ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
As the Nigerian naira plunges in value, Nigerians are scrambling for ways to protect their purchasing power. In this modern era, Bitcoin (BTC/USD) offers the promise of a digital store in value. Accordingly, Nigeria has returned to the number one spot in the world for national share of searches taken by Bitcoin according to Google … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary Of all the November housing data, housing starts provided the clearest support for the sharp rebound in the stocks of home builders the last two months. In parallel, builder sentiment has likely bottomed in anticipation of the positive impact of falling mortgage rates. On the other hand, existing home sales … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary The October housing data showed some further softening, including a revision of the new home sales data that erased a breakout. Yet, November was a blockbuster month for launching the seasonal strength in the stocks of home builders. Many of these stocks hit all-time highs in a race ahead of … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary I thought the advantage of new home sales over existing homes was coming to an end soon. The data suggest otherwise. New home sales surged to an 18-month high while existing home sales fell to a 12-year low. The resilience continues for new homes and most builders. The stock market … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The economist “consensus” expectations for September job growth missed the mark by a mile, 336,000 actual versus 170,000 projected. These big misses represent the on-going struggles of conventional economics to understand the dynamics of today’s post-pandemic economy. Initially, the good jobs news frightened financial markets which think of good news as bad … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary The window for new home sales stealing share from existing home sales may be grinding to an end. Another plunge in sentiment for home builders combined with mortgage rates trending fast and furiously upward toward 8% are exerting more and more friction on the entire housing market. The stocks of … Read more
After Canada experienced a hot inflation print for the month of August (the Consumer Price Index (CPI)), I aggressively declared the Canadian dollar a buy, long Invesco CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (FXC) and short USD/CAD. I ignored the technicals of support at an upward sloping 50-day moving average (DMA) (the red line below) on USD/CAD … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary June’s housing market showed some evidence of slight cooling with the Spring selling season in its late stages. July’s housing data showed a widening divergence in fortunes between an on-going decline in existing single-family home sales and resilient activity for new single-family homes. Enveloping both markets are elevated pricing pressures. … Read more
After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “war of economic independence” came to an official end, I waited for evidence that the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) would get serious about fighting inflation. The monetary evidence may have arrived on August 24th in the form of a monster rate hike from 17% to 25%. In … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary May’s housing market was remarkably strong and represented the peak velocity of the spring selling season. June followed up with more relative strength but a slight sequential cooling as mortgage rates continued a march back to the top of the recent range. Housing starts, new home sales, and existing home … Read more