Monday, August 01, 2016
US Economy - 3 Charts Economists Want to Keep Secret / Economics / US Economy
Despite new all-time highs in the stock market, US economic data is lagging. In fact, real GDP per person just dropped to its lowest level in more than 75 years!
While major news outlets never miss a chance to jump on that latest negative trend from society, they seem reluctant to cover basic economic figures that could spell bad news for millions of Americans. Yet the steady dive in US economic performance has recently become too pronounced to ignore.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Oil Shares Now Attractive for the Long Term / Commodities / Oil Companies
Technical analyst Jack Chan charts a new major buy signal for oil stocks.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Why Should The IMF Care About Its Credibility? / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
The IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) issued a report a few days ago entitled ‘The IMF and the Crises in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal’. It is so damning for managing director Christine Lagarde and her closest associates, that it’s hard to see, certainly at first blush, how they could all keep their jobs. But don’t be surprised if that is exactly what will happen.
Because organizations like the IMF don’t care much, if at all, about accountability. Their leaders think they are close to untouchable, at least as long as they have the ‘blessing’ of those whose interests they serve. Which in case of the IMF means the world’s major banks and the governments of the richest nations (who also serve the same banks’ interests). And if these don’t like the course set out, a scandal with a chambermaid is easily staged.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Central Bankers Fighting An Unprecedented Global Economic Slowdown / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
The mainstream news sources seem determined to ignore the extent of the global slowdown in trade. Whether exports, imports, industrial production or whatever your preferrred metric, the facts are undeniable. Nevertheless, the mainstream media chooses to refuse to cover it. It begs an obvious question of - why?
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Gold Is an Obvious Trade in This Freaking Fantasyland / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
JARED DILLIAN writes: I’m watching the Trump phenomenon with some mix of horror and amusement, like I suspect most people are.
I will say up front that I am no fan of Trump. I sincerely wish Gary Johnson would become president, having been a Libertarian long before it was fashionable (and when the candidates were a lot less viable).
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Monday, August 01, 2016
The Failed Coup Will Help Turkey Become a Major Power / Politics / Turkey
GEORGE FRIEDMAN writes: In my book The Next 100 Years, I argued that Turkey is going to become a major regional power. Recent events would seem at odds with this view. But in fact, they confirm it.
Emerging as a regional power puts great pressure on a nation. The shift in external reality causes internal shifts as well. This is what we see in Turkey: a clash between rival factions with diverse visions, a coup of some sort, and for now, a dictatorship.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Former Fed Chairman May Have Given Japan the Answer to Its Debt Problems / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2016
Japan just had its national elections. Voters there do not share the anti-establishment fever that grips the rest of the developed world. They gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his allies a solid parliamentary majority. Japanese are either happy with Abenomics or see no better option.
Abe may now have the backing he needs to change Japan’s constitution and its official pacifism policy. This would be less a sign of nationalism than a new economic stimulus tool. Defense spending is expected to more than double. This will give a big boost to Japan’s shipyards, vehicle manufacturing, and electronics industries.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
4 Stages of Fiat Monetary Madness / Currencies / Fiat Currency
There are four stages of fiat money printing that have been used by central banks throughout their horrific history of usurping the market-based value of money and borrowing costs. It is a destructive path that began with going off the gold standard and historically ends in hyperinflation and economic chaos.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Stock Market More Short-Term Uncertainty As Stocks Hover Along Record Highs / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Briefly: In our opinion, speculative short positions are favored (with stop-loss at 2,210, and profit target at 2,050, S&P 500 index).
Our intraday outlook is bearish, and our short-term outlook is bearish. Our medium-term outlook is now neutral, following S&P 500 index breakout above last year's all-time high:
Intraday outlook (next 24 hours): bearish
Short-term outlook (next 1-2 weeks): bearish
Medium-term outlook (next 1-3 months): neutral
Long-term outlook (next year): neutral
Monday, August 01, 2016
Best Fixed Rate Savings Deals Vanish from Sight! / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
Savers have had it rough over the years and with endless cuts decimating the market, some potential investors may not realise that a few best buy savings deals are in fact disappearing altogether.
Indeed, research from Moneyfacts.co.uk can reveal that in July there were 13 best buy savings deals withdrawn entirely from the market, that have yet to be replaced. Some of the best deals have only sat on the shelf for a week* before being closed to new customers, a clear sign that providers can not cope with the onslaught of new savers looking for a home for their cash.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
WTI Forecast Pattern Suggests Higher Crude Oil Prices Coming / Commodities / Crude Oil
WTI having recently topped out at $50 per barrel, is now possibly ending a decent consolidation having moved off its start of the year lows. Our longer term patterns show the strong possibility of a rise to $60+ during the second half of this year before a further decline in to 2017.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Financial Markets May Become Disruptive! / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
My biggest concern regarding the last low on June 27th was the fact that the Dow Indu did not make an intervening high on June 8 as the SPX did, which means the Dow Indu likely finished wave Y on July 14th AND June 8th was NOT wave Y of an XYZ bull flag for the SPX, but rather Wave W of a bearish WXY flag! It had the appearance of a Y wave on the SPX (and other indices), so the June 27 low appeared to be a Z wave when in fact it was likely an X wave, but shot the market higher anyway as Wave Y had to play out with a y of Y type wave.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Ron Paul Warns - Americans Are Going to be Disappointed by Election Outcome / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016
It is a sad commentary on the state of political life in the United States that our political conventions have become more like rock music festivals than competitions of ideas. There has been a great deal of bombast, of insults, of name-calling, and of chest-beating at both party conventions, but what is disturbingly absent is any mention of how we got to this crisis and how we can get out. From the current foreign policy mess to the looming economic collapse, all we hear is both party candidates saying they will fix it, no problem.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
The Weekly Charts for Nasdaq, Gold, Miners, France, UK, Germany, Dollar... / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
Most traders are so short term oriented that they forget to look at the weekly charts. The weeklies will tell you the intermediate trend. It’s never safe to trade against the intermediate trend unless it is very late in the intermediate cycle.
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Monday, August 01, 2016
Stock Market Consolidation/ Correction Continues / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Current Position of the Market
SPX Long-term trend: The long-term trend is at an all-time high.
SPX Intermediate trend: The uptrend from 1810 has continued to a new high.
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.
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Sunday, July 31, 2016
Huge Stakes in the US Presidential Race / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016
US elections matter, notably with such hugely important domestic and geopolitical issues at stake.
No matter who wins in November, ordinary people worldwide lose - especially if Hillary succeeds Obama next year.
Never before in US history has a more reviled and recklessly dangerous aspirant sought the nation’s highest office - a shocking indictment of a political system too debauched to fix.
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Sunday, July 31, 2016
Gold Monster First Delivery Day For August / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Nova Scotia offered up 406,700 ounces of gold from their house account for the first delivery day in August. That is the biggest number I have seen in some time.
And they sold it at what was close to the low for yesterday at $1,332. That's what one gets when they sell big in an active month which August is for gold. What were they thinking?
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Sunday, July 31, 2016
Gold Bull Market or just a Bear Market Rally? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
While many are touting a new bull market in Gold, and Silver for that matter, history suggests otherwise. When we look back at the history of commodity prices for the past two centuries we observe generally short bull markets followed by longer bear markets. Since Gold was fixed for most of this period a chart going that far back would be of little use.
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Sunday, July 31, 2016
Bank of Japan Disappointment Sets Stage For Further Yen Appreciation / Currencies / Japanese Yen
After the considerable fanfare that followed the Liberal Democrats sweeping victory in the upper house of Japanese Parliament, the monetary stimulus measures that have seen been unveiled have not been met with optimism as evidenced by the recent strengthening in the Yen. In a sign that confidence in the Bank of Japan continues to fall, and recently announcement of expanded JPY 6 trillion in ETF purchases failed to move the needle lower for the Yen. Anticipation of more aggressive stimulus measures including expanded easing and lower interest rates was not rewarded after the Central bank abstained from making serious adjustments to existing policy measures. Despite the pessimism that surrounded the decision, it may have been the best move considering the ongoing deflationary pressures that have not budged and weaker consumption metrics. However, with deteriorating economic fundamentals comes the added risk of another wave of Yen appreciation.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Putin Hacking Hillary for Trump, Russia's Manchurian Candidate? / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016
Trump last week called on the Russian dictator to hack Hillary's emails “Russia, if you are listening, I hope that you are able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. I think that you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens,” which apparently according to the FBI has already happened as part of the great game that Putin is playing to help Trump become the next President of the United States.
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