Monday, December 19, 2016

What Washington's Rivals Stand to Gain From Hacking the Presidential Campaign / Politics / US Presidential Election 2016

By: STRATFOR

Earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the intelligence community to conduct a full review of the 2016 presidential election before Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017. The move came amid growing suspicions that Russian intelligence agencies were behind the recent hacking of email accounts belonging to members of the Democratic National Committee and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta. Though many people's computers have been compromised before, the fact that the attack targeted prominent political figures during a presidential race — and that tens of thousands of emails gained in the process were then posted to WikiLeaks, an organization with clear connections to Russian intelligence — has caused an uproar.

Monday, December 19, 2016

UK Christmas Sales 2016 High Street and Online Start Dates Full List / Personal_Finance / Shopping

By: Nadeem_Walayat

Britain is enjoying a post BrExit consumer boom courtesy of the Government and Bank of England hitting the panic button following the BrExit vote, injecting an extra £150 billion into the UK economy. So Britain's shoppers with more cash in their wallets look set to go on a debt fuelled spending binge at the cathedrals of modern Britain, and so consumers infected with sales fever will be out hunting for bargains as Christmas has long since morphed into a month long relentless advertising campaign to keep consumers spending all the way into January.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Federal Reserve and Stronger Real Rates Cause Breakdown in Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Jordan_Roy_Byrne

Gold and gold mining stocks were setting up for a rebound until the market suddenly priced in tighter policy from the Federal Reserve. Both nominal and real yields surged and that pushed an already oversold sector below key support. Gold lost support in the mid $1100s while gold stocks (GDX) lost a critical support level. While the sector is oversold and likely to rebound as 2017 begins, the primary trend remains lower.

Monday, December 19, 2016

While dismantling Obamacare, U.S. Congress aims for Social Security reform / Politics / Social Issues

By: Michael_T_Bucci

Humans are woefully unprepared to deal with a surprise asteroid or comet, said NASA researcher Dr Joseph Nuth at the annual meeting of American Geophysical Union this month. Woefully, Americans are as unprepared to deal with the most ideologically driven reactionary Congress in this nation’s history that will convene on January 3 and decide the future of Obamacare, safety net programs, housing, EPA, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, among others.

In the elections of Nov. 8, Americans gave Republicans unified control of government. The policy and budget priorities of Congress promise to reflect a center-right conservative ideology for years to come.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Gold and Silver New Bull or Bear Market Rally ? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Rambus_Chartology

Buckle Up ,Pour yourself your favorite beverage , and take some time . This Report will be an in depth Chartology analysis of the current situation in this ever interesting and often exasperating market we are participating in. Oh and don’t forget to open your mind. Lets begin.

I would like to start the Weekend Report by looking at a combo chart which has the US dollar on top and gold on the bottom, which shows you a better version of the positive divergence the US dollar had vs gold in 2011. First note the red arrows on the US dollar and gold back in 2008 when gold was making a high, and the US dollar was making a low, which is what you would expect. Now look at the two red arrows in 2011 whch shows the all time high for gold and a higher low for the US dollar vs the 2008 low. Gold rallied almost 1200 points to its 2011 bull market high, but the US dollar made a higher low. If they were on an equal footing the US dollar should have traded much lower when gold was making its all time high. That’s how I viewed the positive divergence for the US dollar vs gold.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Freedom in America Disappearing in Plain Sight / Politics / US Politics

By: Stephen_Lendman

The republic was founded “in strict secrecy,” Benjamin Franklin explained. When asked “what have we got, a republic or a monarchy,” he responded “(a) republic, if you can keep it.”

Today he’d say a coup to destroy it is underway in plain sight, the last vestiges of freedom fading with it - a fascist dictatorship emerging, far more ruthless and dangerous than others in world history.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Stock Market Consolidation? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Andre_Gratian

Current Position of the Market

SPX Long-term trend: If the market strength persists, the long-term trend may need to be re-evaluated.

SPX Intermediate trend: SPX intermediate P&F count to 2270 has now been met, but there are higher counts that could still be filled before a serious reversal take place.

Analysis of the short-term trend is done on a daily-basis with the help of hourly charts. It is an important adjunct to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which discuss longer market trends.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Santa Claus to Extend Trump Stock Market Rally? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Brad_Gudgeon

In this article, I’m going to point to reasons why I believe this rally has some more juice left in it.  I also want to warn that early next year, what I thought would happen in November 2016 should happen in March/April 2017, and that is a 14+% drop.

The Trump phenomenon seems to have caused the normal cycles to misbehave and extend. After further examination into Primary Wave 4, I have come to the conclusion that I need to revise the timing of the final Millennial Wave top out to a possible 3 years (that IF is Intermediate Wave Z of Primary Wave 4 extends out to the end of 2018 instead of year end 2017).

Sunday, December 18, 2016

US DEBT - A Total Disregard For Fiscal Responsibility / Interest-Rates / US Debt

By: Andy_Sutton

While we aren’t sure the coast is clear – yet – the show must indeed go on. There are topics that need to be discussed. Now with the whole new concept of ‘fake news’ out there for the sole purpose of discrediting anything the establishment wants off the radar we’re going to have to ask you to look at the decade’s worth of work that has been poured into this column and decide if we are fake or not.

For the sake of honesty, it must be pointed out that the mainstream media, in a classic false flag type move, created the whole idea of fake news with its own ridiculous material, then used the whole stunt to say ‘see, we need to be careful because there are lots of phonies out there’. Darn right there are. We’ll allow that there are quite a few shills in the alternative media. Their betrayal will be exposed in time, but for the most part the phonies have three letter network affiliations attached to them.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

US Bond Market Implosion Continues / Interest-Rates / US Bonds

By: Gary_Savage

The Bond Implosion Continues

Is the bond market implosion the next black swan event that everyone is ignoring?

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Trumping the Environment / Politics / Environmental Issues

By: Walter_Brasch

Whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump was elected, the environment is going to suffer.

Both have supported horizontal fracking, the destruction of the earth to extract oil and gas. The use of fracking is so harmful to the environment and public health that numerous banks refuse to lend funds to individuals who wish to build or sell their houses near drilling operations. Numerous lenders have also refused to loan money to corporations that wish to drill.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Cheap Multi-Colured Battery Powered Christmas String Fairy Lights Review - PowerBee / ConsumerWatch / Reviews

By: Anika_Walayat

Here is our review of typical battery powered cheap (£12) 100 LED string fairy christmas lights bought online from PowerBee but are fairly standard across a range of suppliers, these as is the case with most similar lights have a built in 6 hour switched on timer,and come with 8 modes of operation.

Find out what they look like when up, how well they perform, and how long the batteries and lights actually last for i.e. how many christmases can one get out of using these cheap fairy lights.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Stocks Just Triggered a Major “Topping” Signal… Next Up is the Bloodbath / Stock-Markets / Stock Market Crash

By: Graham_Summers

The markets are priming for a major inflection point.

I cannot remember a time when investors were more bullish. The Dow is currently more overbought (based on the 14 day relative strength index) than at any point in the last 20 years.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

US Housing Starts Dive 18.7 Percent as Mortgage Interest Rates Soar / Housing-Market / US Housing

By: Mike_Shedlock

The often volatile housing starts numbers took another dive this report, down 18.7% in November according to the Census Bureau New Residential Construction report for November 2016.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

The 70-year US Treasury Bond Market Cycle and SPX Stocks Bull Market / Stock-Markets / US Bonds

By: Tony_Caldaro

The market started the week at SPX 2260. After a slightly lower open on Monday the SPX rallied to the current uptrend high at 2278 on Tuesday. On Wednesday the FED raised rates for the first time in a year and the market pulled back to SPX 2248. Then a rally on Thursday to SPX 2272 was followed by a smaller pullback into a Friday 2258 close. For the week the SPX/DOW were mixed, and the NDX/NAZ were mixed. Economics reports were plentiful and ended the week slightly positive. On the downtick: export/import prices, industrial production, capacity utilization, housing starts, build permits, plus the treasury budget increased. On the uptick: retail sales, the CPI/PPI, NY/Philly FED, the NAHB, the WLEI, plus weekly jobless claims declined. Next week’s reports will be highlighted by Q3 GDP, leading indicators and the PCE index. Best to your pre-holiday week!

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Stock Market Flirts With Dow 20k New All Time High / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The Dow flirted with 20k this week, hitting a high of 19,966, literally within a few points of claiming the historic 20k level along its relentless bull market path. If one looks back to not just the start of 2016, but, well right up until AFTER the US polls closed on November 8th and beyond then its not just a case of Dow 20k could never happen but that the Dow 'should' by now be trading at well BELOW 15k. Whilst a few of the perma crowd had completely flipped imagining the Dow could trade down to as low as 6k! I suppose that's where the Dow needs to trade for some guys and gals just to BREAKEVEN after year after year of beartish rhetoric.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Financial Markets Award Trump Nobel Prize in Economics / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016

By: David_Galland

Dear Parader,

As today we are headed north to spend Christmas with the family, Jake Weber, the invaluable senior researcher of our premium Compelling Investments Quantified (CIQ) service has kindly offered to fill in for this edition.

In his article, he delves into the economic and political challenges President Trump is facing and scans for any red flags flapping in the breeze.

On the topic of CIQ, we maintain a laser-like focus on finding great companies that sell below their intrinsic value—the only proven path to successful long-term investment.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

From Unloved & Unwanted to George Washington on Steroids: The U.S. Dollar / Currencies / US Dollar

By: EWI

From Unloved & Unwanted to George Washington on Steroids: The U.S. Dollar

Chart of the Day

Friday, December 16, 2016

The Stock Market Level To Watch / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

Dana Lyons (Tumblr.com) makes an interesting observation about a little-known index known as the Value Line Geometric Composite Index. In his article, he draws a straight line (red) at 500.00. and says. “This far and no further.”

He misses several points, which I would like to address. First, by drawing a horizontal bar, he misses the fact that the XVG was 27 points under it in 2000 and 23 points above it in 2015. By drawing a line that is peak-to-peak, you get a different picture. In fact, what comes to mind is an Orthodox Broadening Top (I added the lower trendline to complete the formation). This is a slight variation of what you see in the DJIA and SPX.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Radical Gold Under Investment / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Zeal_LLC

Gold was again blasted to new post-election lows this week, further trashing contrarian sentiment.  The Fed proved more hawkish than expected in its rate-hike-trajectory forecast, unleashing heavy selling in gold futures.  This catapulted gold bearishness back up to extremes not seen in a year.  Investors are once again convinced gold is doomed, and thus radically underinvested.  That’s actually super-bullish for gold.

It certainly wasn’t the Fed’s second rate hike in 10.5 years this week that hammered gold.  Actually that was universally expected.  Federal-funds-futures traders had assigned it an average 96% probability in the two weeks leading up to that rate hike.  If the Fed had simply raised its federal-funds rate by 25 basis points to a 0.50%-to-0.75% range, gold-futures speculators would’ve likely yawned.  They knew it was coming.