Treasury Secretary

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner were on Capital Hill today being drilled by the House Financial Services Committee about the AIG bonuses. New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported that fifteen people from AIG's Financial Products division are returning more than $50 million. Nearly half of the total $165 million was given to Americans but, Cuomo said that some non-Americans, who reside outside Cuomo's jurisdiction, gave their bonuses back anyway. "The close to $200 million in bonuses paid out to AIG's employees was merely last week's TARP outrage of the week," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. "The outrage, however, pales in comparison to the outrage that taxpayers have now seen four different bailouts with no apparent end in sight." Members of the Committee had no problem voicing their anger over the handling of the bonuses. "When non-bank major financial institutions need to be put out of their misery, we need to give somebody the authority to do what the FDIC can do with banks," said Frank. "It is giving somebody a form of the bankruptcy power given under the Constitution. It allows us to avoid the choice of all or nothing,  nothing in the case of Lehman Brothers, all in the case AIG equally unacceptable alternatives." "It is very important through a mix of law and regulation to bring these markets under an oversight framework," Geithner said. "But we need to get the world to move with us: There is a risk that capital will shift out of the United States otherwise." "My reaction upon becoming aware of these specific payments was that it was highly inappropriate to pay substantial bonuses to employees of the division that had been the primary source of AIG's collapse," Bernanke said. "[But] legal action could have [had] the perverse effect of doubling or tripling the financial benefits to the AIG-FP employees." "I think it's deeply unfair [to suggest employees] were making judgments that were in their view were not in the best interest in the American people," Geithner said. Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., complained that he could not get a yes or no answer to his question: Did AIG bailout money prop up retirement plans at firms that did business with AIG, even as the American public has lost 40% on their investments because of the financial crisis? The response from Bernanke, "That's because it's a poorly posed question," Bernanke said. "Had we not intervened, they would have lost 70%."

After yesterdays trading session surge, profit taking for today was inevitable. At the closing bell, the DOW posted a triple digit loss but not a total reversal for yesterdays gains. The major U.S. indices held mostly in negative territory throughout the sluggish trading day today.

U.S. International Reserve Position:
The Treasury Department released U.S. reserve assets data for the latest week, as of today. As indicated in this table, U.S. reserve assets totaled $76,353 million as of the end of that week, compared to $74,132 million as of the end of the prior week.

Richmond Fed report today:
March Manufacturing Index fell by20 versus February drop by 51; March Mfg Shipments Index fell by 15 versus February drop by 56; March Services Revenues Index fell by 28 versus February drop by 28; March Retail Revenues Index fell by 26 versus February drop by 32.

NY Fed announced they are buying Treasury's March 30, April 1, April 2; also buying Treasury's March 30, April 1, April 2; buying Feb 29, 2016 to Feb 15, 2019 Treasury's Wednesday; to buy Treasury's Wednesday, settles Thursday; buying March 31, 2011 to Apr 30, 2012 Treasury's on Friday.

Economic data released today:

State Street Investor Confidence Index:
State Street's global investor confidence index for March fell 2.7 points to 70.0 with revision for February at 72.7. The report warns that investors must hedge against the risk of a sudden switch from hoarding cash to dishoarding cash as a result of economic improvement and of stimulus efforts: "Institutions seem to appreciate this and are moving to a less defensive risk stance."

At the NYSE closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, here is how the major world indices and major U.S. stock indices ended the trading session on the world markets as well as the emerging markets including the stock market closing bell price:
DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) triple digit loss of 115.57 points to end the trading session at 7,660.29
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) triple digit loss of 121.53 points to end the trading session at 5,064.33
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) loss of 38.02 points to end the trading session at 1,517.75
S&P 500 (SPX) loss of 16.67 points to end the trading session at 806.25
BEL 20 (BEL20) loss of 4.73 points to end the trading session at 1,749.29
CAC 40 (CAC40) loss of 4.82 points to end the trading session at 2,874.39
FTSE100 (UKX100) loss of 41.35 points to end the trading session at 3,911.46
NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) triple digit gain of 272.77 points to end the trading session at 8,488.30

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 705, declined stock prices 1,982, unchanged stock prices 506, stock prices hitting new highs 9 and stock prices hitting new lows 7. NYSE quotes for volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the New York Stock Exchange stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) stock price shed 1.77 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $134.61, low on the trading session $124.71, with a closing stock price at $131.02; Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) stock price shed 1.51 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $115.65, low on the trading session $109.34 with a closing stock price at $110.42; ProShares Ultrashort Financials (NYSE: SKF) stock price gained 8.47 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $99.98, low on the trading session $88.91, with a closing stock price at $99.10; CME Group (NYSE: CME) stock price shed 26.43 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $258.88, low on the trading session $237.01, with a closing stock price at $238.00.

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 833, declined stock prices 1,910, unchanged stock prices 132, stock prices hitting new highs 15 and stock prices hitting new lows 18. NASDAQ quotes, volatile stocks and market trends, as well as stock quotes, stock prices and stock symbols of Day Trading Stock Picks on the NASDAQ stock market for Day Trading online and active Day Trading for those who are or would like to be Day Trading for a living: Hub Group (NasdaqGS: HUBG) stock price shed 2.13 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $16.74, low on the trading session $14.63, with a closing stock price at $16.04; First Solar (NasdaqGS: FSLR) stock price shed 2.02 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $133.92, low on the trading session $128.02, with a closing stock price at $129.00; Baidu.com (NasdaqGS: BIDU) stock price gained 5.54 points on the trading session, high on the trading session $197.69, low on the trading session $184.46, with a closing stock price at $188.14.

Market trends on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and stock market indicators for the trading session today:
Advanced stock prices 251, declined stock prices 289, unchanged stock prices 104, stock prices hitting new highs 5 and stock prices hitting new lows 6.

Chicago Board of Trade Futures Market for the day, at time of this posting:
E-mini S&P 500 (ES) June 09: End of trading session price 803.75; Change for the trading session -13.50
E-mini NASDAQ-100 (NQ) June 09: End of trading session price 1,235.25; Change for the trading session -16.75
E-mini DOW $5 (YM) June 09: End of trading session price 7,617; Change for the trading session -95
E-mini S&P MidCap 400 (MF) June 09: End of trading session price 485.80; Change for the trading session -8.30

World Currencies for the Forex Market, for Forex Trading by active Forex Traders, at time of this posting:
Euro 0.7429 to U.S. Dollars 1.3460
Japanese Yen 97.73 to U.S. Dollars 0.0102
British Pound 0.6820 to U.S. Dollars 1.4663
Canadian Dollar 1.2309 to U.S. Dollars 0.8124
Swiss Franc 1.1311 to U.S. Dollars 0.8841

COMMODITY MARKETS:

Energy Sector - Nymex:
Light Crude (May 09) gained $0.18 on the trading session for a closing price of $53.98 per barrel ($US per barrel)
Heating Oil (May 09) gained $0.03 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.50 a gallon ($US per gallon)
Natural Gas (May 09) gained $0.06 on the trading session for a closing price of $4.43 per million BTU ($US per mmbtu.)
Unleaded Gas (April 09) gained $0.01 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.50 a gallon ($US per gallon) 

Metals Markets - Comex:
Gold (April 09) shed $28.70 on the trading session for a closing price of $923.80 ($US per Troy ounce)
Silver (May 09) shed $0.50 on the trading session for a closing price of $13.38 ($US per Troy ounce)
Platinum (July 09) shed $25.20 on the trading session for a closing price of $1,122.70 ($US per Troy ounce)
Copper (May 09) shed $0.04 on the trading session for a closing price of $1.81 ($US per pound) 

Livestock and Meat Markets - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (cents per lb.):
Lean Hogs (June 09) gained 0.53 on the trading session for a closing price of 73.15
Pork Bellies (May 09) no change on the trading session for a closing price of 88.50
Live Cattle (June 09) shed 0.03 on the trading session for a closing price of 83.38
Feeder Cattle (May 09) gained 0.80 on the trading session for a closing price of 96.85 

Other Commodities - Chicago Board of Trade (cents per bushel):
Corn (May 09) shed 1.75 on the trading session for a closing price of 393.75
Soybeans (May 09) gained 11.50 on the trading session for a closing price of 967.00

BOND MARKET:
2 year Bond Closing price 99 29/32, change -1/32, Yield 0.91, Yield change 0.02
5 year Bond closing price of 100 23/32, change -5/32, Yield 1.72, Yield change 0.04
10 year Bond closing price 100 16/32, change -8/32, Yield 2.69, Yield change 0.03
30 year Bond closing price 98 3/32, change 1 21/32, Yield 3.60, Yield change -0.06

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