TGIF

After a volatile week, I'm thinking about the weekend. Hmmmm ... perhaps a trip to the range, a barbeque, some beer and relaxation is needed. I think the weekend will start early here in the bunker.

Markets

Yesterday the beefers performed their usual antics with one of their puppets. They pushed Elmer [aka Alan Greenspan] onto the TV in the afternoon to speak some doom and foreboding. Elmer was, of course, a principal architect of the housing bubble with his excessively long period of very low interest rates and his foolish pumping of adjustable rate loans at the same time. Since retirement, he's been doing the bidding of his beefer masters for very high pay. What a knave !

[Note for new readers: "beefer" is short for big, evil funds, the ones who bounce the market around like a ping pong ball, conduct bear raids and bull pumps while trying to shake you out of your investments.]

So "they" proceeded to knock the market down late in the day. BA was hit hard, probably by an unannounced downgrade by a major firm. The Dow Jones Industrial Avergae seems unusually volatle lately compared to the S&P 500. I wonder if the beefers have decided to use it an a tool of their manipulations, being a bit easier to bounce around as it's only 30 stocks ?

Recent data indicating a slowdown in Europe might soon give the ECB some reason to ponder its silly policy of trying to control the price of oil via interest rates.

I don't expect a good employment number today. This is seasonal layoff season. But companies are hiring if they can find people willing to work. The most important work skills are these three: 1) show up on time, 2) sober and 3) do what one is told. Unfortunately, some people don't seem to have that nowadays. A plant nearby is still trying to hire full time, unskilled labor at a reasonable entry level pay (double the minimum wage) - they have a large banner visible from a major highway advertising their desire.

PS: Added to CVX, DVN, FCX, BA, IR and ITW. At 167% long ... that's it, all full loads. NB: BA+IR+ITW is one position.

Word of the Day

"Mountebank" - noun [$10]
Mountebank means 1. (historical) a person who sells quack medicine from a platform; 2. a boastful, unscruplous pretender. Alternative definition: 1. a swindler, a charlatan; 2. a clown.
Sentence: Where is the gravitas of Obama ? So far he's shown himself to be a mountebank surrounded by his shills in the DC press, mouthing platitudes and empty slogans. "Change!" ... What Change ? He's a mere speech ... an empty head with a sales pitch for homo booboise to buy.