ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Time for a little fun with gold. As a child of the 1980s, I took particular interest in a fun October 13, 2010, Bloomberg interview with A-Team star Mr. T., the celebrity pitchman for Gold Promise. Gold Promise is a service run by Cash America International, Inc. (CSH) that allows people to sell their gold … Read more
Now that the bearish/selling signal for gold (and silver) seems ready to pass without incident, I thought I would take another look at a sentiment analysis on gold. Since little has changed in the three months since I concluded that skepticism towards gold remained high, I am taking a slightly different spin this time around. … Read more
Oh to have the resources of China. The Financial Times reports in “China sits on up to $1.5bn in copper profits” that China has cleaned up in betting against the deflationary fears that gripped much of the planet in 2008-2009: “Beijing’s bet that a ‘super-cycle’ in metals markets would keep copper prices high, despite the … Read more
Talk of currency wars have heated up as several events have converged to make the public increasingly aware of the on-going competitive devaluations around the globe. The increasing clamor came ahead of an IMF meeting Thursday and a G7 meeting this weekend where the topic of global trade and currency rates are hot topics. It … Read more
While most of the Western industrial world struggles with deflationary fears, Australia continues to worry about inflation. In tonight’s latest release on monetary policy, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Glenn Stevens states: “If economic conditions evolve as the Board currently expects, it is likely that higher interest rates will be required, at some point, … Read more
Bill Fleckenstein, President of Fleckenstein Capital and one of my favorite money managers, was on CNBC’s Fast Money Wednesday night giving his typical, colorful commentary on gold. I am posting an approximate transcript to his brief interview because it included what I think should be a classic moment in gold commentary. Toward the end of … Read more
The dollar put on another weak showing on Thursday as it struggles to maintain critical support at the 200-day moving average. If it were not for the Bank of Japan’s intervention to weaken the yen the previous day, it seems the dollar would be well on its way down through a technical breakdown. *Chart created … Read more
While we await another challenge of the June highs by the S&P 500, copper has quickly recovered almost all its losses from the sell-off that began in May. Copper is potentially heading for fresh post-crash highs. Source: stockcharts.com Of course, copper is now much more important to the emerging and developing markets than to developed … Read more
If an asset bubble is characterized by accelerating euphoria as asset prices rise ever higher, gold is still not in a bubble. The skepticism directed towards gold continues to rise along with its price despite gold marking all-time highs the past two months. I decided to do a refresh of last year’s sentiment analysis on … Read more
Word went out Friday that BP is considering offering $5 billion in bonds paying 8-10% with 5-10 year maturities. These bonds will likely also be unsecured. Given the real risk this company may not be around to see another birthday, I have to assume only the most yield-hungry investors will paw at this offering. I … Read more