FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 27, 2009 Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported an aggregate net loss of $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2009, a decline of $8.5 billion from the $4.8 billion in profits the industry reported in the second quarter of 2008. Insured institutions...

Courtesy of Jesse’s Café Américain Dennis Lockhart may be expressing his own views, but the figure of 16% he quotes is nothing more than the Bureau of Labor Statistics “U-6″ measure of unemployment. U-6 Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons,economic reasons, as a percent...

Courtesy of The Mess That Greenspan Made There’s a very well done story by Barbara Kiviat over at Time Magazine on the subject that is on everyone’s mind these days – whether or not the housing market has hit bottom. While the long-term nature of housing market bottoms and the distinction between a bottom in property sales versus a...

Courtesy of Phil’s Stock World Does it matter if we have a good GDP and no jobs? That’s a question that will have to be considered today as the powers that be try to make a big deal of the fact that we are getting worse more slowly, even as the Q2 GDP report is expected to be 60% WORSE (-1.6%) than last quarter (-1%).   It’s very possible...

IN ONE HOUR OF TRADING YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY THAN MOST PEOPLE DO SLAVING AT A DEAD END JOB ALL WEEK LONG… I didn’t believe it either until I saw the proof with my own eyes… Click here for the full report Genius chess player with a certified I.Q. of 157 unveils his ‘sneaky’ (and 100% legal) trading...

Courtesy of AC Investor Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com ( click to enlarge ) There appears to be marginal downside risk from prevailing levels. JDSU is going to be very interesting to watch as the stock hit a new 52-week high. Resistance is now $6.86, which was Wednesday’s high of the day. You want to keep a close eye on JDSU as it has the potential...

Imagine not having access to any financial news stories. The only information you have about the market is the market itself. Would you be a better trader or a less successful trader? I think you would be a better trader. I have often said that the market is the best news provider in the world. It’s up the minute and it reflects both domestic and...

CalculatedRisk From Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart: The U.S. Economy and the Employment Challenge On the economic outlook: With respect to growth, my forecast envisions a return to positive but subdued gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the medium term weighed down by significant adjustments to our economy. Some of these adjustments...

The NASDAQ 100 closed slightly higher on Wednesday. The mid-range close sets the stage for a steady opening on Thursday. Stochastics and the RSI are diverging but remain neutral to bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near-term. If September extends this year’s rally, the 75% retracement level of the 2008-2009 decline...

By Robert Folsom Editor’s Note: The following article discusses Robert Prechter’s view of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. For more information, download this free 10-page issue of Prechter’s Elliott Wave Theorist. When a maverick idea becomes vindicated, there’s a good story to tell. It usually involves a person (or...

Courtesy of The Mess That Greenspan Made Yesterday, CNN/Money reported that consumer confidence had soared after jumping to a level that was still about 40 percent below what would be considered “normal”. Today, we get a similar characterization for housing in New home sales soar in July. Is soar the right word here? Maybe headline writers...

Crude oil fell for a second day after an industry report showed that inventories rose last week. Oil dropped as much as 1.7 percent after the American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday that oil supplies climbed 1.3 percent, the most since April, to 346.7 million barrels. The Energy Department will say in a report today that stockpiles fell 1.15...

Zero Hedge points out as the market continues on its steady path to the stratosphere, first it became apparent that pension funds did not participate in the run up due to their significant reduction in equity exposure around the March max pain. What might come as more of a surprise is that according to the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index (HFRXGL), even...

Courtesy of Phil’s Stock World This is getting very interesting! As we expected in yesterday’s morning post, the morning pump was a great selling opportunity and we had a very good time riding the gentle dip we got in intraday trading.  The Dow hit it’s high for the day at 10:03 and by 10:09 I had an alert out to members to ignore the consumer...