency could create a two-tiered market that deprives the public of information about stock prices and liquidity.
To make trading through dark pools more transparent, the SEC's proposals generally would require that information about an investor's interest in buying or selling a stock be made available to the public instead of just a select group operating with a dark pool. The proposals also would require that dark pools publicly identify that it was their pool that executed the trade. "Today's proposals are intended to prevent the development of a two-tiered market in access to pricing information, further promote displayed liquidity, and enhance transparency of trade information," said James Brigagliano, Co-Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets.
I agree with Higgy "It is a carnival atmospere" We have posted back in forums numerous times to the ability "not a bad connotation intended"
of governments to deal with internal and external structures to cope with it other than time. Another Agency will never solve avarice but Law of Contract
should be enough for normal people. Let us accustom ourselves, then, not to judge things solely by what is seen, but rather by what is not seen. The sophism on this point consists in showing the public what it pays to the middlemen for their services and in concealing what would have to be paid to the state. Once again we have the conflict between what strikes the eye and what is evidenced only to the mind, between what is seen and what is not seen. Austrian economists are in general agreement with the proposition that market forces must be traced back to the plans of market participants, particularly the plans of entrepreneurs. Analytical differences arise over whether emphasis is to be placed on the expectations and decisions in which plans originate (an ex ante perspective) or on the experience the testing of plans provides (an ex post perspective). It seems to me that both perspectives are necessary for the analysis of dynamic economic processes, and that neither should be allowed to eclipse the other permanently. * Profit is then seen as the reward not for superior foresight, as Mises viewed it, but for the discovery of a piece of knowledge which others lack.
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Anom: The American dream is nothing more than a panacea fed to the populace to keep them in servitude. We've been told that if we just let business have free rein they would fuel the American engine. The premise is so entrenched in American society that even the most disenfranchised will argue for it even as there standard of living drops to third world status. With no health care no prospect for a pension that will provide anything but a poverty level subsistance no jobs of any consequence it's more of a nightmare than dream and yet we proptect it because well we don't know anything else.
I'm tired of watching half the population go without health care, bring on a publicly funded system.
I'm tired of seeing our seniors some of which served this nation in the countless wars we waged for no reason at all, retire into poverty because hey the market will take care of you if you just invest your money with us.
I'm tired of seeing over half our youth burdened by the cost of their education or not being able to afford it at all.
I'm tired of our city's once thriving hubs of manufacturing devolving into squalor and crime as our jobs are shipped overseas along with hope that even the simplest among us has a chance for a dignified life.
I'm tired at our celebrity culture were we hold people who celebrate gang culture as something to aspire to, with false promises of easy riches denegrated females at your feet just because you can string a few unintelligible words together.
Our dreams have enslaved us the American dream served only those with means and yet we protect it it's our God given right.
Now come down to the food bank were I volunteer and see the American reality.
And FYI: Lobbyists registered to work on financial regulation: Watch carefully dear taxpayer
Citigroup -- 46
U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- 46
American Bankers Association -- 44
Prudential -- 41
SIFMA -- 37
Managed Funds Association -- 31
Goldman Sachs -- 29
Charles Schwab Corp. -- 28
American Insurance Association -- 27
Investment Company Institute -- 25