Tuesday, January 24, 2017
UK Current Account Sweeteners That Can Turn Sour / Personal_Finance / Current Accounts
Current accounts can offer some fantastic perks for switchers or savers, but if consumers failed to grab a top deal last year they would be disappointed to know that some banks have clawed back their perks.
Additionally, using the overdraft facility on some of these accounts over a long period can turn upfront cash sweeteners quite sour. The Current Account Switch Guarantee is well established, following its launch in 2013, but the latest research by Moneyfacts.co.uk can reveal that cash switching incentives, which could be a big enticement to switch, are in fact being cut down.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Stock Market Still Vulnerable for a Pull Back / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
We are in TD 52 of the ten week cycle low due 50 TD’s 7.5 TD’s. The smaller 8/16 TD low is due ideally on January 25th, but could extend into January 27/31. The 27th has Venus squaring Saturn, which usually means a reversal bottom 2 TD’s. The new moon is due on the 28th.
The intermediate term still looks positive to me and should continue into the summer. There should be a period of weakness in Feb-Mar 2017, but overall, I doubt it will amount to much.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
The Deep State in the Age of Trump / Politics / Intelligence Agencies
Politics as usual, especially the party version of Republicans and Democrats is the latest endangered species to hit the bone yards of extinction. Now, that does not mean that competing power factions have all merged into a collegial stew of some imaginable melting pot. No the literal power behind the government that embeds the deepest recess of manipulated reality still maintains and uses their influence and coercion force to remain in control. What actual effect Donald Trump will have to break the connections that keeps the deep state in charge can only be judged with the passage of time. Some contend that Trump is actually an integral component of an elitist fraternity of financial magnates that sit at the table of the deep state.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Breaking News: The Death of Silicon Solar Cells / Companies / Solar Energy
Dear Reader,
Please view this short video immediately.
It will alert you to an urgent breaking news story we're tracking that could completely disrupt the entire energy sector, impacting every oil & gas company and all alternatives from wind to solar.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
The Last Time This Happened, Biotech Stocks Plunged by 50% / Companies / BioTech
BY PATRICK WATSON : “They’re getting away with murder,” said Donald Trump at last week’s epic news conference.
No, he didn’t mean Russian hackers. He was talking about red-blooded American drug companies.
Trump went on: “Pharma has a lot of lobbyists and a lot of power, and there is very little bidding. We’re the largest buyer of drugs in the world, and yet we don’t bid properly, and we’re going to save billions of dollars.”
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
The Future of Pharma In The Age Of Trump / Companies / Healthcare Sector
BY PATRICK COX : Last week, Donald Trump complained about drug prices in a press conference. Drug companies, he said, are “getting away with murder.” During that presser, pharma and biotech stocks lost over $20 billion in value.
Investors should have learned an important lesson. They probably didn’t.
Trump’s targeting of drug sellers was not a fluke. Hillary Clinton's "price gouging" tweet last September had the same type of impact on markets.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Fed Monetary Policy Is Impotent Against These Trends / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Chris Wood of CLSA has a marvelous newsletter called, aptly, GREED & fear. He began his January 5 issue talking about bond yields possibly bottoming out.
For perspective, he starts with this long-term view of the 10-year US Treasury yield.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Will Trump Usher In an Era of Sound Money? / Currencies / Fiat Currency
Now that Donald Trump has been sworn in, Americans will start getting some glimpses of what his presidency actually means.
Here are some educated guesses of what to expect when it comes to the dollar and sound money issues, based on what we know before the kick-off of Trump's administration.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
How Bond Market Investors Were Fooled Twice / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The Commercials and Large Speculators are routinely on the opposite sides of trades
Most investors, including large groups of professional money managers, extrapolate financial trends into the future. So they're often completely caught off guard when a trend changes.
[Editor's Note: The text version of the story is below.]
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Gold price to 2 month high as fiery Trump declares New American Order / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
– ‘Trumponomics’: Politics and economic policy in 140 characters
– The ‘intelligence’ according to Trump
– Trump, Putin and Russia – the great bromance
– Trump – Bull in a China shop
– Trade and currency wars with China and other nations
– Trump – Fan of gold and golden tweets
– Conclusion – Trump may be the ‘Golden Ticket’
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Why Gold Is Oddly Looking Bullish / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
The price of gold appears to be on yet another homerun after eight weeks of decline. The price of the yellow metal has been on an upward trending movement since December 23, 2016 amid the growing uncertainty on the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s policies on the stock market.Since the turn of the year, the US stock market has exhibited mixed reactions to Trump’s pre-and-post inauguration period, with America’s 45th president’s activity swinging the market up and down on a weekly basis.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
EURO, GBP, AUD, JPY, CAD C.O.T Reports / Currencies / Forex Trading
The Commitments of Traders Report is issued by CFTC.
It reports all open positions in futures markets of three main groups of traders:
Commercial Traders – Hedgers
Non-Commercial Traders – Money Managers
Non-Reportable – Retail market
The report breaks down each Tuesday’s Open Interest and gives us a powerful view on what exactly the big guys have been doing in the marketplace and what their plans might be.
It is issued every Friday and includes data from Tuesday to Tuesday. The three days prior to the release date are not included.
This is an essential tool for gauging long term sentiment in futures markets.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Building Societies are Winning the Mortgage Interest Rate War / Interest-Rates / Mortgages
With competition still fierce in the mortgage market and many banks claiming to launch the lowest products ever on their records, many borrowers could assume that the mortgage rates from these providers will be significantly lower than those offered elsewhere. However, Moneyfacts.co.uk research shows that building societies are the winners when it comes to the mortgage rate war.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
Trump's Foreign Policy An Unwise Inconsistency? / Politics / US Politics
Throughout the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's foreign policy positions have been anything but consistent. One day we heard that NATO was obsolete and the US needs to pursue better relations with Russia. But the next time he spoke, these sensible positions were abandoned or an opposite position was taken. Trump's inconsistent rhetoric left us wondering exactly what kind of foreign policy he would pursue if elected.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
United States Common Sense - 2017 / Politics / US Politics
In Part One of this article I explored Thomas Paine's critical role in the creation of our nation. His Common Sense pamphlets inspired the common people to uncommon acts of courage and heroic feats of valor; leading to the great experiment we call the United States of America. Paine, Franklin and the other Founding Fathers produced a republic, if we could keep it.
John Adams championed the new Constitution precisely because it would not create a democracy, as he knew a democracy "soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself." Their herculean efforts, sacrifices, and bloodshed have been for naught as we allowed our republic to devolve into a democracy and ultimately into our current corporate fascist warfare/welfare surveillance state. Sadly, we were unable to keep the republic Franklin and his fellow revolutionaries gave us.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
Is Dow 20,000 a Bridge Too Far? / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
Current Position of the Market
SPX Long-term trend: If the market strength persists, the long-term trend may need to be re-evaluated.
SPX Intermediate trend: SPX intermediate P&F count to 2300 is still possible before a reversal occurs.
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 discuss longer market trends.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
Gold And Interest Rates…GET IT STRAIGHT / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Over the past couple of months there have been several headline articles regarding the relationship between gold and interest rates. Most of them are well-meaning attempts to convey information about recent changes in the markets as interest rates head higher.
In several instances, however, the author(s) have tried to explain a ‘perceived’ correlation between rising interest rates and the value of the US dollar – in a very positive manner. And they have imputed a similar correlation – albeit negative – in other statements with respect to Gold. In both cases they are incorrect.
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Monday, January 23, 2017
Trumping World Trade / Economics / Protectionism
After the inauguration, President Trump has begun to reset the White House trade policies. But the consequences of “America First” stance in world trade are wrought with threats.
Recently, President Xi Jinping gave a strong speech about the need for more inclusive globalization at Davos. World trade is a case in point.
Monday, January 23, 2017
Protection Will Lead to Great Prosperity / Economics / Protectionism
After being mostly off the grid on Friday, I listened to the Trump inauguration speech on Saturday morning. While I have lots of thoughts and opinions, I want to focus on an item where I am qualified; namely my former area of expertise as someone who was in essence told by the media over and over again "you don't exist", while the consumerist, financialized and globalized economy flourished. By "you" I of course mean me, an owner of a small American manufacturing business. My area of focus from the speech...
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Monday, January 23, 2017
The New Gold Rush Of 2017! / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Gold to Regain Its Gleam!
One question that gold investors are asking now is, will 2017 be as spectacular for the yellow metal as it was in 2016? The short and sweet answer to this is YES.
The dollar, gold and the major U.S. stock exchanges will all see new highs. Gold is currently in a “complex corrective correction” while experiencing its’ last pullback, beforehand.
Both the short-term outlook and the long-term outlook for gold is BULLISH! Trumps’ victory win is a positive for gold bulls. Policy uncertainty and slowing growth, following a Trump win, will stoke the yellow metals’ price in 2017.
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