There is no better sight to a hungry trader than blood in the water. “Buy them when they’re cryin” is an excellent investment strategy that always seems to work. There are rivers of tears being shed over the banking industry right now. Federal Reserve officials openly told investors that after the December ¼% rate hike that they would continue to do so on a quarterly basis. Only weeks later, a collapse in the stock market shattered this scenario to smithereens. I doubt we’ll see any more Fed action in 2016. This caught investors in bank shares wrong footed in a major way. But wait! It gets worse! Among the largest holders of American...
Maybe you’re not the type that makes New Year’s resolutions, but we can all agree that you don’t necessarily need a resolution to push you toward better financial practices. 2016 is a great time to further improve your money habits, and perhaps reach some money goals that you’ve set. Even if you already feel that you’re in a good place financially there are always ways that you can ensure you’re on the right track and even make some changes to your spending habits that will save money this year. You may even find that some changes to your financial practices are in order. If you want to reduce your debt and increase your savings...
Even though economists see a mere 20% chance of recession in 2016, I am increasingly confident a recession began in December 2015. It was another disastrous factory orders report this month. December factory orders fell 2.9% Durable goods orders -5.0%, nondurable goods -0.8% November factory orders revised from -0.2% to -0.7%. Core capital goods orders fell steep 4.3% Inventories rose 0.2% The inventory-to-sales ratio rose again which portends weakness for future hiring and production. Shipments fell a steep 1.4% The Econoday Consensus Estimate was -2.8%, nearly on the mark in a range of -3.7% to +0.2%. It’s mind-boggling that an economis...
The bigger the bear market, the more furious the next bull market, especially with commodities. When a bear market like this in commodities is so deep, production will be destroyed. In a new bull market fase it takes a lot of time to build new production. That’s why the next bull market will be maniacal. Rick Rules has decades of experience. Unfortunately he doesn’t see a bottom for gold and silver. The American dollar and US Treasuries are to strong to see a significant rise in gold and silver. When investors run from the euro because of the turmoil, or when investors run from oil because of the tension in the Middle East, they d...
The one catalyst many Glencore bears have been eagerly waiting for, is the downgrade of the troubled independent energy trader to junk status, a catalyst which as previously explained, will likely spring various, heretofore unknown margin calls and collateral “waterfalls” a la AIG. Overnight, one of the two rating agencies, Standard and Poors, came one step closer to that fateful moment when it downgraded Glencore, however it decided to throw the company one last lifeline by keeping it at the very lowest investment grade rating, and instead of cutting it from BBB to single B or CCC where its CDS and bond yield implies the company ...
Small-cap blend funds are a type of equity mutual funds which hold in their portfolio a mix of value and growth stocks, where the market capitalization of the stocks are generally lower than $2 billion. Blend funds are also known as “hybrid funds.” Blend funds aim for value appreciation by capital gains. It owes its origin to a graphical representation of a fund’s equity style box. In addition to diversification, blend funds are great picks for investors looking for a mix of growth and value investment. Meanwhile, small-cap funds are a good choice for investors seeking diversification across different sectors and companies. Investors wi...
Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN) reported higher than expected top and bottom line fourth quarter results this morning, but the company noted that same-store sales fell 0.8% for its flagship Dunkin’ Donuts brand in the U.S. The company’s same-store sales decline was in contrast to Starbucks (SBUX), which recently reported a comparable store sales increase in the U.S., and come after McDonald’s (MCD) launched its “All-Day Breakfast” initiative. WHAT’S NEW: Dunkin’ reported Q4 earnings per share of 52c, versus the consensus estimate of 50c. Its Q4 revenue came in slightly above expectations. However, the cha...
Tesla has had a great run higher over the past 5-years, as it has stayed within the rising channel above. Once it broke out of its sideways channel in 2013 near the $30 level, it blasted off, moving almost 10x higher! Over the past 2-years, it has traded from the top of the channel to the bottom, in a sideways pattern. Triple support could be giving way at (1) above, which could encourage more selling pressure. If Tesla takes out 5-year rising support, could it impact the NDX 100? Possible! The rally off the 2002 lows has taken the NDX 100 index back to the same levels it hit in the dot.com highs, before it fell over 80%. At the same time it ...
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims The market (from Bloomberg) was expecting the weekly initial unemployment claims at 274 K to 290 K (consensus 280,000) vs the 285,000 reported. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 282,750 (reported last week as 283,000) to 284,750. The rolling averages generally have been equal to or under 300,000 since August 2014. It should be pointed out that Econintersect watches the year-over-year change on the 4 week moving average. There is always some seasonality which migrates into the seasonally ...
· The strongest small cap sectors are utilities and consumer goods. · The best small cap industry is specialized semiconductor. The average small cap score is 48.27 and that’s above the four week average score of 46.81. The average small cap stock in our universe is trading -39.11% below its 52 week high, -13.47% below its 200 dma, and has 7.5 days to cover held short. Utilities, consumer goods, technology, and services score above the average universe score. Financials, industrial goods, healthcare, and basic materials score below average. The best scoring small cap industry is specialized semiconductor (QLG...