Monday, November 16, 2015
Markets Reacting to Paris Attack 'Rationally': Asness / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015
Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, joined Stephanie Ruhle, David Westin and Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg TV's new flagship morning program, Bloomberg <GO>. He discussed market reaction to the Paris terror attacks and the use of long-term investing to overcome risks.
ERIK SCHATZKER: As I mentioned moments ago, Cliff Asness of AQR is here. Cliff, if we could begin with a little bit on the way investors tend to think about events like the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, Matt showed us that things haven't really moved that much. And frankly if you look at the historic record, things don't move that much over time after these horrible incidents. So, again, as the investor, as a man who sits on top of $135 billion and, granted, not all of your strategies would speak to this, why is that the case?
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Ominous Parallels: The Roman Empire, The European Union, And Mass Migration / Politics / Immigration
This weekend’s Paris attacks, occurring in the middle of one of history’s largest mass-migrations, has the feel of uncharted territory. But it’s actually an eerie echo of something that happened nearly two thousand years ago in more-or-less the same place.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Undeniable Truths about Precious Metals (Don't Forget These...) / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
Clint Siegner writes: From first to worst. Gold and silver were the best assets to own during the first decade of this century. During this second decade... not so much. Precious metals bulls have endured 4 years of prices drifting lower punctuated by periodic smash-downs and the occasional false-breakout.
What really gets the goat of gold and silver investors is that, throughout this time, there have been very good fundamental reasons to own metals. Somehow those fundamentals never show up in the price. The price action in recent years is enough to make bulls question reality.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
How the Great Depression 2.0 Will Soon Unfold / Economics / Great Depression II
Those who place their faith in a sustainable economic recovery emanating through government fiat will soon be shocked. Colossal central bank counterfeiting and gargantuan government deficit spending has caused the major averages to climb back towards unchanged on the year. Zero interest rate and negative interest rate policies, along with unprecedented interest rate manipulations, have levitated global stock markets. But still, sustainable and robust GDP growth has been remarkably absent for the past 8 years.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Paris Terror Attack and What Should Be Done / Politics / War on Terror
The horrific attacks in Paris on Friday have, predictably, led to much over-reaction and demands that we do more of the exact things that radicalize people and make them want to attack us. The French military wasted no time bombing Syria in retaliation for the attacks, though it is not known where exactly the attackers were from. Thousands of ISIS fighters in Syria are not Syrian, but came to Syria to overthrow the Assad government from a number of foreign countries -- including from France and the US.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Stock Market Building Selling Pressure / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
Playing devils advocate and assuming the selling pressure is strong enough to overwhelm central bank efforts to prop markets up, I would like to see the 7 year cycle low complete its mission and at least test the 200 week average.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Gold Remains “Best Insurance For A Crisis” – Ficenec / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
- “Future is uncertain and gold is the most effective insurance against that”
– As fears grow about outlook for global economy – long term attraction of gold remains
– As “central banks race to devalue currency,” private individuals are buying record amounts of gold
– “Gold is simply the best insurance against inflation, or deflation”
Editor’s Note: The tragic events in Paris, terrorism and war throughout the world, show geopolitical risk remains high. These risks will likely impact economies and financial markets and will see continuing safe haven demand for gold.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Israel's New War on Palestine / Politics / Palestine
Israel’s war on Palestine rages into its 7th week, extrajudicial assassinations occurring virtually daily, thousands of Palestinians wounded from live fire and other military assaults, over 1,000 civilians imprisoned for political reasons, including children and women.
Sunday saw no letup. Unrestrained Israeli brutality continued. With world attention on Paris, Netanyahu’s terror war rages almost unnoticed - two Qalandiya refugee camp Palestinians the latest victims, gunned down in cold blood during a raid to demolish an alleged attacker’s home.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Why Gold Prices Could Bounce This Week / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
Since the last US employment release and comments from Yellen suggesting a December hike is likely, gold has struggled to maintain its downward momentum. Whilst we believe that the Fed will increase rates in December and gold prices will move lower over the medium term, there is a strong case for a bounce in gold prices in the short term. Technically gold is oversold and holding support at $1080. This is too low relative to market pricing for a Fed hike and should find support from weaker US data since NFP, lower stocks, lower oil as well as a safe haven bid from any escalation of issues related to ISIS and recent tragic events in Paris.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
BRICS? No, CRISIS / Economics / Emerging Markets
On Monday, October 23, 2015, the Iranian news agency Tasnim cited its Deputy Minister of Economic Development who announced that Iran would seek to become a participant in the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB). The NDB was officially created by the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - in July of this year, with an initial capitalization of $100 billion. Iran’s participation would allow it, or any other participating country, to develop closer economic, trade and international policy ties with the BRICS nations, and utilize NDB funds for economic development.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 16, 2015
Is the Stock Market Ready to Rally Now? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
The last time I wrote, I said I was looking for a bottom in the US stock market around the 12th of November. I honestly thought we would pull back harder than we have. As of Friday November 13th, the SPX has tagged the .382 Fibonacci retracement of the September 29-November 3rd rally near 2022, less than a 5% pull back.
The chart below explains why I believe we have bottomed or are close to bottoming. The cycles suggest a rally into around November 25 from here. I don't know if this will be a failing rally or a new recovery high is on the way. After Thanksgiving we should have another pull back into early December to satisfy the 7/14 week low.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Stock Market Looking For A (Temporary?) Low / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
Current Position of the Market
SPX: Long-term trend - Bull Market
Intermediate trend – SPX has resumed its uptrend in order to complete the last phase of the bull market.
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 longer market trends.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Stock Market - Another Brutal Monday / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
One of the challenges of managing money is the (increasingly-frequent) need to translate non-financial tragedies into action to protect clients and, yes, profit from the broader world’s horror.
So while most people react to events in Paris with stunned sympathy and/or impotent rage, the financial community is deciding what to buy and sell. And right now it looks like “sell” is winning.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
No, the U.S. Military Has Not Withered Away Under Obama / Politics / US Military
Ryan McMaken writes: It is common to see articles and columns in the Conservative media claiming that President Obama is engaging in “historic defense cuts.” There are claims that not in decades has the military ever endured such budget slashing. “Romney blasts Obama over military cutbacks” one headline blares.
Upon closer examination of these claims, one notes that the authors are careful to never mention actual dollar amounts in context, or any meaningful historical context beyond single recent year-over-year comparisons.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
A Simple myRA “Hack” to Supercharge Your Savings Interest Earnings / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
Andrew Snyder writes: For income investors, times have rarely been harder. But Obama may have just accidentally created a lucrative solution.
We all know the problem. The Fed.
In its effort to keep the Great Recession from turning into something even worse, the country’s monetary maestros cut rates and kept them there. More than eight years after pulling rates lower, interest rates remain, in the simplest terms, dead.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Grandmaster Putin Beats Uncle Sam at His Own Game / Politics / GeoPolitics
Imagine that you despised your brother-in-law and wanted to kill him. But you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself so you hired a hit-man to do the job for you.
Would you still be guilty of murder?
You’re darn right, you would be. So let’s apply this same rule to US foreign policy: Would it be just as wrong to invade a country, kill its people and topple its government with militants that you funded, armed and trained as it would be with your own US troops?
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 15, 2015
After Paris Terror Attacks, France Contemplates a Reckoning / Politics / France
Details are still emerging as to precisely who was responsible for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. Sorting through the jumble of misinformation and disinformation will be challenging for French authorities, and for outside observers such as Stratfor.
While the Islamic State has claimed credit for the attack, it is still uncertain to what degree the Islamic State core organization was responsible for planning, funding or directing it. It is not clear whether the attackers were grassroots operatives encouraged by the organization like Paris Kosher Deli gunman Ahmed Coulibaly, if the operatives were professional terrorist cadres dispatched by the core group or if the attack was some combination of the two.
Analysis
Saturday, November 14, 2015
How Many More U.S. Recession Confirmations Do You Need? / Economics / Recession 2015
Despite the bogus BLS employment report last week (so the Fed could raise rates before the next financial crisis hits), all economic data confirms an economic recession. Corporate profits are falling, and their forecasts for next quarter are worse. Global trade is slowing dramatically. Oil prices and other commodities are plummeting to multi-year lows. Manufacturing and Services surveys are flashing red. China, Japan and European economies continue to suck wind. Layoff announcements by major corporations are up 40% over last year. A global deflationary recession is underway. Only a CNBC bimbo, shill or Ivy League educated economist isn’t bright enough to see it.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Silver Prices and The Fed Meetings / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
Hey guys it's Jeff here, stay right there, we are live, I'm really excited once again for two reasons: Number 1, I get to use this unique technology. When it works, it gives us the ability to create an immediate live replay or an encore replay, a transcript and also an audio version of this. The second reason why I'm excited is that we are continuing, this is our 7th episode in the series where we're covering what really determines the price of silver, the electronic price discovery versus the fundamental reality and during this time we've actually seen a complete turn of this cycle, this pattern, or this trading relationship between the big commercial banks and the managed money traders.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Gold And Silver Sellers Remain In Control / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
This week, we are ending our commentary portion, probably until January due to a pressing time commitment for the next several weeks. Starting from next week, we will post charts and chart comments only on this site. If you are not a subscriber and still want to read the chart comments, you will have to subscribe in order to follow the updates.
This is not an effort to increase subscribers, rather, it is the only viable way because the sites to which our articles are submitted prefer some accompanying commentary, in addition to the charts. We do not use subscriber e-mails for any purpose other than submitting our commentaries directly to them. Subscriber privacy is respected. Besides, from our point of view, the charts tell the most compelling story.
Read full article... Read full article...