USA is currently rated as low as France and the U.K. due to Obama’s expensive vote buying with 50% now paying no Federal income taxes.

It is reported that 70% of Americans now take more from the tax system than they put into the system. The rioters on the streets of Greece are the children of the Greeks who robbed their welfare state and left their children a bankrupt nation.

The nation’s budget has more than doubled under Obama, pushing the annual deficit to more than $1 trillion and the national debt to $15.2 trillion. Obama’s budget today spends more than $3 trillion in the next fiscal year, and contains no accounting for where taxpayers’ money actually goes. “If the public can’t easily find and understand quality spending information, they can’t use that information to make their opinions heard by Congress,” said Sam Rosen-Amy, a federal fiscal policy analyst at the Washington-based nonprofit research group OMB Watch.

A compromise Obama offered last week that would force health insurers, and not religious-affiliated charities, to pay for contraceptives for employees of those institutions may have moved him off the defensive. The Catholic Institutions therefore would no longer have to pay directly for safe sex but would just pay a higher insurance rate. Eventually flavored scented oils will be added to the free services because Obama has determined that oral sex is safer for children under 18.

Florida has an 11.(% foreclosure rate with home prices down 49%, a 9.9% unemployment rate, and the nation’s highest mortgage delinquency rate at 17.4%.

The stock market has been having a government gridlock rally. Gridlock is much better for the economy than Obama. Wealth redistribution is Obama’s code word for vote buying. Obama/Greek style union/state worker government corruption is killing America.


World markets

Moody’s downgraded Spain to A3 from A1 yesterday, Italy to A3 from A2 and Portugal to Ba3 from Ba2, all with negative outlooks. Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta also had their ratings lowered. Moody’s said it might strip France and the U.K. of their top Aaa ratings, citing Europe’s debt crisis. The USA which has never defaulted in its existence is currently rated as low as France and the U.K. due to Obama’s expensive vote buying with 50% (Obama voters) now paying no Federal income taxes and 70% getting back more than they pay in. Emerging-market stocks fell.

Brazil’s retail sales rose more than analysts expected in December to almost the accelerating inflation rate.

The German ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of German investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, rose to 5.4 from minus 21.6 in January. That’s the highest since April 2011 and the third straight increase. It was not as great an improvement as was predicted.

Olympus Corp, the Japanese camera maker that admitted a 13-year accounting fraud, predicted a $412 Million annual loss that was worse than analysts’ estimates as it wrote off equipment damaged by Thailand’s record floods.

Announced European workforce reductions surged to 94,369 through Feb. 10 from 26,561 this time last year. These losses are now running at the fastest pace since a 2009 peak, when the European and U.S. economies had the deepest slump since World War II. Now, based on economists’ estimates, Europe’s debt crises are said likely to spur a 0.5 percent contraction in the Euro- area economy in 2012.

European finance chiefs to review Greece’s latest attempt to close the budget gap and pull back from the brink of collapse after lawmakers in Athens approved more austerity measures demanded before they get a financial lifeline.

Norway faces a “severe” credit shock. “Soaring household debt and home prices are a good reason for concern,” Baltzersen said of the housing bubble forming. “Both the household debt-to- income ratio and the house price level have reached historic records and household debt is still growing faster than income.”


Asian markets (especially China) have failed to break out some on the second and third times at resistance levels. China’s stocks could fall 50% from here if Obama’s announced world wide “Great Depression” spreads there too.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=000001.SS&t=2y&l=on&z=l&q=l&p=e200%2Ce100&a=&c=

Germany broke through the resistance levels: Choose 2 or 5 years
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5EGDAXI+Interactive#chart2:symbol=^gdaxi;range=2y;indicator=ema(200,100)+volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on

The Swiss broke through the resistance levels. Choose 2 or 5 years http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5ESSMI+Interactive#chart1:symbol=^ssmi;range=2y;indicator=ema(200,100)+volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined

Emerging markets show strength. Brazil broke through
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=^BVSP+Interactive#chart1:symbol=^bvsp;range=2y;indicator=ema(100,200)+volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined

American Economy

The combined value of Google and Microsoft, Apple’s two main phone platform rivals is now less than Apple’s market cap. Apple’s market capitalization topped $460 billion while Exxon’s value is just under $397 billion. Of course Steve Jobs only died last October so it may be a few more months before Apple runs out of great new products. By this time next year we predict the price of Apple stock will be less the $250 per share or half the current price.

Last week
Consumer Credit Dec $19.3B down from $20.4B Consumer demand declined, not good
MBA Mortgage Index 02/04 +7.5% up from -2.9% due to seasonal effects
Crude Inventories 02/04 0.304M down from 4.175M
Initial Claims 02/04 358K down slightly from 367K Not Bad
Continuing Claims 01/28 3515K up from 3437K Not good
Feb 9 10:00 AM Wholesale Inventories Dec 1.0% up sharply from 0.1% Decreasing is good. This is bad

Friday
Trade Balance Dec -$48.8B 2% worse at $47.8B got worse again
Mich Sentiment Feb 72.5 declined from 75.0 not good
Treasury Budget Jan -$27.down from -$49.8B not reliable

This Week
Feb 14 8:30 AM Retail Sales Jan
Feb 14 8:30 AM Retail Sales ex-auto Jan
Feb 14 8:30 AM Export Prices ex-ag. Jan
Feb 14 8:30 AM Import Prices ex-oil Jan
Feb 14 10:00 AM Business Inventories Dec
Feb 15 7:00 AM MBA Mortgage Index 02/11
Feb 15 8:30 AM Empire Manufacturing Feb
Feb 15 9:00 AM Net Long-Term TIC Flows Dec
Feb 15 9:15 AM Industrial Production Jan
Feb 15 9:15 AM Capacity Utilization Jan
Feb 15 10:00 AM NAHB Housing Market Index Feb
Feb 15 10:30 AM Crude Inventories 02/11
Feb 15 2:00 PM FOMC Minutes 1/25
Feb 16 8:30 AM Initial Claims 02/11
Feb 16 8:30 AM Continuing Claims 02/04
Feb 16 8:30 AM Housing Starts Jan
Feb 16 8:30 AM Building Permits Jan
Feb 16 8:30 AM PPI Jan
Feb 16 8:30 AM Core PPI Jan
Feb 16 10:00 AM Philadelphia Fed Feb
Feb 17 8:30 AM CPI Jan
Feb 17 8:30 AM Core CPI Jan
Feb 17 10:00 AM Leading Indicators Jan

Market outlook February 14, 2012
The world is bracing now for a recession in Europe and a slowdown in China.

Market at 2008 level and still looks ready to plunge. Stock volume is incredibly thin making it easy to manipulate the market higher… until the funds pull the plug again.

The VIX may be starting to rise. A sharp computer sell-off could end the current rally any moment now and trigger huge stop-losses.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EVIX&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

Bulk shipments are beginning to rise and stock prices of bulk shippers soared even though they are continuing to face high losses in the months ahead. Most of the rise however is from short sellers covering themselves. It will probably take a year for the industry to really recover because Asia and Europe have stagnant growth and Obama stagnation continues with growth driven entirely by inflation of less than 2.5% per year. Net USA economic growth under Obama continues at a zero inflation adjusted rate. Trade had collapsed to the lowest world bulk trade level that existed since Obama started the Obama Great Depression in one of his 2007-2008 campaign speeches. In the past, a decline like this set off alarms around the financial world because it implies supply exceeds demand and something has to give.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BDIY:IND

Stock market update:
Asian Stock markets were mixed last night. China down -03%, Hong Kong up 0.1%, India up 0.4%, Taiwan down –0.4%, and Japan up 0.6%

European markets are mixed today in a range -0.4% to +0.4% half way through their day.
American market futures are up about 0.1% in after hour trading at 7:30 AM EST.