Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
FED POMO Purchase
The FED performed another POMO (Permanent Open Market Operation) purchase today for $7.24 billion dollars and on the 16th for $1.89 billion dollars. This brings the total since November 3rd 2010 (when the FED announced the printing of $600/900 billion dollars by June 2011) to $353.624 billion dollars and since August 17th 2010 to $418.084 billion dollars.
OPERATION 1 - RESULTS
| Operation Date: | 02/17/2011 |
| Operation Type: | Outright Coupon Purchase |
| Release Time: | 10:15 AM |
| Close Time: | 11:00 AM |
| Settlement Date: | 02/18/2011 |
| Maturity/Call Date Range: | 05/15/2018 - 02/15/2021 |
| Total Par Amt Accepted (mlns) : | $7,240 |
| Total Par Amt Submitted (mlns) : | $23,106 |
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monthly Retail Sales
January Retail/Core-Retail sales numbers were out today with disappointing results. Retail sales measures change in the total value of sales at the retail level. Core retail sales is retails sales excluding autos. Retail sales is a primary gauge of consumer spending. The forecast for retail sales called for a number of 0.5% and the actual headline number was 0.3%. The forecast for core retail sales called for a number of 0.6% and the actual headline number came in at 0.3%. Both numbers disappointed forecasts and main media reported this resulted in a sell off in the market, personally speaking the market moved sideways to slightly down in response to these numbers. The following categories were down this month from December 2010; Furniture & home furnishings, Building Material & Garden & supplier dealers, Clothing & clothing accessories stores, Sporting goods, hobby, book & music stores, Food services & drinking places.
FED POMO Purchase
The FED performed another POMO (Permanent Open Market Operation) purchase of $6.689 billion dollars. This brings the total since November 3rd 2010 (when the FED announced the printing of $600/900 billion dollars by June 2010) to $344.494 billion dollars and since August 17th 2010 to a total of $408.954 billion dollars.
| Operation Date: | 02/15/2011 |
| Operation Type: | Outright Coupon Purchase |
| Release Time: | 10:15 AM |
| Close Time: | 11:00 AM |
| Settlement Date: | 02/16/2011 |
| Maturity/Call Date Range: | 02/28/2015 - 08/15/2016 |
| Total Par Amt Accepted (mlns) : | $6,689 |
| Total Par Amt Submitted (mlns) : | $31,008 |
Monday, February 14, 2011
The IMF Suggests Dollar Replacement for Reserve Currency
The IMF is suggesting that the dollar be replaced with the SDR's again as they view the dollar as being to volatile to U.S. policies. The IMF suggests that its SDR's (Special Drawing Rights), an international asset, would create a more stable reserve currency. The IMF describes the SDR as the following:
The SDR was created by the IMF in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system. A country participating in this system needed official reserves—government or central bank holdings of gold and widely accepted foreign currencies—that could be used to purchase the domestic currency in foreign exchange markets, as required to maintain its exchange rate.The article by CNN make the following point about the IMF's view on SDR's as a reserve currency:
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, acknowledged there are some "technical hurdles" involved with SDRs, but he believes they could help correct global imbalances and shore up the global financial system. "Over time, there may also be a role for the SDR to contribute to a more stable international monetary system," he said.
This subject of replacing the dollar with some sort of basket of currencies and precious metals (as proposed by China, Russia, Venezuela and other countries) has been gaining momentum. In the last year the IMF has repeatedly proposed its SDR's as a more stable alternative to the U.S. dollar. So with the money printing of the FED a constant and the constant questionable position of the U.S. dollar as the future reserve currency, where does that leave the dollar? (Read More here ...)
FED POMO Purchase
The FED performed another POMO (Permanent Open Market Operation) purchase of $1.497 billion dollars. The total since November 3rd 2010 (when the FED announced the printing of $600/900 billion dollars by June 2010) to $337.805 billion dollars and the total since $402.265 billion since August 17th 2010.
| Operation Date: | 02/14/2011 |
| Operation Type: | Outright TIPS Purchase |
| Release Time: | 10:15 AM |
| Close Time: | 11:00 AM |
| Settlement Date: | 02/15/2011 |
| Maturity/Call Date Range: | 04/15/2013 - 02/15/2040 |
| Total Par Amt Accepted (mlns) : | $1,497 |
| Total Par Amt Submitted (mlns) : | $5,825 |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Weekly King World News Interviews
This week King World News interviews Robin Griffiths, John Embry and Art Cashin. Topics discussed include the Central Banks, Gold, Silver, Bonds/Emerging markets, rising interest rates, U.S. Stock markets and the economy going forward. This is great information, just remember any vested interests speakers may have in gold or any other commodity to keep an unbiased look at your possibilities.
Robin Griffiths - Discusses how the Central Banks say they can prevent inflation when we get it, but a lot of nations already have it. Robin also makes the point that they really don't want to raise interest rates, which is the other issue. He also discusses why investors are leaving or should leave bonds when the FED is printing money. Robin advises that Gold has a positive long term outlook, but could bounce off its 200 day moving average short term.
Robin sees new trends going counter secular out of bonds and emerging markets and into big blue chip equities, but is a trade due to the market already being above fair value. He suggests that oil will move toward the high of 150 per barrel again.
John Embry - Discusses that the Gold correction is a manufactured correction. John also discusses how China has announced an increased effort to add 10,000 tonnes of gold to its reserves and what effects that may have over time on the price. He also discusses how Silver inventory has become very tight and that investment demand in silver has increased over gold demand right now. John says the theory behind QE is to reduce interest rates, but it is actually is having the opposite effect and inflation is more than anybody is willing to admit.
Art Cashin - Discusses how we have been up 10 of the last 11 weeks and is hurting those bearish on the market. He discusses Egypts situation is having effects throughout the middle east and how the secretary of state that oil reserves are running out (peak oil). Saudi Arabia has overstated their oil inventory and that information has not made its way through the markets yet.
A lot more information being shared on these interviews, plus more information on the KWN site. Goto to www.kingworldnews.com for more.
Unofficial Problem Bank List
CalculatedRisk released their weekly Unofficial Problem Bank List stating the total banks on the list is now at 944 institutions with assets worth $413 billion dollars. There were 5 removals and 3 additions to the problem bank list, click here to view more information. The following graph shows which states has the most amount of problem banks on the Unofficial Problem Bank List.
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