Complete February Bond Performance Heatmap – Sea Of Red
by Zero Hedge - February 27th, 2010 3:28 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
With February over, and the equity market just slightly down MTD, the January weakness in equities has finally spilled over to High Yield, where we are flowing in a see of red. This was to be expected considering the two nearly $2 billion HY fund outflows experienced in February. Below is the complete heatmap for February HY bond price performance by subsector. Each issue is presented on a size relative basis, with the grayed text giving detailed information about any one specific issue, including corporate ticker, one month change, ISIN, Name, Rating, Outstanding, and last price (compared to January 31, 2010, red is lower, blue is higher).
Consolidated
And by sector:
Manufacturing
Manufacturing – Aerospace
Manufacturing – Auto Manufacturers
Manufacturing – Building Products
Manufacturing – Chemicals
Manufacturing – Conglomerates Diversified
Manufacturing – Containers
Manufacturing – Electronics
Manufacturing – Home Builders
Manufacturing – Information/Data Technology
Manufacturing – Machinery
Manufacturing – Metals & Mining
Manufacturing – Paper/Forest Products
Manufacturing – Textiles/Apparel/Shoes
Manufacturing – Vehicle Parts
Services
Services – Broadcast
Services – Cable
Services – Food/Drugs
Services – Gaming
Services – Health Care Facilities
Services – Health Care Supply
Services – Leisure
Services – Lodging
Services – Other
Services – Pharma
Services – Publishing
Services – Retail Stores
Services – Satellite
Services – Tower
Telecom
Telecom – Broadband
Telecom – CLEC
Telecom – Diversified
Telecom – Wireless
Transportation
Transportation – Airlines
Transportation – Railroads
Transportation – Other
Consumer
Consumer – Beverage/ Bottling
Consumer – Consumer Products
Consumer – Food Processors
Consumer – Tobacco
Energy
Energy – Gas Pipelines
Energy – Integrated Oil
Energy – Oil Equipment
Energy – Oil Refining & Marketing
Energy – Oil Service
Energy – Retail Propane Distributors
Energy – Secondary Oil & Gas Producers
Finance
Finance – Securities
Finance – Other
Finance – REITs
Insurance
Insurance – Life Insurance
Insurance – Property & Casualty Insurance
Banking
Electric
Industrials/Other
Independent
Utilities
Source: Citigroup
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 
del.icio.us
DiggLandlords Squeezed by Lack of Good Tenants; Cap-and-Trade Dead; Violent Student Protest at Berkley; Jobless Benefits Phase Out Sunday
by ilene - February 27th, 2010 3:23 pm
Landlords Squeezed by Lack of Good Tenants; Cap-and-Trade Dead; Violent Student Protest at Berkley; Jobless Benefits Phase Out Sunday
Courtesy of Mish
Here are a few interesting stories over the past few days that caught my eye. The one bright spot is that Cap-And-Trade is officially dead. The rest show that structural problems continue to mount.
Landlords Squeezed By Small Pool Of Good Tenants
Landlords not so quick to evict in slow economy
Despite the sour economy, evictions in Davidson County [Tennessee] fell by nearly 10 percent in January from a year ago, and they’re on track to fall even further this month.
Landlords know they’ll have trouble finding new tenants if they lose the ones they have, industry observers say, so some of them are more willing to give struggling tenants a break.
"The economy has hit the apartment industry in a lot of different ways," said Brad Cathers, past president of the Tennessee Apartment Association and president of Lighthouse Property Management Group in Nashville.
"It’s changed the way a lot of people live, who is looking to rent, how many units are rented, and it’s certainly true — some companies are giving a little more latitude to renters who find themselves in trouble."
The change may have begun in 2008 and intensified in 2009. Davidson County court records show that 7 percent fewer detainer warrants were filed last year than two years earlier. Detainer warrants typically are filed for failure to pay rent, said Ricky Rooker, Davidson County’s circuit court clerk.
The cost of removing someone from a unit, cleaning, painting and maybe even laying new carpet has a lot to do with landlords’ reluctance to evict, Cathers said.
But that’s not the only reason that fewer eviction proceedings are being filed.
"The pool of potential renters is just smaller," Cathers said. "Young people are moving back in with parents, and older people are moving in with children. And roommates … they are going two to three to a unit today instead of renting the two or three separate apartments they might have occupied before the recession began."
More units, fewer takersSo the number of units available for rent has reached levels unseen in Nashville since the 1980s, according to the association’s data.
With fewer people lining up to rent, landlords have a powerful incentive to try to work
…
Surviving Deflation: First, Understand It
by ilene - February 27th, 2010 3:07 pm
Surviving Deflation: First, Understand It
Deflation is more than just "falling prices." Robert Prechter explains why.
Courtesy of Elliott Wave International
The following article is an excerpt from Elliott Wave International’s free Club EWI resource, "The Guide to Understanding Deflation. Robert Prechter’s Most Important Writings on Deflation."
The Primary Precondition of Deflation
Deflation requires a precondition: a major societal buildup in the extension of credit. Bank credit and Elliott wave expert Hamilton Bolton, in a 1957 letter, summarized his observations this way: "In reading a history of major depressions in the U.S. from 1830 on, I was impressed with the following: (a) All were set off by a deflation of excess credit. This was the one factor in common."
"The Fed Will Stop Deflation"
I am tired of hearing people insist that the Fed can expand credit all it wants. Sometimes an analogy clarifies a subject, so let’s try one.
It may sound crazy, but suppose the government were to decide that the health of the nation depends upon producing Jaguar automobiles and providing them to as many people as possible. To facilitate that goal, it begins operating Jaguar plants all over the country, subsidizing production with tax money. To everyone’s delight, it offers these luxury cars for sale at 50 percent off the old price. People flock to the showrooms and buy. Later, sales slow down, so the government cuts the price in half again. More people rush in and buy. Sales again slow, so it lowers the price to $900 each. People return to the stores to buy two or three, or half a dozen. Why not? Look how cheap they are! Buyers give Jaguars to their kids and park an extra one on the lawn. Finally, the country is awash in Jaguars.
Alas, sales slow again, and the government panics. It must move more Jaguars, or, according to its theory — ironically now made fact — the economy will recede. People are working three days a week just to pay their taxes so the government can keep producing more Jaguars. If Jaguars stop moving, the economy will stop. So the government begins giving Jaguars away. A few more cars move out of the showrooms, but then it ends. Nobody wants any more Jaguars. They don’t care if they’re free. They can’t find a use for them. Production of Jaguars ceases. It…
CHART OF THE DAY: A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE
by Chart School - February 27th, 2010 2:53 pm
CHART OF THE DAY: A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
Today’s Chart of the Day comes to us courtesy of chartoftheday.com. Taking the long-term perspective, you just have to wonder if the market isn’t in the same process it was in the mid-70’s when the sideways to down churn ultimately resulted in a downside overshoot that ended in the early 80’s.
For some long-term perspective, today’s chart illustrates the Dow adjusted for inflation since 1925. There are several points of interest. For one, when adjusted for inflation, the bear market that concluded in the early 1980s was almost as severe as the one that concluded in the early 1930s. Also, the inflation-adjusted Dow is a little more than double where it was at its 1929 peak and trades 54% above its 1966 peak – not that spectacular of a performance considering the time frames involved. It is also interesting to note that the Dow is up 57% from its March 9, 2009 low which is actually slightly more than what the inflation-adjusted Dow gained from its 1966 peak to today.
Source: chartoftheday.com
Steve Keen on Max Keiser
by ilene - February 27th, 2010 2:42 pm
Steve Keen on Max Keiser
Courtesy of Tim Iacono at The Mess that Greenspan Made
Max Keiser and and Stacy Herbert talk about a number of topics including Charlie Munger’s must-read commentary from earlier in the week "Basically, It’s Over" and then Steve Keen is interviewed starting at about the 12 minute mark.
The discussion about the impact of the China slowdown on the Australian economy is well worth a close listen since you don’t hear too much about it these days. It seems the economy down under is still viewed as some sort of a miracle system that escaped recession back in 2008-2009 and has only blue skies ahead.
Rep. Paul Ryan Gives Barack Obama A Lesson On How To Avoid Smoke And Mirrors, Double Counting And Ponzi Schemes "That Would Make Bernie Madoff Proud"
by Zero Hedge - February 27th, 2010 1:22 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Rep. Paul Ryan slams Obama’s healthcare reform in one of the most concise critiques of the proposed plan. Furthermore, he observes some of the critical flaws in the Obama plan, which contrary to the President’s frequent appearances on TV discussing the “lies” promulgated about his proposal (and even misguidedly allowing citizens to temporarily rat each other out in witch hunts straight out of the Stazi or Sekuritate playbook), is in fact itself full of – inconsistencies, for lack of a better word.
Quoting Ryan:
Mr. President, you said health care reform is budget reform. You’re right. We agree with that. Medicare, right now, has a $38 trillion unfunded liability. That’s $38 trillion in empty promises to my parents’ generation, our generation, our kids’ generation. Medicaid’s growing at 21 percent each year. It’s suffocating states’ budgets. It’s adding trillions in obligations that we have no means to pay for it… If you take a look at the CBO analysis, analysis from your chief actuary…this bill does not control costs. This bill does not reduce deficits. Instead, this bill adds a new health care entitlement at a time when we have no idea how to pay for the entitlements we already have. What has been placed in front of [the CBO] is a bill that is full of gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors. Now, what do I mean when I say that? Well, first off, the bill has 10 years of tax increases, about half a trillion dollars, with 10 years of Medicare cuts, about half a trillion dollars, to pay for six years of spending. Now, what’s the true 10-year cost of this bill in 10 years? That’s $2.3 trillion. It does couple of other things. It takes $52 billion in higher Social Security tax revenues and counts them as offsets. But that’s really reserved for Social Security. So either we’re double-counting them or we don’t intend on paying those Social Security benefits. It takes $72 billion and claims money from the CLASS Act. That’s the long-term care insurance program. It takes the money from premiums that are designed for that benefit and instead counts them as offsets. The Senate Budget Committee chairman said that this is a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud… You can’t say that you’re using this money to either extend Medicare solvency
…
Rep. Paul Ryan Gives Barack Obama A Lesson On How To Avoid Smoke And Mirrors, Double Counting And Ponzi Schemes “That Would Make Bernie Madoff Proud”
by Zero Hedge - February 27th, 2010 1:22 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Rep. Paul Ryan slams Obama’s healthcare reform in one of the most concise critiques of the proposed plan. Furthermore, he observes some of the critical flaws in the Obama plan, which contrary to the President’s frequent appearances on TV discussing the “lies” promulgated about his proposal (and even misguidedly allowing citizens to temporarily rat each other out in witch hunts straight out of the Stazi or Sekuritate playbook), is in fact itself full of – inconsistencies, for lack of a better word.
Quoting Ryan:
Mr. President, you said health care reform is budget reform. You’re right. We agree with that. Medicare, right now, has a $38 trillion unfunded liability. That’s $38 trillion in empty promises to my parents’ generation, our generation, our kids’ generation. Medicaid’s growing at 21 percent each year. It’s suffocating states’ budgets. It’s adding trillions in obligations that we have no means to pay for it… If you take a look at the CBO analysis, analysis from your chief actuary…this bill does not control costs. This bill does not reduce deficits. Instead, this bill adds a new health care entitlement at a time when we have no idea how to pay for the entitlements we already have. What has been placed in front of [the CBO] is a bill that is full of gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors. Now, what do I mean when I say that? Well, first off, the bill has 10 years of tax increases, about half a trillion dollars, with 10 years of Medicare cuts, about half a trillion dollars, to pay for six years of spending. Now, what’s the true 10-year cost of this bill in 10 years? That’s $2.3 trillion. It does couple of other things. It takes $52 billion in higher Social Security tax revenues and counts them as offsets. But that’s really reserved for Social Security. So either we’re double-counting them or we don’t intend on paying those Social Security benefits. It takes $72 billion and claims money from the CLASS Act. That’s the long-term care insurance program. It takes the money from premiums that are designed for that benefit and instead counts them as offsets. The Senate Budget Committee chairman said that this is a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud… You can’t say that you’re using this money to either extend Medicare solvency
…
Chilean Earthquake Tsunami Travel Time Estimates
by Zero Hedge - February 27th, 2010 1:18 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
The NOAA’s National Weather Service has provided the following analysis to estimate the anticipated hit times from the time of impact of the Chilean earthquake (3:34 am local Chile time, 2:34 am Eastern). According to this estimate, California will feel any residual Tsunami waves within the next 2 hours, Hawaii has about 4 hours to prepare, while New Zealand – a little less. For those seeking frequent updates, we recommend the following Hawaii Tsunami Information website.
via Drudge
BERKELEY IN 2010? THE YOUTH IS STARTING TO CHANGE
by ilene - February 27th, 2010 1:09 pm
BERKELEY IN 2010? THE YOUTH IS STARTING TO CHANGE
Courtesy of Richard Metzger at Dangerous Minds
What’s gotten into the water at UC Berkeley? I personally think this is a positive development and hope to see more of it in the future. The young people in this country are too fucking passive. They need to wake up and flex their collective political muscle or risk ceding their futures to the dum-dum Tea party types… which would be a huge tactical error.
“The youth is starting to change. Are you starting to change? Are you? Together”—MGMT, The Youth
What began as a dance party on Upper Sproul Plaza led to an occupation of Durant Hall at around 11:15 p.m. Thursday to raise support for the March 4 statewide protest in support of public education.
According to a statement distributed by the occupiers, the building was selected because of its symbolic nature. Durant Hall formerly housed the campus East Asian Library and the campus Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. It is now being renovated to become office space for the College of Letters and Science, which spurred activists to “reclaim” the space for students.
UCPD Captain Margo Bennett said the occupiers “cut a lock to get into the construction area and then cut a lock to get into the building” before vandalizing the area.
“There were windows broken, there was spray painting and graffiti on the interior, there was construction equipment that was tossed around,” she said.
The occupation evolved into a riot as it moved onto streets south of campus, where a protester broke several windows of the Subway at Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue at about 1:41 a.m.
Pictures of a Market Crash: Beware the Ides of March, And What Follows After
by ilene - February 27th, 2010 12:44 pm
Pictures of a Market Crash: Beware the Ides of March, And What Follows After
Courtesy of JESSE’S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
There are a fair number of private and public forecasters that I know who anticipate a significant market decline in March.
Let’s review where we are today.
The Bear Market of 2007-2009, marked by the Crash of 2008, was a massive decline in equity prices precipitated by the bursting of the credit bubble centered around housing prices and packaged debt obligations of highly questionable valuations.
Even today, I think most people do not appreciate the sheer magnitude of the decline, and the damage it has done to the real economy. This is the result, I believe, of three factors:
1. An extraordinary expansion of the Monetary Base by the Federal Reserve not seen since the aftermath of the Crash of 1929, and a swath of financial sector support programs from the Fed and the Treasury, resulting in a spectacular fifty percent retracement from the bottom.
2. A comprehensive program of perception shaping by the government in conjunction with the financial sector to raise consumer confidence and prevent a further panic.
3. An understandable preoccupation with the details of breaking news, and a short term focus on particular events and even exogenous controversies, without a true appreciation of the ‘big picture,’ in part because of some very effective public relations campaigns.
This is resulting in a remarkable case of cognitive dissonance in which the victims of a spectacular man made calamity are opposing remedies and aid as too costly, as they walk around bleeding in the carnage.
For those who read the contemporary literature in the early Thirties, this is nothing new. In the early Thirties there was no sense of the magnitude of what had happened, except for a few notable exceptions, and the sense of ‘life goes on’ seems almost eerie to a modern reader. Indeed, Herbert Hoover could dismiss a delegation of concerned citizens with the advice that they were too late, the crisis was past.
The parallels with the Thirties and the Teens (today) are many, and uncanny.
There is the reformer President, elected to redress the policies of his Republican predecessor. In the Thirties they had FDR who was a decisive and experience leader. In the Teens the US has a community organizer much more in the sway of the Wall Street…
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
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
(
