Facebook At All-Time Lows; -31% From Highs

UPDATE: 6 minutes into the day-session and FB has a $30 handle and 17mm shares traded.
1.8mm shares have traded this morning as the long-selling continues as the stock-that-shall-not-be-named traded as low as $32.70 this morning (from its $45 highs on Friday)...







Morgan Stanley Cut Facebook Estimates Just Before IPO

Facebook IPO: CIA and Goldman Sachs Take the Suckers for a Stroll

by Kurt Nimmo, Infowars:
The fact Morgan Stanley was the lead banker on the Facebook IPO should have set off alarm bells for investors in the NASDAQ casino. The deal had SUCKER’S BET spray-painted all over it. But like the infamous dot-com bubble and any other number of pump and dump schemes rolled out by the banksters, the Facebook IPO was designed to enrich a small number of insiders like Goldman Sachs and take the clueless horde on the outside to the cleaners.
Even cynical observers are willing to give the trendy stock time to “perform” when it is obvious the Facebook “offering” is simply more toxic waste proffered by people who specialize in multi-billion dollar scams and snake oil tours.
“Maybe I am a grouch,” writes the New Yorker’s John Cassidy. “But it all sounds suspiciously like an inside job, in which the last ones in, the ordinary investors, are the saps. At the very least, this entire issue is something that the authorities – the S.E.C., but also the Nasdaq and other stock exchanges – should be looking at closely.”
Read More @ Infowars.com

Why The Market Is Up: Goldman Just Dumped On Stocks

Back on March 21, Goldman's Peter Oppenheimer released the "Long Good Buy, The Case For Equities", which was Goldman's subversive attempt to rally equity into buying all the stocks that Goldman had to offload, as well as buy all TSYs that GS clients had to sell. Needless to say, Goldman top ticked the market and stocks have tumbled ever since, even as the 10 Year soared from 2.5% to the current ~1.75%. So what? Well, this morning the same analyst, precisely two months on the anniversary of his "once in in a lifetime" stock buying opportunity, has released a new report with the paradoxical header: "Near-term risks are to the downside." But, but... Anyway, that's all the market needed to grasp that Goldman's prop desk is now buying every piece of risk not nailed down hand over fist as the June FOMC meeting is now the D-Day. Futures have soared ever since.




BTFD...And Keep Stacking...

UNCLE SAM BULLYING BROKERS OVER SILVER? [Plus, JPM's $7 Billion Blunder] – Woody O’Brien

Woody O’Brien breaks the news that he’s decided to do a “Barnhardt’ and get out of the markets while the gettin’ is good. Turns out that regulators appear to be warning O’Brien that Federally regulated brokers should not be giving advice to the common folks about buying physical silver… The questions is: Why does physical silver scare regulators so much? Perhaps it’s because physical silver is the Achilles’ heel of the corrupt fiat banking system. Visit Woody’s website here.

Industrial Commodity Prices Have Performed Miserably

Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 1 hour ago

Why industrial commodities are weak has nothing to do with Greece. Greece is an unimportant player in the commodities market. Industrial commodity prices have performed miserably as well as the mining company because they anticipate or because they smell more meaningful downing in the Chinese economy, about which I have been warning for the last 6-9 months. - *in NDTV * * * *Related: iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (ETF), Copper, Crude Oil, United States Oil Fund (USO)* * * *Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures m... more » 

 

Acknowledge The Complexity Of The World

Admin at Jim Rogers Blog - 1 hour ago

“Acknowledge the complexity of the world and resist the impression that you easily understand it. People are too quick to accept conventional wisdom, because it sounds basically true and it tends to be reinforced by both their peers and opinion leaders, many of whome have never looked at whether the facts support the received wisdom. It's a basic fact of life that many things "everybody knows" turn out to be wrong.” ― *in A Gift To My Children * *Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New Yo... more » 

Today’s Items:

First…
The US Can Break Apart Just Like Europe
http://www.economicnoise.com

A house divided cannot stand. This seems to be the situation that the U.S. is quickly approaching. While the U.S. may have a common heritage, language, traditions, and culture, it is beginning to suffer the same fate as Europe with idiotic extremes in multiculturalism, political whores vying for votes while ignoring the people, and an oppressive central government that appears to be without restriction. As an example, splinters are already forming with states using the 10th amendment to neuter Washington’s strangle hold on them.

Next…
Customer Shocked “Allocated” Gold Not in Swiss Bank
http://kingworldnews.com
http://www.zerohedge.com

Bank runs in Greece, Spain, and now a French bank; however, now there is a question of missing allocated gold in a Swiss bank. A Swiss Bank?  Are you kidding me?  If this is true, then we now know why the Swiss are truly tying themselves to the failing euro…  They no longer have the gold!  In short, keep stacking physical because apparently your bullion bank isn’t.

Next…
Currency Wars to Trade Wars
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.foxnews.com

James Richards is warning many on the impending set of currency wars that is beginning to take place. In fact, all currencies are in a race to the bottom to increase trade at the expense of the people of the nations.  To ensure that people do not buy foreign goods, excise taxes, or tariffs, are being increased…  For example. Obama wants to tariffs for solar panels from China. Here is another example…

Next…
Indonesia imposes 20% Export Tax on Gold, Silver and Platinum
http://www.bullionstreet.com

Indonesia has decided to retain gold, silver and platinum in the list of minerals enforced with a 20 percent export tax.  The reason given is to prevent over-exploitation of the country’s natural resources and excessive environmental hazards before 2014.  All kinds of excuses are going to be made; however, expect international trade to go down.

Next…
Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Illustrated
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.reuters.com

Take a look at this video showing an illustrated view of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet over the past few years. The balance just keeps blowing up folks as it is the garbage dump for big banks like JP Morgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. In addition, it may be of interest that China can now, unlike other entities, buy U.S. Treasuries directly from the U.S. Treasury. Things must be getting desperate if the middleman Goldman Sachs is left out of the loop folks.

Next…
These Are The Colleges That Will Be Screwed When The Student Loan Bubble Pops
http://www.businessinsider.com

Inadequate-capital institutions are less prepared to absorb potential revenue losses from drops in enrollment, alumni giving, or investment income.  These institutions typically use bank credit lines or other arrangements that are vulnerable to the banking industry.  In addition, if a school’s student body has more than 25% of its students on state, or federal aid, it may also be at risk.

Next…
Facebook Enters Bear Market
http://www.zerohedge.com

Hopefully, none of you seriously listened to the hype, regarding Facebook.  If so, you lost at least 20% of your money. The reason for the loss is simple…  Mobile computing is taking over, and without advertisements, Facebook has no long term source of revenue.  Still, it could be worse, you could have invested heavily in Zimbabwe dollars.

Finally, Please prepare now for the escalating economic and social unrest. Good Day

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Who Says Google Translate Has No Sense Of Humor

Not us. Note the rather amusing, and potentially prophetic, Google translation of Spanish daily Expansion's headline from today.

Live Webcast Of First (Of Many) JPM Hearing - Honorable Mary Schapiro And Gary Gensler Presiding

No close encounters of the Dimon kind today, but we get our first sworn testimony on all matters #FailWhale, when Mary Schapiro and Gary Gensler open their mouths at 10:00 am, and confirm what everyone knows - that the TBTF's prop trading desks are alive amd well, that the Volcker Rule was one big misdirection, and most importantly, that nobody has any idea what multi-billion trades the big banks engage in until it is far too late, and even then they refuse to give their investors a snapshot of how big the real losses are.

Guest Post: What Is Wealth?

Asking "what is wealth?" seems needless because we all know what wealth is: never having to work again, endless leisure, endless consumption of the "good things of life," being waited on hand and foot, luxurious belongings, vehicles and homes, a life of travel and sport, trust funds, stacks of secure gold, and so on. All this is "obvious," but is that certainty illusory? There are many people with $2 million in net worth, a significant number with $20 million, and more than a few with $200 million. All would be considered wealthy by the average household earning $63,000 annually with a total net worth of less than $100,000, not to mention the 61 million American wage-earners who pull down less than $20,000 a year who own negligible net worth. Those with a mere $2 million may not reckon themselves wealthy, if their eyes are fixed on those with $20 million. But if a wealthy person suddenly discovers they are riddled with fast-growing cancer, then they quickly lose interest in financial wealth except in terms of what medical treatment it can buy. There really isn't much more modern medicine can do for someone worth $200 million than it can for someone worth $2 million; once one's life and health are at risk, then conceptions of "wealth" are drastically reordered: health is wealth, and nothing else matters.

Eurobonds - Nationalism Meets Federalism

Translating Germany's standard line on joiontly-backed European bonds is simple: "We don't want to pay" - it is as simple as that so you can ignore the rest of the rhetoric. France at the next EU summit is going to push for Eurobonds and Germany will resist in what may be a quite unpleasant stand-off. From Germany’s perspective we can easily understand their feelings about this matter because the consequences of Eurobonds are very negative for them. Eurobonds are quite clearly a “transfer union” where Germany is the primary source of funding then for the rest of Europe. If Eurobonds are ever enacted we would suggest selling any/all of the “AAA” countries and buying the periphery ones as the correct play in the intermediate term. In fact, Eurobonds are the crux where Federalism comes head to head with Nationalism and where the rhetoric gives way to actualization.

ETA To NEW QE: Don't Hold Your Breath Just Yet

Whether one believes that Bernanke's mandate mission in life is to 'save the banking system', 'reflate asset prices', 'devalue the USD' - all of which seem to err on the side of inflation (and ultimately hyper-inflation once the trust is gone); it seems more critical to focus on the other side of the coin - deflation. Bernanke's true raison d'etre is simple: avoid debt deflation and implicitly everything he has said and studied points to the avoidance of any deflation. For this reason, BofA notes that today's chart of the day is the Break-even inflation rate in the US. This has been the most consistent - non-numeraire-based - leading indicator of Fed QE efforts. We note that the initial QE2 decision took a little longer to enact but was signaled considerably earlier (Jackson Hole) as the break-evens dropped below its NEW QE threshold. But with the levels currently 25-30bps off their threshold levels, we suggest those holding their breaths for the next Fed-induced liquigasm in stocks, should practice Pranayama.

Austria Joins Germany In Opposing Euro Bonds

While the euro bond song and dance is all too familiar, being a carbon copy replay of last year, we feel obliged to remind who the key actors are, but more importantly who the key decision makers are. In short: while last year, at least in the first half, it was everyone against Merkozy, demanding that the two AAA rated countries backstop Europe at their own expense, following the French downgrade, France no longer cared if there are Eurobonds and joined the peripheral push to convince Merkel to shoulder the cost of preserving the Eurozone on its own. Germany politely declined. Fast forward to this year, when we get the same, only Hollande is now more vocal than ever knowing full well that he alone will be unable to deliver the "growth", read incremental leverage, needed to back up his campaign promises. This is, or rather was, the whole point of today's and tomorrow's latest European summit which, just like this weekend's useless G-8 photosession for the world's leaders to express their support for either Chelsea or Arsenal, will achieve absolutely nothing. Importantly, we now can add at least one more country to the list of those opposed to a AAA-backstopped rescue of the rest of the Eurozone.

Daily US Opening News And Market Re-Cap: May 22

UK CPI this morning came in weaker than expected at 3.0% Y/Y in April, weighed by a fall in air fares, alcohol, clothes and sea transport, according to the ONS. The release saw aggressive selling of GBP in the currency market and has underpinned the rise in gilt futures. Alongside the 26th month low in UK CPI the IMF also issued their latest assessment on the UK economy and said further policy easing is required and that the Bank could cut its interest rate from the current 0.5% level. In other market moving news a Greek government source said that Greek banks are to receive a EUR 18bln recapitalisation down payment this Friday which initially saw the EUR and stock futures rally, however, the move was short lived as it became clear that the payment is scheduled as part of the bailout programme for Greece. Elsewhere, Fitch made a surprise announcement and downgraded the Japanese sovereign rating by two notches to A+, outlook negative. The move means Fitch has the lowest rating for Japan of the three main rating agencies so we remain vigilant for any comments from S&P and Moody’s today.

Adam Fleming And James Turk On Precious Metals And Mining

Adam Fleming, Chairman of Wits Gold and Fleming Family & Partners (yes, related to Ian Fleming of James Bond game), discusses the gold bull market with GoldMoney's Chairman James Turk. Topics include metal price action, the eurozone's debt crisis, and mining in South Africa. Both men think that we are the "in the foothills" of a long precious metals bull market, and that the gold price is in some ways cheaper than it was back when they spoke at GATA's Dawson City conference in 2005, owing to all the quantitative easing – or more bluntly, money printing – that central banks have engaged in since the financial crisis of 2008.

Swiss Parliament Examines ‘Gold Franc’ Currency Today

A panel of the Swiss parliament is discussing the introduction of the parallel ‘Gold franc’ currency. Bloomberg has picked up on the news which was reported by Neue Luzerner Zeitung. The Swiss parliament panel will discuss a proposal aimed at introducing a new currency, or a so-called gold franc. Under the proposal, which will be debated in the lower house’s economic panel in Bern today, one coin in gold would be worth about 5 Swiss francs ($5.30), the Swiss newspaper reported. The Swiss franc would remain the official currency, the paper said. The proposal may lead to a wider debate about the Swiss franc and the role gold might again play to protect the Swiss franc from currency debasement. The initiative is part of the “Healthy Currency” campaign which is being promoted by the country’s biggest party – the conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP).

Frontrunning: May 22

• Hilsenrath: Fed Pondering Why Inflation and Deflation Threats Ebbed (WSJ)
• The Naivete: France to push for eurozone bonds (FT)
• The rebuke: Merkel Says She Won’t Shy From Clash With Hollande at EU Summit (Bloomberg)
• The Euro-love: Hollande's euro arguments "nonsense": Austria's Fekter (Reuters)
• Obama Campaign Does Damage Control After Dems Question Anti-Bain Strategy (ABC)
• Greece: four major banks recapitalized by Friday (L'Echo)... and if they aren't?
• China to fast-track infrastructure investments (Reuters)... because China needs more cement
• Jeeps Sell for $189,750 as China Demand Offsets Tariffs (Bloomberg)
• As Facebook’s Stock Struggles, Fingers Start Pointing (NYT)
• Facebook 11% Drop Means Morgan Stanley Gets Blame (Bloomberg)

 

Overnight Sentiment: Another European Summit, Another Japanese Rating Downgrade

There was some hope that today's European summit would provide some more clarity for something else than just the local caterer's 2012 tax payment. It wont. Per Reuters: "Germany does not believe that jointly issued euro zone bonds offer a solution to the bloc's debt crisis and will not change its stance despite calls from France and other countries to consider such a step, a senior German official said on Tuesday. "That's a firm conviction which will not change in June," the official said at a German government briefing before an informal summit of EU leaders on Wednesday. A second summit will be held at the end of June. The official, requesting anonymity, also said he saw no need for leaders to discuss a loosening of deficit goals for struggling euro zone countries like Greece or Spain, nor to explore new ways for recapitalise vulnerable banks at Wednesday's meeting." In other words absolutely the same as in August 2011 when Europe came, saw, and did nothing. Yes, yes, deja vu. Bottom line: just as Citi predicted, until the bottom falls out of the market, nothing will change. They were right. As for the summit, just recycle the Einhorn chart from below. Elsewhere, the OECD slashed world growth forecasts and now officially sees Europe contracting, something everyone else has known for months. "In its twice-yearly economic outlook, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast that global growth would ease to 3.4 percent this year from 3.6 percent in 2011, before accelerating to 4.2 percent in 2013, in line with its last estimates from late November... The OECD forecast that the 17-member euro zone economy would shrink 0.1 percent this year before posting growth of 0.9 percent in 2013, though regional powerhouse Germany would chalk up growth of 1.2 percent in 2012 and 2.0 percent in 2013." Concluding the overnight news was a meaningless auction of €2.5 billion in 3 and 6 month bills (recall, Bill issuance in LTRO Europe is completely meaningless) in which borrowing rates rose, and a very meaningful downgrade of Japan to A+ from AA, outlook negative, by Fitch which lowered Japan's long-term foreign currency rating to A plus from AA, the local currency rating to A plus from AA minus, and to the country ceiling rating to AA+ from AAA. Yes, Kyle Bass is right. Just a matter of time. Just like with subprime.

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