Monday, October 12, 2015

UK State Pension Top Up, Is It Worth It? / Personal_Finance / Pensions & Retirement

By: Nadeem_Walayat

As of today Britain's pensioners are being offered a chance to top up their state pensions under what is known as Class 3A Voluntary Contributions .

The top up is open to all current pensioners and those about to retire by April 2016

The maximum increase in weekly pensions is £25 per week or £1300 a year on top of the current state pension of £115 per week / £5980 per year.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Move over ZIRP... Here Comes NIRP! / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: MoneyMetals

Precious metals prices enter the new week looking to extend the rally that began Oct. 2nd. Silver has gained nearly 10%, and gold is up almost 3.5%. The notion that the Federal Reserve governors may have missed their window to raise interest rates is beginning to sink in with investors.

In fact, if the U.S. economy should fall into recession, investors may see central planners move from zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) to the launch of negative interest rates.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Stock Market S&P 500: Is it This Simple? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Gary_Tanashian

In an age of Algorithms, High Frequency Trading, Quant-injected performance engines and every Casino Patron with an e-Trade account hyper-stimulating the market after each bit of news that is fed (no pun intended) to us by the financial media and Policy Central, the lowly individual can be forgiven for feeling small and vulnerable; for feeling as if the answers are beyond her, or that long-term success is out of his reach.

Indeed, this very publication has ground its gears pondering the fact that August-September market sentiment became historically over bearish in ratio to the relatively minor downside experienced thus far. That was a bullish, not a bearish thing. With sentiment now being repaired it is time to ask if we are giving the bulls too much latitude.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Chanos: I'm a Potential Purchases or Glencore Stock / Companies / Investing 2015

By: Bloomberg

Jim Chanos, founder and president at Kynikos Associates, joined hosts Stephanie Ruhle and David Westin on Bloomberg TV's new flagship morning program, Bloomberg <GO>. Chenos discussed his short on Tesla and SolarCity and the challenges in the green technology industry. He also spoke about how Glencore is suffering from the change in its business strategy in 2012 and hints that he took a short position in the company.

When asked whether he went short on Glencore last week , Chenos said: "We're not going to comment on our position on Glencore. But I will say is we know the company pretty well." He added "Let's just say I'm a potential purchaser…to close out a short position you have to buy stock."

Monday, October 12, 2015

Stock Market Waiting for the Turn / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Anthony_Cherniawski

SPX Premarket is down a fraction. That means we have to give it a little more room fefore the reversal. Equities may rally to 11:00 am or shortly after to have rallied for 60.2 hours from the low. Since the decline was 56 hours, it makes sense that a rally, no matter how strong, will take a bit longer. In addition, there is some unfinished business because Minor Wave C has not yet equaled Minor Wave A, a common relationship. To do so, it would have to rally to 2025.76.

Monday, October 12, 2015

IMF Fears $3 Trillion Credit Crunch; Lagarde Warns 'IMF Credibility at Stake' / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2015

By: Mike_Shedlock

IMF head Christine Lagarde says "IMF credibility is at stake". She blames the US for that development, and calls on US to give more voting power to China to solve the problem.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Gold Financial Advice Today and 400 Years Ago – Do Not “Venture All” “Eggs In One Basket” / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: GoldCore

We look at gold’s vital diversification benefits in the latest edition of Executive Global.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Why Gold Price Has Bottomed / Commodities / Gold and Silver 2015

By: Gary_Savage

Let me show you a few reasons why I think gold may have bottomed and why this intermediate rally could continue a lot longer than most traders expect.

I've marked the last two intermediate cycle lows with blue arrows. Now notice the intermediate trend line has already been broken and the dollar is only 7 weeks into it's intermediate cycle. That's a bad sign. It means the intermediate cycle has likely already topped and in an extreme left translated pattern.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Rise in Low Interest Rate Credit Card Deals, But Beware of Cash Charges / Personal_Finance / Credit Cards & Scoring

By: MoneyFacts

The latest research from Moneyfacts.co.uk shows that the number of low rate credit cards (cards charging less than 12%) has grown by a third in the past two years, rising from just 12 cards in 2013 to 16 today. The lowest purchase card now on offer charges just 6.4% APR for standard purchases and is the lowest rate card on the market since 2006, when a 5.9% APR card was available*.

These cards can be a cost-effective choice for those borrowers who are unsure about being able to clear their balance within the timeframe set by a card with an interest-free introductory purchase or balance transfer offer.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Stock Market One Step Back From the Ledge / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Michael_Pento

I started Pento Portfolio Strategies three years ago with the knowledge that the unprecedented level of fiat credit creation had rendered the globe debt disabled and would result in mass global sovereign default. As a consequence, there would be wild swings between inflation and deflation dependent upon the government provisions of fiscal stimulus, Quantitative Easing and Zero Interest Rate Policies...

Monday, October 12, 2015

U.S. Politicians Exploit School Shooting While Ignoring Bombing Victims / Politics / US Politics

By: Dr_Ron_Paul

Following the recent Oregon school shooting, many politicians rushed to the microphones to call for new gun control laws. President Obama even called on gun control supporters to "politicize" the shooting, while some members of Congress worked to establish a special commission on gun violence.

The reaction to the shooting stands in stark contrast to the reaction to the US military's bombing of an Afghanistan hospital run by the international humanitarian (and Nobel Peace Prize winning) group Doctors Without Borders.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Netanyahu Unleashes Settler Terror Attacks, Targets Palestinian Hospitals and Patients / Politics / Palestine

By: Stephen_Lendman

Netanyahu-ordered state terror continues raging with no end in sight. Heavily armed soldiers, militarized police, border guards and other security forces are systematically terrorizing Palestinians - beating, wounding and murdering them in cold blood.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Structural Reasons For A Long-Term Financial Markets Decline / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2015

By: Raymond_Matison

Markets advance and decline for a myriad of different reasons. But in the final analysis, the old maxim about more buyers than sellers making bullish markets, and more sellers than buyers making bear markets remains true.  Unfortunately such a simple observation is neither insightful nor helpful. However, by adding detail to this old market truth we can get great insight into the future of our current and future financial markets.

Monday, October 12, 2015

New Hedge Fund Buying Enters Crude Oil Market / Commodities / Crude Oil

By: Dan_Norcini

First, let's start with an updated chart of the WTI Crude oil.

Crude has been in a range for most of the month of September oscillating near the 50 day moving average. It had been unable to do much in the way of additional upside however until this month, when it finally broke out above resistance at the top of the range near the $48 level. Friday it managed to best 50 on an intraday basis but then faded well off the highs heading into the close.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Stock Market / GDX New Lows Coming: Panic Ahead? / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Brad_Gudgeon

The stock market came back with a vengeance out of the late September low (5- week lows), but failed to come back evenly, creating a case of an inter-market bearish divergence. The Dow Industrials, NYA, OEX and SOX made a higher high above the September 17th top on October 9th, but the SPX and NASDAQ Comp failed to do so. The SPX came close but the Comp failed miserably. In charting terms, we have just created a "double top" and hence a 'double top reversal' is at hand. Normally, it runs a Fibonacci .333 to .382 past the previous low (1871 SPX) and that forecasts ideally somewhere between or near 1780-96 on the SPX within the next 5-6 TD's.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Stock Market Gains, but the “Super Crash” Is Accelerating / Stock-Markets / Financial Crash

By: MM

MoneyMorning.com Michael E. Lewitt writes: The lunatics are running the asylum.

After an incessant flow of bad economic news from both the U.S. and abroad, investors decided that "bad news is good news" and they should bid up stock prices.

Saying "bad is good" is like saying "down is up" or "Hillary is telling the truth."  It is so obviously contrary to the facts that you can't take it seriously.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Negative Interest Rates Tantalizing Stupidity and the Case for Gold / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates

By: Mike_Shedlock

Financial Repression Insanity

Purportedly the Fed is ready willing and able to go to next step of financial repression insanity.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

October Stocks Bear Market and Crash Killer / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2015

By: Nadeem_Walayat

We are now well into October, which is THE month for stock market doom and gloom to prevail. This is the month when the perma stock market crash proponents are at their most vocal when they dust down and repost ancient charts of previous crashes such as 1929 and 1987 and more recently 2008, to once more proclaim that history is about to repeat and a stock market crash is imminent. Though this time its even worse than usual because even those who may have been 'mostly' bullish threw in the towel several weeks ago to at least conclude that stocks bear market had begun.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

A Bifurcated U.S. Housing Market, How Much Longer Can Unaffordable Housing Prices Last? / Housing-Market / US Housing

By: Adam_Taggart

Charles Hugh Smith writes: Markets discover price via supply and demand: Big demand + limited supply = rising prices. Abundant supply + sagging demand = declining prices.

Eventually, prices rise to a level that is unaffordable to the majority of potential buyers, with demand coming only from the wealthy. That’s the story of housing in New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area and other desirable locales that are currently magnets for global capital.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Gold Stocks GDX 30% Stealth Rally / Commodities / Gold and Silver Stocks 2015

By: Gary_Savage

We've had a stealth 30% rally off the low and still almost no one believes in the rally. Many bears are still trying to short this market. This is how bull markets start with no one on board and shorts still trying to press a very mature downtrend.