ECB to Hold Sunday Conference Call on Crisis
August 6th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The European Central Bank will hold a conference call on Sunday to discuss its response to the latest developments in the euro zone’s debt crisis, an ECB source said on Saturday.
G20 Deputies to Hold Crisis Call Saturday
August 6th, 2011Via: Reuters:
Deputy finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economic powers will hold a conference call on Saturday to discuss the crises in Europe and the United States, a Brazilian finance ministry official said.
The official told Reuters the call was scheduled for 2230 GMT.
“It will be an exchange of information and opinions,” the official said by e-mail without providing further details.
Investors are eager to see signs of a coordinated policy response among major economies, which might prevent the crises from spreading or getting worse.
China: “America Needs To Accept The Painful Fact That The Good Old Days Are Over”; Calls for International Supervision of Issuance of U.S. Dollars and the Creation of a Global Reserve Currency
August 6th, 2011I’d say that capital controls, some kind of IMF SDR (Special Drawing Rights) ‘Global Reserve’ confetti bucks, and a global financial crisis management organization, like the IMF on steroids are possible. At a minimum, states will try unilateral capital controls in an attempt to prevent their currencies from disorderly appreciation vs. the toxic dollar.
Via: Business Insider:
China’s official comment on the S&P downgrade was harsh and condescending. Released through Xinhua (via Reuters) the statement condemned America for its “debt addiction” and “short-sighted” political wrangling.
“The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” Xinhua wrote.
America’s largest creditor, China said it will accelerate diversification away from US treasuries, and that meanwhile it demands reform: “China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets,” Xinhua said.
The statement also called for a new global currency: “International supervision over the issue of U.S. dollars should be introduced and a new, stable and secured global reserve currency may also be an option to avert a catastrophe caused by any single country,” Xinhua said.
‘More Than 20 Navy SEALS From the Unit that Killed Osama bin Laden’ Die in Helicopter Crash
August 6th, 2011Via: MSNBC:
A NATO helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Saturday killing 31 U.S. special-forces troops, including more than 20 Navy SEALS from the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, and 7 Afghan commandos.
It was the deadliest single combat incident for American troops in 10 years of war, according to an American official.
The operators from SEAL Team Six were flown by a crew of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regimen, according to U.S. officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because families are still being notified of the loss of their loved ones.
One source said the team was thought to include 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers, seven Afghan Army troops, a dog and his handler, and a civilian interpreter, plus the helicopter crew.
The sources thought this was the largest single loss of life ever for SEAL Team Six, known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
Research Credit: AL
S&P Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating for First Time
August 6th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Remember those Wait For The Weekends To Do It days from 2008? *chortle*
I’m not sure how this is going to go. On the one hand, only a fall down dipshit believes that the U.S. actually deserves a AAA rating, or even the new AA+ rating. The U.S. had already been downgraded by other American and foreign ratings organizations. So, to some extent, maybe the effects of this are “baked into the cake” already.
On the other hand, raising money should become more expensive for the U.S. as a result of this. Since the U.S. has so much debt, this might represent a sort of wildcard, de-stabalizing event.
What do you think?
In any event, the thing to watch, going into Monday, will be FOREX. The logical, by the book, reaction to this should mean a lower dollar. Everyone reading this should know about the 70.792 level on the U.S. Dollar Index. If the dollar tanks, we will be watching to see if 72.696 holds; this is the short term support. If it doesn’t, that sets up a try for 70.792.
Via: Washington Post:
Standard & Poor’s announced Friday night that it has downgraded the United States credit rating for the first time, dealing a huge symbolic blow to the world’s economic superpower in what was a sharply worded critique of the American political system.
Lowering the nation’s rating one-notch below AAA, the credit rating company said “political brinkmanship” in the debate over the debt had made the U.S. government’s ability to manage its finances “less stable, less effective and less predictable.” It said the bi-partisan agreement reached this week to find $2.1 trillion in budget savings “fell short” of what was necessary to tame the nation’s debt over time and predicted that leaders would have no luck achieving more savings later on.
U.S. Doubles Down on Afghan Air War; 650 Strikes in July
August 5th, 2011Via: Wired:
In July of 2010, when Gen. Stanley McChrsytal handed over command of the war in Afghanistan to Gen. David Petraeus, air strikes had become a tool of absolute last resort. NATO planes were only making about 10 attack runs a day — in the middle of Afghanistan’s fighting season, and with an influx of tens of thousands of new allied troops colliding with dug-in militants.
In July of 2011, Petraeus passed the baton to Gen. John Allen. But it’s a whole new — and much more ferocious — air war. Allied jets and bombers are unloading their weapons on more than 20 sorties a day, according to U.S. military statistics, for a total of 652 attack runs.
It’s part of a war effort that has grown more aggressive in nearly every way. Special operations forces now launch a dozen “kill/capture” raids a night, and have taken 3,775 insurgents off the battlefield in the last year. Massive surface-to-surface missiles have been used to clear the Taliban out of Kandahar; tanks have been sent to Helmand province to help crush opponents; civilian homes taken over by insurgents have been leveled without apology.
Disclosure
August 5th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell of hold any financial instrument.
Update: Out DIA
That’s not a good way to pay for groceries for the month, but so it goes…
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Update: WEEEE!
Rally monkey pumps it, I dump it.
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I’m long DIA. Stop $111.
Inside North Korea
August 5th, 2011Via: Atlantic Wire:
Earlier this year, David Guttenfelder, chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, along with Jean H. Lee, AP bureau chief in Seoul, were granted unprecedented access to parts of North Korea as part of the AP’s efforts to expand coverage of the isolated communist nation. The pair made visits to familiar sites accompanied by government minders, and were also allowed to travel into the countryside accompanied by North Korean journalists instead of government officials. Though much of what the AP journalists saw was certainly orchestrated, their access was still remarkable. Collected here are some of Guttenfelder’s images from the trip that provide a glimpse of North Korea.
Did Crashed Lockheed Martin HALE-D Airship Have EEStor Systems On Board?
August 5th, 2011If you’re not familiar with the EEStor story, I’ve done several posts on it over the years.
With regard to this HALE-D airship crash, let’s first note Lockheed Martin’s links to EEStor. This is from 2008: Lockheed Martin to Use EEstor’s Ultracapacitors for Military and Homeland Security Applications:
Lockheed Martin has signed an exclusive international rights agreement to integrate and market Electrical Energy Storage Units (EESU) from EEStor, Inc., for military and homeland security applications. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
In the years since then, virtually no EEStor news has come out.
According to Global Security, “The HALE-D is powered by thin-film solar cells and rechargeable lithium ion polymer batteries.”
However, pay close attention to what Joe Myers, Harrison County Sheriff, says in this video starting at 1 minute 37 seconds:
You know it’s top secret through the military, but the batteries was a big thing.[sic] They didn’t want anybody going around that…uh aircraft once it was down. And they wanted us to provide security.
“The batteries was a big thing…”
Lockheed Martin was concerned about the public finding out about lithium ion polymer batteries, commonly used in remote controlled toys, mp3 players and portable computers?
Via: SpaceWar:
The U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin launched the first-of-its kind High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator this morning, demonstrating a number of key technologies critical to development of unmanned airships.
The aircraft successfully launched at 5:47 a.m. out of the Airdock in Akron, Ohio. The airship reached an altitude of approximately 32,000 feet, however, a technical anomaly prevented the airship from attaining its target altitude of 60,000 feet and the HALE-D team decided to terminate the flight.
The aircraft descended without incident at 8:26 a.m. in southwestern Pennsylvania to a predetermined landing location. Lockheed Martin is coordinating with state and local authorities to recover the airship. We have confirmed that no injuries or damage were experienced during this landing in a heavily wooded area.
“While we didn’t reach the target altitude, first flights of new technologies like HALE-D also afford us the ability to learn and test with a mind toward future developments,” said Dan Schultz, vice president ship and aviation systems for Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Sensors business.
“We demonstrated a variety of advanced technologies, including launch and control of the airship, communications links, unique propulsion system, solar array electricity generation, remote piloting communications and control capability, in-flight operations, and controlled vehicle recovery to a remote un-populated area.”
The HALE-D is an unmanned solar-powered lighter-than-air vehicle designed to hover 12 miles above the earth’s surface for extended periods of time. The airship is designed to demonstrate advanced new technologies and capabilities for keeping American soldiers safer through improved communications.
Lockheed Martin is in the process of recovering the airship and will conduct a full evaluation.
Markets Wreck
August 4th, 2011Update: FTSE and DAX Are Down Another 2% in Early European Trading
Monitoring…
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Update: Expected Follow Through Sell-Off Across Asia
Via: Reuters:
World stock markets fell for the eighth straight session on Friday to the lowest since late 2010, with more losses feared if policymakers do not come to the rescue soon to stabilise the euro zone’s debt crisis and prevent the U.S. economy from sliding back into recession.
After panic overnight triggered the worst sell-off on Wall Street since the global financial crisis, investors in Asia slashed positions in equities and commodities and scrambled for the safety of cash and government bonds.
Some Asian stock markets fell by more than 5 percent.
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Via: Breakout:
Stocks posted a severe drop today, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 4.3% and the Nasdaq crumbling over 5%.
By the end of the day there were few places left to hide. Gold, silver, crude and yields on Treasuries all fell sharply as traders looked for safety and were met by nothing but falling prices. Over the last 10 trading days stocks have lost more than 10%, the traditional definition of a market correction.
Today’s selling started in Europe and picked up steam as American investors, already twitchy in the wake of the debt ceiling debacle, suddenly preferred cash over all other assets. The selling began overseas, but we have more than our share of problems in the U.S. as well.
There’s a growing realization among even the most optimistic investors that the United States is entering a new recession — a dreaded “double-dip.” Adding to the pain is the sense that the government and Federal Reserve are out of both ideas and ways to stimulate the economy. Corporate America is sitting on record amounts of cash but is refusing to make new investments with so little end demand for its products. Consumers and corporations are hoarding cash, and the economy appears to be seizing. The debt ceiling debate was a fiasco, snuffing any remaining confidence traders had for help from Washington, D.C.
