Monday, February 20, 2017

Brent Crude Oil Price Technical Update: Low Volatility Leads to High Volatility / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: MarketsToday

Since our last update on oil two months ago (Dec. 22, 2016) Brent Crude has not gone far, rising approximately 2.4% from 54.82 to 56.16 today. During this time it has traded within a relatively tight range (low volatility), from around a low of 53.61 to a high of 58.35.

The chart pattern that has formed in the past two months is either a bullish symmetrical triangle trend continuation pattern or a bearish head and shoulders top. Whichever way the breakout goes should confirm the next direction, either a continuation higher of the 13-month uptrend, or a deeper retracement off the 58.35 high.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Trump’s Tax System Could Spark The Wave Of Self-Employment / Politics / Taxes

By: John_Mauldin

Government is necessary.

That means we have to pay for the things government does. Hence, we have taxes.

The goal of tax policy should be simple: raise the required revenue to pay for whatever government actually—minimally—needs to do. And government should do those things as fairly and neutrally as possible.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Here’s How to Stay Ahead of Machines and AI / Politics / AI

By: John_Mauldin

BY PATRICK WATSON : The Great American Jobs Apocalypse continues to tear our social fabric, and no one really knows what to do about it. If you’re not unemployed or underemployed now, then you know someone who is… and you could always be next.

I keep coming back to this theme in Connecting the Dots (subscribe here for free). That’s because it’s a monumental, paradigm-changing problem, and it affects all of us.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Warning Signs Of Instability In Russia / Politics / Russia

By: John_Mauldin

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND JACOB L. SHAPIRO : Geopolitical Futures forecasted that 2017 will be “an inflection point in the long-term destabilization of Russia.” After just six weeks, there are clear signs that this forecast is right on track. You can read more about GPF's outlook for Russia in This Week in Geopolitics (subscribe here for free).

Russia has four areas of instability: the distribution and prevalence of wage arrears, pressure on its banking system, low-level social and economic unrest, and government purges.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Warning: This Energy Investment Could Wreak Havoc On Your Portfolio / Commodities / Energy Resources

By: OilPrice_Com

Monday, February 20, 2017

The Smiggle Pencil Case Children's Craze - Addicted! / Personal_Finance / Reviews

By: Anika_Walayat

Most of us will remember pencil cases as being inconsequential small cloth bags to hold a few pens and pencils. Not anymore! Anika like an increasing number of children is fully immersed in a new craze, one of EXPENSIVE pencil cases! Not 1, not 2 but approaching half a dozen! And Smiggles is feeding this craze with its range of highly innovative pencil crazes that press all the right buttons that has kids in classrooms (especially girls) competing with one another of who has the best and new case. With the added dimension of swapping contents, the cases soon fill up with enough contents for a whole classroom to last a year!

Monday, February 20, 2017

The Eurozone isn't Working ... Warns Greenspan, Buy Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: GoldCore

“The eurozone isn’t working …” warns Greenspan

“I view gold as the primary global currency” said Greenspan

“Significant increases in inflation will ultimately increase the price of gold”

“Investment in gold now is insurance…”

Monday, February 20, 2017

UK Long-term Fixed Savings Bond Interest Rates Rise / Personal_Finance / Saving Bonds

By: MoneyFacts

Moneyfacts UK Savings Trends Treasury Report data, yet to be published, highlights that the average long-term fixed bond rate has increased by 0.05% to 1.30%, the first time Moneyfacts has seen a significant rate rise of 0.05% or more since October 2015.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Headwinds Continue for Commodities with Rising US Dollar / Commodities / Commodities Trading

By: Donald_W_Dony

Recent pro-US rhetoric from the current administration is only adding to an existing multi-year renewed strength of the US dollar.

The chant of "USA first" has only been the last of the drivers to push the greenback higher.

Some of the other factors have been unemployment, which has reached a milestone at 4.8 percent, the second lowest level since 2006.

Monday, February 20, 2017

A Game Of Chess And The Source Of The Federal Reserve’s Power / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank

By: Kelsey_Williams

We have become pawns in the game of Chess being played by the Federal Reserve Bank.  Who is their opponent?  Anybody else who makes a move.

Week in, week out, everyone’s eyes and ears seem fixed on what the Federal Reserve Board will say or do.  Mostly, it is about what they say. That’s because they can’t really do much of anything.

Except inflate the supply of money and credit.  Which they have been doing for over one hundred years.  And they are good at it, too.  The historic erosion in value of the US dollar should merit more acclaim – or outrage.  Unfortunately, the Fed is good at shifting the focus of concern to their opponent(s).

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Deep State Power v. Trump / Politics / US Politics

By: Raul_I_Meijer

America’s deep state is divided on Trump. He couldn’t have been elected without enough support.

Post-inauguration, things changed. The balance of power shifted against him, leaving him vulnerable, already weakened this early in his tenure, unprecedented for a US president.

His record so far in office is another matter, though too soon to judge him definitively. Still, disturbing signs aren’t encouraging. More on this below.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

$XAU – Retesting the 200 Day Moving Average - Video / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2017

By: Gary_Savage

Mining stocks have broken their daily cycle trend line and are likely to retest their 200 day moving average over the next week or so. This would potentially allow the daily RSI(5) to push down to an oversold reading near/below 30, give the rising 50 day moving average more time to catch up to price, and trigger the stops of traders who bought the breakout above the 200 day moving average within the past month. This is a normal corrective move that is unlikely to last much more than a week.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

The Mother of All Financial Bubbles will be Unimaginably Destructive when it Bursts / Stock-Markets / Liquidity Bubble

By: Adam_Taggart

Chris Martenson writes: At PeakProsperity.com, we pride ourselves on providing fact-based context to breaking important events. 

Within 72 hours of the Japan tsunami in 2011, we had analyzed the situation and concluded with high probability that three core meltdowns had occurred at the Fukushima nuclear plant. While it took years for officials to finally admit to the full extent of the crisis, history has validated our initial analysis.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Gold’s Fundamentals Strengthen / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Jordan_Roy_Byrne

The January headline consumer price index (CPI) came in at 2.5%, which is near a 5-year high. What happened to deflation? As a result, real interest rates declined deeper into negative territory or in the case of the 10-year yield, went from positive to negative. No this isn’t a commodity-driven story. The core CPI (ex food and energy) has been above 2% since the end of 2015 when commodities were in the dumps. Inflation is perking up and couple that with a Fed that pursues rate hikes at a glacial speed and that is very bullish for precious metals.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

The Flynn Fiascom, the Trump Revolution Ends in a Whimper / Politics / US Politics

By: Mike_Whitney

The Flynn fiasco is not about national security advisor Michael Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador. It’s much deeper than that. It’s about Russia. It’s about Putin. It’s about the explosive rise of China and the world’s biggest free trade zone that will eventually stretch from Lisbon to Vladivostok.  It’s about the one country in the world that is obstructing Washington’s plan for global domination. (Russia) And, it’s about the future; which country will be the key player in the world’s most prosperous and populous region, Asia.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

S&P 2330 Holds as Stock Market Shows No Fear (Yet) / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Mike_Paulenoff

All eyes were on 2330 support again on Friday in the Emini S&P 500 (ES), but that level contained the morning's selling pressure, reaching a low at 2336.50. It is curious that before a three-day weekend, the ES gained upside steam in the final hour of trading. In other words, there is NO FEAR (yet).

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Not Nearly Enough Economic Growth To Keep Growing / Economics / Global Economy

By: Raul_I_Meijer

It’s amusing to see how views start to converge, at the same time that it’s tiresome to see how long that takes. It’s a good thing that more and more people ‘discover’ how and why austerity, especially in Europe, is such a losing and damaging strategy. It’s just a shame that this happens only after the horses have left the barn and the cows have come home, been fed, bathed, put on lipstick and gone back out to pasture again. Along the same lines, it’s beneficial that the recognition that for a long time economic growth has not been what ‘we’ think it should be, is spreading.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

SPX Stocks Bull Market Continues to make New Highs / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Tony_Caldaro

The market started the week at SPX 2316. After a gap up opening on Monday the market traded to SPX 2351 by Wednesday. Then after a pullback to SPX 2339 on Thursday, the market rallied to end the week at SPX 2351. For the week the SPX/DOW gained 1.65%, and the NDX/NAZ gained 1.85%. Economic reports for the week were mostly higher. On the downtick: capacity utilization, industrial production, the WLEI, the Q1 GDP estimate, the NAHB, plus weekly claims rose. On the uptick: the CPI/PPI, NY/Philly FED, retail sales, business inventories, housing starts, building permits and leading indicators. Next week’s reports will be highlighted by the FOMC minutes, consumer sentiment and more housing reports. Best to your 3-day weekend and week!

Saturday, February 18, 2017

China Disaster to Trigger Gold Run, Trump to Appoint 5 of 7 Fed Governors / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: MoneyMetals

Mike Gleason (Money Metals Exchange): It is my great privilege to be joined now by James Rickards. Mr. Rickards is editor of Strategic Intelligence, a monthly newsletter, and Director of the James Rickards Project, an inquiry into the complex dynamics of geopolitics and global capital. He's also the author of several bestselling books including The Death of Money, Currency Wars, The New Case for Gold, and now his latest book The Road To Ruin.

Jim is a portfolio manager, lawyer, and renowned economist having been interviewed by CNBC, the BBC, Bloomberg, Fox News, and CNN, just to name a few. Jim, we really appreciate your time and welcome back. It's great to have you on again.

Friday, February 17, 2017

Gold Stock Volume Divergence / Commodities / Gold & Silver Stocks 2017

By: Zeal_LLC

The gold miners’ stocks have blasted higher in this young new year, far outpacing the broader markets.  But surprisingly gold stocks’ trading volume has diverged from their powerful rally.  Volume has actually been waning on balance since gold stocks’ newest upleg was born in mid-December.  While volume is a complex nuanced indicator, this bullishly suggests that major gold-stock buying hasn’t even started yet.

Naturally price action is the most-important technical indicator, exposing underlying supply-and-demand trends for anything.  The shares of precious-metals miners and explorers have surged this year because investor demand exceeds supply.  The capital flowing into this beaten-down sector is overwhelming the numbers of shares sellers are willing to part with, bidding up stock prices and driving their sharp rally.