Tuesday, March 01, 2016

The Great Corporate Earnngs Fraud / Companies / Corporate Earnings

By: James_Quinn

"What are the odds that people will make smart decisions about money if they don't need to make smart decisions -- if they can get rich making dumb decisions? The incentives on Wall Street were all wrong; they're still all wrong." - Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

Corporate earnings reports for the fourth quarter are pretty much in the books. The deception, falsification, accounting manipulation, and propaganda utilized by mega-corporations and their compliant corporate media mouthpieces has been outrageously blatant. It reeks of desperation as the Wall Street shysters attempt to extract the last dollar from their muppet clients before this house of cards collapses.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Why Oil Booms And Busts Happen / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: OilPrice_Com

What if I told you that there was a period in history where oil demand declined by 5 million barrels per day and non-OPEC supply increased by 5 million barrels per day, yet oil price rallied more than 50 percent? Would you believe me? If your answer is yes, then you guessed right. This was the period from 1979 to 1985; it was a period during which global oil demand declined from over 61 million barrels to 56 million barrels and non-OPEC supply increased from 32 million barrels to 37 million barrels. Yet prices rallied from $17 a barrel in 1979 to $26 a barrel in 1985, while reaching as high as $35 in 1981.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

DOW Stocks Index Set For Bullish 2016 / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Austin_Galt

Ahh, the Ides of March. This is a time when stock market participants get the heebie-jeebies and it is my expectation that the first part of the month will play into this superstitious claptrap. However, once an expected higher low is in place, then a big move to the upside will be witnessed that sees March end impressively in the green.

The January analysis outlined the expectation of a move down to put in a higher low. Bingo. The February analysis outlined the expectation of another downside test that puts in another higher low. Bingo again. In this March analysis, I'm gunning for the jackpot prize in calling for one final downside test to put in yet another higher low before price launches higher big time.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Sheffield School Places Crisis Judgment Day for Secondary School Applications 2016 / Local / Sheffield

By: N_Walayat

It's crunch time for the parents of Sheffield's children starting secondary school this year as today they will find out whether their child has obtained a place at their preferred / catchment area school or not. Or as has been increasingly the case during the past few years are disappointed by the outcome as they contemplate appealing. A crisis due to a number of factors that include continuing out of control eastern european migration, year on year cuts in school budgets and rampant school applications fraud all contributing towards a crisis in school places.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Disturbing Global Shift Toward Financial Conservatism - Global Markets 2016 / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016

By: EWI

An excerpt from our new State of the Global Markets Report -- 2016 Edition

Editor's note: The following article was adapted from the just-published State of the Global Markets Report--2016 Edition, one of our most anticipated annual reports for technically minded investors and analysts around the world. We are making the first 10,000 copies of this $99 report available 100% free. Click here to get your free copy now >>

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Stock Market Nothing Bearish Yet...Hesitation For Now...Still Nowhere... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Jack_Steiman

Right now is an EXTREMELY critical time for the market, and I'll explain why so pay attention. On Thursday of last week, we made a triple top breakout on the S&P 500 above 1947. A full candle day above that key level as we closed on the highs. The key was to see follow-through the very next day, Friday. We got just that. A nice follow-through early in the day, but we got overbought. Overbought can stay that way, but not this time, as we fell back and closed at 1948. One tail up, thus, not the best action for the bulls. We came in to today no longer overbought, so no more excuses. We started out slightly red, but blasted higher as the morning went along. Halfway through the afternoon the fun stopped on the up side.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Graphite: What iPhones, NASCAR and Tesla Have in Common / Commodities / Graphene

By: The_Gold_Report

Focus Graphite CEO and Director Gary Economo says the tipping point is coming for natural flake mining developers—even during a depressed commodities cycle. This optimistic view is based on the urgent necessity of manufacturers today to source those critical materials and technologies needed to meet globally mandated CleanTech targets in advance of a 2020 deadline. Focus, says Economo, is on strategic trajectory to capitalize on global change with his company's Lac Knife, Quebec, high-purity graphite deposit.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Gold Charts That Will Confuse Bulls And Bears / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: InvestingHaven

In this article, we feature 4 gold related charts. Two of them are bullish and two are bearish.

The first bullish chart is the gold price with its trend channel since it peaked in 2011. So far, the breakout out of the trend channel is strongly bullish. What gold bulls would like to see now is a successful test of 1200 USD (resistance line). With gold trading only 20 USD above that price point, it will not take long to see the results of that test.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Deutsche Bank Abandons Gold Sub $1000 Call, Says Expensive Insurance / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Mike_Shedlock

Deutsche Bank Says has thrown in the towel on its call that gold would fall below $1000 Call. Now DB says buy gold for insurance. Here are a few snips of a Deutsche Bank market research report on gold that came my way via email. The title of the report is "It's Expensive, but You Need Some Insurance".

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

New Delhi's Dream of Indian Economy Surpassing China / Economics / India

By: Sol_Palha

"Do not wait for ideal circumstances nor for the best opportunities; they will never come." ~ Anonymous

India has had many aspirations to overtake China, but this is more of a pipedream than reality. India's corruption makes China's corruption seem non-existent. Add in the traffic jams, and filth one has to deal with in parts of Mumbai and Delhi, and the allure of investing in India loses its appeal rather rapidly. This is the reason India continues to suffer such a massive amount of brain drain . Smart Indians understand that their best option is to seek greener pastures. Modi's government had the strongest mandate of any government, yet like all his predecessors he seems to be all talk and little to no action; he has failed to implement any noteworthy changes.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Margaret Thatcher's Warning On The Euro And 'Federal Europe' In 1990 / ElectionOracle / EU_Referendum

By: John_Rubino

As the eurozone spins out of control and Britain considers leaving the European Union, this is a good time to recall some of the debates that led up to the current mess. Here's Margaret Thatcher being extraordinarily prescient about the common currency and European integration.

It's safe to say that many in Britain are glad that Thatcher and her intellectual successors opposed "a federal Europe" -- and that a growing number of Italians, Greeks and Spaniards wish they'd had Thatchers of their own.

Monday, February 29, 2016

China's Newest Export: Empty Buildings / Economics / China Economy

By: Michael_Pento

A little over six months ago the owners of the Baha Mar, a $3.5 billion Bahamian resort, filed for bankruptcy. Shoddy construction from the China State Construction Company led to delays resulting from leaking plumbing, porous Chinese concrete and large cracks at critical stress points. The doomed project even led to the death of two Chinese workers. Although the building is 97% complete, the structural deficiencies make it uninhabitable. Given the Chinese proclivity to build ghost towns, it makes you wonder if their construction crews are accustomed to erecting buildings that are never intended to be occupied.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Gold in Zero-bound / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Michael_J_Kosares

“When you have zero money for so long, the marginal benefits you get through consumption greatly diminish – but there’s one thing that doesn’t diminish, which is unintended consequences.” – Stanley Druckenmiller

Something happened on the way to negative interest rates. Something unexpected. Gold and silver demand went through the roof. The first two months of business at USAGOLD were reminiscent of the 2009 run to gold. In London, where people have the additional concern of a potential exit from the European Union, investors were lining up around the block to purchase precious metals, and reports were circulating that “Some London banks are placing unusually large orders for physical gold.” For the first two months of the year, the U.S. Mint reported gold coin sales running double what they were for the same period in 2015.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Crowded Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Bob_Loukas

Even though Gold did not continue higher this week, sentiment still seems to be dangerously elevated. Talk of $2,000 Gold and a new bull market has become common, and Gold seems ripe for a fall, at least in the short term. Don’t misinterpret my point – I see the evidence that a new bull market trend is developing, but that’s in the intermediate term. Shorter term, the current rally is approaching its limits.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Gold's Message / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Mike_Shedlock

Steen Jakobsen, Saxo Bank CIO and chief economist, emailed a chart of gold last week with his comments on what the chart means. I meant to comment on his comments at the time, but will do so now.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Silver Prices in Five Years? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: DeviantInvestor

What will the price of silver be in 2021?  You can find articles suggesting the price of silver will be over $1,000 and under $10.  Perhaps this is the wrong question.

A better approach:  The global financial system is increasingly unstable and fragile, more so than in 2008.  The important question is: How will governments, central banks and financial systems respond to the ongoing crisis?  Future prices for silver are dependent upon the answer to that question.  I suggest three possible scenarios.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Overseas Stock Markets are Down. SPX Targeted by HFTs / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

The SPX Premarket is marginally lower this morning. However, it has not crossed beneath the 50-day Moving Average at 142.90, so anything may happen at the open.

The largest influence on the markets appears to be China. ZeroHedge reports, “After the G-20 ended in a wave of global disappointment, leading to the biggest Yuan devaluation in 8 weeks, and sending Chinese stocks into a tailspin on concerns the PBOC has forsaken its stock market as well as speculation the housing bubble is now sucking up excess liquidity which in turn pushed global market deep in the red to start the week, it was the PBOC's turn to scramble in a panicked reaction to sliding risk exactly one month after Japan unveiled its own desperation NIRP, and as reported before unexpectedly cut its Reserve Requirement Ratio by 0.5% to 17.0%, the first such cut in 2016 and the 5th since the start of 2015.”

Monday, February 29, 2016

Irish Bonds Fall as Election Creates Political and Economic Uncertainty / Interest-Rates / International Bond Market

By: GoldCore

Irish bonds fell today and the yield on ten-year Irish bonds rose to 0.908 pc, up from 0.891 pc in early trading this morning after a divisive general election and inconclusive result threw Irish politics into disarray and created considerable political and economic uncertainty.

Monday, February 29, 2016

First They Came For The iPhones... / Politics / Social Issues

By: Dr_Ron_Paul

The FBI tells us that its demand for a back door into the iPhone is all about fighting terrorism, and that it is essential to break in just this one time to find out more about the San Bernardino attack last December. But the truth is they had long sought a way to break Apple's iPhone encryption and, like 9/11 and the PATRTIOT Act, a mass murder provided just the pretext needed. After all, they say, if we are going to be protected from terrorism we have to give up a little of our privacy and liberty. Never mind that government spying on us has not prevented one terrorist attack.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Average Credit Card Interest Rates Hit All-time High / Personal_Finance / Credit Cards & Scoring

By: MoneyFacts

The credit card market continues to be inundated with introductory interest-free deals, but behind the scenes the latest research from Moneyfacts.co.uk can reveal that the average purchase rate on all credit cards has hit an all-time high of 21.6% APR*.

Cardholders with a high interest credit card may not be fully aware of how much they pay over the long term or how much they could save by switching to a better deal. For instance, sticking with a high interest card could mean that it will take almost four years to clear a debt of as little as £1,000.