Certainly not Ford. Ford posts first annual profit for four years
The carmaker made $2.7bn (£1.7bn) in 2009, and said it expects to be profitable this year as well.
For the final three months of last year, the company made $868m, a dramatic improvement on the $6bn loss it made a year earlier.
Ford attributed its annual profit […]

posted by genes to General, Finance, Bailouts | 1 comment, no incoming links

Today’s WSJ quotes the President: “Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that it too big to fail.”
In one remark, Obama finally reveals himself incontrovertibly to be a liar or a fool, or both.
Surely no can can be such a naif as to believe that they can legislate such […]

posted by nemo paradise to Dumbasses, Government, Markets, Statists, Propaganda, Democrats, Liberal Fascism, Finance, History, Bullshit, Nanny State, Horseshit, Weirdness, Free Market, Terrorism, Capitalism, Incompetence, Junk Law, Lies and Liars, Tyranny, Whackjobs and Lunatics | 20 comments, no incoming links

Could I have been more stunningly wrong? I hate the forecast business.
I think it most likely a case of investors fearing that, with health care torpedoed, Obama will now go after the financial industry with a bludgeon, and do his best to destroy it.
So I’m in retraction mode.

posted by nemo paradise to Democrats, Finance, Jew Hatred | 12 comments, no incoming links

For no particular reason, as usual, equity markets are acting as though they are close to a major upside breakout. What the hell. 12,500 Dow by March, 14,500 by tax time.
No one believes the employment numbers, but no one cares, either. Banks have huge cash reserves that will hit credit-hungry borrowers soon […]

posted by nemo paradise to Finance, Capitalism, Global Warming | 4 comments, no incoming links

At least, that’s what the headline should be on this, I think: Federal Reserve earned $45 billion in 2009 - Unconventional efforts to prop up economy created windfall for government… (From the often depressingly-cheerful Washington Post, of course)
The only slight glimmer of good news involved:
The Fed will return about $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury […]

posted by J.S. Bridges to Economy, Government, Corruption, Finance, Assholes, Bullshit, Nanny State, Tyranny | 2 comments, no incoming links

Every day I look at the stock market opening to see if anything is actually happening. Just in case anyone wondered.

posted by nemo paradise to Empty, Markets, Finance | 1 comment, no incoming links

Feel better. You may have missed the stock market recovery, or paid a million dollars for a home that’s now worth less than a campaign promise, but you are an investment wizard compared to Terrance Watanabe.
Mr. Watenabe disclosed last week that he had lost $127 million in one year gambling at two Las Vegas […]

posted by nemo paradise to Dumbasses, Finance, Incompetence | 4 comments, no incoming links

Nemo feels deeply in tune with the I Ching today, a curious thing because he knows next to nothing about it. But a strange sentence keeps repeating in his head whenever he thinks about the “probable” post-Thanksgiving behavior of US equities:
“The kite may fall, or fly higher still.”
I guess this means that we’re going […]

posted by nemo paradise to Finance | No comments, no incoming links

Nemo is about as comfortable as a cuttlefish in a bait shop right now.
I can see many things that could drive this market down and downer, but little that can make it go up. Good news will only sustain current levels; bad news could start an avalanche, we fear.
And bad news is all we […]

posted by nemo paradise to Economy, Junk Science, Finance | 1 comment, no incoming links

Today was (is) one of the more depressing equity trading markets I’ve seen for a while. The damn thing just doesn’t seem to be at all interested in doing anything. Just sort of stumbles around 9500 Dow, 120 S&P, bumping into imaginary support/resistance Fibonacci/Elliott/Kondratiev wave/fractal/sunspot cycle levels.
Just in passing: the S&P has […]

posted by nemo paradise to General, Finance, Horseshit, Flu | 7 comments, no incoming links

Marshals Arrive, Ruth Madoff Leaves as Manhattan Home Is Seized - Bloomberg.com
July 3 (Bloomberg) — U.S. marshals seized Bernard Madoff’s $7 million Manhattan penthouse apartment following a federal judge’s order that the Upper East Side residence be forfeited by the convicted con man.
Madoff’s big mistake, of course, was that he robbed rich people. […]

posted by Bill Quick to Corruption, Crime, Obama, Finance, Obama Agenda | 2 comments, no incoming links

If the rules do not fit, change the rules.
The Federal Reserve has now waived rules, permitting GMAC’s bank more scope to provide loans.

posted by drach to Economy, Leftists, Finance, Bailouts | 1 comment, no incoming links

Hedge Fund Leader Blasts Obama for “Bullying” and “Abuse of Power”: Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance
Cliff Asness, whose firm manages some $20 billion of assets, has written an open letter blasting President Obama for his attack on the hedge fund industry in the wake of the Chrysler bankruptcy.
As you’ll recall, hedge funds, which hold approximately $1 […]

posted by Bill Quick to Politics, Obama, Finance | 1 comment, no incoming links

Today, the P/E of the DJ-30 was over thirty.
Guess what? Bear markets don’t end, and bull markets don’t start, at P/E levels over thirty.
More like seven or eight.
Which means we need to see about a 300% increase in corporate profits (any takers on that one?) or a 75% decrease in stock prices.
I know where […]

posted by Bill Quick to Markets, Finance | 4 comments, no incoming links

Tectonic Shift in Currency Markets: Minyanville Business News: DOW - MSN Money
As much as we in the US worry about the fall of the dollar, it could rise over the coming year.
Believe it or not, this isn’t especially good news.
Read the whole thing to learn why.

posted by Bill Quick to International Relations, Finance | No comments, no incoming links

Fighting Recklessness with Recklessness - John Mauldin’s Outside the Box - InvestorsInsight.com | Financial Intelligence, Advice & Research / Investment Strategies & Planning for Individual Investors.
Last week saw a continuation of the impenetrably misguided policy response to this financial crisis, which seeks to address the downturn by encouraging more of what got us into this […]

posted by Bill Quick to Politics, Corruption, Finance, Assholes | 1 comment, no incoming links

Let’s Not Reinflate the Housing Bubble by Stephen Spruiell on National Review Online
A consortium of independent mortgage bankers is pressuring the government to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand their activities into “warehouse lending.” Any policy that aims to reinflate the housing bubble is bad news, but this is more than that.
Independent mortgage […]

posted by Bill Quick to Dumbasses, Finance, Assholes, Capitalism | No comments, no incoming links

Edgelings.com » Did DE-regulation Just Turn Around the U.S. Economy?
Nobody has fought louder or more brilliantly for the end of mark-to-market than Steve Forbes, Forbes’ publisher Rich Karlgaard, and CNBC’s Larry Kudlow. They deserve everyone’s thanks — especially all of those stockholders’ who are now watching the markets turn upwards again.
That still leaves three […]

posted by Bill Quick to Media, Propaganda, Obama, Finance, Junk Journalism, Fifth Columnists | 4 comments, no incoming links

New Accounting Guidelines for Mortgage-Backed Securities - NYTimes.com
“There is a perception that we are yielding to political pressure,” said one board member who voted for the changes, Lawrence W. Smith. He pointed to the hostile reception given to Robert H. Herz, the board’s chairman, at a Congressional hearing last month, in which legislators from both […]

posted by Bill Quick to Markets, Finance | 3 comments, no incoming links

Whither GM? - The Atlantic Business Channel
As Mark notes, the government’s plan largely seems to consist of pointing out that Toyota is more profitable than GM, so GM should be more like them. The details, like how GM is going to handle those infamous legacy costs, are not present.
To be sure, many of them […]

posted by Bill Quick to Socialism, Finance, Free Market | 3 comments, no incoming links

Bankers: Take your TARP money back - Mar. 27, 2009
If Treasury starts taking money back from healthy banks while the economy is still in trouble the weaker banks may appear to be even weaker and the confidence that TARP brought may suddenly disappear.
“The Government has to maintain confidence throughout the banking sector. These banks are […]

posted by Bill Quick to Economy, Dumbasses, Leftists, Democrats, Liberal Fascism, Finance, Incompetence | 1 comment, no incoming links

Brown snubbed over tax - Times Online
The assault by European Union leaders also represents a defeat for President Barack Obama, who is desperate for other big economies to copy his $800 billion stimulus plan.
But weren’t we told that all world leaders would be putty in Barack Obama’s hands?
Why, yes, I believe we were.
Some […]

posted by Bill Quick to Obama, International Relations, Finance, Obama Agenda, Incompetence | No comments, no incoming links

Wait a second… you want to blame ME for the financial crisis? - AR15.COM
via Old Grouch (thanks!) comes this naked declaration of war from a hedge fund manager on the Obama-leftist wreckers who are out to destroy our nation and our economy.

posted by Bill Quick to Economy, Liberty, Obama, Liberal Fascism, Finance, Obama Agenda | 1 comment, 1 incoming link

U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy,
“Damage the broader economy” is such a vague term. GM’s collapse will […]

posted by genes to Carp Of The Day, General, Government, Democrats, Liberal Fascism, Finance, Obama Agenda | 1 comment, no incoming links

Op-Ed Columnist - Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived? - NYTimes.com
As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, chief executives at businesses as diverse as Texas Instruments and the home builder Hovnanian Enterprises have received millions in bonuses even as their companies’ shares have lost more than half their value.
If you needed any further evidence that […]

posted by Bill Quick to Economy, Dumbasses, Finance | 2 comments, no incoming links