Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Financialization of the Economy / Economics / Economic Theory
By: John_Mauldin
Roger Bootle once wrote:
The whole of economic life is a mixture of creative and distributive activities. Some of what we ‘‘earn’’ derives from what is created out of nothing and adds to the total available for all to enjoy. But some of it merely takes what would otherwise be available to others and therefore comes at their expense.
Successful societies maximise the creative and minimise the distributive. Societies where everyone can achieve gains only at the expense of others are by definition impoverished. They are also usually intensely violent….
Much of what goes on in financial markets belongs at the distributive end. The gains to one party reflect the losses to another, and the fees and charges racked up are paid by Joe Public, since even if he is not directly involved in the deals, he is indirectly through costs and charges for goods and services.
The genius of the great speculative investors is to see what others do not, or to see it earlier. This is a skill. But so is the ability to stand on tip toe, balancing on one leg, while holding a pot of tea above your head, without spillage. But I am not convinced of the social worth of such a skill.
This distinction between creative and distributive goes some way to explain why the financial sector has become so big in relation to gross domestic product – and why those working in it get paid so much.
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Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Chartology of The Currency Wars …What If ! / Currencies / Forex Trading
By: Rambus_Chartology
It finally looks like a major inflection point is getting very close to resolving itself in many different areas of the markets. The US dollar is the key driver of this inflection point which is starting to breakout from a nearly eight month bullish falling wedge consolidation pattern. This afternoon the US dollar began a strong rally that is somewhat unusual during the afternoon hours unless it is Fed Day where anything goes . The daily chart below now shows today’s bar clearly above the top rail of the bullish falling wedge. It’s still possible that we could see a backtest to the top rail at 97.12 before the next impulse move up begins in earnest.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Small-Cap Biotech Stocks Bull Market / Companies / BioTech
By: TLSReport
SeeThruEquity's Ajay Tandon and Jay Albany are riding the biotech bull by harnessing the huge upside potential of micro-cap companies working in multiple subsectors, particularly in the rapidly advancing cancer immunotherapy sector. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Tandon and Albany toss the names of several companies into the arena for investors' consideration.
The Life Sciences Report: Given the current healthcare market, how does the future look for small-cap biotechs versus large-cap companies?
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Sea Change in the Fed Swamps Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
By: Dan_Norcini
WOW! I know no other way of saying it than to say that the Fed took everyone by surprise. I certainly did not expect this Fed, this timid FOMC, to sound such a hawkish note.
As dovish as Draghi and the ECB sounded last week, the Fed sounded hawkish this week. Talk about a sea change in attitude!
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Does Market Timing Work? / InvestorEducation / Learn to Trade
By: Sol_Palha
Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile... initially scared me to death. ~ Betty Bender
Many individuals and experts state that market timing is impossible. The answer to this question is yes and no. We all know there are seasons in a year and we know roughly when winter, summer, fall, and spring will begin. No one can predict the exact time the one season will transition into the next. The same rationale applies to market timing. If you are trying to predict the exact market turning points, then you might get it right once or twice, but overall your record will be dismal, it is an exercise in futility for the most part and best reserved for those who seem to have a deep desire to take on large losses. Market timing is like waiting for a change in the season.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
After the Pope's Message on Economics, Why is he all Smiles? / Politics / Religion
By: Steve_H_Hanke
In September, Pope Francis visited the United States, where he addressed the U.S. Congress. His address, while nuanced, hit on social justice themes. The Pope’s remarks were well received by left-of-center politicians who embrace progressive policies. When the Pope left the U.S., he traveled to Latin America, where he spoke in his native Spanish and was more direct. While in Bolivia, Pope Francis had this to say: “Let us not be afraid to say it: we want change, real change, structural change,” the Pope said, decrying a system that “has imposed the mentality of profit at any price, with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature.”
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
“Ignore The Noise” & Focus On The Fact That Central Banks “Remain Extremely Accommodative / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015
By: GoldCore
The primary focus this week is again on the “all powerful” Fed. If the Fed leans toward a rate hike in December, gold could come under pressure again in the short term. However, if it leans toward raising rates next year, then gold would be expected to eke out further gains.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Stock Market Flat Until the Fed Announcement? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
By: Anthony_Cherniawski
Good Morning!
The SPX Premarket is marginally higher this morning. It doesn’t Appear that much is going to happen until the 2 pm Fed Announcement. A year ago the market would have been tracking higher going into the Fed Announcement.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
U.S. Economy On the Precipice of Deflation / Economics / Deflation
By: EWI
Weakest economic recovery in seven decades gets weaker
Most people extrapolate present trends into the future. But yesterday's trend can look like day vs. night when tomorrow arrives.
Almost no one expected deflation when the December 2007 Elliott Wave Theorist said:
Inflation has raged, but deflation is next.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
George Osborne Capitulates Following Working and Child Tax Credits Cuts Defeat / Politics / UK Tax & Budget
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Britain's un-elected House of Lords has forced George Osborne to effectively capitulate on the scale and time table of £4.4 billion in cuts to the tax credits system that were due to be introduced from April 2016. The Working and Child Tax Credits monster is a legacy of the last Labour government that had grown out of control over a decade of attempting to bribe an ever increasing number of low paid workers to vote Labour as the budget had mushroomed from an annual cost of £1 billion to £32 billion that first the Coalition and now the Conservative governments have been attempting to get to grips with, and so far failing abysmally to do so.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Falling Wedge Formation Pointing to Higher Gold Price / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
By: Mario_Innecco
Technical analysis has always been a difficult craft to perform as evolving formations sometimes point to certain outcomes but not always do we get these outcomes. Since the great financial crisis of 2008 and the intervention of all major Western central banks in capital markets via their policy of quantitative easing and zero interest rates it has become even more difficult to use technical analysis tools to try and predict market action. With that in mind here is what we think the technical tea leaves are telling us about the gold price.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Stop Blaming OPEC For Low Oil Prices / Commodities / Crude Oil
By: OilPrice_Com
We are a little more than a month away from OPEC's next meeting, which will be held in Vienna on December 4, 2015.
OPEC altered the course of the oil markets last year when it decided to cast aside its traditional role of maintaining balance through production cuts. Instead it pursued a strategy of fighting for market share, contributing to an immediate rout in oil prices. WTI and Brent then went on to dive below $50 in the weeks following OPEC's decision.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
22 Step Home Winter Weather Proofing Checklist to Save Money and Energy Costs / Personal_Finance / Home Maintenance
By: Sami_Walayat
With October soon drawing to close, now is the best time before the temperatures drop to conduct a relatively quick preventative home winter weather proofing survey that than can save on costly repair bills such as damage form blocked drains and gutters, leaking roofs and burst pipes that can result in soaring insurance premiums on claims, as well as save on costly excessive energy usage due to drafts, poor insulation and boiler problems.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Undeniable Social Security Demographics / Politics / Demographics
By: BATR
What are the consequences for Social Security in an economy where fewer and fewer workers have a job? Add in the tax burdens that come to comply for Obamacare coverage and it is difficult to see where all the needed new employment will come from to keep funding the government Ponzi scheme? Government apologists will just compose a new “Washington Two Step” routine to dance around empirical facts, but just maybe part of their next choreography will be to allow even more illegal’s pay into Social Security so that the transfer system can continue.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Stocks Inflation Bull Run / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
By: Ed_Carlson
Equity markets continue to defy our call for no end-of-year rally as equity investors rush to invest idle cash and not miss out on the positive feedback loop of higher prices. SPX has broken the mid-Sept high at 2,020 leaving behind a series of higher highs and higher lows; the definition of an uptrend. Price is the ultimate arbiter but we cannot ignore other signals if we want to be successful in forecasting price.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Doug Casey Answers Five of Today’s Biggest Investment Questions / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015
By: Casey_Research
By Doug Casey
Editor’s Note: Casey Research founder Doug Casey answered dozens of investment questions during the recent Casey Research Summit. We transcribed five of Doug’s best answers, and we’re sharing them with you below. What you’re about to read is Doug speaking to a live audience. His responses are unrehearsed.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Stocks and Bonds Will Not Crash Soon / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015
By: Sol_Palha
Always do what you are afraid to do. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are listing excerpts from past market updates to illustrate how the mass mindset is always wrong. Even big shots like Bill Gross are not exempt from being sucked into this black hole, otherwise known as the mass mindset. Herd psychology clearly indicates that the only time a market is going to crash is when emotions have hit a boiling point. In other words, the crowd is foaming with joy. However, regarding bonds, there is one more factor that needs to be considered. The element of control and that element has a name; it is called the Fed.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Health Care…Is There a Better Way? / Politics / Healthcare Sector
By: Rodney_Johnson
It’s the end of October, which means Halloween is fast approaching. Then, once the calendar flips to November, we jump headlong into the holiday season.It’s a time of celebration, travel, and gift-giving, but, in recent years, something else was added to the mix, and it fills people with dread.
It’s not more visits from in-laws (although, luckily, mine are fabulous!). It’s open enrollment for health insurance.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Zero Percent Inflation…What’s Next? / Economics / Deflation
By: Harry_Dent
During World War II, the Fed bought its own bonds to keep interest rates low and demand high enough to finance the war effort.
Back then, the Fed’s efforts did what you’d expect: they caused a modest level of inflation.
So you’d expect the unprecedented stimulus of today to create substantially higher inflation. In fact, with the greatest money printing in history, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to fear hyperinflation.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
The Worse Things Get For You, The Better They Get For Wall Street / Politics / Social Issues
By: James_Quinn
On October 2 the BLS reported absolutely atrocious employment data, with virtually no job growth other than the phantom jobs added by the fantastically wrong Birth/Death adjustment for all those new businesses springing up around the country. The MSM couldn’t even spin it in a positive manner, as the previous two months of lies were adjusted significantly downward. What a shocker. At the beginning of that day the Dow stood at 16,250 and had been in a downward trend for a couple months as the global economy has been clearly weakening. The immediate rational reaction to the horrible news was a 250 point plunge down to the 16,000 level. But by the end of the day the market had finished up over 200 points, as this terrible news was immediately interpreted as good news for the market, because the Federal Reserve will never ever increase interest rates again.