Baltic Dry Index. 745 -05
LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
"The first requisite of a sound monetary system is that it put the least possible power over the quantity or quality of money in the hands of the politicians."
Henry Hazlitt
A rising scandal in Spain, and the rise of Silvio
Berlusconi’s Party in Italy, crashed 2013’s record breaking stock market rally.
The best laid plans of mice and central bankster’s gang aft agley. It’s an open secret that the western
central banks led by the Fed, have been targeting stock markets as a way of
trying to engineer a wealth effect. France, Italy and Spain, alone or
collectively, have the ability to undo their best efforts. Stay long physical
precious metals. Later today, we get the
thoughts of the “Hammer of Mali,” President Hollande on the direction he wants for
Europe. Hopefully his speech will not roil the markets any further, and the
central banks can get back to engineering a relief rally.
European markets and euro fall amid investor concern over Spain and Italy
Fears of political upheaval in Spain and Italy dramatically doused confidence in stock and bondmarkets bringing 2013’s record breaking rally to a sudden halt.
The
borrowing costs of Spain and Italy - the eurozone's third and fourth biggest
economies - jumped and equities plunged as the spectre of the return of the
debt crisis gripped traders.
In
London, the FTSE100, which was heading for a four year high, suffered its
biggest fall for three months which wiped £25bn off the value of Britain’s
biggest companies. London’s leading index closed down 1.6pc.
Spain’s borrowing costs jumped to their highest level this year as
corruption allegations threatened to engulf Mariano Rajoy’s government. Traders
ignored Mr Rajoy’s strong denials that he and senior members of his
party were beneficiaries of a secret slush fund
and pushed the yield on benchmark 10-year bonds to 5.4pc. Italy’s bond yields rose to 4.5pc amid the resurgent popularity of Silvio Berlusconi who is campaigning to be returned as prime minister on an anti-austerity vote.
Milan’s
MIB index plunged 4.5pc while Madrid’s Ibex fell 3.75pc. Europe’s leading
indicies followed - Germany’s Dax dropped 2.41pc and in France the CAC was down
2.87pc.
Europe’s
banking sector - the most exposed to sovereign debt - was the worst hit.
More
Over on the far side of the Atlantic there was a
rare sign of Wall Street being held to account. The US Justice Department is to
civilly sue S&P over all those “triple-A”
mortgage bonds that turned out to be anything but triple-A. Most now reside in
the bankrupt US GSEs or on the balance sheet of the US central bank.
February 5, 2013, 12:37 a.m. ET
U.S. Sues S&P Over Ratings
Justice Department Says Endorsements of Risky Mortgage Bonds Fueled Crisis
The Justice Department sued Standard & Poor's Ratings
Services late Monday, alleging the firm ignored its own standards to rate
mortgage bonds that imploded in the financial crisis and cost investors
billions.
The civil
charges by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder against the New York company, one
of the bond-rating industry's three giants, are the first federal enforcement
action against a credit-rating firm over the crisis. Several state attorneys
general are likely to join.
S&P said in a statement earlier Monday that the
government suit would be "entirely without factual or legal merit,"
and denied wrongdoing.
After The Wall Street Journal reported Monday
afternoon that the government intended to launch the civil case, S&P
confirmed the expected lawsuit and said the rating firm was being punished
unfairly by the U.S. government for "failing to predict" the housing
meltdown or financial crisis.
The two
sides have discussed a possible settlement for about four months, according to
people close to the negotiations, but S&P balked over concerns that a deal
could sink the company.
The government was seeking penalties of more than
$1 billion, another person close to the talks said, which would be the biggest
sanction imposed on a firm related for its actions in the crisis.
S&P officials also were rattled that the government was
pushing the company to admit wrongdoing that could leave it more vulnerable to
pending or new lawsuits by investors.
More
Next, better news from China where the rebound
seems to have gained legs.
China HSBC services PMI rises to four-month high
BEIJING |(Reuters) - Growth in China's services sector hit a four-month high in January, a private survey showed, as a better business climate increased deal-making and lifted corporate confidence to an eight-month peak.
The HSBC services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 54 in January, up from December's 51.7, moving more comfortably into territory above the 50-point threshold that separates accelerating from slowing growth.
The
survey's findings added to evidence that the world's second-biggest economy is gradually rebounding, with analysts
expecting China's economic growth to inch up to 8.1 percent this year, off a
13-year low of 7.8 percent hit in 2012.
More
We end for today with hints from America that
Boeing might be getting close to a solution for its Lithium-ion flammable
battery problem, that’s kept all 787 Dreamliners grounded since January 17th.
We hope that the hints are correct. It’s one thing to bail out of the odd Chevy
Volt that burns up due to a Li-ion fire on the ground. It’s impossible to bail
out at 30,000 feet when a Dreamliner’s Li-ion batteries catch fire. The public
will likely need a lot of convincing from Boeing before they get back to their
confidence zone needed for long distance, over water flying.
Still unclear what caused 787 battery problems: Japan agency
TOKYO |(Reuters) - Japan's transport safety agency said it is still unclear whether battery chemistry or an electrical issue caused a main battery on a Boeing Co (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner operated by All Nippon Airways (9202.T) to overheat last month, forcing it to make an emergency landing.
Investigators may widen their probe of the battery problems to other equipment on the technologically advanced aircraft, Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) chairman Norihiro Goto told a news conference on Tuesday.
----Goto also said CT scans showed six of the main battery's eight cells on the ANA Dreamliner were badly damaged, charred and deformed.
On
Monday, Boeing asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission
to conduct Dreamliner test flights, suggesting it is making progress in finding
a solution to the battery problems.
Goto said
Boeing had not discussed its test flight request with the Japanese agency, and
he did not know if the planemaker had found clues as to the cause of the
battery problems. The test flights "could mean they have made
progress," he said.
More
"If ever there was an area in which to do the exact opposite of that which government and the media urge you to do, that area is the purchasing of gold."
Robert Ringer
At the Comex silver depositories Monday final figures were: Registered 37.20
Moz, Eligible 120.34 Moz, Total 157.54 Moz.
Crooks and
Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
Today a red flag
from India. Suddenly our world has gone from a Davos Spring “glass half full”
world of optimism, to a “glass half empty” world of the sky is staring to fall.
In truth it’s still too early to tell if the 2007-2009 Great Recession effects
have passed. Europe still looks all too likely to fail in 2013.
Bad Debt Seen at Decade High by Arcil in Dire Case: India Credit
By Anto
Antony - Feb 4, 2013 6:31 PM GMT
Bad loans at Indian banks are headed for a decade high as the slowest economic
growth since 2003 and Asia’s highest interest rates strain corporate finances,
according to the nation’s largest debt reconstruction company. “This is the time to act as we are progressively heading toward a dire situation,” P. Rudran, chief executive officer at Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd., set up by the nation’s biggest lenders to reorganize non-performing credit, said in a Feb. 2 telephone interview. “A significant part of the restructured loans at banks may go bad.”
Bad debt plus restructured assets, a combined measure of delinquencies that the central bank plans to put into effect in 2015, has exceeded 10 percent of total advances, the most since 2002, according to the Mumbai-based body known as Arcil. Crisil Ltd., the local unit of Standard & Poor’s, says a weak economy will fuel defaults and has cut ratings for 492 companies in the six months through September, compared with 322 upgrades.
The average cost for insuring the bonds of seven Indian issuers against non-payment for five years has climbed 14 basis points from an 18-month low of 235 reached on Jan. 9, according to data provider CMA, which is owned by McGraw-Hill Cos. A similar measure for Asian debt rose 6 basis points to 130 during the same period.
Non-performing loans as a proportion of banks’ total credit jumped the most in at least five years in the 12 months through September to 3.6 percent, the Reserve Bank of India said in a Dec. 28 report.
More
"Were we to be directed from Brussels when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread."
With apologies to Washington and Thomas Jefferson
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished January:
DJIA: +106 Up. NASDAQ: +126 Up. SP500: +140 Up. All three indexes are giving the same signal,
up.
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