ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Worried about inflation? Fidelity packages an offering of funds and analysis on the potential threat of inflation (tags: inflation investing) SunPower Solar Projects Lose Key Player | TheStreet.com Both the SunPower and First Solar potential solar-farm pipelines look good on paper. It's the timeline to completion, and the threat of permitting delays followed by appeals … Read more
As the U.S. dollar index has steadily advanced this month, the relative strength of the Canadian dollar has perplexed me. The Canadian dollar has long seemed overplayed to me as a commodity-positive play given the country’s heavy dependence on the health of the U.S. economy – which I continue to assume will perform weakly in … Read more
First Solar's U.S. Ambitions Slowed | TheStreet.com When First Solar acquired OptiSolar earlier this year, the $400 million deal was supposed to push the company into a preeminent position in the nascent U.S. large-scale solar-project business. But several developments on Tuesday placed those plans in doubt and may have left investors with questions about First … Read more
Over the past three days, the S&P 500 finally broke upward out of a five-week trading range (the NASDAQ has had a much more aggressive breakout). Well before this latest bullish move, many stocks and whole sectors soared higher in a “stealth” rally. Steel companies U.S. Steel (X) and Nucor (NUE) are two stocks in … Read more
Art Cashin: Class Warfare a Threat to US Recovery — CNBC "It's bubbling up again, all this 'Wall Street versis Main Street' stuff…If we could get back to work again instead of pointing fingers, things in this country would go a lot better." (tags: ArtCashin stock_market) Five Questions for a Keynesian – The NBR Blog … Read more
During recent re-confirmation hearings for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, U.S. Senator Jim Bunning – a frequent critic of the Federal Reserve – asked Bernanke several questions about gold prices. Bunning’s questions appear targeted at prodding Bernanke into acknowledging that inflation expectations are much higher than the Federal Reserve’s current estimation. Bunning also uses high … Read more
I am always on the hunt for trading opportunities in solar stocks. For a third time, ReneSola (SOL) appears to be a long opportunity. My previous two attempts failed as I bought calls instead of shares. Purchasing shares instead of calls would have left me flat at this point. I am looking for a charmed … Read more
While unemployment seems to have crested, the outlook for jobs growth is as dark as ever. Cintas (CTAS), a maker of work uniforms, reported disappointing earnings yesterday evening and provided a dour outlook on the jobs market: “We anticipate that when job recovery does occur, it will be a slow and lengthy process. In addition, … Read more
By now, everyone has noticed that the inverse relationship between the stock market and the U.S. dollar has broken. For December, the U.S. dollar index is up a healthy 4.7% while the S&P 500 is up 2.1%. I created two charts to demonstrate the dramatic nature of the change relative to trading before December. The … Read more
Today, Google (GOOG) closed above $600 for the first time since January, 2008. This milestone places the stock right at the minimum price target I estimated for the GOOG post-earnings trade. With a month remaining before January options expiration and the stock market stuck on “cruise control” for now, I believe I have much more … Read more