http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices

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










http://www.kitco.com

Energy futures

Currencies/Au/Ag

Another bout of selling with All Ords plunging -2.2%. There are signs that things could stabilize today with nervous buyers dipping a toe in the water. Utilities is taking the downside lead, -3.8%, Property Trusts is not far behind, -3.7% thanks to Centro sliding another 50% and Miners are next in line, -3.1%. Consumer Staples is down the least, -0.7%.

In the miners, BHP -2.3% and RIO -2.9%. Golds worse off: Newcrest -5.8%, Newmont -2.2% and Lihir -4%.

Oils: Woodside -2%, Santos -1.5% and Caltex -2.7%.

Lehman Australia Faces CDO Legal Threat

SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers is facing possible legal action by local councils in Australia who bought collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) from its local unit, Grange Securities, the Financial Times newspaper said Monday.

At least three municipal councils were considering litigation against Grange after losing money on the high-risk investment following the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, the newspaper said.

The FT said one Lehman-originated CDO exposed to the U.S. subprime mortgage market was marked down to just 16 cents in the dollar by the bank last month, leaving councils nursing paper losses of 84 percent.

Mizuho quits market for U.S. CDOs

Mizuho Financial, one of the largest Japanese banks, last week stopped helping create U.S. collateralized debt obligations containing asset-backed securities or high-yield corporate loans. It also stopped trading such securities.

Mizuho said Dec. 5 that it would invest ¥150 billion, or $1.4 billion, in its investment banking unit to shore up its balance sheet amid losses tied to rising U.S. mortgage defaults. The unit may post a loss of ¥92 billion for its fiscal year because of subprime-related investments, the bank said.

Back of the envelope here, but if they can push BHP up another 20 cents they are going to turn the ALLOrbs Green.

China was down over 900....now up over 100

An intraday recovery for Oz as Al has already pointed out although we didn't quite make it into the green. All Ords closed -0.6% with Property Trusts doing an impressive reversal, +2.9% along with another couple of sectors, Telecomms +0.9% and Consumer Staples +0.2%. IT was worst off in the reds, -4%.

The miners bounced back, BHP -0.7% and RIO -1.9%. Golds also saw some buying which took them off their lows: Newcrest -4.1%, Newmont -1.1% and Lihir -1.2%. Juniors were sold initially but recovered somewhat to close flat to slightly down.

In the oils, Woodside and Santos actually managed to close green, +0.7% and +0.3% respectively. Caltex finished -2.5%.

Asia also moved off the intraday lows: South Korea +1.2%, Honkers +0.4%, Nikkers -0.5%.


Over to UK/Europe:








http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=europe

Those nice people at the ECB have got the holiday spirit.

Pony up the 4.21% and anybody can have as much as they want.

ECB willing to throw EURO's at anybody.

Where's Drano?

Where's Thorass?

Where's that F#$%$^&^%$# Moran the Doc first helped, then the F#?@%$^&^%$#'ing bloke screwed the Doc?

"Before I had a Brain?"

Was that the moran's name?

French CRAC still available from yoohoo France

http://fr.ichart.yahoo.com/w?s=%5EFCHI

Tanks, Jetlag.

NYSE and Euronext combination mucked up those Yahoo IMG links.

Many thanks Jetlag, have reinstated.....

Hong Kong Jobless Rate Falls to 3.6%, Nine-Year Low

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's jobless rate fell to the lowest in more than nine years as a drop in interest rates fueled construction and consumer spending.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the three months ended Nov. 30 declined to 3.6 percent, the lowest since April 1998, according to the Census and Statistics Department, from 3.9 percent previously.

Lower interest rates are stimulating demand for mortgages, creating jobs in construction and property development. The number of residential property transactions doubled to 15,759 in November, according to Land Registry figures.

BOE Auctions 10 Billion Pounds of 3-Month Loans

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of England auctioned 10 billion pounds ($20 billion) of three-month loans today as part of a global effort by central banks to lower money-market interest rates.

The bank received 10.85 billion pounds of orders for the loans, it said in a statement in London. The average rate at which the bank loaned the money was 5.949 percent.

The U.K. central bank today also auctioned 750 million pounds of 6-month loans, 400 million pounds of debt due in nine months and 200 million pounds of loans maturing in a year. The next auction of long-term debt will be held on Jan. 15.

buy fear sell greed !

I knew they would give me a chance to re-enter shorts.

Just need to figur owt my timing ...

wow :

Goldman Sachs Reports Record Earnings Per Common Share of $24.73 for 2007
Tuesday December 18, 8:17 am ET
Fourth Quarter Earnings Per Common Share Were $7.01


NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS - News) today reported net revenues of $45.99 billion and net earnings of $11.60 billion for the year ended November 30, 2007. Diluted earnings per common share were $24.73, an increase of 26% compared with $19.69 for the year ended November 24, 2006. Return on average tangible common shareholders’ equity (1) (ROTE) was 38.2% and return on average common shareholders’ equity (ROE) was 32.7% for 2007.
Fourth quarter net revenues were $10.74 billion and net earnings were $3.22 billion. Diluted earnings per common share were $7.01 compared with $6.59 for the same 2006 quarter and $6.13 for the third quarter of 2007. Annualized ROTE (1) was 40.1% and annualized ROE was 34.6% for the fourth quarter of 2007.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071218/20071218005595.html?.v=1

the consumer wont die.

Best Buy Boosts Market Outlook

Read the Empire State Manufacturing Report. This is pathetic sounding.

No worries, giant plasma screens for all from BB!

NY FED

Bung! We were just a little bit off on the assblast picture!They blew out all of the Call buyers on the downside,now lets get the Put buyers!

*DJ Goldman Quant Funds Were Down In Fourth Quarter: CFO

*DJ Goldman CFO: Global Alpha Fund Still Performing Poorly


Have to have someone to trade against...

Is the market open monday?


I'm guessin it's a half day session....anyone know for sure?

GS RED


th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

Here we go again! Ameritrade streamer says Sow down 100!

*DJ ECB: Scheduled Long-Term Refi Op Intended Volume EUR50B

Potato- Did you miss a zero in there? Is that a lot?

I sure am going to enjoy the day when I stop reading and hearing stuff about Goldman as if they were the Sons of God.

I would think Goldman will eventually run out of sheple to fleece.

GS getting biatch-slapped now, down 1.5%... approaching support with air pocket below

DJ Fed Accepts $10.25 Bln In Overnight RPs

Type of transaction: Overnight RPs
Total accepted: $10.25 Bln
Total submitted: $31.7 Bln

Agency Collateral Operation
Total accepted: $8.05 Bln
Total submitted: $17 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 4.3%
Weighted Average: 4.31%
High-rate submitted: 4.33%
Low-rate submitted: 4.2%

Treasury Collateral Operation
Total accepted: $200 Mln
Total submitted: $8.7 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 3.55%
Weighted Average: 3.55%
High-rate submitted: 3.55%
Low-rate submitted: 3.25%

Mortgage-Backed Collateral Operations
Total accepted: $2 Bln
Total submitted: $6 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 4.38%
Weighted Average: 4.38%
High-rate submitted: 4.38%
Low-rate submitted: 4.22%

(Data was provided by the New York Federal Reserve Bank).

The Fed drained $4.25b today.

Shorted JPM, just for fun.

GS support holds and goes green

Looks like a sustained breakdown at/about 200 could mean another 30-40 pernts or so ...

*DJ EU Sees Euro-Zone Econ Growth "Moderating" In Coming Months

*DJ EU: Financial Market Turmoil, Inflation To Slow Econ Growth


*DJ EU Sees Marked Deterioration In Fincl Mkts In Recent Weeks


*DJ EU Sees Signs That Mkt Turmoil Is Affecting Broader Economy

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank loaned a record 348.6 billion euros ($501.5 billion) for two weeks to banks to bring down the cost of money at year-end, almost 170 billion more than the bank had initially estimated was needed

What is a ZERO to a CB. It is just a keystroke. If gold could be produced so easily.

Total insanity :

After announcing Monday that it would supply euro-zone institutions unlimited two week funds at a fixed rate, the European Central Bank said Tuesday it awarded a higher-than-estimated 348.6 billion euros, or $500 billion, in a 16-day tender. The Bank of England also said it will offer additional reserves to lenders Tuesday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Monday conducted a $20 billion auction of 28-day credit.

Did you see that word UNLIMITED !! damn thats insane

EEM and FXI bouncing as expected...now just a matter of how long...am guessing they will hold it up into tomorrow, but i could be wrong...

IF/WHEN yesterday's low goes, the crash window will technically open wide...and there would be a window of great opportunity fur da bears....

Thornberg CEO on CNBS, The FED will give them .98/$ for loans, while commercial banks will only give them .9/$. It sounds like the Fed can corner the mortgage market. What happens when they own all the mortgage TP?

This kitty is toast

Whats really insane is that the Euro is higher against the dollar!

This is an insane amount. Think about it: $500b, or 1/2 trillion! The US has never loaned anything remotely close to that (that I'm aware of). They are in deep doo-doo!

Shorted FSLR (thanks for the idea, Lemur)

This is called monetization.......very inflationary.....When this begins the repo system becomes meaningless....this is the real creation of money and I believe this is what Bernanke is trying to hide from the public

great piece CWD

Has this been posted too many times?

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boardDocs/sp...121/default.htm

"Now suppose that a modern alchemist solves his subject's oldest problem by finding a way to produce unlimited amounts of new gold at essentially no cost. Moreover, his invention is widely publicized and scientifically verified, and he announces his intention to begin massive production of gold within days. What would happen to the price of gold? Presumably, the potentially unlimited supply of cheap gold would cause the market price of gold to plummet. Indeed, if the market for gold is to any degree efficient, the price of gold would collapse immediately after the announcement of the invention, before the alchemist had produced and marketed a single ounce of yellow metal.

What has this got to do with monetary policy? Like gold, U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation. "

Nahh, not enough.

That is the nice thing about fiat money. The CBs can do what it takes to save the commercial banks.

Even more insane is that the $500bn only helps banks get theough year-end. Period.

3 month EURIBOR only fell 9bps after this.

I am short FSLR too (again). But be careful, I have been bounced out of it 9 times already. Six of them at a small profit and three at a loss (a small net loss overall).

Once the position is in profit, I dont let it go back to a loss.

I think this is the best way to catch these MoMo stocks when the parabola reverses. Its v.hard to catch the top so I find the best way is short it as it spikes up and get out quickly if the takedown does not materalise. If I get bounced out at a loss, I don't sweat it as my risk reward ratio is great on these plays if I can catch just a couple of them.

NDX bounce possibility...........

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