1/3/2020

What a month for bitcoin. It reached $34,000 this morning and according to the chart below it is hardly trending on google trends i think you are defiantly chasing right now. Enter with extreme caution. That being said, I believe it is going much higher over the next decade.

8/13/2020

Massive storms rolled through Iowa last week. That being said, yields on this years corn crop is going to take a hit. CORN was able to hold its previous low of $11.50 and is starting to move higher.

6/28/2020

Crest Capital LLC created a chart that compare the S&P 500 to their profit margins. Before the tech bust in 2000 and the financial crisis in 2008 there was a sharp decline in profit margins. For the first time in 12 years profit margin is dropping rapidly.

5/5/2020

On May 3rd, Will Meade former Goldman Sachs PM and hedge fund manager wrote a letter to his family members and posted it on twitter. I have found Will to be a great live time resource to what is happening in the markets.

4/9/2020

During The Great Depression there were three moves to the downside. During this downturn he have experienced two. If history repeats SPY could correct 30%. That means it would be price at 2000. Time will tell. The Fed has moved over 2.5 trillion dollars onto the balance sheet and loans are being put on hold. We are in uncharted territory here.

3/22/2020

The Fed balance sheet sits at $4.67 trillion dollars. Who knows where this round of money printing will end. That being said, in 2009 the money came in and the stock market began to rise. Again in 2012 cheap money appeared and the market took off. Will the same thing happen in 2020?

3/7/2020

Another hard week for the overall market. I would guess we have not seen the bottom of this correction yet. Airline and oil stocks have been hit very hard. It looks like Diamond Offshore (DO) is getting ready to break through $2.00 per share in the coming week.

There seems to be some strength in the tech market. The NASDQ etf QQQ remains above its 200 day moving average.

3/1/2020

Last weeks selloff was historical. At the same time I wouldn’t say it is time to throw the towel in on this market uptrend. In mid-March the Fed is going to meet and it is 100% likely they are going to cut rates. I would think a 50 basis rate cut is in store. I would say it is time to focus on the Nasdaq and Chinese markets.

2/9/2020

UUP is a ticker you can you to track the US dollar. Last week, UUP broke above its 200 day moving average. This could put pressure on commodities going forward.

1/25/2020

Platinum has been in a steady uptrend since early last Summer. It closed this week at $1004 per ounce. Palladium closed the week at $2297. I believe platinum will soon replace palladium for the manufacturing catalytic converters. Platinum is 40 times rarer than gold.

1/4/2020

The buying volume has picked up in MJ in the November and December months. Encouraging to see after this nine month sell off.

12/21/2019

QE4. What would the economy/markets look like if QE never occurred?

12/15/2019

An industry that has the potential to grow 37 fold in the coming years. Every speculator is eyeing this market, even if they hate it. The Farm Bill gave farmers the option to replace tobacco with hemp.

12/5/2019

Sound money would reverse this trend. The millions of people just getting by today would have a decent lifestyle. The result of fiat money and cheap credit.

11/10/2019

General Electric is breaking out above a flat 200 day moving average. On good volume the past couple of weeks. The past three years have been tough on GE. Fed rate cuts and QE might give stock the boost it needs to break out.

11/3/2019

Kraft Heinz has been in a downtrend for the past two year. Massive debt loads have taken a toll on KHC. Late last week it broke above its 200 moving average on massive volume. It currently pays a 5.61% dividend.

10/5/2019

Odds of a federal reserve rate cut in October 2019 jump to 93%. Odds of a 4th rate cut in December currently stand at 50%. The cheap money game is back in play.

9/5/2019

I think in the future we will look at the chart below and ask ourselves why we were not building bigger positions in commodities. My friend Steve Penny posted this on twitter this week. The reversal is going to be unbelievable when investors take their wealth and put it in something tangle instead of paper.

8/23/2019

(SH) the S&P 500 short shares has had a steady stream of buying for the moth of August. Today SH had its highest traded volume day in over six months. It appears to be setting up a reverse head and shoulders pattern. It is the wild west in the markets with the fed on one side, china on the other side and President Trump tweeting. If the S&P breaks below its 200 day moving average SH will be the beneficiary.

7/28/2019

Water ETF FT (FIW) has been in a steady uptrend since it put a double bottom in at the beginning of 2016. This weekend I noticed a few water stocks that may make good entry for swing trades. I think in the long run water stocks are headed higher as the world population grows and clean water drinking sources diminish.

7/14/2019

Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) has been in a downtrend since late March. Last week the loses accelerated with MJ closing the week down 7%. I would like to see this etf hit the $26 handle. If a bottom sets in before that level I will be waiting to buy.

6/29/2019

Aberdeen Standard Physical Platinum (PPLT) tested and held $75 again. It then broke above its 200 day moving average with five times its normal trading volume. Platinum's spot price is $834 and gold is $1408. In the past 10 years the gold to platinum ratio has been 1:1

5/27/2019

With all the young adults graduating from high school this month, I think it is important they see this chart and keep it in mind as the peruse their careers. It is amazing that saving $3,000 for 8 years and letting it compound at 9% until the age of 65 turns into over one million dollars.

5/9/2019

Overstock.com Inc has updated its infrastructure so it can transact in different crypto currencies. In the crypto mania in 2017 OSTK gained over 600% from its June low. Recently Overstock held its previous low and has broken above its 14 EMA. With the crypto market starting to warm up OSTK is a stock to keep on your radar.

4/28/2019

The solar etf TAN has put in a double bottom and the end of 2018 and has been steadily climbing since. If it can take out its previous high at $27.07 there is room to run. Below is a list of TANs top 10 holdings. There may be some opportunity to hop in an enjoy some gains in this sector in the months ahead.

3/23/2019

For the first time since 2007 the treasury yield curve has inverted. This is one the most accurate indicators of a future recession. In my opinion this will set the markets up for a recession in 2020. This week the Federal Reserve met and announced there may be only one more rate hike in 2019. At the first sign of a market slowdown the Fed will probably begin to cut future rates.

3/17/2019

Iqiyi Inc (IQ) is the Netflix of China. Since the beginning of January this stock has continued to march higher. Good earnings at the end of February blasted IQ over $29.00 per share. Since then a lot of consolidation has taken place and it is looking like IQ is ready to run again. This a a relatively new stock. It’s IPO took place last March. If you would have taken $10,000 ten years ago and bought Netflix it would be worth over $600,000 today.

2/24/2019

The Chinese stock market has had some significant gains for the past month. Notice this market is rising on increasing volume and that is a very good thing to see. ASHR tested its old bottom and began to break out. China has its share of debt problems, but I think it has plenty of room to run. If some type of trade deal between the US/China it will send Chinese market soaring.

2/10/2019

After coming out of treacherous December, the month of January was completely the opposite. The rally last month was the best market performance in January in 30 years. I expect 2019 to be a great year for the overall market. One thing I find a little concerning at present time is the lack of volume in the market run up. Last week the S&P moved back to its 200 day moving average but failed to break through. There may be a bit of a sideways grind ahead but once S&P breaks above that level, the overall volume should rise. A lot of market algorithms will not buy stocks trading below the 200 SMA. They will enter the market once the uptrend breaks through the 200 day moving average.

1/6/2018

Last week Altria Group Inc (MO) was the trade of the week and it closed up 3%. AOBC and WMT also closed higher for the week. The big gainer was LABU, the biotech 3X Bull. It gained over 21% from it previous Friday Close. It stared the week at $30.50 and by Friday it was pricing at $37.01. I believe the overall market is headed higher. Technology and bio-tech stocks are going to lead the way. Health care and consumer discretionary should also to well in the first quarter of 2019.

12/18/2018

With the Dow Jones down over 10% from its peak, investors may be getting weary this bull market has ended. I am of the opposite opinion and consider myself a bearish investor. There is still room to run in the overall market. One of the most helpful tools to look at when predicting the next recession or a market downturn would be the Feds 10 year treasury bond minus the 2 year treasury bond. When the 2 year bond has a higher rate of return than the 10 year, a recession sets in 6 months to 2 years later. Part of the yield curve is is already inverted. Currently the 3 year bond is trading higher than the 5 year bond. I believe tax cuts are still working their way through the system and more stock buy backs are in store. It’s not the healthiest or ethical way to make money but that is what will happen going forward. With the Fed funds rate over 2% they can now cut rates and even unleash QE4 to keep this market afloat.

11/29/2018

A few days ago Trace Mayer posted a chart of the previous declines Bitcoin has experienced since its inception. At current time this selloff looks horrific on a a chart. To keep it in perspective BTC suffered an 83% correction in April of 2013 and an 87% correction in January of 2015. The average decline in the previous twelve down markets has averaged 74%. Now may be a time where an investor might want to speculate with less than 5% of their invest able income. I believe this market will base and run again. The next time wall street will be leading the charge instead of watching from the sideline.

11/4/2018

At the end of the day on Monday, I noticed TQQQ looked oversold. It hit $44 and and moved quickly back towards $47 by the end of the day. Before the close I took a position at $46.95. On Tuesday it blasted a higher and continued to move up on Wednesday morning. After reaching the $53.35 area , it began to lose steam and I took a 13% profit at $53.08. Not bad for holding a stock for 2 days. It did reach as high as $54.93 but closed the week at $52.05. With the mid-term elections on Tuesday volatility is going to be certain. If the market moves down I am going to watch and see if TQQQ can hold between $45-$46.

10/25/2018

We are two weeks into this October correction and the S&P 500 etf (SPY) is down 10%. This sell off looks alot like the one we went through in February. The pain might not be over yet but I am not giving up on the overall market trend. Last night a webinar was put on by the guys at Stansberry Research. This pullback has them excited and they are looking to capitalize on future gains. Their data points to no signs of a market top. They were very excited about the tech market moving forward. It may pay to wait for a little strength and then get it. Below is a video done by Jason Leavitt on the current state of the market.

10/10/2018

A big plunge in the market doesn’t have me too concerned. As long as the SPY stays close to its 200 day moving average as it has done in previous corrections, this market should base and continue its upward trend. The saying goes a bull market takes the stairs up and the elevator down. An 832 point drop is defiantly taking the elevator down. That being said, if there continues to be multiple down days on large volume it may be the end of the bull run.

10/4/2018

Intelsat (I) continues it breakout. This was listed as my trade of the week on 9/9/2018 at $21.93 share. How high is this stock going to run? If it closes up today, that would make 8 consecutive positive days.

9/20/2018

Platinum hit $1,014 in January and then steadily declined in price for the past nine months. It August it hit its bottom of $767. A couple a weeks ago it looks like it is finally beginning to break out. South Africa is one of the largest producers of platinum and there is a lot of political uncertainty in that region. Platinum is much rarer that gold but it is pricing $375 less per ounce.

9/15/2018

Intelsat S.A. (I) was last weeks trade of the week. In five days of trading Intelsat gained 6%. At the beginning of September this stock touched its 50 day moving average for the first time since April. Often times the best way to enter a stock that is breaking out is to wait for a pullback to its 50 day. The same thing happened with ETSY around $29.

9/10/2018

Last week the gold to silver ratio hit 85:1. That is the largest spread between the two metals since the begging of 2016. There is talk JP Morgan has covered its short position on the commitment of traders report. The precious metals and commodities in general have been in a downtrend for many years. The strong dollar has been pushing prices down in recent months. These markets are cyclical and will come back.  

9/2/2018

On the day Donald Trump was elected American Outdoor Brands Company (AOBC) lost over 25%. From that time, this stock continued in a downward spiral. In April and May of this year AOBC started to breakout before testing its previous bottom in August. Last week it began to rise and on Friday massive volume entered the market. This looks like the beginning of a new uptrend for AOBC.

8/28/2018

The chart below breaks down debt from four different age categories. Older millennials on ages 25-34 on average carry the most debt. This study showed they hold and average of $42,000 of debt. That excludes their mortgage debt. I was surprised the baby boomers have as much debt as they do.

8/21/2018

CRON was the trade of the week on July 29th. It was trading at $6.23 and sitting right on its 200 day moving average. For a couple of weeks it fell and stabalized around $5.60. On Wednesday last week it began to break out and today CRON almost reached $9.00 before closing at $8.29. Big volume showed up this week. 

8/19/2018

The headline below was from CNBC on Wednesday July 11, 2018. This is why a I believe having some exposure to precious metals and crypto currencies is not a bad hedge. Owning assets outside the financial system makes a lot of sense. This number will continue to rise in the years ahead. One day there will be a leveling up.  

8/16/2018

I took a snapshot of a couple of 3D stocks on a 10 year chart last night. Since 2014 DDD has crashed and trended sideways. This month big volume entered this stock. A chart of SSYS looks the same. DDD moved up 10 fold from 2012 to 2014. Defiantly an industry to keep an eye on. 3D printing will have its day in the sun again. 

8/14/2018

To check the price of all the crypto currencies I go to www.coinmarketcap.com I checked on the prices to tonight and see the total market cap for all the currencies is 195 billion dollars. When Bitcoin was priced near $20,000 the total market cap was well over 800 billion dollars. At current time BTC makes up 54% of the entire market. I have not seen prices this depressed in some time. The institutional money has got to be looking for an entry. When that money starts flowing in it is going to be easy to spot with prices rising quickly. Litcecoin got down to $50 and Cardono reached $0.09. This is a very ravaged market. 

8/12/2018

Lululemon Athletica (LULU) was last weeks trade of the week. It broke out the way I thought it would closing the week up 3.5% It has nor broken resistance at $130 and may continue to run. Ichor Holdings (ICHR) was on the stocks to watch list at it gained over 9% by Wednesday before closing the week up 3.5%.

8/10/2018

Etsy has been on fire in 2018. At the end of May it was my trade of the week when it touched its 50 day moving average and began to break out. With over 44 million people in the United States taking on some type of side hussle, Etsy is a perfect fit for someone with an artistic ability. Its very low risk and can make you a lot of money with the right niche. Large volume continues to pour in.

8/7/2018

Goldman Sachs is forecasting over 1 trillion dollars in stock buy backs for 2018. Not too surprising with amount of tax cuts most of these companies were given. Until 1982 it was illegal for a company to buy back it's own stock. The fear was they would manipulate there stock price and the average stock purchaser wouldn't have a way to access its value.  

8/4/2018

On Friday I became a member of Steve Sjuggarud's True Wealth Newsletter. I have followed the market extremely close for the past decade and his forecasts have been very accurate. Spending a few dollars on a subscription now could pay off nicely in the future. The chart below is the Japanese Nikkei Stock Market when it rose dramatically in the late 1980's. His melt up thesis for the US markets is something everyone should be aware of. http://dailywealth.com/articles/the-melt-up-is-officially-underway-3/                                                                                                                   

8/3/2018

I have been a member of Follow the Money for the past 4 years. I flew out to the 2016 Summit in Colorado and recently attended the 2018 event in Arkansas. For the month of August you can become a gold member for only $1. It will be the best dollar you spent all year. Below is a picture with Jerry Robinson, the founder/CEO of Follow the Money. For more details check out this link. Follow the Money $1 Membership 

7/31/2018

GDP was released last week and the number came in at 4.1%. It was a good number overall. It did get a little boost from exports from countries making purchases before the tariffs begin. The chart below shows GDP starting in 1930 and going through today.  

7/28/2018

Noah Holdings LTD. (NOAH) did well as the trade of the week. It gained 6.4% from the open on Monday to the close on Friday. NOAH was one of the many Chinese stocks that bounced back this week.

 7/26/2018

I posted an article about the farms in America declining to less than 40,000. Below is a chart that shows how many farms there are in the US and the average amount of cattle on them since 1970. In a little less than 50 years the United States has gone from 650,000 farms to less than 40,000.

7/24/2018

YINN the Chinese 3X ETF had a big day today. This stock closed up almost 10% today after moving up on Friday last week. Today big volume drove this stock up by trading 3.2M shares, more than triple its normal volume.   

7/23/2018

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) was my trade of the week two weeks ago. It finally broke out on big volume after 3 weeks of consolidation. The health care sector started to move higher in the middle of May and has trended higher since. I circled the candle stick where I thought a potential good entry would be.

7/22/2018

Look at the current trend of solar. On new residential construction in California, it will be mandatory to have it equipped with solar energy. What are they going to build the solar cells with? Silver would be my guess since it is pricing under $16/oz. Solar and silver are poised to be winners in the future.  

7/21/2018

The Chinese market 3X etf surged over 6% yesterday. This ticker is down over 50% from its January highs. The tariff spat with China is just a bump in the road. I think in the years ahead there is a lot of upside for China. If a 3X stock doesn't suit your strategy, ticker FXI or ASHR maybe a better way to gain access to that market.  

7/19/2018

I woke up this morning too find the spot price of silver priced at $15.24. This is lowest price in well over 2 years. It's very comparable to what happened in July of 2017. A monster box from APMEX is pricing at $8,920. Very cheap

7/18/2018

Personal savings rates continue to decrease to levels seen in 2007. I find it suspect the media has been reporting about all the money tied up in real estate. It's almost like they want you to borrow against it just like they did a little over 10 years ago. 

Market Thoughts

5/20/2018

California is now making it mandatory that newly built homes must have solar panels on them. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/california-approves-plan-to-mandate-solar-panels-on-new-homes.html

Australia is now banning cash transactions over $10,000. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/08/australia-federal-budget-2018-cash-payment-crackdown-tax-evasion

Facebook is looking to add a block chain division. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-moves/facebook-shakes-up-management-launches-blockchain-division-idUSKBN1IA05S

Silver is almost to the end of its pennant formation which, which was is it going to break. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfrCLzRmZ3M

The Gemini exchange added Litecoin to its platform. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2018/05/14/winklevoss-brothers-bitcoin-exchange-adds-zcash/#4c6b45a36b98

A great article put out by sovereign man about the retirement crisis at hand. https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/americas-long-term-challenge-2-the-looming-retirement-crisis-23432/

Aurora is buying out MedReleaf for $2.5 billion dollars. The marijuana market looks like it is starting to move. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-medreleaf-m-a-aurora-cannabis/aurora-to-buy-medreleaf-for-2-5-billion-in-biggest-ever-pot-deal-idUSKCN1IF16U

REMX was the trade of the week and it stayed in consolidation mode. It closed the week down 7/10 of 1%. That is one to keep on the radar going forward. BGFV gained a half of 1%. MDR closed the week up 3.5%. The big winner was AEO closing last week up 12%.

5/13/2018

If you live in Wisconsin be sure and take advantage of the one-time child tax credit. For each child under the age of 18 on December 31, 2017 you will receive $100. The application period is from May 15, 2018 through July 2, 2018. https://childtaxrebate.wi.gov/

Q1 Earnings were the best in seven years.  https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/first-quarter-corporate-profits-surged-16-percent-the-most-since-2011.html

The federal government collected record taxes through April. https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/feds-collect-record-taxes-through-april-still-run-3854b-deficit

Buffett bought more Apple stock. https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/05/10/why-warren-buffett-bought-more-apple-stock.aspx

Wells Fargo fined 1 billion dollars. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/20/604279604/wells-fargo-hit-with-1-billion-in-fines-over-consumer-abuses

Crypto currencies hit on South Korean raids. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-a-raid-in-a-south-korean-crypto-exchange-rattled-the-wider-bitcoin-market-2018-05-11

This was a great week for the stocks on my watch list. Tencent Holding (TCEHY) was the trade of the week and it gained 5.5%. ZG was up over 2%, ENB gained 7%, and GLOB was the largest gainer closing the week up 12.6%. At one point on Friday GLOB was up 21%.

5/6/2018

The ECB will be leaving interest rates at zero. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjkinahan/2018/05/02/fed-leaves-rates-unchanged-and-sees-inflation-nearing-its-target-but-in-check/#5aec352960e0

The Feds 2% inflation target has been hit. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/inflation-hits-feds-2-target-possible-prelude-to-faster-rise-in-us-interest-rates-2018-04-30

Record government borrowing in the first quarter. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/30/us-treasury-says-q1-borrowing-set-record-488-billion.html

The second richest man in Egypt put 3 billion dollars into gold. https://coinweek.com/bullion-report/egyptian-billionaire-one-of-forbes-richest-in-world-invests-almost-3-billion-in-gold/

Last week the trade of the week FAST closed down just under 1%. On the stocks to watch list, OCLR was the best performing stock closing the week up 3%.

4/29/2018

The phrase silver tsunami will be used frequently in the future. https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/Silver-Tsunami-hits-as-pension-costs-devour-12851975.php

The 10 year treasury broke above 3% last week. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/25/the-10-year-treasury-yield-has-hit-the-3-percent-level--heres-what-that-means.html

Mish Shedlock put out a great piece on home buying. https://www.themaven.net/mishtalk/economics/home-buyer-s-dilemma-explained-in-one-picture-aBWUSNhFQEGcplq8E8PDUg/

Ethereum is joining up with Amazon. https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/04/24/amazon-reveals-blockchain-templates-for-ethereum-and-hyperledger-fabric/

Deutsche Bank reported terrible earnings. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/26/deutsche-bank-earnings-q1-2018.html  

SQ got hit hard on Monday and Tuesday and recovered a bit by the end of the week. It closed down 8% for the week. SNV was the top gainer, adding 5%.

4/22/2018

There was a major rare earth discovery was unearthed in Japan. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/japan-rare-earths-huge-deposit-of-metals-found-in-pacific.html

The seven and ten year bond yields are getting very close to one another, David Stockman sees a yield shock coming. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/mother-of-all-yield-shocks-is-about-to-crush-stocks-warns-father-of-reaganomics-2018-03-21  

Silver srcap metal inventories hit a twenty eight year lows. https://srsroccoreport.com/global-silver-scrap-supply-falls-to-26-year-low/

Retail bankruptcies are expected to be at record highs in 2018, despite the Dow trading over 25,000. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/the-amount-of-retail-space-closing-in-2018-is-on-pace-to-break-record.html  

The trade of the week and the others on the watch list did well last week. KMG closed the week up 3%, ARJD gained 1%, GLUU added 8%, while TRX was the big winner increasing just over 10%.

4/15/2018

Jeff Gunlach made remarks a gold rally may not be far away with a weakening dollar and exploding deficits. http://www.kitco.com/news/2018-04-11/Are-Gold-Prices-Ready-To-Break-Out-Bond-King-Jeff-Gundlach-Thinks-So.html

The EIA expects gas prices to be 11% higher than they were in the summer of 2017. https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/weekly/

Wells Fargo reported mortgage originations were down 10 billion dollars. The second lowest numbers since the financial crisis. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-13/wells-just-reported-worst-mortgage-number-financial-crisis

The 10 year treasury auction held last week was the worst in eighteen months. Declining interest from foreign central banks was the cause of the low bidding. https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-auction-10year/indirect-bidders-u-s-10-year-note-purchase-hits-1-1-2-years-low-idUSL1N1RO1B4

Dineequity (DIN) closed the week up just $0.25. On Thursday VCEL was up almost 18% before closing the week just up 3%. The best gainer of the week was Alcoa (AA), it made gains of 12%.

4/8/2018

128 tariffs went into effect on US agriculture products. http://fortune.com/2018/04/02/china-tariffs-128-us-products/                                                                            

Q1 on 2018 was the second worst quarter since the Great Depression. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-02/stocks-second-quarter-start-is-worst-since-great-depression

The Chicago Merchantile Exchange set record for metals trading volume in Q1 http://investor.cmegroup.com/investor-relations/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=159127

George Soros is getting ready to enter the crypto arena. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-06/george-soros-prepares-to-trade-cryptocurrencies-as-prices-plunge

Powell remarks moved the Dow Jones down 700 points. https://www.morningstar.com/news/market-watch/TDJNMW_20180406626/update-dow-drops-over-700-points-stocks-extend-selloff.html

3/25/2018

As expected the Federal Reserve moved rates up again. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/23/4-things-to-do-with-your-money-when-the-fed-raises-rates.html

The tariff war between the US and China is heating up. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/23/trumps-tariffs-trade-war-will-be-bad-for-us-and-china-cnbc-survey.html

The Bank of England held rates steady but indicate they will rise in the future. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/22/uk-interest-rates-bank-of-england-pound-monetary-policy-committee 

On Monday oil will now be traded in Chinese Yuan. https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-seeks-greater-role-in-global-oil-trade-1521852463

Simon Black released an interesting article about the future of pensions in America. https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/congress-quietly-formed-a-committee-to-bail-out-200-pension-funds-23169/

American Water Works (AWK) closed the week down 4%. The 1400 point selloff in the overall market brought this stock with it. HP was the big gainer closing up almost 7%.

3/18/2018

Loyd Blankfein is being replaced by David Soloman at Goldman Sachs. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/goldman-sachs-names-david-solomon-as-next-in-line-to-replace-ceo-lloyd-blankfein/articleshow/63271833.cms

Icon 3D Homes can build a 600 to 800 sq foot home for $4,000 https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/icon-builds-incredibly-cheap-3d-printed-homes-in-less-than-24-hours/

Toy R Us and Baby’s R Us are shutting all their stores. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/15/toys-r-us-is-closing-all-of-its-us-stores-heres-where-they-are.html

Wyoming voted to stop taxing silver and gold. https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2018/03/14/wyoming-ends-all-taxation-on-gold-silver-001433

Automotive interest rates are an a eight year high at 5.20%. http://www.thedrive.com/news/19010/interest-rates-on-auto-loans-highest-in-eight-years

Chevron (CVX) was the trade of the week and it finished down just under 2%. WING closed the week up 1%.

3/11/2018

According to the IEA the US will be the largest oil producer by 2023 https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-will-be-the-worlds-largest-oil-producer-by-2023-says-iea-1520236810

Half of Americans have less than $10,000 set aside for retirement. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/42-percent-of-americans-are-at-risk-of-retiring-broke.html

Paypal has a patent pending to provide faster transactions which could be of interest to Visa.  https://discover.coinsquare.io/digital-currency/paypal-patent-expedited-digital-currency-payments/

President Xi Jinping of China has now declared himself president for life. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43361276

Gary Cohn left his role as the economic advisor to the President Trump after a dispute over the trade tariffs. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-cohn/after-tariff-fight-loss-trump-economic-adviser-cohn-quits-idUSKCN1GI2ZS

The trade of the week Philip Morris (PM) closed the week up 1%. For a brief moment on Friday it was up almost 3% before selling off. EFX had a great week moving up 7% and Pandora (P) was the big gainers closing up 11%.

3/4/2018

Steel and aluminum tariffs are set to be implemented. https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-defends-trumps-proposed-steel-aluminum-tariffs-1520181748

Smart phone sales contracted for the first time in Q4 of 2017 https://which-50.com/smartphone-sales-declined-first-time-q4-2017/

On February 23rd, Steve Wesley, a board member for CAPLPERS, admitted there is a pension crisis looming. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-07/california-governor-candidates-dodge-pension-cuts-brown-foresees

Fed tightening has begun according to David Stockman. The Federal Reserve’s plan is to sell 20 B in bonds per month in Q1, 30 Billion in Q2, 40 billion in Q3, and 50 billion in Q4. https://dailyreckoning.com/true-money-supply-predicts-economy/

Jerome Powell hints at four rate hikes in 2018. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/even-as-powell-softens-tone-4-rate-hikes-still-on-the-table-for-2018-2018-03-01

Last week MOMO closed the week down 8% suffering in the overall market selloff. If you are position or long term trader this is one to keep on the radar. BLDR was the top gainer on the stocks to watch list, closing the week up 3%.

2/25/2018

An anonymous trader bought $400 million dollars of bitcoin. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/anonymous-trader-buys-400-million-of-bitcoin-2018-02-16

Litecoin cash has been issued. Current litecoin holders will get 10 litecoin cash for each litecoins they have. https://www.cointelligence.com/content/the-much-talked-about-litecoin-hard-fork-takes-place-to-create-litecoin-cash/

Last week junk bonds saw a major outflow of capital. https://globalinvestorgroup.com/articles/3689537/junk-bond-selloff-spurs-sec-lending-revenues

In the future Apple could buy cobalt directly from the minors instead of out of the open market. Could the same thing happen with other metals like silver? http://www.mining.com/apple-talks-buy-cobalt-directly-miners-report/

Brazil banks began to use ripple to settle transactions starting on February 21st.  https://www.ccn.com/brazil-and-latin-americas-largest-bank-will-use-ripple-to-process-payments/

SU the trade of the week closed the week down .09 cents. So essentially a 0% move this week.

2/18/2018

The Chinese Yuan is going to begin trading in the oil markets on March 26, 2018 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-09/china-ends-25-year-wait-as-yuan-oil-futures-set-to-start-trading

Arizona passes a law to pay taxes with crypto currencies. http://fortune.com/2018/02/10/arizona-bitcoin-taxes/

Coinbase is going to coming up with a merchant solution to buy merchandise with crypto currency. https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/02/13/coinbase-introduces-paypal-like-merchant-solution-cryptocurrencies/

There is a 83% chance the fed is going to hike rates on March 13th. https://www.liteforex.com/blog/analysts-opinions/dollar-breaks-the-stereotypes/

President Trump unveils infrastructure plans. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-infrastructure/trump-unveils-infrastructure-plan-uphill-battle-awaits-in-congress-idUSKBN1FW1X3

The corporate buy backs were ramping up at Goldman Sachs last week. 4.5 times the normal amount of buybacks were taking place last week. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-14/goldman-s-buyback-desk-was-deluged-with-orders-as-stocks-plunged

Buffett is buying a lot of Apple stock. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2018/02/16/warren-buffett-just-bought-loads-apple-stock-should.html

Dollar General (DG) was the trade of the week and closed down less than 1%. The other four set ups did well. BBY and LITE were up 3%, TGT gained 4% last week, and TECK closed last week up 7%.

2/11/2018

The Dow Jones had a record selloff day on Monday. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/04/us-stocks-interest-rates-futures.html

The fear around crypto currencies continues as Goldman Sachs put an article out claiming it will go to zero. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-07/get-ready-for-most-cryptocurrencies-to-hit-zero-goldman-says

A Goldman Sachs letter to investors indicated they are bullish on gold. They see $1450 in 12 months.     http://www.forexlive.com/news/!/goldman-sachs-boosts-gold-price-forecast-sees-1450oz-in-12-months-20180208

The US dollar is off to its wort start since 1987. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/03/this-is-the-worst-start-to-a-new-year-for-the-doll.aspx

XIV the ticker does well under little volatility went from $100 down to $6. One trader lost 4 million dollars. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/xiv-trader-ive-lost-4-million-3-years-of-work-and-other-peoples-money-2018-02-06

Here is an excellent video showing the US market is not anywhere near a top done by the Leavitt brothers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfZjELl0riw

DUST, the trade of the week, broke out in a big way. The dollar gained some ground and moved commodity prices like gold down. DUST closed the week up 22%. This is the biggest gainer ever for the trade of the week and it occurred when the market had its worst week in some time.

2/4/2018

US Savings rate at a 10 year low. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-savings-rate-falling-to-a-12-year-low-is-not-a-death-knell-for-the-us-economy-2018-01-29

Coincheck is refunding customers after the 534 million dollar hack. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bitcoin-latest-updates-coincheck-hack-crytocurrency-refund-stolen-money-japan-a8182971.html

Starbucks is looking into accepting crypto currency as payment. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-trusted-digital-currency-is-coming-but-its-not-bitcoin-says-starbucks-howard-schultz-2018-01-29

10 year treasury notes spike. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/global-stocks-plunge-as-u-s-jobs-data-spikes-bond-yields-idUSKBN1FM02A

Stockton, CA not experimenting with universal income after coming out of bankruptcy. http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/02/stocktons-basic-income-plan-diverts-new

Jerome Powell is ready to take over as the head of the Federal Reserve. http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/31/news/economy/federal-reserve-powell-leadership/index.html

Even with the massive selloff, AT&T (T) the tradeoff of the week closed in positive territory. It gained just over 2.5%.

1/28/2018

The government shutdown was short lived opening back up on Monday of last week. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shutdown-workers/u-s-government-goes-back-to-work-after-lunch-break-shutdown-idUSKBN1FB0EU

A select few cryptocurrencies can now be put in your IRA. https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/ira-bitcoin-allowing-approved-crypto-exposure-retirement-funds/

The Robin hood trading platform has now introduced cryptocurrencies. http://fortune.com/2018/01/25/bitcoin-millennials-robinhood-cryptocurrency/

The LME zinc warehouse is now at record low inventories. https://www.reuters.com/article/global-metals/metals-zinc-at-decade-high-as-inventories-trend-lower-idUSL4N1PL3D5

In 2017 the Russian National Bank bought 223 tons of gold and no US treasuries. https://thedailycoin.org/2018/01/22/russia-overtake-chinas-gold-holdings-january-2018/

Planet Fitness (PLNT) was last week’s trade of the week. It closed the week up 5%. EAT managed to gain 1% and MEOH finished the week up just under 4%.

1/21/2018

The government shutdown has begun. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-in-government-shutdown-2018-1

Jeff Gundlach said a 10 year treasury note price below 2.63 will send the market into correction mode. https://latest-today-news.com/2018/01/19/10y-treasury-crosses-gundlachs-red-line-will-stocks-start-to-suffer/

The monthly RSI is the highest it has been in 100 years. https://www.milesfranklin.com/an-important-time-of-year/

Future fed chair has publicly acknowledged the Fed has to unwind its short position in the volatility index. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-05/fed-chair-makes-striking-admission-we-have-short-volatility-position

Alibaba launched its trading platform for block chain. https://www.coinspeaker.com/2018/01/16/blockchain-based-job-platform-blocklancer-launches-ico-today/

Central banks were the largest buyers of gold in 2017. http://goldaboutinvestment.com/2018/01/central-banks-are-the-new-gold-bugs.html

Last week all six stock ideas closed in positive territory. IRBT, the trade of the week closed up 1.8% for the week. GRMN gained 3%, LVS gained almost 5%, and WYNN was the biggest mover closing the week up 8.5%.

1/14/2018

Peter Thiel has taken a large position in bitcoin. http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiels-founders-fund-invested-big-in-bitcoin-2018-1

Jamie Diamon regrets calling bitcoin a fraud. http://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiels-founders-fund-invested-big-in-bitcoin-2018-1

The Chinese inferred they may begin to pull back their purchasing of US Bonds which could jeopardize the thirty year run in bonds. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/reports-on-china-slowing-us-debt-buying-could-be-based-on-wrong-information-source-says.html

At a Ripple Conference, Ben Bernanke called Ripple a currency of the future. https://www.profitconfidential.com/cryptocurrency/ripple/ripple-price-forecast-xrp-poised-gains-ben-bernankes-comments/

Last week EA was the trade of the week it mostly consolidated before it broke out on Friday to close the week up 1%. BITA was up almost 4% before rolling over and closing negative for the week. IGT was up 3% and LVS finished the week up a little over 4%.

1/7/2018

In the first quarter of 2018 Mexico is on track to legalize medical marijuana. https://cannabis.net/blog/news/mexico-medical-marijuana-framework-update-2018

The International Energy Exchange is scheduled to start trading oil on January 18, 2018. The state council gave it approval in December. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-china-will-shake-up-the-oil-futures-market-quicktake-qanda/2018/01/01/9cc74654-ef73-11e7-95e3-eff284e71c8d_story.html?utm_term=.976b065264c5

There is a bill in congress that would allow those with large student loan debt to collect their social security right away to pay it down. In return they would have to wait until the age of 73 start collecting social security in retirement. https://www.fool.com/retirement/2018/01/03/would-you-trade-your-social-security-for-student-l.aspx

Russia is looking to create their own national currency with block chain technology. https://www.ccn.com/putin-orders-work-cryptoruble-escape-western-sanctions/

TILE closed the week down five cents at $25.10. I would call that a push. NGD closed the week up 4%, while MTL finished up 3%.

1/1/2018

Ripple past Ethereum to become the second largest crypto by market cap. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/29/ripple-soars-becomes-second-biggest-cryptocurrency-by-market-cap.html

Recreational marijuana is now legal in California. It sent stocks in that sector much higher. http://www.businessinsider.com/recreational-marijuana-legal-in-california-2017-12

Subprime auto defaults are increasing at a rapid pace. https://www.snip.today/post/subprime-auto-loan-investors-want-out-as-defaults-are-on-the-rise/

NRG was the trade of the week and it closed up 1%. CWT was up 3%, SWN gained 4.8%, and UNG was the big winner closing the week up 11%

12/24/2017

Large banks have reduced their short positions in silver. This is one of the largest reductions in history. Often times this leads to an price increase for silver. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-12/buy-gold-silver-time-after-speculators-reduce-longs-and-banks-reduce-shorts

Litecoin founder, Charlie Lee, liquidated all of his litecoins to remove an speculations around him making public statements where he could be pumping up the price. http://www.businessinsider.com/litecoin-creator-charlie-lee-sells-entire-ltc-holding-2017-12

Wal-Mart is now allowing its employee to access their check before they are issued. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-13/wal-mart-to-allow-workers-early-access-to-pay-via-fintech-accord

Mike Maloney released Hidden Secrets of Money, episode 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF362xxcfdk

Fed Governor Neil Kashkari issued a statement at the last fed meeting indicating he see the yield curve flattening out in 2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/fed-s-kashkari-says-flatter-yield-curve-helped-motivate-dissent

Berkshire Hathaway A shares closed above $3,000 for the first time. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/18/shares-of-warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-rise-above-300000.html

Intel (INTC) closed the week just under 5%. SOXL closed up 4.7%, and GTLS was up 1%.

12/17/2017

As expected the Federal Reserve raised rates last week. In 2018 there is expected to be three more. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-raises-interest-rates-sees-continued-path-of-increases-in-2018-1513191780

New housing starts hit 10 year high. http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-new-home-sales-race-to-10-year-high-in-october-2017-11

Personal savings rates are in decline. https://mises.org/power-market/personal-saving-falls-lowest-rate-2007

The MSCI index is set to close positive all 12 months for the first time in history. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/global-stocks-could-make-history-this-month-by-refusing-to-fall-2017-12-08

The California Road Charge Pilot Program is going to be tested out. Automobile owners will pay tax per mile driven. http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/12/11/california-considers-mileage-tax/

ESPR was the trade of the week and it closed up just under 2.5%. It was up as much as 7.7% by mid-week. NKE had a nice run closing the week up 5.5%.

12/10/2017

Venezuela is going to have an ICO for the petro, in which the country will have a crypto backed by its oil. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy/enter-the-petro-venezuela-to-launch-oil-backed-cryptocurrency-idUSKBN1DX0SQ

Buffett made a comment that stated “If the Chinese Government can’t control block chain currencies, no one can.  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=buffet+on+china+controling+bitcoin&view=detail&mid=10DD91306D17D4ADCD8110DD91306D17D4ADCD81&FORM=VIRE

Coinbase had to temporarily shut down their website because of the vast number of new members joining. https://www.geekchoice.com/2017/12/08/the-bitcoin-craze-drives-apps-popularity/

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is going to start trading Bitcoin contracts starting on December 18th of 2017. http://www.cmegroup.com/media-room/press-releases/2017/12/01/cme_group_self-certifiesbitcoinfuturestolaunchdec18.html

Russia declared victory of ISIS in Syria. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/12/09/iraq-declares-victory-in-war-against-isis.html

The Fed will meet this coming week and most likely raise the fed funds rate this week. Previous rate hikes have put in the bottom for the precious metals which have been battered the past couple of weeks. http://www.businessinsider.com/fed-december-meeting-focus-is-2018-path-of-rate-hikes-2017-12

ERX closed the week down as the energy market gave a little back. It closed the week down 2%

12/3/2017

Bill Dudley made it publicly known the Fed is currently working on their own block chain currency. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-dudley/amid-bitcoin-surge-dudley-says-offering-digital-currency-on-feds-radar-idUSKBN1DT26J

UBS and Bank of America sent letters to their clients letting them know a market correction could be in store.

John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, made a public statement to avoid bitcoin like the plague. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-28/vanguard-founder-jack-bogle-says-avoid-bitcoin-like-the-plague

Coinbase added 300,000 new users last month. https://www.thestreet.com/story/14403918/1/bitcoin-10000-should-investors-be-concerned.html

Sherrod Brown, a senator from Ohio, put forth a bill where underfunded pensions can borrow from the treasury. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-08/it-begins-democratic-senator-introduce-bill-taxpayer-funded-pension-bailouts

Visa (V) moved up early in the week and then begin to struggle on Wednesday. The market selloff on Friday didn’t help, Visa closed the week down 1%. RSO was up 2% on Wednesday but closed the week flat. GNTX did the best closing up over 5.5%.

11/26/2017

According to data from the Investment Company Institute, money is continuing to flow into domestic etfs. Emerging market markets are seeing the biggest amount allocated to their etfs. Money is coming out of commodities. http://www.yardeni.com/pub/icieqbnd.pdf

Overstock.com is one of the first US companies to except crypto currencies as a form of settlement. Since that announcement was made over 4 months ago, OSTK has tripled. It was trading at $18 in August and is over $54 per share today. https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/279115/overstockcom-ostk-stock-is-surging-today-heres-why

A crypto school is has now been launched for those who was to increase their knowledge of the cypto currency market. www.thecryptoschool.io

Ray Dalio increased his position in GLD by 600% http://www.kitco.com/news/2017-11-14/Ray-Dalio-Buys-500-Million-In-Gold-EFTs-In-Q3.html

Tencent now has a bigger market cap than Facebook. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4004742-tencent-bigger-facebook

Mugabe has been replaced as the leader of South Africa. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/11/21/figure-known-as-crocodile-set-to-replace-zimbabwes-mugabe.html

TSCO was the trade of the week. It moved up on Monday and Tuesday but closed Friday at 64.29 down about 1/3 of 1%. FIW closed up 2%, NVO closed up over 2% and URA closed the week up 7.5%.

11/19/2017

Keep an eye on Uranium stocks. Cameco and Denison Mines are cutting supply which could boost their stock price. https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/09/denison-mines-stock-spikes-after-cameco-announces.aspx

Venezuela has officially defaulted on their debts. https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2017/11/14/venezuela-defaults/&refURL=https://www.bing.com/&referrer=https://www.bing.com/

Tencent (TCEHY) a Chinese tech giant bought 12% of Snapchat. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-snap-tencent-stake/chinas-tencent-takes-12-percent-stake-in-snap-as-shares-plunge-idUSKBN1D81G3

This week a Da Vinci painting of Christ sold for 450 million dollars. Paper money isn’t losing its value? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/arts/design/leonardo-da-vinci-salvator-mundi-christies-auction.html

John Williams, head of the San Francisco said they will need a new tool kit to manage the next financial downturn. http://www.ibtimes.com/feds-williams-says-central-banks-need-consider-new-tools-2195059

Last week Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) reported great earnings which moved the stock up just under 10%. YUMC was up 2% and SKX closed up 5% on Friday.

11/12/2017

The brick and mortar meltdown is a look into what is happening in the commercial realty space. https://wolfstreet.com/2017/11/06/plunging-mall-prices-drag-down-commercial-real-estate/

95% of economists believe there will be a fed rate hike in December. http://247wallst.com/economy/2016/11/19/what-to-expect-for-fed-rate-hikes-in-december-and-in-2017/

Margin debt is at an all-time high. http://www.brotherjohnf.com/us-margin-debt-hitting-time-highs-borrowing-speculate-never-popular/

Wall Street is starting to embrace bitcoin. https://www.wsj.com/articles/cme-planning-bitcoin-futures-market-in-big-endorsement-of-digital-currency-1509459517

100,000 new subscribers to coinbase with CME announcement. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-02/bitcoin-exchange-added-100-000-users-in-a-day-as-price-exploded

Segwit 2, the next bitcoin fork is not going to occur. https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/08/segwit2x-backers-cancel-plans-for-bitcoin-hard-fork/

LABU closed the week down 10%. 3x stocks cut both ways. The overall market struggled this week. BITA was up over 11% by Wednesday but closed the week in negative territory.

Ross Stores Inc (ROST) has been in a steady uptrend since the end of July and has been in consolidation for the past month. Last week ROST closed positive 4 out 5 days while steadily gaining volume. Earnings are this week so a tight stop loss is must.

Stocks to watch YUMC, SKX, GPOR, and XIN

11/5/2017

Jay Powell is now the new fed chief. He will take his position in February of 2018. https://www.thestreet.com/story/14375157/1/fed-nominee-powell-wants-people-to-be-wealthy.html

Consumer savings rate lowest since September of 2007 https://seekingalpha.com/article/4118931-u-s-savings-rate-lowest-level-since-great-recession

The no money down homes are back in Sacramento. http://www.talkmarkets.com/content/stocks--equities/here-we-go-again-sacramento-sells-425000-pads-with-no-money-down?post=154283

Fed funds rate left unchanged http://www.barrons.com/articles/shocked-shocked-fomc-leaves-rates-unchanged-1509560631

Lst week MYGN was the trade of the week. It closed the week down 18%. The worst in some time. Not all the picks shared that fate. CTRL closed up 10% while SWN finished up 11%. The is a great example of why you trade with a stop loss in place.

10/30/2017

The Dow jones closed at another record high last week. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/24/us-stock-futures-earnings-fed-chair-position-tax-reform-on-wall-street-agenda.html

Last week I wrote a new article why I think the market is going to melt up from here. http://www.moneyandtrading.com/articles/

Oil is beginning to breakout. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/20/us-is-doing-something-weve-never-seen-before-with-oil-says-kloza.html

The dollar has been moving up for since the end of September. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-index-jumps-to-3-month-high-as-ecb-fueled-euro-slump-continues-2017-10-27

Last week. Winnebago Industries was the trade of the week. WGO closed up 1%. All the other picks closed the week up as well. AEO was up 2%, GNRC rose 3%, and GPRO closed last week up 5%.

10/22/2017

According to a recent Barron’s article, India’s markets could triple over the next decade. http://www.barrons.com/articles/india-stock-market-could-triple-in-a-decade-1507581236

There are rumors circulating Amazon could accept bitcoin in the future. https://squawker.org/technology/breaking-amazon-will-accept-bitcoin-by-october/

Trump has been holding interviews to determine who the next Fed Chief will be. http://fortune.com/2017/10/19/trump-federal-reserve-chairman-selection/

The dow continues to surge closing at a new all-time high on Friday. https://globalnews.ca/news/3812493/dow-jones-hits-record-high/

The JFK papers are going to be released at the end of October. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trump-plans-to-release-of-jfk-assassination-documents-despite-concerns-from-federal-agencies/2017/10/21/d036cf36-b65d-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.abf39dc61c51

Consumer sediment at 13 year highs. https://thecheapinvestor.com/2017/10/why-consumer-sentiment-is-at-13-year-highs/

Intrepid Potash Inc (IPI) closed the week down 7% it went back tested its 50 day moving average and broke through to the downside. This is the first trade of the week loss in eight weeks.

10/15/2007

Home mortgage lenders are beginning to ease credit. According to the latest Fannie Mae survey. http://richardselzer.com/2017/10/09/loosening-of-loan-restrictions/

Goldman Sachs is looking to build a platform that trades crypto currencies. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/02/goldman-sachs-exploring-bitcoin-trading-operation-report-says.html

Bitcoin makes a run at $6,000 http://fortune.com/2017/10/13/bitcoin-price-japan-6000/

The Saudi Monarch met with Russia to discuss future business. http://www.ibtimes.com/russian-saudi-arabian-officials-meet-st-petersburg-raising-questions-about-possible-1973456

General Electric (GE) is trading at a 52 week low. http://www.nasdaq.com/article/new-52-week-low-could-prompt-more-insider-buying-at-ge-cm788661

The German government has been buying gold. https://lawrieongold.com/2017/10/12/the-germans-now-the-worlds-biggest-gold-buyers/

Last week FNV, the trade of the week closed up 2%. Jet Blue (JBLU) closed up slightly higher finishing the week up 3%. The trade of the week has now closed positive the past seven weeks in a row.

10/8/2017

Catalonia voted to succeed from Spain. The Spanish government will not recognize the vote. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-06/european-assets-may-be-resilient-to-catalan-independence-call

JP Morgan was fined 4 billion dollars for mishandling the estate of a former executive from American Airlines. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-27/jpmorgan-ordered-to-pay-more-than-4-billion-by-dallas-jury

Atomic swaps have entered the crypto currency business model. Someone can now buy a product with one currency and the seller can get paid in another. https://news.bitcoin.com/altcoin-exchange-performs-first-atomic-swap-between-bitcoin-and-ethereum/

The CFTC wants the financial industry to self-regulate. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/business/cftc-commodity-futures-trading-commission.html

Last week the first negative jobs number came out. This is the first time in seven years the number was negative. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jobs-numbers-swing-negative-post-141202103.html

Stocks are at record highs and CNBC has a twenty two year low viewership. http://www.brotherjohnf.com/cnbc-viewership-drops-22-year-low/

Last week all five stock pick closed in positive territory. Coresite Realty Crop (COR) closed up 1%, CRM was up 3%, Z gained 5%, and YINN blasted up 12%.

10/1/2017

S&P gave the Chinese and the UK a downgrade. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sp-downgrades-chinas-credit-rating-citing-heavy-debt-load-2017-09-21

President Trump released the outline for his new tax brackets. Under the new guidelines there would be three brackets instead of seven. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sp-downgrades-chinas-credit-rating-citing-heavy-debt-load-2017-09-21

Jamie Diamon’s firm in the UK was the fourth largest buyer of bitcoin the same day he came out and called it a fraud. Funny he would down play block chain currencies since they are a apart of the Ethereum alliance. http://fortune.com/2017/02/28/ethereum-jpmorgan-microsoft-alliance/

NAVI was the trade of the week. At one point is was up over 5%, but closed the week up a little under 2%. CLVS closed up 4.8%, while PVG closed up about 2%.

9/24/2017

The Chinese government made a public statement they will begin to crack down on new ICOs after September 30th of 2017. This statement sent Bitcoin from $5000 all that way down to $3000. http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/09/18/china-cracks-bitcoin-beijing-turns-market-power-strategic-weapon/

Venezuelan President Maduro issued a statement their countries oil will no longer be settled in US dollars. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-oil/venezuela-publishes-oil-prices-in-chinese-currency-to-shun-u-s-dollar-idUSKCN1BQ2D1

Toys R Us is going to file bankruptcy. This will be the 2nd largest retail bankruptcy in US history. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-18/toys-r-us-is-said-to-plan-bankruptcy-filing-as-soon-as-today

The Fed announced it will begin to unwind its 4.5 trillion dollar balance sheet, by 10 million per month, starting in October. https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2017/sep/20/us-federal-reserve-decision-janet-yellen-markets-uk-retail-business-live     

Ford will shut 5 of its plants for 10 weeks to work off excess inventory. http://www.businessinsider.com/r-ford-to-cut-production-at-five-north-american-vehicle-plants-2017-9

First Solar was the trade of the week. It closed up just under 2% on Friday. This makes the 4th straight gain for the trade of the week. At one point NVDA was up over 6% before it fell. The big winner was SITO. It close up over 22% in one week.

9/17/2017

Over 143M had their private information compromised in the Equifax hack. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-equifax-cyber/equifax-reveals-hack-that-likely-exposed-data-of-143-million-customers-idUSKCN1BI2VK

Before the Equifax hack was disclosed to the public, executives dumped their stock. http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/08/investing/equifax-stock-insider-sales-hack-data-breach/index.html

Bitcoin crashed from $5000 to $3000 per coin when the Chinese announced they will be closing cypto exchanges by September 30th, 2017. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-14/bitcoin-tumbles-as-chinese-exchange-says-it-will-halt-trading

Jamie Diamon piggy backed on that news an called bitcoin a fraud. An even bigger from than the tulip bubble. http://fortune.com/2017/09/12/jamie-dimon-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-fraud-buy/

CPI rose 4/10 of a percent last month due to the increased price of gas. https://mishtalk.com/2017/09/14/cpi-up-on-energy-and-shelter/

The I phone 8 is going to be released soon. It will cost over $1000. http://www.businessinsider.com/is-the-iphone-x-worth-1000-2017-9

Last week Twitter was the trade of the week. TWTR closed up a little over 3%. It was has high as 5% on Thursday. KMPR closed up 4% for the week and BGC was the top gainer up 8% for the week.

9/10/2017

Stanley Fischer is stepping down from his position with the Federal Reserve for personal reasons. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/06/stanley-fischer-stepping-down-from-fed-citing-personal-reasons.html

Fed Governor Lael Brainard acknowledged the feds assessment of inflation is incorrect. https://www.mercalia.com/en/news/key-fed-official-just-admitted-central-bank-got-inflation-wrong-and-so-it-may-delay-hike-cnbc

Top US oil importers are going to settle crude oil contracts in gold and Chinese renminbi. https://asia.nikkei.com/Markets/Commodities/China-sees-new-world-order-with-oil-benchmark-backed-by-gold

If the debt ceiling was not raised right away, Moodys threatened to downgrade us debt from its triple a rating. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/moodys-us-can-forget-about-triple-a-rating-if-it-violates-debt-ceiling-2017-09-05

Banks to freeze accounts article by Wolf Richter. https://wolfstreet.com/2017/07/30/leaked-eu-plans-to-freeze-deposits-to-prevent-bank-runs/

Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies sold off after the Chinese threatened to make icos illegal. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-06/bitcoin-comes-clawing-back-after-selloff-on-china-ruling-chart

Welltower (HCN) was the trade of the week. It closed up 1%. The big winner was RH blasting up 46% for the week. After one full year of putting out a trade of the week, I have learned a couple things. With the system I used stocks that trade over $30 tend to have a steady return. 19 of 25 stocks over $30 closed in positive territory.

9/3/2017

Ford is now disbanding credit scores so more people will be able to have access to car loans. http://www.philstockworld.com/2017/08/26/ford-to-abandon-traditional-credit-scores-for-underwriting-decisions-as-sales-stall/

The average new car loan is now $506 and $386 for a used car per month. https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/things-middle-class-cant-afford-anymore.html/?a=viewall

Former Federal Reserve Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, is going to be the keynote speaker at an October crypto currency conference. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-27/bernanke-flip-flops-will-be-keynote-speaker-blockchain-conference

Bank of America released a new report. The findings indicated the average amount of all accounts including checking, savings, and retirement accounts only add up to $12,000 per household.

The Federal Reserve has acknowledged the Philips curve is no longer relevant. https://mishtalk.com/2017/08/29/fed-study-shows-phillips-curve-is-useless-admitting-the-obvious/

Green Med is going to have its intimal coin offering.  This will marijuana companies to transact easier since most states make it hard for these companies to transact. http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/GreenMed-Launches-World-s-First-Cryptocurrency-Based-Credit-Card-Processing-App-for-Legal-Marijuana-Industry-1002283551

IBM is now coming out with its own block chain currency to track ingredients from its origin to the grocery store. Companies like Wal-Mart, Kroger, and many other companies will take part in this new tracking system. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walmart-others-turning-blockchain-food-safety-115906494.html

Warrren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson are now funding studies to grow meat in labs. http://www.investopedia.com/news/bill-gates-and-richard-branson-betting-labgrown-meat/

Jacob Rothschild sold off a large amount of US assets in the past couple of weeks. https://thedailycoin.org/2017/08/31/rothschild-just-dumped-massive-amounts-us-assets-sending-ominous-signal/

Generac (GNRC), the trade of the week, closed up 5% for the week. SCO moved as high as 7% by Tuesday and closed slightly negative. Richmont Mines (RIC) was the big gainer closing up 15% for the week.

8/27/2017

According to a recent 13 F filing the Rothschild’s have gotten rid of the US dollar and the S&P 500 index and moved it into the Sterling and Euro. They allocated some capital to the energy sector.

Ron Paul’s YouTube channel has now been demonetized.

Jackson Hole meeting is taking place this week.

IBM is now creating its own block chain to track food ingredients. Many major companies have agreed to team up with them on this initiative.

Citi Group issued a warning to their clients about a potential down turn in the near future.

Generac Holdings Inc (GNRC) manufactures generators. After hurricane Sandy this stock moved from the low $20 range to almost $60. Average trading volume has doubled in the past two trading days. On Friday GNRC closed above its 200 day moving average.

Stocks to watch – RIC, SCO, and RSO

8/20/2017

There is talk of Judy Shelton becoming a voting member of the Fed. She is a fan of sound money, which means gold.

Platinum to Gold ratio is at a 35 year low.

India typically known for their gold buying are now purchasing large amounts of silver.

Four out of ten new home buyers have less than a 10% down payment.

Wal Mart is competing with Amazon for the patent to a floating warehouse.

Uranium Energy (UEC) has fallen over 25% in the past month. Last week it tested and held $1.30 multiple times. The rsi is week at the moment but it may change quickly with a cross above its 200 day moving average of $1.37.

Stocks to watch USO, HCN, and LABU

8/13/2017

Labor market condition index will no longer be used by the Federal Reserve. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-ends-release-of-its-own-employment-yardstick-2017-08-07

Charles Schwab has new brokerage accounts opening at a rapid pace. Mostly millennials are coming into the market. Is this considered the dumb money entering the market while the smart money is leaving? http://www.onestopbrokers.com/2017/08/11/dumb-dumber-money-keeps-pouring/

Jeff Gundlach stated the volatility index should double by December, Warren Buffet is sitting on over 100 billion in cash, and Jim Rogers, who is normally very reserved said “ A major crisis is less than a year away. http://www.financialexpress.com/market/jim-rogers-says-the-biggest-crisis-in-his-life-is-less-than-a-year-away/802645/

Vegas odds have been released for the next presidential election in 2020. Donald Trump is the front runner so far at +300. Mike Pence is a +700, Elizabeth Warren is a +900. The long shot is George Clooney at +30,000. http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2017/08/07/vegas-oddsmakers-have-handicapped-the-presidential-winner-in-2020-who-will-win/

China will use blockchain to collect taxes from their citizens. http://thedailycoin.org/2017/08/06/china-will-use-blockchain-collect-taxes/

Four silver mines had decreasing production so far in 2017. Decreases ranged from 20-34%. Falling orr grade was the main reason. http://thedailycoin.org/2017/08/06/china-will-use-blockchain-collect-taxes/

Record buying came into to ticker VXX. This etn tracks the volatility index. VXX jumped 22% last week. This volume could be cause by Jeff Gundlach’s comments.

Wayfair inc (W) was the trade of the week. Bad earnings were reported this week for Wayfair and drove the stock down 13%. Stay away from earnings releases if you are a trader. BZUN closed the week up over 2% and TSLA closed the week flat after if moved up over 3% on Thursday.

8/6/2017

The bitcoin fork was complete on August 1st. In addition to bitcoin there is also bitcoin cash. Bitcoin is currently trading neat $3200 while bitcoin cash is priced at $200. https://www.moneymorning.com.au/20170802/bitcoin-fork-official-bitcoin-cash-price-up-32.html

Saudi Arabia oil imports are steadily decreasing as us production is on the rise. http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/03/oil-prices-fall-further-ahead-u-s-rig-data.html

The vix continues to its downward trend now trading at a 24 year low. http://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-today-vix-volatility-2017-7

Alan Greenspan did an interview where he foresees the economy dealing stagflation comparable to what took place in 1979. He proclaimed the bond market is the issue. https://thedailycoin.org/2017/08/02/greenspan-warns-stagflation-like-1970s-not-good-asset-prices/

Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s brother is going to oversee the investigation of the Irwin Awan. He is the head of IT for the DNC. http://thedailycoin.org/2017/07/30/steve-wasserman-debbies-brother-oversee-awan-probe-video/

The Dow Jones closed in record territory while the gold to silver ratio climbed over 77:1. https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/08/03/business/03reuters-usa-stocks.html

AU Anglogold Ashanti went straight down last week after the jobs report. It closed down 10%. That was a good reminder of why I typically pick stocks that are trading above their 200 day moving average. If stocks are trading under their 200 day moving average wall street is usually betting against them. LYSCF spiked up 15% on Monday morning but closed the week up just under 3%. INTC also closed the week up just under 3%.

7/30/2017

Former plunge protection team member Pippa Malmgren publicly stated governments are worried about the power of block chain currencies. Currently only only 3% of of retail investors have exposure to crypto currencies. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/07/tyler-durden/blockchain-freaking-governments/

Marin Katusa released an article talking about the continuing decline in new gold discoveries. You combine that with Taho Resources having a class action lawsuit filed against them and the recent commitment of traders report indicates golds downside may be limited. https://www.ainsliebullion.com.au/mobile/gold-silver-bullion-news/marin-katusa-talks-gold-deposits-after-a-disappointing-nar-report/tabid/155/a/1586/default.aspx

The median existing home price hit a new record high in July at $263,000. This is up 6.5% year over year. Low inventory and high prices homes are pushing that number up. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/24/june-us-existing-home-sales.html

Oil rose quickly last week despite the fact the OPEC produced record amounts. The US will soon pass Russia for the amount of oil produced within the next year. I would guess shortly oil prices will correct to the downside. https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2017-07-24/opec-non-opec-debate-how-to-cap-rising-libyan-nigerian-oil-output

The libor rate is the interbank lending rate. Last week it was made public this bench mark lending rate will be phased out by 2021. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scandal-hit-libor-to-be-phased-out-2017-07-27

Imran Awan, the IT director for the DNC was arrested at Dulles Airport. He was attempting to flee the country and head back to Pakistan. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scandal-hit-libor-to-be-phased-out-2017-07-27  

Abbvie Inc (ABBV) closed the week down 5%. It is still a stock to keep on your radar this week. It is sitting just above its 50 day moving average at $70.44. IRBT closed the week up 20%.

7/23/2017

The bitcoin fork will take place on August 1st http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/18/bitcoin-soars-as-miners-move-to-solve-the-digital-currency-scaling-problem.html

UUP the etf for trading the us dollar has hit close to a one year low trading at $24.32. It is still above its 200 day moving average. http://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/07/20/dollar-index-hits-11-month-low.html

Veritasium will trade in competition with the Jamaican stock exchange. This will take place sometime August.

At a recent Visa conference, the company announced it would give companies that quit doing business in cash $10,000. http://nypost.com/2017/07/15/visa-offers-small-businesses-10k-to-ban-cash/

The amount of shorts on the gold cot report by commercial banks are significantly lower since the flash crash that occurred a couple weeks ago. Commercials loosening up on their short position means a better outlook for the precious metals. JP Morgan is always on the right side of the trade when it comes to silver. http://cotbase.com/

Mario Draghi is talking more QE while Japanese banking officials said they will never raise rates again. http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Markets/draghi-ecb-stimulus-bank-of-england/2017/07/20/id/802761/  

AT&T ditching landline services in Illinois telling existing customers to get cell phones. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-att-landline-end-illinois-0706-biz-20170705-story.html

Universal Display (OLED) did well as the trade of the week closing up over 3%. 3 out of the other 4 set ups closed positive for the week.

7/16/2017

Senate Bill 1241, originated by Chuck Grassley has some in the crypto currency world concerned. Section 13th of the combating money laundering and terrorist financing bill, states civil asset forfeiture of monetary assets, cash, gift cards, and digital currencies. https://news.bitcoin.com/prepare-for-sb1241s-pit-bull-assault-on-bitcoin-freedom/

In Zurich, Switzerland digital passport ids are being created using the ethereum technology platform. https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-friendly-swiss-city-announces-ethereum-digital-id-pilot/

The second largest producing silver mine, Taho Resources, has been temporarily shut down due to government interference. Yet the price of spot silver somehow drops. https://srsroccoreport.com/worlds-2nd-largest-silver-mine-shut-down-implications-for-company-market/

Mike Maloney produced a video show how credit is beginning to roll over.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL1rHS4ex-g

The Bank of Japan recently stated it will now monetize unlimited amounts of Japanese Government Bonds. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-bonds-idUSKBN19S0YI

After the fed meeting on Wednesday, a chance of a September rate hike fell from 18% to 13% http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/14/fed-janet-yellen-may-delay-interest-rate-hike-after-cpi-retail-data.html

Warren Buffet has been out promoting the Indian stock market as it continues to run higher. http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-jeff-gundlach-favorite-stock-market-a-powerful-boost-2017-7

All the stocks recommended last week closed the week in positive territory. Stryker Corp. (SYK) closed the week up 3%. NVDA was the big winner gaining 12%. VEEV and LITE both closed up 3%, while AAL gained 1% for the week.

7/9/2017

Janet Yellen is scheduled to Testify to congress next week on Wednesday. The head of the central bank will field questions from the representatives. https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2017-07-06/feds-yellen-to-deliver-second-day-of-testimony-on-july-13

Ray Dalio recently comented on the end of the central bank era. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-07/dalio-calls-end-of-central-bank-era-time-to-head-to-party-exit

Silver had a fat fingered trade where the price dropped from $16.15 to $14.34 in a matter of seconds. That pushed the gold to silver ratio up to 78/1. That is the highest ratio since April of 2016. Gold closed the week at $1212.82 while silver closed at $15.60. http://www.businessinsider.com/silver-spot-price-crash-2017-7?IR=T

There is talk AT&T is going to buy out Time Warner. If that was so CNN whiched is owned by Time Warner have to rebrand itself. http://www.businessinsider.com/silver-spot-price-crash-2017-7?IR=T

The new I Phone 8 is going to be released with a sticker price of $1,000. http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-8-will-have-carrier-discounts-analysts-say-2017-7

Auto loans reached a new high in amount borrowed and time to pay off. Loans averaged 69 months to pay off, with the average loan amount totaling $30,900. That makes the average payment per month $517. http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/03/autos/long-auto-loans/index.html

STAG was the trade of the week and it closed down 1%. All the other setups closed in positive territory. TRUE was up 2%, AAL gained 5%, and NOAH increased over 6%.

7/2/2017

Porter Stansberry and Steve Sjuggerud released an interview last week. It highlights the opportunity to invest in emerging market tech companies. They also discussed what corporate debt looks like in the US and how you can subscribe to their services. Last week the MSCI will allow the China A shares into their emerging market index starting in 2018. https://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/2017/06/26/msci-to-add-china-a-shares-to-emerging-markets-index-what-does-it-mean-for-investors?channel=Capital%20Growth

Japan is expiring days where no bonds are traded. Should it be surprise this is one of the major counties interested in doing business with bitcoin. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-10/japanese-bond-futures-volume-collapses-zero-even-service-sector-implodes 

Fannie Mae mortgage lenders sentiment survey has lenders concerned. With the median new home price going for over $400,000 and the average mortgage borrower only making $63,000 of income. http://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2017-06-26/us-home-lenders-see-leaner-times-ahead-fannie-mae-survey  

Bank stress tests were completed last week. All 34 firms past for the first time since the financial crisis. http://nypost.com/2017/06/28/all-banks-pass-stress-test-for-first-time-since-financial-crisis/ 

Yandex N.V. (YNDX) was one of the worst trades of the week recommendations in some time. It closed the week down almost 5%. AMN closed the week up 4%.

6/25/2017

Ethereum experienced its first flash crash. The currency was trading at $315 and instantly fell to $13. http://www.businessinsider.com/ethereum-price-flash-crash-2017-6

The rebalance of the GDXJ was complete on June 16th. That stock along with the junior minors affiliated with it were shorted heavily once it was known the rebalancing was taking place. This week it experienced a nice recovery. http://oilnewsfeed.com/2017/06/19/small-cap-mining-stocks-big-time-opportunity-gdxj/

The tech giants are now heading to Nevada. There will be no taxes levied on block chain start ups. https://thebitcoinnews.com/nevada-takes-a-chance-on-pro-blockchain-legislation/

Jim Rogers came out stating the biggest downturn in history will start this year. http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-rogers-worst-crash-lifetime-coming-2017-6

Existing home sales set a new record high. It now costs $252,800 to purchase lived in home in the United States. http://www.economiccalendar.com/2017/06/21/may-us-existing-home-sales-rose-1-1-prices-hit-fresh-record-high/

Altria Group (MO) finished the week down 1%. In the stocks to watch, CALA closed the week up 6%.

6/18/2017

The average stock is trading 73% higher than its historical average. Only two other times in history have valuations been this high. In 1929 before The Great Depression and in 1999 before the dot.com bubble burst.

Harry Markopolos, the investigator that brought down Bernie Madoff, exposed the lack of pension funds  Boston Transit Authority. It will have a large impact on the municipal bond markets if the same is true with other pension systems around the country. Houston is selling streets to pay for pensions; there is a one million dollar per month short fall per month for Illinois pensions. Speaking of Chicago, vendors for road maintenance need to complete current work by the end of June, because as of June 30th there is no money to pay for these projects. http://telzilla.com/zero-hedge/madoff-whistleblower-harry-markopolos-has-uncovered-a-new-fraud/

Alabama just implemented a work for food welfare program. About 85% of current enrollees will no longer collect a check from the state of Alabama. http://www.kettlemorainepreciousmetals.com/2017/06/11/alabama-cut-welfare-by-85-all-states-should-follow/

As expected the Fed increased the fed funds by a quarter point. I think this is the last hike for 2017. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-raises-rates-and-sets-plan-to-shrink-balance-sheet-this-year-2017-06-14

Ford is offering 15,000 buyouts. With large inventories and slowing sales this shouldn’t be a surprise. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-offers-buyouts-to-15000-workers-worldwide-2017-06-08

Louisiana Pacific Corporation (LPX) closed the week up 2%. With this positive close the trade of the week has closed in positive territory 8 out of the past 10 weeks. The stocks to watch I posted included GOGL and WFM. GOGL was up almost 7% by Wednesday but closed the week in negative territory. Whole Foods Market (WFM) the headline story on Friday. They were bought by Amazon which caused the stock to close up 19%.

6/11/2017

As of today there are over 750 and crypto currencies. The coin base website is adding 40,000 customers daily which is slowing the process down for all users. This would explain the continuing spike in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin just crossed $3,000 while ethereum elevated to $350. Remember this currency was only trading for $10 in February. https://etfdailynews.com/2017/06/11/ethereum-tops-300-for-the-first-time-amid-cryptocurrency-craze/

Veritaseum is a new crypto currency that is going to start trading in the next couple of weeks. You can purchase this crypto currency right now. This coin can be used when new exchanges are being created. http://veritas.veritaseum.com/

After years of pleading from the gold and silver community the CFTC has finally charged one trader with insider trading. James McDonald is being investigated for spoofing the market. http://silverseek.com/commentary/surprise-cftc-announcement-16665

According to Marc Faber 5 companies in the S&P 500 have added 260 billion dollars in market cap. The other 495 companies shed the same amount. https://www.gloomboomdoom.com/

The IMF recently stated if the Fed fund rates were moved up by two percent, about twenty percent of the companies would go bankrupt. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-19/stark-warning-imf-finds-over-20-us-corporations-risk-default-should-rates-rise

Hartford, Connecticut is the newest city facing the burden of paying for obligations that can’t be kept. http://www.courant.com/health/hc-uconn-health-budget-problems-20170609-story.html

The trade of the week Iridium Comm Inc (IRDM) closed the week up just under 4%. VRX also gained 8% by midweek but closed even on Friday.

6/4/2017

On June 14 the Fed is scheduled to meet and will decide if the fed funds rate will be raised. Right now there is a 85% chance rates will be move up. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-05-24/85-chance-of-fed-june-rate-hike-according-to-poll-video

The Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank both have larger balance sheets than the Federal Reserve. Today the Feds balance sheet stands at 4.5 trillion. Remember it was only 800 billion pre- economic crises. https://www.thefringenews.com/boj-ecb-balance-sheets-exceed-the-fed039s-for-first-time-ever-what-happens-next/

In the not too distant future, over 400,000 stores could be able to use bitcoin for all transactions http://www.altcointoday.com/japans-bitpoint-add-bitcoin-payments-100000-stores/

Paul Singer, the CEO of Elliot Management Corp, sent an email to his clients and indicating all hell could break lose if Trumps policies fail. In 24 hours the company raised 5 billion dollars. Elliot Management manages 32.6 billion today. https://good-stockinvest.com/2017/05/31/paul-singer-warns-all-hell-will-break-unfastened/

Jobs numbers were released and at present time the unemployment rate sits at 4.3%. This month 608,000 people were not counted that were last month.

The Dow Jones closed in record territory finishing the week at 21,206. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/12/05/stocks-wall-street-dow-sp500-nasdaq-oil-italy/94987178/

The State Debt of Illinois was lowered to one step above junk status. http://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/economic-news/TDJNDN_2017060110821/sp-downgrade-brings-illinois-debt-one-step-closer-to-junk.html

Procter & Gamble (PG), the trade of the week, closed the week up just under 2%. Three out of the other four stock sets ups finished in the green. LABD the only loser was up over 9% on Tuesday before selling off and finishing the week in negative territory.

5/29/2017

The block chain price explosion is finally beginning to consolidate. Bitcoin and ethereum high reached their all-time highs before they started to correct at the end of the week. It should be noted the CME has set up a crypto currency index. http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-cme-group-bitcoin-prices-bsi-20160502-story.html

Ethereum recently held a conference and the biggest corperations were in attendance. The companies included the Microsoft, JP Morgan, Procter and Gamble, BP, General Electric, the CME and DTCC.

Hong Kong set up a new precious metals physical exchange. http://www.scrapregister.com/news/42472/hong-kong-exchange-plans-to-launch-physically-settled-chinese-yuan-and-us-dollar-gold-futures

Noble Group, the third largest commodity trader is close to going under. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4073465-noble-worth-less

A four times leverage etf that tracks the S&P 500 has been put on hold by the SEC. http://www.nasdaq.com/article/why-the-sec-shouldnt-reject-4x-leveraged-etfs-cm794885

Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. (HR) broke above $34.00 on Tuesday and remained in positive territory until it sold off on Friday. It closed the week down 1% at $33.09.

5/21/2017

Mike Maloney recently released a video called “ The Everything Bubble” Through various charts, Mike breaks down the bond, stock market, and housing market bubble. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0Oz2R0u4VM&t=413s

Nassim Taleb gave a rare interview where he disclosed the market is in a worse condition than in 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASD1LJQzj5o

The largest junior mining etf, the GDXJ, is rebalancing and driving down the price of junior mining stocks. http://www.pinnacledigest.com/tsx-venture-investing/gdxj-etf-rebalance-coming/

Bitcoin continues its parabolic move. The block chain currency is now pricing over $2,000. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-20/bitcoin-soars-above-2000-first-time-ever

The dollar fell to its lowest price since November of 2016 using UUP. The US dollar index it closed at 97.12. On Friday, crude oil clawed its way back over $50 a barrel. Uranium closed the week at $21.50 per pound. This is the lowest price since the beginning of January.

On Wednesday, when the dow jones fell over 400 points, VXX spiked to just above $16 and failed to break through its 50 day moving average. In mid-April it failed at the 50 day as well.

Ventas Inc. (VTR) closed up a little over 2% on the week. Ironically it made its biggest move on Wednesday when the market was tanking. The trade of the week has done extremely well with stocks trading over $30. So far 15 out of 17 have closed in positive territory with the 2 losers only falling 1%

5/14/2017

One of the largest computer hacks in history is taking place in 100 countries around the world. The hackers are demanding a ransom or else your files will be deleted. https://theintercept.com/2017/05/12/the-nsas-lost-digital-weapon-is-helping-hijack-computers-around-the-world/

Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google are the FANG stocks. Right now they have a price to earnings ratio of 90:1. The NASDQ has moved up 40% on the back of 5stocks.

Larry Fink of Blackrock recently indicated he is weary of the week auto sales. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/blackrock-s-fink-sees-warning-signs-for-u-s-economy-brewing

Texas has a bill that would make gold and silver legal tender. http://thedailycoin.org/2017/05/04/texas-bill-establish-gold-silver-legal-tender-dealing-massive-blow-federal-reserve/

The probability of a FED rate hike in June is up to 74%. https://www.investing.com/news/economy-news/jobs-report-ups-odds-for-june-fed-rate-hike,-insufficient-for-2-in-2017-480600

Bitcoin continues its climb. It traded above $1900 this week. The Chinese government put capital controls on it, which made the price move up even faster. http://www.bitcoinisle.com/2017/05/11/bitcoin-price-hits-1900-for-the-first-time-ever/

The volatility index is again in record low territory. This is an 24 year low in this market. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-vix-hits-multidecade-low-investors-retreat-from-volatility-products-2017-05-09

The trade of the week, MDR, closed the week down 2%. It was up as much as 6% on Wednesday but closed the week in negative territory. BITA closed the week up 12%, while GOLD closed up 6%.

5/7/2017

Canada placed a 270% duty on imported milk. The US milk producers were able to export milk to Canada through aloop hole. Since new milk products were produced post NAFTA those items were exempt. In response lumber tariffs were put in place.https://www.benzinga.com/news/17/04/9341647/fuel-on-the-fire-trump-hikes-canadian-timber-tariffs-in-retaliation-for-milk-duty

The UN wants to adopt bitcoin and etherium as currency soon. Etherium has jumped to over $90. Six months ago this blockchain was priced at. http://www.coindesk.com/the-united-nations-wants-to-accept-ethereum-and-bitcoin-and-soon/

Puerto Rico Defaulted on its bonds. The biggest bankruptcy in history. 73 billion dollars in bonds are being defaulted on. This bankruptcy is 4 times larger than the bankruptcy that took place in Detroit. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/puerto-rico-with-73-billion-in-debt-forced-toward-bankruptcy/2017/05/03/92e39d76-3020-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html?utm_term=.17fcd6d8c418

The gold to silver ratio increased to 75:1 this week. According to Ted Butler the commercial shorts are decreasing from their April peak.

Ron Johnson Replace Americans Act passed with little coverage with health care getting most of the headlines. This would allow 500,000 immigrant workers and their families to come into the states to fill white and blue collar jobs. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/05/04/gop-propose-american-workers-replacement-bill-amnesty-immigration/

MX last week’s trade of the week, finished up over 18%. MNTA closed up 10%. This is the 4th consecutive trade that closed higher.

4/30/2017

Fannie Mae is now making it easier for students with loans to buy a home. This new idea will allow students to roll their student loan debt into their mortgage. Increasing the debt load for these young adults is not the answer. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fannie-mae-student-loans-mortgage/  

The president’s tax cuts were brought to the public eye on Wednesday. The new policy would create a tax code with 3 brackets of 10%, 25%, and 35%. A proposed cut to the corporate tax code was put forward. If passed by the congress, corporate taxes would be slashed from 35% to 15%. http://nypost.com/2017/04/26/team-trump-unveils-sweeping-tax-reform-plan/

Silver closed the week down at $17.20 per ounce. That was completely expected with the record short position the commercials held on the commitment of traders report. Gold fared better and closed the week $1268.02. The sliver to gold ratio is approaching 74/1. Crude Oil failed to break above $50 and closed the week at $49.19 per barrel. The dollar closed the week down at $98.93.

Home Depot (HD), the trade of the week, finished the week up 4%. WIX was listed on the stocks to watch list, and it finished the week up 17%.

4/23/2017

Another tax day has come and gone. In 1913, the first year income taxes were collected the tax rates were from 1-7%. Vastly different from today where some pay nothing while the wealthiest pay 39.6%. The tax code was 400 pages in 1913. Today it comprises of 74,608 pages. $3.36 trillion were collected by the government this year.

Corporate tax cuts are expected to happen this week. Individual tax cuts will be pushed into the future, if they happen at all. A significant cut in the corporate rate would push down their p/e ratios and make appealing for new investors to get in the market. http://prensariotiretail.com/2017/04/23/trump-says-massive-tax-cut-plan-coming-as-soon-as-wednesday.html

The French election is under way this weekend with Le Pen and Macron advancing. This election will determine if France will take a more nationalist stance or align itself with the EU. The final vote will take place on May 7th. If Le pen wins, she makes it very clear she wants to leave the Euro. You can expect a heavy media bias towards Macron. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-marine-le-pen-france-election.html?_r=0  

Portola Pharma Cmn (PTLA) the trade of the week closed at $38.20. Up a half of one percent.

4/16/2017

The CFTC added two new members, James MacDonald and Andrew Busch. Hearing this news, a long time silver investor, Ted Butler, wrote them an informative letter talking about the continued suppression of silver. For years Ted has shown the market it rigged using the CFTCs own data. Here is the open letter he wrote.  http://www.zerohedge.com/article/

Oil closed the week at $52.91. On Wednesday it pushed to a high of $53.70 on news Saudi Arabia wants to cut oil for another 6 moths. My assumption is they are trying to keep oil steady until the IPO of Saudi Aramco in 2018. http://blogs.barrons.com/emergingmarketsdaily/2017/04/14/more-opec-production-cuts-saudi-arabia-others-want-60-oil/

Northern Dynasty (NAK) had north of a 30% up day on Wednesday. This came on news the state of Alaska approved a land permit. With a more lenient EPA this is speculative company to keep on your radar.  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/northern-dynasty-state-alaska-approves-221400161.html

At the eleventh hour I decided to subscribe to Frank Curzio’s recently launched newsletter. His lifetime membership was too good to pass on. Frank has been around the newsletter business for many years. On his podcast the guests are extremely well informed business owners and investors.

Volatility finally started to rise this week. With Fed meetings and acts of aggression taking place in Syria and North Korea, was the catalyst that pushed VXX up 11%.

Extended Stay American Inc (STAY) last week’s trade of the week finished up 4% UEC was up as high as 6% on Tuesday and quickly sold off.

4/9/2017

This week the commercials are holding record short positions in the silver market. Mike Maloney released a video that breaks this down. Despite their position the spot price broke out. JP Morgan has a short position 6 times larger than the Hundt brothers did. They continue to short the paper and buy the physical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_xkXtKXlZ4

In the oil market, the oil refiners, which have a good understanding of the market, have a large short position. EIA releasing data and OPEC nations refusing to cut production will push prices lower.

Frank Curzio has now rolled out his new financial newsletter. Until April 12, 2017 you can subscribe for $70. After that you will have to pay at least $200 per year in the future. Become a lifetime member for $270. This deal only will last for one week. http://www.frankcurzio.com/

Russia and China will now settle trade deals in gold. This will cause the demand for the dollar to drop. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-russia-idUSKBN0H40X020140909

The University of Utah is now issuing scholarships to gamers. All that time playing time playing

Ray Dalio recently spoke at an investment conference. He indicated because the debt is so high, the system only has months left. http://www.businessinsider.com/ray-dalio-populism-economic-risk-1930s-2017-4

The trade of the week, Boston Scientific (BSX), finished the week down just under 1%. It did a lot of sideways consolidation. Its price is remaining above the 50 day moving average so it could still move next week.

4/2/2017

Consumer confidence is now hitting a 15 year high. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/consumer-confidence-hits-15-year-high-2017-02-24 This confidence is being backed by stock purchases. John Bogle the former CEO of Vanguard said there has been a billion dollars a day being directed into Vanguard etfs.

A record $540 billion dollars in property taxes were collected in 2016. I am curious to see how those numbers adjust with a market correction. Home owners will want lower property taxes while government entities will want their funding. It will be an ugly day when it arrives. Many states are severely underfunded. Only 13% of the pensions in Illinois are funded sufficiently. https://mishtalk.com/2017/03/14/illinois-general-assembly-retirement-system-only-13-percent-funded/

In previous market thoughts I have highlighted the glut in the automobiles. What is stunning is the deep subprime auto loans are increasing rapidly. In 2010 5% of loans were considered in the deep subprime category, meaning credit scores were between 300 and 600. Today 32.5% of auto loans are considered deep subprime. Wells Fargo is the largest underwriter of these loans. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-28/-deep-subprime-becomes-norm-in-car-loan-market-analysts-say

With markets at or near record levels you would think retirement accounts would follow suit. At the bottom of the markets in 2009 14 trillion in retirement assets existed. With a 200% move in the do 25 trillion now exist in those retirement accounts.

A trader who has been given the nickname 50 cent has been coming into the market for the past several weeks and buying vix call options that are priced at $0.50. So this trader has put 55 million dollars into this trade. http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/mystery-trader-loses-55-million-betting-on-volatility-2017-3-1001887023-1001887023

Three out of the four trade setups from last week finished positive. TSLA gained 6%, MOH increased 2%, while SLW, the trade of the week, closed up 1%. OCLR was up over 4% on Wednesday but sold off on Thursday and Friday to close the week down 3%.

3/26/2017

Cheap oil continues to trend lower. It touched the $47 handle but closed the week at $48.14 per barrel. Inventories are continuing to build. Lower prices in oil will also affect the junk bond market since many of those bonds are tied to oil. Venezuela has now discovered the cause of the bread shortage in their country. It’s not due to a failed socialist government. It’s those greedy bakers. Bakers are now being detained because bread is being sold underweight most likely because their supplies have been diminishing. The price czar of Venezuela believes only 90% of goods and services need to be controlled. The elections have wrapped up in the Netherlands. Wilders the “Donald Trump” of that election didn’t not win. The vote for more nationalistic form of government failed. 52 of the top 100 cities in America are now considered rental dominated. I recently went to Zillow and if defaulted me to San Francisco real estate. The headline read, “fixer upper” with a price of $980,000. I am surprised only 52 cities are considered rental dominated. The dollar closed under 100 for the first time in a while closing at 99.76 on the usdx. The trade of the week UVV, finished the week down 1%.

3/19/2017

As expected a quarter point was added to the fed funds rate. That brings it up to 0.75%. Last week the ECB held their rates flat. The automobile inventory continues to build. GM is now sitting on 108 days of inventory. The average is between 60-70 days. The same trend is occurring in the oil trade. Increasing inventories pushed crude oil down and it finished the week at $48.72 per barrel. Since the spot price is trending lower, MLPs that transfer oil and gas are also taking a hit. Ethereum, a block chain currency, has made large gains in the past couple of weeks. On March 9th the spot price was $16.51 and by the close on March 17th it hit a high of $45.26. http://ethereumprice.org/ Idaho is the next state looking to remove the capital gains from gold and silver. Steps have already been taken to remove the tax in Arizona, Utah, and Texas. In Venezuela one ounce of silver will purchase $250 worth of groceries. The hyperinflation continues to plague their people. The Trump/Russian hearing will be held on Monday of this week. The distraction of the day I would call it. The travel ban was dropped for those traveling from Iraq. 3 of the 4 trade set ups closed in positive territory. CLVS gained 14%, while JCOM, the trade of the week gained 1%

3/12/2017

All eyes will be on the FED on Wednesday. There is now a 100% chance they will raise rates. The strong jobs numbers was reassurance this is going to happen. With a debt ceiling debate set to take place on Wednesday, I can’t imagine volatility remaining as low as it has. Besides two quick moves to the upside, VXX has gone straight down since February of 2016. The past couple of rate hikes have been good for gold. Towards the end of the day on Friday gold stocks rose sharply. Are the institutions taking their positions pre FED speech, time will tell. Bitcoin was taken down to $1085 after the Winklevoss Brothers were denied by the SEC to create a bitcoin etf. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bitcoin-etf-idUSKBN16H2NU According to Bill Gross, “The Bond King” if the 10 year Treasury note goes over 2.6% there will be a bond market implosion. At the close on Friday it was at 2.56%. 2,500 troops are headed to Qu wait, while US B52 bombers were stationed in South Korea. Purdue University offering an income share agreement. (ISA) This would allow the university to take a certain % of a graduate’s income after they join the workforce. Target is a stock to keep on your radar if you are a long term investor. The CFO just bought a half a million shares at $58. Goldman Sachs has a selling price of $53. TGT is currently pricing at $55.36 with a 4.35% dividend. YRD finished the week up 5.5% while the CNQ, the trade of the week finished up 3%.

3/5/2017

Recently a new book called “Fed Up” was released by Danielle DiMartino Booth. She was a former analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In a recent interview she talks about her feelings about this institution and people who run it. Click on the Thursday, March 2 podcast to hear why she wrote the book and her thoughts on the Federal Reserve. http://patriotarchives.blogspot.com/  Record high debt is everywhere. Mortgage/Rents, auto loan payments, student loan debts, health care has never been so expensive, and credit cards debts are all hitting new time highs. Snap Chat had its IPO this week. The starting stock price was set at $17 per share. The Friday close had SNAP pricing at $27.09. Looking at the sectors industrials are leading the way, while the energy sector is lagging. EWQ is beginning to break out. It closed the week at $25.62. Marine Le Pen could be pushing that market higher as the polls continue to show her gaining ground. In the precious metals realm, platinum moved under $1,000 per ounce. Gold and silver got slashed early in the week. Commercial banks are holding close to a record short position. Typically this is bad for the spot price. Apis Cor, a 3D company in Russia, built a home in one day for $10,000. http://www.onenewspage.com/video/20170303/6978767/Printed-House-Built-in-Day.htm If a large number of home owners were displaced, this technology could provide them shelter quickly. UIS, the trade of the week broke into positive territory but ended the week down. BLUE gained 15% in the first few trading days but only closed the week up 4%.

2/26/2017

For years the Federal Reserve board has publicly stated on numerous occasions that its job is to make sure of price stability and full employment. This past week, the head of the Minneapolis Fed, Neil Kashkari, finally disclosed what all of those watching the markets already knew. He stated “We are all about asset prices” This is why rates are low and will continue to stay low. If rates would spike asset prices would fall. In the middle of February, VXX, the way to trade volatility, moved a bit to the upside on large volume. It will be something to keep an eye on with the debt ceiling debate on the horizon, foreign elections outcomes in France and the Netherlands, and announcements regarding the tax code. The NASDQ is now more overbought that when the tech boom was peaking. It may bring in the bears, just another reason to watch volatility. On February 16 there were some regulations that were done away with in the coal market. A recent study shows a college graduate is now on average $37,000 in debt. Nearly half of students are not repaying their loans. 11% are in default while 39% filed for an extension. Janet Yellen came out and made it known three rate hikes are in store for 2017. Keep in mind last year four rate hikes were on the table and only one was exercised in December. Berkshire-Hathaway recently sold off its position in Wal-Mart. George Soros just took a position in Pandora. Alan Greenspan, the former head of the fed, recently came out and declared Ron Paul correct about the gold standard. https://mises.org/blog/alan-greenspan-admits-ron-paul-was-right-about-gold Speaking of gold, on March 31st, 1.6 billion Muslims will be allowed to purchase gold. Sharia law currently makes it illegal for them to own. https://schiffgold.com/key-gold-news/gold-prices-expected-move-sharia-law-revisions/ (TU) last week’s trade of the week broke into positive territory on Wednesday and Thursday, but ended the week down 1%. 3 out of 4 of the other stock set ups mentioned closed the week positive. (ADS, ACXM, ADSK, and DLTR)

2/20/2017

The world has lost its mind. Recently a cheeto shaped liked the slain gorilla Harambe sold for over $99,900. http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/harambe-shaped-cheeto-sells-for-almost-dollar100000/ar-AAmHBSz Approaching quickly is the next debt ceiling in March. Now that a republican is holding the office of president, the right will push to raise it, while the democrats, who previous pushed to increase the last debt ceiling, will stand in staunch opposition. A complete 180 degree change in position by both parties since the last time this topic was debated. Business as usual in Washington. It will be raised. Either they raise it and the markets continue to soar or the ceiling is caped, interest rates go wild, assets prices drop, and everyone loses. The market needs to clear itself and that will eventually have to happen, but not yet.  Recently, Northern Dynasty (NAK) to a big hit to its stock price. They recently came under investigation. In the Frank Curzio’s latest podcast he lays out what is happening with one of North Americas largest gold and copper mines located in Alaska. Episode 490 http://www.frankcurzio.com/  The spot price of uranium is still climbing, currently sitting at $26.50 per pound. TAN, the etf for solar, looks like it is in the process of bottoming. Keep and eye on First Solar (FSLR) this week. I took a personal position in First Mining Finance (FFMGF) at $0.67. As of the close on Friday it was $0.786. Down from its peak of $0.85. (FRAN) last weeks trade of the week finished down 4%.

2/12/2017

Gasoline demand is beginning to dry up as the inventories continue to build reserves. There are 13.8 million more barrels than one year ago. Spot crude closed the week at $53 per barrel. With rig counts climbing and shale oil adding to the glut I am not sure if oil can break much further to the upside.  Trade deficits being reported every month has become business as usual. From 1894-1970 the US ran a trade surplus every year. The last time a trade surplus was reported was in 1975. Expanding on last week’s market thoughts regarding millennials and their expensive taste for coffee. The Extraction Lab in Brooklyn opened recently and now holds the title of the most expensive cup of coffee in the world. Customers can expect to pay $18 for one cup. https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/new-york/articles/americas-new-most-expensive-cup-of-coffee-is-in-brooklyn-and-we-tried-it/ If some of those customers are traders they may want to switch their trading account to http://www.robinhood.com/   Robin Hood is a brokerage company that now offers $0 trade fees. That can add a lot to the bottom line if you are a day trader. Silver closed the week $17.93 per ounce. That’s only one penny away from its 200 day moving average. This week will be telling. Last week, it broke across that leveled but failed to remain above it. Spot gold is pricing $33 dollars below its 200 EMA. Speaking of the precious metals, the gold, silver and bronze metals in the 2020 Olympics held in Japan will be made completely from recycled metal instead of being melted directly from a mine. (HAWK), last week’s trade of the week finished up 2%.

2/5/2017

Last week the Fed left rates unchanged. This was one of the more uneventful fed meetings. No interviews were given; just an overview of the meeting was released. In Davos, Joe Stiglitz made the case to do away with cash. This trend continues to build on itself. The academics continue to push the cashless narrative. A recent study showed a majority of generation x and millennials spend more on coffee than they save for retirement. It brings the question, who is going to buy the stocks liquidated by the baby boomers turning 70 and a half in 2017. Most retirement vehicles mandate a portion of their holdings need to be sold.  Steve Mnuchin is the new Treasury Secretary. He is the former CIO at Goldman Sachs. His father was on the board of Goldman. He worked with George Soros at FSM Capital. During the housing crises his bank foreclosed on many families with a fair amount of equity in their home. The dollar closed under 100 on the dollar index for the first time in sometime. Platinum and uranium are continuing to breakout since the end of December. In the past few months I took a trial subscription to stock fetcher. This stock filter does an excellent job at finding daily potential set ups. www.stockfetcher.com  Steelcase Inc. (SCS) last weeks trade of the week failed to gain traction and closed the week down 2%.

1/22/2017

Crude Oil closed the week up at $53.24 per barrel. With the rise in the price of oil, solar has become the world’s cheapest energy. That being said, investors should know First Solar Energy (FSLR) has slowing been moving up since the beginning of December 2016. Platinum and uranium look to have bottomed and broken out. Tiffany’s piled on the list of retail stores with bad earnings, while JC Penny indicated 300 stores could be closing. The presidential transition is finally complete. The first 100 days will be telling on what kind of president Mr. Trump will be. Trump a long time democrat has put a lot of tough rhetoric during the campaign. Now let’s see if any of it will stick and how it plays into the stock market. He is going to need the easy money to keep coming to sustain this current rally. This will either be accomplished through a qe program or in the form of a rate cut. Starting in 2017 the first wave of baby boomers will begin turning 70 and a half, at which point they will be forced to start withdrawing from their retirement accounts. I am not sure where the money is going to come from to replace the outflow of capital for years to come. The trade of the week HTLD, closed down 3%. It is still holding the $19.80. Keep an eye on it this week.

1/15/2017

Oil prices settled in at $52.37 per barrel. Up slightly since the end of last week. The looming threat to the OPEC production deal is Iraq. They are the second biggest member of OPEC, and could have a hard time cutting the 210,000 barrels per month quota. http://www.businessinsider.com/iraq-could-kill-the-opec-deal-2017-1 On the domestic side, oil rig counts have increased thirty weeks in a row at the same time shale oil is increasing. In the retail space, Limited followed in the footsteps of Macys and JC Penny and shut all of its brick and mortar stores. Their products will only be able to be purchased online. The State Bank of India is working on a form of banking that is all digital. Transactions will be processed through apps, internet banking, and mobile banking. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/sbi-to-launch-its-own-version-of-digital-only-bank-soon/articleshow/56367231.cms Last week the Federal Reserve presidents came out and gave the differing opinions on rate hikes for 2017. One Fed head stated three rate hikes will occur. According to Mr. Lockhart, two rate hikes will happen in 2017. Just to cover all their bases James Bullard sees one rate hike this year. Then you have market analysts like Steve Sjuggerud who see rates being cut. When earnings time comes around for the financial institutions, they should be big. In 2016 the Fed paid out over 12 billion dollars on excess reserves that just sat on bank balance sheets. Analysts from the Fed recently released a study that showed millennials on average are earning 20% less that their parents did at their age, despite being more educated. Oshkosh Truck Corp (OSK), last week’s trade of the week, finished up just under 3%. All five setups closed in positive territory.

1/8/2017

This is the week the Dow 20,000 hats will be worn. Last week 19,999.63 was the high. Bitcoin is priced at $910. That’s down over $200 dollars from its $1130 peak on the 4th of January. If you have any interest in owning bitcoins, www.coinbase.com is one place to go and learn about and buy block chain currencies. The gold community that shunned bitcoin in its infancy is slowly starting to back the idea. In 2016 it was the strongest currency around the world. China and India were responsible for its sub $400 move to its current price. As good as things look for bitcoin and the dow you can’t say the same thing for JC Penny and other retailers. JC Penny sold its headquarters and is now renting it back. Macy’s plans to close 100 stores in the coming year. Out goes the brick and mortar retailers and income the Amazon blimp warehouses. In the future, Amazon would like to place blimps over large cities and have products be delivered via unmanned drones. http://www.eweek.com/cloud/amazon-blimp-based-warehouse-idea-appears-technically-feasible.html The company just launched a brick and mortar store in Seattle where checkouts will become a thing of the past. http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazoncom-unveils-self-driving-brick-and-mortar-convenience-store/  Amazon is also opening a book store in Manhattan. The dollar remains the strongest paper currency around the world. Holding at the 102 handle. As 2017 strength could continue if Marine Le Pen wins the French election. She has already announced France will leave the Euro and create their own currency. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38511058 3 of the 5 setups last week closed in positive territory. Realty Income Corp (O) last week’s trade of the week closed up over %4. IMGN was the big winner rallying 24%.

1/1/2017

The Dow Jones industrial average closed the year at 19,762, while the S&P 500 finished at 2,238. Everyone I talk to about these markets feel they are overpriced. If the man on the street thinks the markets need to correct it will probably do the opposite and continue to run. If I had to pick the best information regarding trend analysis and stock picks, Steve Sjuggerud had great track record in 2016. Shorting treasury bills by purchasing TBT at $33 was his most recent call in October. By mid-December it was pricing close to $43 per share. Steve recently released a new video where he discloses his 6 opportunities in 2017. http://blueprint2017.com/ Check out the rest of his work at http://www.dailywealth.com/ The continued upward trajectory of these markets lies in the hands of fed confidence, and Trump’s follow through on cutting taxes and deregulation. At present time nothing has changed from Obama to Trump. Sentiment and confidence is all that is behind the recent rally.  Sectors leading the way in 2016 consisted of Energy, Financials, and Industrials. Lagging Industries included consumer staples, Real Estate, and Health Care. We have now entered January. Let’s see if OPEC and the Russians follow through on their promise to cut production. A break from the plan would move prices down, while keeping the current plan to cut would continue to move oil prices higher.  Gold held support at $1127. The price has decreased on declining volume which is healthy. In June of 2017 the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index will be adding Chinese stocks. This should give the Chinses markets a boost when these purchases begin.

12/18/2016

The Federal Reserve announced a quarter point rate hike on Wednesday. This is the only increase in 2016. At the end of last year, the talk was four rate hikes would be implemented in 2016. They delivered one. Banks stocks were the big winners Goldman Sachs stock increased 35% since the beginning of November. JP Morgan got a 25% increase to their stock price. The only sector to outperform the financials were the energy stocks. Lagging this month are stocks related to health care. The US dollar popped over $103 on the us dollar index and closed the week at $102.82. This is a 14 year high. Deutche Bank agreed to pay 38 million dollars to settle their silver fixing lawsuit. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-17/deutsche-bank-pays-38-million-settle-silver-manipulation-lawsuit Along with the settlement Deutche Bank turned over incriminating evidence on other banks involved. HSBC and Barclays have their fingerprints all over this. Mike Maloney made an excellent video explaining how the banks colluded to control the price. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rKu7wvIXc In the gold cot report, spreads between the commercials and non-commercials continue to decrease, while open interest continues to fall. Once the commercials give up their large short position, the metals usually base and start to move up. In 2018 the ECB stated the 500 euro will no longer circulate. In other news related story to going cashless, Amazon is going to open its first brick and mortar store in Seattle. You can download an app on your phone, do your shopping, and leave without the inconvenience of standing in a checkout line. IBM announced they will be hiring 25,000 employees over the next 4 years in the United States. It’s encouraging to see good paying tech jobs being created instead of the retail or bartenders jobs. Altria (MO) the trade of the week, finished up 1%.

12/11/2016

Wednesday at 1pm CST the Fed will most likely be announcing a quarter point rate hike. Anything other than that outcome would stir up the market. Dow 20,000 here we come. That being said, check out the divergence between the S&P 500 and the volatility index. The difference has never been greater.  Financials will rally while bond selling will continue. The dollar moved up to close the week at $101.60 on the dollar index. In return the precious metals downtrend continued, as did the spot price of uranium closing the week at $18/lb. AG the trade of the week was up almost 4% on Wednesday. It could not hold above its 200 day moving average and then sold off the rest of the week, to close down 10%. The other 5 stock set ups closed up between 2% and 8%. Oil prices should continue to get bid up next week with the new OPEC oil deal coming into play next month. Atwood Oceanics closed the week at $13.49 on large volume and should continue up if this deal holds. Airline stocks continued to climb with investors following the footsteps of Berkshire Hathaway purchasing Delta, American, and United Airlines. Stillwater Mining Company (SWC), one of the largest platinum miners was bout out by Sibanye Gold (SBGL) for 2.2 billion dollars. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sibanye-gold-buys-stillwater-mining-032644218.html Since the election Passport Potash (POT) has rallied over 20%. It consolidated sideways for nearly a year and is beginning to breakout while paying a 2% dividend. According to a recent Boston Fed study, only 35% of credit card holders pay their balances off in full each month. That lines up pretty close with the statistic that 70% of the us population has less than $1000 to their name. http://lacrossetribune.com/business/investment/personal-finance/in-which-state-do-people-have-the-most-credit-card/collection_00631fa4-4f80-57dd-8db0-bf92f0b7013c.html

12/4/2016

Oil was the big story this week, closing at $51.68 per barrel. Once again, OPEC is claiming production cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day will happen starting in January. Russia also agreed to cut 300,000 barrels per day to reduce world inventories. Let’s see if their talk is followed by action. A Trump presidency may encourage the OPEC nations and the Russians to cooperate. On Friday the silver stocks rallied. They will begin to play catch up with the other industrial metals (aluminum, copper, and steel) that took off at the beginning of November. The technicals look the strongest on AG and PAAS. A weakening dollar will help drive silver prices up. Duetsche Bank was fined sixty million dollars for rigging precious metals prices. Anywhere you find corruption in the financial market you usually find Duetsche not too far behind. Very quietly the house passed H.R.6393, a Russian propaganda bill. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/6393 There has been a lot of speculation that Russian propaganda was the reason Trump was elected. Claims are being thrown around alt-right media outlets are influenced by them. The real propaganda is coming from the insignificant big media outlets. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 4.9%, as the economy added 178,000 jobs. Over 446,000 jobs left the employment rolls by either by finding work or exhausting unemployment benefits. The labor participation rate lingers at 62.7%, near a 30 year low. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-02/payrolls-rise-178k-unemployment-rate-tumbles-46-average-hourly-earnings-slide The probability of a rate hike coming next week look pretty good. Financial stocks moved up, while bond selling continued. HPP, the trade of the week, finished up 1%.

11/27/2017

This week the Dow closed at an all-time high. At the close on Friday, it was priced at 19,152. I opened up yahoo finance this weekend and saw a hat with wording on the front “Dow 19,000” I feel like that is the hat that is going to be shown in some documentary after the next downturn has concluded.  With the legalization of marijuana in four states on election night other stocks benefited and began to rise. Papa John’s Pizza (PZZA) is up 10% in the past 3 weeks. The same holds true with Dominos Pizza now trading at a new all-time high. In November of 2012, when Colorado legalized it, PZZA moved up 15% to end the year and continued to climb the following fifteen months. Copper stocks and the spot price of copper continued to climb on hopes of infrastructure spending in the United States and an uptick in China Last week I indicated AT&T was priced well.  It made a 4 percent move to the upside and has closed the trading day positive eight days in a row. Other quality companies have been beaten up as of late. Realty Income Crop. (O) has been pushed to $53 a couple weeks ago after hitting $72 at the beginning of August. At the moment it offers a dividend of over 4% and pays it monthly.  IPCI, the trade of the week finished up 1%. The other 4 stocks to watch all closed the week positive.

11/20/2016

In the three days following the election 22 billion dollars came into the equities market, while 9 billion dollars left the bond market. This is the widest margin between equities and bonds in the history of the market. For the moment the overall equities market is headed up. This shows there was a lot of money on the sidelines until the election was finished. The Chinese did a massive devaluation of their currency. It is now trading at a 7 year low to the US Dollar. Last week the dollar hit 101.20 on the USDX. This is a 14 year high. UUP, the dollar etf, closed the week at $26.19 per share with a strong technical set up. Within a week or two it’s going to test its March of 2015 high of $26.50. Bank stocks began to soar in the first week of November. The market could be building in a December rate hike. Janet Yellen stated “A rate hike will happen relatively soon, it dangerous to wait” Market expectations for a FED rate hike topped 90% that the FED will hike rates in December. https://tradingmarketrisks.com/2016/11/14/expectations-for-a-december-fed-rate-hike-top-90/ OPEC recorded a record high output in October which sent crude oil prices as low as $43 per barrel. With one month of fiscal 2017 on the books government debt recorded 44 billion in debt. Berkshire Hathaway took positions is four airline stocks. If you want to by the airline market as a whole JETS is the etf for you. AT&T plunged from $43 to $36 dollars per share and looks to have bottomed for the short term. This might be a good entry. AT&T is also paying a healthy 5.28% dividend. Keep in mind the P/E ratio is only 16/1, while the rest of the market is averaging a P/E ratio of 27/1. Last week’s trade of the week, FNSR, finished up just under 6%.

11/13/2016

With the election of Donald Trump on Tuesday, the market went on a wild ride. Early on Wednesday the futures were down more than 900 points. Despite that, the Dow closed positive the next three days in record territory on Friday at 18,847. It closed with 17% more volume than average. Biotech companies are the big winners after being under scrutiny with a Clinton win. Sectors that benefited were industrials and financials. Big selloffs occurred in the consumer staples and utility sectors. The dollar closed at $99.00 on the USDX. It will face strong resistance at $100.00. A break above that will result in a continued downtrend in gold and oil. Ten year treasuries moved from 1.82% to 2.11% which drove up lending on mortgage rates. Copper mining and water stocks rallied on Trump’s plans for investments in American’s infrastructure. He wants to cancel billions in payments to the UN climate change program and use that money to fix America’s water systems and infrastructure. The attached link shows his contract with the American voter.  http://assets.donaldjtrump.com/_landings/contract/O-TRU-102316-Contractv02.pdf India is the newest country to continue the war on cash. Last week the Indian president came out and banned the $500 and $1000 Indian Rupee. The reason given was to fight corruption and tax evasion. ATM limits in India have been set to the equivalent of $30 US dollars per day. The exact opposite problem is occurring in Venezuela. The government put out bids to three printing companies to print $500, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, and $20,000 bills to combat hyperinflation. At the moment people are weighing cash when purchasing goods. In California, Senate Bill 1234 is now making it mandatory for businesses with more than four employees to set up a retirement account. Conveniently that money will be safe guarded by the quickly going under CALPERS. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-state-retirement-plan-20160829-snap-story.html Two of Chris Christie’s former aides were sentenced in “Bridge gate” They will be sentenced on February 21st facing the maximum of 86 years in prison. Wells Fargo scams millions of people and two upper management employees get paid over $260 million. A couple of political underlings close a bridge and face life in prison.

11/6/2016

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is the latest influential person to come forward in the war on cash. “Apple Pay could be the catalyst that ultimately gets the world to switch from cash to digital payments.” This was a recent quote from Cook in an interview with a Japanese news service. http://fortune.com/2016/10/17/apple-tim-cook-cash/ First the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England indicated it is ok to overshoot their inferred inflation targets. Now the Bank of Japan has echoed the same thoughts. Let’s see if these platitudes are valid through monetary policy going forward. Stocks have recorded their longest losing streak in the past eight years. Last week the Dow jones gave back 284 points or about 1.5%. The cause for concern would be the selling that is coming in at the end of the trading day. The last 30 minutes of trading is dominated by large institutions and they were doing a lot of selling last week. Keep in mind this two week correction has only amounted to a 3% selloff. The Federal Reserve minutes were released with no changes to the fed funds rate. They were not going to mess with the markets so close to the election. Crude oil prices got crushed this week closing at $44.13 per barrel. The market thoughts I posted on 10/2/2016 are now being vindicated. I think that OPEC cutting oil production is the same probability of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. All talk no action. OPEC is not cutting production, the Russians are not cutting production, and the inventory increased 14.5 million barrels from the previous week. Q3 GDP had its strongest quarter in some time thanks to a one time soybean export order. Corporate bond etfs LQD and VCLT have corrected to the downside on large volume in the past two weeks. The big story is volatility. The volatility index rose from $13 on October 24th to $22.50 at the close on Friday. That is a 73% move in the past two weeks. In the gold space the COT reports show the commercials are begging to add to their short position the past couple of weeks. http://snalaska.com/cot/current/charts/GC.png More times than not you can expect metals prices to fall when commercials add to their short positions. FCX closed the week up 1%, not a huge return, but that makes 8 out of 9 weeks the trade of the week has closed in positive territory.

10/30/2016

Once the election is over, health care should be the hot topic heading into 2017. On average premiums will rise 25%. In six states the increase will exceed 50%. The most extreme increases will be in New Mexico where some premiums will rise 93%. http://bustthebailouts.com/premium-increase-tracker-map/ The Chinese housing bubble continues to build. It now takes 18-20 years of disposable income to purchase the average Chinese property. In comparison, the average US home only costs 5 years of disposable income. 10,000 soldiers from California received notices they would need to repay their enlistment bonus from deployments that occured more than 10 years ago. The payouts range from $5,000 to $15,000. These soldiers were having their wages garnished to reimburse the pentagon. When this story became public knowledge, US Defenses Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon to stop seeking repayment.  https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-defense-chief-dont-seek-repayment-enlistment-bonuses-142316557--politics.html Crude Oil closed the week at $48.66 per barrel. A sharp pullback caused by the OPEC nations not cutting production. Russia was going to reduce supply and then did an about face. They made a deal to start shipping more oil to the Chinese. Soybeans had its biggest weekly gain since July closing at $10.26 a bushel. Uranium continued its downtrend finishing the week at $20 per pound. Spot copper prices rose over 4% in the past two weeks finishing at $2.18 per pound. The trade of the week, AKS, was up as high as 10% Tuesday, but finished the week up 1%. This makes the trade of the week profitable 7 out of the past 8 weeks.

10/23/206

Wells Fargo will be losing its accreditation with the Better Business Bureau and is being investigated by the California Department of Justice. Maybe the California Public Employees Retirement System can get some of that cash. CALPERS reported a return of six tenths of one percent in the past year. To keep the system solvent returns of 7.5% are needed. That will be tough as a general slowdown in the US economy continues. The average car is sitting on the lot over 95 days before being purchased. Retail mortgages fell 7.1% in Q3 and are down 6% for the year. Amazon September deliveries are down, rail volume is down, and Boeing is closing a plant in Georgia that produces cargo planes because of a lack of demand. In a recent USA today article, 2/3 of Americans are limiting monthly spending. The four reasons given were as follows; saving money, no income, worried about the economy, or they have too much debt. Three million silver eagles were sold in the first two weeks of October. That matches total sales for the year in 1996. https://smaulgld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/american-silver-eagles-sold-1985-2015.png Crude oil closed the week at $50.85 a barrel. With the market slowdown, overhead resistance around fifty dollars, and excess supply I don’t see it moving higher unless the confrontation with Russia escalates. Copper closed the week at $2.09/lb. This is only eleven cents away from its recent low of $1.98/lb. in January of 2016. Last week CSC closed the week up over 2%. That makes 6 out of 7 weeks the trade of the week has closed positive.

10/16/2016

John Stumpf, the CEO of Wells Fargo, will be stepping down and recieve a $143 million benefit package. While the media has been playing the Donald Trump tapes from 11 years ago around the clock, here are some news items they missed. Putin has ordered overseas Russian officials to bring family members home. Russia would like to reestablish their presence in Cuba, and the US tested two dummy nukes in the Nevada dessert. The State Department funneled over 9 million dollars through the Peace Corps into a non-profit run by John Kerry’s daughter Vanessa. She brought home over $140,000 per year working 30 hours a week. Recently Steve Eisman, a character from “The Big Short” who made billions shorting the housing market came back to the same stage where he made that call in 2007. When asked what the next big short would be, he replied “The only big short out there is when the world loses confidence in QE” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-19/big-shorts-steve-eisman-reveals-what-next-big-short This week the dollar closed strong at 98.14 on the US dollar index. Overhead resistance will be tested at 100. If that is broken the commodity smash will continue. Gold and silver entered into a short term downtrend as both metals had sharp price declines on large volume. If the dollar plateaus and corrects to the downside, the precious metals will do the exact opposite, and move back up. Oil continues to test its overhead resistance at $50 a barrel. TSU, last weeks trade of the week finished up 2%. The trade of the week has finished positive four out of the last five weeks.

10/9/2016

Duetsche Bank’s fine levied by the Department of Justice came out to 5.4 billion dollars. That was 60% less than the 14 billion that initially came out. Duetsche Bank has between 50-70 trillion dollars of derivatives on their books. Not a good idea to prick that bubble. On Friday the British pound had a flash crash. Another “fat finger” market event. These are becoming more prevalent as time goes on. The New York pension fund lost 70 million dollars from the Wells Fargo fallout. France issued a 50 year bond. I wonder who is going to lock in a bond of that duration with little to no yield. Russia wrapped up war drills involving 40 million civilians. That is a bit unnerving since the US put a no fly zone over Russia’s neighbor Syria. In the US, 7.9 million people now hold multiple jobs, that’s a new record. Larry Summers stated the US Government should purchase stocks. To steal a phrase from Gerald Celente, “Those who run the economy will come up with schemes undreamed to keep the system going” http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-30/summers-floats-idea-of-sustained-government-stock-purchases The natural gas etf, UNG looks like it is breaking out, while the spot price of uranium fell to a new low of $23.75 per pound.

10/2/2016

As of the close on Friday, fiscal year 2016 is complete for the US Government. A 2017 budget is nowhere in sight. Not even a stop gap spending package has been passed. Oil rallied over $48 dollars per barrel after OPEC met and agreed to cut production. I think the OPEC cutting oil production is the same probability of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. All talk no action. When the markets figure that out oil will rollover. With all the current events taking place and knowing we are in October volatility will enter the markets. VXX will be on the move this month. AMD, last week’s trade of the week, closed up over 5% at $6.91. Will the Saudis dump their US Treasuries after the JASTA was voted on last week by the senate and congress? The Bank of Japan has agreed to buy as many Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) as necessary to keep long dated bonds low. They were constrained by a certain amount each month. Now the buying is unlimited. Duetsche Bank is going to be fined by the DOJ between 5-6 billion dollars. Since the amount was lower than originally expected, their stock bounced 14% on Friday. The Chinese Yaun has officially become an has entered the IMF basket of currencies with SDR access. One SDR will equal $1.40 us dollar.

9/25/2016

The Dow Jones finished slightly higher for the week closing at 18,261. Gold added over $30oz. With the Federal Reserve leaving rates unchanged volatility plays that moved higher prior to the meeting were quickly smashed back down. With the first debate coming on Monday night I am curious in if political hyperbole will move select industries in the days that follow.  Solar stocks like First Solar moved up nicely on Thursday and Friday. However, continued strength would be needed before hoping on the solar band wagon. I have been watching Brazil Resources (BRIZF) since its IPO in June of 2015. Last week the company came forward and inferred their deposits held 18 million ounces of gold instead of the 10 million indicated earlier. This might be a good place to place for speculative cash. This stock was a quarter in January and on Friday it closed at $2.40 per share. If you are a longer buy and hold dividend stocker holder AT&T (T) has consolidated a bit and started to move up last week. It pays a healthy 4.6% dividend.

9/21/2016

Just as expected the Fed stayed away from raising rates. In return, most of the sectors in the market rallied. The Dow Jones finished up 163 points. Crude oil crept back to $45.59 per barrel, and gold closed above $1330oz. Volatility was the big loser today. The Wells Fargo CEO was blasted by the senate banking committee on Tuesday. My latest article talks about that massive fraud. The article can be found here www.moneyandtrading.com/articles As of late, I have railed against Ken Rogoff and his recent book release. A podcast I listened to today had an interesting take on the timing and content of the book. The host thinks the release of “The Curse of Cash” is Rogoff throwing his hat into the ring to be the next head of the Federal Reserve. He compared it to papers Ben Bernanke put out in the early 2000s, indicating he would drop money from helicopters to fight of a recession. Just something to think about.

9/18/2016

This is a big week for the markets. On September 21st, the Fed and the Bank of Japan will be coming forward with their current plans. As I have said before, I think the Fed will remain dormant until after the election. On the other hand the BOJ is completely rouge. Japanese Government Bonds, (JGBs) don’t even get bid on unless the BOJ shows up to buy them. Right now the BOJ owns over 50% of the Japanese bond market. http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/madness-over-tokyo-boj-owns-over-half-of-japanese-etfs/ 10 year bond yields leveled off to 1.7% after a huge spike from 1.5% the week before. As I indicated last week, crude oil prices dropped from $46.41 and closed $43.75 per barrel.

9/11/2016

On Friday the markets had their biggest selloff since June. It seems they are building in a rate hike. At Jackson Hole Janet Yellen indicated the July data looked good and rate hikes were a possibility. The same thoughts were echoed by Japan’s central bank president. Last week, Mario Draghi, mentioned the governing council did not discuss extending its bond buying program past March 2017. Chances are the requirements won’t be met for that program to end and QE will continue in European markets. http://www.ft.com/fastft/2016/09/08/draghi-did-not-discuss-extending-qe-euro-pops-higher/ The Spider S&P 500 ETF (SPY) moved down on well over double its normal volume, with close to 200 million shares traded. The moves to the upside have been on week volume and the selloffs have induced large volume, just something to make note of. This correction finally moved the volatility stocks. They include VXX, TVIX, and VIXX. Utilities as a sector got hit the worst falling over four percent. The ten and thirty year treasury bonds spiked which in turn caused housing stocks to get correct sharply. The August data that came out was not good. This would indicate the FED would not raise rates if they are data dependent, as they claim to be. If this correction were to continue for a period of time the fed funds rate would be cut to zero and QE4 would be on the table.

9/4/2016

Oil continues to be range bound between $40-$50 per barrel. Strong overhead resistance can be found at $50. In my opinion, oil prices still need to correct to the downside. There is still an excess of supply that needs to work its way through the system. The commercial shorts agree with my position on the commitment of traders report. On August 31st, The Energy Information Administration released a report showing the oil inventory increased by 2.27 million barrels. The expectation was an increase of 1.3 million barrels. http://www.investing.com/analysis/crude-oil-update---the-energy-report-200151202 If you are a speculator in the precious metals sector, it might be time to start taking your position. Silver Wheaton, (SLW) found support at $25, and finished the week strong. The recent pull back below its 50 day moving average was needed. In the most recent silver COT report, it shows the large commercials are covering some of their short position. When this occurs it usually paves the way for higher prices. Last week, all the trade of the week set up ideas finished positive.

9/1/2016

For the last six weeks, the S&P 500 continues its sideways consolidation, on less than normal average. An interview I listened to a few days back, made a statement that took me by surprise. Only 29 of the 500 S&P companies use general accepted accounting principles. (GAAP) The attached link will show you how the data is changed with a little creative accounting. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/022516/mind-gaap-buyer-beware-profit-adjustment.asp In Germany, negative interest rates are starting to take a toll on savers. Safe operators are manufacturing at their limits to keep up with demand. You can either put your money in the bank and have it take some of your capital, or you can buy a safe and not incur those fees. http://www.wsj.com/articles/german-savers-lose-faith-in-banks-stash-cash-at-home-1472485225  Rumors are Angela Merkel is going to lose her upcoming election by a landslide because of the German economy and the mass migration that is taking place under her watch. Make sure to check out the articles tab that was recently added to the home page.  http://www.moneyandtrading.com/articles/ There you will find the first published article. It will also be posted at www.sgtreport.com at 8:00pm CST.

8/28/2016

Those who went long on TLT (I Shares 20+ year bonds) in June profited handsomely. Now it looks like that trend is starting to reverse. TLT sold off on Friday on three times its normal volume. It is still holding its 50 day moving average. If this downtrend continues TBT, the ultra-short 20+ year treasuries, maybe the way to play it. Its price and volume has increased for the past three trading days. GDP revisions for Q2 came out last week. It was revised down to 1.1%, from 1.2%. Expectations were 2.6%. This is another reason Mike Maloney declared an official recession two weeks ago. I believe the metals short term correction will continue this week. The next signs of strength maybe a great entry for most mining equities. On the stock screener, finviz, only 2 gold stocks have a relative strength index above 50. No silver stocks have an rsi over 50.

8/25/2016

A tremendous opportunity has presented itself in the precious metals equities. This industry has done nothing but go vertical since the beginning of February. GDX started its rally at $12.90 and put in a short term top of $32 per share. As of the close today it is trading at $27.31. Most of the gold and silver stocks mirror one another the way there are set up on the chart. I am really curious how the market is going to react to Janet Yellen’s Jackson Hole Speech tomorrow. I have a good feeling spot prices of gold and silver are going to be volatile. The gold/silver ratio has climbed back to over 71:1. This is up significantly from the beginning of August when it was 66:1. Real estate came out with good numbers in regards to new housing starts.  That combined with real estate becoming its own sector next month, and low interest rates make residential reits as an industry to keep an eye on. As I stated in previous market thoughts, you should focus on residential and healthcare reits.  

8/21/2016

This week the Dow and S&P 500 finished relatively flat. On the daily charts, it is obvious the institutions that trade in the last half hour of the day are heavy sellers. That is something to watch going forward. The Federal Reserve released minutes from their July meeting and the vote was 9-1 to leave rates as is. I highly doubt a rate hike will occur until next year. With the election at the beginning of November, the Fed will try not to make any waves to skew the election either way. New stimulus would move the markets up and put Hillary in the White House. Massive tightening by the Fed would tank the markets and Donald Trump would be elected. FEYE is the trade of the week. Cyber security is going to be an important sector today and in the future. These attacks could affect the grid, the stock exchange, or any electronic files stored. Check out http://hp.ipviking.com/ to watch cyber-attacks happening all around the world. Other tickers to play cyber security include PANW and CYBR.

8/14/2016

This week the other precious metal, rhodium, started to show signs of life. At the end of July its price touched $575/oz for a couple days. As of the close on Friday it was over $600/oz. Rhodium is used to manufacture cadillac converters. It’s an alloy for combining platinum and palladium. Russia and South Africa are the world’s top producers of the metal. At the moment our relationship with Russia is not the best and South African minors frequently go on strike. That is something to think about, especially when you know rhodium is rarer than gold. It peaked out at almost $10,000/oz in June of 2008. Rhodium can be purchased in 1oz and 5oz bars. To find an equity to invest in head to http://www.miningfeeds.com/rhodium-mining-report-all-countries Stocks listed on this site include: LNMIF, ZMPLF, and ELRFF.

8/10/2016

The August 2016 jobs report numbers have been released. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 255,000 new jobs were created. I would speculate this number has been manufactured to the upside a bit. Unemployment remained unchanged at 4.9%. Even Dennis Gartman, a guy I don't agree with most of the time pointed out 85,000 of these jobs were created through the birth/death model. This was tool created in 2000 where the BLS can take a guess with little back up of how many jobs were lost and created. Earlier in the month Q2 GDP numbers were released, coming in at 1.2% well below the 2.6% expected growth. Despite the lack luster GDP report, the Dow & S&P 500 continue upward.  

7/31/2016

A few days ago Mike Maloney released a new video discussing the topic of bond yields. Treasuries issued by the government range from a 3 month bill to a 30 year bond. Normally, the longer time duration of bond should reward the bond purchaser with a higher rate of return. When short term bonds are higher, that indicates investors are nervous. More times than not, a market corrections occurs when this takes place.  These investors can be referred to as bond vigilantes. Today the yield curve is flat. Investors should be aware this is taking place. For a visual walk through click on the attached link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45YTbktmed0

7/27/2016

Today the Federal Reserve will wrap up their meetings and release their notes. My assumption is because of BREXIT, rates will remain at current levels. According to Peter Schiff, in an interview earlier today, rates will be cut before they are raised again. For those who are not familiar with Peter, he is a perpetual bear. Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fisher said 4 rate hikes would occur in 2016. Those remarks were made in early January 2016, and you can find his statements in the attached link. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-fischer-idUSKBN0UK1OT20160106 I would put myself in Peter Schiff’s camp. Every 1% raise to the fed funds rate is an increase of 190 billion to the federal deficit. If rates were ever put back to their historical average of 5%, that would add almost a trillion dollars to the deficit. In 2015, 2.8 trillion dollars were collected in taxes. That means 40% of the budget would be dedicated to making interest payments. Rates will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.  

7/24/2016

Starting on September 1st, real estate will become its own sector in the market and make up 3.5% of the S&P 500. According to JP Morgan, 100 billion dollars worth of real estate investments trusts,(REITS) will be purchased to keep that sector from being underweighted in their portfolios. XLRE is going to be the newest addition to the sector spider etf platform. On the flip side financials could take a hit losing one of its top performing assets. REITS are required to pay out 90% of their taxable income to shareholders through dividends. In a market where good dividends are not easy to come by, a good health care reit can get you a dividend of 5-7%, and a residential reit can provide 6-12%. For long term investors buying a healthcare reit might make sense. With a large baby boom generation needing medical care, HCN or HCP are a couple stocks to check out. If you are holding a lot of cash, and want a large dividend, a residential reit like NRZ or TWO are a couple tickers to look at. Make sure to add a stop loss when buying to limit any downside moves. For more information on reits click here click the attached link. https://www.reit.com/investing/reit-basics/what-reit

7/20/2016

Today the equities overall were uneventful. Again low volume was seen in SPY (S&P 500 SPDR) This will make the third day in a row of less than 60 million shares traded. On average this ticker trades 100 million shares per day.  Since the end of June the dollar has climbed above its 200 moving average. It crossed the 97 handle on the US Dollar Index, and remained there all day. At one point it climbed as high as 97.30. Gold and silver, as industries lost the most today, down 6% on average for the equities. Price pullbacks to the 50 day moving averages on most of these stocks would be healthy. Solar made a good overall move today. Sunpower Corporation (SPWR) finished the day up over 4%. Solar City (SCTY) finished the day up 2.63% at $26.95. On June 22nd, 26 million shares were traded, and since that day the price continues to climb. That is more than four times the normal volume for that stock. Remember volume always precedes price. Don't lose sight of the solar trade. Solar City was a 10 bagger in a little over a year in 2013. As a sector it will take a rocket ride again.

7/17/2016

United States Steel Crop (X) is the trade of the week. X has moved steadily up since the middle of May. On May 17th, very quietly, the US Department of Commerce put a 540% tariff on cold rolled steel from China. This steel is used in appliances, cars, and electric motors. Before the tariff, China produced over 50% of the world’s steel. That is more than the US, European Union, Russia, and Japan combined. Other Steel companies like AKS and SID are trending in the same direction. It looks as if the rally will continue. At the end of May the Fed has allowed 30 banks to buy back their own stocks. Leading the way Citi Group will buy back 8.6 billion, Bank of America will do 5 billion, and Morgan Stanley will buy back 3.5 billion. So between those three banks that accounts for 17 billion dollars. It leaves me wondering how much will the other twenty seven banks purchase. This will move up the struggling financial sector. For example, Goldman Sachs was trading at $142 per share. On Friday it closed at $161.64. 

7/15/2016

We have new all time highs in the Dow and S&P 500. The  Dow Jones closed at 18,506. Intra day it touched 18,534. The S&P 500 closed at 2,157. The large move in stocks in the past couple days are a direct result of the Bank of England keeping their 0.5 interest rate. This rate has been kept at that level since March of 2009. These new highs are coming on low volume moves. On average the SPY sees volume of 100 million shares traded per day. Yesterday volume was only 82 million. The S&P 500 has a p/e ratio of 25. The Schiller p/e ratio is valuing the S&P 500 at 27. As a reference, when valuing the S&P 500 p/e ratio, 0-10 is considered under valued, 10-15 is fair value, 15-20 is overvalued, and above 20 is bubble territory. To see a historical chart of this go to the investing tab and scroll to the bottom. (See the attached link for p/e ratio charts http://www.multpl.com/ )First Majestic remained strong, closing at $16.94 yesterday. This is up 10% in the last 2 trading days. The commercials continue to acquire the largest short position in history according to the commitment of traders report. Typically those shorts bring down the sport price of the metals. The new COT report can be found by clicking on the gold and silver tab.

7/12/2016

I think precious metals bulls are happy to see a pullback of $25 in gold and $0.50 in silver. The metals and especially the equities were starting to make parabolic moves. If you have the chance, go to my interview page and listen to an interview by Keith Neumeyer. He is the CEO of Frist Majestic Silver. This stock has run from $2.50 in early February to almost $17 dollars yesterday. In the interview, Keith explained his company is mining silver out of the ground at a 9 to 1 ratio to gold. Silver is much rarer than most people realize. If you look at the current gold to silver ratio it is still 66:1. At the beginning of June it was as high as 76:1. Every 5 to 6 years this ratio moves under 40:1. Mr. Nuemeyer stated every $1 the spot price of silver moves up the company gains 20 million dollars of revenue. Between 18 and 19 million of that is profit. This shows the everyday investor what kind of leverage you get if purchase precious metals stock vs the metals. A 40% rise in the spot silver equaled almost a 700% rise in the stock. In 2011 First Majestic was producing 7 million ounces of silver and the stock price was $25. Today they are producing closer to 20 million ounces and the current stock price is $15.41/share. Keep in mind, in 2015, 800 million ounces of silver were produced and 1.1 billion ounces were consumed. I would love to see this metals downtrend continue but I am not going to bet on it.

7/10/2016

How are the markets going to open up tomorrow? Those watching the S&P 500 will need to watch just above 2130. It made a run at its 52 week high on Friday. However towards the close heavy selling volume entered the market. If your a short term trader it maybe a good day to sit it out and let the market decide which way its going to go. Since the beginning of June gold and silver have made relentless moves to the upside. Seasonally, its out of the norm. More times than not, a good rule of thumb is to buy the metals just after the 4th of July. Not the case this year. This is occurring in spite of a dollar that is remaining stable and climbing on the US dollar index. On June 23rd the dollar was at the 93 handle. As of July 10th it is remaining above 96.

7/7/2016

The European Union isn't just dealing with BREXIT. As of yesterday Italy has banned the short selling of all its banks. Monte dei Paschi, its third largest bank was in free fall. Black Rock made a statement earlier in the week to get out of all EU bank stocks. Low yields around the world is putting pressure on the banking industry. Stock prices for Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse hit all time record lows. 400 billion dollars is the current number Italy is giving for all the bad debt attached to their banks.. In England three property funds have suspended outflows. Spain made an announcement their version of social security will expire in 2018.  This may bump the euro down and push the dollar up in the short term. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-06/italy-bans-short-selling-monte-paschi-three-months-forgets-ban-buying-cds

7/6/16

I clicked on yahoo finance for a quick scan of the markets and I see the 10 year treasury at 1.37%. This is an all time low and is probably one of the higher yields around the world. If you are not aware mortgage rates are determined by the US 10 year treasury. According to yahoo finance, this puts a 30 year mortgage at 3.36%. In my opinion these low rates are sending false signals to the market. To me cheap rates = over priced assets. Before the end of the decade I envision 35 year mortgages being rolled out in mass to keep the housing market propped up.  The propping up of real estate will make the REITs I talked about 2 days ago more attractive. We are following Japan down the road of stagflation where you can get a 35 year sub 2% mortgage. Fannie and Freddie are back with the 3% down payments. The plan is the same in every sector of lending cut the interest rate and extend the loan. An interview I listened to last week mentioned a Ford dealer in the southwest claiming a large majority of his business was selling cars with 84 month loans. (7 years time to look at puts on F and GM) 60 years ago people probably bought their home in that amount of time. Then you pile on paying off school 10-20 years later. Then put some interest free furniture in your house, and if you can't buy the $600-800 I phone, just build it in your plan. Instead of letting prices fall, cheap credit and easy money is all that is left propping up the market. https://ycharts.com/indicators/sales_price_of_existing_homes

7/4/16

With the Dow approaching 18,000 and the S&P closing in on 2,100 I would expect a downside correction to occur. The selloff after the BREXIT was massive and volume that followed was not as robust. This leads me to believe the bear market is starting to set in. The dollar firming up will also keep the equities in check. It might be time for investors and traders to do their homework in the real estate market. Real estate will become its own S&P sector in August of 2016. At the moment real estate is under the umbrella of the financial sector. Institutions will increase holdings with this change, especially with REITs offering high dividend yields. http://www.fortunebuilders.com/real-estate-awarded-its-own-sector-in-the-sp-500-48158/