Headliners
-Copper peaks to six-week high on supply concerns due to Grasberg suspension: $7,525/ton
-Gold rises on Bernanke Testimony then smashed , equity markets rally, then tank on FOMC
-Bernanke must read Earnings report- Pedal to the Metal!
-FED heads ratched down rhetoric on QE Taper ahead of Bernanke testimony
-Spanish banks caught rolling bad loans, and in fraud
-Portugal using Social Security funds to Mask Debt
-GS/JPM/HSBC Gut Dodd-Frank Swap Regulation
-Senate Panel Approves illegal Immigration bill granting 10s of million illegal free citizenship (actually it costs the USA taxpayers around $45k per family).
-China wants more crack downs on private (shadow) banking system and gray/black currency markets. Bernanke Inflation export to China is causing major panic in the govt due to property price rises as China is too slow to let Yuan appreciate.
-BOJ Holds, updates economic assesment
-IRS Official who heads up tax exempt division decides to Plead the 5 th Amendment in testimony before Congress today
==================
Market Commentary
-USA summary
USA markets were flat at the opening, then up on Bernanke’s dog and pony show to Congress, then sold off on the FOMC minutes as the FOMC was seen as uncertain and divided, then the PPT pushed it back up into the close. Gold was bashed from its 1400 rise largely by Nomura on BOJ/MOF greenlights. The Japanese indeed all the Asian nations have virtual full employment, trade surpluses , positive equity in homes, massive savings, so for the Japanese to pump the dollar and tout the USE today as in better healthy , especially in light of Lowes, Target, and small business Staples supplier earnings reports was particularly cruel. The USA needs balanced trade and use tariffs to do it. The Japanese are literally getting away with murder(suicides are way up) and using QE to make Toyota number 1, keep factories in Japan with this QE and the BOJ has pretty much lied as they don’t want 2 % inflation as all their complaints of JGBs today showed. Japan’s debt is so large a 4 % 10 year would kill it. American blood is going to pay for that new Toyota mega factory in Japan and it should be located in the USA where they sell their cars to, specifically CA or Nevada.
I don’t think there is much need to recap what Bernanke said as he resorted the FED game of saying the QE taper is only a few months off in the Q/A market to manage gold/ commodity prices. As former FED vice Chair Alan Blinder said, the last job of the FED is to tell the public the truth. The FED should be depolticized by nationalizing all the regional heads, having them approved by Congress, the lower house, in regional voting, then implementing Taylor’s rule and required to keep and publish M3 and limit it to the real GDP growth and allowing gold, silver and copper money to trade along side the FED paper. Jack Lew trying to shut down Iranian gold imports shows you how important gold is to the LBMA and London.
It is hard to describe how bad the Target and Staples reports are in light of a real 5% inflation rate. Certainly if the FED and congress are not reading those they are out of touch. Still plenty of complaints to Bernanke from Democrats and Republicans alike on how weak the USE is and how ineffective his policies are. Of course by design, they are designed to increase the power of the banks over the real economy. Bart Chilton as much admitted the FED was not going to reign in bank prop trading and JPM/GS/HSBC, etc had gutted the Swaps legislation so they could manipulate it to bankrupt their marks like JPM bankrupted LEH and AIG.
In Europe I felt particularly good selling more DAX short on the close. Rajoy was forced to drop his pretenses today as El Mundo revealed Spain’s dirty dark secrets. The crisis is back on. Even with the ESM we may start the correction tomorrow in the DAX unless the ESM further buys down the Spanish 10 year. And that game is only causing an inflationary recession in Spain as its youth leave for Latin American or to work for the Germans.
Clearly they did not reach a comprehensive tax agreement in Europe, although Juncker probably has enough Mossad dirt to force the Swiss to yield to the Zio-Nazi’s will as he indicated today.
Right now Europe , short of energy is pursuing multiple strategies to kill the USE. The first is copying the Irish model of low corporate tax rates to attract USA factories like Intel and other business. The next strategy the Europeans have is to provide the tax havens for the USA firms to dodge taxes in and the legal incentives to do so, from the Caymans to Dublin to Vienna to Cyprus (as until as of late). After that knowing they are energy short and can’t compete in technology or energy or even mfg with the USA and as England is running out of energy Europe is trying to impose Carbon taxes so they can use alternative energy and compete with Clean Coal and LNG and the Europeans have their boy Obama killing LNG and Coal in the USA, and exporting to Japan cheap LNG for buying UST and England is next up in the Cheap USA Lng conga line. Finally Europe is resorting to direct sabotage of USA industries like Boeing and requiring American taxpayer funded research be given to England and Europe and jobs located there as the new GOOG mega-research center in the UK shows. The English are literally technologically illiterate and this will serve to rehone English technology by direct transfer from the USA.
Europe is conspiring with Communist China to kill the American people, enslave its own, and rip the USA off before a non-EU stooge gets in power. All under the direction of the Windsor-Rothschilds ‘privy council’ and their Jewish and Anglo representatives on the Continent. I suppose all we can do is pray, boycott European and Chinese goods and buy local and bank at a non profit. It is up to we Americans to pull together, the Europeans are here to stab us in the back like they did with WW1 and WW2 and the Iraq war we are fighting or China and Europe’s oil and the Crown Opium trade and all the minerals German factories need in Afghanistan. The average European is a complete idiot. Ony a few million watch the UK show American Idol, Eurovision is watched by just about every EU household. As the German satanic mockery of Pentacost shows us, Europe is a dark and satanic place. Please pray for your kin there. Thanks.
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-1545
Here comes the PPT right on schedule. Always take short profits 1 hr before the close.
-Lying, IRS Jewess with Legal Impunity ?
The arrogance of the elite Jews is really something else since 911.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights and will be hauled back to appear before his panel again.The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service.When I asked her her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.”Lerner triggered the IRS scandal on May 10 when she acknowledged that the agency wrongly targeted conservative groups applying for a tax exemption. Her lawyer told the House committee earlier this week that she would exercise her Fifth Amendment.She appeared before Issa’s committee this morning under the order of a subpoena and surprised many by reading a strong statement to the panel.“I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other committee.”Issa dismissed her from the committee room once it became clear she wouldn’t answer questions.
Poltico
-Iran is making significant progress in expanding its nuclear programme, including in opening up a potential second route to developing the bomb, a new UN atomic agency report showed Wednesday.The International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest quarterly update said that Tehran has accelerated the installation of advanced uranium enrichment equipment at its central Natanz plant.It also outlined further progress at a reactor under construction at Arak, also in central Iran, which Western countries fear could provide Iran with plutonium if the fuel is reprocessed.One Western diplomat told AFP the report “will only increase the concerns about Iran.” AFP
-Pesticide sales are doubling. Why? Genetically-modified crops are losing resistance to bugs. WSJ
-USA Session Economic Release
Mexico’s March retail sales are very indicative of how weak the USE is. The majority of the savings of illegals gets sent back to Mexico for their families and even their social security checks that many collect through fraud go there if the person has an off the books job or a different social security number.
America’s
(US) Apr Existing Home Sales: 4.97 v 4.99Me
(US) DOE Crude: -340K v -1Me; Gasoline: +3.02M v -Me; Distillate: -1.05M v +1Me; Utilization: 87.3% v 88.2%
(BR) Brazil May IBGE CPI IPCA-15 M/M: 0.5% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: 6.5% v 6.5% prior
BR) Brazil Apr Current Account: -$7.2Be; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): $5.0Be
(CA) Canada Mar Retail Sales M/M: 0.0% v 0.1%e; Retail Sales Less Autos M/M: -0.2% v +0.1%
(MX) Mexico Mar Retail Sales: -2.4% v +0.3%e
Late EU releases
(BE) Belgium May Consumer Confidence: -19 v -20 prior
(IE) Ireland Apr PPI M/M: 0.3% v 0.9% prior; Y/Y: 1.9% v 1.1% prior
(PT) Portugal Mar Current Account: +€270M v -€273.7M prior
(UK) May CBI Industrial Trends Total Orders: -20 v -17e; Selling Prices: 4 v 5e
(UK) MBA Mortgage Applications w/e May 17th: -9.8% v -7.3% prior
e
-As the ZGR mentioned, I wanted to jettison my long ahead of the FOMC minutes and reestablish my short. I did it as soon as the market started to tank in the Q/A when Bernanke took away what he Gave with one sentence. I suspect Nomura , the GS of Japan. knew this so I increased my Y short. Nomura is the GS of Japan. I suppose you have to have lived and worked in Japan to understand if they say 108 Y/D they are not kidding and they are the market execution arm for the BOJ/MOF. A tough day for me, as I had to keep my eyes on the screen my ears tuned to the FED and the Euroclowns and change my programs on the fly and get this blog out. The FED knows its minutes are read like the Jew Nero read the feces and entrails of horses. So keeping market off balance and money flowing into UST and propping the dollar up is Job number 1 after doing what London says. I will say this about this naive hispanic Congress woman Sanchez from CA, she went after Bernanke’s head ,a liberal democrat, in that all the housing was ending up in the Asian hands, hedge fund hands and her constituents had no jobs to buy houses with. Bernanke is a complete whore, he gets his directions from London and his entire job is to sacrifice the American people for the Anglo-Zionist banking order out of London. Bernanke gave her a look like ‘what a dope that is what Washington DC, London and NY are all about the money all flows to London’ and while she is new to Congress the Senate and Democrats were the force behind these labor gutting free trade agreements.
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-A number of Federal Reserve officials were willing to slow down the pace of the purchases as early as the June meeting if the data continued to improve, according to the minutes of the April 30-May 1 policy meeting released late today. Officials disagreed about what evidence would be needed to start tapering and the likelihood of that outcome.FED officials agreed that the labor market had improved since the FED launched its latest QE program last September. “Many” said that they wanted to see continued progress, more confidence in the outlook or diminished risks before agreeing to taper purchases, the summary of the meeting showed.In its statement, the FED changed the language to show that policy makers were prepared to increase or reduce the pace of its purchases. a “couple” of FED officials said the FED might have to ease more if inflation fell further.One Fed official wanted to stop the bond purchases immediately, while another wanted to increase the size of the program.
-Luxembourg’s Juncker: EU Will Demand Equivalent, Not Identical Rules From Switzerland
-*SPANISH BANKS NEED MORE CAPITAL – RAJOY
After his/banks accounting gambits were exposed by El Mundo
-Hollande wants a European economic governance council to meet once a month. Germany has pushed for an EU finmin
-Nomura in on Gold Bashing
With Bernanke’s testimony is (more or less) out of the way, Nomura thinks that as the event risk is largely behind us, it’s time to enter into fresh long USD/JPY position in cash.Nomura bought $10 million USD/JPY at 103, placing a protective stop at 100.50, targeting a ‘relatively quick move’ to 108.Nomura outlines 2 main reasons behind this call:First, Nomura thinks the strong rally in the Nikkei is increasingly supportive for USDJPY, due to hedging activity.”Two important FX flows generated by the recent Japanese equity rally are potentially important. The first is the FX hedging by foreign equity investors. The second is retail investment in foreign currency denominated Japanese equity toshins. Both forces are likely to weaken JPY further in the next 2-3 month,” Nomura clarifies.Second, Nomura thinks structural USD strength is likely in coming months.”With regard to the dollar: we are now structurally more bullish on USD, given that US growth looks structurally more robust, including on a relative basis. Linked to this, some of other major central banks, such as ECB, RBA, and BOJ, have been easing further recently,” Nomura adds.
exfxnews.com
they clearly don’t read US earning reports, or they are in the cabal big time and naked short gold.
-Merkel/Von Rompuy both denied EU corporate Tax harmonization was discussed.
-Syrian President Assad must hand over full executive powers to a proposed transitional government – French Foreign Minister Fabius
-FED Shill at WSJ
By Jon Hilsenrath
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made clear Wednesday in testimony to the Joint Economic Committee that the exit from the Fed’s $85 billion-a-month bond buying program will be much different than past Fed exits.
- Reuters
- The Federal Reserve building
When the Fed ended a buying program in 2011, it shut it off all at once. When it shut off another bond buying program in 2009 and 2010, it did it in predetermined, predictable and “tapered” steps. When the Fed raised short-term interest rates from 2003 to 2006, it raised them in gradual and very predictable steps.
This time, when the Fed shuts off bond buying, it won’t be abrupt and it won’t be predictable. The term “tapering” — which implies a predictable gradual process — probably doesn’t describe the plan very well any more, and you’re unlikely to hear Fed officials describing it like that. Instead, the Fed will take a step and then see what happens. Officials also want to avoid the market blowup that happened in 1994, when it took one step and the market assumed that meant a succession of additional steps.
“A step to reduce the flow of purchases would not be an automatic, mechanistic process to end the program,” Mr. Bernanke said. In other words, if the Fed takes a step to reduce the program and the economy falters, it could sit still for a while or even dial purchases back up.
The Fed effectively wants the markets to experience the same uncertainty it experiences about policy and the economy when officials walk into a meeting, and it wants to condition the market to avoid jumping to conclusions about what it will do next. As officials keep saying, it will depend on the economy.
And on the key question of when it will start, Mr. Bernanke said the first step could be “in the next few meetings,” but that too will depend on how the economy performs.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/05/22/fed-winddown-strategy-will-test-economys-reaction-and-adjust/
-Bernanke Finished
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-Merkel: No ‘conditionality’. Ending banking secrecy set up as a wide-reaching one, extending to third-party countries.
-HVR: we have not discussed harmoniZation of corporate tax, not our issue for today, need unanimity for this
-Merkel: Today’s agreement on ending banking secrecy is a “giant leap forward” – banking secrecy blocked effective measures for too long.
-Barroso
Barroso: global energy landscape changing quickly and not in Europe’s favour, but we should not be resigned to that
principle of the automatic exchange of information at the EU level, frankly I would like this to be more precise, but progress made
-Merkel: It’s good that we tackled energy today, as there is so much difference in a market that is so important to Europe.
-Von Rompuy: crack down by end of June on Tax evaders ex states still in negotiation with.
Strategic energy intiative: energy efficiency. true single eu energy markets, diversify energy sources, investment via climate change taxes
shale gas could become part of the energy mix for some member states, up to each country to decide its own energy mix
-Live EU Press Conference
http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/live.cfm?page=1
-1121
Stocks are stabilizingafter the skid following Bernanke’s comments on possible tapering in “next few meetings
-Bernanke: Asset prices are not inconsistent with fundamentals
-EU Summit Summary
EU leaders have stepped up their fight against tax evasionby multinationals and individuals, urging lawmakers to speed up efforts to close loopholes and improve cooperation between tax authorities.
Meeting in Brussels Wednesday, the 27 leaders of the world's largesttrading bloc, threw their weight behind a plan by the European Commission tokill off by 2015 the most common methods used by multinational corporations to
avoid taxes, through a coordinated revision of double taxation treaties thatwould insert clauses to prevent double non-taxation and double deductions.
They also backed a call for the introduction of a general anti-abuse clausein all taxation treaties that would make it harder for corporations to avoidtaxes and said that work should continue on strengthening the Code of Conduct onbusiness taxation.
The tax strategies of computer and internet companies, such as Apple,Google, Microsoft and Amazon, whose low tax bills recently have attractedcriticism, would be scrutinised specifically at another EU Summit in October,
they vowed.
The leaders also took aim at a widespread VAT fraud scheme, known as carrousel or missing trader fraud, in which criminals exploit the fact thatexporters can reclaim from governments the VAT on goods exported within the EU,
to cheat governments of billions every year. About 12% of the total value of VATreceipts goes missing each year, according to Commission estimates.
European governments should be able to adopt a reverse-charge mechanism, bythe end of June, they said.
By the end of this year, EU lawmakers should start considering a revisionof taxation rules between parent companies and their subsidiaries and also adopt
tougher anti-money laundering rules.
In the fight against money laundering, clarity about the beneficialownership of companies, trusts and foundations is important, and internationalcooperation, including with the OECD, is central, the leaders stressed.
"When there is a deficit to be reabsorbed . . . better to go and look forthose who conceal themselves, than to ask those who do pay taxes to pay more,"French President Francois Hollande said ahead of the meeting. "It's a principleat the same time of fairness and of good management. Those that don't pay taxes
need to pay."
Last week, EU finance ministers agreed to pursue negotiations withSwitzerland and other European tax havens, but failed to approve a broader scopeof information exchange among themselves because of objections by Luxembourg andAustria.
Five EU countries, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain, however, areworking on a comprehensive agreement on automatic information exchange between
themselves.
At the summit, EU leaders also discussed, energy policy, the first of aseries of big-picture issues to promote growth and employment.
High energy costs have emerged as a major competitive disadvantage for theEU. While the continent has few significant resources of its own, rivals,particularly the US, have been benefiting from falling prices thanks to the
exploitation of unconventional reserves such as shale gas. Gas prices forindustry in the EU are roughly four-times greater than in the US, EU officials
estimate.
To tackle this competitive disadvantage, European leaders stressed the needto intensify efforts at energy efficiency and to ensure that new infrastructure
and rules are in place to allow gas and electricity to be freely traded across
the EU by 2015.
A "well-functioning" carbon market and consistent climate policy, which should encourage investment in renewable energy technologies, will remain a key element of Europe's energy strategy.
The EU aims to produce as much as 20% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 and is working on a strategy framework for 2030.
Last week, EU finance ministers agreed to pursue negotiations withSwitzerland and other European tax havens, but failed to approve a broader scope of information exchange among themselves because of objections by Luxembourg and Austria. Europe should aim to agree on those rules by year end,they said.
mni
-BERNANKE: dont see signs of inflation, low historically
Yeah that is why the Cartel slammed gold and silver, right Ben, the FED would not be trying to steer all that money you printed to the Banks, Bonds and Equity and short commodities, ex the long oil rig of London.
-Bizarro Murderers in USA
FBI says Tsarnaev’s friend Todashev was confessing to triple murder when he attacked FBI agent with knife. NBC News
-Bernanke: ‘Glass-Steagall” is not the solution (to bank risk)
-Gold/Silver rose as FED’s mope and rope a dope exposed, then Cartel slammed it back to the carpet
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-Bernanke: Fed will start tightening when unemployment falls to 6.5%
-953 EU Summit due to end soon, with obligatory press conference etc.
-Bernanke: ”We are supporting Japan’s policies” . No currency war (liar).
-I’m outraged
-Bernanke: Concerns About Interest-Rate Risk Has Increased ‘A Bit’.
-Bernanke: Monetary policy aimed at domestic economy, not impacting relative exchange rates are acceptable
-B6/B12/Folic Acid Prevent Onset of Alzheimers
A cheap regimen of vitamins in use for decades is seen by scientists as a way to delay the start of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, a goal that prescription drugs have failed to achieve.Drugmakers including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) have spent billions of dollars on ineffective therapies in a so-far fruitless effort to come up with a treatment for dementia and Alzheimer’s.Now, in the latest of a steady drumbeat of research that suggests diet, exercise and socializing remain patients’ best hope, a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that vitamins B6 and B12 combined with folic acid slowed atrophy of gray matter in brain areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease.“You don’t have any other options for these patients, so why not try giving them this cocktail of B vitamins?” says Johan Lokk, a professor and head physician in the geriatric department atKarolinska University Hospital Huddinge in Sweden, who wasn’t involved in the study.Alzheimer’s disease and dementia mostly affect older people. As people live longer, the number afflicted by the conditions is growing. Delaying dementia with an inexpensive vitamin regimen may help stem the surge in cases, which the World Health Organization predicted would more than triple from 36 million worldwide in 2010 to 115 million in 2050, as well as the cost, estimated at $604 billion in 2010 by Alzheimer’s Disease International. BBN
-Stocks Rise on Bernanke Testimony-Bernanke more or less admits FED will just have to let assets just roll off balance sheet as they mature. Promises gentle raise in rates (yeah sure, look at the BOJ and panic they are in).
We more or less got the dump from Dudley in the premarkets that all the taper talk was rhetoric to alleviate stress on the LBMA/CME wrt to gold and that the FED would continue to ease. I covered some of my shorts at the opening in the DIA/SPY and went long. Looking to reestablish shorts before release of last Months FOMC meeting minutes. Earnings were dreadful this morning with declining sales after .5 Tln in QE Y/Y and 1 tln in deficts Y/Y. Bernanke and the Feds in DC/Congress are not getting much ‘traction’ from their war /police/bankster criminal state. FYI, the WSJ confirmed it was London who kept Dimon in place this morning. Looks like Rothschilds had the minimum number of shares to keep the British-Israel thug Dimon in place.
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-955 Link to Bernanke Testimony
Ha, ha, Brady is ripping Bernankes head off. Wants FED to exit now and implement Taylors rule
Chairman Bernanke’s testimony is out, and he is not eager to tighten policy anytime soon.
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke
The Economic Outlook
Before the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C.
May 22, 2013
Chairman Brady, Vice Chair Klobuchar, and other members of the Committee, I appreciate this opportunity to discuss the economic outlook and economic policy.
Current Economic Conditions
Economic growth has continued at a moderate pace so far this year. Real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have risen at an annual rate of 2-1/2 percent in the first quarter after increasing 1-3/4 percent during 2012. Economic growth in the first quarter was supported by continued expansion in demand by U.S. households and businesses, which more than offset the drag from declines in government spending, especially defense spending.
Conditions in the job market have shown some improvement recently. The unemployment rate, at 7.5 percent in April, has declined more than 1/2 percentage point since last summer. Moreover, gains in total nonfarm payroll employment have averaged more than 200,000 jobs per month over the past six months, compared with average monthly gains of less than 140,000 during the prior six months. In all, payroll employment has now expanded by about 6 million jobs since its low point, and the unemployment rate has fallen 2-1/2 percentage points since its peak.
Despite this improvement, the job market remains weak overall: The unemployment rate is still well above its longer-run normal level, rates of long-term unemployment are historically high, and the labor force participation rate has continued to move down. Moreover, nearly 8 million people are working part time even though they would prefer full-time work. High rates of unemployment and underemployment are extraordinarily costly: Not only do they impose hardships on the affected individuals and their families, they also damage the productive potential of the economy as a whole by eroding workers’ skills and–particularly relevant during this commencement season–by preventing many young people from gaining workplace skills and experience in the first place. The loss of output and earnings associated with high unemployment also reduces government revenues and increases spending on income-support programs, thereby leading to larger budget deficits and higher levels of public debt than would otherwise occur.
Consumer price inflation has been low. The price index for personal consumption expenditures rose only 1 percent over the 12 months ending in March, down from about 2-1/4 percent during the previous 12 months. This slow rate of inflation partly reflects recent declines in consumer energy prices, but price inflation for other consumer goods and services has also been subdued. Nevertheless, measures of longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable and continue to run in the narrow ranges seen over the past several years. Over the next few years, inflation appears likely to run at or below the 2 percent rate that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) judges to be most consistent with the Federal Reserve’s statutory mandate to foster maximum employment and stable prices.
Over the nearly four years since the recovery began, the economy has been held back by a number of headwinds. Some of these headwinds have begun to dissipate recently, in part because of the Federal Reserve’s highly accommodative monetary policy. Notably, the housing market has strengthened over the past year, supported by low mortgage rates and improved sentiment on the part of potential buyers. Increased housing activity is fostering job creation in construction and related industries, such as real estate brokerage and home furnishings, while higher home prices are bolstering household finances, which helps support the growth of private consumption.
Severe fiscal and financial strains in Europe, by weighing on U.S. exports and financial markets, have also restrained U.S. economic growth over the past couple of years. However, since last summer, financial conditions in the euro area have improved somewhat, which should help mitigate the economic slowdown there while also reducing the headwinds faced by the U.S. economy. Also, credit conditions in the United States have eased for some types of loans, as bank capital and asset quality have strengthened.
Fiscal Policy
Fiscal policy, at all levels of government, has been and continues to be an important determinant of the pace of economic growth. Federal fiscal policy, taking into account both discretionary actions and so-called automatic stabilizers, was, on net, quite expansionary during the recession and early in the recovery. However, a substantial part of this impetus was offset by spending cuts and tax increases by state and local governments, most of which are subject to balanced-budget requirements, and by subsequent fiscal tightening at the federal level. Notably, over the past four years, state and local governments have cut civilian government employment by roughly 700,000 jobs, and total government employment has fallen by more than 800,000 jobs over the same period. For comparison, over the four years following the trough of the 2001 recession, total government employment rose by more than 500,000 jobs.
Most recently, the strengthening economy has improved the budgetary outlooks of most state and local governments, leading them to reduce their pace of fiscal tightening. At the same time, though, fiscal policy at the federal level has become significantly more restrictive. In particular, the expiration of the payroll tax cut, the enactment of tax increases, the effects of the budget caps on discretionary spending, the onset of the sequestration, and the declines in defense spending for overseas military operations are expected, collectively, to exert a substantial drag on the economy this year. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the deficit reduction policies in current law will slow the pace of real GDP growth by about 1-1/2 percentage points during 2013, relative to what it would have been otherwise.1 In present circumstances, with short-term interest rates already close to zero, monetary policy does not have the capacity to fully offset an economic headwind of this magnitude.
Although near-term fiscal restraint has increased, much less has been done to address the federal government’s longer-term fiscal imbalances. Indeed, the CBO projects that, under current policies, the federal deficit and debt as a percentage of GDP will begin rising again in the latter part of this decade and move sharply upward thereafter, in large part reflecting the aging of our society and projected increases in health-care costs, along with mounting debt service payments. To promote economic growth and stability in the longer term, it will be essential for fiscal policymakers to put the federal budget on a sustainable long-run path. Importantly, the objectives of effectively addressing longer-term fiscal imbalances and of minimizing the near-term fiscal headwinds facing the economic recovery are not incompatible. To achieve both goals simultaneously, the Congress and the Administration could consider replacing some of the near-term fiscal restraint now in law with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run.
Monetary Policy
With unemployment well above normal levels and inflation subdued, fostering our congressionally mandated objectives of maximum employment and price stability requires a highly accommodative monetary policy. Normally, the Committee would provide policy accommodation by reducing its target for the federal funds rate, thus putting downward pressure on interest rates generally. However, the federal funds rate and other short-term money market rates have been close to zero since late 2008, so the Committee has had to use other policy tools.
The first of these alternative tools is “forward guidance” about the FOMC’s likely future target for the federal funds rate. Since December, the Committee’s postmeeting statement has indicated that its current target range for the federal funds rate, 0 to 1/4 percent, will be appropriate “at least as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6-1/2 percent, inflation between one and two years ahead is projected to be no more than a half percentage point above the Committee’s 2 percent longer-run goal, and longer-term inflation expectations continue to be well anchored.” This guidance underscores the Committee’s intention to maintain highly accommodative monetary policy as long as needed to support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability.
The second policy tool now in use is large-scale purchases of longer-term Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS). These purchases put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, including mortgage rates. For some months, the FOMC has been buying longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month and agency MBS at a pace of $40 billion per month. The Committee has said that it will continue its securities purchases until the outlook for the labor market has improved substantially in a context of price stability. The Committee also has stated that in determining the size, pace, and composition of its asset purchases, it will take appropriate account of the likely efficacy and costs of such purchases as well as the extent of progress toward its economic objectives.
At its most recent meeting, the Committee made clear that it is prepared to increase or reduce the pace of its asset purchases to ensure that the stance of monetary policy remains appropriate as the outlook for the labor market or inflation changes. Accordingly, in considering whether a recalibration of the pace of its purchases is warranted, the Committee will continue to assess the degree of progress made toward its objectives in light of incoming information. The Committee also reiterated, consistent with its forward guidance regarding the federal funds rate, that it expects a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy to remain appropriate for a considerable time after the asset purchase program ends and the economic recovery strengthens.
In the current economic environment, monetary policy is providing significant benefits. Low real interest rates have helped support spending on durable goods, such as automobiles, and also contributed significantly to the recovery in housing sales, construction, and prices. Higher prices of houses and other assets, in turn, have increased household wealth and consumer confidence, spurring consumer spending and contributing to gains in production and employment. Importantly, accommodative monetary policy has also helped to offset incipient deflationary pressures and kept inflation from falling even further below the Committee’s 2 percent longer-run objective.
That said, the Committee is aware that a long period of low interest rates has costs and risks. For example, even as low interest rates have helped create jobs and supported the prices of homes and other assets, savers who rely on interest income from savings accounts or government bonds are receiving very low returns. Another cost, one that we take very seriously, is the possibility that very low interest rates, if maintained too long, could undermine financial stability. For example, investors or portfolio managers dissatisfied with low returns may “reach for yield” by taking on more credit risk, duration risk, or leverage. The Federal Reserve is working to address financial stability concerns through increased monitoring, a more systemic approach to supervising financial firms, and the ongoing implementation of reforms to make the financial system more resilient.
Recognizing the drawbacks of persistently low rates, the FOMC actively seeks economic conditions consistent with sustainably higher interest rates. Unfortunately, withdrawing policy accommodation at this juncture would be highly unlikely to produce such conditions. A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further. Such outcomes tend to be associated with extended periods of lower, not higher, interest rates, as well as poor returns on other assets. Moreover, renewed economic weakness would pose its own risks to financial stability.
Because only a healthy economy can deliver sustainably high real rates of return to savers and investors, the best way to achieve higher returns in the medium term and beyond is for the Federal Reserve–consistent with its congressional mandate–to provide policy accommodation as needed to foster maximum employment and price stability. Of course, we will do so with due regard for the efficacy and costs of our policy actions and in a way that is responsive to the evolution of the economic outlook.
1. See Congressional Budget Office (2013), The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023 (Washington: CBO, February). Return to text
http://www.bloomberg.com/live-stream/
-Rescuers began winding down the search for survivors and victims of a mile-wide tornado that plowed across an Oklahoma City suburb, killing 24 people, as authorities put their first estimate of damaged or destroyed homes at 2,800.Rescuers began winding down the search for survivors and victims of a mile-wide tornado that plowed across an Oklahoma City suburb, killing 24 people, as authorities put their first estimate of damaged or destroyed homes at 2,800.President Barack Obama yesterday called the storm “one of the most destructive tornadoes in history.” He declared a major disaster in Oklahoma, making government funding available to people affected by the storm in five counties. So far about a thousand people have applied for assistance, the head of Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, said today onMSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and a White House aide said about 400 FEMA personnel were in Oklahoma. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is to travel to the area today.State medical examiner Eric Pfeifer confirmed that 24 people had been killed in the storm. The names weren’t immediately released. The death toll dropped yesterday from initial reports from his office that had pegged fatalities as high as 91. BBN
-After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room and packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands.Although the device won’t go on sale until later this year, at a price that hasn’t been disclosed yet. San Jose Mercury News
-Kerry Enables Arab Terrorists, Aims at Iran
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Wednesday with officials in Oman to discuss their plans to buy a $2.1 billion air defense system from American manufacturer Raytheon.
-Execution of Boston Patsies continues by USA spooks
An Orlando, Fla., man whom U.S. law enforcement questioned as an associate of the Boston bombing suspects was shot and killed after he tried to attack an FBI agent. WSJ
Yeah, sure.
- Whatever remains of the so-called Volcker rule, which would restrict proprietary trading at banks holding federally insured deposits. Even though the rule is supposed to be implemented by next year, Chilton said it remains the province of the Federal Reserve and he has heard nothing about it for months. “It’s MIA,” he said. “I don’t think anyone cares about it anymore — other than me.” BBN
Market rigging as usual at Barclays/HSBC/UBS/JPM/MS/JPM
-USA
9:33 a.m. EDT 05/22/13Major Indexes
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-I guess were all supposed to fall in awe that sextexting Anthony Weiner, the disgraced Zionist fanatic, is going to run for the Mayor of ubercorrupt NYC against another disgraced Zionist Fanatic and ease dropper Michael Bloomberg.
-Markets ahead of USA opening
9:25 a.m. EDT 05/22/13Major Stock Indexes
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9:25 a.m. EDT 05/22/13Treasurys
9:16 a.m. EDT 05/22/13Futures
9:26 a.m. EDT 05/22/13Currencies
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-Europe 30 minutes ahead of USA Opening
EU
EU regulators confirm they will cap bonuses of bankers making more than EU500K. Ollie Rehn said monetary policy likely to stay accommodative; must do whatever it take to fight unemployment.
German Fin Min Schaeuble reiterated the view that Euro crisis was still there, but EU had made progress. He also reiterated that Germany leaving the Euro would be a ‘catastrophe’ and Germany was still seeking an EU Treaty change. Low ECB rates werea justifiable policy, but rates must not stay low for a long period. Lastly he saw no sign of a real estate bubble in Germany.(more on that later)
EU trouble maker UK PM Cameron said UK Govt EU policy was not going to change in anyway. Euro Zone desperately needed change; Britain better off in a reformed EU.The International Monetary Fund has softened its assessment of the British government’s economic policies, saying in a report Wednesday that it did well to ease its pace of austerity cuts, but stressing more was needed to support the recovery.
In banking prison. Cyprus Central bank Governor Demetriades said lifting capital controls abruptly could cause problems.
Riksbank named two new deputy governors: Martin Floden and Cecilia Skings.
-Asia Close (late BOJ press meeting)
BOJ Gov Kuroda post rate decision Press Conference noted that volatility in JGB remained high and would keep close watch. Yields were not expected to jump a lot nor expecting big impact from recent JGB yield rise. Rising US interest rates could affect JGB yields to some extent in globalized Market as US Economy was on solid recovery track, while Japan’s economy yet to fully recover. He stressed that BOJ would respond to JGB market moves with flexibility in pace and frequency of debt purchases and market operations. He noted that the impact of weak Yen had some time lag on exports and its domestic economy had NOT achieved strong and sustainable growth.Japan Chief Cabinet Sec Suga said Abe govt wants BOJ to continue to steadily strive to reach inflation target as soon as possible
China Vice Fin Min Zhu Guangyao said China could see a massive outflow of capital if the FED winds down its quantitative easing program. China PBOC Research head Ji Zhihong commented that China strengthened its price tool uses and reiterated that interest rate liberalization was ongoing. Transforming China economic growth model from overly replying on investment and credit expansion would take time.
Indonesia Central Bank (BI) forecasted 2013 GDP growth at lower end of 6.2-6.6% range. It noted that inflation might reach 7.2-7.7% by end of 2013 on fuel price increase or seen at 5.5% without fuel price increase. 2013 Exports might hit $194-195B vs. $191B y/y
Late Releases
(MA) Malaysia Apr CPI Y/Y: 1.7% v 1.7%e
-902 EU Credit Markets
The size of Portugal’s debt is being masked by purchases by the Stabilization Fund of Social Security (FEFSS) at the direction of the govt- Economico
Bank of Spain investigation finds that Spanish banks are hiding part of their customer’s real nonperforming loans by refinancing them repeatedly – El Mundo
According to a Morgan Stanley clients poll, 80% of respondents believe the ECB will cut rates again – DT, AEP
Russia abandoned the sale of $1.1 billion of ruble bonds, the first cancellation of an auction since October, after yields surged on concern policy makers will refuse to lower interest rates to bolster growth.The Finance Ministry planned to offer 33.6 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) of December 2019 OFZ bonds in today’s auction at a yield range of 6.33 percent to 6.38 percent. The yield jumped five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 6.47 percent by 4 p.m. in Moscow, the highest in almost two weeks, after rising six basis points yesterday.
U.S. 10y 1.93-0.00, 0.12%
German 10y 1.38-0.03, 2.20%
Italy 10yr 3.88-0.02, 0.45%
Spain 10yr 4.19-0.00, 0.05%
U.K. 10yr 1.88-0.031.64%
Auctions
Weak Auction in Germany despite slight rise in Yields. ESM does not feel the need to goose its own at least until after the auctions when it can manipulate the futures markets more easily.
(EU) ECB allotted $0.0M in 8-Day USD Liquidity Tenderat fixed 0.60% vs. $0.0M prior
(EU) ECB allotted $1.3B in 3-month USD Liquidity Tender at fixed 0.61% vs. $27M prior
(DE) Germany sells €4.124B. in new 1.5% 2023 Bund; Avg Yield: 1.41% v 1.28% prior; Bid-to-cover: 1.6x v 1.6x prior
(SE) Sweden sold SEK10B in 3-month Bills; Yield: 0.8677% v 0.8835% prior
-The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee earlier this month voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged at a record low 0.5%, while three out of the nine members voted in favor of increasing the bank’s asset purchases, according to minutes of the meeting published Wednesday. Governor Mervyn King, Paul Fisher and David Miles preferred to increase the size of the asset-purchase program by 25 billion pounds ($38 billion) to a total of £400 billion. The votes were unchanged from the policy-setting meeting in April.
-Home-improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies Inc. on Wednesday reported a 2.5% increase in first-quarter net earnings to $540 million, or 49 cents a share, from $527 million, or 43 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales slipped 0.5% to $13.1 billion from $13.2 billion, while comparable sales fell 0.7%. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $13.47 billion. For the full fiscal year Lowe’s expects an about 4% rise in total sales and earnings per share of approximately $2.05. “Cooler than normal temperatures and greater precipitation resulted in a delayed spring selling season which impacted our results in exterior categories,” said Robert A. Niblock, chairman and chief executive. “While overall performance in the month of March was particularly soft, April improved significantly and we have maintained that positive momentum through the first few weeks of May,” he added. MW
-For the quarter ended April 30, Toll Brothers reported a profit of $24.7 million, or 14 cents a share, versus a profit of $16.9 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. The most-recent quarter included a pre-tax gain of $13.2 million in other income associated with a settlement of derivative litigation, while the year-ago quarter included $2 million of inventory writedowns and a $1.6 million recovery of prior joint venture impairments.Revenue jumped 38% to $516 million.Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of seven cents a share on $512 million in revenue.Homebuilding revenue from the North was down 6.1%. In all other regions homebuilding revenue rose. It was up 42% in the Mid-Atlantic region, 65% in the South and 68% in the West.Gross margin excluding interest and writedowns widened a hair to 23.3% from 23.2% a year earlier. Input costs rose 37%.Toll Brothers, one of the nation’s largest home builders, delivered 894 units, a 33% increase from a year earlier. The average price of net signed contracts was $678,000, versus $624,000 in the prior-year period.Net signed contracts jumped 36% to 1,753 units and 57% in dollars to $1.19 billion, Toll’s highest for any quarter in seven years. The average price of homes delivered was $577,000 versus $557,000 a year earlier.The cancellation rate, defined as cancellations divided by signed contracts, was 3.4% versus 2.4% a year earlier.Toll’s backlog rose 69% to of $2.53 billion. MW
High End Homes, for the 1 %.
-Staples Inc.’s fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 9.2% as the office-supplies retailer’s North American and European same-store sales continued to weaken.The largest office-supply chain in the U.S. has seen its profit challenged by an increasingly digitized office and greater competition from mass merchants and online sellers. Staples unveiled plans last year to reduce its North American retail square footage 15% by the end of fiscal 2015. The company has also been cutting its headcount in Europe, the center of its international division’s weak performance.For the quarter ended May 4, Staples reported a profit of $169.9 million, or 26 cents a share, down from $187.1 million, or 27 cents a share, a year earlier. Last year’s earnings from continuing operations were 28 cents a share. Sales dropped 3.5% to $5.81 billion.Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecast per-share earnings of 27 cents on revenue of $5.91 billion.Gross margin edged down to 26% from 26.6%.North American retail sales fell 3.5% to $2.77 billion and same-store sales were down 2%. Analysts were looking for a 1.5% same-store sales decline.North American commercial sales climbed 1.7% to $2.04 billion.International sales decreased 13%, or 11% on a local currency basis. Europe same-store sales fell 3%, compared with Wall Street’s projected 6% decline. MW
-Target Corp. reported its first-quarter profit fell 29% to $498 million, or 77 cents a share, from $697 million, or $1.04 a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.05 in the first quarter, down 5% from $1.11. Revenue fell to $16.71 billion, from $16.87 billion a year earlier, the retail company said Wednesday. Analysts had expected earnings of 95 cents a share on revenue of $16.85 billion, according to FactSet. Target attributed its below-expectations earnings to a drop in apparel and seasonal clothing sales. The company lowered its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance down to a range of $4.70 to $4.90, from a prior range of $4.85 to $5.05. Shares of Target were down 1.6% in premarket trading.
This is a working class store, not a welfare store. Results are bloody awful.
-Federal Reserve officials need three to four more months before they will be able to know if the economy can shrug off the drag from fiscal policy, said New York Fed President William Dudley on Wednesday. At the moment, there is a tug-of-war underway between the improving economy and budget cuts, Dudley said. “Three or four months from now I think you’re going to have a much better sense of, is the economy healthy enough to overcome the fiscal drag or not,” Dudley said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Dudley’s comments suggest that the majority of Fed officials is not ready to begin to exit its easy monetary policy stance. Some Fed officials have pressed for the central bank to begin to taper bond purchases at their meeting in June. Dudley is a voting member of the Fed’s policy-setting committee. He is seen as a close ally of Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, who will testify to Congress later today about the economic outlook
-How Pagan German People celebrate Pentecost today
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-a-very-gothic-weekend-fotostrecke-96917-16.html
-Rewilding Germany and Depopulating it
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After being released into the wild in Germany just last month, a herd of wisents has welcomed its first calf. The first European bison to be born free in Germany in centuries has been named “Quintus,” and appears to be healthy.
-Far-reaching legislation that grants a chance at citizenship to 10s of millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses.The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on the Senate floor on legislation that is one of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priorities.
-Germany’s Schauble:
Germany wants EU treaty change
Euro crisis is still there but region is less vulnerable now than before; progress has been made
Hopes Europe wont have a “big crisis”
ECB’s low rates a “justifiable policy,” but says they cannot remain low for an extended period
-USA prosecutors weighing using RICO statues in SAC case (extortion from Steve Cohen by the Justus Dept), WSJ.
-Europe Opening Prices
Stoxx Europe 600 index down 0.2% to 309.52
German DAX 30 index down 0.1% to 8,460.33
French CAC 40 index down 0.1% to 4,031.94
FTSE 100 index down 0.1% to 6,795.67
-0215 Asia
Asian markets are mixed today. The Nikkei finished up 1.6 % at 15627.26 despite a policy hold by the BOJ. The BOJ affirmed its plans to increase monetary base at annual pace of Y60-y70 tln, upgraded its economic assessment for the 5th consecutive meeting and stated the economy has started picking up, and noted some indicators suggest inflation expectations are on the rise, although Japan is still stuck in an deflationary environment. The BOJ policy statement neglected to mention higher yields and the interest rate risk associated with “Abenomics” with respect to the recent sell-off in JGBs, sending 10-year bonds to new highs of near 0.9%, which was probably the real reason for maintaining existing policy prescriptions in absence of measurable inflation anywhere near the target.
The ASX finished down -.33 % after the biggest decline in Australia Westpac consumer confidence in nearly 1.5 years. Analysts suggest the falling confidence is a reflection of the latest Australia government fiscal update, after the Treasury postponed a return to surplus until FY15/16. In probably one of the most bizarre statements I have witnessed in a long time , commodity producer Australia’s Minister for Resources and Energy, Gary Gray, called for lower commodity prices for China to spur growth. He was not sure how that could be accomplished given market fundamentals but he suggested Australians could produce more for less money, into a weak market. I doubt RIO/BHP will go for that. He’s never heard of a supply-demand curve apparently.
The PBOC set the yuan mid point at 6.1904 v 6.1356 prior close (record high setting for yuan). China’s economists have attributed the yuan’s recent appreciation to an inflow of foreign capital disguised as trade settlement and the recent strength of the Yuan was the focus of markets today in Shanghai. Also worrisome to Chinese markets was the Shanghai Daily highlighting the large and highly liquid Shanghai’s shadow banking system (gray and black markets), and China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Researcher Zhang Min saying China should ban illegal capital inflows, and should tighten capital account regulation effectively choking off the gray /black Yuan market and shadow banking system behind much of China’s economic growth. The Shanghai composite is down. -.35 %. Speaking of the banking system and credit flows, China May new loans could be CNY900B v CNY793B in April indicating there is plenty of credit expansion per China Daily. Bernanke’s QE4 is starting to rip through China. China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Researcher Li Enping said the government must enforce curbs on the property market or risk losing control of prices; prices are rising before demand is outstripping supply (indicative of the enormous damage the FEDs QE4 is causing China as they are too slow to let their Yuan appreciate.).
Economic Release
(JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) REITERATES POLICY STANCE: TO INCREASE MONETARY BASE AT ANNUAL PACE OF ¥60-70T (decision unanimous); UPGRADES ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT FOR 5TH CONSECUTIVE MEETINGEconomic Releases
(JP) JAPAN APR MERCHANDISE TRADE BALANCE: -¥879.9B V -¥621BE; ADJUSTED: -¥764.4B V -¥603BE(smallest deficit in 3 months)
(AU) AUSTRALIA APR DEWR INTERNET SKILLED VACANCIES M/M: -1.3% V +0.1% PRIOR
(AU) AUSTRALIA MAY WESTPAC CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX: -7.0% (biggest decline in 17 months) V -5.1% PRIOR; INDEX: 97.6 V 104.9 PRIOR
(TW) TAIWAN APR UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 4.2% V 4.2%E
(KR) SOUTH KOREA Q1 EXTERNAL SHORT-TERM DEBT: $122.2B V $126.8B PRIOR
GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall by 8.4 tons to 1,023.1 ton (lowest since 1,008.8 tons in Feb of 2009)
-After Hours, US
Closing USA prices
5:46 p.m. EDT 05/21/13Major Indexes
6:14 p.m. EDT 05/21/13Markets Diary
| Issues |
NYSE |
Nasdaq |
NYSE MKT |
| Advances |
1,663 |
1,346 |
169 |
| Declines |
1,391 |
1,189 |
225 |
| Unchanged |
181 |
138 |
44 |
| Issues at |
|
|
|
| New Highs |
412 |
231 |
12 |
| New Lows |
20 |
6 |
5 |
| Share Volume |
|
|
|
| Total |
3,481,215,019 |
1,768,022,179 |
80,688,532 |
| Advancing |
1,747,203,612 |
1,062,427,141 |
28,550,577 |
| Declining |
1,643,616,953 |
679,051,555 |
48,818,269 |
|
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday afternoon that Lois Lerner, who heads up the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt division, plans to invoke the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in a hearing Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs.
NY FED President William Dudley, and vice chairman of the FOMC, said late Tuesday that the Fed may adjust the pace of asset purchases up or down depending on the economic outlook and that he was unsure which way the next change will be.
St. Louis FED President James Bullard said late Tuesday that the central bank should continue with its present bond-buying program and adjust the rate of purchases in view of incoming data on growth and inflation. He said the program is the best policy option and has been effective.
NORTH AMERICA APRIL SEMI BOOK/BILL RATIO: 1.08 V 1.11 PRIOR (4th consecutive month above parity)
API PETROLEUM INVENTORIES CRUDE: +530K V 0E (4th consecutive build); GASOLINE: +3M V 0E; DISTILLATE: +460K V -0.5ME; UTILIZATION: 86.8% V 87.6% W/W
SKS: NY Post reports that Saks has hired Goldman as advisor to explore strategic alternatives including possible sale; +19.4% afterhours
NTAP: Reports Q4 $0.69 v $0.68e, R$1.72B v $1.75Be; initiates $0.15 dividend; +3.6% afterhours
INTU: Reports Q3 $2.97 (adj) v $2.95e, R$2.18B v $2.19Be; +0.3% afterhours
-Geopolitical News
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Updated May 22, 2013 – 1:52 AM EDT |
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-Welcome Back
Matt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
=========================
Newslinks
-Swaps Vote Is Another Big Win for the Big Banks
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-21/swaps-vote-is-another-big-win-for-the-big-banks.html
-Weak yen a help for Japan, but headache elsewhere
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Weak-yen-a-help-for-Japan-but-headache-elsewhere-4537187.php#ixzz2U0X2xpeI
-Senate Panel moves illegal immigrant bill to Senate Floor
http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Senate-panel-approves-immigration-bill-4533205.php
-BOJ says Economy picking up
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Japan-s-central-bank-says-economy-picking-up-4536915.php
-Bernanke Testimony to be watched for policy cues
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Bernanke-testimony-to-be-studied-for-policy-clues-4536971.php
-Tim Cook Demands Tax Cut
Tim Cook warns Congress he would refuse to repatriate $100bn unless 35% rate is cut
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/21/apple-wants-single-digit-corporate-tax
-Insight: No more easy pickings in Russia’s banking market http://reut.rs/ZcrMvN
-Iran bars candidates for presidential election http://reut.rs/ZcsFVc
-Apple CEO makes no apology for company’s tax strategy http://reut.rs/1a3Uvm7
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Requests for supplemental war funds are nothing new for the Pentagon, but the latest request comes in the context of a 
Netanyahu warned of the 
The town has been held by Syrian rebels for quite some time, and is now facing Hezbollah shelling as well as advances by Syrian troops, 
Stats Canada 
Barack Obama 
BamaTrader 
At the same time Obama insisted that the 
The US had dismissed all of the evidence until late April, when Israel officially announced it believed Syria’s government used chemical weapons and the