Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Stock Market August 5-8 High / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The July 25 Market Update shared an interesting 60-day cycle which was due on July 22. That cycle scored a direct hit even if the pullback was not as dramatic as in past episodes. On Monday, another, shorter cycle was due. It has averaged about 42 days but has stretched to as long as 47. Either way, this cycle points to a high this week matching our Hybrid Lindsay forecast. The Hybrid forecast is detailed below.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Will this Crude Oil Price Rally hold? / Commodities / Crude Oil
Crude has finally reversed higher to recover some of its recent losses, and is now showing clear evidence of a new Daily Cycle (DC) and Crude Oil Rally. There are early signs of a new Investor Cycle (IC) as well.
Midweek, Crude bottomed on day 44 before reversing sharply higher and punching through the declining trend-line. And when it closed above the 10 day moving average, Crude confirmed that it is in the early stages of a new Daily Cycle. From this point forward, Crude’s performance will depend on its Investor Cycle and the bear market as a whole.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Why Won’t this Damn Stocks Bull Market Crash & Burn? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat; self-control is the rule. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Central bankers are declaring war on cash for one reason only; they want to punish savers and reward speculators and in the process destroy the middle class. The only way to maintain the illusion that all is well is to get the average Joe to embrace this illusory economic recovery and what better way to achieve this then by forcing them to speculate in the markets. The best way to force savers to speculate is to punish them for saving, and that is exactly what central bankers have been doing, and the outlook will only worsen as central banks worldwide embrace negative rates. Those calling for higher interest rates or hoping for them are living on another planet; higher rates are history. The new trend is negative rates and investors need to adapt or die; there is no middle ground here.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
SPX at the Edge / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Good Morning!
The SPX Premarket is only a point higher after a failed ramp attempt. A decline beneath yesterday’s low at 2177.85 breaks the first support line. The second is also at Short-term support at 2168.39. Both VIX and the Hi-Lo are far enough away from their triggers that it is likely that the second break may also correspond with their trigger levels.
Yesterday’s trading had the lowest volume of the year.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Meanwhile in Greece.. / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
Everyone gets 15 minutes of fame. Greece had its spot in the limelight last year. It is now no longer famous. We have all moved on to bigger dramas, or so we think. The French feel they are the victims because of terrorist attacks, the British because of Brexit, Americans because of Trump.
Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame line is as much about the average human being’s attention span as it is about anything else, like the proliferation of media. The data in the picture at the top of this article are from 2014. They are what moved Greeks to elect Syriza in early 2015. But the Greeks found out within 6 months that this made no difference; the Troika called the shots, not the Greek people, not its government.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Stock Market Low VIX...Low Volume....Disconnect Widens...Negative Divergences On Daily Charts... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The market is getting more and more boring as volatility gets lower and lower. This is due to complacency setting, which is causing the VIX to drop while volatility falls off the earth. This can play on the emotions of traders as things barely move, and they get bored, which causes over playing and more poor choices for their trading portfolio. The market grinds higher as a bull market gets more mature due to the bears leaving the game for the most part. All that is left are the bulls. But let's face it, most are in the game. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. With the bulls in and the bears gone, there's not much to move the averages one way or the other, so the market trades in very thin ranges for most of the day and most of the time as well.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
UK Bank Current Accounts Conundrum / Personal_Finance / Current Accounts
Current account customers who are considering switching their bank account will be facing an ever growing challenge to find the right deal. Now that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have finalised the retail banking report, many customers will be hoping for more competition in the market for their business.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Natural Gas Surprise Drawdown Signals Higher Prices Ahead / Commodities / Natural Gas
The U.S. electric power sector burned through a record amount of natural gas in recent weeks, a sign of the shifting power generation mix and also a signal that natural gas supplies could get tighter than many analysts had previously expected.
The EIA reported a surprise drawdown in natural gas inventories for the week ending on August 3. The reduction of 6 billion cubic feet (Bcf) was the first summertime drawdown since 2006. Natural gas spot prices shot up following the data release on August 4, although they fell back again shortly after.
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
The Phony U.S. Jobs Recovery / Politics / Employment
Last Friday saw the release of a bombshell jobs report, with headlines exclaiming that the US economy added over 250,000 jobs in July, far in excess of any forecasts. The reality was far more grim. Those "jobs" weren't actually created by businesses – they were created by the statisticians who compiled the numbers, through the process of "seasonal adjustment." That's a bit of statistical magic that the government likes to pull out of its hat when the real data isn't very flattering. It's done with GDP, it's done with job numbers, and similar manipulation is done with government inflation figures to keep them lower than actual price increases. In reality there are a million fewer people with jobs this month than last month, but the magic of seasonal adjustment turns that into a gain of 255,000.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Stock Market Narrowly Mixed Consolidation Day / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The stock market indices had a down day today, but they did come back in the last half hour. The day started out down, they went down sharply, then bounced off support, retested in the afternoon, held, and then came on strong, but did not manage to get back in the plus column.
Net on the day, the Dow was down 14.24 at 18,529.29, 27 points off the low. The S&P 500 was down 1.98 at 2180.89, 3 points off its low. The Nasdaq 100 was down 6.47 at 4784.74, 14 points off its low.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Greenspan Gets One Right: Here Comes Stagflation / Economics / Stagflation
In a recent interview, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (the "Maestro") warned that the economy was experiencing, "the early signs of stagflation." This is a very rare occasion where Mr. Greenspan and I are actually in agreement. I also warned of this in my “Time to Invest for Stagflation” commentary published several months ago.
In fact, the U.S. economy—and indeed the entire developed world—is in the beginning stages of an unprecedented breakout of stagflation. The number one reason for this can be summed up in a single word…debt. Debt not only steers an economy towards low growth but it also mires the nation with inflation.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Gold and Silver Bull Market Correction Expected / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Technical analyst Jack Chan is awaiting the gold bull correction and sees it as a good entry point for gold.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
Markets: Understand the Present to Forecast the Future (Part 2) / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
Knowing where you are within a trend helps you see around the next corner
In part 2 of our in-depth interview with Steve Hochberg, Steve explains what else makes Elliott wave analysis so useful and practical.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
Gold Suffers Weakness on Strong U.S. Jobs Numbers, but UK Stimulus to Offer Respite / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Gold investors might need to brace up for a potentially disappointing week after strong U.S. employment numbers reduced the allure of the yellow metal. Gold has been on an impressive bullish ride this year and the yellow metal has gained 26% in the year-to-date period to erase the 11% loss that was recorded in full year 2015. In fact, gold has delivered an impressive price gains that outperforms equities and other commodities.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
Financial Fire Hoses and Helicopters / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
“The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at no cost.” – Ben Bernanke
Modern finance ultimately comes down to managing serious crises and transitions in a way that is profitable for policy makers and elite. The inevitable chaos, like the death of a fiat currency and the return to a real market price equilibrium, is much more dramatic.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
Top Silver Mining CEO Makes a Remarkable Price Forecast / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
First Majestic's Keith Neumeyer: “Silver Mines & Silver Are Way Rarer Than People Actually Think”
Welcome to this week’s Market Wrap Podcast, I’m Mike Gleason.
Coming up we’ll hear a fantastic interview with Keith Neumeyer, CEO of First Majestic Silver Corp. Keith gives an insider’s take on the tremendous and unsustainable imbalance that exists between the available mine supply of silver compared to gold and what it likely means for the silver to gold ratio. And you’ll definitely want to hear Keith’s long term price target for the white metal, which may surprise you. Don’t miss my conversation with Keith Neumeyer coming up after this week’s market update.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
FTSE Possible Double Top Before Lengthy PBrexit Consolidation / Stock-Markets / UK Stock Market
The FTSE has had a dramatic run since Brexit and appears on a short term basis to be overbought, our current forecast is for a high over the coming weeks at or about 7,000, this short term top remains likely as long as the 10, 20 and 50 day moving averages remain in positive alignment.
You will notice the 300 day moving average beginning to turn up in a positive fashion in our forecast whilst price becomes weak, that is a perfectly reasonable part of a consolidation process. The 50 day moving average should act as support if we get a mini consolidation before we get to 7,000.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
Today is a Stock Market Pi Date / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Good Morning!
The SPX Premarket is marginally higher, along with the global equities markets.
ZeroHedge reports, “The meltup continues with the S&P500 set to open at new all time highs as futures rise 0.2% overnight, with European, Asian stocks higher, as job data pushed MSCI Asia Pacific Index towards highest close since Aug. 2015. Germany, U.K. economic data seen positive, with dollar, oil rising, and gold declining.”
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 08, 2016
Gold to Thrive in a Fiat Ponzi with Negative Yield / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Summary:
- So if you are buying government bonds, expecting a decent return at the current puny level of yields, you are chasing the price. You are a speculator focusing on price, not yield. …If you are buying equities at current sky-high prices, you are chasing the yield. The mirror image of bonds.
- Gold bottomed in December 2015, after a much-anticipated Federal Reserve interest rate hike – the first in 7 years. Perhaps the market sensed that the Fed has done away with its interest hike campaign?
Monday, August 08, 2016
Irish Banks Most Vulnerable In Stress Tests – UK Banks RBS and Barclays At Risk / Companies / Financial Markets 2016
– Irish banks vulnerable in stress tests: AIB/ BofI amongst worst 5 banks in EU
– Ulster Bank’s parent Royal Bank of Scotland emerged as 2nd worst bank
– AIB, Banca MPS especially vulnerable & ‘failed’ in adverse scenario (see table)
– Impairment of financial assets was the largest negative contributor to results
– Bad loans continue to pose risks to Irish financial system