Friday, September 18, 2015

Currency Wars, Battles, And Hostile Actions / Currencies / Currency War

By: Raymond_Matison

With its recent miniscule 2% devaluation of the Yuan, media pundits noted that China had now also entered into the global currency war.  What this comment implies is that other countries with the ability to issue or print their own currency, including the U.S., have been participating in a currency war by devaluing their own currency as a hoped for means to increase their country exports and thereby stimulate their economies.  As China’s currency has been pegged to the USD, it had recently grown stronger as a byproduct of dollar’s recent dramatic strength.  Accordingly, the peg that China used to tie-in to the dollar’s value had increased the Chinese yuan to a level that was hurting their exports.  The resulting devaluation was China’s attempt to correct partially this unwelcome currency appreciation.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Halloween Came Early this Year on Wall Street / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Clif_Droke

The Federal Reserve guessing game ended Thursday after the FOMC made its decision on interest rate policy. The Fed left rates unchanged in a tip of the hat to investors who felt the economy was vulnerable to overseas weakness. This was what most on Wall Street wanted, although there was a sharp intraday reversal after the announcement (apparently a case of buy the rumor, sell the news).

Friday, September 18, 2015

Fed Remains Paralysed by Fear, Keeps U.S. Interest Rates on Hold at 0.25% / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The FOMC once more decided to do nothing and keep US interest rates on hold at the panic low level of 0.25% with speculation now switching to whether the Fed will finally get the balls to raise interest rates at its October meeting, or will the Fed chicken out once more fearing that they may spark Financial Collapse 2.0.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Time to Invest in Gold? Consider These Four Factors First / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Investment_U

Sean Brodrick writes: The market expects gold to go lower as the Fed raises interest rates. That’s because gold pays no interest, unlike bonds. In fact, more than $2.6 billion was wiped from the value of gold exchange-traded products (ETPs) in just three weeks as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s meeting. Ouch!

And in all, since gold entered a bear market in April 2013, a whopping $54 billion in value has bled out of gold ETPs. Holdings in bullion products fell to 1,508.2 metric tons on August 11.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Crude Oil Price Rises 29% in One Week... Here's What It Means / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: DailyWealth

Friday, September 18, 2015

In Thrall to the Federal Reserve / Politics / US Federal Reserve Bank

By: MISES

Jeff Deist writes: BREAKING NEWS:

Perhaps no economic pronouncement in history has been anticipated, discussed, predicted, dissected, and reported like the Federal Reserve’s momentous decision today not to raise interest rates.

The outpouring of relief witnessed today by the financial press is nothing short of cathartic. Fear and anxiety, built up over months, is replaced by relief, even euphoria.

Friday, September 18, 2015

The Central Bankster Crucifix / Interest-Rates / Central Banks

By: Barry_M_Ferguson

The FRB, the ECB, the PBoC, and the BoJ are all central banksters. It matters not which country they infest. It matters not which form of gooberment they act as marionette. It matters not how much economic destruction they instigate. Their wicked intent is the same. Total power. Total domination. Total rule. Total control. Total enslavement.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Fed Keeps US Interest Rates Unchanged - Comparison of Sep and July Statements / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: Ashraf_Laidi

The Fed kept rates unchanged with an unambiguously dovish statement, focusing on weakening inflation, rising market turbulence and a new reference to foreign developments. The dot forecasts pointed to slower growth and lower core inflation and lower fed funds projections. The only hawkish dissent to the decision was from Richmond Fed's Lacker, but this point was made moot by not only due to Lacker's well documented hawkish stance, but also by the fact that the dot plot showed one Fed member expecting negative rates, even if this member is the widely dovish Minneapolis Fed's Kocherlakota.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Trading 101: Position Sizing / InvestorEducation / Learn to Trade

By: John_Mauldin

This is going to be the last of the trading lessons for a while. I don’t want to turn this into a trading blog, and there are important macro things to talk about (especially next week).

Here’s an imaginary scenario: someone tips you that an acquisition is going to happen. Of course, that would be insider trading, which is illegal—but let’s pretend for the purpose of this exercise that insider trading were legal.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Great Financial Crisis 2nd Leg - The Chinese Emperor Has No Clothes / Stock-Markets / Chinese Stock Market

By: Brian_Bloom

The first chart below may be signalling a very significant technical development from the perspective of global investor confidence.

The lower low in the On Balance Volume (OBV) chart is not yet significant in terms of extent; nevertheless, its significance lies in the fact that it is pointing to the “potential”  emergence of a wave of selling pressure in the equity market of a country that has clearly been cooking its economic books (see evidence below).

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Stock Market Fed Decision Day / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

Good Morning!

A colleague, Gary, called me yesterday to comment that this formation might have a better fit as a Flag or Pennant formation instead of a Triangle. A glance at the two-hour chart shows an upward tilt that would agree with that assessment. The Wave Structure also fits, whether a Minor Wave 4 or an Intermediate Wave (B), which is the alternate view.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

What Today’s Fed Decision Means for Crude Oil Prices / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: ...

MoneyMorning.com Dr. Kent Moors writes: After nine years of historically low interest rates, the Fed is finally getting ready to remove the proverbial punchbowl from the easy-money party.

As it stands, Yellen & Company are only contemplating a mere 25 basis rate hike and even that now seems unlikely.

According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, the Fed Funds futures contracts are pricing in a below 25% chance of a rate hike later this afternoon.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Stock Market Optimism Ahead Of Fed's Interest Rate Decision Release / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: Paul_Rejczak

Briefly: In our opinion, no speculative positions are justified

Our intraday outlook is neutral, and our short-term outlook is neutral:

Intraday outlook (next 24 hours): neutral
Short-term outlook (next 1-2 weeks): neutral
Medium-term outlook (next 1-3 months): bearish
Long-term outlook (next year): bullish

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Gold Price Up Before Fed Interest Rate Decision - Myth Of All Powerful Central Banker Continues / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: GoldCore

Gold rose 1.3% yesterday ahead of the Federal Reserve interest rate announcement today. Markets remain divided and uncertain whether the Fed will increase rates by 25 basis points today (1900 GMT).

The Fed last raised interest rates in June 2006, by 25 basis points to 5.25%, shortly after that America’s central bank found itself reducing rates and since December 2008 the Fed’s benchmark interest rate has been set between 0.0% and 0.25%. Gold prices rose in the months after the interest rise and were 23% higher in 2006.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Talk of US Stock Market Crash Does Not Make Sense / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Submissions

Nicholas Kitonyi writes: Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of talk of a possible US market crash. This comes following a substantial decline across all the major US Indices and their associated ETFs which saw them drop by 6%-9% between late August and early September.

However, we have already witnessed significant resurgence in US markets over the last few days, which suggests that investors still remain optimistic.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Don't Buy the Fed's New "Bribe-a-Bank" Interest Rate Policy / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: ...

MoneyMorning.com Lee Adler writes: After seven long, strange years, we're now looking at the end of ZIRP as we know it.

And good riddance, too. It's been a disaster for the U.S. economy, the middle class, the housing market – just about every facet of American economic life has suffered from this fiscal disaster masquerading as coherent monetary policy.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

U.S. Fed Must Avoid Bank of Japan Errors / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: Ashraf_Laidi

No, the US is not Japan and the Federal Reserve is not the Bank of Japan. But when we assess the implications of what could be the first Fed rate after 7 years of zero interest rate policy in the US, there's no better reference than the BoJ.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

The Shale Oil Delusion: Why The Party's Over For U.S. Tight Oil / Commodities / Shale Oil and Gas

By: OilPrice_Com

The party is over for tight oil.

Despite brash statements by U.S. producers and misleading analysis by Raymond James, low oil prices are killing tight oil companies.

Reports this week from IEA and EIA paint a bleak picture for oil prices as the world production surplus continues.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Stock Market Short Interest Off The Charts...Fed On Deck.... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Jack_Steiman

A new report came out this morning showing trader-short interest is at an all-time high. Nothing like fear to create a more bullish environment. The short interest here is at a greater level than at any time during the 2000-bear market or the 2009-bear market That's almost impossible to believe, but that's what the numbers are showing. Most folks know the rule of this crazy game with regards to following the herd. Never do it! If the masses get too bullish it's probably not a bad idea to start removing most of your long holdings. No different than when things get far too bearish. Right now the trading world is far too bearish, which tells me that over time it's more likely, though no guarantee, that we'll get through S&P 500 1993 before losing S&P 500 1867. Taking out 1993 would negate the bearish-bear flag pattern, and set things up more balanced between the two sides. Then it would be more about sentiment.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Syria's Economy Not Shaken by ISIS / Economics / Syria

By: Steve_H_Hanke

The fog of war has removed any sense of certainty regarding developments on the Syrian battlefield. That said, we know that ISIS has captured several towns, and that waves of Syrian refugees are disembarking upon Europe's shores. But, the picture remains chaotic and hazy.