ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
I last wrote about Research In Motion (RIMM) in mid-April when I asked “Can RIM’s Stock Continue to Float As the Repurchase Program Ends“? The resounding answer is now “NO”. RIMM is down 17% since mid-April and has set new lows for the year. RIMM repurchased the bulk of its stock at an average price … Read more
The Australian dollar has been my single source of greatest pain during this market correction. I have long favored the Australian dollar as a play against the U.S. dollar. Even as the U.S. dollar index has rallied over 10% since hitting 16-month lows in November/December, the Australian dollar remained flat during most of that time … Read more
For 14 months the S&P 500 has trended upward from the March lows. However, with the S&P 500 now down 3.9% for the year, the last 8 of these 14 months have produced no net gain in the index. Another 3% drop will produce the first lower low on the index since July, 2009. The … Read more
For four days, the Swiss franc held all-time highs against the euro (all-time lows of 1.40 for EUR/CHF). As the euro continued to decline against the U.S. dollar, I positioned (twice) in anticipation of a violent break of this support level. As the apparent support continued to hold, it increasingly appeared that the Swiss National … Read more
The percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages, T2108, closed at 19%, below the 20% threshold that indicates an oversold stock market. The stock market has reached these levels only one other time since the March, 2009 lows – this was in February when the market last cared about the sovereign debt … Read more
It has been such a long time since I have seen the Fast Money crew on CNBC so uniformly fearful and wary about the stock market that I had to scribble a quick post on it as a bookmark for future review. The show’s sentiment is very consistent with the confluence and convergence of technical … Read more
“Collateral Damaged: The Marketing of Consumer Debt to America” by Charles R. Geisst is a detailed and captivating examination of the history and growth of consumer debt in America. The book scrutinizes the political, cultural, social, and financial forces that converged to inflate America’s tremendous bubble in consumer credit. Geisst reaches all the way back … Read more
Last week, I claimed that the deeply oversold conditions presented a short-term buying opportunity, but that the downward trend in the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) and 200DMAs (T2108 and T2107) pointed to a steadily weakening market in the near future. I expected sellers to step up at the … Read more
Gold hits all-time high as investors seek haven – FT.com / Commodities Traders and coin dealers said buying was exceptionally strong from German and Swiss investors. In Frankfurt, gold sellers said that demand late last week was three to four times normal levels. The spike appears to reflect concerns in Germany about the potential inflationary … Read more
In December, Bernanke observed that gold prices reflected general commodity prices and did not indicate rising inflation expectations (in the U.S.). As gold makes new all-time highs, it is now outpacing many other commodities. Many commodities have declined sharply in recent weeks due to fears about the sustainability of global growth. Gold has diverged due … Read more