The great divide between health care and energy in US equities rolls on. Health care shares continue to dominate the recent rally in the US stock market while energy firms remain conspicuous laggards, based on one-year returns. In fact, energy is the only sector currently posting a loss for the trailing 252-trading-day period, according to a representative…
The quarterly report by the Bank for International Settlements does not say it in so many words, but its warning of possible currency and funding mismatches illustrates why the much ballyhooed Chinese swap lines are misunderstood. Recall that during worst of the Great Financial Crisis in 2008-2009, there was not G7 currency intervention. …
Today the 10, 5 & 2 is dropping again as yields on the long end decline and the short end rises. 10, 5 & 2 year yields from Bloomberg Below is the state of the 10 vs. 2 year at Friday’s close (weekly chart). It is bearish for gold but it is also bearish for…
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The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index – which forecasts employment for the next 6 months – again strengthened. The index has improved now for 11 months. However, the rate of growth slowed. The Conference Board believes future employment growth will likely be solid in the coming months – but Econintersect‘s own employment index is saying…
In May, I wrote an article about Best Buy (BBY). The stock price was still clearly beaten after taking a hit in the beginning of the year. At the time, I wrote that the perception of the investors about this stock was still being affected by non-recurrent items. However, the company was taking measures to…
What do McDonald’s (MCD), Philip Morris (PM), Caterpillar(CAT), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), and Target (TGT) have in common? Yes, they’re all large-cap stocks that pay solid dividends. In fact, three are even Dividend Aristocrats, having increased their dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. But the common characteristic I’m referring to isn’t related to their dividends… or even their common stocks. Instead, I’m looking higher up…
Enough time has passed that I wanted to mention an idea I gave my Slope Plus subscribers back on November 21st. I wrote, in part, “USO did a perfect gap-fill at 29.08. I shorted some crude oil right here, since this is an extremely clean stop.” My stop was too tight (by a few pennies),…
Source Less than 15 years ago, the term ‘BRIC’-countries was introduced by Jim O’Neill. It was an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China whose economies were expected to overtake by 2050 the countries which were the largest economies in 2000. There was a lot of lobbying going on from other countries to…
The U.S. has experienced higher temperatures during December so far. This is in sharp contrast to last month’s chill, marked by heavy snowfall in the Northeast and Midwest. However, temperatures may soon drop again following storm warnings for the Northeast. Bitter November Through November’s end, the U.S. had experienced an early and bitter winter. Portland,…
