The Daily Dish - July 9, 2012

That was one of the most gut-wrenching Indians losses in a long time. The Tribe had a chance to go into the All-Star break with all kinds of momentum as winners of five of six, and with a 45-40 record.

But alas, it was not to be. A bad error by Asdrubal Cabrera in the 6^th inning opened the flood gates for four Tampa runs there, and then they scored three more in the top of the ninth off Chris Perez to steal the win.

Great first halves for our two All-Stars, just not great games yesterday afternoon.

All kinds of Kardashian-related news this morning. Kourtney Kardashian had a baby girl yesterday, and it appears the Cavs are on the cusp of adding Kim Kardashian’s former husband of about two weeks, Kris Humphries, as part of a three or four team trade that would also send Dwight Howard to the Brooklyn Nets. Humphries is a legit power forward (averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds last year), but the Cavs are only involved in this because of their ample room under the salary cap. Humphries is a restricted free agent that is commanding close to 10mm a year, and in exchange for taking on that salary so the Nets can clear room for Howard, they’d likely also add a first round pick or Nets swingman Marshon Brooks without giving up much of anything.

I’ve talked before about some of the questions young kids ask that are tough to answer. How are babies made? Why are there wars? How does the Easter Bunny get in the house? How can Santa see what we’re doing all year? Why does Shelly Duncan look like Frankenstein, and why is he starting in left field?

How about this one I got from my son yesterday: “Who is Kim Kardashian?” Try answering that one. I had the Confused Pat Shurmur look on my face for about 90 seconds after he asked it.

Fight fans got a chance to see THE MASTER at his greatest Saturday night, as Anderson “Spider” Silva laid waste to Chael Sonnen in their highly anticipated rematch at UFC 148. After being dominated in the first round by the tough as nails Sonnen, Silva capitalized in the second after Sonnen fell down after missing a spinning back fist, finishing Sonnen a few seconds later. Despite pushing 40 years old, Silva showed Saturday night why he is the greatest fighter in UFC history, and that he is nearly unbeatable. Silva has now completely cleaned out the UFC middleweight division. Hopefully we’ll get to see this fight sometime in 2013 though.

Quote of the Day …

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” ~ Will Rogers

Insane Fact of the Day …

The mask used by Michael Myers in the original “Halloween” was a Captain Kirk mask painted white.

Market …

A busy week for the markets that will get off to a slow start.

The week will start with investors continuing to assess the Friday’s jobs report, which was gloomy. Most people feel (as I do) that the jobs numbers are depressing, but haven’t been bad enough long enough to get the Fed to act. So we’re kind of stuck in the middle, which isn’t making the markets happy. It’s almost like the predicament the Cleveland Cavaliers are in. It would be in their best long term interest for them to be horrible enough this year to warrant another high draft pick, but fans and ownership are also eager for the team to start winning. If they fully commit to winning, they may make the playoffs but will get trounced first round, and be stuck in the Indiana Pacers/Houston Rockets netherworld of finishing around .500 every year and getting draft picks outside the top 12.

The economy is right there right now. Not strong enough to grow. Not bad enough (yet) to likely warrant further Fed action. As I said last week, I expect the July jobs #’s to stink as well, and we’ll likely see action then. If I was Bernanke, I’d just act now. Then again, I was calling for QE3 before the economy even started this predictable slide.

Of course, developments in Europe could change the likely Fed timeline. Today, Eurozone finance ministers will meet to try and flesh out a potential single currency plan, as well as to discuss banking supervision, how to use euro zone bailout money, aid to Spain, and whether to grant concessions to Greece. It’s a mess over there. Problems are cropping up faster than they can address the previous ones.

Second quarter earnings season also kicks off this week, as aluminum giant Alcoa, as always, will be the first to report earnings after the closing bell today. It’s expected to be a pretty brutal earnings quarter given the economic slowdown we saw in Q2.

And then after next to no domestic economic releases today and tomorrow, things heat up on Wednesday. We get the trade balance Wednesday morning, then the anticipated release of the minutes from the last Fed meeting. On Thursday we get import prices and jobless claims. And on Friday, PPI and consumer sentiment.

News …

~ Investors Brace for Shaky US Earnings Season

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48115794

~ Top Fed Official: Fed Should Ease Policy Further, Buy More Bonds

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48116249

~ Ranks of US Community Banks Surge

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48115725

~ The Week Ahead: Treasury Auctions, FOMC Minutes, and Class A MBS Settlement

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/266255.aspx

~ Obama to Seek Extension of Bush-Era Tax Cuts

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48115893

~ Euro Zone Fragmenting Quicker than EU Can Act

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48116148