As I wrote on August 24th regarding junior miners, “…as I look at the miners, I’m seeing signs of life. If you believe the breakout is meaningful and want to amp up your commitment, a good way to do it would by via the triple-bullish ETF symbol below, which itself has had a clean breakout from a rather long downtrend.” Well, it didn’t take long for this to blossom, as gold has broken out smartly. Followed, naturally by miners… …and the juniors themselves. I remain cheerfully long the miners, having augmented my position this morning....
After opening the day higher, stock markets in India have continued their momentum. Sector indices are trading on a positive note with stocks in the realty sector and IT sector witnessing maximum buying interest. The BSE Sensex is trading up 148 points (up 0.5%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up 48 points (up 0.5%). The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.9%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.8%. The rupee is trading at 63.90 to the US$. In the news from the banking sector, the government has notified the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act. The act allows government to authorize the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ...
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan, also known as the Federal Employee Program, has selected Teladoc to provide general medical and behavioral health services for the 2018 benefit year, the company announced earlier in a press release. Teladoc shares are up 11%, or $3.30, to $33.15 in midday trading. The Federal Employee Program covers roughly 5.3M federal employees, retirees and their families. “We are excited to offer telehealth to our members in next year’s offerings,” said William Breskin, senior vice president of government programs at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We are always working...
The trade deficit in July increased by 1.7% to -$65.1 billion vs an Econoday consensus estimate of -64.1 billion. The Census Bureau revised June slightly, to -64.0 billion from -63.9 billion. Third-quarter GDP is off to a slow start, at least for international trade in goods where the July trade gap widened more than $1 billion to $65.1 billion. Exports fell 1.3 percent and were pulled down by a sharp fall in vehicles and also consumer goods which are two weak categories for the US. Helping to ease the effect of exports was a 0.3 percent decline in imports where foreign vehicles, which are usually in strong demand, fell 2.8 percent while in...
While Dec gold futures broke above $1300 overnight (and are spiking above $1310), spot gold prices just broke above $1300 to the highest price since Trump’s election. Since Friday’s close, before the worst of Harvey hit, gold is the best performing asset with bonds, dollar, and stocks slightly lower....
The Gold/Dollar chart below reflects that Gold was much stronger than the U.S. Dollar (US$) from 2001 until 2011. Since 2011, the US$ has been stronger than Gold, as the ratio has declined for six years. Is it time for the worm to turn (Gold stronger than US$)? The ratio below reflects a big test is in play, that could answer this very important question. CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE The Gold/US$ ratio hit rising support line (1) at (2) earlier this year, which held and a rally then followed, as the US$ hit a high and Gold has rallied. This pattern could be part of a bullish ascending triangle that is forming. The top of this potential pattern i...
The summer lull is about to end and Jackson Hole provides a hint for things to come. The calendar is packed with known events and a lot of known unknown events, such as the nomination of a new Fed Chair. We preview all the big events you need to know about. Jackson Hole: What can central banks tell us that we don’t know? Well, not saying something is also meaningful. US recession?: After 8 years of growth, we play with the chances of a recession in the US. We will get new data about the US economy quite soon. Jobs: With very stable jobs and wages, there is an opportunity for a surprise. But will it move the Fed? It will probably move the ta...
Wesley Gray, the Alpha Architect, joined me recently in co-hosting a podcast with the Wharton School’s Nikolai Roussanov, one of world’s top academics on the topic of currencies. Roussanov’s academic work has focused on the carry trade—a currency factor he sees as explanatory in major currency group movements. The carry trade represents the tendency for higher interest rate currencies to outperform lower interest rate currencies, on average, over time. Roussanov and I debated the strategic rationale for currency hedging broadly. WisdomTree has been a rather passionate advocate for the view that investors tend to take on unnec...
For now I would prefer to bet on gold’s diversifying properties rather than political stability” – Russ Koesterich, Blackrock. Not for the first time this year, Blackrock’s Koesterich has spoken about his faith in gold during times of both financial and political instability. Those times are now, the world’s largest money manager believes. Since the beginning of the year Koestrich has been adding to the gold position of the $39 billion Global Allocation Fund. Gold is now the fund’s second-largest position. Gold’s performance, up 12% year-to-date, is particularly interesting. A hard-to-define asset, gold is often thought to pe...
Every so often an article is produced that is so misleading that it must be addressed. The latest is from Sol Palha via the Huffington Post entitled: “Buffett Indicator Is Predicting A Stock Market Crash: Pure Nonsense.” Sol jumps right in with both feet stating: “Insanity equates to doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a new outcome. These predictions have been off the mark for almost 10 years. One would think that would be enough for the experts to re-examine the situation, but instead, they use the same lines they used 10 years ago. One day they will get it right, as even a broken clock is correct twice a day...