Dow Closes Under 10,000 For First Time Since February 7

On a day like today, when the entire CNBC fast momo brigade said it was buying into the close (we would show you the clip of just how worthless intraday trading advice on CNBC is, if only the propaganda station had not pulled the episode), there was just one way for the marker to close: below 10,000. The fight over the 10k barrier, which the traders over at Liberty 33 find important for some reason, was fast and furious, but in the end, reinforced by a deteriorating euro, the bears won, closing at 9974.4, further plunging after hours. The Dow is now at the lowest close of the year, with the only times the Dow has closed under 10k being in a three day brief period between February 5 and 7th. Also, looking at the EUR panel, things are going from bad to worse. Absent China lifting every other offer, which would be confusing in light of SAFE's earlier negative announcement on European bond holdings, we could easily see a 1.20 handle by tomorrow morning, which would solidly push the S&P on its way well into triple digit territory.

Ira Sohn Conference In Progress, Einhorn Speaking At 4:45PM, Grantham At 5PM; Klarman At 6:15PM

The annual hedge fund "go to" meeting, the Ira Sohn conference, is currently in progress, and 12 hedge funders will discuss their top picks. The place where Einhorn famously declared his Lehman and Moody's shorts, and Ackman announced he was "bearish" on MBIA and Ambac is perceived as the place where HF managers disclose their highest conviction plays, usually leading to major market waves in the ensuing days. The managers presenting this year are as follows:

South Korea On Alert As North Korean Subs Disappear In East Sea

From Yonhap: South Korea's military was tracking four North Korean submarines which disappeared from their east coast base after conducting naval training in the East Sea earlier this week, a military official in Seoul said Wednesday. Locations of the North's four 300-ton-class submarines have been unknown for two days, the military official said, noting, "We are tracking the four submarines by mobilizing all naval capabilities in the East Sea."

Bank Of Spain Tells Lenders To Take 30% Loss Provisions On Foreclosed Real Estate Held For Over Two Years

Here comes the latest destabilizing Central Bank "intervention" in Europe. The Bank of Spain, doing what Fed and the Treasury should have done with domestic toxic loans backing worthless real estate, has notified lenders that they should be prepared to set aside much greater loss reserves against assets, "such as real estate, acquired in exchange for bad debts once the holdings have been on their books for more than two years." The staggered loss provision schedule will call for a 10% loss assumption for real estate acquired in foreclosures, 20% for real estate held for more than a year, and 30% for anything held for more than 2 years. Bloomberg reports that Spanish lenders have foreclosed upon property worth nearly €60 billion, which means that very soon Spanish banks, which as we pointed out earlier are already suffering a liquidity crunch as a result of loss of access to Commercial Paper, will have to take an incremental up to €18 billion in asset write-downs, a development which will have a major adverse impact on Spain's banking sector once it funnels through the banking system, and especially once the need for liquidity spikes yet none is found.

Is China Preparing To Divest Its $630 Billion In Eurozone Bond Holdings?

Is China about to start dumping its $630 billion in eurozone debt holdings? Maybe not yet, although the FT reports that China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the central bank's foreign reserves manager, has "expressed concern about its exposure" to the PIIGS. Obviously, with China moving away from dollar denominated assets for the past six months would represent a "big strategic shift" as "last year, the Chinese were trying to reduce their exposure to dollar assets by buying eurozone assets. This would be a complete reversal." Additionally a Chinese diplomat noted that, "The euro’s fluctuation will have an impact on China’s thinking, but it’s only one element” in any decision to allow the Chinese currency to rise, He Yafei, a vice foreign minister, said, according to Bloomberg." The question then arises of just what assets China would be comfortable holding? Alas, the only readily available answer we can come up with rhymes it old and has 79 protons.

The Haggling Begins: Greece Attempts To Renegotiate Terms Of Austerity Package

It is well-known by now that the IMF and EU have no credibility left. What, however, was not known, is that even bankrupt little Greece is now in on this secret. In the latest attempt by the veryrecipient of US and European taxpayer generosity to muscle around the bailout providers, Reuters reports that Greece is now actively trying to renegotiate the terms of its pension reform. The initial focus item: "officials said they wanted the EU and IMF to agree full pensions should be payable after 37 years of contributions instead of 40, as set out in the deal, and allow the reform to be implemented later than foreseen." Of course, should the IMF relent and give in to this, Greece will immediately demand that all Austerity requirements are null and void as they tend to lead to such unfortunate events as stormings of parliament and possible future civil war. Furthermore, with austerity now a pan-European phenomenon, look for increasing back and forth negotiations to begin all across the PIIGS and the core, as, surprisingly, nobody in Europe is all that eager to keep working the second they hit 50 years of age. Look for a plunge in the EUR if the IMF even considers engaging in terrorist negotiations. Which of course is the plan all along.

Can't Make This Up: Citigroup Fined For Stealing From The Dead

• Finra fines Citigroup Inc over cemeteries
• Finra says Citigroup pays $1.5 million for failures related to scheme to misappropriate millions in trust funds belonging to cemeteries
• Finra says Citigroup pays $750,000 fine, $750,000 disgorged commissions
• Finra says Citigroup does not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle