Brainstorming Tuesday

1. We have as expected the New Moon positive effect which should hold on for a few days as Venus has entered Libra (its own sign which is positive for money) and heading for a positive angle to Jupiter. Right now Mercury is in that positive angle delivering a positive spin.
The big problem on the other hand is that saturn is getting closer to its exact square with Pluto every day which will at some point shake the markets aggressively. So do not get carried away this journey will have an ugly end. Today if its real value the ISE shows extreme numbers with Call Put Ration in the 40s which is extreme and would mark ironically a sell out low but as the real low was marked by a 220 (which rather earmarks extreme tops) it may indicate that smart money is rushing for the exit.

2. Second one from zerohedge without comment

Excerpt

.... at a time when Goldman's Board of Directors was in Moscow for a meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, then Treasury Secretary Paulson decided to invite the entire BOD to his hotel suite in a meeting that would be "off the record" as it was considered a social event. Among the events discussed were: economic forecasts, the prospects of banks blowing up (like Lehman), as well as previews of his upcoming speech. How this occurred in an uncalendarized meeting where there was material disclosure, boggles the mind.

From Sorkin (via Felix Salmon):

When Paulson learned that Goldman’s board would be in Moscow at the same time as him, he had [Treasury chief of staff] Jim Wilkinson organize a meeting with them. Nothing formal, purely social — for old times’ sake.

For fuck’s sake! Wilkinson thought. He and Treasury had had enough trouble trying to fend off all the Goldman Sachs conspiracy theories constantly being bandied about in Washington and on Wall Street. A private meeting with its board? In Moscow?

For the nearly two years that Paulson had been Treasury secretary he had not met privately with the board of any company, except for briefly dropping by a cocktail party that Larry Fink’s BlackRock was holding for its directors at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi in June.

Anxious about the prospect of such a meeting, Wilkinson called to get approval from Treasury’s general counsel. Bob Hoyt, who wasn’t enamored of the “optics” of such a meeting, said that as long as it remaine a “social event,” it wouldn’t run afoul of the ethics guidelines.

Still, Wilkinson had told [Goldman chief of staff John] Rogers, “Let’s keep this quiet,” as the two coordinated the details. They agreed that Goldman’s directors would join him in his hotel suite following their dinner with Gorbachev. Paulson would not record the “social event” on his official calendar…

“Come on in,” a buoyant Paulson said as he greeted everyone, shaking hands and giving bear hugs to some.

For the next hour, Paulson regaled his old friends with stories about his time in Treasury and his prognostications about the economy. They questioned him about the possibility of another bank blowing up, like Lehman, and he talked about the need for the government to have the power to wind down troubled firms, offering a preview of his upcoming speech.