Written by Gary
Markets closed higher with the DOW up 158 and the Nasdaq Up 2.3%. The bad news is crude closed down near its support, U.S. dollar up near its resistance and short-term indicators are modestly bearish. Investors were lacking in today’s rise and the general feeling is the markets are too high to buy and too strong too sell.
Todays S&P 500 Chart
Gold — Sometimes ( a lot of times) things don’t make sense (unless you write for the Journal) (http://www.cfdtrading.com)
ECB meant nothing to gold traders (it was weird, but true), but according to the Wall St. Journal, upbeat US manufacturing numbers did….huh? Let’s look at this a bit further…the gold sell-off actually began at 12:45 with the brunt of the punishment ending PRIOR to the release of better than expected Manufacturing PMI at 13:45…but here is the head-line from the Journal —-> “Gold Gives Up Gains on Upbeat U.S. Manufacturing Data”
Wait, what? Another example of poor financial journalism. It gets even better…they were actually able to quote a ‘market guy’ on this….
“The PMI hurt the gold price…it brings back the speculation of a December rate hike once more,” said George Gero, a senior vice president with RBC Capital Markets Global Futures.
Again…what?
Another lesson on why one must be skeptical when news is coming from the hand of mainstream media…
So, why did gold drop $20 today but did nothing yesterday? Dollar strength, sure, but as to why today and not yesterday? I don’t know, that is my answer. Just don’t know. But that is ok, not every movement in the market has to make sense or have a logical reason behind it.
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
American to launch bare-bones airfare in 2016 to rival Spirit (Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc , the world’s largest airline, on Friday said it will roll out bare-bones fares in 2016 to battle U.S. budget carriers, overshadowing a surge in its third-quarter profit. | |
Tech shares lead sharp gains on Wall St. after results (Reuters) – A rally in Microsoft and other technology shares pushed U.S. stocks up sharply for a second day on Friday as earnings came in stronger-than-expected, while healthcare shares rebounded from recent losses. | |
Valeant stock rebounds, but allegations shrink CEO’s fortune (Reuters) – Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc shares rebounded on Friday from four days of steep losses over allegations of fraud, which it denied, but this week’s stock selloff has already cost the company’s chief executive well over $1 billion. | |
Fed will weigh up ECB’s stimulus push as it readies rates message LONDON (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s signal that more stimulus is coming for Europe’s economy could complicate the U.S. Federal Reserve’s own message this week about when it might move in the opposite direction. | |
Whirlpool shares slide on negative impact of currency exchange rate (Reuters) – Shares of Whirlpool Corp plunged on Friday during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call as executives said global currency weakness would subtract $2.5 billion from the appliance maker’s annual revenue. | |
Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon give Wall Street reason to cheer (Reuters) – Google parent Alphabet Inc , Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc made headway in the latest quarter in the areas that will be their main engines of growth for years to come, driving up shares across the tech sector on Friday. | |
Spanish recluse behind Zara briefly becomes world’s richest man MADRID (Reuters) – Amancio Ortega, who transformed clothing group Inditex from a tiny family dressmaker into Spain’s biggest company, briefly overtook Bill Gates on Friday to become the world’s richest man. | |
P&G sees organic sales growth from current quarter (Reuters) – Procter & Gamble Co reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said it expected organic sales to grow from the current quarter as it moves through a “portfolio cleanup.” | |
United Air reaches tentative deal with wage hike for maintenance workers (Reuters) – United Airlines said on Friday it reached a tentative deal with the union representing its maintenance workers, paving the way for a wage hike and the first contract to cover technicians from both United and Continental since the airlines merged in 2010. | |
Is Russia The King Of Arctic Oil By Default?Submitted by Colin Chilcoat via OilPrice.com, To be king implies preeminence, or lasting rule. In the Arctic, such oil and gas supremacy is still little more than a dream. That dream remains alive in Russia however, and the nation – through an unmatched stubbornness and a decidedly timid field of competitors – is making a strong bid for the throne. A cursory search of ‘Arctic’ and ‘oil’ elicits little in the way of positivity. Certainly, Shell’s failure in the Chukchi Sea is notable. Combined with the Obama administration’s waffling distaste for future offshore Arctic development, it marks what should be a period of relative dormancy in U.S. waters. Still, it’s not indicative of the sector globally, which is seeing progress, albeit at a glacial pace. The shining example of such development to date is Gazprom Neft’s Prirazlomnaya platform. Located nearly 40 miles offshore in the Pechora Sea, the rig is the world’s first Arctic oil project involving a stationary platform – though the general concept itself has been employed before (see: BP’s Northstar Island). Gazprom Neft began production at the Prirazlomnoye field in 2013 and reached commercial figures last year, with a total output of roughly 5,000 barrels per day (bpd). With production well number two (of 19) now | |
Is Mario Draghi About To Go Full-Kuroda? RBS Says ECB Could Buy StocksAt Thursday’s presser, Mario Draghi telegraphed more easing from the ECB come December. This wasn’t exactly a surprise. In fact, some observers had expected Draghi to expand PSPP at the September meeting and although the market was disappointed in that regard, the ECB did raise the issue limit from 25% to 33% effectively giving themselves more dry powder. The question now, is what exactly the ECB will announce. That is, will Draghi cut the depo rate further into negative territory thus setting off a chain reaction for the Riksbank and the SNB and thus raising the spectre of NIRP for retail depositors? How long into 2017 will PSPP be extended? Given the scarcity of purchasable paper, will the ECB expand the universe of eligible assets and if so, will Draghi go full-Kuroda knowing full well that you never, ever go full-Kuroda? All good questions, and ones we suspect many a sellside strategist will attempt to answer in the weeks ahead. For his part, RBS’ Alberto Gallo is out with a rundown of the ECB’s options and not only are non-financial corporate bonds on the list (something we predicted months ago), but so are (gasp) stocks, suggesting that the ECB may soon embark on a Japan-style effort to corner the equity market along with the government bond market. First, Gallo notes the ECB’s mention of the SNB (another central bank which, like Japan, is sitting on a hundred billion dollar equity book):
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China Cuts Rates in Bid to Spur GrowthChina’s central bank late Friday cut both interest rates and the reserve-requirement ratio for banks, in a bid to revive slowing economic growth. | |
Tech-Sector Rally Helps Propel U.S. StocksA rally in the technology sector, spurred by a handful of upbeat earnings, propelled U.S. stocks Friday. | |
Mark Hulbert: The best six months for stocks is about to beginThe Halloween Indicator is about to flash a strong buy signal, writes Mark Hulbert. |
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