The Chinese yuan continues to gain stature in the world financial system. Earlier this week, the London Metal Exchange announced it will begin accepting yuan as collateral for banks and brokers trading on its platform. The LME is the largest metal trading venue in the world. It facilitated some $15 trillion in metal trades last…
Correlation is not causation. However when trillions are wiped out in the Chinese stock market sell off one wonders if it has international effects. Some would worry a little. Leverage in markets is a funny thing, losses elsewhere tend to bring losses closer to home. The SSEC has fallen 50% rather quickly and the Chinese…
(Photo Credit: Kristine Andreassen) Two giants in the oil industry report their FQ2 ’15 results before the opening bell tomorrow. Both Exxon Mobile Corporation (XOM) and Chevron Corporation (CVX) will be closely watched as the two juggernauts attempt to build some upward momentum after a sustained period of share price collapse since the latter stages of…
Greetings from Whole Foods Market in Palo Alto. There are times when I simply have to get away from my home office, since even I have limits as to how many hours I want to stay in the same place. I come to Whole Foods often enough to notice that a fair number of insane people…
United Insurance Holdings Corp (UIHC) is a property and casualty insurance holding company. Its primary insurance subsidiary is United Property & Casualty Insurance Company, which sources, writes, and services residential and commercial property and casualty insurance policies using a network of agents and a group of wholly owned insurance subsidiaries. United Property & Casualty Insurance…
Shares of Synergy Pharmaceuticals (SGYP) are up about 5% today after the company reported positive phase 3 results in its second study of plecanatide for patients with Chronic Idiopathic Constipation — CIC. This phase 3 trial had recruited a total of 1,337 patients with CIC who were split into two different dosing groups. Plecanatide is…
Despite early exuberance at beating top and bottom lines (and users), it appears those looking for hyper-growth opportunities are selling into the machines. An initial 12% spike in the stock after hours has been completely destroyed into the red as investors realize growth rates continue to tumble, capex is rising, and organic growth is slow. Pump… and Dump! …
Tech indices finished strong after they overcame the opening half hour of selling. The Fed statement was greeted favorably, although market breadth is not looking pretty. The Nasdaq still has a distance to travel to make back all of its losses, but has done well to hold up against Semiconductor weakness. The Semiconductor Index is struggling…
“Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer.” Julian Casablancas I will be interested to see how traders square up tomorrow ahead of the weekend. Here is ‘the lay of the land’ as we head into the month of August next week. The first chart shows just how silly the trading…
Socialists Seek to Outvote Germany In the wake of the near-Grexit, France and Italy seek more powers for the European Commission (EC). And both countries want another parliament with more power. Their unstated goal is to create a United States of Europe where socialists would outvote the Germans. Germany Seeks to Prevent Being Outvoted German finance…
