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  • Finance 0

    Ready To Launch

    Over the past week, most of my core market health indicators rose dramatically. It appears that market internals are preparing for a move higher. As I mentioned last week, it looks like the current dip is merely rotation before a move to all time highs rather than the making of a long term top. The measures of market quality and strength moved into positive territory this week. That changes the core portfolio allocations as follows: Long / Short hedged portfolio: 90% long high beta stocks and 10% short the S&P 500 Index (or use the ETF with symbol SH) Long / Cash portfolio: 80% long and 20% short Volatility Hedged portfolio: 100% long s...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Fixed Income Q2’17 Wrap Up: Goldilocks Vs. The Big Bad Wolf

    Written by Pat Reilly, FactSet With the summer blockbuster season upon us, I thought I would use two childhood classics (the original blockbusters if you will) to describe the current fixed income market environment. Please humor me as I take some liberty. High Yield Is The Best Asset For Low VIX Environment: Goldman Goldilocks Monetary policy continues to position global markets for a Goldilocks scenario. I know what you’re thinking, “Pat, are you mental? Growth needs to accelerate in order to make country ABC great again!” Could growth be higher in G8 economies? Certainly. . . but look at everything that has happened! In general (Ca...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Stock Market Chart That Shows What Is Really Happening

    Last night on CNBC’s Fast Money show the “Options Monster” ponytail guy said to buy GOOG and another of the “Fast Money” boys said buy NVDA even though the Nasdaq is now leading the market down, but I believe that we are now entering a new phase of market action and people are not ready, because it feels like the stock market has barely been moving up or down on any given day for months. And I know today Steve LIESman is on CNBC talking about an economic boom as the DOW futures are up about 40 in pre-market trading after the DOW fell almost 150 points yesterday. But it is “green shoots” – to b...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Record US Household Employment

    “Davidson” submits: The US Employment Situation reported today indicated the economic expansion from 2009 continues. The Household Survey Employment level hit a record 153,168,000 individuals employed. The Jobs Openings data of last month forecasted we should have expected higher employment. This has been a ‘more of the same’ expansion since 2009 with investors remaining skeptical throughout. This is the typical condition leading to higher equity markets and higher interest rates. Global Equities are recommended for investors seeking higher returns with Fixed Income expected to produce negative returns as rates rise....
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Modest Stock Updates With Feed Use & Acres Limiting Changes

    Market Analysis After last week’s quarterly stocks and acreage reports provided some unexpected results for the grain and soybean markets, the trade’s focus has switched to the cur-rent western US heat dome. Forecasts show this heat moving into central US later this month during corn’s pollination and soybeans growth periods. With the US Drought Monitor showing dryness continuing in the central and northern Plains, numerous sections of Iowa, central Illinois, southern Michigan and northwest Ohio, the markets will likely remain quite volatile until the crops get past these important growth periods. Last week’s smaller than expected spr...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Silver Revives Slide Following Flash Crash Recovery

    The scourge of flash crashes has clearly not been purged from the financial system. Silver suffered a painful stumble in the ‘afterhours’ trading following the US Thursday close and before liquidity could charge Asia’s Friday session. In less than a minute, the precious metal collapsed nearly 11 percent in the futures market and promptly reversed course. There was no ‘fundamental’ explanation to justify this collapse which suggests ‘market conditions’ in computer influences during an illiquid period. The impact was not isolated to silver either. While its stumble was far less painful, gold nevertheless dropped approximately 0....
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Chronic Crises Next For Yellen And The Fed

    “The report of my death has been grossly exaggerated” are words that Janet Yellen is likely to utter within the next few years. It was, of course, Mark Twain who said it over 100 years ago, before the Fed even existed. Yellen has recently stated that there won’t be another financial crisis in her lifetime and she will most likely have to eat those words in coming years. We know that the Fed’s record of economic forecasting has been abysmal. They have never forecast or anticipated a single economic downturn. Here is what Greenspan said in 2010: “We didn’t forecast better because we can’t”. Well, there we have it from the mas...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    A New Way To Double Your Money (Or More)

    Note: There is some fine print on what constitutes “adjusted gross proceeds.” Be sure to read it if you’re considering an investment. People I don’t know – complete strangers, actually – are asking me to loan them money. This is not peer-to-peer lending or a GoFundMe project. It’s legit and, frankly, quite exciting. These are successful movie directors and restaurant owners… theater companies and craft distilleries. In return, they’re offering me a percentage of their revenue. It reminds me of when I was financing various projects in Southeast Asia. On any given day, I’d get a dozen proposals… from gold mines to housing...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Genesis Energy: Huge 9% Dividend Yield Is Attractive, But Weak Coverage A Concern

    Genesis Energy (GEL) is a high yielding Master Limited Partnership, with a long history of steady dividends. There are currently only ~130 publicly traded MLPs available today.The unique tax structure of MLPs allows these vehicles to return more distributions to shareholders than a corporation could. And Genesis Energy is no exception.It has a current dividend yield of 9.2%.This is an extremely high yield. Genesis is one of 416 stocks with a 5%+ dividend yield. Not only that, but Genesis has increased its dividend for 47 quarters in a row. It is one of the highest-yielding Dividend Achievers, a group of stocks with 10+ years of consecutive d...
    On July 7, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Fast Fashion Has Changed The Industry And The Economy

    I own 10 black t-shirts. Three from Gap, four from H&M, one from Buffalo and two from Gilden. When it comes to blue t-shirts I have at least 5, I probably have 3 grey tees, maybe 3 in white, and I even have 2 yellow t-shirts (don’t ask). The crazy thing is that all of this is still not the entirety of my solid colored tee collection. With the count up to 23, we still haven’t discussed how many red, pink, or green tees I own. We have yet to even touch graphic t-shirts, let alone polos, button-downs, and full sleeves. Hell, we haven’t even talked about pants yet. The apparel market is growing faster than the global economy. Let me te...
    On July 7, 2017 / By