Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Crushing the States, Saving the Banks: The Fed’s Generous New Rules / Politics / Coronavirus Depression

By: Ellen_Brown

The new terms could be harnessed for local governments to own and operate their own banks.

Congress seems to be at war with the states. Only $150 billion of its nearly $3 trillion coronavirus relief package – a mere 5% – has been allocated to the 50 states; and they are not allowed to use it where they need it most, to plug the holes in their budgets caused by the mandatory shutdown. On April 22, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was opposed to additional federal aid to the states, and that his preference was to allow states to go bankrupt. 

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

A Tale of Two Economic Depressions / Economics / Coronavirus Depression

By: Richard_Mills

As the coronavirus continues to hammer state and provincial economies, politicians are being forced to consider whether lockdown “cures” are worse than the disease. Pressured by the Trump administration, and in some cases the public, several US states are planning a re-opening, or partial re-opening of their economies, sometime in May. 

About half of Canadian provinces and territories are also in the midst of a re-start of some description; among those still locked down are British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland/ Labrador. 

The question weighing on the minds of both health officials and economists, is whether letting up on social distancing restrictions will cause the number of covid-19 cases to spike, thereby setting back virus containment efforts and the timeline of economic recovery. Yet regardless of what comes next, it doesn’t take a lot of analysis to see we are already in a heap of trouble. 

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Why Americans Don't Have Any Savings / Economics / US Economy

By: Frank_Hollenbeck

In response to a likely worldwide recession, governments have turned on full blast the fiscal and monetary spigots. A $2 trillion spending plan has just been approved in the USA, central banks are on a buying spree, and the $1200 stimulus payment is just helicopter money. Since the government does not have a magical tree of plenty and can only redistribute from the left pocket to the right by taxing, borrowing, or printing money, how does this make any economic sense or make any country better off? Government and Keynesian economists will tell you it’s to protect us from the coming dangers of hoarding; specifically, that banks will stop lending and just let funds sit. Keynes brought hoarding to the forefront of economics in his The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money; a concept that the classical economist considered to be irrelevant.

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

To Avoid a Collapse of the Eurozone, Europe Moves Closer to a European Megastate / Politics / European Union

By: Frank_Hollenbeck

The French president Macron recently fired a warning shot across the bow of the European ship of state. He said that without making all EU countries mutually responsible for the debts of individual countries the EU could collapse. In March, Christine Lagarde asked eurozone finance ministers to consider a one-off joint debt issuance of “corona bonds” to assist with the coronavirus pandemic. But this has been met with opposition by Germany and other northern European countries, since they do not want to be responsible for the debts of the more spendthrift nations of the EU.

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

SP500 Kitchin Cycle Review / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2020

By: readtheticker

Early 2020 the fear was the human race 'David' may suffer terribly under a frightening new flu (COVID 19) 'Goliath', well after few short months it is now clear the human race will win this trial by combat.

Previous Post: SP500 Kitchin Cycle Review

In the previous post the blog said (part 1)

.."We must conclude the major 900 period low is now in, and we are now in a up swing, which may top out ate 2020 or late 2021. Any future top out may only generate a 10% to 20% correction, of course this can be deemed very mild. This is expected, but the expected does not always play out."...

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

How to Find Trustworthy Will Writers in Birmingham / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement

By: Submissions

It is not something that everyone would want to think about, but having a Will written can make life so much easier for your loved ones should anything happen to you. Young or old, it doesn’t matter, a Will is something that everyone should have. As we go through life, we gather assets, whether they be possessions, a car, a house or money, everyone will have something. By creating a Will, you are leaving clear instructions as to how your assets should be shared in the event of your death. Without a Will, it is left for your loved ones to decide upon the distribution of your assets and not only may they be distributed in a way that you would rather not have but it can cause endless arguments between family members when decisions have to be made and sometimes it can cause a permanent rift. With a Will, you can also appoint an Executor, a person that you would trust, to have the responsibility to share your assets according to your wishes. You can find out more about will writers Birmingham through the provided site.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Fed Cuts Equities Stimulus 86% This Week and Stocks Are Falling / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2020

By: Chris_Vermeulen

What happens to the global markets when the US Fed begins to weaken stimulus activity and when the global markets must begin to function on their own?  Are the global markets capable of sustaining current price levels without the Fed supporting them?

A recent news article suggests the US Fed has drastically slashed stimulus activity over the past 5+ days.  From a peak level of nearly $600 Billion a week to current levels near $83 Billion per week – a -86% decrease.  How will this reflect in the market’s ability to sustain current price levels in the face of disastrous Q2 expectations? Yup, markets are falling fast and hard going into the weekend as expected!

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Gold and Silver: Pay Attention to This Noteworthy Record High / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2020

By: EWI

Here's what usually occurs in related financial markets when "big changes in social mood are afoot"

Related financial markets tend to move together. For example, gold and silver.

Or, consider stocks. When the Dow Industrials are up on a given trading day, the NASDAQ is usually in the green too. The same applies when the Dow is down. Other major stock indexes tend to close in negative territory as well.

However, when a trend is near exhaustion -- whether bullish or bearish -- "non-confirmations" often happen. A non-confirmation occurs when one market makes a new high (or low), but a related market does not.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Americans Just Can’t Get Enough Gold & Silver / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2020

By: MoneyMetals

Precious metals markets enter the month of May with some mixed signals near term.  But the long-term picture continues to look constructive.  All the metals appear to have put in major bottoms during the panic selling of mid to late March.

Barring another wave of virus outbreaks and economic lockdowns, the gradual reopening of state, local, and national economies should start to unleash more industrial and jewelry demand in the not too distant future. 

And the extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus being pumped into the financial system will, if nothing else, work toward the debasement of the U.S. dollar. 

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Silver’s Epic Mean Reversion / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2020

By: Zeal_LLC

Silver is powering higher in a new bull market after getting clobbered in March’s stock panic.  Investors have been flocking back to silver in the aftermath of that ultra-rare extreme-fear event.  That brutal selloff also utterly wiped out speculators’ upside bets in silver futures, giving them massive room to buy back in.  After being pummeled to record-low levels relative to gold, an epic silver mean reversion higher is underway.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a popular essay “Big Silver Bull Running!”.  It explained what happened to silver in this recent COVID-19 stock panic, and why silver soared in its wake.  Sucked into that blinding fear maelstrom, silver was thrashed to a miserable 10.9-year low.  This metal plummeted in a near-crash, fueled by speculators’ fastest long purge ever witnessed!  That exhausted their selling, totally resetting longs.

That meant these super-leveraged traders’ capital firepower was fully available to buy back into silver.  And much more bullish than that, strong and relentless silver investment demand emerged since that mid-March collapse.  That’s evident in the soaring silver-bullion holdings of silver’s leading exchange-traded fund, the SLV iShares Silver Trust!  This dominant silver ETF is the best daily proxy for global investment demand.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Do I Need Business Van Insurance? / Companies / Insurance

By: Submissions

A commercial van is the beating heart of many small businesses. In some cases, losing access to a van could mean that operations would be interrupted, if not halted entirely. Picture a custom carpentry business that is left without a cargo van. It couldn’t reasonably ask customers to pick up their furniture and third-party transport would put a huge dent on profits.

Insuring your van is required, as it’s a registered vehicle the same as any other. However, that doesn’t mean that standard coverage is adequate for a commercial van. Instead, you’re going to need business van insurance.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

United States Coronavirus Trend Trajectory Update / Politics / Pandemic

By: Nadeem_Walayat

A quick update for the US Corona catastrophe trend trajectory. Over 1 million testing positive and 61,656 reported deaths resolves to a case fatality rate of 5.8% up from 2.1% at the start of April. Which just reiterates how badly wrong ALL those who were touting that the CFR would fall when the US starts to test many more people, we'll just as I warned at the time that is NOT what's going to happen and HAS not happened!

Regardless of what President Trump and the mad scientists state about flattening the curve , in reality there is little sign of the curve flattening on even the official data which just like the UK UNDER REPORTs the actual number of deaths by likely 70%-80%! Still official data is all I have to work with and the curve on this graph does not look like it's flattening. Instead projects towards an End May death toll of about 110,000!

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Stock Market Hit Resistance and Fell, Transportation Sector Forms Topping Pattern / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2020

By: Chris_Vermeulen

Recently, the Transportation Index and the S&P SPDR ETF setup topping patterns near the end of April 2020.  In terms of technical triggers, these patterns need to see additional downside price confirmation before we can confirm the true potential for these setups. If they do confirm, we could be starting a new downside price trend fairly soon.

The recent market upside price move is dramatically different on the TRAN chart vs. the SPY chart.  Even though the SPY price advance has mirrored the move in the ES and NQ, the TRAN upside price move has been more muted.  This is because global economic activity has continued to stall and is not translating into active shipping and trucking activity.  Remember, the Transportation Index helps us to understand the core levels of economic activity as parcels and products move around the globe.

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Stock Market Resuming the Major Downtrend? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2020

By: Andre_Gratian

Current Position of the Market

SPX: Long-term trend – We are in an official bear market

Intermediate trend – resuming decline?

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 discusses the course of longer market trends. 

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Boris Johnson Orders CHARGE of the NHS Light Brigade Charge into the Valley of Coronavirus Death / Politics / Pandemic

By: N_Walayat

The magnitude of incompetence and negligence of the UK government is unprecedented, a death toll that should be in the hundreds now runs into the tens of thousands, not even 100 Bin Laden's could have inflicted as much damage as Boris Johnson's government has.

Nothing illustrates this then NHS workers being sent like the Light Brigade to Charge into the Coronavirus valley of death without any protection!

Monday, May 04, 2020

Britain's FAKE Coronavirus Death Statistics Exposed / Politics / Pandemic

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The UK death toll has sky rocketed to over 26,000! Well beyond that which anyone could have imagined in lockdown Britain a month ago! All this whilst lockdown Britain continues without end with the government financing 80% of MOST workers wages, bailing out corporations and underwriting small business loans up to the tune of £50k each, canceling £36 billion of NHS Debt and on it goes, the final bill for which could exceed £1 trillion! All whilst the Bank of England quietly prints money to monetize UK government debt that will have inflationary consequences as consumer prices soar.

Monday, May 04, 2020

The Biotech Boom May Have Only Just Begun / Companies / BioTech

By: Submissions

“The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.” ― Elbert Hubbard

A new medical development is sweeping the country…

Some may see it as controversial - but the studies don’t lie.

It’s effective.

So effective, in fact, that the FDA has just fast-tracked approval for research…

Meaning that it is aiming to gain a major stake in a key healthcare market that is on track to hit $260 billion in the next six years.

Monday, May 04, 2020

Stock Market “Fundamentals ? It’s ALL in the Chartology” / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2020

By: Rambus_Chartology

Before we look at tonight’s Precious Metals charts I would like to make a comment on the US stock markets. I will take some flack over some of the comments I’m going to make but that’s fine as it won’t be the first time nor the last.

Let me start by saying, “The only rule when it comes to trading the stock markets is, “There Are No Rules.” The other important rule that I live by is that, “the markets are always right regardless of what I think.” It’s interesting to hear comments like, the markets don’t trade like they used so its not any fun anymore. Even trading during the mania phase in the tech bubble parabolic rise wasn’t easy. Or the markets can’t keep going up because of no volume or interest rates are too high or countless other reasons that only make sense according to traditional investing.

Monday, May 04, 2020

US Q1 GDP Data Masking The True Global Economic Future? / Economics / Coronavirus Depression

By: Chris_Vermeulen

As Q1 GDP data is released on Wednesday, April 29, which will reflect the first three months of 2020 in terms of total economic output, we believe the number will skew the current true global economic conditions to a large degree.  The pandemic shutdowns started in the US on March 15^th – nearly 2 weeks before the end of Q1:2020.  Thus, we had a fairly normal Q1 in terms of economic activity, production, and consumer engagement. Everything changed after March 15^th, 2020.

Skilled traders need to watch the current economic data and “week over week” data that is presented.  Skilled traders also need to pay attention to the news items that are being pushed out to the public.  Larger and larger corporations and sectors are moving towards bankruptcy or screaming for a bailout. Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental, and dozens of other sectors have all collapsed over the past 5+ weeks.  We expect real estate activity and pricing to collapse as well.  The results of the last 5+ weeks, after the March 15^th shutdown started, have been anything but normal.

Monday, May 04, 2020

Gold $3K to $20K Coming? These Pundits (now 34) Think So! / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2020

By: Lorimer_Wilson

10 years ago every “analyst” and his brother was hyping the future price of gold and I kept track of their guesses in an article entitled “Gold Going To $2500, $5000, $10000, Even More? These 148 “Analysts Think/Thought So“. None of their forecasts “panned” out (pun intended) but some are back at it again suggesting that we are going to see gold going as high as $20,000.