Archive - May 5, 2014

Ukrainian soldiers have nothing. People had been donating money to support them. While the West's injection of career politicians only replaced the head - Yanukovich - what is going on now is the corruption the people were revolting against is still in  the first place. Money donated to the soldiers has not been getting to them. Now the Ukrainian people are simply bringing food to their own troops because the corruption takes the money. Ukraine's soldiers have taken to Facebook to ask for help...

Thanks to the miracle of VIX slamming, USDJPY-stop-running, CBOE breaking, US equity market opening, "we're not worried about no stinking Ukraine civil war or Chinese economic collapse", low volume levitation, stocks knee-jerked off early dumping lows to recover comfortably into the green today. Not everything was exuberant though (as Trannies and the Russell 2000 ended red - bouncing once again off its 200DMA). Gold gained almost 1% today (back over $1310) for its best 2-days since January. The USD closed unch (with notable weakness in SEK). USDJPY ranged down below 102 and rammed stops to lead the charge higher in stocks (even with Japan closed for 2 days). Stocks tracked JPY but benefitted from a dead-cat-bounce in Treasury yields. VIX closed higher on the day (unable to regain the late-slam from Friday). AAPL regains $600 and Biotechs bounced 4.5% - so everything's fixed.

This time is different - check; Moral Hazard - check; Easy Money - check; Overblown growth stories - check; No valuation anchor - check; Conspicuous consumption - check; Ponzi finance - check... and, of course, Irrational exuberance: check!

There comes a point in the destiny of a failing nation when official lying is no longer distinct from official stupidity. We’ve crossed that boundary in the USA. It pays to remember that societies get what they deserve, not what they expect.

Ongoing military operations in Slavyansk have left at least 20 rebels dead and dozens more civilians injured according to Interfax.

*SLOVYANSK CLASHES KILL 20 REBELS, MANY CIVILIANS WOUNDED: IFX

As RT reports, fatalities are on both sides with little progress reported one way or the other. The White House says it's "extremely concerned" by the deteriorating situation in southern Ukraine. Perhaps more important for the average American citizen, Klitschko has decided to postpone his planned wedding to Hayden Panettiere due to the conflict... now it's getting serious!!

The last time the intellectual titans of the San Fran Fed, which have made a living out of asking probing, kindergarten-level questions and then spending tens of thousands of taxpayer funds to answer them, performed in depth inquiry into a topic was about a month ago when it asked "How Important Are Hedge Funds In A Crisis." To its dismay, it found the answer to be "very." Today, the intellectual titanism continues when the regional Fed, which Janet Yellen called her home for so many years, asks (and answers), "Is It Still Worth Going to College?"

6 Years After the Financial Crisis Hit, The Big Banks Are Still Committing Massive Crimes

France's Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg (of Titan tires debacle fame) has written to GE's Jeff Immelt explaining that his offer for Alstom is "unnaceptable",

• *MONTEBOURG SAYS GE-ALSTOM BID UNACCEPTABLE IN CURRENT FORM: AFP

We can opnly imagine the additional terms the French will require. On the bright side, Montebourg did not call GE's offer "ignorant and insulting" like he did Titan's CEO.

One Wall Street strategist who appears to have thrown in the towel on the entire rising wages debate is none other than BofA's chief economist, Ethan Harris, who in a note released on Friday fires the proverbial shot across the David Rosenberg bow regarding rising wage pressures: "Don't hold your breath."

In the big pharma M&A scramble, TEVA has been hosting potential suitors and may become the next acquisition target.

When the business of truth-saying in a civil-war-strafed nation puts a price on your head... you know things are getting out of control...

Upon closer inspection, the report was a total disaster. You wouldn’t know this from the financial media’s coverage, but it was.

The Coppock Curve's message is straightforward: get out of the market and stay out until at least the first quarter of 2015. After five years of upside, the old trading saw comes to mind: bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered.

Over the weekend, Bloomberg had an interesting piece about two of the main reasons why while stocks continue to rise to new all time highs, the expected selling in bonds - because in a normal world, what is good for stocks should be bad for bonds - isn't materializing, and instead earlier this morning the 10 Year tumbled to the lowest since February, while last week the 30 Year retraced 50% of its post-Taper Tantrum slide, or in short a complete disconnect between stocks and bonds.

For 18 years, the Ira Sohn Conference has enabled hedge fund managers to pitch their best long (and short) ideas to the rest of the investing public. This year's speakers include Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, Jeff Gundlach, Jim Grant, and Paul Tudor Jones. Listen carefully, trade accordingly, but bear in mind the following table when judging just how masterful of the universe these guys really are...