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  • Finance 0

    Stealing Steel: A Microcosm Of Macro-Forces

    There are few industries that offer a picture glass window to see numerous macroeconomic forces as steel does. Excess capacity, trade policy, and the yuan all intersect when looking at the steel industry. Moreover, it also shed light on why the drop of energy and other commodity prices, such as iron ore, have not bolstered the steel industry, let alone the general economy, as many expected.   At the heart of the problem is that globally there is greater capacity to produce steel than demand. That excess capacity is not simply a function of the state planning effort of China. Rather Europe also suffered from excess capacity. It lost a quarter...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Protect Your Portfolio From Going Up & Down Like A Toilet Seat – Here’s How

    The original article as written by Matthew Tucker (blackrockblog.com) is presented here by the editorial team of munKNEE.com in a slightly edited ([ ]) and/or abridged (…) format to provide a fast and easy read. It’s an investor’s rule of thumb and a rule of life – don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. When it comes to your portfolio, it’s best to spread out your holdings in markets to avoid being hit by the fall in any one investment. This is called “diversification”. It works when building a portfolio of individual stocks or bonds, and works equally well when building your overall investment portfolio. Many investors...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Close To Oversold

    Twitter sentiment for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) isn’t quite oversold yet. It’s getting close though. It appears to me that we need one more dip in price that carries 7 day momentum below -20 before we get a good counter trend bounce. You can view an interactive daily chart here. Scroll over the lines on the interactive chart to see the daily values....
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    The Fed’s All Talk, But That Might Be The Point

    A couple weeks ago the Bank of Japan made a startling move when it pushed a key interest rate into negative territory. After one of its officials had said just a week prior that the central bank wasn’t considering this option, the world was needless to say a little stunned. Now there’s a lot of speculation on whether the bank was planning it all along. And of course the speculation has filtered its way over here with everyone wondering now whether the Fed will raise rates in March, June, or not at all. Many are now wondering whether the Fed will go negative as well. But speculation’s not really my thing. We can spend hours talking in ci...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Expedia Looks Strong Going Into Its Q4 Earnings: Here’s What To Watch

    Photo Credit: Viaggio Routard Expedia Inc. (EXPE) Consumer Discretionary – Internet & Catalog Retail| Reports February 10, After Market Closes Expedia (EXPE) is expected to close an impressive 2015 when it reports fourth quarter earnings February 10. Last year shares soared, finishing up 45% thanks to improved earnings, continued acquisitions and consolidation in the industry. This quarter, the Estimize community is calling for EPS of $1.05, a resounding 22% increase compared to Q4 2014 and 4 cents higher than Wall Street. Revenue estimates of $1.717 billion come in surprisingly lower than Wall Street but are still projected to gr...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Market Awaits Signals From U.S. Fed

    UK industrial production data from today has shown a December fall by 1.1% MoM after a 0.8% fall in November. The indicator is down 0.4% YoY, whilst it was expected to fall by 0.2% MoM and grow 1% YoY. The fall in industrial production was mostly provoked by a fall in production on part of the mining industry which is down significantly in the oil and gas sectors. The sector involved in extraction of energy from the North Sea experienced significant difficulties throughout most of 2015 due to the fall in the price of oil. Nevertheless, the pound is up despite the poor production data, rising to 1.4530 against the dollar and with the euro trad...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    E Oil: Is It Different This Time?

    A reader emailed me yesterday to tell me that while visiting his daughter at a college in North Carolina, he refilled his rental car with gas for $1.39 a gallon. So I got the idea that something really big is going on here that no one is yet seeing. I processed the possibilities in my snowshoe up to the 10,000-foot level above Lake Tahoe last night. By the way, the view of the snow covered High Sierras under the moonlight was incredible. For decades, I have dismissed the hopes of my environmentalist friends that alternatives will soon replace oil (USO) as our principal source of energy. I have long agreed with the views of my fracking buddies...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Yelp Q4 Earnings Release Signals Deeper Issues Ahead

    Shares of the world’s largest business review site Yelp (NYSE:YELP) were down sharply, falling by 10% in aftermarket trade after the company delivered a healthy Q4 2015 earnings beat but failed to impress on one key profitability metric: EBITDA. Yelp reported fourth quarter revenue of $153.7M, good for 39.9% Y/Y growth and $1.3M better than the consensus on Wall Street while its non-GAAP EPS of $0.11 was $0.14 better than estimates and represented a huge 42.1% Y/Y drop. On a GAAP basis, Yelp reported a net loss of $22.2M or EPS of -$0.29. Meanwhile, Yelp’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), a c...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Demand For Gold ETFs Increases At Fastest Rate In More Than A Year

    Gold News Whereas the S&P 500 has declined almost 6% for the year, the price of gold is up almost 6% this year. Bloomberg explains that gold ETFs were down 34% for the past 2 years, a trend that has been reversing. Since the start of 2016, $1.8 billion dollars have flowed into gold ETFs, as stocks and currencies have been extremely volatile. (Source: www.bloomberg.com) Many people flock to gold during times of fear, and gold ETFs give investors a chance to easily invest in the commodity. Among gold ETFs the most popular are SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares Gold Trust (IAU). With about $24.6 billion, GLD is attractive due to the fact tha...
    On February 10, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Adrian Day On Gold

    In his inaugural Gold Videocast for SchiffGold a few weeks ago, Albert K Lu interviewed Adrian Day, CEO of Adrian Day Asset Management. Day said he believes the gold market is “consolidating, bottoming, and turning around.” The last couple of weeks seem to confirm Day’s insight. Since hitting its low the day after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, the price of gold has risen more than 10%. A lot was made of the Fed’s rate hike in the mainstream media, but Adrian agrees with Peter – he doesn’t see a series of interest rate increases in 2016 because it’s an election year and the economy simply won’t support it. He call...
    On February 10, 2016 / By