Sing a song of sixpence,

A pocket full of rye,

Four and 5,000 blackbirds

Dropped dead in the sky.

When the sky had hurled them,

Beebe, Arkansas was shocked.

The story that it was “high hail”

Is something only the government could concoct?

 

 

Poor Beebe, AR. Not only because I threw them into the horrific attempt at rhyme above, but they got this bird thing going on, and they got this fish thing going on, AND they got this earthquake thing going on as well!

bird thing

fish thing

earthquake thing

Did you know that since September 20, the Guy-Beebe 20 mile area has experienced an almost constant shaking from 487 measurable earthquakes? It’s true. Now you are certainly free to think that high hail or fireworks scared 5,000 birds into simultaneous heart trauma, just as you are certainly free to think that HFT firms provide liquidity. But if you believe that there is more to the effects of HFT on our “market ecosystem” than just “providing liquidity”, maybe you would also be interested in knowing that this Arkansas stuff has been occurring not far from, say, a military arsenal that specializes in munitions and “chemical-biological defense products and services” (click here)

Hey. I’m just sayin’, maybe this chart of real estate in the area doesn’t lie; maybe the good folks of Beebe and Guy Arkansas need stimulus a little bit more than Bank of America and JP Morgan. Or they need to get out like those folks should have done in that house in Amityville, LI.

One last bit of fun…. This is from Craig at Cantor’s morning note, and I think it is damn funny:

So my dog had ACL surgery yesterday … Unfortunately, this isn’t the first line of a joke.  Its my life.  ( well,  maybe it’s funny to you because you’re not me)  Americans, including my wife, have no issue spending a thousand dollars to fix an old dog when a new one is free at the shelter.  Is there an “Americans can’t pay their mortgages but will lavish stuff on their animals”  ETF that I can buy?  Don’t get me wrong,  I like my dog.  But I like her with or without a limp.  Now she can sleep 23 ½ hours a day with a repaired knee….  The SEC is investigating FACEBOOK.   Apparently, Goldman holds a $450million stake in Facebook that they are putting into a SPV so they can sell it to investors.  The government thinks they might be doing this to get around the rule requiring public disclosure of records for any company with over 499 investors.  THINKS?  THINKS?  This could not be any more simple.  Goldman is doing this 1) Because they make money doing it and 2) Because the government lets them.  OF COURSE it circumvents disclosure requirements.  If the government wants to stop it .. here’s a novel idea .. STOP IT.  It’s no wonder it takes 3 days to get a letter from the US Postal service when I can order something on AMAZON this morning and FEDEX has it here by lunchtime.

.

 

Where we left off 4:00pm EST:

INDU               11,670.75                                +93.24

SPX                 1,271.89                                  +14.25

CCMP              2,691.52                                  +38.65

Futures now at 7:30am EST:

DJA                             +44

SPA                             +3.50

NDA                            +7.00

Key Data out today:

 

10:00:              Factory Orders

14:00:              Fed Minutes of FOMC

17:00:              Domestic Vehicle Sales

 

Since the prior close, some key stories:

 

–       Mega millions is $330 million! That’s like a full ten minutes of POMO!

–       German Unemployment unexpectedly rose.

–       Stocks rise globally on improving US outlook.

–       Brazil to pressure Beijing on Currency. Yeah. Good luck with that.

–       Spain plans more stress tests and will limit bank lending.

–       UK mortgage lending still squeezed. And is near 8 month low.

–       Investors doubt book value of BAC.

–       Bankruptcy filings leapt 9% in 2010.

–       Facebook now will attract even further SEC scrutiny now that Goldman is in.

–       Gibson Guitar Executives under fire for illegally importing Madagascar Rosewood. There is no honor anywhere!

–       Google planning mobile device payment service sometime this year? Sounds very cool.

–       BP up 4% (their reserves are twice what is needed for cleanup?)

–       WSJ speculates defense spending will be cut 6% soon.

 

Earnings:

 

Pre-market:  None

 

After the Close: MOS, SONC

 

 

Significant Movers This Morning:

BP +4%, COCO + 5%, ATPG + 4%, AA + 3.6%, ERTS -5%, MNKD -4%, BGP -11%