ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Two weeks ago, the iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (FXI) broke down below its 50 and 200-day moving averages (DMAs) just 5-6 weeks after an important breakout above these MAs. Buyers seemed to treat this as an opportunity to get into FXI before the breakout move resumed. Over the past two days, FXI has … Read more
The last time Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) failed a retest of all-time highs was in the middle of 2008. The stock broke down in June and it was mostly downhill from there for another year. On Tuesday, March 6th, Caterpillar confirmed another failed retest of an all-time high by breaking down below its 50DMA. Source of … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 27, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) GrafTech International Ltd (GTI) is a small company with a $1.86B market cap whose fourth quarter and full year 2011 earnings report shed additional light on the weak solar sector and … Read more
Soon after I finally posted my review and critique of Robert Reich’s book on income inequality titled “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future,” Reich published commentary which extended his analysis of income inequality to blame investors and shoppers for the problem. The concise argument appeared in an editorial in the Financial Times called “We … Read more
The current extended overbought period has produced many amazing chart patterns. In this chart review, I am highlighting some charts I find particularly interesting and compelling. There are impressive recoveries, stocks dancing with critical resistance, and emerging breakouts. Some charts are quite telling in that they completely contradict the presumed economic disaster from an imminent … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 28, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Federal Reserve’s second phase of quantitative easing (QE2) is slowly becoming a distant memory…{snip} The stark contrast between winning and losing stocks (S&P 500 index versus many commodity stocks) leaves … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 20, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week, Joy Global (JOY) reported its fourth quarter and 2011 operating results and provided some valuable details on the outlook for commodities in 2012. JOY blames inventory destocking for the … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 5, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Australian dollar was a particularly strong beneficiary of last week’s bullish euphoria. Although the dollar index has only lost about 1% since its most recent peak on Friday, Nov 25, … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 13, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Thursday evening, November 10, 2011, rare earth miner and producer Molycorp (MCP) reported strong earnings. There were no surprises given the strong guidance CEO Mark Smith delivered the previous week. … Read more
The gold bubble continues to “unpop.” In fact, as it turns out, the recent dip in gold was just a pullback to trend. This three-year weekly chart puts some perspective on the recent pullback. Source: stockcharts.com While gold skeptics were declaring that gold’s “bubble” had popped again, the Chinese were busy scooping up the yellow … Read more