U.S. industrial production and the Empire State Index disappointed again. What does it mean for the gold market? Industrial production rose 0.1 percent in September after falling 0.5 percent in August. Hence, there is some rebound, but American industry still faces strong headwinds. On an annual basis, the number was 1.0 percent lower than its year-earlier level. Actually, industrial production has been suffering for the whole past year, as one can see in the chart below. Chart 1: Industrial production index (percent change from year ago) from 2006 to 2016. However, the reading was generally in line with expectations, so it should not signif...
Today I wanted to find a great large cap stock for Momentum Investors so I used Barchart to sort the S&P 500 Index stocks first for the most frequent number of new highs in the last month, then again for technical buy signals of 80% or better and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) popped up. Barchart technical Indicators: 96% technical buy signals Trend Spotter buy signal Above its 20, 50 and 100-day moving averages 12 new highs and up 17.78% in the last month Relative Strength Index 70.14 Technical support level at 45.90 Recently traded at 48.58 with a 50 day moving average of 44.21 ...
PPG Industries (PPG) may not be a household name for dividend investors, but it has an impressive company history. It was founded in 1883, as Pittsburgh Plate Glass. Today, PPG operates across the world, with 47,000 employees and nearly $15 billion in annual sales. PPG stock has delivered a 245% total return to shareholders over the past decade. The stock offers steady earnings growth and a long track record of paying dividends. In fact, PPG has paid 472 consecutive quarterly dividends, and has made uninterrupted dividend payments… since 1899. PPG has increased its dividend for 44 consecutive years. The company’s long dividend stre...
According to a MarketsandMarkets report, the global artificial intelligence (AI) market is estimated to grow at 53.65% annually from $419.7 million in 2014 to $5.05 billion by 2020. The growth in the industry is attributed to the deployment of AI technologies in retail, finance, and healthcare sectors. IBM (NYSE: IBM) is targeting this high growth market with added focus on Watson through acquisitions and strategic tie-ups. Photo Credit: Greg Gorman/Flickr.com IBM’s Financials IBM’s third quarter revenues were flat at $19.23 billion compared with $19 billion forecast by the market. Adjusted earnings of $3.29 per share were also better...
Per media reports, Apple Inc. (AAPL – Free Report) is expected to unveil new Macs next week, much to the pleasure of Apple loyalists. However, there is no official word on the matter from the tech behemoth. Speculations of the launch of a refreshed Mac lineup have been doing the rounds for quite some time now. The launch of MacOS Sierra last month without any devices that use the operating system made the rumor mills work overtime. Plus, Apple has rescheduled its earnings release (a rare occurrence) to Oct 25, which further increased speculations. Apple is likely to host the Mac event on Oct 27 at its Cupertino headquarters, just a ...
The ECB meets tomorrow. Few, if any, are expecting fresh action. The economy has progressed broadly along the lines that ECB anticipated. Growth is stable near trend levels. While deflationary pressures have eased, price increases remain minimal. At 0.4% year-over-year, eurozone CPI, officials cannot be content with the progress. Moreover, the latest bank lending survey was disappointing. Credit conditions have weakened for the third consecutive quarter. The Composite Index fell to 12.67 in Q3 from 12.75 in Q2 and off from the 16.4 high in Q2 15. Despite the access to cheap funds via TLTRO II, bank lending to households has slowed from...
The health insurance industry is seeing an upheaval this year on increased regulation, pricing concerns and the sustainability of Obamacare, which is highly dependent on the outcome of the November election. Against such a weak backdrop, the largest U.S. health insurer UnitedHealth Group (UNH) came up with robust third-quarter 2016 results and raised its outlook for the full year. This has sparked a rally in the industry, infusing an air of confidence in future growth and profitability. Q3 Earnings in Focus UnitedHealth Group continued its long streak of earnings beat with earnings per share of $2.17 surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by...
Oil held gains overnight following API’s surprise crude inventory draw, DOE data surprised even more with a massive 5.247mm draw (2.1mm build exp). Cushing saw the biggest draw in 6 months but we note that Gasoline inventories rose 2.469mm barrels – the biggest build since Feb. Production rose very modestly but hovers around the 8.5mm b/d level. API Crude -3.8mm (+2.1mm exp) Cushing -1.96mm (-1.4mm exp) Gasoline +929k Distillates -2.3mm DOE Crude -5.247mm (+2.1mm exp) Cushing -1.635mm (-1.4mm exp) – biggest in 6 months Gasoline +2.469mm – biggest in 8 months Distillates -1.24mm Following last week’s big build, ...
Have you been eager to see how Halliburton Company (HAL – Analyst Report) – the world’s No. 2 oilfield-services company – performed in Q3 in comparison with the market expectations? Let’s quickly scan through the key facts from this Houston, TX-based company’s earnings release this morning: About Halliburton: Halliburton is one of the largest oilfield service providers in the world, offering a variety of equipment, maintenance, and engineering and construction services to the energy, industrial, and government sectors. The company operates under two main segments: Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. Za...