Greece

by Larry Levin


Today's trade was all about Greece. Will it stop its profligate spending? Will its citizens accept the austerity programs needed to keep from defaulting on its sovereign debt? Will they revolt? Luckily none of that will matter because the European central bankers said it would bailout Greece. Yes sir, another major problem fixed the way you do at home: just sweep it under the rug.

OK, OK, so you don't do that sort of thing but central bankers and politicians of all flavors do.

The markets gapped open higher this morning because it was believed a bailout of Greece was imminent. When buyers couldn't take the market up right after the open, a bit of selling slammed the bid into a support level. Then, like a bird taking flight, the market flew into the air: the bailout was coming, the bailout was coming! Pfheeew, avoided reality AGAIN? said the market.

With such good news in place, the banksters lifted every offer in site, en masse, in every market from ETFs to futures. The joy, the rapture, was hard to contain. The Dow soared more than +200 points because another deadbeat won't have to pay the piper.

Shortly after the bird soared from its nest, however, it came crashing back to terra firma (sort of) as the bird-flu took hold of our winged friend: the news of the bailout was nothing more than a rumor. The money to back the Greek bailout was said to be coming from Germany, and the Germans said "What the hell are you talking about? We didn't approve a bailout!"

Not to worry though folks, you can bet your bottom dollar that the fellas on Fraud Street weren't about to let a massive rally fade away to nothing, at least not immediately. After a sharp but very short lived pullback occurred because of the German rebuttal, the market simply stopped trading. The Dow closed up +150 points on the day.

Said another way, Fraud Street kept the gains based on a known FALSE rumor and then...wait for it....wait for it...I G N O R E D the real news. It boggles the mind from time to time.



Previous Day's Trading Room Results:

Trade Date: 2/9/10

E-Mini S&P Trades*
(before fees and commissions):

1) No Secret trades filled today.

2) Algorithm positions (16)

3) Reading the Tape positions (16) combined Secret's, Algo, & Reading the Tape total +17.50



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