Recessino to end in 2009! MAI.to, WLC.v

Helicopter Mr. Bernanke comes through for the market - 5 days of rally on the DOW/US markets - was the story all of last week, can it last? Would this end the commodity boom as we know it?

Of course not! If anything a slight recover will only make people realize that more money should be needed to access basic raw materials!
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Depression Fears Subside on Bernanke Remarks, Rally in Stocks

March 16 (Bloomberg) -- The longest winning streak in U.S. stocks since November and reassuring comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke are soothing concern that the U.S. is headed for its first depression in seven decades.

“The financial meltdown and accompanying depression scenario has been taken off the table,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Harris Private Bank, which oversees $60 billion. “The heart of the problem is the banking system, and news coming out of that sector suggests that we may have turned a corner.”

Banks from Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. to Barclays Plc indicated in the past week that earnings have been rising since the start of the year, and government data showed U.S. retail sales may be stabilizing after a six-month rout. With officials working on details of their bank-rescue plan, Bernanke said in an interview with CBS television’s 60 Minutes that the main risk is a shortage of political will to complete the task.

It will likely take some time before the worst is past for the U.S. job market, and bank losses on investments including commercial property and leveraged loans are still likely to rise, analysts said. Bernanke said last week it’s “well within the realm of possibility” that the unemployment rate will exceed 10 percent, a level unseen since 1983.

The Treasury this week intends to provide more information about a $1 trillion plan to remove distressed mortgage assets from banks’ balance sheets. The Fed also is scheduled this week to start the first phase of a $1 trillion program to revive the market for securities backed by consumer and business loans.

‘Mind Boggling’

Combining those two initiatives with the $787 billion fiscal stimulus, the magnitude of U.S. monetary and fiscal actions and their likely effects as they ripple through the economy are “mind-boggling,” said Gabriel Borenstein, managing director of global fixed income in New York at Jesup & Lamont Securities, a brokerage and investment banking firm.

The efforts “will not fail,” predicted Borenstein, who in June 2005 correctly forecast a “serious recession” ahead. “If that doesn’t work we’re going to turn into the Gobi Desert,” Borenstein said today.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index gained 1.5 percent to 767.87 as of 12:23 p.m. in New York, boosting its advance over five trading days to 13.5 percent. The index hasn’t risen for five straight sessions since November.

Recession End

Bernanke reiterated in the interview that, should the government succeed in calming financial markets, the recession will probably end this year and the economy will expand in 2010. “Green shoots” are appearing in some markets aided by the Fed, and there has been “some improvement” in banks, he said.

The S&P Financials Index has soared 41 percent in six sessions as sentiment shifted on the outlook for the industry. At the same time, Fed officials have repeatedly voiced concern this year that losses will increase as commercial-property values decline.

Borrowers unable to pay their debts are also causing record losses for so-called collateralized loan obligations, a type of debt that packages loans that are below investment grade and slices them into securities of varying risk and return.

The S&P/LSTA U.S. Leveraged Loan 100 Index fell to 62.1 cents on the dollar at the end of last week from 100.3 cents in June 2007. The decline contributed to the $1.2 trillion of losses and writedowns by global financial institutions since the start of 2007.

‘Some Patience’

“Recovery is not going to happen until the financial markets and the banks are stabilized,” and the government’s plan is “going to take some patience. It’s going to take some support,” Bernanke said.

Bernanke’s comments signal he is prepared for criticism from lawmakers over any request for more aid to beleaguered financial companies, including additions to the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said this month the U.S. bank-rescue plan may need another infusion of taxpayer money.

Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, voiced the skepticism of some lawmakers by telling Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn at a March 5 hearing that should regulators request “more money for more banks and more corporations” they “will get the biggest ‘No.’”

Bernanke said the October law creating the TARP prevented a possible “global financial meltdown” and that he told a skeptical congressman at the time that businesses in his district would begin suffering losses without decisive congressional action. He didn’t identify the lawmaker.

“We’ve averted” the risk of a depression, Bernanke said. “Now the problem is to get the thing working properly again.”

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Minera Andes had a nice jump today - then again who wouldn't after paying off $17 million dollars worth of loans on Mr. Goldcorp's private placement fund?

MINERA ANDES PAYS OFF OUTSTANDING MACQUARIE LOAN OF US$17.5 MILLION

Minera Andes Inc. has repaid in full the corporation's indebtedness to Macquarie Bank Ltd. of Australia. The total indebtedness was $17.5-million (U.S.), which consisted of a loan of $7.5-million (U.S.) due on or about March 7, 2009, and a loan of $10-million (U.S.) due in September, 2009. The corporation no longer has any bank debt.

With the repayment of the indebtedness to Macquarie and the payment of $11.3-million to satisfy the cash call made in respect of the corporation's 49-per-cent interest in the producing San Jose gold/silver mine operated by Minera Santa Cruz SA, the corporation has met its current financial obligations.

As previously reported in Stockwatch on Jan. 16, 2009, San Jose is forecast to produce approximately 7.5 million ounces of silver and 95,000 ounces of gold in 2009.

Allen V. Ambrose, president and chief executive officer of Minera Andes, said: "We are pleased to report that, with the completion of the private placements of $40-million from Rob McEwen, we have paid off our bank debt and cleaned up our balance sheet. With the company's financial condition improved, management will be able to focus on increasing shareholder value by increasing its exploration drilling activities on its high-potential 100-per-cent-owned prospects in the San Cruz province of southern Argentina."

The moneys for the payment of the cash call and repayment of the indebtedness to Macquarie were obtained by private placements with Mr. McEwen, a director of Minera Andes and the company's largest shareholder. Mr. McEwen purchased 40 million shares of Minera Andes for $40-million ($1 per share). The details of the private placements with Mr. McEwen have been the subject of previous Minera Andes news releases reported in Stockwatch on Feb. 9, 2006, Feb. 18, 2009, Feb. 19, 2009, Feb. 25, 2009, and Feb. 26, 2009.