[expat_panama]

--and a good morning to all!  Futures are seeing a continuing climb in metals after yesterday's gain while stocks are seen flat after yesterday's drop (bargain hunting after profit taking?); IBD's headline said it all: Stocks Keep Sliding; Market Under Pressure.  Reports today include MBA Mortgage Index, Crude Inventories, and FOMC Minutes.   Some news feeds:

• Wall Street retreats Business Recorder - 6 hours ago US stocks dipped on Monday, retreating from last week's record levels as investors hesitated to make big bets before the start of earnings season.
• World stocks stumble as gains reassessed Boston Herald - 2 hours ago TOKYO - Asian stocks fell for a third day Wednesday and European markets traded tepidly as caution spread ahead of corporate earnings and after record highs on Wall Street.
• Shale boom confounds forecasts as U.S. set to pass Russia, Saudi Arabia Four years into the shale revolution, the U.S. is on track to pass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer of crude oil, most analysts agree.
• Government made $100B in improper payments
• 7 market myths that make investors poorer By better understanding the financial markets and our behavioral flaws, we can increase the odds of achieving our financial goals, writes Cullen Roche. MarketWatch
• Looking For Inflation In All The Wrong Places - Sigmund, Sigmund Holmes
• The Fed Increasingly Resembles Mexico's Bank - Desmond Lachman, RCM
• Yellen Winning Debate For More Regs - Darrell Delamaide, MarketWatch
• The Fed's 'Blunt Instrument' Engineers Instability - Caroline Baum, RCM
• U.S., Why Not Beat Up On Your Own Banks? - Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

[citizen]

Good link >> • The Fed Increasingly Resembles Mexico’s Bank - Desmond Lachman, RCM << All should read.

Seems to me that the FED has become or, I guess, always was, an entity serving first it’s political and Wall Street masters and secondly following sound financial policy.

By inflating up one bubble or another the FED pleases the current political administration while assuring that the rich get richer via easy money and inflated asset value.

The rest of us suffer greatly while paying for it all as the bubble inflates and certainly when it bursts.

I’ll be largely abandoning stocks for safer havens soon.

[Chgogal]

Well, well! Lookie here.

Fed, Confident in Economy, Details End of Bond-Buying Program
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-confident-economy-details-end-180158795.html

[Aquamarine]

Stock tip of the day - sell Costco.