H/T Calculated Risk From CNBC: What’s In the House Financial Services Reform Bill Creates the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). Creates inter-agency Financial Stability Council Provides dissolution authority for “Too Big to Fail” Executive Compensation: “enables regulators to ban inappropriate or imprudently risky compensation practices, and it requires financial fi Read More...

We’re excited to announce that our friends at Elliott Wave International are offering a free 50-page report from Robert Prechter.  Although originally published in 1985, “Popular Culture and the Stock Market” is so timeless and relevant that USA Today covered its insights in a recent November 2009 article. The report walks you through the ups and Read More...

Crude oil closed lower on Friday and below the 75% retracement level of this fall’s rally crossing at 70.23 as it extended the decline off October’s high. The low range close sets the stage for a steady to lower opening on Monday. If January extends the decline off October’s high, the 87% retracement level of this fall’s rally crossing at 68.16 is the next downside target. Read More...

Courtesy of Mish In response to Taxpayers On The Hook For Ginnie Mae’s Rampant Growth I received a nice Email from the Center for Public Integrity inviting me to take a look at Ginnie Mae’s Troubled Issuers. The data is interesting to say the least. Problem Issuers by Compare Ratio Compare ratio is the comparison of a lender’s default rates with other lenders in a geographic region as defi Read More...

Courtesy of Elliot Turner of T3Live.com The Case for a V: Could 7% Growth Rates Return?–The Economic Cycle Research Institute argues that in assessing bond spreads between high and low quality bonds, we are seeing an especially bullish trend develop. This relationship hints that a bounce-back in GDP from the deep recession could come with a greater than 7% growth rate. Is this just the be Read More...

Submitted by Tyler Durden With gold having dropped nearly $100 in a very brief period, as the Fed is doing all it can to prevent an all out gold rout (hey it worked the other way around too, and stopped the intended dollar free fall), spot is now a mere $13 away from the 50 DMA. Will this prove a material support level or will it be breached, leading to a cascade all the way down to the 950 previ Read More...

CalculatedRisk From MarketWatch: Consumer sentiment soars in early Dec Consumer sentiment improved markedly in early December, according to media reports on Friday of the Reuters/University of Michigan index. The consumer sentiment index rose to 73.4 in early December from 67.4 in November. … This is the highest level of consumer sentiment since September. Although this is being reported a Read More...

The Mess That Greenspan Made Sometimes you have to wonder whether economist Paul Krugman has ever once given any serious consideration to the idea that the economic system that has produced such apparent prosperity over the last few decades might, in fact, be severely flawed, these defects being largely responsible for the mayhem we’ve seen in the last year or two. Based on his most recent t Read More...

Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider Bank of America’s legal troubles are not going away. ———— WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission will continue to “vigorously pursue” its charges against Bank of America over disclosure of bonuses to employees of Merrill Lynch, a top agency official said Friday. SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami told Read More...

Courtesy of Mish The bond market is starting to show signs of concern over budget deficits and the corresponding supply of treasuries. Please consider Treasury Yield Curve Steepest Since at Least 1980 After Auction. Treasuries fell, with the gap in yields between 2- and 30-year securities reaching the widest margin since at least 1980, after a $13 billion offering of 30- year bonds drew lower-th Read More...

Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider As the summer was turning into a fall, there was a really brief period when it was super-cool to believe in the V-shaped recovery. There were all kinds of op-eds written about this bravely optimistic idea. But something happened. The data from October and November has not been particularly strong. The V-shaped recovery is beginning to look more U-shaped or ̵ Read More...

Scott Redler of T3Live.com Strategy rotation seems to be the key these days. The market continues to maneuver the upper channel, meanwhile day and a half strategies continue to pay active traders. Buying AAPL on Wednesday and selling Thursday Morning paid off nicely and buying AMZN Thursday and selling this morning would do the same. I can name plenty of situations like this in tech, as the big Read More...

Zero Hedge: Economic data adjustment/recasting/proforma expert (aka CNBC Senior Economic Reporter/Producer), and the government’s favorite mouthpiece, Steve Liesman, apparently has never heard of EUC. In the clip below we were much amused as the COMCASTIC ones were trying to make yesterday’s Dept of Labor data into something positive, when instead the influx of 328k into EUC programs w Read More...

Joe Weisenthal of Money Game Jim Rogers has been doing the media rounds lately, and yesterday evening he showed up on CNBC talking to Maria Bartiromo. He remains — not surprisingly at all — bullish on gold and silver. CNBC: With central banks now buying gold and many people worried about paper money, gold will be a great investment over the next decade and relatively few people are Read More...

Mad Hedge Fund Trader Featured Trades: (COPPER), (FCX), (CRUDE), (XTO), (RIG), (USO), (MUSTANGS) 1) I have to tell you that my old friend, Dr. Copper, the only commodity that has a PhD in economics, looks like he may be giving the market an “F” on its latest exam. If you recall, I was feverishly pounding on the table trying to get people to buy the red metal at $1.35 in January (click her Read More...