Analysis Topic: Stock & Financial Markets
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Monday, March 17, 2008
Bear Stearns Collapses Into Arms of JP Morgan / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
The ongoing deleveraging of the $500 trillion derivatives markets claimed its biggest scalp on Sunday - Bear Stearns, formerly one of the worlds top investment banks and now taken over by JP Morgan to prevent a global financial panic, with the aid of funding and guarantees from the US Fed amounting to $30 billion which was reminiscent of the UK Governments bailout of Northern Rock Bank.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 17, 2008
Derivatives Dominos Start Falling Threatening Collapse of the Shadow Banking System / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
On Friday, Bear Stearns blew up. It was the worst possible news at the worst possible time. A day earlier, the politically-connected Carlyle Capital hedge fund defaulted on $16.6 billion of its debt. Carlyle boasted a $21.7 billion portfolio of AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities, but was unable to make a margin call of just $400 million. (Where did the $21.7 billion go?) The news on Bear was the last straw. The stock market started reeling immediately; shedding 300 points in less than an hour. Then, miraculously, the tide shifted and the market began to rebound. If there was ever a time for Paulson's Plunge Protection Team to come to the rescue; this was it.
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Monday, March 17, 2008
Bankrupt Bear Stearns Given Away to JP Morgan to Prevent Market Panic / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
I have been on Wall Street for fifteen years, and fully appreciate how the market will read the "purchase" of Bear Stearns for $2 per share is anybody's guess. As a manager of risk, I see the following:
- It is obvious Bear Stearns was bankrupt and could not have continued as a viable entity.
- Rather than have them declare bankruptcy, the Fed engineered a plan to have JP Morgan "buy" Bear Sterns for $2 per share. A price of $2 per share means the market was too optimistic in the last 14 months when Bear's stock fell from $169.33 in January 2007 to $30 per share as of Friday's close.
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Monday, March 17, 2008
Gold: The Leading Indicator of Systemic Financial Collapse / Stock-Markets / Financial Crash
Falling Dominoes Rising Gold - The failure of Windows Vista to improve upon Microsoft's accepted standard is an indication that an era is ending. Another indication—just as obvious and far more significant— US central bank credit is no longer automatically able to create economic expansion. Suddenly, cheap credit does not produce growth. An era is over.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, March 15, 2008
US Banking System in a Vicious Circle Ending In Systemic Financial Meltdown / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
"It's another round of the credit crisis. Some markets are getting worse than January this time. There is fear that something dramatic will happen and that fear is feeding itself," Jesper Fischer-Nielsen, interest rate strategist at Danske Bank, Copenhagen; Reuters
Wednessday's action by the Federal Reserve proves that the banking system is insolvent and the US economy is at the brink of collapse. It also shows that the Fed is willing to intervene directly in the stock market if it keeps equities propped up. This is clearly a violation of its mandate and runs contrary to the basic tenets of a free market. Investors who shorted the market yesterday, got clobbered by the not so invisible hand of the Fed chief.
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Saturday, March 15, 2008
Forward Thinking for the Markets / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
I am not the only market-watcher who has noticed that although the news seems to get progressively worse for the banks and brokers, and stress to the financial system and the Fed (lender of last resort) gets progressively more intense, the stock indices for the most part have held above their January lows. The Jan. 22 low in the Dow at 11,635, for instance, was tested Monday at 11,732, and perhaps we should consider Friday's low at 11,833 as yet another test -- amidst treacherous news and innuendo about the efficacy of Bear Stearns.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Over Leveraged Hedge Funds Dancing with the Devil / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Hedge funds are now facing their worst crisis since the 1998 Long Term Capital meltdown. Banks are now raising their collateral requirements even on hedge funds with the best (AAA-rated) assets. Many hedge funds have made money for their wealthy investors by borrowing heavily to buy high quality mortgage securities. Their earnings were made by exploiting the spread between the interest paid on shorter-term loans and the interest earned on the longer-term mortgages. However, they figured if a little debt could magnify returns, then a lot of debt would be that much better. Until, that is, the subprime market caused a hiccup in higher-quality bonds, too. Carlyle Capital , which leveraged its portfolio 32-to-1, collapsed on Thursday after failing to come up with additional capital to protect itself from creditors seizing its assets. One domino after another is falling after the turmoil is forcing other hedge funds to come up with extra capital. The problem is, their assets are also deteriorating, as they cannot find a market, even for their higher-quality debt instruments.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Asian Emerging Market Stock Market Sell off Excellent Buying Opportunity / Stock-Markets / Chinese Stock Market
The current market weakness presents an excellent opportunity to buy Asian stocks.
Although the state of the US economy and the global credit crisis is gloomy, and it's on track to remain so for some time, the global financial system won't completely collapse. It seems that the US monetary policy is losing credibility, which will be difficult to restore to previous levels. But the order of the world is changing, and everyone wants to avoid total destruction.
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Friday, March 14, 2008
Big Daily SPX Stock Market Moves Indicative of Bear Markets / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
On Tuesday March 11th, the flagship S&P 500 (SPX) stock index rocketed 3.7% higher in a single trading day! This big rally proved a welcome respite for embattled stock traders. Not only did it nicely boost most sectors, but it temporarily dispelled the oppressive fog of fear billowing out of the mortgage markets.
While it was certainly a profitable day for me as a speculator, I found it far more interesting as a student of the markets. The catalyst for this particular surge as well as the extensive commentary on CNBC about how long it had been since we'd last seen a similar rally led me to ponder big SPX daily moves in general.
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Thursday, March 13, 2008
Financial Stocks Retest of Lows Looks Bullish / Stock-Markets / Banking Stocks
Deep retest of Monday's low or another tease? Technically I have lots of indicators telling me it is the former and that the Financial Selecct SPDR (AMEX: XLF) is now in the early stages of revisiting Monday's high at 25.91 on the way to 26.50 thereafter.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
What Advice have the Big Wall Street Firms Given their Large Clients this Year ? / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
The answer: Sell on rallies.
Is that what has been happening this year?
The chart below provides the answer. This chart shows the New York Stock Exchange Up-Volume plotted against the Dow Jones Industrials on a 60 minute chart going back to the beginning of the year.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
True Cost of This Global Banking Crisis / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
"...If only the big central banks would sit on their hands and let this crisis work out, they could save Western taxpayers up to 98% of the potential mopping-up costs..."
HOW TO KEEP YOUR HEAD when all about you are losing theirs?
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
How to Beat the Stock, US Dollar and Credit Market Bears / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
The recent action on Wall Street is enough to send shivers up the spine of even the biggest bull. Despite yesterday's Fed-induced rally, we have multiple bear markets closing in simultaneously, with everything from stocks to the U.S. dollar to the credit markets getting clawed to pieces.
But there is one sector that is still in a raging bull market — commodities. And the bearish action in the other markets could actually pump up commodities even more.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Dow Transports Set to Trend Higher / Stock-Markets / US Stock Markets
After a morning dip on profit-taking and because of still-higher oil prices (ahead of the API report), the iShares DJ Transportation Index ETF (AMEX: IYT) pivoted to the upside and has thrust above its nearest-term resistance line at 82.40, which triggers higher projections in my work to 83.80-84.20 next, on the way to a retest of much more important resistance at 86.40/50.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Why the Rich are Getting Poorer / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
As our consumer dominated economy faces the threat of imminent stagflation (economic recession and financial inflation at the same time), losses will not be limited to the poor. Many get-rich-quick investors also will become poorer!
The effects of recession, falling asset prices, insolvency, inflation and a falling dollar are set to have a sometimes devastating effect on the real value of many investment portfolios, including those of the wealthy.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Fed's $200 Billion Baillout Is Positive, But Not a Cure for Credit Markets / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
From a perspective of investor confidence, yesterday's move by the Federal Reserve to allow banks and brokerages to temporarily swap mortgage-backed bonds for U.S. Treasuries was important. Stock market reaction was broad based and could be the beginning of a sustained rally. However, previous moves by the Fed aimed at restoring investor confidence were quickly counteracted by more announcements of credit writedowns in the banking and brokerage sector. Therefore, to call a long term bottom in stocks with any degree of confidence you have to believe the Fed's actions will address the root cause of the problem in the credit markets.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
George Soros and the Worst Financial Market Crisis in 60 Years / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
“Blood in the streets” is the central theme of the financial news lately. Barely a day goes by without a barrage of bad news hitting investors like a runaway freight train. In just the past few weeks in the Financial Times newspaper we see the following headlines:Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Stock Market Leading Indicators: All Showing Major Weakness / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
The important key leading indicators on the Dow Jones Industrial Average have one item in common now that has not been shown before; they are all displaying weakness. This unified first signals that the U.S. bear market has now moved into a stronger phase and can be expected to show more of its teeth over the next 1-2 years.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Nasdaq Q's Have More Room to Advance / Stock-Markets / Tech Stocks
Earlier when the Q's (NASDAQ: QQQQ) were at 41.60, they had retraced just about 50% of the entire upmove from yesterday's low at 40.98 to this morning's high at 42.19, which is where they held and turned back to the upside. The initial upside exhibits bullish form, while the intraday weakness exhibits corrective form and tells me (so far) that the Q's have additional upside remaining prior to the completion of a larger developing recovery rally period. My sense is that the Q's are only partially finished with the advance, and that they will thrust towards a test of 43.00 in the upcoming hours.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Definitive Proof The Stock Market Bear Is Alive And Well / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
Well – so much for follow through. With the increase in volume in the stock market rally on Wednesday, yesterday's sell-off was a bit surprising, especially combined with the fact it was on declining volume. As mentioned yesterday however, price managers need to keep equities low going into the Fed meeting on March 11 th to justify more rate cuts, so it's not surprising to see the rally fail from this perspective. What more, it's important to note that not only do nominal rates need to fall further in aiding a failing credit cycle, but real rates need to fall more as well, meaning commodities need to cool off.Read full article... Read full article...