ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
It appears even gold remains caught up in the carry trades that have supposedly kept commodities aloft for months. Gold plunged almost 4% along with a deep sell-off in the general market. As the market suddenly cared again about the prospects for sovereign defaults all over Europe, traders and investors dumped gold – and almost … Read more
U.S. criticizes Japan's latest 'clunkers' plan | The Detroit News U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said Japan's decision to use EPA "city" mileage ratings instead of EPA "combined city/highway" mileage ratings as the basis for determining eligibility sharply limited the number of U.S. models that will qualify under the program in the world's third-largest auto … Read more
BoC, Other Banks Tighten Property Loans – JLM Pacific Epoch Some commercial banks are suspending loans to real estate developers, due to excess lending in 2009 and greater regulatory focus on real estate risk, China Business News reports February 3 quoting an unnamed commercial bank employee. (tags: China real_estate banks) Amazon's E-Book Price Reversal: A … Read more
After summarizing Fastenal’s dour commentary on non-residential construction, I pointed out that a retest of former resistance would make an attractive entry point on the stock. As planned, I initiated a (swing) trade on Fastenal (FAST) as it probed the 50DMA support over the past several days. Today, FAST bounced off the 50-day moving average … Read more
Amazon's Self-Defeating War on Publishers | The Big Money Amazon, perhaps panicked by the degree of old-media collusion with its Cupertino rival, Amazon shut down the sales of all Macmillan titles–electronic and physical–on Friday. How that blatant act of bullying will advance Amazon’s agenda remains difficult to see. The lost sales will be significant for … Read more
The Royal Bank of Australia (RBA) surprised markets by leaving rates unchanged at 3.75%. Forecasts pegged the RBA for another 25 basis point increase. The markets reacted with an instant and steep drop in the Australian dollar against all major currencies. For example, the Australian dollar dropped over 1% against the U.S. dollar. (See chart … Read more
Japan Kan says more BOJ action may be needed-media | Reuters The Bank of Japan may need to do more to beat deflation, the finance minister said in a newspaper interview, keeping pressure on the central bank to help support a fragile economic recovery (tags: Japan deflation monetary_policy) China moves again on lending, economy shows … Read more
The U.S. dollar index is only trading back to levels from last summer. However, from a technical standpoint, the dollar has broken out: the short-term downtrend has ended, and the current move has considerable upside potential. *Chart created using TeleChart: The chart above shows that the dollar’s break below the 200DMA in May led to … Read more
US Firms Facing too Many 'Headaches' in China: Locke – CNBC Chinese policies that promote domestic firms and create barriers against foreign ones could cause American companies to lose interest in China, U.S.Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Thursday. (tags: trade_policy China) Washington Bickering Leaves Little Hope for Change – WSJ.com It's becoming increasingly clear … Read more
At the end of December, I suggested that the post-earnings trading in U.S. Steel (X) and Nucor (NUE) would be explosive based upon stealth rallies from the November lows that occurred despite a strong accumulation in puts and shorts on those stocks. On Tuesday, both steel companies delivered disappointing earnings that included cautions regarding continued … Read more