Analysis Topic: Stock & Financial Markets

The analysis published under this topic are as follows.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Does Economic Stagnation Create Dangerous Financial Bubbles? / Stock-Markets / Liquidity Bubble

By: Dan_Amerman

The Federal Reserve has a seemingly odd fear about the markets that may appear completely upside down to most investors – but this fear is so serious it is helping to determine the Fed's actions, even as it poses a potentially acute risk for investors.  As reported in MarketWatch on February 19th, there was a wide ranging discussion at the January, 2015 meeting about if and when to raise interest rates, and this was part of the discussion:

"Fed members who supported an early move said they were concerned that holding rates low for too long might lead to asset bubbles."

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Markets Fear Factor Meets The Year Five Phenomenon / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015

By: Clif_Droke

Despite continued front-page fears over Greece's threatened exit from the euro and the military encroachments of the terrorist group known as ISIS, investors apparently aren't sufficiently worried enough to sell equities. If anything, adage about the "wall of worry" has been the driving force behind recent equity market gains as the front-page fears have been largely ignored.

Investors were skittish entering 2015, so much so that billions were poured into safe haven assets including U.S. Treasuries and precious metals. The soaring U.S. dollar (below) was as much a sign of the flight to safety as it was a symptom of U.S. economic strength.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Fed Minutes Remove Rate Fears... Stock Market Sentiment Terrible Again...... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Jack_Steiman

The one fear the bulls have more than anything is hearing from the Fed that a rate-hike cycle is about to begin. Any hint towards that reality would be bearish for the bulls short to mid-term, and they know it the way they know day turns to night. They know that the market can handle one rate hike as long as it's accompanied by a statement that alleviates the fears of a new cycle of hikes. The bulls know the Fed is being pressed in to raising rates by many other Fed Governor's, thus, the bulls could deal with a single hike but again, anything pointing to a cycle of hikes would be the kiss of death for this bull. So the fed minutes came out and she said any premature increase in rates could hurt the economic recovery. Wonder why she would say such a thing a I laugh out loud.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Stock Market Forecast 2015 And Your Trading Plan / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Chris_Vermeulen

US Stock Market On The Verge Of Exciting Times

The S&P 500 stock market has been under strong rotation since mid-2014. Rotation in the stock market is when the trend changes direction from an uptrend to a downtrend or vice versa. But the really exciting part is that after strong rotations in the market similar to what we are experiencing now, the stock market always makes massive moves to profit from shortly after.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Doug Casey on ISIS, Gold, Oil, and What to Expect in 2015 / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015

By: Casey_Research

By Louis James, Chief Metals & Mining Investment Strategist

Today's feature is a special treat: a peek into the brain of one of the most successful speculators of all time. In what follows, Doug Casey talks to Louis James about what to expect in 2015. Doug weighs in on today's most important issues, including ISIS, oil, Putin, and the stock market. He even sticks his nose out to make a bold call on gold.

This (usually subscriber-only) content originally appeared in The Casey Report.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Lindsay Calls for Stock Market High This Week / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Ed_Carlson

“Given the uncertainty involved in two separate (but very close) date clusters for possible lows to the Dec sell-off, it seems best to consider the “official” forecast for the next low to be sometime between Jan 26 and Feb 3.” – January Lindsay Report

With the February 2nd intra-day low at 1,980 the forecast for a low has worked well. The February Lindsay Report laid out the case for a tradable high early this week. My own Hybrid Lindsay model (which combines Lindsay’s middle section counts with traditional cycle analysis) calls for a tradable high Feb 16-18. It can be a few days early or late so let’s call it sometime this week. Look for the subsequent pullback to last until 14-month and 21-week cycles bottom in March.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Stock Market New Uptrend? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Andre_Gratian

Current Position of the Market

SPX: Long-term trend - Bull Market

Intermediate trend - Is the 7-yr cycle sketching an intermediate top?

Analysis of the short-term trend is done on a daily basis with the help of hourly charts. They are important adjuncts to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which ultimately indicate the course of longer market trends.

Monday, February 16, 2015

HFT Illegal? A Remarkable Proposition / Stock-Markets / Market Regulation

By: GoldSilverWorlds

A remarkable new paper by a Cornell law professor and CFTC staff counsel suggests that many aspects of high frequency computer trading (HFT) may be, in fact, illegal under various provisions of basic commodity law. Heretofore, it was generally assumed that HFT was legal, but disabused and impacted markets in disruptive manner on occasion. Many, like myself, never looked on HFT favorably, but few have tried to make the legal case against it. The author, Gregory Scopino, writes in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the CFTC. Not a short or easy read (at 90 pages), I feel Scopino makes a well-researched case and even offers answers to questions asked of me by readers, such as definitions for commodity terms and the like. Please take the time to scan the document.

Monday, February 16, 2015

FTSE Stock Market Index Triple Top  / Stock-Markets / UK Stock Market

By: Austin_Galt

We are all aware, or those that follow the UK market are, that there is a massive triple top formation in play on the Footsie. That’s all well and good but let’s try and really nail it down by looking at both the daily and month charts.

Monday, February 16, 2015

International Hacking Group Steals $300 Million – Global Digital Banking System Not Secure / Stock-Markets / Cyber Crime

By: GoldCore

- Sophisticated “Ocean’s 11″ style heist is one of the largest in history

- Hackers remotely accessed bank computers to manipulate accounts and A.T.M.s.

- Banking groups make no comment

- Details expose incredible systemic vulnerability

Monday, February 16, 2015

Bubbles, Tensegrity and Fragility  / Stock-Markets / Liquidity Bubble

By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis

"....I thought sympathetically of nature's having to make all those myriad frustrated decisions each time she made a bubble. I didn't see how she managed to formulate the wake of every ship while managing the rest of the universe if she had to make all those decisions. So I said to myself, "I don't think nature uses π. I think she has some other mathematical way of coordinating her undertakings."—R. Buckminster Fuller, Your Private Sky

About 15 years ago I was lucky enough to see a one man play - a monologue portraying the life of R. Buckminster Fuller, the anti-establishment dreamer-mad genius most famous for geodesic domes. 

Sunday, February 15, 2015

In This Stock Market, Don't Drink the Kool-Aid / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Money_Morning

Michael E. Lewitt writes: Stocks hit new records last week as central banks around the world continued writing checks to prop up still struggling economies, the price of oil stabilized, Vladimir Putin lured the West into a phony truce in the Ukraine, and Athens and the EU tried to pretend that Greece isn't hopelessly insolvent or that it even matters if it is or isn't.

In other words, investors were once again all too willing to ignore economic reality and drink the Kool Aid being served by central bankers and politicians.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Stocks Bull Market Continues / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Tony_Caldaro

New all time highs. The week started at SPX 2055, gapped down to open the week, then hit 2042 late Monday afternoon. That was the low for the week. Tuesday the market gapped up, and then made higher highs for the rest of the week culminating with an all time high at SPX 2097. For the week the SPX/DOW gained 1.55%, the NDX/NAZ gained 3.00%, and the DJ World index gained 1.75%. On the economic front reports were not quite as rosy. On the uptick: wholesale/business inventories. On the downtick: retail sales, export/import prices, the WLEI, plus weekly jobless claims and the budget deficit increased. Next week, after the Monday holiday, we get reports on the NY/Philly FED, Housing and Industrial production.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Markets Outlook 205 on Euro, Gold & Crude Oil / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015

By: EWI

Experienced traders say that sometimes, just 2 or 3 good trades make their entire year.

True: If you get in early and ride the trend for a few weeks or months, that may be all you need. That's why having a perspective on the markets is so important.

That's also why, our friends at Elliott Wave International, have hand-picked the best clips from their trader-focused "Outlook 2015" video series to share with you and give you a fresh perspective in 5 key markets: EURUSD, EURJPY, GBPJPY, Crude Oil & Gold

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Nasdaq On Breakout...Greece On Deck / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Jack_Steiman

When you're either a few points above or below a critical area of resistance, not getting through doesn't mean you failed to make it and that things are heading south. On the other hand, if you clear resistance by just a few points it doesn't mean you're really made the breakout. You want to see a forceful failure or you want to see a forceful push through on the close. That tells you if things are bearish or bullish. So we'll just say the S&P 500 is real close to making a strong breakout and that could come on Tuesday if the news is just right on Monday. We'll talk about that later on in this letter. A close above today was good, but it's just not far enough above to call it a breakout in my world. I like at least half a percent, if not more on a closing basis. A nice day for the bulls as the oscillators stayed overbought on the short-term charts. Can you say froth? I think you can. It continues to rock on.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Jim Rogers on Opportunities in Russia and Other Hated Markets / Stock-Markets / Investing 2015

By: Casey_Research

Nick Giambruno: Welcome, Jim. As you know, Doug Casey and I travel the world surveying crisis markets, and we always like to get your take on things. Today I want to talk to you about Russia, which is a very hated market right now. What are your thoughts on Russia in general and on Russian stocks in particular?

Jim Rogers: Well, I’m optimistic about the future of Russia. I was optimistic before this war started in Ukraine, which was instigated by the US, of course. But in any case, I bought more Russia during the Crimea incident, and I’m looking to buy still more.

Friday, February 13, 2015

This One Stock Investing Tool Made the Difference between Bankruptcy and $13 Million / Stock-Markets / Investing 2015

By: Money_Morning

Keith Fitz-Gerald writes: There’s an old joke that’s made its way around financial circles over the years. It goes something like this:

An investment banker walks into a room where his cohorts are in a meeting. “I’ve got good news and bad news,” he announces. “The bad news is, we’ve just lost $100 million. The good news is, it wasn’t ours.” An associate raises his hand. “What was the bad news again?”

It’s humor, but there’s more than a grain of truth to the story. Whether we’re talking about brokers, bankers, or even your most trusted financial advisor, you cannot rely on anyone else to care about your money and keep it safe.

Friday, February 13, 2015

EuroStoxx May be Completing Stock Market Top Pattern / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

STOXX may have completed an Ending Diagonal Minor Wave C of Intermediate Wave (5) this morning on its 189th day of the current Master Cycle with a nominal new high this morning. This can be attributed to the European GDP positive surprise reported this morning.

However, Greek bank liquidity is deteriorating rapidly. About 12 billion Euros were withdrawn from Greek banks in January and probably even more so after the snap election. It appears that we are on the cusp of some major changes in Europe, starting today or this weekend.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Stock Market Kicked Can May Have Bounced Against a Wall / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

Here’s a new one. Micro Wave iii is 1.5 times the size of Micro Wave i. You would think that Micro Wave v would be 1.5 time the size of Micro Wave iii, but no…at 2089.04 Micro Wave v is 2X the size of Micro Wave iii! I have not seen such a combination before. Such is the life of an analyst in these times…full of surprises.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Four Dangerous Paths: Wargaming The Greek Crisis From A Global Investment Perspective / Stock-Markets / Eurozone Debt Crisis

By: Dan_Amerman

Sharp-edged Risk with a capital "R" has returned to the financial world as a result of Greek voters in overwhelming numbers electing the far left Syriza party and installing Alexis Tsipras as the new prime minister.

The investment world had in some ways grown placid since 2012, the days when the financial woes of the heavily indebted and economically troubled PIIGS  (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain) dominated global financial headlines, and when a possible Greek default last threatened to bring down the financial world.