Austere Trouble Brewing for the British Pound

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 10, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Just a few days after writing that the U.S. dollar’s post-QE3 rally was giving way to meandering, the U.S. dollar (UUP) surged back to the top of the recent relief rally … Read more

Reserve Bank of Australia Downgrades Economic Conditions, Eyes Lower Currency

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 2, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) I expected the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to stand pat on rates in its latest statement on monetary policy. Instead, the RBA cut rates by 25 basis points to 3.25% … Read more

Reserve Bank of Australia Emphasizes Overall Resilience Of the Australian Economy

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 25, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) After the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its monetary policy statement on September 4th, I noted how the loudest part of the statement was left unsaid. The RBA raised no … Read more

The QE2 Reference Price Identifies the Strongest Iron Ore and Metallurgical Coal Plays

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 16, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week, I demonstrated how the timing of QE2 provided a useful reference point for buying Freeport-McMoran (FCX) as part of a coming revision of the commodity crash playbook. In this … Read more

Reserve Bank of Australia Provides Some Relief for the Australian Dollar

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 4, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Sunday, September 2, the Australian dollar (FXA) drifted back to flatline for the year against the U.S. dollar. This move prompted me to tweet the following: “$AUDUSD close to flat … Read more

Little New News from Jackson Hole But Market Readies for Action Anyway

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 3, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) “…the private sector’s revised outlook for the policy rate also appears to reflect a growing appreciation of how forceful the FOMC intends to be in supporting a sustainable recovery.” (Ben Bernanke … Read more

Monetary Easing, The Counterfactual, And A Lower Dollar In the Balance

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 11, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has made the case for further monetary easing simple and straightforward. Unless some miracle happens in the economy to send growth hurtling upward (presidential campaign promises, … Read more

More Positive Milestones for the Residential Housing Market

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 30, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The residential housing industry received more positive data on August 29, 2012. First, the latest Federal Reserve’s beige book further confirmed the stronger price trends shown in the Federal Housing Finance … Read more

T2108 Update (August 24, 2012) – Pavlovian Market

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are posted on twitter using the #120trade hashtag) T2108 Status: 67.2% VIX Status: 15.2 … Read more

Stronger Take Home Pay and A Productivity Puzzle Tug on the U.K.’s Economy

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 15, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Bank of England’s latest Inflation Report (August 8th) included two items that I found particularly interesting: The Bank of England (BoE) expects the squeeze in take home pay in the … Read more