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    Startups Shine At Cleantech Open 2014 Global Forum

    The Cleantech Open held its 2014 Global Forum on San Francisco’s Treasure Island and I had a first-hand view of the action.  My direct involvement this year culminated with the previous day’s final pitches and investor connect speed rounds at a Financial District hotel.  I stayed for the Global Forum because thought leaders invariably have insights that make my day.   I won’t disclose anything proprietary from the pitches and speed connections on day one, but I do have some random thoughts to share.  My general impressions of this year’s startups were very positive.  Most of the startups I directly observed presen...
    On November 23, 2014 / By
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    Last Week Support / Resistance Trades 23 November 2014 – EUR/USD, EUR/JPY

    We had expected the level at 1.2557 might act as resistance as it had acted previously as both resistance and support. Note how these “flipping” levels can work really well. The H4 chart below shows how the price printed a bearish pin bar with a bounce off this level just before Monday’s London session, shown at (1). The price moved down to the 1.2450 area and then began to print some bullish price action, shown at the bullish pin bar, marked at (2). This would have been a logical point at which to exit the trade. Note how the 1.2557 area was resistant enough to be the origin of the large move down at the end of the week. Click on p...
    On November 23, 2014 / By
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    Alipay And Taobao Expand In Australia, Helping Local Businesses Reach China

    Photo Credit: Shutterstock, Flags of China and Commonwealth of Australia   As a part of its global expansion, Alibaba (BABA) announced today that both its payment affiliate Alipay and Taobao marketplace are committed to bringing Australian products, brands and businesses closer to Chinese customers. This move is expected to boost Chinese consumption of Australian products by connecting Australian consumers with Chinese manufacturers. Alipay has established a Sydney-based venture, Alipay Australia, which will work closely with Paybang, a joint venture by Alipay, in facilitating cross-border trade between the two countries. In addition, Alipay...
    On November 23, 2014 / By
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    Low Risk High Reward Trading And Investing

    by Sam Seiden, Online Trading Academy As the old saying goes, “risk and reward go hand in hand.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that in the trading and investing world. Most people think the more reward you try to attain, the more risk you need to take on. Many years ago, I heard this so often that I believed it. However, after many years of trading experience I could not disagree more. It is very possible to attain plenty of reward taking on minimal risk if you know what to look for when analyzing price charts. Whether you are trading for short term income which means creating a daily, weekly, or monthly inco...
    On November 23, 2014 / By
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    The State Of The World FOREX

    While recession has returned to Japan and interest rates have dropped to negative, in Europe the ECM has effectively announced it will expand its balance sheet again by a trillion Euro. China has lowered interest rates showing this view of lowering interest rates is believed to stimulate the economy still prevails, albeit nobody can point to any such period which demonstrates that such a policy has ever worked. The Fed lowered interest rates from the peak in 1929 to no avail. Honestly, while this may sound like good policy, it has simply never worked. Lowering interest rates HAS never created a stock bull market. Lowering interests has instea...
    On November 22, 2014 / By
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    S&P 500 Stretched Like A Spring

    Stock prices tend to act like a spring. The further they are stretched to their limits, the further they tend to snap back in the opposite direction. The opposite is also true. When stock prices are not stretched very far, they don’t recoil nearly s far in the opposite direction when the stretching force is removed. This is particularly true of large baskets of stock – stock indexes such as the Dow, Nasdaq or S&P 500 – since the forces that can move an index are limited. Earnings or other news can move an individual stock, but for a large index the news tends to be anticipated and slowly baked in, limiting it’s overall eff...
    On November 22, 2014 / By
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    ECRI Recession Watch: Weekly Update

    The Weekly Leading Index (WLI) of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) is at 133.2, up from the previous week’s 132.0. The WLI annualized growth indicator (WLIg) is at -2.4, down from -2.9 the previous week. ECRI has been at the center of a prolonged controversy since publicizing its recession call on September 30, 2011. The company had made the announcement to its private clients on September 21st. ECRI’s cofounder and spokesman, Lakshman Achuthan, subsequently forecast that the recession would begin in Q1 2012, or Q2 at the latest. He later identified mid-2012 as the start of the recession. Over the past two years he has...
    On November 22, 2014 / By
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    On The Looming Wall Of Chinese Defaults, Restructuring Firm Warns “You Know It’s Coming”

    The news this week of China’s largest corporate bankruptcy – Haixin Iron & Steel Group – amid crashing iron ore and steel prices was followed by analysts noting it “will be followed by others,” as the major flaw of producers of iron ore, the most traded commodity after oil, is they tend to be “over-bullish.” Distressed debt funds are starting to circle in preparation for what they expect to be a bloodbath as Bloomberg reports, bad debts in China are well underestimated because authorities persist in propping up weak companies and bailing out local investors, according to DAC Management, “we&...
    On November 22, 2014 / By
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    Can Technology Save Chocolate?

    If you haven’t already heard, the world is facing a chocolate shortage. Part of the reason is increased demand, as Chinese taste buds awaken to the delicious treat. But part of the reason is climate change. Cacao is a fickle plant. The trees grow in shady areas of rainforests within 20 degrees of the Equator. They require just the right water, soil, temperature and tending. It takes at least 5 years for them to produce fruit. More than half the world’s chocolate is grown in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, but climate conditions there are changing, explains a study by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Analysts are pre...
    On November 22, 2014 / By
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    The View From Far Above

    As the entire world knows by now, China joined the rest of the world’s central banks in more “easing”, which sent markets into a spastic move higher. As you can see by this view of the NQ, this massively bullish news has not, as of yet, represented any kind of sea-change in the markets. Before the day was even out (again, in some, not all markets),  the entire move up was reversed. As noted in my Bear Despair post earlier this week, however, the bulls are still firmly in control, with all the central banks as their allies. The Dow Jones Composite hit yet another lifetime high, and it has exceeded even its long-term resistance line (in ...
    On November 22, 2014 / By