Posted on 12/14/2014 7:43:31 AM PST by expat_panama
Say what you want, but if -0.3% ain’t deflation, it’ll sure do fine until a real deflation comes along...
Ruble Strengthens After Central Bank Acts
Russian Central Bank Moves to Shore Up Banking System
By Andrey Ostroukh, Alexander Kolyandr and Chiara Albanese
Updated Dec. 17, 2014 12:36 p.m. ET
MOSCOWRussias battered ruble recovered some of its recent losses against the dollar on Wednesday as the market welcomed measures by the Bank of Russia to shore up the countrys banks, and the Finance Ministry said it would start selling its excess foreign currency holdings.
In a volatile day of trading, the currency gained more than 10% on the Moscow Exchange after the central bank announced a raft of measures to ease banking regulations and aimed at convincing Russians to keep their money in the national currency. The ruble was trading around 60 to the dollar by late Wednesday evening. The dollar-denominated RTS Index also spiked 17.6%, its largest gain in five years.
The strengthening of the ruble was likely helped by a recovery in oil prices, with Brent crude, the global benchmark edging back above the psychologically significant $60-a-barrel level to reach $62.44 a barrel in late afternoon European trading on Wednesday.
snip
http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-prices-skid-on-russia-output-plan-1418784516
U.S. Oil Prices Rise Off Multiyear Lows
Rebound Attributed to Traders Betting on Lower Prices to Close Out Positions
By Nicole Friedman
Updated Dec. 17, 2014 12:24 p.m. ET
NEW YORKOil prices rallied Wednesday as traders closed out positions following a dramatic plunge in prices in recent months.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery recently rose $2.12, or 3.8%, to $58.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as low as $54.21 a barrel in early trading.
Brent, the global benchmark, recently rose $2.43, or 4.1%, to $62.44 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Market watchers attributed the rebound to traders who had bet on lower prices closing out positions. Oil prices have plunged nearly 50% since June to the lowest level in more than five years.
snip
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-sticks-to-patient-tack-on-rates-1418843005?
Fed Sticks to Patient Tack on Rates
Central Bank Holds to Dovish Approach on Monetary Policy
ByJon Hilsenrath
Dec. 17, 2014 2:03 p.m. ET
The Federal Reserve said it would be patient about raising short-term interest rates in the coming year as it weighs a mix of conflicting signals about the U.S. economy, and retained an assurance that a considerable time would pass before rates start going up.
With the new interest rate guidance the U.S. central bank is effectively sticking to a plan to start raising short-term interest rates in 2015, but it sought to soften the blow to the public by keeping a long-dabated reference to the considerable time language.
snip
Dow +288; Nasdaq +96; S&P +40.
Now what?
“Considerable Time” algos blew up.
“Patient” algos coming tomorrow
They should have Snoop Dog deliver it. That would blow up their algo’s, fer shizzle.
Not sure how the algos would respond to “Con$idera3le Tym3”
See what tomorrow brings.
Let the good times roll!
I think I’m gonna stick a Gordon Gekko movie in the DVD player tonight, lol!
I missed the IHS call this week so thanks for posting. Considering consumer spending is 70% of GDP this makes sense. Way more than offsets the decline from energy sector. What this doesn’t contemplate is if what is driving the oil price decline is declining economic activity and is a leading indicator to a recession. Hopefully that’s not the case.
Europe and Japan have done everything wrong on shrinking working populations and growing welfare populations. I think globally, we’re the only ones left standing. It’s almost a post WW2 situation, only we don’t have Ike. Instead we’ve got Alger Hiss running the country.
I think we’re going to putz along for a couple more years until the One is done.
Markets | Yesterday | Futures (3 hrs. before) | |||
metals | Rebound w/ gold $1,201.55 & silver $16.13 | 1.20% | |||
stocks | ...rebounded furiously Wednesday. Investors treated news from the Federal Reserve's final meeting in 2014 on interest rates like it was a Christmas gift from a cherished relative. The Nasdaq composite rallied 2.1%, ending a three-day slide and recouping well more than half of those losses. The S&P 500 wasn't far behind, up 2%. Volume grew on both exchanges... (more at IBD) | 1.25% |
--plus:
Initial Claims
Continuing Claims
Philadelphia Fed
Leading Indicators
Natural Gas Inventories
--and:
Whenever Barron’s says sell, buy. Just about every time.
That’s funny because I’d been coming to the conclusion that a great buy time was whenever IBD posts the ‘correction-red-light’.
Maybe the truth is that we’ve all got to do our own thinking...
--while we all hide under the bed! Truly a weird situation where we got so many reasons to prove the economy's in great shape and at the same time we got an equally long list of bad econ stats. Definitely not for the feint of heart....
Yeah right now we are the “tallest midget” economy... Ringing endorsement...
S&P is RIPPING - +25 2038 +1.3%
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.