NO BUDGET DEAL!

Over the weekend it became clear that the bozos in Washington are going to take this to the last hour as far as a budget deal. There is a roundup of news and commentary on this on Memeorandum. The drop dead date apparently is now July 22 given the time needed to write the bill. This and looking European problems now swirling around Italy has stock futures down 100 points pre open.

When we look at the Dow Industrials chart it seems we've come up to the new recovery high and got reversed on Friday with the awful employment numbers. Still the markets held up quite well Friday closing off just 70 points. And the mlp index which was on a 12 day winning streak showed a small fractional loss. So even with this morning's selling we are still in a pretty good place in here. And all the nervousness about the news this morning is driving everyone into...ta da..bonds! US treasuries are rallying this morning in a flight to quality. The dollar is also rallying sharply higher this morning agains most major currencies.

Not much going on news wise this morning on the corporate side. We have insider buying going on in Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) which has been a chronic underperformer this year for a number of reasons. Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) remains in the take over battle with Southern Union (SUG) and there is nothing new there other than news that the company has been talking to potential grooms since 2008. Williams Partners (WPZ) may be getting ready to counter offer again.

Crude is down nearly 2 bucks this morning but nat gas is up 1.5% pre open after another trip down to the bottom of the base.

Back to the budget deal, the Wall Street Journal editorial page outlines most of the proposed tax increases the White House wants in the budget deal. Of note is that there is no mention here of MLPS and changing the tax structure which is a good thing for the group. Meanwhile the talks will continue as they go back to square one with the Biden 2 trillion deal.