In Moscow this week, the all-female Russian rock band "Pussy Riot" was convicted of "hooliganism" and sentenced to two years in prison. The heinous crime was staging a forty second event last February, protesting the Russian church’s support of the Kremlin. Russian President Putin weighed in on the case by pleading for the courts to be lenient on the young ladies and viola; the three were spared summary executions and sentenced to a forced vacation in a Siberian Gulag. This crafty response by the Kremlin was designed to scare Putin opponents but not foreign investors which are sorely needed to grow the stalled Russian economy. Continue reading "The Pussy Riots in Russia"
Tag: Keith Schneider
Stocks Indexes Bolt to Recent Highs
The US stock markets mirrored Olympic gold medalist running champion Usain Bolt by earning its own medal with the SPY bolting to highs not seen since April. The US outpaced other stock indexes while registering five consecutive weekly gains. However, unlike Bolt, the Markets are anticipating its next victory based on a fresh round of monetary steroids from the FED and support of the EURO by the ECB. Continue reading "Stocks Indexes Bolt to Recent Highs"
2012, A Trading Odyssey
Knight Securities loss of $440 million this week was attributed to a "glitch" in a new trading software release. Rumor has it that a disgruntled computer took over, hid or disabled the abort button, and sent out massive market orders causing the firm to lose $10 million per minute for almost 44 minutes, putting Knight into almost instant insolvency. The term "glitch" according to Webster's dictionary, is deemed to be "a minor or temporary setback", not a potential death blow. This categorization of Wall Street incompetence is reminiscent of the recent JPM trading loss of what is now over 7 billion as it was initially referred to as "Tempest in a Teapot" by Jamie Dimon, one of the worlds most highly regarded CEO's. Continue reading "2012, A Trading Odyssey"
You Can't Handle the Truth
As a result of the fallout of the Barclay's Libor scandal and resignation of its Chairman and CEO, it was further revealed that the Federal Reserve was aware of this fraud and manipulation for years. What's a trader or investor to do with such information and any other information reported by governments, central banks, and corporations? The message is loud and clear: if we don't think you can handle the truth, we are not giving it to you. The obvious next question is- What other reports might the powers that be, cooking? And this beat goes on, and on, and on... Continue reading "You Can't Handle the Truth"
Storms in the Cloud
After a dose of irrational exuberance based on the Euro rescue, the US equity markets finally took a breather this week closing marginally down, but still in a bullish market phase. One concern is the number of distribution days over the past few weeks, even as the market has bounced nicely. Continue reading "Storms in the Cloud"
