In my previous articles we have covered the importance of accountability, which means having the right attitude toward your trading even before you open the computer or a book. We will move on to more articles related to psychology and trading itself. We also need to address building a strong base for a framework to actually trade; once you have your base you can refine, adjust, and tinker around the edges to super-size your success, but a robust base is an absolute must. This article has two parts. The first is the search for knowledge and how to look to build your strategy. The second is the simplicity you will need within your strategy to ...
The US dollar was whipsawed ahead of the weekend. The greenback had been pulling back following the soft core PCE deflator the day before, and losses accelerated after the disappointing US August employment report. However, a report citing unnamed European officials warned that the ECB might not be ready to decide on its asset purchase program as many expected at the meeting on September 7. This spurred a reversal of the euro and helped lift the dollar more broadly. One currency the was resilient in the face of the greenback’s recovery was the Canadian dollar. It was the strongest major currency before the weekend and for the week. Th...
Investing isn’t always just a long-term financial strategy. When you want to see returns on your money in a shorter time frame, say a couple years or even a couple months, then implementing a short term investment strategy with the best short term investments is very achievable! Perhaps you’re saving up for a goal with a relatively close deadline. Maybe you’re accumulating enough funds for a down payment on a home within 5 years, paying off a significant chunk of debt that your current income is dragging on, or taking the family on a vacation overseas. Whatever the reason, you want to have the best short term investments possible to ear...
Economists actually thought car sales would be flat in August. The Econoday consensus was 16.7 million units at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate. Instead, sales plunged to 16.1 million units. Unit vehicle sales faded noticeably in August, to a 16.1 million annualized rate from 16.7 million in July. This is the lowest rate since February 2014. Sales of domestic-made vehicles fell to 12.7 million from 13.2 million with imports at 3.5 million from 3.6 million. Sales of both cars and light trucks showed declines. These results point to a sharp August reversal from what were unusually strong vehicle sales in the retail sales report for Ju...
Stocks began the day in positive territory and remained there all day. The market moved in a fairly narrow range as the market participation was low and the news flow was slow. The day’s economic reports, highlighted by the monthly jobs report, had little impact and as the day progressed the volume dried up and the market limped into the close ahead of the long weekend. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., nonfarm payrolls increased 156,000 in August, missing the consensus call for 180,000 job additions. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% from 4.3% in the prior month, where it had been forecast to remain. The final Markit manufacturing in...
The U.S. Energy Department’s weekly inventory release showed a below-average increase in natural gas supplies following which the commodity traded up. However, worries over the fuel’s tepid demand on the back of Tropical Storm Harvey-related power outages are expected to keep natural gas prices in check. About the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report The Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report – brought out by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) every Thursday since 2002 – includes updates on natural gas market prices, the latest storage level estimates, recent weather data and other market activities or events. The report provides...
Fundamental Forecast for Gold: Bullish Gold prices remain bid going into the first full week of September, with bullion at risk of marking fresh 2017 highs as market participants appear to be diversifying away from the U.S. dollar. The reaction to the lackluster U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report suggests gold will continue to exhibit a bullish behavior ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate decision on September 20 as mixed data prints coming out of the economy sap bets for another rate-hike in 2017. Even though ‘the Committee expects to begin implementing its balance sheet normalization program relatively soon,...
Bitcoin has surged to a new record high this morning over $4850 amid increased debt ceiling anxiety, continuing demand from South Korea and Japan amid the North Korea chaos, a potential short squeeze, and renewed hopes of SEC approval of a Bitcoin ETF. The six biggest virtual currencies are all higher today. NOTE – Litecoin and Veritaseum are among the day’s best performers. Bitcoin is now up 165% from pre-Fork-anxiety lows in late July. Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas notes that Dalia Blass is set to head the SEC Division of Investment Management – which regulates, among other things ETFs. What is of note is that she is...