Business

Morning Market Movers: Watch These 4 Things Today (Hint: More Quantitative Easing?)

Keep your eye on the following as the day moves forward:

The Fed & Bond Buying:

Morning Market Movers: Watch These 4 Things Today

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The Fed is expected to announce a revamped bond-buying plan at the conclusion of their second day of discussions on Wednesday. The Fed’s policy statement will be followed by the release of a revised economic outlook and a news conference with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The expectation is that the Fed will unveil a program Wednesday to buy $45 billion a month in long-term Treasurys. That would replace an expiring program called Operation Twist. With Twist, the Fed sold $45 billion a month in short-term Treasurys and used the proceeds to buy the same amount in longer-term Treasurys.

The new bond-purchase plan would join a program announced in September (“QE eternity”). Under that program, the Fed is buying $40 billion a month in mortgage bonds to try to force already record-low home-loan rates lower in a bid to encourage home buying. The total Fed bond purchases from the two programs would remain $85 billion.

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations:

Morning Market Movers: Watch These 4 Things Today

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Little progress is being reported in talks on averting automatic spending cuts and tax increases that economists fear could send the U.S. economy off a “fiscal cliff.”

House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama spoke on the phone Tuesday, a day after the president offered to reduce his initial demand for $1.6 trillion in higher tax revenue over a decade to $1.4 trillion. But Obama continued to insist that much of the revenue come from raising top tax rates on the wealthy.

Boehner countered later Tuesday with another offer that aides to the Ohio Republican said stuck close to a document delivered to the White House a week ago.

As of this writing, neither side is budging. Expect this to weight further on markets.

OPEC:

Morning Market Movers: Watch These 4 Things Today

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OPEC oil ministers have agreed to maintain their present oil output ceiling, signaling satisfaction with prices. But they have again failed to elect a new secretary general because of rivalries between Saudi Arabia and arch-rival Iran.

An OPEC statement said the ministers agreed to aim at producing 30 million barrels a day. In fact, the 12-nation organization is overproducing by more than 1 million barrels daily.

The statement also said the ministers agreed Wednesday to extend Abdullah Al-Badry’s term as OPEC’s secretary general for another year.

Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq had vied for the post, the public face of OPEC between ministerial meetings. But the rivalries between the Saudis and Iran canceled each other out, while Iraq was viewed by some ministers as pursuing its own agenda instead of OPEC’s.

Honda:

Morning Market Movers: Watch These 4 Things Today

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Honda is recalling more than 870,000 minivans and SUVs worldwide because they can roll away even though drivers have removed the keys from the ignition.

The recall announced Wednesday affects older-model vehicles sold mainly in the United States. They were big sellers with families because of their ample space and reputation for quality. Problems with the ignition switches have plagued Honda for years. It has recalled nearly 2.3 million vehicles for the problem since 2003.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Comments (10)

  • elvisroy0000
    Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:00am

    Barrys world sucks but i am more concerned with how many idiots elected him we are in Trouble
    Merry Christmas http://yahooroyschapel.blogspot.com/

    Report this comment

    elvisroy0000  
  • BehindBlueEyes
    Posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:58am

    At some point inflation is going to kick in big time. Inflation is an insidious tax on everything. I’m sure the prez is working on a new formula for calculating the inflation rate.

    Report this comment

    BehindBlueEyes  
    • Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
      Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:20am

      Inflation kicks in when we can’t export it anymore. Let me rephrase that. We already have pretty hefty inflation. HYPERINFLATION kicks in when we can’t export it. The lack of demand in US debt is a trigger that must be watched as is the change in the petro-dollar status. At that point, we buy commodities with inflated dollars and pay debts with inflated dollars and the ball gets rolling as interest rates creep up and the cost to service the national debt explodes. The end game happens out of the blue. There will be no warning unless you count now as a warning.

      Report this comment

      Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve  
    • hauschild
      Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:21am

      You’re probably right, but the problem is that we continue to trumpet this line to the “lemmings”, and they don’t see it occurring either, so they continue on with their daily lives with nary a care in the world.

      I see it in a different product every day. Seems like every time I shop and browse upon an item of interest, I am immediately taken aback and exclaim to myself, “Who in their right mind would pay such-n-such for that?!?!?” But, obviously, people are and couldn’t care less. Costs more? No problem, just get Daddy Warbucks (taxpayer) to dole out more “free” money.

      Report this comment

      hauschild  
  • CALLMEMSGT
    Posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:39am

    If anyone believes printing more money does not cause inflation, try this. Run up to Wally World and buy a Monopoly game. Start everyone off with $5,000.00 dollars instead of $1500.00. Watch what happens when more currency is thrown into the system. Don’t expect to buy railroads for $200.00 dollars if they gp up for auction.

    Report this comment

    CALLMEMSGT  
  • benrush
    Posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:29am

    Hello, my fellow Americans. Why do we allow monopolists to dictate the terms of our funny money to us?

    Report this comment

    benrush  
  • Cavallo
    Posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:10am

    MORE QE?!!!?!!! Does this crap EVER work? So MORE devaluation after QE 1 2 3 … Then fiscal cliff.. (which they will come up with a can kicking BS move at the last minute).

    Report this comment

    Cavallo  
    • hauschild
      Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:22am

      It seems to work wonders for the stock market.

      Report this comment

      hauschild  
    • hauschild
      Posted on December 12, 2012 at 11:23am

      Which is ironic considering you then think your nest egg is increasing in value when long-term-wise it is probably not even keeping pace with inflation, which would be caused by the very same thing that is supposedly aiding your nest egg.

      Report this comment

      hauschild  
  • DZ-015
    Posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:08am

    How about watching gold and silver prices?

    Report this comment

    DZ-015  

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