Sunday, November 26, 2017
The ‘End of Dreams’, and the Saving of Appearances / Politics / Social Issues
Once again, to my delight, we’re back with former British diplomat and MI6 ‘ranking figure’ Alastair Crooke and his Conflicts Forum organization. We posted a few of his articles this year and last. This time, Alastair writes a reaction to one of his own articles posted at Consortium News, which I included in the November 18 Debt Rattle at the Automatic Earth. My short comment then: “Former (and current?!) TAE contributor Alastair Crooke draws his conclusions.” This morning, the Conflicts Forum reached out again:
Dear Raul, We took the hint on a recent posting your site that referred to one of Alastair’s articles! …. and below is a comment piece he has done. It is an attempt to be strategic at where we’re going.
Anytime, guys! My first reaction to that piece was that Alastair makes Donald Trump and Jared Kushner’s role in the Saudi crackdown seem very large, which makes the role played by deep state America look small in comparison. And I’m not so sure about that. The riddle of ‘who’s playing who?’ is not a straightforward one. But that’s by no means a criticism (I ain’t criticizing no MI6!). It’s a question.
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Sunday, November 26, 2017
Sky Box Planner Rebuild Fix Technical Fault 7 (33) To Try and Fix Hard Drive Error / ConsumerWatch / How to Guides
If you suddenly get the technical fault 7 (33) or (30) error messages on your recordings, usually listed as partially recorded, which basically means the hard drive in your sky box is dieing that manifests itself in stuttering, freezing recordings that are near impossible to lost. However all is not lost because you can buy yourself some time to decide what to do next, upgrade or buy a replacement box as this video illustrates.
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Saturday, November 25, 2017
Cryptocurrencies Continue To Break All-Time Highs / Currencies / Bitcoin
In the last 24 hours, cryptocurrencies have risen $12 billion in value to $264 billion.
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Saturday, November 25, 2017
Taxes, Macro Signals, Market Seasonality, US Stocks and Gold Miners / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
While politicians hammer out the details it is generally accepted that corporations and by extension the investor and asset owner classes are targeted for benefits under the coming Republican tax plan. The logical implication of that beneficial treatment is that barring a market meltdown in the interim, people looking to unload stock positions and take profits would tend to wait until January in hopes of gaining the 2018 tax benefit vs. 2017’s tax code.
Among the under performing sectors subject to tax loss selling in late 2017 I have selected the gold miners for this post because they tend to be counter-cyclical and “in the mirror” to the broad risk ‘on’ asset party currently ongoing. We have noted again and again that with the asset party in full swing the miners’ fundamentals cannot possibly look good, and at face value they don’t. Sector fundamentals like gold/oil and gold/materials ratios are not good and macro fundamentals like gold vs. stock markets, the economy (which is relatively strong) and the yield curve are not at all supportive either… as they currently stand.
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Saturday, November 25, 2017
Silver Mining Stocks Q3’17 Fundamentals / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
The silver miners’ stocks have really languished this year, grinding sideways to lower for months on end. This vexing consolidation has fueled near-universal bearishness, leaving silver stocks deeply out of favor. But once a quarter when earnings season arrives, hard fundamentals pierce the obscuring veil of popular sentiment. The silver miners’ recently-reported Q3’17 results reveal today’s silver prices remain profitable.
Four times a year publicly-traded companies release treasure troves of valuable information in the form of quarterly reports. These are generally due by 45 days after quarter-ends in the US and Canada. They offer true and clear snapshots of what’s really going on operationally, shattering the misconceptions bred by the ever-shifting winds of sentiment. There’s no silver-miner data that is more highly anticipated than quarterlies.
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Saturday, November 25, 2017
Bitcoin Price Moves above $8,000 to All-time High / Currencies / Bitcoin
The recent action in Bitcoin probably makes it relatively easy for the media to write stories about the currency. For some time now, we have consistently seen titles on Bitcoin’s sequence of all-time high and sometimes the move up is linked to the denial of a proposed change in the network, called SegWit2x. In an article on CNBC, we read:
Bitcoin hit a fresh all-time high Monday above the $8,000 mark after a wild week for the cryptocurrency.
On Monday around 12:25 p.m. London time, it hit a record high of $8,121.56, according to data from industry website CoinDesk. Bitcoin first broke the $8,000 handle on Sunday.
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Saturday, November 25, 2017
Buy Gold As Fed Shows Uncertainty And Concern Over Financial ‘Imbalances’ / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
– FOMC minutes show uncertainty and concern about markets are affecting officials’ decision-making
– Officials were cautious when evaluating market conditions and the ‘damaging effects on the economy’
– Worry about ‘potential buildup of financial imbalances’ and a sharp reversal in asset prices’
– Members seem oblivious to impact of inflation on households and savings
– Physical gold and silver remain the only assets for real diversification and safety
Friday, November 24, 2017
Stock Market Lemmings Are Heading Towards The Cliff… Again / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
Did we learn nothing from the tech bubble?
The real estate bubble?
The energy bubble?
Apparently not, as here we go again. The next series of bubbles is now in progress (Bitcoin is the first).
Let me go over again the signs of a bubble. Price will usually rally at least 100% or more in a year or less. A clear sign of out of control human emotions.
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Friday, November 24, 2017
Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Thanksgiving / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have relighted the flame within us." Albert Schweitzer
"Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy." Jacques Maritain
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Friday, November 24, 2017
Cryptocurrencies Happy Thanksgivine Blast Through A Quarter Trillion Dollar Market Cap / Currencies / Bitcoin
For some reason, most people are only thankful for a few days every year. Why they aren’t thankful and grateful for everything they have every day is anyone’s guess.
But, today is the day that most people celebrate a government mandated holiday based on mostly lies about how Europeans committed genocide on the North American continent.
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Thursday, November 23, 2017
UK Economic Austerity, Bloodletting and Incompetence / Politics / UK Economy
Punxsutawney Phil Hammond, the UK chancellor, presented his Budget yesterday and declared five more years of austerity for Britain. As was to be expected. One doesn’t even have to go into the details of the Budget to understand that it is a dead end street for both the country and for Theresa May’s Tory party.
So why the persistent focus on austerity while it becomes clearer every day that it is suffocating the British economy? There are many answers to that. Sheer incompetence is a major one, a lack of empathy with the poorer another. Conservative Britain is a class society full of people who dream of empire, and deem their class a higher form of life than those who work low-paid jobs.
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Thursday, November 23, 2017
Is This Gold Rally The Start Of Something Big? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
First published on Sunday Nov 19 for members of ElliottWaveTrader.net: While I would love to believe that the rally we saw on Friday is the start of the next larger degree break out in the metals complex for which many have been eagerly awaiting, there are many signs that suggest it is only part of a corrective rally.
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Thursday, November 23, 2017
The Precious Metals Bears' Fear of Fridays / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
In the last issue of Seasonal Insights I have shown that the gold price behaves quite peculiarly in the course of the trading week. On average, prices rise almost exclusively on Friday. It is as though investors in this market were mired in deep sleep for most of the week.
Upon this I received a plethora of inquiries from readers regarding the corresponding moves in silver.
Thus I examine the behavior of the silver market on individual days of the week in this issue of Seasonal Insights.
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Thursday, November 23, 2017
Will Germany’s Crisis Affect Euro Dollar? / Currencies / Euro
Germany suddenly found itself in a political turmoil on Monday after the month-long talk to form a three-coalition party between Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc (CDU/CSU), the pro-business Free Democractic Party (FDP) and environmentalists Greens has failed. The crisis definitely challenges the idea that Germany is the anchor of democratic stability in Europe. FDP walked out of the negotiations on Sunday, saying they could not find a common ground on migration and environment.
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Thursday, November 23, 2017
Keeping Your Cryptos Safe From Crooks / Currencies / BlockChain
In our first article together, Ryan and I spoke about how to start making your first crypto currency purchases. We now want to address security. While neither of us are computer security experts, we have subscribers that are. They have helped form our thinking.
We suggest using this article to jumpstart the process of getting your digital assets secure. If you are interested in the crypto space, please make security your top concern. While our article is elementary, we provide some links we found helpful.
We also hope this article generates lively discussion. If there is any further security information of which you believe we should be aware, please feel free to post your comments below.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Stocks Are At The End Of The Line – Prepare Yourself Now! / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
I pay as much attention to anecdotal evidence from the actions of market actors as I do to the actual price action on a daily basis!
Well heres another new all time high for you,
The NYSE margin debt figures were released a few days ago for September last.
NYSE margin debt was up 1.59% on the August figure.
And now stands at a new all time high of $559,641.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Some Traders Hit. Some Traders Miss. Here's How to be Part of the 1st Group / InvestorEducation / Company Chart Analysis
Also, watch Jeffrey Kennedy identify two high-confidence trade set-ups in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
'It's the most wonderful time of the year,' goes the famous holiday song. Except on Black Friday morning, that is, when a deadly stampede of shoppers at the big-name box store runs Granny down in the dry goods aisle.
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
India's Brewing Nationalist Movement / Politics / India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s revolutionary vision for his country’s future bears little resemblance to its present. Yet polls suggest that a strong majority of Indian society may have bought into that vision.
According to a Pew survey released this week, 88 percent of Indians hold a favorable view of Modi, and 83 percent are satisfied with the state of the economy. Most notably, 70 percent said they were satisfied with the direction their country is moving in.
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Switzerland Is the World’s Largest Hedge Fund / Companies / Hedge Funds
The BOJ, the ECB, and the Fed have gone on an asset buying spree since 2008.
Meanwhile, the more sober-minded gnomes of the Swiss National Bank expanded their own balance sheet at a much steadier pace.
Though in percentage terms, it blew it up far more than the Fed or the BOJ did theirs. And now the Swiss National Bank is the world's largest hedge fund.
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Financial Markets Appear Calm, But Liquidity May Be Drying Up / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
SPX futures are marginally higher, having made a premarket high of 2600.00 in futures which translates roughly to 2602.00 in the cash market.
Today’s market may trade in a narrow range on extremely low volume as most traders have left for the holiday.
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