Morning all,

Firstly I would like to thank all my friends, and clients for sponsoring me to do the City to Surf yesterday. Was just happy to finish it after tearing my hamstring three weeks ago and not running at all until yesterday. My target was 90 minutes fully fit but in the end was just happy to do it at all. My time at 1.48 was not Earth shattering but if the toilet queue had been shorter would have been able to break the 100-minute mark. Anyway thanks again and I raised over $1000 for the Starlight Foundation. So everyone’s a winner, Baby that’s the truth!.

 

 

So to the market and the worse week in the states since the last worse week. Still summer and no one really cares but economic numbers continue to show the strength of the US economy ,and this coupled with Chinese numbers showing stability ,were enough to put “Tapering” back in the minds of investors…let’s face it there is no doubt that it is coming and some commentators have suggested September…will certainly take the wind out of the US sails if it happens. And what is bad for the Dow is bad for us too.

Expect another down day today as we await more numbers and direction.Maybe 20 early and then stupor! Banks will ease a little more than resource stocks I expect and its nice to seethe Aussie dollar stabilising!

Ideas of the Day

Lets cancel the rest of the debates, as they are clearly a complete waste of time. Put on some episodes of the Big Bang Theory, Friends or Two and a Half Men. Far more interesting!

To stocks…Results starting to come in thick and fast and no more thicker or faster than NCM which is going to set the benchmark in shockers..$6.2bn written off and still the management keeps their jobs..really!!Absolutely ridiculous…hard to fathom really they could be so bad..someone needs to put them out of our misery now they have wiped the slate clean with shareholders as toilet paper..the CEO will probably get a bonus as he has performed better than Zimbabwe financially..God knows why I like this one but still do..beneath 11 bucks anyway!!

Things to make me go mmmm!

1.CBA is expected to report a full-year profit of $7.6-$7.7 billion this week, with hopes high it will reward shareholders, as it reports the biggest ever profit by an Australian bank.

2.Remember the VIX..was my indictaor of choice for a while as it moved about with alarming speed on a daily basis..well hasn’t for a long while and was stuck in the historically very low 12’s…as a reminder the VIX is a measure of the volatility traders are prepared to pay for insurance against big moves and sometimes called the Fear Index..well it has started to stir..up 5% odd on Friday to 13.4!!!Also of note to those that follow charts there have been sightings of the ominous Hindenberg formation..a prelude to disaster ahead..if you believe that sort of thing..which I don’ t but some do so ….

3.The U.S. Treasury market was dead to the world on Friday with the lowest volumes changing hands since the December holiday season last year. The 10-year US Treasury yield traded in a 3 BP range for all of Friday and closed unchanged at 3.58%.

4.Note the huge trade in RIO in the US on Friday..a line of $58m worth went through the market.This is somewhat unusual in the US to say the least..shows there is some serious interest for the stock.Seems RIO may continue to feel some love.

5.In Norway the PM who is seeking re-election disguised himself as a cab for the day so he could get an idea of what people really thought..Interesting idea..we have “debates” on TV which tell us nothing so lets not even bother with the rest of them.

6.Ashes are going to be interesting as the struggle ebbs and flows..should go down to the wire in the next day or so.

7.Good to see this report from Zombieland…European Banks have a shortfall of now $3.2trillion in order to meet the Basel II reuqirements.This may go some way to explaining why Basel II has been put back.

8.The U.S. Treasury market was dead to the world on Friday with the lowest volumes changing hands since the December holiday season last year. The 10-year US Treasury yield traded in a 3 BP range for all of Friday and closed unchanged at 3.58%.

9.Looks like the JP Morgan “Whale Trader” scandal is about to claim some scalps as two of Bruno Iksil’s former colleagues about to be arrested as they get thrown to the wolves. Bruno has escaped prosecution for collaborating with prosecutors.He is French and his two colleagues are Spanish and Greek..My case rests!

10.Now as some readers will know I have been a fan of FXJ for the simple reason that they have content and if they can get people to pay for that content then they are going to be in a better place..when you look at Carsales.com.au and Realestate.com.au etc and see how much they are worth you can see the potential if FXJ get it right..well I have to say they are absolutely useless and after signing up to a subscription for their news I am now convinced they need someone who knows what they are doing in et digital age..paid my money and still cant get access to the sites on multiple devices and 75% of the time after signing in the message about taking out a subscription service comes up..maybe I am a dufus..probably but more likely to be FXJ they have form here..

 

11.Reports in a German Newspaper today that the Bundesbank has reviewed the progress in Greece and worked out they will need another bailout by early 2014 at the latest..not something German Voters want to hear pre an election!

And finally…in the world of sport

Sailing results are in, GB took gold, USA took silver and Somalia took 
a Middle aged couple from Weymouth .

A longer one for those with more patience..thanks Roger!!

The old man placed an order for one hamburger, French fries and a drink. 

He unwrapped the plain hamburger and 
carefully cut it in half, placing one half in front of his wife.



He then carefully counted out the French fries, dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife. 

He took a sip of the drink, his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them 
….

 As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them were looking over and whispering. 

Obviously they were thinking, ‘That poor old couple – all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.’



As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table and politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said, they were just fine – they were used to sharing everything 

People closer to the table noticed the little old lady hadn’t eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink. 



Again, the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them.


This time the old woman said ‘No, thank you, we are used to sharing everything..’



Finally, as the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin, the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food and asked ‘What is it you are waiting for?’ 



 

She answered
…………….




’THE TEETH.’ 

Have a nice Monday!

 

Clarence

XXX

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