THE O-MAN's blog

 Today CIBC global markets are predicting $7 oil by 2012. 

For a more in depth look take a look at the headlines on Bloomberg.com, they do a decent job giving you a brief overview and always check out John Crudele's jobs article in the NY Post.

The economy lost 80k (Street est. was 50k) jobs and unemployment rose to 5.1 percent. Factory payrolls contracted by 48k jobs (st estimate was 35k).

Hugo Chavez is threatening to cut the supply of oil to the U.S.

87.05 WTI crude = 51.05 on the (OIL) ETF. There is talk
of $80 oil on Bloomberg, but I doubt that we will see $80 oil anytime soon. Inventories doubled what they were expected to be and oil is only down 1.49% from yesterday.

I went to Syracuse University. SU's Whitman School of Management may be one of the schools that has tried to give their students a more real world like experience that will prepare them for the business world, but they fall short in one key area and that teaching their kids why markets move from ground level perspective. Now I only have business minor from SU so maybe someone who has major from Whitman can shed more light on my following gripe.

Many of (Merrill’s) assets are marked at or close to
their interest-only valuation levels which limits the amount to which they
could realistically be written down further. We (Lehman) do not anticipate
significant charges going forward, but there may be some. "

Are we close to the bottom on Merrill.

This is truly amazing product.

"The problem of malnutrition has often been addressed by nutritious powdered milk formulas called F-75 and F-100. These have to be prepared in hygienic conditions with clean water and once prepared must be chilled to prevent spoilage. This entails their being distributed in medically staffed feeding stations. Plumpy’nut costs about the same as the milk powders but is easier to transport in bulk and takes up less space (wikipedia)"

Ship Finance International Limited (Ship Finance) is a shipping company that is engaged primarily in the ownership and operation of vessels and offshore related assets. The Company is also involved in the charter, purchase and sale of assets. Ship Finance operates through subsidiaries and partnerships located in Bermuda, Cyprus,Isle of Man, Liberia,Norway, Delaware and Singapore.

UCLA Anderson Forecast Unit says a recession is on the horizon! They noted that see 1% GDP growth in the forth quarter next yr and in the first quarter of 08'
According to Merrill Lynch Economist David Rosenburg the current supply-demand balance in the crude market means that the home heating bill this winter is going to be more than 10% higher than it was last year. This is not good news for consumer spending. Furthermore Rosenburg notes
Also see "Liquidity now" article in the WSJ why the FED must cut rates!