There has been a lot of chatter in recent days about the plunge in commodity prices—–capped off by this week’s slide of the Bloomberg commodity index to levels not seen since 2002. That epochal development is captured in the chart below, but most of the media gumming about the rapidly accelerating “commodity crunch” misses the essential point. To wit,…
Shares of Inotek (ITEK) are up 52% after the company announced an end of phase 2 meeting with the FDA for its drug candidate known as Trabodenoson. Trabodenoson is used to treat patients with Glaucoma — a disease that causes blindness but can be avoided with early treatment. This drug works in glaucoma patients by…
Question: Why are there so many ETFs? Answer: ETF providers tend to make lots of money on each ETF so they create more products to sell. The large number of ETFs has little to do with serving your best interests. Below are three red flags you can use to avoid the worst ETFs: Inadequate Liquidity…
“Index shows economic growth picked up slightly in June”: This is the headline for today’s release of the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index, and here are the opening paragraphs from the report: Led by improvements in production- and employment-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) moved up to +0.08 in June from –0.08…
United Rentals (URI), shown below, is very typical of the kind of chart I’m short right now. It’s got a big top, very little in the way of support, and has demonstrated in prior years its ability to fall hard. This one is going to play out nicely today, as its indicated opening is where…
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY – Analyst Report) is a major producer and distributor of pharmaceuticals and other healthcare related products. New York-based Bristol-Myers manufactures and sells branded pharmaceutical drugs such as Baraclude for hepatitis B virus (HBV), Sustiva for HIV and Erbitux for cancer. However, like many of its peers, Bristol-Myers is facing generic competition for several…
McDonald’s posted its second quarter earnings report before opening bell this morning, posting earnings of $1.26 per share and revenue of $6.5 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $1.23 per share on revenue of $6.4 billion. In the same quarter last year, the fast food chain posted earnings of $1.40 per share on sales…
Greece’s Government managed to pass the key reform measures necessary for starting the negotiations for the new 86 billion EURO bailout, but the news did not have any impact on EURUSD. GBPUSD lost some ground after the release of Bank of England minutes that revealed a hawkish stance of some of its members. Key data…
Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX – Analyst Report), formerly Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., is a mining giant that is primarily engaged in mineral exploration and development, mining and milling of copper, gold, molybdenum and silver, as well as the smelting and refining of copper concentrates. Freeport’s copper business remains affected by the sluggish global economy, slowdown in China…
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index’s three-month average (CFNAI-MA3) increased to -0.01 in June, reflecting US economic growth that’s effectively at the historical trend rate (i.e., a reading of zero). The rise marks the third consecutive month of modest improvement in economic output, according to this metric in today’s report from the Chicago Fed. The revised data…
