Tuesday, May 30, 2017

What is the Best Way to Support Veterans? / Politics / US Military

By: BATR

Since the abolishment of the draft, volunteers have manned the military. By professional armed services standards, this conversion has produced the most efficient and competitive war machine ever. However, what escapes this simplistic viewpoint is that the forces deployed "To Kill People and Break Things", are used to expand and perpetuate an empire, while forgoing an actual defense of our nation. Decisions to police the world are made by non elected agencies, who essentially formulate the detailed policies that shed the blood of soldiers and drain the treasure of the country. Presidents and politicians talk about the hard determinations to place service personnel in harm's way, but it is the military-industrial-complex that does the grunt work in staging the logistics and directing what theater of operations the grand imperial military can operate.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Currencies, and Some ‘Out There’ Thoughts on Inflation, Stocks, Gold and Miners / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017

By: Gary_Tanashian

Uncle Buck’s index is weak and the SMA 50 is crossing below the SMA 200. Before long we will be reading about it in the media. Now let’s consider a theme we’ve promoted for years; when the media trumpet a “DEATH CROSS!” * it is time to brace for the opposite implication to the media’s bearish promotion. Our view has after all, included a decline to the mid-90s for the index. Meanwhile, USD/JPY is decent right at the SMA 50, USD/EUR and USD/CHF are at lateral support and USD is at least neutral vs. the Commodity currencies.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

UK General Election 2017 BrExit Factor Hidden from Pollsters Swing? / ElectionOracle / UK General Election

By: Nadeem_Walayat

If your not already aware of the Brexit factor then it is an anti-establishment invisible to the pollsters swing of between 2-4%, which is why the pollsters keep getting the likes of the UK general election 2015, EU Referendum 2016 and the US Presidential Election 2016 very badly wrong as the pollsters always tend to skew the results in favour of those who commission the polls i.e. the establishment media.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Gold And Silver Price Seasonality…June Worst Month? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: I_M_Vronsky

It is universally known that there are many, many sundry factors that can affect the price of gold and silver.  To name just a few: Political Environment, Value of the US Dollar and the Euro, Commitment of Traders, Possible Manipulation by the Fed, US Fed Policies Regarding the Level of Interest Rates, International Belligerent Turmoil, the Relative Value of the Stock Markets…and last but NOT LEAST THE SEASONALITY of Precious Metal Prices.

This analysis will only focus on THE SEASONALITY of Precious Metal Prices as there enumerable encyclopedic reviews of all the other factors affecting gold and silver prices. Specifically, what has been the average monthly price variance of the price of gold or silver for the 12 months over a period. In an effort to seek objectivity, we have selected Seasonality Charts from several pundit sources.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Fracking – An Unconventional Poisoning / Politics / Fracking

By: Richard_Mills

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it’s more commonly referred to, is used to stimulate the production of oil and gas from unconventional oil and gas deposits - shales, coalbeds, and tight sands. These types of deposits need to be stimulated because they have a lower permeability than conventional reservoirs and require the additional stimulation for production.

Hydraulic fracturing involves drilling a well then injecting it with a slurry of water, chemical additives and proppants. Wells are drilled and lined with a steel pipe that’s cemented into place. A perforating gun is used to shoot small holes through the steel and cement into the shale. The highly pressurized fluid and proppant mixture injected into the well escapes and create cracks and fractures in the surrounding shale layers and that stimulates the flow of natural gas or oil. The proppants (grains of sand, ceramic beads, or sintered bauxite) prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped and the pressure of the fluid is removed.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

What Happened to Bitcoin? / Commodities / Bitcoin

By: GoldCore

• Bitcoin hits $2,700, a 500 fold increase in five years and doubling in price since May 1st.
• Previous surges – in 2011 and 2013 – have been followed by dramatic crashes
• Significant premiums seen in Asia, over USD price
• Total cryptocurrency market cap reached over $90bn, last week
• Market remains small and volatile
• Comparisons between bitcoin and gold are old, invalid and misleading
• Both bitcoin and gold offer opportunities to diversify away from corrupt financial system

Monday, May 29, 2017

Opinion Polls Based UK General Election Seats Per Party Forecast 2017 / ElectionOracle / UK General Election

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The opinion pollsters are back in force for election 2017, publishing polls on a daily basis that are completely ignorant to the fact that they have gotten virtually every major election very badly wrong for the past 5 years. Where the excuse constantly peddled being that of margins of error, which appear always skewed in the favour of those who commission the polls thus ensuring that the pollsters have gotten the likes of the 2015 General Election, EU Referendum and the US Presidential election very, very badly wrong.

Monday, May 29, 2017

An Invisible Curtain Falls Between Russia and the West / Politics / GeoPolitics

By: STRATFOR

By Jon Sather : The Cold War ended over 25 years ago, but the lingering Soviet specter continues to haunt the Western world. Since the election of Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2000, a new conflict has been brewing, this time in cyberspace. And on a battlefield monopolized by the United States and Russia, the historical threats of nuclear war, ambitions of global dominance and aspirations of containing the enemy may not be the relics of the past we imagine them to be.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Gold Broke Above Triangle Pattern on 4-hour Chart / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Submissions

Franco Shao writes: XAUUSD broke above the triangle patter on its 4-hour chart last Friday and continued its short term bullish movement from the May 9 low of 1214.17, and the price extended to as high as 1269.37. Near term support is at around 1255, as long as this level holds, the bullish move could be expected to continue over the next several days.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Gold Proprietary Cycle Indicator is Down - 29th May / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: The_Gold_Report

Technical analyst Jack Chan charts the latest moves in the gold and silver markets, noting COT data supports higher silver prices.

Our proprietary cycle indicator is down.

Monday, May 29, 2017

How Investors Can Profit From The Coming Resource Wars / Commodities / Metals & Mining

By: OilPrice_Com

Monday, May 29, 2017

The Vienna Deal: Only Temporary Relief in Oil Markets / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: Dan_Steinbock

The Vienna agreement among OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers will extend oil cuts by nine months. After the deal, oil price plummeted by about 5 percent. Far more is needed to subdue new economic uncertainty and market volatility.

Among the oil insiders, the decision to extend oil production cuts was seen as a done deal well before last week's Vienna meeting. But as I have argued in the past few years, investors seek assurances of longer production cuts. That is vital in an era of huge energy overcapacity.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Gold vs. Gold Mining Shares – Just The Facts, Ma’am / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2017

By: Kelsey_Williams

“…but what I do know is the people running the company are practically married to their shareholders and investors, like you.”

That’s good to know.  After two decades of sharing their bed(s) with investors “like you” since the honeymoon period and birth of gold’s bull market in 1999/2000, the management of this particular gold mining company is still committed.  And, presumably, other companies’ managements are similarly committed. Are you? 

Monday, May 29, 2017

Is a QQQ/NDX Stock Market Peak Looming? / Stock-Markets / Tech Stocks

By: WavePatternTraders

The move from the Nov 2016 lows is one impressive move to say the least. I think its common knowledge that the majority of the recent upside on the QQQs is from a certain number of stocks. So until those tech stocks reverse or appear to suggest a reversal, then the QQQ/NDX is likely to continue higher.

Monday, May 29, 2017

The Story Behind Continuing Strong Gold Bullion Coin Demand / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Michael_J_Kosares

I have always considered sales of modern gold and silver bullion coins a bellwether on the general health of the global precious metals market. In reality, though, bullion coin sales comprise only a very small portion of the physical gold and silver markets. According to the World Gold Council, modern gold coins make up only about 13% of investment demand and a little less than 5% of overall demand.* Yet, as is often the case in statistical inquiry, it is the small and often unobserved, sometimes even ignored, that can accurately tell the larger story – particularly when it reflects the net effect of human action within the greater economy and financial markets.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Walkers Crisps Pay Packet £5 Cash Wins After Buying 64 Multi-packs / Personal_Finance / Freebies and Comps

By: Anika_Walayat

Walkers win a pay packet £5 to £28,000 promotion having hit the sweet spot of enticing shoppers to splurge on loads of packs of walkers crisps. So as the second month of the promotion draws to the close what can shoppers expect to win after buying 64 multi packs / 384 packs of crisps at a cost per 6 pack of between £1 to £2.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Trump’s Predatory Infrastructure Privatization Scheme / Politics / US Politics

By: Stephen_Lendman

Straightaway in office, Trump proved he’s an imperial/predatory corporatist tool - his rhetorical populism pretense, not real, his agenda hugely harming ordinary people at home and abroad.

Days after his election, Ellen Brown exposed his phony promised economic change, saying “his infrastructure plan appears to be just more of the same - privatizing public assets and delivering unearned profits to investors at the expense of the people.”

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Libya: A US-Created Terrorist Haven / Politics / Middle East

By: Stephen_Lendman

US-led NATO aggression on Libya raped and destroyed its sovereign independence - one of history’s great crimes.

Africa’s developed nation was transformed into a cauldron of failed state, terrorist-infested violence, chaos, deep poverty, mass unemployment, and devastating human misery.

Libya was Obama’s war, launched in 2011, orchestrated by Hillary Clinton. Her remark after hearing of Muammar Gaddafi’s death, saying “(w)e came, we saw, he died” alone will long define her pure evil.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

The REAL Stock Market Remains Below Its February Highs / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Graham_Summers

For weeks I’ve been noting that stocks are being driven by a market rig.

By way of review, that rig is as follows:

1)   Someone slams the VIX lower.

2)   This forces risk-parity funds to buy stocks, usually the FANGs or large-cap Tech names (Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Google).

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Subprime 2.0: Lending a $1 Trillion to People With No Proof of Job or Income / Interest-Rates / Financial Crisis 2017

By: Graham_Summers

SubPrime 2.0 is proving far worse than even we suspected.

If you’ve not been following this story, our view is that the auto-loan industry is Subprime 2.0: the riskiest, worst area in a massive debt bubble, much as subprime mortgage lending was the riskiest worst part of the housing bubble from 2003 to 2008.