Monday, December 27, 2021
How to Change Land Rover Key Fob Battery Before Thieves Steal Your Cars Contents - Discovery Sport / Personal_Finance / Land Rover
By: HGR
There is going to come a day when your key fob stops working, stops locking and unlocking the car from the press of a button. However whilst the buttons may no longer work your car will respond for a while to the presence of the key fob. Nevertheless, here's why you don't want to chance your car being unlocked whilst you ponder changing the battery which is a much easier job to do than most imagine as this video illustrates.
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Monday, December 27, 2021
Will Santa Give Us Interest Rate Hikes for 2022? / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: P_Radomski_CFA
If the Fed normalizes its balance sheet and markets freak-out, it will be a bridge too far. But interest rate hikes won’t crash a strong US economy.
With Fed officials increasingly hawked up, the narrative shifted from a tapering of asset purchases to potential interest rate hikes. And now, with whispers of the Fed plotting to normalize its balance sheet, questions have arisen over the potential impact on the PMs.
To explain, I wrote on Dec. 20:
After admitting that inflation “is alarmingly high, persistent, and has broadened to affect more categories of goods and services,” Waller implored the Fed to sell some of its bond holdings.
For context, tapering means that bonds are purchased at a slower pace or not at all. However, even zero purchases result in the Fed’s nearly $8.76 trillion in bond holdings remaining constant. Conversely, if the Fed reduces its balance sheet by selling bonds to private investors, it’s akin to a taper on steroids. Waller said:
“If we start doing some balance sheet runoff by summer, that’ll take some pressure off, you don’t have to raise rates quite as much. My view is we should start doing that by summer.”
Monday, December 27, 2021
Stock Market Still More to Come / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Monica_Kingsley
S&P 500 Santa rally goes on, and risk-on markets rejoice. What a nice sight of market breadth improvement, and confirmation from bonds. Financials and industrials are lagging, but real estate, healthcare and tech are humming smoothly. As I told you yesterday about volatility:
(…) The VIX is calming down, now around 21 with further room to decline still – at least as far as the remainder of 2021 is concerned.
We got the lower values, and today is shaping up to look likewise constructively for the bulls across both paper and real assets. Yesterday‘s dollar decline has helped as much as well bid bonds. Inflation expectations aren‘t yet doubting the Fed, there is no more compressing the yield curve at the moment, so it‘s all quiet on the central bank front. That‘s good, the Santa rally can go on unimpeded.
Precious metals are peeking higher in what looks to be adjustment to the lower yields and dollar, and commodities upswing remains driven by energy, base metals and agrifoods. Cryptos hesitation may hint at slimmer gains today than was the case yesterday when instead of a brief consolidation, we were treated to improving returns.
Monday, December 27, 2021
Improve Your Finances with These Resolutions / Personal_Finance / Debt & Loans
By: Sumeet_Manhas
Do your personal finances need to improve? Well, the New Year is the best time to address this problem. You can make these simple New Year’s resolutions and get your finances in much better shape.
Follow a Budget
A simple financial resolution to make this year is to start following a personal budget. A personal budget will help you organize your monthly expenses, track your spending habits and work towards your savings goals. If you have a bad habit of spending beyond your means, this simple guide will keep you in line from now on.
How do you start? If you’re hoping to make this your resolution, you should download one of the best budgeting apps on your smartphone or computer. Then, all you have to do is follow the instructions. It’s that easy.
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Friday, December 24, 2021
Investing in the Best METAVERSE Tech Stocks for 2022 and Beyond / Companies / Metaverse
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Facebook hit the nail on the head by bringing forth realisation to the masses of the emerging metaverse's with their corporate name change to META, though most will soon forget what all the fuss was about and carry on their merry way until they next big metaverse story, so this aspect of the Quantum AI mega-trend will continue to trundle along in the background. However savvy investors will already be aware of the "meta-verse" and what it heralds in terms of virtual products and services as the headsets technology plays catchup so as to allow the masses to escape from an increasingly dismal economic future given the rise of machine intelligence automation that seeks to replace human labour as we have seen play out in countless movies such as Ready Player One.
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Friday, December 24, 2021
How to Put Up Outdoor CHRISTMAS Lights Mains and Battery Powered 2021 - Top Tips / Personal_Finance / Money Saving
By: Eliza_Walayat
Counting down to Christmas, it's early December and time to start putting up the Christmas lights for 2021, here's how we put up our battery powered and mains powered lights, so you too can get tips such as using a dry box to power your outdoor lights.
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Friday, December 24, 2021
Strong 2021 Demand for Physical Precious Metals, Despite Paper Prices / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: MoneyMetals
Even as Omicron casts a pall over markets and upcoming Christmas celebrations, precious metals investors are feeling at least some holiday cheer this week.
The gold market put in a modest rally on Wednesday and Thursday to erase earlier losses. The white metals, meanwhile, are outperforming gold.
Demand for physical precious metals has been strong in 2021 even though you wouldn’t know it from following the paper price of gold. In addition to robust bullion buying from investors, jewelry demand is also strengthening.
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
APPLE AR Headset Coming 2022 - Metaverse Tech Stocks Analysis / Companies / Apple
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Apple has been working on an augmented reality goggles headset for several years and there are rumours that this will make it to market during late 2022 as Apple attempts to play catchup to the success of Facebook's Oculus headsets likely built around Apples M1 processors rather than be tethered to either an Apple Mac or Iphone so is likely to be expensive when compared to the Quest headsets, probably priced at at least £999, near triple the usable Quest that costs £399 and it could be priced a lot higher than that, maybe as high as £2000!
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
What is Frosted Window Film and How Long Does It Last / Personal_Finance / Home Maintenance
By: Travis_Bard
Homeowners who are looking to improve the functionality of their windows are likely to come into contact with the phrase frosted window film, but what is frosted window film and how can it be used within a property? To help you make an informed decision on whether frosted window film is the right option for you and your property we have compiled the article below to explain what it actually is, how it can be used within commercial and residential properties and even how long you should be expecting it to last.
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
Powell Sent Gold Above $1,800 – But Only for a Short While / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Finally, Powell admitted higher inflation risks and gold jumped above $1,800. Before anyone noticed, however, it plummeted below the key level again.Who are you, Mr. Powell: a reptilian or a human? A dove or a hawk? Since we all know the answer to the first question, let’s focus on the second one. Markets decided that Powell’s last press conference was rather dovish, but a careful reading doesn’t support this view. The main dovish signal was Powell’s emphasis that quantitative easing tapering and interest rate hikes are separate issues, as the tightening cycle criteria are stricter. So, the first rate hike may not come immediately after the end of tapering, which is scheduled for mid-March.
Even if they are separate, we shouldn’t expect a long break between the end of quantitative easing and the first rate hike. This gap will definitely be shorter than in 2014-2015. In the last tightening cycle, the Fed ended asset purchases in October 2014, while the first increase in the federal funds rate occurred in December 2015. Powell himself, however, pointed out that the economy is much stronger, while inflation is much higher, so a long separation before interest rate hikes is not likely:
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
Stock Market Santa Rally Time / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Monica_Kingsley
S&P 500 made a first step towards the turnaround higher in the opening part of this week. Fading the rally is being countered, and yesterday‘s omicron policy response fears are being duly reversed. For the time being, Fed‘s liquidity is still being added – the real wildcard moving the markets, is corona these days. Credit markets are in the early stages of heralding risk-on appetite as returning. As stated yesterday when mentioning my 2022 outlook:
(…) Fading the FOMC rally went a bit too far – credit markets aren‘t panicking, so I doubt a fresh lasting downtrend is starting here. Chop, yes – the 4,720 area is proving a tough nut to crack, but it would be overcome. If there are two arguments in favor, it‘s the financials and HYG – the likely rebound in the former, and Friday‘s resilience in the latter. Given that Thursday‘s spurt to 4,750 evaporated so fast, I‘m not looking for a stellar year end. Positive given where we‘re trading currently, sure.
Markets are now grappling with faster Fed tapering (which has opened the way to a rate hike in Q2 2022), getting slowly more afraid of fresh corona restrictions, and dealing with inflation that‘s not going anywhere. Outpacing wage growth, with real yields being deeply negative (no, 10-year Treasury yield at even 2% doesn‘t cut it – that‘s my 2022 target, by the way), the administration would be hard pressed in the year of midterms to counter the corrosive inflation effects on poll numbers. And the Fed expects to keep tightening when the real economy is already suffering from contracting liquidity as seen also in strengthening dollar?
The central bank will have a hard time taming inflation, and in my view won‘t succeed – the persistently high inflation rates are going to be with us for years to come, and outpacing wages. … Similar to the recent high PPI reading, this is one more argument for why inflation isn‘t receding in the short run – not when demand isn‘t likewise being destroyed. As if consumer sentiment weren‘t struggling already...
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
FREETRADE - What Value FREE SHARES Can You Expect to Get When Signing Up? AMD, Apple, Microsoft? UK / InvestorEducation / Learning to Invest
By: Nadeem_Walayat
FREE TRADE is probably one of the best UK trading platforms for Stocks and shares ISA's, with it's commission free trading and fractional shares and low F/X fee of 0.45% AND they give a free share currently worth between £10 and £200 when signing up through a referral link. However what free share can people expect to get will it be an AMD? Apple, maybe a Microsoft as I show what my 7 FREE shares were that I got via referring others to FREE TRADE, so this is a good realistic expectation of what one is likely to get from FREE TRADE.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
TSMC and Microsoft AI Tech Stocks Analysis / Companies / AI
By: Nadeem_Walayat
TSMC $117
PE 29.9, has been stuck in a tight trading range for virtually the whole of 2021 at between $125 and $108. Therefore I am raising the buying level to an achievable $109.5.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Silver: Strong and Weak at Once. How Is That Even Possible? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Gold is barely crawling up, while silver is boldly climbing the market ladder. When will its rungs turn slippery, causing the precious metal to fall?Yesterday’s session was particularly uneventful in the case of the precious metals market, as crude oil and the general stock market stole the spotlight.
Consequently, today’s analysis will focus on what’s happening in pre-market trading, as that’s what appears to be more important.
At the moment of writing these words, gold is up very modestly – less than 0.2%.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Remembering Wharton: Detecting When the Fed Turns 'For or Against You' / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: The_Gold_Report
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger remembers lessons learned years ago from a three-year course in "Stocks and Bonds 101," and how those principles still apply today.
In 1983, I was offered the opportunity to attend a three-year course in “Stocks and Bonds 101” courtesy of the Securities Industry Association. With little or no appreciation of what that course might actually do for me, I eagerly accepted because the main perk was a shingle for my office emblazoned with the title “The Wharton School” with my name just below it and signature-verified by a bunch of northeast blue bloods.
That three-year journey had a remarkable impact on my psyche. I met some of my earlier heroes like Martin Zweig, Jeremy Seigel, Julius Westheimer, and Gail Dudack, all of whom were really interesting personalities. But none were as impactive as a little-known trader called Robert Gordon. At first glance, I thought that he was the perfect image of a New Yorker – a cross between Robert DeNiro and John Travolta but, at maybe 5 feet 9 inches tall, at least a few inches taller. He was a disciple of the legendary Ivan Boesky (an arbitrageur who went to prison for insider trading in 1987), known for his understanding and skill in the art of taking advantage in inefficiencies in securities pricing.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Euro: Look at This Head & Shoulders Chart Formation / Currencies / Euro
By: EWI
Learn about the "head and shoulders" measuring formula
You are probably familiar with the classic "head and shoulders" chart pattern.
But, in case you need a refresher, here's a brief description of a head and shoulders top:
The high of an initial upward move is the left shoulder. After a decline, another upward move takes prices to a higher high, or the head. A second decline follows the head. A third rally then takes prices to a peak below the high of the head, and becomes the right shoulder. The left and right shoulders are often similar in duration and extent. A trendline connecting the two lows is called the neckline. When prices penetrate the neckline, a change of trend is believed to have occurred.
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Tuesday, December 21, 2021
AI Tech Stocks Portfolio Updated Buying Levels and Zones as Financial Crisis 2.0 Continues Brewing / Companies / AI
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Dear Reader
China's property market is collapsing but the only data we have at present is anecdotal from the property developer canaries in the coal mine which have been under extreme distress for several months, with now dozens defaulting on their debts triggering fire sales of housing stock to raise revenues as they desperately fight to stay alive in the face of impending debt and interest payments, playing their part in the brewing Financial Crisis 2.0.
Financial Crisis 2.0 Checklist
- China housing market in distress - CHECK
- China's economy slowing - CHECK
- US Economy slowing - CHECK
- Brewing STAGFLATION - Slowing economy coupled with rising prices - CHECK
- Black Swan Event - Crisis at the ports - CHECK
- Economic Models busted - Workers refusing to return to work not factored into Economic models - CHECK
- REVERSE REPO MARKET - Banks desperate to swap deposit liabilities for T-bills collateral so as to lower capital requirements which has drained the capital markets of over $1 trillion - CHECK
- STOCK MARKET BUBBLE - Valuations have lost touch with reality - CHECK
- FED TAPERING into a Weakening Economy - Huge Risk of a valuation reset - CHECK
- IMPEMDING DOOM! - The relentless march of the Climate Change Mega-trend where all that the worlds leaders did at COP26 was Blah Blah Blah - CHECK!
So yes, Financial Crisis 2.0 continues to brew in the background and will likely come knocking on many investor portfolio door's during 2022 so don't be so eager to FOMO into stocks today to later wish one had missed out on the preceding 6-8 months of price action by Mid 2022. Where whatever one buys and holds today needs to factor in a potential for lower lows than what we saw in October and for some a lot lower lows than that! If one is happy with that then continue to FOMO all the way to new all time highs, for the time being.
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Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks: Good Luck Trying To Understand This Market / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Avi_Gilburt
During the last two weeks, I had the pleasure of traveling with my wife, Sharise, as we hosted our members on a cruise through the Caribbean. We then flew to New York, where we spent time with my father, whose health has been recently failing, and had the opportunity to see Andrea Bocelli in concert at Madison Square Garden.
If you have ever had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Bocelli sing, then you would know how his music can touch your soul. But, if you had the opportunity to learn his life story of perseverance, it would touch your soul that much more deeply.
In a loving note to his family, Mr. Bocelli penned the following words:
"never forget there is no such thing as happenstance. That's an illusion that lawless and arrogant men invented, so that they could sacrifice the truth of our world to their laws of reason."
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Tuesday, December 21, 2021
US Dollar‘s Stock Market Warning Signal / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2021
By: Monica_Kingsley
S&P 500 fading the FOMC rally went a bit too far – credit markets aren‘t panicking, so I doubt a fresh lasting downtrend is starting here. Chop, yes – the 4,720 area is proving a tough nut to crack, but it would be overcome. If there are two arguments in favor, it‘s the financials and HYG – the likely rebound in the former, and Friday‘s resilience in the latter. Given that Thursday‘s spurt to 4,750 evaporated so fast, I‘m not looking for a stellar year end. Positive given where we‘re trading currently, sure.
Markets are now grappling with faster Fed tapering (which has opened the way to a rate hike in Q2 2022), getting slowly more afraid of fresh corona restrictions, and dealing with inflation that‘s not going anywhere. Outpacing wage growth, with real yields being deeply negative (no, 10-year Treasury yield at even 2% doesn‘t cut it – that‘s my 2022 target, by the way), the administration would be hard pressed in the year of midterms to counter the corrosive inflation effects on poll numbers. And the Fed expects to keep tightening when the real economy is already suffering from contracting liquidity as seen also in strengthening dollar?
The central bank will have a hard time taming inflation, and in my view won‘t succeed – the persistently high inflation rates are going to be with us for years to come, and outpacing wages. Corona response is another uncertainty, and given the APT performance, the odds of seeing economic activity (just at a time when supply chains would need to keep working off prior setbacks) restricted, have increased. Similar to the recent high PPI reading, this is one more argument for why inflation isn‘t receding in the short run – not when demand isn‘t likewise being destroyed. As if consumer sentiment weren‘t struggling already...
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Inflation Torpedoes Biden Agenda – Will It Next Wreck Financial Markets? / Economics / Inflation
By: MoneyMetals
President Joe Biden’s so-called “Build Back Better” agenda was dealt a likely fatal blow on Sunday. Moderate Democrat Joe Manchin announced that he would oppose his party’s massive $2 trillion spending bill.
That effectively kills it in its current form.
Chief among Senator Manchin’s reasons for opposing the Biden administration’s far-reaching spending scheme is inflation.