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  • Finance 0

    E Market Briefing For Wednesday, October 18

    Sure, we want growth; at the same time I don’t believe interest rates are going to jump enough that it actually impedes business expansion or transactional activity. I do believe Morgan Stanley saying today ‘Client Cash Balances’ are low is not encouraging. Now months ago Merrill Lynch said ‘high net-worth investors’ were selling a lot; and obviously that was just a bit early (for some stocks not others). So which is it? Both. That’s rotation and that’s why so much of the sustained S&P move has been a result of the use of ‘leverage’ rather than fresh money coming in. Now for sure, if t...
    On October 18, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    WTI Shrugs Despite Huge Crude Draw

    A v-shaped recovery in WTI/RBOB today (amid a dollar reversal at the EU close and chatter about a big crude draw) led prices higher into the API print (but after last week’s 100% incorrect API vs DOE reversal, who knows what it means). And the rumors were true – a huge crude draw (biggest in 2 months) and the first build at Cushing in 8 weeks. However, WTI prices didn’t move much as product builds weighed on RBOB prices. API Crude -7.13mm (-3.2mm exp) – biggest draw in 2 months Cushing -151k – first draw in 2 months Gasoline +1.951mm (+1.05mm exp) Distillates +1.644mm – biggest in 3 months After last week...
    On October 18, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    The Clash Of Megatrends That Leaves Consumers Without A Chance

    I think Dilbert is hilarious. The comic strip’s creator, Scott Adams, has incredible insight into everyday life. More than a decade ago, he showed the cartoon’s title character in a grocery store. A clerk asked Dilbert, a white-collar, micromanaged engineer by day, if he wanted to sign up for the store’s loyalty card so he could save on purchases. His reply went something like this: “So you want my personal information, which you’ll then use to track me and market to me, and in return I get the manufacturers’ rebates that I’ve always received? And if I don’t give you my data, then you keep the money?” It illustrated that cla...
    On October 18, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Will The SPX Reach 2600?

    I last wrote about the SPX:VIX ratio on September 30. Price action on the Monthly ratio chart below shows an inability, so far, for volatility to be held at bay, while the SPX continues to make new highs, almost daily. It has failed to hold, with conviction, above the 250 level and advance above its next resistance level, which is a 161.8% external Fibonacci level at 280.   Price action, typically, doesn’t like to leave unfilled gaps on the 60-Day 60-minute ratio chart. It gapped up on September 11 and remains unfilled. I’d expect that it will be filled in the near term, inasmuch as momentum has been fading on this timeframe and ...
    On October 17, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Less Than Square One

    Goldman Sachs was the latest Wall Street bank to jump on low volatility. Despite an enormous gain in prop trading, most of the rest of the firm’s results were moving in the wrong direction. In its market making segment, for example, the firm booked $2.1 billion in net revenue in the third quarter, 22% less than what it took in during Q3 2016. In FICC, the comparison was even worse: Net revenues in Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Client Execution were $1.45 billion for the third quarter of 2017, 26% lower than the third quarter of 2016, due to significantly lower net revenues in commodities, interest rate products and credit products ...
    On October 17, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    You Gotta Be In It To Win It

    Anyone who has ever attempted to make money trading has learned the lesson all too quickly that timing is everything. Some of the world’s greatest investors have lost nearly everything because their timing of the market was just slightly off. Without getting into individual names, we saw this among some of the greatest value investors in the late 1990s when they bet against internet stocks only to throw in the towel just before the peak, and then more recently in 2011 when some big-name investors went long European sovereign debt only to cover just before yields peaked leading to one of the biggest bond market rallies of our lifetimes. I...
    On October 17, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    You Gotta Be In It To Win It

    Anyone who has ever attempted to make money trading has learned the lesson all too quickly that timing is everything. Some of the world’s greatest investors have lost nearly everything because their timing of the market was just slightly off. Without getting into individual names, we saw this among some of the greatest value investors in the late 1990s when they bet against internet stocks only to throw in the towel just before the peak, and then more recently in 2011 when some big-name investors went long European sovereign debt only to cover just before yields peaked leading to one of the biggest bond market rallies of our lifetimes. I...
    On October 17, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    The French Say “Blame The Fed”

    It’s the central bank’s fault! This common refrain has grown louder as Fed Chair  Janet Yellen engages in some of the most delicate maneuvers that a central bank has ever attempted. With the economy generally moving along at a reasonable if slightly awkward clip – unemployment is abnormally low, but income inequality is abnormally high – central banks around the world have been nonetheless engaging in unorthodox economic stimulation. Now the Fed is attempting to withdraw the quantitative stimulant, a dependent substance, from the market cycle. This could result in unwanted volatility with one slight misstep. Not only is Yellen’s...
    On October 17, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Food Industry Staples: 3 Stocks To Buy Now

    While some investors might want to look for the next hot sector or up-and-coming industry to dive into, sometimes investing in more everyday industries can prove just as beneficial and profitable. With that said, we will look at three companies that hold unique positions in an industry close to many peoples’ hearts: food. On top of their standing as big names in their respective food industry segments, these three firms also hold strong Zacks Ranks. Let’s take a look at some of their current fundamentals to see if investors might want to grab these food stocks from the grocery aisle. McCormick & Company (MKC – Free Report) Thi...
    On October 17, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Dow Fails To Hold 23,000 As Yield Curve Carnage Continues

    The Dow is now up 17% YTD – crushing bonds and bullion – NOTE everything changed when China’s central bank decided that it would remove a reserve requirement for financial institutions trading in FX forwards for clients by cutting it to zero from 20% currently.. But let’s not spoil the party! Video length: 00:02:44 Dow 23,000… 1200 points in 27 days… The Dow is now the most overbought in 8 months (and the past three times, the rally has stalled)… We have never seen a divergence between VIX and The Dow this wide for this long… Additionally, as BofA notes, the S&P 500 has only traded 1% or mor...
    On October 17, 2017 / By