Moody's Cuts Greece to 'Junk'

It certainly is nice to own the world's major ratings agencies.

Oh no, not the US government -- the Anglo-American hedge funds and a few multinational banks.

Bloomberg
Greece Cut to Junk by Moody’s on ‘Substantial’ Economic Risks
By Ben Martin and Maria Petrakis

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Greece’s credit rating was cut to non-investment grade, or junk, by Moody’s Investors Service, threatening to further undermine demand for the debt-strapped nation’s assets as it struggles to rein in its budget deficit.

In making the four-step downgrade to Ba1 from A3, Moody’s cited “substantial” risks to economic growth from the austerity measures tied to a 110 billion-euro ($134.5 billion) aid package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The lower rating “incorporates a greater, albeit, low risk of default,” Moody’s said in a statement yesterday in London. The outlook is stable, it said.

Greece has cut spending, raised taxes and trimmed wages to tackle the deficit, which swelled to 13.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, more than four times the EU limit. To secure the EU-IMF aid, the government pledged to trim the shortfall to 8.1 percent of GDP this year and bring it back under the 3 percent EU ceiling in 2014. The crisis has prompted investors to sell the bonds of Greece and other high-deficit nations and pushed the euro down 15 percent this year.

“We’ve got a lot of uncertainty around the growth outlook for Greece,” Sarah Carlson, vice president-senior analyst in Moody’s sovereign-risk group, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s rare for a country to implement so much structural reform in a very short time...”

Gold Daily Chart

There are a number of IPO's coming out next week, including one for the CBOE. Goldman Sachs is an underwriter on most of them.

This is also the June quad witch, one of the four biggest ones of the year. And the put/call ratio indicates a smackdown for the baby bears might be on deck.

So we might expect some shenanigans on the equity front, as they will try and support the markets while they get the IPO's priced and out the door. The primary downside risk there is 'headline risk' as volumes remain light. Few actually believe that there is an economic recovery.

So how will this affect gold and silver? It is hard to say, because the price manipulation is strong at this level of price, in front of a breakout that the central banks would find threatening.

So, we will wait and see what happens.

"Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy and deception. Everything that is secret will be brought out into the open. Everything that is hidden will be uncovered. What has been said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. What has been whispered to someone behind closed doors will be shouted from the rooftops." Luke 12:1-4

Gold Daily Chart and a Look at Silver.

As we watch the Nasdaq 100 to confirm any moves in the SP 500 for stocks, so we watch silver to confirm any moves in gold for the metals.

Gold pulled back to the top of the handle today.



Silver has been moving sideways, and it appears to be coiling for a move.

It *could be* a large H&S top, and it could just be a back and fill consolidation prior to a leg higher. The funny thing about these formations is that one does not really know which way they are going until they show their hand. The value of the formation is to know when they are moving, and how far they are likely to go.

Notice that this H&S looking formation on the right is part and parcel of a larger inverse H&S that had a breakout that failed, for now, as a result of a concentrated shorting action by a few bullion banks. The neckline is still there, and the primary bull trend is still alive. Therein lies the tension on the tape.

SP 500 September Futures Daily Chart

Here is our first look at the SP 500 September futures contract.

There is quite a bit of up and down trading 'chop' in the past couple of weeks after the initial bounce took the price up to the 38.2% retracement level. We heard that Goldman took a big position in the SP futures this morning in the pits, and the rest of the day was a pumping of stocks to help ensure those daily gains.

Follow through is everything at this point as we are nearing a key resistance point.

DELL is halted after hours, announcing that it will delay its 10Q filing as a result of discussion with the SEC that will reducing its earnings in the neighborhood of 100 million dollars, or about 5 cents per share for the quarter.