Saturday, January 28, 2017

Silver Lining of the 'Violent, Stunning, Historic Collapse of Palladium' and How to Profit from It / Commodities / Palladium

By: The_Gold_Report

Palladium took a dive this week, and Chen Lin, author of the popular newsletter What Is Chen Buying, What Is Chen Selling?, explains what happened and how investors can profit from the drop.

This is President Trump's first week in office and a huge week for the stock market. However, not many noticed the palladium futures market experienced the "violent, stunning, historic collapse," according to the well-known market commentator Dennis Gartman, the "commodity king." Let's drill down to exactly what happened.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Modern Delusions, Japan Thinks It Can Balance Its Budget / Economics / Japan Economy

By: John_Rubino

A recurring problem for most developed-world governments is explaining why last year’s plan didn’t work while convincing voters that this year’s new and improved plan will do the trick. This is especially tough when the new plan is pretty much the same as the old one and therefore just as likely to fail.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

SPX Support May be Broken / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

SPX appears to be testing its Orthodox Broadening top trendline at 2293.00. It is trading in a narrower and narrower band that is only two points wide in the past hour. I expect it to break soon. The break would be an aggressive sell signal, not confirmed by the VIX or the Hi-Lo.

The daily Cycle top support, which appears to be broken is at 2293.32.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Lala Land FX Assumptions / Currencies / US Dollar

By: Ashraf_Laidi

The notion that Trump's planned protectionist measures (tariffs and border adjustment tax) will be USD-positive is founded on an unrealistic world - where Mexico, China and other US trading partners would just sit back and watch without any retaliatory action. We're not in the 1980s or 1990s when US trading partners operated in a closed world, unaccountable to any world free trade bodies.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Going Long The Euro Could Be The Trade Of 2017 / Currencies / Euro

By: John_Mauldin

BY JARED DILLIAN : For a long time now I've held the theory that you have to be completely insane to be a successful investor. Like, right out of your tree.

Let me put it this way: Just a few weeks ago we were all sure, 100% positive that the US dollar would continue to appreciate against the euro, because the Fed was more hawkish, and the ECB was going to have negative rates and QE forever.

Friday, January 27, 2017

The Recession-Proof Industry That Few Investors Know / Companies / Sector Analysis

By: John_Mauldin

BY PATRICK WATSON : Americans are pet crazy. Recent surveys show that more than two out of three Americans own some kind of pet. According to the ASPCA, almost half of American households own a dog and around a third are cat owners.

Demographics are also likely to boost pet ownership, as people who don’t have children are more likely to have pets. Therefore, the continued greying of baby boomers and the low birth rate among millennials means that growth in pets in the US is set to continue.

Friday, January 27, 2017

4 Investing Legends Predict Change In 2017 / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2017

By: John_Mauldin

Forecasting the New Year is a curious tradition. Much evidence suggests that no one does it both accurately and consistently, yet everyone keeps trying. Just as no war plan survives contact with the enemy, no investment plan survives contact with February.

But the real value of an annual forecast is strategic. It helps you set priorities, define important issues, and think about what you should anticipate and what you can safely ignore. That’s a good exercise to go through periodically, and January is as good a time as any.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Silver Stocks’ New Upleg / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Zeal_LLC

The silver miners’ stocks have surged higher in this young new year, putting the Trumphoria general-stock rally to shame.  Following its fourth-quarter drubbing, this tiny contrarian sector is embarking on a major new upleg as traders return.  Silver-stock uplegs tend to grow to massive proportions, and silver-mining fundamentals remain strong today.  So odds are the silver stocks are going to power far higher in 2017.

Because silver stocks aren’t widely followed, most investors and speculators are unaware of this sector’s stellar upside potential.  Silver mining is a challenging business both geologically and economically, so there aren’t many primary silver miners out there.  And their stocks’ collective market capitalization is small, a rounding error compared to the broader stock markets.  That doesn’t leave much room for funds to buy.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Bitcoin Price Above Resistance / Currencies / Bitcoin

By: Mike_McAra

In short: no speculative positions.
The recent drop in Bitcoin volatility is widely attributed to developments in China. On Bloomberg, we read:

Bitcoin's volatility has plunged since China banned leveraged trading and forced exchanges to charge fees.

Perhaps more meaningfully, trading volume has plunged 98 percent compared with the first days of 2017, according to data from bitcoinity.org. On Jan. 1, when bitcoin traded at $1,012.3, 4.8 million coins exchanged hands. On Wednesday, only 80,092 did. Sure, many Chinese investors, who still represent the lion's share of trading, are away from their desks because of the Lunar New Year. Still, the speed and pattern of the decline make it hard not to draw a line to the regulatory action.

Friday, January 27, 2017

BEA Estimates US 4th Quarter 2016 GDP at 1.87% / Economics / US Economy

By: CMI

In their first (preliminary) estimate of the US GDP for the fourth quarter of 2016, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the US economic growth rate was +1.87%, down by nearly half (-1.66%) from the prior quarter.

The quarter to quarter decline in the headline growth rate came from a number of sources: the growth of consumer spending on services was more than halved (down -0.68%), exports went into contraction (off a dramatic -1.69%) and imports were down yet another -0.86%. Partially offsetting those declines were upticks in consumer spending on goods (up +0.34%), and increases in the growth rate for commercial fixed investment (+0.65%) and inventories (+0.51%).

Friday, January 27, 2017

The Single Biggest Threat to Investing Success… and How to Manage It / Stock-Markets / Investing 2017

By: David_Galland

Dear Parader,

Have you ever encountered a rotten egg?

Remarkably, as someone who enjoys eggs with breakfast almost every day, I hadn’t.

At least until earlier this week when I came across my first, honest-to-goodness rotten egg. Or, should I say, it came across me—spraying out of the shell in all its rotten glory.

Friday, January 27, 2017

USD rebound cut short. SPX Flat / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

Good Morning!

The overnight bounce in USD futures was stymied by the Durable Goods hard data that crushed the hopes of a rebound. A Wave [iii] may have begun.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Dow 20K, US Debt $20 Trillion, Trump and Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: GoldCore

by Jan Skoyles, Editor Mark O’Byrne

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 20,000 earlier this week for the first time in its 132 year history to much media fanfare.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Basic Materials Stocks Sector Investing: Real Stuff Prices Are Rising / Commodities / Resources Investing

By: Rambus_Chartology

Tonight I would like to update the Basic Materials sector as this area now looks like it's ready to resume its bull market. Also with the stock markets breaking out today, especially the INDU, this adds another layer of confirmation that the breakout is the real deal. As we've discussed previously there are many big cap Dow stocks that make up the XLB, Basic Materials fund, and with the INDU making a new all time high today there will be some individual components making new all time highs as well.

Friday, January 27, 2017

The Fed and Gold in 2017 / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2017

By: Arkadiusz_Sieron

As everyone already knows, the Fed has finally hiked its interest rates for the second time in a decade and for the first time since December 2015, when it ended the zero interest rate policy. The chart below shows the current level of the effective federal funds rate after the recent move.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Stock Market Mixed Session / Stock-Markets / Stock Market 2017

By: Harry_Boxer

The stock market indices had a mixed session today. The day started off with a pop to the upside to new all-time highs, and then they pulled back down to retest successfully, particularly on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100. By midday they reached their lows and tried to rally in the afternoon, but unfortunately, they were not able to break out, and pulled back into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 32.46 at 20,100.91, 25 points off the all-time high. The S&P 500 was down 1.69 at 2296.68, 23 points off its all-time high. The Nasdaq 100 was up 5.45 at 5156.92, 12 points off its high.

Friday, January 27, 2017

This America, beacon on the hill, will survive this challenge / Politics / US Politics

By: Walter_Brasch

This is a globalized world. There is no changing this fact. There is no changing “climate science”. There is no changing the will of the people to be fair, when fairness commands it. There is no changing the slow-moving ascent of multiculturalism, racial integration and sexual equality; and no replacement for secular Democracy. Mr. Trump and the Republicans think it all can be unraveled with the stroke of a pen.

The masters of delusion might have convinced almost half of voters, but the other half will carry the torch into the future. The Women’s March in Washington and countless American cities proved their numbers don’t lie.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Inflation: Here's What the Wrong-Way Bet Looks Like / Economics / Inflation

By: EWI

Inflation: Here's What the Wrong-Way Bet Looks Like
Chart of the Day

Thursday, January 26, 2017

How to Cut US Infrastructure Costs in Half / Politics / Infrastructure

By: Ellen_Brown

Americans could save $1 trillion over 10 years by financing infrastructure through publicly-owned banks like the one that has long been operating in North Dakota.

President Donald Trump has promised to rebuild America’s airports, bridges, tunnels, roads and other infrastructure, something both Democrats and Republicans agree should be done. The country needs a full $3 trillion in infrastructure over the next decade. The $1 trillion plan revealed by Trump’s economic advisers relies heavily on public-private partnerships, and private equity firms are lining up for these plumbing investments. In the typical private equity water deal, for example, higher user rates help the firms earn annual returns of anywhere from 8 to 18 percent – more even than a regular for-profit water company might expect. But the price tag can come as a rude surprise for local ratepayers.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Precious Metals v. Mining Stocks: What You Need to Know / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2017

By: MoneyMetals

By David Smith : Most readers of this column own (or plan to own) physical precious metals – gold and silver, perhaps even some platinum or palladium. They may also own mining stocks.

But which category is "best"? It's like asking, "What's the most efficient exercise?" or "What's the best fishing lure?" Truth be known, it's really about what you wish to accomplish! Here is my considered opinion...