Yen & VIX Continue Lower
With US indices continuing to march ever higher, no surprise to see our Yen complex of pairs move strongly upwards, and bearish sentiment in the Yen index gather momentum. Of the pairs we track the commodity yen crosses have been particularly bullish, and reflecting further current risk off market sentiment, with cad/jpy also benefiting from […]
U.S. Dollar Checks, Bounces From Support On NFP Disappointment
Coming into this morning’s Non-Farm Payrolls report out of the United States – a glimmer of hope had developed for U.S. Dollar bulls as the Greenback continued to respect the support that was established earlier in the week. Prices had trickled up to the first resistance level we had looked at in yesterday’s article, but […]
Markit Services PMI: Business Activity Growth Softens In December
The December US Services Purchasing Managers’ Index conducted by Markit came in at 53.7 percent, down 0.8 from the final November estimate of 54.5. The Investing.com consensus was for 55.9 percent. Markit’s Services PMI is a diffusion index: A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector; below 50 indicates contraction. Here is the opening from the […]
Weak Services Report And Dovish Comments Weigh On The Dollar
After the disappointing Non-Farm Payrolls only temporarily hurt the US dollar, the greenback received two more blows. The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI, which is usually a hint towards the NFP, was released 90 minutes afterward, and missed expectations: a fall from 57.4 to 55.9, below 57.6 that was expected. The employment component actually advanced and it proved to […]
US Services Sector Slumps As New Orders Crash Most Since Lehman
Confirming the mixed picture from Markit (Manufacturing PMI up, Services PMI down), ISM Services printed a disappointing 55.9 (57.6 exp), dropping to a 4-month low (as ISM manufacturing rises). Perhaps most notably, New Orders have utterly collapsed in the last 2 months post-Hurricanes… Additionally, Business Activity fell, as did backlogs…but there is quite a difference between manufacturing and […]
Ever Been Part Of A Melt-Up?
This morning I noted that I did not appreciate seeing Jeremy Grantham’s note dismissed even in the slightest way and without rancor by a Biiwii author. His intro was “Here we go with the “melt-up” meme again.”, which I felt was not appropriate for our purposes, coming as it did from a writer who was cautionary all through 2017. Look, […]
Student Debt Slavery II: Time To Level The Playing Field
This is the second in a two-part article on the debt burden America’s students face. Read Part 1 here. The lending business is heavily stacked against student borrowers. Bigger players can borrow for almost nothing, and if their investments don’t work out, they can put their corporate shells through bankruptcy and walk away. Not so with […]
US Payrolls Growth Unexpectedly Cooled In December
Corporate payrolls in the US increased by less than expected in December, rising 146,000 in 2017’s final month — well below November’s strong 239,000 rise, according to this morning’s monthly employment report from the Labor Department. Economists were looking for a stronger rise: 185,000 via Econoday.com’s consensus forecast. The softer gain kept the year-over-year trend unchanged at […]
Gold Bulls – Gotta Love This Pattern Says Joe Friday
In 2011 the Power of the Pattern suggested that Gold could be flat to down for years to come. See post here. Since that post in 2011, Gold finds itself down around 30% and Silver is down over 65%. 2011 saw extremes in prices. After nearly 7-years of lower prices, could the trend in metals be about to […]
November 2017 Trade Balance Marginally Worsened
Trade data headlines show the trade balance marginally worsened from last month. Analyst Opinion of Trade Data The data in this series wobbles and the 3-month rolling averages are the best way to look at this series. The 3-month averages are increasing for exports and increasing for imports… The data is much worse if one […]
