Archive - Sep 14, 2010

Goldman refuses to turn optimistic, and once again chief equity strategist David Kostin follows in the footsteps of Jan Hatzius, this time telling clients to shift to a defensive mix of stocks after recently downgrading his 2010 S&P target to 1,200. "We shift to a more defensive sector allocation in anticipation of slowing economic growth indicators and downward revisions to consensus earnings and real GDP forecasts." Just as all Wall Street economists followed Hatzius in lockstep, so all equity strategists will now begin dropping their S&P targets, especially since from this point on corporate margins can only go down.

• Japanese PM wins party vote; will stay in power.
• Asian commodity stocks rise on growth hopes; Japanese shares fall on Yen.
• China's currency advances to a fresh high against the U.S. dollar; CB sets the yuan-dollar parity rate at 6.7378.
• China plans to introduce credit-default swaps by year-end, Official says.
• Euro rises against dollar in morning European trading to $1.2877.
• European industrial production stagnant in July.
• EU raises 2010 growth forecasts; warns growth likely to slow in H2.
• German investor confidence may decline to 18-month low as economy cools.
• Bank of America should repurchase $20B in mortgages, Insurers say.

Retail sales are the key focus, with data also on small business sentiment, business inventories, and the weekly confidence report….

RANsquawk European Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 14/09/10

What are Gold Wars? Gold Wars are between governments and gold. This ultimately restricts the constitutional rights of the people. Gold is the vital barometer of the health of a nation’s currency. The suppression of gold by government allows them to mask the mismanagement of their currency. - Hinde Capital

Take a guess...