http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices

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










http://www.kitco.com

Energy futures

Currencies/Au/Ag

All Ords still somewhat uneasy today. The index -0.3% with a sprinkling of greens of which Utilities and IT are the highest, +0.7%. Consumer Staples is down the most, -1.3%.

Miners are messing around: BHP +0.1%, RIO +0.5%. Golds similar, Newcrest -0.1%, Newmont +1.9% and Lihir +0.6%.

Oils mostly down: Woodside -1.3%, Santos -1% and Caltex +0.5%.

All Ords gained some traction, closing +0.4%. Property Trusts helped considerably finishing leader for the day, +2.3%. Centro bounced 50% with massive volume, 231 million shares so I suspect the mo-mo traders were getting into it. Financials lost the most, -1.4%.

The mining sector saw big volume although it didn't translate into especially high gains: BHP -0.1%, RIO +0.7% and in the golds, Newcrest +0.6%, Newmont +2.8% and Lihir -0.6%. Juniors were mixed.

Oils weren't favoured for the most part: Woodside -1.9%, Santos -3.5% and Caltex +0.8%.

Asia mostly in the green: Taiwan +2.7%, China +2.4%, Honkers +0.9% and Nikkers -0.6%.


Over to UK/Europe:








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

Here is, it could only happen in Kali story, or truth is stranger than fiction story posted by Brisbane Bear on M2M

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=alNDZa.Hm6O0

Yes it's bad out there





and only getting worse.

Japan Slashes Growth Forecast to 1.3% on Housing Woes

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's government slashed its economic growth forecast after stricter rules for obtaining building permits caused housing starts to plummet in September to a four-decade low.

The world's second-biggest economy will probably grow 1.3 percent in the year ending March 31, slower than a previous forecast of 2.1 percent, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today. The government predicts a 2 percent expansion for the next year.

Slower growth may curb tax revenue, making it harder for the government to narrow the budget deficit and reduce its 777 trillion yen ($6.9 trillion) debt, the world's largest. The 2008 budget to be released tomorrow will probably include an increase in government spending, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

U.K. CBI Retail Sales Index Fell to 13-Month Low in December

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. retail sales rose at the slowest pace in more than a year this month as falling house prices dented enthusiasm for spending before Christmas, a report by the Confederation of British Industry showed.

The survey of 146 retailers showed 42 percent of them sold more goods than a year earlier and 33 percent sold fewer, the U.K.'s biggest business lobby group said today. The net rounded balance of 8 percentage points was the lowest result since November 2006.

Economic growth is set to slow next year as higher market credit costs cool a decade-long housing boom that's encouraged consumer spending. Asking prices for residential property dropped the most in London in at least five years in December, Rightmove Plc said Dec. 17, as banks tightened lending terms.

South African Inflation Climbs to Four-Year High

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- South African inflation accelerated to an annual 7.9 percent in November, the highest in more than four years, adding to pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates further.

Central bank Governor Tito Mboweni has increased the benchmark interest rate four times this year to 11 percent, concerned that price pressures are spreading beyond food and fuel. The bank expects the inflation rate, which has stayed above the 3 percent to 6 percent target range since April, to drop inside the target in the second half of next year.

MS shats itself going to a $3.61 loss/share and the Street is gonna love it!

Don't tell me that news was responsible for the jump in the futures markets?? Crazy.

But, I did put on a short position when I saw the ramp, now positive, too.

E*Trade sent an email announcing today as "Customer Appreciation Day".

Free trades all day.



Middle of scam week.



Now whadda I Do?

China Investment Corp putting 5 billion into MS. Same thing as the C/Abu Dhabi dealio...mandatory conversion into shares after specified time period.

You know it's bad when the grownups start believing that just because someone uses a certain user name on this board, that it's really that person.

If that was the real JHK, then I'm Linus Pauling.


(Don't worry, it wasn't. I thought it was him too, so I checked. )

We are having a heat wave this AM. It's 3 degrees F. It was 3 below overnight. And of course, it is snowing on top of the 4 feet already on the ground. The warming starts today heading for a high of 34 this weekend, when a nice coating of freezing rain is expected. Should put a nice glaze on everything. I'll try to take a walk and get some pics this afternoon.

Our car started right up this AM. Only problem is that the windshield washer line is frozen. When the guys at Goodyear service center in Lake Worth, FL "winterized" the car last weekend, I guess they forgot about that little item. Up here you need the washer fluid that's good to 40 below.

Good Morning!

Welcome to Intraday Stool! Thanks to aussiebear for her daily opening!

You can join the discussion by registering (PG rated user names only, please) and posting here as well.

Registration is easy. Just click the Register link above, enter your email address (which you have the option to keep confidential), and enter a user name. To keep out spammers and scammers, I'll send you an email with a few Monty Python type questions. Just reply with your answers, and I'll approve your registration as soon as I receive your reply.

If you have questions about how to register and post, use the Help link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

If you know others who might be interested in joining us, use the email to a friend link above the thread.

Many tanks for joining us!

Doc


Try the Professional Edition risk free for thirty days. If, within that time you don't find the information helpful, I'll give you a full refund. It's that simple!Click here for more information.

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Say it ain't so! Next you'll be saying there's no Santa Claus.

In other Goog pic search news...

Yesterday when we were in Montreal a car caught fire on the 40 at 6 AM, the main east-west expressway through the city. Every expressway and major north south local artery feeds into that highway. Then a little later a water main broke near one of the main intersections on the 40 service road which runs adjacent to the elevated highway and feeds into it and from it every few blocks. A water main break at zero degrees is a fun thing. Considering that snow was piled 8 feet high along all the streets, the city was paralyzed. An incredible thing to get stuck in, and were we stuck. Three hours after the car fire, a normal 10 minute trip from our daughter's house to our son's took an hour. 4 hours later, a normal 15 minute trip from the city to the outskirts took an hour and 20 minutes.

not one word from these schmucks since nov 7 even with these material losses......then they sell out to china...I guess the financial industry will be offshored next...actually already happenning

7:53 (Dow Jones) Morgan Stanley (MS) boosts mortgage-related writedown to
$9.4B, more than two and a half times the $3.7B hit it expected as of Nov 7.
Losses grew as markets weakened, deals were done at lower levels, the ABX
indices fell and credit quality of underlying loans deteriorated. And that may
not be the end of it. MS still has $1.8B in direct US subprime exposure. The
4Q hit reflects $7.8B in losses on CDOs and mortgage-related securities taken
on with a speculative trading position; $1.2B in losses on European loans,
commercial mortgage securities, Alt-A exposure and other loans; and $400M in
losses on securities held by subsidiary banks. (ADO)

Short E-Trade.

At least these guys were believing in and eating their own excrement. GS didn't and wasn't. I think there's going to be a backlash. Pat Paulsen should be praying for a Hucksterbe presidency right now. If it's Hil, or Bam, or Fast Edwards, Hank-Pat better be stocking up on tubes of Anal Lube.

Precious metals update posted.

http://wallstreetexaminer.com/?p=2070
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I am not receiving any data on eSignal. Anyone else there having a problem?

ok, now appears to be working.

I don't know if it's the extreme cold, the snow, or what, but my cable broadband access here is extremely slow. In the summer it was blazingly fast. Or maybe it's the wireless access. I had to reconfigure the network, and am now on a wireless network client instead of being hardwired to the net. Can any of you techies tell me if that's it? Do I need to upgrade my router and wireless adapter, or is this just the way it is. Should I have my office hard wired to the router in the basement?

I have a lot of catching up to do for the Fed and Treasury report. I won't be able to do much posting this AM on the short term projections etc.

FXI 171.50...failure could come at anytime between here and 175 area....

DJ Fed Accepts $9.75 Bln In Overnight RPs

Type of transaction: Overnight RPs
Total accepted: $9.75 Bln
Total submitted: $31.85 Bln

Agency Collateral Operation
Total accepted: $6.561 Bln
Total submitted: $19.5 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 4.26%
Weighted Average: 4.26%
High-rate submitted: 4.27%
Low-rate submitted: 4.15%

Treasury Collateral Operation
Total accepted: $3.189 Bln
Total submitted: $10.1 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: 3.34%
Weighted Average: 3.35%
High-rate submitted: 3.38%
Low-rate submitted: 3.2%

Mortgage-Backed Collateral Operations
Total accepted: None
Total submitted: $2.25 Bln
Stop-Out Rate: N/A
Weighted Average: N/A
High-rate submitted: 4.28%
Low-rate submitted: 4.25%

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

I'm no expert on RF communications but if your house is heated primarily by electric heating systems, you will have more EMF in you house in the winter which may have an effect.

Try the hard wire before you go looking for other stuff.

Results of the Taffy should be coming out shortly.

Meanwhile, the TED is still at an extremely high 196 bps

For all you forex traders out there. Sterling GBPUSD got hammered today but its too Dover Sole for me to get on board here.

EURGBP might be a better way to play weakness in GBP here.

Did you note that the MINIMUM acceptable bid on the Taffy pull was 4.17. This is going to be interesting.

That mighta been it....let's see if da bears can get some real sellin' goin' now...

Below yesterday's low now, and the wheels should come completely off....

I am just now reviewing my ETF charts for the first time since Thursday for updating Chart Picks in the WSE Pro tonight. XLE is at a real interesting infartion point here. Have a looky loo.

bully still kickin

Here are the Taffy Pull results.

On December 17, 2007, the Federal Reserve conducted an auction of $20 billion in 28-day credit through its Term Auction Facility. Following are the results of the auction:

Stop-out rate: 4.65 percent

Total propositions submitted: $61.553 billion
Total propositions accepted: $20.000 billion
Bid/cover ratio: 3.08

Number of bidders: 93

Bids at the stop-out rate were prorated at 1.96% and resulting awards were rounded to the nearest $10,000 (except that all awards below $10,000 are rounded up to $10,000).

The awarded loans will settle on December 20, 2007, and will mature on January 17, 2008. The stop-out rate shown above will apply to all awarded loans.

Institutions that submitted winning bids will be contacted by their respective Reserve Banks by Noon EST on December 19, 2007. Participants have until 3:00 p.m. EST on December 19, 2007 to inform their local Reserve Bank of any error.

4.65% was the lowest rate, with only 2% of the bidders at that level. Bid to cover 3.08. Hmmm. Looks like there's a good bit of stress, eh?

Your stabs at interpretation are welcome. I have no clue.

Yeah, these double inverse ETFs are awesome trading vehicles for quick swing trades, 5%+ daily moves are commonplace.

Marketcrotch



Marketcrotch: the finest in in-depth tick-by-tick reporting.

I think that the market is going to look at this for a few minutes then decide which way to go. My gut reaction is that the 4.65 lowest rate could spook everybody? To me, it suggests that there is upward pressure on short term interest rates. Fed funds target is 4.25, and this came in .40 higher at the LOWEST rate accepted. It also compares unfavorable with a rate of 4.33 for 30 day AA rated financial company commercial paper.

I think it's bad news, but I guess the market doesn't.

A lot depends on the change in Fed liquidity since my last update on Friday. That's what I'll be working on for update a little later today in the WSE Pro. Give yourself a nice Christmas present and subscribe today. Click the link below to get in RIGHT NOW!

Anyone see the Trannies today?

I agree. But what about the XLE specifically. Do you like it for potential upside breakout or rollover, or neither?

XLE roll over looks more likely to me here unless it can go back and clear that recent high at $77.70.

Right at resistance right here, so I guess we find out real soon.....

10 year Treasury yields now surging higher after a gap down on the open. 13 week bill rates also appear to have reversed. It's very early here, but the market appears to be digesting the new info, and is looking for higher rates, at least initially. Anyone have a quote on Fed Funds fucutures?

Maybe the 9:30 energy newsnoise will push it over the cliff!

I had a lot of trouble with slow speed on comcast last year. Finally a repairmen admitted the line signal strenth had not been readjusted for the seasonal temp change. They brought in a crew which fixed the problem,.
You might want to check with provider about that.

Over 7 million barrel drawdown. Bullish for oil at face, but who knows!

Looking at OIH, looks like my stop was too tight. If these gains hold today, we'll have to look at putting it back on the Chart Pick list. This could be an exceptional setup.

I will let you know in tonight's WSE Pro Market Update.

sounds like someone was burning a little too many video tapes

DJ Fire At Eisenhower Office Bldg Near White House Under Control


WASHINGTON (AP)--Thick black smoke billowed from a fire, now under control,
Wednesday on the White House compound in the Eisenhower Executive Office
Building.

The blaze appeared to be located in Vice President Dick Cheney's suite of
ceremonial offices on the second floor of the building. Cheney and President
George W. Bush were across the street in the West Wing of the White House when
the blaze broke out. It appeared to be under control within an hour.