All the analysts chortling over the “equivalent of a tax break” for consumers are about to be buried by an avalanche of defaults and crushing losses as the chickens of financializing oil come home to roost. The pundits crowing about the stimulus effect of lower oil prices on consumers are missing the real story, which…
High Flier Tech Stocks Take A Breather NASDAQ Off 1.34% To 4727 Don’t blame the consumer and retail sales for the sell-off. Investors have done very well this year with simple indexing. The SPY SPDR S&P 500 is up 11.4% YTD, the FBT First Trust Biotechnology Index is up 45.7% YTD and the XLK SPDR Technology Index is up 17.5% YTD. Who needs stock…
The economy has continued to heat up as jobs have been added and consumer confidence has increased. While sites like Monster and CareerBuilder dominate the job search, upstarts are beginning to challenge them for market share. Today’s Bull of the Day is looking to organize the world’s talent by providing specialized insights and relevant connections…
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; Is it possible that governments devalue currencies to confiscate capital like taxes? It really does not seem likely that these people have any intention of moving into hyperinflation. They are increasing money supply but at a slower rate than the destructive deflation. It clearly appears governments are in a confiscation mode and it…
Oil resumed declines after jumping from a five-year low and metals retreated amid the highest commodity-price volatility in two years. Asian stocks rebounded and South Korea’s won led emerging-market currencies higher. West Texas Intermediate crude retreated 0.5 percent by 1:04 p.m. in Tokyo, after yesterday’s 4.3 percent surge from its lowest settlement since September 2009….
OPEC meeting went as expected. There was no formal agreement to cut production in the first meeting since the price correction. This part is very similar to 1998. Prices did their thing by falling down and now slowly rebounding. OPEC is making the decision they are not the marginal barrel. Unlike their decision in 1997,…
T2108 Status: 56.5% (2-day decline of 20% qualifies for quasi-oversold status)T2107 Status: 49.4%VIX Status: 14.3General (Short-term) Trading Call: Hold bullish positions but start taking profits if S&P 500 selling follows through. Aggressive bears can start shorting with stops at new all-time highsActive T2108 periods: Day #30 over 20%, Day #28 over 30%, Day #25 over…
Microsoft has acquired the mobile email startup Acompli, the tech giant announced today on its website. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the tech news site Re/code reports that Microsoft paid over $200 million. Accompli makes an email client for Android and iOS designed to make common but sometimes complex tasks—such sorting messages,…
I keep telling people that the German euro is undervalued, but some folks seem not to believe me. (See the comments section from this post last year for an example.) But this is a really big deal. The dominant narrative about the eurozone crisis is that fiscally irresponsible countries like Greece were bringing the once-proud currency to its knees,…
Last month, I wrote that pre-holiday shipments of Frozen merchandise pointed to a blowout year for Disney (DIS). Today, I have some updated numbers to share from global trade site Panjiva. Some points worth noting: Olaf is the new Frosty. Olaf merchandise shipments outpaced Frosty the Snowman merchandise shipments by 77%, and this despite Frosty having a multi-decade head start on the…
