Archives: November 2012
Lockheed (LMT $94) scrambling to close F-35 fighter contract…
Fed probably preparing new pre-emptive QE for 2013…
10 charts: What’s holding back the economy…
STOCKS TO CLIMB WALL OF WORRY?
American economy, markets downshifting…
Durbin on the fiscal cliff: ‘Much progress hasn’t been made…’
Without agreement, US ‘will be in recession by spring…’
‘Emboldened liberals’ may go over cliff rather than accept a ‘bad’ deal…
Revisiting the 1986 tax reform strategy might help…
One more down leg to go in the stock market…
Expect more noise than signal this week…
Recent selling has been ‘rational and levelheaded…’
Macro issues: Japan and the weakening yen, China’s recovery, eurozap, US housing v fiscal cliff…
Why Japanese stocks look good…
Party of ‘unlimited monetary easing’ maintains lead…
Five years of yen strength have crushed export sector valuations…
Impending defense budget cuts are no big deal…
Contractors stockpiling cash nonetheless…
We must make the payroll tax holiday permanent…
Corporations reluctant to undertake major new projects…
How about some pro-growth tax reform?
Boehner: Obamacare ‘has to stay on the table…’
Draghi: Structural reforms are ‘what will fully restore stability to our continent…’
Eurozone in worst quarter since dark days of 2009…
Spain’s economy is so bad, Catalonia wants out…
No Franco-German axis at budget summit…
The market is pricing in fiscal cliff compromise, but we’ve probably seen the highs for the year…
US equity market to gain just 4-5% annually in coming 5-10 years…
The housing recovery is real, starts are approaching the psychologically important 1 million level…
Insiders are four times as enthusiastic as they were four months ago…
37% of respondents expect economy to improve, a 10-year high…
Sell stocks now: serious issues likely to persist, upside limited, downside potentially significant…
Goldman: S&P 500 will end year at 1250 (10% below current 1391)…
European finmins fail to agree on debt reduction for Greece…
Greece needs growth, not austerity, to avoid disaster…
Latest Greek “bailout” is just top eurozone countries boosting hedge fund profits…
Homebuilder stock rally may be petering out…
But starts hit a 4-yr high in October…
And confidence hits a 6-yr high…
Morgan Stanley: Economy headed for ‘twilight zone’ of slow growth in 2013, worse without gov’t help…
Grantham: 3% US GDP growth is gone forever…
At least the American dream is thriving — in Canada…
NEXT U.S. CREDIT
DOWNGRADE WON’T MATTER…
The switch from tech stocks and small caps to junk bonds and REITs will not end well…
Junk-bond ETF short-interest skyrockets…
Duped: Autonomy deal part of a pattern of bad ideas…
Japan’s Kansai Electric and Kyushu Electric to buy 1 mil tons of coal from Florida-based Oxbow…
World Resources Institute: 1,200 new coal plants planned worldwide…
BANKS VULNERABLE TO BOND BUST…
November home-builder sentiment highest in more than six years…
Is it worth speculating on an AMD takeover?
At $2, lots of turnaround potential and recent insider buying…
France loses its AAA credit rating at Moody’s…
Second French sovereign-debt downgrade this year…
Citigroup: ‘The French downgrade may presage others to come…’
‘The fiscal path that America is on today is simply not sustainable…’
We need action, not words, 46 days from the fiscal cliff…
2013 looks eerily like 1937 in four fearsome ways…
Yen in trouble as Japan prepares ‘unlimited’ easing…
7-month low against the dollar…
Japanese stocks on fire, up 5 pct in the past week…
Long-time Japan bear Kyle Bass hasn’t shorted the yen — until now…
Is voter turnout the GOP’s main problem?
Portman: Democratic turnout was better than even Dems thought it would be…
Greenspan: Markets will crater if we can’t solve the fiscal cliff…
Solving the fiscal cliff will be postponed…
The stock market decline isn’t just about the fiscal cliff…
‘A world without Twinkies is a world with a big hole in it…’
Customers swarming stores to get last Twinkies on shelves…
Fetching $100 and more on eBay…
Fear not: Hostess Brands is bankrupt, but the Twinkie will live on…
The great can-kick on the way…
How Germany is getting 100% renewable energy…
Another all-out Israel/Palestinian war?
If the CIA director couldn’t keep his emails secret, neither can you…
Does the government have too much access to online activity?
Privacy laws haven’t kept up with email, other technology…
Five things the Petraeus affair teaches us about online surveillance…
The sordid tale of a spook who didn’t understand the internet…
Israel/Hamas conflict escalates…
Egypt tries brokering a ceasefire as Israel mobilizes tanks for ground offensive…
Israel must defend its citizens, Hamas has only itself to blame for latest strikes…
Want to see the future of America? Look to California, a stagnant mess…
Democrats now have a two-thirds majority in California legislature, no incentive to compromise…
‘Republican’ is now a toxic label in California, just 29.4% of registered voters…
Romney: Free healthcare for lower-income people, Latinos, swayed them to Obama…
Hamas now in ‘open war’ with Israel, vows ‘gates of hell…’
Fires dozens of rockets into southern Israel…
IDF: ‘Hamas, not Israel, is responsible for civilian deaths…’
Israel announced operation on Twitter…
Eurozone citizens: ‘We have no future!’
‘There is a social emergency in the south…’
Awaiting official drop into recession…
New Chinese in charge: Xi Jinping…
Pro-market reformer, staunch believer in power, visited Iowa this year…
Public anger growing over wealth gap, pollution, corruption…
This secession talk is ‘idiocy of the highest order…’
Threats to secede are nothing new, but rarely followed through on…
Boehner and McConnell assume good cop, bad cop roles…
Both political parties worry about upcoming compromise…
Obama wants $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue…
RYAN: OBAMA HAS NO TAX MANDATE…
The ever-weirdening saga of former CIA Director David Petraeus and associates…
Probably has a future at a defense contractor…
Lawmakers increasingly frustrated with FBI…
White House will respond to 70,000 Texans demanding secession from US…
‘Politically and peacefully… Texas independence will really happen. Folks, it is inevitable…’
Go for it, Texas. We dare you…
By now it’s clear that ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ is not a timeless nugget of wisdom…
Romney on list of ‘nice, moderate losers with no coherently articulated vision…’
Meanwhile, Dems make good progress among wealthy…
Google: ‘…one trend has become clear: Government surveillance is on the rise…’
The Google Transparency Report…
Anyway, he will eventually testify on Benghazi…
‘Menacing’ emails referenced ‘comings and goings’ of top military officials…
Slideshow: 6 candidates for new CIA director…
Don’t think for a second that Big Money lost its influence last week…
13-min video: The Obama drone doctrine…
The browning of America makes it a different nation than the one many studied in history class…
Bad news, GOP: You have problems with white voters, too…
The GOP lost last week because its ‘message is confused, contradictory, and unconvincing…’
Senate Budget Committee Chairman: ‘I absolutely believe there is room for agreement…’
White House plans aggressive publicity campaign to support plan for tax increases and spending cuts…
Obama’s ‘spine has been stiffened’ on raising taxes…
Boehner tells House GOP to avoid partisan showdowns…
The bipartisan tax package on the way…
Congress seeks fuller explanation of Petraeus affair…
Will investigate why the months-old scandal wasn’t revealed pre-election…
Petraeus may still be called to testify on Benghazi…
FBI discovery began as cyber-harassment probe…
Woman who received emails from Petraeus’s lover, Paula Broadwell, is Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa, Fla…
Remaking the US into a welfare state…
Record high 15% of Americans on food stamps:
The US is becoming California becoming Greece…
Greece passes new austerity budget to get bailout, avoid ‘complete suffocation…’
‘Skyfall’ breaks Bond film opening weekend record at $88 million…
Releasing ‘Skyfall’ overseas first may have boosted US weekend by $15 million…
An older, wiser Bond in a more somber film…
Rep. Peter King: ‘I strongly believe that General Petraeus has to testify…’
Acting CIA Director Mike Morell will testify on Benghazi instead…
Resignation just one of many ‘sudden’ news dumps after the election…
Affair doesn’t seem to justify resignation from CIA’s top post…
Oddest aspect is that ‘his going is no big deal…’
FBI discovered CIA Director Petraeus’s affair in emails…
Partly responsible for CIA’s weak response to Benghazi attack?
Perfect timing: Just after election, just before Benghazi testimony…
Woman is Paula Broadwell, author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus
7-min video: Broadwell interview on The Daily Show…
PETRAEUS QUITS CIA OVER AFFAIR…
Obama calls for middle-class tax freeze, upper-class tax hike…
CBO: Must reduce deficit to avoid trouble, but not too quickly nor too slowly…
Boehner says raising tax rates is ‘unacceptable…’
If no action is taken before Jan 1 fiscal cliff dive, GOP ‘will suffer the most…’
It’s not just about Silicon Valley…
Worldwide financial systems stalling…
MIT’s D-Lab helps developing world innovate…
After firing on US drone, Iran says it’s ready for ‘any threat…’
Israel says Iran slowed uranium enrichment timetable, pushing ‘red line’ out 8 months…
Obama gained leverage, seeks higher taxes on wealthy…
Will Obama or Boehner blink first?
The filibuster may need to be reformed to overcome gridlock…
Karl Rove washed up as a strategist, now infamous as a donation waster…
Claims Obama won by ‘suppressing the vote,’ not outsmarting Rove’s super PACs…
‘Lost his mojo. He has become total spin, including spinning himself…’
Yet, after being dead wrong before the election, he was asked for opinions after the election…
Obama’s reelection means Obamacare will undergo a more orderly rollout…
Boehner calls Obamacare ‘law of the land,’ says election changes mission to repeal it…
Spokesman clarifies: ‘Speaker Boehner and House Republicans remain committed to repealing the law…’
David Frum: Four ways Republicans can improve Obamacare…
‘Shellshocked’ by loss, couldn’t believe they had been so wrong…
‘No such thing as a Romney Republican…’
Ann Romney: ‘Absolutely, he will not run again…’
Romney’s accidentally published victory website:
Among the would-be president-elect’s messages: ‘My priority is putting people back to work…’
The GOP needs to rethink immigration to win over Latinos…
Easy to fix GOP’s hispanic problem: Propose a ‘border fence plus amnesty’ plan…
Baloney: Hispanics support Dems because they love government programs…
Obama reelection met with resigned acceptance overseas, seen as the lesser of two evils…
Fiscal cliff fears, Europe data send stocks tumbling…
ELECTION OVER,
ON TO THE FISCAL CLIFF…
Another storm targets New York, New Jersey…
More than 100,000 new power outages…
Chris Christie: ‘I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next…’
Greece passes another austerity bill, slashes pensions and salaries…
Protests: ‘A running battle… It’s an Athens urban warzone…’
How the heck did the GOP lose this one? 45% of Obama supporters were minorities. Can the GOP adapt?
With blacks, too, the GOP has a race problem…
1:28 video: ‘The white establishment is now the minority…’
Is demography destiny, giving Democrats a permanent majority?
The Etch-a-Sketch, chameleon aspect of Romney did him in…
Republicans lost the culture war…
Decimated: ‘They couldn’t defeat a president with high unemployment and soaring debt…’
White House, Senate, House all stay the same:
Americans paid $6 billion ‘for the status quo…’
Which pundits were worth a darn…
Voters blame Bush in exit polls…
Obama succeeded in making the election
a pass/fail test on Romney’s character…
Hispanics were an important part of Obama’s coalition…
So what if minorities now control politics in America?
GOP can still slow down implementation of Obamacare…
Cheer up, GOP: Obama is a moderate Republican…
Warren defeats Brown in Massachusetts…
Thus ends the $68 million race…
Harvard professor’s attacks on Wall Street fueled political ascent…
Campaign ads ‘appealed especially to women…’
Stocks, Treasuries rise on Obama victory…
Obama victory means ‘more inflation, more money printing, more debt, more spending…’
Will he finally overhaul the tax code?
6-min video: Romney’s concession speech…
23-min video: Obama’s victory speech…
11:22pm EST
11:12pm EST
(Last almost-live SnapSheet update before Obama victory)
OF 270 ELECTORAL VOTES NEEDED TO WIN:
Obama 229, Romney 190
FLORIDA: Obama 49.8%, Romney 49.3% (94.4% reporting)
OHIO: Obama 50.1%, Romney 48.2% (67.6% reporting)
3:35am EST
Doubtful: The polls are right and Obama will win with 290 electoral votes…
No, Romney will win because a tie in the polls goes to the challenger…
Obama should worry about losing independents, Romney should worry about losing swing states…
Is Obama or Romney better for stocks?
Markets couldn’t care less which one wins…
At least the election outcome will show which economic indicators most influence voters…
Whoever wins will get to preside over a growing economy and look like a genius…
First-ever tie in Dixville Notch’s midnight vote, an omen…
Still undecided? Follow this chart:
What if Obama wins the Electoral College but loses the popular vote?
Get to know OH Sec of State Jon Husted in case of a close vote in the key swing state…
Mondale, Dukakis, and Dole on losing the big election…
If Romney loses, GOP will say they never liked him and realign policies for a diverse electorate…
Haley Barbour: ‘The hurricane is what broke Romney’s momentum…’
The truth about Obama’s ‘voting is the best revenge’ line…
Bill Clinton: Romney wants to undo progress Obama made…
What the election means to stocks…
Sunday shows: Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday,
Meet the Press, State of the Union, This Week
‘This race will be determined by turnout, turnout, turnout…’
Gergen: Election not “too close to call’ — ‘impossible to call…’
146 Electoral College votes now toss-ups…
Toward first Electoral College tie in 212 years?
Both sides deploying ‘thousands of lawyers…’
It’s hard to imagine voters celebrating a win by either of these two candidates…
Each became just a partisan stereotype under super PAC control…
2-min video: Ohio voters have had enough, ‘it’s harassment…’
Many vote early in Ohio to avoid trouble…
Whither hope? Obama lost his air of can-do heroism…
Gallup: Poll trends, composition of electorate favor Romney…
Wrong: If minorities turn out, Obama will win…
Key newspaper endorsements point to an Obama victory…
Besides, it’s all about OH and FL — and Obama leads both…
Bloomberg: Fuel shortage will last a ‘couple more days…’
Staten Island relief in short supply, feels abandoned…
Lights on in lower Manhattan, outer boroughs feeling slighted…
New Jersey voters upended by Sandy can vote by email…
In-depth look at climate change, Sandy, and extreme weather…
Power outages could linger another two weeks…
NYC Marathon canceled, some will run anyway…
Statue of Liberty closed for ‘foreseeable future…’
Barone: Romney will win a landslide 315 electoral votes…
Independents, economy watchers say Romney will win…
‘Things are looking better for Romney than at any other point in this entire campaign…’
Biggest rally of campaign – in critical Ohio…
Electoral map says Obama will win…
Hits 3-point lead in critical Ohio…
Nate Silver bets Joe Scarborough $2,000 that Obama will win…
Romney ‘inflicted serial damage on himself that can’t be wiped away by a last-minute ad barrage…’
Strategy was to ‘swamp us with so many flat-out lies that refuting them all would take a lifetime…’
80% of NY/NJ gas stations closed, tempers hot, fistfights in line…
35-year-old secretary: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this. People are acting like animals…’
2-min video: Graphic language, aggravation…
Detailed Benghazi response timeline finally delivered…
New timeline: Officers on the ground responded quickly…
Classified cable warned consulate couldn’t withstand ‘coordinated attack…’
Thompson: ‘Probably the biggest cover-up in American history…’
Hurricane Sandy forces climate change ads into final days of campaigning…
Balog: ‘Sandy is a wake-up call…’
McKibben: So the deniers have been beaten by Sandy and other overwhelming evidence. Now what?
Election still unbelievably close: Obama 47.4, Romney 47.3…
Romney’s strategy: Smile at conservatives, then ignore them…
Noonan: How Obama went from hero to ho-hum in four years…
The truth about polling methodology, and why ‘no mathematical model’ can show an Obama re-election…
Romney attracting more independents, the key to victory in entrenched political landscape…
But ‘Romney could clean up among independents next Tuesday and still lose…’
Bloomberg endorses Obama, cites need for climate leadership…
Says Romney ‘reversed course’ on the cap-and-trade plan he once supported…
Unclear ‘how much his he’s-the-better-of-two-bad-options endorsement’ will help Obama…
Rich Lowry: The case for Romney…
E.J. Dionne Jr: The case for Obama…
Both men achieving ‘maximum political advantage…’
Bipartisan leadership on display already swinging polls in Obama’s favor…
Romney first avoids FEMA questions, then issues clarification…
How other politicians are using Hurricane Sandy…
OBAMA NABS CHRISTIE FROM ROMNEY…
Thursday morning: Sandy death toll at 74…
A portrait of Sandy’s victims…
Recovery begins: $50 billion in damages, airports reopening, roads reviewed, Navy assisting…
Why isn’t the Benghazi attack story gaining traction?
Because ‘mainstream media’s instincts run liberal, making groupthink inevitable…’
Was it wise to depend on a Libyan militia that clearly wasn’t up to the job?
Awaiting two timelines from the Obama admin: Who knew what when, and when they did what in response…