21 November 2016

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Trump Rally Continues to New Highs



It was rally time and risk on again today as all the major indices were climbing to new highs, with some lagging in the big cap tech names.

The expectations of the benefits of the Trump Administration for US business interests are quite high.

This will be a holiday shortened week.

Have a pleasant evening.


20 November 2016

18 November 2016

Just Charts at 2:30


"While Democrats point fingers at anyone they can find, the evidence mounts that all critical sectors of their party’s apparatus fundamentally failed. Their renowned strategic geniuses were blinded with arrogance and error:  David Plouffe, who ran Obama’s 2008 campaign, said that Clinton was a ‘one hundred per cent’ lock and advised nervous Democrats to stop ‘wetting the bed, reports The New Yorker’s David Remnick this week.

The party’s operatives and pundits used bullying tactics to clear the field for an obviously weak and vulnerable candidate, and then insisted on nominating her despite those weaknesses, many of which were self-inflicted, and in the face of mountains of empirical evidence that her primary-race opponent was more likely to win...

And the party is widely perceived to be devoted to elite Wall Street tycoons and war-making interests at the expense of pretty much everyone else, and chose a candidate who could not have been better designed to exacerbate those concerns if that had been the goal."

Glenn Greenwald, The Democrats Blame-Everyone-Else Posture

We have a quiet stock option expiration this Friday, as stock prices were already driven far and fast higher after the presidential election lows.

The day is beautiful and warm, and the duty of yardwork calls.

Have a pleasant weekend.



What Did Draghi Know About Potential Loss and Abuses at Italy's Largest Bank


Apparently lax and/or incompetent regulation of systemically important banks by bureaucrats, central bankers, and politicians may not be just a recent American phenomenon.

As we read this, it could imperil the soundness of the financial system in Europe as well, as is still apparently the case with The Banks in the states, despite assurances to the contrary.

My understanding is that there was little to no coverage of this bank whistleblower's testimony in the US, a video of which is included below.

Golem XIV asks some very good questions in the article below, recently posted on his blog here.

Whistleblowers Testify in EU Parliament

By on November 17, 2016 in latest

Yesterday a very high-powered panel of international banking whistleblowers met and told their stories in the European parliament.  The questions raised were important. Among them was the Irish Whistleblower, Jonathan Sugarman, who when UniCredit Ireland was breaking the law in very serious ways reported it to the Irish regulator.

He related how he was not only ignored by his bank, the Irish regulator but also all the major political parties.   He then pointed out that the Irish regulator claims that it always – and it is the law after all –  informs the regulator of the home country of banks which have subsidiaries in Ireland, about any serious problems.

In the case of UniCredit that would mean the Italian Central bank would have been told that Italy’s largest Bank was in serious breach of Irish law in ways that could endanger the whole banking system. The head of the Italian Central Bank at the time was a certain Mr Mario Draghi.

Mr Sugarman suggested Mr Draghi should be asked point-blank of he did or if he did not know. If he did not then the Irish regulator was at least incompetent, and may have lied, misled  and perhaps even broken Irish laws. If he was told and did know, then Mr Draghi has serious questions to answer regarding his own dereliction of duty.

Surely not I hear you say.  Well perhaps someone might ask him? Or is he above the law?

http://www.guengl.eu/news/article/whistleblower-protection-what-must-be-done

Related: Studies Show Fed Stress Tests Merely 'a Placebo'