With the US Supreme Court decision on Obamacare expected to dominate the (US) news cycle, major corporations chose yesterday to unload some bad news.
For JP Morgan Chase, it now appears the London whale's loss will tally up to $9B. Some of these derivative trades are like Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. It is a mystery how a trader with such big positions was allowed to continue with no supervision.
Global equities markets were soft ahead of the JP Morgan Chase bombshell, fearful of another 'do-nothing' summit in Brussels and additional debt problems in the Eurozone (Merkel remains silent on EU bailout - markets surge. 'Nuff said.) The announcement that Obamacare had been upheld (in the Supreme Court) has added to the pressure on equities in the early part of the New York session.
Analysts are combing the details of the court rulings, trying to find new details in the complicated law. What we do know is that the Supreme Court has determined that tax is another name for mandate when used by Congress.
Congratulations should be given to the Supreme Court because this decision today deftly removed the court from the health care debate. Instead, this massive law will now be examined in detail and the debate will continue as the major issue in the forthcoming US election.
Markets do not perform well with uncertainty, and we now have a lot more uncertainty.
Partisan victory speeches aside, I doubt small business will be less reluctant to hire new employees because of the rulings until after the elections. Combine this with the inability of the Europeans to find a solution for their debt mess, and economies and markets seem vulnerable.
Should global economies slide further, as we suspect they will, we're looking into the possibility of buying the USD and selling the C$.
I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
For JP Morgan Chase, it now appears the London whale's loss will tally up to $9B. Some of these derivative trades are like Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. It is a mystery how a trader with such big positions was allowed to continue with no supervision.
Global equities markets were soft ahead of the JP Morgan Chase bombshell, fearful of another 'do-nothing' summit in Brussels and additional debt problems in the Eurozone (Merkel remains silent on EU bailout - markets surge. 'Nuff said.) The announcement that Obamacare had been upheld (in the Supreme Court) has added to the pressure on equities in the early part of the New York session.
Analysts are combing the details of the court rulings, trying to find new details in the complicated law. What we do know is that the Supreme Court has determined that tax is another name for mandate when used by Congress.
Congratulations should be given to the Supreme Court because this decision today deftly removed the court from the health care debate. Instead, this massive law will now be examined in detail and the debate will continue as the major issue in the forthcoming US election.
Markets do not perform well with uncertainty, and we now have a lot more uncertainty.
Partisan victory speeches aside, I doubt small business will be less reluctant to hire new employees because of the rulings until after the elections. Combine this with the inability of the Europeans to find a solution for their debt mess, and economies and markets seem vulnerable.
Should global economies slide further, as we suspect they will, we're looking into the possibility of buying the USD and selling the C$.
I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
