General Electric

European indices as well as major currency pairs are trading in slight negative territory at the midpoint of today’s session due to profit-taking and cautious sentiment dominating the market, with the worst performing sector being Oil & Gas showing volatile trading this morning.  In European macro news, Greek PSI talks are closer to coming to a conclusion, with a source saying that the haircut announcement is likely to be today.

All you neewd to read.

• Here we go again: IMF Said to Seek $1 Trillion Resource-Boost Amid Euro Crisis (Bloomberg)
• China said to Tell banks to Restrict Lending as Local Officials Seek Funds (Bloomberg)
• EU to Take Legal Action Against Hungary (FT)
• Portugal Yields Fall in Auction of Short-Term Debt (Reuters)
• US Natural Gas Prices at 10-Year Low as Warm Weather Weakens Demand (Reuters)
• German Yield Falls in Auction of 2-Year Bonds (Reuters)
• World Bank Slashes Global GDP Forecasts, Outlook Grim (Reuters)
• Why the Super-Marios Need Help (Martin Wolf) (FT)
• Chinese Vice Premier Stresses Government Role in Improving People's Livelihoods (Xinhua)

But they DO provide great comic relief at CNBC ...

In a segment earlier on CNBC, the ever cheerful Bob Pisani, whose only recent specialty on CNBC has been to find new and improved concepts that equate with "victories for the bulls" (global thermonuclear warfare, mutated viral contamination of water supplies, mass extinction events?), broke one of TV's cardinal rules by providing tax advice in a market primetime broadcast. In the clip below Pisani describes the tax trap associated with a wash sale. While he did not screw that up, he subsequently went on to describe how one can find other ETFs that would allow the viewer to get around the was sale rule, in essence providing a tax (avoidance) service, and also how viewers can avoid paying taxes. Of course, intent is a part of any comparable transaction, and one wonderswhether CNBC cleared this segment in which Pisani comes dangerously close to describing a method to evade taxes, which is a felony offense.

The good old cash-for-favors system, known as lobbying, is in full swing again, with General Electric valiantly leading the pack of beltway brown-nosers, having spent $7.2 million in Q1 for various lobby purposes. This represents a 60% increase over the $4.5 million spent in Q1 and $1.8 million over Q2 of 2008. Ironically, General Electric, which with AIG, is at the forefront of hobbled companies who continue existing solely thanks to generous taxpayer bailouts in various forms, was by far the biggest lobbying contributor, with only Chveron spending over $6 million in Q2 of 2009. GE's $7.2 million represents a recycled taxpayer spend to promote private interests of $160,000 for every single day that Congress was in session.

Granted AAPL has 0 debt compared to GE's $500 + billion. Nonetheless, the snapback in tech is sure to be vicious once funds have to sell the only performing sector to fund humongous margin calls.