Monday, May 01, 2017
Trend Lines Met, Technical's are Set - US Dollar is Ready to Rally (Elliott Wave Analysis) / Currencies / US Dollar
My Bias: short in wave 3 blue.
Wave Structure: downward impulse wave 1, 2 blue
Long term wave count: lower in wave 3 blue
Important risk events: EUR: EU Economic Forecasts. USD: Treasury Sec Mnuchin Speaks, Personal Spending m/m, ISM Manufacturing PMI.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Bifurcated US Stock Market / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
The market started to week at SPX 2349. After a gap up opening on Monday, and another gap up opening on Tuesday, the market hit SPX 2398 by Wednesday. After that it pulled back to end the week at SPX 2384. For the week the SPX/DOW gained 1.70%, and the NDX/NAZ gained 2.45%. Economic reports for the week were mostly negative. On the downtick: consumer confidence/sentiment, durable goods, pending home sales, Q1 GDP, the WLEI, plus weekly jobless claims rose. On the uptick: Case-Shiller, new home sales and the Chicago PMI. Next week’s reports will be highlighted by the FED’s FOMC, the ISMs, and monthly payrolls. Best to your week!
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Saturday, April 29, 2017
Recall This US Bond Trader Chart? Here's What Happened / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Our three recent Treasury Bond charts combine to show you trader sentiment, price action and important near-term turns and trends.
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Saturday, April 29, 2017
Damn the Deficits, Huge Trump Tax Cuts Ahead! / Politics / Taxes
Donald Trump has made good on one of his most audacious campaign promises by submitting what he describes as the biggest tax cut in U.S. History. For once, at least, this does not appear to be Trumpian braggadocio. It really may be the mother of all tax cuts. But if passed, what may this bunker buster do to the economy? While I have rarely met a tax cut I didn't like, this one just may be more likely to send the economy into a downward spiral than it is to send up to orbit.
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Saturday, April 29, 2017
Gold Hostage to Stocks / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Gold has had a wild ride since Trump's surprise election win in early November. This metal first plunged then surged, ultimately making little headway. It wasn't until mid-April that gold regained its pre-election levels. This overall lackluster gold action was confounding given all the mounting uncertainties. But it once again highlights that gold investment demand is often hostage to the US stock markets' fortunes.
Before the election, gold surged every time Trump appeared to advance in the polls. Trump had a well-earned reputation as a loose cannon, implying far greater unpredictability. Increasing prospects of a Trump victory drove gold to $1305 the Friday before the election. But that weekend the FBI cleared Clinton again on her classified-e-mail front. So gold sold off sharply on rising odds Clinton would indeed win.
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Saturday, April 29, 2017
Warren Buffett Hates Gold… But Here’s Five Reasons You Need To Own It / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
Stephen McBride : In a 1998 speech at Harvard, legendary investor Warren Buffett shared his thoughts on gold:
“[Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again, and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility.”
Buffett is correct—gold doesn’t produce earnings or pay dividends. There are, however, some good reasons gold should be an essential part of every investor’s portfolio.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Stock Market Sentiment, Re-Fueled Along the Way / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
It’s a big picture view with a story to tell. People are micro-managing the VIX, talking about how it either doesn’t work anymore, if it ever did, or is forecasting extreme doom imminently (through investor complacency). But what is “imminently”? Is it next month or is it the 2-3 years that this indicator often wallows along the bottom of its support zone before overseeing a coming Armageddon? Sure, it started wallowing in the zone back in 2013, but then the ‘fuel stops’ that were ultimately bullish (the 2010, 2011 and 2015 corrections) cleared the overhead inventory of investors out of the markets.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Calling out the Central Bankers / Politics / Central Banks
I’m a fan of the Marvel Comics movies, like X-Men and Iron Man.My lovely wife often catches me watching tidbits of the Avenger films when I sit down in front of the TV to relax for a few minutes. I’ll flip around until I find one, watch just 20 to 30 minutes, then move on to another project in the house.
It drives her nuts!
I know the ending. The characters use their skills to better the world. They have clear goals, choose their targets, and execute. These are nice, neat packages, which is completely unlike the real world.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Fed's Third Inetrest Rate Hike and Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
This time, the U.S. central bank did not make us wait too long for the next hike. Just three months after the hike in December, the Fed moved interest rates up again. Although the pace of the current tightening cycle is extremely gradual, the U.S. central bank is consistently moving away from the zero interest rate policy. The chart below shows the current level of the effective federal funds rate after all three hikes.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
USD/CAD - Invalidation of Breakout or Further Rally? / Currencies / Bitcoin
Earlier today, the greenback moved lower against the Canadian dollar, which pushed USD/CAD below the December high and the previously-broken resistance zone. Is it enough to trigger further deterioration?
In our opinion, the following forex trading positions are justified - summary:
EUR/USD: short (a stop-loss order at 1.1052; the initial downside target at 1.0521)
GBP/USD: none
USD/JPY: long (a stop-loss order at 107.62; the initial upside target at 111.16)
USD/CAD: none
USD/CHF: none
AUD/USD: none
Friday, April 28, 2017
What Happened to the Stock Market Crash Experts Were Predicting / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
"Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build it." ~ Sam Rayburn
One jackass (oops we mean expert) after another, has been predicting that this market is ready to crash. The problem is that these brain surgeons have been making this argument for so long it almost sounds like the definition of insanity. Insanity boils down to doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a new outcome. These predictions are so off the mark that they make a broken clock look fantastic which happens to be right once or twice a day depending on whether you follow military time or not. This market is unlike any other market; it has moved from being the most hated bull market to the most insane bull market of all time. In such an environment technical analysis is technically trash and fundamentals are fundamentally flawed. In fact, for the most part, market technicians have no idea of what they are talking about; they figure that by studying someone else theory or drawing squiggly lines on some chart they can decipher the market.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Looking for Epic Signs? Enter Silver / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017
In yesterday's alert we wrote that the reversal in the precious metals market should once again not be taken at its face value and that one should not overreact based on it as the size of the potential rally was limited. Well, it turned out that "limited rally" was an euphemism for a decline. Gold, silver and mining stocks declined once again despite the previous day's reversal and gold stocks confirmed the breakdown below the key support line. The implications are strongly bearish. However, there's something ever more bearish and much more profound.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
BOOM! Bitcoin Price Blasts To New All Time High! / Commodities / Bitcoin
Having followed bitcoin since it was $3 in 2011 we have had many, many “all time high” celebrations.
Breaking $10 was a small celebration. Breaking $100 had us cheering and buying a round of drinks at the bar. And, when it broke $1,000, TDV subscribers were heard around the world buying sports cars and yachts.
But with bitcoin breaking above $1,325.00 to hit an all time high of $1,331.31 on CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), this is a memorable one.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Stock Market Consolidation Day, Poor Technicals, NDX Reaches New All-Time High / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017
The stock market indices had an interesting, very mixed, session today, with the Nasdaq 100 making new all-time highs, closing near 5572, a gain of over 30 points.
The day started out with a gap up on the Nasdaq 100, but not so much on the S&P 500. When they moved higher in the morning, and then pulled back, the S&P 500 made lower lows, but the Nasdaq 100 formed a bull wedge. The Nasdaq 100 broke out midday, along with the S&P 500, which ran up, and in the afternoon, they pulled back, the Nasdaq 100 rallying again to new highs, but the S&P 500 couldn’t even get through the declining topsline. It was a very mixed session, continuing the consolidation on a higher range on the Nasdaq 100, but more of a pullback low on the blue chips.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Walkers Pay Packet Instant Win Crisps 50% Price Hike! Morrisons / ConsumerWatch / Freebies and Comps
It looks like some of the major super markets such as Morrisons are attempting to capitalise on Walkers crisps latest promotion of instantly winning between £5 and £28k, by hiking the price of at least the multi-packs by 50% within a couple of weeks of the start the promotion. So instead of a walkers 6 pack costing £1 as they were a couple of weeks ago, they now cost £1.50. What's the odds they will soon be hiked once more to £2?
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Earth Overshoot Day - Human Population Growth / Politics / Environmental Issues
The second half of the 20th century saw the biggest increase in the world’s population in human history. Our population surged because of:
- Medical advances lessened the mortality rate in many countries
- Massive increases in agricultural productivity caused by the “Green Revolution”
The global death rate has dropped almost continuously since the start of the industrial revolution – personal hygiene, improved methods of sanitation and the development of antibiotics all played a major role.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Misunderstanding GDXJ: Why It’s Actually Great News For Junior Miners / Commodities / Gold & Silver Stocks 2017
Something extraordinarily good for junior precious metals miners just happened. But for some reason it’s being misinterpreted as a bad thing. Here’s the general story:
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Friday, April 28, 2017
What Makes Bitcoin Casinos So Remarkable? / Personal_Finance / Gambling
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Friday, April 28, 2017
How Morrisons Sells 120ml of Frozen Water for £1 / ConsumerWatch / Retail Sector
Find out how Morrisons is able to pull of a miracle, one of being able to sell about 120ml of frozen water to their customers for £1! The super market giants are always playing a game of trying to get one up on their customers. You all probably know about 'shrinkflation', the ever shrinking contents whilst the prices stay the same or even rise. Then there is the dropping the number of items in multi packs, any devious trick in the book is being pulled to get one over their customers, a couple of months ago it was the BBC revealing Tesco's fake shelf prices that fail to convert at the checkouts.
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Thursday, April 27, 2017
Financial Markets Improvised Explosives / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017
What happens when new currency is created with few limits by central banks and commercial banks?
Answer: Far too much debt and currency are created.
Central Bank Balance Sheets have increased by $10 trillion in the last decade and $1 trillion YTD in 2017.
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