Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:33:16 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/ Financial Markets Forecasting & Analysis Website en-gb http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/images/logo.gif http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/ site_admin@marketoracle.co.uk http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17826.html They tried to sell this puppy but it just wouldn't sell. It would have been best to sell a few hundred points on the Dow, and we started in that direction today. but the force of this bull just wouldn't allow for it. The bears came out of the gate defending the close just under S&P 500 1151 with a nice little gap down. It started to run some after trying to claw back to flat and it seemed the selling was finally under way. Some bull markets get silly and just don't allow for too much selling before the buyers rush back in. The S&P 500 was spending most of the day trading slightly under the flat line but as things drew closer to the final bell, the S&P 500 went green and closed right at the breakout with a final print of 1150. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:33:16 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17825.html Rick Rule probably could draw an audience if he were talking about the weather, but combine his presence with knowledge, understanding, experience and a track record of success, particularly in the resource arena, and the crowd falls silent. Founder and chairman of Global Resource Investments, Rick recently made himself available for a brain-drain, the foundation of the piece that follows. . . Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:30:19 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17824.html Any economists blaming snow for recent weekly claims reports need to search for additional excuses. Once again, today's numbers appear like reporting in the movie Groundhog Day. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:27:04 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17823.html Summary and Conclusions - Contrary to the opinions of various gold commentators it is the view of this analyst – flowing from the analysis below – that the gold price is not being manipulated at this juncture. The world appears to be about to enter a period of deflation. The severity of this deflation will be a function of the appropriateness of the behaviour of the world’s central banks in respect of their responsibilities to ensure that the fleet of economic ships maintains an even keel. If they over react at this point, we might experience a bursting of the debt bubble and a resulting world Depression. If they react with responsibility, then the probabilities favour a slow deflation of the debt bubble. The behaviour of the gold price and the bond yields in the past few days appear to be pointing to the fact that a dose of reality has crept into the thought processes of the world’s governments and central banks. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:15:55 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17822.html The biggest question for the next several months for markets is what? Now that the S and P rallied over 60 pct since last March 2009, and pretty much all other markets except housing and real estate have also rallied (anything connected to financial markets that received the half of the several $trillion of US and other central bank emergency money infusions beginning big around March 2009) it begs the question when there will be a correction. Or a crash. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:05:00 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17821.html This is a monthly chart for the S&P 500 showing 20 years of performance. Since this index is the one used by professional traders, it is important to understand how it is performing. This chart is also excellent at defining the longer-term trends for the market. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:55:37 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17820.html The gold-plated, tungsten-filled bars story hasn’t gone away.  Not only has it continued to pop up in various gold and hard-money, investment-advisory letters; but even the populous press publishers, like the American Free Press and Rense.com, have found it expedient to publish material on it as well.  Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:54:05 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17819.html (Conversations with Casey: Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator) L: Doug, last time we spoke, you said quite a bit about debt, in the context of your expectation that the euro is on its way out. At the end of that conversation, you mentioned, of course, that the problem is not limited to Greece, nor the eurozone. America as a country has become a world-class debtor, and many Americans seem to think a maxed-out credit card is a reason to get a higher credit limit, not to economize. It's like a global epidemic. Let's talk about debt. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:15:36 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17818.html So far this week has been pretty slow. Large cap stocks continue to lag the market which can be observed by looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average which still has room to move higher before breaking the January high. One important thing to note is that volume has picked up this week considerably – particularly on the SP500 and OEX. It’s difficult to say if this volume is a good sign or not. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:49:13 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17817.html Paper Trading Is NOT What Will Teach You To Trade This is an excerpt from Elliott Wave International's free Club EWI resource, "What a Trader Really Needs to be Successful" -- a classic Special Report by EWI's president Robert Prechter. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:38:41 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17816.html Apart from the fundamentals that indicate the global economy, in general, and China and the U.S, in particular, might be showing signs of resurgence after over a year of “government stimulation,” the last 24 hours of trading has damaged the near-term technical condition of spot gold prices and the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD). Yesterday, gold reversed from early morning strength as prices sliced beneath an important 5-week uptrendline (at approx. $1109). Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:33:08 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17815.html Foreclosures Are Rising And Not Just Homeowbers Are Affected; A Haitian Story: Loses Family Home In Earthquake, NY Home in “Bankquake” Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:22:03 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17814.html The Obama administration and the US Congress have together made inflation the real monetary policy of the United States.  While pundits and talking heads focus on the bailouts and loan packages, they're missing the bigger picture.  It isn't what the US government outright purchased (stock, debt, and real estate paper), but it's what the US government is guaranteeing that will make all the difference. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:13:59 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17813.html A pretty moribund Wednesday but market sentiment has remained tilted towards the positive. In the US, the S&P500 took another stride towards eclipsing the 19 January high with a further 0.5% gain, helped by solid increases in the financials and the IT sector (of course the Nasdaq has already made new highs). US Treasury bonds were a bit weaker after the $21 billion 10 year auction. The auction itself was quite strong, with the bid-to-cover ratio of 3.45 comparing with the average of 2.77 over the last ten 10 year auctions. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:02:24 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17812.html Are you planning to retire someday? Unless you are already retired the answer is almost certainly “Yes.” It’s the American Dream! Of course, there’s nothing magical about age 65. Some people end their careers earlier and busy themselves in different ways. Others enjoy their work so much they keep on going as long as their health allows. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:38:04 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17811.html March 9th, marked the one-year anniversary of the elusive bottom of the most brutal bear market since the 1930’s. At the time, job losses were running in excess of 700,000 /month, and fear was rife that the US-banking system was on the verge of being nationalized. American factories and miners were using 68% of industrial capacity, the lowest level since records began in 1948. Corporate profits fell sharply for the seventh consecutive quarter, the longest losing streak since the 1930’s. The second coming of the “Great Depression” looked imminent. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:21:15 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17810.html Even despite the tremendous recovery in precious metals shares, I still find value across the entire spectrum. The various indices (HUI, XAU & XGD.to) as well as my proprietary junior index (shown below) all rallied back to or near the 2008 high. Since that point, Gold is about 10% higher. It is more than 10% higher when priced in foreign currencies. Meanwhile, Oil, (which is 25% the cost of mining) is down about 30% (from March 2008). I bet most other cost inputs have declined in price.  Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:48:18 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17809.html Gold fell sharply in a short period of time yesterday in US trading - falling from $1,127.35/oz to $1,103.45/oz to close with a loss of 1.26%. It has range traded from $1,105/oz to $1,109/oz so far in European trading this morning. Gold is currently trading at $1,105.70/oz and in euro and GBP terms, gold is trading at €811/oz and £739/oz respectively. Oil at over $82 a barrel would be expected to lead to inflation hedging buying but is not supporting gold today. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:26:16 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17808.html Martin Hutchinson writes: Has bailout mania finally reached Europe? The 16 nations that make up the Eurozone are seriously exploring the creation of a "European Monetary Fund," a bailout fund that would help euro-member countries that can't pay their debts. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:21:39 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17807.html THE PRICE OF WHOLESALE gold bullion ticked higher early Thursday for Dollar investors, but slipped further for Sterling and Euro buyers as world stock markets again held flat together with commodities. Government bonds fell, pushing the yield offered by 10-year UK gilts up to a 2-week high of 4.14%. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:11:41 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17806.html Talk of a Gold bubble over the past 6-9 months grows louder and louder. It is comical and a sign of desperation among those losing their grip on the levers of power and influence. I have never seen a bubble so heavily recognized and announced by the very institutional participants who are pouring all their money into it! Will Gold become a bubble? I think it may, which is why I own it. The break out over $1000/ounce last fall has certainly cleared the deck and made it a possibility. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:42:54 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17805.html We live in interesting times, times that are no doubt going to get much more interesting in the years ahead and, unfortunately, probably more violent. The recent demonstrations on California college campuses following the Tea Party protests of last summer bring up the intriguing possibility that we could actually see protesters againstgovernment spending and for government spending face off against each other in the streets. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:29:49 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17804.html Jeff Clark, Senior Editor, Casey’s Gold & Resource Report writes: On February 24, Reuters reported that the Reserve Bank of India was "set to be a buyer" of the 191.3 tonnes (6.74 million ounces) of gold the IMF is selling. Although the bank wouldn't comment directly on the possibility, they did say, "We are closely looking at the gold market... gold is a safe bet." Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:19:25 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17803.html To be sure, almost without debate, all the financial world has turned to crisis mode. One can safely describe the norm to be crisis proliferation. This theme will clearly continue for the full year in progress. The signs are everywhere. The evidence is compelling. The criticism of remedy is replete with denials. The USGovt officials grow more desperate with each passing week. The Dubai and Greek debt woes seemed to have opened Pandora's Box. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:14:03 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17802.html The Gold Report has again interviewed newsletter writer and commentator Lou Paquette, who launched the Emerging Growth Stocks website in 1995 to provide investors and speculators with a unique alternative to what he saw was a growing problem with corporate governance and conflict of interest on Wall Street. He is not counting out the U.S. dollar quite yet as the euro waivers. He also believes that there is no longer necessarily a seasonality regarding gold and gold stocks. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:53:59 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17801.html Steve Sjuggerud writes: "A few factors limit our ability to increase [our] investment in gold," China's Chief foreign exchange regulator Yi Gang said in a speech this week. Investors have long speculated China will start buying gold and selling its hoard of U.S. dollars at some point. (China's hoard could be literally trillions of U.S. dollars.) It would be the first step in a "Doomsday" scenario... Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:25:07 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17800.html Apart from the fact that apparently the equity market never goes down anymore, the potentially most exciting technical set-up is selling YEN (buying USD/YEN) or being long, or adding to longs, in the UltraShort Yen ProShares (NYSE: YCS). Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:21:22 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17799.html "Just allow it...just admit it. It doesn't matter where the inflation comes from. Just let it stay..." SLASHING the Bank of England's base interest rate to an historic low of 0.5% was supposed to "rebalance" the economy...tipping it away from galloping consumption towards an export-led recovery. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:00:14 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17798.html Most of the articles and media reporting are centered around the stock market, because most investors and traders look to the stock market for returns. A few newspapers and magazines occasionally talk about commodities, but are mostly reporting on Gold, Copper and Oil. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:08:52 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17797.html Every important factor we see is working against the dollar and we believe that trend is irreversible. That means the present dollar rally probably cannot endure and it could well be the time to short the USDX. Most observers discuss Europe’s problems and the plight of the euro, pound, and the Danish and Swedish koronas. They believe these European currencies will plunge lower versus the dollar and that the dollar will maintain, even after a dollar rally from 74 to 81 on the USDX. As we have said before the euro was unnatural creation born of a desire to usher in a world currency. As we shall see in the future the euro will fail. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:56:55 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17796.html The rally out of the February intermediate and yearly cycle low has now traveled far enough and long enough that it is due to take a breather.  That breather would be in the form of a short term pullback into the mid cycle low. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:48:34 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17795.html US stocks closed a rather modest 0.15% higher Tuesday in a real sea-saw day. Stocks opened lower, but rallied almost 1% in the morning and afternoon before selling off dramatically into the close. Stocks held onto their gains, but a low volume morning advance on no news was turned around on the highest volume of the day which came to the downside. This is a microcosm of what we have seen in recent months – low volume ascent and high volume descent. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:37:50 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17794.html I received an interesting e-mail the other day that sheds some light on the current state of investor psychology. He writes, “I hear from a hedge fund and analyst friend that most major cycle work tops out from this coming week thru April and [he says] it’s THE top. One he sites is the Bradley model which shows a devastating drop beginning after next week into October of this year to roughly Dow 6,500. Looking back all the way to 1900 chart of market I've never seen a major top without breadth deteriorating for many months or even a year or more before a major bear.” Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17793.html While it is hard to get a straight answer from an American politician, they do have the freedom to speak their mind and say whatever they darn well want to. They may often put their foot in their mouth with exaggerations — “I invented the internet” — or say something they regret later — “you lie” — but they have the freedom to say whatever they want. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:25:02 -0600 http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article17792.html Of all the major disasters and threats to your security ahead — and all the major profit opportunities — three stand out as the most imminent of all: Disaster #1: America’s Empire of Debt. If you think Americans are living a normal life, think again. Our entire consumer economy, lifestyle, livelihood — and nearly all or wealth — is predicated on one thing: DEBT. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:20:15 -0600