Hear them roar!
Hello Kitty’s 40 years of cuteness and cool
"Japan’s recovering crown princess attends banquet" Associated Press October 30, 2014
TOKYO — Japan’s Crown Princess Masako attended a banquet for visiting Dutch royals on Wednesday in her first such appearance since developing a stress-related illness more than a decade ago.
The Imperial Household Agency said Masako accompanied her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, at an imperial banquet for visiting King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. Palace officials said it was her first appearance at an imperial banquet since she attended one for the Mexican president in October 2003.
Masako, 50, became ill soon after giving birth to the couple’s daughter, Aiko, now 12, and largely withdrew from official duties. In a sign of her recovery, the royals last year attended the king’s inauguration in the Netherlands, where they have close ties.
The princess smiled as she talked with Foreign Minister Bert Koenders of the Netherlands over French food at the banquet, part of which was shown on television news. About 160 guests, including other royals and political leaders such as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also attended.
Earlier Wednesday, Masako attended a welcoming ceremony for the king hosted by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
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Or pu$$ies, as the case may be:
"Wall Street caps a wild October with a rally" by Ken Sweet | Associated Press November 01, 2014
NEW YORK —The US market closed at an all-time high on the last day of the month.
Then all is right with the world.
It is a remarkable turn given the month’s volatility, which at times approached levels from the 2008 financial crisis. Then again, the month has an unfortunate history for unsettling moves, with the stock market crashes of 1929 and 1987 both occurring in October.
This October, the market’s seesaw path was driven by fears that Europe’s economy was slipping into a recession, as well as concerns about plunging oil prices and possible weakness in the US economy. Oh, and don’t forget Ebola. Those anxieties sent the market, for the most part, straight down for two weeks.
The nadir came Oct. 15, when the S&P 500 came with a hair’s breadth of going into a correction. Investors had anticipated such a drop: The last one occurred in late 2011, and historically corrections occur every 18 months or so.
Yeah, it looked like it was on life $upport.
But just after the market came close to a correction, it bounced right back. Strong US corporate earnings were the primary driver of the rebound as well as signs central banks in Japan and Europe were going to do all they could to stop their economies from dragging everyone else down with them.
‘‘I don’t think it’s a surprise that we came close to a correction. We've been expecting one for a while. I think the bigger surprise has been how we rip-roared all the way back up,’’ said Bob Doll, strategist at Nuveen Asset Management.
Maybe not.
US companies have been, for the most part, reporting strong quarterly results the last two weeks. Corporate profits are up 7.3 percent from a year ago, according to FactSet, compared with the 4.5 percent investors had expected at the beginning of the month.
And yet employment still lags.
And any worries about the US economy earlier in the month evaporated as the data rolled in, mostly recently Thursday’s data showing the US economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace last quarter.
Yeah, right, everything is great with the economy (if you are in the 1%).
The gains Friday were driven by the Bank of Japan, which surprised investors by announcing it would increase its bond and asset purchases by $90.7 billion to $181.3 billion, to about $725 billion annually. The announcement came after data showed that the world’s third-largest economy remains in the doldrums, with unemployment ticking up.
It means they will print more money to keep the scheme going. That's all it means.
Japan’s move comes only two days after the Federal Reserve brought an end to its own bond-buying program.
Japanese picking up the slack, huh?
Investors have been hopeful that the European Central Bank might also start buying bonds to stimulate that economy by keeping interest rates low and injecting cash into the financial system. That form of stimulus is called quantitative easing, also known among investors as ‘‘QE.’’
It's exactly what I'm saying it is, and it's a failed policy. The central banks are now left with two options: keep printing money and destroy the $y$tem, or stop printing money and destroy the $y$tem.
‘‘The Japanese central bank has taken the QE baton from the Fed, and equity traders couldn’t be happier,’’ said David Madden, market analyst at IG.
Yeah, forget about Fukushima, the increased taxes, and service cuts. Let's buy up Wall Street bonds instead while increasing militarism.
Japan’s stock market rose 4.8 percent to the highest level since 2007. European stock markets rose broadly following the Bank of Japan’s announcement on hopes the European Central Bank could be tempted to follow Japan’s lead in stepping up stimulus measures. However, few think anything will be announced at the bank’s policy meeting next Thursday.
The Japanese currency weakened dramatically following the Bank of Japan’s announcement.
You print more money, it will be worth less.
The yen slumped 2.6 percent against the dollar to 112 yen. The yen is trading at the lowest level in more than five years. Japanese companies typically like a weak Japanese yen because it makes their exported goods cheaper abroad....
Except we have no money to buy anything anymore.
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