Panic in; panic out; panic in… Selling volatility, ie, shorting the puts after a pull-back and the calls after a rally has been a spectacular trade. I am sure the banker’s prop trading desks are earning their mega-billion bonuses we are soon to be reading about.

Monday’s economic data included the ISM Report on Manufacturing and Construction Spending, both of which were below expectations. Interestingly, the National Bureau of Economic Research reported that the US entered a recession in December 2007. Today’s economic data calendar is a light one with only Auto sales, Weekly Chain Store Sales data and Redbook data expected, and we know it’s not going to be uplifting.

To start the week, the DJIA (-679.95 -7.70% to 8149.09), S&P 500 (-80.03 -8.93% to 816.21), and NASDAQ Composite (-137.5 -8.95% to 1398.07) fell more in a single day than anytime since Black Monday Oct. 19, 1987.

The Toronto Composite (-864.4 -9.32% to 8406.21) was even worse; however, the Venture Board (-27.2 -3.55% to 739.12) got off easier.

Most of the selling, apparently, is coming from redemptions at mutual and hedge funds. Of course, there are hedge funds that have now stopped permitting redemptions, which shows the credibility of that business model.

In NY, there were no sectors better than the defensive pair of Health Care (XLV) and Consumer staples (XLP) but even these plunged -5.1% and -5.5% on the day. The extreme losers were the Financials (XLF -16.7%) and, to a lesser extent, the Energy sector (XLE -10.6%).

The worst hit industries among the Financials were the REITs ($DJR -19.3%), Broker-Dealers ($XBD -17.5%) and Banks ($BKX -17.4%), while Oil Services ($OSX -15.9%) helped sink the Energy complex.

Among the Banks and Brokers, where we all know the credit ring is broken and that Credit Default Swap contracts may not be settled when due, the losers were Morgan Stanley (MS -23.1%), Merrill Lynch (MER -23.4%), Citi (C -22.9%), Bank of America (BAC -20.9%), Wachovia Bank (WB -20.5%), JP Morgan (-17.5%) and Goldman Sachs (GS -16.8%).

Once upon a time in America… there were solvent banks. Now they are all fraudsters.

In the Cara 100, there were 100 losers on the day, which adds up to zero winners. The worst of the lot happened to be Brunswick Corp (BC -25.8%), Teck Corp (TCK -20.1%) and Tata Motors (TTM -17.6%).

If your bank is insolvent, why not take down the best clients with them. Then the US Treasury, ie, taxpayer, is forced to bail out everybody, and the government gets to call it a stimulus plan. Not!

International equity markets in the Asia-Pacific region were hammered as well: Australia (-4.02%), Hong Kong (-4.98% to 13405.9), India (-1.14% to 8739.2) and Japan (-6.35% to 7863.7). Shanghai China was down just -0.26% to 1889.6, which sounds reasonable because they’re the ones with all the money. The “C” in China stands for Creditor Nation, ie, a country with a balance of payments surplus, and one getting stronger by the month.

Feb gold futures were knocked down this morning to 778.3 (up from yesterday’s close of 770.15) and oil to 49.25, which is flat with yesterday’s close.

But the DJIA equity futures have lifted and at 7:00am ET, European bourses were strong: French CAC up +1.47%, German DAX up +2.48%, and UK FTSE 100 up +1.28. Dead cat bounce, entry of value players or just the prop desks at Humungous Bank & Broke (HB&B) getting cranked up to whip-saw yesterday’s sellers? Take your pick.

Yesterday, there was panic in to the $USD, which lifted to 86.98 (+0.50%), and out of the Pound (-3.29% to 148.80), Euro (-0.61% to 126.17) and Cdn Loonie (-0.68% to 80.29). Debts in Japan were being repaid as the carry trade was unwound a bit during the day (Yen +2.67$ to 107.34).

For some ridiculous reason, there was a panic into the US 30-year long bond ($USB +2.33% to 131.62), which is now paying 3.236%. Over 30-years, that will be a disastrous pay-back return on one’s capital. The 10-year and 5-year Treasury Notes are paying just 2.719% and 1.723% respectively, but not respectfully. The 3-month T-Bill at an annual yield of 0.01% is not worth the electronic entry it’s printed on.

Comments:

I have already commented enough. President-elect Obama’s A-Team can’t arrive on the scene quick enough. Nobody cares any more. There isn’t a monetary authority in the US who has any authority. They just tell stories, and the public is no longer interested.

When they plan to do something about the CDS trade exchange and settlement problems is the only thing we want to hear. There cannot be a 2000 basis spread between corporate and Treasury debt, and have anything except corporate bankruptcies.

Interesting isn’t it that it will be the bankers taking these corporation down when themselves are insolvent and being pumped up by the people’s money – the very people who had been earning it legitimately by working for those corporations.

Oh my; only in America can people who should be indicted get a free pass to avoid prison, and stick around to bully the rest of us.

Tell me what’s the difference between Max (who rose to Commerce Secretary) and Paulson other than of course the Max of ‘Once Upon A Time In America’ was born a street kid and Paulson with a silver spoon in Palm Beach?

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p.s. Sorry I earlier mixed Noodles and Max until somebody pointed it out. That movie -- the long version -- was probably my favorite one of all time.

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Links & Charts

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International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

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Knobias Cara100 Tables

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Cara 100 Daily RSI-7 Charts

At least one RSI value >70:

At least one RSI value <30:

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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

Table 15: Dow 30 List

You can do this table yourself by entering the following string into the Summaries window at www.billcara2.com and then clicking on the link for Performance.

AA AIG AXP BA C CAT DD DIS GE GM HD HON HPQ IBM INTC JNJ JPM KO MCD MMM MO MRK MSFT PFE PG T UTX VZ WMT XOM

Here are the links to interactive Dow charts from Billcara2.com that I broke into groups of ten, which you can add technical indicators for as well. (list one) (list two) (list three)

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The Americas

Here is the latest session data for the exchanges of the Americas.

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Here is the latest chart for the Brazilian Bovespa stock exchange in Sao Paulo.

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Here is the latest session data for the Toronto Stock Exchange composite index.

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Sector ETF Summary for the US equity market

The tables I show in this section are for ten (GICS) Sector Index Funds (ETF's) only, but they cover the full spectrum of the US equity market.

Table 1: Cara ETF List

You can do this table yourself by entering the following string into the Summary window at Billcara2.com and then clicking on the link for Performance. XLE XLB XLI XLY XLP IYH XLF SMH IYZ XLU XLK SPY . You can also add more ETF’s – up to 30 in total.

For a list of components to any ETF, go to the AMEX.com web site, and click on ETF's.

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10 (energy: XLE)

Table 2: Senior oil & gas equities

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15 (basic materials: XLB)

Table 3: Senior metals and steel equities

Table 13: Senior gold equities

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20 (industrial: XLI)

Table 4: Senior capital goods makers and transportation

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25 (consumer discretionary: XLY)

Table 5: Senior consumer discretionary equities

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30 (consumer staples: XLP)

Table 6: Senior consumer staples equities

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35 (healthcare: IYH)

Table 7: Senior healthcare equities

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40 (financial: XLF)

Table 8: Senior financial company equities

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45 (technology, semiconductor: SMH)

Table 9: Senior technology equities

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50 (telecom: IYZ)

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55 (utilities: XLU)

Table 12: US Utilities

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International Equity Market USD-denominated ETF Review

Table 14: International equities perspective

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Japanese equity market ETF: EWJ

Here is the Japanese (EWJ) equity market ETF Daily data charts:

Interactive EWJ Daily data:

Interactive EWJ Weekly data:

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U.K. equity market ETF

Here is the United Kingdom (EWU) equity market ETF Daily data charts:

Interactive EWU Daily data:

EWU Daily data:

Interactive EWU Weekly data:

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Canada's equity market

Here is the Canadian (EWC) equity market ETF Daily data charts:

Interactive EWC Daily data:

Interactive EWC Weekly data:

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Bonds & Yields Review

Table 10: Yahoo Finance U.S. Treasury Debt, Municipal and Corporate Bond Yields

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Here is the $USB 30-year Treasury Bond chart.

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US Bond Funds -- Interactive Daily Data Charts

SHY Daily data series chart:

IEF Daily data series chart:

TLT Daily data series chart:

AGG Daily data series chart:

LQD Daily data series chart:

TIP Daily data series chart:

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Table 11: Interest-sensitive securities

Consumer Finance -USA -- Interactive Daily Data Charts

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Commodities Review

$CRB Index

Open Futures Contracts

Interactive Chart of Daily CRB Commodities Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly CRB Commodities Index:

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Oil Review

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

Interactive Chart of Daily Crude Oil:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Crude Oil:

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Gold & Precious Metals Review

Spot gold chart for the week

Interactive Chart of Daily Gold EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Gold EOD Continuous Contract Index:

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Spot silver chart for the week

Interactive daily data

Interactive Chart of Daily Silver EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Silver Bullion index.

Interactive Chart of Weekly Silver EOD Continuous Contract Index:

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Spot platinum chart for the past three days

Interactive Chart of Daily Platinum EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Platinum EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Platinum metal index.

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Spot palladium chart for the week

Interactive Chart of Daily Palladium EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly Palladium EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Palladium metal index.

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Interactive Chart of Weekly Copper EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive Chart of Daily Copper EOD Continuous Contract Index:

Interactive chart of the Copper metal index.

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Table 13: Senior gold equities

To watch the moves in precious metal miners, you will have to monitor the individual stock charts, preferably in real-time, as follows:

NEM ABX AU GFI GG HMY AUY KGC BVN
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

MDG LIHRY AEM BGO IAG EGO RGLD GOLD CDE GRS
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

CBJ SSRI SIL NG KRY UXG GRZ TSE_HRG TSE_GUY TSE_AGI
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

NXG GSS MNG DROOY MFN RNO RANGY MRB CLG
Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

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Here are the key Silver miners and the SLV ETF:

SLV SIL CDE HL PAAS SSRI SLW MGN

Interactive Daily data
Interactive Weekly data

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Here are the Weekly and Daily Data charts of the indexes:

Interactive Chart of Daily U.S. Goldminers Index:

Weekly U.S. Goldminers Index:

Interactive Chart of Weekly U.S. Goldminers Index:

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The U.S. goldminer share trust ETF trades under the ticker symbol GDX.

Here are the U.S. Goldminer ETF (GDX) index Weekly and Daily data charts:

GDX Daily data:

GDX Weekly data:

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The Toronto Exchange-listed goldminer iUnits S&P/TSX Capped Gold Index ETF trades under the ticker symbol TSE:XGD. Yes, just like GDX on the AMEX, you can trade XGD on Toronto.

Here are the Weekly and Daily data charts for the TSX Goldshares (XGD) index:

Interactive Chart of XGD Daily data:

Interactive Chart of XGD Weekly data:

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Forex Review

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

Interactive Chart of Daily U.S. Dollar Index:

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Interactive Chart of Daily Euro Dollar Index, priced in USD:

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Daily British Pound Index:

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Daily Japanese Yen Index:

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Daily Canadian Dollar Index:

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Wrap-up