XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Monday 6 February 2012

Presenting The "Rise Of The HFT Machine" - Visual Confirmation How SkyNet Broke The Stock Market On US Downgrade Day -

Presenting The "Rise Of The HFT Machine" - Visual Confirmation How SkyNet Broke The Stock Market On US Downgrade Day - 




Zero Hedge has not been focusing much on the topic of our broken equity markets recently because if by now, following over three years of coverage, someone is not aware just how fragmented, manipulated and largely broken the market truly is, they never will. Yet every now and then it worth reminding readers who may have stumbled on this blog recently, just how bad things are in graphic format. Our friends at Nanex, who are by far the best forensic analysts of everything that is busted with the US stock market, have completed a masterpiece analysis showing the churning (packet traffic) in the various fragmented US market venues, from the NYSE to the Nasdaq to BATS and so forth, on a daily basis beginning in January 2007 and continuing through today. While the "rise of the HFT machine" over the past 5 years, following the adoption of Reg NMS, will hardly be a surprise to most, what is stunning is the first animated confirmation of the market terminally breaking on August 5, 2011, the day the US was downgraded, an observation that first was made right here on Zero Hedge. Which begs the question: what really happened in the stock market on August 5, 2011 when the US was downgraded to AA+, when everything literally broke, who is intervening constantly in the stock market, and why are they doing so via various HFT intermediary mechanisms?


Note the insanity that begins on August 5, 2011:



Simpsons dolls banned in Iran as 'promoters of Western culture' - Superman and Spider-Man were allowed -

Simpsons dolls banned in Iran as 'promoters of Western culture' - Superman and Spider-Man were allowed - 
Iran Agency Reportedly Bans Simpsons Dolls, Citing Western Influence

Sorry kids, the Simpsons are now forbidden in Tehran. An agency tied to the Iranian government has banned the sale of dolls of the American cartoon characters, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday.


According to Shargh, an independent newspaper, the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture, putting Bart and Homer alongside Barbie on an Iranian toy blacklist. Superman and Spider-Man were allowed because they helped the "oppressed," the Associated Press reported.


Mohammad Hossein Farjoo, secretary of policymaking at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, didn't say what was wrong with the Simpsons in particular, but said any doll that had distinguishable adult genitals, or any dolls of adults at all, were banned "because these dolls are promoters of Western culture," the AP reported.


Read more - 
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/02/simpsons-dolls-banned-in-iran-as-promoters-of-western-culture.html

Chinese carmaker blatantly copies Ford F-150 -

Chinese carmaker blatantly copies Ford F-150 - 
China's F-150 aping JAC 4R3 pickup

The Ford F-150 has just picked up a doppelganger in China. According to CarNewsChina, Jianghuai Auto Corporation has just unveiled its new 4R3 pickup, and sure enough, the vehicle looks to be a near carbon copy of America's best-selling truck. JAC reportedly wants to provide buyers in China, Africa and South America with a larger, inexpensive work vehicle. While the appearances of the Ford F-Series and 4R3 visuals differ ever so slightly, the similarities far outweigh the incongruities. According to CNC, JAC is a fairly small automaker in the People's Republic that specializes in rebodied Hyundai cars, SUVs and pickups.


Word has it the 4R3 will be powered by a 2.8-liter diesel four-cylinder engine generating just 108 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque. There's no word on cost at this point. The JAC 4R3 is set to debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April, though there's no telling how long the vehicle will be on the market before the company gets a call from the lawyers in Dearborn. Head over to CarNewsChina.com for a better look at the F-150 twin.


Read more - 
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/31/chinese-carmaker-blatantly-copies-ford-f-150/?ncid=txtlnkwbauto00000002

Garage Door Openers Stop Working On Entire Missouri Block -

Garage Door Openers Stop Working On Entire Missouri Block - 




It’s a puzzling phenomenon: On one street in St. Charles County, garage door openers have stopped working.


The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that no one knows what exactly is going on at Westhampton View Court. The garage door openers at all five homes on the court stopped working shortly after Christmas.


“It’s a weird, weird thing,” Joe Sullivan told the Post-Dispatch. “And the timing for it all to go haywire for everybody at the same time can’t be coincidence, right?”



Garage door companies say interference problems are common at individual homes — they blame what is known as “frequency pollution.” But experts say having the issue extend to multiple homes is just plain weird.


“There is so much radio frequency pollution now,” Butch Martin, owner of Martin Door Co., told the paper. “Everything is wireless, and the more wireless stuff we get, the bigger the problem is going to get.”


Read more - 
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/02/06/garage-door-openers-stop-working-on-entire-missouri-block/