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

reply to post by St Udio


Broke below 1.24 today...

Looking quite weak

1.26 IMO was the tipping point... 2008 lows had to hold in reality for any confidence in EUR/USD IMO

reply to post by jacksmoke


If you would like to you are more than welcome.

I don't have a membership etc.

I just have to ask.....how profitable have you been...GreenBicMan....over the last year and a half since the bank bailouts...and do you think any of the info here is responsible for it?

(I'm breaking my silence.) I'm guessing you've done pretty well...

[edit on 14-5-2010 by David9176]

reply to post by David9176


I don't listen to anyone else but myself. I am wrong at least 50% of the time, but it is usually at a 3:1 risk.

I don't really do anything too much discretionary trading anymore, just play around sometimes with a micro forex account. I make a meager living, receiving only a percentage of a fund overseas that runs my trading algorithms in FX and Sp500 futures contracts.

I have a variable annuity that allows for rebalancing that I like to have fun with. Although in that you can only pick the funds to go into and you really can't have a specific say.

Those are just a lot of fancy words but in reality I am just in debt like anyone else unfortunately haha.

reply to post by GreenBicMan

Those are just a lot of fancy words but in reality I am just in debt like anyone else unfortunately haha.

Sweetness!!!

Sometimes I wish I traded stocks...there are a few times I know that I would have came out ahead.....but lucky me...

I don't have money to do it!!

Instead I'll drink a few brews and feel sorry for myself. Doesn't matter really, I think we are all headed for the S-house regardless.

Good times!!

(The rest of your post went WAY over my head. :lol

reply to post by David9176


You don't want the stress.

Enjoy what you have. It's already too late for me. It isn't as fun as an amusement park ride but makes you feel x10 as sick. Watching your future go up and down in real time on a computer screen isn't as fun as it would seem at first thought.

reply to post by GreenBicMan

Enjoy what you have. It's already too late for me.

We all feel for you, man. And the worse thing about being on death row is all those appeals keep raising your hopes.

We all know the eventual outcome...


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1410f444dcd6.png[/atsimg]


(Source)

And the Californians get it one more time in the behind...

Schwarzenegger Budget: No New Taxes, Deeper Cuts

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger releases his revised budget plan for the coming fiscal year Friday, one that is expected to propose deep cuts across most state agencies and call for eliminating many health and social programs for the poor.

With unemployment remaining high and tax revenue low, California will face a deficit of more than $20 billion — a quarter of all general fund spending — in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The governor and Republican lawmakers have vowed not to raise taxes, as the Legislature did last year, ensuring that spending cuts will be the main solution. That could leave single mothers, foster youth, children from low-income families, the disabled and seniors who rely on state services feeling most of the pain.

Democrats, the Legislature's majority party, say California already has cut too much from state programs in recent years and will violate the spirit of the recently enacted federal health care overhaul if Schwarzenegger's proposals are enacted.

Schwarzenegger and lawmakers have made cuts, borrowing and adjustments of about $60 billion over the past two years. Earlier this year, the governor threatened to eliminate the state's welfare-to-work program and health insurance for children from low-income families unless the federal government gave California an additional $6.9 million, which Schwarzenegger maintains is its fair share. So far, the state has received nearly $3 billion.

The situation in California is really HELL...

And of course Obama won't bail them out... but he sure as hell will bail out EUROPE and FANNIE, FREDDIE, Goldman, JP Morgan, ect...

This is just disgusting. California shouldn't even be cutting the budget nor raising taxes.

Here's why :

California GDP : 1.85 trillion
California debt to GDP : 4%
California deficit to GDP for 2010 : 1.6%

Now until California has a debt of 80-90% of GDP, they shouldn't cut the budget and just wait for the economy to get better.

Spain socialist prime minister less socialist than California...

The Case for Socialism: Spain's Socialist prime minister has cut civil service pay by 5% and then frozen it in an attempt to reduce budget deficits by almost half (from over 11% to 6% of GDP) in two years.
Cutting state employees pay in California? Good luck with that.

And an US bailout of Europe ain't much a surprise since the ECB bought trillions of US dollars to support the dollar, otherwise the Euro would have climbed past 2 US$-2.25 US$/1 euro.. around mid-08...and it would have killed EU exports.

[edit on 15-5-2010 by Vitchilo]

Originally posted by David9176
reply to post by GreenBicMan

 

Those are just a lot of fancy words but in reality I am just in debt like anyone else unfortunately haha.

Sweetness!!!

Na you wouldn't only people with inside info come out on top. No matter how smart you think you are the game is rigged. Everyone loses except them.

Forgot to do the FDIC friday...

4 banks, total cost to the FDIC : 301.7 million, so not so much. 116 banks down so far this year.

Awww

Euro Plunges As France Downgrade Rumor Emerges

Ooops!

RUMOR: Spanish Government May Backtrack On Austerity, Attempt To Close Gap With Big Tax Hikes

Instead, the government may just be planning massive tax hikes, as popular unrest over its planned budget cuts grow.

Probably true.

Detroit To Destroy 10,000 Abandoned Homes

Detroit is finally chipping away at a glut of abandoned homes that has been piling up for decades, and intends to take advantage of warm weather and new federal funding to demolish some 3,000 buildings by the end of September.

Mayor Dave Bing has pledged to knock down 10,000 structures in his first term as part of a nascent plan to “right-size” Detroit, or reconfigure the city to reflect its shrinking population.

Now imagine this across America and Europe in the next few years...

And boohoo, Bilderberg and Trilateral members are crying because they can't get their world government and people want to stay nationalistic... so now they are gearing up for a war with Iran.

Spain facing 200 billion in maturing debt


[edit on 15-5-2010 by Vitchilo]

reply to post by andy1033


That isn't the case unless you consider my dumbass on the inside. It takes a lot of work like any profession to be good at something.

News we knew all along...of course you won't see this on CNBC!

We are still halfway through the world’s worst financial crisis ever. :Mervyn King

WORST FINANCIAL CRISIS EVER. Yes, worse than the great depression!

And CNBC is still saying RECOVERY RECOVERY! And calling it recession!

reply to post by Vitchilo


And I thought we were over the crisis, or that is what the corporate media and our government is telling us about, so we can go out and spend and spend and spend to revive everybody over seas economy but ours.

I just joined but was a lurker on this site. Interesting that you have a market thread. I trade options mostly. Ever since that 1000 pt drop I am cautious. I am short some e minis and that is all I am holding "long term" (more than a day), just day trade now... Something is very wrong. I used to believe we were heading for the 1330 region but we still have more downside to come. A lot or a little is still up in the air for me...

[edit on 16-5-2010 by MrDarlingFace]

For this is the truth, believe what you want to believe. There is nothing that you can do except escape... But wait, this world shall unfold within a couple of weeks, economic collapse is imminent. It has all been pre-decided for hundreds of years. I hope you all survive.

Originally posted by Arcandost
For this is the truth, believe what you want to believe. There is nothing that you can do except escape... But wait, this world shall unfold within a couple of weeks, economic collapse is imminent. It has all been pre-decided for hundreds of years. I hope you all survive.

I think you have been reading the bible too much as you seem to be emulating the doom and gloom prophets.

A very important and true article from Market Ticker... I think this applies to everyone in Canada, US and Europe...

Ten Things For 2010

So with that behind us, let's update for 2010:

CNBS and other "media moguls" will not tell you the truth. They didn't in the "flash crash" of last Thursday and they won't next time. Remember that CNBS was running with a "fat finger" explanation for the collapse within minutes of the market stabilizing. That was utter and complete crap and anyone watching the markets knew it. I knew what happened immediately, and so did they. Listen to those who refuse to report the facts as they occur at your peril.

If you're not out of debt by now, you're about out of time. No, it is not a good time to buy a new car. No, it is not a good time to buy a new house (or an old house!) It is an especially bad time to crank up the credit cards. The illusion you have been given by the media and banksters that "all is well" is exactly what a shark would want as he entices you into the water after eating two of your best friends! I have warned for more than three years now to get out and stay out of debt, especially unsecured debt.

If you're a youngster graduating from high school or in college, do not, under any circumstance, take debt to continue your education. The collapse in the Ponziconomy for education has barely begun. But it will come and with it will come severe devaluation of your college education and tuition. If this means you have to go to a cheaper college or work while attending, then do so. Perform a strict cost:benefit analysis of your educational expenses .vs. expected earnings improvement .vs. a different career path. If it does not pencil out where you can recover the entire booked expense of college within 5-10 years, don't do it! Why 10 years at the outside? Because you must build in a risk premia and this is the easiest way to do so. Remember that the years you put into education are years you can't put into becoming entirely self-sufficient. If you bypass an economic downturn and come out the other side when the economy is recovering, you win. But if you come out of college with $40, 50 or $100,000+ in debt and can't get a job at anything close to enough to make the payments and remain solvent you are screwed. Further, be aware that student loans are the most-toxic debt of all, as they cannot be discharged in bankruptcy and as such the arrears of interest will be capitalized if you default, meaning the PRINCIPAL will grow without boundary, they WILL garnish your wages, intercept tax refunds and in general make your life a living hell. High Schools, Colleges and their "counselors" will not tell you this as they are fully-invested in feeding themselves. They're salesmen, not counselors, and you had best never forget that.

To repeat from last year: Save 10% or more of your gross income. We're not looking at hyperinflation folks, in my view - we're looking at a deflationary collapse. Cash is perfectly fine but make damn sure it's really cash and not some exotic "cash equivalent" that can get gated. This means, unfortunately, money market funds are no longer safe with recent changes to SEC regulations. If you fear hyperinflation do not look to Gold, instead buy a small (5% of your total portfolio) position in far out of the money LEAP CALLS on the major indices, spread across them. Why? Because (1) the tax structure on gold is unfavorable, (2) gold has never performed well on a contemporary basis .vs. inflation and (3) you can't eat it. If you try to get around the tax man structure you're going to get creamed; governments can and WILL prevent that from working. My recommendation thus is to buy insurance against a hyperinflationary event using instruments that do not try to evade the formal financial structure, are levered (to get around the tax hit) and are defined risk (so as to avoid losing your ass if you're wrong.)

If you're wondering if you have enough liquidity to survive you don't. The common "chestnut" is to have a couple of paychecks to three months worth. I have repeatedly said that I believe you need to be able to survive six to twelve months or more with no income of any sort. I meant it then and I mean it now, and those are minimums. Yes, I know this will draw guffaws. Ask those people who are rolling off 99 weeks of unemployment whether I was full of it or not when I said to have a year or more worth of liquid funds in 2007!

Last year I said to "sell or hedge risk" in the stock market. This year I say just sell and pocket the damn money. If you hedged, you forfeited the hedge cost but are WAY ahead on balance. If you sold at 950 you may be complaining of the 20% (to 1138) you didn't make from 950 but you booked a 42% profit off the 666 low. Who's complaining about a 42% return when you only had your money at risk for three months? If you hedged you got the entire thing but forfeited 5 or 10% of the profit for the price of the hedge. Again, what's to complain about? There is a possibility we may bounce again to another high, but you saw last Thursday, right? That risk is not only not gone it's not going to be gone. The claim of market "depth" and "liquidity" off the 666 lows was and is a lie. I have written extensively about this - about machines passing the same 100 or 1,000 shares back and forth, making it appear that the market is more liquid and deeper than it is. Lots of people laughed at me. Who's laughing now?

Get those "sudden stop" plans in place - NOW. If you're in a big city you're in big trouble. Find friends or relatives that aren't and see what you can do about a place to go where you have a reasonable shot at avoiding the worst of this. Look, all-out civil unrest (or worse) is a low-probability event but if you get trapped in a big city and the worst comes that city will go feral within hours and become a free-fire zone. What's worse, many of these cities are openly hostile to citizens having and using effective self-defense; the bad guys don't give a damn about laws - that's why they're called criminals. There really are bogey men in the world - they're called gangs folks, and they would love the opportunity that a breakdown that would come with such an event. In such a circumstance the only way to win the game is not to play. This is all about where you are, not what you have.

If you haven't acquired the means of lawful self-defense in whatever form or fashion you deem prudent at this point, the time to do so was yesterday. You need time and practice as you need competence - the biggest component of self-defense is the thing found between your ears, not the thing in your hand(s)! I know I've harped on this before but if you think you can go buy a gun when things get dicey and be "protected", having invested nothing in practice and/or training you are very likely to have that weapon taken from you and then be shot with your own gun. That's a crappy way to die; if you're unwilling or unable for whatever reason (including legal restrictions where you live) to acquire the means of defense then being concerned about the above (where you're going to go, how you're going to get there, and what you've got for supplies) becomes even more important.

About those friends I referenced in the last message on this topic: How many of them laughed at you? Seriously folks - questioning and belief is one thing, ridicule is another. An honest evaluation of who you can trust and who you can't is, in coming years, likely to be the most-important decision you will make, and you will make it time and time again. Being wrong over the last 20 years has cost you some money. Being wrong in the coming decade may throw you into rank destitution at best and cost you your life at worst. This is no laughing matter and there is no way around the facts.

So I've got... no debt, guns, ammo, food supplies, cash on hand, water well, house far from big city...the only problem is people around me... real sheeple.

[edit on 16-5-2010 by Vitchilo]

Originally posted by Vitchilo
So I've got... no debt, guns, ammo, food supplies, cash on hand, water well, house far from big city...the only problem is people around me... real sheeple.

[edit on 16-5-2010 by Vitchilo]

Then you're doing the best you can. The sheeple are everywhere. You'd have to win the lottery to find a place where the majority are in the know.

Something is very wrong.

reply to post by MrDarlingFace

Yeah, when the dow is where it was ten years ago, and that's before you adjust for inflation, I'd say somethings wrong! With most peoples retirement plans anyway. Then there's the banks that have 'perfect' quarters without even a losing day. Which is literally impossible. There should be tons of confidence in this market any day now.


Vitchilo: Yours is the dilemma facing anyone smart enough to be ahead of the curve. Will the sheeple turn into a detriment? Since they don't have enough stores to provide for themselves, the answer has to be Yes at some level. On the other hand, a community approach to defense, food gathering, etc is the best since no man is an island.

A possible solution is to lay aside organic seed and books on edible plants in the area so that people can be put to work on rebuilding and then bartered with for what they gather, hunt, grow, etc. If possible finding out what kind of firearms are in the neighborhood and whether people have any ammo. If common calibers can be identified then you could lay aside extra for neighbors which would greatly benefit a community defense initiative.

If the worst happens, the sheeple will wake up and rub their eyes. The only question is the immediate message that they recieve. One of hope or despair.

This type of planning is for any kind of natural disaster, 'terror' attack, war, etc, all of which are happening somewhere on the planet every day, and is simply prudent.