Bernanke effect

A rare sight this year but let's hope prices goes down. Otherwise, world economy can suffer.

Fighting inflation with a strong currency

Now that Bernanke has dealt with much of the liquidity issues in the market, eyes now turn to Inflation with an eye on the supply/demand of commodities and currencies.

See LA Times report here.

News - Fed-up on rate cuts

1. Read my headlines with Singlish accent !
2. Factory Orders surprisingly strong (+1.1% vs -0.1%). But will strengthening dollar spur front loading than delayed purchase?

A few Fed notes

1. No more cuts even if economy contracts

2. Most officials see April cut as close call

3. Housing still bleak, spending to a crawl

4. Expects economy rebound in 2H 2008

5. Sees no bottoming in housing activity or home price declines

6. Unemployment to rise in 2008 and stay there in 2009

7. Growth risk to downside

8. CPI improvement probably temporary

9. Food, Energy prices to keep inflation up

10.. US GDP to contract in 1H, recover in 2H

11. Cuts GDP forecast to 0.3 - 1.2% vs 1.3-2% earlier

2/5 News

1. Fed up auctioning amts from $50 -> 75 Billion and inclue AAA/Aaa assets.
2. Unemployment reach 5% from 5.1% prior mth. 20k drop in nonfarm payrolls.
3. Sun Microsystem miss earnings and to cut 2500 jobs.

23/4 Pre-open

Indices
-Major indices in ZLR posture to uptrend.
-60 mins bars in Wave 5 mode.

News:
1. YHOO beat but analyst says MSFT won't increase price of bid.
2. Boeing earnings jump due to aircraft orders
3. The street says Fed might not cut rates due to inflation and crude oil price.