Closing Bell Note:
In 108 minute view gold, but mostly gold shares, both actually moved away from the direct euro/gold relationship. The present relationship is loosening, but not breaking just yet.
It could be related to other market influences, but this demands our close attention.
Thought For The Day
The spin doctors have changed the title of the major nuclear scientist reviewing the BP oil spill to a physicist.
MOPE is based on the premise of “Never disturb the social order.”
It would be disturbing if people thought there was a plan to blow it out.
Barack Obama sends nuclear experts to tackle BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil leak
The US has sent a team of nuclear physicists to help BP plug the “catastrophic” flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from its leaking Deepwater Horizon well, as the Obama administration becomes frustrated with the oil giant’s inability to control the situation.
By James Quinn in Louisana
Published: 7:57PM BST 14 May 2010
The five-man team – which includes a man who helped develop the first hydrogen bomb in the 1950s – is the brainchild of Steven Chu, President Obama’s Energy Secretary.
He has charged the men with finding solutions to stop the flow of oil.
President Obama yesterday promised a “relentless” effort to resolve the problem as he criticised the “cozy relationship” BP and other oil companies have with US regulators in Washington.
He also denounced the attempts by executives from BP, Transocean and Haliburtion to blame each other during this week’s congressional hearings into the rig disaster. “I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility.” Mr Obama said.
The five scientists visited BP’s main crisis centre in Houston earlier this week, along with Mr Chu, and are to continue to work with the company’s scientists and external advisers to reach an answer.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Hayward said the five-hour meeting involved a “very deep dive” into the situation at hand, with “lots of nuclear physicists and all sorts of people coming up with some quite good ideas actually.”
Pressed further about the meeting, he said they had “come up with one good idea” but declined to elaborate.
Jim,
“Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before,”
–White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
Let not the public forget that, regardless of the best efforts of MOPE, this truth applies not only to politics but also society at large.
CIGA Eric
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Of course it is played down as we live in a world of “Management of Perspective Economics.” That means most economic news is fabrication of spin doctors.
China is right.
US Plays Down European Crisis but China Worried
Published: Monday, 24 May 2010 | 4:29 AM ET
The United States suggested Europe’s debt crisis would have minimal impact on global growth, but China took a more pessimistic view, warning it would impact demand for its exports and other regions would suffer too
The two countries, meeting in Beijing for high-level talks, set the differing tones as euro zone leaders sought to conquer doubts that they can cut fiscal deficits and stimulate growth to overcome the crisis.
Global markets have been gripped by fears that a debt crisis engulfing Greece will spread to other highly indebted nations, particularly in southern Europe, dragging down the continent’s economy and hitting trade with the United States and Asia.
“The euro zone problems haven’t been cleaned up yet,” said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo. “And even though the global economy is definitely showing more signs of recovery than it did 6 months ago, worry continues that the euro zone’s woes will put a brake on this growth.”
Greece’s prime minister on Sunday ruled out defaulting on payments or restructuring its debt and his Spanish counterpart vowed to push through an austerity plan despite union threats to strike.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
You really have to love this spin. “Fear of a new bottom,” damn that is creative.
Falling home prices raise fears of new bottom
Home prices fall 0.5 percent from February to March, raising fears of a new bottom
NEW YORK (AP) — The housing slump isn’t over.
Tax credits and historically low mortgage rates have failed to lift home prices so far this year. Prices fell 0.5 percent in March from February, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday .
The co-creator of the Case-Shiller index, who predicted in 2005 that the housing bubble would burst, is raising concerns that the worst may be ahead. That fear is shared by other economists who point to weak job growth, tight credit and many more foreclosures ahead.
“I’m worried still about the risk of a double-dip,” economist Robert Shiller said in an interview.
The month-to-month drop from February to March marked the sixth straight decline. Prices in 13 of the cities fell. Only six metro areas recorded price gains. One, Boston, came in flat.
In the first quarter of 2010, U.S. home prices fell 3.2 percent compared with the fourth quarter.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Canada, you better be careful or you are next!
Obama to Send 1,200 Guard Troops to Mexico Border
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Published: May 25, 2010
LOS ANGELES — President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and increase spending on law enforcement, yielding to demands from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers there that border security be tightened, administration officials said.
Mr. Obama is expected to make the announcement Tuesday, the officials said, after a meeting with lawmakers.
Homeland Security officials said that the troops would provide support to law enforcement officers already working along the border by helping observe and monitor traffic between official crossing points, and would help analyze trafficking patterns in hopes of intercepting illegal drug shipments. They performed similar tasks in an earlier deployment along the border from 2006 to 2008, when they also assisted with road and fence construction. The troops have not been involved directly in intercepting border crossers.
Calls to send troops to the border mounted after the shooting death of a rancher in southern Arizona on March 27; the police suspect the rancher was killed by someone involved in smuggling. Advocates of a new state law in Arizona that gives the police a greater role in immigration enforcement also emphasized what they considered a failure to secure the border as a reason to pass the law.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from southern Arizona, praised the decision. Ms. Giffords is expecting a strong challenge for reelection, and was an early proponent of sending troops to the border.
