Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Fed Credibility Dwindles, Pension Funding Crisis Looms / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
Clint Siegner writes: Fed officials jawbone the markets and spread disinformation. They figure it’s part of their job as central planners. It’s not enough to pull the levers and twist the knobs on interest rates, the money supply, and asset prices. They also use propaganda to manage investor psychology. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Frustrated metals investors wonder just how long officials will maintain their hold over markets when so much of what they say turns out to be garbage and so much of what they do ends in failure.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
U.S. Lifted The Crude Oil Export Ban, And Exports Went…Down / Commodities / Crude Oil
Just over three months after the authorities lifted the four-decade ban on crude oil exports, the U.S. has actually exported less this year than it did over the same period the year before, when the ban was still in place.
According to Clipper Data market intelligence cited by the Financial Times, we've seen a 5 percent decline in U.S. crude oil export volumes since the beginning of this year. The data suggests that on average we are exporting (waterborne) 325,000 barrels per day now, compared to 342,000 barrels per day during the first months of 2015.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Why Putin Loves Donald Trump / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016
If you religiously devour world viewpoints you know that Russia loves Donald Trump, but might not know why it does.
Russia’s Fort Russ (fort-russ.com) thinks, “In the US they already noticed that the Kremlin is sympathetic towards Donald Trump: state media and members of the political leadership of Russia have given positive feedback of the eccentric scandalous billionaire and expressed hope that he will be the next President of the United States.“ [1]
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Currency Wars, the Devaluation Delusion / Currencies / Currency War
In 2010, Brazil’s Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, coined the phrase “currency war” when he complained about the “cheap” Chinese renminbi (RMB). Mantega claimed this gave China an unfair trade advantage. As he put it to the Financial Times, “we’re in the midst of an international currency war, a general weakening of currency. This threatens us because it takes away our competitiveness.”Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Marc Faber: Gold Still Most Desirable Currency in Wake of Brussels Attack / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2016
After several years of low gold prices, 2016 has brought a rebound, with the metal rising almost 20% since the first of the year, although recent price corrections have slowed gold's advance. After the Brussels terrorist attacks last Tuesday, gold rose briefly, but then was undercut by a strong U.S. dollar rally. Investors are wondering whether gold is in a temporary correction mode or if the three-month bull has run its course.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
YAWN......VIX Lower...Beta Lower.... Stock Market To Nowhere... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2016
The emotions run high as it seems something special is about to happen, only to see it disappear in a puff of sadness. It looks like the market is about to rock, but it doesn't. You say to me, but it has run up already. I say, but to where? It goes nowhere in the end. Nothing sustainable. We rise. We get overbought. We pull back. We rise, and then see negative divergences, and then fall again. It goes nowhere in the big picture. Today was incredibly boring simply because beta, volatility, if you will, is leaving the ball park. Taking a vacation as the lower VIX readings are taking over, even though the VIX was up today. Oh how many long for the days of VIX readings in the upper 20's or lower 30's. Then we'd see 100-point moves on the Nasdaq as routine.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Don't Get Caught Catching a Falling Financial Knife / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2016
Editor's note: This article was adapted from a new subscriber-level summary report, Don't Get Caught Catching a Falling Financial Knife, from Elliott Wave International, the world's largest independent financial forecasting firm. For the complete report, follow this link. It's free to read.
In November, The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast discussed the importance of a key long-term divergence between the major stock indexes and financial stocks.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Using Crowdfunding As Part Of A Comprehensive Personal Finance Strategy / Personal_Finance / Money Making
Crowdfunding is being used for everything these days, from launching promising startups to affording education. As you chart out your personal financial goals and the plan that you need to achieve them, you may find yourself wondering about the possibilities for crowdfunding to help you in your own life. This is especially true if you’re struggling with debt or if you can’t seem to get solid footing for yourself when it comes to paying your bills.
In some cases, crowdfunding is the right way to go, but you have to know what you’re doing; otherwise, you’ll earn zero donations, and you might damage your reputation in the process.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
How Low Will Donald Trump, Republican's Sink? / ElectionOracle / US Presidential Election 2016
Donald Trump, whose ego is larger than Trump Towers, called Sen. Marco Rubio “Little Rubio,” a derogatory reference to the Florida senator’s height.
Rubio responded by saying that Trump’s hands were too small for the size of his body. “And you know what they say about guys with small hands,” Rubio counterpunched, adding that Trump “doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan.” Trump, said Rubio, “isn't gonna make America great, he's gonna make America orange.” The pro-Rubio crowd in Salem, Va., loved it. Unfortunately, Rubio wouldn’t be able to zing Trump much more, dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination less than a month later.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
New Zealand’s Surprise Interest Rate Cut Highlights Concern Of A Global Currency War / Interest-Rates / Currency War
On Wednesday March 9th the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced a surprise cut in New Zealand’s benchmark interest rate by 25bps to 2.25%. That is the fifth rate cut by the RBNZ since June in the hope to spur economic growth and to boost exports by weakening the New Zealand dollar. This is a historic low for New Zealand’s interest rate.
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Tuesday, March 29, 2016
China Boasts Most Billionaires in the World and Makes For a Great Long Term Investment / Economics / Demographics
"An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains." ~ Dutch Proverb
Our Asian edge Index and trend indicator clearly stated back in 2005, that China would lead the way in economic growth and eventually overtake the US in many areas. China now boasts the World's Largest Middle Class, and it is growing much faster than our Middle-Class.
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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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