The Weekend Wrapup 8.13.11

Finally on schedule, here the wrapup for this week.

Americas:

• This week was a wild ride as the S&P, the Dow, and the NASDAQ slipped 1.7%, 1.5%, and 1% in what appears to be the second most volatile week since WWII. Hat tip to alexpasch for calling the VIX a couple weeks ago.

• The Ben Bernank issued a statement that they will be holding rates until mid 2013, an effort to drive investors to chase yield again and take back all the wiped out “portfolio balance channel effect” he was striving for. This also washes their hands from any BS Washington will try to pull during the elections next year so with any luck, this should help the politicos get their act together.

• While insane volatility and plunging stock prices initially drove investors away from equities, insider buying has significantly ramped up as CEO’s, including MS’ own James Gorman, have been buying millions worth of their own companies shares. Good sign of things to come?

• Jobless claims have dropped once again and retail sales are on the up along with mortgage refinancings. However, UoM confidence has fallen once again and the US trade deficit is showing signs of worsening, threatening Q2 GDP figures. It’s really hard to be a Bull nowadays.

• The TSX ended the week up 2.4%, the BOVESPA up 0.2%, while the MEXBOL was down 0.7%.

Europe:

• European indices melted up with the FTSE up 1.7%, the CAC up 2%, the DAX up almost 3%, and the IBEX up 2%.

• Bond vigilantes were dealt a blow by the ECB as their securities market program sent Spanish and Italian yields down over 100 bps. All is still not well in the Eurozone however, while RA’s assured the market that France won’t be downgraded and an apology was squeezed out of The Telegraph for spreading “lies” about SocGen, a lot are still pessimistic about the Eurozone, particularly with Sarkozy and Merkel’s upcoming meeting.

• As Midas has posted earlier today, right on the heels of rumors of banks going under half Europe banned short selling. That is so 2008 of them, next thing we know they’ll be bailing out banks who have billions of bad loans in their balance sheets and letting taxpayers pay for it.

• 2 year Swiss notes are already posting negative yields yet the CHF is still trading in last week’s range. Rumor is they’ll try pegging the Swissie to the Euro, bunk.

Asia:

• Asian markets were mixed as the Nikkei dropped 0.5%, the Kospi down 0.1%, while the ASX, Shanghai, Singapore, and the Hang Seng were up 1%, 0.5%, 1.6%, and 1% respectively.

• SoKor apparently joined Greece, Belgium, and the rest of the plunger haters in banning short selling. Word is they’ll lift the ban once the Kospi becomes more stable. Weird that it’s in the red then. Huge props to the Aussies though, they cited short selling as an important market mechanism and further added that they will never limit it unless in extreme cases.

• China once again is in the headlines as their exports hit an all time high. Same with the Yuan – a nudge away from hitting 6.4 to the Dollar. You’re at an all time high too though if you think they’re out of the woods already. With inflation still ravaging profits and their biggest customers going broke, China still has a lot to worry about. Lucky for them, their government is surprisingly the most flexible in these matters and are now preparing for the worst.

That’s it for today monkeys, here’s my clip of the week:

Thoughts on Anne Hathaway as Catwoman? I think she's hot but her costume (if that's what she's gonna wear the whole movie) is pretty meh. Michelle Pffeifer just absolutely killed it and I'm wondering how she'd compare. Tom Hardy as Bane is BOSS though.

Have a great weekend monkeys.