Monthly Archives: November 2014

ISIS Wants To Introduce Gold Coins

We all more or less know what is going on in the world right now. There is the political turmoil between Ukraine and Russia, the fear surrounding the deadly Ebola virus, and the actions of the terrorist group ISIS are being monitored closely. Often, as an investor or trader, we do not take these conflicts…

Great Graphic: China Market Cap Surpasses Japan

This Great Graphic, composed on Bloomberg, shows that China’s market capitalization (white line) is greater than Japan’s (yellow line). This is the consequence of two forces.   Click on picture to enlarge First, the Chinese stock market has easily outperformed Japanese stocks this year, and by a wide margin. The Shanghai Composite is advanced 26.8% this year and…

Dividend Aristocrats In Focus Part 47: Bemis

Bemis (BMS) is one of the most unknown Dividend Aristocrats. It does not have the instant name recognition that fellow Aristocrats McDonald’s (MCD),Coca-Cola (KO), or Wal-Mart (WMT) have.  Bemis is a global packaging manufacturing with a market cap of just under $4 billion; very small for a Dividend Aristocrat. The company has paid increasing dividend for 31 consecutive years and…

Oil And Markets

Bloomberg news points to continued trends in oil production and prices. Yves Smith also comments here.  …Conventional oil producers in OPEC can no longer dictate prices, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said in an interview on Nov. 26. Newcomers to the market who have the highest costs and created the glut should be the ones…

A Fractured Misconception

Amongst the permabulls of our race  – which is basically everybody at this point  – there’s this empty-headed notion that as crude oil prices plunge (an event I predicted repeatedly here on Slope), cheaper gas would make the economy boom even more. I’ve read this sentiment so often that I just had to same something – in case you…

Insider Trading Report Edition #232: Notable Buys And Sales

Welcome to edition 232 of Insider Weekends. Insider buying decreased last week with insiders buying $59.33 million of stock compared to $68.12 million in the week prior. Selling increased a little with insiders selling $1.73 billion of stock last week compared to $1.69 billion in the week prior. Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total…

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On November 25, 2014 Amgen (AMGN) and AstraZeneca (AZN) announced positive results in a phase 3 study dealing with patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The phase 3 trial was known as the AMAGINE-2 trial and was evaluating the experimental drug brodalumab against Stelara and a placebo drug. The trial showed that Amgen and AstraZeneca’s drug…