Jesse’s Cafe” Americain We have given quite a bit of coverage to the somewhat ‘thin’ veneer of recovery being spun by misleading government econmic statistics in the US. And we have certainly noted the almost blatant manipulation in many US markets, including stocks and commodities where the banks and hedge funds have been pushing...

Elliot Turner of T3Live.com In the waning days of 2009, with year-end and 2010 prediction posts in vogue, I would like to highlight some themes for the coming year and to offer ten predictions. With New Years marking the end of the decade, many financial pontificaters like to throw around the “lost decade” label about the 2000s. While...

Barry Ritholtz From The Big Picture: President Obama met with a dozen small banks yesterday, urging them to keep lending. He did not have to tell that to this group — about 6500 mostly AAA rated, regional and community banks — who have been happily lending away. Its how they earn their money. The larger banks, on the other hand, are the ones who...

MISH One sure way we know a second wave to the crisis is likely coming is the preemptive denial of it by those who never saw it coming. Please consider Geithner: There Will Be No ‘Second Wave’ Crisis. “We are not going to have a second wave of financial crisis,” Geithner said in an interview with National Public Radio. “We...

CalculatedRisk The Census Bureau reports New Home Sales in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 355 thousand. This is a sharp decrease from the revised rate of 400 thousand in October (revised down from 430 thousand). Click on graph for larger image in new window. The first graph shows monthly new home sales (NSA – Not...

I just got a new job in a different state and have had trouble finding cheap apartments. 90% of the apartment websites I used were loaded with fake listings phishing for my personal information so a realtor could contact my and not cheap rentals. But then I found MyCheapApartments.com, a clean design and simple navigation allowed me to quickly find...

Speculative plays ADCT – ADC Telecommunications – The stock broke resistance on Tuesday, which should be the start of another upside move. ETFC - E*TRADE Financial Corporation – Chart looks bullish in all time frames. There could be a possible takeover target according to many sources. Watching for a close above $1.79 on heavy volume. AIG...

CalculatedRisk Here is a little more positive data … Click on map for larger image. Here is a map of the three month change in the Philly Fed state coincident indicators. Twenty five states are showing declining three month activity. The index increased in 20 states, and was unchanged in 5. Here is the Philadelphia Fed state coincident index...

Vincent Fernando of Money Game Today’s downward revision is far worse than it first appears. While third quarter GDP was revised down by a 0.6% (2.2% vs. 2.8% previously), the contribution from motor vehicle output (which was massively stimulated by Cash for Clunkers in a one-off fashion) remains enormous. BEA GDP Release: Motor vehicle output...

The Mess That Greenspan Made Estimates of the growth rate for the U.S. economy are starting to sound more and more like earnings estimates – you hear everyone talking about much larger numbers for months and months and then, when the final figures are reported, they prove to be a bit disappointing, in this case revised down from 3.5 percent, to...

Joe Weisenthal of Money Game Heads up to Marc Faber fans: Mr. Gloom Boom Doom has given an extensive interview with the Economic Times of India, laying out some specific ideas for the coming year. You can read a full transcript here. Among other things, he likes wheat, sugar, and natural gas, and he hates the US for all the obvious reasons Perhaps...

Phil’s Stock World Yes!  Once again the futures are up! Who could have guessed such a thing?  At 7:30, we have about a half-point gain in the US futures despite the fact that oil is languishing at $73.35 and gold is down to $1,091 with silver failing $17 for the first time since October and copper bouncing off $3.12 again.  So no one wants...

CalculatedRisk From the BEA: Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the third quarter of 2009 … GDP was revised down from the advance estimated of 3.5% to the preliminary estimate of 2.8%, and now to...

Zero Hedge After an initial bounce early in the am courtesy of a variety of undeserved and circly jerkular upgrades by the big banks, equities zombied out as the liquidity providers scalped their penny quota for the day. In the meantime the DXY hit another multimonth high, passing and closing above 78, creating massive losses for a whole range of FX...

By Nico Isaac How banks are spending YOUR money might shock you Over the last few months, the mainstream financial experts repeatedly went on the record to say that the end of the global banking crisis was here. To wit: “Beyond stock movements, there is other evidence that the banking industry is back on its feet.” (Forbes) “Banks...