MARKET COMMENT
December 12, 2006
“It’s good to be the
king!”
Mel Brooks
The earnings from Global Megabank
N.A. Goldman Sachs were released today. Within
the numbers the standout figure was the 57% increase in “trading” profits to [gulp]
$6.62B. And as the CEO stated, “…extraordinary
performance of our people enabled us to serve our clients around the world.” [Well,
not to mention GS, eh?] Oh, and $16B has
been set aside for salaries, benefits and [cough] bonuses. Am I
jealous? Sure. Check out the numbing numbers outlined in
today’s NY
Times. [It’s a fun read, but you may
need to register to read it.]
In the meantime, the Fed had their little meeting and, as
expected didn’t do anything other than have lunch and reprint the previous
meeting’s notes.
However, beneath the headline indexes, many sectors were
down or just really sloppy.
This reflects bulls showing “some” signs of fatigue as
demonstrated by the poor breath figures.
Bulls are disappointed I guess that the Fed isn’t showing
any signs of being concerned about weaker recent economic data repeating more
tough inflation fighting rhetoric instead.
As to the latter, they need to keep talking tough to prevent the dollar
from collapsing. But even with the
statement, the dollar was relatively weaker against most currencies except the
yen.
Other markets were also bogged-down in sloppy action.
Currency markets are collecting themselves for another run
higher or are mired in a wait and see state.
Globally things were mixed.
After we clear energy supply news tomorrow and the OPEC
meeting on Thursday we still have one major obstacle ahead—Friday’s triple
witching as options and futures for December expire. That should be quite a spectacle.
Like I said before, I bow to the money-making abilities of
the giant megabanks. “It’s good to be the
king!” indeed.
Have a pleasant evening.
Disclaimer: Among
other issues, The ETF Digest maintains positions in: SPY, IEF, GLD, SLV, CEF,
FXE, FXB, FXA, EFA, EEM, ILF, FXI, EWJ, TRF and IFN.