Monday, July 29, 2019
Car Money Saving How to Test Your Battery Before Replacing / Personal_Finance / Motoring
By: HGR
Here's how to test your car battery using a multimeter to check if it needs replacing or not. Does your car not start, do you have dim headlights or interior lights, does the starter sound weak when start the engine, or does your car die sitting overnight? This video will show you a few ways to test your battery to see if it is bad, is going bad, or is good. A good battery will hold a charge at around 12.6v and while the car is starting it wont drop below 8-10v.
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Odd Business at Twitter / Politics / Social Media
By: Stephen_Merrill
In today’s political world, there is one place everyone must join, even without a Facebook account.Twitter is the online platform that has become the singular global square for interactive discussion of political people and events. Surprisingly, Twitter has no real competition as the titan for this niche in the West and well beyond. The far smaller Reddit does not have the focus on politics that Twitter offers, though you will find on Reddit far better discussion of public policy issues. Facebook’s market-share in this space has steadily diminished.
Twitter’s top-dog status on political talk is also in place when compared to platforms that concentrate on a single country’s own market. None match Twitter’s usage in those countries.
Twitter at first helped make Donald Trump the President without really trying to. Then Trump became the guarantor of Twitter’s dominance in its marketplace, despite Twitter’s Leftist identity.
Monday, July 29, 2019
The Ever-Political IMF Meddlers Give Boris Johnson Unsolicited Advice / Politics / Global Financial System
By: Steve_H_Hanke
No sooner than Boris Johnson put his foot over the threshold of 10 Downing Street, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered its unsolicited advice to the newly elected Tory Prime Minister. Johnson won the right to replace the hapless Theresa May by pledging to remove Britain from the EU by October 31, 2019, “deal or no deal.”
Enter the IMF. In a preemptive strike, the Philosopher Kings threw cold water on the idea of a no deal, asserting that it would be a disaster. Talk about entering a domestic quarrel without an invitation.
But, such meddling is nothing new for the IMF. Indeed, a bipartisan Congressional commission (The International Financial Advisory Commission, known as the Meltzer Commission) concluded in 2000 that the IMF interferes too much in the domestic politics of member countries. Just recall the IMF’s involvement in toppling Indonesian President Suharto in 1998. This scandalous episode was confirmed by no less than former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. I would add that the IMF propensity to interfere has become much more pronounced since the days of the last great Managing Director of the IMF Jacques de Larosière (1978-1987).
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Stock Market - Get Ready! / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Chris_Vermeulen
As we near the important date of August 19, 2019, and we watch how the markets are reacting based on our earlier predictions, it is becoming evident that the US stock markets and global stock markets are following our predictions very well. The fact that these markets are doing almost exactly what we predicted months ago suggests that our call for an August 19, 2019 breakdown in the US/Global markets should also align with price activity very well.
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Gold, Silver and Central Bank Folly: Blame the Boomers / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: The_Gold_Report
Sector expert Michael Ballanger muses on how the baby boom generation has impacted markets through time, and discusses how he will play the current precious metals bull.
"Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper." —Ayn Rand
The baby-boom generation, of which I am a less-than-proud member, blew it.
There was a time long, long ago when the mention of the words "baby boomer" evoked a sense of pride of membership. Amid the prosperity of the post-WWII era, birth rates in North America soared while the sons and daughters of many men and women that fought in the war became the dominant demographic force by the year 1966.
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Gold ETF That Obliterates its Competition / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2019
By: The_Gold_Report
Bob Moriarty of 321Gold profiles a precious metals ETF that has "absolutely obliterated its main competition." The U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF (NYSE: GOAU) just had its two-year anniversary at the end of June, and since inception, the fund has absolutely obliterated its main competition.
GOAU delivered a remarkable 41% since inception through July 24, crushing the hugely popular VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) and VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ), which were up 32.7% and 27.6% over the same period.
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Monday, July 29, 2019
RIP Global Economic Cooperation, 1944–2019 / Economics / Global Economy
By: Patrick_Watson
By Patrick Watson
Last month, world leaders observed the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. It was a critical day in world history.
However, other things happened that year.
As that massive invasion took place, a smaller group quietly planned how to reshape the world economy.
The Second World War was, in part, a result of failure to establish a stable currency system after the first one. That led to tariffs and other trade barriers in the 1930s. Economists and bankers wanted to keep it from happening again, and spent the war years discussing solutions.
Monday, July 29, 2019
Google News Articles and Searches for Recession and Gold / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Everyone is discussing recession right now. But how much do they actually chatter about it? Does this talk reflect or change people’s perception? And the key question is: can the world-related indices predict the recession? Are they useful for the precious metals investors?
It turns out that yes! At least to some extent. Let’s start with the R-word index created by The Economist. It counts how many stories in the The Washington Post and The New York Times are using the word “recession” in a quarter. The idea behind the indicator is that economic downturn coincides with a surge in the frequency of the that scary world starting with R. The index surges when recessions are on the minds of people and the financial journalists who write articles about them. And, indeed, it has been pretty good at spotting economic turning points over the past three decades. As one see in the figure below, the R-word index signaled the start of recessions in America in 1990, 2001, and 2007.
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Why The Government Has Screwed Us Again / Politics / US Politics
By: Rodney_Johnson
I’ve got friends on both sides of the political aisle.Some are huge Trump supporters. They’re giddy over his tweets about “The Squad.” They think, why not call out people who demean the country? And if they don’t like it here, why don’t they just go anywhere else?
And how about enforcing the rule of law once in a while by sticking to our immigration policies? We’re not rounding up migrants because they come from other countries; we’re demanding that they comply with the law, which means leaving the country when their asylum claims have been denied after a hearing.
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Monday, July 29, 2019
Trump Debt Deficits Then and Now : What a Difference 3 Years Make! / Politics / US Debt
By: MoneyMetals
As investors look ahead to a likely rate cut next week by the Federal Reserve, gold and silver markets have been consolidating their recent gains.
A big move in metals markets could come after the Fed’s policy meeting next Wednesday. Of course, the magnitude and direction of the move will depend on what Chairman Jerome Powell and company do and say.
Central bankers are under immense political pressure to lower interest rates and resume purchases of government bonds. A recent downturn in manufacturing and home sales data may well give them cover to roll out new stimulus even as the stock market sits near a record high.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Gold Price Breakout - Trend Forecast 2019 July Update / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Houston we have lift off! So the gold price took off like a rocket in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Launch and Lunar landings. One small step for precious metals one giant leap for gold bugs as the gold price barely paused at a series of resistance levels, $1300, $1350, $1370, $1400, none managed to hold gold in check for more than a couple of days as the price gravitated towards a rendezvous with $1450, which the gold price hit a week ago before retreating to currently stand at $1419.
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Sunday, July 28, 2019
Silver Outperforming Gold Price / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Zeal_LLC
Silver has blasted higher in the last couple weeks, far outperforming gold. This is certainly noteworthy, as silver has stunk up the precious-metals joint for years. This deeply-out-of-favor metal may be embarking on a sea-change sentiment shift, finally returning to amplifying gold’s upside. Silver is not only radically undervalued relative to gold, but investors are aggressively buying. Silver’s upside potential is massive.
Silver’s performance in recent years has been brutally bad, repelling all but the most fanatical contrarians. Historically silver prices have been mostly driven by gold, with the white metal amplifying moves in the yellow metal. Silver has generally leveraged gold by at least 2x in the past. And rarely silver skyrockets as higher prices and bullish sentiment feed on themselves in powerful virtuous circles fueling huge gains.
Silver’s legendary upside is largely the result of it being such a tiny market. Silver’s leading fundamental authority is the Silver Institute. In its latest World Silver Survey covering 2018, it reported that total world demand ran 1033.5m ounces last year. That was worth a mere $16.2b at 2018’s average silver prices, a rounding error in markets terms. That was just 1/11th the size of last year’s world gold demand worth $179.4b!
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Sunday, July 28, 2019
Brexit Politics and Algorithms / Politics / BrExit
By: Raul_I_Meijer
It’s a development that has long been evident in continental Europe, and that has now arrived on the shores of the US and UK. It is the somewhat slow but very certain dissolution of long-existing political parties, organizations and groups. That’s what I was seeing during the Robert Mueller clown horror show on Wednesday.
Mueller was not just the Democratic Party’s last hope, he was their identity. He was the anti-Trump. Well, he no longer is, he is not fit to play that role anymore. And there is nobody to take it over who is not going to be highly contested by at least some parts of the party. In other words: it’s falling apart.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a natural process, parties change as conditions do and if they don’t do it fast enough they disappear. Look at the candidates the Dems have. Can anyone imagine the party, post-Mueller, uniting behind Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders or Kamala Harris? And then for one of them to beat Donald Trump in 2020?
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Sunday, July 28, 2019
Cobalt to Share EV Battery Duties with Nickel / Commodities / Electric Cars
By: Richard_Mills
In the spring of 2018 Tesla came out with a bold prediction: bringing the amount of cobalt used in their Model 3 battery cells down to zero.
“Cells used in Model 3 are the highest energy density cells used in any electric vehicle. We have achieved this by significantly reducing cobalt content per battery pack while increasing nickel content and still maintaining superior thermal stability,” the company stated in its Q1 2018 update letter. “The cobalt content of our Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminum cathode chemistry is already lower than next-generation cathodes that will be made by other cell producers with a Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt ratio of 8:1:1,” Tesla boasted.
In the quest to reduce input costs, be socially responsible and to provide longer driving ranges, like Tesla, those other cell producers are wanting to reduce the amount of cobalt used in their EV batteries and increase the content of nickel. Typically EV batteries use NCA or NMC type lithium-ion - 60% of the world’s cobalt supply comes from the DRC where mining it is controversial.
Tesla is ahead of its competitors with respect to this switch. The company only uses 5% cobalt in their electric vehicle battery metals (the Model 3 uses 2.8% cobalt) versus 30% across the industry (eg. four times less than Volkswagen).
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Sunday, July 28, 2019
How to Find Reliable Lenders / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
By: Kavinesh_A
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Saturday, July 27, 2019
Human Life Extension Investing in IBB - iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF - IBB / Companies / BioTech
By: Nadeem_Walayat
We are currently galloping full speed along an exponential curve that unlike the neural nets of the 1990's, that promised a lot but delivered very little, this time it really looks like we are on the verge of AI success, not only that but it heralds changes in every aspect of our lives most of which we cannot even imagine today, hence the term the singularity is often used, the AI event horizon beyond which we cannot see.
My latest analysis in this series focuses on how to profit and capitalise on the unfolding machine intelligence driven mega-trend through investing in leveraged to AI Human Life Extension stocks.
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Saturday, July 27, 2019
3 Stocks You Should Own When the Fed Cuts Rates Next Week / Companies / Investing 2019
By: Robert_Ross
Looks like an interest rate cut could come as early as next week.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted at lower rates earlier this month.
Now investors are pricing in a 100% probability that the Fed will lower interest rates when it meets next week, according to global brokerage company CME Group.
This would be the first rate cut since December 2008, when the Fed cut rates to effectively zero and kept them there for seven years.
The Fed started raising rates in late 2015. Then it pumped the brakes after the stock market fell 20% at the end of 2018.
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Natural Gas Sets Up Two New Trades – Here They Are / Commodities / Natural Gas
By: Chris_Vermeulen
Before we discuss these incredible trade setups in the Energy sector, we have to discuss the continued shifting global economy and how that relates to these setups. Nearly three weeks ago, we posted a research article suggesting Crude Oil would call to levels near $50 over the next 30+ days, then stall for about 45 days before falling further and potentially attempting new lows near $40 ppb. It is important to understand certain aspects of the global economy, economic demand and how it relates to seasonal patterns for Energy.
We believe the move lower is Crude Oil is related to a supply glut that continues to plague the global markets while global economic trade, shipping, and activity continue to weaken. Too much oil supply with weakening global economic activity means Crude Oil will likely waffle lower until this dynamic changes.
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Saturday, July 27, 2019
Gold At 6 Year High In Euros At €1,288 as ECB Says Outlook Is “Worse and Worse” / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: GoldCore
Gold rose to a six and a half year high in euros at €1,288/oz yesterday prior to giving up the gains as it succumbed to profit taking in volatile trading during and after the ECB meeting.
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Saturday, July 27, 2019
Range Bound Financial Markets and Economy in Good Shape / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2019
By: QUANTO
Markets at all time highs and considerably calmer option market VIX index suggest that we could be in a slow grind higher for risk markets.
ECB Drahghi hits at easing
Christopher Graham, economist at Standard Chartered, notes that the European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates on hold at its 25 July meeting, but President Mario Draghi sent a strong signal that further easing would be delivered in September as per expectations. Key Quotes “By adjusting its forward guidance to note that rates would remain at current “or lower levels” until at least mid-2020 (in line with our expectations), the ECB has reinforced our view that interest rate cuts will be delivered after the summer break.” “We continue to expect a 10bps deposit rate cut in September and a further 10bps cut in December, to -0.60% by year-end.” “The Governing Council (GC) is also considering a broader package of measures; Draghi noted that committees have been tasked to explore other options, including new net asset purchases (both in size and composition), tiered deposit rates, and ways to reinforce forward guidance on policy rates.” “In a sign that the ECB has become increasingly concerned about the euro-area inflation outlook and persistently low inflation expectations, it also noted its “commitment to symmetry in the inflation aim”, implying that an overshoot of 2.0% would now be tolerated.” “The bar to other policy measures remains higher than for rate cuts, in our view, and Draghi admitted that agreement on the GC was not unanimous. Nonetheless, the likelihood of QE being restarted by year-end has increased considering press release, particularly if euro-area economic activity remains weak or deteriorates further.” “At the same time, we reiterate that a convincing QE programme would need to be open-ended and would require controversial rule changes, most likely a change to issuer limits.
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