Morning digital high frequency punters,

The markets went nowhere really overnight with again some good, some bad news…”Super Mario” kept rates on hold in the Zombiezone…they are now getting concerned about lack of inflation..even Christine Lagarde has issued a warning about this one..so out with the big guns for Mario and his team..they are thinking really hard now about a QE program…really really hard…they just don’t know how to do it…apparently the US play book of just printing more money doesn’t work in Europe…they are so much more sophisticated than those yanks!They are going to go unconventional!!!

Anyway I am expecting our market to head into pre-Easter, Anzac, Budget hibernation next week as even the high frequency computer traders will switch the machines off…be prepared for the usual budget leaks as they prepare us for the worse..I have also heard that Big Uncle Joe is on a special diet to look good on the night so expect grumpy Joe in the meantime!!

The world markets are churning and the focus is the Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday…then it will be something else!!Seem to be churning at the top whilst high flying NASDAQ and Tech Wunderkids are coming back to earth with a thud…

 

Idea of the day

 

Everyone loves the banks don’t they ..how could you not and yesterday we had one of the anointed ones retire from NAB and a new broom take the helm..I am sure Cameron will be on an endless farewell world tour so expect nothing really serious to come from NAB in the next few months..there is talk that the new guy, who plays the drums(!), will be in a rush to quit the UK biz..that is the big hinderance for the NAB..why would you quit just as the UK economy is showing a clean pair of heals to the rest of Europe…wouldn’t be the best timing ..or maybe it would..you can never get the top after all…anyway the banks are not cheap ,let’s face it..Trading at a combined value of $180 …near their highs…would I be buying here…no…unless you have no banks at all…if you do have some maybe you should open an option account with me and we can sell some calls against your holdings..gives you some protection and an income and if they charge you get taken out at a higher price..maybe not the highest but a better price none the less…

 

Have been urging caution in GEM in the last few weeks as they have run pretty hard and pretty fast..they dropped like a rock yesterday and there does seem to be some hot air coming out of these market darlings at the moment..if they get back to 4.50 buy them 5.00 sell them…simples…

Good to see MCS moving up a bit  after I talked about them the other day…my ISU seems to be struggling at the moment..might have to be patient!

Things to make me go Mmmmmmm!!

CSR and Boral are combining their brick businesses to create one vehicle that will control all the bricks! The companies have identified an initial $7-$10 million is savings per year should the deal get approval from the competition watchdog. Good luck with the ACCC boys!!

 

 

The fall out from Michael Lewis’ new book Flash Boys continues on Wall Street…lots of talking heads and it will be sure to be a best seller…

In the US they have the fifth amendment, the right to remain silent. Here we have the right to not remember anything at all.Never ceases to amaze me how these high flyers seem to suffer such bad memories and yet get paid so much. Maybe it’s a prerequisite!

 

Is this the Canary in the coalmine… Facebook Inc. dropped 5.2 percent to $59.49, the lowest since January. The stock is down 17 percent from a March 10 high. TripAdvisor Inc. slid 4.1 percent to lead an index of consumer stocks lower. The online travel site plunged 11 percent last week….Biotechs got slammed again after a three day rally..down 2.7% now down 11% in the last month!

 

The Institute for Supply Management’s U.S. non-manufacturing index increased to 53.1 in March from 51.6 a month earlier. Jobless claims increased 16,000 in the period ended March 29 to a five-week high of 326,000, the Labor Department said. A revised 310,000 applications were filed in the previous week, the fewest since Sept. 7.The fear index or VIX, rose 2.1 percent to 13.37 today. Still lots of complacency about!

 

And from Hobbit land, The net loss of listed accounting software provider Xero has more than doubled in a year it embarked on expansion and breaking into the US market.

The New Zealand-based company lost $NZ35 million ($32.4 million) in the 12 months ending March 31, compared with $14.4 million in the previous year….and its capped at $4.4bn!!!!

Super Mario had a ‘Very Rich’ discussion about QE for Zombieland..in other words they haven’t  a clue what to do but are trying to persuade the market they do… Draghi signaled that policy makers don’t have a clear idea of what a quantitative easing program for the euro area might look like. According to one commentator Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the Telegraph “Prices have been falling at a pace of 6.5 per cent in Greece, 5.6 per cent in Italy, 4.7 per cent in Spain, 4 per cent in Portugal,  3 per cent in Slovenia and nearly 2 per cent in Holland since September.”

The premium investors demand to hold Spanish 10-year bonds over German debt was less than 1.7 percentage points today, compared with a euro-era high of more than 6 percentage points in July 2012. U.S. exchange-traded funds show net inflows of $106 million in Greece this year, an increase of 80 percent.

Chinese stimulus starts with an aggressive move into a JV with Thomas the Tank engine and more railways to the provinces…Wooo…wooo…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paladin’s Heinrich Namibia uranium mine freezes new plant plans, reports Bloomberg.

 

Seems the US has a great way to fix it’s budget..just keep fining everyone..Anadarko has settled for 85 years of pollution for around $5.5bn…that 417.6trillion is not looking so big after all…

 

And finally….TGIF!!

 

CONFESSIONAL  BOX

A guy goes into the confessional box after years being away

from the Church. He pulls aside the curtain, enters and sits

himself down.

There’s a fully equipped bar with crystal glasses,

the best vestry wine, Peroni on tap, cigars and liqueur

chocolates nearby, and on the wall a fine photographic display

of buxom ladies who appear to have mislaid their garments.

 

He hears a priest come in: “Father, forgive me for it’s been a very

long time since I’ve been to confession and I must admit  that the

confessional box is much more inviting than it used to  be”.

The priest  replies,

“Get out, you idiot. You’re on my side”.

 

Have a great weekend 

Clarence

XXX

 

Any financial product advice contained in this email is general financial product advice only and does not take into account any one person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, before acting on any financial product advice in this email, you should consider, with or without the assistance of an independent adviser, the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.