The Simple Calculus for the Timing of The Fed’s First Rate Hike

“…I expect that inflation will return to 2 percent over the next few years as the temporary factors that are currently weighing on inflation wane, provided that economic growth continues to be strong enough to complete the return to maximum employment and long-run inflation expectations remain well anchored. Most FOMC participants, including myself, currently anticipate … Read more

An Anti-Climactic Fed Meeting On the Path of Policy Normalization

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 18, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) If you have followed the CME Group 30-Day Fed Fund futures prices, today’s decision by the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged did not surprise you. You may have even … Read more

T2108 Update (September 15, 2015) – Another Oversold Period Ends As Volatility Continues Pre-Fed Decline

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. 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 … Read more

T2108 Update (September 4, 2015) – The Countdown to “Fedageddon” Begins In Earnest

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. 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 … Read more

A Time To Sell Some Housing Stocks

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 19, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) I have spent a lot of time over the past four years touting the attractiveness of stocks in homebuilders. The ride has offered a lot of bumps along the way but … Read more

SPDR Gold Shares Closes A Gap As the Fed Maintains Its Churn On Rate Hikes

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 20, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) The U.S. Federal Reserve released its minutes from its July 28 to 29, 2015 meeting. It was pretty much the same back and forth on monetary policy and the U.S. and … Read more

Fed’s Insistence On Transitory Disinflation Puts A Pause on the GLD Trade

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 29, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) This year has started for SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) in a fashion eerily similar to 2014. On December 18, 2013, the Federal Reserve officially announced the planned tapering of its bond … Read more

The U.S. Dollar Remains Stuck After Anti-Climactic Jobs Number

The U.S. dollar index (USDX) remains stuck in its downtrend by a thread. Source: FreeStockCharts.com The long-awaited catalyst was the U.S. jobs report for July, 2015. In my opinion, the report shed no new light on the timing for a Fed rate hike. It was pretty much more of the same. The stalemate on the … Read more

The Commodity Crash Accelerates: A New Juncture for Buying Gold

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 27, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) This month’s acceleration in the now 4-year sell-off in commodities seems to indicate that markets are getting serious about bracing for a tightening cycle from the Federal Reserve. I have mainly … Read more

The Fed Aligns With Other Central Banks On Explaining Oil’s Decline and Its Economic Impact

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on Feb 25, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) As every other major central bank has done, the Federal Reserve has taken a crack at estimating the economic impact of the collapse in oil prices. In its semi-annual report to … Read more