Aerial acrobatics...

[aussiebear]

Off and running. The Kiwis and All Ords both +0.5%. Naturally enough Gold is leading the Aussie market, +2% with Miners +1.6% and Materials +1.5%. There's a sprinkling of reds: IT is down the most -0.5%.

 

 

 

 

[aussiebear]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=asia

[aussiebear]

 

 

http://money.cnn.com/markets/morning_call/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.kitco.com

 

 

 

http://www.kitconet.com/webcharts/base_metals.html

 

Energy futures

[aussiebear]

 

 

Found in Taiwan.

[aussiebear]

 

 

Climbing the staircase. All Ords hung on to gains closing +0.7%. Gold +2.3% retained the leadership followed by Miners +1.9% and Materials +1.8%. On the downside, REITS -0.9%, IT -0.5% and Healthcare/Utilities both -0.4%.

 

Sideways in Asia: China +0.2%, Honkers flat, India +0.7% and Nikkers +0.1%.

 

 

On to UK/Europe:

 

Footsie

 

 

 

DAX

 

 

 

CAC 40

 

[aussiebear]

Australia GDP Growth Accelerated to 0.9% Last Quarter

 

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s economy grew last quarter at the fastest pace in almost two years, underscoring the central bank’s decision yesterday to boost borrowing costs for the fourth time in five meetings.

 

Gross domestic product climbed 0.9 percent from the third quarter, when it gained a revised 0.3 percent, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 18 economists.

 

Machinery and equipment spending surged 10.9 percent in the quarter from the previous three months, adding 0.8 percentage points to GDP, today’s report said. Household spending rose 0.7 percent and government spending jumped 1.8 percent.

[aussiebear]

China Overtakes U.S. in Attracting Most Property Investment

 

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- China overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest property investment market last year and will probably keep the lead in 2010 on economic growth and a lower reliance on debt, Cushman & Wakefield LLP said.

 

Real estate investment in China more than doubled to $156.2 billion last year, while the total for the U.S. slumped 64 percent to $38.3 billion, the New York-based broker said in a report today. Excluding residential investments, the U.S. came third after China and the U.K.

 

------------

 

China’s Hidden Debt Risks 2012 Crisis, Northwestern’s Shih Says

 

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- China’s hidden borrowing may push government debt to 96 percent of gross domestic product next year, increasing the risk of a financial crisis in the world’s third-biggest economy, Professor Victor Shih said.

 

“The worst case is a pretty large-scale financial crisis around 2012,” said Shih, a political economist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who spent months researching borrowing transactions by about 8,000 local-government entities. “The slowdown would last at least two years and maybe longer,” the author of the book “Factions and Finance in China” said in a phone interview March 1.

 

Surging borrowing by local-government entities, uncounted in official estimates of China’s debt-to-GDP ratio, is the key reason for Shih’s concern. Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff said Feb. 23 that a debt-fueled bubble in China may trigger a regional recession within a decade, while hedge-fund manager James Chanos has predicted a Chinese slump after excessive property investment.

[aussiebear]

Japan’s Wages Rise for First Time in 20 Months on Overtime Pay

 

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s wages rose for the first time in 20 months in January as the economic recovery prompted employers to add working hours.

 

Monthly wages including overtime and bonuses advanced 0.1 percent from a year earlier to 273,142 yen ($3,080), the Labor Ministry said today in Tokyo.

 

A global trade revival is spurring production at the nation’s factories, helping growth in Japan accelerate to an annual 4.6 percent pace last quarter. In other signs the export-fueled rebound may be spreading to households, employers stepped up hiring in January, data showed yesterday.

[I_Am_Madness]

Shorted GC at 1142.

Shorted ES at 1118.75.

[I_Am_Madness]

Looking good.

[DrStool]

 

Precious Metals Update 3/3/10 – Professional Edition

March 3, 2010 By Lee Adler Today’s gold stock screens and data, along with cycle conditions and projections for gold and HUI index, and Chart of the Day picks for swing trades. Indispensable daily information for gold and precious metals stocks traders. Click here to download complete report in pdf format (Professional Edition Subscribers).Try the Professional Edition risk free for thirty days. If, within that time you don’t find the information useful, I will give you a full refund. It’s that simple. Click here for more information.

 

 

[Drano]

So we are supposed to be happy because job outplacement firms are handling fewer customers last month.

 

So all the people laid off from small businesses, and minimum-wage jobs, go to these firms?

 

What a joke,the Challenger Report. All these statistics, for that matter.

 

And there will come a time when there are NO job cuts. Because there will be no jobs left to cut. I guess THAT will really fuel a rally then.

[Drano]

In these stressful days, perhaps a brief philosophical interlude would help focus your trading.

 

Quotes

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Of course, so does falling down a flight of stairs.

Never say die. I've tried, and it doesn't actually make people die.

Never underestimate your ability to overestimate your ability.

Laughter is the best medicine, but in certain situations the Heimlich maneuver may be more appropriate.

It takes a village to raise a child to hate all of the people in the next village.

The key to someone's heart is never lost: It's just that the locks were changed 'cause you're some sort of psycho.

You have to learn to crawl before you can grovel.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you're probably the executioner.

Every dog has his day. Of course, his day consists of smelling other dogs' butts.

You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the prince. But he probably isn't going to be interested in some frog-kisser.

True beauty is on the inside, where no one will ever see it.

One person can make a difference, if that person is, like, Bill Gates or whatzername, the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Aspire to greatness. But remember that no one ever assassinated a refrigerator repairman.

A high tide lifts all boats, except those with a big gaping hole in the bottom.

There are none so blind as those who have been in an accident at a fertilizer factory.

You can run but you can't hide, except apparently along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Say not that honor is the child of boldness, nor believe that the hazard of life alone can pay the price of it; it is not the action that is due, but to the manner of performing it. You got all that? Me neither.

You can do anything if you want it bad enough. That is why we see so many people who can fly.

Every failure is a step to success up a ladder that will eventually collapse under the weight of all those failures.

[Trader Joe]

Anatomy of a jerk-off stock...

 

Suckers....

 

MDVN

 

[I_Am_Madness]

Shorted GC at 1142.

Shorted ES at 1118.75.

 

Added a few more ES at 1120.25.