Mar 26, 2010

Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

Picture Of The Day: US Jobless Claims Back To Pre-Lehman Levels

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 03:54 AM PDT

Yesterday’s data report on US initial claims for unemployment insurance showed a decrease by 14,000 to 442,000, representing a larger drop than expected.

Interestingly, as shown in the graph below (courtesy of Business Insider - Chart of the Day), the numbers have come full circle since the Lehman collapse. After the parabolic rise that peaked a year ago, the 4-week moving average of initial claims is back at its September 2008 levels.

The report is positive on the face of it and … [visit site to read more]


Forex Trading Review For 26/03/2010

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 03:49 AM PDT

USD Dollar (USD)

The Dollar has posted upside moves against its major currencies after the release of better than expected jobless claims, which came out 442K vs. expected 450K. The Stocks in the US ended almost unchanged. The Dow Jones gained 0.05% and the NASDAQ fell by -0.06%. Crude Oil also ended almost unchanged at 80.13$ a barrel. Gold (XAU) rose closing at 1090$ an ounce. Today, the GDP is expected unchanged at 5.9%. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is expected 73 vs. 72.5 … [visit site to read more]

Outlook For Gold, Copper And Uranium

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 03:40 AM PDT

The Chilean earthquake that has done so much damage in the southern area of the country also cut short the consolidation that copper’s price had begun. All reports indicate that there has been little damage at mine sites, most of which are in northern Chile. There is still a question of whether infrastructure disruptions resulting from the need to focus on the quake hit areas could reduce the country’s metal shipments.

Mines have begun to restart in Chile after having suffered power … [visit site to read more]

Tensions Between Google And China Bode Well For These China Technology ETFs

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 03:01 AM PDT

“With tensions coming to a boil in the dispute between Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and China, ETF investors may find a China Technology ETF to be a good way to play the domestic firms that will benefit in the absence of the search giant. This week, the battle between Google and China escalated to a new level. Although it was previously rhetorical, the search giant took action on Monday in an attempt to override the Chinese government’s ability to censor its search results,” Don Dion Reports From The … [visit site to read more]

Personal Motivation And Charter Schools

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 02:21 AM PDT

If we do not educate our children, we can bend over, kiss our ass, and wave our future good-bye. In fact, we are well on our way to this reality. Go ahead and point the fingers at whomever you would like for this reality, but let’s ask those in the inner cities screaming for an opportunity for a better life that ONLY comes through education.

To this end, I share with you two exceptionally well scripted letters on this topic in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal. The letters not only … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: Eurozone Nations Reach Bailout Agreement For Greece

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 02:04 AM PDT

Eurozone nations reach bailout agreement for Greece. European Commission President Baroso says EU accord on Greece is a great … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: Eur/Usd Meets Some Hourly Resistance

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 01:42 AM PDT

Eur/Usd has met some hourly resistance in the form of the 38.2% fibo retracement (1.3379) of move down from 1.3563. If the pair could break above a move to 1.3415-25 is likely. It appears we need one postive headline out of Europe to accomplish this feat. If we remain below 1.3315-20 should lend some … [visit site to read more]

Reduce Your Risk In The Initial Public Offering Market With This IPO ETF

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 01:23 AM PDT

“Everybody loves the romance of an IPO - a company going public with the potential to deliver huge profits to those investors on the ground floor. But the reality of initial public offerings are very different than the storybook version some traders believe. Trying to research these tiny upstarts can give investors fits, and sometimes even a stock that looks good on paper can fall flat on its face right out of the gate,” Jeff Reeves Reports From Investor Place.

Reeves goes on to say, … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: Gbp/Usd Daily Outlook

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 01:17 AM PDT

From a daily perspective Gbp/Usd has broken below a trendline which began with March 1st low of 1.4782. The pair has yet to make a new low, which no appears to be the only obstacle for a further move to 1.4500-20 level. If Gbp/Usd stays below this trendline keep an eye on 1.4782, as a daily close below should provide the impetus for a further sell off. A good level of resistance should be 1.4970-80, just in front of … [visit site to read more]

Video: Two Domain Registration Companies Exit China

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 01:00 AM PDT

Two internet domain companies have stopped registering web sites in China. GoDaddy and Network Solutions objected to Chinese government rules. … [visit site to read more]

Time To Drink The (Chinese) Kool-Aid?

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 12:49 AM PDT

There have a lot of concerns expressed about the property bubble in China. The latest missive comes from Edward Chancellor's ten signs of manias and financial crises as applied to the analysis of the "China dream". Here is his checklist, all of which apply to China:

1. Great investment debacles generally start out with a compelling growth story.
2. Blind faith in the competence of the authorities.
3. A general increase in investment is another leading indicator of financial distress. … [visit site to read more]

Why U.S. Inflation Concerns Are Overblown

Posted: 26 Mar 2010 12:22 AM PDT

Federal Reserve data show that the M2 growth rate on an annual basis fell in the week ending March 8 to 1.5%, the lowest money growth rate since May 1995 (see graph above). Notice also in the graph above that M2 growth in 2001 was actually above 10% for a longer period of time, than the money supply growth in early 2009. Further, there has been a much sharper decline in money growth in the last year than the decline between 2002 and 2005, when the growth rate fell but never went … [visit site to read more]

The Best Value Mutual Funds - Part 2

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 11:20 PM PDT

This is part II of my article the best value mutual funds. Please reference the first article by clicking here. Below is the chart from the previous article. However, you will not understand the flow of this article without first seeing part I.

I will go in order of the funds (which are in no particular order). However, I will skip Sequoia and leave it for the end since it is the most interesting.

I most note that all these funds are run by great managers and I do not mean to … [visit site to read more]

China: A Tale Of Three Swan Songs

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 10:21 PM PDT

The United States, the European Union and others have long been critical of China’s renminbi / yuan regime. Many U.S. lawmakers complain China’s currency is undervalued by as much as 40% and undercutting the competitiveness of U.S. products.

Internationally, China is under growing pressure-especially from the United States-to appreciate the value of the yuan. Chinese leaders contend that the yuan’s role in trade balance is limited, and asked nations to loosen the restriction on the … [visit site to read more]

Stock Markets Likely To Reverse Down Over The Next Few Days

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 10:01 PM PDT

Markets spiked upward today right off the open and continued to push higher, while a look at the underlying foundation shows cracks galore.

Gold has hardly rebounded off its move lower yesterday, trading a relatively tight range today, searching for its next move.  The odds are still much higher that the next move in the metals is a downward one, coupled with another small surge in the USD to finish off this first leg of the USD mid-term bull market.

The strength of recent rallies is … [visit site to read more]

Claymore ETFs Declare Distributions

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 09:41 PM PDT

Claymore Advisors, LLC, is pleased to announce the following Claymore Exchange-Traded Funds (”ETFs”) have declared distributions. The table below summarizes the distribution schedule for each fund declaring a distribution.

Ticker

Fund Name

Ex-Date

Record
Date

Pay-Date

Total
Rate Per
Share

(UBD)

Claymore U.S. Capital Markets Bond ETF

3/25/10

3/29/10

3/31/10

$0.082

(LVL)

Claymore/S&P Global Dividend Opportunities Index … [visit site to read more]

Strong Outlook For The New Zealand Economy

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 09:21 PM PDT

The New Zealand economic recovery strengthened in the fourth quarter of 2009; growing 0.8% compared to the September quarter. The result matched consensus and beat the previous result of a revised 0.3%, marking the 3rd quarter of positive growth and placing GDP into positive territory on an year on year basis at 0.4%.

Industries that gained the most in the quarter were Manufacturing (0.5), Wholesale trade (0.2), Electricity, gas and water (0.1), Retail, accommodation and … [visit site to read more]

A Look At The Recent S&P 500 Rally Boundaries And Feedback Loop

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 09:05 PM PDT

I often advocate pulling all the indicators off the charts - at least for a few minutes - and taking a 'price purism’ look at any major price move.

This can give you clarity that others miss, especially if they are caught up in viewing what all sorts of indicators are saying.  Indicators are important, but it’s helpful to assess the 'character’ or structure of the market, which can be obscured by lines and oscillators.

That being said, let’s look at the S&P 500’s daily and … [visit site to read more]

Daily Forex Commentary: Downside Pressure On Euro As EU Debates Financial Aid To Greece

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 08:41 PM PDT

Late session comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet turned the Euro negative on Thursday. Trichet said that the International Monetary Fund shouldn’t take the responsibility of supporting weaker Euro Region nations away from the European Union. He was quoted as saying an IMF bailout would be “very, very bad.” Bringing in the IMF sends a message to the global financial community that the EU cannot take care of its own.
After trading sideways-to-better on earlier … [visit site to read more]

Stock Picks For Friday 26 March: Level 3 Communications, Banner Corporation

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 08:02 PM PDT

( click to enlarge )

Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) - The stock has been consolidating for several months after a horrific decline last year. Volume has been gradually building on the right side of the base, and the stock is trading in a small pennant over the past few trading sessions. If BANR can clear this pennant, a test of the July Highs above $4.30 is a possibility.

( click to enlarge )

Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ:LVLT) - The violent reversal from key resistance 1.77 leads the … [visit site to read more]

Why Is The Euro Plummeting?

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 08:01 PM PDT

The Euro is plummeting in value because of the ongoing fiscal problems in Greece and the recent downgrade of Portugal’s sovereign credit, correct? Well, these are the most recent developments, but the problems go much deeper than that.

Although the very nature of short term mentality in a heavily dominated short term trading environment would point to these problems within Greece and Portugal as the primary reasons for the problems with the Euro, let’s work a little harder and navigate … [visit site to read more]

U.S. Jobless Claims (4-Wk Avg) Fall To 18-Month Low

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 07:45 PM PDT

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - “The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment insurance fell sharply last week, while the number of those on continued benefits was the lowest since December 2008, a government report showed on Thursday.

The decline in initial claims last week pushed them into a range that analysts reckon signals labor market stability. The labor market has lagged the economy’s recovery from its worst downturn since the 1930s, but payrolls are … [visit site to read more]

Controlling Political Risk With ETFs

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 07:01 PM PDT

Even if you aren’t very interested in politics, you have to admit that political factors can have a huge impact on your investments. These days government policy affects everything - for better or worse. And that includes exchange traded funds (ETFs).

The hard part is what to do about it. Sometimes the decisions made in Washington don’t have the same market impact we might expect.

So today we’ll talk about how politics can influence your ETF results.

Did Health Care Legislation Help … [visit site to read more]

Video: The Day Ahead: U.S. GDP

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 07:00 PM PDT

The stories, data, and stocks that may have the greatest impact during the next trading session. … [visit site to read more]

Picture Of The Day: Hooray For Financial Blogs!

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 06:01 PM PDT

ING has just conducted an interesting survey (as reported by IR Web Report and Business Insider - Chart of the Day), asking investors about their sources of investment advice.
The graph below shows people primarily rely on themselves (via family, friends, work colleagues and social networks), but besides “own means” financial websites and blogs feature the highest - above financial newspapers, brokers and so on.
Here’s to the rise in prominence of financial … [visit site to read more]

Inflation Protected Securities. Good Insurance For The Income Investor.

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 09:14 PM PDT

Many investors are weary of the miserly interest rates at their local bank and through Uncle Sam. They want safety. They do not want to loan out money practically free. They would like inflation protection over and above what TIPS provide.

The following select roster of securities will provide a stout yield with protection from inflation. All are rated Moody’s Baa3 or higher. Most are trading at a discount from their $25.00 (or, rarely, $100.00) call price. Libor’s are three month rates unless … [visit site to read more]
posted by

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)