Economics

"Stocks rallied Monday, with the Dow industrials surging to a 13-month high, as investor optimism gained momentum. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) soared 204 points, or 2%, to close at 10,226.94 -- its highest level since Oct. 3, 2008. The gains were broad-based, with all but 1 of the 30 components in the blue-chip index closing higher. Financial and commodity-related shares led the advance. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 24 points, or 2.2%, to settle at 1,093.07 and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 42 points, or 2%, to close at 2,154.06." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Fewer U.S. banks tightened lending standards for companies and consumers in the third quarter as the economy grew for the first time in more than a year, a Federal Reserve survey showed. Demand for most types of loans weakened at a smaller number of banks than in the second quarter, the Fed also said today in its quarterly Senior Loan Officer survey. For prime residential mortgages, a larger number of banks reported stronger demand, the central bank said." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"When a firm's trading performance challenges not only all preconceptions of realistic trading, but also of statistical distributions, one can merely stand back and watch in awe. Attached is a graphic of what a rigged, backstopped and manipulated market is all about. The chart demonstrates Goldman's YTD trading track record: out of 194 trading days in 2009, the firm has made over $100 million on 116 occasions! This alone accounts for $11.6 billion in revenue (and is likely much more as Goldman could have easily had a $1 billion trading day in the rightmost bracket as it is open ended). Assuming midline averages for any given bucket and multiplying by the amount of days that the firm traded within these, Goldman Sachs has made $15 billion courtesy of the skewed and very highly improbable (but not impossible, thank you taxpayers and Ben Bernanke) chart." - Maxamad (Amazigh) from Bookmarklet

pitlord: as opposed to other elected officials? - Mike Chelen

"The company’s AES Wind Generation unit, formed in 2004, operates more than 1,300 megawatts of generation capacity in the US, Europe and China and has 525MW under development. It also develops, finances and manages wind projects. The proposed transactions are the latest signs of China’s determination to become a major player in the global wind power market." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"President Barack Obama’s administration is accelerating plans to boost job growth, including more spending on infrastructure and business tax cuts" - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Over the last five years, the economies of Wal-Mart countries outside the United States have grown 40 percent faster than the world average. So what's going on?" - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from Bookmarklet

Business as usual, I guess. - Maxim Tee from iPhone

I suspect the similarities between these two figures speak to the size and influence of the U.S. economy. I think it also speaks to the influence of U.S. monetary policy on global liquidity conditions and, thus, it influence on global nominal spending. - Steve from Bookmarklet

"The economy is rebounding from its deepest slump since the 1930s, but it probably won't seem that way when the government releases its monthly employment report on Friday. Employers aren't expected to start adding jobs for several more months. Many are skeptical about the strength and sustainability of the recovery," - imabonehead from Bookmarklet

3. The economy is so bad that a picture is now only worth 200 words. - Steve from Bookmarklet

12. The economy is so bad I saw the CEO of Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) shopping at Wal-Mart. - Steve

6. The economy is so bad that I bought a toaster oven and my free gift with the purchase was a bank. - Steve

"Chrysler Group broke even in September and ended its first post-bankruptcy quarter with more cash on hand than it had at the beginning of the period, the company's new boss said Wednesday." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The price of gold has touched an all-time high after a large sale of the precious commodity by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to India." - Maxamad (Amazigh) from Bookmarklet

"Warren Buffett's investment maxims are repeated so frequently in media articles and blogs that one might think the Berkshire Hathaway chief never deviates from the famous script. But in reality, Buffett is more than willing to improve if it makes sense for Berkshire shareholders. Today's news that Berkshire's "B" shares will be split 50-to-1 is one example. Anyone who closely follows Buffett has read that he doesn't believe in stock splits, because all it is doing is cutting one pie into more pieces. The amount of pie, however, remains the same. Buffett wants shareholders who aren't going to get excited about having 200 shares at $20 rather than 100 shares at $40." - imabonehead from Bookmarklet

"Buffett reiterated today to CNBC that he's not much for stock splits. And the "A" shares won't be split as part of the deal to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. An "A" share, which had been worth 30 times a B share, will now be worth 1,500 times. But he was willing to split the B shares (assuming Berkshire shareholders approve, which seems about as safe a bet as death and taxes)... more... - imabonehead

"Major automakers reported Tuesday that their October sales rebounded following a weak September, as an increase in the number of cars available at dealers helped to get sales moving once again." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Last spring, the cigar industry fretted that the government might tax so-called "little cigars" into oblivion. Several months later, though, it appears the makers of cigarette-shaped little cigars have found a way to escape the high taxes. The cigar makers have added more weight to their cigars, reclassified them as large cigars and now are subject to a lower tax rate" - Alex Scrivener from Bookmarklet

"Finance professionals have been using Mathematica for years to optimize portfolios, develop and refine analytic risk models, rapidly prototype products and trading strategies, deploy analysis tools over the web, and much more." - Judah Richardson from Bookmarklet

"In 1992, it was the arrival of the 50-seat Bombardier CRJ that triggered a new order in the sub-100-seat sector - it is a sobering thought that beyond Bombardier, just two of the protagonists from that year remain players today - Embraer and ATR. Will the "step-change" economics that Pratt & Whitney's PW1000G geared turbofan promises give Mitsubishi Aircraft's MRJ (and at the top end, Bombardier's CSeries) the ability to create a new world order in the regional sector? And could it prompt chain reactions from existing players such as Embraer?" - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in the company’s biggest takeover. Buffett’s firm will pay $26 billion, or $100 a share in cash and stock, for the 77.4 percent of the railroad it doesn’t already own." - imabonehead from Bookmarklet

"Ford Motor reported a surprise profit for the third quarter Monday, helped by a bump in sales from the Cash for Clunkers program, a reduced cost structure and problems at its U.S. rivals." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The number of contracts to buy previously owned homes in the U.S. rose in September for an eighth straight month as Americans rushed to meet a deadline for a home-buyer tax credit. The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home sales, rose 6.1 percent after a 6.4 percent gain in August, the National Association of Realtors said in Washington. Compared with a year earlier, pending sales rose 19.8 percent, without adjusting for seasonal variations. Many buyers accelerated purchases of new homes to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit before it expires Nov. 30. Foreclosure-driven price declines and low mortgage rates have also pushed sales up this year." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"A 5-month investigation by McClatchy Newspapers has found that Goldman secretly bet on the housing crash, went out and pimped the dickens out of assets it knew were junk, and may have broken securities laws in doing so. McClatchy found that Goldman..." - Maxamad (Amazigh) from Bookmarklet

They played both sides, from my understanding. I hate it too, but let's not confuse the issues just to make the witch hunting easier. - Mr. Gunn

Which witch is that Mr. Gunn? I'm not sure what is being confused. - Todd Hoff

"U.S. securities investigators raised repeated concern over how Bernard Madoff could be running an honest business, but never followed through on the many red flags they uncovered. Hundreds of documents released on Friday by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's portray an agency at times skeptical or dismissive of evidence that the now imprisoned mastermind of the world's largest Ponzi scheme was up to no good." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Using data released Friday morning, Jeremy Piger updated his estimates of U.S. recession probabilities through August of 2009. The results now suggest that the probability of recession was below 50% for both July and August. He notes that..." - imabonehead from Bookmarklet

"I’m not an economist. So, it’s hard to make sense of the trillions of dollars that are thrown around when it comes to the federal deficit and national debt. So, I thought I’d just normalize the federal income statement and debt statistics against a typical household since it makes more intuitive sense to me. Here we go:" - Maxamad (Amazigh) from Bookmarklet

"Rand’s style of vehement individualism has never been universally popular among conservatives — back in 1957, Whittaker Chambers denounced the “wickedness” of “Atlas Shrugged” in National Review — and Rand still has her critics on the right today. But it can often seem, as Jonathan Chait, a senior editor at The New Republic recently observed, that “Rand is everywhere in this right-wing mood.” And while it’s not hard to understand Rand’s revenge-fantasy appeal to those on the right, would-be Galts ought to hear the story Anne C. Heller has to tell in her dramatic and very timely biography, “Ayn Rand and the World She Made.” For one thing, it is far more interesting than anything in Rand’s novels. That is because Heller is dealing with a human being, and one with more than her share of human failings and contradictions — “gallant, driven, brilliant, brash, cruel . . . and ultimately self-destructive,” as Heller puts it. The characters Rand created, on the other hand — like Galt or Howard Roark, the architect hero of “The Fountainhead” — are abstract principles set to moving and talking." - edythe from Bookmarklet

Nice! "she managed to mass market elitism — to convince so many people, especially young people, that they could be geniuses without being in any concrete way distinguished. Or, rather, that they could distinguish themselves by the ardor of their commitment to Rand’s teaching. The very form of her novels makes the same point: they are as cartoonish and sexed-up as any best seller, yet they are constantly suggesting that the reader who appreciates them is one of the elect." - Maxim Tee from iPhone

"The new jobs figure -- 640,329 specifically -- represents direct stimulus spending through Sept. 30 on projects or activities such as highway repairs and education. More than 400,000 of the jobs were in the education and construction sectors, according to the White House." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The largest stimulus program in the nation's history has created or saved at least 650,000 jobs, according to a report released by the Obama administration on Friday." - imabonehead from Bookmarklet

Also carbon neutral, makes you look great in those jeans - Alex Scrivener

"The U.S. economy returned to growth in the third quarter after a yearlong contraction as government incentives spurred consumers to spend more on homes and cars. The world’s largest economy expanded at a 3.5 percent pace from July through September, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Household purchases climbed 3.4 percent, the most in two years." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year, propelled by stimulus-driven gains in consumer spending and home building." - imabonehead from Bookmarklet