Thursday, July 30, 2015
Greece - The IMF Experts Flunk, Again / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
My Globe Asia column in May was titled “Greece: Down and Probably Out.” Well, it’s out. Yes, Greece descended from drama to farce rapidly.If all goes according to plan, the left-wing Greek government will come to an agreement with the so-called troika – the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – over the details of a third bailout program by August 20th. This rescue package will probably be worth €86 billion (U.S. $94.5 billion). So, since 2010, Greece will have received three bailouts worth a whopping €430 billion (U.S. $472.2 billion). This amounts to a staggering €39,000 (U.S. $42,831) for every man, woman, and child in Greece.
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Thursday, July 30, 2015
Threat Of Cyber Warfare the “Other Reason To Own Physical Gold” Warns Rickards / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
- “Physical gold is a non-digital asset. You can’t attack it with cyberwarfare” – Rickards
- Greek crisis was necessary step towards fiscal unity in Europe
- “Euro creators want to force common fiscal control – Eurobonds”
- Currency wars between U.S. and China may resume next year
- Rickards emphasises importance of holding physical gold
- Eschews “paper gold” in the form of ETFs, futures or unallocated storage
- Gold insurance against “catastrophic event” … “on the horizon”
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Twitter’s Redemption Earnings Not Enough / Companies / Tech Stocks
Someone in Twitter’s front office is sitting back and watching the company’s stock go up and down, thinking, “Make up your damn mind, Wall Street!” 2015 has already been a wild ride for the social media company. Shares spiked 28.2% in February on the news that the company had a breakout in terms of solving revenue concerns. The stock rode fairly high until April’s earnings report, which once again highlighted the company’s user growth problems. It plummeted 25.5% in a matter of two days. It didn’t help that longtime CEO Dick Costolo resigned midway through the year without any specific plans for the company’s management, giving investors reason to wonder about the future.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Stock More Optimism Following Fed's Rate Decision Release - But Will It Last? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
Briefly: In our opinion, speculative short positions are favored (with stop-loss at 2,140, and profit target at 1,980, S&P 500 index)
Our intraday outlook is bearish, and our short-term outlook is bearish:
Intraday outlook (next 24 hours): bearish
Short-term outlook (next 1-2 weeks): bearish
Medium-term outlook (next 1-3 months): neutral
Long-term outlook (next year): bullish
Thursday, July 30, 2015
The 5 Biggest Myths and Lies about the Middle East / Politics / Middle East
The more well informed you think you are about the Middle East, the more likely you are being manipulated by the media. Just because a lie or a semi-truth is repeated millions of times, doesn´t mean it´s true.
Here are the 5 biggest lies and myths about the Middle East today:
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Greece, Diversion, and the New World Order / Politics / New World Order
Raymond Matison writes:Since 2009, the world has been made acutely aware of Greece’s troubling debt problems. At that time commentators and analysts noted that its debt was too large to be paid off, yet Greece was given a multibillion dollar bailout loan. Soon thereafter another large loan was extended that further increased Greece’s previously acknowledged, unpayable debt level. If Greece was deemed unable to repay its debts of $113 billion in 2009, then six years later with a shriveling economy, capital controls, and the addition of $242 billion in additional debt (or a tripling of its debt), it is clearly even less able to repay such a sum. Even the IMF now suggests that some debt forgiveness has to be considered in order to make its debt repayable.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Ibuprofen Warning - The Pain Killer that can Kill You! / Politics / Health and Safety
In case you missed it: The FDA has just issued a warning on various prescription and non-prescription drugs that Americans ingest by the boatload. As it happens, these seemingly benign pain relievers can kill you even if you scrupulously follow the recommended dosage. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a blurb from the FDA website:
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Chinese Corporatism Turns Sour / Economics / China Economy
As even the casual observer of the effects from the corporatist model for economic commerce knows, permanence in a developing prosperity is transient at best. What becomes the rush to ratchet up industrial production ends up in a piercing disappointment for long term stability. China is the latest example of a corporatist model in serious trouble. And who will suffer the most? Those dependent on export manufacturing are clearly poised for a very bumpy ride. While the oligarchs play global chess with their foreign companies, the enterprise of creating a rise in world-wide wealth suffers.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
More Ritholtz on Gold, and Another Response / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
Anyone who has been bearish on gold for the last 4 years has been right. They have been right in Euros and though the trend appears to have been gently changing over the last year or two, they have been right in Canada & Aussie (i.e. commodity currencies) dollars as well. Certainly, they have been right that gold as measured in most global stock markets has been (and remains) bearish.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Crude Oil Price Is Lower – and You’re Richer / Commodities / Crude Oil
MoneyMorning.com Shah Gilani writes: On July 16, I gave you the real story on why oil prices are falling – and a trade to make you some easy money.
Since then, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. crude oil benchmark, is down 5%. As of midday yesterday, the October $15 puts on the United States Oil Fund LP ETF (NYSE ARCA: USO) that I recommended buying when they were trading at 50 cents each were up 40%, and trading at 70 cents each.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Stock Market VIX Not Show Great Action / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015
I'm not happy with yesterday's VIX action.
The VIX closed at 13.44 which was Neutral+.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Has China Manipulated The Gold Market? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
The financial press and blogosphere are still exploring the topic of Chinese reserves. Recently, some voices have arisen that China supported the recent plunge of the gold price in order to boost its reserves. Are these opinions justified?
The disappointment increase in China's reserves led to a heated debate. On Friday, two articles were published (here and here), which suggest that China manipulated the gold market by under-reporting its official reserves to lower the gold price and increase its reserves.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Now is the Time to Invest in Cloud Stocks / Companies / Internet
Larissa James writes: In case you haven’t been paying attention to technological innovations over the past decade, now is the time to understand cloud computing and the potentially lucrative returns an investment in industry stocks can produce. With cloud computing expected to see tremendous growth in the coming years and months, it would be wise to do your research and find the right stocks for your portfolio. Thankfully, though, we’ve done some of the work for you and can point you in the right direction.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
U.S. Home Sales Market Is Dead – This Chart Proves It / Housing-Market / US Housing
MoneyMorning.com Lee Adler writes: The seasonally adjusted (SA) headline number for the monthly-error-times-12-annualized version of new home sales in June was 482,000.
Wall Street analysts had guessed that the number would be 550,000. The Wall Street Journal went into apoplectic excuse-making mode, almost foaming at the mouth to try to find pundits to explain away the bad number.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Regular Saving Accounts to the Rescue of Savers / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts
Research by Moneyfacts.co.uk reveals that savvy savers who use regular savings accounts for their short-term savings goals are reaping the rewards, earning more interest than with any other standard savings account.
Savings rates have been obliterated in recent years, but regular savers have remained relatively unscathed; Best Buy deals have stayed on top for the last two years and average rates have resisted a dramatic downward spiral.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
How Much Cash Should You Hold? / Personal_Finance / Credit Crisis 2015
Dr. Steve Sjuggerud writes: "How much cash do you have at home?" I once asked a friend who is an extremely smart investor and businessman.
(The question wasn't too personal... He's a good friend and we talk about money. I had dinner with him at his home earlier this month in California.)
"I keep six figures at home," he replied.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Why the Energy Sector’s Perfect Storm Is About to Blow Over / Commodities / Energy Resources
MoneyMorning.com Dr. Kent Moors wrotes: There is a “perfect storm” brewing in the energy sector.
And as storms go, this one has certainly attracted attention. The ongoing concern over supply gluts both in the U.S. and abroad has combined with a Chinese stock collapse to drive down the price of oil.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Greece- What Happens When Economists Talk Politics / Economics / Eurozone Debt Crisis
As the “Varoufakis Files” provide everyone interested in the Greek tragi-comedy with an additional million pages of intriguing fodder -we all really needed that added layer of murky conspiracy, re: the Watergate tapes-, a different question has been playing in my head. Again. That is: Why are economists discussing politics?
Why are the now 6 month long Greece vs Troika discussions being conducted by the people who conduct them? All parties involved are apparently free to send to the table whoever they want, and while that seems nice and democratic, it doesn’t necessarily make it the best possible idea. To, in our view, put it mildly.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Is the Gold Price Manipulated? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015
One of the most commonly held beliefs among gold investors is that the market for gold is heavily manipulated. It has become an article of faith among gold advocates that the price is subject to direct control by government, central banks and other parties who have a vested interest in depressing the gold price. In this commentary we'll explore this belief and try to arrive at a firm conclusion as to its veracity.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015
The Gold - U.S. House Prices Ratio As A Valuation Indicator / Housing-Market / US Housing
The Gold/Housing ratio is a quite useful measure for evaluating relative values between real estate and gold, and also has an interesting historical track record for identifying turning points in long-term gold price trends. In light of the commodities rout occurring in the summer of 2015, and the continuing strength in housing – it is worthwhile revisiting this basic measure, because the results aren't at all what most people likely think they are.
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