Don’t sing “Don’t worry, be happy” yet

It had been a dull week and a month for me. I could not do a whole lot with the trading. I am still hopeful for C, FNM and OPC. It’s just a bad week for CEMJQ. It just kept sliding down. It seems that a massive sell out is going on. Is it going to continue declining or it is going to turn around? I was flying high for a few months. My hands are tied now. I just don’t feel confident about the market. I am out of sink with the market. I am hoping that I will be in sinking soon and start collecting some dough.

The market was in turmoil on Thursday. When I thought X was going to hit $ 45, it went down to $ 40.8. I still think it will get to $ 45 but I hope it’s sooner than later. This is so weird and unpredictable. I have to clue what drives the stock price. The economic data shows strong on some areas which sometimes reflect DOW but then again it does nothing to market. What really drives this market? What is the trigger?

- NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors kept the stock market's upward momentum going Monday, sending shares sharply higher after retail sales rebounded more than expected in October and the dollar extended its slide. Major stock indexes rose more than 1 percent to new 13-month highs, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which jumped 145 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index topped 1,110, the first convincing move above 1,100 after hovering around that level for the past month. The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.4 percent in October, easily surpassing the 0.8 percent increase forecast by economists polled by Thomson Reuters. It was a sharp rebound following the 2.3 percent drop in September. Excluding the gain from autos, however, sales rose just 0.2 percent, half of what economists predicted.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday the global economy is moving toward a recovery but countries can't rely on U.S. consumers to serve as the engine of worldwide growth. In testimony prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Geithner said that significant cooperation among the world's 20 major economies had helped countries to "put out the financial fire" and restart economic growth. "To establish a more global foundation for growth and avert future crises of this nature, we must rebalance global demand," Geithner said. Countries with large trade surpluses such as China will have to foster policies to support domestic growth, while countries with large trade and budget deficits will need to boost savings, he said. The personal savings rate already has risen significantly in the U.S. during the current crisis and as the economy achieves sustainable growth, the Obama administration will begin working to reduce the federal government's soaring budget deficits, Geithner said. "Emerging markets and economies with large and sustained surpluses will need to shift their growth towards domestic demand and reduce their reliance on exports," he said. "Governments around the world will need to accept this basic reality or we will all face slower growth."

- A look at the world's 10 most corrupt and 10 least corrupt countries according to the Corruption Perceptions Index report published Tuesday (November 17, 2009) by watchdog Transparency International.
The world's ten most corrupt countries:
1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Myanmar
4. Sudan
5. Iraq
6. Chad
7. Uzbekistan
8. Turkmenistan
9. Iran
10. Haiti
The world's ten least corrupt countries:
1. New Zealand
2. Denmark
3. Singapore
4. Sweden
5. Switzerland
6. Finland
7. Netherlands
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Iceland

- BEIJING – President Barack Obama's first visit to China underscored a shifting balance of power: two giants moving closer to being equals. In this week's choreographed show of U.S.-Chinese good will, Obama's pledge to treat China as a trusted global partner won a return promise of shared effort on world troubles — but not much else. Standing stiffly together in the Great Hall of the People after a morning of talks, Obama and President Hu Jintao talked expansively Tuesday of common burdens and joint efforts on global warming, nuclear disarmament, the anemic economy and other big issues. They dealt coolly with differences over human rights and trade, leaving them out of public view or reserved for coded language. Their first formal summit featured none of the rancor that spoiled many previous summits between the nations. If there was any pressure on Beijing to make immediate concessions, neither leader let on. But Obama went into the meetings with a weaker hand than most past presidents. The battering that economic recession and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have given U.S. prestige is felt nowhere more keenly than in a China that is busily growing and accruing global clout. "The U.S. has a lot to ask from China," said Xue Chen, a researcher on strategic affairs at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. "On the other hand, the U.S. has little to offer China."

- Oil prices wavered on Tuesday as a rising dollar kept crude from moving higher, as fresh economic data gave mixed signals on whether demand for oil will increase. Benchmark crude for December delivery was down 43 cents to $78.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.55 to settle at $78.90 on Monday. The euro dropped back below $1.49 on Tuesday after banking officials in Europe and the U.S. voiced support for the dollar. Because crude is traded in dollars it gets cheaper when the dollar declines. That has helped move oil higher this year after it bottomed at $32 a barrel nearly a year ago. At the same time, industrial production for October rose less than expected, suggesting that the economic recovery -- and oil demand -- will continue to be bumpy. Even with Monday's strong gain, oil has traded in a range of $75 to $82 for the past several weeks. Demand for oil continues to be weak and supplies are more than ample, and that is keeping oil prices restrained as prices for other commodities, such as gold, continue to climb because of the weaker dollar, PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- A rising proportion of fixed-rate home loans made to people with good credit are sinking into foreclosure, adding to concerns about the strength of the economic recovery. Driven by rising unemployment, such loans accounted for nearly 33 percent of new foreclosures last quarter. That compares with just 21 percent a year ago, when high-risk subprime loans made during the housing boom were the main reason for default. At the same time, the proportion of homeowners with a mortgage who were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure hit a record-high for the ninth straight quarter. The Mortgage Bankers Association's report Thursday suggests the housing market and broader recovery could be thwarted by the continuing surge in home loan defaults, especially as the unemployment rate keeps rising. Lost jobs, rather than the shady loans made during the housing boom, are now the main reason homeowners fall behind on their mortgages. After three years of plunging prices, the housing market started to rebound this summer. While optimists hope the worst is over, pessimists say there are simply too many foreclosed properties that have yet to be dumped on the market and expect further price declines.

- WASHINGTON – Soldier suicides this year are almost sure to top last year's, but a recent decline in the pace of such deaths could mean the Army is making progress in stemming them, officials said Tuesday. Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli said that as of Monday, 140 active duty soldiers are believed to have died of self-inflicted wounds. That's the same as were confirmed for all of 2008. "We are almost certainly going to end the year higher than last year — this is horrible, and I do not want to downplay the significance of these numbers in any way," he said. But Chiarelli said there has been a tapering off in recent months from huge numbers of January and February. "I do believe we are finally beginning to see progress being made," Chiarelli told a Pentagon press conference. He attributed that to some unprecedented efforts the Army has been trying to work with soldiers through new programs.
Using some U.S. bases as examples of the trend downward, Chiarelli said there were 18 suicides reported this year at Fort Campbell in Kentucky — and that 11 of those were in the first four months of the year. At Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, there were seven all year so far — five in the first five months of the year and only two since.

- LONDON – World stocks slid Thursday amid mounting concerns that current valuations are not merited by the pace of the global economic recovery. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 60.09 points, or 1.1 percent, to 5,282.04 while Germany's DAX fell 65.34 points, or 1.1 percent, to 5,722.27. The CAC-40 in France was 34.10 points, or 0.9 percent, lower at 3,794.08. Losses in Europe more than doubled after Wall Street opened sharply lower. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 121.15 points, or 1.2 percent, at 10,305.16 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 16.03 points, or 1.4 percent, at 1,093.77. Stock markets have rallied strongly since March's lows as investors reined in their economic doomsday expectations to factor in a swifter than anticipated global economic rebound, but recent disappointing U.S. housing figures and mixed earnings from some of the country's leading retailers have dented the optimism. Many investors think stock valuations are now pricing in too rapid an economic recovery.

- JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel triggered a fresh rift with Washington over settlement building on Tuesday by approving the building of 900 homes for Jews on West Bank land it occupied in a 1967 war and annexed to its Jerusalem municipality. The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said President Barack Obama's envoy, George Mitchell, had asked an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at a meeting in London on Monday, to block the proposed construction at the settlement of Gilo. But a government planning commission approved the addition of 900 housing units at Gilo, where 40,000 Israelis already live. The Israeli decision drew an usually sharply worded rebuke from the White House, which said it was "dismayed" and accused Israel of undermining Obama's efforts to resume peace talks with Palestinians stalled since December. "At a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. In his statement, Gibbs also said the U.S. objected to continued evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen lead the insurance industry's annual list of the safest new vehicles, according to a closely watched assessment used by car companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to showrooms. The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety awarded its "top safety pick" on Wednesday to 19 passenger cars and eight sport utility vehicles for the 2010 model year. The institute substantially reduced the number of awards compared with 2009, because of tougher requirements for roof strength. Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo unit received the most awards with six, followed by five awards apiece for Japanese automaker Subaru and German automaker Volkswagen AG and its Audi unit. Chrysler Group LLC received four awards followed by two each for Honda Motor Co. and General Motors Co. Toyota Motor Corp., BMW AG, Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. were shut out in the annual IIHS review. Ford's recipients include the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS passenger cars and the Volvo S80 and C30 passenger cars and the XC60 and XC90 SUVs. Ford said in a statement it is "committed to providing customers with safe vehicles for a broad range of real-world crash conditions." Subaru recorded winners with the Subaru Legacy, Outback and Impreza cars and Tribeca and Forester SUVs. Subaru was the only automaker with an IIHS winner in all four vehicle classes in which it competes. The automaker, which has bucked the brutal U.S. sales market with a 13 percent increase during the first 10 months of 2009, attributed its safety success to a unique engine design that sits low in the vehicle chassis and moves down and under occupants in a frontal collision.

- OTTAWA (Reuters) – Inflation returned to Canada in October after a short deflationary bout but prices remained tame and are not expected to sway the Bank of Canada from holding interest rates at a record low until mid-2010. The consumer price index climbed 0.1 percent in the year to October, mainly due to less downward pressure from gasoline prices and as consumers paid more for food, household goods and services and tuition, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday. It was the first upward movement since May; a sign the economy is pulling out of a recession, but still below the average forecast in a Reuter’s poll of a 0.3 percent gain. Prices slipped 0.1 percent on the month. Core inflation, which provides a reality check by excluding gasoline and other volatile items, came in higher than expected at 1.8 percent, up from 1.5 percent in September after gaining 0.1 percent in the month. "There is a little bit of heat in this report," said Eric Lascelles, chief economics and rates strategist at TD Securities. "Headline CPI exited that technical state of deflation which is more symbolic than anything else but still attracts some attention," he said. Consumer prices fell annually by between 0.3 percent and 0.9 percent in the months from June to September. The Canadian dollar showed little initial reaction to the report, trading near its pre-data level of C$1.0469, or 95.52 U.S. cents as the market digested the numbers.

- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of mass layoffs reported by U.S. employers fell last month from September, a government report showed on Friday, suggesting job losses were close to bottoming. The Labor Department said the 2,127 mass layoff actions reported in October -- defined as job cuts involving at least 50 people from a single employer -- was down 434 from September. The layoffs affected 217,182 workers, down from 248,006 in September. Mass layoff events were down by 77 from October 2008. Despite the decline in October, the year-to-date number of mass layoffs hit a record 25,872. A total of 619 mass layoff events were reported in the manufacturing last month, the department said. The battered labor market has been showing gradual signs of stabilizing after a surge in job losses early this year. It is being watched for clues on the strength and sustainability of the economic recovery that started in the third quarter. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 26-1/2-year high of 10.2 percent in October. Since December 2007, when the recession officially began, a total of 49,357 mass layoff events have been reported, the department said.

- TEHRAN, Iran – Iran has sentenced five defendants to death in a mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting the unrest that followed the disputed June presidential election, state television reported Tuesday. The five apparently include three death sentences announced last month. None of the five have been identified by Iranian authorities. Iran began the mass trial in August of more than 100 prominent opposition figures and activists, accusing them of a range of charges from rioting to spying and plotting what Iran's clerical rulers have depicted as a foreign-backed plot to oust them from power. In the weeks following the June 12 election, the opposition led massive street protests that drew hundreds of thousands and supporters clashed with security forces. They claimed fraud after election authorities declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of a second term and their anger unleashed the most serious internal unrest in Iran in the 30 years since the Islamic Revolution. A harsh crackdown ended the demonstrations and a security sweep went far beyond rounding up just protesters on the streets, snatching up rights activists and journalists, as well as pro-reform politicians. Rights groups and opposition figures in Iran have criticized the court proceedings, calling them a "show trial" and saying confessions are coerced. The opposition says 69 people were killed in the crackdown, while the government has confirmed about 30 dead.

- ATLANTA – Air travelers nationwide scrambled to revise their plans Thursday after an FAA computer glitch caused widespread cancellations and delays for the second time in 15 months. The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem, which lasted about four hours, was fixed around 9 a.m., but it was unclear how long flights would be affected. It started when a single circuit board in a piece of networking equipment at a computer center in Salt Lake City failed around 5 a.m., the FAA said in a statement. That failure prevented air traffic control computers in different parts of the country from talking to each other. Air traffic controllers were forced to type in complicated flight plans themselves because they could not be transferred automatically from computers in one region of the country to computers in another, slowing down the whole system.

- MANILA, Philippines – Dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists, and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor, killing at least 21 of the travelers Monday in the southern Philippines' worst political violence in years. There was no claim of responsibility for the bloodshed in the predominantly Muslim region wracked by political tensions between rival clans. The convoy of vans carrying about 40 people was hijacked in Maguindanao province, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) south of Manila, and army troops later found the bullet-riddled bodies of 13 women and eight men, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said. It was unclear if anyone survived the attack. An army and police search was under way for the other hostages. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said at least 10 local reporters were part of the convoy. Their organizations failed to reach them, leading them to conclude they too were killed.