Tuesday, April 30, 2019
This Indicator Signals the US Economy Is Slowing Down / Economics / US Economy
By: Patrick_Watson
It’s not a good sign for your health if your blood pressure drops too low. Similarly, the economy is probably sick when its circulatory system slows down. You don’t need a blood pressure gauge to know it either. Just count how many trucks you see on the highway.
Under normal conditions, busy highways and seaports mean a growing economy. Businesses are producing more stuff finding its way to consumers.
That was happening since we emerged from the Great Recession in 2009, albeit slower than in the past cycles.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
A Look Inside the Scheme to Eliminate Cash and Impose Negative Interest / Interest-Rates / War on Cash
By: MoneyMetals
Central bankers and politicians love inflation, but they need “bag holders” to have faith in the value of the fiat currency IOUs they hold. The trick is to avoid suddenly destroying the ephemeral confidence in currencies by printing too much too fast.
Central bankers may also need to limit the options inflation wary citizens have for escaping.
They are both shifty and innovative when it comes to making sure the ill effects of perpetually devaluing currency are primarily borne by the citizenry.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
When Overvalued and Dangerous Markets Meet Stagflation / Economics / Stagflation
By: Michael_Pento
To put into perspective how overvalued and dangerous the US market has become; I often cite the figure of total market cap to GDP—currently 145% of the economy. How high is 145% of GDP? It is a full 30% higher than it was before the start of the Great Recession. The twin sister to this metric is the Household Net Worth to GDP Ratio. Household net worth as a percent of GDP is calculated by dividing the current bubbles in home prices and equities by the underlying economy, which has been artificially inflated by interest rates that have been pushed into the sub-basement of history. This metric is now an incredible 535% of GDP, which is a record high and 19% higher than the NASDAQ bubble of 2000. To put that figure in perspective, the good folks at Daily Reckoning have calculated that the historical average is 384%.
These valuation measurements are much more accurate than Wall Street’s favorite PE ratio valuation barometer because they cannot be easily manipulated by corporate share buybacks that have been facilitated by record-low borrowing costs. And, as hinted at already, the GDP denominator of today is much more tenuous because it has become more than ever predicated on the record amount of fiscal and monetary stimulus from the government.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Gold Price May Give Us One More Chance With New Lows / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Chris_Vermeulen
Our proprietary price cycle tool is showing us that the Daily Gold cycles may dive a bit lower, possibly into the $1250 to $1265 level, over the next 3~7+ days before reaching an ultimate low. We’ve been covering the precious metals markets like hawks because of our proprietary price modeling tools that suggested the April 21~24 dates as an ultimate low/momentum base pattern. This new cycle formation highlights the potential that a deeper price low in Gold may set up over the next 5 to 7 days and it may become an incredible buying opportunity for skilled traders.
Taking a look at this cycle chart, we can see the deep price low that may target the $1270 levels or levels just below the $1270 price area. It appears that this new price low may form somewhere near the end of this week, May 3rd, or early next week, May 6th or 7th. Please pay attention to this potential price move as this may be the last low price reversal before a very strong upside price move.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Pension Funds Recover but Annuity Income Falls / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
By: MoneyFacts
New data from the latest Moneyfacts UK Personal Pension Trends Treasury Report has revealed mixed fortunes for the retirement sector during Q1 2019, with pension fund returns performing strongly but annuity rates declining.
Pension fund recovery
Pension funds endured a marked downturn in Q4 2018, with the average pension fund falling by 7.3%. As a result, in 2018 pension funds suffered their biggest losses since the 2008 financial crisis. However, performance-wise, pension funds have made a bright start to 2019. In Q1 2019, the average pension fund recovered much of last year’s lost ground by generating returns of 6.7% – the strongest quarterly pension fund performance since Q3 2016.
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Tuesday, April 30, 2019
5 Unavoidable Tips for Creating a Perfect Office Culture / Companies / SME
By: Submissions
There are many ways to achieve a happy, productive workforce. From offering training and opportunities for career advancement to nurturing talent and rewarding passion, many businesses are aware of some of the most effective methods for promoting motivation and ensuring employee engagement. However, there is one other aspect that we can’t afford to overlook: the importance of a great office culture.
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Monday, April 29, 2019
Panicked by the Yield Curve Inversion? Time to Load Up on This Stocks Sector / Companies / Sector Analysis
By: Robert_Foss
For about a week last month, the yield curve inverted for the first time since July 2006.
Prior to that, this happened in July 2000 and April 1989.
There’s a pattern here… each inversion hit about 18 months before a recession. In fact, the yield curve has inverted before every recession over the last 50 years.
As such, recession-proofing your portfolio is imperative for investors.
The good news is the yield curve inversion also means stocks should perform well in the short term.
The even better news is that I’ve found a sector that consistently outperforms the broader market after every yield curve inversion.
Monday, April 29, 2019
S&P 500 at Last Year’s Record High, Will Stock Market Break Higher? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Paul_Rejczak
Stocks slightly extended their short-term uptrend on Friday, as investors reacted to the quarterly corporate earnings, better-than-expected economic data releases. The S&P 500 got very close to the September 21st record high again. Will it reach the new all-time high today?
The U.S. stock market indexes gained 0.3-0.5% on Friday, slightly extending the uptrend, as investors’ sentiment remained bullish following the quarterly earnings releases. The S&P 500 index retraced all of its medium-term downward correction of 20.2% recently. The broad stock market's gauge is now less than 0.1% below September the 21st record high of 2,940.91. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% on Friday.
The nearest important resistance level of the S&P 500 index remains at around 2,940, marked by the mentioned record high. The next resistance level is at 1,950. On the other hand, the support level is at 2,920, marked by the recent resistance level. The support level is also at 2,900.
The broad stock market retraced all of its December sell-off and it broke above the medium-term resistance level of around 2,900 recently. So is it still just a correction or a new medium-term uptrend? We may see an attempt at getting back to the record high. There have been no confirmed negative medium-term signals so far. The index got very close to its last October all-time high, as we can see on the daily chart:
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Monday, April 29, 2019
Climate Gains in the West, Exported Pollution in the Rest / Politics / Environmental Issues
By: Dan_Steinbock
Recently, President Duterte slammed Canada for sending waste to the Philippines. Yet, the challenge is huge. Exported pollution from advanced economies penalizes the rest of the world and distorts climate gains.President Duterte’s statement ensued after environmental groups’ renewed call for Canada to take back waste sent to the Philippines in the Aquino era, some six years ago.
According to the Pacific Center for Environmental Law and Litigation (PCELL), Ontario-based Chronic Inc. shipped 40-foot containers to the country in 2013, which is considered “illegal traffic” under Article 9 of the Basel Convention. More than 100 shipping containers arrived in Philippine ports around 2013-14.
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Monday, April 29, 2019
Stock Market Alarm bells? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Andre_Gratian
Current Position of the Market
SPX: Long-term trend – Final long-term phase on the way? How much longer is the question.
Intermediate trend – The trend which started at 2346 could be close to making a final high before another significant correction begins.
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.
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Monday, April 29, 2019
The World's Saddest And Happiest Countries - Hanke's Annual Misery Index 2018 / Politics / Social Issues
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The human condition inhabits a vast continuum between "miserable" and "happy." In the sphere of economics, misery tends to flow from high inflation, steep borrowing costs and unemployment. The most surefire way to mitigate that misery is economic growth. All else equal, happiness tends to blossom when growth is strong, inflation and interest rates are low, and jobs are plentiful.
Many countries measure and report these economic metrics on a regular basis. Comparing them, nation by nation, can tell us a lot about where in the world people are sad or happy.
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Sunday, April 28, 2019
UK Demographics Crisis Silver Lining of Sorts / Housing-Market / Demographics
By: Nadeem_Walayat
This analysis directly continues on from (Britain's Demographic Time Bomb Has Gone Off!) which is part of a series that aims to conclude in a new multi-year trend forecast for UK house prices. But first a recap of my analysis to date that so far suggests to ignore mainstream press hysteria that warns of impending doom for Britains housing market, encouraged no less than the Government and Bank of England which warn to expect a 30% CRASH in UK house prices should the UK LEAVE the EU without a deal.
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Sunday, April 28, 2019
Joe Biden Works for Donald Trump / Politics / US Politics
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Joe Biden is working for Donald Trump, right? I haven’t heard either of them say it outright, but it’s the only reason I can see that would explain why Biden is running for president. And if Biden works for Trump, that means he works for Putin, because Trump is Putin’s puppet, no matter how often Robert Mueller denies it.
Then again, if we would suggest, purely hypothetically and for entertainment purposes only, that Biden is neither Putin’s nor Trump’s puppet, what on earth drives him to declare his candidacy as the oldest ever presidential candidate in US history? Biden will be Trump’s punching bag. There is so much wrong with and about the man, Trump’s not even laughing, just saying: “oh yes, please, bring it.”
Biden has the Anita Hill boondoggle to his name, there’s a huge nascent story concerning Ukraine, where he interfered, while vice-president, to benefit his son, and there are tons of women who will come with groping tales. This will be a very long list, as long as his career in Washington. Biden bumbles and stumbles for a living. Someone’s going to write a book about that someday.
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Sunday, April 28, 2019
Gold and Silver End of Week Technical, CoT and Fundamental Status / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Gary_Tanashian
After an interesting week and to allow more focus on charting the miners this weekend, we again offload much of the NFTRH Precious Metals segment’s content to the public site. The following is (hopefully) going to be long on charts and relatively short on words (sighs of relief palpable…).
HUI/Gold Ratio is intact to its higher lows from September. This was a logical bounce point for gold stocks. HGR needs to promptly take back the SMA 200, however.
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Sunday, April 28, 2019
E-commerce Trends to Expect in 2019 / Companies / Retail Sector
By: Submissions
The online shopping industry is changing. Last year, mobile purchases increased by 55% and are projected to account for $175bn purchases by 2022. Customer expectations are now bigger, with as many as 4 in 10 online buyers expecting retailers to offer same-day shipping services.
If you regularly shop online, some of the changes coming to e-commerce will be highly beneficial to you. Below are some of these trends you should expect.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
Ready to 4/20 Your Stocks Portfolio? / Companies / Investing 2019
By: EWI
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Sunday, April 28, 2019
UK Caravan Park Holidays 2019 Review - Hoseasons Cayton Bay North East England / Personal_Finance / Holidays
By: Anika_Walayat
Thinking of booking a caravan park holiday for summer 2019? Then look no further than our series of videos of what it's like to holiday at a UK caravan park. This is at the Hoseasons Caravan Park at Cayton Bay, North East England, not 10 miles from Scarborough. We cover everything from checking in to use of the various facilities as well as nearby attractions.
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Stock Market Dow Trend Forecast - April Update / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Yield curve inversion panic, brexit panic, US economy in a downwards death spiral, bear market this that and the other. The mainstream media's doom and gloom expectations of a recession these past few weeks to resolve in an bear market has instead had stocks clambering towards achieving new all time highs! Though many bears technically or rather delusionally continue to cling onto stocks being in a bear market until they break to new all time highs.
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Saturday, April 27, 2019
Fed Pause Fuels New S&P Highs… Is It Real? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: MoneyMetals
I’m Mike Gleason and welcome to this week’s Market Wrap Podcast.
A few weeks ago we heard the first half of an interview Money Metals president Stefan Gleason did during a recent 360 Gold Summit. Today we’ll hear part two of that interview. Stefan gives some important warnings to precious metals investors, discusses why he favors one of the precious metals over the others and also talks about some really important things to consider when selecting a precious metals dealer. Don’t miss the eye-opening conclusion of Stefan’s interview, coming up after this week’s market update.
Well, the big headline in markets this week – the S&P 500 pushed to a new all-time high in nominal terms.
But is it a new high in real terms? Most in the financial media don’t want to ask that question. They would rather join their Wall Street sponsors in celebrating a new official record.
President Donald Trump certainly didn’t miss the opportunity to boast about the stock market’s strength under his watch.
Read full article... Read full article...Donald Trump: The stock market and our country from an economic standpoint is doing the best probably it's ever done. We're hitting new highs again. We've hit new highs, I guess, close to or over 100 times since I'm president from the time of the election.
Saturday, April 27, 2019
At Look at IPOs in Digital Advertising / Companies / IPOs
By: Rodney_Johnson
Digital advertising is supposed to be the fuel of the future, funding new companies (#IPOs) that provide us with services we never knew we wanted – Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. – while tearing away at our privacy.But there’s a problem.
Digital advertising is annoying users, and starting to creep us out.
I don’t want to see ads for lightweight jackets for the next three months just because I searched for one last November.
And by the way, isn’t that a bit backward? If I already bought the jacket, why is it still being marketed to me?
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