“Analysts welcomed the move but said it had already been priced in and the outlook remains grim.” (Reuters)
This has all the grace of a blind dog running head first, full speed, into a brick wall. Sure Bernanke, you say there’s a treat on the other side, but we both know there isn’t. We’re floating dollar liquidity in concert with the IMF to the EMs until April 30th, and there’s a 600B Mortgage Billthat might be coming to the table in an exercise of insanity worthy of worship. But, at least this has nothing to do with fear or emotion, it’s completely logical.
Economic Fundamentals set the stage for Oilrebound (Bloomberg)
The question wasn’t ever whether Oil would rebound, but rather how long the illiquidity issue would keep it depressed.
Trading Markets provides the information to get on to the Exxon call this morning.
It’s (almost) always a good thing to beat the Street’s expectations. (WSJ)
Deutsche Bank beat expectations this year in spite of posting a 73% fallback this quarter “as results were boosted by a reclassification of assets under new European Union accounting rules and a tax benefit”.
Empire of the Sun. (BBC)
The Nikkei pushed ahead nearly ten percent (9.96%) last night in the third day of gains posted by the Japanese exchange. US liquidity injections into the EMs, the rate cute, the projected rate cut by the BOJ, and a 5 trillion yen stimulus package that includes highway toll (seriously?) cuts were listed as the primary culprits in the “rebound”.
FTSE 100 relatively flat overnight. (FT)
Promising indicators as to what Exxon might say came out of Shell, as they reported earnings overnight (71% rise in Q3 profits). The British banks are calling for rate cuts similar to those seen in the United States yesterday, and optimism about the move appears to be crutching the market, for now.
Best and brightest future of Government number crunching? (Reuters/Trading Places)
I’m torn between crying and laughing here:

“Yet another sign of tough times on Wall Street, dejected financial professionals were among those lined up yesterday for a shot to work for none other than the IRS, the New York Times reports.”

Economically today we’ve got the Q3 advanced GDP coming our way at 8:30, with the 3/6 month Bill announcements coming shortly thereafter. The EIA Natural Gas report should be out just in time to spike volatility in the energy sector (assuming it hasn’t been fully priced into the market) before Exxon reports. (Bloomberg)
–William Richards