Succinctly summarizing the positive and negative news, data, and market events of the week...
Positives
- Spanish spreads ignore reality, continue to compress
- March new home sales beat expectations (average prices plunge)
- Apple to 'return' billions to shareholders (and continue to avoid paying taxes)
- UK avoided a triple dip recession (for now)
- Gold begins to retrace its ugly plunge
- BTFD! Central banks admit they're purchasing stocks– quite bullish for those trading on momentum & pretending it's fundamentals
- Initial Jobless Claims beats expectations
- Oil surges most in five months
- EuroStoxx 600 surging (your textbook 'all news is good news' market hypothesis)
- SBUX hits Q2 estimates, (lowers Q3 guidance)
- UMich Consumer Sentiment beats expectations (but dropped and languishes at the same level as a year ago)
Negatives
- Chinese & German PMI's disappoint
- US Mint halts sales of gold bullion, as surging demand depletes inventory (negative for those who pretend paper gold is the same as physical)
- The tweet heard 'round the world -- See one tweet make market liquidity completely disappear
- US business cycle index plunges most in 22 months, equities ignore
- There's a slideshow for that: CNBC viewership surgesplunges to eight year lows
- Unpossible: Countries ramp up fx reserve diversification (away from the USD)
- March durable goods numbers are hideous, equities love it
- Europe’s bank lending plummets
- Bundesbank rejects OMT (potentially ruining Draghi’s ESM party)
- The ‘fringe’ would like to know: What's happening with JP Morgan's gold?
- Syrian chemical weapons – ‘incursion’ imminent?
- Spain worst unemployment ever, slashes growth forecast and will miss deficit target
- US GDP misses expectations
Additional
- YTD Hedge Fund performance update
- A visual history of asset bubbles
- Corzine finally named in lawsuit regarding firm's collapse
- 220 years of treasury yields
- Surprise: Congress is trying to exempt themselves from Obamacare
- Do not panic: CBOE goes offline for a while
(h/t @ZH_Crown)