SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Pushing For Nasdaq 5000 Or Bust

The Dow Industrial and the SP 500 were negative for the better part of the day, and decidedly so at times.

But the NDX and the cash Nasdaq were positive. Why was this?

The volumes on the Street are light, and the wiseguys are pushing tech hard to try and get that headline 5000 number on the cash NASDAQ.

And that's the name of that tune.

 

I remember talking to the brokers after the go-go 1960's gave way to the grinding bear market bust of the mid 1970s.   When will the Dow Industrials crack 1,000 again?  The last time it had been around 1962.  When will the 'small investor' return to the market?

 

This might be the kinds of conversations we will be having in the 2020's about Nasdaq 5000.  Unless we just inflate it all away.

Retailers earnings after the bell tonight.

 

The story of Greece Agnoistes is far from over.  There are twists and turns ahead in that epic tale, and the unfolding story of modern Europe.

 

And the clash of civilizations.

 

GDP revision tomorrow.

Have a pleasant evening.

 

 

 

 

 

Wall Street's Big Push For Nas 5000 - What Will the NY Fed Do Next?

The Credibility Trap Is at the Heart of the Failure to Reform

Unfortunately it appears that the political process is bogged down in fighting an ideological trench warfare in which both sides are taking top down positions about what is right and wrong, without the ability to address the actual conditions that plague their nation in the sixth year of The Recovery™.

It reminds one of an old beer marketing campaign, in which one cadre of devotees yells 'Less filling' and the other shouts back, 'Tastes great!'

 

Why is this? What causes such willing blindness to what is actually happening?

The credibility trap explains much of it.

In this corrupt political process, the deeply complicit politicians say and do what they are being paid to think, say, and do by a narrow band of powerful constituents amongst the competing moneyed interests.

 

They seem less like political parties than competing crime families.  And they are deeply entrenched in exactly what has gone wrong.   So deeply, with such strong ties to past mistakes, influence peddling, and corrupt practices, that they can no longer even speak freely and frankly about it.

 

The SEC is 'probing why companies mistreat whistleblowers.'   Hah!  And where do you think that companies might have gotten the idea that cracking down on whistleblowers was the thing to do?

 

They talked about change and hope, but they never let up on deception and fear.

 

Nobody's right, if everybody's wrong..

Reforming the Fed: Who’s Right; Who’s Wrong?

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

February 26, 2015

...Republicans are locked in some kind of mind warp where the remedy for every problem is to deregulate. Despite six years of books, academic studies, investigative findings, and a 600-page report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission proving that deregulation was responsible for the financial crash of 2008 – the greatest financial implosion since the Great Depression – Republicans refuse to let facts get in the way of pushing for more deregulation.

Democrats on the other hand, despite overwhelming proof that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has actually allowed Wall Street to grow systemically more dangerous and more corrupt since its passage, is irrationally wedded to this legislation.

No amount of evidence will change the Democrats’ position on Dodd-Frank. JPMorgan gambling with hundreds of billions of bank depositors’ money in the London Whale fiasco where $6.2 billion got flushed down the toilet will not change their mind. Cartel activity among the big banks in the interest rate market, precious metals market, foreign currency market will not change their mind. Bank chat rooms called “The Bandits Club,” “The Mafia” and “The Cartel,” where brazen market rigging is alleged to have occurred will not change their mind. Endless criminal investigations and multi-billion dollar settlements will not change their mind. Scandal after scandal destroying public trust in Wall Street and its regulators will not change their mind...

Read the entire article here.

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Sideways

Gold and silver took a sluggish drift higher that was challenged several times without much enthusiasm after the move higher in the overnight, with London and then New York weighing in to the downside, as they are often wont to do.

There was a little more 'delivery' action in gold as shown in the report below, but as the warehouses reflect, the bullion is mostly just moved around the plate.

What can one say about an exchange that is so heavy and volatile on wagering, but so lacking in actual exchange of real products?

Bucket shop.

The real world action is that gold, and to a lesser extent silver, are moving from West to East.

I watched Janet Yellen's testimony to the House today, and it was painful. Deer in headlights all the way. At least the Senators were a little more polite, but Janet Yellen,  whatever quality her economic credentials may be, is not a suitable political foil for the verbally acute, mentally and morally light, denizens on the Hill.

The exchange she had with Elizabeth Warren yesterday can be seen here. It was clearly not Janet's 'A game.'  And Liz Warren was not being particularly tough.  She was throwing relative cotton balls with some well thought precision, but was nevertheless knocking Chairperson Yellen for a loop. I think Warren was genuinely surprised at how off kilter Yellen became.

 

I was imagining how the great prevaricator, Chairman Greenspan, would have parried all those questions, turned them on their ears, and rope-a-doped his way through the entire testimony uintil the Congressmen were spinning like tops.  Yellen is clearly not in his obfuscatory league.

 

One thing I will give to the careless few and their marketing crews, they are excellent in role casting and selecting their players.   Obama was a great choice as the maverick 'change agent.' 

And now we have the hapless but lovable grandmotherly type, just as cute as a button, who valiantly battles on behalf of the Western Bank syndicates, the moneyed interests, and one of the most corrosive forces in Western democracy, the Federal Reserve.  The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) could not pick and preen their heroes and villains any better.  And the action is just about as scripted, and designed to distract from the reality.

Have a pleasant evening.