Moody's Announces That France's Debt Metrics Have Deteriorated And Are Now The Weakest Of All Aaa-Rated Peers

This is not what Europe needed, 6 days ahead of the G20 ultimatum's expiration for Europe to somehow fix itself, and hours after Deutsche Bank said the rating agencies may go ahead and put France on downgrade review. Just out "Moody's notes that the government's financial strength has weakened, as it has for other euro area sovereigns, because the global financial and economic crisis has led to a deterioration in French government debt metrics -- which are now among the weakest of France's Aaa peers."

 

 

Fidelity Loses $50 Million In Seconds On Its Brand Spanking New Investment, As Crocs Plunges On Guidance Cut: 2007 Redux?

To anyone who is neither too young to recall, nor just got their first ever Bloomberg terminal a few days ago, CROX holds a special place in the heart since this perpetual momo stock, was without doubt the best coincident indicator of the market top back in 2007: the stock peaked just two weeks after the all time high in the S&P in October of 2007, only to collapse and never recover. Lightning may just have struck twice. Following an announcement that CROX cut guidance from $0.40, which was also the street's consensus, down to $0.31-0.33, the stock was halted for 30 minutes, only to reopen and plunge as much as 38% lower. The biggest loser? Not Paulson (for once), but Fidelity, which as the following chart from CapIq shows, decided to add 6.3 million shares in the Q2 quarter (having held nothing before), making it the second biggest holder. Oh well. There goes $50 million and some analyst's job. The biggest question, whether CROX part two is the same market peak signal that is was back in 2007 remains to be answered.

IBM Misses Top Line, Boosts EPS Forecast, Stock Slides After Hours

Putting the cherry on top of an ugly day for bulls comes global tech vanguard IBM, which did not use the DVA wildcard and still saw its earnings beat already reduced expectations of $3.22, printing at $3.28... but... it did miss the consensus top line of $26.34 billion by just under $200 milllion, at $26.16 billion. Since this the first time in probably forever that Big Blue has not beat the top line, the stock is certainly not too happy after hours. That this is happening despite the company's boost to its EPS forecast is quite troubling.

Same Play - Different Act

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 12 minutes ago

Gold has once again failed to sustain its footing for any length of time above the critical $1680 resistance level. Last Friday it managed to eke out a close above this level but just barely. "Just barely" does not constitute a convincing technical breakout so it had the opportunity to try to be more emphatic in today's session. As trade moved into early European trade, the gold price took off to the upside buoyed by comments out of the G20 summit that seemed to indicate decisive action and timely action was going to occur in Europe in regards to their bank recapitalization/stabili... more » 

Bank insolvency will support precious metals prices, Turk tells King World News

 

 

Citigroup 3rd Quarter Results Do Not Disappoint

Dave in Denver at The Golden Truth - 1 hour ago

my expectations that it would be at least as fraudulent as was JP Morgan's. Caution: investing based on bank earnings headlines can be hazardous to your wealth. True to his corrupt character, Citigroup CEO Vik Pandit ushered in Citi's headline-reported bullshit by exclaiming that "Citi continues to navigate a challenging economic environment and delivered another quarter of solid operating results." Citi reported Q3 net income of $3.8 billion and revenues of $20.8 billion, both on a "headline" basis above Q3 2010 and 3 cents above Wall Street estimates. *Now for my "however" r... more » 



 

Comic, And Alcohol, Relief As Obama Speaks

You know the drill: every time the TOTUS says "pass this bill" => shot, and 5 shots for every instance of "win(ning) the future." And if he actually says "the 1%", you have to finish the entire bottle. May the most cirrhotic man, woman or child win.

In The News Today

October 17, 2011, at 10:22 am
by Jim Sinclair 

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Very Chinese, afoot at a time when unrelentingly building both gold and the Yuan as primary currencies.

Hong Kong becomes first centre for gold trading in yuan 16 October 2011 Last updated at 21:50 ET
Hong Kong has become the world’s first place to offer gold trading in yuan, cementing its status as an offshore hub for the Chinese currency.
The Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society (CGSE) said it will offer offshore renminbi-denominated spot gold contracts to investors.
The move comes amid a push by Chinese authorities for a more international role for its currency.
Hong Kong is the world’s third-largest gold trading centre.
"By attracting both local and international investors, the Renminbi Kilobar Gold is a significant step towards internationalizing the renminbi," said Haywood Cheung, president of CGSE.
Growing demand
The growth of the Chinese economy coupled with a push by the authorities for a more global role for their currency has seen an increased demand for yuan-denominated investment products.
At the same time Hong Kong has been trying to promote the city as the offshore trading hub for the yuan.
More…





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