Friday, September 02, 2016
Gold Price and Political Business Cycle / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Many economists ask why economic activity fluctuates. Among many theories of business cycles, there is the politicalbusiness cycle, formulated in the 1970s. According to it, incumbents try to juice up the economy during election years to improve their chances of re-election. They use fiscal or monetary policy to stimulate the economy just before an election to increase their odds of remaining in office. However, although expansionary monetary and fiscal policies are politically attractive in the short run (due to increased spending), they might lead to some unpleasant consequences in the long term (like high inflation or excessive budget deficits). Therefore, after the election is over and the next election is far away, politicians reverse the course and restrict the fiscal and monetary stimuli. Thus, major elections produce economic booms and busts, as politicians try to create an artificial boom before everyelection and take advantage of voters’ short-sightedness.
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Friday, September 02, 2016
Brzezinski’s Ruse: American Empire is Dead, China and Russia Take Over / Politics / New World Order
Zbigniew Brzezinski has written an article in The American Interest titled “Towards a Global Realignment” that has received a tremendous amount of attention on the internet, along with much gloating.
Brzezinski is an architect of the world’s current military and economic disasters and as such he has plenty of enemies. With this article, they see him recanting his previous arrogance and vision of a worldwide US hegemony.
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Friday, September 02, 2016
The U.S. Election Year Fix is In… But Can Janet Make It To November? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
The election year fix is in… and Janet Yellen is praying the markets hold together until November.
President Obama met privately with Yellen in April of this year. It was their first private meeting together since November 2014 (the Congressional election in which the GOP took both houses of Congress).
President Barack Obama met with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Monday to discuss the U.S. economy amid signs that growth may be slowing as consumers retreat from spending.
Ahead of the afternoon meeting, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest described Obama as “pleased” with Yellen, who he appointed to lead the Fed in 2014. It is the first time since November 2014 that the Fed chair has met with the president on her own. The meeting was closed to the news media.
Source: Bloomberg
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Friday, September 02, 2016
Stock Market Technically Mixed Session / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The stock market indices had a very interesting day. They were up at the opening, came down, tested yesterday’s lows successfully, although the S&P 500 made a lower low, and the Nasdaq 100 did not confirm. They then rallied sharply to midday, pulled back in the afternoon, and in the last hour they came back again to close mixed on the session.
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Friday, September 02, 2016
30 Year US Treasury Bonds Analysis / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
We are looking for a final top to the massive bond bull market that began in 1981. While it is possible the final top is in place, I am leaning to one final marginal high before everything goes belly up.Let’s review the quarterly and weekly charts of the 30 Year US Treasury Bond price.
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
China’s Monetary Ascension Is Paved with Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
The world monetary order is changing. Slowly but steadily, global trade and currency markets are becoming less dollar-centric. Formerly marginal currencies such as the Chinese yuan now stand to become serious competitors to U.S. dollar dominance.
Could gold also begin to emerge as a leading currency in world trade? Over time, it certainly could. But the more immediate implications for gold’s monetary role center on its increasing accumulation by central banks such as China’s.
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
Why the Big Silver Short? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
The key to understanding where silver prices come from is the COMEX futures market.
It is undisputed that the 4 and 8 largest traders hold a massive paper silver short relative to all other commodities in it’s class.
And it’s obvious that they are not legitimate producers or users…
(It is also worth mentioning that despite some of these shorts being held on behalf of a diversity of clients, the fact remains that the positions they control (as a whole) are manipulative based on concentration alone).
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
“The Fly-in-the-Ointment” -> Stagnant Wages & Hidden Inflation / Economics / Wages
Read full article... Read full article...FRA Co-founder Gordon T. Long discusses with Charles Hugh Smith about stagnating wages and high real inflation rates, using the IRS tax reports as a guide to real economic activity, and the likelihood of future tax increases.
WHY WAGES HAVE STAGNATED
“The statistics we rely on are becoming more and more suspicious.”
Statistics are now used for perception management rather than reflecting the real economy. Of all these statistics we’re relying on to reflect reality, some of them are really suspect. We’re trying to stick with the ones that are valid. GDP is flawed but still our bellwethers, and we’re still relying on FRED database.
Thursday, September 01, 2016
The Italian EU Referendum Could Result in the Death of the Euro / ElectionOracle / Italy
An important election is coming up, and I’m not talking about the US presidential election. The upcoming referendum in Italy this fall will have a major macroeconomic impact on the world. But hardly anyone outside of Italy is paying much attention to it—yet.
I’ve been saying for some time in interviews around the country that the referendum in Italy could have even more of an impact than the Brexit vote did in the UK. And like the Brexit vote, it is rife with emotion and political turmoil, making the outcome too close to call.
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
China Empire Investing Billions in the UK, £1 billion in Sheffield Alone, Good or Trojan Horse? / Politics / China US Conflict
Sheffield's Labour run city council has been in celebratory mood since signing a deal in Chengdu for China to invest £1 billion pound in building projects across the city, apparently most will be city centre apartment blocks. Sheffield's Labour Council Leader declared "This is the biggest Chinese investment deal to be made by a UK city outside of London. And perhaps more importantly it is first deal of its kind to be made by a UK city, this is a real partnership."
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
BrExit Economic Collapse Evaporates into Boom as PMI Soars / Economics / BrExit
The latest news out for the UK economy is that the post BrExit economic collapse as illustrated by the Purchasing Managers Index that during July fell sharply to 48.3 (a reading below 50 implies economic contraction) which most academic economists that populate the mainstream press concluded heralded the start of a severe imminent economic downtrend, an recession early warning.
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
Stocks Remain Positive Despite Down Day / Companies / Tech Stocks
The stock market indices had a difficult session today, down most of the morning, back up in the afternoon, but closed negative on the day. However, many of the stocks we traded or follow did very well. So it was quite an interesting session.
The day started out with a turn to the downside, then a snapback to resistance and failed, and then they went down until midday. By midday they reached the bottom of the channel in the fifth-wave decline over the last three sessions. I indicated that a potential rally may ensue, and they had a three-wave corrective pullback to take back a big chunk of losses, but negatively closed the day.
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
Gold, Silver, Mining Shares Bottom Evident / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2016
The chart below of GLD shows support on the long standing up trend line. GDX has sported a bullish “Morning Star” pattern. Normally, Mercury Retrograde ends an up movement, but in this case has ended a down movement. Expect some upside fireworks to begin tomorrow (Sept 1) and especially on the employment report Friday. The final “C” Wave of the sequence should commence.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Trump in Mexico, Obama Stumps for Hillary / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016
This year’s presidential race represents duopoly governance at its worst, two aspirants vying for the nation’s highest office, both unfit to serve, voters given no choice.
The election was hacked, says Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead. “The outcome is a foregone conclusion: the police state will win and ‘we the people’ will lose” - with no say whatever on who’ll lead them or how their country will be run.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Humanity at Risk / Politics / Social Issues
Never before in history was humanity more at risk than now. Earlier wars were fought with conventional weapons.
Today’s super-ones make them look like toys by comparison. Thermonuclear bombs, if used, can incinerate entire cities and surroundings.
Enough of them launched risks nuclear winter. Physician, nuclear expert, anti-war activist Helen Caldicott earlier said “nuclear technology threatens life on our planet with extinction.”
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
SPX Near a Confirmed Sell / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
SPX appears to be on its way to the 50-day Moving Average at 2149.76. However, the trigger point for a confirmed sell may be the Broadening Top trendline and previous bottom at 2160.39 for a confirmed sell signal. In fact, the confirmation may have been at the failed bounce after the decline to 2160.39. In any event, the SPX still has a distance to go. The floodgates of selling may open beneath the 50-day M.A., so it may be good to be ahead of the crowd.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Green Bond Market Will Continue To Grow / Interest-Rates / Renewable Energy
If a bond has a negative yield, then the bondholders will lose their money on their investment. In the long run, their expectations are lower and consequently they lose the incentive to invest — which may have far-reaching repercussions.
Green Bonds Are Changing Investor Expectation’s
The rapid growth of the green bond market has sparked interest from many audiences.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Debt Bubble in Ireland and Globally / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2016
Mark O’Byrne, Research Director of GoldCore, was interviewed by Max Keiser about the arrival of negative interest rates in Ireland and Germany, the risk of bail-ins, the return of a rental and property bubble in Dublin, the Irish and global debt bubble and why wealthy individuals and institutions are diversifying into gold.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
UK Savings Market Left Devastated after Base Interest Rate Cut / Personal_Finance / UK Interest Rates
The Bank of England’s decision to drop the base rate has officially fuelled the fire of rate cuts across the savings market, making August the worst month of the year for cuts which total a devastating 354, compared to just 3 rate rises. This means that for every rate rise during the month there were 118 cuts.
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Wednesday, August 31, 2016
S&P 500 Supported on Several Fronts / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The last year saw a host of conflicting news events across the globe that affected the entire financial market. The S&P 500 index was no exception. During this period, the S&P moved from 1,810 to 2,180 registering gains of over 20% in the process. Despite weakening economic data and building uncertainties in many global economies, the S&P 500 still managed to outperform it contemporaries due mainly to stronger domestic economic reports in the US.
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