Saturday, August 01, 2015

Markets Floor Monkeys and Decentralization of Risk / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015

By: John_Mauldin

As most of you know, I used to be a clerk on the floor of the old P. Coast options exchange in San Francisco. What a place. I could tell stories about that floor for weeks. The craziest things you ever heard.

But let’s keep it professional. The funny thing about a trading floor like the PCX (or the NYMEX, or the CME) is that you have winners and losers. You have big winners and big losers. You have people who blow themselves up. You have people who blow themselves up so spectacularly, they take a chunk out of their clearing firm.

Saturday, August 01, 2015

Meet the Leader Who Turned Google Into a “Buy” / Companies / Google

By: ...

MoneyMorning.com Michael A. Robinson writes: For more than a year now, I have been one of the few analysts saying Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOGL) was set for a rally.

In several of our chats I’ve said that with this one stock you get both an ETF on the future and a company that produces great profit margins today.

To be sure, the stock lagged the overall market over the past few months. That’s largely because industry analysts thought Google’s futuristic ambitions would shred profits.

Saturday, August 01, 2015

QE Fails In Japan: Inflation Nonexistent, Consumer Spending Drops, More Ease Coming / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing

By: John_Rubino

After nearly three decades of stagnation, Japan in 2013 went all-in, ordering its central bank, the Bank of Japan, to buy pretty much every bond on the market with newly-created yen. The BoJ's balance sheet -- a rough proxy for the amount of money it has created and dumped into the economy -- soared at a rate that dwarfs, in relation to GDP, the US Fed's QE programs.

Saturday, August 01, 2015

Why Your Brokerage Account Isn’t as Safe as You Think It Is / InvestorEducation / Learning to Invest

By: Casey_Research

By E.B. Tucker

Imagine logging into your brokerage account tomorrow and finding out that it’s frozen.

Not just your account… every customer account at your brokerage is frozen.

You can’t buy stocks. You can’t sell stocks. You can’t move money out of the account.

Saturday, August 01, 2015

Mining Companies, Regulators Deathly Silent after Midnight Raid on Gold Prices / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: MoneyMetals

With gold and silver on the defensive following a dramatic midnight raid on gold prices last week, Mike Gleason reached out to Chris Powell, Secretary Treasurer at the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, also known as GATA to discuss possible gold price manipulation.

Mike Gleason: Several days ago, we had another attack on the gold market – right as it was holding above a critical price support zone. Someone sold several billions of dollars in gold futures contracts during the wee hours of the night immediately before the Chinese trading day began. It happened during a time of low liquidity like it normally does, and it took the price down over $40 in the matter of a few seconds, halting trading twice for a brief period. What are we to make of all this Chris?

Saturday, August 01, 2015

The Greek Coup: Liquidity as a Weapon of Coercion / Politics / Eurozone Debt Crisis

By: Ellen_Brown

“My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Luca Brasi held a gun to his head and my father assured him that either his brains, or his signature, would be on the contract.” — The Godfather (1972)

In the modern global banking system, all banks need a credit line with the central bank in order to be part of the payments system. Choking off that credit line was a form of blackmail the Greek government couldn’t refuse.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Gold’s Amazing Resiliency / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Zeal_LLC

Gold has certainly had a rough summer, facing withering selling pressure from record futures shorting.  The resulting new secular lows have greatly exacerbated the already-extreme bearish psychology long plaguing this metal.  But considering the howling headwinds gold has suffered in recent years, it has actually proved amazingly resilient.  This indicates strong latent demand due to accelerate as sentiment shifts.

The consensus view on gold today is overwhelmingly bearish, with virtually everyone convinced it is doomed to spiral lower indefinitely.  They argue that gold yields nothing, so therefore why bother owning it?  Especially with the first Fed rate hikes in over 9 years looming!  As interest rates begin inexorably mean reverting higher, rising yields will leave gold even farther behind.  Keynes’ “barbarous relic” can’t compete.

Friday, July 31, 2015

In Gold We Trust 2015 / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Arkadiusz_Sieron

As always in June, Incrementum AG (an independent asset management & wealth management company based in the Principality of Liechtenstein) published its annual “In Gold We Trust” report, the extended version of which can be downloaded here. We know that it was published one month ago; however, it took a while to dig through the 140-page text. Because it offers many interesting insights into the current global economy and the gold market, we provide a short summary for you today.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Gold and Silver Markets in Limbo / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Alasdair_Macleod

Gold and silver remain close to their lows for the year, discouraged as usual by dollar resilience. Precious metals appear to be in limbo: speculative buyers are discouraged above all by their disappointing performance during the Greek crisis, and the possibility that a Chinese stock market crash might lead to forced selling of gold by Chinese speculators. So far, the latter concern has proved unfounded with public demand in China accelerating on lower prices and exceeding global mine output on its own.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Silver – A Century of Prices / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: DeviantInvestor

The graph below shows 100 years of silver and crude oil prices on a log scale using the annual average of daily prices.  Example:  The price of silver peaked in 1980 at about $50 but the smoothed annual average was about $16.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Demand for Gold Bullion Surges – Perth Mint, and U.S. Mint Cannot Meet Demand / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: GoldCore

- Perth Mint sees surge in demand and cannot keep up with demand
- “Our biggest restriction is the amount of unrefined gold we’re getting in from producers”
- Very high demand for Perth Mint coins, bars coming from Asia, U.S. and Europe
- U.S. Mint sees highest sales of gold coins in over 2 years
- U.S. Mint restrictions on silver coins due to very high demand
- Gold sentiment has moved from despondency to depression (see chart)
- Current negative sentiment despite strong demand is good contrarian indicator

Friday, July 31, 2015

Banking Stocks You Need to Consider Now / Companies / Banking Stocks

By: Submissions

Larissa James writes:As the Chinese stock market continues to crash, things on the home front are doing just fine. While we’ve seen industry averages drop slightly over the past few months, we still remain on a positive upward trajectory over the past five years. If you haven’t yet regained confidence after the 2008-2009 crisis, now is the time to get back in the game. And if you’re looking for a place to start, the following banking stocks should be top on your list:

Friday, July 31, 2015

One of the Greatest Income-Producing Tools for Retirees / InvestorEducation / Options & Warrants

By: DailyWealth

One of the Greatest Income-Producing Tools for Retirees

Dr. David Eifrig writes: It might sound crazy... but retirees can safely earn 12% to 20% income streams on their savings.

My Retirement Trader readers have been using one strategy to rake in thousands of dollars every month.

It's simple. And once you get familiar with how it works, you can use this strategy to safely and conservatively generate 12% or more in annual income on a retirement account.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Stock Market Triumph of the Swill / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Jesse

"Pride goes before a destruction, and arrogance before a fall." Prov 16:18

This was a fairly lackluster day in US equities.

Sentiment is now back to somewhat complacent as the VIX has fallen back to a 12 handle.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Jackson Hole All About Inflation / Economics / Inflation

By: Ashraf_Laidi

Another FOMC statement and another swing at the law of probability. Some banks are considering the probability of a September Fed hike to be as high as 70%. Others prefer to hedge themselves with more appropriate qualitative means of referring to September as a "high probability outcome as long as....", citing the two upcoming jobs report and their average hourly earnings components. But even if the next two jobs reports are accompanied by robust hourly earnings, the inflation objective remains in doubt. We've long mentioned in previous pieces how the 20% decline in oil since early May will further retard any recovery in price growth, which has prompted the Fed to drop its phrase in the FOMC statement that "energy prices have stabilized" discussed here.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Are Silver Spot Prices Poised for an Increase? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Submissions

Jenna Cyprus writes: As anyone with significant investments in silver knows, prices have been on a steady decline for the better part of four years now. In fact, you have to go all the way back to the beginning of 2012 to find prices above $40. Since then, the trajectory has firmly pointed downwards. Currently you can purchase an ounce of silver for less than $15. Analysts suspect this won’t be the case for long. While ‘experts’ have predicted for months now that silver is finally positioned for growth, there seems to be more tangible proof for today’s predictions. Things finally appear to be looking up and now may be the time to diversify your portfolio.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Get Ready for the Next Advance in Solar Energy / Commodities / Solar Energy

By: ...

MoneyMorning.com Dr. Kent Moors writes: Despite limitations, solar has reached grid parity in a number of regions in the U.S. That means sun power is as cost efficient as electricity utilizing more conventional sources like coal and natural gas. But it still has some limitations that prevent it from becoming the main source of power.

Usually the discussion of how solar energy will develop centers on improving the inversion process or combining greater efficiency in generation with a better battery technology to store what is produced.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Reasons Why the Greek Crisis Will Only Get Worse / Stock-Markets / Eurozone Debt Crisis

By: Investment_U

Sean Brodrick writes: So Europe brought Greece to heel like an unruly dog, eh? And the government of that sad-sack nation got stuck with the same onerous debt terms it was trying to avoid when it held a referendum?

German bankers win, life goes on... right?

Nope.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

The War On Cash: Why Now? / Economics / Fiat Currency

By: MISES

Charles Hugh Smith writes: You’ve probably read that there is a “war on cash” being waged on various fronts around the world. What exactly does a “war on cash” mean?

It means governments are limiting the use of cash and a variety of official-mouthpiece economists are calling for the outright abolition of cash. Authorities are both restricting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks, and limiting what can be purchased with cash.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

If Spending Is Our Military Strategy, Our Strategy Is Bankrupt / Politics / US Military

By: MISES

Mark Mateski writes: Even today, few deny the long arm of US military might. After all, the US military exhausted the Soviet Union, crushed Saddam Hussein, and drove Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda into hiding.

To what should we attribute these triumphs? Some would say US planning and foresight. Others would mention the hard work and dedication of US soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Still others would point to the application of superior technology. All would be correct to some degree, but each of these explanations disregards the fact that for more than a lifetime, the United States has wildly outspent its military competitors.