Bailing Out Greece
Stocks jumped today based on the Mass election. The Dollar gained again today, and everything else went sideways.
In the news today…..
ECB refuses to aid Greece – why? Great question, I think. Can you figure it out. Well, the IMF came to the rescue, and said it would bail out Greece if the EU and ECB (European Central Bank) would not bail them out. The ECB said that Greece must get its act together and solve its own problem. Here’s the trick. The EU money comes from the ECB. US money comes from the IMF as the US is the major contributor to the IMF. So, guess what??? YOU now get a chance to bail out the Greeks – when the Europeans refuse to. Kind of a sad commentary in my opinion.
Today’s Election – in Mass. is going to have an effect on the stock market. If the Republican candidate wins, stocks should have a big day up tomorrow. The election can only be interpreted as a BIG repudiation of the Obama Administration and the Democratic controlled Congress. So, Wall St will have its revenge by showing how much it would like a Republican win by moving stocks higher. This is one of those rare occasions where politics and economics cross paths.
Apple to unveil Tablet – for being able to read books. It is cutting a deal with Harper Collins. This will be a major competitor for the Kindle of Amazon. There appears to be a lot of hype around this upcoming announcement (expected on 29 Jan), and too much hype for a book reading tablet. This can’t be as big a deal as the Iphone was to Apple. The only exception will be if the tablet comes out with a lot more features than are anticipated today. If so, let’s call it the Itablet and celebrate. My bet is this tablet will be a mini-Macintosh computer.
UK AAA rating – could easily be lost this year if the UK government does nothing to change its deficit spending mentality. Only Ireland has made the hard choices to balance its budget. The price the UK will pay will be a lower rating, and higher interest rates on its bonds – meaning more taxes for UK citizens. Several key bond players are making this prediction – so I am taking it seriously.
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 10,725 (up 116)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 3.71% (up 0.03%)
Euro – $1.4288 (down 1 cents)
Gold – $1140 (up $10)
Oil – $78.91 (up $0.91)
Gasoline – $2.06 (up $0.01)
