May natural gas prices recovered some of yesterday’s losses as strong cash prices early in the day pulled the May contract off its lows. Prices ended up settling up a bit less than a percent on the day. The signature of a cash-led rally was clearly seen today with gains strongest at the front of…
Tuesday saw some upside from Monday’s recovery but the trading ranges I marked on the charts over the weekend remain valid so no change in the status quo. The S&P shows this best with the trading range defined by the former ‘bull flag’. Today’s close left the index just below resistance. The lower close could…
There is a financial crisis taking place overseas, which you probably don’t know, or care about. But you should care. The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is a measure of the cost of short-term borrowing in Europe. It is essentially their version of our own Fed funds rate. And here’s the problem. It has been…
If you look at the last 3 days in the VXX (commonly referred to as the ‘fear gauge’) you see that the last 3 days have not shown an ounce of volatility. The VXX 3-day ATR is the lowest it’s been since the end of January (before it exploded higher). Does that sound like what…
Today was an off day in stocks from the overnight, with gold and silver catching a bid in response to a heating of the geopolitical tensions over Iraq. President Trump warned Russia of incoming missiles this morning with a tweet, and Russia pretty much told him to go blow. From trade war to shooting war,…
Some companies have very erratic dividend payments. Not because management is incompetent or doesn’t care about the dividend, but because of the way the business is structured. Based on its last monthly distribution, San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (NYSE: SJT) pays a 12% yield. But that’s misleading because the distribution is variable. Hilcorp Energy Company owns natural…
When most investors and traders purchase stock it is because they intend to profit from the rise in its price. They are familiar with the mantra: ‘buy low and sell high!’ But there are several other ways of profiting from the ownership of stock shares without having to part with them. In this article, we…
In a low inflation world firms tend to raise prices once a year — typically in the first quarter or the first quarter of their fiscal year. Consequently, over half of the annual increase in the not seasonally adjusted core CPI occurs in the first quarter and doubling the first quarter increase gives an amazingly…
“China’s reaction to Mr. Trump’s legitimate defence of the American homeland has been a Great Wall of denial – despite incontrovertible evidence of Beijing’s illicit and protectionist behaviour. Instead, China is attacking American farmers with the threat of retaliatory tariffs in the apparent hope of rattling a key component of the coalition that put Mr….
The ETF industry has witnessed explosive growth buoyed by the rise in “thematic investing” and craze for “smart beta.” It has seen 84 launches and 22 closures so far this year, taking the total number of ETFs to 2,182 and total assets to nearly $3.43 billion in the U.S. market. The rapid growth can be…
