Dow dropped 53, decliners over advancers almost 2-1 & NAZ fell 19. The Financial Index was off 1 to the 198s, unable to break 200 all month.
The MLP index was off a smidgen to 408 & the REIT index fell pocket change in the 243s (both near their highs). Junk bond funds rose while Treasuries retreated. Oil rose for the first time in 3 days, capping the first monthly gain since Nov, on reports of US economic expansion. Gold tumbled the most in 2 months on signs that the Federal Reserve will refrain from offering more monetary stimulus to bolster the US economy.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](http://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif)
Photo: Yahoo
The economy started the year off well with busier factories, higher retail sales, more jobs & growth in home sales. The Federal Reserve said that all 12 of its banking districts reported some level of growth in Jan & the first half of Feb. Manufacturing output rose in all districts. Auto manufacturing, steel makers & other metal producers all reported solid growth. Home sales increased in at least half of the districts, an improvement from the last report in Jan. Sales are expected to climb further in 4 districts & 6 districts reported rising construction of apartments. However, some manufacturers reported concerns about Europe's financial crisis in the report known as the Beige Book. It's released 8 times a year. There are predictions of another big month of job growth in Feb, based on a steady decline in applications for unemployment benefits & more optimism in business surveys. More jobs have boosted incomes & the ability to spend, a key driver of economic growth. Incomes increased in H2 of 2011 much more than previously estimated. Factory production jumped last month & Dec was the strongest month of growth in 5 years. Even the depressed housing market is flashing signs of a modest rebound. Of course, this report was conducted before rising gas prices began to bite hard.
Greece does little to enforce anti-corruption rules & many of its laws condone graft, undermining its efforts to reform and pull itself out of a debt crisis, Transparency Intl said. "We all know about the debt crisis, but Greece is also suffering a crisis of values," said Costas Bakouris, head of the corruption group's Greek division. "It has the right laws in place but does little to enforce them." Greece has struggled for years with rampant corruption that has hampered efforts to raise taxes & reform its stricken economy, now in its 5th year of deep recession. Irate foreign lenders are waiting nervously to see whether it follows through on pledges to reform itself. The report said Greece had many laws in place to fight corruption but they were not being enforced. On the other hand, laws that allow buildings built illegally to be approved later, & allow "special" accounts at ministries where transparency rules do not apply effectively condoned corruption, it said. The report urged Greece to improve rules on disclosing the accounts of political parties, put in place stronger rules to make private companies more transparent & merge existing anti-corruption agencies into a single body. Greece was ranked 80th out of 183 countries in the group's 2011 corruption perceptions index, below China, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia & Cuba. Only Bulgaria ranked lower in the European Union & Western Europe section. The Greek debt mess is far from being over.
Greece Doing Little to Fight Corruption, Group Says
Photo: Bloomberg
The US exported more gasoline, diesel & other fuels than it imported in 2011 for the first time since 1949, according to the Energy Dept as.shipments abroad exceeded imports by 439K barrels a day. In 2010, daily net imports averaged 269K barrels. Total crude & product imports fell 11% from a year earlier to 8.4M barrels a day, the lowest level since 1995. US refiners exported record amounts of gasoline & distillate fuels, including heating oil & diesel, to meet higher global fuel demand while gasoline consumption sank & distillate was little changed. Distillate shipments rose 30% from a year earlier to a record 854K barrels a day, & daily exports of finished gasoline & blending components jumped 57K to 526K barrels in 2011. The US will ship abroad 350K barrels a day more petroleum products that it imports in 2012 & 320K barrels daily in 2013, according to the department’s report released on Feb 7. Gasoline demand sank 2.9% to 8.7M barrels a day, as pump prices averaged $3.52 a gallon, the highest in history.
Apple crossed an amazing milestone in when its market cap exceeded $500B! To put this in perspective, it is now more valuable than the GDP of Poland, Belgium, Sweden & even Saudi Arabia. AAPL is the 4th company to break this mark, and unlike others that have briefly traded in this neighborhood ((Microsoft (MSFT) & Cisco (CSCO)), both Dow stocks, & AAPL has the potential to blow past it. Other companies which have held the title of largest market cap in the world include General Electric (GE) & IBM (IBM), again both Dow stocks. AAPL will launch iPad 3 in a couple of weeks & plans to bring out a new TV in the fall. The stock was up $7 to $542 (a new record).
Apple Valuation Tops $500 Billion as Company Readies IPad 3 Introduction
The MLP index was off a smidgen to 408 & the REIT index fell pocket change in the 243s (both near their highs). Junk bond funds rose while Treasuries retreated. Oil rose for the first time in 3 days, capping the first monthly gain since Nov, on reports of US economic expansion. Gold tumbled the most in 2 months on signs that the Federal Reserve will refrain from offering more monetary stimulus to bolster the US economy.
JPMorgan Chase Capital XVI (AMJ)
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Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month | 0.076% | |
U.S. 2-year | 0.297% | |
U.S. 10-year | 1.983% |
| CLJ12.NYM | ...Crude Oil Apr 12 | ...106.96 | ... 0.41 | (0.4%) |
Photo: Yahoo
The economy started the year off well with busier factories, higher retail sales, more jobs & growth in home sales. The Federal Reserve said that all 12 of its banking districts reported some level of growth in Jan & the first half of Feb. Manufacturing output rose in all districts. Auto manufacturing, steel makers & other metal producers all reported solid growth. Home sales increased in at least half of the districts, an improvement from the last report in Jan. Sales are expected to climb further in 4 districts & 6 districts reported rising construction of apartments. However, some manufacturers reported concerns about Europe's financial crisis in the report known as the Beige Book. It's released 8 times a year. There are predictions of another big month of job growth in Feb, based on a steady decline in applications for unemployment benefits & more optimism in business surveys. More jobs have boosted incomes & the ability to spend, a key driver of economic growth. Incomes increased in H2 of 2011 much more than previously estimated. Factory production jumped last month & Dec was the strongest month of growth in 5 years. Even the depressed housing market is flashing signs of a modest rebound. Of course, this report was conducted before rising gas prices began to bite hard.
Greece does little to enforce anti-corruption rules & many of its laws condone graft, undermining its efforts to reform and pull itself out of a debt crisis, Transparency Intl said. "We all know about the debt crisis, but Greece is also suffering a crisis of values," said Costas Bakouris, head of the corruption group's Greek division. "It has the right laws in place but does little to enforce them." Greece has struggled for years with rampant corruption that has hampered efforts to raise taxes & reform its stricken economy, now in its 5th year of deep recession. Irate foreign lenders are waiting nervously to see whether it follows through on pledges to reform itself. The report said Greece had many laws in place to fight corruption but they were not being enforced. On the other hand, laws that allow buildings built illegally to be approved later, & allow "special" accounts at ministries where transparency rules do not apply effectively condoned corruption, it said. The report urged Greece to improve rules on disclosing the accounts of political parties, put in place stronger rules to make private companies more transparent & merge existing anti-corruption agencies into a single body. Greece was ranked 80th out of 183 countries in the group's 2011 corruption perceptions index, below China, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia & Cuba. Only Bulgaria ranked lower in the European Union & Western Europe section. The Greek debt mess is far from being over.
Greece Doing Little to Fight Corruption, Group Says
The US exported more gasoline, diesel & other fuels than it imported in 2011 for the first time since 1949, according to the Energy Dept as.shipments abroad exceeded imports by 439K barrels a day. In 2010, daily net imports averaged 269K barrels. Total crude & product imports fell 11% from a year earlier to 8.4M barrels a day, the lowest level since 1995. US refiners exported record amounts of gasoline & distillate fuels, including heating oil & diesel, to meet higher global fuel demand while gasoline consumption sank & distillate was little changed. Distillate shipments rose 30% from a year earlier to a record 854K barrels a day, & daily exports of finished gasoline & blending components jumped 57K to 526K barrels in 2011. The US will ship abroad 350K barrels a day more petroleum products that it imports in 2012 & 320K barrels daily in 2013, according to the department’s report released on Feb 7. Gasoline demand sank 2.9% to 8.7M barrels a day, as pump prices averaged $3.52 a gallon, the highest in history.
Apple crossed an amazing milestone in when its market cap exceeded $500B! To put this in perspective, it is now more valuable than the GDP of Poland, Belgium, Sweden & even Saudi Arabia. AAPL is the 4th company to break this mark, and unlike others that have briefly traded in this neighborhood ((Microsoft (MSFT) & Cisco (CSCO)), both Dow stocks, & AAPL has the potential to blow past it. Other companies which have held the title of largest market cap in the world include General Electric (GE) & IBM (IBM), again both Dow stocks. AAPL will launch iPad 3 in a couple of weeks & plans to bring out a new TV in the fall. The stock was up $7 to $542 (a new record).
Apple Valuation Tops $500 Billion as Company Readies IPad 3 Introduction
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
This should have been a day for joy with the Dow & S&P 500 going above key technical levels & NAZ inching over 3K. But there was no follow thru, instead stocks sold off mildly. The € slipped more than a penny to $1.33¼ when the ECB tossed big money at European banks. Dow gained 320 in Feb but is only back to where it was 2 weeks ago before high oil prices became a national issue. Stocks may need a chance to pause & take a breather after the 2500 rise in the last 5 months.
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