Ethereum opened today’s Asian market with a bullish sentiment on the news that entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s team has launched an Ethereum-based mercury protocol. Based on the white paper released by the protocol’s developers, Mercury Protocol is designed as an alternative to centralized communication platforms that aims to ensure the privacy of its users. By using the protocol, communication platforms will receive the benefits of decentralized blockchain technology at low cost. ETHJPY Higher Above Ichimoku Cloud The ETH/JPY pair has been trading in a new uptrend above the Ichimoku cloud after its losses in July. The Chiko span has just cr...
Back in April, we showed that according to a Goldman Sachs report, the current run of chronic active manager underperformance began shortly after the launch of QE in 2009. As discussed earlier today by Matt King in his report on “one-way” markets resulting from QE and ETFs, this period has been marked by “stubbornly low volatility and dispersion”, something Goldman first observed four months ago: Which brings us to what we concluded back in April in we showed that according to a Goldman Sachs report, namely that: … while hedge funds, especially established ones with significant AUM, find the current status ...
USDJPY continued its sideways movement in a narrow range between 108.60 and 109.84. Near term support is at 108.60, a breakdown below this level could take price to test 108.13 (Apr 17 low) key support. Resistance is at 109.84, above this level could take price to 110.60 area....
The second quarter earnings reporting season has proved to be a difficult one for stocks. The earnings reports themselves have been strong. According to FactSet, S&P 500 companies have grown their second quarter earnings 10.2% year-over-year. This marks the best earnings growth since the 11.6% rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011. Yet, second quarter earnings reports have been unable to lift stock prices. In fact, many companies have been punished after they beat analysts’ EPS forecasts. For example, shares of Halliburton (HAL), Hasbro (HAS), NetApp (NTAP?), and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) dropped although the firms bea...
Here are three ideas I’m short (out of my 48 positions) that I found of special interest. First up is Acadia Pharmaceuticals, which is sporting a well-formed diamond pattern. If broken, this becomes a powerful reversal pattern. Next is Advanced Micro Devices. Semiconductors had an incredible run until a few months ago, and they’re all starting to fizzle and pop. AMD seems especially prone to failure to my eyes. Lastly is Buffalo Wild Winds, which has been “Old Faithful” lately. This is a massive topping pattern with plenty of downside potential left....
Talking Points: S&P 500 remains in limbo; highlight event of the week will be NFPs DAX continues to coil, in danger of trading lower soon; Employment, CPI data FTSE 100 light week on the economic calendar, to follow risk trends; keep an eye on 7300 Fundamental Forecast for equity indices: Bearish S&P 500 The big event to end last week was Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen speaking in Jackson Hole, and in terms of giving rise to market volatility we saw a modest uptick. Next week brings a fair amount of ‘high’ impact data, with Advance Goods Trade Balance on Monday, Consumer Confidence on Tuesday, 2Q GDP on Wednesday, Core PCE on T...
This will be the first Labor Day of the presidency of Donald J. Trump, who came to office riding a wave of anti-establishment anger from average working people. No one can say they didn’t see it coming. By the time Trump was elected, the typical American household had a net worth 14 percent lower than the typical household in 1984. The richest 1 percent owned more than the bottom 90 percent. Last year’s annual Wall Street bonus pool alone was larger than the annual year-round earnings of all 3.3 million Americans working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. While 90 percent of US adults born in the early 1940s were earn...
The entire energy futures complex is notably higher at the open with RBOB Gasoline spiking over 5% to its highest since January amid the carnage of Hurricane Harvey. Bloomberg reports that Harvey, the strongest storm to hit the U.S. since 2004, made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Friday, with torrential rain flooding cities from Corpus Christi to Houston and shutting plants able to process some 2.26 million barrels a day of oil. Major terminals and pipelines that move crude and fuel into and out of Houston-area refineries were also shut, potentially stranding some crude in West Texas and starving New York Harbor of gasoline. “Gasol...
Talking Points: USD/CAD nears a critical chart point. Further interest rate hikes are expected as the Canadian housing market continues to boom. Retail sales disappoint but inflation is expected to tick higher. Fundamental Forecast for NZD: Neutral We remain neutral on the Canadian dollar for the time being but may look to short the Loonie against the USD if the market keeps running ahead of any expected interest rate hikes. With market expectations of another 0.25% rate increase in October to 1% already baked in, traders will look to next week’s GDP data as the next driver of any move. Inflation ticked higher in July, to 1.2% from 1% i...