Commodity Prices Plunge Further As Fed Hike Looms Large
The price of copper plunged to a 6-year low on the back of fears that an imminent rate hike is likely in the US. Commodities traders jumped on the bandwagon and shorted copper futures, and sold the metal en masse as it slid $0.054 to $2.164 per pound early in the morning on Thursday, 12 […]
Weighing The Week Ahead: What Is The Message From Falling Commodity Prices?
Attention quickly shifted from the perceived strength in the monthly employment report to the stock market decline. While some blamed this on the expectation of higher interest rates, there was also plenty of focus on the commodity markets. I expect this interest to continue in the week ahead. The punditry will be asking: What is […]
How Do World Markets React To Terror Attacks?
Terrorism in recent years has become frighteningly common, impacting not only global morale, but also the economy.While the economic repercussions are certainly not the most important ones, anyone relying on market movements to earn their living may be running scared, not only from potential security risks, but from potential economic fallout. Whether we want to admit […]
Utility ETFs Slide On Weaker-than-Expected Q3 Earnings
The utility sector disappointed in its third-quarter results over the last two weeks with earnings and revenue miss from some of the major players in the space, including Duke Energy Corporation (DUK – Analyst Report), NextEra Energy (NEE – Analyst Report) and Dominion Resources Inc. (D – Analyst Report). However, a recovering U.S. economy, warmer-than-normal weather and ultra low interest rates […]
Alibaba, JD.com, Baidu, Others To Be Added To MSCI Emerging Market Index
By Vikas Shukla As many as 14 US-listed mainland Chinese companies, including Alibaba (BABA) and Baidu (BIDU), will be added to MSCI’s Emerging Market Index. MSCI said Thursday that the changes would be implemented at the market close on November 30, making it the first indexer to add these stocks. The move is likely to bring billions of […]
The Gig Economy Is The New Normal
An already-confusing employment environment grew even more complicated this past week. Many readers responded to my “Crime in the Jobs Report” letter with their own stories. Some confirmed what I wrote, while others disputed it. Some of the stories I read from readers who are stuck far from where they want to be in this […]
Week In Review: Korea’s Hanmi Signs $960 Million Deal With Janssen
Deals and Financings Hanmi Pharma (KRX: 1289400) of South Korea announced another blockbuster out-licensing deal for one of its clinical stage assets. This time, Janssen agreed to a $960 million deal in exchange for exclusive worldwide rights (except Korea and China) to a novel biologic GLP-1/Glucagon dual receptor agonist aimed at diabetes and obesity (see story). […]
The Cost Of China’s “Manipulated Market Stability” May Be Too High, BofAML Warns
In August, we learned that even spending CNY1 trillion in plunge protection to prop up an equity market reeling from the unwind of a bevy of backdoor margin lending channels was woefully insufficient. The reason (or one of the reasons): the millions of semi-literate retail investors, housewives, and farmers that had poured money into the […]
Bond Market ETF (BND) Hits New 52-Week Low
For investors willing to stay away from potential losses, Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND – ETF report) is probably on the radar now. The fund just hit a 52-week low, and shares of BND are down roughly 4.2% from their 52-week high price of $84.35/share. Are more pains in store for this ETF? Let’s take a quick look […]
E Lies, Damned Lies, Corporate “Earnings” And “Volatile Markets
“The stock market is never obvious, It is designed to fool most of the people, most of the time.” — Famed market trader Jesse Livermore One thing the market volatility of 2015 has done is decimate some of our best-laid plans, like owning hedges like QID into monster earnings from the QQQ stalwarts like AMZN, […]
