Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Silverdale, High Storrs, City Council Determined to Destroy Sheffield's Best State Schools / Local / Sheffield

By: N_Walayat

An analysis of Sheffield's school league tables reveals a bleak picture of virtually all of Sheffield's best state schools on a downwards trend trajectory where the only school to buck the trend being Tapton, whilst Sheffield's best ranked state school (Silverdale) also shows a marginal decline. However, further down the league tables the downwards spiral in performance accelerates with King Ecgbert, Bradfield and High Storrs leading the way.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Stock Market Battle Royale / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

Good Morning!

The Dow Premarket has been up as much as 100 points in a battle for market ascendancy. This must be measured against the prior highs at 17914.14 on November 20 and 17977.85 on November 3. The Triangle formation does not appear to be valid, even if the DJIA does not reach either of these levels. Should Wave [v] be complete beneath either of these levels, the DJIA will go down with the rest of the market in the next week to probable new lows.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Buy Gold – Advises HSBC / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: GoldCore

Buy gold is the call of HSBC technical analysts who are becoming increasingly bullish on gold and increasingly bearish on stocks as reported by Business Insider.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Natural Gas Rebound Meets Resistance / Commodities / Natural Gas

By: AnyOption

The recovery in gas prices from the March lows continues to play out, although it is increasingly evident that fundamental conditions will not alleviate the downside pressure on prices over the near-to-medium term especially as seasonal demand factors subside.  With production possibly to climb amid higher prices, the stage is set for a renewed downturn in prices following the technical correction higher in prices, aided in part by a brief cold front that swept across the United States.  Demand growth on its own will not be enough to offset the record seasonal storage levels, with only falling supply helping to correct the ongoing imbalance.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Report Reveals 10% fall in UK Retirement Incomes in Just One Year / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement

By: MoneyFacts

Key findings:

· Average retirement incomes are at record lows one year into the new pension freedoms landscape

· Retirees looking for a secure income face the unenviable position of annuitising at all-time low rates

· Enhanced annuities have seen bigger rate decreases than standard annuities

· The average pension fund has fallen by 2.3% over the last 12 months

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Saudi-Russia Deal Send Oils Stocks Flying High / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Harry_Boxer

It certainly was turn-around Tuesday for the stock market today as the indices dipped in the morning, and when the news came in that Saudi Arabia and Russia had agreed on a production freeze, the oil's took off running, pulling the rest of the market up with them. The S&P 500 jumped from 2040 to an afternoon high of 2065, a 25-point run-up, which was a very strong move. The Nasdaq 100 exploded from 4435 to over 4500, about a 68-point rally. At the end of the day they backed off a little, and in the last five minutes they came on again to finish firm.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Janet Yellen Meets With Obama In Emergency Meetings As Crises Erupt Worldwide / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2016

By: Jeff_Berwick

The Credit Suisse Fear Barometer just hit an all-time high as reports circulated through the alternative media that Barack Obama discussed the imposition of martial law when he and Vice President Joe Biden met with Yellen on Monday in an “emergency meeting.”

The reports may be exaggerated but not the crisis-like feel of the meetings. This was reportedly a first: having the president and VP meeting directly with the Fed head. Does it have something to do with the “survival of the government” at a time when the US banking system may be facing a general default? According to some reports: “Members of the House and Senate are said to have been ‘up all night’ in discussions and meetings; with floods of phone calls back and forth. ”

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

USD is a Puzzle. I may have a Solution / Currencies / US Dollar

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

There is a lot not to like about this Wave structure, but it may be that the decline is finished.  The decision to take this opinion is based on several factors.  But the main one was the following Bloomberg article that caught my eye:  “Hedge funds are close to calling it quits on the dollar’s best run in a generation.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

IMF Warns of BrExit Apocalypse, Global Chaos if Britain Votes LEAVE in EU Referendum / ElectionOracle / EU_Referendum

By: Nadeem_Walayat

The Paris based and tax payer funded IMF, headed by unelected bureaucrats and manned by academics paints a dire picture for not just Britain but the entire world, not that far from an Armageddon style mass extinction event if the people of Britain apparently vote for freedom in the June 23rd EU Referendum.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

America’s Money Controlled Political Process / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016

By: Stephen_Lendman

From inception, America was never beautiful or democratic. Rich and powerful interests run things exclusively for their own benefit, ordinary people entirely shut out.

Secrecy and backroom deals substitute for a free, fair and open process. Candidates are pre-selected. Big money owns them. Rare exceptions prove the rule.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Panama Papers and the War on Savings, Bail-Ins, Push to Go Cashless / Interest-Rates / War on Cash

By: Ellen_Brown

Exposing tax dodgers is a worthy endeavor, but the "limited hangout" of the Panama Papers may have less noble ends, dovetailing with the War on Cash and the imminent threat of massive bail-ins of depositor funds.

The bombshell publication of the "Panama Papers," leaked from a Panama law firm specializing in shell companies, has triggered both outrage and skepticism. In an April 3 article titled "Corporate Media Gatekeepers Protect Western 1% From Panama Leak," UK blogger Craig Murray writes that the whistleblower no doubt had good intentions; but he made the mistake of leaking his 11.5 million documents to the corporate-controlled Western media, which released only those few documents incriminating opponents of Western financial interests. Murray writes:

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Commodities Rally / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Ed_Carlson

Commodities (S&P GS commodity index) saw their first rally in three weeks last week with a gain of 3.98% to close at 329 (thanks to Friday's 4.05% gain). If BWI hadn't moved into a confirmed sell-mode last week, commodities look as if they are extending the Jan. rally. Bulls wait for a close over the March high at 337. Bears get short on any sign of a double top near that same level.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Surging Mining Stocks Point to Big Move Ahead in Gold and Silver / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: MoneyMetals

Spring has sprung for precious metals mining stocks.The HUI gold stocks index surged 6.2% on Monday to close at a 14-month high. The HUI chart shows a strong base was built from last summer through this January, and from that base a new bull market has begun.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

One Chart Reveals Fed's True Intent; Wreck Havoc on The Middle Class / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing

By: Sol_Palha

"Crises refine life. In them, you discover what you are." ~ Allan K. Chalmers

What strikes one immediately is that the Fed has been creating money hand over fist; one hand they create money, with the other hand they buy assets and put it on their books, all looks well until you realize this is something called monetization of debt. Paper buying more paper and in most nations this leads to hyperinflation and a currency collapse. However as the Dollar is the world reserve currency. The Fed can magically create money out of thin air and use this newly created money to pay bills and or prop up markets as is currently the case.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

SPX using a long-time support to stay elevated...for now. / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

In a nod to options expiration, it appears that Wave (ii) may extend another day or so. The Cycles Model was strong during the March options expiration. This month the Cycles Model shows weakness.

ZeroHedge reports, “Last week when BofA reported that "everything is being sold" as its smart money clients (institutional, private and hedge funds) dumped stocks for a whopping 10th consecutive week, it said that "BofAML clients were net sellers of US stocks for the tenth consecutive week, in the amount of $3.98bn. Net sales last week were the largest since September, and the fifth-largest in our data history (since 2008). Since early March, all three client groups (institutional clients, private clients and hedge funds) have been sellers of US stocks."

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Bitcoin Price in Tight Range / Currencies / Bitcoin

By: Mike_McAra

In short: short speculative positions, target at $153, stop-loss at $515.

Bitcoin might change how the banking landscape looks like, but it most likely won’t substitute banks, we read on CNBC:

(…) Brock Pierce, the chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, said that while the adoption of blockchain will hit parts of a bank, it will ultimately create opportunity.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Gold Money or Digital Money? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: DeviantInvestor

Guest Post from Graham Reinders, an intelligent man with vast experience. (slightly edited)

What Do We Want From Gold?

• Roosevelt proved that gold was a political/financial tool, and its value is politically governed.
• Nixon proved two things: that the “Gold Standard” was nothing more than an arbitrary political tool, and indeed he made gold “legally” not money anymore. To make it illegal is an easy step if necessary. Gold is now such a small fraction of the economy I do not think it matters except as an underground currency.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Gold Commitments of Traders / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: Dan_Norcini

There was little change in this week’s Commitments of Traders report when it came to the positioning of traders within the gold futures market.

Here is an updated chart reflecting the current composition.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Silver Price Surges 8% In 6 Days To Over $16 Per Ounce / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016

By: GoldCore

Silver bullion prices surged 3.65% yesterday and have surged 8% in just six trading days. Silver rose 56 cents from $15.34 to $15.90 per ounce yesterday, made further gains in Asian and early European trading and broke above the psychological resistance of $16 per ounce.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Cold Shoulder for UK Savers as Market is Hit by Interest Rate Cuts / Personal_Finance / Savings Accounts

By: MoneyFacts

Data from Moneyfacts.co.uk can reveal that rate reductions in the savings market have now outweighed rate rises for six consecutive months.

In March, Moneyfacts recorded just 18 savings rate rises. Disappointingly, rate reductions over the same period completely overshadowed this figure, with the number of rate decreases over the month hitting 123, which means that 87% of rate changes were cuts.