The "up-to-the-minute Market Data" thread

Buffett criticizes bank stress tests
Berkshire Hathaway CEO says 15 of 19 banks facing tests are not too big to fail
&siteid=nbsh]marketwatch

OMAHA, Nebraska (MarketWatch) -- Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett criticized the government's stress tests of the nation's largest banks Sunday, telling a press conference that the health of large lenders can't be judged by calculating ratios and adjusting loss expectations on broad asset classes such as home equity loans and credit card loans.

More at Link...

So WB's trying to be the whole band on the Titanic???

Never fear...Warren Buffets here

Buffett attacks bank tests, eyes flu pandemic
www.reuters.com...

Buffett faults stress test, defends bank holdings
www.reuters.com...

Buffett offers bleak outlook for U.S. newspapers
www.reuters.com...

Buffett dispenses gloom at Berkshire fest
www.reuters.com...

Obama to roll out international tax proposals
www.reuters.com...

Obama says financial sector to shrink
www.reuters.com...

Bank of America plans to raise $10 billion in capital: report
www.reuters.com...

TABLE-Chrysler April U.S. vehicle sales off 48.1 pct
www.reuters.com...

Boston Globe's big deadline nears, union hopeful
www.reuters.com...

Boston Globe's big deadline nears without accord
www.reuters.com...

Globe Negotiations Turn 'Ominous,' Union Says
www.thebostonchannel.com...

U.S. jobs data a stress test of its own
www.reuters.com...

East Asia sets up emergency $120 billion fund for crisis
www.reuters.com...

Whew...damn...

[edit on 5/3/2009 by Hx3_1963]

Buffett attacks buyback strategy as 'foolish'
www.telegraph.co.uk...

eaking at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Mr Buffett said: "Most of the repurchasing in recent years was foolish." He added that companies invariably paid too much.

Mr Buffett said that only once in the last decade had he considered buying back Berkshire stock as its shares were trading "demonstrably lower than intrinsic value".

However, he stressed: "I don't think that situation exists now."

Many companies that bought back shares over the last two years are licking their wounds, particularly in the financial sector.

More at Link...

S&P 500 +2.90 878.50 5/4 0:10am
Fair Value 874.12 5/2 7:36pm
Difference* +4.38

NASDAQ +6.00 1404.50 5/3 11:53pm
Fair Value 1394.79 5/2 7:36pm
Difference* +9.71

Dow Jones +29.00 8210.00 5/3 11:26pm
========
Shanghai Composite 2,534.08 May 3 Up 56.51 (2.28%)
Hang Seng 16,081.06 12:10AM ET Up 560.07 (3.61%)
Nikkei 225 8,977.37 May 1 Up 149.11 (1.69%)
Taiwan Weighted 6,354.38 12:05AM ET Up 361.81 (6.04%)

reply to post by Hx3_1963

Another cookie from Mr. Buffett:

Buffett said Sunday that 15 of the 19 banks involved in the stress tests are not too big to fail.

"Those banks could fail and be transferred to other lenders without it costing the taxpayer anything," Buffett added. "Those 15 for sure would find a home if the FDIC decided to move on them next weekend."

Why is it so that Buffett plays Robin Hood or something looking after the taxpayers?

I think that he doesn't like the idea of the government telling the bankers what will be in their vaults in the future and what the bankers must do about it -- all based on a test that may not be representative of the future development at all.

How does that affect Buffett's stack?

Aah, that's a deep number-crunching process, I guess. Hope Warren didn't make a mistake in it.

"Those banks could fail and be transferred to other lenders without it costing the taxpayer anything," Buffett added. "Those 15 for sure would find a home if the FDIC decided to move on them next weekend."

We know you want to consolidate all the powers in your friends hands. You know what? Screw you piece of garbage!

reply to post by stander
Open Mouth insert cash

What a "false Ruse"...it's all a scam to begin with...

Wish I had a Cronie & Co keyboard...for just one day this week




Sell in May and stay away -- sort of
Commentary: Shorting may be the best option for some traders
&siteid=nbsh]marketwatch

[edit on 5/4/2009 by Hx3_1963]

Washington Post: After negotiations fail in the last hours, The New York Times Co. readies plans to close the Boston Globe in 60 days.about 1 hour ago from web

reply to post by Hx3_1963


Stone the crows, Hx - you never cease to amaze me. You even managed to get a picture of THE keyboard. I have to admit I never realised your connexions went that high.

Some good news for stander: do you remember how he bought heavily into GM? There may be some hope on the horizon in the form of Fiat buying its European subsidiaries, Opel & Vauxhall.



[edit on 4/5/09 by pause4thought]

reply to post by stander


Just the ones he owns of course are too big to fail, the others of course could fall prey lol

Originally posted by disgustedbyhumanity
reply to post by TH3ON3

 

It's the facts dude. That's all. You cannot disprove one thing I have said. It is obvious that some people cannot accept the truth and would rather dwell on the negatives even if they are just an illusion.

Someone agrees with me?

Wish I would have seen these comments sooner

I thought more people would be jumping on board here, especially now that we are back in the green basically on all indicies..

Still, cant say i told ya so yet.. but we are only about 1,000 more points on the dow till we see the explosion to the upside I have been calling for..

Remember when you used to wake up in the morning and see Dow Futures up 250-300 in the morning??

Havent seen that in about 9-10 years.. I think we see that pretty soon (within 1 year)

I have good news and bad news. The bad one goes first:

March home sales in: Worst drop in 18 years

The news for home sales continues to be bad, as last month's figures showed the worst drop in home sales in the last 18 years. That's almost two decades, folks. The prime reason? It's not that hard to guess (being slapped on every business magazine cover these days): the subprime lending market. As Michael Fowlkes reported on yesterday, the outlook for the housing market in the U.S. is not looking all that rosy for the near future.

Sales were well below what market economists had predicted for March. Those for existing homes fell 8.4% (an annual rate of 6.12 million from February's 6.68 million). That drop from a month-to-month period was the largest since 1989 according to the National Association of Realtors. In addition, sales of single-family homes were down 9.5% in March.

www.bloggingstocks.com...

And now the good news:

According to the latest batch of U.S. economic data, pending home sales for March advanced a better-than-expected 3.2% month-over-month.

news.moneycentral.msn.com...

reply to post by GreenBicMan


I did the "Apple Shuffle" last week and bought a good chunk,has had a nice lil' return since and I'm happy with that for now...it's just ALL too flippin' uncertain as to "jumping back in" because if Miz Pelosi gets her panties in a bunch and shuts us all down...well...that will mean the Street as well kiddos...everything will be stopping and as of today,it's just as much of a quagmire as before as to the "what might happen."

Gonna' wait until things die down or die out a bit more myself.

Can someone answer me this PLEASE :

How is it that major auto manufacturers are falling like flies, banks are falling, GDP is falling, EU forecast is for prolonged deep recession, newspapers are folding, and businesses all over the country are simply dropping like flies, consumer spending and confidence is about as low as it can go, corporate real esate is falling off a cliff, there is literally not a SINGLE POSITIVE FIGURE OUT THERE and yet the DOW is going through the roof ?

Does this have anything to do with huge amounts of cash being injected into the economy and having nowhere else to go ? And if this is so - then this could well be the one thing that completely breaks the economy as the money being speculated into the market will simply evaporate........

Anyone.

Well... the gubmint gave a lot of cash to companies.... and the gubmint owns a lot of stocks.... so the logical thing to do is to pump up the stock market, get everybody happy again, and allow the gubmint to make a killing when they sell back the stocks. Then the companies earn enough to pay back the loans and the gubmint gets their money back many times over.

Obama wins again!!!

And by that time the citizens will be back to work and buying stuff.

And disease will wipe out some people, leaving more money for the survivors.

reply to post by audas

Reminds me of a saying from a wise guy I know, "A lie is only good till the Truth comes out". We are witnessing the greatest mass manipulation of the populace since Hitler. The problem is that you can preach against Gravity for awhile and people might believe you, but when your converts start to hit the pavement, things change mighty quick.

I am not so concerned about reality catching up with TPB, it's coming like a slow freight train, I'm thinking about how prepared am I? How prepared are You? This is where the rubber meets the road. Do we have the Courage of our Convictions, or are we merely observers and pundits?

I would strongly urge everyone here who sees what's coming to use these opportunities to move in a positive direction by upping their game on preparedness. Wondering at the levitating act currently in progress is a distraction at best. If we truly believe we've seen behind the curtain then we should be acting accordingly.

Edit to add: marketoracle.co.uk...

[edit on 4-5-2009 by HimWhoHathAnEar]

U.S. to tell 'about 10' banks to hike capital: WSJ
&siteid=nbsh]marketwatch

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. is expected to direct about 10 of the 19 banks undergoing government stress tests to boost their capital, a move that officials hope will quell fears about the solvency of the financial sector, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The exact number of banks affected remains under discussion, the report said, though possible candidates for capital-raising could include Wells Fargo & Co. and several regional banks, the report said, citing unnamed sources. At one point, officials believed as many as 14 banks would need to raise more funds to create a stronger buffer against future losses, the report said, but that number has fallen in recent days.

LAYOFF DAILY
Mon 5-4-2009

Sprint/Nextel -1,000
State of Michigan layoffs -120
Energy BBDO -19
Trace Die Cast -135
Wolf-Block Law Firm -428
Accent Marketing Services -400
Jet Choice -88
Kadoink -14
Excelsior Education Centers -17
Severstal Wheeling -90
Amylin Pharmaceuticals -200
BP Solar -140
General Mills Plant in Martel, OH -30
Tempe, AZ area schools -42
Northland Communications -8
Eaton Corp additional temporary layoffs -30
Sunrise Senior Living Centers -150
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ -253
Scicom -145
Thunder Valley Casino -100
Wells Fargo NE FL Mortage Operations -100
Fraser Papers, Inc. -100
Cambridge University Press -58
Atlantic Southeast Airlines -30
Enterprise Rent-a-car -171
Fiber Instrument Sales, Inc. -12
RGB Technologies, Inc. -12
New Release LP -25
Texas Petrochemicals -65
Sage Software Group -1,000
Rumor: Mens Journal -5
Delphi -200
Chicken of the Sea Samoa Plant -2,000
Dawn Food Products -59
American medical Response -171
Broward County, FL Sheriff's Office -300
Las Vegas School District -574
IDG to cut Staff by 8%
New York City announces job cuts -3,750
WPP (worldwide) -7,000
Wabash National makes temp layoffs permanent -790
Covalon Technologies (Canada) -41
New Jersey Nets -10
Mercury General -300
Squire Sanders Law Firm -32
Colorado State University -40
Firestone Textiles Co. temporary layoffs -32
Mansfield, OH Police Department -18

TOTAL - 20,303 - est

58,000 mass layoffs in China during Q1

I am over my head now when it comes to the markets good rallies since the flu scare started to hit the nation.

It seems to me that been under a pandemic is actually good for business now a days.

Because obviously wal street loves the flu.

reply to post by audas


For a long while the price of a company's stock would relate to it's over all "well being" so to speak. However, especially since 2001 it seems, stock market indexes have moved more and more away from the "reality" that is the true economy. Because the Market is detached from the actual healthiness of the companies, it's hard to gauge the economy by looking at Indexes. Which is sad, because the entire point Indexes where created for, was to group together certain corporations to get an idea as to "how well is that sector of the economy doing".

But no more.

That's not to say there is no correlation at all, but you could think of it as a knot unwinding it's self, still tied together but not nearly as tightly as it once was.

If you look at 2001-2007 we saw a period that would be considered a time of unimaginable wealth if you look only at the markets. But in reality inflation ate our savings, shrunk our spendable income and basically zapped our purchasing power. This all inclines that (even if you got a raise during this period) your income growth was negative to inflation .. meaning during this time of unimaginable wealth ...... we where getting poorer and poorer. At that fastest rate since the Great Depression in fact. The only reason 2001-2007 was NOT a continued recession, and ultimately the depression it should have been.. was the extension of Credit. To prop the markets and the economy, credit was made cheap and easy.

So we see a disconnected market.. that many like myself and many in this thread back in 2006-07-08 where screaming about.. showed huge economic growth, when really we set our selves up for collapse.

Right now, the S&P is nearly in the green for the year, meaning it has lost no value.. but the vast majority of the index's companies posted huge losses, lowered expectations for revenue, laid off hundreds of thousands, and still the market increases? Shows how disconnected it is, it's price-to-revenue ratio is so discombobulated it's absurd.

It also shows perhaps that the market is setting up for another bear market slide.

Another reason for the continued growth of the markets, is that many funds back in oct-nov-dec put billions into treasuries for a short term. As they mature, they are taking their capital and putting it back in the market while stocks are cheap. You never leave cash laying around, it always has to be working. The markets at present time offered a much larger gain than treasuries.

So no, economy is not better. It's worse. Worst so far in fact and only getting worse. If you day trade and don't hold stock for dividends, life goes on, but by no means does the market reflect the truth behind the REAL economy.. one which is crippled with governmentintrudingitis.