[expat_panama]

So a happy St. Patrick's day although futures traders aren't pointing to any new pots of gold,  They got metals down -0.72% and stock indexes off -0.28%.  After all, yesterday's bouce was low volume (dead cat style?).  Seems the up-tick was another bad-news = good-news with the dismal production and housing numbers.  Today's reports are 'lite' with just Housing Starts and Building Permits.

In other news:

In Praise Of Stock Market Short Sellers - James Surowiecki, The New Yorker
Wall Street's Bonuses Should Be a Great Deal Larger - John Tamny, RCM
The DJIA We Know and Love, But Don't Use - Allan Sloan, Washington Post
Low Rates Are Here For a While: How to Play Them - Martin Pelletier, NP
Millions of Workers Seem Anchored To Sideline - Gene Epstein, Barron's
More Phony Obamacare Claims From White House - Editorial, Investor's

[abb]

Alan Sloan is full of sh!t.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dow

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average

Initial components

Dow calculated his first average purely of industrial stocks on May 26, 1896, creating what is now known as the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Of the original 12 industrials, only General Electric currently remains part of that index.[11] The other 11 were:[12]

American Cotton Oil Company, a predecessor company to Bestfoods, now part of Unilever.
American Sugar Company, became Domino Sugar in 1900, now Domino Foods, Inc.
American Tobacco Company, broken up in a 1911 antitrust action.
Chicago Gas Company, bought by Peoples Gas Light in 1897, now an operating subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group.
Distilling & Cattle Feeding Company, now Millennium Chemicals, formerly a division of LyondellBasell, the latter of which recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[13]
Laclede Gas Company, still in operation as the Laclede Group, Inc., removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1899.
National Lead Company, now NL Industries, removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1916.
North American Company, an electric utility holding company, broken up by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1946.
Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company in Birmingham, Alabama, bought by U.S. Steel in 1907; U.S. Steel was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1991.
U.S. Leather Company, dissolved in 1952.
United States Rubber Company, changed its name to Uniroyal in 1961, merged with private B.F. Goodrich in 1986, bought by Michelin in 1990.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Starts - Huge miss (weather)
Permits - In line

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Europeans defy US to join China-led development

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0655b342-cc29-11e4-beca-00144feab7de.html