Archive - Apr 19, 2010 - Story

"Despite the contortions of the pundits, it looked (from the playing field) like the selloff was 75% Greece and, maybe, 25% Goldman. The selling was quite broad. Nearly 80% of the stocks that traded closed down. The added problem for the bulls was the increased volume brought on by the option expiration. That made Friday a clear distribution day in the key indices.
Traders headed for the ritual marination wondering what the next step in the Greece situation would be. Reports were that the ECB and IMF might be in Athens as early as Monday. It sparked the bulk of post close conversation." - Art Cashin

The ground is now literally shaking around Iceland's Mt. Katla. If that blows, look for Bund spreads to promptly catch up with Greek ones.

EuroControl reports that of 28,000 European flights expected on Monday, just 8-9,000 will actually take off: 70% cancellations for third day in a row, five days of major air traffic disruptions. At what point will this impact Obama's bold New Export Economy plan?

The crisis everyone forgot just got worse than ever. And now that European and IMF rescuers are unable to get to Greece by air courtesy of Iceland's floating fiberglass factory, Greek 3 year just hit an all time record wide spread of 652 bps, even as the 10 Year is trading a 470 bps to Bunds or a 7.8% yield. Sorry G-Pap, no more guns or fire extinguishers.

And some more views on Iceland: "What if it spreads to the “big one”? Historically, eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have often preceded eruptions by the bigger Mount Katla because there apparently are “eruptions channels” between the two. Katla’s last eruption was in 1918. Environmentalists believe that an eruption by Katla could lead to the melting of glaciers and flooding in Iceland as well as greater and more dense clouds down over Europe causing a negative impact on several sectors, particularly agriculture. The Geological office of the U.S. Interior Department says that “ash fall can have serious detrimental effects on agricultural crops and livestock depending mainly on ash thickness, the type and growing condition of a crop."

• Thomas Hoenig op-ed: Keep the Fed on Main Street (NYT)
• Internal Goldman inquiry found Fab Fab to be in the clear, probably will not fire the Frenchman, as the SEC's probe commenced in August 2008 (FT)
• Weil: Goldman's Abacus spin dodges the big question (Bloomberg)
• Lowenstein: Goldman's staged explosion deserves apology (Bloomberg)
• Schroeder: Buffet rented good name to Goldman too cheap (Bloomberg)
• Radioshack sale rumors getting more aggressive, someone really needs to dump their position: Shack sale talk heats as CEO eyes pay'Day' (NYPost)
• Citi, with a meaningless market cap, beats meaningless estimates on lower writedowns as FASB 157 is a long lost memory and mark to myth is the norm (Bloomberg)

• Asian stocks fall the most in two months on Goldman Sachs probe.
• China’s currency appreciation may help it to overtake Japan.
• China told banks to stop loans for third-home purchases in cities.
• EU and IMF to discuss new austerity steps.
• European shares lower, airline shares fall.
• Home sales, goods orders probably rose, showing US recovery sustainable.
• SEC, after Goldman, to investigate other firms that may have mislead investors.

RANsquawk 19th April European Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX

RANsquawk 19th April Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.