Sunday, April 23, 2017
Stock Market Grand Super Cycle Overview While SPX Correction Continues / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
The market started this gap filled week at SPX 2329. A gap up opening Monday took the SPX to 2349. Then after a gap down opening on Tuesday the market found support at SPX 2335. A gap up opening on Wednesday took the SPX to 2353, which was sold off into 2335 again. On Thursday another gap up opening took the market to SPX 2361. Then the market pulled back to SPX 2349 on Friday. For the week the SPX/DOW gained 0.70%, and the NDX/NAZ gained 1.75%. Economic reports for the week were mixed. On the downtick: the NY/Philly FED, the WLEI, the NAHB, housing starts, plus weekly jobless claims rose. On the uptick: building permits, industrial production, capacity utilization, leading indicators and existing home sales. Next week’s reports will be highlighted by Q1 GDP, the Chicago PMI, durable goods and housing. Best to your week!
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Sunday, April 23, 2017
Robert Prechter Talks About Elliott Waves and His New Book / InvestorEducation / Elliott Wave Theory
Avi Gilburt of ElliottWaveTrader.net conducted a thoughtful interview with Bob Prechter recently. We thought you'd like to see it.
1. How did you come across Elliott wave analysis?
My dad subscribed to Richard Russell's Dow Theory Letters, and he would occasionally forward his copies to me. In 1968, Russell began writing about A.J. Frost's Elliott wave work. He published wave interpretations for the Dow off and on through late 1974, when he called the end of the bear market. During that time, I began charting gold and gold stocks, labeling the waves. After I became a professional technician at Merrill Lynch in 1975, I went on a search for Elliott's original books, which were published in ring binders. The Library of Congress didn't have them. Finally I found copies on microfilm in the New York Public Library. It was a thrill coming across those listings on library cards. In 1980, I republished Elliott's original books and articles in what is now called R.N. Elliott's Masterworks. Later I published all of Bolton's, Frost's and Russell's Elliott wave writings along with bios and notes.
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Sunday, April 23, 2017
After The Crash - Digital And Regenerative Medicine, Live for Ever! / Companies / BioTech
For most people, the doctor visit hasn’t changed in decades. Same physical waiting rooms, same paper forms to fill out, same slow, expensive tests and marginally-effective, maximally-invasive treatments. But that’s about to change, as a wave of new technologies drag medicine into the 21st century. Among the most interesting:
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Le Pen, Melenchon French Election Stock, Bond and Euro Markets Crash / Stock-Markets / European Stock Markets
The French people, European Union and financial markets are counting down to a potential seismic history shattering election result event, perhaps bigger than Britains' BrExit, perhaps even a bigger shock than Trump winning the US Election, for a Le Pen / Melenchon extremes of the far right and far left result would mark the starting point for the DEATH of the Euro-zone and soon afterwards the European Union.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Why You Are Not An Investor / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
You are not an investor. One can only be an investor in functioning markets. There have been no functioning markets since at least 2008, and probably much longer. That’s when central banks started purchasing financial assets, for real, which means that is also the point when price discovery died. And without price discovery no market can function.
You are therefore not an investor. Perhaps you are a cheat, perhaps you are a chump, but you are not an investor. If we continue to use terms like ‘investor’ and ‘markets’ for what we see today, we would need to invent new terms for what these words once meant. Because they surely are not the same thing. Even as there are plenty people who would like you to believe they are, because it serves their purposes.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Gold Market Fractal Event / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
“In the absence of a credible monetary standard, we expect no escape from the treadmill of rising debt, both US and globally, that outpaces economic growth. Income inequality, wage stagnation, overvaluation of financial assets, and speculation instead of productive investment are likely to be prolonged under the current monetary regime. Whether or not policy makers take a proactive approach to address monetary reform, the fact remains that gold is massively underpriced in all paper currencies. It would be preferable if the necessary adjustments could occur without a repeat of a 2008-like financial crisis. We give this possibility a chance, albeit slim. In any event, we expect a significant repricing of gold higher during the current administration, either by design or because of market events. Whenever a repricing happens, we expect broad grassroots support for that outcome.” – John Hathaway, Tocqueville Funds
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Le Pen vs Melenchon Election Doomsday for France and EU - Hard Left vs Hard Right / Politics / France
The last French poll ahead of Sunday's first round in the French presidential election is resulting in a three horse race from which the 2 front runners will go through to the second round. Centrist Macron leads far right Le Pen by 1% on 23.5% against 22.5% with far left Melenchon snapping at her heels on 21.5%, all within the margins of polling error of 3%! Which means there could easily be a doomsday scenario outcome for France and the European Union, one of the two disruptive anti-EU candidates, Hard Left vs Hard Right going into the second round. Where Le Pen would seek to immediately take France out of the Euro-zone and Anti-German pro Putin Melenchon would seek to impose a 100% tax rate on those earning above e360,000 triggering a French recession, and where his policies of stimulus through printing hundreds of billions of euro debt would also inevitably mean France leaving the Euro-zone, as the ECB controls the printing of Euro's and not the central banks of Eurozone members.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Gold IRAs: How to Lessen or Avoid That Pesky Capital Gains Tax / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Since we just finished tax season, many first-time gold investors might wonder what to do about their precious metals holdings. How are they taxed, and are there any legal ways to lessen those taxes?
Precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum are considered capital assets, so you will have to pay capital gains taxes when you sell them for a profit.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Gold Price Upleg Momentum Building / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Gold’s young upleg just enjoyed a major upside breakout, bolstering strong technicals and heralding a coming Golden Cross buy signal. Investors have started aggressively buying gold again after record-high stock markets distracted them. This gold upleg’s upside momentum is really building, portending accelerating gains in coming months. Yet sentiment remains poor, with traders still quite bearish on gold.
Virtually no one is excited about gold these days. Mainstream investors continue to ignore it like usual, while contrarians largely expect a lackluster sideways grind at best. This apathy is the natural result of gold’s recent consolidation between late February and mid-April. With 6+ weeks seeing no net progress, there was little to spark any enthusiasm. Thus gold gradually faded from speculators’ and investors’ radars.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
Why Now Gold and Silver Precious Metals? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
John Exter was an American economist and a member of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System.
Exter is known for creating Exter's Pyramid - useful for visualizing the organization of asset classes in terms of risk and size.
When the credit system is expanding most money flows to the top of the pyramid - the increasingly speculative and illiquid investments. When the credit system comes under pressure and debt cannot be repaid, the items at the top of the pyramid get sold and money flows towards the bottom.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
4 Maps That Signal Central Asia Is at Risk of War / Politics / WW3
BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN : Central Asia is crumbling. The speed and extent of this leans in part on political and economic shifts in Russia, China, Afghanistan, and more. Geography is the main reason outside forces are shaping the growth of Central Asia.
Always trapped between major powers such as Russia and China, Central Asia is at risk of war.
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Saturday, April 22, 2017
5 Key Steps For A Comfortable Retirement From Former Wall Street Trader / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement
BY JARED DILLIAN : “Are you good with money?” You hear that question a lot. But, what does it mean?
It means:
- Paying your bills on time
- Being able to put something aside
- Maybe investing it
- Fully funding your retirement accounts
- Retiring comfortably
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living or how much you make. I know people who have never made more than a five-figure income and are millionaires (true story—more on this later).
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Friday, April 21, 2017
Can Marine Le Pen Win? French Presidential Election Forecast 2017 / Politics / France
Britain's anti-establishment Brexit contagion could once more be on the march by spreading from its heavy influence on the US Presidential election, that allowed an alt-reality TV star to con his way into the White House, and thus could similarly allow France's far right Marine Le Pen funded by Putin's regime to squeak her way into the Elysee Palace.
Whilst it is beyond the scope of this video to consider all of the ramifications of a potential Le Pen victory for the French people, one thing is for certain that it would greatly destabilise the European Union as a Le Pen regime would be pro-Brexit and soon announce Frances own FrExit EU Referendum which would amount to the death of the European Union.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
Why Stock Market Investors May Soon Be In For A Rude Awakening / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
BY PATRICK WATSON : It seems that a lot of people have missed the distinction between wishful thinking and reality lately—and I fear it’s going to hurt them badly.
After Donald Trump won in November, some Americans didn’t just hope for the best; they thought it was here.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
Median US Household’s Wealth Has Declined by 40% Since 2007 / Economics / Demographics
Nominal US household wealth is at an all-time high. But my friend Marc Faber (publisher of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report) says that's mostly an illusion.
Below, Marc looks at the relationship between asset prices and US household wealth, and the effect of that relationship on the economy.
It seems the wealth of the top 0.1% has vastly improved in recent decades (and the top 10% haven’t done at all badly). But “the median household’s or asset owner’s wealth has declined by close to 40% in real terms (adjusted by the CPI) from its peak in 2007.”
Median household increases in wealth are also illusory because the main component of household wealth is pension fund assets (approximately US$22 trillion).
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Friday, April 21, 2017
US War on Whistleblowers / Politics / US Politics
Truth-telling in America is endangered. Free and open expression is our most fundamental right, all others threatened without it.
Exposing government wrongdoing is courageous and essential. Obama waged war on press freedom and whistleblowing. Trump continues his outrageous agenda.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
No Such Thing as a Stock Market Quadruple Top / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
When a resistance zone gets tested multiple times it usually breaks. It shouldn’t be long before the Nasdaq breaks through this resistance. After it does it will pull the rest of the market up with it.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
Silver, Platinum and Palladium as Investments – Research Shows Diversification Benefit / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
– Silver, platinum and palladium see increased role as investment vehicles
– Increase in academic output on the white precious metals is in line with this
– Silver and particularly gold are safe haven assets
– Silver was a safe haven at times during which gold failed to be
– Platinum and palladium less so but have diversification benefits
– Silver manipulation is possible and indications of, if not legal proof
– Benefits platinum and palladium could provide as money not been fully addressed
– Main focus in investment drivers is price – not on drivers of physical demand
– Platinum, palladium and silver have different relationships with other assets and divergent abilities in hedging risk
– White precious metal investors should employ a buy-and-hold strategy
– Silver markets have become more efficient since 1977
– White precious metals are increasing in investment importance
– Research shows hedging role and diversification benefits of precious metals
Friday, April 21, 2017
U.S. Stock Market and Gold, Post Tomahawks and MOAB / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
It happens when inflammatory events (usually political, terror or war related, but also including things like Ebola, Bird Flu and the like) crop up; stocks go down and hysteria starts to build. The mainstream media jump aboard and next thing you know you've got people heading for the exits… right into the next bottom. In the case of the current corrective consolidation, a disappointment in the Trump administration's Healthcare follies rolled right into the war-like events in Syria and Afghanistan. Presto! A much needed correction of the over-bullishness was on.
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Friday, April 21, 2017
French Elections and Gold Price / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
In the previous edition of the Market Overview, we analyzed the potential impact of the European elections on the gold market. As the Dutch elections are behind us, let's see how the Wilders' defeat affected the markets and the political outlook for France, where people will vote for the president on April 23.
Investors reacted positively to the outcome of the Dutch election, relieved that populists did not win. European stocks and the euro rose, while the France-Germany 10-year bond yield spread declined after the elections. This is because Wilders' failure is considered to indicate that “the wrong kind of populism” is losing momentum.
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