Citi Tumbles Below $5/Share On A Split-Adjusted Basis After Failing Another Fed Stress Test

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Citi Tumbles Below $5/Share On A Split-Adjusted Basis After Failing Another Fed Stress Test

100 million Americans below poverty line

Press TV

The “Inequality Boom” is what social scientist Sheldon Danziger, President of the Russell Sage Foundation here in New York, uses to describe the current condition of 100 million Americans – if the cost of housing, transportation and healthcare were subtracted from the median income of full-time workers. It’s a boom because under Danziger’s hypothesis, 100 million Americans is a whopping 33 percent of the total population; the Census Bureau figures only 15 percent of Americans, or 45 million, are below the $ 24,000 annual income level for poverty in a family of four.  

Danziger has been on the poverty solution academic beat almost since Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty 50 years ago, and is now ensconced at one of the oldest foundations in the nation, established in 1907 for “the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.” Danziger’s work is cut out for him since there is growing income inequality in the US as the political controversy over reducing the level of government transfers promises to increase poverty and widen income disparity.

For example, there is the growing threat that the food stamp program, now being used by 47 million people, is scheduled to be reduced. Plus, the extension of unemployment benefits, which stabilized many of those hurt by the Great Recession, is to be substantially limited in availability. At the same time, 70 percent of the new jobs created by the slow economic recovery are part-time, less than 29 hours a week, without health insurance, and cannot be sufficient to support a family of four.

Against this downward trend comes President Obama, trying to increase the minimum hourly wage from $ 7.00 an hour or $ 280 per week (or $ 14,560 a year), just enough to raise a single person above poverty. If Obama is successful in hiking the minimum wage to $ 10.00 an hour or $ 400 a week, that would provide $ 20,000 annual income, which is below the poverty line of $ 24,000 for a family of four.

Danziger can wax enthusiastic about the theme of what he calls “the golden age in America”, when between 1947 and 1975 family income adjusted for inflation showed more than 90 percent increases in family income for the 20 percent segment of America. In fact the 60th percentile group in the middle had their income increase by the largest degree, 99.2 percent. That amounts to a near double in family income from 1947 to 1975.

By comparison, the period from 1975 through 2010 has created substantial differentials in family income. The top 5 percent of families saw their income rise by 56.7 percent while the lowest gained only 3.7 percent over 35 years. Here’s the most crushing: a statistic that shows the misfortune suffered by the middle class. See below chart.

From 1960 until 1975 the median earnings for a full time male worker rose from $ 36,420 to $ 51,670, but then slowly declined to $ 49,398 in 2012, when adjusted for inflation, according to the US Census Bureau. And that $ 49,000 is before taxes.

As well, the mean monthly Social Security Benefit for Retired Workers has climbed from $ 400 in 1950 to $ 1200 a month in 2010. That’s $ 14,400 just above the $ 12,000 poverty cutoff for a single man, and just slightly over 50 percent of the poverty line for a family of four. In short, there’s no way the Republican opposition to Obama can attest to those helped by government programs to be having anything but a poor bottom level standard of living. The “Inequality Boom” is booming.

AHT/DB

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/08/338904/100-million-americans-below-poverty-line/

100 million Americans below poverty line

Dow Crosses Below 200DMA For First Time In 2013

‘They’ said it could never happen… ‘They’ said to BTFATH… The Dow has now dropped 6.2% from its highs 14 days ago  – the biggest such drop in 11 months and for the first time in 2013 has crossed below its 200-day moving average. The trend is no longer your friend it would seem…

 

Dow is at 14719 and the 200DMA is 14728.5… the 50DMA has also crossed below the 200DMA

 

Zero Hedge

Dow Crosses Below 200DMA For First Time In 2013

Dow drops below 15,000...

Stocks accelerated their losses across the board Thursday, with the Dow sliding below the psychologically-important 15,000 mark, as investors grew more worried over the impasse in Washington.

“We went into the government shutdown with the assumption of it being over within the (previous) average of three days—now we’re in day 3 and we’re not any closer to a resolution than we were on Sunday,” said Art Hogan, managing director at Lazard Capital Markets. “As more time goes on and less compromise is on the horizon, the more nervous we’ll get…investors are pressing in on the worst-case scenario, which is a Treasury default.”

(Read more: Wall St. wonders if Obama wants ‘severe’ selloff)

	Name	Price		Change	%Change
DJIA			—
S&P 500			—
NASDAQ			—

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 150 points, dragged by Boeing and Chevron.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also near session lows.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, spiked above 18.

All key S&P sectors were in the red, led by industrials and utilities.

The cost of the shutdown

The Treasury Department is raising serious concerns regarding a possible U.S default. Michael Feroli, JPMorgan, shares his concerns for the economy.

In a CNBC interview Wednesday, President Barack Obama warned Wall Street that this government shutdown could be worse than others. The previous 11 stoppages in the aggregate did little damage to markets, with the S&P 500 using the crises instead as rallying points.

But major averages opened weaker and progressed lower as uncertainty over when the Washington impasse will get settled and what impact it ultimately will have on markets and the economy.

A relatively flat week for jobless claims helped just a bit. The government reported that claims increased by just 1,000 last week to 308,000, lower than economist projections for 314,000 despite the government shutdown.

In other economic news, the Institute for Supply Management fell to a 54.4 reading, which represents expansion but at a slower pace than economists had anticipated. The reading seemed to underscore a level of uncertainty about the economy and how the political battling will affect growth.

“Thus far this year and despite a clear improvement in the level of initial weekly jobless claims, the pace of hiring has not picked up,” Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak, said in a note. “The September (ISM) decline suggests the uncertainty over Washington political gridlock is pinning down the reality of improvements in actual hiring.”

Angie’s List was the biggest loser of the day, dropping more than 11 percent on a report from the Wall Street Journal that the online review service was slashing prices in an effort to gain new customers.

CalAmp shares surged on positive earnings news.

Positive Chinese economic data failed to boost markets fixated on the budget stalemate in Washington.

The budget impasse and resulting partial government shutdown entered its third day on Thursday, after a meeting between President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders failed to yield a solution on Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC, President Barack Obama said markets should be worried by the gridlock in Washington.

“This time I think Wall Street should be concerned,” Obama said. “When you have a situation in which a faction is willing to default on U.S. obligations, then we are in trouble.”

(Read more: Now you’re worried, fears rise on credit default)

Any loses will be recovered quickly: Pro

Richard Bernstein, Richard Bernstein Advisors CEO, andDavid Katz, Matrix Asset Advisors, discuss how the current government shutdown will likely impact the markets and the Fed’s asset-buying policy.

Deutsche Bank’s Gael Gunubu said it was now increasingly likely the budget debate would be folded into the forthcoming battle to raise the debt ceiling before October 17, in order to avoid a default.

“If that occurs, it’s likely that Obamacare will be added to the debate on social security and tax reform, among other contentious issues, increasing the already massive stakes of the debt limit discussion,” she said in a morning research note.

In company news:

BlackBerry shares slipped despite an upgrade from Citigroup, which said the troubled smartphone maker’s shares had been punished enough.

Constellation Brands gained after the spirits maker posted a solid earnings report.

Eli Lilly shares fell 1 percent, despite news from the drugmaker that it plans on launching several new drugs this year that target “unmet patient needs.”

Factory orders data will not be released now because of the shutdown but the ISM (Institute of Supply Management) non-manufacturing survey will still be published on Thursday. The Federal Reserve’s Richard Fisher, Jerome Powell, John Williams and Dennis Lockhart are also scheduled to speak.

In Asia, data out on Thursday showed China’s official services purchasing manager’s index (PMI) rose to a six-month high in September, lifting hopes the country’s growth is picking up.

In Europe, Italian stocks were boosted by Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s triumph in a confidence vote on Wednesday. This followed a dramatic u-turn by rival politician, Silvio Berlusconi, who said he would support Letta, after Berlusconi’s party members rebelled against his move to pull down the government.

—By CNBC’s JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)

On Tap This Week:

THURSDAY: Fed’s Fisher speaks, Fed Gov Powell speaks, Fed balance sheet/money supply
FRIDAY: Nonfarm payrolls, Fed’s Kocherlakota speaks

What’s Trending on CNBC.com:

• Get out the rally hats: Shutdowns are bullish!


• Tesla Model S goes up in flames; shares slip


• Hank Paulson: Tea party ‘hijacked the debate’

Stocks accelerated their losses across the board Thursday, with the Dow flirting with the psychologically-important 15,000 mark, as investors grew more worried over the impasse in Washington.

Drudge Report Feed

Dow drops below 15,000...

BP reports $2 bln profit in Q2, below forecasts

LONDON (AP) — UK oil company BP reported a net profit of $ 2 billion for the second quarter, up from a loss of $ 1.5 billion in the same period of last year but missing analyst expectations.

BP made more provisions for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, increasing the total by about $ 200 million to $ 42.4 billion. The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform killed 11 workers and released millions of gallons of oil into the gulf, wreaking economic and environmental damage across several southern states.

Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, says BP is trying “to look forward but remaining firmly anchored to the past.”

He says BP remains hostage to “oil price, government appetite for tax revenues and the strength of the broader global economy.”

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Business Headlines

BP reports $2 bln profit in Q2, below forecasts

Matthew Morrison’s Show Nods to Cory Monteith at 54 Below

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Matthew Morrison opening his cabaret show at 54 Below on Sunday, the day after his “Glee” co-star Cory Monteith was found dead.

Matthew Morrison’s show on Sunday evening at 54 Below began with a tribute to Cory Monteith, his co-star on the Fox musical-comedy series “Glee,” who died on Saturday. Mr. Morrison’s pensive rendition of “What I Did for Love” from “A Chorus Line,” accompanied on piano by Brad Ellis, was an appropriate gesture: Unadorned, sober and farsighted, it spoke for itself. At 34, Mr. Morrison is three years older than Mr. Monteith was, and he said he regarded him as a brother.

Revealing himself to be a performer of many parts, Mr. Morrison — outfitted in a cream-colored suit, hat, and bow tie — struck the pose of a cool, suave, modern song-and-dance man. His disciplined presentation combined elements of Hugh Jackman, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake, but without flamboyant showmanship or emotional display.

Whirling in place, strutting, kicking, tipping his hat and treating the microphone like a vaudevillian’s cane, he used every inch of the limited space while maintaining a poker-faced detachment. Performing “Singin’ in the Rain,” he showed the ease and physical grace to carry it off, but not the pure joy that Gene Kelly imprinted on the song.

There was no trace of the impassioned, operatic tenor that Mr. Morrison unfurled as Fabrizio in “The Light in the Piazza.” A song like “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady,” the declamatory ballad popularized by Vic Damone, was sped up as it often is nowadays, into a fast-swing number in which flowery lyrics that sound quaint in the age of the hookup, were swallowed by the swing.

The band, led by Mr. Ellis (the piano player on “Glee”), included Daniel Kalisher on guitar, Nathan Light on bass, Chase Baird on saxophone and Valerie Franco on drums. Its lean, sinewy arrangements reflected Mr. Morrison’s no-nonsense attitude.

If a certain passion was missing from an otherwise impeccable performance, Mr. Morrison, with his sleek Guy Madison looks and cool self-assurance, came across as a talent of formidable versatility and intelligence. Anyone who saw him in “The Light in the Piazza” knows that passion is there. On Sunday evening, he didn’t unpack it.

Matthew Morrison performs through Wednesday at 54 Below, 254 West 54th Street, Manhattan, (646)476-3551 or 54.com.

NYT > Arts

Matthew Morrison’s Show Nods to Cory Monteith at 54 Below