In the last few weeks, silver has been performing better than gold, which is an indication of the fact that most of the price pressure in precious metals is behind us. Gold miners can profit from this, but there is another factor that could help them: the lower oil price. The decision of…
One would think that plunging oil prices and the resulting mothballing (or bankruptcy) of the highest-cost domestic producers would lead to a collapse in U.S. oil production. And sure enough, if looking simply at headline data like the Baker Hughes count of active rigs in the U.S., then U.S. oil production grinding to a halt would be…
1. Last week’s events (FOMC and SNB) reinvigorated the divergence thesis that was questioned during what appears to have been a technical correction. U.S. data in the days ahead will reinforce the perception of U.S. economic strength. This may also ease concerns that the strength of the dollar is curbing growth. At the same time, more…
Continuing with our analysis of top performers from the country’s biggest fund families, we will be looking into Vanguard this time. Last time we had reported about the 3 Top Performing Fidelity Mutual Funds in 2014. Benchmarks largely continued their winning momentum through this year, tackling most of the international concerns. As of Dec 18,…
The spectacular drop in oil prices means that inflation is going to fall even further below the Fed’s 2% target. Does that raise any new risks for the economy? I say no, and here’s why. Year-over-year percent change in the monthly deflator for personal consumption expenditures. Source: FRED. In economists’ theoretical models, inflation…
Existing home sales in the U.S. are expected to decline slightly to an annual pace of 5.25 million units in tomorrow’s update for November, according to The Capital Spectator’s median point forecast for several econometric estimates. The projection represents a marginal decrease from October’s 5.26 million units (seasonally adjusted annual rate). Three estimates based on…
Aaron’s (AAN) is a consumer goods and electronics sale and lease company. Aaron’s is the largest consumer goods and electronic leasing company in the U.S. with a market cap of $2 billion; slightly larger than rival Rent-A-Center (RCII) which has a market cap of $1.8 billion. Aaron’s is undergoing a transition with the recent acquisition of online…
“Unequivocally” not good. Following last week’s surge in initial jobless claims for ‘Shale’ states, Baker Hughes confirms rig counts continue to tumble. The last two weeks have seen the total U.S. rig count fall the most since 2009 (and Canada down 9.3% this week alone). Seemingly confirming this weakness, The Kansas City Fed notes respondents see non-durable (petroleum) demand…
by Erik McCurdy The following technical and cycle analyses provide short-term forecasts for the U.S. dollar index. For intermediate-term outlooks see the latestintermediate-term forecast and for long-term outlooks see the latest long-term forecast. Click to see complete picture at John Lund Photography. technical The index closed moderately lower Tuesday (16 December 2014), beginning a test of support at the lower…
Despite a full-blown currency crisis in Russia and increasingly volatile markets in the U.S., the price of gold has hardly moved. The yellow metal dropped considerably in November and has been almost flat in the last 30 days. It remains close to the $1,200 per ounce level. If it closed there, gold would be looking at a…
