Global Economic Collapse: Omens and Intrigues..

A Guide to: Black Monday?  Urban Survival puts the pieces together..

NYSE Announces Third-Quarter 2011 Circuit-Breaker Levels  NYSE via Godlike Productions.  Excerpts:

The New York Stock Exchange will implement new circuit-breaker collar trigger levels for third-quarter 2011 effective Friday, July 1, 2011.

Circuit-breaker points represent the thresholds at which trading is halted marketwide for single-day declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Circuit-breaker levels are set quarterly as 10, 20 and 30 percent of the DJIA average closing values of the previous month, rounded to the nearest 50 points.

In third-quarter 2011, the 10-, 20- and 30-percent decline levels, respectively, in the DJIA will be as follows:

Level 1 Halt

A 1,200-point drop in the DJIA before 2 p.m. will halt trading for one hour; for 30 minutes if between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.; and have no effect if at 2:30 p.m. or later unless there is a level 2 halt.

Level 2 Halt
A 2,400-point drop in the DJIA before 1:00 p.m. will halt trading for two hours; for one hour if between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.; and for the remainder of the day if at 2:00 p.m. or later.

Level 3 Halt

A 3,650-point drop will halt trading for the remainder of the day regardless of when the decline occurs.

Gulp..

Police raid Milan offices of Moody's and Standard & Poor's  Guardian UK.  Excerpts:

Carlo Maria Capistro – chief prosecutor of Trani, a small Adriatic port – told Reuters that his office was checking to see whether the rating agencies "respect regulations as they carry out their work". The raids took place on Wednesday as Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, addressed parliament on the mounting crisis.

He and other leading Italian politicians often cite speculation as a cause of market storms that involve a run on the country's shares or bonds. And the media habitually depicts sell-offs as attacks on Italy.

S&P, which along with other rating agencies has been strongly criticised in Europe for downgrading countries such as Greece, said in a statement it believed the Trani inquiry "has no foundation". It added: "We shall strenuously defend our work, our reputation and that of our analysts."

 

The masses are really gonna go manshit when they figure out they're all guilty..

S&P head: Agency may downgrade U.S. again  Raw Story.  Excerpts:

The head of Standard & Poor's sovereign ratings said Sunday that the agency may downgrade the U.S. again.

"Given the economic and political situation in the U.S., which will we see, an upgrading back to AAA or further downgrades?" Fox News' Chris Wallace asked David Beers.

"We have a negative outlook on the rating and that means we think that the risk currently for the rating are to the downside," Beers said.

While explaining what the U.S. could do to get its AAA rating back, the S&P official mentioned entitlement cuts but ignored the agency's call to raise revenues.

"Does any compromise have to have entitlement reform and revenue increases to be credible?" Wallace wondered.

"The key thing is, yes, entitlement reform is important because entitlement is the biggest -- are the biggest component of spending and they are the part of spending where the cost pressures are greatest," Beers replied.

Omen Alert:  Dollar to Be 'Discarded' by World: China Rating Agency  CNBC.  Uhhh  Huhh.  Excerpts:

The man who leads one of China’s top rating agencies says the greenback’s status as the world’s reserve currency is set to wane as the world’s most powerful policy makers convene to examine the implication of S&P’s decision to strip the United States of its triple “A” rating.

In comments emailed to CNBC, Guan Jianzhong, chairman of Dagong Global Credit Rating, said the currency is “gradually discarded by the world,” and the “process will be irreversible.”

Dagong made headlines last week when it became the first rating agency to cut its U.S. credit rating from “A+” to “A” after policymakers in Washington failed to act in a timely manner to lift its debt celing.

However, the announcement failed to register in the markets as investors have yet to decide whether to take the Beijing-based company seriously.

..

But Guan’s observation—made just before S&P slashed its ratings on the world’s biggest economy—now seems strangely prescient.

Happy Monday, everyone.  Here's The Happy Mondays...

Next Stop: Black Monday.

The deal goes down starting Sunday night.  Here's the roundup.  Good luck to you in the coming weeks and months.

US loses AAA credit rating after S&P downgrade  BBC.  Excerpts:

One of the world's leading credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor's, has downgraded the United States' top-notch AAA rating for the first time ever.

S&P cut the long-term US rating by one notch to AA+ with a negative outlook, citing concerns about budget deficits.

Correspondents say the downgrade could erode investors' confidence in the world's largest economy.  Could=Will

..

The downgrade is a major embarrassment for the administration of President Barack Obama and could raise the cost of US government borrowing.  Again; Could=Will

Investment guru Warren Buffett says US downgrade ‘doesn’t make sense’  From Raw Story.  Excerpts:

Investing guru Warren Buffett criticized the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the long-term US credit rating, saying it "doesn't make sense" and would have a limited impact on markets. 

"I don't get it," the highly-respected founder and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway told Fox Business News late Friday, saying his Omaha, Nebraska-based company would hold onto its considerable trove of US Treasury bills.

And:

The billionaire investment wizard brushed off fears that the downgrade will roil world markets.

"If nothing else takes place, meaning, if all other variables hold and there isn't say, a new problem in Europe, it won't make any difference," he said, referring to the growing eurozone debt crisis.

"The US, to my knowledge, owes no money in currency other than the US dollar, which it can print at will. Now if you're talking about inflation, that's a different question," he added.

But there are already "problems" popping up in Europe..

ECB-crisis meeting  MMNews via Google Translate.  Found it on Godlike Productions.  Excerpts:

The ECB will hold on Sunday afternoon, a crisis meeting. This was arranged by ECB chief Trichet. With this key representatives of G7 finance ministers and the Euro zone. The Reuters news agency reported.

Consequently, the central bankers fear violent turmoil in the financial markets on Monday. The crisis in the PIIGS bonds could continue to worsen, triggered by the U.S. downgrade by S & P. On the agenda is likely to be the opinion of observers from the purchase of Italy and Spain bonds. The yield on these bonds rose on Friday on a 14-year high.

The Beginning of the End  MMNews via Google Translate.  Excerpts:

The U.S. is losing its top rating, outlook negative. - The last week was dramatic on the financial markets. But it was probably just a taste of what's to come: the total erosion in the confidence of the monetary system. The crash of the stock markets as a harbinger of the total bankruptcy of all Western industrialized nations. A currency reform is more likely.

Growing up in the federal government, meanwhile, doubts whether Italy could be rescued by the European rescue EFSF, even if he tripled - Der Spiegel reports in its latest issue. An economy like Italy wasnot to support, to being too large, it is said to justify. The financial needs of the country is too huge. Also a guarantee of the entire Italian public debt of over € 1.8 trillion, after assessment of government experts from other partner countries, not to be lifted. By then the markets would suspect that Germany was overwhelmed.

AAA-rmageddon: S&P downgrade knocks off US credit crown  Story and video from Russia Today.