Analysis Topic: Stock & Financial Markets
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Sunday, August 31, 2008
Credit Crisis Set to Intensify as Economies Begin to Crumble / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
The gyrations of financial markets ahead of the Labor Day weekend tested the patience of bulls and bears alike. As big swings took place in thinly-traded markets, I was reminded of Albert Schweitzer's words: “As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible but more mysterious.”
None the wiser, I also did not succeed in capturing a leprechaun and finding the gold during my visit last week to the Emerald Isle. However, the beautiful Irish scenery, hospitality and “open for business” attitude resulted in a very successful trip and will keep me going back in search of the “buried treasure”.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Credit Crisis Financial Armageddon / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Where are we now in the credit crisis, and why isn't the massive Fed and ECB weekly lending working to loosen interbank lending? Why is the credit crisis not really improving? Where is this going next? We describe what may happen next as Credit Crisis II in this article.
Now that the credit crisis that started in 2007 is a year old, there has been a debate about whether the financial system will recover, or will the Western/world financial system end up like the Japanese financial system after the stock and real estate crashes in the 1990's. In that case, the Japanese banks more or less carried their tremendous losses for ten years, and Japan entered a mild but painful decade of deflation. To this day, Japan is battling some of the deflationary forces from that time.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Fed Imposes Financial Sector Imperialism over US Economy / Stock-Markets / Market Manipulation
Michael Hudson: "Greenspan saw his job as a cheerleader for people who were able to get rich fast; sort of like a pilot fish for sharks"Mike Whitney Interviews Michael Hudson
1 Mike Whitney: The United States current account deficit is roughly $700 billion. That is enough "borrowed" capital to pay the yearly $120 billion cost of the war in Iraq, the entire $450 billion Pentagon budget, and Bush's tax cuts for the rich. Why does the rest of the world keep financing America's militarism via the current account deficit or is it just the unavoidable consequence of currency deregulation, "dollar hegemony" and globalization?
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Stimulus Checks Spent, Stock Market Optimism Turns to Pessimism / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets
Personal income decreased $89.9 billion, or 0.7 percent, in July, in contrast to an increase of $7.4 billion, or 0.1 percent, in June and an increase of $218.0 billion, or 1.8 percent, in May. Disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $114.7 billion, or 1.1 percent, in July, compared with a decrease of $208.0 billion, or 1.9 percent, in June and an increase of $595.9 billion, or 5.7 percent in May. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $24.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, in July, compared with an increase of $65.5 billion, or 0.6 percent, in June. The pattern of changes in income reflects the pattern of payments associated with the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Is This the Epicenter of the Biggest Financial Crisis in History? / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Cut Off Your Tail To Save My Face! refers to Aesop's tale about the wolf that has lost his tail in a trap. As he felt uncomfortable being so different from others in the pack, he tried to persuade his fellow wolves that they, too, should get rid of this cumbersome and useless appendage. He declared that "the tail of a real wolf is a barbarous relic". Read on to find out how an experienced wise old wolf answered him.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Stock Markets Heading for a Retest of July Lows / Stock-Markets / US Stock Markets
The good news is: Since the July lows the secondaries have been stronger than the blue chips.
Short Term The market is playing a disappearing act. Volume and new highs are at their lowest levels in years. Identifying strength or weakness under these conditions is challenging.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Broken Financial Systems & Dysfunctional Regulatory Mechanisms / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
The highest functions of the financial system have finally broken to the point where smart and connected people are openly making comments. Shortages are acute, to the point where low prices for gold & silver, for instance, render supply as inadequate to meet huge growing demand that wants to exploit the artificially low prices. Even the USTreasury Bonds are enjoying artificially high prices, undoubtedly an extension of the colossal usage of US Federal Reserve lending swap facilities. They print new USTBonds and exchange new third world ( US ) government debt securities for acidic US mortgage bonds, some hastily cobbled into securities by ailing lending institutions from cratered mortgage loans portfolios. It seems the US Federal Reserve and the Euro Central Bank might accept bonds from English, German, and possibly Swiss sources soon. That seems fair, since they contributed to making vacant US mortgage bonds look attractive.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Trading the Stock Market and Commodities With Elliott Wave Theory / Stock-Markets / Elliott Wave Theory
Readers who've joined and finally understand what we do at TTC, and how we do it, often tell me they used to see these updates every week but just couldn't believe we were actually making in real time all the trades they contained. It seemed too implausible that week after week we'd find easy trades in various markets and buy tops and sell bottoms with such frequency.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 29, 2008
Nasdaq UltraShort Q's New Upleg / Stock-Markets / Tech Stocks
The UltraShort QQQQ ETF (AMEX: QID) has hurdled Tuesday's recovery high at 42.32 (as the Q's broke below Tuesday's low at 46.12), which my pattern and momentum work argues is the initial confirmation of the start of a new upleg in the QIDs (downleg in the Q's). Next near-term target for the QIDs is 43.00/20.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 29, 2008
Stock Market Rally Does Not Change Fundamentals / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets
While Thursday's gains in stocks appear to be impressive, they do little in terms of making an impact on longer-term trends. We do not need any complicated technical indicators to discern the long-term trends on the following charts. Thursday's rally in stocks cannot even be seen on the six-year chart of the S&P 500 Index below.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 29, 2008
Psychology of Financial Markets Conspiracy Theories / Stock-Markets / Market Manipulation
In recent posts I have taken a look at various conspiracy theories on the rise of the dollar, the shortage of silver, and the manipulation of gold. Here is a synopsis. (Warning, some of these are very lengthy)I discussed US dollar manipulation claims in
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 29, 2008
Nasdaq Q's Nearing Completion of Recovery Rally / Stock-Markets / Tech Stocks
My hourly pattern work is starting to warn me that the Q's (Nasdaq: QQQQ) are nearing the completion of its 3-session recovery rally. Where is the peak? I come up with a target window of 47.19 to 47.57, both of which are located beneath the prior significant recovery rally peak at 47.68 (8/22). As long as 47.68 remains a viable prior high, I will consider the action off of the 46.12 low (8/26) as a countertrend move ahead of the next downleg and within the dominant bear trend. A decline beneath 46.95 will begin to compromise the current rally effort.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 29, 2008
Bear Stock Market Investment Secrets or Long-term Profits / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: During a two-year stretch every 20 years or so, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index can be expected to lose 35% or more of its value.
In 1974, according to research by Ibbotson Associates, that truism manifested itself as a 37.25% downdraft. It was even worse in 2002, when investors received a 41.65% haircut.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Financial Markets Heading for Trading Ranges / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets
Arguably, gold shares are leveraged to the gold price.
Arguably, the markets look ahead. If these two propositions are true, then the direction of movement of gold share prices should be pointing the way to the future direction of gold price movements.
The chart below (courtesy stockcharts.com) reflects a fairly serious breakdown of the relative strength chart of gold shares vs the gold price
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Financial Markets Subterfuge Illusion and The Art Of Misdirection / Stock-Markets / Market Manipulation
Subterfuge, illusion, and misdirection – this is what the bureaucracy perpetuates on the public every day. Please look over here at the giveaways and presents we have for you while we continue to defraud your children out of a future – all for the greater good you know. Not surprisingly then, the net result of all this is an increasingly debased society, which accounts for our willingness to allow the same for the currency. Quite literally, one couldn't make this stuff up if you tried, such supposedly wealthy and educated people willing to give up their liberties so easily, but at the same time this has all happened before (think Rome – Bread And Circuses), just not on this scale. And nobody wants to touch the subject matter because it's just that ugly, a dark reflection on what we have become. A society of gamblers and drug addicts who need a variety of fix every day just to get by.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Stock Market Cycles Analysis Suggests Final Low by October / Stock-Markets / US Stock Markets
Current Position of the Market
Long-term trend - The Dow Jones Industrials may be deviating from their typical decennial pattern in an election year. Important cycles going into the Fall could be the reason for this, but one also has to consider the possibility that the downward pressure from the 120-yr cycle, which is due to make its low in 2012-2014, has begun to take effect and that October 2007 was the top of the bull market. This is not yet confirmed and remains a low probability.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Is the Dow Jones Index and Dow Theory Irrelevant? / Stock-Markets / Dow Theory
This past week I was listening to an interview with an analyst who said that she had some 27 years of experience. In this interview she claimed that the Dow Jones Industrial Average was irrelevant. When I heard this I cringed. Now this is not to say that I don't see the argument behind this statement. Most people that make such statements are merely referring to the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is comprised of only 30 stocks and that because of its narrow cross section of the market it is not reflective of the entire market. I have heard this argument countless times and hearing it once more really didn't surprise me.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Imminent Bank Failures- Credit Crisis Worst is Yet to Come / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
The deepening toll from the global financial crisis could trigger the failure of a large US bank within months, a respected former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund claimed Wednesday, fueling another battering for banking shares.
Professor Kenneth Rogoff, a leading academic economist, said there was yet worse news to come from the worldwide credit crunch and financial turmoil, particularly in the United States, and that a high-profile casualty among American banks was likely.
Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 22, 2008
Lehman, Treasury, Fed Lose Control of Banking System Game / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2008
Analyst Richard Bove has stated Lehman CEO Richard Fuld has "lost control of the game." That is something I completely agree with as it should be obvious to all. Bove went on to say "If he doesn't do something this weekend, as of next week, the game is on." That makes absolutely no sense. Nor does Bove's price target of $20 per share.Yes, Lehman has been shopping around for buyers, but buyers have been balking. I talked about Lehman talks collapsing and how poorly Lehman's preferreds trade in Ten Financial Entities On The Brink . Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, August 22, 2008
SPX Stocks Bear Market Technicals / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
Back in mid-July, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac teetered on the edge of collapse, the flagship S&P 500 (SPX) stock index plunged to 1215 on a closing basis. Fears ran high as the markets waited for the next shoe to drop in the ailing financial companies. The near-term outlook for US stocks seemed pretty bleak.
But how fast popular sentiment changes! In less than a month after these depths were witnessed, the SPX had rallied 7.4%. By mid-August the troubles of the previous month had been all but forgotten. Calls for a new bull market abounded, with the great majority of analysts expecting clean sailing ahead. And those that do remember mid-July now largely seem to think it was GSE-specific and not a broader issue.
Read full article... Read full article...