With Bitcoin up a strong 321% year to date, cryptocurrency hedge fund manager John Chalekson looks like a genius. The crypto hedge fund, whose marketing materials for limited liability partnerships are available online, delivered 2,129% returns to investors basis August without using leverage. In fact, in May, Chalekson claims to have been up 273%, primarily by investing in new currencies. The man whose Facebook profile lists himself as a “principal investigator at Wikileaks” and claims to use “deep web information flows” to conduct cryptocurrency analysis claims to have found success by picking little-known crypto-currencies at ver...
Energy is everything. This is an amazingly important concept. Yet it’s almost universally overlooked. Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the magical role energy plays in our daily lives because most of what we experience is a derivative of it. The connection is hidden from direct view.Because of this, most people utterly fail to detect or appreciate the priceless and irreplaceable role of high net-energy fuel sources (such as oil and gas) to our modern lifestyle. With high net-energy, society enjoys increasing complexity and technological advances. It’s what enables us to pursue massive goals like desalinating billions of gallo...
Brian Guerra takes a look at Weight Watchers International, Inc (WTW), one of the names on the Largest Short Value list generated by IB’s Securities Lending Team. Running length 00:02:48...
The recent struggles of the retail industry have been well-documented. While several major indices continue to flirt with new highs, traditional retail stocks have been hammered by changing consumer trends and a worldwide shift to online shopping. The popularity of e-commerce is nothing new, but it feels like 2017 has been the year that the floor has finally fallen out from under those companies who have not transitioned. And with Amazon’s (AMZN – Free Report) deal to buy Whole Foods (WFM – Free Report) getting approved this week, the online shopping king has entered a whole new market. Of course, some retailers are faring bette...
Research firm Jefferies upgraded online travel agency Expedia (EXPE) to Buy from Hold, predicting that the company’s revenue will increase at least 10% annually for the next two years. However, the analyst downgraded TripAdvisor (TRIP) to Underperform, its equivalent of a sell rating, from Hold. The firm believes that the stock will only rise by a limited amount, while Expedia and Priceline (PCLN) present better opportunities for investors. Both Expedia and Priceline can do well in the online travel space, wrote Jefferies analyst Brent Thill. Expedia’s revenue should grow by at least 10% in each of the next two years, and its marg...
Dollar/CAD may have ended the consolidation phase and is resuming its downtrend. Will it reach new lows? GDP stands out as we turn the page on September. Here are the highlights and an updated technical analysis for USD/CAD. Canadian wholesales sales disappointed with a drop of 0.5%, significantly worse than expected. However, retail sales provided the necessary fuel for the loonie to push higher. The US dollar suffered from Trump’s controversial talk. Updates USD/CAD daily graph with support and resistance lines on it. Click to enlarge: RMPI: Tuesday, 12:30. The Raw Materials Price Index is yet another measure of inflation and it doesn...
A July 15 meeting of China’s National Financial Work Conference, with Chinese GDP growth slowing and the country under criticism for its leverage management practices, put on display “a refreshed commitment to vigilance to financial risks and reforms to curb leverage,” a Moody’s report said. The encouragement is a change from analysis earlier in the year from the ratings agency. The positivity of that five-year high-level planning meeting might be spreading, as the International Monetary Fund recently characterized China’s debt as “moderate,” pointing to reform efforts. Leverage has been used to fuel historic Chinese G...
For the last five years, copper has taken something of a backseat in the mining industry from an investment perspective. Precious metals like gold and silver have dominated speculative capital inflow and a large number of companies operating in these latter two resource spaces have appreciated in line with the price of the underlying assets. Recently, however, copper is once again finding its footing and could represent a considerable opportunity for early movers that want to pick up an exposure to the next wave of copper growth. The trend towards green energy, driven by electric vehicle (EV) adoption and the rise in the use of the lithium-io...
Imports of cheap steel continue to haunt the American steel industry. Steel imports have shot up roughly 22% year to date – according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), an association of North American steel makers. Per AISI, based on preliminary U.S. Census Bureau data, total U.S. steel imports went up 22.1% year over year to roughly 23.17 million net tons through the first seven months of 2017. Finished steel imports for the same period also increased 17.3% to around 17.94 million net tons. Year to date, finished steel import market share is estimated at 28%, which is higher than 26% clocked in full-year 2016. Major finished...