Interesting

BP Attempts 'Junk Shot' to Stop Flow From Gulf Well - WSJ.com. Nothing seems to be working. I hear if today's attempts fail, Obama will order the Navy to do anything they can to stop the flow. Hope they don't nuke it!

Vincent Fernando: The World's Leading, Leading Indicator Just Reversed (FXA). According to Morgan Stanley, the "Australian dollar has a fairly close relationship with the OECD leading indicator, and it seems to lead it on many occasions as Exhibit 14 shows."

Lumber Plunges to Lowest Price Since December on Slack Demand - BusinessWeek. "Prices on the CME are down 33 percent since reaching a four-year high on April 21 as demand evaporated." In my opinion, lumber is a more reliable leading indicator, at least for the US economy.

Calculated Risk: Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims at 460,000. "the 4-week average has been moving sideways for almost five months"

Icelandic volcano Katla, near neighbor of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, but much bigger, appears to be getting ready to erupt.

netofernandez7: "Foto no avião com a modelo @YngredPriscilla" (Photo on the plane with the model @YngredPriscilla)

Habitforge - Forge new habits. "It takes 21 days to form a habit. You provide a Goal and Desire, and we'll send you a customized daily email asking how you did. Simply click "yes" or "no" daily. Succeed for 21 days, and the new action will be easier than ever."

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Funny

"One oil rig goes down and we're going to be rolling in dough. Suck it, fishies and birdies!" - Trader Fabrice "Fabulous Fab" Tourre of Goldman Sachs, bragging in an email about the huge potential of Goldman's "big short" on TransOcean (RIG), placed days before the oil spill.

New BP logo

One of the men arrested in the cow beating incident at an Ohio dairy farm has asked to be released from jail so he can take a police officer's examination!

Game in Polish secondary school gets five girls pregnant. 'Students, aged 14-15, played a game called “the sun” or “a star”. “Girls lay on the floor in a circle with their heads together and eyes closed and boys copulate with them, taking turns. The winner was the boy who managed to finish the intercourse last,” one of the students revealed.'

Iran's Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Bans “Laughing out Loud”

BEAT IT WITH A REAL JO-BRO - m4m - 38 (Philly)

YoungPlatinum: "Wtf yall niggas saying Young Platinum broke check me bitch! Got a stack in my hand"

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Trading notes

Short term bottom in, but rally won't be "satisfying or long lasting". John Roque says Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Monsanto, Mosaic, Freeport-McMoran and copper prices have been leading the market for the last couple years, but now they are weaker. Roque also points to the percent of NYSE stocks trading above their 200-day moving averages. As of Wednesday 45% of NYSE stocks were above their 200-day MAs. "That number needs to decline below the 35% threshold," a level that has been a strong indicator of oversold conditions for the last 30 years. "It can get much lower, but at least at 35%, you'd say to yourself most of the damage has been done."

Bearish sentiment highest since November: AAII - MarketWatch. Bearish investors rose to 50.9% , up 17.2 percentage points.

CrossingWallStreet.com: May 27, 2010 The Calendar Says Buy. "From May 25 to June 12, the Dow has gained an average of 1.27%.

Kevin's Market Blog: The Stock Market's Amazing 3 1/2 Month Cycle. "Every 3 or 4 months, the stock market has a very strong tendency to put in a bottom from which rallies have taken place. As you can see in the above chart, this cycle is due around now and in my opinion it appears that this cycle low is in place."

Stocks Can Fall Further - Getting Technical - M. Kahn - Barrons.com. "Combine the seasonal, nine-month and four-year cycles and we can make a compelling case for market weakness all summer long."

Yesterday, for the first time in more than a year, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) appeared on my screen of dividend aristocrats yielding more than 3.5%. The global equity malaise wasn't enough by itself to shoot down one of the bluest of blue chip stocks. It also took a direct attack on the company by the US government to provoke a 10% correction. When the witch hunt has run its course, though, there will be a major buying opportunity for astute investors.
FDA considers "additional enforcement actions" that might include criminal penalties against the Johnson & Johnson unit that makes Tylenol.
Also, FDA probes hundreds of problems with J&J medicines, including 30 deaths.

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