Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Vaccine Nationalism Is a Multilateral, Neocolonial Failure / Politics / Coronavirus 2021
By: Dan_Steinbock
In the coming months, vaccine nationalism is likely to compound COVID-19 economic damage and penalize more lives. It reflects the utter failure of multilateralism. It is old colonialism in a new disguise.
After mid-January, WHO chief Dr Tedros warned that, due to unequal COVID-19 vaccine policies, "the world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world's poorest countries.”
And yet, in contrast, The Economist reported it was “Asian governments” that “are needlessly hampering vaccination drives,” due to their “nationalism and geopolitics.”
The simple reality is that by mid-January almost 40 million vaccine doses had been given in nearly 50 rich-income economies, whereas one poor nation had only 25 doses. As a result, 9 out of 10 people in poor countries are set to miss out on COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, according to Oxfam.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021
First year of a Stocks bull market, or End of a Bubble? / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Troy_Bombardia
This bull market is unique because unlike past bull markets, this one began with extreme speculation. Historically, extreme speculation occurred at the end of multi-year bull markets. This is why the markets are currently exhibiting extremely bullish signs (e.g. breadth today is similar to what you see at the start of multi-year bull markets) and extremely bearish signs (e.g. speculation today is similar to what you see at the end of multi-year bull markets). How do we reconcile these two opposites?
Let’s take a look at some bullish & bearish factors:
Subsiding volatility
VIX closed below 20 for the first time in almost a year. The past year was a nervous one for markets: stocks rallied, but investors and traders were consistently on edge.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021
5 Reasons Why People Prefer to Trade Options Over Stocks / Stock-Markets / Options & Warrants
By: Chris_Vermeulen
As technical traders, we know the importance of following the price charts using proven trading strategies and implementing risk and position management. Here at TheTechnicalTraders.com we are stepping things up a notch by adding options to our trading.
By using options, a trader can leverage, hedge positions, and generate income via selling premiums. There are basic options, strategies, and complex, and everything in between. Because of that, I have brought options trading specialist Neil Szczepanski to join our team. I will let Neil introduce himself.
Hi everyone! Neil Szczepanski here. In case you are wondering it is pronounced “Sus’ pan ski”. Yes, I have roots in eastern European ancestry and I’m first generation. I love options and have been trading them for many, many years. I like options because you have more ways to be profitable in your trading. I hate putting on a position and then waiting for the market to go your way. I want to be in control of my trades and options allows for that. Also, trading can equal freedom.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021
The Gold & Gold Stock Corrections Are Normal / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: Gary_Tanashian
Corrections in Gold and Gold Stocks are completely normal in an inflationary macro market phase
See also The Normalcy of Gold posted on February 16.
Every week I notice the agony ratcheting up incrementally. While the rest of the casino takes off to the speculative heavens, gold sits on its heavy ass and the gold miners go nowhere in a downward-biased perma-correction. Or so it seems. It’s all normal and I’ll explain why.
First of all, it is not healthy to be railing against unseen nefarious manipulative interests. That is emotion and emotion has to be kept out of it (and yes, I get as aggravated as the next guy sometimes, but it cannot affect your plan or you will be the victim, the mark). You have to take what the market gives you and roll with it. All markets are manipulated when you consider that the greatest manipulation of all is courtesy of the Federal Reserve, implementing its MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), err, that is TMM (Total Market Manipulation) toward desired ends.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021
WARNING Oculus Quest 2 Update v25 BROKE My VR Headset! / ConsumerWatch / Virtual Reality
By: HGR
A few days ago putting on the headset prompted me with a message to upgrade the Oculus Quest 2 software to the latest version 25, existing version was 23. This should have been a straight forward seamless excercise one of clicking okay to the update and then wait a few mins for the download to complete and install with the update applied. However after a reboot the system was far from better! First off the home screen was mostly black with a floating rectangle that was the environment, a bit like looking into a floating window! And that's not the worst of it, find out in my video below of what could happen to your headset following an update to v25.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021
UK Covid-19 Parks PACKED During Lockdown Despite "Stay at Home" Message - Endcliffe Park Sheffield / Politics / Coronavirus 2021
By: N_Walayat
Lockdown-weary families were out in Endcliffe Park Sheffield despite freezing cold weather. But officers kept a close eye on them as they were on the beat in pairs wearing face coverings. It comes after a scientist advising the Government on coronavirus called for tighter lockdown restrictions.
Here we see Sheffield's Endcliffe Park densely packed with people as many make the most of the outdoors during the third national lockdown, despite the Government's message urging people to 'stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.'
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021
How to Invest in ETFs in the UK / Companies / Exchange Traded Funds
By: Dumitru_Midon
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are openly traded on a stock exchange and are different from mutual funds. You can buy and sell them throughout the day and not wait until the end of the day to determine the price like you would in mutual funds.
As the number of investors continues to increase globally in recent times, the UK has also been a spotlight, as it houses some of the best and highest paying investors today. This is one of the countries with the largest economies in the world with a GDP per capita recorded to be $42,330.
If you reside in the UK and would like to invest in ETFs, this article will serve as a quick guide to help you get started.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Real Reason Why Black and Asian Ethnic minorities are NOT Getting Vaccinated - NHS Covid-19 Vaccinations / Politics / NHS
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The mainstream press has gone off on a tangent where the story being peddled by the likes of the BBC to explain the lack of uptake of vaccinations amongst Britain's Black and Asian communities being put down to ignorance, gullible brown people who are easily susceptible to fake news stories, whatsapp and twitter messages.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
THE INFLATION MEGA-TREND QE4EVER! / Economics / Inflation
By: Nadeem_Walayat
US House Prices Real Estate Trend Forecast Review
Did the perma bears finally get their US house prices crash that they have been crowing so loudly for a decade now?
Firstly a recap of my existing US house prices trend forecast.
30th April 2019 - US House Prices Trend Forecast 2019 to 2021
Therefore my forecast conclusion is for a relatively weak continuation of the US housing bull market into late 2020 at a much shallower pace than experienced in recent years for a likely gain of just 3% over the next 2 years (Jan 2019 to Jan 2021) before entering into a downtrend going into 2021 i.e. Case Shiller 10 city Index (SPCS10RNSA ) rising from 225.9 (Jan 2019 data) to just 232.4 (Jan 2021 data) as illustrated by my trend forecast graph.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Gold / Silver: What This "Large Non-Confirmation" May Mean / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: EWI
When a trend is strong, related markets tend to move in unison.
However, when a trend is near exhaustion -- either bullish or bearish, "non-confirmations" often occur. This is when one market continues to rise (or fall), but a related market does not.
As a case in point, the Feb. 3 U.S. Short Term Update, an Elliott Wave International thrice weekly publication which provides near-term forecasts for major U.S. financial markets, discussed the details of a non-confirmation between the price action of gold and silver. Here's a chart and commentary:
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Major Optimism for Platinum, Silver, and Copper / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: MoneyMetals
Attention in the metals markets shifted this week from silver to copper and platinum. While big moves in silver and gold prices may be coming down the road, the monetary metals are currently taking a back seat to electrical and automotive metals.
A massive push by the Biden administration to replace gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles is helping to crank up demand for copper. Anything involving electricity involves copper – and lots of it.
Electric vehicles and their massive batteries contain an average of 180 pounds of the metal. That’s six times the copper that’s used in gasoline cars. Even larger quantities of copper are required for EV charging stations and necessary upgrades to electrical grid infrastructure.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
S&P 500 Correction Looming, Just as in Gold – Or Not? / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Submissions
Stocks are clinging to the 3,900 level, and the bulls aren‘t yielding. Without much fanfare, both the sentiment readings and put/call ratio are at the greed and compacent end of the spectrum again. How long can it last, and what shape the upcoming correction would have? Right now, the warning signs are mounting, yet the bears shouldn‘t put all their eggs into the correction basket really, for it shapes to be a shallow one – one in time, rather than in price.
Gold‘s hardship is another cup of tea, standing in stark comparison to how well silver and platinum are doing. At the same time, the dollar hasn‘t really moved to the upside – there is no dollar breakout. If the greenback were to break to the upside, that would mean a dollar bull market, which I don't view as a proposition fittingly describing the reality – I called the topping dollar earlier this week. The world reserve currency will remain on the defensive this year, and we saw not a retest, but a local top.
This has powerful implications for the precious metals, where the only question is whether we get a weak corrective move to the downside still, or whether we can base in a narrow range, followed by another upleg (think spring). February isn't the strongest month for precious metals seasonally, true, but it isn't a disaster either. As has been the case throughout the week, I‘ll update and present the evidence of internal sectoral strength also today.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Stock Market Last pull-back before intermediate top? / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Andre_Gratian
Current Position of the Market
SPX Long-term trend: There is some good evidence that we are still in the bull market which started in 2009 and which could continue into the first half of 2021 before coming to an end.
SPX Intermediate trend: May continue until SPX reaches ~4150 (March 2021).
Analysis of the short-term trend is done daily with the help of hourly charts. They are important adjuncts to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which determine longer market trends.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
GAMESTOP MANIA BUBBLE BURSTS! Investing Newbs Pump and Dump Roller coaster Ride / Companies / Corporate News
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The GAMESTOP mania that had encouraged investing newbs to pile in and gamble on a penny stocks, sheep expertly led to the slaughter that look set to lose every penny they put on what are just classic short squeeze pump and dump operations. Well it did not take long for the GameStop bubble to burst. A CLASSIC SMALL CAP PUMP AND DUMP! Resulting in a roller coaster ride for investing newbs.
But we do tend to get mass hysteria towards market tops which is why it is important to keep an eye on valuations, YES our tech stock valuations have increased, roughly by about 30%, but that does not put them into bubble territory.
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Thinking About Starting to Trade This Year? Here Are Some Things to Keep in Mind / InvestorEducation / Learn to Trade
By: Submissions
Have you ever found yourself hearing stories of people who make huge profits from investing in the stock market, and thinking, ‘I can do it too’? Well, you don’t have to settle for thinking and wishing anymore. Nowadays, thanks to technology, everyone can invest and trade - and it’s much simpler than you might think.
You definitely shouldn’t be afraid to give it a try. However, before taking your first steps in the world of trading, there are some things you should know about it, like what methods are highly recommended for beginner traders and which paths are to be avoided. We’ve gathered some tips and tricks that can help you get properly acquainted with this fascinating world.
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Monday, February 15, 2021
US House Prices Real Estate Trend Forecast Review / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Did the perma bears finally get their US house prices crash that they have been crowing so loudly for a decade now?
Firstly a recap of my existing US house prices trend forecast.
30th April 2019 - US House Prices Trend Forecast 2019 to 2021
Therefore my forecast conclusion is for a relatively weak continuation of the US housing bull market into late 2020 at a much shallower pace than experienced in recent years for a likely gain of just 3% over the next 2 years (Jan 2019 to Jan 2021) before entering into a downtrend going into 2021 i.e. Case Shiller 10 city Index (SPCS10RNSA ) rising from 225.9 (Jan 2019 data) to just 232.4 (Jan 2021 data) as illustrated by my trend forecast graph.
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Monday, February 15, 2021
Will Tesla Charge Gold With Energy? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Tesla has supported the price of Bitcoin, but it can affect gold as well.The bull market in cryptocurrencies continues. As you can see in the chart below, the price of Bitcoin has recently increased to almost $47,000 (as of February 10). The parabolic rise seems to be disturbing, as such quick rallies often end abruptly.
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Monday, February 15, 2021
Feeling the Growing Heat and Tensions in Stocks? / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2021
By: Submissions
Yesterday was a prelude, a little preview of things to come. We better get used to brief and shallow corrections again, after being lulled by the many preceding sessions. It appears that we‘re now going to get the consolidation period even as the overall S&P 500 metrics remain in a healthy territory.
This is the (print-and-spend-happy) world we live in, and we better not fixate on the premature bubble pop talk too closely. I have been stating repeatedly that things have to get really ridiculous first, and this doesn‘t qualify yet in my view. So, for all the tech bashers, we‘re going higher – like it or not.
Let‘s get right into the charts (all courtesy of www.stockcharts.com).
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Monday, February 15, 2021
Morgan Stanley Warns Gasoline Industry Is About to Become Totally Worthless / Commodities / Gas - Petrol
By: OilPrice_Com
The average energy investor is by now well aware of the sector's monumental shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Coal-powered power plants have been shuttering at an alarming clip as the price of electricity from natural gas and renewables undercuts them while wind and solar generation continue to gain the ascendancy.
But nowhere has this change been as dramatic as the transport industry, with EV titans such as Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) and NIO Ltd. (NYSE:NIO) now commanding substantially higher valuations than their imposing ICE brethren, General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motors (NYSE:F). Indeed, the global EV sector now carries a higher valuation than the global ICE sector despite accounting for less than 3% of new vehicle sales in 2020.
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Monday, February 15, 2021
Debts Lift Gold - Precious Metal Prices Will Rise on a Deluge of Red Ink / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2021
By: Nick_Barisheff
The world is awash in debt, an immense, unfathomable ocean of financial obligations. The stack of IOUs is so enormous, the balances so large, they will never be fully settled without dreadful consequences to the global economy. This tsunami of debt was unleashed in 1971, when Nixon ended the backing of the US dollar with gold.
Since 1971, US debt and gold price have increased greatly. Traditionally, rampant increases in US debt occur when trying to pull the economy out of an economic downturn as displayed in the spikes that occurred in 2008 and 2020. Considering the amount of debt that has already been taken on to combat the pandemic combined with the rising uncertainty involving vaccinations and new strain variants, it can be anticipated that the worst is yet to come. As Democrats push towards passing an additional $1.9 trillion stimulus package, governments are willing to take on previously unforeseen levels of debt to prop up the economy during the pandemic. This could lead to a promising future for the price of gold.
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