Jump to content

B4 The Bell Moonday September 27


Hiding Bear

Recommended Posts

:D Welcome to another week of trading, humor, insights, served with some political barbs and what-not at B4 the Bell! :D B4 has as its central theme short-term trading, lead by the astute technician Brain4. But it is also about any technical and economic issues that members think affects that - in a cordial atmosphere of a 24/7 international family lounge.

 

The pillars of the credit bubble are starting to shake. This time Fannie Mae's problems won't be cured by more political donations and lobbyists:

 

Fannie Mae Takes New Approach in Crisis

 

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and David A. Vise

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, September 27, 2004; Page A01

 

Fannie Mae, one of Washington's largest and most influential companies, is facing a serious crisis. Federal regulators have accused the mortgage-finance giant of cooking its books, in part to make room for huge bonuses for its top executives.

 

When confronted with emergencies in the past -- legislative efforts to tax the company or to end federal ties that give it a competitive advantage -- Fannie Mae has used a brass-knuckles approach. Its political machine, comprised of hired lobbyists, executives and directors of both political parties and grassroots groups nurtured by donations from its foundation, has long been able to run over its adversaries.

 

"I don't think they have ever faced a crisis like this. Political muscle is not going to fix this problem," said Washington attorney Bill Lightfoot, who tangled with Fannie Mae over tax issues while a member of the D.C. Council.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Sep26.html

 

globex.png

nasdaq.png

 

Rules: Doc says - "... discussion of politics and world affairs on this thread is permitted, but 911 conspiracy discussions are off limits."

 

Good trading! ;)

post-20-1096283728_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 288
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Oil on record run

Brent crude sets intraday mark in London, U.S. crude comes close as supply concerns plague market.

September 27, 2004: 6:16 AM EDT

 

LONDON (Reuters) - London oil prices hit record highs on Monday as worries about the stability of supplies from Iraq, Nigeria and Russia compounded concerns over low U.S. fuel stocks ahead of winter.

 

London Brent on the International Petroleum Exchange, the benchmark for European crude imports, set a new record of $46.05 a barrel, up 72 cents.

 

U.S. light crude gained 49 cents to $49.37 a barrel, a whisker away from August's all-time peak of $49.40, before pulling back to $49.23.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/27/markets/oi....reut/index.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

B$4 mentioned this over the weak-end:

 

The RAF military planes that escorted the Greek Olympic Airlines Airbus until it made an emergency landing at Stansted Airport in Essex, east of London, had orders to shoot it down in the case of a bomb attack or hijack, according to British newspapers ?The Guardian? and ?Daily Telegraph?.

The passenger plane was ready to depart from Stansted Airport a little after 10 am this morning to continue its trip to New York.

 

The plane with 301 people on board had departed yesterday from Athens and was led to Stansted Airport yesterday afternoon when an anonymous caller warned Athens newspaper ?To Ethnos? that there was a bomb on OA Flight 411 to New York.

 

The passengers spent the night at a hotel near the airport and the British authorities after searching the plane and its baggage confirmed that nothing suspicious had been found.

 

http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=482823

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ameritrade has had all weekend to "fix the problem" that led to their web site shut down on friday afternoon just as the market was about to free fall. It will be very interesting to see if they allow it to continue operating in the event of a sell off this morning.

 

Memo to Ameritrade:

 

We're watching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Voice Of America Suddenly top of Google News Results:

 

I've clicked on two news stories on Google News home page this morning and each was surprisingly a story on Voice of America...our very own propoganda service. I have never seen this before, so I can only assume that Google is acting in concert with the Ministy of Information to deliver the filtered blather to the sheeple as follows....

 

NOTHING TO SEE HERE...MOVE ALONG:

 

Europe

Search of Diverted Greek Jet Finds Nothing Amiss

VOA News

27 Sep 2004, 10:18 UTC

Email this article to a friend. Printer Friendly Version

 

British authorities gave the all-clear Monday for more than 300 people aboard a Greek passenger jet to continue their flight to New York, after bomb threats that forces the plane to make an emergency landing in London.

 

Security personnel spent hours searching the aircraft and all the passengers' luggage, and police said they are satisfied there was no threat to the flight's safety.

 

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectI...goryname=Europe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FANNIE forced to hold "cash on had" would take way too much liquidity out of the system...something's going to blow!

 

Fannie Mae said near capital deal

Source: Mortgage financer may be forced to keep up to $31B on hand while it fixes accounting woes.

September 27, 2004: 6:52 AM EDT

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Embattled mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae was close to a deal with regulators late Sunday that would force the company to keep billions of dollars more in cash on hand while it corrects accounting problems, a source familiar with the negotiations said.

 

Fannie Mae's regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, last week released a report that accused the company of pervasive problems with accounting and internal controls and ordered the company's board to take immediate remedial action.

 

Fannie Mae (FNM: Research, Estimates) would have to maintain 30 percent more than current rules demand it has to hold on its balance sheet -- 2.5 percent of assets plus 0.45 percent of off-balance-sheet obligations, or some $31 billion at the most recent assessment, said the source.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/27/news/fortu....reut/index.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Leading economic gauge takes a dip

Lack of growth in the index shows no end in sight to the current slowdown, panel says.

September 24, 2004: 12:10 PM EDT

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A leading index of the U.S. economy dipped in the latest week, and a continued lack of growth in the data shows no end in sight to the current slowdown, a report showed on Friday.

 

The weekly leading index of independent forecasting group The Economic Cycle Research Institute index slipped to 131.4 in the week to Sept. 17 from a downwardly revised 131.6 the prior week, ECRI said in a press release.

 

"The index and its growth rate have been essentially flat for a couple of months, after falling sharply starting in the spring," said Anirvan Banerji, ECRI's director of research.

 

"That suggests that the economic slowdown we are now seeing is real and there is no end in sight," Banerji told Reuters.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/24/news/econo....reut/index.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Flight 411 Olympic for America has a bomb for Iraq," a caller to the Ethnos daily said, according to a tape the newspaper made available.

 

In a second call, a voice that sounded like a different person said, "Are you listening? Flight 411 Olympic for America, bomb. America will see. Six o'clock message for you."

 

Authorities immediately notified the pilot of the call, and he asked for a military escort.

 

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wo...dnews-headlines

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From McHugh this week - the signs are there:

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

The Conference Board reported that its U.S. Index of Leading Economic Indicators fell 0.3 percent, the third straight monthly decline. We learned from the Commerce Department on Friday that Durable Goods Orders fell 0.5 percent in August. Transportation was the main drag. Including aircraft orders, and excluding defense, orders fell a whopping 7.4 percent, the largest decline in two years.

====

Jobless Claims rose significantly this past week, reported at 350,000 according to the Labor Department.

 

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index fell to negative (-9) last week.

====

M-3 fell again last week, down another $4.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the past eleven weeks, M-3 is down 34.8 billion. Our research has found that whenever M-3 either plateaus or declines for more than two months, stocks fall one to three months thereafter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peter Lance, author of a new book "Cover Up", is on C-SPAN right now and

discussing what really happened with TWA800. It was blown up.

 

his book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...449633?v=glance

 

He is highly critical of the Commission which investigated the subject we can't

discuss here and elaborates on other instances of attacks we never heard of.

Plus he discussed the evidence for the Oklahoma City Bombing which suggests

there is more to that story also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Light Sweet Crude at $49.30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey MH...I think it's a full moon today!

Move over, Haywire Theory! :lol:

 

A shocking story out of the UK:

 

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.S. President George Bush is being urged to signal a dollar devaluation of up to 20% to rebalance the global economy ahead of Friday's Group of Seven and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, the U.K.'s The Business newspaper reported. 

 

Senior U.S. administration officials in Washington have over the past few days tried to influence the White House and U.S. Treasury to put pressure on the G7 to agree to a dollar depreciation in its final statement, the newspaper said.

 

How do you spell relief? D-E-V-A-L-U-E

 

Many of us have been wondering -- if the Soft Patch doesn't pASS(_)_) as predicted, where's the escape hatch?

 

Brittle Federal Reserve egos do not allow slashing the Fed Funds rate a month after they raised it. It would make them look like idiots, whereas in reality they are ... PhDs. :lol:

 

So the relief valve could be the dollah. Devaluing more or less equates to monetary easing.

 

One should recall, though, that the dollah was devaluing rather severely during 1987 ... and James Baker's threat (directed at the Germans) to "let the dollar slide" was uttered over the weekend of 17-18 October 1987. :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Holy sheet ... get a load of this:

 

Voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election, former US President Jimmy Carter says. 

 

He said a repeat of the irregularities of the much-disputed 2000 election - which gave President George W Bush the narrowest of wins - "seems likely".

 

Mr Carter, a veteran observer of polls worldwide, also accused Florida's top election official of "bias".

 

Carter fears Florida vote trouble

 

Isn't this the first time a former president has said, in advance, that a U.S. election doesn't meet basic standards of fairness and protection against "irreularities"?

 

Mr Carter said Florida Governor Jeb Bush - brother of the president - had "taken no steps to correct these departures from principles of fair and equal treatment or to prevent them in the future".

 

"It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation," he added.

 

"With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny  on the suspicious process in Florida."

 

Crrrrrr-ikey! Welcome to the Third World, huh?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your Golden Stool, including short and long term updated charts and price targets, is loaded. Even if you are not a goldbug, you should check out the Golden Stool. It's in your Anals daily. Take a subscribatory and download the Golden Stool RIGHT NOW!

 

30 Day Intro Subscribatory. Just $16.99! Get In RIGHT NOW!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Tell a friend

    Love Stool Pigeons Wire Message Board? Tell a friend!
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • ×
    • Create New...