Republican Debate #17

Posted on January 19, 2012 by okiegirl

Watched the R debate tonight. Seemed to me the gloves came off, and it got pretty cutthroat at times. Anybody else watch? I didn’t keep notes, but there were some statements that really struck me. One example: in a litany of what Obama is doing wrong, Romney included that Obama “wants the government to run this country.” Really? As opposed to whom or what? The government is the surrogate for the people as expressed by our votes.  It was notable that  Romney has already pivoted sharply to the general election.

Notes/commentary by anyone else?

A few links from Ashot:

All about the Benjamins….and Newt’s marriage(s)

EJ Dionne thinks Gingrich won and may have done enough to win South Carolina.

I thought Jennifer Rubin had a few good lines in her take on the debate.

And last, but not least, The Fix weighs in on winners (Santorum, Gingrich, Mitt not on taxes) and losers (Ron Paul).

Filed under: 2012, Debates | 56 Comments »

Slightly More Traditional Morning Report

Posted on January 19, 2012 by ashot

Slightly more Traditional Morning Report

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1305.6 3.4 0.26%
Eurostoxx Index 2413 27 1.12%
Oil (WTI) 101.95 .02 –%
LIBOR .561 -0.001 -0.20%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 80.323 -0.311 -0.38%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.9% 0.0007%

On the 10 Year Govt Bond Yield, Brent reported 1.85% yesterday, Bloomberg is the source for the “Change” report.-  Via Mark with an assist from ashot

Thanks, Ashot!  CPI is reported “unchanged” which means some stuff went up and some went down: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

Housing starts are way below anticipated:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-19/u-s-housing-starts-fell-more-than-forecast-on-drop-in-multifamily-units.html

BUT:  Jobless claims are the lowest in four years!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-19/jobless-claims-in-u-s-plunge-to-lowest-in-almost-four-years.html

– Mark

Filed under: Uncategorized | 136 Comments »

Faux Morning Report

Posted on January 19, 2012 by lmsinca

I thought this was sad.   Our oldest daughter is a photographer and while she specializes in digital, who doesn’t, her first love was the darkroom and film. (Reuters) –

 Eastman Kodak Co, which invented the hand-held camera and helped bring the world the first pictures from the moon, has filed for bankruptcy protection, capping a prolonged plunge for one of America’s best-known companies.The more than 130-year-old photographic film pioneer, which had tried to restructure to become a seller of consumer products like cameras, said it had also obtained a $950 million, 18-month credit facility from Citigroup to keep it going.The loan and bankruptcy protection from U.S. trade creditors may give Kodak the time it needs to find buyers for some of its 1,100 digital patents, the key to its remaining value, and to reshape its business while continuing to pay its 17,000 workers.”The board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,” Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio Perez said in a statement.

I really don’t have the economic experience or knowledge to interpret this data, but here it is.U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Thursday ahead of key earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.  Housing starts, weekly jobless claims and CPI data are all due at 08:30 am, while the Philadelphia Fed Business activity index is due at 10:00 am.  Note to ATiM contributors:  These would be useful updates as reported.In company news, Morgan Stanley’s head of European oil research predicts BP will likely agree to pay the U.S. Department of Justice $20-$25 billion next month to settle all charges around the Deepwater Horizon rig blast and Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

 European shares inched higher on Thursday on hopes Greece would reach an agreement on a bond swap deal with its private creditors to avoid a messy default and that bank’s earnings in the United States would be strong.  Spain drew strong demand at a debt auction which sold more than 6.6 billion euros ($8.46 billion) of bonds with maturities of up to 10 years on Thursday in its first test of market sentiment for euro zone bonds this year.  U.S. stocks jumped to their highest since July on Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund seeks to raise $600 billion to help countries hit by the European debt crisis and forecast-beating earnings from Goldman Sachs.

Filed under: 2012, Morning Report, Uncategorized | 21 Comments »