My Ignorant Mistakes First, my biggest error was assuming that Microsoft (MSFT) would be stuck where it was forever. If you just look at the stock chart, it’s easy to think that because Microsoft was stuck at $30 for a decade. Second was dismissing Surface Pro and its entry into the hardware space as a…
Talking Points: Gold Technical Strategy: Flat Gold has continued moving higher as a weak US Dollar has moved prices beyond numerous resistance levels. The multi-month high at $1,170 mentioned in our last piece was quickly broken and Gold has continued moving higher. The near-term stance remains bullish. In our last piece, we looked at the vigorous price action being…
Note: The charts in this commentary have been updated to include today’s Consumer Price Indexnews release. Back in 2010 the Fed justified its aggressive monetary policy “to promote a stronger pace of economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate” (full text). In effect, the Fed has been…
Self-driving cars, once the stuff of science fiction movies, are set to become a reality soon. Already many driver-assist features, such as lane changing, traffic jam assistant and others, are being offered by automakers. Such features are, essentially, stepping stones to autonomous driving technology. By definition, an autonomous vehicle is a car that is able…
The LMCI Index Says The Fed Is Late Again In May of 2014, the Federal Reserve began discussing a newly designed labor market index to help support their claim that employment conditions in the U.S were improving. This was an important facility for the Fed which needed support to raise interest rates. My good friend…
Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk Industrial giant, GE, is set to report earnings Friday before the opening bell. The Estimize consensus is calling for EPS of $0.28 and revenue of $28.64 billion while Wall Street is expecting lower earnings per share of $0.26 and higher revenues of $28.75 billion. GE has been poised for long-term growth and seems…
Wal-Mart’s problems may well reflect deeper issues in the U.S. economy. The giant retailer announced Wednesday that profits could drop as much a 12% in the next year. It’s stock plummeted 10% on the news. Company officials also warned they now expect sales growth for the current fiscal year to be flat. In February, the…
[BREAKING] News broke that Valeant is now under federal investigation in Massachusetts and New York for its drug-pricing practices. VRX shares were down 11.5% at open. Every once in a while, a single company combines virtually all of the market’s most toxic forces. Today I feel it’s my job to expose Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX). for…
Empire State Manufacturing Index Contracts Third Month A pair of Fed regional manufacturing reports came out this morning. Both show contraction. The Empire State Index came in at -11.36, worse than any economist’s estimate. The Econoday Consensus Estimate was -7 and the range was -5 to -10. Minus signs sweep the Empire State report with the headline…
While less than API’s huge 9.3mm barrel build reported last night, DOE reported a 7.56mm barrel inventory build – the largest in over 6 months. This is the highest crude stock level seasonally on record. Crude prices dipped on the news but rallied back to pre-data levels – though are notably holding on to the losses from the…
