Sunday, March 04, 2018
Putin - The Man Who Stopped Washington’s Regime Change Rampage / Politics / GeoPolitics
By: Mike_Whitney
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“It is essential to provide conditions for creative labor and economic growth at a pace that would put an end to the division of the world into permanent winners and permanent losers. The rules of the game should give the developing economies at least a chance to catch up with those we know as developed economies. We should work to level out the pace of economic development, and brace up backward countries and regions so as to make the fruit of economic growth and technological progress accessible to all. Particularly, this would help to put an end to poverty, one of the worst contemporary problems.” Vladimir Putin, President Russian Federation, Meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club
Sunday, March 04, 2018
More Stock Market Selling in the Offing? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Brad_Gudgeon
Last week, I wrote about the looming bull trap. On Feb 27th, the stock market topped and the SPX fell 142 points or about 5% in 3 days. My observation was based on time cycles, Elliott Wave and Mars conjunct Vesta. Most of the decline was blamed on the Trump announcement of tariffs on Aluminum and Steel, with fears igniting about a coming trade war.
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Saturday, March 03, 2018
Crude Oil and Water: How Climate Change is Threatening our Two Most Precious Commodities / Commodities / Climate Change
By: Richard_Mills
While there is disagreement over its causes – man-made versus natural – the reality of climate change is an incontrovertible fact. The planet is warming, affecting our weather, our oceans, our growing seasons, even our food, as crops fail, causing shortages and price hikes. Storms are becoming more frequent, and more intense, and droughts are lasting longer.
Forest fires are an annual occurrence in Australia, California and British Columbia, and in the United States and the Caribbean, people live in fear of the next hurricane that could literally turn their lives upside down.
Most of us have watched videos of calving glaciers as huge chunks of ice break off millions-year-old ice sheets and tumble into the sea. They have become emblematic of the highly-politicized cause of climate change, or dare we say, “global warming.” Starting with Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, the global warming alarmists have been on a decades-long crusade against the fossil fuel industry, but few have stopped to think about what are the implications of climate change from an investment point of view.
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Saturday, March 03, 2018
Stock Market Fears of Inflation are Overblown Right Now / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Troy_Bombardia
Bears attribute the stock market’s recent correction to fears of rising inflation. This isn’t true. The rally before this correction was the longest rally in history without a 6%+ “small correction”. Hence, a correction was overdue. Rising inflation was merely an excuse for the market’s selloff.
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Saturday, March 03, 2018
Maybe The Economy Is Too Good For Investors / Economics / US Economy
By: WMA
In the early 19th century, London financier Nathan Rothschild said “buy on the sound of cannons, sell on the trumpets”. The cannons referred to the start of war (valuations are therefore attractive as disorder begins) and the trumpets refer to the peace treaty ending the conflict (at which time timid investors pile back into risky financial assets). Warren Buffet has often reiterated the same idea first enounced by Rothschild saying “buy when there is blood in the streets” (eg, when valuations are very low).
Saturday, March 03, 2018
Currencies Will Be ‘Flushed Down the Toilet’ Triggering a ‘Mad Rush into Gold’ / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: MoneyMetals
Mike Gleason: It is my privilege now to welcome back Michael Pento, president and founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies, and author of the book The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market.
Michael is a well-known money manager and a fantastic market commentator, and over the past few years has been a wonderful guest and one of our favorite interviews here on the Money Metals Podcast and we always enjoy getting his Austrian economist viewpoint.
Michael, welcome back and thanks for joining us again.
Michael Pento: What a great introduction. Thanks for having me back on, Mike.
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Saturday, March 03, 2018
The 'Beast from the East' Day 3 From Millhouses Park, Sheffield UK / Local / Sheffield
By: N_Walayat
It's Day 3 of the 'Beast from the East' weather from Siberia hitting the UK hard with heavy snowfall and wind chill temperatures of -10c, disrupting travel throughout the week as snow flurries continued to fall onto the gritted roads in the coldest weather experienced for at least the past 5 years. On Day 3 we took a trip to one of Sheffield's Millhouses park to see what it was like in the midst of the 'Beast from the East'
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Friday, March 02, 2018
Fed Interest Hikes, US Dollar, and Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: Zeal_LLC
The US dollar has fallen rather sharply over the past year or so, despite ongoing Fed rate hikes. This persistent dollar weakness has really boosted gold. There’s a fascinating interplay between these two currencies and futures speculators’ expectations for Fed rate hikes. These traders hang on every word from top Fed officials, which greatly influences their trading. So these relationships are important to understand.
In late December 2016, the venerable US Dollar Index surged to an incredible 14.0-year secular high. That was just a couple weeks after the Federal Reserve’s second interest-rate increase of this hiking cycle. Top Fed officials were forecasting three more rate hikes in 2017, fueling euphoric sentiment in this top reserve currency. Everyone believed higher prevailing interest rates would prove very bullish for the dollar.
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Friday, March 02, 2018
Euro, Cable and Aussie Forex Trading - The Reward for Patience / Currencies / Forex Trading
By: Nadia_Simmons
February was the best month for the U.S. dollar since October. Nevertheless, what goes up must fall someday. Yesterday, the gravity caught the greenback after President Donald Trump said that the country will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. As a result, the USD Index reversed and declined, supporting our 3 currency pairs. Will yesterday’s news kill the greenback’s rally in the coming days?
Analyzing the charts after yesterday’s session we noticed several disturbing factors, which can thwart currency bears’ pro-declining plans and melt profits from short positions (in EUR/USD, GBP/USD and AUD/USD) in the coming days. Therefore, we decided to close our short positions and take profits off the table.
As we mentioned earlier, the greenback’s very short-term situation deteriorated yesterday, which caused, that we decided to start today's alert by looking at the current picture of the USD Index.
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Friday, March 02, 2018
Alleged SEC Probe Leaves Bitcoin Market Confounded / Currencies / Bitcoin
By: Mike_McAra
The market is hectic. The attention span of most investors is short. The long-term implications of one particular trend among governments the world all over has far reaching implications for the future of digital currencies. The question now is if this often overlooked factor tells us anything anything about the way the Bitcoin market behaves, the way digital currencies react to unexpected news and how to navigate the current complex short-term environment.
The factor we’re writing about is government regulation and, specifically, the alleged recent move by the SEC to target Bitcoin companies. In a Wall Street Journal article, we read:
The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued dozens of subpoenas and information requests to technology companies and advisers involved in the red-hot market for cryptocurrencies, according to people familiar with the matter.
Friday, March 02, 2018
What Does February Stock Market Crash Mean for Gold? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
One month after the February stock market rout is an excellent time to step back and review all the facts – and their implications for the gold market. Here’s exactly what happened – and what it implies for your capital allocation.
- After more than a year of continuously advancing, the S&P 500 fell nearly 10 percent in five days.
- The sell-off was allegedly triggered by the surprisingly strong January jobs report, showing the acceleration in wage growth. That released fears of higher inflation, which could prompt the Fed to tighten its stance further. As President Trump rightly pointed out (on Twitter, of course):
in the “old days,” when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down.
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Friday, March 02, 2018
Trump Risks Trade and Currency Wars – Protectionism and Economic War Loom / Commodities / Protectionism
By: GoldCore
– Global stocks slump as Trump risks trade wars
– Gold prices little changed despite dollar weakness after tariff news
– Trump announced plans to impose heavy tariffs on imported metals
– China likely to retaliate with heavy tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports
– Geo-political tensions with EU and of course China and Russia to escalate
– Trade, currency wars and competitive currency devaluations tend to lead to actual war
– Russia unveils next generation of “invincible nuclear weapons”
– Safe haven gold bullion a hedge against protectionism and economic war
Friday, March 02, 2018
Crude Oil Market Fears: War, Default And Nuclear Weapons / Commodities / Crude Oil
By: OilPrice_Com
The U.S. is one of the few areas of the world in which there is an energy investment boom underway, a development that could smooth out the uncertainties of geopolitical events around the world. At the same time, outside of the U.S., there is a deterioration of stability in many oil-producing regions, aggravating risks for both oil companies and the oil market, according to a new report.
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Friday, March 02, 2018
Significant Decline In Stocks On The Cards! / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2018
By: Enda_Glynn
There is a whole lot going on across thet markets after todays trade!
And a lot of opportunity developing in the charts.
So lets not waste time chatting,
And get right into it!
UPCOMING RISK EVENTS:
USD: Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment.
EUR: German Retail Sales m/m.
GBP: BOE Gov Carney Speaks, Construction PMI, Prime Minister May Speaks.
JPY: n/a.
Friday, March 02, 2018
Land Rover Discovery Sport Extreme Driving "Beast from the East" Snow Weather Test / ConsumerWatch / Motoring
By: N_Walayat
The 'Beast from the East' weather from Siberia has been hitting the UK all week since Tuesday 27th Feb, with heavy snowfall fall of between 5 cm and 15cm disrupting travel, snow flurries falling every few hours soon covering gritted roads in the coldest weather experienced for the UK since at least the past 5 years. Many motorists decided to do the sensible thing and leave their vehicles parked rather than risk driving.
However, in the interests of wanting to test the Land Rover Discovery Sport's All wheel drive and for a better look at the impact of the 'Beast from the East's heavy snowfall, I decided to hunt down some of the most badly effected roads in the city of Sheffield, none more so then those going out of the city to literally within a stones throw of Derbyshire as the this video illustrates.
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Friday, March 02, 2018
Crude Oil – It Smells Like… Profits / Commodities / Crude Oil
By: Nadia_Simmons
Although oil bulls pushed black gold higher after yesterday market’s open, their triumph was very short-lived. Looking at the daily chart, it even tempts to say that their rally took place on an empty tank. Why? Because thanks to yesterday’s decline oil bears not only made short positions more profitable, but also gained next pieces to their puzzle. Let's check them together in today's alert.
Today's alert will start a little differently than usual, because we will take you on a small journey to the past and we’ll recall the quote from our Oil Trading Alert posted on Friday:
(…) In our opinion, the pro-bearish scenario is also reinforced by the fundamental factors. (…) EIA data showed that the U.S. output remains above 10 million barrels per day, which keeps domestic production on track to meet the earlier estimate for an increase to 11 million barrels per day in late 2018. If American drillers will not let down, the U.S. will overtake Russia in crude oil production and become the largest global supplier. Such development will likely not please Saudi Arabia and may thwart OPEC efforts to reduce black gold’s stockpiles, increasing worries over another crude oil glut. In such an environment oil bulls could have problems keeping the price not only above $60, but also above the psychological barrier of $50.
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Thursday, March 01, 2018
Why Did You Send Gold Lower, Mr. Powell? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: Arkadiusz_Sieron
Not nice, Mr. Powell! Gold prices fell more than 1 percent after your comments as the Federal Reserve’s new chairman. What did you say – and what are the implications for the precious metals market?
As We Warned, Powell Is More Hawkish
We have been alerting investors about the hawkish turn at the FOMC for a long time. For example, in the Gold News Monitor on February 13, we wrote that Powell could move faster on normalization than Yellen, as the macroeconomic conditions have become more favorable. As the Fed Chairman pointed out during his first testimony to the House Financial Services Committee,
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Thursday, March 01, 2018
US Interest Rates - Should You "Fret" Over the New Fed Chair's Possible Actions? / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: EWI
Learn what really governs the trend of interest rates
Is new Fed Chair Jerome Powell a hawk -- meaning, will he aggressively raise rates to curb inflation?
That's what investors are asking as Powell makes his first appearance before Congress in his new role. The belief that Powell will be hawkish has already rattled markets, according to some observers (Reuters, Feb. 23):
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Thursday, March 01, 2018
How Will Brexit Affected the UK Property Market? / Housing-Market / UK Housing
By: Submissions
RW Invest: What will Brexit bring?
Uncertainty. Brexit. And the North West - who really knows what will happen when the UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on Friday 29 March 2019?
But one thing that will remain, is that people will still buy and rent properties - whether that’s student or residential buy-to-let or people wanting to buy their own property. That is something that won’t change.
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Four Key Themes To Drive Gold Prices In 2018 – World Gold Council / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2018
By: GoldCore
– Four key themes to drive gold prices in 2018 – World Gold Council annual review
– Monetary policies, frothy asset prices, global growth and demand and increasing market access important in 2018
– Weak US dollar in 2017 saw gold price up 13.5%, largest gain since 2010
– “Strong gold price performance was a positive for investors and producers, and was symptomatic of a more profound shift in sentiment: a growing recognition of gold’s
role as a wealth preservation and risk mitigation tool”
– China’s gold coins and bars market recorded its second-best year ever
– German, central bank and technological demand supporting gold prices
– Latest Goldnomics podcast explores these and other themes