Monday, December 14, 2015

Why Gold-Backed Money Doesn’t Bring Economic Booms and Busts / Commodities / Economic Theory

By: Frank_Shostak

According to popular thinking, not every increase in the supply of money will have an effect on economic activity. For instance, if an increase in supply is matched by a corresponding increase in the demand for money, we are told, then there won’t be any effect on the economy. The increase in the supply of money is neutralized, so to speak, by an increase in the demand for money, or the willingness to hold a greater amount of money than before.

What do we mean by demand for money? And how does this demand differ from demand for goods and services?

Monday, December 14, 2015

The Coming Economic Collapse Will Crash Stocks / Stock-Markets / Financial Crash

By: Graham_Summers

In 2008, the world experienced the worst economic collapse in 80+ years. This collapse triggered a stock market crash that erased $30 trillion in wealth.

Since that time, collectively Central Banks have cut interest rates over 600 times and have printed over $15 trillion in new money… money that has failed to generate sustained economic growth… money that has set the stage for another stock market crash.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Stock Market Low Near, Santa Rally on the Way? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Brad_Gudgeon

The S&P 500 is doing almost identically what it did last year: an important top the Friday after Thanksgiving (Dec 4), a rejection of the 20 day moving average the Thursday after that (Dec 10) and a large down day on the following Friday (Dec 11). We had the negative Mars square Pluto Dec 6 translating the really negative Mars opposite Uranus Dec 10 last week. The culmination of the low should occur late Tuesday Dec 15 when Uranus/square Pluto loses its hard aspect on the markets and tax selling is complete.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Are We In a Stocks Bear Market? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Andre_Gratian

Current Position of the Market

SPX: Long-term trend - Bull Market

SPX: Intermediate trend - has retraced 50% of its uptrend from 1872.

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 discuss longer market trends.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Great Stock Market and Economic Train Wreck of 2016... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Clive_Maund

Today we are going to review irrefutable evidence that a slow motion train wreck is already well underway across global markets, that will end with the last wagons on the train, the S&P500 index and the Dow Jones Industrials, disappearing into the abyss right after their immediate predecessors.

There are still a remarkable number of investors out there, and an even more remarkable percentage of mainstream financial journalists, who seem to think that everything is alright just because the flagship indices like the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P500 haven't caved in yet, but as we will now see they are probably just about to.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

US Bull Market to Extend Well into 2016 / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Tony_Caldaro

The market started the week at SPX 2092. Monday started the week with a gap down opening. The market gapped down again on Tuesday and Wednesday before hitting a low at SPX 2037. Then after a quiet Thursday opening the market rallied to SPX 2068, before resuming its decline with another gap down opening on Friday. For the week the SPX/DOW lost 3.55%, the NDX/NAZ lost 3.95%, and the DJ World lost 3.5%. Economic reports for the week started off negative, but ended mixed. On the downtick: consumer credit, wholesale inventories, export/import prices, plus the budget deficit and weekly jobless claims increased. On the uptick: the PPI, MMIS, GNP, WLEI, retail sales and consumer sentiment. Next week will be highlighted by the FOMC meeting, Industrial production, Housing and Options expiration.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Donald Trump vs. The Quiet Christian / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016

By: Walter_Brasch

Before a cheering and whooping crowd in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Donald Trump, spewing the blustery rhetoric of a demagogue, declared that the United States should ban all Muslims from entering the country.

He claimed to have Muslim friends who supported his position. He claimed that Muslims want “to change your religion.” He claimed that a poll, one created by an anti-Muslim extremist, showed that one-fourth of American Muslims believe violence against Americans is justified.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Are Low Crude Oil Prices a 'Boom Or A Curse' For The World Economy? / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: Chris_Vermeulen

The energy markets are tanking and are at levels that have not been seen since "The Recession" of 2009. Opinions are divided on the effects of the fall. Some say it is good for consumers, whereas, others say it is bad for the global economy. This article will analyze the overall effects of low crude oil prices on the industry, the major oil-producing nations, consumers and the overall global economy. The severity of the fall can be seen in the chart below.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

CON21 - Paris Climate Change Conference Show / Politics / Climate Change

By: Raul_I_Meijer

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius just announced, in Paris, a “legally binding agreement” that no-one has agreed the financing for. We can hear a couple thousand lawyers across the globe snicker. But it’s all the COP21 ‘oh-so-important’ climate conference managed to come up with. No surprises there. They couldn’t make the 2ºC former goal stick, so they go for 1.5ºC this time. All on red, double or nothing. Because who really cares among the leadership, just as long as the ‘targets’ are far enough away that they can’t be held accountable.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Gold And Silver– Problem, Reaction, Solution Does Not Apply To Precious Metals / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Michael_Noonan

The Rothschild-now-globalist template for gaining control over all money, and now the world, has been create a Problem, let an adverse Reaction develop, then present the desired Solution. On a grander scale, there was the US Civil War to divide the country, then the manufactured Roaring ’20s and the stock market bubble, burst when the money changers purposefully tightened the money supply creating massive margin calls and the Crash of 1929.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

NRG Energy is a Definite Takeout Candidate / Companies / Investing 2015

By: EconMatters

David Crane Resigns

In case you missed it David Crane resigns Thursday and the stock gets hammered on Friday to the likes of almost 20% at one point in trading, putting in a low print of $8.81. Hopefully the more sophisticated investors out there bought some calls three month`s out as NRG Energy is a definite takeout candidate with this shockingly low stock price given its actual assets.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Stock Market Turning More Bearish.....VIX Explodes... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Jack_Steiman

Last night we saw the futures slowly start to erode. Nothing terrible at first, and even this morning they were down some but nothing to lose sleep over. The S&P 500 trading around 2035/2040. Suddenly, and without warning, the futures began to fall. By the time the market opened it was pure nastiness. The market gapped down and headed right for 2020 bottoming out at 2021. From there it rocked up ten points. As the day wore on it did a double test at 2021 before trying higher again, but this move back up was far weaker.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Effect of a Fed Rate Hike on Gold and Silver / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Jordan_Roy_Byrne

The markets have for the most part already priced in a Fed rate hike which is expected next week. Yesterday fed funds futures indicated an 80% chance of a rate hike. It would be the first hike in roughly 9 years. The Fed last began a new hiking cycle in 2004. We consult history to decipher the potential impact (of a rate hike) on the embattled precious metals sector.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Gold Market - Mario Draghi is a Hype Machine / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: EconMatters

The Gold Market is pretty interesting here as investors realized on Thursday that much that comes out of Mario Draghi`s mouth is complete hyperbole, because things aren`t nearly as dire in Europe as some bankers try to persuade for additional stimulus out of the ECB, and Germany isn`t going to sign off on the extreme bazooka stimulus measures because Germans by nature are conservative, and there is a commensurate symmetry between ratcheting up extreme monetary measures and stoking the fire of unintended consequences.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Market Investor’s Great Divide; Stocks Crossing the 200 Day Moving Average / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Doug_Wakefield

“Reuters, the British news agency, moved a story on its wire at 11:39 A.M. Tuesday, May 8, saying that Continental had denied as “totally preposterous” rumors that the bank was considering bankruptcy….

Ordinarily, Continental would have refused to comment on the rumor by Reuters. Instead, it reacted with a quick denial, perhaps in the hope of placating the foreign depositors….

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Gold Sector Inputs That Actually Matter and Stock Market Refugees / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Gary_Tanashian

The word play in the title is in reference to the ridiculous fuss over COMEX gold inventory and other promotions masquerading as fundamentals put out by cartoons masquerading as analysis.

30 year divided by, and 30 year minus 5 year are neutral at best.  Yield spreads would be rising in a gold-positive environment.  As a side note, this spread also tends to bring trouble for the stock market during its initial stages of rising.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Soaring Bond Yields - This Is How Fast It Happens / Interest-Rates / Corporate Bonds

By: Raul_I_Meijer

For a while there, companies deemed to be highly risky were nonetheless able to borrow money for less than 6%. And borrow they did. Frackers, ultra-high-leverage retail chains and various other close-to-the-edge entities slurped up trillions from yield-starved investors who had forgotten about the other side of the risk/return equation.

Friday, December 11, 2015

UK House Prices, Immigration and London Property Bubble Mania Housing Market / Housing-Market / UK Housing

By: Nadeem_Walayat

London's housing bull market continues to gallop along at an astonishing pace which depending on which measure one looks at ranges from an annual rate of between 8% and 12%, and that the most recent surge higher has now lifted the average London house price to over an eye watering £600k! Pushing London house prices affordability ratio's upwards of X10 average London earnings, pushing London properties out of the reach of even the professional middle classes, let alone the army of working class necessary to keep the metropolis ticking over. Where many prospective home buyers are being forced to adopt extreme measures such as shared ownerships or be convinced by highly polished sales pitches that a tiny box studio flats priced at £300k+ in an run down (up and coming) area are a very good deal! So buy now before it is snapped up by someone else, probably who has yet to even set foot in Britain which highlights London's ultimate safe haven status, not just for the worlds people but capital of tax evading billionaires and people of more ordinary means plowing billions into London's better than gold property market each year.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Gold Thrives in Fed Interest Rate Hike Cycles / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Zeal_LLC

Gold’s deep new secular lows of recent weeks were fueled by American futures speculators’ overpowering fear of Fed rate hikes.  They believe zero-yielding gold is doomed in a higher-rate world, so they dumped gold futures at astounding record rates.  The problem is history proves just the opposite, that gold tends to thrive during Fed-rate-hike cycles.  This revelation is a super-bullish near-term omen for gold.

Some brief context is essential to frame gold’s apparently dire predicament today.  Late July saw gold crushed to new secular lows by a record extreme gold-futures shorting attack brazenly executed to blast through long-side stops and foment panic selling.  But this burst selling soon fizzled, leading to a major gold bottom in early August.  Over the subsequent few months, gold carved an impressive new uptrend.

Friday, December 11, 2015

America Living a Lie / Politics / US Debt

By: James_Quinn

"Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

The lies we tell ourselves are only exceeded by the lies perpetrated by those controlling the levers of our society. We've lost respect for ourselves and others, transforming from citizens with obligations to consumers with desires. The love of mammon has left our country a hollowed out, debt ridden shell of what it once was. When I see the data from surveys about the amount of debt being carried by people in this country and match it up with the totals reported by the Federal Reserve, I'm honestly flabbergasted that so many people choose to live a lie. By falling for the false materialistic narrative of having it all today, millions of Americans have enslaved themselves in trillions of debt. The totals are breathtaking to behold: