Freight traffic on U.S. railroads during the week ended May 23 remained down in comparison with last year, although it did show an increase from the previous week this year, the Association of American Railroads reported today.
U.S. railroads originated 259,265 cars during the week, down 21.5 percent from the comparison week in 2008, but up 4.9 percent from the previous week this year. In comparison with last year, loadings were down 16.4 percent in the West and 28.0 percent in the East.
All 19 carload commodity groups were down from last year, with declines ranging from 4.8 percent for farm products other than grain to 59.7 percent for metallic ores.
Intermodal volume of 188,885 trailers or containers was off 19.1 percent from last year, with container volume down 14.2 percent and trailer traffic off 37.2 percent. Intermodal volume was up 0.2 percent from the previous week this year.
For the first 20 weeks of 2009, U.S. railroads reported cumulative volume of 5,295,843 carloads, down 19.3 percent from 2008; 3,720,454 trailers or containers, down 16.8 percent; and total volume of an estimated 562.0 billion ton-miles, down 18.2 percent.
Canadian railroads reported volume of 53,316 cars for the week, down 33.5 percent from last year, and 37,052 trailers or containers, down 18.9 percent. For the first 20 weeks of 2009, Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 1,193,070 carloads, down 23.4 percent from last year; and 810,785 trailers or containers, down 14.5 percent.
Mexican railroads reported originated volume of 13,102 cars, virtually the same as last year, and 5,188 trailers or containers, down 18.8 percent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for the first 20 weeks of 2009 was reported as 219,541 carloads, down 12.3 percent from last year; and 95,217 trailers or containers, down 19.8 percent.
Combined North American rail volume for the first 20 weeks of 2009 on 14 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 6,708,454 carloads, down 19.9 percent from last year, and 4,626,456 trailers and containers, down 16.4 percent from last year.
The latest housing reports suggest that the recent rapid run-up in 10-year Treasury bond yields may be having an unhealthy effect on the U.S. housing market. That tells me that – although home prices are back to their long-term average in terms of earnings – we may not yet be close to the price bottom.
If that’s true, it’s very bad news. A further substantial decline in housing prices would destabilize the U.S. banking system again, because of all the mortgage debt in it, which would cause a very nasty "second leg" economic downturn. That would have one very ironic further implication: U.S. President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package – intended to help the U.S. economy push back the recession – would instead have succeeded in pushing it deeper into the mire.
A month ago, it appeared that the housing market might be in the process of bottoming out. The ratio of house prices to average incomes – which peaked at about 4.5 to 1 in 2006 – had fallen 33% from that apex, which brought the ratio close to its long-term average of 3.2 to 1, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller Index report. While interest rates remained low and government-backed home financing was readily available, it appeared the forces pushing up house prices (low interest rates and accessible financing) might soon come into balance and then dominate the forces that push home prices down (an inventory overage).
The jump in interest rates – from 2.07% on the 10-year Treasury bond in December to around 3.65% today – has weakened the case for a stabilization of housing prices. Mortgage rates, which were far below their levels of the last 30 years, have moved back above 5% — even for "conforming" mortgages. Thus the Mortgage Bankers Association index of new mortgage applications was down 15% in the latest week. Meanwhile, new home sales have merely stabilized at very low levels of an annual rate around 350,000 – compared to more than 2.0 million at the peak of the market, while the latest price statistics suggest that price…
This is the most amazing thing, to quote Tyler at Zero Hedge "essentially no institutional or retail clients are trading any more, it is just a few desperate computers trying to front run each other." – Ilene
In the week ended May 22, NYSE program trading dropped to a statistically significant low of 2.9 billion shares, down from 3.3 billion the week before, and from a 3.8 billion prior 52 week average. As for specific actors, no surprise, Goldman leading the government’s SLP team with a 7:1 ratio of principal to facilitation/agency.
[click on charts and tables for larger views]
As for today’s market close, with a literally parabolic jump in the last minute of trading, if anyone still thinks this market trades based on anything resembling normal behavior (unless someone had a very Jerome Kerviel-esque fat delta hedging finger or one/two moderate/large quants who had a huge index hedge imploded), I have some BBB+ rated CMBS to sell to you at par. One culprit could be hiding in the huge drop of agency trading, which this week dropped to a several month low of 1.875 billion shares.
So as essentially no institutional or retail clients are trading any more, it is just a few desperate computers trying to front run each other. And, of course, for the biggest beneficiary of this PT principal bonanza, look no further than the chart below.
Going back to today’s ridiculous close, the chart below shows it all: the complete tape painting volume spike at the very end of the day speaks for itself. And as computers now simply issue forced stock recall orders to each other, painting the tape wet with manipulative intent and volume spikes into the last 20 minutes of trading every day, their human creators are left on the sidelines, trying to outshout each other as to the reason for why the market keeps rising while the economy keeps tumbling.
Is there ever going to be any transparency in this market again?
The modern US banking system came into existence with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. This legislation established the Federal Reserve System as the central bank of the United States with monopoly privileges to create and manage the nation’s currency as it saw fit. After almost 100 years of experience with the Federal Reserve, most contemporary economists, it seems, can’t even imagine our economy without a central bank.
The Federal Reserve’s objectives were spelled out in the 1913 Act: "… to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.” The Fed’s current web site goes on to discuss the expected benefits of its monetary stewardship:
" When prices are stable and believed likely to remain so, the prices of goods, services, materials, and labor are undistorted by inflation and serve as clearer signals and guides to the efficient allocation of resources and thus contribute to higher standards of living. Moreover, stable prices foster saving and capital formation, because when the risk of erosion of asset values resulting from inflation—and the need to guard against such losses—are minimized, households are encouraged to save more and businesses are encouraged to invest more."[1]
Of course, swallowing this line is a bit difficult for anyone with knowledge of economic history. Twenty five years ago, in 1984, Murray N. Rothbard noted an interesting fact:
"Since instability, inflation, and depressions have been far worse since the inception of the Federal Reserve, many economists have concluded that the Fed has failed in its task and have come up with various suggestions for reform to try and get it on the correct track." [2]
Since the early 1980s, our central bankers proudly note, the Consumer Price Index has fallen steadily to levels that are currently very low. Nevertheless, the remainder of Rothbard’s statement appears to be just as valid in 2009 as it was in 1984. There may not be many economists criticizing the Fed itself today, but reformed bank regulation is now being discussed as one government response to our latest economic crisis.
So why is it that the Federal Reserve has been unable to
Gettelfinger discussing the 2.5% warrants that the UAW has received in GM and snickering – "$75 Billion Dollars in equity for the company!? We did not put a lot of emphasis on the 2.5% warrants, let me put it that way." As he shakes his head on whether he expects GM to ever get that kind of equity valuation.
Bondholders waiting for their warrants to be worth anything may want to find a flux capacitor and go to the year 10,000.
Which leads to the more pertinent question: obviously the (worthless) warrants were not the reason for the ad hoc committee to switch sides here… Did S-Rat have some highly persuasive conversations with Houlihan Lokey and the committee members? Inquiring minds dying to know.
Zero Hedge is all about subliminal mass manipulation. Which is why we cackle with delight at the ongoing subversive campaign by the most respected financial platform to debunk TALF for the massive taxpayer subsidized handout to the mega wealthy that it truly is. Continuing the LTRA humor which we brought to you yesterday, which is either the product of an angry (soon to be former) staffer, or a very directed political campaign by Mike Bloomberg himself, are the following panels which on any other day I would have thought originated from Jon Stewart. To quote Homer Simpson, "it’s funny cause it’s true."
Now and then there is a glitch in the matrix, and one can actually find something useful in that massive propaganda machine known as CNBC (all hail General Electric and the upcoming US nationalization of every deteriorating corporation). Presented below is an interview with Robert Rodriguez, CEO of First Pacific Advisors and Morningstar Fixed Income Fund Manager for 2008, which is quite impressive, not least in that CNBC allowed this segment to air at all, but because Rodriguez captures the essence of the collision course in which the economy is headed.
"People do know that we are in trouble and that we have to go down a different course. The question is which course and we have a course in this country right now of excessive debt growth and liability growth, and there is a group of people that realize this is a non-sustainable course that’s dangerous to the country, the economy and to their children."
TrimTabs reporting that in the first half of May (May 1-15), short interest on the Russell 3,000 stocks dropped to 13.32 billion shares ($253 billion / 2.78% of market cap) from 13.62 billion shares ($260 billion / 2.88% of market cap) on April 30.
There was net short covering in eight of the ten major sectors with Financials and Information Technology receiving the largest short interest outflows of $2.9 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively. The only sectors with net short selling were Energy and Industrials, in which traders opened new short positions valued at $500 million and $169 million, respectively.
I could not help noticing that China’s imports from Japan fell 16.2pc in December. Imports from Taiwan fell 6.2pc. The strong yen strikes again: Honda decides to build a high-performance hybrid Acura in Ohio – instead of its home nation of Japan. The firm’s continued shift in p...
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In an effort to reach the angry mob, CNBC's Rick Santelli goes all Sesame Street on the numbers behind the US Debt Ceiling Rise. Focusing for two minutes on what this practically means for every man, woman, child, and politician, the shouting Chicagoan points out that when the US breaches this new limit then the world's entire population will be on the hook for $2,346 each (and $52,409 per US person).
The Weekly Leading Index (WLI) growth indicator of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) posted -6.5 in its latest reading, data through January 20. The latest public data point is a reduced contraction from last week's -7.6 (a slight downward revision from -7.5). This is the highest level (i.e., least negative) since early September. However, the underlying WLI declined fractionally from an adjusted 123.3 to 122.8 (see the third chart below).
Early last December Lakshman Achuthan, the Co-founder of ECRI, spoke with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television's Surveillance Midday. You can watch the video on the ECRI website here, with bold heading Recession Update. The eight-minute video is well worth watching in its...
Some combination of better made cars, and less Americans able to pay new car prices has conspired to push up the average age of U.S. vehicles to a new record high. Reflecting this sea change, one of the best investment g...
Shares of battered tech company Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) are seeing much strength during Friday's trading session.
Fairfax Financial Holdings released a 13G filing with the SEC this morning, in which they disclosed a 5.12% stake in Research in Motion.
Currently, shares of Research in motion are up over 4% at $16.85. Over the last year, Research in Motion is down over 72%.
Research In Motion Limited is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. RIM provides platforms and solutions for access to information, including e-mail, voice, instant messaging, short message service.
Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisASBCBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Associated Bancorp, and its near-term earnings outlook is also improving.CZZSTRONGBUYThe recent earnings history for Cosan Ltd shows significant improvement while projected valuation continues to rise.STLDBUYProjected value continues to rise for Steel Dynamics while long term increases in earnings growth are also becoming more widely expected.PSESTRONGBUYAn increasingly attractive expected long term growth rate and a significantly higher projected valuation from just a fe...
Major markets and major index ETFs corrected slightly today after the stock market’s euphoric party yesterday
Major markets suffered a slight hangover today, as the S&P 500 dropped .57%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped .18%, the NASDAQ dropped .46% and the Russell 2000 Index dropped .34%, after yesterday’s crazy Fed and Tech Sector induced Wall Street Party. The NASDAQ, in particular, partied very hard, so hard in fact that the NASDAQ reached its 11 year record high.
The major market index ETFs were hungover too as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF lowered .51%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ...
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This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).
We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.
Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.
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Here is the virtual portfolio weekend update. Basically a recap of the positions and some notes about the trades. As usual, I'll post the previous week's P&L for comparison. Not the greatest of week in general!
AA Money
Only transaction last week as we bought back the AA Feb 9 puts on Tuesday for close to a 70% profit. The idea is to sell another set of put as soon as we get a chance.
Previous week P&L - $400.00
We lost some ground this week, but we'll keep on selling premium!
FAS Money
We also lost some ground in this virtual portfolio, but we have sold plenty of premium for the coming week. A little correction would go a long way to help! On Wednesday we sold the FAS Feb 72 puts (already good for 50%), on Thursday we added the Jan4 78 calls and on Friday we had to roll the Jan 78 puts to the Jan 80 puts. We were hoping for these ones to expire worthless on Friday, but a late stick killed that hope.
Previous week P&L - $4372.00...
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Here's the latest Stock World Weekly. We discuss the Fed's next move, and it's new policy for more QE-cating. Brief review of Sabrient's trade ideas for 2012 (already doing well) and a few new buy-writes from Phil and Pharmboy. Enjoy! (Feedback appreciated - give some life to the comment section below.)
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Finding new and exciting Biotech companies that target novel mechanisms is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure there are many companies working on cutting edge science, but investing in those companies to reap the rewards of their work is a very dangerous game. More often than not, companies fail because the mechanism does not pan out, the compound(s) do not have pharmacokinetics (get into the body or last very long in the body), or an adverse event happens that knocks years off a development timeline. In addition, the stock can be manipulated by market makers so investors don't know which way is up. I approach investing in biotechs as a long term prospect. I continue to like our current portfolio of biotech companies (join in chat for many of those plays), and we continually add/subtract shares and sell/buy options on ...
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(