February 12, 2012, Bob Brinker's Moneytalk Show Summary, Excerpts, Commentary and Discussion

February 12, 2012............................................................(comments welcome)


Bob Brinker took this week off from the show.  Lynn Jimenez was the substitute host. Lynn is an excellent business reporter.

Lynn Jimenez said: "When I'm not here, I'm business reporter for KGO San Francisco and author of  ¿Se Habla Dinero? The Everyday Guide to Financial Success (English and Spanish Edition)."

 STOCK MARKET..... Lynn said: "The market snapped a five-week rally.....the longest one since the beginning of last year -- "Deja vu......If you believe in this sort of thing, then the right team won the Super Bowl for investors....If a National Conference Team wins the Super Bowl, stocks are supposed to rise for the year.....And if you subscribe to the theory as January goes, so goes the market, January was good to investors as well. The market ended with a 4.7% gain last month, and that's predicted the direction of the market 73% of the time....So we have reason to hope this year." 

 Honey EC: Wow! Lynn must never listen to Bob Brinker's Moneytalk. He said it was the first five days of the year that were the indicator and then he  pooh-pooh the bromide on January 15th. Mark Hulbert, in a Marketwatch article,  called it an "old wives' tale." 

EARNING DOING WELL.....Lynn said: "About 68% of firms reporting earnings so far have topped profit targets." 

 TREASURY YIELDS....Lynn said: "As stocks fled to safety, in other words, traders sold them and moved into bonds, yields on those fell. Not good for savers, as you know, but it is helping  to keep mortgage rates at or near record lows." 

 GOLD.....Lynn said: "Gold dipped  $15.90 to 1725.30." 

 OIL PRICE AND PRODUCTION: Lynn said: "Crude oil fell $1.17 to $98.67 a barrel. Still close to a hundred bucks a barrel even though we have ample supply in the U.S. Even though demand for gasoline is lower.....Prices are being kept abnormally high by Iran's threat. It says it will close the main gate, the Hormuz Strait from most of Middle East oil shipments. On top of that, overseas demand for diesel is up. So our refiners our exporting a lot of that, and a lot of gasoline overseas. And that's keeping our prices higher. The falling demand for gasoline here is also prompting refiners to close down to keep prices elevated. And if you have filled your car up lately, you know that gasoline is expensive -- most expensive January ever....So as we move forward toward Memorial day, that mean it could top four  bucks, moving into $5 a gallon out west this spring." 

 JOBS....Lynn said:  "We got more positive numbers on jobs. That seems to be helping other parts of the economy....I don't want anyone to make a mistake and think job growth is blasting forward. It's not -- it's still slow...."

CHINESE LABOR COSTS GOING UP.....Lynn said: "China's government is promising to raise minimum wages there by 13% a year through 2015 and generate 45 million new jobs. And of course, you and I as consumers,  will be footing much of the bill for that, won't we?"


HOUSING MARKET....Lynn said: "Applications to refinance homes shot higher, up 9.4%. To buy, barely budged, just a tenth. Even the National Association of Home Builders is forecasting an improvement in the housing market. Of  course, improvement when you are talking about the housing market is all relative. We have to look up to see bottom right now."

Honey EC: Again, Lynn shows she doesn't listen to Bob Brinker.  Over the last several weekends,  Brinker has stated that the housing market is in the process of bottoming. 

BUDGET DEFICIT...Lynn said: "The budget deficit fell last month compared to last January -- down to 27 billion from 50 billion. Partly, accounting changes, but also, tax reciepts are up. The deficit will still top a trillion dollars though."

INFLATION: Holding at 2.4%. 

FACEBOOK GOING PUBLIC...Lynn said: "This coming week, Facebook may sell some of itself to the public. Are you going to buy in? I'd like to know that at 1-800-934-2221. The shares may be priced at $29.73 each. They could go up to 40 bucks each.

Honey EC: I never heard anyone call about Facebook today. 

"PIGGISH CEO'S: One of the topics that Lynn threw out to callers was how "piggish" CEO's get millions in bonuses even when  firms goes bankrupt on their watch.

MORTGAGE FRAUD SETTLEMENT:  Another topic Lynn threw out to callers: The so-called Mortgage Fraud Settlement -- there are five banks involved:  Bank of America, Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, Citibank and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC)

Honey EC: There is more to the Mortgage Fraud Settlement  than casually meets the eye and certainly a lot of questions come to my mind. Here are a couple of articles about it: The Washington Post -- Los Angeles Times.

Comedy line for the Day:  Lynn excitedly said: "Barbara Gibson is going to clean up your Facebook page, plan your good-bye party and make sure your trivet collection stays in one place."  

Lynn did a short interview with Barbara Gibson and gave out her website. There were several callers who said it sounded like fun. Barbara and Lynn seemed to agree. So if you want to have fun making sure that your "last wishes" are fulfilled, here is the website: lastwishesplan.com.
 
Lynn's third hour guest was William Cohan. He was Bob Brinker's guest April 24, 2011: Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World   [MONEY & POWER] [Hardcover]

KSFO 560 carries free Moneytalk on Demand. So if you missed the program, or want to hear the guest speaker, you can download it anytime over the next seven days. 

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