http://www.cnbc.com/id/36988229 The Dow plunged Thursday amid buzz in the market that European banks have halted lending.
One trader, on the condition of anonymity, said he heard fixed income desks in Europe shut down early because there was no liquidity — basically European banks are halting lending right now.
"This is similar to what took place pre-Lehman Brothers," the trader said.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=503927&in_page_id=2#ixzz0nB24NoHW EU economists have predicted that the UK's budget deficit will remain larger than that of any other European nation this year.
Forecasts from the European Commission (EC) today predict that UK net borrowing will be 12% of output in 2010 - a higher proportion than any other country in the 27-member block, including Greece at 9.3%.
While Greece's deficit is not the highest in the EU, concerns about the government's ability to pay it back are higher because of its high debt levels and weak economy.
Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=503927&in_page_id=2#ixzz0nB6oxD8d
The situation in Greece has hit a fever pitch and if anyone had any doubt about the seriousness of the matter, the three lives the current riots have claimed thus far are a very grim reminder. Euro remains under increasing pressure and now has the 1.2800 level within striking distance – a dip below there would open up to the Feb/Mar 2009 pivot near 1.2700 on the follow. The only thing stopping the further collapse at the moment seems to be some supranational buying interest (plunge protection?) and the fact that the SNB still has an enormous bid under EUR/CHF.
The market will ignore the goings on in economic data land and keep the Eurozone firmly on the radar in the short-term. The headlines thus far have not been pretty. We heard once again that no bailout plan has been proposed for Spain. Rumors were making the rounds that the debt burdened nation would need at least 280 billion euro – which Prime Minister Zapatero firmly denied. We remember the Lehman gang denying their bank was in trouble as well and everyone remembers what happened there.
In other currencies, USD/JPY made another failed attempt to violate the 95.00 mark topside – printing a 94.99 intraday high for the second consecutive day. Despite the broad strength in the US dollar, the decline in US rates (higher bond prices) is keeping the downside pressure on the pair. The pound continues to hold its own despite a major flight to quality. There is some speculation that the Conservative Party will indeed be able to form a government and thus a "hung" parliament will be avoided. This would ostensibly allow the UK to address it budget issues and help keep the country on its coveted AAA perch.
Australian retail sales are now the focus now in the Asia session. The market is looking for a 0.7% increase in March on the heels of a -1.4% drop the prior month. Given the sharp decline in the previous month, we could see a larger statistical blip in the number. While this would likely see the Australian dollar trade better bid, the broad sell-off in risk (should it continue) would outweigh any benefit from the better result.
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1:30 EDT - Euro is making fresh lows in the NY afternoon, closing in on the Fib. extension at 1.2980. Although it would take a mammoth bounce to damage the bear trend (to 1.3190+), dip-buyers are likely to begin stepping up at the stronger supports below 1.30 flat. MV
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5fO.YEOh3Cs&pos=1 The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 2.4 percent at 1:25 p.m. in New York and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index plunged 2.9 percent, leaving it down 0.4 percent this year. The euro weakened below $1.31 for the first time since April 2009. Copper fell to the lowest since February, while oil sank the most in three months as the dollar rose against 14 of 16 major counterparts. The 10-year Treasury yield slid six basis points to 3.62 percent.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said speculation of a bailout for Spain is "complete madness" and the nation has "strong solvency." His remarks came as a 110 billion-euro ($143 billion) rescue package to help Greece avoid default fails to ease concern that swelling sovereign debt will derail the economic recovery.
"Spain and Portugal are both endangered species," said Stanley Nabi, New York-based vice chairman of Silvercrest Asset Management Group, which manages $9 billion. "The attention could shift to one of those countries. In the U.S., it's no longer news that earnings are better than expected. The stock market has had a great run. I've got a feeling that May is going to be a month of consolidation or even of backing down a little bit."
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http://forexblog.oanda.com/20100430/month-end-needs-overshadow-greece-and-china/ Simply put, today is month-end. Traders all week have been consumed with the peripheral market noise. The Fed, Greece, China, all important, but when it comes to 'lemming' revaluation of portfolios for month-end requirements, logic tends to be thrown out the window with the bath water. Banks models suggest that USD will have to be sold today. With a long week-end in the UK and strong a 'percentage' chance that a Greek bailout could finally be formulated has us asking the question will market participants want to trim their record short EUR positions. The percentage play says yes. Technically, already we have taken out the 1.3280 and the 1.3310 resistance this morning and there is a plethora of individuals wanting to sell EUR's at higher levels making this move drag-on. Their ideal entry level is around the 1.3400 print. The intraday month-end move can be somewhat justified by what portfolio managers have been doing in April. They have been meticulously selling EUR denominated assets' requiring them to repurchase EUR's to re-hedge themselves. Will the SNB allow us to re-enter at better levels?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hbgtrta7DHpLDmgwkFF6w67kkwpQD9FDKT781
WASHINGTON — What makes an oil spill really bad? Most of the ingredients for it are now blending in the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts tick off the essentials: A relentless flow of oil from under the sea; a type of crude that mixes easily with water; a resultant gooey mixture that is hard to burn and even harder to clean; water that's home to vulnerable spawning grounds for new life; and a coastline with difficult-to-scrub marshlands.
Gulf Coast experts have always talked about "the potential for a bad one," said Wes Tunnell, coastal ecology and oil spill expert at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
"And this is the bad one. This is just a biggie that finally happened."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-considers-goldman-sachs-criminal-charges-wsj-2010-04-29?reflink=MW_news_stmp LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- U.S. federal prosecutors are looking into whether to charge Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS
156.10, -4.14, -2.58%) or its employees with criminal securities fraud, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday, citing unnamed sources. Goldman Sachs already faces a civil fraud suit from the Securities & Exchange Commission, but the report said the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office is investigating whether to pursue criminal charges as well, dealing with the firm's previous mortgage trades. The report said which particular Goldman deals are being scrutinized is still unknown
http://www.myfxbook.com/reviews/expert-advisors/elite-expert-trader/29804,1 Anyone with experience using EET please post your honest comments
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/94637-ccia-report-fair-use-generates-47-trillion-in-revenue Companies that rely on fair use generate $4.7 trillion in revenue, according to a study released today by the Computer & Communications Industry Association.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ac1dIgMyS_sE&pos=3 April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives were grilled by U.S. lawmakers who compared the bank's mortgage bankers to bookies as Senator Carl Levin asked why they sold securities the company itself called "shitty."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601010&sid=aDgzfxGflUMg April 25 (Bloomberg) -- Fabrice Tourre, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive director facing a fraud lawsuit in the sale of a mortgage-linked investment, said an index that facilitated derivatives trading in the market was "like Frankenstein."
The so-called ABX index is "the type of thing which you invent telling yourself: 'Well, what if we created a 'thing,' which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows how to price?'" Tourre said in a Jan. 29, 2007, e-mail released yesterday by Goldman Sachs. Watching the index fall is "a little like Frankenstein turning against his own inventor."
Goldman Sachs, the most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history, released more than 70 pages of e-mail and other documents yesterday ahead of a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on the firm's actions throughout the mortgage meltdown. The firm disputes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claim that Goldman Sachs and Tourre, now 31, misled investors in a 2007 collateralized debt obligation about the role played by hedge fund Paulson & Co., which bet the CDO would collapse.
