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IDS World Markets Fri 17th August 07


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t?s=%5EAORD

 

 

A quiet, low volume day so far. All Ords +0.2% and IT is out in front, +3.1% followed by Financials +1.2%. There's a sprinkling of red sectors of which Energy is down the most, -1.4%.

 

BHP is the only major miner showing signs of life, +0.8%. In the others, RIO -0.3%, Zinifex -2.6%, Newmont -0.4% and Newcrest -1.3%.

 

Oilwise, Woodside -1.1%, Santos +1.3% and Caltex -0.3%.

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From the wsj.com, for what it's worth...

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

How safe are CDs/savings accounts invested at Countrywide?

 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantees deposits at Countrywide up to a limit of about $100,000. The bank also has access to funding from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Home Loan Bank to help pay depositors.

 

Who regulates Countrywide, and what can they do if the situation gets worse?

 

Countrywide is regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision. The FDIC is charged with protecting the interests of Countrywide's depositors. A spokesman for the OTS said the agency is "monitoring the situation carefully working closely with the institution." Federal regulators can get involved on a number of levels. First, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Home Loan Bank can make added emergency loans to help Countrywide survive a temporary credit crunch. If that doesn't suffice, federal regulators can pressure the company to sell certain assets, such as its mortgage servicing unit, to shore up the finances of the bank. Beyond that, the FDIC has the power to appoint a conservator, who can do whatever is necessary to ensure depositors' funds, up to and including the sale of the entire company.

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Lead story in the "Money & Investing" section of Friday's WSJ....snipetts below......and as I mentioned the other day, if you don't understand CP, you'd better....MMF's are littered with this stuff and if it fails en mass "break the buck" will be the new catch phrase for the rest of 2007 :blink:

 

New Villain in

Market Drama:

Commercial Paper

Banks Pressed to Sell Short-Term Investments

By RANDALL SMITH, SERENA NG and CARRICK MOLLENKAMP

August 17, 2007; Page C1

 

Commercial paper, the usually humdrum market for short-term debt held by money-market funds and used by companies to finance their operations, has suddenly taken center stage in the credit crunch.

 

Yesterday two big bank groups had to step up with rescue and support operations, propping up faltering issuers of 130 billion Canadian dollars (US$120.62 billion) in commercial paper in Canada and lending $11.5 billion to giant U.S. mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., some of it to backstop Countrywide's commercial paper.

 

The operations highlighted the problems in the $3 trillion commercial-paper market, contributing to pullbacks in global stock markets and adding to concern of a financial "contagion" that could raise financing costs for, or perhaps knock out, even healthy companies.

 

"This is one more level of the credit markets freezing up and that's what the general concern is, the breakdown of the system," said Mike Mayo, who follows banks and securities firms at Deutsche Bank AG.

 

Many of the industrial giants that once used commercial paper as a cheaper substitute for bank loans have retreated from the market in recent years. They have been replaced by specialty finance companies and other investment vehicles. In the process, commercial paper has come to finance ever-larger swaths of the economy.

 

Hedge funds, private-equity firms and investment banks have played a major role in this expansion by setting up companies that borrow by issuing commercial paper and then invest the money, sometimes in the types of mortgage-related securities that have proliferated in recent years.

 

 

Such short-term credit "is the lifeblood of the credit markets," said Edward Marrinan, credit strategist at J.P. Morgan Securities. "The good news is that such contingency funding is available to borrowers," Mr. Marrinan said. "The bad news is at least some borrowers have had to resort to using such contingency funding."

 

The immediate focus of concern has been a variety known as asset-backed commercial paper, a form of financing that has been hit by a downturn in the value of collateral such as subprime mortgages, which have been damaged by rising default rates. The amount of asset-backed paper has grown in recent years, soaring 48% to $1.13 trillion today from $765 billion two years ago, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

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From our DOUCHE friends at Fidelity...see the highlighted sections

 

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

Why Are Money Market Funds a Smart Move?

 

There's no reason to let your short-term cash sit without earning interest. Money market funds get your short-term money working for you without tying it up for too long.

 

Other benefits of money market funds include:

 

 

? Safety? Money market funds invest exclusively in dollar denominated high-quality, short-term instruments issued by the federal government, corporations, municipalities, and banks.

? Stability? Money market funds are managed to maintain a constant $1.00 net asset value (NAV) per share, and they have an average portfolio maturity of 90 days or less.

? Liquidity? Money market fund shares, which are priced once a day, can be purchased or sold at any time at the fund's current share price.

? Short-term holding? Smart Investors use money market funds to hold cash between investments because their yield is competitive with many savings accounts.

? Diversification? Because money market investments are considered more stable, they can help reduce volatility in a stock-heavy portfolio.

? Tax benefits? For those in higher tax brackets, municipal money market funds can provide state and federal tax-free income.

 

 

What Are the Risks?

 

Two primary forms of risk exist for money market investors:

 

? Income risk ? Money market yields can fall sharply in a relatively short period of time. Short-term yields have been much more volatile than long-term rates over time.

? Inflation risk ? Returns may not keep up with inflation, leading to a drop in purchasing power.

 

 

Which Money Market Funds Are Available?

 

? View Money Market Funds

 

? View Federal Municipal Money Market Funds

 

? View State Municipal Money Market Funds

 

An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Although the fund seeks to preserve the value of your investment at $1.00 per share, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund.

 

Diversification does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.

 

The current yield reflects the current earnings of the fund, while the total return refers to a specific past holding period

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well, without a doubt, the Nikkei crashed.

 

Carry trade finished (IMO aan event at least as big as RE bubble in the US and not yet really featured by the media), Asia crashes, RE bubble in the bursts.......... and all we should get is a 12% correction in the S&P ??? No chance! But this doesnt mean that there cant be an upmove today given that monster hammer they printed yesterday.

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Calling Mr. "Teets Long"........Calling Mr. "Teets Long"...."Come in please"....

 

HP_NKY.png

 

istockphoto_2935132_the_glove.jpg

600735[/snapback]

 

 

Wow.. Nikkei down over 5%! That's going to leave a mark and a funny smell.

 

There is so much financial nonsense to unwind. We are just getting started.

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whoops, oh, oh...! There is crash potential for europe this morning. We open in 15 mi9ns and i can smell the fear or as some might say: "Wurst panic!"

 

thats the recipe for a crash: The US is down hard, but then from midday on there is a strong upmove and the indeces close unchanged. Thats a relief and all the traders in europe think: "uffda, the worst is over, tomorrow we gonna buy hand over fist", but THEN, asia opens and you got a waterfall day which leads to Nikkei losing more than 5%, now the traders in europe a totally perplex and desperate. Thats the recipe for SELLING everything hand over fist.

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well, without a doubt, the Nikkei crashed.

 

Carry trade finished (IMO aan event at least as big as RE bubble in the US and not yet really featured by the media), Asia crashes, RE bubble in the bursts.......... and all we should get is a 12% correction in the S&P ??? No chance! But this doesnt mean that there cant be an upmove today given that monster hammer they printed yesterday.

600747[/snapback]

 

The media hasn't come close to detailing all the behind the scenes workings that are discussed here at capitalstool.com. That's why the nonsense went on for so long. Financial TV is more entertainment than anything, and regular TV newscasts will turn your brain into a steaming pile of stool. It's no wonder everyone is ignorant; it's hard to find real facts or in depth analysis.

 

Thank God for the internet, and for all the posters here!

 

by the way, nice to see you posting again fxfox!

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w?s=%5EAORD

 

 

Certainly not a cheery day for da bullz, however All Ords now pretty much on support. I'll post a chart later because it looks like we could be due for a humungous bounce. Today the index finished -0.7% with Materials taking over the downside lead, -2.2% closely followed by Energy, -2.1%. IT, +1.7% and Financials, +0.3% retained the upside lead albeit well off their intraday highs.

 

BHP and RIO went into a slide, both -1.7% and in the golds, Newmont closed flat and Newcrest -1.1%.

 

Oilwise, Woodside finished -2.6% and Santos +0.4%.

 

Over in Asia, as already noted above, Nikkers in full on crash mode, -5.4% (ouch) with Singers not much better off at -5.3%. Most the others showing a fair amount of damage: India -3.6%, Honkers -3.3%, Sth Korea -3.2% and China -1.7%.

 

Over to UK/Europe:

 

t?s=%5EFTSE

 

t?s=^GDAXI

 

t?s=^FCHI

 

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

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well, without a doubt, the Nikkei crashed.

 

Carry trade finished (IMO aan event at least as big as RE bubble in the US and not yet really featured by the media), Asia crashes, RE bubble in the bursts.......... and all we should get is a 12% correction in the S&P ??? No chance! But this doesnt mean that there cant be an upmove today given that monster hammer they printed yesterday.

600747[/snapback]

That hammer may turn out to be an example of the sort of painterly bravura that makes up "the masterpiece" LW has been writing about. <_<

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The red line denotes where All Ords closed today and that's pretty much on that low back in March. If this is a head and shoulders formation then the right shoulder may form next week. Either way there's a strong chance of a bounce but I guess that depends on the Fri action in Europe and US. If the Oz index blows down thru the support we're in deep doo-doo...

 

post-2456-1187334553_thumb.png

 

 

The Singers chart is remarkably similar to All Ords; Singers is still open so the red line is the current reading:

 

 

post-2456-1187334817_thumb.png

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