Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Stock Market Bulls, Stock Market Fools - Market Crash Next or Just an Illusion / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
"A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one." ~ Benjamin Franklin
Since the markets bottomed in 2009, one naysayer after another has penned many an obituary for this market. Alas, all those obituaries were based on fantasy and false perceptions; the bull is alive and kicking while many of those experts are either bankrupt or have bankrupted their clients several times over. We repeatedly stated over the years that the era of low interest fostered an environment that favoured speculation over hard work. This is why so may companies have opted to be boosts EPS via share buyback programs. Why work, when through the magic of accounting you can create the impression of growth when there is none. All is well, and when it ends, only the workers and the masses will lose for the corporate wenches will walk away with bloated accounts.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
European Financials take a Hit / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
This is the longest-term USD chart that I can find. The structure leads me to believe that it is on a giant retracement pattern that may have an ultimate target of 131.00 at a 61.8% retracement of the decline starting in 1984. I will be making minor revisions in my daily and weekly charts to reflect that outlook.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
The Trump Doctrine: A Work in Progress / Politics / US Politics
By Reva Goujon : The world is in a "frenzy of study," Henry Kissinger said in a recent interview. At home and abroad, strategists and pundits are trying to piece together a blueprint of American foreign policy under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump from a stream of tweets, some campaign slogans, a few eye-catching Cabinet picks, meetings at Trump Tower, and a pingpong match already underway with Beijing. Highbrow intellectualism can be a handicap in this exercise. Commentators among the Washington establishment have been quick to dismiss Trump's foreign policy moves outright as erratic and self-serving over the past few weeks. In an op-ed entitled "Trump Failed His First Foreign Policy Test," for instance, columnist David Ignatius admonished the president-elect for the "hot mess" his phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen precipitated. Trump makes people uncomfortable. It's what he does best, in fact. But how this quality applies to foreign policy is a question that merits deeper exploration than knee-jerk displays of stricken disbelief. After all, as Kissinger noted in his Dec. 18 interview, "a president has to have some core convictions."
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Why Are Pakistan’s Stock and Financial Markets Soaring, Really? / Stock-Markets / Pakistan
During six decades of US aid, Pakistan’s living standards plunged. But in the past year, Asia’s largest frontier market delivered foretaste of its promise – with China’s support.Recently, Pakistan’s stock market crossed the 46,000 point milestone. Investor sentiment is increasingly bullish. In the past year, Pakistan’s equity markets beat those of China and India by a wide margin. The former was up 16%, whereas the latter were in negative for the year.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Why Are Foreign Nations Dumping US Treasuries / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Recently, foreign holders of US treasuries have been dumping their holdings more and at record pace. Optimists see it as a temporary fluctuation. Realists warn about structural change.
According to US Treasury data, major foreign holders of US treasury securities have been reducing their holdings by almost $250 billion since March. The pace of dumping has intensified with some $200 billion reduced in just past two months.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
5 Investment Tips for Investors In 2017 / Stock-Markets / Investing 2017
We often get questions from readers about the criteria we use when considering positions in a market. Because of that, we decided to release our best insights in this article.
The reason we mention 2017 is that market conditions tend to change over time, and so do our criteria. The investment tips in this article are up-to-date, in line with what we believe are actual market conditions. To illustrate that, we have included recent charts and data points.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
The War on Cash and Then on Gold / Commodities / War on Cash
Technical analyst Clive Maund says liquidity issues with banks could lead to restrictions on cash and precious metals.
The global financial system continues to groan under the strain of the accumulated weight of trillions of dollars worth of debt and derivatives, which have built up to even more fantastic levels than those that precipitated the near collapse in 2008, thanks to the policy of solving liquidity problems near term by creating even more debt and derivatives, Quantitative Easing being the most obvious example. However, while the majority considers the situation to be hopeless, there is actually "light at the end of the tunnel."
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Eight Ball Stock Market / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Cycles are shaping up for an important high just before (or just after) Christmas (It is decidedly so). In addition, the Bradley model shows a high in mid-late December (You may rely on it). If you feel like turning to this popular children’s’ toy for advice, it is understandable if not advisable. The Trump Rally has left many reliable indicators in the dirt but remember… To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Not a Gold Bull in Sight / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
In last weekend’s report, we covered how the Daily Cycle count was stretching too far, so marking a Nov 15th Daily Cycle Low (DCL) made sense. Doing so means that another DC began on Nov 16, and that puts today’s date in the normal timing band for a new DCL. So with another DCL fast approaching, the capitulation decline we saw this week fits perfectly with expectations.
The large drops in Silver and the Miners are strong indications that the final capitulation for the current Daily and Investor Cycles is at hand.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
This Blow-Off Trump Stock Market Rally Certainly Looks Real / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Between late 2014 and November 2016, the markets went nowhere. They made no more than a few, very minor, new highs. It looked like a classic head-and-shoulders, rounded-top pattern, with a break of 1,800 sounding the death knell.All of my research pointed to signs that the end was near. The Dow was set to shed thousands of points in short order.
How much has changed since November 8…
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Corporations Bringing the Big Bucks Home May Not Be the Solution / Companies / Corporate Earnings
Apple has a lot of cash.At last count, the company’s horde had grown to a record $237 billion. But, as we all know, almost half of that supply is stuck overseas. If Apple, or any other company that paid lower taxes (or no taxes at all) in a foreign jurisdiction brings the money home, they’ll have to pay Uncle Sam up to 40%.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Bitcoin Price Above Resistance / Currencies / Bitcoin
In short: no speculative positions.
If you’re wondering how Bitcoin-based systems might influence the stock market, Overstock has just given you an example. In an article on CoinDesk, we read:
Online retailer Overstock.com has closed the first-ever Series A preferred funding round with shares sold on a blockchain.
Of the total $10.9m raised from existing shareholders, about $1.9m was raised via shares traded on the tØ blockchian platform developed by Overstock.com subsidiary Medici.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
How to Get a Firm Handle on Gold's Ups and Downs / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Watch the yellow metal's price pattern to anticipate key junctures
By Elliott Wave International
[Editor's Note: The text version of the story is below.]
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Financial Markets on the Edge / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
I begin the day by discussing an error in my Elliott Wave structure and how it was remedied. You may recall that on a larger scale, the USD is in some type of Broadening Formation. I figured that Wave (C) of [4] hadn’t completed yet and I had calculated the structure in a way that still gave me upper limits on how far it could go.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Trumpenstein ! Who Created Him and Why? / Politics / US Presidential Election 2016
The election of Donald Trump has cast the political elite around the world into a state of shock. His arrival, so soon after the titanic Brexit vote, has profoundly undermined the neo liberal political status-quo that has dominated western economies over the past 30 years.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Stock Market Up Day, But Substantially Off the Highs / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The stock market indices started out the week with a pop to the upside, a very strong rally ensued, the Nasdaq 100 jumped from 4912 to 4963 to a new all-time high. The S&P 500 popped, but couldn’t get anywhere near the highs, reaching up to 2267.47, only 9 points off the lows, and then they backed off. In the afternoon, the Nasdaq 100 came down in a strong 3-wave decline, taking it from 4963 1/2 to 4926. It bounced at 4933 at the close, and managed to close positive on the day, but substantially off the highs.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Stock Market Doesn't Look Right... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
SPX emerged under the trendline again, after another rally attempt. The reason I am discussing this is that the next three days in a row have the potential for a large decline. No promises, just the potential. Technically we should be under the lower channel trendline to get a confirmed sell signal. The problem is, the potential for a panic decline right off the top is very high…and this may be the first time in market history for this to happen.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Warnings We’ll Wish We’d Heeded — Plunging US Jobless Claims / Economics / Unemployment
It’s the same story every time: Imbalances build up during a recovery but most investors ignore them because good times have become the new normal and the uptrend seems bullet-proof. Then things fall apart and everyone wishes they’d paid attention to history.
This series will cover a few of the more glaring examples of late-cycle myopia, beginning with jobless claims, i.e., the number of people joining the ranks of the unemployed.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Brace Yourself For Italy’s Bankruptcy / Interest-Rates / Eurozone Debt Crisis
When Charles Gave of Gavekal chooses to express displeasure over an economic trend, an asset class, or what have you, he does not mince words. Right now, Charles is exercised about Italy.
When Italy adopted the euro in 1999, Charles argued at the time that Italy would change from being an economy with a high probability of many currency devaluations to one with the certain probability of eventual bankruptcy. Now, he says, the fateful moment is not far off.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Trump’s FDA Chief May Implement Progressive Approval for Drugs / Companies / Healthcare Sector
BY PATRICK COX : President-elect Trump's cabinet appointments are generating a great deal of attention and controversy. After eight years of Democrat rule, it would be foolish to expect otherwise.
One appointment, though, will have a profound impact on your health… and the health of your loved ones.
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