SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts

Major US equities are very obviously coiling for a move. Which direction they will break cannot be determined yet. But the longer they coil, the stronger the subsequent move will be.

No doubt it has to do with the Fed's plans for liquidity.

Blogger Is Now Back Online

The Google 'Blogger' facility has been down since early yesterday afternoon New York time. From what I could tell they had made a system change earlier in the week, and it led to a system crash, that took some time and archive retrievals in order to restore.

These things do happen. At one time I managed portions of a major communications network that stretched across the US and to over fifty countries. Major software upgrades were always the sort of thing that spoke to the quality of one's processes and system testing. And even then, things do happen.

Regular updates tonight.

Net Asset Value of Certain Precious Metal Trusts and Funds

An extra 'gut check' for the over eager dip buyer perhaps, and a sign of things to come as the battle intensifies over the June futures and deliveries.

I let my hedges go when the SP futures dropped to support around 1334. I could put some back on but not yet. I was buying a few things that looked to be getting down to reasonable valuations, but the word is 'lightly' and with 'agility.'

Rajaratnam Guilty On All 14 Counts of Insider Trading - Faces 19+ Years In Prison

"The tapes show he didn't believe the rules applied to him. Cheating became part of his business model."

"He" is a microcosm of a financial system in which the currency of fraud drives out honest price discovery and displaces productive activity, and large institutions game the markets on a daily basis with near impunity, while the public underwrites their steady gains and occasional but spectacular losses.

Sentencing will be on July 29.

AP
Hedge fund founder convicted in inside-trade case
May 11, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Wall Street titan was convicted Wednesday of making a fortune by coaxing a crew of corporate tipsters to give him an illegal edge on blockbuster trades in technology and other stocks — what prosecutors called the largest insider trading case ever involving hedge funds.

Raj Rajaratnam was convicted of five conspiracy counts and nine securities fraud charges at the closely watched trial in federal court in Manhattan. The jury had deliberated since April 25, and at one point was forced to start over again when one juror dropped out due to illness.

Prosecutors had alleged the 53-year-old Rajaratnam made profits and avoided losses totaling more than $60 million from illegal tips. His Galleon Group funds, they said, became a multibillion-dollar success at the expense of ordinary stock investors who didn't have advance notice of the earnings of public companies and of mergers and acquisitions.

Rajaratnam will remain free on bail, though now with electronic monitoring, at least until his July 29 sentencing.

The verdict came after seven weeks of testimony showcasing wiretaps of Rajaratnam wheeling and dealing behind the scenes with corrupt executives and consultants. Some of the people on the other end of the line pleaded guilty and agreed to take the witness stand against the Sri Lanka-born defendant.

Authorities said the 45 tapes used in the case represented the most extensive use to date of wiretaps — common in organized crimes and drug cases — in a white-collar case.

The defense had fought hard in pretrial hearings to keep the avalanche of audio evidence out of the trial by arguing the FBI obtained it with a faulty warrant. Once a judge allowed them in, prosecutors put the recordings to maximum use by repeatedly playing them for jurors.

"You heard the defendant commit his crimes time and time again in his own words," Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky said in closing arguments.

"The tapes show he didn't believe the rules applied to him," the prosecutor added. "Cheating became part of his business model."

In one July 29, 2008, call, Rajaratnam could be heard grilling former Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta...."