Tim Iacono In this item at the Global Macro Monitor blog, the Federal Reserve’s Z1 Flow of Funds data through the fourth quarter of last year was examined to see if there were any noticeable trends in who’s been buying U.S. Treasuries lately. It turns out there is… As seen above (in a chart that was reorganized a bit to fit the column width...

by Tyler Durden Libya announces it accepts the UN resolution, encourages opening of all dialogue with all sides, according to Libyan Foreign Minister. Also, the country has agreed to an immediate ceasefire. WTI drops sharply by $23 on the news, as futures spikes. From the AP: “Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa says Libya is declaring an immediate...

Overview: Markets mostly up this morning as the G7 intervened in foreign exchange markets, providing stability to the ailing yen. U.S.: Futures up this morning. Apparently quantitative easing, world strife, and currency intervention are interpreted as bullish. CPI reported yesterday showed an increase of 0.5% MoM v estimates of 0.4% MoM, driven by higher...

Dear Traders, Whoa! Ever since I released my first “Portfolio Prophet” training video earlier this week, there has been a LOT of interest and flat-out EXCITEMENT from my readers and students… (For PROOF, check out the 500+ comments that flooded my private training site in just a couple of days.) Not surprisingly, most people seem...

Fallond Stock Picks There are two sides to the coin. On the bullish front is the “bullish harami” (S&P and Dow) or “bullish harami cross” (Semiconductor index). On the bearish front is a ‘Death Cross’ between 20-day and 50-day MAs for the Semiconductor index, Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100. The semiconductor index experienced...

by Karl Denninger From the BBC: 2226: The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, quoting a senior official of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, said the US made the offer immediately after the disaster damaged Fukushima No 1 nuclear plant. According to the unnamed senior official, US support was based on dismantling the troubled reactors run by Tokyo Electric...

Speaking at the Casey Research Gold and Resource Summit, Eric Sprott told investors that there is no more silver left to go around, “There’s $22 billion of silver available in the world, of which the ETFs already own half, and between you guys and us we probably own the other half… Which means there’s nothing left.”  We’ve got the ...

Submitted by Mike Krieger of KAM LP-H/T Zero Hedge We shall have world government, whether or not we like it.  The question is only whether world government will be achieved by consent or by conquest. - James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950 For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political...

Tim Iacono Rep. Ron Paul’s committee hearing is now underway in the House of Representatives and Jim Grant of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer just finished up with some opening comments. Details of the proceedings are at the website for the House Financial Services Committee where you can watch the proceedings online. The witness list includes the ...

By: John Darsie of T3Live The market has been quiet during the session Thursday after healthy overnight gains. Perhaps traders are busy finalizing their NCAA tournament brackets ahead of the kick-off of March Madness. Despite reclaiming much of Wednesday’s losses, investors are still apprehensive about the volatile nuclear situation in Japan,...

Calculated Risk From the Philly Fed: March 2011 Business Outlook Survey The survey’s broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, increased from 35.9 in February to 43.4 this month. This is the highest reading since January 1984. The demand for manufactured goods is showing continued strength: The new...

Dramatic images from Fukushima as TEPCO releases yet another perspective of the crippled nuclear power plant, this time from a Helicopter overflight from March 16 at 4pm local time. Too bad there is no Geiger counter caption to go with all the other ones. h/t Martyn Williams-Zero Hedge

Tim Iacono The Labor Department reported that, due to higher energy and food costs, consumer prices in the U.S. rose 0.5 percent in February after gains of 0.4 percent in December and January, an annualized rate of more than 5 percent over the last three months. From a year ago, overall consumer prices are up 2.1 percent, however, this includes several...

From the desk of John Thomas The Mad Hedge Fund Trader Thursday, March 17, 2010 Many observers believe that the massive sell off that we have seen in global equity markets are purely the result of the Great Sendai Earthquake. Fat chance. I think the earthquake is masking the true causes of the liquidation,...

Over the years I have found an indicator/trading tool which I find help spot intermediate trend reversals. I am going to quickly cover in this report. As most of you know the 20 simple moving average is a great gauge for telling you if you should be looking to buy the dips or sell the bounces. It’s an indicator I keep on the broad market charts like...