Mark Haines and De Niro (Birchy)

Back in the 1990’s, Vic, Joe and I worked at a growing firm called Instinet. Back then it was nothing like the firm you may all know, and some of you do business with today; back then it was THE electronic exchange, and THE ECN. I remember clearly how we had CNBC doing live reports each morning on what was trading actively pre-market. Joe Kiernan and Maria Bartiromo both called in frequently looking for updates they could talk about on the air.

I remember those days with mixed feelings. On one hand I was probably out of my element working in a large firm, and for me personally it was stressful. On the other hand, however, I worked with a great group of sales traders, including Krista Twombly, Patty Blaettler, Steve Gonsiorawski (Gonzo), and particularly a real uplifting and talented sales trader, Chris Birch (Birchy).

Why the trip down memory lane? Well, Mark Haines’s passing on Tuesday night has saddened us. His passing reminds us to always hug the ones you love, and tell them that you care about them. So, Mark, we care about you. And we remember a couple of real funny clips that highlight your deep rumbling belly laugh. The clips actually are of you interviewing Robert DeNiro, played by my coworker at Instinet, Chris Birch.

Enjoy these clips folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N8WArre7zQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMtyPuRl148&

Where we left off 4:00pm EST:

INDU              12,394.66                                +38.45

SPX                 1,320.47                                  +4.19

CCMP             2,761.38                                  +15.22

Futures now at 7:30 am EST:

DJA                             +14 

SPA                             +2.30

NDA                           +0.75

Key Data out today:

 

08:30:                          GDP

08:30:                          Personal Consumption

08:30:                          Initial Jobless Claims (remember HFT is fed machine-readable news)

08:30:                          Continuing Jobless Claims (remember HFT is fed machine-readable news)

Since the prior close, some key stories:

 

–       G8 meets in France

–       China wants a “democratic” consultation on who should lead the IMF. I am guessing they want to make sure they are not bailing out Greece any more, as well as buying our “clunkers”.

–       China interested in buying Portuguese Bailout Bonds next month (Who gave them the TBTF Bank Playbook?)

–       Switzerland decides on Nuclear Phase-out.

–       Central London new home buyers dominated by Asian buyers for the first time (Bloomberg).

–       $1b Gift to Egypt does little to help a country with a deficit of 12% GDP (Bloomberg article).

–       UBS to split investment bank off to appease regulators.

–       Yemen continues to descend into more violence.

–       US default More likely Than Indonesia (FT Article: http://on.ft.com/kYL8Oa )

–       NTAP beats.

–       HST, BKD upped at GS while WAG is removed from conviction list.

–       Yesterday was the Ira Sohn Conference (Chanos negative on Solar, Aronson likes CIT, KKR likes WBC, Mike Price likes GS, Einhorn likes Delta Lloyd in the Netherlands, Icahn likes, well… Icahn).

 

Earnings:

 

Pre-market:  BIG, CM, HNZ, MBT, SNE, TD

After the Close: MRVL

 

Significant Movers This Morning:

CDTI +30%, SMTC +6%, NEOP +5%, GES +13%, BLUD +10%, NTAP +5%, LVLT +3%, VLNC -6%, CSC -6%, RIGL -4%, SIGM -9%