Gumby's Account Talk

[Gumby]

Barclays Spreadsheet Error Results In Lehman Chaos

John Carney | Oct 16, 08 8:49 AM



It pays to have good spreadsheet skills. We're just now learning that Barclays wound up with scores of Lehman Brothers trading positions that it never meant to buy when a pair of very junior lawyers attempted to reformat an Excel spreadsheet and convert it into a pdf document. The result was that a "hidden" column of 179 contracts no intended to be purchased became unhidden, and when Barclays filed the document with the court it wound up picking up the contracts.

Fully Story


Will Barclay's have to make more money from FRTIB now to pay for this mess?

 

[Gumby]

Looks like the sell programs are running this afternoon as options expire.:worried:
There will be HEAVY volume in the last half-hour.

Will we end green?

 

[Gumby]

DOW is up 450, S&P 500 is up 45 points at 3:00pm. Will we end green?

 

[Gumby]

Look at those buy orders pour in!
Bear Trap?? :suspicious:

DOW up 663 S&P500 up 65
What a roller coster.....almost makes losing money on paper fun

 

[Gumby]

Covered my short SDS @84.50, sold short on 10/7 at $85. That was a wild ride. If I would have purchased instead of shorted, I could have sold at $114 a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Gumby]

Exxon Mobil posts biggest US quarterly profit ever
Thursday October 30, 8:29 am ET
By John Porretto, AP Business Writer Exxon Mobil shatters own record for largest profit from operations by a US corporation

HOUSTON (AP) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, says it shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter.
Bolstered by this summer's record crude prices, the Irving, Texas-based company said Thursday that net income jumped nearly 58 percent, or $2.86 a share in the July-September. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago.
The previous record for U.S. corporate profit was set earlier this year, when Exxon Mobil earned $11.68 billion in the second quarter.
Revenue rose 35 percent to $137.7 billion.
On average, analysts expected the company to earn $2.39 per share in the latest quarter on revenue of $131.4 billion.
Shares fell 18 cents to $75 in premarket trading.

Full Story

That is what happens when crude price is lowered but the price at the pump still remains high. Will XON need a bailout next quarter?

 

[Gumby]

I am going to 100% G and wait patiently for the credit crisis to become a REAL problem.:blink:

 

[Gumby]

You can say what you want about Barclays......but one thing for sure....they know where the money is.


Barclays to raise up to $11.9 billion




By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:45 a.m. EDT Oct. 31, 2008

Comments: 26




LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Barclays on Friday struck a deal to raise up to 7.3 billion pounds ($11.9 billion) in fresh capital

Full Story


UPDATE: Look at that BCS stock tank this am....down 17% @ 9:34am......the shorts smell something similar to bull manure.

 

[Gumby]

What is wrong with the market today????
The DOW has only had 115 point swing in 1:15 hr of trading.
I guess I will have to wait until 3:58 pm for some real action.

 

[Gumby]

Could the S&P500 bearish rising wedge pattern indicate a sell off on Friday after the jobs report comes in? 200,000 jobs lost would be a huge number. I am expecting a small election bounce this week and then a fall back to reality (S&P500 ~ 860) Friday PM or Monday next week.:suspicious:

MORE

 

[Show-me]

I can see that scenario.

 

[Gumby]

I have been looking at the $SPX near the end of the last recession and comparing the MA(5) and MA(20).

It looks like in the Summer/Fall of 2002 we had a steep drop just like this Fall.....marked as I on the chart.

The there was a couple of bottoming attempts and then the MA(5) moved above the MA(20) at about the first of November 2002. Marked as II on the chart. This looks eerily similar to the setup today in the markets.

I think we will have another bottoming attempt similar to III on the chart. The next bottoming could retest the October lows.

I am looking to get back into C & S fund after the next bottom. I may jump back in short term when Here's14U shows the MA(5) cross above the MA(20). I may wait until after the employment numbers come out Friday.
That could be a bomb!:nuts:





View attachment 5007

 

[Silverbird]

Just finished attending a lecture on the economy - former Fed guy suggests looking at 1980 recession and not 2000 (Short reasoning - 2000 one was based on one industry: dotcom and pattern looks more like 80's recession). Not sure about data availability however....

 

[alevin]

You can get 70s-80s data if you use BigCharts.com.

 

[Gumby]

You can get 70s-80s data if you use BigCharts.com.

Do you have to subscribe to this one?

 

[Gumby]

Barclays: Wall Street's new gambler

When Lehman tanked, Barclays saw a juicy opportunity and snatched it up. But now the London powerhouse has problems of its own.


Do you think they use TSP money to place their bets?


More info

 

[alevin]

Do you have to subscribe to this one?

Sorry Gumby, didn't see your question til tonight. No, BigCharts data is free. There may be a fee part of the site but I haven't needed it for the kind of charting I do. See my thread. I posted a chart from 1974 recession a couple days ago.

 

[Gumby]

Any ideas about the jobs lost number that will be posted by the government tomorrow? I am hoping that "post election" we will get a number that is a bit more accurate than we have been getting previously.

I sold out my TSP and jumped back to "G" recently....I am looking to buy back in around the S&P500 in the 855 to 865 range.

My trading account....I bought Nov Call on SDS 84 strike at $3.80 election day. Ticker .sbjkf :nuts:

 

[Silverbird]

Ok...more accurate? The underlying assumptions and the short staff in the statistical basement of Labor dept is still going to be the same. I assume its same top boss, same data, sorry, especially on continuing irresolution.

 

[Gumby]

Ok...more accurate? The underlying assumptions and the short staff in the statistical basement of Labor dept is still going to be the same. I assume its same top boss, same data, sorry, especially on continuing irresolution.

I was just wishing we could get some real numbers so this market would finally locate a bottom for this cycle. May or may not happen for awhile.
C fund looks very tempting to DCA into when S&P500 is less than 900.