Latest Posts

  • Finance 0

    Sensex Opens Strong; Nifty At All Time High

    Asian stock markets are higher in today’s trade buoyed by Wall Street gains as well as relief that North Korea did not conduct another missile test to mark a military anniversary. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.32% while the Hang Seng is up 0.93%. The Nikkei 225 is up by 0.84%. Stock markets in Europe and US finished on a strong note after centrist candidate and market favorite Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election. Meanwhile, Indian share markets have opened the day on a strong note. BSE Sensex is trading higher by 157 points and NSE Nifty is trading higher by 48 points. Meanwhile, S&...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Wall Street Rally Inspires Asian Markets

    The global stock rally extended into Tuesday following a rally on Monday on Wall Street spurned by centrist Emmanuel Macron’s electoral win in France over the weekend. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 percent by midday to hit 19,034.74, the first cross of the 19,000 level in three weeks. The Shanghai composite was up 0.42 percent and the Kospi up 0.68 percent, while the Hang Seng index gained 0.94 percent thus far on Tuesday. Both the dollar and the euro gained against the yen on Tuesday morning, with the dollar up nearly 0.3 percent to 110.04 yen and he euro up to 119.55 yen. Despite the Rally, Tensions Reign The U.S. stock rally surprised ...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Above The 40 – The Stock Market Breaks Out With A French Fly

    AT40 = 61.0% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 63.0% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 10.8 (volatility index)Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary Going into the first round of the French Presidential election, I figured the best case scenario was the absence of a market sell-off. I never even considered the possibility that the prospect of the election was actually weighing on the stock market. After all, the euro (FXE) was in recovery mode from its latest dip against the U.S. dollar (DXY0). EUR/USD showed no immediate concern with the election. Thanks to the b...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    GBP: Market Still Short & Sterling Still Cheap – BNPP

    With the intense focus on the French elections, one can forget about the announcement to hold elections in the UK, a declaration that triggered a massive short-squeeze. And after cable slipped from the highs of 1.29, the team at BNP Paribas states that GBP/USD is still cheap: Here is their view, courtesy of eFXnews: BNP Paribas FX Strategy Research notes that that market positioning in the GBP appear to have been unwound somewhat following the announcement of a June UK general election. Despite that, BNPP notes that market positioning remains significantly short GBP, which suggests that the risk of a rally on the back of further short cove...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    How Can You Increase Your Retirement Income?

    How can you increase your retirement income and avoid risk? That’s tricky, and a lot of folks simply opt to put their money in the bank. But the good news is that there are other options, aside from the bank, for reducing risk and generating more retirement income. While banks present a lower risk than the markets, bank deposits historically have low yields. This is very significant in retirement because you need sufficient income from your investments to replace your paycheck. Your bank savings may not grow if interest rates are low, and may even lose value over time due to inflation. INCOME-PRODUCING INVESTMENTS These two income-producing...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Reducing Inequality Could Be A Matter Of Survival

    by The Indian Economist — this post authored by Kaushik Basu Global inequality today is at a level last seen in the late nineteenth century – and it is continuing to rise. With it has come a surging sense of disenfranchisement that has fueled alienation and anger, and even bred nationalism and xenophobia. As people struggle to hold on to their shrinking share of the pie, their anxiety has created a political opening for opportunistic populists, shaking the world order in the process. The gap between rich and poor nowadays is mind-boggling. Oxfam has observed that the world’s eight richest people now own as much wealth as t...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    ‘Dollar’ ‘Improvement’

    According to the headline TIC statistics, foreign central banks have in the past six months sold the fewest UST’s since the 6-month period ended November 2015. That may indicate an easing of “dollar” pressure in the private markets due to “reflation” sentiment. They are, however, still selling. In February 2017, the latest month available, the foreign official sector disposed of another $10.7 billion (net) after -$44.9 billion in January. The difference this year versus last year is that in 2016 the incidences of heavy “selling” were relentless whereas in 2017 it has been irregular. Including the private sector, overall there is...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Is Reserve Bank Of India Sovereign?

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has a crucial role in managing the Indian economy. It is responsible for monetary policy decisions (i.e. setting interest rates) and providing stability to the currency. While doing so, it controls inflation and regulates the financial sector. And this crucial role demands that the RBI and government operate independently of one another. In other words, the RBI should in no way be influenced by the political motives of the government in power. However, this is easier said than done. As per an article in The Livemint, the latest monetary policy report of the RBI published earlier this month began with a rath...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Post Mortem

    When the globex markets opened on Sunday afternoon, I was shocked. At the time, I had just returned my rental car at Dulles, and as I fired up my TOS app and saw the ES up about 24 points, I just about toppled over backwards. What was shocking, of course, was that the “baseline” event – – – the high-likelihood outcome that everyone expected – – had happened, and yet it was created an explosive up-move in equities (and trashing gold). As I lamented in the wee hours of Monday morning, when I was miserably working my way out of SFO back toward home, a bullish pennant was complete. In retrospect, there was one grand error I made, wh...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Housing’s Echo Bubble Now Exceeds The 2006-07 Bubble Peak

    A funny thing often occurs after a mania-fueled asset bubble pops: an echo-bubble inflates a few years later, as monetary authorities and all the institutions that depend on rising asset valuations go all-in to reflate the crushed asset class. Take a quick look at the Case-Shiller Home Price Index charts for San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, OR. Each now exceeds its previous Housing Bubble #1 peak: Is an asset bubble merely in the eye of the beholder? This is what the multitudes of monetary authorities (central banks, realty industry analysts, etc.) are claiming: there’s no bubble here, just a “normal market” in actio...
    On April 24, 2017 / By