Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics:
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1381.5 | -2.1 | -0.15% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2331.1 | -35.9 | -1.52% |
| Oil (WTI) | 104.3 | 0.1 | 0.06% |
| LIBOR | 0.466 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 79.78 | 0.307 | 0.39% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.99% | -0.01% | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 172.2 | -0.2 |
Equity markets are slightly weaker this morning on a disappointing earnings report from Intel. IBM and Yahoo also reported last night. Abbott Labs and Halliburton beat estimates this morning. Spanish bond yields are lower. Bonds and MBS are slightly higher. No economic data this morning.
Part of the reason for the strong market rally yesterday was a strong Spanish bond auction. Many have noted that the Spanish banks have been large buyers of Spanish government debt. Bill Gross called the market “artificially controlled” on CNBC, and he doesn’t trust it. Bloombergnotes the bad debt exposure for Spanish banks, and the possibility for the government to take on contingent liabilities. Spain has the 12th largest GDP in the world (Greece is something like 35th), so don’t think a crisis would be a repeat of last fall.
Housing advocates are worried that a President Romney will take aim at HUD. Of course HUD could remain as the alphabet soup of government housing agencies get re-organized. For all intents and purposes, the US mortgage market is nationalized, and while the GSEs may go away in name, their function will be handled by some other entity. It would take roughly 500 billion to fully capitalize the GSEs and that kind of money can’t be raised in the private sector.
US Bancorp is noting that demand for credit is increasing. CEO Richard Davis told CNBC yesterday that mortgage demand was the highest in the bank’s history. The Minneapolis-based bank had reported better than expected numbers earlier that morning. So, this is one positive data point to throw in the mix of negative ones we have been seeing lately.
Ever done a quick fix on your home with the intention of doing a full repair later, but never got around to it? Here are some good ones (note the uses of hockey pucks)
Filed under: Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
Should anyone care: I will be traveling for business for the next two weeks and reading/responding/posting on this blog will be spotty.
LikeLike
Speaking for all, we care.
Have a safe journey, Spot.
Also, if you are going to be in Austin, let’s at least have lunch.
LikeLike
jnc:
You have been MIA recently everywhere. Hurry back.
LikeLike
OT to banned:
No D support for Part D because of donut hole and “non-interference” clause (gov can’t negotiate prices). adn they didn’t want Bush to be the one to add drug coverage.
LikeLike
“markinaustin, on April 18, 2012 at 9:02 am said: Edit Comment
Speaking for all, we care.
Have a safe journey, Spot.
Also, if you are going to be in Austin, let’s at least have lunch.”
Thanks. I’m going to be in Hawaii on business. I may be in Austin in October for the Austin City Limits music festival. I’ve gone the past two years. It’s a pretty safe bet you will find me on the deck at the Cedar Door about two hours after my plane arrives.
LikeLike
nova:
Thank you. I really thought it was co-written because on the whole it seems to be a good piece of legislation. As I put it earlier, the good being the enemy of the perfect?
LikeLike
The eternal question for President Obama:
“In presidential politics, should the grading be on a curve? Specifically, assessing President Obama, is it correct to judge his policies on the merits, or in the broader context of legislative realities and the elephant-in-the-room fact of the looming election?”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/grading-the-white-house-on-the-buffett-rule/2012/04/17/gIQAaYT0OT_story.html
LikeLike
there were other non Part D provisions the House Ds didn’t like. Medicare Advantage provisions and HSAs.
LikeLike
nova
I believe we can call that the compromise that one makes in a republican form of governmnet, no?
LikeLike
meaning a drug benefit in Medicare in exchange for HSAs and MA plans?
LikeLike
yes
LikeLike
gotcha. yes. take the drug benefits= and declare victory.
LikeLike
John,
This may be of interest to you:
“Medicare Part D — The Product of a Broken Process
Louise M. Slaughter, M.P.H.
N Engl J Med 2006; 354:2314-2315June 1, 2006
Most Americans agree that affordable drug coverage under Medicare has been needed for some time. But instead of a solution to a growing problem, Congress gave the country a prescription-drug plan that achieves few of its original goals. The current problems with Medicare Part D are largely the direct result of the undemocratic way in which the plan was authored and passed. The final legislation, heavily influenced by drug-company and health insurance lobbyists, focused mainly on the needs of those industries instead of those of the seniors it should serve.”
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp068116
LikeLike
And this:
“Bush Drug Proposal in Medicare Plan Faces Stiff Battle
By ROBERT PEAR and ROBIN TONER
Published: May 21, 2003”
…
“White House officials and Republicans in Congress say the private plans would be more efficient than Medicare’s lumbering bureaucracy. But the idea of using drug benefits to entice elderly people into those plans is in trouble on Capitol Hill.
Democrats are almost universally opposed to the effort, which they deride as a move to privatize Medicare.”
…
“Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the senior Democrat on the committee, has also denounced the idea of ”differential drug benefits,” saying it would discriminate against people in traditional Medicare. ”That’s just not fair,” Mr. Baucus said. ”In Montana, virtually all beneficiaries are in traditional Medicare.”
Behind the fight on Capitol Hill is a struggle over the future of Medicare: Will it remain a traditional social insurance program, offering the same package of benefits, specified by Congress, to everyone on the rolls? Or will it embrace a larger role for private health plans, competing to control costs and offer innovative benefits to a generation of aging baby boomers — but also, critics say, restricting their choices of doctors and hospitals?”
…
“Under Mr. Bush’s proposal, people in the traditional Medicare program would receive drug discount cards and protection against very high drug expenses. People in private plans would get comprehensive drug benefits worth about twice as much as the assistance given to people in traditional Medicare.”
I believe in the end, the Republicans caved, jettisoned the Medicare reform proposals, and it became a free drug giveaway to seniors.
LikeLike
I didn’t see a new morning report yet, so posting this here:
“CIA seeks new authority to expand Yemen drone campaign
By Greg Miller, Published: April 18
The CIA is seeking authority to expand its covert drone campaign in Yemen by launching strikes against terrorism suspects even when it does not know the identities of those who could be killed, U.S. officials said.
Securing permission to use these “signature strikes” would allow the agency to hit targets based solely on intelligence indicating patterns of suspicious behavior, such as imagery showing militants gathering at known al-Qaeda compounds or unloading explosives.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-seeks-new-authority-to-expand-yemen-drone-campaign/2012/04/18/gIQAsaumRT_story.html
I believe in another context this practice would be referred to as “profiling” and would rouse vigorous opposition from the left if used for drug or weapons searches. Targeted assassinations are OK though.
LikeLike