Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.14.2012

Good Morning:

Moody’s downgraded Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta overnight.  They also  placed France, Austria and the UK on  negative watch.  The cuts were not a surprise to the markets-and bond auctions in the region did well today.

Bank of Japan left their interest rates unchanged, they will increase their asset buying program, and will introduce a 1% cap on consumer inflation.

In other news-the price of oil on the NY Merc jumped to over $101/bbl as nervous market participants continue to fear supply disruptions from Iran.  It seems that the US Navy’s 5th feet which is based out of Bahrain are prepared to take steps to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping. 

Gold and silver are lower-while oil is on the rise.

Asian equity markets were mixed-as European and US Futures are lower at this time.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.13.2012

Good Morning:

The Greek sage continues:

Greek passed the newest austerity measures on Sunday.  The new measures must be implemented to ensure that Greece receives it’s 2nd round of bailout funds by next month.  These funds will be needed-as Greece has a large bond payment due in mid March 2012 (14 billion euros).
EU finance ministers will be meeting on Wednesday to sign off on the deal.
In the wake of the Greek vote-Euro Zone sovereign (Italy,Spain and Portuguese) debt yields are lower.

Today, President Obama will release the 2013 budget.  The early talk is that the budget does not include any significant cuts.
This will make this election year quite interesting-and it should set up a contentious battle with Republicans.

World equity markets and futures are higher today.

Oil, Gold and Silver are all higher too.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.10.2012

Good Morning:

The Greek saga continues:

The Euro, commodity and equity markets all took a turn south as we await the results  of this weekend’s vote by Greek politicians.
In the latest news, Greece’s far right Laos party stated that they cannot vote for the bailout package.  If it binds Greece for 50 years-the Laos party will not endorse the package.
It now appears that the Greek initiatives to shrink their budget will not be sufficient for the EU and IMF.  The civil servants union-ADEDY has called a 48 hour strike (again).  Mass transit is virtually stopped-and hospital doctors and bank employees are also on strike.

What a mess-  The markets may be rocky and spotty the next few sessions.

Equity markets worldwide are lower-as are futures.
Gold,Silver, Oil and most of the commodity world are lower.

HAVE A GREAT DAY-WEEKEND &GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.9.2012

Good Morning:

The ECB left interest rates unchanged at 1%-which was highly expected by market participants.
The BOE also left interest rates unchanged at .5%-and will increase their QE asset purchases.

The European Troika gave Greece an additional 15 days to find 300 million euros of pension cuts.  This seems to be a major stumbling block, and the process will be stalled until this issue is taken care of.

The ECB left interest rates unchanged-as the ECB is taking a “wait and see” approach to the Greek bailout deal.
Greek leaders could not come up with a full austerity plan-and the Greek Finance Minister is on his way to Brussels.  He was expected in Brussels to meet with EU leaders with a completed plan-he now goes to plead his countries case-Again-to EU leaders.

Gold, Silver and gold are all higher.

Asian equity markets were lower-Europe is flat-US Futures are higher.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.8.2012

Good Morning:

The Greek saga continues-as the markets await Greek prime Minister Papademos is again set to meet in Athens to discuss and hopefully come to an agreement over the debt crisis in his country.  The scheduled meeting has been delayed-which is hardly a surprise to anyone

In US political news-Rick Santorum, Former US Senator of Pennslyvania  swept all 3 Republican primary contests last night.  This has certainly made the race a different animal.. Life will be difficult for Newt Gingrich now-and does this show that Mitt Romney does not have the support of the American Mid West.  I am sure that President Obama was very happy with the results-as this shows an even further divided Republican party-and that will be very helpful for the re election of the incumbent President.

World equity markets and US Futures are higher.

Oil is trading just under $100/bar.

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.7.2012

Good Morning:

In an unexpected move, the Reserve Bank of Australia left their benchmark interest rates unchanged at 4.25%.  With signs of growth in North America and Asia-the RBA opted to leave rates steady for the time being.  The RBA will monitor the growth of the global economy, and will set their interest and monetary policy accordingly.

In other news-it seems that Greece is getting closer to an agreement with their creditors.  We have heard this for the past few weeks-so when we get confirmation-I will let you know.  In the meantime-European leaders are running out of patience for Greece to get their monetary policy in place.

Fed Chairman Bernanke will be speaking to Congress today-after last friday’s positive jobs data-will his  tone be different?  No likely.

Equity markets are lower-as are US Futures.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.6.2012

Good Morning:

I have returned after my knee surgery.  The surgery went well-and now my job is to do physical therapy and get back up to speed.

I see that very little changed- Greece is still trying to work out their latest mess.  The discussions between the parties regarding austerity measures to ensure the bailout funds for March (as Greece has a 14 billion payment due) are virtually at a stand still.
There needs to be agreement within the Papademos’ government regarding these new austerity and the restructuring of government  programs and staffing.
EU officials are waiting for the Greek government to come to terms with the new package which includes “wage and pension reductions, along with job cuts and tougher tax enforcement programs”.

Asian equity markets were higher-but with no news out of Greece-European equity markets dropped lower-and US Futures are lower at this time.

Last night the NY Giants won the NFL Superbowl-and the big winners were the advertisers and networks.  Commercials cost up to $3.5 million for a  30 second spot during the game.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-January.27.2012

Good Morning:

With a looming 14 billion euro payment due in March-the Greek government is in continuous talks with their private creditors to restructure their debt.  This has been the centerpiece of the currency markets for the past week.  Creditors are insisting on ECB participation in the Greek debt mess.
In other news from the Euro Zone:
Portuguese bond yields reached new highs-as market participants are in  the mindset that Portugal may need a second bailout to work out their debt mess.
Spain’s unemployment rate rose to over 22%-as the loss of construction jobs continues to hamper any employment recovery.

US  Q4 GDP rises 2.8%.     

Asian equity markets were higher-Europe is lower-as are US Futures.

Oil is higher-still below $100/bar.  Gold is lower.

HAVE A GREAT DAY-WEEKEND & GOOD LUCK

I will be out of the office next week-as I am having knee surgery.  I will hobble back on Feb 6.