When Backtests Fail
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Let’s say you’re building a diversified portfolio and want to include European high yield bonds in the mix. What are you plugging in for an estimated return today? If you’re like most investors, you’ll look to a backtest to provide the answer, asking the following question: what have the returns been historically? With data going […]
Silver Stocks Comatose
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
The silver miners’ stocks have mostly drifted sideways this year, looking vexingly comatose. Such dull price action repels speculators and investors, so they’ve largely abandoned this lackluster sector. That weak trader participation has led to silver stocks’ responsiveness to silver price moves decaying. What can shock silver stocks out of their zombified stupor? And how […]
Bitcoin Extends To Fresh Record Highs
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Now that the high earlier in the week has been taken-out, after completing a 3-wave (ABC ) correction, it appears Bitcoins now forming the final (5th-wave) portion of a larger 5-wave structure. The 1st wave equality projection target is a few hundred points higher from current levels, in which price-action has seemingly respected the psychological 6000 mark as temporary resistance. If Bitcoin can […]
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Investing In A Rapidly Changing Diamond Industry
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Diamonds are called “a woman’s best friend”. They can be used to show off your incredible wealth, cut granite, or launder money if you’re an African warlord. In any case, diamonds are the physical representation of opulence, and the industry is going through a period of change that provides investors with huge opportunities. The diamond […]
AIG Reversal
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
One of the most catastrophic drops to take place during the days of the financial crisis (sigh – – those were the days) was AIG International. Of course, the executives didn’t suffer for it – they made hundreds of millions of dollars and were paid huge bonuses after their crimes were discovered, thanks to the US Government. Even so, […]
Junk Bond Managers Are Now Buying Equities
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Stocks are so hot that junk bond managers went into equity markets. Bloomberg’s Lisa Abramowicz explained the conditioning that’s led to this – simply that the performance rankings of corporate debt funds shows that those which are taking the most risk have, not surprisingly, booked the best performance in 2017. While this involved purchasing lower-rated credit instruments, in […]
Palladium Is The Anti-Tesla Bull Market
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
The palladium bull market flies in the face of what investors “know” right now. It began back in January 2016 and has not let up. After 22 months, it just hit a major milestone. The price is up 109% from its low and shows no signs of slowing. You see, palladium’s demand comes from automobiles. The gas-powered […]
ECRI Weekly Leading Index: WLI Up Again
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Today’s release of the publicly available data from ECRI puts its Weekly Leading Index (WLI) at 146.6, up 1.4 from the previous week. Year-over-year the four-week moving average of the indicator is now at 4.17%, up from 3.67% last week. The WLI Growth indicator is now at 2.3, up from 1.3 the previous week. “Consensus […]
Jefferies Sees ‘Increasing Probability’ Of Nike Hitting $35 Per Share
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Jefferies analyst Randal Konik admits the market knows Nike needs to lower its growth expectations. The analyst, however, views the company’s “ubiquitous distribution” as the “real canary in the coal mine.” Further, the market share gains by Adidas (ADDYY) are “unrelenting,” Konik told investors earlier in a research note. He sees earnings and multiple risk […]
Political Economics
Oct 20, 2017
Jeremy Parkinson
Finance
Who President Trump ultimately picks as the next Federal Reserve Chairman doesn’t really matter. Unless he goes really far afield to someone totally unexpected, whoever that person will be will be largely more of the same. It won’t be a categorical change, a different philosophical direction that is badly needed. Still, politically, it does matter […]