Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The “Amazon Effect” Is Coming To Oil Markets / Commodities / Oil Companies

By: OilPrice_Com

While OPEC mulls over further steps to once again support falling oil prices, tech startups are quietly ushering in a new era in oil and gas: the era of the digital oil field.

Much talk has revolved around how software can completely transform the energy industry, but until recently, it was just talk. Now, things are beginning to change, and some observers, such as Cottonwood Venture Partners’ Mark P. Mills, believe we are on the verge of an oil industry transformation of proportions identical to the transformation that Amazon prompted in retail.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Turning Point Nations On The Stage / Politics / GeoPolitics

By: Jim_Willie_CB

Many are the turning points with individual nations, once firmly in the Western alliance camp, but no longer. They are flipping eastward or in the case of China cutting the major cords. The Shanghai developments are by far the most important in the financial setting. The Petro-Dollar is seeing its last months after a 43-year reign as defacto standard. Its retirement will begin in the East, then spread to the decaying loyal Western nations. The entire geopolitical chessboard is becoming more aligned with the Eurasian Trade Zone, one nation after another. Its cornerstones are Russia, China, and increasingly Iran. It has gathered some Eastern European countries like Turkey, and will gather more. It has pursued the Middle East oil monarchies, and will succeed in lassoing them into the zone corral. Whether they deploy financial connections, or trade ties, or security links, these nations no longer see the United States and British (who walk the American dog with a monetary leash) as the leading global players any longer. The leaders are China with its financial and industrial might and Russia with its energy and commodity strength.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The Profoundly Personal Impact Of The National Debt On Our Retirements / Interest-Rates / US Debt

By: Dan_Amerman

In this analysis we will take a look at something deeply personal – which is how the $20 trillion United States national debt may change the day-to-day quality of life for savers and retirees in the decades ahead. That is likely a somewhat unusual perspective for many savers and investors.

On the one hand, we have what are often thought of as abstract economic concepts - such as how large will the national debt be in 10 or 20 years? How will Federal Reserve actions to increase interest rates change future government deficits and debts?

On the other hand, we have something that is typically presented as being entirely different, which is individual financial planning. What are the savings and investment choices that we need to make today that will help determine what our standard of living may be in retirement 10, 20 or 30 years from now?

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Gold and Silver Report – Several Interesting Charts / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Peter_Degraaf

The Gold Direction Indicator has just turned positive again, at 71%.

Featured is the daily gold chart. Price found support on Friday and produced an upside reversal. Then on Monday gold began to break out at the downtrendline. A close above the blue arrow will confirm the breakout with a target at $1360. The supporting indicators are positive, as well as the moving averages which are in positive alignment and rising. The Gold Direction Indicator closed at 71%.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Catalonia Has Already Lost This Battle / Politics / Spain

By: John_Mauldin

By Jacob L. Shapiro : Catalonia held its independence referendum on October 1.

Initial results show that of the 42 percent of Catalan voters who turned out, about 90 percent voted for independence. It’s an impressive figure, but not exactly an overwhelming mandate for Catalonian independence.

No doubt a significant number of Catalans want independence, but we already knew that.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

London House Prices Are Falling – Time to Buckle Up / Housing-Market / UK Housing

By: GoldCore

– London house prices fall in September: first time in eight years
– High-end London property fell by 3.2% in year
– House sales down by over a very large one-third
– Global Real Estate Bubble Index – see table
– Brexit, rising inflation and political uncertainty causing many buyers to back away from market
– U.K. housing stock worth record £6.8 trillion, almost 1.5 times value of LSE and more than the value of all the gold in world
– Homeowners and property investors should diversify and invest in gold

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

The Truth About Elliott Wave Analysis / InvestorEducation / Elliott Wave Theory

By: Avi_Gilburt

This evening, one of my members forwarded me a public post made by another “analyst” about Elliott Wave analysis, which seemed to be supported by his novice acolytes.  And, yes, that perspective suggested that Elliott Wave is “useless as a tool for market analysis.”

So, please allow me to deal with the substance of the issue at hand, and that is the accuracy and usefulness of Elliott Wave analysis.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Six-month Surge in One Year Fixed Interest Rates / Interest-Rates / UK Interest Rates

By: MoneyFacts

The recovery in the savings market over the past six months has caused the average one-year fixed bond rate to surpass the average return that was available on a two-year fixed bond back in April 2017, according to the latest research by moneyfacts.co.uk.

Today, the average return on a one-year fixed bond has hit 1.14%, a marked increase from April, when the average one-year bond paid less than 1%. At the same time, the average two-year bond paid 1.13%, below the one-year average of today.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

NZDUSD Broke Below Important Support At 0.7131 / Currencies / Forex Trading

By: Franco_Shao

The NZDUSD pair recently broke below an important support level at 0.7131 and extended its bearish movement from 0.7557 to as low as 0.7055, indicating that the bearish movement from 0.7557 has resumed. Further decline towards 0.6817 would likely be seen over the next several weeks.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

On Bulls and Bears, and the Delicate Balance Between Them / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: EWI

On Bulls and Bears, and the Delicate Balance Between Them

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

The S&P Is A Bloated Corpse / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Raul_I_Meijer

According to Hyman Minsky, economic stability is not only inevitably followed by instability, it inevitably creates it. Complacent humans being what they are. If he’s right, and would anyone dare doubt it, we’re in for that mushroom cloud on the financial horizon. We know that because market volatility, as measured for instance by the VIX, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)’s volatility index, is scraping the depths of the Mariana trench.

Two separate articles at Zero Hedge this weekend, one by NorthmanTrader.com and one by LPLResearch.com, address the issue: it is time to be afraid and wake up. And that is not just true for investors or traders, it’s true for ‘everyone out there’ perhaps even more. Central bank policies, QE and ultra low rates, have distorted the financial system to such an extent -ostensibly in an attempt to save it- that the depressed, compressed volatility these policies have created can only come back to life with a vengeance.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Are Gold and the US Dollar Rallying Together? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Clive_Maund

Technical analyst Clive Maund examines the relationship between the dollar and precious metals.The last gold Market update almost a month ago called the intermediate top within a day, as you may recall, and the subsequent Gold and U.S. Dollar called the rally in the dollar the day before it started. Having seen a significant reaction back by gold, the question now is "Has it run its course?" The short answer to that is yes, although calling a bottom here is complicated by the fact that gold's COTs have not eased as much on the reaction as we might have expected, and the dollar Hedgers' chart is still flat out bullish for the dollar. What this means is that we may need to see some bottoming action by gold, even if it soon breaks out of its rather steep short-term downtrend, and another possibility that we will examine is that the dollar and gold rally in tandem, a rare circumstance that could be occasioned by an extreme development such as an attack on North Korea, although if this happens the peoples of Seoul and Tokyo will doubtless have more important things to think about than the price of gold.

Monday, October 09, 2017

Is Silver Turning? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: The_Gold_Report

Technical analyst Clive Maund discusses movements in the silver price. The last Silver Market update almost a month ago called the intermediate top within a day, as you may recall, and it has back to the extent predicted in that update.

There was more evidence of a turn in silver than gold on Friday, when a more obvious reversal candle appeared on its chart. On the 6-month chart we can see that a long-tailed candle occurred that approximates to a bull hammer where the price closed not far off the day's highs on the biggest volume for over a month. After its recent reaction this certainly looks like a reversal, especially as the downtrend channel has been converging. The earlier overbought condition has more than fully unwound and the price has dropped back into a zone of support.

Monday, October 09, 2017

Bitcoin Needs Electricity, Gold CONDUCTS Electricity / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: MoneyMetals

Mike Gleason: It is my privilege now to welcome in Frank Holmes, CEO and Chief Investment Officer at US Global Investors. Mr. Holmes has received various honors over the years, including being named America's Best Fund Manager for 2016 by the Mining Journal. He is also the co-author of the book The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing and is a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business as well as right here on the Money Metals podcast. Frank, welcome back and thanks for joining us again. How are you today?

Monday, October 09, 2017

EU Officials Out Of Step With Reality, Europeans Don’t See What’s Coming at Them / Politics / US Politics

By: John_Mauldin

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : Imagine the following scenario.

Texas votes to secede from the United States, sparking bitter tension between Austin and Washington. A neo-Nazi party wins seats in the California legislature.

Cook County, home to Chicago, threatens to break away from Illinois to form its own state. Worried about losing such an economically vibrant region, government officials try to prevent the election from taking place.

Monday, October 09, 2017

Donald Trump: Warmonger-in-Chief! / Politics / US Politics

By: Antonius_Aquinas

If a world conflagration, God forbid, should break out during the Trump Administration, its genesis will not be too hard to discover: the thin-skinned, immature, shallow, doofus which currently resides in the Oval Office!

This past week, the Donald has continued his bellicose talk with both veiled and explicit threats against purported American adversaries throughout the world.  In a cryptic exchange with reporters during a dinner with military leaders, he quipped:

Monday, October 09, 2017

UK Base Rate Speculation Causes Fixed Interest Rates to Rise / Interest-Rates / UK Interest Rates

By: MoneyFacts

Moneyfacts UK Mortgage Trends Treasury Report data, not yet published, highlights that as SWAP rates have seen a steep increase due to base rate speculation, the average two-year fixed rate mortgage is also starting to rise.

Monday, October 09, 2017

S&P 500 At Record High But Will Stocks Continue Even Higher? / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Paul_Rejczak

Briefly:
Intraday trade: Our Friday's intraday trading outlook was bearish. It proved partly wrong because the S&P 500 index remained within relatively narrow intraday trading range. Overall, it lost 0.1%. The index may retrace some of its recent rally today, as investors will likely continue taking short-term profits off the table. Therefore, intraday short position is favored. Stop-loss is at the level of 2,565 and potential profit target is at 2,530 (S&P 500 index).

Monday, October 09, 2017

EURGBP’s Correction Rebound Extended To 0.8992 / Currencies / Euro

By: Franco_Shao

EURGBP extended its upside movement from 0.8746 to as high as 0.8992, breaking above a major resistance level at 0.8899, indicating that correction for the downtrend from 0.9306 is underway. Further rise is still possible in the coming days.

Monday, October 09, 2017

Gold and Silver on Major Buy Signal, The Cycle is Up / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: The_Gold_Report

Technical analyst Jack Chan charts the latest moves in the gold and silver markets.

Our proprietary cycle indicator is up.