Baltic Dry Index. 859 +29 Brent Crude 47.74
"We finished the
year, and we reported that we had $17 billion of cash sitting at the bank's
parent company as a liquidity cushion. As the year has gone on, that liquidity
cushion has been virtually unchanged."
Alan Schwartz, CEO Bear Stearns,
March 12, 2008. Bust March 16, 2008.
Yesterday the Fed’s talking chair spoke to Congress and said
bubble on, buy more stocks. “We won’t take away the punch bowl anytime soon,
we’ll only slowly dilute it.”
Below, everyone and their dog liked what they heard from the
talking chair. What could possibly go wrong? To this old dinosaur trader, don’t
mention the summer of 1987. When this bubble eventually blows, 2009 will look
like a child’s picnic.
“The
job of the Federal Reserve, is to take away the punch bowl just as the party
gets going"
William McChesney Martin Jr., the ninth and longest-serving Chairman of the United States
Federal Reserve Bank, serving from April 2, 1951 to January 31, 1970.
Dow ends at record, stock market gains after dovish Yellen
Published: July 12, 2017 4:28 p.m. ET
Tech shares rise for fourth consecutive session
U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday with the Dow industrials setting its first closing record in nearly a month as Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen emphasized the central bank’s gradual approach to normalizing monetary policy and expressed optimism about the economy in congressional testimony.The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.57% closed up 123.07 points, or 0.6%, at 21,532.14, its first new closing high since June 19. The blue-chip average also touched an intraday record of 21,580.79 earlier in the session. DuPont DD, +2.75% Microsoft Corp. MSFT, +1.66% , Home Depot Inc. HD, +1.32% and McDonald’s Corp. MCD, +1.08% were the best performers among blue-chip companies, with gains of more than 1%.
The S&P 500 SPX, +0.73% advanced by 17.72 points, or 0.7%, to finish at 2,443.25 with all 11 main sectors trading higher. Technology, real estate and materials shares all finished up 1% or more.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.10% rose 67.87 points, or 1.1%, to 6,261.17, for a fourth straight day of gains.
Stocks saw little movement after the Fed released its regional survey of economic conditions known as the Beige Book.
Normalizing monetary policy means that investors need to dispense with the idea that the Fed was ever responsible for propping up the stock market or the economy, where a rate increase is not a huge market-moving event but part of the normal rate-hike cycle, said Aaron Anderson at Fisher Investments in emailed comments.
----Yellen’s remarks come as other central bankers have been expressing a desire to taper easy-money policies that have been in place in the aftermath of the 2008-’09 financial crisis. A so-called more hawkish tilt by global central bankers also had led some to believe that the Fed might be encouraged to ramp up its pace of rate increases despite sluggish inflation.
“It seems like [Yellen’s] dialing back a little bit of the hawkish
sentiment from last time,” said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist at
Voya Financial. “She’s back to looking at inflation a little bit more. The
market was a little worried but she’s back to the same dovish Yellen.”
More
Asian Stocks to Gain as Yellen Spurs U.S. Rally: Markets Wrap
By Garfield Clinton Reynolds
12 July 2017, 23:41 GMT+1 13 July 2017, 04:54 GMT+1
Asian equities and currencies advanced with government bonds after Janet
Yellen signaled the Federal Reserve won’t rush to tighten
monetary policy. The dollar weakened for a fourth straight day.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was at a two-year high, leading gains with Australian shares after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high. Japanese stocks gave up earlier gains and the yen rebounded. South Korea’s central bank held its benchmark rate, as expected, while Chinese exports grew more than forecast. Australian sovereign debt followed gains in Treasuries after Yellen expressed confidence in the U.S. economy and signaled monetary tightening won’t be more than gradual. Oil held above $45 a barrel. Canada’s dollar gained after the first rate hike there in seven years.
“The market is upbeat as Yellen’s comments suggest a slower pace of rate increases and that bodes well for liquidity conditions and stocks,” said Banny Lam, head of research at CEB International Investment Corp. in Hong Kong.
More
July 12, 2017 / 1:59 AM
Global stocks rally, dollar gains on Yellen's remarks
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equities rallied, lifting the Dow to a
record high, the dollar gained and bond yields tumbled on Wednesday after
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dampened growing expectations that more than
one interest rate hike was in the cards this year.
In remarks to the House Committee on Financial Services, Yellen said the
U.S. economy is strong enough to absorb further gradual rate increases along
with the slow wind-down of the Fed's massive bond portfolio.
The testimony depicted an economy that is growing, albeit slowly, and
continues to add jobs as it benefits from steady household consumption and a
recent jump in business investment.
Given current estimates, the federal funds rate "would not have to
rise all that much further" to reach a neutral level that neither
encourages nor discourages economic activity, Yellen said in her prepared
testimony.
More
We end for day two of
the Fed’s talking chair’s Fake News, with Fedster fake news of yester year.
Below, the shocking truth behind the Great Nixonian Error of fiat money,
communist money. When The Onion’s Ben Bernanke finally told the truth.
U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion
WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy ceased to function this week after unexpected existential remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke shocked Americans into realizing that money is, in fact, just a meaningless and intangible social construct.
What began as a routine report before the Senate Finance Committee
Tuesday ended with Bernanke passionately disavowing the entire concept of
currency, and negating in an instant the very foundation of the world's largest
economy.
"Though raising interest rates is unlikely at the moment, the Fed
will of course act appropriately if we…if we…" said Bernanke, who then
paused for a moment, looked down at his prepared statement, and shook his head
in utter disbelief. "You know what? It doesn't matter. None of this—this
so-called 'money'—really matters at all."
"It's just an illusion," a wide-eyed Bernanke added as he
removed bills from his wallet and slowly spread them out before him. "Just
look at it: Meaningless pieces of paper with numbers printed on them.
Worthless."
According to witnesses, Finance Committee members sat in thunderstruck
silence for several moments until Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) finally shouted out,
"Oh my God, he's right. It's all a mirage. All of it—the money, our whole
economy—it's all a lie!"
Screams then filled the Senate Chamber as lawmakers and members of the
press ran for the exits, leaving in their wake aisles littered with the remains
of torn currency.
As news of the nation's collectively held delusion spread, the economy
ground to a halt, with dumbfounded citizens everywhere walking out on their
jobs as they contemplated the little green drawings of buildings and dead white
men they once used to measure their adequacy and importance as human beings.
At the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday morning's opening bell echoed
across a silent floor as the few traders who arrived for work out of habit
looked up blankly at the meaningless scrolling numbers on the flashing screens
above.
"I've spent 25 years in this room yelling 'Buy, buy! Sell, sell!'
and for what?" longtime trader Michael Palermo said. "All I've done
is move arbitrary designations of wealth from one column to another, wasting my
life chasing this unattainable hallucination of wealth."
----Sources at the White House said President Obama was "still trying to get his head around all this" and was in seclusion with his coin collection, muttering "it's just metal, it's just metal" over and over again.
"The president will be making a statement very soon," press
secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters. "At the moment, though, his mind is
just too blown to comment."
A few U.S. banks have remained open, though most teller windows are
unmanned due to a lack of interest in transactions involving mere scraps of
paper or, worse, decimal points and computer data signifying mere scraps of
paper. At a Bank of America branch in Spokane, WA, curious former customers
wandered aimlessly through a large empty vault, while several would-be robbers
of a Chase bank in Columbus, OH reportedly put their guns down and exited the
building hand in hand with security guards, laughing over the inherent
absurdity of the idea of $100 bills.
More
“It is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario
within any kind of realm of reason that would see us losing one dollar in any
of those [CDS] transactions.”
Joseph J. Cassano, a former A.I.G. executive, August 2007, on Credit
Default Swaps that wiped out A.I.G in 2008.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
Not the usual suspects today. Today great
embarrassment in Sweden again, though you’ve got to feel sympathy with poor old
Alf. Nice system Sweden’s got, where you can be made bankrupt without getting
the chance to defend. Cashless society anyone?
Every
generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before
it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George
Orwell.
Swedish Security Company Boss Declared ‘Bankrupt’ After Identity Stolen
By Niclas Rolander
12 July 2017, 07:36 GMT+1 12 July 2017, 09:08 GMT+1
The man running Sweden’s biggest security firm was declared bankrupt this
week after his identity was hacked.Though the sub-optimal branding implications were hard to miss, Securitas AB hopes to have put the whole awkward incident behind it by the end of the day.
Alf Goransson, the company’s 59-year-old chief executive officer since 2007, is appealing the July 10 bankruptcy decision by the Stockholm District Court, which acted on false information, the company said on Wednesday. The perpetrator used the CEO’s identity to seek a loan of an undisclosed amount, after which a bankruptcy application was filed in his name. The identity theft took place in March. Goransson didn’t know he’d been hacked until this week, the company said.
The hack attack “has no effect on the company, other than that our CEO has been declared bankrupt,” spokeswoman Gisela Lindstrand said. “And that will hopefully only last until later today, depending on how soon they can remove the decision.”
Digital Mania
But the data theft of a prominent Swedish executive raises questions about security in a society that is leading the way in digitization. Sweden is well ahead of most of the rest of the world in replacing cash with digital payments -- even homeless groups there accept credit cards. At the country’s Abba museum, tourists aren’t allowed to pay for anything with cash.The country’s efforts to embrace transparency in all fields are also well documented. Sweden encourages widespread access to public information (employees can find out what their colleagues earn by checking with the tax authorities) and, like most other rich countries, online shopping and loan applications are on the rise.
All of this has coincided with a sharp increase in identity fraud. Sweden responded last year by introducing specific legislation to target the development. Goransson’s case was one of 12,800 crimes involving hacked identities reported in Sweden in the first six months of 2017.
Goransson
wasn’t informed until after the court’s decision and will now appeal. The
appointed bankruptcy trustee has been informed and will support the appeal of
the bankruptcy decision, which is expected to be removed, Securitas said.
In a
time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George
Orwell.
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC
energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards? DC? A quantum
computer next?
Clean water that's 'just right' with new sensor solution
Date:
July 11, 2017
Source:
Sandia National Laboratories
Summary:
Scientists combined basic research on an interesting form of carbon with a
unique microsensor to make an easy-to-use, table-top tool that quickly and
cheaply detects disinfection byproducts in our drinking water before it reaches
consumers.
Water utilities have a Goldilocks problem: If they don't add enough
chlorine, nasty bacteria that cause typhoid and cholera survive the
purification process. Too much chlorine produces disinfection byproducts such
as chloroform, which increase cancer risks. The amount of chlorine needs to be
"just right" for safe drinking water.
The Environmental Protection Agency regulates how much of the
disinfection byproducts, including those known as trihalomethanes, are allowed
in our drinking water. But if water utilities want to monitor and control their
own trihalomethane levels, they have to send off samples and wait weeks for
analysis by an EPA-qualified lab.
Working with Parker Hannifin, Sandia National Laboratories combined
basic research on an interesting form of carbon with a unique microsensor to
make an easy-to-use, table-top tool that quickly and cheaply detects extremely
low levels of each trihalomethane: chloroform, bromoform, bromodichloromethane
and dibromochloromethane.
No longer do utilities need to send samples to EPA-qualified labs, hire
their own highly trained chemist to perform the EPA test, or buy an expensive
mass spectrometer system to routinely monitor their trihalomethane levels and
ensure cleaner drinking water for the public, said Sandia materials scientist
Mike Siegal.
Recently, Parker Hannifin released an automated online version of the
water analyzer for continuous monitoring of trihalomethanes.
Cool and controllable carbon coatings
The original goal of the project was to make a hand-held chemistry lab,
like a tricorder, to detect airborne hazardous chemicals, including chemical
weapons. A principal component of this lab-on-a-chip was a surface acoustic
wave sensor. This SAW sensor works by vibrating a wave along a quartz sheet,
said analytical chemist Curtis Mowry. By measuring how the wave changes on the
SAW device, researchers can tell how many chemicals are sticking to the quartz
surface.
In a way, it's similar to playing with a playground parachute. Those
holding the parachute can tell the difference between a bunch of balls or a
child by how the parachute moves when they shake it. However, the quartz
surface isn't very sticky, which limits its sensitivity. This is where a
special carbon coating comes in.
Natural carbon can appear as exotic diamonds, common graphite composed
of many layers of graphene sheets, and many other forms. Nanoporous carbon
consists of stacked nanofragments of graphene sheets, engineered with lots of
nooks and crannies where chemicals can lodge. Unlike carbon nanotubes or
graphene with similar molecularly "sticky" surfaces, nanoporous
carbon can be grown onto almost anything, including SAW devices, said Siegal.
This growth process, known as pulsed laser deposition, involves zapping
graphite with a laser at room temperature. The liberated carbon atoms fly
through a vacuum chamber to coat the SAW sensor in a uniform and reproducible
manner. By adding a little bit of an inert gas to the vacuum chamber, Siegal
can control and vary the density and total surface area of nanoporous carbon
coatings from very fluffy to as solid as pure graphite.
For the SAW sensors, nanoporous carbon with a middling density turns out
to be best. Only three grams of such nanoporous carbon has as much surface area
as a football field, yet is rigid enough to work for SAW sensors.
More
“When it becomes serious, you have to lie.”
Jean-Claude Juncker. Failed former Luxembourg P.M.,
serial liar, president of the European Commission. Scotch
connoisseur.
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished June
DJIA: 21,350 +196 Up. NASDAQ: 6,140 +235 Up. SP500: 2,423 +166 Up.
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