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The following is a partial summary of the conclusions from the fxempire.com weekly analysts' meeting in which we cover outlooks for the major pairs for the coming week and beyond.

By 4 pm the averages closed in the green on anemic volume most likely because of ill-gotten handiwork from the HFT algo computers.

Obvious to many investors this bad-boy, casino market is going anywhere soon. But, Mr. Market has a way of making fools of even the most astute and successful investor, still, I would be very cautious during this period of Ukraine unrest and negative market signals. This time IT IS different!

As suspected this morning, the averages covered the opening gaps and are posting small gains which probably will not hold before the session closing bell is rung.

By noon the $RUT was just into the red, oils were falling and the DOW was slipping back into the red and generally not looking good for the bulls.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against a Columbus, Ohio-based investment advisory firm and its president for repeatedly hiding a shortfall of more than $700,000 in client assets.

The April 2014 ISM non-manufacturing (aka services) index continues its growth cycle, and improved from 53.1 to 55.2 (above 50 signals expansion). Important internals were even stronger.

This was above the range of market forecasts of 53.0 to 55.0 (consensus 54.2).

Premarkets were down 0.50% as Ukraine war issues refuses to go away. China manufacturing PMI misses 6th month in a row and home sales collapse 47% almost insuring a down session for this start of the week.

Markets opened down -0.70% with large gaps, which may mean a market reversal before the day is over. By 10 am the averages had melted off the opening lows on moderate volume and headed to close the gaps left at the opening.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index for April 2014 - which forecasts employment for the next 6 months - strengthened. The rate of year-over-year growth improved, and this was the second month in a row of improvement in the three month rolling average rate of growth.

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Econintersect: The latest Blogger Sentiment Poll released 05 May 2014 byTicker Senseshows bloggers have are significantly bearish in their view of the markets - this is a degradation as poll results one month ago which were mixed. 

This blogger poll is noisy.

The recent financial crisis has highlighted the significance of unhedgable, illiquid positions in complex securities for individual financial institutions and for the global financial system as a whole. Indeed, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision notes that

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary "reading list" which will include very brief summaries of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for "reading list" items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

How worried should we be about the Ukraine crisis?

Last week some regular readers whom I respect asked why I did not mention the Ukraine situation. It was a fair question, given the attention from the financial media. My answer was that it was an important story on many fronts - defining the future Putin role, setting precedents for NATO and the us, and of course, the people directly suffering in the conflict. I did not view it as a "market crisis" despite the 50 basis point moves that are often attributed to Ukraine news.

Click on picture for full cartoon at ARRA News Service.

Econintersect: The final manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) for April compiled by HSBC and reported by Markit came in lower than expected for April 2014 at 48.1. The preliminary ("flash") reading ten days ago had been higher (48.3). Readings below 50 indicate contraction. The HSBC survey covers small and mid-sized mostly privately owned companies which are relatively sensitive to the export market. The official PMI compiled by the government from larger, mostly state owned companies was reported five days ago at 50.4. These companies are more effected by domestic activity and less by exports.

Econintersect: The labor participation rate (percentage of working age Americans in the labor force) peaked around 2000. The decline accelerated after the Great Recession. From he peak in 2000 to the official end of the Great Recession (June 2009) the participation rate dropped from 67.2% to 65.8%, approximately o.2% per year. Since the end of the recession the decline has steepened, taking the rate down to 62.9% by the end of 2013, a drop approximately 0.6% per year.

Click on graph for larger image.

Economics: Two and a half years ago a group of first year economics students at Harvard engaged in a one-day protest of their economics class syllabus as having "limited scope and bias". The class was taught by one of the world's leading economists and the author of a widely used textbook, Greg Mankiw. In April 2012 GEI News documented student activities following on from that day at Harvard. Now the fragmented activities from 2011 and 2012 seem to be getting organized. A collection of 42 student groups from 19 countries has formed the International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics (ISIPE). Read on for their open letter.

Click on image for full cartoon strip about pluralism.

Econintersect: Steve Keen continues his lecture series on non-equilibrium economics with discussion of the work in that area by Joseph Schumpeter, Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes.

Insider buying declined sharply last week with insiders purchasing $16.74 million of their stock compared to $48.69 million in the week prior. Selling on the other hand more than doubled with insiders selling $1.38 billion of stock last week compared to $502.48 million in the week prior. Despite the drop in insider buying there were some interesting purchases this week.

Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week went up to 102.36. In other words, insiders sold more than 102 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 10.32.

Where the jobs are, and the degrees needed to get them.

I do not think there is any single piece of legislation in the last 50 years that has had such a profoundly detrimental impact on the American public than the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial and investment banking.

That repeal is certainly not the sole factor that led to the economic crisis of 2008 and the ongoing pain we experience today, but it was certainly critical to the eventual meltdown. There is no great revelation in that assessment.

Econintersect: University of Chicago professor Gary Becker died Saturday (03 May 2014) at Northwestern Hospital, Evanston, IL. Becker was 83. A student of Milton Friedman, Becker charted his own course in economics and sociology, specializing in what has now become known as "behavioral economics", the theory that individual and collective human behavior followed the same rational principles attributed to economic systems. Perhaps the best trubute to Prof. Becker and the field of economics which he essentially founded is his 1992 nobel laureate address, which follows the Read more >> jump.

Click on cartoon to go to source at University of Chicago Magazine.

This chart shows the percentage of Americans whose activities increased a lot due to mobile technology.