Just a headline for now, but the last time Bernanke was "very concerned" about something, the presses were already in motion.
- SENATOR HATCH SAYS BERNANKE `VERY CONCERNED' ABOUT EUROPE - BBG
And the kickers:
- BERNANKE TELLS SENATORS NO FED RESCUE OF EUROPE BANKS: GRAHAM - BBG
- BERNANKE `VERY CLEAR' FED HAS NO EUROPE BANK AID PLANS: CORKER - BBG
Greek Bankruptcy Imminent?
Big Oops out of Bloomberg:- GREEK CREDITOR COMMITTEE SAID TO BE NEAR HIRING BLACKSTONE
- GREEK CREDITORS SAID TO WORK WITH WHITE & CASE, ALLEN & OVERY
- GREEK CREDITOR COMMITTEE MAY FORMALLY HIRE BLACKSTONE THIS WEEK
National Defense Authorization Act Debate In Progress, Vote Imminent
Much has been said about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a bill which, as many are aware, permits the indefinite detention of Americans suspected of terrorist affiliations. As a reminder from the AP, "Congress is pressing ahead with a massive $662 billion defense bill that requires military custody for terrorism suspects linked to al-Qaida, including those captured within the U.S., with lawmakers hoping their last-minute revisions will mollify President Barack Obama and eliminate a veto threat. Leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees announced late Monday that they had reached agreement on the policy-setting legislation that had gotten caught up in an escalating fight on whether to treat suspected terrorists as prisoners of war or criminals in the civilian justice system. Responding to personal appeals from Obama and his national security team, the lawmakers added language on national security waivers and other changes that they hoped would ensure administration support for the overall bill. “I assured the president that we were working on additional assurances, that the concerns were not accurate,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who spoke to Obama last week, told reporters at a news conference. “That we’d do everything we could to make sure they were allayed, and met.” White House officials said Tuesday they were reviewing the bill. It was unclear whether they would hold firm on the veto threat." Unfortunately, the usurpation of America by the Big Brother state (more here) is no surprise to anyone, and this is merely the latest milestone. Regardless, those who wish to watch the moot debate on the topic as our elected individuals sell yet another remaining individual liberty to the corporate octopus, as well as the vote on the act due at 3:30 PM Eastern, can do so here.
Gold: It is Still a Bull Market
12/14/2011 - 11:24
HUI is bouncing from the bottom of its year long range
Over the last 14 months, the gold mining shares, as represented by the HUI,
have been trapped in a very broad range bounded by 600 on the top side and
supported by 500 on the bottom side. The fact that this range has continued
for such a long period of time and has repeatedly reinforced itself
underscores how important from a technical perspective it is should
anything occur which forces a violation of this range.
Having moved down to the bottom of this range in today's session it has of
this hour bounced rather strongly off of that level once again. That is
reinforcing the signific... more »
Commodity complex dealing with Deflationary Concerns
Investors worldwide are making a mad rush towards cash as they seek to
become liquid based on their fears of a slowdown in the global economy.
There is little confidence that monetary authorities and political leaders
in Europe are doing anything substantative to deal with the issues plaguing
Europe. Over here in the US, investors are reading the tea leaves from the
recent FOMC statement and are expressing disappointment that the punch bowl
full of QE is not coming forthwith. Then there is talk about China slowing
down as well.
All of this is working to generate visions of the summe... more »
Department Of Labor Tells 49 Unlucky Credit Suisse Bankers They Are About To Be Laid Off
The earlier bomb scare at Credit Suisse's 1 Madison Avenue HQ may have been a hoax (or, considering this news, a diversion) but the sneaky announcement that the Swiss bank is preparing to fire 49 employees, once again courtesy of the DOL's appropriately named WARN website, is all too real. And since we are now deep in (lack of) bonus season, expect banking layoff announcements to start popping up daily if not hourly. As for the Unmagnificent 49: goodbye 1, welcome 99.Guest Post: If Being Totally, Disastrously Wrong Were a Virtue, Bernanke and His Fed Mates Should Be Sainted
Since the market isn't able to price real estate, risk or credit transparently, then prudent investors would be forced to shun the market: how can you invest wisely when assets, debt and risk can't be priced by the market? Prudent lenders would withdraw from such a rigged, risky market, which is precisely what has happened. Literally 99% of the mortgage market is now guaranteed by the Federal fiefdoms, all of which are losing tens of billions of dollars and require monumental taxpayer bailouts to keep underwriting the banking sectors' private profits. The only way to restore trust and clear the market of uncollectable debt is to let the market transparently price, risk and credit--precisely what the Fed's policies are designed to stop. The Fed's knees are chafed from kow-towing to their banker masters, and worshipping the "magic" of their Keynesian Cargo Cult and Lenin ("destroying capitalism from within" should be stenciled on the Fed letterhead). Separate risk from gain, obliterate transparency and choke the market with zero interest rates, and you've not only destroyed capitalism, you've also destroyed the economy by rewarding the most venal, corrupt, fraudulent and capital-destroying players while stranding the prudent on an island of opacity where the true price of assets, credit and risk cannot be discovered.30 Year $13 Billion Reopening Prices At Record Low Yield, Highest Bid To Cover In 11 Years
The scramble to Uncle Sam's paper of last resort continues, when in the aftermath of yesterday's Triple Double (second Highest Bid To Cover and Indirect take down, and second lowest Yield ever), we saw a Bid To Cover of 3.04 for today's 29 Year 11 month reopening, which was the highest since 2000, and a record low yield of 2.925%, 3 bps inside of the When Issued. The only rain in this parade was the Indirect Bidder take down which was a modest 32.5%, compared to an LTM average of 36%, while Dealers took down 46.3% and the remainder, or a sizable 21.2% going to Directs. Considering the pervasive sell off in risk and all liquid assets, it is not surprising that cash had to parked somewhere, and today it was in the place where the monetization circuitry still works. When Europe finally tumbles and the bond vigilantes have no other targets left, we may have to revisit, but today the world's cash strapped investors have just one place to park their cash equivalents: congressional pork, because naturally the auction result gives Congress a green light to do lots of future fiscal stupidity.
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