Dow was up 53 from buying into the close, advancers ahead of decliners 3-2 & NAZ slid 1. The Financial Index was flat at 231, its yearly high. The MLP index rose another 2+ to almost 420 for a another new record (up 41 this year) & the REIT index added a fraction in the 276s, near its multi year highs. Junk bond funds were higher & as were Treasuries. Oil hardly budged & gold had a minor loss.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Photo: Yahoo
ItItaly Needs 9 Billion Euros for Deficit Goal, Official SaysItaly Needs 9 Billion Euros
The Treasury has come up with a plan on selling the remaining 300M shares of stock it owns in General Motors (GM), ending almost 4 years of partial gov ownership of the car maker. The plan would be implemented by JPMorgan Securities (JPM) & Citigroup Global Markets (C), the 2 financial firms it has hired to sell its remaining GM stock. While specific details were not revealed, officials said that the timing has not changed from the Dec announcement that it would sell the remaining stock shares over the next 12-15 months, subject to market conditions. GM stock fell 24¢.
Treasury Announces Sales Plan for GM Stock
Despite buying in the last hour, stocks did very little today Earnings have been less than robust, but many of the biggies will be reporting in the coming weeks. Dow manged to reach a new closing high since 2008, but it's hard to make much of that on light volume before a long weekend. Apple (AAPL), with the largest market cap in the world, is a penny below 500 (down 205 from its recent peak).
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Treasury yields:
U.S. 3-month | 0.074% | |
U.S. 2-year | 0.252% | |
U.S. 10-year | 1.843% |
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](http://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif) |
Photo: Yahoo
House Reps will take up a bill to extend the US debt ceiling by 3 months according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. That that would push the deadline for raising the borrowing limit to mid-April (tax deadline time). The US is on track to run out of borrowing ability in mid-Feb or Mar, according to the Treasury Dept. The plan is a 3-month bill extension would get the country safely past that time. While the passage of a short-term bill would take the threat of default off the table temporarily, Reps also say that a longer-term extension is contingent on Congress passing a budget that makes cuts in federal spending. “Before there is any long-term debt-limit increase, a budget should be passed that cuts spending,” House Speaker John Boehner said. The economy could slip into a recession if the borrowing limit, currently $16.4T, isn’t reached. Eric Cantor said that if the Senate or House doesn’t pass a budget by mid-Apr, members of Congress won’t get paid. That sounds good!
Republicans Seek Three-Month Debt Increase MarketWatch
Italy may need at least €9B ($12B) in additional budget measures in 2013 to meet its deficit targets as the worsening recession hurts tax revenue & fuels unemployment costs, a Finance Ministry official said. Italy will need to find €8B to finance jobless schemes & faces a €6B revenue shortfall from value- added & gambling taxes, Finance Undersecretary Gianfranco Polillo said. That will be partly offset by a bigger-than-expected take from a new property tax & falling debt financing costs that will add €5B in resources. The Bank of Italy today cut its forecast for the economy, predicting a contraction of 1% which will make it harder for Italy to meet its goal of a 2013 deficit of 1.6% of GDP, he said. This year “there will be some spillover from a bigger deficit in 2012 stemming from the fact that GDP has slumped and we will have less coming in from VAT and a bit less from gaming, which we will only be able to partly compensate for with the increase in the property tax,” he said.
ItItaly Needs 9 Billion Euros for Deficit Goal, Official SaysItaly Needs 9 Billion Euros
The Treasury has come up with a plan on selling the remaining 300M shares of stock it owns in General Motors (GM), ending almost 4 years of partial gov ownership of the car maker. The plan would be implemented by JPMorgan Securities (JPM) & Citigroup Global Markets (C), the 2 financial firms it has hired to sell its remaining GM stock. While specific details were not revealed, officials said that the timing has not changed from the Dec announcement that it would sell the remaining stock shares over the next 12-15 months, subject to market conditions. GM stock fell 24¢.
Treasury Announces Sales Plan for GM Stock
Despite buying in the last hour, stocks did very little today Earnings have been less than robust, but many of the biggies will be reporting in the coming weeks. Dow manged to reach a new closing high since 2008, but it's hard to make much of that on light volume before a long weekend. Apple (AAPL), with the largest market cap in the world, is a penny below 500 (down 205 from its recent peak).
Dow Jones Industrials
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