In it latest quarterly report, the BIS (Bank of International Settlements), pointed a direct finger at Fed chair Janet Yellen with an even bigger point at ECB president Mario Draghi. Specifically, the BIS cited unthinkably low interest rates, bond market dislocations, and more taper tantrums in its Quarterly Review, December 2015, released today, Uneasy Calm Awaiting…
Just when bears look ready to squeeze, along come bulls to bid the market higher. The jobs report had an initial muted reaction, but bulls were able to push the failure of bears to capitalize on the figures to force them into covering. The only disappointment was the volume. For a big news day, the…
The prices of the metals moved mostly sideways this week. That is, until Friday. Then foom! (Foom is the sound of a rocket taking off.) From 8 to 12 a.m. Eastern time the price of gold rose from $1,061 to $1,087. Not surprisingly, the silver price rose a greater percentage, from $14.14 to $14.59. The catalyst seems…
At first glance, CES 2016 looks a lot like CES 2015. Approximately 3,600 exhibitors will announce approximately 20,000 new products. And while CES 2016 is set to be the largest, most diverse yet — there aren’t too many (if any) groundbreaking, game-changing or revolutionary (choose your hyperbole) new products. TVs are a little bigger, a little thinner,…
Insider buying declined last week with insiders buying $45.92 million of stock compared to $67.18 million in the week prior. Selling also decreased with insiders selling $1.15 billion of stock last week compared to $1.85 billion in the week prior. Sell/Buy Ratio: The insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales in a given week by total…
Discombobulated Markets! Thursday and Friday’s combined sessions were almost akin to a slow motion flash crash minus the gut wrenching downward price spirals. The extreme volatility in the major currency markets was also unprecedented. As previously stated, the reaction to Mario Draghi’s ECB monetary policy announcement was irrational and overdone.However, it took investors a day to…
Every Sunday I go through my watch list of stocks and study the prior week’s action of the stock market from a trend following perspective. We possibly are in the later stages of one of the most hated bull markets ever. There is great fear and many think the stock market will crash. Thus they…
The Chinese economy is telling us two different stories at a time. While on one hand, the Chinese economy is persistently delivering offhand economic numbers and even raised hard landing fears at some point of time, its currency yuan received a privileged reserve status from the IMF recently. Notably, the inclusion of yuan to…
With the increased frequency of heightened volatility, investing has never been as challenging as it is today. However, the importance of investing has never been more crucial either, due to rising life expectancy, corrosive effects of inflation, and the uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of government programs like Social Security, Medicare, and pensions. If you are not wasting enough…
Whether the Fed raises rates in December or early in 2016, many market strategists believe higher interest rates will be a reality very soon. A few of our recent articles mentioned our belief that the Fed missed the opportunity to raise rates twelve or eighteen months ago and a rate rise now will be implemented…
