Senin, 06 Juni 2011

Smoke and Mirrors

smoke and mirrorsIn his latest report, Wall Street Greek Technical Analyst Steven Ferguson discusses the ongoing relevance of technical analysis, despite recent market defiance of technical metrics. Ferguson speaks of interference by an invisible hand at critical junctures, but suggests investors ignore smoke and mirrors and stay attuned to the trend-line.

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Smoke and Mirrors



technical analystOnce again, market indices sit at a critical juncture. Since July 2010 and until last week, prices have traded within the trend channel similar to the one depicted in Figure 1 below. As annotated by the arrow labeled "A," the S&P closing price has recently dropped outside that channel, has since retested the lower boundary, and presently remains slightly below that level at $1300.61.

Furthermore, Friday’s close lies tenuously above the April 18th low of $1294.70 annotated by arrow "B" in the chart. A decisive break below $1294 would likely lead to a further correction of 3-5% in the near term and could very possibly signify that the often-anticipated top to the bear market rally occurred with the May peak and is already in place.

S&P 500 Index trend channel support

However, each time indices have reached such a level, it seems a not-so Invisible Hand has intervened to support asset prices and (ostensibly) prevent illiquidity. Often such intervention occurs during a Globex trading session, very often on a Sunday night when trading volume can be especially thin. Despite foreboding technical indicators, the market somehow defies gravity and resumes its multi-year rally against the backdrop of a carefully-orchestrated economic mirage.

Thus technical analysis, particularly analysis that has been founded on Elliot Wave, seems to be confounded by unnatural market forces, surreptitious intervention and even high frequency trading algorithms. This would seem to be a plausible outcome since the existence of wave patterns identified by Elliot Wave theory is predicated upon predominant action and reaction of human participants in the context of a free market.

However, EW’s Prechter and others insist (for example) that, because computers are programmed by humans based on their own understanding of market action, Elliot Wave patterns can still accurately capture and anticipate market price movements. And since the FED is like any other market respondent, it cannot hope to offset the eventual behavior of market masses through its policy decisions and monetary countermeasures. Nevertheless, EW practitioners have been forced to interpret rules in more obscure ways in order to accommodate these increasingly invasive and unnatural market forces.

So where does that leave technical analysis in general and Elliot Wave in particular? Should we abandon it? Should we ignore the signposts that it often provides?

The answer is a resounding "No!" Instead, we may confidently continue to use technical analysis as a basis for shorter-term trading and as a tool to optimize the timing of longer-term investment decisions.

In particular:

  • Technical analysis can be used to identify high probability outcomes in various time frames. The prediction of these outcomes does not eliminate the likelihood that lower probability outcomes will occur. The key is to identify the important price levels and respond appropriately when those levels are achieved or violated. In the present case, the author has a modest short position in June S&P futures with the expectation that prices could break key support of 1290. A decisive rise above 1306 would lead me to cover my short position.

  • Technical analysis seems more effective as a basis for short-term trading and for localized timing of longer-term investment decisions. A review of recent articles in this column would reveal that, although we may not have been able to identify the market top, each prediction has correctly warned of a significant price move. Furthermore, as we approach our third significant market top in a little over a decade, it would seem that such market timing is increasingly important. Particularly in the age of high-frequency trading promulgated largely by the investment banks, buy-and-hold may no longer provide a viable investment strategy. This increases the importance in awareness and interpretation of key technical indicators.

  • The principles that underlie Elliot Wave theory remain valid, particularly the emphasis on analytical understanding of crowd behavior. While identification of specific wave patterns can be problematic, Elliot Wave also emphasizes the measurement of market sentiment with the basic notion that extreme values foretell reversal. Such has been the case recently with precious metals, especially silver. With so many traders and retail investors scrambling to speculate on the price of silver, a significant drop was imminent. The recent drop in silver likely signifies just the beginning of the correction in the commodities bubble as a whole.

  • Economic fundamentals remain an important back drop to technical analysis. Through his own cogent evaluation of economic indicators, the Greek has often exposed the fallacy in popular views of economic growth. Even though the FED may continue to intervene with QE3, QE4 …QEx, and the US Government (indeed all governments worldwide) may continue to raise debt ceilings in their vain efforts to preserve public spending through taxpayer indebtedness, it is painfully obvious that these measures have largely failed to solve basic problems in housing, credit and unemployment.


Therefore, this is no time for complacency, even in long-term investments! The author urges readers to remain alert for signs of technical weakness. The Greek will continue to provide an important source of early warning for our readership.

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Article should interest investors in SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA), SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY), PowerShares QQQ Trust (Nasdaq: QQQ), ProShares Short Dow 30 (NYSE: DOG), ProShares Ultra Short S&P 500 (NYSE: SDS), ProShares Ultra QQQ (NYSE: QLD), NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX), The NASDAQ OMX Group (Nasdaq: NDAQ), Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), E*Trade Financial (Nasdaq: ETFC), Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW), Asset Acceptance Capital (Nasdaq: AACC), Affiliated Managers (NYSE: AMG), Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP), TD Ameritrade (Nasdaq: AMTD), BGC Partners (Nasdaq: BGCP), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), CIT Group (NYSE: CIT), Calamos Asset Management (Nasdaq: CLMS), CME Group (NYSE: CME), Cohn & Steers (NYSE: CNS), Cowen Group (Nasdaq: COWN), Diamond Hill Investment (Nasdaq: DHIL), Dollar Financial (Nasdaq: DLLR), Duff & Phelps (Nasdaq: DUF), Encore Capital (Nasdaq: ECPG), Edelman Financial (Nasdaq: EF), Equifax (NYSE: EFX), Epoch (Nasdaq: EPHC), Evercore Partners (NYSE: EVR), EXCorp. (Nasdaq: EZPW), FBR Capital Markets (Nasdaq: FBCM), First Cash Financial (Nasdaq: FCFS), Federated Investors (NYSE: FII), First Marblehead (NYSE: FMD), Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF), Financial Engines (Nasdaq: FNGN), FXCM (Nasdaq: FXCM), Gamco Investors (NYSE: GBL), GAIN Capital (Nasdaq: GCAP), Green Dot (Nasdaq: GDOT), GFI Group (Nasdaq: GFIG), Greenhill (NYSE: GHL), Gleacher (Nasdaq: GLCH), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), INTL FCStone (Nasdaq: INTL), Intersections (Nasdaq: INTX), Investment Technology (NYSE: ITG), Invesco (NYSE: IVZ), Jefferies (NYSE: JEF), JMP Group (NYSE: JMP), Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS), KBW (NYSE: KBW), Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG), Lazard (NYSE: LAZ), Legg Mason (NYSE: LM), LPL Investment (Nasdaq: LPLA), Ladenburg Thalmann (AMEX: LTS), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), Moody’s (NYSE: MCO), MF Global (NYSE: MF), Moneygram (NYSE: MGI), MarketAxess (Nasdaq: MKTX), Marlin Business Services (Nasdaq: MRLN), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), MSCI (Nasdaq: MSCI), MGIC Investment (NYSE: MTG), NewStar Financial (Nasdaq: NEWS), National Financial Partners (NYSE: NFP), Nelnet (NYSE: NNI), Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS), NetSpend (Nasdaq: NTSP), Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN), Oppenheimer (NYSE: OPY), optionsXpress (Nasdaq: OXPS), PICO (Nasdaq: PICO), Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC), PMI Group (NYSE: PMI), Penson Worldwide (Nasdaq: PNSN), Portfolio Recovery (Nasdaq: PRAA), Raymond James (NYSE: RJF), SEI Investments (Nasdaq: SEIC), Stifel Financial (NYSE: SF), Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE: SFE), State Street (NYSE: STT), SWS (NYSE: SWS), T. Rowe Price (Nasdaq: TROW), Visa (NYSE: V) and Virtus Investment Partners (Nasdaq: VRTS).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

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Sabtu, 04 Juni 2011

Grape Leaves

stuffed grape leaves
Wall Street Greek's Fine Arts contributor and New York Stories Columnist Nicholas Zaharakos sees more than a little of himself in this piece. "Grape Leaves," takes place in 1956. It is the world through the eyes of an eleven year-old boy. It speaks about ethnic and generational differences and how "ordinary people,"somehow manage to get by. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and... the guilty.

Article interests NYSE: DIS, NYSE: DWA, NYSE: CNK, NYSE: RGC, NYSE: RLD, NYSE: LGF, Nasdaq: RENT, Nasdaq: CKEC, Nasdaq: LSTZA, NYSE: MHP, NYSE: PSO, NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B, Nasdaq: SCHL, Nasdaq: CRRC, NYSE: NED, Nasdaq: PEDH, NYSE: BKS, Nasdaq: AMZN, Nasdaq: BAMM, NYSE: BGP, OTC: LYFE.OB, Nasdaq: NOOF, OTC: PUBM.OB, OTC: IFLM.OB, Nasdaq: PTSX, Nasdaq: SAPX, OTC: AFFW.OB, NYSE: TWX, Nasdaq: NWSA, Paris: VIV.PA, NYSE: NBG, NYSE: OTE, NYSE: CCH, NYSE: TK, NYSE: NM, NYSE: NNA, NYSE: NMM, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: OSG, NYSE: ISH, NYSE: EXM, NYSE: SB, NYSE: SEA, NYSE: GNK, NYSE: DSX, NYSE: DAC, NYSE: TNP, NYSE: SFL, NYSE: NAT, NYSE: SSW, NYSE: GMR, NYSE: DHT, NYSE: MPX, Nasdaq: DRYS, Nasdaq: TOPS, Nasdaq: EGLE, Nasdaq: SINO, Nasdaq: PRGN, NYSE: KSP, Nasdaq: ESEA, Nasdaq: SBLK, Nasdaq: ONAV, Nasdaq: VLCCF, Nasdaq: TBSI, Nasdaq: GLNG, Nasdaq: XSEAX and Nasdaq: ACLI.

Grape Leaves



storyteller“Mary Keenan, Felicia Annunziata, George Theodorou.” When Miss Toomey called me to pick up my composition entitled “Spring,” I thought there was a mistake. I thought she made a mistake because she gave out the highest graded papers last. Everyone knew that, even though when you shuffled up to her desk, she would hand you the paper turned over, so that nobody else was supposed to see the mark you got. I was used to getting D’s and C’s. Miss Toomey would give out the topic Friday afternoon.

“Class,” she would say, “In my 35 years of teaching fifth grade here at P.S. 92, I have come to believe firmly that writing well is the most important foundation for a good education. Now, I expect everyone to hand in their papers on Monday. Remember, I’ve been around the block a few times. No excuses, I’ve heard them all – the cat, the dog, even the canary ate it, will not be accepted.” She resolutely intoned.

She had a peculiar way of standing. Her arms would be hanging, not by her side, but more towards the back of the floral print dresses she wore. It was like someone was holding her from behind. She would squint long and hard. Pete Reilly, who ate the free cafeteria lunches with me, said, Miss Toomey still has glass imbedded in her eyes from a car accident. I don’t know if that was true, but I was sure of one thing, she didn’t like me.

“George, you don’t have to shout the Pledge of Allegiance to show patriotism. George, I can see brussels sprouts and potatoes growing out of your ears, George…”

Miss Toomey gave me a strange look when she handed back the single sheet of loose-leaf paper. I waited until I got back to my seat to turn the composition over. It was marked an “A”. She even wrote on the top, “this imaginative and touching.”

Walking home along treeless Nostrand Avenue, I tried to understand Miss Toomey. When I made up the stories I handed in, she thought I didn’t. When I told a true story, she figured it was something made up. Somehow, my brown briefcase seemed a lot heavier because of the “A” paper inside. I was also puzzled that she didn’t read any of the essays out loud today, as she did all the other times.

I paused by the Linden movie-house. They were featuring East of Eden, starring James Dean. My 15-year-old sister, Alexandra, who wanted everyone to call her Alix, pleaded with my mother to let her see it. She has a picture of the young movie star walking in Times Square in the rain. It’s taped on the wall on her side of the bedroom. On Grandmother Maria’s (Yiayia Maria) side are kept the dark-wooded Icons that she brought when she came from Greece.

Coming to my block, I looked up at the lamppost with the piece of rope swinging in the March wind. That is where we hung what they called an effigy of Casey Stengle, the manager of the New York Yankees. That was the best part of the celebration, after the Brooklyn Dodgers won the ’55 World Series from the “Yanks” last year. The cops made Rocky Pignataro climb back up there to cut the dummy down after the parade. Then they gave him some kind of summons that he tore up when they left.

“Georgie, Georgie! You want maybe to earn 15 cents to deliver a bundle to Mrs. Obermeyer on Maple Street?’ Stan, the Laundry-man, sang out in his Polish accent.

My family lived directly over his store in a railroad flat of six small rooms. My older twin brothers, Gus and Paul, and I were his pool of delivery boys. He never rang the doorbell. Stan just stepped out of the launderette, cupped his hands to his mouth, and yelled up for one of us. When it snowed, we would shovel a path around his property. He paid us according to the number of inches that fell.

“Georgie, give me your book bag, I’ll put it by the register.” In an instant, I was holding two pillowcases of fresh-smelling clothes, on my way to earning the price of a big bottle of Pepsi.

* * *


“How was school today?” My mother asked while rinsing escarole in the sink. The blue gingham apron was bright against her widow-black dress and sweater. My dad was killed in the last days of the war, two months before I was born.

“I got an “A” on my composition. Here, do you want to see it, Mom?” I asked eagerly while placing it on the kitchen table next to a pile of potato peelings on yesterday edition of the Daily Mirror.

“George, not there, it will get dirty. Save it for after supper.”

I put the composition on top of the refrigerator, between two boxes of cereal.

“We’re going to eat early. I have to go over to Mrs. Merrill’s to do some sewing.” She started to sponge clean the table. “See if you can find your brothers. Change your clothes first”

“Okay, mom,” I said softly.

* * *


It was the Greeks against the Irish in triangle at Al’s driveway. My brothers were playing against Smithy and Mike, who were also in the sixth grade. However, they went to St. Francis of Assisi on Lincoln Road. Triangle was a slap-ball contest we invented for when there weren’t enough guys to get up a regular baseball game.

There was no second base—first and third were the side bumps of the curb before it dipped to make it easy for cars to get in and out of the garage. The goal of the offense is to slap a grounder past the pitcher. The pink Spalding was delivered on one bounce. The hitter got two strikes. The defense was a pitcher between the two bases, and the catcher. Fouls were automatic outs, as well as hitting the opposite sidewalk on a fly. Home-plate and the scoreboard were written in chalk or with a piece of stone. A game takes about half an hour tops.

Smithy almost got creamed by a Buick going up the street as he headed for home. That made the score three up, bottom of the seventh.

“Georgie, you watch out for the cars and call the pitches.” My brother Paul whistled through chipped front teeth.

Smithy and Mike ended up winning, five to three. Both sides wanted to play another. When I told my brothers that mom wanted them home early, they settled for sips of my soda that I had bought at Tufano’s.

* * *


My yiayia sits at the head of the dining room table while we have our supper of pot roast. She wears a kerchief even indoors. She is hard of hearing and speaks broken English.

“You be good in school, you get a politician’s job,” she often sermonizes while nodding her head.

“Mom,” Alix announced, “for my ‘Sweet Sixteen,’ I want to use your bedroom for my guests to put their coats away.”

“And to play Post Office in,” butted in Gus.

I was tempted to laugh along with my two brothers, but Alix had murder in her eyes.

“Mom, please it’s bad enough that there will be hardly any room for us to dance and,”…she was searching for words…”and that we live in this dump…and…”

“Stop, Alexandra, if you go on about that again I won’t let you have the party. You expect me to have my own mother stay in her room like a prisoner because you’re afraid that she will embarrass you. If it weren’t for her cleaning homes on Maple Street I don’t know how I’d keep this family together.” Mom ended the heated discussion. “She will stay in the kitchen with me and that’s that.”

I felt sorry for Alix, who had told me about her plans. I had no idea there were so many details; the cokes would be iced in a large metal washbasin. The dining room table would be moved to the side and used for the chips and dips. Her best friend Kelly would have her father bring the hi-fi to play the 45’s. There would be plenty of Fats Domino, Bill Haley and The Comets, and some by the new guitar singer, Elvis Presley. They would alternate playing fast and slow music. The “Bunny Hop” and “Musical Chairs” would be used to get everybody up.

When supper was over, Gus and Paul were given permission to watch television over Smithy’s house, we didn’t have a set. I reminded my mother about my school paper.

“Georgie honey, tomorrow, I have no time now. I have to go over to Mrs. Merrill’s and use her sewing machine.” She kissed me, saying, “You help Alexandra, and be in bed by 8:30.”

I wanted to protest, but could see it wouldn’t do any good.

We cleaned around yiayia. As usual, she stayed at the table and had a cup of chamomile tea. She was the only person I knew who didn’t drink tea that was made with a tea bag.

I was drying the dishes as Alix handed them to me.

“Georgie, Kelly lent me Chuck Berry’s Wee Wee Hours and Maybelline. Do you think I should play those records?”

I shuddered, remembering my brothers saying that his songs had hidden messages about dope and cheating women. I was afraid they would explain them to my mother. “What are you going to do about Gus and Paul?”

“Pray,” she said with a laugh that tossed her ponytail. “I invited Rocky Pignataro and asked him to talk to the twin angels. He’ll set them straight. I’m really worried about yiayia though. Who knows? She may decide to dance the Greek Lindy!”

“Alix, do you want me to help decorate?”

“Sure Georgie, you can help blow up the balloons,” she smiled. “What’s this about you getting an “A” in school?”

I took the essay down from the refrigerator. “Here, do you want me to read it?” I asked anxiously.

“Yes, I’m glad at least one person around here isn’t a knucklehead.” She sat down as I started to recite.

Greek chef“Spring! In spring, the leaves on the grapevines grow back after the winter. Spring is the time when I go with my yiayia to pick them because then the leaves are tender.”

I glanced over the paper at Alix. Her eyes were big, and her mouth fell open. Everyone thought we bought the preserved leaves in a jar that the Lebanese sell on Atlantic Avenue.

“We go to the Italian houses. You can tell if a house is Italian if it has a big backyard. Sometimes they use the backyard to store junk metal or newspapers that they sell to the truckers. Sometimes they keep a pigeon coupe on top of a garage there. If you see a wood frame in the back then you know they have grape leaves growing on it. They use the grapes that appear in the fall for wine. My yiayia uses the leaves to stuff with meat, and to cook them like the Irish do with cabbage. My mother says that they were my father’s favorite meal.”

I peeked at Alix again. She stared at me just like Miss Toomey had done earlier. I was getting nervous as I finished quickly.

“We look to see that nobody is home, then we pick the leaves, but not too many from any one spot. If a door opens or if somebody yells, we run. My yiayia can run pretty fast. Also when I go to church with her, she makes me sneak under the turnstile so I don’t have to pay the subway fare. When we get home, she treats me to a Dixie Cup ice cream. She has me eat it in the bathroom so I don’t have to share it. My yiayia does other unusual things. When mom would make a Betty Crocker chocolate sheet cake yiayia would hide coins in wax paper for luck in the cake before it was iced. She also gives you a birthday card written in pencil. Then it disappears until the next birthday with another name over the eraser.”

“What do you think?”

Alix sat silently for the longest while.

“I think you should have gotten an A+” Alix started to laugh and cry at the same time as she hugged me. “And, the next time you and my yiayia go harvesting grape leaves, count me in.”

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This article should interest investors in Disney (NYSE: DIS), DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment (NYSE: RGC), RealD (NYSE: RLD), Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT), Carmike Cinemas (Nasdaq: CKEC), LYFE Communications (OTC: LYFE.OB), New Frontier Media (Nasdaq: NOOF), Public Media Works (OTC: PUBM.OB), Independent Film Development (OTC: IFLM.OB), Point 360 (Nasdaq: PTSX), Seven Arts Pictures (Nasdaq: SAPX), Affinity Medianetworks (OTC: AFFW.OB), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Vivendi (Paris: VIV.PA), Liberty Starz Group (Nasdaq: LSTZA), McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP), Pearson Plc (NYSE: PSO), John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: JW-A, NYSE: JW-B), Scholastic (Nasdaq: SCHL), Courier (Nasdaq: CRRC), Noah Education (NYSE: NED), Peoples Educational Holdings (Nasdaq: PEDH), Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Books-A-Million (Nasdaq: BAMM), Borders (NYSE: BGP), National Bank of Greece (NYSE: NBG), Hellenic Telecommunications (NYSE: OTE), Coca-Cola HBC (NYSE: CCH), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE: NM), Navios Maritime Acquisition (NYSE: NNA), Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NYSE: NMM), Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. (NYSE: TNP), Overseas Shipholding Group (NYSE: OSG), International Shipholding (NYSE: ISH), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM), Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE: SEA), Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX), Danaos (NYSE: DAC), Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TNP), Ship Finance Int'l (NYSE: SFL), Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT), Seaspan (NYSE: SSW), General Maritime (NYSE: GMR), DHT Maritime (NYSE: DHT), Brunswick (NYSE: BC), Marine Products Corp. (NYSE: MPX), DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS), Top Ships (Nasdaq: TOPS), Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE), Sino-Global Shipping (Nasdaq: SINO), Paragon Shipping (Nasdaq: PRGN), K-SEA Transportation Partners (NYSE: KSP), Euroseas (Nasdaq: ESEA), Star Bulk Carriers (Nasdaq: SBLK) and Omega Navigation (Nasdaq: ONAV).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral Philadelphia PA

Jumat, 03 Juni 2011

Manufacturing – What’s Up with That?!

what's up with that
The mayhem that is manifesting in the manufacturing sector brings that familiar Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit to mind, What’s Up with That?! Between this week’s reported ISM data and Factory Orders, it’s no longer a forecast to say that manufacturing is missing something, unlike the skit. And given that China, India and the United Kingdom all reported less expansion in their manufacturing bases this week as well, I must say, what’s up with that?!

Our founder earned clients a 23% average annual return over five years as a stock analyst on Wall Street. "The Greek" has written for institutional newsletters, Businessweek, Real Money, Seeking Alpha and others, while also appearing across TV and radio. While writing for Wall Street Greek, Mr. Kaminis presciently warned of the financial crisis.

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Manufacturing – What’s Up with That?!



bloggersSome would have you believe that in actuality, the Factory Orders Report for April was not quite as bad as it appears. They’ll tell you that the 1.2% decrease in orders was helped along its downward way by a revision in March’s growth to 3.8%, from the initially reported 3.0% increase. But what matters is that April factory orders were less than March, period. Sure orders were 11.8% above April of 2010; the market pays closer attention to month-over-month change though. If she were a selfish woman, she would say, “What have you done for me lately.” And anyhow, other data points support the argument that the U.S. manufacturing sector is faltering.

Motor Vehicle Sales fell in May, missing analysts’ estimates, likely on higher gasoline pricing and a straggled consumer. The annualized rate of domestic motor vehicle sales dropped to 8.8 million, well short of the 9.7 million pace expected by the economists surveyed by Bloomberg. May was also deeply lower than April’s sales rate of 10.1 million. GM’s (NYSE: GM) deliveries dropped 1.2%; Ford’s (NYSE: F) deliveries fell 2.6%; and Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motors (NYSE: HMC) sales fell as well, though it dealt with special issues. According to IHS Automotive, 3 to 3.5 million in annualized sales may be lost or deferred to next year because of the catastrophe in Japan.

Clearly, Japan is having some impact on the global economy, which should be expected given the importance of its economy on the global scale. Japan is deeply integrated into the global economy, and its missing automotive part and car deliveries and electronics will reach broadly. But the depth of damage to the U.S. market seems to say there’s more to the manufacturing miss than Japan.

The most compelling argument was made by the Institute for Supply Management Wednesday, when it reported that its ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) dropped precipitously to 53.5 percent, from 60.4 percent in April. That 6.9 point fall-off was hard to overlook, as it was also dangerously close to the 50 threshold that separates segment expansion from contraction. The May reading was the lowest in 12 months. Several of the qualitative responses of purchasing managers named inflation outright as a concern, and one manager in the machinery segment said they were more aware now of a potential softening in industry.

The 10.7 percentage point drop in the New Orders Index would seem to say the writing is on the wall. New Orders marked just one point above 50. Production dropped 9.8 percentage points, so the only real strength, if you can call it that, came from peripherals, including customer’s inventories. Yet every single component index reported slower expansion than in April. I suppose the only real good noise was that the pricing index fell 9 points, though at a mark of 76.5, it still measured significantly swift growth. Order backlogs, however, dropped 10.5 points, to 50.5. What’s up with that?!

The most obvious culprit is softened end demand for manufactured goods. Behind this would clearly be expensive gasoline prices, and the higher prices of all goods. Commodity price pressure has been effectively moving through the producer plateau on to the consumer level. We’ve seen it in consumer staple companies and retailers, raising prices due to higher petro-chemical component prices and even cotton prices. It’s being found across the board, with the Core Consumer Price Index making 0.2% month-over-month gains of late. This is the continuation of the trend that was becoming preeminent before the financial crisis staggered it.

It reminds me of an old argument I was making when I first started blogging, that there was a difference today versus years past with regard to food and fuel price change. I said there was a secular driver behind the current trend for higher fuel prices, the emergence of the developing world. This was no seasonal or production driven hike in food and petroleum. Rather, demand was ratcheting up for all goods and services. The monster we created in China was now alive and out of control, and it would destroy everything our civilization had come to rely on… especially price stability. Oh we thought she would solve all our profit margin problems when we moved our manufacturing base to China. What say you now American COOs?

Eventually the cost of living would price more and more of us out of consumption. The consumer mood of late certainly does not depict a happy shopper. So when people stop purchasing goods and services, none of us should be surprised to find recession again at the doorstep. The economy was vulnerable still to begin with, and then you go and let gasoline spike to $4? The government is debating the debt ceiling and Standard & Poor’s is threatening a relatively near-term downgrade of America. Wouldn’t you expect uncertainty to creep its way back into the minds of investors, confusing them as to what to do next, if not to take their money and run?

I’ll tell you what to do next. First of all, win the war in Libya as quickly and cleanly as possible. Take out the madman, and send your best political consultants over to help the Libyans draft a constitution and elect a government of some sort. Protect the oil and get oil and gasoline prices back down one way or another! Next, Congress needs to set a deadline for a debt deal that nowhere near flirts with the real deadline of the debt ceiling. They need to lock themselves up in a room and realize that this is not like every other political pressure cooker; the heat is much hotter, and we’ll all get burned if they push the political game too far this time around. That’ll do for starters, and oh yeah, that’s what’s up with that!

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This article should interest investors in Boeing (NYSE: BA), Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), Digital Globe (NYSE: DGI), GenCorp (NYSE: GY), General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), Goodrich (NYSE: GR), Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), Honeywell (NYSE: HON), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL), L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL), EMBRAER (NYSE: ERJ), FLIR Systems (Nasdaq: FLIR), BE Aerospace (Nasdaq: BEAV), TransDigm (NYSE: TDG), Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE: SPR), CAE (NYSE: CAE), Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK), Hexcel (NYSE: HXL), Triumph Group (NYSE: TGI), Esterline Technologies (NYSE: ESL), Moog (NYSE: MOG-A), Heico (NYSE: HEI), Teledyne (NYSE: TDY), Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW), Cavco (Nasdaq: CVCO), Skyline (NYSE: SKY), Nobility Homes (Nasdaq: NOBH), Palm Harbor Homes (Nasdaq: PHHM), Mohawk Industries (NYSE: MHK), Interface (Nasdaq: IFSIA), Albany International (NYSE: AIN), Unifi (NYSE: UFI), Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW), Tyco International (NYSE: TYC), Cummins (NYSE: CMI), Kubota (NYSE: KUB), Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR), Dover (NYSE: DOV), ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), Flowserve (NYSE: FLS), Pall (NYSE: PLL), Dresser-Rand (NYSE: DRC), SPX (NYSE: SPW), Gardner Denver (NYSE: GDI), IDEX (NYSE: IEX), Nordson (Nasdaq: NDSN), Graco (NYSE: GGG), Actuant (NYSE: ATU), Middleby (Nasdaq: MIDD), ABB (NYSE: ABB), Eaton (NYSE: ETN), Nidec (NYSE: NJ), Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), Ametek (NYSE: AME), Regal Beloit (NYSE: RBC), Thomas & Betts (NYSE: TMB), Woodward Governor (Nasdaq: WGOV), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Deere (NYSE: DE), CNH (NYSE: CNH), Joy Global (Nasdaq: JOYG), Bucyrus (Nasdaq: BUCY), Agco (Nasdaq: AGCO), Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR), Parker Hannifin (NYSE: PH), Roper Industries (NYSE: ROP), Pentair (NYSE: PNR), Waste Management (NYSE: WM), Republic Services (NYSE: RSG), Fastenal (Nasdaq: FAST), Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC), MDU Resources (NYSE: MDU), Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE: MLM), Owens Corning (NYSE: OC), Valspar (NYSE: VAL), Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP), United States Steel (NYSE: X), Reliance Steel (NYSE: RS), NVR (NYSE: NVR), DR Horton (NYSE: DHI), Pulte (NYSE: PHM), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Hovnanian (NYSE: HOV), CRH (NYSE: CRH), CEMEX (NYSE: CX), Eagle Materials (NYSE: EXP), Fluor (NYSE: FLR), McDermott International (NYSE: MDR), Foster Wheeler (Nasdaq: FWLT), Empresas ICA (NYSE: ICA), Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK), Timken (NYSE: TKR), Kennametal (NYSE: KMT), Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK), Masco (NYSE: MAS), Weyerhaeuser (NYSE: WY), Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR), Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE: CBI), EMCOR (NYSE: EME), Snap-on (NYSE: SNA), Toro (NYSE: TTC), GM (NYSE: GM) and Ford (NYSE: F).

Please see our disclosures at the Wall Street Greek website and author bio pages found there. This article and website in no way offers or represents financial or investment advice. Information is provided for entertainment purposes only.

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