Monday, February 19, 2018
How Inflation Reduces The Real Value Of Social Security Net Of Medicare Premiums / Economics / Government Spending
By: Dan_Amerman
For most retirees age 65 and over, the spending power which they rely on from government retirement programs is their Social Security benefits after their Medicare Part B premiums have been withheld.
Because Social Security is in theory supposed to be fully inflation indexed, many people believe their standards of living in retirement will be fully protected from inflation. However, when we look at what matters the most, which is the purchasing power of Social Security net of Medicare premiums - that particular number has never been intended to keep up with the rate of inflation, as a matter of design.
Current retirees have received a rude wake-up call in recent years, with the increases in their Medicare Part B premiums consuming almost all of their very small increases in Social Security benefits. This is a process that is, however, still in its early stages. Particularly if higher rates of inflation are indeed returning, then the impact on retiree standards of living may be swift, powerful and sustained.
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Monday, February 19, 2018
Gold GLD ETF May Not Yet Be Ready To Break Out / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: Avi_Gilburt
For those that follow me regularly, you will know that I have been tracking a set-up for the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDX), which I analyze as a proxy for the metals mining market. I believe that GDX can outperform the general equity market once we confirm a long-term break out has begun, and I still think we can see it in occur in 2018. This week, I will provide an update to GDX, but want to also discuss the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (NYSEARCA:GLD), which is an ETF that attempts to mirror the movements of gold. While I have gone on record as to why I do not think GLD is a wise long-term investment hold, I will still use it to track the market movements.
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Monday, February 19, 2018
Could Stellar Lumens be a Challenger to Bitcoin for International Payments? / Currencies / BlockChain
By: Boris_Dzhingarov
Bitcoin has clearly cemented its position at the top of the cryptocurrency pecking order.
The last few years have seen its status grow immensely, to the point where many people (wrongly) see cryptocurrency and Bitcoin as inseparable.
In the last year or so, Bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed and many new investors have benefitted hugely. If you’d bought a single Bitcoin at the start of 2017, you’d now be about $7000 better off.
Monday, February 19, 2018
US-China Trade War Escalates As Further Measures Are Taken / Politics / China US Conflict
By: GoldCore
– Trade war between two superpowers continues to escalate
– White House likely to impose steep tariffs on aluminium and steel imports on ‘national security grounds’
– US may impose global tariff of at least 24% on imports of steel and 7.7% on aluminium
– China “will certainly take necessary measures to protect our legitimate rights.”
– China is USA’s largest trading partner, fastest-growing market for U.S. exports, 3rd largest market for U.S. exports in the world.
– If the U.S. continues to escalate its trade actions against China, experts say retaliation is likely.
– Global markets are unprepared, investors should invest in gold to protect portfolios
Monday, February 19, 2018
How To Trade Gold Stocks with Momentum / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: Chris_Vermeulen
As a technical trader, I like it when multiple charts, indicators, and asset classes agree with each other for trade setups. This short article is to show you some of the things I look at which provide a buy signal for gold stocks.
One of the key trading tips I learned years ago, is that average a sharp price reversal and surge in price, we as traders can buy into the first pullback with a high probability of a continuation in price.
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Monday, February 19, 2018
Is a New Gold Bull Market on the Horizon? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: The_Gold_Report
A read of the gold charts is indicating that a breakout and new bull market are simply a matter of time, says technical analyst Clive Maund. Gold continues to prepare to break out of its giant Head-and-Shoulders bottom pattern. As we can see on its 8-year chart below, this base pattern has been developing for getting on for five years now, so it has major implications. Upside volume has been building for a long time, driving volume indicators higher, a sign that a breakout and new bull market are simply a matter of time, and not much at that now.
Monday, February 19, 2018
Stock Market Decision Point! / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Andre_Gratian
Current Position of the Market
SPX: Long-term trend – The bull market is continuing with a top expected in the low 3000s.
Intermediate trend – An intermediate correction from 2872 is currently underway.
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 the course of longer market trends.
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Monday, February 19, 2018
Inflationary Pressures Building / Commodities / Commodities Trading
By: Donald_W_Dony
Inflationary pressures have been on the rise since 2016. The U.S. Inflation Rate currently sits at 2.20 percent up from 1 percent in early 2016.
Increasing economic growth both globally and domestically have aided the rise of inflationary pressures.
The rise or fall in commodity prices are a good reliable gauge on inflation.
But the biggest driver of natural resource prices appears to be the U.S. dollar.
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Sunday, February 18, 2018
An Inflation Indicator to Watch, Part 1 / Economics / Inflation
By: F_F_Wiley
Have you ever questioned Milton Friedman’s famous claim about inflation?
Ever heard anyone else question it?
Unless you read obscure stuff written for the academic community, you’re probably not used to Friedman’s quote being challenged. And that’s despite a lousy forecasting record by economists who bought into his Monetarist methods.
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Sunday, February 18, 2018
Get on Top Of Debt Before It Gets on Top of You / Personal_Finance / Credit Cards & Scoring
By: Boris_Dzhingarov
The financial markets are in a constant state of flux. Judging from the current volatility in equities markets, one would be remiss not to pay attention to economic indicators when making trading or investment decisions. For example, one of the most important components of investment-related decision-making is interest rates. On Wednesday, 21 March 2018, the Fed FOMC will be meeting to discuss another possible rate hike. The federal funds rate (FFR) is expected to rise 25-basis points in the region of 1.50% – 1.75%. The current probability of such a rate hike taking place is 83.1%. This has far-reaching ramifications on a typical US household’s ability to manage debt repayments.
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Sunday, February 18, 2018
Will the Stock Market Make a Double Bottom? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Submissions
Troy Bombardia writes:The S&P 500 has already fallen more than -10% (-11.8% to be precise). A brief study using VIX suggested that the stock market would retest its lows in the next few weeks. Let’s expand that study.
Read full article... Read full article...What happens when the S&P falls at least -10% and then retraces 50% of the decline? Is the bottom in? Or does the S&P at least retest its lows?
Sunday, February 18, 2018
5 Reasons Why Commodities Are the Investment Place to be in 2018 / Commodities / Investing 2018
By: Richard_Mills
The stock market pullback of the last couple of weeks has shown that markets are jittery, and will likely be volatile for awhile as investors keep a vigil on rising bond yields (inflation) and potential interest rate hikes. In these uncertain times, one sector that appears to be holding its own, and then some, is commodities. Let’s examine why this is the case, and why commodities are going to be THE place to put your money in 2018. The correction
The stock market correction (let’s not call it a crash) that suddenly saw everyone’s trading apps turn red on Monday Feb. 5 shocked investors. The S&P 500 was off 4.1% at 2,648 - the worst fall in 6.5 years. The rot spread to Asian stock markets the next day, with Japan’s Topix index falling 6.3%, South Korea’s Kospi losing 2.6%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 down by 3.7%.
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Sunday, February 18, 2018
Gold: Another Month, Another Test Of Key Resistance – But This Time With A Difference / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: John_Rubino
Gold spiked in January, and looked to be headed even higher. But there were some problems. First, futures speculators – as tracked by the Commitment of Traders (COT) report – had gone overwhelmingly long, and since they tend to be wrong at emotional extremes, this was a red flag. Second, gold was approaching the $1360 level that had, since 2014, been the place where upward momentum went to die. For the relevant charts, see Gold Jumps To Crucial Technical Level. Important Action Coming Up.
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Sunday, February 18, 2018
Addicted to Virtual Reality - Dangers of VR Addiction After First Use! / ConsumerWatch / Virtual Reality
By: HGR
Samsung with their series of Gear VR headsets, typically for under £60, have made VR affordable to anyone with a high end Samsung smartphone. The key thing is the ease of use, just slot the phone into the headset and after a quick automated software install the user is immediately immersed in a surprisingly high resolution VR world.
However, what we may be seeing are the beginnings of a new addiction, one of the soon to be exploding epidemic of being addicted to exciting virtual reality fantasy worlds and impressive games rather than the far more mundane real world, and as this video illustrates the addiction can be near instantaneous, even after just the a few minutes of first use, so VR has a lot in common with many hard drugs!
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Saturday, February 17, 2018
1 Week Later, Stock, Bond Market Risk Remains ‘On’ as 2 of 3 Amigos Ride On / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2018
By: Gary_Tanashian
Despite a tough week for stocks into Friday, February 9, three big picture macro indicators have continued to support a risk ‘on’ backdrop. Many of the shorter-term indicators we watch, like Junk bond ratios and the Palladium/Gold ratio say the same thing. Junk/Treasury and Junk/Investment Grade are threatening new highs and as we have noted in NFTRH updates all through the recent market volatility, Palladium (cyclical) got hammered vs. Gold (counter-cyclical), but only to test its major uptrend. Now the ratio is bouncing with the market relief that is so predictably taking hold (here’s a public post where we effectively called bullish, in-day on that Friday).
As for the bigger macro indicators, the middle one, Amigo #2 (long-term interest rates) has that funny look on his face because he is bracing for something.
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Saturday, February 17, 2018
Crude Oil Prices: A Case of Dueling Narratives? / Commodities / Crude Oil
By: WMA
There are indications Crude Oil prices are going lower. There are also indications that it’s going higher. Which narrative do you believe?
Oil Bears point to what they believe is over-supply caused by soaring US production, mostly from shale fields. With production increasing over +20% in less than two years, and drill rigs on the rise, the US now produces about as much Oil as the industry leaders, Saudi Arabia and Russia. According to the Oil Bears, the Saudi-Russia pact to restrain global production and export levels will break down in 2018, thereby leading to more supply than demand, causing lower prices. Moreover, the Bears are confident that alternative energy supply (e.g., solar/battery and uranium) will eventually win out as it is a cheaper and cleaner power source, and that Electric Vehicles are increasingly favored by consumers.
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Saturday, February 17, 2018
Loan Shark Nation: Forcing Our Kids To Choose Between Student Loans And Everything Else / Personal_Finance / Student Finances
By: John_Rubino
It’s mid-winter, which means millions of high school seniors are winding up their childhoods and planning for what comes next. For many this next stage is college.
But in yet another example of how we baby boomers have rigged the system in our favor at the expense of pretty much everyone else, student loans – barely necessary when most boomers graduated 40 years ago – have become a life-defining problem for our kids and grandkids.
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Saturday, February 17, 2018
Free 1000 Youtube Subscribers Services - YTpals, Subpals, SubmeNow Test / ConsumerWatch / Internet
By: N_Walayat
Youtube on the 20th of January decided to cut all small channels loose from their partner programme, all those channels with less than 1000 subscribers and 4k watch time who by the 20th of February will be ejected from the Youtube partner programme that amongst several benefits included monetization of videos which in most cases for Youtubers resulted in a token return of typically about $10 per month. So the blow for being ejected from the youtube partner programme is not financial but rather Youtube effectively telling its smaller youtubers to get lost, as effectively Youtube is now no longer YOUtube but instead it's Celebtube or Adtube, really just another broadcast channel full of commercialised content full of ads and NOT what YOUtube has been for the past 10 years!
Friday, February 16, 2018
How to Trade as We Near March Stock Market Top / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Chris_Vermeulen
Our focus is to provide you with updated and accurate market price predictions for all of 2018, we believe we are entering a period that will be fantastic for traders and active investors. We believe this recent volatility has shaken out the low volatility expectations and will allow the markets to start moving in a more normal rotational mode going forward. This means we’ll have lots of trading opportunities to profit from.
For those of you who have not been following our research over the past 2 to 3 months, we urge you to visit our Technical Traders Ltd. website to read our published research and to learn how we’ve been calling these moves in the markets for our members. We called the early 2018 market rally weeks before it started. We called the lower price rotation over a month before it happened. We called the bottom in this price correction almost to the day and told our members that we believed a very quick Pennant price formation was set up that will drive prices higher which we have seen this week.
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Friday, February 16, 2018
Bitcoin as Poison / Currencies / Bitcoin
By: Mike_McAra
The views on Bitcoin among various investors are quite polarized. The whole spectrum includes both people directly owning the cryptocurrency and those who seem to hate it. We have read analyses suggesting that a surprising percentage of hedge fund managers own digital coins. At the same time, Warren Buffett's investment chief, Charlie Munger, called Bitcoin “noxious poison.” Do such words mean that Bitcoin is doomed? In an article on the Guardian website, we read:
Bitcoin is heading towards $10,000 again, despite comments from the US billionaire Charles Munger who described the digital currency as “noxious poison”.
(…)
Speaking at the annual meeting of the US publishing firm Daily Journal, which he chairs, in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Munger said: “I never considered for one second having anything to do with it. I detested it the moment it was raised. It’s just disgusting. Bitcoin is noxious poison.”