For Investors Only; US Industrial Production Up Three Times More Than Expected In February Despite Global Warming

Early morning trading: market up almost 200 points; certainly takes the wind out of that Crimean story.

When it rains, it pours: GM recalls another 1.5 million vehicles in three separate recalls; takes $300 million charge.

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This could simply be an anomaly, but one has to wonder if cheap energy might not be playing a role:

US industrial production up 0.6% in February vs. 0.2% estimate

0.6% doesn't sound like much, but it is three times what folks expected. Three times.

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From The Street:

Baker Hughes was upgraded at Goldman Sachs to buy from neutral. Twelve-month price target is $72. Company should benefit from an improving pressure pumping market, Goldman said.

From Yahoo!In-Play:

S&P futures vs fair value: +9.00. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: US indices are indicated higher, following form with European bourses, which are bouncing back some from last week's big losses.  The Crimea referendum went as expected, which is to say annexation to Russia was favored by voters -- and overwhelmingly so with 95.5% of the vote going that way.  European markets standing their ground in the wake of that vote has provided some support this morning, but it can be regarded as a tenuous move knowing that sanctions will be forthcoming from the West.  The questions are just what form the sanctions will take and when.

My hunch is that, like the BP spill, the after-actions will be worse than the event. In other words, EU and US sanctions against Russia will cause more economic havoc than the election/annexation. Wait until Putin messes with the US Treasury market. I honestly don't get the west's concern. This area of the Crimean is as Russian as it gets; the folks in the area had an election that was probably as "fair" as an election in Chicago, and they chose to align with Russia. What's so surprising about that? The western world invaded Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan. From my perspective, it's all political theater. They say Mr Obama "rejected" the election results, whatever that means.

By the way, John Kerry said today was the deadline: if Russia didn't meet Kerry's "demands," "bad things" would happen. It will be interesting to see what Kerry has to say today. So far, nothing has been reported from his office; they must be working the press release.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here, or think you may have read here. 

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ObamaCare

I agree with Joseph Curl in The Washington Times: we did all this for 4 million people, most of whom were already insured? I can't wait to see the earnings reports for the health insurers in 3Q14, 4Q14, and 1Q15.

The Fiscal Times notes that one-third of the uninsured won't sign up for ObamaCare; they will take their chances and pay the penalty. What penalty? All they have to do is declare a "hardship." If unable to come up with a "hardship," the penalty is $75. People who don't sign up for ObamaCare aren't worried about the penalty -- they can't afford the $500/monthly premium that gives them a $6,000 annual deductible.