More debt does nothing to help the equity investor or resolve the problems at Fannie and Freddie, or (ii) help the $USD. But, it may give some temporary relief to a panicked market.

On the corporate front, (Cara 100) InBev (ABV) has completed a deal to acquire Anheuser-Busch (BUD) in a $52 billion takeover that creates the world’s largest beer maker.

Overnight, the Asia-Pacific equity markets were mostly down, but moderately so: Australia (-1.18% to 5007.9), Hong Kong (-0.77% to 22014.5), India (-1.03% to 13330.5), and Japan (-0.23% to 13010.1) were down and Shanghai (+0.76% to 2878.3) was up.

At this point in the session (7:05am ET, 1205 GMT), Europe is strong. The UK FTSE is up +1.78% to 5354; French CAC +1.77% to 4173; and the German DAX +1.29% to 6233.

The $USD and Euro/USD futures are at 0.7248 and 1.5802, respectively, which is a stronger USD.

Crude Oil futures have opened the week down -1.33/bbl to 144.33.

Precious metal prices (spot) at 7:00am ET for gold, palladium, platinum and silver are (compared to the close on Friday): 958.94 (963.7); 444 (448.5); 2007 (2027); and 18.69 (18.79).

All in all, it looks like the PPT has got things in hand this morning.

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Comments:

Bank earnings will start coming out this week. If this early morning enthusiasm is going to develop into a summer rally (from an over-sold level), then either (i) losses or reduced earnings at the banks must be less than anticipated, or (ii) the hype and spin to come from Wall Street re the banks must be ridiculous.

I expect to hear so much spin from Financial Entertainment TV that the rally will get underway. That folks will be one more opportunity to sell into strength and to reload with shorts in the Financial and Consumer Discretionary stocks and ETF’s.

This Bear market will not die, however, until independent traders believe the banks have come clean about their losses and required capital raise-ups. That final wave of selling will take some bank and broker-dealer stocks to zero.

The equity market is setting up for a last chance to exit. I expect the final ride will be a severe challenge to most portfolios. Ah, but that might not happen for six weeks or so.

Links & Charts

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International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

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International Equity Markets Review

Europe

Here is the latest session data for the bourses of Europe.

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Here is the latest session data for the London stock exchange FTSE.

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Here is the latest session data for the German DAX.

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Here is the latest session data for the French CAC 40.

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Here is the latest session data for the Milan Italy stock exchange MIBTEL.

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Here is the latest session data for the Swiss market index.

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Asia-Pacific

Here is the latest session data for the Asia-Pacific stock exchanges.

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Here is the latest chart for the Japanese Nikkei 225 index.

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Here is the latest chart for the Singapore index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Shanghai Composite index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Hong Kong Hang Seng index .

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Here is the latest chart for the India BSE 30 index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Australian All Ordinaries index .

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US Equity Markets Review

DJIA (interactive) chart

NASDAQ Composite (interactive) chart

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Oil Review

Here is the e-miNY Aug-08 Crude Oil chart.

Interactive Chart of Daily Crude Oil:

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Gold & Precious Metals Review

Spot gold chart for the week

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Spot silver chart for the week

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Forex Review

Here is the chart of the week's trading in the $USD.

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