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Frontrunning: August 4

Tyler Durden's picture




  • Personal spending rose 0.4% in June. Incomes fell 1.3%, biggest drop in four years. Max out those credit cards while you can. (Bloomberg)
  • China has become a giant ponzi scheme - Chinese stocks are 50-100% overvalued (Andy Xie, via Ritholtz)
  • Must read: from plasma physicist to Citadel's nemesis - profile of Misha Malyshev (Crains)
  • Bernanke's exit dilemma (WSJ)
  • Federal tax revenues plummeting (AP)
  • Bankrupt in all but name Jefferson County fires two thirds of its employees (Reuters)
  • Och-Ziff loss widens as AUM falls (MarketWatch)
  • Banking bonuses are bubble that is yet to burst (Bloomberg)
  • UBS' Gruebel says client withdrawals may persist (Bloomberg)
  • Goldman employees told to reel it in (Reuters)
  • Intercontinental Exchange Profit falls 15% as revenue ramps up on higher volume (WSJ)
  • Profiting from the tooth fairy (Hussman Funds)
  • The great global rebalancing (Alhambra Investments)
  • More on the Cash For Clunkers subsidy (Forbes)



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Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:05 | Link to Comment D.O.D.
D.O.D.'s picture

Don't worry about the federal taxes, they just doubled the number of employees at the Cash 4 Clunkers headquarters, Obama, once again, has created more economy saving jobs, and it will only cost $2bn.  *hawk ppt* DEAL!!!

I'm sure the tax revenue thing is a lagging indicator anyway... Who needs revenues, I think the market has already proven that to be an antiquated business fundamental.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:06 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:06 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:20 | Link to Comment zeropointfield (not verified)
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:13 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:16 | Link to Comment deadhead
deadhead's picture

I know this is very hard to believe, but the personal spending numbers for May were revised downward from .3% increase to .1% increase.  who woulda thought it!

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:22 | Link to Comment Howard_Beale
Howard_Beale's picture

Re: Fed's exit strategy "To be sure, the Fed has had its good years. It financed the 20-year period of low-inflation growth and prosperity that began in 1983 when the Reagan tax cuts became fully effective."

What these yahoos never mention is that we had an 18 year bear market in commodities during the same time period. The stock market rallied but commodities didn't rage with the machine due to an all out cyclical bear market, oil ending in 1999, gold in 2001, etc. It's ridiculous not to have low inflation in that scenario. Why does a dementia ridden actor that didn't understand one economic principle and had to defer to Cap Weinberger when asked to explain Kudlow like pee down your leg economics get credit for this? And I might add that Greenspan was "God" for managing it all so well--that is until January 2000.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:21 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:25 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:30 | Link to Comment Bob
Bob's picture

But will you be even mildly surprised if the program lasts another year, funded to whatever amount is required? 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:25 | Link to Comment Dr Hackenbush
Dr Hackenbush's picture

I smell bear trap this a.m. - careful of the bots. 

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 10:11 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:31 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:36 | Link to Comment 100PercentProle
100PercentProle's picture

That's right folks.  Consumer spending down 2.2% YoY, with personal incomes down 3.4%.

 

We're SO BONED.  We were already 6 months into the recession in June 2008.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 09:53 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 10:07 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 10:17 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 10:19 | Link to Comment mdtrader
mdtrader's picture

People spending beyond their means again, party on dudes!

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:28 | Link to Comment Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh's picture

Simon says...

 

FFO a penny 'better than estimates.'  Green shoots all over the place, especially at their new openings and expansions.

 

Let's turn that red frown upside down this morning...

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:35 | Link to Comment SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

WSJ:

"Mr. Bernanke’s assurances to the contrary, there can be doubts about whether his tools are really adequate to deal with the powerful inflationary pressures the politicians are in the midst of creating in the form of a mountainous and rising federal deficit."

DUH.  Do these guys get paid a lot to write these revelations?  Bernanke is trapped.  There is no political will to become magically fiscally prudent.  I'd say "it (fiscal reponsibility) will not happen until it's too late", but it's already too late.  The housing bubble was merely another reflationary episode of kicking the can down the road.  It's always worked in the past.  Each time it worked reinforced their belief they could keep doing it, and that's why they're trying to do it again.

The obvious USDX stresses cause everyone to shorten maturity.  When the Treasury market blows up, borrowing costs skyrocket, and the now seemingly-tame interest portion of the federal budget blows up right along with it, reinforcing the above stresses.  Add to this of course the accelerating demand for federal money for various stimuli, extended UE benefits, etc etc.

I have only one wish remaining, and that is that TBT didn't decay so fast.  Otherwise it would fit right into my "buy and hold" portfolio.

Tue, 08/04/2009 - 11:39 | Link to Comment Anonymous
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