Baltic Dry Index. 1066 +04
LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000. Revised due to QE programs.
There can be few fields of human endeavour in which history counts for
so little as in the world of finance. Past experience, to the extent that it is
part of memory at all, is dismissed as the primitive refuge of those who do not
have the insight to appreciate the incredible wonders of the present.
J. K. Galbraith.
Buy everything (except bonds!) The central bankster’s
promised land of perpetual milk and honey and free money, has arrived! We will
all get rich by speculation in stocks. Work has been outlawed and banned
forever. Thanks to QE forever, we need never work for our living again. In our
21st century outlaw age, we have all been turned into kings and
queens. Shame about the next generation though, they might actually have to pay
for it all. But for now, it’s all don’t worry be happy. Leave metal bashing and
Main Street behind. It’s time for us all to move over to Easy Street. Are
central banksters good or what? What could possibly go wrong? Stay long
precious metals for what follows next.
“It is difficult not to marvel at the imagination which was implicit in this gargantuan insanity. If there must be madness something may be said for having it on a heroic scale."
J. K. Galbraith. The Great Crash: 1929.
Markets boosted by economy hopes
Stock markets surged to fresh highs amid growing investor optimism about the prospects for the global economy.
Buoyed by encouraging data on US manufacturing and unemployment claims, traders pushed the S&P 500 1.3pc higher to 1,706.87, the first time the index has surpassed the 1,700 level. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8pc to 15,628.02, also a record high.Investor sentiment on the other side of the Atlantic was also helped by Wednesday’s statement from the Federal Reserve, which did not suggest the central bank was close to reining-in its stimulus measures.
On Thursday, both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank also stuck with their accommodative monetary policies by keeping interest rates at record lows. Fuelling the optimism was stronger than expected factory data from the UK, the eurozone and China.
In response, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 advanced 60.92 points, or 0.9pc, to 6,681.98, taking it closer to the thirteen-year high of 6,840.27 that was reached in May.
More
UK recovery picks up speed as manufacturing roars back to life
British factories are roaring back to life, the recovery is “picking up speed”, and risks are abating, economists declared after a surprisingly strong manufacturing rebound in July.
The pound strengthened after the July purchasing managers index for manufacturing jumped to 54.6 from an upwardly revised 52.9 in June, where a reading above 50 indicates growth.It was the strongest reading since March 2011 and the sector’s fourth straight month of expansion, beating economists forecasts by a wide margin.
The survey was released shortly before the Bank of England announced that it would leave rates on hold at 0.5pc this month and the £375bn quantitative easing programme unchanged.
The decision was widely expected but, unlike last month, the Bank did not issue an accompanying statement.
In July, Mark Carney stamped his presence on the market by saying the spike in government borrowing costs over the previous few weeks was "unwarranted" - indicating that the Bank had no intention to raise rates soon.
----The sharp improvement in UK manufacturing came amid signs of life among eurozone manufacturers as well, bringing with it the promise of a broader regional recovery. The eurozone manufacturing PMI increased to 50.3 last month, topping the 50 mark for the first time since July 2011.
More
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10215837/UK-recovery-picks-up-speed-as-manufacturing-roars-back-to-life.html
Europe Sees Bottom of Downturn as Daimler Leads Rebound
By Heather Harris - Aug 1, 2013 11:00 PM GMT
From German luxury carmaker Daimler AG (DAI) and French
builder Vinci
SA (DG) to International Business Machines Corp.
(IBM) and 3M Co., global companies say the worst is over for Europe.
More than half of the companies in the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index that have reported second-quarter sales so far topped analyst estimates. That’s up from about 40 percent in the prior quarter. While much of that was down to sales growth in North America and Asia, this time the fallout from Europe’s debt crisis didn’t overshadow those gains.
“France is holding up better than we would have thought six months ago,” said Xavier Huillard, chief executive officer of Vinci, Europe’s biggest construction company and operator of toll roads. “Traffic is often a leading indicator, and signs are that we have touched bottom and are recovering.”
The glimmer of optimism from CEOs adds to evidence from economic reports that the region emerges from a record-long recession, largely thanks to a recovery in Germany. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi yesterday said economic indicators signal the euro region is past the worst after euro-area manufacturing unexpectedly expanded in July for the first time in two years.
More
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-01/europe-sees-bottom-of-downturn-as-daimler-to-vinci-lead-rebound.html
China’s Stocks Rise for Fourth Day as Property Developers Rally
By Bloomberg News - Aug 2, 2013 6:17 AM GMT
China’s
stocks advanced for a fourth day, led by property companies, amid
growing speculation that the government may relax curbs on the industry as
economic growth slows. Xinhu Zhongbao Co. surged as shares resumed trading for the first time in a month after the company’s board said it plans to seek regulatory approval for a private share placement. Hareon Solar Technology Co. (600401) gained 2.3 percent after the China Securities Journal said the government will offer a tax rebate for solar power stations.
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) added 0.5 percent to 2,038.84 as of 1:05 p.m. local time. The index’s property stock gauge has advanced 4.9 percent this week, the most since mid-April, after the Politburo endorsed development of the real estate market as part of efforts to ensure steady economic growth. China has banned developers from selling shares since at least 2008 as home prices surged, according to Zheshang Securities Co.
More
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-02/china-s-stock-futures-climb-as-indexes-head-for-weekly-advance.html
But….
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
J. K. Galbraith.
Top Fed economist slams 'incoherent' ECB
The US Federal Reserve has launched a blistering attack on the European Central Bank, calling for quantitative easing across the board to lift the eurozone fully out of its slump.
In a rare
breach of central bank etiquette, a paper by the Richmond Fed said the ECB is
hamstrung by institutional problems and acts on the mistaken premise that
excess debt is the cause of the eurozone crisis when the real cause is the
collapse of growth, which has, in turn, spawned a debt crisis that could have
been avoided.
“The ECB
lacks a coherent strategy for creating the monetary base required to sustain
the money creation necessary for a growing economy,” said the paper, written in
July by Robert Hetzel, the bank’s senior economist.
It called
for direct action to buy “bundles” of small business loans, as well as
“packages of government debt” across EMU states, including German Bunds. “The
ECB will have to be clear that surplus countries will experience inflation
above 2pc for extended periods of time,” and must be prepared to “explain to the
German public” that this is desirable.
“Most
important, the ECB needs to start by recognising that Europe’s problems are
more than structural. It needs to stop using monetary policy as a lever for
achieving structural changes and to end its contractionary policy.”
While the
paper reflects the views of the author, there is no doubt that many Fed
officials feel the same way.
More
Berlusconi Tax-Fraud Conviction Threatens Italian Government
By Andrew Frye & Chiara Vasarri - Aug 2, 2013 7:47 AM GMT
Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for tax
fraud, confirmed late yesterday by Italy’s highest court, increased
tensions in parliament and threatened to undermine Prime Minister Enrico
Letta’s government. The ruling against the three-time former premier deepened the divide within the ruling coalition between lawmakers loyal to Berlusconi, 76, and those who have traditionally opposed him. While the conviction was upheld, Berlusconi’s penalty has yet to be clarified as his prison sentence will probably be converted to house arrest or community service. A ban on holding public office was ordered to be reviewed by a lower court.
The verdict will make it more difficult for Letta to keep his alliance together. Members of Berlusconi’s party had threatened to bring down the government if the tax-fraud conviction were confirmed, while some lawmakers in Letta’s Democratic Party, or PD, have objected to collaborating with Berlusconi as his legal troubles grow.
“The government didn’t get killed, but it was wounded,” said Francesco Galietti, founder of Rome-based research firm Policy Sonar. “This sentence is initiating a civil war within the PD, something that has been in the cards for a while but is now clearly erupting.”
More
U.S. shutdown battle begins as Republicans kill spending measure
WASHINGTON |(Reuters) - A battle in Congress expected this fall over the budget and a potential government shutdown broke out early on Thursday as Republicans in the Senate effectively killed a $54 billion spending bill for transportation and housing projects.
All but one Republican voted against the measure, denying it the 60 votes it needed to advance past a procedural hurdle.
Blockage of the Senate's first appropriations bill, along with a decision on Wednesday by Republicans in the House of Representatives to halt consideration of their own transportation funding measure, sends Congress back to the drawing board to find a way to agree on spending and taxes.
It marked the failure of a much-touted return to normal budgeting practices in Congress as a way to try to overcome deep fiscal divisions between the two parties.
When Congress returns from a five-week recess in September, lawmakers will have just nine legislative days to craft a stop-gap funding measure to keep government agencies from shutting down as the new fiscal year gets under way on October 1.
More
Next, victory for the Muppets? Guilty because he and Goldie are, or guilty because he’s French and not American? Is US “justice bent? Does the NSA have the goods an all US judges? In the 21st century, waterboarding is not torture in America, provided it’s done by Americans, but in the 20th century it was, provided it was done by Germans. The hoops we now jump through to keep the Great Nixonian Error of fiat money working. Why Fabrice and not his supervisors?
Fabrice Tourre found liable for defrauding investors
Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs banker, has been found liable for his role in a massive mortgage securities fraud that cost investors $1bn (£661m).
“Fabulous
Fab”, as he calls himself, was found liable by a nine-member jury for six of
the seven charges against him. He now faces potential fines and a possible ban
from the financial industry.
The
34-year-old, who had denied wrongdoing, was sued by America’s Securities and
Exchange Commission in the highest-profile trial to emerge from the financial
crisis.
The SEC
described Tourre as the “face of Wall Street greed” and claimed he hoodwinked
investors into ploughing money into a sub-prime mortgage vehicle called Abacus
while he was at Goldman.
The SEC
claimed Tourre and the hedge fund Paulson & Co conspired to hook buyers by
suggesting that founder John Paulson was also backing the vehicle, on the
assumption that house prices would rise. In fact, Mr Paulson had taken a short
position, betting that house prices would fall. The manoeuvre ended up making
$1bn for the hedge fund.
The SEC
also sought to show that the scheme helped earn Tourre a bonus that boosted his
salary to $1.7m in 2007.
Goldman
settled with the SEC to the tune of $550m without admitting or denying
wrongdoing to avoid a similar trial, but has covered Tourre’s legal fees
despite him leaving the bank last year.
In a statement
on Thursday, Goldman said: “As a firm, we remain focused on being more
transparent, more accountable and more responsive to the needs of our clients.”
More
So long sad times, go long bad times We
are rid of you at last
Howdy gay times, cloudy gray times You
are now a thing of the past
Happy days are here again
The
skies above are clear again
So let’s sing a song of cheer again
Happy
days are here again
Bernocchio, and the central bankster gang.
At the Comex silver depositories Thursday final figures were: Registered 42.52
Moz, Eligible 122.16 Moz, Total 164.68 Moz.
Crooks and
Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally
doubled over.
While Snowy heads out of Moscow’s airport to take
in the sights of modern day Russia, today our new world of global serfdom. Be
very careful of what you say, write, buy, or where you go, how you vote, and
who you associate with. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that someone’s
not out to get you. “Yes we can and do.” Christian, a gun owner and voting
Republican, come in for a chat and bring along your tax filing. We’re from the
government and we’re here to help.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin. Dangerous radical.
Cheat-Sheet On Spying
Congress Is Holding Hearings on Government Spying … Here’s a Cheat Sheet
If you’ve been too busy to catch up on the details of the spying scandal, here’s an overview:- The government is spying on just about everything we do. Even the government’s attempted denials of this fact confirm it
- The government has adopted a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act which allows it to pretend that “everything” is relevant … so it spies on everyone
- There is no real oversight by either Congress or the courts. And see this and this
- Even a Federal judge who was on the secret spying court for 3 years says that it’s a kangaroo court
- Experts say that the spying program is illegal, and is exactly the kind of thing which King George imposed on the American colonists … which led to the Revolutionary War
- A former U.S. president says that the spying program shows that we no longer have a functioning democracy
- We can keep everyone safe without violating the Constitution … more cheaply and efficiently than the current system
- The top counter-terrorism Czar under Clinton and Bush says that revealing NSA spying programs does not harm national security
- Whistleblowers on illegal spying have no “legal” way to get the information out
- A high-level intelligence source says “we hack everyone everywhere“
- Spying started before 9/11 … and may have stemmed from an emergency program only meant to be activated in the case of a nuclear war
- Governments and big corporations are doing everything they can to destroy anonymity
- Mass spying creates an easy mark for hackers
- Mass surveillance by the NSA directly harms internet companies, Silicon Valley, California … and the entire U.S. economy
- Some people make a lot of money off of mass spying
- But the government isn’t using the spying program to stop the worst types of lawlessness
- Polls show that the public doesn’t believe the NSA
More
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/07/cheat-sheet-on-spying-2.html
In central banking as in diplomacy,
style, conservative tailoring, and an easy association with the affluent count
greatly and results far much less.
J. K. Galbraith
Another weekend and the Fed’s final bubble grows
like Topsy. On QE forever, and fiat currency, we face the global inflation of
all inflations. Ending QE forever ends the Fed’s final bubble as interest rates
normalise and the mirage of prosperity is revealed for the central bankster con
trick it was. Central banksters have placed us all between a rock and a hard
place. Deficits didn’t matter until one day they did. This final bubble doesn’t
matter until one day it does.
"Increasingly, the wealth of the modern world has come to be represented by financial assets rather than real assets, and this to me is a very unhealthy situation, because financial assets are inherently unstable. Financial assets (currencies, bonds, mortgages, stocks, bank credit, etc.) can be quickly and violently reduced in value, or destroyed completely by either inflation or deflation."
Donald J. Hoppe
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished July:
DJIA: +164 Up. NASDAQ: +167 Up. SP500: +195 Up. The
Fed’s final bubble still inflates.
