On the 11th of May, 2010, legislation to authorizes the government to conduct a full scale audit of the Federal Reserve’s emergency-response programs was approved unanimously by the Senate as a piece of the bank reform legislation. Sen. Bernie Sanders said that, “This makes it clear that the Fed can no longer operate under the kind of secrecy it has been operating under.”
The legislation requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the financial institutions that borrowed from the Fed during the financial crisis. The legislation also gives the GAO leeway to conduct continuing periodic audits of the Fed’s activities.
This is basically a one time only audit. Why then was the Fed so diametrically opposed to the audit? Maybe it was because one of their “unannounced” activities that will be disclosed is their active participation in the Plunge Protection Team (PPT)?
CEO TrimTabs Investment Research, Charles Biderman claimed in January that the Fed and the Treasury (in alliance with top Wall Street brokerages such as Goldman Sachs) were creating a phony stock market rally on a daily basis. Biderman charged that normal funds flowing into the stock market simply could not account for the $6 trillion increase in U.S. stock-market capitalization. “We cannot identify the source of the new money that pushed stock prices up so far so fast,” Biderman said. Biderman continued to charge that money inflowing couldn’t come from traditional sources such as foreign investors, retail investors, hedge funds, pension funds, or corporations. Biderman said, “We know that the U.S. government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars to support the auto industry, the housing market, and the banks and brokers. Why not support the stock market as well?”
The Fed denies PPT participation or even that a PPT exists. Yet they have long been known to be a major player in the PPT. When the Fed is audited, they suddenly will be mandated to account for how the underlying funds they control were used, where the funds go each day, to whom, how much and how often. If the Fed was truly responsible for artificially propping up the stock market because of their undercover activities in the PPT, this will now be visible with the audit.
The “official” role of the Plunge Protection Team was to prevent another 1987 “Black Monday”. The PPT has the U.S. Treasury at its disposal, and can manipulate the stock markets through derivatives. Wikipedia defines derivatives as “a financial instrument – or more simply, an agreement between two people or two parties – that has a value determined by the price of something else (called the underlying).” Even as early as 2001, the Guardian announced that the Fed through derivatives was prepared to prop up Wall Street. “A secretive committee – the Working Group on Financial Markets, dubbed ‘the plunge protection team’ – includes bankers as well as representatives of the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the US Treasury. It is ready to co-ordinate intervention by the Federal Reserve on an unprecedented scale.”
Should there be evidence of panic selling, the fed supported by the banks, will buy equities from mutual funds, pension funds, and other institutional sellers.
The PPT used the U.S. Treasury assets to artificially increase the prices of commodities and stocks through derivative trading. Executive Order 12631 signed by Ronald Reagan gave the Fed the authority to establish a “Working Group” on Financial Matters. The “Working Group” consists of 1) the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 2) the Secretary of the Treasury ) 4) the Chairman of the Commodity Fuures Trading Commission 3) the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.This “Working Group” has lately been extended to include large brokerage firms such as Goldman Sachs.
In February, 2010, John Crudele of the New York Post, said “the PWG (President’s Working Group) could have encouraged the misconception that the stock market was a lot less risky than it really was. In that sense, the PWG would have been instrumental in inflating the stock bubble that burst in 2008, costing a lot of Americans their savings. The PWG operates in total secrecy. It’s been suspected that under Hank Paulson, the former chairman of Goldman Sachs who left the Treasury secretary post last year, Wall Street kingpins were brought into the circle. The reasoning: Market participants, as Paulson liked to call them, could best help fix problems. At the same time, they would be free to use these invaluable connections with the PWG for their benefit as well.”
Now for the first time ever, the Fed is going to be audited by the GAO and the Plunge Protection Team exposed. What will this mean to the stock market? Does it mean that for once the stock market will have to stand on its own, make it or not, without the artificial support of the Treasury and without their awareness, the US taxpayer. Former Federal Reserve Board member Robert Heller said that “Instead of flooding the entire economy with liquidity, and thereby increasing the danger of inflation, the Fed could support the stock market directly by buying market averages in the futures market (through derivatives), thereby stabilizing the market as a whole.”
The bank reform bill just passed by the Senate and House curtails usage of derivatives, the main tool used by the Fed and the PPT. “We are sending a clear message to Wall Street, the party is over. Never again will reckless behavior on the part of the few threaten the fiscal stability of our people,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “The legislation will finally protect Main Street from the worst of Wall Street.”
Could this be why the Fed strongly opposed the bank reform bill section that calls for Fed oversight?
Barbara Cohen has been a professional day trader for over 10 years. She has trained hundreds in trading Futures with Shadowtraders day trading systems. As the CIO, Barbara moderates Shadowtraders daily online trading chatroom. Before you purchase any trading software, make sure you attend Shadowtraders Monday Night Webinar, and hosted by Barbara Cohen
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There are many fees and commissions which are associated with buying travel money. You ought to be aware of them before exchanging or purchasing any foreign currency. It is not just exchange rates which will determine the amount of money you end up with for your vacation.
Exchange rates vary and depend on the country and the company you are purchasing the currency from. Sometimes rates can be in your favor as you will get more money for your dollar, but sometimes exchange rates can be low and you may get less money when you complete the transaction.
The various foreign exchange companies operate in different ways and you should try to ensure you have ample time for getting your currencies at the best rates. Those that wait to the final minute will end up being charged a very high rate at the airport. This is the worst place to buy or exchange currency. You ought to get your currency early and also make sure you travel with other forms of cash such as a credit or debit card.
Many places may not allow you to make payment on a card so you will need to have some cash close by. Normally the best place to get great exchange rates and lowest fees is from a bank. The rate at the bank is about 2.5% of all the money you are exchanging. Many times if you have an account with a partner bank then you may sometimes get a reduction on the exchange fee.
It’s a good idea to order your currency no less than seven days ahead because most banks do not carry every type of foreign money. Some of the highest fees you will expect to pay are upwards and above eight percent but even with companies in the airport pre ordering can dramatically lower this fee. Another very popular option is to use travellers checks for exchanging your cash though they are not as common as they once were many years ago.
Travellers checks are still to this day used widely because if something should happen and they become stolen or lost then they can easily be replaced. Just try to make sure you possess the serial numbers.
Additionally if you do use travellers checks then you can get a refund when you return from your vacation. This guaranteed insurance does mean that the check will cost greater than getting cash but it may be worth it.
By visiting ForexRate.Co.Uk you can keep up to date on current exchange rates. We feature live exchange rates and other currency converting tools.
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Gold has been used for making coins since coinage. In modern era, gold coins are also used as medium of investments. Their market value is much higher than their weight. Another advantage of gold coin is that it can be melted into ingots and can be made again.
In history books you will find the importance of gold. Egyptian people used gold coins as their main currency. After them, King Croesus of Lydia started them as his main currency for trade.
Gold remains a primary source of storing money. Its purity is measured in terms of carat. Like 24 carat means gold of almost 99.9% in purity. A lot of trading is done through buying and selling of gold coins.
One major factor that needs to be kept in mind while trading in gold coins is that when the currency value goes down, the gold prices shoot up. Some of the factors you must keep in mind while buying gold coins are:
* You should have a good knowledge of the various kinds of gold coins being bought, sold and collected. For example, there is the Standard bullion coins which have almost the same buying and selling price, the collectible coins on the other hand are sold at a much higher price than the actual price of gold in them and so on.
* The best option to buy gold coins is from the government because that is the only source where you can be sure of the purity, weight and the composition of the gold. A number of private sectors also sell gold coins but they are not that trust worthy.
Looking to find the best deal on buying gold coins, then visit goldupon.co.uk to find the best advice on buying gold coins for you.
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Over the last few years Metatrader 4 has become the number one trading platform for the independent trader. The fact that it’s very easy to install, very simple to use and completely customizable has gone a long way to keeping it as the most popular trading platform around.
However, it is because of the Metatrader indicators, which are so good that has made it popular. Mt4 indicators can be installed in no time at all and with such small files you can literally save thousands to your platform using limited memory. Metatrader 4 indicators can also be edited using the MetaEditor via the tool bar. This allows the indicator to be customized which may include, but not be limited to, changing display colours, indicator calculations and changing various parameters.
Because of this ease of modification there are now thousands of free ones that any forex trader can download and apply to charts. With such a huge growth in the number of free indicators available there is also a market for programmers who for a fee will program any indicator you need.
Popular indicators comprise of Rsi, Macd and Bollinger Bands. However, more complex metatrader indicators are now being created on a daily basis. Fisher Yur4ik, BB Squeeze, Hooya Bands and Shi Channel have all been customized into MQL language from other trading platforms.
All these can help an independent trader trading forex markets with more confidence than ever before. Using these tools will give you a visual aid that will give you an edge whether you are trading the Euro or the Yen. They can help you decide when to get into a trade, when to get out or, best of all, when not to trade at all.
Technical analysis can sometimes be as straight forward or as complicated as you choose to make it. Most trading commentary suggests keeping your visual aids as simple as you possibly can but there are some that suggest that trading profitably is not just a case of adding an Rsi indicator. They also suggest that you need a much more detailed approach to your trading and thus more detailed indicators. Whichever approach you take Mt4 gives you the flexibility to adapt your charts accordingly.
Downloading and installing your free metatrader indicators couldn’t be easier and as there are a vast number of forex brokers with free demo data there is no excuse not to use metatrader 4 indicators for your technical analysis.
On our website Great Trading Systems we have thousands of Metatrader Indicators available to download for free. You will also find Forex trading systems to use and test.
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