Wednesday, June 12, 2019
The Privatization of US Indo-Pacific Vision - Project 2049, Armitage, Budget Ploys and Taiwan Nexus / Economics / Asian Economies
By: Dan_Steinbock
In the Shangri-La Summit, the Trump administration introduced a new, muscular Indo-Pacific strategy. It is fueled by private interests of corporations, defense contractors and foreign governments - not by the interests of the United States, China or emerging Asia.Recently, the Pentagon and State Department informally notified Congress of a potential $2 billion deal with Taiwan, which includes the first-time sale of one of the US Army’s top tanks, drawing protests from China.
In the Shangri-La Dialogue, which took place only days before, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan pledged the United States would no longer "tiptoe" around Chinese behavior in Asia and warned about the new US “toolkit of coercion.”
Here’s the real key to the new Indo-Pacific stance, however: While emphasizing US commitment to the region, Shanahan urged US allies and partners to increase defense spending. What the Trump administration calls “burden sharing” is predicated on the idea that Asian economies should increasingly "buy American" military hardware from Pentagon contractors, even if it would split the region and undermine the promise of the Asian Century.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Perfect Storm Brewing for Price Inflation / Commodities / Inflation
By: MoneyMetals
A “perfect storm” is brewing for midwestern farmers. Unending rains have led to the flooding of tens of millions of acres of farmland. The deluge comes on the heels of years of low crop prices.
It has the makings of an agriculture disaster on a scale never seen before.
The nation may see a “perfect storm” in terms of food inflation. Prices for some farm commodities figure to be a lot higher in the months ahead as markets adjust to dramatically lower crop yields. This will be coupled with price hikes associated with tariffs on all manner of goods from China and elsewhere.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Gold Price Breaks to the Upside / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Michael_J_Kosares
COMEX speculator positions post largest single gain on record
Gold suddenly broke to the upside on the morning of Thursday, May 30th, 2019. After rising nearly $70 – a 5.4% gain and eight-straight days of posting gains, it took a breather on news that Mexico would take steps to stem migrant flow to the United States, thus avoiding the imposition of new tariffs. We asked Zac Storella from Counting Pips, a widely-acknowledged expert on the COMEX Commitment of Traders reports, what he saw in last week’s numbers. His response is worth noting:
Read full article... Read full article...“This week’s change in speculative positions (Commitment of Traders) for gold jumped by a total of +69,427 net contracts. This is the largest one-week gain on record, according to the CFTC data dating back to 1986. The current net position (long positions minus short positions) is now at the most bullish level in over a year – showing that sentiment for gold is coming back into favor.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Top Publicly Traded Casino Company Stocks for 2019 / Companies / Gambling
By: Submissions
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Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Silver Investing Trend Analysis / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Silver price reluctantly followed the Gold higher early in the year to a late February peak of $16.20, following which it abruptly gave up all of its hard won gains for the year by making a new low early March at $15, breaking the preceding low of $15.45 and thus entering into a downtrend of a series of lower highs and lows where it remained until the Gold price came alive at the end of May 2019. Following which the Silver price busted out of its 2019 downtrend by hitting a recent high of $15.15 before succumbing to selling to bring the price down to its last close of $14.74 DOWN 5% for the year which compares against the Gold price up 4% for the year which illustrates the persistent under performance of the Silver price against the Gold price.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Why Blue-Chip Dividend Stocks Aren’t as Safe as You Think / Companies / Dividends
By: Robert_Ross
A man pulled a gun on me last week.I was in the Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.
Ipanema is one of the wealthiest areas of Rio. You get iconic views of the Brazilian shore line and white sand beaches.
I was two blocks from Ipanema Beach when a man on a bike pulled in front of me.
At first, I thought he was going to sell me something. Then I saw him starting to pull a gun out of his backpack.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Technical Analysis Shows Aug/Sept Stock Market Top Pattern Should Form / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Chris_Vermeulen
We have been pouring over the data and currently believe our earlier prediction of a July/August 2019 market top should be revised to an Aug/Sept 2019 expected market top pattern. The following research posts we authored recently suggested a top may form in July/Aug 2019 and believe this critical top formation would form at new all-time highs. We still believe this is possible regarding the price predictions, yet we believe the price top will now form near the end of August or early September after an extended Pennant/Flag formation is completed.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
FTSE 100: A Top European Index / Stock-Markets / UK Stock Market
By: Justin_Weinger
Get the lowdown on the FTSE 100 in this news article from Vestle. Find out why many people including traders and bankers follow its every move.
European Indices: Read all about it
Every morning in London, it’s the same: amongst the throngs of suited men and women flooding out of the tube stations, you can’t help but notice a light pink bundle tucked under an arm or sticking out of a tote bag. Get a little closer and you’ll see the title, broadly displayed in a classic serif font: FINANCIAL TIMES. Or “FT” for short. This is where anyone and everyone who deals with money gets the inside scoop on market activity, investment performance, and how such things as geopolitical factors and monetary policy can affect them.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Gold Surprise! / Commodities / Gold & Silver 2019
By: The_Gold_Report
Sector expert Michael Ballanger describes why he has swung from long to short on the precious metals and miners. Before we go any further, let it be known that in the days leading up to this missive, i have gone from "net long" to "net short" on gold, silver and the miners. Those receiving my email blasts and those following me on Twitter (@Miningjunkie) have been put on notice that this advance, while impressive in its blunt-force trauma, lacks the perfection of the Q4/2015 advance, which arrived from multiyear polar extremes in sentiment and COT structure setups.
All last week I was emailing and tweeting how frail this advance looked and why I was a seller. With Friday's COT, you have the reason:
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
How Forex Indicators are Getting Even More Attention in the Market? / Currencies / Forex Trading
By: Submissions
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Stock Market Storm Clouds on the Horizon / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: The_Gold_Report
Sector expert Michael Ballanger discusses macroeconomic factors and his trading decisions. I have had more than a few emails asking me what I think of the current set-up for stocks, bonds, currencies and gold since everything began to re-inflate a few days ago and without going off on a literary tangent, it is obvious that the banks are absolutely freaking out over the declining high-end real estate numbers coming in from not only the money centers but also the fringe regions. Mortgages, the bulk of the loan portfolios for the global banking industry, are only as sound as the collateral upon which they are hypothecated (secured) and if you go back to the sub-prime crisis of 2008, the big revenue drivers for the banks were the sheer volume of homes being financed. Like every masterfully run Ponzi, the Greater Fool Theory is allowed to sustain itself only as long as the banks and the regulators all agree that there are "no limits" and with that, "no rules."
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Is Your Financial Security Based On A Double Aberration? / Personal_Finance / Financial Risk
By: Dan_Amerman
One way of looking at financial history is as the battle of two four word phrases: "this time is different" versus "reversion to the mean." "This time is different" is enormously popular, and it has become the dominant belief system many times over the centuries. It has also ultimately led to crushing and life-changing losses for throngs of investors, many times over the centuries.
"Reversion to the mean", which is simply a return to average valuations, is a bit more on the geeky side. It is often unpopular, particularly when its opposite is in the ascendancy. But it nonetheless has consistently ended up being the winner, as a return to the normal and usual almost always triumphs over the aberrations, given enough time.
So, which four word phrase is the source of genuine financial security?
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
What If Stocks Are Wrong About Interest Rate Cuts? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Graham_Summers
Stocks have now cleared the all-important level of 2,900 on the S&P 500. The index just peeked above critical resistance (top red line in the chart below).
Overbought and overextended, stocks are now due for a correction/ consolidation. It would be completely normal to see the S&P 500 fall to retest support at 2,850 here (blue line in the chart below).
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
US House Prices Yield Curve, Debt, QE4EVER! / Housing-Market / US Housing
By: Nadeem_Walayat
Yield Curve
The yield curve (spread between 2 year and 10 year US bonds) continues to flirt with inversion, currently standing at 0.23%. Clearly the housing market is not comfortable with an inversion given the slowing trend since 0.5%.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Natural Gas Moves Into Basing Zone / Commodities / Natural Gas
By: Chris_Vermeulen
After an incredible rally in Natural Gas that our researchers called perfectly in November 2018, another opportunity for an upside price move appears to be setting up for later this year. We believe the current price lows, near $2.30, are setting up for a bounce and then will drop and form a basing pattern near $2.00 before rocketing higher. It is this last move to the downside which will set up the incredibly deep price base and oversold conditions for the upside price move in late August/September 2019.
We’re issuing this research post to alert all of our followers to our research and to allow for proper price rotation for this base to set up and conclude before jumping into any false triggers that may occur on the Daily or Weekly charts.
Start by taking a look at this Monthly NG chart showing how extended high price peaks are usually followed by extended price declines. It is very unlikely that any upside price move will begin before late August or early September 2019.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
U.S. Dollar Stall is Good for Commodities / Commodities / Commodities Trading
By: Donald_W_Dony
After months of advancing, the U.S. dollar's climb is showing signs of weakness.
Over the last five years, the greenback has risen almost 20 percent, whereas other world currencies have not been so lucky.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Fed Running Out of Time and Conventional Weapons / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Michael_Pento
The buy and hold mantra from Wall Street Carnival Barkers should have died decades ago. After all, just buying stocks has gotten you absolutely crushed in China for more than a decade. And in Japan, you have been buried under an avalanche of losses for the last three decades. And even in the good old USA, you wouldn’t want to just own stocks if the economy was about to enter another deflationary recession/depression like 2008. Likewise, you wouldn’t want to own any bonds at all in a high-inflation environment as we had during the ’70s.
The truth is that the mainstream financial media is, for the most part, clueless and our Fed is blatantly feckless.
The Fed has gone from claiming in late 2018 that it would hike rates another four times, to now saying that it is open to actually start cutting rates very soon.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Trade Wars Propelling Stock Markets to New Highs / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2019
By: Submissions
The title may seem a contradictory in nature. Investors understand the current US administration better than many of the main stream media have been portraying. Trump administration will make sure markets will get well over 3000 points before he hits the campaign trail. A minor pull back in trade tensions is all that is needed.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Best Travel Bags for Summer Holidays 2019, Back Sling packs, water proof, money belt, tactical / Personal_Finance / Travel & Holidays
By: HGR
Here's a real world review of what are the best most useful bags for travel holidays 2019. We tested a wide range of bags from tactical bag packs sling shots, camera / gadget pouches, waterproof dry bags , money belts, document holders and more that conclude in what we found to be the most useful and what are not so useful to save you both time and money when considering which bags to to get for your next trip abroad.
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Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Game of Thrones Cheap HBO Memorabilia at Primark / Personal_Finance / Shopping
By: Sami_Walayat
HODOR! The biggest TV show on earth is over! But it's not too late to pick up a few pieces of TV history memorabilia at rock bottom prices such as fridge magnets, clothing, house banners, Dragon Eggs, maps, LED lights, tankards, towels, cushions, even a HODOR door stop, and much much more at cheap prices, especially when one looks at the rip off prices being charged online for similar items! All to be found for a limited time at your local Primark as we discovered on a recent trip to Primark Sheffield.
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