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  • Finance 0

    FOMC Dovish: Gold To Go Higher And Equities To Bounce

    The worsening of financial conditions this year led markets to price in rates to remain unchanged at the January FOMC meeting, with many speculating the Fed to deliver a dovish statement. This has now been realised. Language used described that the FOMC recognised that economic activity had slowed and that inflationary pressures and expectations had declined further. As a result, it will now take an improvement in financial market conditions for the Fed to hike again at their next meeting, which is in March. Markets are currently only pricing in a 25% probability of a hike in March. Yet, the Fed has indicated that their March meeting will hol...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    The Oligarch Trillionaires: The Real ‘World’s Richest’ List

    Occasionally, it becomes necessary to begin a commentary by clearly articulating what will not be contained. This is one of those rare instances. What will not be inside this article is any actual list of the world’s richest people, nor any specific figure supplied as to even the precise number of names on such a list. The point being that such information does not exist in the public domain. The confusion here, in part, is due to the fact that some previous analysis of this data was less-than-precise. That faulty analysis begins with a recent headline, which was given considerable acclaim and attention in a previous piece. Richest 62 peopl...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    FTSE 100 Maintains Support On Higher Commodities

    Yesterday, the FTSE 100 (FXCM: UK100) breached last week’s high of 5944 and reached our target of 6010.With the short-term trend being bullish above the 5855 level, the next target for bullish traders should bethe January 6 high of 6158. I suspect traders will use a pullback to the 5923 to 5980 range as an opportunity to add to their bullish exposure. Today’s low is at 9330. Fed Turns Dovish, Keeping Interest Rates In Check The latest developments supporting a higher FTSE 100, is the dovish tone at the FOMC meeting. Reading between the lines, the Fed is concerned about the economy and they are ready to give it some time for the eco...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Abbott Labs Tops Earnings In Q4

    Abbott Laboratories (ABT – Analyst Report) is an Illinois-based company focused on bringing a diverse line of healthcare products to the market. Abbott Labs reports its diversified business in four segments – namely Established Pharmaceuticals Division (EPD), Medical Devices, Diagnostics and Nutrition. In Feb 2015, Abbott completed the sale of its branded generics pharmaceuticals business in developed markets. Abbott Labs is expanding its pediatric nutrition portfolio through new product launches in the U.S. and the ex-U.S. markets. While the company is working on growing the adult nutrition business in the priority international m...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Crude Follow-Through

    I was a little embarrassed yesterday after doing my Crude Breakout post, because oil seemed to back away almost the moment I published it. However, it seems my hunch was correct, because we’re getting some follow-through this morning. The opportunity for crude to hack its way back to about $36-$37 seems more plausible than ever....
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Shocking Crash: Durable Goods Orders Plunge 5.1%, Shipments Drop 2.2%, Huge Negative Revisions; Recession Here?

    Crash! Durable goods orders and shipments crashed in December.  The Econoday Consensus Estimate for durable goods new orders was a 0.2% rise. Here are the amazing results.   Crash vs. Thud  Econoday called the results a “giant thud”. The words “giant crash” seem more appropriate. In retrospect, both terms may be inappropriate. Have we landed yet, or are we still falling? Econoday reports …   The factory sector ended 2015 with a giant thud. Durable goods orders fell 5.1 percent in December vs expectations for a 0.2 percent gain and a low-end estimate of minus 3.0 percent. Aircraft orders didn’t help ...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    WTI Crude Oil And Natural Gas Forecast – January 28, 2016

    WTI Crude Oil The WTI Crude Oil market rose during the course of the day on Wednesday, as we broke above the $32 level. However, we did pullback slightly from there and it now looks as if the market is still going to continue to struggle in this general vicinity. Even if we break higher, I feel that this market will more than likely find plenty of resistance all the way to the $36 handle, so having said that I have no interest whatsoever in buying this market. I believe that the sellers will return sooner or later, and we will either get a selling opportunity off of an exhaustive candle above, or a complete turnaround on short-term charts as ...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Time Warner Cable Beats Q4 Earnings, Revenues

    Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC – Analyst Report) reported better-than-expected financial numbers in the fourth quarter of 2015 wherein both the top line and the bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Quarterly GAAP net income came in at $486 million or $1.70 per share compared with $554 million or $1.96 per share in the prior-year quarter. Quarterly adjusted (excluding special items) earnings per share of $1.80 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.79. Quarterly total revenue came in at $6,072 million, up 4.9% year over year and ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6,034 million. Quarterly adjusted operating income b...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    A Short History Of Life Settlements

    Andrew N. Smith, CAIA, interviews Doug Himmel of Melville Capital and Adam Meltzer of Vida Capital, both experts in the life settlement industry. Andrew: The reason why we’re getting together today is to talk about the life settlement market. Not a lot of people know about life settlements. So, with that said, what are life settlements? Doug: A life settlement is the sale of an existing life insurance policy to an institutional investor at a price higher than the current cash surrender value, but lower than the face amount of the policy. The investor then takes over all the premium obligations and the original owner is relived of the ong...
    On January 28, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    7 Factors To Consider When Stock Picking

    While I’m sure it has been done, I definitely don’t condone the stock picking process whereby you pin up the equities page of the Wall Street Journal on the wall and then throw darts and buy whichever lucky names you hit. This is not investing, this is just being stupid. However, this is how some brokers describe the unassisted stock-picking process to their clients – and this is just not correct. It does carry slightly more risk to invest on your own, but that should not discourage you from attempting to evaluate stocks of companies that are already very well-known to you. As an initial preview of things to come, here are 7...
    On January 28, 2016 / By