The MBAI/Ambac thing was the first thing that came to my mind as well.

****ing pumpers.

Quote:

This is truly laughable. It is like arguing that "we can bail out California" but forgetting that as soon as you do Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Arizona will instantly appear with their hands outstretched.

Like giving money to a beggar on the streest of Calcutta. You'll be swamped by the horde of others.

Ha! German official denies bailout of Greece. Euro up, Euro down.

VIX up, VIX down.

DOW up, DOW down.

Roller coaster trading.........

IMO - The market is setting up for a nice big crash soon. This kind of action always presages a dislocation.

Of course, we could have a 500 to 1000 Dow point move up first, but I wouldn't count on it. Remember October 13th 2008 when the Dow was up 936 points that day. The market then fell 30% in the next 3 months.

Crap like this action today just makes me more certain the market is going to ZERO!

Korean Development Bank.

Remember that one. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

This is unhealthy market action. These kinds of big up days only happen in bear markets.

This is hilarious. I've never seen a guy doing economic commentary suddenly cut away and advise stockpiling three months of food.

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com....

Three months?

More like 12. This market is psychotic and schizophrenic.

Everything is FAIL. Just depends on timing.

...and a coworker wonders why I just bought another two cases of ammo.

Damn , I feel sorry for daytraders. They probaly can't even leave their computer to take a dump. This trading day is for professionals only. They are better off going to OTB.

I made some decent money today but ******n it you had to be fast! And if you're wrong, well, you're ****ed.

"Barclays Capital says the net external liabilities of Greece are 87pc of GDP, or €208bn (£182bn). Spain is worse at 91pc (€950bn), and Portugal worse yet at 108pc (€177bn); Ireland is 68pc (€123bn), Italy is 23pc, (€347bn). Add East Europe's bubble and foreign debts top €2 trillion."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comme....


It is the external liabilities that runs the show. Note that though Italys public spending is inevitably in the red the country can raise more than 3/4 of its funding needs domestically. That is why the Italians (and the Japanese) are not really in trouble here.

The single largest Greek creditor is France = French banks:
"George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, is to hold pre-summit discussions on Wednesday with Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, in Paris."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83de2cae-15a9-....

"Papandreou’s government today floated new steps to bring down the deficit from 12.7 percent of gross domestic product and its efforts were saluted by Fitch Ratings, which called the 2010 deficit-reduction plan “achievable.” The measures include cuts of as much as 5.5 percent in government workers’ wages and a waiver on taxes for Greeks who repatriate funds held in foreign accounts."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=2....

Eventually, they'll run out of countries to bail out. Then what will they do?

Exactly. I'm sure that EU leaders are discussing the Greece situation since it is a true crisis.

If they somehow bailout Greece then the other weak sister Euro countries will be next in line and ALL of the EU countries will give up any attempts to reduce budget deficits. On the other hand, if Greece defaults then other weak Euro countries will default and most likely many european banks will fail. The lesson from Lehman for the governments is that they can't let any big player default, therefore some kind of bailout is likely, IMO. I would caution against looking at what is legal or not legal. As in our prior crisis in 2008, the government doesn't care what is legal or illegal in a crisis.

The situations with California and the other failing states is an appropriate link. At some point soon, probably this year, California will face the choice of default or a bailout. The state of Federal borrowing will be a big factor. If California is allowed to default then there will be huge money flows out of Munis into US gov, bonds. If bailouts occur the opposite will happen and it may threaten the ability of the Feds to borrow.

AMBAK!! AMBAK!!!! er um eh I mean Greece Bailout!!! Greece Bailout!!!

Same old pumpers, new siren song though...how much $$$ was lost by honest traders looking to profit on what they knew was eventually going to happen.

Spain has almost a trillion Euros in debt!!! 91% of GDP!!! hold on, let me get my popcorn and a soda, this one is gunna end with fireworks!

Zerohedge is reporting in a couple of stories that the bail-out rumors may be unfounded (citing Reuters and Marketnews).

"Satan's Maw" .... I like that. Should be the title of a future ticker.

Quote:

I made some decent money today but ******n it you had to be fast! And if you're wrong, well, you're ****ed.

No kidding; the Whiplash Wedge machine is definitely turned on:

I used to think this guy made sense.

Quote:

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz said the prospect of a default by the U.S. or the U.K. is an “absurd” notion constructed in financial markets.

Both nations “deserve to keep the Aaa rating” and “the likelihood of a default is so small, particularly in the U.S. because all we do is print money to pay it back,” he said in response to questions after a speech in London yesterday. “The notion of a default is so absurd, it’s another reflection of the absurdities in the financial markets.”

Gen,

Fast is not the word for that move. Literally by the time the finger was on the buy button it was time to sell. But it was sure fun to watch the frenzy.

The market seems to be afraid of itself.

Longer term than five minutes the Euro has a big ZERO painted on its backside.

Just have to use those nerves of steal... spelling intentional.

You certainly called the bull**** prior to the Germans announcing that is was bull****.

How about Australia? I thought Australia was doing GOOD. You just can't ever trust news, can you?

The endgame is in sight, welcome to the Thunderdome.

Clash of rumors:

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/f....

From a technical point of view, EURUSD looks quite typical. If I was still day trading, I would have placed a short at the obvious resistance with a tight stop around 1.3840. The H4 looks well on it's way to a spinning top and a pullback was expected. If someone out there was shorting this pair using market fundamentals without a stop they deserve to lose their money. The FX market has been freakin crazy the last few years- no way would I trade by listening to the conventional wisdom. Luckily, I'm a program trader and no trade was triggered for me (not that I have any serious money 'invested' in my gambling anyway).

Here's the Marketwatch report. Doesn't sound very promising.

Germany working on Greek rescue plan: reports
German government spokesman calls reports 'unfounded'

By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Berlin appeared to blink Tuesday as reports said the German government is working on a rescue package for debt-choked Greece, news that triggered rallies in stocks and the euro.

The Financial Times Deutschland first reported the news on its Web site and said the work on a rescue plan was confirmed by Michael Meister, deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union in the Bundestag. Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU is the senior partner in Germany's ruling coalition government.

Members of the CDU and the CSU parliamentary party are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss emergency financial support for Greece.

A German government spokesman subsequently described reports of an aid package as "unfounded," according to Reuters.

Earlier, a Reuters report cited a senior German ruling coalition party source as saying that euro zone countries have decided in principle to aid the debt-stricken nation.

And Olli Rehn, the incoming European economic affairs commissioner, told Bloomberg News in an interview published Wednesday that the E.U. offered the prospect of aid to Greece in return for progress in cutting the budget deficit.

"This will be further discussed in the coming days," he said, according to the report. "We are talking about support in the broad sense of the word. I cannot specify it now."

The reports boosted U.S. equities and lifted the euro (CURR:CUR_EURUSD) above the $1.38 level versus the U.S. dollar. See Market Snapshot.

Credit-default swaps on Greece tightened dramatically, according to data from Markit. They dropped 80 points to 340, and are now less than three full percentage points higher than the equivalent debt of Germany.

In other words, the cost of insuring $10 million Greek government debt against default fell to $340,000 a year from around $420,000.

The U.S.-listed shares of the National Bank of Greece (NYSE:NBG) surged 17%.

Previous cold shoulder

German officials have in the past given the cold shoulder to talk of a Greek bailout, saying Athens must pay for past mistakes.

But some economists have argued that fears of a full-blown debt crisis within the 16-nation euro zone could prompt action by the European Union. The euro has plunged since December as debt worries in the southern euro zone mounted, sending the single currency to an eight-month low versus the dollar last week. See Greece topics page for more coverage.

The Greek government is implementing an austerity program designed to bring its budget deficit down from nearly 13% of gross domestic product in 2009 to less than the 3% E.U. limit by 2012.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the E.U., gave the plan a qualified endorsement, vowing to closely monitor Athens' efforts.

The aggressive measures, including public sector pay freezes, have met stiff resistance from public sector unions. Meanwhile, sovereign debt fears have spread across the southern euro zone, including Portugal and Spain.

European Union leaders are set to meet Thursday in a previously scheduled meeting to discuss the economic outlook, but Greece is expected to be at the top of the agenda.

The euro rebounded and financial markets reacted early Tuesday after it was learned that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a meeting in Sydney early to fly back for the E.U. meeting.

The ECB downplayed the significance of the schedule change, saying Trichet had long planned to attend.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/germany....