Obama Administration Takes Reins of US Infrastructure

Housing - Insurance - Banking - Automotive Industries all fall under Washington’s control. With eyes on the health care system - education - transportation - and…Don’t Fart - That could be considered as a carbon emission! 

Who wants to be a CEO?

By now most readers have heard that the Obama administration has “ousted” the CEO of General Motors - once the largest and most admired car manufacturer in the world.

G20 Expectations - Set at What Level?

The world has been waiting for what some have coined “April Financial Fools Day” as the International Community will either band together - or split apart.

Protectionism - Protecting Who?

An interesting group of self interests and differing agendas seem to be emerging … As for demonstrations - they are planned throughout London - but who is doing the planning - anywhere?

Sell The Dollar - Buy The ????  - Book

Peter Schiff, author of “Crash Proof” and “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets”  gave a lecture this past weekend in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University. His predictions of the current crisis have given him quite a following.  During the Q and A session I asked Mr. Schiff what his prediction of what would be the outcome of the G20 meeting. His response was a short and sweet -” It will be a photo op”  - to which I asked a follow up question as to what will be the reaction of people who understand the implications - ” he said ” they will sell the dollar”  - So then what will people buy….. the Q and A shifted to the subject of Gold.

The Week Ahead - Consolidated Economic Calendar

Under “normal” conditions this would be a news worthy week with NFP - unemployment data taking up the weeks speculation - but we all know the numbers will be bad - and the markets have shrugged off bad data lately.

Check out the “1st on Forex” Consolidated Summary of Scheduled News Events for the “Week Ahead”  on the www.ienweb.com site.

USD-JPY 4 Hour Chart - Inverse Head and Shoulder Setting Up?

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“We’ll Meet Again”

The much anticipated Historic G20 meeting in Washington this weekend leaves me wanting something more – and yet the status quo seems so comfortable. My hunch that this would be a meeting to have more meetings until Obama gets “steeped” into his new gig was spot on.

Spot and Stock Markets Will React on Monday

The markets may have wanted something more substantial that a agreement to meet on the 101^st day of the Obama administration – The communiqué states that the Group of XX “will meet again by April 30, 2009, to review the implementation of the principles and decisions agreed today.” Reminds me of the music from the final scene from Dr Strange Love as the bombs go off… “We’ll Meet Again… Don’t Know Where…”

Bush Says, “Goodbye”

Outgoing US President Bush hosted the world’s leaders at the White House on Friday and seemed to want to enjoy the photo op – but the body language of the other leaders seemed to be impatient. Market News International reports that the president’s last word at the microphone was “goodbye”.

The Official Declaration and Communique - Has the Last Word - In Error!

I found it interesting that at the bottom of the official communiqué was the message. [an error occurred while processing this directive] – (Click Above Image)

Click here for the entire Communiqué from the G20

http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/g20/2008-leaders-declaration-081115.html

Click Here to Register for this weeks “1st on Forex” The Week Ahead Webinar  - Every Monday at 12 Noon EDT

Dollar Acting Schizoid Ahead of G20

The “normal” correlations of currency pairs was anything but – as the Euro surged from the 1.2500 range to over 1.2850, while the Pound Sterling lost ground most of the day closing relatively unchanged at around 1.4800. Meanwhile the Carry Trade continues it’s gyrations as the dollar gained ground against the Yen while losing against the Aussie. The Canadian Loonie also lost it’s marbles dropping from 1.2400 to 1.2100, All this within a traders dayze.

Review of the Charts - 3 Days Later

(Above)  Aussie Maintains Consolidation but Tests Support (click on Charts to Enlarge)

(Above)  Dollar - Swiss pair continues upward trend while creating a new lower support line

Above-  Euro makes almost a double bottomand stays within Trend Channel - (click to Enlarge)

 Above - Pound Rides the Lower Trend Channel - Testing Below  (click to Enlarge)

President Bush Addresses Manhattan Institute
The currencies seemed to get reactive around the same time as President Bush addressed the Manhattan Institute mid day. His speech seemed to be a reminder of why the Free Market system must survive despite the changes that must be made to move into the interconnected global markets. Bush may have been alluding to the Bretton Woods agreement when he stated that decisions and changes must be made that, “Better reflect the 21st century not those based in the 1940’s” – which leads me to discuss the….

Historic G20 Meeting starts in Washington
UK Prime Minister Harold Brown has been quoted as saying that decisions over the next few months will reshape our world for the next few decades or more. President elect Obama is sending former secretary of state Albright to monitor the discussions. In my opinion he is missing an opportunity to understand the players and issues – yet his appearance may have been a distraction - so It’s a toss up.

Tensions may run high, and with 20 nations sovereignty on the line - the odds are that this meeting will be a meeting to hold more meetings. UN-less some agreement has already been drafted behind the scenes –

The news on Thursday morning was bleak

New Weekly Jobless Claims were far worse than expected with 516,000 new additions to the unemployment rolls and the US Trade Numbers showed a large drop in exports. But that did not stop the market from surging ahead.

The Good News
The MBA Mortgage Purchase Applications rose 9% and Refinancing applications were up 16% as lower interest rates are filtering down to the buyers that need to sop up the liquidity of the flooded housing market.

Friday Brings Retail Sales and Consumer Sentiment

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Investors Education Network

Pre Non Farm Payroll Numbers Disapointed early Wednesday as

Interest rate Cuts of 50bps are expected from the BOE and ECB Thursday. No shock to the  charts are expected - but expect the unexpected.

November 5th, 2008 - Nothing but Down

Above - The Major Indexes and the VIX-Volatility Index 5 Minute Charts

Above - USD-JPY 4 Hour Chart breaking Support (click to enlarge)

Finally - the Election of 2008 is Over! - Now What?

Thankfully John McCain allowed Americans to get an early nights sleep Tuesday by conceding defeat - before California and the West coast was even finished voting.

 For me, John McCain and Barack Obama both never resonated beyond mediocre sound bites. IMO – Despite McCain’s pleas for others to help him fight, It looked as if the maverick was relieved to give up. Only in the last few days was Sarah Palin allowed to regain her dignity and throw a few punches for him.  

 The Big Picture - Click to Enlarge

US President Elect Obama makes his acceptance speech Tuesday night

Calls for the lowering of expectations are coming from the four corners of the left.

Now that the media has put the public in a state of mass psychosis, the public will be in need of a “rattle ya jewelry”, John Lennon type statement from the President elect. Reality sank in fast Wednesday as the financial markets gave BO the cold shoulder as the weight of the world began it’s descent.  

Leadership Needed Now for US All – Starting with You!

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