It seems likely markets have come to a conclusion that Europe may not be fixed?

Europe's main players are down, as are DOW Futures!
http://www.forexpros.com/indices/world-indices
http://www.forexpros.com/indices/us-30-futures-advanced-chart

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Dec 12^th, 2011 at 6:54am:


I have never seen anything but flush toilets; if you are old enough to remember using a thunderbox you should be wise enough to see through this financial Armageddon crap; you've probably been through 10-15 major financial crisis, each one worst than the last, and throughout all of them the same old crap gets spewed out; "It's different this time".

We'll innovate or we'll die; it really is that simple.

The most endearing part of this spam is it's contained to one post.

perceptions_now wrote on Dec 13^th, 2011 at 10:43am:


1. Demand will shift to other areas until all the old farts die off and the balance is restored. 
2. No shortage of Uranium or Coal, at least 2 centuries of coal fired power stations are a reality.  I don't subscribe to the peak oil BS and the ensuing cataclysmic failure of life as we know it.
3. Not sure of the solution here, but confident one will be found, or we'll descend into a global war on a scale never before experienced; and very unlikely to be experienced again 
4. Climate will continue to change until the earth gets extremely warm in about 5 billion years as a result of the catastrophic meltdown of the sun; we will adapt or well die; or sufficient % of the population will die out to the point we can sustain ourselves again. 

qikvtec wrote on Dec 13^th, 2011 at 3:05pm:


Yes, I have read many such articles! And Yes, I do look at more than one side!

However, this one is like many others, full of half truths, spin & mis-direction.



THE fact is that IF we were not currently at the Peak Oil plateau, predicted by Hubbert, then we would not have seen over 6 years of stagnating Global Oil Production, as shown in the above chart!

However, one thing I would agree on, from the article, is that Oil Prices are likely to fall for a shortish period, not because of any increasing Production from new deep water fields or elsewhere, but because the Global Economy will again head south, next year and with it Demand will slump.   

That said, once it becomes apparent that Oil Supply can not keep up, even with the lower Global Demand, which will flow from a slowing Global Economy, then Prices will start to rise again, but this time they won't stop! 

Btw, you should note that the start of the Oil Supply  fall/plateau, preceded the start of the current GFC, by over 2 years!  

qikvtec wrote on Dec 13^th, 2011 at 7:03pm:




How about 60-70 years?


Of course, Price follows the dictates of the Demand/Supply cycle, it did in the 1970's, the 1980's & is doing so again now.


BTW, I hope you enjoy your upcoming break!

U.S. stocks sink with euro, extending loss streak

U.S. stocks on Wednesday closed lower for a third straight day as Wall Street worried about the toll of Europe’s debt struggles on the global economy, with investors also unloading gold and the euro.

“It’s hard to be too optimistic right now because Europe looks like a mess,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial. Then, in the new year, investors will be faced with the U.S. presidential election, “which could be very contentious.”

Setting off the day’s hand-wringing over Europe, Italy’s borrowing costs rose to a euro-era record at a bond auction, and the euro EURUSD -0.41%  broke 11-month lows against the dollar.

Meetings of top European leaders last week also “were encouraging, but it seems over the past few months every time [they] meet, they overpromise and under deliver,” he said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -1.10%  fell 131.46 points, or 1.1%, to 11,823.48, with 23 of its 30 components on the decline, led by heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. CAT -0.21% , off 4.4%.

The euro EURUSD -0.41%  dropped under $1.30 for the first time in nearly a year and Italian borrowing costs rose to 6.47% at a $3.9 billion debt auction of 5-year bonds.

Investors were also reacting to central bank and political leader comments that have lowered the likelihood of more government stimulus soon.

“Right now, Germany has strongly indicated against European Central Bank money-printing, and that has led investors to take profits on what has been a tremendous gold rally” over the years, said Sheldon at RDM Financial.

Given “recent comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the ECB indicating a lack of new liquidity measures, investors see limited upside in gold over the near term.”

The end-of-year liquidation moves extended to oil, with crude futures for January delivery CL2F -5.15%   dropping $5.19, or 5.2%, to $94.95 a barrel.

Link -
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-indexes-down-with-europe-2011-12-14?si...
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As can be seen in the chart in the following link, the Euro is again trending down, against the US$.
http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/z?s=EURUSD%3dX&t=5y&q=&l=&z=l&a=v&p=s&lang=en-AU&...

Btw, Europe finished between 1.70-3.30% down, overnight.
http://www.forexpros.com/indices/world-indices

IMF’s Lagarde: Europe Crisis ‘Escalating’

The European debt crisis is growing to the point that it won’t be solved by one group of countries, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said today.

Lagarde said that if countries don’t work together, the world will face a situation similar to the 1930s, before the world slid into World War II.

“There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super- advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding, but escalating at a point where everybody would actually have to focus on what it can do,” Lagarde said.

If the international community doesn’t work together, “the risk from an economic point of view is that of retraction, rising protectionism, isolation,” Lagarde said. “This is exactly the description of what happened in the ‘30s and what followed is not something we are looking forward to.”

Lagarde said the world economic outlook “is quite gloomy” with pervasive downside risk, downward revisions, slower growth than expected, higher deficits than predicted and public finances in shaky condition. “And that is pretty much true the world over,” Lagarde said.

The one exception, she said, is emerging markets and the Asian economies most badly hit during the 1990s economic crisis. They, too, will have to help manage the current crisis if the world is to weather the risk, she said. Leadership has to rest with Europe, she said.
Crisis Core

“It’s going to have to start from the core of the crisis at the moment, which is obviously the European countries and in particular the countries of the eurozone, which are sharing this monetary union,” Lagarde said.

She described the eurozone, the countries that use the euro, as a “monetary union which has not been properly been completed by an economic and fiscal union, which is currently in the works.”

As Europe’s leaders work to resolve their “monumental” challenges, the impatience of financial markets is a problem, she said.

“It would be lovely from a market perspective if it was not just ‘currently’ but immediately, a signed, sealed, delivered done-deal overnight,” Lagarde said. “Unfortunately, those of you who have the privilege of belonging to democracies know things do not happen in that way, things take time.”
‘Fiscal Solidarity’

Lagarde said international support would probably be channeled through the IMF for “organizing a collective financial responsibility, a fiscal solidarity and that element of risk-sharing that is expected, pretty much, around the globe.”

Lagarde spoke at the State Department, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had invited her to address an event to promote greater involvement of women in public policy.

The leadership skills that are needed to face this crisis are ones that management consultants such as McKinsey & Co Inc. have found women possess in abundance, Lagarde said.

“Because it’s a question of courage or actually facing the issues, not being in denial, accepting the truth, accepting the reality and then dealing with it,” Lagarde said. “And frankly, from my previous life either in the private sector, or as minister of finance, or in my current position, it’s a set of skills that women excel at.”

Link -
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-15/imf-s-lagarde-says-escalating-european-...
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qikvtec wrote on Dec 16^th, 2011 at 12:15pm:


Well, it could be my ESP bubbling to the surface OR I could have just read your Christams post?

Sorry, you will just have to look at the Price & Production chart, for some educated guidance.

But, there is a huge amount of info available, you could try the following site, as Energy issues are their specialty -
http://www.theoildrum.com/