Analysis Topic: Stock & Financial Markets
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Saturday, February 11, 2012
Stock Market Friday Profit Taking / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
Courtesy of Doug Short writes: The S&P 500 dropped at the open and hit a mid-morning low of -1.08%. The index then oscillated across a six-point range and closed the day near the range high for loss of 0.69% and a fractional loss of 0.17% for the week. It was, in fact, the first negative weekly close of 2012 after five consecutive weekly gains. The index is up 6.76% year-to-date and is 1.56% below its interim high at the end of April 2011.
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Should Stock Market Investors Worry About February’s Reputation? / Stock-Markets / Seasonal Trends
Most investors are aware of the market’s various seasonal patterns.
In the Four-Year Presidential Cycle the market has a strong tendency to be positive in the last two years of each Presidential term. Within each year it tends to make most of its gains in its annual favorable season between October and May. Shorter term, it tends to be positive in the few days surrounding the end of each month.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Stock Market Upleg Has Room to Run / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
The US stock markets have been on fire lately, still marching higher even after the S&P 500 powered to its best January in 15 years. Doubted from its very birth, this latest stock-market upleg continues to inexorably climb the proverbial Wall of Worry. But while bears keep on arguing for its imminent demise, today’s upleg actually still has plenty of room to run higher. Despite the naysayers, it isn’t too late to buy in yet.
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Friday, February 10, 2012
Superb Investor Opportunities Created by 3 False Premises / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
“In one of the most shamefully disingenuous reports we’ve seen in years, the US Labor Department released the latest employment figures on Friday showing that the headline US unemployment rate had fallen to 8.3%.
“Champagne and sound bites were pre-positioned in Washington as the self-congratulatory praise flowed like the bubbly. President Obama, beaming like he’d just caught the winning touchdown pass, told the American people on Sunday that he ‘deserved’ a second term.
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Thursday, February 09, 2012
The Next Big Asian Emerging Market / Stock-Markets / Asian Economies
Chris Mayer writes: "It's like Thailand was 50 years ago," Alexandre de Lesseps told me.
We were talking about the next big emerging market to bloom in Asia. It may surprise you, but it is one heck of a story... and opportunity. It's also the subject of my upcoming book, World Right Side Up. The country I'm talking about is Myanmar (or Burma, as most people still seem to call it).
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Money Market Funds Are in the Fight of Their Lives / Stock-Markets / Credit Crisis 2012
Shah Gilani writes: Money market funds aren't exactly the safe-haven investments they're cracked up to be.
In September 2008, when Lehman Brothers failed, money market investors fled funds in droves, exposing investors and capital markets across the globe to huge systemic risks.
Now, to better safeguard investors and prevent the commercial paper market from shutting down in future crises, SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro is proposing to re-make the money market mutual fund industry in the image of banks.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Stock Market Hanging Very Tough / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
You have to hand it to the bulls as they just refuse to give up the gains in this market. For now, anyway. You have to wonder how long they can hold things up this well into very overbought conditions on the daily index charts. The market tried a few times to sell things down, but it refused to cave in. The folks on the side lines that have missed a lot of this move are anxious to get in on any weakness, thus, the bears are having a rough time keeping things down. It'll happen at some point for the bears. It's impossible to time it, because the buy-the-dip mentality is still on.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Do Low Interest Rates Power Stock Markets Higher? / Stock-Markets / Learning to Invest
Back in the day, one of the first things I "learned" about investing was that low or declining interest rates are good for stock prices.
I've since had to "unlearn" this.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Markets Risk Train Chugs Along, Overbought Does Not Mean a Correction is Coming / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
This market has been overbought since mid January 2012 and it has shown very little signs of slowing down leave alone reversal. The action post Ben speech yesterday was another breakout and this time unless its fake in which case we will know in the next 48 hours, this train is picking up speed. While we were not along in fading this market in feb but we have quickly reversed positions with strong evidence (laid below) of a new wave of risk buying if we get through key levels and days (feb 9 is imp day)
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
How Corporate Debt Deleveraging Looks / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
I found an interesting pattern in studying corporate debt. Specifically yield spreads which is the difference between investment grade and below investment grade yield. As investors grow risk averse they prefer to move to the safety of investment grade debt thus driving yields lower. They do this buy selling below investment grade debt thus driving yields higher. The result are higher spreads.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Timing the Market: Predicting When the FED Will Act Next (Feb 12) / Stock-Markets / Inflation
Sadly, we have reached the point where markets are largely driven by government & central bank action. Their principle policy tool is monetary easing, which is used to shoot-up markets, against a market driven backdrop of de-levering. So in order to predict what the actors are likely to do, we need to understand the political constraints & incentives that they find themselves under: the principle actors being the central bankers and their politician friends.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Stock Market Counter-Trend Moves Continue to Spark False Hopes / Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market
The bearish Dow theory primary trend change that occurred in August remains intact. As price moved into that low, and the October low that followed, bearish sentiment was at levels not seen since 2008. However, I said then, in articles written here, that not all Dow theory trend changes were created equally. I explained that rather than a meltdown, my work was suggestive of a low and that higher prices would follow. This has all proven correct. I also said then that this was all part of a much larger trap for both the bull and bear alike. In light of the volatility seen following the August/October lows, this has been proven correct as well. But, I also continue to believe that there is still a trap being set on an even larger scale, which has yet to be proven correct. What I mean is, the higher the rally out of the August/October low has gone, the more comfortable the masses have become with the rally. We are now seeing a sense of optimism and people have by and large forgotten about the pain and fear they experienced into October. All the while, they do not realize that its all really part of a bigger setup.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Stock Market Staying Overbought....Larger Pullback Coming Soon... / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
But that doesn't mean we won't wiggle our way up a few more percent in this market before the bigger selling kicks in. It will kick in, folks. It's not if, but when. The selling will be extremely healthy, and it's very necessary, but since we're still in the buy-all-pullbacks phase of this rally, the market still works its way up higher in the days, and weeks, ahead before it gets a bit nasty to the downside. It's also important that the stocks go up some more, before the larger pullback kicks in, because the selling should be decent. The bulls want to be able to protect the breakout at 1320, or the long-term down trend line, they worked so hard to take out. If the market were to sell hard from here, it's quite likely we'd lose 1320.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Wary Stock Market Investors Give U.S. Stocks Another Go / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
Recently, the stock market has been roaring, with the S&P 500 up a stunning 22% from October 3, 2011, which was the low of last year. In fact, the first month of 2012 has been one of the best Januaries on record for US stocks. On top of that, last Friday's better-than-expected jobs report seems to provide further evidence that we're turning a corner.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Did Friday's Gold Price Action Signal a Stock Market Top? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
“You can’t feel the heat until you hold your hand over the flame.
You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays.” ~ Rise Against. “Satellite” Lyrics ~
Friday morning traders and market participants awaited the key January employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The reaction to the supposedly wonderful report was a surge in the S&P 500 E-Mini futures contracts as well as several other key equity index futures.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Monday Financial Markets Madness – What’s This Greece Thing? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
NOW Greece is going to matter?
Just when we were planning to get bullish, the Futures are off half a point as concerns about Greece, of all things, come back to the forefront as pretty much the entire country is poised to strike this evening on the expected news that even stricter austerity measures will be jammed down the throats of a Nation that is already suffering from 20% unemployment.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Stock Market Investors Dangerous Times Ahead, Will Impact Gold / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
Friday's big rally on the better than expected employment report has now generated the kind of euphoria that often creates intermediate degree tops. This coming week will be the 18th week of the current intermediate cycle. As you can see in the chart below the intermediate cycle runs on average 18-25 weeks from trough to trough.
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Monday, February 06, 2012
Stock Market Next Short-term Top in Sight / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
SPX: Very Long-term trend - The very-long-term cycles are down and, if they make their lows when expected, there will be another steep and prolonged decline into 2014.
SPX: Intermediate trend - Intermediate uptrend still intact.
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 discusses the course of longer market trends.
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Sunday, February 05, 2012
Stock Market Weekend Update / Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2012
The US market opened the week on a down note, dropping to SPX 1300, but ended at new uptrend highs, SPX 1345. For the week the SPX/DOW were +1.90%, and the NDX/NAZ were +2.95%. Asian market were mostly higher, gaining 0.6%. European markets were all higher, gaining 2.8%, and the DJ World index was up 2.4%. Positive economic reports for the week outpaced negative reports 11 to 6. On the downtick: personal spending, Case-Shiller, the Chicago PMI, consumer confidence, the ADP index and factory orders. On the uptick: auto sales, personal income, PCE prices, ISM manufacturing/services, construction spending, monthly payrolls, the WLEI, investor sentiment, plus both weekly jobless claims and the unemployment rate improved. Next week’s reports will be highlighted by consumer credit, the twin deficits and consumer sentiment. Best to your weekend/week!
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Saturday, February 04, 2012
Are US Treasury Bond Markets a Sell? / Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2012
Impressive gains on stocks, it seems nothing can derail this trend atm.
Finally however we meet some awaited targets, although I will be the 1st to admit I am really pushing the boat here and allowing for the bears to come up with some magic before I potentially revert and relinquish and ideas of seeing a reversal.
Sometimes you got to know when to fold, we are at that point where if the bears don't come up with something, then the likely hood is that the markets are in something special and a test of the Oct 2007 highs are most probable.
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