News that make you go GRRR!

SOURCE: http://theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/Forecasting_Instability_For_The_Year_To_Come

This past week the Dow rose 0.8%, the S&P 1.3%, Nasdaq 1.5% and the Russell 2000 4.4%. Banks rose 2.7%; broker/dearlers 3.9%; cyclicals 2.8%; transports 4.6%; consumer 0.8%; utilities 3.8%; high tech 2.3%; semis 8.2%; Internets 2.4% and biotechs 2.7%. Gold bullion fell $16.00 and the HUI was virtually unchanged. The dollar index USDX rose 1% to 75.75.

Two-year T-bill yields rose 15 bps to 0.84%, the ten-year notes rose 27 bps to 3.48% and the German 10-year bund rose 7 bps to 2.23%.

Freddie Mac 30-year fixed mortgage rates fell 7 bps to 4.71%. The 15’’s fell 2 bps to 4.27% and one-year ARMs fell 10 bps to 4.25%. The 30-year fixed jumbos rose 9 bps to 5.99%.

Fed credit fell $2.8 billion to $2.187 trillion. It has declined $59.5 billion ytd, but has grown $69.3 billion yoy. Fed foreign holdings of Treasuries and Agencies increased $6.2 billion to a record $2.932 trillion. Custody holdings for foreign central banks expanded at a 17.9% rate ytd, and 17.5% yoy, or $437 billion.

Total money market assets declined $10.2 billion to $3.319 trillion. They have declined $511 billion ytd, or 14.4% annualized. This is a result of the end of government guarantees on 9/1809 in order to force big savers out of these funds into Treasuries and Agencies.

M2 narrow money supply was little changed at $8.391 trillion, it is up 4.9% yoy and 2.7% ytd.

European socialists and Marxists are calling for a tax on financial transactions and American Democrats agree. Unfortunately, these types never saw a tax they didn’t like.

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