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  • Finance 0

    Country ETF Update

    The theme for Single Country ETFs over the last month is either countries that produce a lot of natural resources (commodities) or countries in which sane people don’t invest. Okay, maybe sanity isn’t the proper metric but surely investors who can’t afford to take a loss shouldn’t be investing in Russia, Peru or Turkey, all three of which make the top 10 for performance over the last 3 and 1 month periods. For the one month period, just for kicks, Greece makes the top 10, another place the typical retiree probably ought not be chasing yield or returns. To be serious though, the performance of these Country ETFs proves one thing for su...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    How Big Is The “Gig” Economy? What About “Permatemps”?

    I just looked up the term “gig”. Merriam-Webster provides 4 definitions: “Something whirled, someone of grotesque appearance, a rowboat, and a two-wheeled one-horse carriage”. Clearly that’s not what we are talking about. Even the Urban Dictionary is behind the times with its description “A live performance, either musical, theatrical, or physical.” Curiously, the Urban Dictionary managed to misspell the word tomorrow in its example “The band has a gig tommorow night.” The Wall Street Journal uses the term “gig” meaning an “alternative work arrangement job”. With that definition in mind, how big is the “gi...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    How We Knew Valeant Pharmaceuticals Would Blow Up

    In this video we explain how we researched Valeant Pharmaceuticals before its big earnings dive. Valeant Pharmaceuticals PDF here, video below of the details behind our research that led us to publish multiple warnings on Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) stock, which dropped 50% on March 15. (The following was published on March 15) Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX: $36/share) had been in a bit of a limbo lately, as investors awaited the long delayed 4Q15 results. The company finally released its earnings and the results were to be expected if you heeded our previous warnings. Bad News Not A Surprise In the release, the company recognized the signi...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Forex Forecast: Pairs In Focus March 27, 2016

    The difference between success and failure in Forex trading is very likely to depend upon which currency pairs you choose to trade each week, and not on the exact trading methods you might use to determine trade entries and exits. Each week I am going to analyze fundamentals, sentiment and technical positions in order to determine which currency pairs are most likely to produce the easiest and most profitable trading opportunities over the next week. In some cases it will be trading the trend. In other cases it will be trading support and resistance levels during more ranging markets. Last week I highlighted long AUD/USD as a good trade for t...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Hugh Hendry: “If China Devalues By 20% The World Is Over, Everything Hits A Wall”

    Once upon a time Hugh Hendry was one of the world’s most prominent financial skeptics, arguing with anyone who would listen that the status quo is doomed and that central planning will never work. Most famously, back in 2010 during a BBC round table discussion with Jeffrey Sachs and Gillian Tett when discussing Europe’s crashing experiment with the single currency, he said that we should “purge this system of its rottenness. Let’s take on a recession. It’s going to be tough, people are gonna lose their jobs. They are going to lose their jobs anyway. We can spread this over 20 years, or we can get rid of it over...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Getting Busy Next Week: Non-Farm Payroll And Yellen Stand Out

    After a long weekend in some places, we have a busy week in the turn of the month: the usual Non-Farm Payrolls report is preceded only by few data points, raising the level of uncertainty. Earlier, Fed Chair Janet Yellen could weigh on the dollar by clarifying the confusion between the hawks and the doves. Data from China will also rock markets as well as important Euro-zone inflation data, Canadian GDP and more.  ...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Chinese Yuan Tracks Market Moves More Closely – The New Normal?

    Fundamental Forecast for the Yuan: Neutral FX Regulator Says China Is Prepared PBOC Governor Said Developed Markets Help to Offset High Debt What Are the Traits of Successful Traders? Get FXCM’s Free New eGuide This week both the offshore Yuan (CNH) and onshore Yuan (CNY) posted its largest weekly of the year on strong US Dollar gains. The PBOC weakened Yuan’s daily reference rate by a total of 595 pips over the past week to guide the currency move along with the market trend. Looking into next week, China will release key manufacturing figures and its counterparty US will publish a series of major reports including non-farm payrolls (...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Hedged And Inverse Bond ETFs To The Rescue If Rates Rise

    The behavior of the fixed income market is different this week from recent weeks. This is because a few hawkish comments from some Fed officials completely ruled out the dovish mood felt after the Fed announced no rate hike in its latest meeting and cut the number of projected rate hikes for this year (read: Buy Ranked Dividend Growth ETFs in Focus after Fed Meeting). In any case, the recent data points corroborated sturdy U.S. economic growth. Plus, comments from Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart, San Francisco Fed president John Williams and Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker once again stirred up the rate hike talks, going by Reut...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Household Finances Still In Good Shape Despite Deterioration Says Deutsche Bank

    The average consumer’s household finances aren’t in as good as shape as they were, but Deutsche Bank economists still think consumers have enough buying power to keep the economic recovery chugging along steadily. Their recent study supports findings from another firm that also suggested consumers are doing pretty well. In February, Goldman Sachs concluded that the U.S. consumer is in good shape as the personal saving rate was still high even though economic growth in areas that affect consumers is slowing. Buying power still “relatively robust” DB Chief U.S. Economist Joseph LaVorgna and team looked at household finances from vario...
    On March 27, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Strong Closes

    A strong close Friday for stocks is what we wanted to see and tells me we remain setup for a breakout higher, but if not, it doesn’t take long to exit my positions. We still look good for higher and have a neutral reading in terms of overbought/oversold. Nice stuff from SPY who held the 202 support level Friday. There is an abundance of talk of weakness and going with the crowd usually doesn’t pay off but time will tell....
    On March 27, 2016 / By