stock markets

Another Atrocious Week Going Out With A Bang

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By John Rubino – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

On days when lots of financial numbers are released, the normal pattern is for some to point one way and some another, giving everyone a little of what they want and overall presenting a reassuringly muddled picture of the economy.

Not today. A wave of economic stats flowed out of Washington, almost all of them terrible, while corporate news was, in some high-profile cases, shocking. Let’s go to the highlight reel:

Retail sales fell again in December, bringing the 2015 increase to just 2.1% versus an average of 5.1% from 2010 through 2014. This kind of deceleration is out of character for year six of a gathering recovery, but completely consistent with a descent into recession.

The New York Fed’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey index plunged to -19.37 in January from -6.21 in December. This is a recession — deep recession — level contraction. Not a single bright spot in the entire report.

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Jig Is Up For The Fed

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By Rick Ackerman – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

Traders seem obsessed lately with the ups, and mostly downs, of crude oil — so much so that every dip, feint and jiggle in energy futures is being replicated almost tick-for-tick by the S&Ps. A recent op-ed piece by Don Luskin in the Wall Street Journal asserted that falling oil prices brought on mainly by a fracking glut are crushing the world economy, but this gets it exactly wrong. In fact, falling crude prices are merely symptomatic, albeit in a big way, of deflationary forces that are starting to implode the global economy with black-hole force.

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We Are At A Similar Situation Where Japan Was Before 1989!

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By Gijsbert Groenewegen – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silver-Phoenix500.com

The markets are only “allowed” to go up! The more you control the less you are in control!

Why do I say that – because in Japan in the end of the eighties there was only one way and that was up till the bubble broke in 1989 and we all know what happened afterwards. The Japanese even didn’t have any put options until 1987 when the modern OTC equity derivatives market was born with the creation of put options that were linked to the performance of the Nikkei 225 Index and that came with debt instruments issued by Japanese companies. London banks

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What the F*#k Should Investors Do? (Part 2)

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(This article was written last October! Several forecasts has turned out right on the money. The author’s advice still is quite valuable today.  –Bob)

By Vitaliy Katsenelson – Re-Blogged From http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/

In my column last Friday, in response to an e-mail I had received from an investor asking “what the fuck” he should do, I promised to explain what we’re doing with our portfolio. I will, but first let me tell you a story. When I was a sophomore in college, I was taking five or six classes and had a full-time job and a full-time (more like overtime) girlfriend. I was approaching finals, I had to study for lots of tests and turn in assignments, and to make matters worse, I had procrastinated until the last minute.

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NYSE Margin Debt At An All-Time Record High Heralds An Impending Stocks Crash

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By Doug Short – Re-Blogged From http://www.Silvr-Phoenix500.com

The astonishing surge in leverage (i.e. NYSE Margin Debt) in late 1999 peaked in March 2000, the same month that the S&P500 hit its all-time daily high, although the highest monthly close for that year was five months later in August. A similar surge NYSE Margin Debt began in 2006, peaking in July 2007, three months before the market peak…and subsequent crash.

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Major Stock Selloff Looms

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By Adam Hamilton – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

The latest record highs in the US stock markets have unleashed astounding complacency.  Traders are utterly convinced that the past couple years’ massive Fed-fueled rally will continue indefinitely.  But with today’s lofty stock markets extremely overvalued, wildly overextended, and rampantly euphoric, a serious selloff is looming.  The prudent contrarians preparing for this inevitable major reversal are going to earn fortunes.

Though you wouldn’t know it from recent history, stock markets rise and fall.  They are forever cyclical, an endless parade of alternating bulls and bears.  Market history simply couldn’t be clearer on this.  Yet ironically after long bull or bear markets, the great majority of traders forget this.  They get caught up in their own emotions, and wrongly assume the long-in-the-tooth trend is the new norm that will endure perpetually.

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Beware The Stock Bear!

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Adam Hamilton – Re-Blogged From http://www.Gold-Eagle.com

The US stock markets’ latest record highs have left traders exceedingly euphoric and complacent.  They are utterly convinced this stock bull will power higher for years to come.  But their enthusiasm is very misplaced.  In real inflation-adjusted terms, the US stock markets only just regained breakeven levels 15 years after the last secular bull peaked.  Now the secular stock bear ever since is overdue for a new cyclical bear.

The flagship benchmark index for tracking the US stock markets is the mighty S&P 500, often shortened to SPX.  The whole financial world literally revolves around this dominant index, with most global equity markets and even some major commodities markets like oil usually mirroring it.  American stock traders can directly trade the SPX through a handful of gargantuan ETFs including the leading SPY S&P 500 ETF.

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SPX Topping Valuations

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Here at US-Issues.com, we deal with “Political Issues of Economic Importance.” Most Americans own stocks, either directly or through some kind of retirement plan. For them, whether stocks will be continuing to go up or will start to head down is of exceptional importance. The fact that market ups and downs are influenced greatly by government policy also makes this a political issue. Please enjoy this piece from Adam Hamilton.

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Guest Post by Adam Hamilton

The prevailing valuations in the lofty US stock markets are increasingly becoming a bone of contention.  Wall Street calmly asserts stocks are fairly valued or even cheap, since it has a huge vested interest in keeping people fully-invested.  But a growing chorus of dissenters is disputing that idyllic notion, warning that stock valuations are very high and portend great downside risk.  Indeed, topping valuations abound.

Since investing is all about buying low and selling high, the price paid for any investment is everything.  Buy good companies at cheap prices, and you’ll multiply your wealth over time.  But buying those very same good companies at expensive prices radically stunts future gains.  While cheap investments have great potential to

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