Thursday, February 22, 2018
Gold Bulls, Brace Yourselves – Fed Interest Rate Hikes Are Coming! / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Are they? As usual, the FOMC minutes provoked diverse interpretations, both dovish and hawkish. Let’s analyze them, separating the wheat from the chaff. What do the recent minutes really mean for the gold market?
Hawks Attack Bullion
We have long warned investors about the hawkish treat. For example, as early as in the October edition of the Market Overview, we wrote that the Fed under Powell could be more hawkish than under Yellen. In December, after Powell’s nomination, we elaborated on our stance, pointing out two important changes: (1) the distinct macroeconomic environment – think about faster economic growth and more expansionary fiscal policy – in which Powell would have to act; (2) the composition of the FOMC in 2018 will move slightly from the dovish to the hawkish side. As a result, we stated that “a more hawkish policy would be a headwind for gold prices.”
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Are These Stock Market Bear Patterns Unfolding Before Us Now? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Harry_Dent
Last week, markets fell out of bed. Yesterday, they got up and dusted themselves off.I’ve been warning for months now that U.S. markets are in a rising bearish wedge. This pattern tends to be the last move in a long bull market.
Stocks go up in a last orgasmic move in a narrowing channel – or wedge – with little volatility. And then, suddenly, the music stops.
It was thanks to me identifying this wedge that I called the May 2013 top in the junk bond market – to the day!
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Stock Market SPX Probable Pop-n-drop / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Anthony_Cherniawski
Good Morning!
SPX had a bearish outside reversal yesterday. There is a slight difference between an outside and key reversal. The key reversal happens at the peak of the rally, while an outside reversal may have a lower high. Both appears to be equally bearish in these circumstances.
SPX futures bounced in overnight trading, suggesting a possible retracement as far as the 50-day Moving Average at 2729.78. Short-term support/resistance has performed a death cross with the mid-Cycle and 50-day. You can see that a violation of Short-term support is like opening the trap door.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Stocks Fail to Hold Gains, But Still No Correction / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Paul_Rejczak
The first part of yesterday's trading session was controlled by the bulls and the S&P 500 index was gaining ahead of the FOMC Minutes release at 2:00 p.m. Then the uptrend reversed and stocks fell below Tuesday's closing prices. Investors continued taking short-term profits off the table after week-long move up from previous Friday's lows. The market trades around 6% below its late January all-time high. Stocks are expected to open slightly higher today, but will they extend their yesterday's late session sell-off or bounce and continue trading within three-day-long consolidation?
The U.S stock market indexes lost 0.2-0.7% on Wednesday, as investors continued taking profits after week-long rally from February 9 lows. The S&P 500 index extended its short-term fluctuations along the level of 2,700-2,750. It retraced more than 61.8% of its late January - early February sell-off. However, it bounced off that resistance level again and reversed its intraday uptrend following the FOMC Minutes release at 2:00 p.m. The broad stock market index currently trades 6% below January 26 record high of 2,872.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7%, and the technology Nasdaq Composite lost 0.2% on Wednesday.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Why We Should Buy Essay / Personal_Finance / Education
By: Submissions
...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
The Latest US Debt Blow / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Rodney_Johnson
Count me among the worriers that thought our debt was a problem at $10 trillion… and then at $15 trillion.I was wrong.
Or, at least, those levels didn’t seem to phase investors, who kept putting down their cold, hard cash to buy U.S. Treasury bonds.
As I shook my head over the past several years, we continued our profligate ways, and now our national debt stands at a whopping $20.5 trillion, slightly more than our annual GDP.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Youtube Partner Programme New Rules 2019 - 4000 Subscribers, 10000 Hours Watch Time... / Companies / Google
By: N_Walayat
On the 20th of February Youtube demonetized all channels with less than 1000 subscribers and 4,000 hours annual watch time, ejecting them from the Youtube partner programme that amongst several benefits included monetization of videos which in most cases for Youtubers resulted in a token return of typically about $5-10 per month. So the blow for being ejected from the youtube partner programme was not financial. This leaves small youtubers with a continuing up hill battle to reach the new bar set at 1000 subs and 4k watch time hours before they will be reconsidered for joining the Youtube partner programme.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
The Fastest Growing State Populations / Housing-Market / Demographics
By: Harry_Dent
One of the buzzwords since Trump became president is “growth.” He’s made ridiculous promises about economic growth that he can’t possibly make good on.But let’s take a look at another type of growth that affects us all: population growth, specifically in the continental U.S.
It should be no surprise that very high-cost states like New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, and Hawaii are NOT growing very fast.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
The Correlation Between Cryptocurrenices & GDP / Currencies / BlockChain
By: Rodney_Johnson
It was the best of times, it was the best of times. OK, that’s not exactly the Dickens quote from A Tale of Two Cities, but even with the recent volatility and inflation jitters, the sentiment seems to fit the mood of the marketstoday. And what’s not to like?Tax reform will put more coin in most people’s pockets in the weeks ahead, not to mention fill corporate coffers to the point of overflowing. Based on estimates of future spending and earnings, investors are driving stocks higher from what were already record levels.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, February 22, 2018
6 Tips For Seamless Business Foreign Exchange / Currencies / Forex Trading
By: Submissions
For thousands of Australian individuals and businesses across the country, foreign currency exchange is just a fact of life - and also the cause of many a headache.
Perhaps you're just making a payment for a good or a service that's located overseas. Perhaps you're sending some cash or a gift to another country, or heading there yourself. Maybe you're buying foreign land, assets, shares or bonds. Maybe you're in the foreign market game and you make money from the clever appreciation of currencies. Or perhaps you're an Australian business that makes money from importing or exporting or transacting with overseas entities.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
How to Anticipate Stock Market Trend Changes / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: EWI
See one forecasting method that gave ample warning of the recent dramatic volatilityEvery active stock market investor wants to know: Where are prices headed next?
Most will scour the financial headlines, tune into financial television and talk to their broker or financial advisor in hopes of finding the answer. But, alas, this quest for market insight often leaves investors just as uncertain as before.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Gold Miners’ Rally? What Rally? Watch Out for More Fake Moves! / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2018
By: P_Radomski_CFA
Remember how mining stocks soared on Valentine’s Day and how we wrote that a rally is not necessarily bullish? Guess what – this rally has been more than erased. Miners not only closed below the February 14th opening price, but also below the February 13th and 12th closing prices. Mining stocks big rally turned out to be nothing more than just a regular 50% retracement during a decline – something that we saw many times in the past and that we described as likely. But, since the rally was rather inconsequential, then perhaps the decline is inconsequential as well?
Not likely.
It’s not likely because of the context. Gold is still relatively close to its recent high, but mining stocks are very close to their recent low. The latter are underperforming, and Valentine’s Day rally was just a verification of the breakdown in the HUI to gold ratio. Let’s take a look at the details, starting with the currency market (charts courtesy of http://stockcharts.com).
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
5 Big Drivers of Higher Inflation Rates Ahead / Economics / Inflation
By: MoneyMetals
Investors got lulled into a state of inflation complacency. Persistently low official inflation rates in recent years depressed bond yields along with risk premiums on all financial assets.
That’s changing in 2018. Five drivers of higher inflation rates are now starting to kick in.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Goofy Indictments Divert Attention from Criminal Abuses at the FBI and DOJ / Politics / US Politics
By: Mike_Whitney
“If the election is ‘disrupted’ by voters changing their votes due to Russians posting on Facebook, then the problem is not that Russians are posting on Facebook, the problem is that voters are changing their votes based on posts they read on Facebook.” Bill H, comments line Sic Semper Tyrannis “God help America. We’ve lost our damn minds.” Publius Tacitus
Robert Mueller’s Friday night indictment-spree, is a flagrant and infuriating attempt to divert attention from the damning revelations in the Nunes memo (and the Graham-Grassley “criminal referral”) which prove that senior-level officials at the FBI and DOJ were engaged in an expansive conspiracy to subvert the presidential elections by spying on members of the Trump campaign. The evidence that the FBI and DOJ “improperly obtained” FISA warrants to spy on Trump campaign affiliate, Carter Page, has now been overshadowed by the tragic massacre in Parkland, Florida and the obfuscating indictments of 13 Internet “trolls” who have not been linked to the Russian government and who are being used to conceal the fact that the 18 month-long witch hunt has not yet produced even one scintilla of hard evidence related to the original claims of “hacking or collusion”.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Bitcoin or British Pound ‘Pretty Much Failed’ As Currency? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: GoldCore
– Bitcoin has ‘pretty much failed’ as a currency says Bank of England Carney
– Bitcoin is neither a store of value nor a useful way to buy things – BOE’s Carney
– Project fear against crypto-currencies or an out of control investing bubble?
– Bitcoin will likely recover in value but is speculative and not for widows and orphans
– British pound has been a terrible store of value – unlike gold
– Pound collapsed 30% in 2016 and down 11.5% per annum versus gold in last 15 years
– Fiat currency experiment may fail and dollar set to lose reserve currency status
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Stock Market Waiting for the Fed / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Anthony_Cherniawski
Good Morning!
SPX futures are flat with little overnight activity as I write. The theme seems to be “Waiting for the Fed.”
Bill Blain comments in Blain’s Morning Porridge, “Back on Planet Sensible, I was asking round the trading desks this morning for any particular themes or issues they’ve been picking up from clients. Nobody seems to be enjoying February.
You must understand my colleagues and crew are a hard-bitten crowd of former investment bankers, traders and other financial desperados who’ve spent careers up to their eyeballs in financial mayhem and gore… “Last chance to sell,” was the answer from one particular cynic.”
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Buckle Up: Stocks Are About to Begin “The Next Leg Down.” / Stock-Markets / Stock Market Crash
By: Graham_Summers
Major declines follow a distinct pattern:
1) The initial drop.
2) The bounce.
3) The final collapse.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
National Identity Demands Restrictive Immigration / Politics / Immigration
By: BATR
Honest onlookers must admit that major segments of society hate America and want to destroy what little remains of a Republic. The intent of forging a limited form of government with distinct separations of power is a major impediment to the culture of collective governance. The Bill of Rights stands in the way of the totalitarian model that globalists advocate. For these proponents of authoritarianism, civil liberties are not based upon natural law, but only exist as a moving target of convenience that disseminates relativism. Open borders and unchecked immigration is designed to pollute the population pool with foreign cultural heritages that have limited historic understanding in the essential tenants that established our country or command in the use of our language. Unobstructed migration hastens the deteriorated demographics that destroy our time-honored society with the inevitable collapse and replacement of constitutional protections.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Best Opportunities for Freelance Technical Writing Jobs / Personal_Finance / Employment
By: Submissions
...
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
4% US 10-year Treasury Note Yield Will Be a Floor Not a Ceiling / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Michael_Pento
The two most important factors in determining the level of sovereign bond yields are the credit and inflation risks extant within a nation. When determining a country’s ability to service its debt investors must analyze not only the absolute debt level, but also the ratios of debt and deficits to GDP. In addition, the current rate of inflation must also be viewed within the context of debt in order to make an accurate assumption as to the level of future inflation.
When analyzing historical measures of these criteria, the conclusion reached is that the U.S. 10-year Note yield should rise to at least four percent in the coming quarters.
Read full article... Read full article...