Good day… And a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday to you! Yes, I know the currencies and commodities got whipsawed yesterday, and my Cardinals got spanked, but that’s no reason for us to not enjoy a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday! Every day is a gift, and it has nothing to do with stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities!

OK… Not that I try to be philosophical, sometimes it just comes out that way! Besides, you don’t want to think that I’m just a smart *** all the time! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well, as I said in the open, the currencies and commodities got whipsawed yesterday, and the culprit was the FOMC minutes… You see, the Fed Reserve met to discuss rates, and other items. And what they said just blew away the bond vigilantes, and really ticked off the Hawks, but in the end, what they said, was really that things will remain status quo…

Their announcement of bond buying didn’t measure up to what the bond folks wanted to see, and their announcement that interest rates won’t be going up for some time, didn’t measure up to the inflation Hawks, who wanted a comment about fighting inflation. Instead, what they received was more Alfred E. Newman on inflation… “What, me worry?” That’s how ridiculous their statement was folks… The Fed still looks for inflation to “remain subdued for some time”… Although… Their outlook for the economy was slightly upbeat…

So… If your confused about what the Fed is thinking… Then join the rest of us! The markets spent the day trying to sort it out, and when it was all said and done, they couldn’t, so they sold risk assets… So… The 1.41 level the euro enjoyed yesterday morning when I signed off, is now 1.3945…

On top of all this, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has issued a communiqué’ that talks about their “new aggressiveness” toward Swiss franc strength. Now, isn’t that just one of the most ridiculous things for a Central Bank to say about it’s currency! Would someone over there at the SNB, please think about what you’re saying!

Oh well… This is all I’ll say about the SNB… It’s hard to soar with the eagles when you have to work with a bunch of turkeys! OH! And it’s also reported that this “aggressiveness” showed up as intervention by the SNB yesterday… They sold francs in the markets… UGH!

OK, let’s get back to the Fed, and their bond purchase program / Quantitative Easing / monetizing the debt / money printing… It’s all the same… Oh, one more thing, it’s the road to ruins, but don’t let that get in the way of the Fed Party! You see, the Fed didn’t announce anything this time, because all the world was watching and waiting for them to announce a “mega-buying program”… I told you earlier in the week to NOT expect the Fed to announce any changes to their road to ruins at this meeting, but instead the August meeting, when during the dog days of summer, when almost every #1 trader on earth is on vacation…

So… The bond vigilantes who want bond yields low realize, with the amount of supply that the Treasury is issuing these days, that the only way to get those lower yields is to have the Gov’t buying bonds!

I came across something yesterday, that I yelled across the desk to make certain everyone knew… Recall at least a month or so ago, I told you how China had called for a new reserve currency, replacing the dollar with SDR’s (special drawing rights), which would be a basket of currencies. This news received a ton of publicity… But one thing that didn’t receive a ton of publicity was the fact that President Obama agreed at an economic summit in London that SDR’s should now be used to help stabilize the balance sheets of nations struggling to combat the current crisis.

Now… On the outside that looks harmless right? Just helping these struggling nations… But! Could this also be a baby step toward a global currency? Could this be a baby step toward a further devaluation of the dollar, and it’s signed off on by the President?

OK, now here’s the thing that really caught my eye… The IMF is going to issued $300 Billion worth of SDR’s. That’s 10 Times… That’s right, I said 10 Times the amount of SDR’s that CURRENTLY EXIST!

Could this be the facility for China to quietly exchange dollar reserves for SDR’s? Come on! Somebody has got to see this the same way I do!

I mean, it was just LAST WEEK, that the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC’s) called for a “more diversified international monetary system?” Why, yes, Chuck, it was… Just last week! And then this week, the IMF “just happens” to be issuing 10-TIMES the amount of SDR’s that CURRENTLY EXIST! Hmmmm…

I probably should stop there… I’ll be accusing people of all sorts of things if I continue on this path… But there’s some food for thought, eh? You won’t see this on TV… They have more important things to show you and talk about, like… The President killing a fly! That’s a really sad thing, to think that our news has come to that!

OK… New Home Sales for May dipped lower, but the inventory of homes for sales also dipped… And, we got the surprise of year when Durable Orders for May showed an unexpected and very strong gain of 1.8%… While I think this is wonderful news, I have to question it… I mean, with the automobile industry basically shut-down, one would think this number to be quite lower… However, I’m told… That non-defense aircraft orders more than offset the auto losses. OK, so, this is NOT a green-shoot folks… This is a One-and-done!

OH! And to follow up on yesterday report regarding Existing Home Sales… I totally forgot to mention that Foreclosure Sales are soaring, and thus a big part of the rise in Existing Home Sales… So, no green-shoot here either!

Today, we’ll see the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, and… The Final print of 1st QTR GDP, which will remain at -5.7%…

So, once again, not much on the data watch for today.

Before I go to the Big Finish… I want to follow up on the news I wrote about yesterday regarding the European Central Bank’s (ECB) EUR 300 Billion injection of liquidity out 12-months… The total came in at a higher figure than that, at EUR 442 Billion… Still, much lower than the forecasts, which had seen some call for a number as high as EUR 1 Trillion! And… This morning, the Eurozone announced that Industrial Orders fell 1% in April… So that data isn’t helping the euro any either!

And then there was this from the NY Times this morning… “The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will question Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about his role in Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch. While Republican lawmakers are launching an attack on Bernanke, who is Republican, Democrats are defending him.”

Man, is that all mixed up! But… A week ago or so, we were getting reports about the Bank of America (BOA) purchase of Merrill Lynch… And now, nothing, absolutely nothing, say it again! Any wonder why? Well, maybe it will come out in the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee questioning, although I doubt it…

And the State of California… The largest economy in the U.S. and in the top 7 economies of the world (used to be 7th, but with their recession, who knows?), announced that they were going to pay their bills with IOU’s… The state’s controller said. “Next Wednesday, we start a fiscal year with a massively unbalanced spending plan and a cash shortfall not seen since the Great Depression.”

And… The Fed believes the recession is easing? Hmmm… Maybe they are too far away from the California books and records!

I’m on a roll here, somebody stop me! OK, I’m stopped!

The Treasury will auction $27 Billion of 7-year Treasuries today… Just keep the supply spigot open must be the Treasury’s motto these days!

Currencies today 6/25/09: A$ .7955, kiwi .6360, C$ .8605, euro 1.3940, sterling 1.6280, Swiss .9095, rand 8.0775, krone 6.5170, SEK 7.9350, forint 199, zloty 3.24, koruna 18.72, yen 96.40, sing 1.4575, HKD 7.75, INR 48.65, China 6.8345, pesos 13.27, BRL 1.9705, dollar index 80.78, Oil $69.05, 10-year 3.69%, Silver $13.86, and Gold… $934.20

That’s it for today… Draggin’ the line today, late night with my little buddy Alex’s baseball game. A ringing double and single with two RBI for Alex last night, in his last game of the year. HEY! How about the U.S. National Team, beating Spain in soccer / football? WOW! It’s been a while since the U.S. beat a ranked national team. So good for them! No breakfast sandwiches today for the boys and girls, as out little Christine is on holiday… Yay for her! She normally picks them up and I buy, but I forgot to do both this morning! UGH! 11-0 spanking by the Mets last night, leaves the Cardinals only 1 game in front in their division… Well… I’m going to attempt to have a Tub Thumpin’ Thursday, I hope you do too!

Source: Increasing SDR Issuance

• It’s official: The United States has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said yesterday (Monday). Already 12 months into it, this recession is longer than eight of the 10 recessions the U.S. has experienced since World War II, CNNMoney reported. Should it continue past the June 2009, it will be the longest.

• U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank could buy long-term Treasury securities to help revive the economy. “This approach might influence the yields on these securities, thus helping to spur aggregate demand,” he said in a speech yesterday (Monday) in Austin, Texas, Bloomberg reported.

• A report from JP Morgan Securities (JPM) predicts the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower its benchmark federal funds rate to 0% and hold it there at least until the end of 2009. The current rate is 1.0%, and many analysts predict the Fed will lower it to 0.5% at its December 15-16 meeting, Reuters reported.

• Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (PPC), the largest U.S. chicken producer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after four consecutive quarters in the red fueled by rising grain costs. The company is the poultry supplier to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) and Kentucky Fried Chicken, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM), Bloomberg reported.

• The U.S. credit-card industry could pull back more than $2 trillion of credit lines over the next 18 months due to risk aversion and regulatory changes banking analyst Meredith Whitney said yesterday (Monday). “Already, we have witnessed the entire mortgage market hit a wall, and we believe it will, for the first time ever, show actual shrinkage over the next few months,” she wrote. The credit card market will be 18 months behind the mortgage market and will begin to shrink by mid-2010, Whitney said.

• Light, sweet crude for January delivery yesterday (Monday) fell $5.15, more than 9%, to settle at $49.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Reports showing declines in both manufacturing activity and construction spending also contributed to the decline.

• Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said yesterday (Monday) that it would buy cosmetic-product and breast-implant maker Mentor Corp. (MNT) for $1.07 billion. J&J will start a cash tender offer for $31 per share – almost double Mentor’s Friday closing price of $16.15 a share.

Global Investing Roundups, Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008