Here is a quick snapshot of some key overnight news, views, and data.
Peaking
Holdings of gold contracts by large speculators fell 9% last week, after falling 6% the week before that. Is this a sign the "the big boys are starting to get out"?
Leaking
A former executive of a very private bank, Julius Baer, has given Wikileaks two disks of incriminating information about the bank's high-profile clients. Previously, Wikileaks promised to spill the beans on a big American bank, thought to be Bank of America, but hasn't released any of that data yet.
Streaking
Bond sales, including junk-bond sales, have started 2011 at a record pace. It seems there has been a big push to raise funds in the US by European banks.
Still waiting
"How long will it be necessary to pay City men so entirely out of proportion to what other servants of society commonly receive for performing social services not less useful or difficult?"
- John Maynard Keynes, in 1913
more below ...
| 7 am | --- 52 week -- | |||||||
| Today | yesterday | high | low | |||||
| -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- | |||||
| FX rates | NZ$1=US$ | 0.7698 | 0.7731 | 0.7964 | 0.6584 | |||
| NZ$1=AU$ | 0.7720 | 0.7778 | 0.8212 | 0.7408 | ||||
| Gold | in US$/oz | 1,368 | 1,361 | 1,421 | 1,058 | |||
| in NZ$ | 1,777 | 1,760 | 1,877 | 1,507 | ||||
| Copper | in US$/t | 9,730 | 9,651 | 9,754 | 6,091 | |||
| in NZ$ | 12,640 | 12,484 | 12,811 | 8,951 | ||||
| Crude oil | in US$/bl | 91.44 | 90.94 | 91.91 | 70.15 | |||
| in NZ$ | 118.78 | 117.63 | 121.36 | 101.30 | ||||
| US Treasuries | 30 yr bond | 4.58% | 4.53% | 4.78% | 3.61% | |||
| Dow | DJIA 30 | 11,850 | 11,761 | 11,850 | 9,614 | |||
M.A.D.
137.8%: the one number you need to know about China. It's increasing trade dependence on the US gives Washington enormous leverage over Beijing. China is in a net deficit with the rest of the world.
Out of favour
Trading in the NZ dollar has fallen again in December, now back at the low levels last seen in the heart of the 2009 global financial crisis, and well below the exuberant peaks of 2006/7/8.
Out of favour II
Real estate sales may be in the doldrums, but so are bare residential section sales. They ended the year sinking to around 300 - yes, only 308 sections sold nationally in December 2010.
No chart with that title exists.
17 Comments
"the rescue mechanism is a mess; there’s no plan for getting countries out of the clutches of the EU and the IMF; and the obvious flaws in the packages are making the breakup of the euro area more likely. It would be better to admit that the EU made a huge mistake in bailing out Greece, and simply restructure Portuguese debt."
Once you understand the fact that the BS and lying is being orchestrated in the world media, it is so easy to spot the effluent. Go to Bloomberg and it's difficult to identify an article that is not manufactured processed shit. This one above slipped past the censor.
Gidday scarfie...we aim to please but hey it's not my fault the media is swamped in effluent...today has started with the ANZ BS in the herald..on top of overnight effluent about money printing in Ireland out of control...following yesterday's expose' of the euro ecb eu piigs fiasco of money go rounds and hide the filthy debt...and I've left out the lying from the Fed and the corruption in the US govt and the cnbc ongoing game of spewing endless lies about equity value....what do you expect...?
It's a flood of lying scarfie...the filthy debts cannot be hidden away...it's either a case of bloody haircuts for the lenders, which means economic butchery across Europe and the US as the cobweb of rorting scamming bad 'banking' behaviour unwinds.......or it's a case of govt bailouts with printed imagined new money that cannot fail to debase the value of all toilet paper and steal wealth from the citizens who have failed to see the axe coming down.
Here in NZ the game going on is, BS the public into believing more debt will solve the problem of too much debt.
There will be a second and far worse GFC....a bomb with no warning. I expect the govt will freeze all deposits in all banks instead of rushing to guarantee deposits as in the past. Look back to what Piggy did when the bosses at the PSIS stuffed up big time.
Here is something I have been working on that you might like Wally. I am looking for some help from anyone gifted with languages. After reading a link from a previous thread it got me thinking about the move away from the gold standard to fiat currencies, it got me thinking about the authors point about being the biggest wealth creation experiment ever undertaken. It also pondered the outcome given that all previous attempts have failed. Anyway the term Alchemist struck me as kind of close, but not quite appropriate. Alchemy is originally derived from greek and means “to transmute metals” My idea is to come up with a new word similar in meaning to Alchemist, but than can be applied to those participating in the current scheme of printing money. Of course there may be some debate about who is the greatest amongst them. Bernanke the great......... Anyway here are some ideas I have been working on, but they need some refinement. Nihilpecunist – from nihil pecuniae - from nothing to wealth. Pecunifacerist – from pecuniam facere – create money Exnihilfacist – from ex nihilo facio – I make from nothing Creopist – from creo opes – create wealth Nihifacepist – from Nihil facere opes – create wealth from nothing
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/ecb-allows-irish-central-bank-to.html
Ireland central bank counterfeited 51 billion Euros out of thin air. The amount is not backed by government bonds. Nor was it a loan from the ECB or anyone else. The money is counterfeit in every sense of the word.Cracking disclosure AJ....wonder if Bolly's 'nuclear option' has the same stench about it!...
Now should I invest my money in an Irish bank...ummmm...errrr...hmmmm...gee do you think there is any risk?....perhaps I should play safe and buy euros....wonder what the Germans are thinking!
Crystal ball time....how soon before we see XTs on sale...!...that stands for extension trailer...just what you will need for your all electric vehicle if you want to make the longer trips...to be regarded by govts as integral parts of the car for taxes...these little units will be a third the size of current small trailers and contain enough battery power to boost ranges by 500km. They may even provide freezer/fridge space too.
An inability to reverse given a rear view screen must surely mean you wouldn't bleeding well buy one. Dang thing would unhook in a jiffy and be fully balanced for ease of movement by hand. The aim is to extend the silly town range by 500km or more. Unit size about 300deep 300 front to back and about 1200 wide. Space to plonk the other half on top. What could be better. Hmmmmm...that would put the booze at risk....better not.
Wolly,
Maybe you could buy a bike with a nice clear plastic canopy over it and with a powered trailer.
And the two wheeled trailer would mean the bike wouldn't fall over when you stopped/parked
Should get 1000km range with that. Even enough power for an electric horn to blast passing cars.
Here are some of the good bits:
Gates told reporters that Hu had assured him the timing was coincidental. After being asked for his own thoughts regarding the relationship between the military and the political leadership in China after his meetings with Chinese civilian and defense leaders, Gates noted that he had become concerned about that relationship over time
Although Gates did not say the Chinese military tested the J-20 without political clearance from Hu, the idea was certainly suggested by the media coverage and Gates’ response.
If indeed the test surprised Hu, then there is serious trouble in China’s leadership structure.
The Chinese miracle is nearing its natural conclusion, as Beijing begins to face a reality like that seen by Japan, South Korea and the other Asian Tigers that all followed the same growth pattern. How that crisis plays out is fundamentally different depending upon the country: Japan has accepted the shared long-term pain of two decades of malaise; South Korea saw short, sharp, wrenching reforms; Indonesia saw its government collapse. The reliability of the military, the capability of the civilian leadership and the level of acceptance of the population all combine to shape the outcome.
Sh-- a brick!
"Tertiary Education Commission (TEC)..... proposal to cut jobs The proposal, which also included the creation of 39 new positions, would mean about 80 of the approximately 300 jobs at TEC would be lost,...... workload includes the distribution of $3 billion of funding to about 800 education providers."herald.
Does it really take 300 people to distribute money?
Do we really need 800 providers?
"yes, only 308 sections sold nationally in December 2010."
Facts:
20% more than in 2008, 10% down on 2009 and the highest number since September 2010.
You'd get even more eyeballs if you wrote it like this, of course
"A massive drop of 10% over 2009, just marginally up on the 2008 numbers and hardly any movement since September."
Excellent post by Tyler Turden submitted by Giordano Bruno of Neithercorp Press.
"Disinformation fog intensifies - economic turmoil develops".
Also worthwhile to read the comments to this post.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-disinformation-fog-intensif…
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