news – Page 26091

All Aboard for a Sun-Filled, Intellectually Stimulating Week at Sea! You Won’t Want to Miss Fixing the World: Reason Seminar Cruise 2014!

TIME Magazine calls him one of
the 100 most influential people in the world, and the Guardian
says that he’s one of the 50 people who could save the planet—but
Bjorn Lomborg is best known as The Skeptical
Environmentalist. As the author of Cool It and
How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place,
Lomborg is an expert on the unreasonably high cost
of current environmental policy and common sense alternatives.

Other speakers on this year’s cruise include author and former
Reason Editor in Chief Virginia Postrel, author
and historian Johan Norberg, Reason Editor in
Chief Matt Welch, Reason TV Editor in Chief
Nick Gillespie, Reason Science Correspondent
Ron Bailey, and Reason Senior Editor Jacob
Sullum.

We’ll be traveling in style on the Celebrity Silhouette, and
all-inclusive accommodations start at just $1,650 per person (and
range up to deluxe cabins with incredible ocean views and private
verandas).

Find out more and register today at www.reasoncruise.com

from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/07/all-aboard-for-a-sun-filled-intellectual
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A.M. Links: Federal Employees Sue Government for Late Pay, Maine Police Chief Says No to Legal Marijuana, $15 Minimum Wage Initiative Wins in Seattle Suburb

Federal employees who worked
during the government shutdown
are suing the government for damages because they weren’t paid
on time. It would be so satisfying to watch the government fight
itself if it weren’t taxpayer dollars it was fighting over.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
acknowledged that enrollment figures for Obamacare for
October
will be “very low.” Only six people signed up on the first
day of enrollment. The government’s top healthcare IT official,

meanwhile, has stepped down and is headed to the private
sector.
Al Gore slammed the NSA’s surveillance program and predicted
it will be reined in. Let’s hope that’s more accurate than his
weather predictions.
Despite the ordinance legalizing marijuana, the police chief of
Portland, Maine says officers will
still issue citations for possession. On the bright side,
he also said reprimandning pot smokers is a low priority.
Backers have declared an initiative for a
$15 hourly minimum wage at Seattle’s Sea-Tac International
Airport to be victorious.
Twitter Inc
could face volatile trade in its debut Thursday on the New York
Stock Exchange, but analysts remain enthusiastic after the
money-losing social media company priced its IPO above the expected
range.
Syrian troops have retaken a
key rebel-held town south of Damascus, according to state-run
media.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on
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from Hit & Run http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/07/am-links-federal-employees-sue-governmen
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Gold Monkey-Hammered Below $1300

The initial ramp-and-revert in gold (and silver) prices gave way to a $20 price collapse once Draghi began speaking – as if someone decided that Draghi’s speech was somehow ‘credibility-providing’ for the status quo… we assume this move is reflective of Draghi’s ‘dis-inflationary’ warnings (though th einitial move seemed sparked by the better-than-expected GDP print – so Taper on?) What the un-reflexive jerk in precious metals fails to see – it would seem – is the need for the European central bank to reflate by whatever means possible that deflationary trend…(even if the Fed slows, it will be back soon enough). Gold futures saw volume explode as he began speaking (and US GDP pronted) but price plunged and volume legged even higher as Draghi mentioned the ‘d’ word…

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/1bfUch_Iss0/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Q3 GDP Roars To 2.8% Despite Weakest Consumer In Over Two Years

A day of fireworks that started with the stunner by Goldman’s head of the ECB has just gotten its second wind following the preliminary announcement of Q3 GDP, which roared from 2.5% to 2.84%, far above expectations of a 2.0% annualized number.

On the surface this was a bad number for Taper watchers, as it may mean the Fed will actually have to moderate its monthly flow precisely at the time when the ECB was forced to do “whatever it takes” in its fight with inflation, however a quick look at the internals shows that once again there is much more than meets the eye: because while the headline print was the strongest since Q3 2012, the core driver of economic growth, Personal Consumption, grew 1.5% below the expected 1.6%. Specifically, of the 2.84% number, PCE was just 1.04%, the lowest since Q2 2011!

Elsewhere, fixed investment – an indication of capex – was just 0.63%, below the 0.96% reported last quarter. So what drove “growth”? Why the traditional hollow component: Inventory, which amounted to 0.83% of the 2.8% print, double the 0.41% in the prior quarter. Net trade added an additional 0.3%, and finally government ticked on a modest 0.04% – the first positive contribution since Q3 2013.

In short: a little in here for everyone, with the market bulls happy to point out that the US consumer is the weakest he has been in over two years, while economist happy to highlight that the US economy is, in fact, growing at a brisk pace.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/pMpgClA_MMo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Un-Californicated Jobless Claims Reverts To 10-Week Highs

Assuming the last few weeks were useless garbage data and based on the fact that the government claims no states “estimated” data this week, the 5th weekly miss in a row for jobless claims (albeit very minor) has the level reverted to mid-August levels. Notably, extended and emergency benefits rose 65,000 to 1.37 million people.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/25bdPlMwvbI/story01.htm Tyler Durden

ECB's Draghi Explains His "All-In' Rate-Cut Move – Live Press Conference Stream

We noted yesterday that if the EUR got much stronger then peripheral Europe was going to lose much of its ‘competitive’ gains and while this is a notable surprise to many, we can’t wait to hear how Draghi explains the decision given the world’s insistence that Europe has turned the corner already… (which it clearly has not).

*DRAGHI SAYS EURO AREA GROWTH RISKS REMAIN `ON THE DOWNSIDE’
*DRAGHI SAYS EURO AREA INFLATION RISKS ARE `BROADLY BALANCED’
*DRAGHI: MARKET CONDITIONS POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE FOR ECONOMY
*DRAGHI SAYS UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINS HIGH
*DRAGHI: EURO AREA MAY FACE PROLONGED PERIOD OF LOW INFLATION

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/azGi3V6YEiY/story01.htm Tyler Durden

ECB’s Draghi Explains His “All-In’ Rate-Cut Move – Live Press Conference Stream

*DRAGHI SAYS EURO AREA GROWTH RISKS REMAIN `ON THE DOWNSIDE’
*DRAGHI SAYS EURO AREA INFLATION RISKS ARE `BROADLY BALANCED’
*DRAGHI: MARKET CONDITIONS POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE FOR ECONOMY
*DRAGHI SAYS UNEMPLOYMENT REMAINS HIGH
*DRAGHI: EURO AREA MAY FACE PROLONGED PERIOD OF LOW INFLATION

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/azGi3V6YEiY/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Markets Have Knee-Jerked Everywhere

Draghi’s ‘surprise’ rate cut has sent every correlated asset soaring this morning. Aside from the EUR crashing over 150 pips instantaneously, S&P 500 futures snapped 10 points higher to 1775; Treasury yields dropped 3bps; Silver and Copper jerked 0.5% higher (but quickly reverted in the former as the USD strengthened); European equities (especially Spain and Italy) popped 2%; and peripheral bond yields moved to new multi-year lows with spreads dropping 10bps or so. With Draghi now at ZIRP effectively, who’s next top pass the easing parcel to (not the Chinese). What is interesting is that US equities, Treasury yields, and commodities are all fading just a little off that kneejerk – even as EUR presses lower.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/JrEynW99gQQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Car-B-Q Part III: Tesla Flames Out Premarket On Reports Of Another Car Fire

One momo company that will almost certainly miss out on all of today’s Twitter/ECB induced BTFATH-euphoria, is Tesla which is down 3% premarket at last check for one simple reason: the one shown on the photo below. This is the third reported car fire in the past month. So much for that “best safety rating of any car ever tested” – perhaps it really is time to inquire just what the NHTSA kickbacks were in order to go with that “objective” determination?

Source: Teslamotorsclub

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/cK65vxpUBzQ/story01.htm Tyler Durden

In Stunning Move, ECB Cuts Rates By 25 bps, Euro Plunges

Perhaps it is not surprising that with the absolute majority of economists and strategists, or 67 of 70, predicting no rate cut by the ECB, this is exactly what the ECB just did, when in a stunning move it cute rates for both the main refi rate and the marginal lending facility by 25 bps, to 0.25% and 0.75% respectively. And there is your reaction to Europe’s encroaching deflation.

From the ECB:

At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB took the following monetary policy decisions:

The interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem will be decreased by 25 basis points to 0.25%, starting from the operation to be settled on 13 November 2013.

The interest rate on the marginal lending facility will be decreased by 25 basis points to 0.75%, with effect from 13 November 2013.

The interest rate on the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%.

The President of the ECB will comment on the considerations underlying these decisions at a press conference starting at 2.30 p.m. CET today.