Giving Up The Gold Vice For Lent - And Beyond

Royal Bank of Scotland has given the clearest signal yet that the government is preparing to sell off part of the taxpayer’s 82% stake in the bailed out bank next year.

In what may be a stunning development, today the market may actually respond to an adverse piece of economic news by going lower. The news, in this case was the February Chicago PMI which tumbled from 56.8 to 52.4, the lowest since December and far below expectations of a 56.5 print - the biggest miss in 11 months.

Central bankers respond to every debt crisis as if they were all created equal. As such, they are willing to pile debt and promises upon debt and promises. In cyclical recessions the strategy eventually "works" using the term loosely. In reality, such kick-the-can strategies will eventually blow sky high, which is precisely where we are today, with Bernanke is scratching his ass, wondering why his policies are not working.

So much for "open-ended QE driven recovery". Moments ago the March Non-farm payroll hit and it was a doozy, printing at 88K, below the lowest forecast of 100K, well below the expected number of 190K, and a tragedy compared to the February revised print of 268K (was 236K). This was the biggest miss to expectations since December 2009 and the worst print since June 2012. The unemployment rate declined to 7.6%, but this was due entirely to the collapse in the labor force participation rate, which declined by 20 bps to 63.3%, a new 30 year low.

Papa John’s International, Inc. (PZZA) Q4 2012 Earnings Conference Call February 27, 2013 10:00 ET Executives John Schnatter - Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lance Tucker - Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer Tony Thompson - Chief Operating Officer and President, PJ Food Service Andrew Varga - Chief Marketing Officer Analysts

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