At this morning’s European Central Bank rate decision, market participants walked-in with the legitimate prospect of hearing how the ECB may look to taper their asset purchase program ahead of the designated end date of December 2017. Throughout this year, European economic data has remained strong, further highlighting signs of recovery in the Euro-Zone and this has led to many calls, from both within the bloc and outside for the ECB to begin stepping away from their massive stimulus program. In response, the European Central Bank raised their growth forecasts for the economy this year, now expecting 2.2% GDP growth in 2017 versus an earli...
The stoppage at an interim analysis of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s’ CHECKMATE-214 trial provides meaningful information into assessing the potential fro success of Northwest Biotherapeutics’ phase 3, DCVax-L trial. CHECKMATE-214 compared a combination the immunotherapy drugs Opdivo and Yervoy to Sutent (standard of care) in previously untreated, advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The trial was stopped at an interim analysis because it reached statistical significance on its secondary endpoint of overall survival. The results were not statistically significant on the primary endpoint of progression free survival. Why is this i...
Despite all the hope for higher incomes spewing from within the various soft-surveys of individuals and businesses across America, Q2 saw unit labor costs decline 0.2% year-over-year – the second YoY drop in the last 3 quarters. Despite all the great news about lowe eunemployment rates and solid payrolls prints, aggregate unit labor costs for America are unchanged since Dec 2015. Don’t stop believin’… Worse still Real Compensation tumbled 0.8% YoY – the 3rd quarterly decline in American wages in a row… Still – somewhere, there is the Phillips Curve’s tight-labor-market-driven wage pressures...
EURUSD: With the pair seen rallying strongly on Thursday, further bullishness is likely in the days ahead. Resistance comes in at 1.2069 level with a cut through here opening the door for more upside towards the 1.2100 level. Further up, resistance lies at the 1.2150 level where a break will expose the 1.2200 level. Its daily RSI is bullish and pointing higher suggesting further upside pressure. Conversely, support lies at the 1.2000 level where a violation will aim at the 1.1950 level. A break of here will aim at the 1.1900 level. Below here will open the door for more weakness towards the 1.1850. All in all, EURUSD faces further upside towa...
In last week’s update on investor sentiment, we noted that the extremely depressed levels of bullishness that we saw in the latest AAII survey seemed “a bit overdone.” In this week’s update, we did see an improvement in optimism, but overall, sentiment remains muted at best. In this week’s survey, bullish sentiment increased from 25.0% up to 29.28%. So, even after the increase, bullish sentiment came in below 30% for the third straight week, below 40% for the 34th straight week, and below 50% for a record 140th straight week. In addition to the record 140 straight weeks below 50%, the current stretch of 34 weeks below 40% is...
In a research note titled “Preparing For The Fall: It’s Worse Than We Think.”, JPMorgan analyst C. Stephen Tusa says he remains negative on General Electric shares with a $22 price target and Underweight rating. The analyst now views $24 per share as a “ceiling as opposed to a floor prior,” and a stock in the high teens as an “investable fair value.” GE closed yesterday up 16c to $24.92. Tusa sees downside risk to his well below consensus estimates, and notes the Street is slowly approaching his numbers. GE’s cash position is not inflecting, thus current levels are a run rate, not “depress...
Six years ago this week, the Power of the Pattern shared that “Gold could be flat to down for years to come!” See Why the Power of the Pattern felt this way. See Post Here Below looks at the performance of Gold, Silver, GDX and GDXJ since the post on 9/1/11- Could the struggles of the metals markets be about to end? Mother of all “Bullish Patterns” in play for Gold? Could be, check out the chart below- Even though Gold has been down hard the past 6-years, it did NOT break below rising support off the 2001 lows, which was tested at last years lows. This is a long-term positive. Over the past couple of years, Gold could be forming...
Having kept the bits about increasing QE in “size and duration” unchanged in the statement, Draghi will now try and finesse things in the press conference. “If they had removed the part of scaling up, then the euro would have become stronger, and he is trying to avoid that,” Danske Bank A/S analyst Jens Peter Sorensen says. “The ECB is trying to kill volatility in the markets.” So let’s see if they can succeed. In the opening statement at the presser, Draghi said recent euro volatility is a source of uncertainty. He also notes that rates will remain at their present levels for an extended period of time, and past the end of QE...
Given that Gradient Analytics’ research is primarily focused on forensic accounting, this common client question falls into our sweet spot. However, the link between earnings quality concerns and share price underperformance can be difficult to assess for two reasons: Investors and sell-side analysts tend to focus their attention on the income statement, but there is not always a predictable correlation between the highlighted balance sheet trends and the income statement impact. Because management has a huge amount of discretion over how accounting entries are handled (including when to recognize built-up expenses, impairments, non-cash ...
The United States has an opioid epidemic and drug manufacturers like Mallincikrodt (MNK) are right in the middle of it. Last week Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley expanded its opioid marketing investigation to seven companies, including Mallinckrodt: Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley continues to widen his investigation of opioid manufacturers, today announcing the issuance of civil investigative demands to seven major opioid manufacturers. These investigative demands require the manufacturers to provide documents and information relevant to the Attorney General Office’s ongoing investigation of the pharmaceutical industry’s mark...