Bits & Pieces (Wednesday Night Open Mic)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

The Rev. Manning advised Ron Paul to whip Obama’s behind with the Constitution. Or did, can’t link to it now because his YouTube account has been suspended and he’s under a federal investigation for being a birther. How come this happens to him, but not Donald Trump, eh? Well, here’s a clip from one of Rev. Manning’s interesting rants now set to music. Jammin’!

Also from World Net Daily, John Stossel explains that when politicians talk about “cutting” spending, that word does not mean what they think it means.

Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics tackles the long history of negative campaigning. I cannot recommend his podcast enough. He asserts that early newspapers were essentially the blogs of the day, and also tackles the economics of the emancipation of the slaves.

4 Things Star Wars Fans Need to Accept About George Lucas.

Whose a scruffy lookin' Nerf Herder now, your highness?

Media Matters wanted to hire gumshoes to dig up dirt on the employees of Fox News in order to “discredit” them. That such a strategy might backfire, and make their side look like the bad guys while not impacting Fox’s viewership a jot or a tittle apparently never occurred to them.

That’s it for me! — KW

Filed under: Bits and Pieces, Star Wars | Tagged: , , , , , , | 57 Comments »

Barack Obama’s Black History Minute

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

Apparently recorded the same year he graduated from law school, and 5 years before he ran for the Illinois Senate.

 

 

He had a different speaking style then, I think.

Filed under: Obama | Tagged: , | 7 Comments »

Morning Report

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1352.7 5.0 0.37%
Eurostoxx Index 2504.6 16.3 0.65%
Oil (WTI) 101.52 0.8 0.77%
LIBOR 0.4951 -0.003 -0.50%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 79.543 0.159 0.20%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.93% -0.01%

Markets are higher this morning on statements from the Bank of China regarding support for the European bailout and its willingness to help. Concerns about an eventual Greek deal are offsetting some of these gains. Bonds and mortgage backed securities are flat.

Mortgage Loan Delinquencies are increasing again, according to TransUnion. 64% of MSAs reported increases, which was flat compared to Q3, but much higher than Q2.  There are seasonal factors at work here, and the continuing decline in real estate prices are certainly playing a part, but that is not an encouraging data point economically. As if the foreclosure pipeline wasn’t big enough already.

Not that the markets really care, but it looks like we have a payroll tax deal.

The Empire State Manufacturing Index came in at stronger than expected. This is a touchy-feely indicator of general business conditions put out by the New York Fed.  This index is notoriously volatile, so big moves should be taken with a grain of salt, but it shows that the expansion is gaining momentum in New York State.  Separately, industrial production was flat and capacity utilization unexpectedly fell.

The National Association of Home Builders will release their market index at 10:00 am. Residential construction has been the missing piece of the recovery, but has been showing signs of life lately.  Earnings reports from the homebuilders have been constructive.

The FOMC minutes will be released this afternoon. I am very curious to see why the Fed is behaving as if the economy is rolling over, while the data suggest otherwise.

Last, Ezra Klein at the Washington Post has a story on how the World Cup affects trading.  I can attest to this personally, having been a block trader at Bear Stearns in London for a number of years.  When England was playing a match, the phones would stop ringing and everyone had their backs to their screens, watching the match.  You could actually see major stocks like British Petroleum and Vodafone stop trading.  As an American, it was strange to watch.

****EDIT

The National Association of Homebuilders released their market index at 10:00 am.  The index came in better than expected and it looks like conditions are improving at an accelerating rate.

Chart:  NAHB Market Index:

Filed under: Economic data, Federal Reserve, Homebuilding, stock market | 55 Comments »