Dull End to a Wild Fortnight

At the end of a wild two weeks, everybody needed a break and they got one, in one of the slowest trading days in some time. News flow was also minimal.

In sync with the rest of the market, General Motors (GM), on its second day of trading as a new, reformed entity, fell almost back to its IPO price, hitting 33.11 at just about 10:00 am. The stock and the rest of the market (Dow was down 62 points) took a sudden turn and churned to slight, positive gains by the sessions end.

Overall, the major indices have barely moved since the mid-term elections. The Fed's incessant currency devaluation efforts have also, thus far been for naught.

Dow 11,203.55, +22.32 (0.20%)
NASDAQ 2,518.12, +3.72 (0.15%)
S&P 500 1,199.73, +3.04 (0.25%)
NYSE Composite 7,641.08, +21.14 (0.28%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,878,265,250
NYSE Volume 3,921,869,500

Advancers finished well ahead of losers, 3546-2632. There were 279 new highs and 73 new lows. Volume was extremely light.

Oil was flat, at $81.85. Silver last printed 27.35, +0.36. Gold spot closed at $1354.10, up 60 cents.

Rinse, repeat, ponder the future. Ireland remains in talks with the EC, ECB and IMF. They're getting the "full monty" from the financiers, if you will.

Market Motors Ahead on GM IPO

The entire trading day was a well-orchestrated event staged by the power brokers of Wall Street, the government and the shills on CNBC, designed exclusively to give the pet project of the bailout bunch, General Motors, a bright and cheery IPO send-off.

Shares of GM's rebirth IPO (initial public offering - somewhat of an oxymoron in this case) priced the previous day at $33 and opened with immediate upticks shortly after the general markets had commenced trading. That it would get a positive set up was assured by a gargantuan ramp-up in the futures, ostensibly on news that Ireland was veering toward accepting a bailout from either the EU or the IMF or a combination of both. Only in these wacky times can the fact that a nation is being saved from ruin by the very same bankers who ruined it foment a powerful rally, but, that's the world in which we now live.

The set-up got GM off to a nice start with the rest of he market despite fears that some traders would "flip" the stock, and surely some did. Shares of GM hit a high of 35.99 shortly after the open and retreated the rest of the day, hitting a low of 33.89 before settling at 34.19 at the close for a gain of 3.61%, no big deal.

The Fed pumped more money in the direction of the primary dealers. This is a permanent fixture now as the Fed has already set down a timetable for a daily POMO through December 9, with the exception of the Wednesday before and the Friday after Thanksgiving (next week).

Another interesting note was news that Warren Buffet was to receive the Medal of Freedom, just a day after practically falling all over himself in praise of the government in his NY Times op-ed. At least he'll be in equally-suspect company. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former US President George H.W. Bush are among other recipients named by President Obama.

From this we can only surmise that the level of greed, corruption and naked narcissism has finally reached critical mass amongst the elitists.

Dow 11,181.23, +173.35 (1.57%)
NASDAQ 2,514.40, +38.39 (1.55%)
S&P 500 1,196.69, +18.10 (1.54%)
NYSE Composite 7,619.94, +131.18 (1.75%)
NASDAQ Volume 2,083,305,250.00
NYSE Volume 5,373,779,000

Advancers trounced decliners, 5093-1419; new highs surpassed new lows for the second straight session, 299-59, but volume, up to 20% of which on the NYSE was attributed to trades on GM, was weak.

Commodities also ramped up. The front end of the crude oil futures gained $1.41, to $81.85. Gold picked up $16.10, to $1,353.00, while silver rose more than 5%, up by $1.32, to $26.83.

Unemployment claims were little changed from the previous week and October stock options expire tomorrow. The latest word from the continent is that Irish leaders are still resistant to a bailout, though the pressure is building for them to take the money and plunge the country into an even worse situation, with bills and interest owing to the IMF with no hope of ever paying its way out. This same thing has happened before, in Argentina and other South American countries. The usual outcome is the rape of the nation's wealth to the detriment of the populace.

Erin go Bragh, indeed.

A Market You Cannot Take Seriously

Foreign investors must look at the US stock markets as a major joke. Of course, theirs may or may not be any better, but the abnormal late-day trading patterns in US equity indices really should be held up for ridicule and scorn.

Today was just another in a series of predetermined outcomes. Stocks were down all day, until 3:15 pm, with the Dow index down as much as 130 points during the session. Naturally, the crooks and thieves controlling the trading have to keep up appearances - that America is still OK - so all of the losses were erased in the final 45 minutes.

That's become standard operating procedure on the Street. Whether or not anyone actually believes stocks should be levitating around their recent highs is another matter altogether. For most chartists and analysts, the evidence of manipulation is pretty clear, and has been for some time. Valuation means little anymore. It's all perception and innuendo, with the hope that people will forget that stocks are up some 35-40% since early March, haven't taken even a slight correction and may move even higher.

The feeling is that the insiders wish that everyone would just close their eyes for the next few weeks and wait for the inevitable push higher, which will, no doubt, be accompanied by some cockamamie economic report that purports to show the US economy on the mend. Should stocks take another step forward, one would be well advised to take profits, invest in oil, gold or silver and move out of stocks completely, because some day, sooner or later, there will be a hellish crash, something akin to the pounding stocks took last fall.

In the current case, it sure looks like the heavy hitters are firmly in control, taking profits as they please, bolstering their bottom lines with blatant disregard for retail investors, client money or anything even remotely resembling morals.

Dow 8,764.49, +1.36 (0.02%)
NASDAQ 1,842.40, -7.02 (0.38%)
S&P 500 939.14, -0.95 (0.10%)
NYSE Composite 6,068.56, -14.08 (0.23%)

Despite the narrowly mixed results in the headline numbers, decliners finished far ahead of advancing issues, 4013-2391. New highs finished just ahead of new lows, 59-58, but most telling was the light volume, far below even the reduced levels of the previous two weeks. The word best descriptive of this session's volume would be "feeble," though "feckless" also comes to mind.

NYSE Volume 1,077,228,000
NASDAQ Volume 1,993,720,000

Commodity prices were down nearly across the board, though the favored position of oil and energy-related raw materials was evident. Crude fell by a mere 35 cents, to $68.09, as though $68.00 is the magical fixed price for the slippery stuff. The metals took a more serious hit, with gold down $10.10, to $952.50, and silver off 43 cents, to $14.96.

Meanwhile, the crafty Chrysler bankruptcy, engineered by Washington bureaucrats, may be falling apart, as the Supreme Court issued a stay while justices mull over the appeal of a group of Indiana pension and construction funds who say their secured interests were unduly ignored in the original filing. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued the terse notice today, putting the entire matter on hold until Monday.

The American public is about to learn just who holds power in Washington. If the deal isn't done by Monday, June 15, Fiat, the purchaser of most of Chrysler's assets, has the right to walk away. Meanwhile, the court must take seriously the claims by the pension funds, which stand in stark opposition to the plan laid out by the Obama administration.

With the stock market and federal government appearing to be more "theatre of the absurd" than substantial operating mechanisms of capitalism and democracy, the recovery picture becomes more fuzzy and less believable every day. It should, because in more than just general terms, but specifically in instances ranging from the TARP "loans", to the bank stress tests to the pre-packaged bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, the process has been deceptive, shady and unfair to the parties being harmed the most: the US taxpayers.

Bear Market Rally Built on Fraud

Every day, day after day after day, the sharks on Wall Street do the same thing, over and over and over again. According to the new rules of the game, stocks are suddenly much more attractive at 2:30, or 3:00, or 3:15, or 3:30, without any news, without any economic reports, without any technical rationale, than they were earlier in the day.

This is called manipulation. Manipulation which occurs every day, without fail.

The pattern is so established and so obvious, eventually, the only people trading stocks will be the manipulators themselves, scratching and clawing for scraps, quarter points, half points, here and there, churning, deceiving, shorting stocks they are recommending to their clients and taking every last bit of available capital out of the hands of investors and into the black holes of the banks and brokerages.

It will eventually fail, and fail miserably. The smartest money got out of this market on Friday, the marginally less smart, Monday, and those with any brain cells left, after being slammed and hammered by instability and volatility, got out today.

With each passing day that the seven largest banks in America are allowed to continue doing business under a government-sponsored shroud of solvency - a complete and total fraud which I called as early as 2007, and others called even before me - stocks will be a very dangerous gamble. Those banks - Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and American Express - are all insolvent and have been at least since September of 2008, some even sooner. All have benefited from injections of liquidity, cash and other government largess, courtesy of the US taxpayer, and still are underwater.

Finally, today, cracks began to widen in the flimsy fraud facade of "improving conditions", "signs of recovery", and other such nonsense being thrown around by the insipid morons on CNBC, on corporate boards and in the minds of witless fools who think they can make money in this environment.

After shaving 75 points off its 210-point loss in the final 1 1/2 hours, the markets were met with a torrent of selling in the final ten minutes of trading, pushing stocks close to their lows of the day. This should usher in more selling in days and weeks to come, as the rally built on nothing by hype, hope, lies and greed, completely falls apart. Conditions are not improving overall. They are getting worse, the recession deepening, business conditions deteriorating, credit squeezed to the breaking point, and fear re-emerging as the dominant sentiment.

And signs are clear that the economy will face heightened challenges in the months ahead, if the Business Roundtable Survey of 100 CEOs [PDF] is to be believed. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed expected sales to decrease over the next six months. 66% expect to decrease capital spending, and 71% expect to lower employment over the same period. THESE GUYS SHOULD KNOW. THEY RUN PUBLICLY-TRADED COMPANIES.

The economic outlook index of the same survey fell to -5 (negative 5.0) in the period, the lowest level ever recorded in the six years of the survey and markedly lower than last quarter's reading of 16.5.

In case you need more proof of Wall Street's fraud and the true condition of the US economy, consider reading this New York Times story which explains how analysts expect earnings to be 37% lower than a year ago - a year which was already down from the previous year for many companies. You will learn that Standard and Poors reported that companies cut a total of $77 billion in dividends in the first quarter of 2009, the worst record of dividend cuts on record.

There was more bad news as the Times of London reported that the IMF may issue a report that bank toxic assets could reach as high as $4 trillion. Their previous estimate was $2.1 trillion. The report is due April 21.

Dow 7,789.56, -186.29 (2.34%)
NASDAQ 1,561.61, -45.10 (2.81%)
S&P 500 815.55, -19.93 (2.39%)
NYSE Composite 5,120.67, -128.81 (2.45%)

On the day, declining issues thumped advancers, 4897-1477. New lows were reached at 75 stocks, while a mere 10 recorded new 52-week highs. Volume was decimated by the lack of buyers. The smart money was moving out. The stubborn and the ill-informed remained in the market as stocks commence a cascade to lower levels. Volume has not been this low in four weeks, prior to the beginning of the massive ramp-up in stocks. Bulls will say the volume points out that today's decline is unimportant, though bears will point to three consecutive gains of lower highs and lower lows as proof that the bear market rally is out of gas.

NYSE Volume 1,261,882,000
NASDAQ Volume 1,868,136,000

Commodities were split, with the metals up and energy and food futures lower. Oil fell $1.90, to $49.15, on increased concerns over slack global demand. Gold ended a three-day losing streak, up $10.50, to $883.30. Silver added 10 cents to $12.21.

Finally, after the bell, Alcoa kicked off earnings season with a 59 cent per share loss, greater than the 56-cent loss analysts were expecting. It was the second straight quarter the company has posted a loss.

And, late in the day, news leaked out that General Motors (GM) was in "intense and earnest" preparations of a bankruptcy filing, in case the company fails to meet the requirements of the Obama administration's stringent restructuring plan.

I could not make this stuff up, folks. We, as a nation, are headed for economic hell.

GM, Chrysler Kaput. Is This News to Anybody?

Remarkably, the monstrous sell-off to begin what surely will be a testy week for investors, had as its catalyst an announcement by the federal government that the plans submitted by GM and Chrysler were inadequate in terms of qualifying for further federal assistance.

Remarkable in that the two companies have shown limited ability to comprehend the depth of their own problems, let alone the issues facing the entire global economy or the dictates which have been nothing if not clear from the Obama administration. Both companies have already received government assistance in the billions of dollars, have had ample time to devise realistic plans for their futures, and, even then, are asking for billions more.

Anyone with half a brain still functioning who had seen snippets of their plans - especially that of GM - could have seen with one eye closed that their projections were completely out of line with reality. GM, for instance, based many of its assumptions on selling 14 million vehicles in 2010, when they didn't even crack the 9 million mark in 2008. As far as Chrysler is concerned, their problems should not be an issue of national importance. They certainly are not too big to failnor are they worthy of any kind of public assistance, since they are a private company 80% owned by equity investors, Cerberus Capital, which has at its head, former Treasury Secretary John Snow and long ago decided to put Bob Nardelli in charge of Chrysler, the same Bob Nardelli who oversaw, as CEO, the near-destruction of Home Depot (HD) . Cerberus has already shed itself of Daimler, the profitable German subsidiary, and plans to partner with Italian automaker Fiat, a company in the throes of its own meltdown.

If the managers at Fiat have any sense, they'll steer themselves away from this private group of corporate bunglers, as should the government and taxpayers. And if anyone thinks that CEO Rick Waggoner, who submitted his resignation Monday at the behest of the White House, should be the beneficiary of any sympathy, bear in mind that under Waggoner's leadership, GM lost nearly $100 billion dollars and continued to build cars, trucks, vans and SUVs that guzzle gas and have limited appeal as its market share shrank and its stock price cratered.

These two bankrupt automakers, like the corrupt, insolvent, worthless national banks, should be allowed to do what all companies which have ceased to be competitive do: fail, file bankruptcy and either liquidate or reorganize. There's no good cause to keep them functioning any longer even though the damage to the economy would be paramount. The UAW would see 180,000 workers furloughed, pensioners could lose most of their future benefits and bondholders would be forced to take 10% or less on their dollars.

Life gets very tough when you don't have a backstop to bail you out, but this fiasco is just a furtherance of the insane, contradictory polices emanating from the Capitol and White House. The government has become such a major intermediary into business and Wall Street that their refusal to dole out more corporate welfare to companies that don't get it, causes a stock market rout and a resumption of the fear factor which has gripped the country for months, but took a few weeks in abeyance during the recent bear market rally.

Today's losses sent every index and sector into a tailspin which actually started on Friday of last week and probably won't end until the market is back below 7000 and looking to retest the March 9 multi-year lows.

Looking at the markets realistically, the bounce off the lows was so rapid and mostly unwarranted that an equally-severe snapback should have been expected. Despite the closing numbers, stocks were down even more in late afternoon trading before a mini-rally and short-covering brought all of the indices off their lows of the day.

Bulls can take some heart in the idea that the markets didn't completely fall off a cliff, and that volume was not nearly as high as last week's, though it points up the conclusion of more savvy investors that there are still a good number of players out there waiting to be skinned by the bears in coming days and weeks.

According to Investors Intelligence's Weekly Sentiment Poll bearish sentiment at the market lows earlier in the month were not even 50%, checking in at 47.2% at the bottom, hardly an indication of a market bottom. Sentiment would have to be closer to 80%, signaling capitulation, a condition to which today may have put us closer. It now seems almost certain that before the end of summer the market will finally roll over and die, though a few more trillion of investor dollars will have to be vaporized before the message finally becomes clear to the massive numbers of ill-informed investors which populate all income levels, from novice to wizened veteran.

The US economy is wrecked beyond simple recession-like repair, our banking system at the top is dysfunctional (though many smaller local and regional banks are healthy and poised to grow), unemployment will continue to rise well past 10%, states and municipalities are broke, consumers tapped out, homeowners hunkered down against high taxes and utility bills and the federal government running out of excuses as fast as they concoct rescues.

We are in a world of hurt and if you don't recognize all of the patterns, you deserve to lose everything. It's that stark and simple.

Dow 7,522.02, -254.16 (3.27%)
NASDAQ 1,501.80, -43.40 (2.81%)
S&P 500 787.53, -28.41 (3.48%)
NYSE Composite 4,899.05, -197.59 (3.88%)

On the day, market internals were miserable and pointing towards even worse conditions. Declining issues overwhelmed advancers, 5373-1163, and while that's nearly a 5-1 ratio, it was closer to 8-1 midday, and will almost certainly approach those levels at least a couple of times in coming days and weeks. Stocks reaching new 52-week lows - moderated by the huge number of companies which had already collapsed by this time last year - numbered 109, as compared to the feeble 14 new highs. As stated above, volume was off a bit from last week's strong levels.

NYSE Volume 1,511,506,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,028,632,000

Commodities witnessed a resumption of the deflation trade, with crude oil taking a big hit, down $3.97, to $48.41. Gold lost $7.60, closing at $917.70. Silver shed 23 cents, to $13.03. Almost every other major commodity was traded lower, except natural gas, which finished unchanged at the depressed price of $3.80/mmbtu.

Other financial news was similarly dire. Washington Mutual (WaMu) and its key executives are the subject of a massive class action lawsuit, home foreclosures were sharply higher in February and JP Morgan Chase will refund over $4 million to credit card holders who began paying $10/per month in additional fees in January. The deal was struck under pressure from NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

As the week progresses, more economic reports will be revealed, including home prices, consumer confidence, auto and truck sales, private sector employment, all leading up to Friday's non-farm payroll report for March and new unemployment statistics.

Hold onto your hats, but sell your stocks if you played and have any gains over the past few weeks.

Stocks Routed Worldwide; NASDAQ Capitulates

Stock indices from Tokyo to Toronto suffered major losses again on Thursday as the global depression deepened and General Motors (GM) contemplated bankruptcy unless it receives additional financial support from the US government.

As the steady pounding continued, following the first gains in a week (yesterday), investors wiped out nearly double the amount of Wednesday's gains.

Dow 6,594.44, -281.40 (4.09%)
NASDAQ 1,299.59, -54.15 (4.00%)
S&P 500 682.55, -30.32 (4.25%)
NYSE Compos 4,267.60, -197.29 (4.42%)

There was no standout sector or industry spared from the widespread carnage, as the NASDAQ finally became the 4th major index to fall below the previous, November 20 lows. On that date, the NASDAQ closed at 1313. Today's close was 1% lower and comparable to October 2002 levels, when the NASDAQ bottomed out following the dotcom bust on October 9, at 1114.11.

As has been the case for months, US banks were at the center of the storm. Citigroup (C) traded below $1.00 for a brief time during the morning, closing down another 0.11, at 1.02. Bank of America (BAC) closed down 0.42, to 3.17, while JP Morgan Chase (JPM) tumbled 2.70, to 16.60. All of those were among the major losers of Dow components, though General Motors took the prize as the day's biggest, losing 0.34, to 1.86, a decline of 15.45%.

On the Dow, only 2 of 30 components gained ground. Pfizer (PFE) added 0.17, to 12.67. Wal-Mart (WMT) was up 1.26, to 49.75, as the nation's largest retailer saw improved same-store sales for February and increased its dividend to shareholders.

Market internals were a shambles, with decliners overwhelming advancing issues, 5823-842, a 7-1 ratio. New lows shot up to levels seen only in the September-November meltdown, with 1527 stocks reaching new 52-week lows versus only 7 new highs. Volume remained elevated, as it has over the past 7 sessions.

NYSE Volume 1,878,339,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,314,223,000

Oil futures were off $1.77, to $43.61. Gold emerged as a safe haven, up $21.10, to $927.80. Silver added 21 cents, to $13.12.

Prior to the opening bell on Friday, the Bureau of labor Statistics releases February Non-farm Payroll numbers. Expectations are for another 630,000 job losses.

Weary Market Stuck on Red

Stocks zig-zagged across the unchanged line on Tuesday, with investors assessing the damage from Monday's drama.

There were equal amounts of bargain-hunting and hand-wringing as the major indices registers small losses, but overall, there was no good new upon which to launch any meaningful rally.

Housing data - which crossed the wires at 10:00 am - sparked more selling, as the numbers were far worse than even the most dismal expectations. New home sales for January fell 7.7%; construction spending dropped 3.3% for the same period.

Following those figures were numbers from the major auto makers, which posted the worst sales declines since the economy began to really sour in September of 2008.

Compared to the same period one year ago, General Motors (GM) said their light-vehicle sales dropped 53% in February, while Ford's declined 48%, with Toyota posting a 40% drop.

Ford's car sales dropped 48%, with sport-utility vehicles off a whopping 71%. Toyota's car sales fell 36%; GM's were off 50%.

Apparently, traders were too worn out from Monday's rout to engage in yet another sell-off session.

Dow 6,726.02, -37.27 (0.55%)
NASDAQ 1,321.01, -1.84 (0.14%)
S&P 500 696.33, -4.49 (0.64%)
NYSE Composite 4,334.70, -26.28 (0.60%)

Declining issues outweighed advancers, 4274-2343. New lows continued to dominate over new highs, as investors continued shedding outright losers, 1512-15. Volume was still very high, despite the minor movement in the market.

NYSE Volume 1,825,373,000
NASDAQ Volume 2,368,833,000

Oil gained $1.50, to $41.65. Gold tumbled $26.40, to 913.60; silver continued to correct, down 36 cents, at $12.72.

In another note on what I have coined the Post-Government Era, Pat Buchanan recently penned an interestingly-titled essay in which he correctly points out just how brutally federal, state and local taxes are bearing down on working, productive Americans. Mr. Buchanan fails to cross the line - in Pitchfork Time - from conjecture to the outright rebellion the title suggests, placing most of the blame on President Obama's budget proposal rather than rightfully on the monstrous policy decisions at every level of government over the course of the past 30 years.

While Buchanan may be stirring up the spirits of rebellion, he's dead on when it comes to the issue of taxation. Americans are being taxed out of their jobs, homes and security, though this condition has been existent for many years.

The current economic climate has only recently awakened the slumbering US middle class, though by many accounts, it's already too late.

Dow components finished with 17 up and 13 down. All the major indices extended their nearly 12-year lows.

The Warren Buffet Rally

In typical fashion, the pre-market futures were pumped higher to avoid a massive sell-off at the open. Prior to the opening bell, General Motors (GM), Schering-Plough (SGP) and Credit Suisse Group (CS) all announced 4th quarter earnings that were... well, horrible.

General Motors posted the largest one-year loss in US automaker history, a staggering $38.7 billion for 2007. The company also announced buyouts to some 74,000 employees.

At Schering-Plough, the losses were explained away as charges related to the buyout of Organon Biosciences, but nevertheless were massive. The drugmaker said it lost $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter, or $2.08 per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $182 million, or 12 cents per share.

Credit Suisse reported profits off 72% from the year ago period due to writedowns in subprime and other bad investments.

So, with that news in tow, the indices rocketed skyward, with the Dow up more than 100 points just twenty minutes into the trading day. This broke a string of six consecutive sessions in which the Dow had not surpassed the previous day's high and, for all intents, it appeared as though a massive short squeeze was underway. In fact, by 10:45, the Dow had surpassed the highs of the previous four days.

Having had their way via juicing the futures, the Fed saw fit to only accept $6.25 billion in repos. With $8.25 billion maturing, it left the investment banks to do the Fed's bidding with $2 billion less than yesterday. This cash shortage would come into play later in the session.

Within the first hour of trading, the Dow was up a whopping 190 points, a 1.5% gain, with the other indices following its lead.

By 11:30, it was clear that the battle lines were drawn at Dow 12,400. The bears kept trying to break it down, but the bulls defended it fiercely until just after 3:00.

Dow 12,373.41 +133.40; NASDAQ 2,320.04 -0.02; S&P 500 1,348.86 +9.73; NYSE Composite 8,965.35 +97.07

The bears finally drove the Dow down to 12,310 before giving way late and allowing the market to float back up to where it closed. It was an odd day, but indicative of a market that is being day-traded by professionals and a very dangerous place for the novice or buy-and-hold investor.

Bias remains to the sell side, and after today's questionable trade, Wednesday will almost surely spend much of the day in the red. Tuesday's rally was built on false promise and only a slight oversold condition, so a resumption of selling is expected.

On the day, advancers topped decliners again, 3838-2529. New lows exceeded new highs, 201-104. Volume was improved over the previous three sessions.

Tuesday's rally was largely tied to investor Warren Buffet who told CNBC that Berkshire Hathaway has offered to assume $800 billion in municipal bond liabilities from MBIA (MBI), Ambac Financial (ABK) and FGIC Corp., the three main insurers of muni bonds and also the companies which insured much of the toxic subprime debt held by the largest banks in the world.

The idea is nice in theory, but Buffet's bold offer neatly avoids the subprime slime, so the market shouldn't really have pinned much hope on it as a rescue measure. Besides, at least one of the insurers has rebuffed Buffet already.

Mr. Buffet is not a savior. He is a skilled financier and investor. The market is obviously full of fools who think that somehow he'll single-handedly fix a world-wide credit dilemma. Buffet made his offer because he thinks he can make money at it, not because he's a beneficent saint.

Commodities all eased. Oil slid 81 cents to $92.78; gold fell $15.60 to $911.10; silver was off 22 cents to $17.25.

NYSE Volume 4,028,390,500
NASDAQ Volume 2,221,637,500