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    Stocks To Trade: GLW SSNC GTN

    Wednesday’s stock picks Take a look at three trading ideas to prep you for the next trading session. Long Corning (GLW)   Long SS & C Technologies (SSNC) Short Gray Television (GTN)...
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    Trade War Fears Heat Up As Trump Eyes China

    U.S. President Donald Trump is mulling the possibility of tariffs on up to $60 billion on 100 products of Chinese imports in the telecommunications and technology sectors. The proposed tariffs are based upon findings from an investigation by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer which was formed to determine whether China’s practices are discriminatory or restrictive for U.S. commerce. The Trump administration has not yet publicized the size or timing of the tariff. As reported by CNBC, Trump vetoed proposals of tariffs on $30 billion of Chinese imports, claiming that more aggressive tariffs are necessary. Asian indexes reacted to th...
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    Long-Term Care: The New Retirement Crisis

    The retirement funding crisis that the boomers are facing is a walk in the park compared with the long-term care (LTC) crisis that is creeping up on us. The joke in our house is that when the boss – my better half – got an LTC policy and we added up the cost, I got a shotgun. For a 60-year-old couple, the annual cost of an LTC policy can run as high as $5,637 per year or $469 per month. The average Social Security benefits check is only $1,300 per month. Where’s the rest coming from? Premiums have increased annually by double digits and have gone up as much as 90% in one year. And from the consumer’s perspective, the worst part of the...
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    GBP/USD Key Bullish Breakout Must Stay Above 1.39

    GBP/USD 4 hour The GBP/USD has broken above the long-term resistance trend line (dotted red), which makes a bullish continuation likely within wave 5 (blue). Price will need to stay above the support trend lines (blue) otherwise the uptrend is in danger. 1 hour The GBP/USD is showing strong bullish momentum, which is typical for a wave 3 (orange). As long as the bearish retracement stays above the previous tops (green lines), the current wave pattern is probably a wave 4 (orange) and a bullish continuation is likely. EUR/USD 4 hour The EUR/USD is now testing the resistance trend line (red) of a triangle chart pattern. A bullish breakout could...
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    Goldilocks Markets

    Traditional Markets In this graph, we can see the reaction from the Dow Jones to the rapid succession of announcements. In the currency markets, things were more unidirectional. Both the CPI announcement and the Sec State’s sacking were seen as Dollar negative. What was interesting about this sell-off, in particular, is that there was that there was indeed an element of “flight to safety.” Something we had not specifically seen in other recent bouts of volatility. Traders rushed into bonds and the yields came down. The 10 Year Yield that we’ve been watching closely, sank to it’s lowest point this month. Gold, wh...
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    ECB Tweaks Policy Guidance But Euro Falls On Trade War Fears

    Summary: ECB removes easing bias from its forward guidance 2018 real GDP forecast to rise 2.4% and 1.9% in 2019 Draghi downplays the hawkish statement during the press conference Euro currency posts losses following Draghi’s comments S. tariffs on steel and aluminum stokes fears of a full-fledged global trade war Mexico and Canada exempt from the new tariffs The European Central Bank held its monetary policy meeting last week. The ECB tweaks policy guidance in an apparent shift, the central bank was seen removing the easing bias from its forward guidance. The central bank left interest rates unchanged at its meeting last week while also ...
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  • Finance 0

    USD/CAD Daily Analysis – Wednesday, March 14

    USD/CAD failed to break below the bottom support trend line of the price channel on its 4-hour chart and rebounded strongly from 1.2803. The pair is now facing 1.3000 resistance, a breakout of this level could signal resumption of the uptrend from 1.2247, then next target would be at 1.3100 area. Only a clear break below the channel support would indicate that the upside movement is complete....
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  • Finance 0

    U.S. Exports To China Crash In January 2018

    The year-over-year growth rate in the exchange rate-adjusted value of goods and services exported by the United States to China crashed in January 2018, which prompted President Trump to tweet, as many things do, the following comment on Twitter:   Here’s the update to our chart tracking the year-over-year growth rate of trade between the U.S. and China showing the plunge:   We dug deeper into the U.S. Census Bureau’s trade data for U.S. exports to China in January 2018, where we found the culprit responsible for crashing the year over year growth rate of U.S. exports to China: soybeans. Compared to January 2017, when the U....
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    Labor Force Participation, Unemployment, And Wages: An Update

    About a year ago I wrote a series of posts on the relationship between the unemployment rate, labor force participation, and wage growth. Especially in view of last Friday’s jobs report, which showed blockbuster hiring, but a continuation of tepid wage growth over 8 years into the expansion, now is a good time for an update. To recapitulate, history shows that wage growth is lagging the economy, and specifically only turns after the unemployment rate begins to decline. More specifically, since 1994, once the underemployment rate has fallen below about 9% (red, inverted in the graphs below), wage growth (blue) has begun to improve: Meanwhile...
    On March 14, 2018 / By
  • Finance 0

    Consumer Spending Projections

    Every month the NY Fed surveys consumers as to what they will spend in the upcoming year. The Downtrend is still intact. The New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations shows that consumers are more optimistic. In the latest set of SCE results, 40.2 percent of respondents say that their household financial situation has improved compared to a year ago—the highest such reading since the survey’s inception in June 2013. Consumers’ outlook for the year ahead has also improved, with only 10.2 percent of respondents expecting their household to be worse off financially in twelve months’ time, down from 12.5 percent in January. Hurray! H...
    On March 14, 2018 / By