http://quote.yahoo.com/m2?u

http://money.cnn.com/markets/morning_call/










http://www.kitco.com

Energy futures

Verrry quiet so far today. All Ords +0.2%, Materials down the most, -0.9% and Telecom continuing its lead of the past few days, +1.7%.

Miners BHP and RIO are down although it could be the tail end of yesterday's selling. The golds have reversed; all green with Newmont leading, +1.7%.

In the oils, Woodside flat and Santos +1.3%.

All Ords on another downer but finished the day on reasonable support. The index closed -0.6% with Energy doing the biggest slide, -1.6%. Telecom remained elevated, +1.8%.

Another iffy day for BHP, -1.7% and RIO, -1.5% but golds did ok with Newcrest in the lead, +2.3%.

Oils sold off: Woodside -0.8% and Santos -1.5%.

Asia heading down, led by Sth Korea, -1.3%.

Over to UK/Europe:







http://quote.yahoo.com/m2?u

Japan's Economy Expands Less Than Half Estimated Pace

The world's second-largest economy expanded at an annual 0.8 percent rate in the three months ended Sept. 30, slower than an initial estimate of 2 percent, the Cabinet Office said today.

Slower economic growth may prompt the Bank of Japan to delay raising the lowest borrowing costs among major economies until next year. Bond yields were little changed on speculation the bank will wait for its quarterly Tankan business confidence survey next week before deciding whether to raise interest rates.

Outlays on factories and equipment were slower than the government initially estimated. Capital spending in the third quarter climbed 1.5 percent, less than the 2.9 percent reported Nov. 14. The revision was in line with economists' expectations.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than half of the economy, fell 0.9 percent, worse than the 0.7 percent in the preliminary report, as bad weather kept shoppers at home and wage growth stalled.

----------------

Japan's Machine Orders Rise Less-Than-Expected

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's machinery orders rose less than expected in October, suggesting the economy may not be strong enough to withstand higher interest rates.

Non-government orders, excluding shipping and utilities, rose a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent to 1.03 trillion yen ($8.9 billion) after dropping 7.4 percent a month earlier, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 39 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 6.2 percent increase.

Machinery orders, a key indicator of companies' investment plans, fell 11.1 percent in the third quarter, the biggest quarterly decline since 1987, when the current survey began.

Australia's Home-Loan Approvals Decline

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's home-loan approvals fell for a third month in October as higher interest rates deterred buyers.

The number of loans to owner-occupiers to build or buy homes or apartments dropped 0.1 percent from September to a six- month-low 61,819, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today.

CUBA

What's in a name?

Herfeld Caribbean Basin, LTD (Symbol=CUBA) is a non-diversified closed end ETF that invests in companies likely to benefit from economic growth in the Carribean Basin.

Like Cruise Lines, Florida Real Estate and Cayman Island Resorts.

Apparently, the non-diligent think it actually invests in CUBA, the country.

Fidel's ill health has apparently whipped some speculators into a frenzy and resulted in a double for CUBA in the last few months. Volume has been 25X+ the long term average the last month.

CUBA, the symbol, not the country, is currently selling at an eye popping 80% PREMIUM to the actual NAV.

Eventually the frenzied speculators are going to figure out what they really own and will likely head for the exits enmass. Then it will be LOB.

10-13-06 target met with final gaps filled slightly above.
[attachmentid=73397]
Close enough on CCJ. No thanks.
[attachmentid=73398]
CHK doing well.
[attachmentid=73400]
[attachmentid=73403]
CROX
Buying the pullback on this one.
[attachmentid=73401]
.

Miners look like crap to me although they could still bust out here....

FDG had signs...
[attachmentid=73402]
Everyones favorite. FNM.
[attachmentid=73404]
LNG
[attachmentid=73405]

Risk/Reward sucks imo. This setup just seems to easy. There is always 3-4 times per year when you can get much better entries. I made a killing for my dad doing this, not playing things both ways.

This is probably the trickiest setup we have seen?
The trend is still up. I would rather go with the strongest sector on a pullback than shorting for much smaller gains and margin call chances etc. or lots of cash on the side to cover. Not worth it to me.
If we do get cranked we will have a pullback to the crank zone beyond todays. Pros don't buy breakouts usually, (from what I have read) ....they buy the pullbacks from the breakouts because it gives the needed confirmation which changes the risk/reward.

Certainly shorts can be made with low risk here but I would eyeball the chance of a McQueen next week. Europe is doing fine right now. Most likely they are all waiting on the US.

Most people are going for this setup right now for some reason. It could happen surely. No doubt if momentum runs wild.
I just don't like it at all yet and red flags are going off all over.
[attachmentid=73406]

#2 (better fit)
[attachmentid=73407]

#3 doesn't exist. Thatis why I like it better.
A Clothesline Needle McQueen (new highs later formation)

German Exports Unexpectedly Advance for Fifth Month

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- German exports unexpectedly rose for a fifth month in October, suggesting sales in Asia will help Europe's largest economy cope with a U.S. economic slowdown.

Exports climbed 2.6 percent from September, when they gained the most in more than four years, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists had forecast a decline of 2 percent, according to the median of 11 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

Exports climbed 23 percent in October from a year earlier, with sales to countries outside the European Union jumping 31 percent, according to the statistics office.

Germany's trade surplus rose to 17.3 billion euros ($23 billion) in October from 15.6 billion euros a month earlier, the statistics office reported. Imports slipped 0.2 percent from the previous month.

------------------

German Industrial Production Unexpectedly Declines

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- German industrial production unexpectedly fell for a second month in October, led by a decline in construction and investment.

Production dropped 1.4 percent from September, when it fell 0.6 percent, the Economy and Technology Ministry said today in Berlin.

Construction output dropped 2.3 percent in October from the previous months and production of investment goods fell 1.8 percent led by a decline in demand for cars and car parts, the ministry said, That's the same reason factory orders unexpectedly fell for a second month, the ministry said earlier this week.

Blood Transfusions Harbor Mad Cow Disease Risk, Study Shows

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The human form of mad cow disease can be passed from person to person through blood transfusions, posing an increased public health risk, according to a study published in The Lancet.

An analysis of tonsil tissue collected by the U.K's Health Protection Agency may soon give estimates of the number of people who are harboring the disease without knowing it, said researchers including John Collinge of the Medical Research Council Prion Unit, a publicly funded organization that supports U.K. health services.

Samples from a 32-year-old unidentified British man who died from Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease confirmed he contracted it from a blood donor, the researchers said. Two others from a group of 66 people who received infected blood died before their illnesses were confirmed.

Looks like I spoke to soon on CHK.
Chesapeake Energy Plans 30M-Share Offering
( 4.5 million extra option)

VNO yesterday? hmmmm. Can't blame them.

Payrolls up 132K

Must be some news on EBAY? I don't see anything.

Guess they liked the numbers in euroland.

Wonder if it will hold.

Footsie has been channeling for the last couple of trading days.

Thinking that they're making it too easy for the day traders there.

Wonder how long the pigmen there will let it go on before they bust it, one way or the other.

Sure is alot of gaming pre-market today. I usually don't see this many stocks active this early.
Watching shorties girlfriend. SUNW and of course USO and the odd action in the miners.

Stock futures just got nailed in the last few minutes.

Europe getting pasted

Stinky finger hour

DJ Fed Accepts $2.5 Bln In 3-Day RPs

Type of transaction: 3-Day RPs
Total accepted: $2.5 Bln
Total submitted: $47.45 Bln

Agency Collateral Operation
Total accepted: $81 Mln
Total submitted: $12.7 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 5.27%
Weighted Average: 5.27%
High-rate submitted: 5.27%
Low-rate submitted: 5.22%

Treasury Collateral Operation
Total accepted: $2.338 Bln
Total submitted: $23.4 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 5.25%
Weighted Average: 5.27%
High-rate submitted: 5.27%
Low-rate submitted: 5.18%

Mortgage-Backed Collateral Operations
Total accepted: $81 Mln
Total submitted: $11.35 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 5.28%
Weighted Average: 5.28%
High-rate submitted: 5.28%
Low-rate submitted: 5.24%

What was that! Down 12 now up 16 in a heartbeat.

I was reading up on the progress of the college loan deduction this morning and was pretty amazed to see the package of things that the Democrats want to get passed though they don't have enough time this year for most of them.

There's a lot of middle-class friendly legislation in there along with stuff that
reigns in the bankers (which I think is good). One really big item that they
want is to cut the interest rates on college loans in half but they don't have
the money to do that. I think that college loan rates are too high but don't
know what a good rate would be. I also worry that easy loans creates
bubbles whether in housing, stocks or college.

I think that a lot of folks won't feel that much of the effect of increasing
deductions due to the AMT.

Next round of news to compete Mickey Mouse hour coming up any minute. Dowager 60 CIT is still Short, Rusty is showing flipping signs. Should get clearer after CC.

Madness, PEIX is pinging 17.50. Averaged and selling half on the hopeful pop but selling everything if it breaks 17.50 with any force.

Dog chasing tail.

Concon tends to track the Nadsaq, which on this day, tracks the Concon.

Not a bear suck in ? 60 Minute Dowager short. (This afternoon could be a cautionary tale.)

Nasdaq Mclellan:
http://stockcharts.com/charts/indices/McSumNASD.html

I got stopped out yesterday morning when it took out 17.90.

SPX still pogo-ing off the 50hour and 200hour. Been the case since August. Will this time be different?

Squatting right on the 50hour as we speak at 1405.

A bust of the 200hour (now at 1390) would be something we haven't seen since the rally began in July.

Getting technically funky in here. Apparently 21 IPOs set to price next week too.

SPX cash leaving all sorts of gaps in its wake. Every gap has been filled since 2002. There's one at 1397, another around 1365, even one all the way down near 1240. If/when the market turns south again, could get interesting.

Back in PEIX at 17.53...

note to bears, dont short borkers, acres of pain.......

Nice move on PVX in the last week.

Also, potential flag in Apache Oil.

Only Broker that I'd short is Etrade. But that's only because I'm a customer.

tough tape...................

Got a feeling it will break later on today. Then again, my feelings don't move the markets.

Needle bottom on RIMM?

dumb bears....................

Now at globex highs at some extreme snapback-style readings. It starts or stops here. And the Nas is trucking/confirming up for now

Another 'pivotal' moment.

I doubled up on BSC short...
Stop at yesterday's highs.

"Stupid is stupid does!"

The snapback on extreme can be as powerful as the up.

You mean the "SNAPDOWN" will be MORE powerful....

*DJ Tsy Paulson: Strong Dlr In Nation's Best Interest

Still holding to my energy convoys. ERF, HTE, PDS, CNE. Still don't see a reason to sell. I think we'll get another leg up soon. It has held up very well when there is weakness in oil. I see buying.

The subsidiary of Al Arabia, Crapvision, just reported a coming shortage of ethanol with market partcipants scratching their heads on just how they are going to find more ethanol to meet all the demand! PEIX jumped $.30 in just four minutes.

Anyway, good catch.

If they cut the student loan interest rate in half, does that mean a new government subsidy to the banksters?

China beauty BIDU starting to deboner.

FDG is coming back to life.

HLYS IPO today, up 85% in first hours of trading. Heelys is a Texas-based shoe company that makes sneakers with wheels in them so you can walk or roll as the mood strikes you. Now trading at 45 P/E.

That's the only product they make, but apparently it's all the rage. The company says that their shoes have a "single, stealth wheel housed in the heel, allowing athletes of all skill levels to walk, run and transition to a roll at any moment. Or simply remove the wheel and transform your Heelys into a pair of fashionable street shoes!"

Or just buy shoes without a wheel in the first place, I guess.

Fun at the casino.

Plenty of new money for the hedgies.

The Times December 08, 2006


Marshall Wace breaks hedge fund record
Patrick Hosking



Marshall Wace, the London hedge fund manager, has smashed the record for a listed hedge fund float after successfully raising €1.5 billion (£1 billion) from investors.
The cash raised for its Amsterdam-listed vehicle, MW Tops, is well over three times as much as the previous record holder, an offering from the Anglo-French hedge fund group Boussard & Gavaudan, which raised €440 million


http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/...2493442,00.html

You say that as if the government and the banksters were two different things.

lower yields=bullish
higher yields=bullish
lower dollar=bullish
higher dollar=bullish
lower crude= bullish
higher crude= bullish


ok, got that my fellow bears(whats left of you).........................