Our idiot ‘Masters of the Universe’ who can’t even make money on carry trades at 0% borrowing costs are soon going to learn that 10%+ return on investment is not part of the Constitution or Bill of Rights.

Get ready for the end of record corporate profits

By MATTHEW CRAFT, AP Business Writer

6 days ago

For almost three years, no matter what has rattled the financial markets – a debt crisis in Europe, high gasoline prices, a slower economy – investors have been soothed by rising corporate profits.

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Over recent weeks, a motley collection of chain stores, steel producers and technology titans have warned of slowing profits. They all point to similar culprits – flagging sales to Europe and slower economic growth in China.

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“You’ve seen the evidence,” says Adam Parker, chief U.S. equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, the investment bank. “A ton of companies have already told you the economy is slowing.”

The list of companies that have warned of trouble is long and varied, and includes well-known names such as McDonald’s, Cisco, Starbucks and Tiffany & Co.

Add them up, and 94 companies have lowered their estimates for this earnings season, which begins on Monday when Alcoa, the aluminum maker, reports its results. Only 26 have raised their estimates.

Morgan Stanley’s research team says the ratio hasn’t been that lopsided toward the negative since the summer of 2001, when the economy was in the middle of an eight-month recession brought on by the bursting of a bubble in technology stocks.

Shares Fall for a Sixth Day

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 12, 2012

Wall Street stocks slid for a sixth consecutive day on Thursday as concern spread that weaker global economic growth and the European debt crisis would hurt American corporate earnings. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was headed for its longest losing streak since mid-May.

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Aluminum maker Alcoa, which started the second-quarter earnings season on Monday, reported weak revenue because of the faltering global economy. Fastenal, an American industrial distributor, reported revenue Thursday that was weaker than analysts had expected.

Marriott, the hotel operator, and Progressive, an insurance company, both fell after reporting weak financial results.

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Supervalu, the supermarket operator, plunged by nearly half after it reported a sharp drop in net income late Wednesday and suspended its dividend. The company owns Albertsons, Jewel-Osco and Save-A-Lot.

Supervalu’s losses dragged on a rival grocery chain, Safeway, which fell 10.5 percent. Safeway’s was the biggest percentage decline in the S.&P. 500 index.

The weak corporate results will probably lead analysts to lower their quarterly earnings forecasts for the entire S.&P. 500, said John Fox, a co-manager of the FAM Value Fund, which specializes in small and medium-sized companies.

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New numbers to be released on Friday are expected to show that China’s growth in the second quarter fell to 7.3 percent from the previous quarter’s 8.1 percent, which was a three-year low. Revenue from the construction, shipbuilding and export manufacturing industries might have been cut in half since last year.

Because LIBOR Investor Fraud is so yesterday.

HSBC Reveals Problems With Internal Controls

By LANDON THOMAS JR. and MARK SCOTT, The New York Tmes

July 12, 2012

The money laundering, which a U.S. Senate subcommittee indicates was linked to terrorism and drug deals, could result in HSBC’s paying fines of up to $1 billion, according to analysts.

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In the case of the money laundering, the U.S. authorities have been examining HSBC for several years. On Tuesday, officials from the bank are set to testify in Washington before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. A subcommittee spokesman declined on Thursday to discuss the investigation, but the panel’s Web site describes the agenda: “a hearing on the money laundering and terrorist financing vulnerabilities created when a global bank uses its U.S. affiliate to provide U.S. dollars, U.S. dollar services, and access to the U.S. financial system to high risk affiliates, high risk correspondent banks, and high risk clients, using HSBC as a case study.”

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Adding another political wrinkle: HSBC’s former chairman, Stephen Green, who was in office from 2006 to 2010 when many of the money-laundering detection problems occurred, is currently the trade minister in British prime minister David Cameron’s government. Mr. Green’s office did not reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

HSBC braced for huge U.S. penalty

By Sharlene Goff, Financial Times

July 12, 2012

HSBC is to apologise to US lawmakers for failing to have appropriate controls in place to ensure it did not facilitate the financing of terrorism and other criminal activities, transgressions that analysts estimate may cost it up to $1bn in fines.

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Mr Gulliver warned that HSBC was likely to face further action from other US authorities in coming months.

HSBC said in its 2011 annual report that fines relating to money laundering issues could be “significant”. There has been speculation among analysts that the bank could be hit with a higher charge than the $619m ING, the Dutch bank, agreed to pay to settle accusations it violated US sanctions by helping Iranian and Cuban companies move billions of dollars through the US financial system. Some have suggested it could be as much as $1bn.

HSBC chief admits bank failed to control money laundering

Dominic Rushe, The Guardian

Wednesday 11 July 2012

In the memo, first reported by Bloomberg News, Gulliver said the hearing would “reveal that in the past we fell well short of the standards that our regulators, customers and investors expect”. He said: “It is right that we be held accountable and that we take responsibility for fixing what went wrong.”

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Last month ING, the Dutch bank, paid $619m to settle accusations it helped Iranian and Cuban companies move billions of dollars through the US financial system in violation of US sanctions. Some analysts have suggested HSBC’s fine could be far higher.

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William Black, professor of economics and law at University of Missouri Kansas City, said: “There is a theme developing in Washington that the City of London is evil, that it has a corrupt culture.”

He said that while the view might not be fair, the JP Morgan scandal, Libor and now HSBC meant it was a theme that was likely to be developed. “We like to blame someone else,” he said.

Albertville / La Toussuire – Les Sybelles (92 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

Special 7 am Edition (to get you ready for tomorrow’s 6:30 am edition, no- I am not kidding).

Tony Martin, Rémy Di Gregorio, and Matthew Lloyd were unable to start yesterday.  Rémy Di Gregorio was arrested at his hotel for trafficking in doping substances.

At the finish it was Thomas Voeckler, Scarponi, Voigt, and Sanchez.  In the overall GC the top 5 changed not at all.  Another missed opportunity for Evans.

That was Medium Mountains, today they are High.  There are 2 un-classified climbs, a 2 and a 3.  The Award point is just before the start of the second unclassified climb.

General Classification

Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 7 am with repeats at noon, 2:30 pm, 8 pm, and midnight.  There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.

Sites of Interest-

• 2012 Le Tour
• Albertville / La Toussuire – Les Sybelles (92 miles)
• Wikipedia
• Geek Guide (very basic)
• Guardian Interactive Guide

The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-

• Le Tour
• 2010 Le Tour
• 2011 Le Tour
• 2012 Le Tour

Pretty tables-

An innovation in free speech.  I know I’d much rather watch advertisements than most ‘entertainment’ programming.

American Idol.  Case closed.

Mâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (121 miles)

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

So can Cadel Evans come back?  If he does it will be on stages like today’s.  It starts flat enough, but has category 3, 2, and un-categorized climbs.  The Award point is at the end of the decent from the initial category 2 and just before the uncategorized ascent.  Evans could show climbing chops, Wiggins could show weakness, there could be a bus.

Today and tomorrow are the best days short term to create some kind of climbing get away and keep in mind that Evans doesn’t just have to erase his 1:43 deficit, but also a build lead of about 2:00 o he doesn’t get crushed in the 19th stage.

I’m getting overflow errors in my larger consolidated General Classification and Points tables and I haven’t quite solved that problem yet.  Here are the top contenders starting out today-

General Classifiction

Points

Team, Hill Climbing, and Youth in yesterday’s piece.

Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 8 am with repeats at noon, 2:30 pm, 8 pm, and midnight.  There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.

Sites of Interest-

• 2012 Le Tour
• Mâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (121 miles)
• Wikipedia
• Geek Guide (very basic)
• Guardian Interactive Guide

The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-

• Le Tour
• 2010 Le Tour
• 2011 Le Tour
• 2012 Le Tour

Mâcon

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

I won’t wast your time with any silly ‘race of truth’ metaphors.  There is no doubt that Cadel Evans lost ground in the Individual Time Trial in exactly the same way and proportions he did in the Prologue and while I wouldn’t tear up my tickets yet I will point out once again how difficult it is to make up because of the ‘Same Time’ rules.

Like it or not Le Tour has become a race of trialists.

Now the good news is there are not a lot of bodies between Evans and the lead which mean a single bus will suffice for now, though Froome is uncomfortably close.

Now the Tables below are so you can track rider position change by category by stage.  It’s long but the organization is simple-

• Category
• Stage
• …
• Stage n

Coverage is customarily on Vs. (NBC Sports) starting at 8 am with repeats at noon, 2:30 pm, 8 pm, and midnight.  There will be some streaming evidently, but not all of it is free.

Sites of Interest-

• 2012 Le Tour
• Mâcon
• Wikipedia
• Geek Guide (very basic)
• Guardian Interactive Guide

The Stars Hollow Gazette Tags-

• Le Tour
• 2010 Le Tour
• 2011 Le Tour
• 2012 Le Tour

Former Congo warlord sentenced to 14 years over child soldiers

Los Angeles Times

July 10, 2012

Former Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was ordered to spend 14 years in prison Tuesday for enlisting children as soldiers, the first sentence handed down by the decade-old International Criminal Court.

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Six years will be deducted from Lubanga’s sentence to cover the time since he first surrendered to the court, aggravating critics who called the sentence too light.

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The March verdict was hailed by human rights groups as a key step toward bringing war criminals to justice. Though other tribunals have been created throughout history to punish atrocities from specific conflicts, Lubanga was the first person to be convicted and sentenced by the International Criminal Court, created a decade ago to address war crimes in places where local courts are unable or unwilling to act.