Police investigating death of Freddie Mac official...

Source: Mail.com

David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of mortgage giant Freddie Mac, was found dead at his home Wednesday morning in what police said was an apparent suicide.

Mary Ann Jennings, director of public information for the Fairfax County, Va., Police Department, said Kellermann was found dead in his Reston, Va., home. The 41-year-old Kellermann has been Freddie Mac's chief financial officer since September.

Jennings said that a crime scene crew and homicide detectives were investigating the death, but that there didn't appear to be any sign of foul play.

McLean-based Freddie Mac has been criticized heavily for reckless business practices that some argue contributed to the housing and financial crisis. Freddic Mac is a government-controlled company that owns or guarantees about 13 million home loans. CEO David Moffett resigned last month.

Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae, which together own or back more than half of the home mortgages in the country, have been hobbled by skyrocketing loan defaults and have received about $60 billion in combined federal aid.

Kellermann was named acting chief financial officer in September 2008, after the resignation of Anthony "Buddy" Piszel, who stepped down after the September 2008 government takeover. The chief financial officer is responsible for the company's financial controls, financial reporting and oversight of the company's budget and financial planning.

Before taking that job, Kellerman served as senior vice president, corporate controller and principal accounting officer. He was with Freddie Mac for more than 16 years.

Administration seeks to free frozen credit markets...

Source: Mail.com

AP - Monday, 23 March, 2009 10:21:38 PM
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

The Obama administration took a fresh shot at ending a national paralysis in lending Monday, teaming up with investors to buy bad bank assets and ease credit for hard-pressed consumers and businesses.

The program, announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was not the first such attempt by the new administration to revitalize an economy mired in recession.

Geithner pleaded for patience, saying work to rehabilitate the banking and financial industry has to go forward despite "deep anger and outrage" over bad lending and investment practices.

The newest initiative, he told reporters, will seek to harness government and private resources to purchase an initial half-trillion dollars of bad assets off the balance sheets of banks. And he held out the expectation that the program eventually could grow to $1 trillion

Wall Street seemed to feel rejuvenated, at least at the opening. In late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 221 at 7,500. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 23 at 792, and the Nasdaq composite index is up 42 at 1,500.

But the investor reaction to the administration's initial bank rescue program on Feb. 10 was anything but enthusiastic. Disappointed investors sent the Dow Jones down that day by a whopping 380 points.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration took a fresh shot at ending a national paralysis in lending Monday, teaming up with investors to buy bad bank assets and ease credit for hard-pressed consumers and businesses.

The program, announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was not the first such attempt by the new administration to revitalize an economy mired in recession.

Geithner pleaded for patience, saying work to rehabilitate the banking and financial industry has to go forward despite "deep anger and outrage" over bad lending and investment practices.

The newest initiative, he told reporters, will seek to harness government and private resources to purchase an initial half-trillion dollars of bad assets off the balance sheets of banks. And he held out the expectation that the program eventually could grow to $1 trillion in purchases.

Apology...

Hey everyone,

I apologise for not informing earlier that I will be on a trading holiday for this Month of March and April. Been busy and taking time out for R&R with my wife and family. With school holidays and everything, been spending a lot of time with my wife and family for BBQs and family quality time :)

With the time spent with my family, I also manage to have a little bit of time, putting things together for my nature of business to enhance benefits for the community.

Everything for this blog will resume as per normal once the month of April ends and a new month of May begins :) I still wish everyone a safe trading profits for the time to come :)

Peace and trade safely everyone...

Warmest Regards,
Ash Ariffin

Consumer spending rises in Jan, unlikely to last...

Source: Mail.com

Consumer spending rose in January after falling for a record six straight months, pushed higher by purchases of food and other nondurable items. But the increase is expected to be fleeting given all the problems facing the economy.

The Commerce Department said Monday that consumer spending rose 0.6 percent in January, even better than the 0.4 percent gain that economists expected.

Personal incomes rose 0.4 percent in January, partly reflecting the cost-of-living adjustments provided to millions of Social Security recipients. Still, that was better than the 0.2 percent decline economists expected.

The personal savings rate surged to 5 percent, the highest level since 1995 as consumers continued to sock away more of their incomes amid the deepening recession.

The 0.6 percent rise in spending followed a record six straight declines, including a 1 percent drop in December when retailers endured their worst holiday shopping season in at least four decades.

The January increase was driven by a sharp 1.3 percent rise in purchases of nondurable goods led by much higher spending on food. Durable goods posted a tiny 0.1 percent increase, as Americans again avoided spending on cars and other large items.

While the 0.6 percent increase in consumer spending was the largest since May, analysts do not expect the strength to continue amid a recession that's already the longest in a quarter-century.

The cutback in consumer spending has been a key factor making this recession so severe. The government reported last week that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, shrank at an annual rate of 6.2 percent in the final three months of 2008. That was the sharpest fall in about 26 years.

The economic weakness is keeping a lid on inflation. A price gauge tied to consumer spending showed a modest increase of 0.2 percent in January after three straight monthly declines that reflected sharp drops in energy costs. Excluding food and energy, the price gauge rose 0.1 percent in January and has risen only 1.6 percent in the last 12 months.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity, was falling at an annual rate of 4.3 percent during the fourth quarter, the biggest drop since the second quarter of 1980.

The 0.4 percent increase in personal incomes followed two months of declines and was somewhat surprising in light of the massive layoffs that have occurred this year. The country lost a net total of 598,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate jumped to a 16-year high of 7.6 percent.

However, January incomes got a boost from the cost-of-living adjustment made to Social Security benefits and a pay raise given to federal civilian and military workers.

The slump in consumer spending in recent months has been tough on many of the nation's retailers. Macy's Inc. last month said its fourth-quarter earnings fell almost 59 percent, while J.C. Penney Co. recorded a 51 percent drop in earnings and projected a wider first-quarter loss than analysts had expected.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, managed to buck the trend. The company reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter as it appeared to benefit from a wave of store liquidations at former competitors such as Circuit City Stores Inc.

My trades for February 2009...

Hello everyone,

These are my trades for February 2009. Click on it for the enlarge image.

Warmest Regards,
Ash Ariffin

My GBP/USD Trade (27-02-2009) --- Position Squared

*Click on the images for the enlarged version.

Trade Ticket time displayed is based on US Eastern Time

Ignore the red and blue arrows on the chart.
Those are not my trades done. It is just analysis purposes.

Hey everyone,

My trade on the GBP/USD (27-02-2009).

After how yesterday's price went, my 200ma and Weekly Pivot Point seems to be a strong resistance. I am looking into a little bit of selling today on this pair.

After price action broke the minor support of the morning movements,my MAs are down, Fast MACD is down and my Stochs are down. I placed an order to sell at the price line of 1.4250. My order was filled in like around 20mins at 3:45pm (Singapore Time).

Stop Loss at 1.4285 (35pips) and Target Profit at 1.4175 (75pips). Risk : Reward = 35 : 75 = 1 : 2.14. Why Target Profit at 1.4175? It seems like a good support for the last two days and it is just above today's Pivot S1.

Basically, I didn't look at my trade after I shifted my Stop Loss to entry price during the next hour. When I came back to see on my trade, my Target Profit has been executed at 4:49pm (Singapore Time).

75pips profit for this trade :)

Peace and trade safely everyone...

My USD/JPY Trade (24-02-2009) --- Update (Final)

*Click on the images for the enlarged version.

Trade Ticket time displayed is based on US Eastern Time



Ignore the red and blue arrows on the chart.
Those are not my trades done. It is just analysis purposes.

Hi everyone,

Update from my previous trade.

Link to my previous trade > Click Here.

The course of the price movements. I have since moved my Protective Stop to the price line of 96.60, securing 200pips of profit due to the movements of price today. It is consolidating with a formation that looks like a mini "Head and Shoulder". It is possible that market will go through some correction.

I have been stopped out with my Protective Stop executed at 7:07pm (Singapore Time) with 200pips profit.

Peace and trade safely everyone...