ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Steel stocks have essentially collapsed during this summer’s severe correction. Some have retested lows going all the way back to March, 2009. The stock market is essentially placing its votes and bets on a double-dip … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) The shorts finally nailed AK Steel (AKS) (shorts are about 17% of AKS’s float). On July 26, AKS reported it will be squeezed by lower steel prices and higher input costs – especially iron ore. … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} This piece is a follow-up post to “Preparing for Profits in a Resource-Constrained World” (Part 1) in which I discussed the implications of Jeremy Grantham’s fundamental thesis of a new world where resources are … Read more
AK Steel (AKS) reported earnings January 25. The news was good enough to send the stock up 7.7% and back above its 200-day moving average (DMA). Since then, AKS has essentially recovered all the damage done by a Goldman Sachs downgrade to sell in early January. *Chart created using TeleChart: AKS delivered a mix of … Read more
The massive and historic floods in Australia have driven coal prices up. This is particularly important for steel since Australia exports 2/3 of the world’s coal used for making steel (coking coal). Steelmakers have already been struggling with increasing input costs, so the Australian floods are sure to pinch profits further. At the close of … Read more
Lately, it seems I have been pointing out more and more stocks in breakout formations. It makes the skeptic in me a little wary and nervous, but I will keep rolling with what works. And steel stocks have finally started working over the past month. I have to assume that the market is seeking out … Read more
I have been reporting the breakout of U.S. Steel (X) on twitter since last week, so I thought I would quickly post a chart outlining the case and provide some additional commentary. Like most steel stocks, U.S. Steel has lagged the S&P 500 for most of this year. The stock has churned in a wide … Read more
I continue to keep tabs on the performance of non-residential (commercial) real estate through the eyes of the companies that service this industry. Unlike previous quarters, earnings reports are a bit more mixed about the condition and outlook for non-residential real estate. Current conditions remain poor, but companies are now straining to see some light … Read more
For many commodity-related stocks the bounce from the March, 2009 lows to the first peak in June encompasses the bulk of their respective gains in the past 15 months. The current, on-going correction has delivered such heavy losses to some of these stocks that they are now trading at those June, 2009 prices. About 1/3 … Read more
The on-going steep drop in steel stocks started in early April and preceded the S&P 500’s late April peak. With worries increasing about a global slowdown, I finally decided to look up worldsteel’s last update of its forecasts for 2010 (and 2011). I was quite surprised to find that in April, worldsteel expected “…demand in … Read more