We have talked about manipulation all week but this takes the cake!
The Nikkei was plunging 250 points this morning as the dollar collapsed (in a move to boost commodities and the US markets – more on that later) below the critical 94 Yen mark and, EXACTLY AT THE MOMENT the Nikkei crossed the critical 10,200 line we’ve been watching all week(11 am, just as they were closing for lunch),Kathy Matsui, chief equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, jumped on the phone and literally stopped the presses by calling for a 73% increase in Japan’s corporate profits next year buoyed by cost cuts, a weaker yen and rising demand.“People are going to be surprised at how sharp the recovery will be,” Matsui said in a phone interview.
Goldman’s estimates equate to 48.9 yen in earnings per share for the Topix in the financial year ending March 2011, placing the benchmark at 19.4 times estimated earnings. The brokerage also reversed its forecast among all industries to a 23.3 percent increase in pretax profits this year from a 15 percent decline. “Our forecasts for both the March 2010 and March 2011 financial years exceed consensus estimates largely due to our expectations of stronger global growth, continued restructuring benefits, and a weaker yen,” Matsui wrote in a report titled “Back in Black.”
This amazing 200% reversal of forecast timed at 10pm on option expiration eve East Coast time, took the S&P futures from 996 all the way back to 1,010 and took the Dow futures from 9,250 (down 100 from Thursday’s close) all the way to 9,375. The Nikkei managed a “stick save” and finished the day down “just” 1.4% at 10,250 and the Hang Seng was able to rally back 300 points off it’s lows to finish it’s session at 20,200 after a 400-point plunge to the 20,000 line at their lunch break. Energy andother commodity pushers led the rally as oil soared from $72 at midnightback to $74 by 8am. Gold had fallen back below $440 and is back near $450ahead of the US openso everythingmust be fantastic in the world again.
Well I’m going to be the bigger man and say Kudos to GS alumni Jim Cramer and the rest of the Goldman crew as I’ve never seen anything like thisweek in my entire life. They say “you can’t fight theFed” butwhen theFed teams up with GS, JPM and CS – all of whom made huge bullish…
