Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Gold, the Misery Index, and Insanity / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
In 1980 Ronald Reagan spoke about the Misery Index. An economist had added the inflation rate to the unemployment rate, called it the Misery Index, and used it to indicate the social costs and economic difficulty for the middle class.
Today the Misery Index is much smaller than in 1980, thanks to … intelligent fiscal management, economically beneficial monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, and wise political policy from the White House. If you believe any of those, read no further.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Goldman is Dead Wrong on Demise of Gold / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
Goldman Sachs has been predicting the demise of gold for the past few years. Back in July of 2015, Jeff Currie (Global Head of Commodities Research at the investment firm) went on record predicting the price of the yellow metal would fall below $1,000 per ounce by the start of 2016. However, that prediction failed to materialize; despite the fact that gold was already below $1,100 at the time he made the call.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
A European PATRIOT Act Will Not Keep People Safe / Politics / War on Terror
It was not long after last week's horrifying bombings in Brussels that the so-called security experts were out warning that Europeans must give up more of their liberty so government can keep them secure from terrorism. I guess people are not supposed to notice that every terrorist attack represents a major government failure and that rewarding failure with more of the same policies only invites more failure.
I am sure a frightened population will find government promises of perfect security attractive and may be willing to allow more surveillance of their personal lives. They should pause a little beforehand and consider what their governments have done so far to keep them "safe."
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Stock Market and Crude Oil Price Tops? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Stock markets rebounded solidly from their lows of February 11th, 2016, making new multi-month highs, earlier last week. The SPX rescinded 0.7% by the end of last week. These market gains can be attributed to the very bullish decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the FED Central Banks. On March 10th, 2016, the ECB surprised the financial world by announcing a much stronger than expected stimulus package. One week later, the FED announced that it would not raise its’ short-term interest rates. It was only three months earlier, back in December of 2015, that they suggested that they would raise rates four times in 2016. It is now my belief, that they will not raise short- term interest ‘materially’ in 2016.
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Monday, March 28, 2016
Bank Deposits That Go To Zero and Capital Controls for Two Years / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2016
Canada has joined the “bail-in” posse.
Canada will introduce legislation to implement a “bail-in” regime for systemically important banks that would shift some of the responsibility for propping up failing institutions to creditors.
The proposed plan outlined in the federal budget released on Tuesday would allow authorities to convert eligible long-term debt of a failing lender into common shares in order to recapitalize the bank, allowing it to remain operating.
Source: CNBC
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Monday, March 28, 2016
Stock Market Easter Egg...The Jaws of Life / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Today I would like to show you some more charts on some if the different stock market indices we looked at in the last Weekend Report. Last weekend we looked at alot of the bull market uptrend channels that are still in place since the 2009 crash low. It's always important to keep an open mind no matter how strongly we believe things to be when it comes to the stock markets. Everyone can't get in at the bottom and everyone can't get out at the top and then there is the consolidation phase that trips up both the bull and the bears alike.
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Monday, March 28, 2016
A Chink In The Stock Market Rally? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
Current Position of the Market
SPX: Long-term trend - Severe correction underway.
SPX Intermediate trend: Potential rally top.
Analysis of the short-term trend is done on a daily basis with the help of hourly charts. It is an important adjunct to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which discuss longer market trends.
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Monday, March 28, 2016
Fresh Water Supply - The Greatest Climate Change Issue / Politics / Water Sector
Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitch is best known for developing one of the most significant theories relating to Earths motions and long term climate change.
Milankovitch developed a mathematical theory of climate change based on the seasonal and latitudinal variations in the solar radiation received by the Earth from our Sun - it was the first truly plausible theory for how minor shifts of sunlight could make the entire planet's temperature swing back and forth from cold to warm.
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Sunday, March 27, 2016
China Economy Soft Landing or Bust? SSEC Stock Market Analysis / Economics / China Economy
China’s stock market ‘bubble’ was fueled by "speculative mania" which has proven to have had grave implications of the global stock markets. The collapse of this "speculative mania" will have far reaching ramifications on our current global stock markets. This indicates that Central Bank interventions cannot alter market cycles.
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Sunday, March 27, 2016
The European Union Is Not a Security Union / Politics / European Union
In the wake of any shocking event, national governments and officials of the European Union invariably call for more cooperation between member states to prevent anything similar happening in the future. The response to the March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels has been no different.
Following the attacks, the governments of Germany, Italy, France and members of the European Commission demanded a global response to the terrorist threat. The commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, even proposed the creation of a "security union" to combat terrorism at the continental level. In a March 24 meeting, ministers at the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council highlighted the need to share information among member states to fight terrorism. But despite the calls for greater cooperation among EU members, the national interests of individual member states will prevail in the long run, limiting the possibility of integration within the bloc on security issues.
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Sunday, March 27, 2016
Making Higher Education Affordable and Accessible to Millions Globally -The New Strategies / Politics / Educating Children
Higher Education, especially Universities, is heading towards a crisis of identity and relevance. For many, universities are just an extension of high or higher secondary schools and hence brought under ‘tertiary’ education. However, till recently, universities were unquestionable and sacramentally holy institutions charged with higher learning.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Palmyra, West More Concerned with Rubble in the Desert than Syrian 'Human' Lives, Assad Propaganda / Politics / Syria
I am increasingly finding the mainstream press reporting on the Syria conflict as completely ridiculous, akin to something out of a third world dictatorships propaganda war. This is most clearly illustrated by the barrage of stories over the past week concerning the Assad regime fighting to save Syria's Palmyra site, which is falling straight into the Assad's monstrous regimes propaganda to appease the sheeple of the west, who apparently forgotten about thousands of barrel bombs and Russian cluster bombs dropped on civilian areas.
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Sunday, March 27, 2016
Sugar Commodity Price Set For Correction / Commodities / Agricultural Commodities
The sugar price has traded exactly as outlined in analysis titled, Sugar Technical Outlook, produced back in September 2015 and has seen price increase by just over 50%.
That analysis outlined the expectation for price to trade up to around the $16.25 level. Price just hit a high of $16.75 before reversing back down impulsively. I believe that completes the intermediate term rally.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Stock Market Maybe This Time is Different? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The week started at SPX 2050. After a somewhat choppy move higher to SPX 2057 by Tuesday, the market pulled back to SPX 2022 on Thursday. Then it rose for the rest of the day to close at SPX 2036. For the week the SPX/DOW lost 0.6%, the NDX/NAZ lost 0.3%, and the DJ World lost 1.3%. On the economic front reports finally came in on the positive side. On the uptick: FHFA housing, new homes sales, Q4 GDP and the WLEI. On the downtick: existing home sales, durable goods, and Q1 GDPN. Next week, a busy one, is highlighted by Payrolls, the Chicago PMI, and the PCE.
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Saturday, March 26, 2016
Macro Changes and Future Inflation Problems / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
Ever since beginning the ‘Macrosom‘ theme in July (and updating it here), NFTRH has been managing macro changes that would positively affect the gold sector, and quite possibly have a negative effect on broad stock markets. Early on in the precious metals bear market we noted they were “in the mirror” and opposite the stock market, which on the post-2011 cycle has been the beneficiary of the Fed’s inflation, instilling confidence in their policies by conventional market participants (after all, the right assets were going up on this cycle). In August, it appeared that the first real thrust in the direction of our macro theme kicked in as the stock market cracked.
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Saturday, March 26, 2016
Market Price Discovery is Essential, It is The Nucleus of Capitalism and We Haven't Had it in Decades / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
FRA Co-founder Gordon T. Long is joined by Michael Pento in discussing topics from the government debt problem, the current boom in gold and the outlook of the dollar.
Read full article... Read full article...Mr. Pento is the President and Founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies (PPS). PPS is a Registered Investment Advisory Firm that provides money management services and research for individual and institutional clients. Mr. Pento is a well-established specialist in the Austrian School of economics and a regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, FOX Business News and other national media outlets. His market analysis can also be read in most major financial publications, including the Wall Street Journal. He also acts as a Financial Columnist for Forbes, Contributor to thestreet.com and is a blogger at the Huffington Post.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
What to Watch For in Gold Price and Gold Stocks / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2016
Gold and gold stocks finally showed a bit of weakness during the holiday shortened week. Gold had its biggest weekly loss in months, losing 3% to $1217/oz while the miners (GDX, GDXJ) declined about 5%. Silver lost 4%. If weakness in Gold and gold stocks continues then we should turn our attention to technical support and see if it will hold. Gold and gold stocks are trading above the 400-day moving average which has been key resistance since 2011. Holding that support in the days or weeks ahead would offer confirmation that a new bull has started.
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Saturday, March 26, 2016
Who Sets the Gold Price? / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
How is the price of gold established? Scratching the surface, the answer seems obvious: it is a result of a free interplay of market forces. However, there is no single gold market; the yellow metal is traded in many places. Who then sets the price of gold? London or New York? Which of them shapes the price discovery process? What is the relationship between the LBMA Gold Price and Comex futures and spot prices? As the chart below shows, there is an almost perfect correlation between London and New York prices; but which leads the dance?
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Saturday, March 26, 2016
Stock Market SPX & Crude Oil at Critical Juncture / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The SPX at the 2050 level looks like a great place for a ‘pullback’ to begin as indicated in the chart below. There is a potential “distribution topping phase” in which the SPX may pull back to 2000. I see a potential target at 1890.
The price has made a series of lower swing highs and lower swing lows since topping in 2015. There was a big August 2015 sell-off, followed by a rally to a lower high in November 2015, then a sell-off to a lower low in January 2016. The rally currently is still at a lower high than the November 2015 high.
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Friday, March 25, 2016
Gold Stocks Spring Rally / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2016
The red-hot gold stocks have spent most of March in consolidation mode, grinding sideways near their 2016 highs. Interestingly this month’s rally pause is par for the course seasonally in gold-stock bull markets. Like gold itself, this sector tends to slump to a seasonal low in mid-March before embarking on a strong spring rally in April and May. With gold stocks back in a bull, their seasonality warrants consideration.
Seasonality is the tendency for prices to exhibit recurring patterns at certain times during the calendar year. While seasonality doesn’t drive price action, it quantifies annually-repeating behavior driven by sentiment, technicals, and fundamentals. We humans are creatures of habit and herd, which naturally colors our trading decisions. The calendar year’s passage affects the timing and intensity of buying and selling.
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