I am going to start the New Year with a 25% allocation to the double leveraged short ETF (EUO). It’s time to do the hard trade, sell on weakness, and sell the breakdown. The Euro is so weak that it just won’t give new entries a decent entry point. The really impressive thing about the way Euro traded in the closing weeks of December is how it failed to rally when all other risk assets were doi Read More...

Courtesy of Bruce Krasting. It’s been about a week since the Federal Reserve announced its new policy of providing information to the public regarding the direction of US interest rates. The new policy is not, generally, a surprise. The Wall Street Journal’s Jon Hilsenrath told us something was coming weeks ago. I’ve been pondering whether this is a positive or a negative development. I Read More...

Last week we received reports that the unemployment rate in the United States was improving markedly. In addition, sentiment numbers were released that confirmed my previous speculation that market participants were becoming more and more bullish as prices in the S&P 500 edged higher. The exact numbers that came in demonstrated that bullish sentiment had not reached current lofty levels since Read More...

Dr. Adrian Manz has discovered what he believes is the Holy Grail of day trading. He’s identified about 10 proprietary patterns in trending stocks that let him predict, with uncanny accuracy, how these stocks will likely behave in the next day’s trading action. Unlike most technical or purely mathematical approaches to trading, Adrian’s system is based on his work as a Ph.D. student in g Read More...

Submitted byAftab Singh of Gresham’s Law H/T Tyler Durden Huh? When the Fed expands its balance sheet these days it’s actually bullish for the dollar!? If you ever happen to acquire an inclination for being the subject of disrepute and ridicule I highly recommend endorsing the conceit alluded to in the title. Apparently this issue is ‘so obvious’ that even gold bugs and government of Read More...

Courtesy of Stock Tiger According to the non-farm payroll report released by the Labor Department, the economy added a net 200,000 new jobs for December, with the addition of 212,000 private sector jobs more than offsetting a loss of government jobs. Most economists had forecast a more modest pace of job creation, predicting the private sector would add about 160,000 jobs to produce a net increase Read More...

Courtesy of Mish The always behind-the-curve Fed seeks to fine mortgage servicers for unsafe practices and robo-signing with an amount dependent on allegedly independent review by consultants. Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin on Saturday said the Fed must impose monetary penalties on banks who entered into an April agreement with regulators over how to fix problems in their mortgage Read More...

The March NASDAQ 100 closed higher on Friday as it extends the rally off December’s low. The high-range close sets the stage for a steady to higher opening on Monday. Stochastics and the RSI are overbought but remain bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near-term. If March extends the rally off December’s low, November’s high crossing at 2394.25 is the ne Read More...

Submitted by Keith Weiner H/T  Tyler Durden Inflation: An Expansion of Counterfeit Credit The Keynesians and Monetarists have fooled people with a clever sleight of hand. They have convinced people to look at prices (especially consumer prices) to understand what’s happening in the monetary system. Anyone who has ever been at a magic act performance is familiar with how sleight of hand often w Read More...

By docseverson What are the Options Greeks and why do you need to understand them? Well, let’s start with one of the most important reasons….the professionals are using them to manage the risk on their positions. Can you do a better job than they do with fewer tools? Probably not. They’re not really that hard to learn, so let’s start today….. Click Here To Watch the Video   Read More...

Courtesy of Bruce Krasting  On October 25, I wrote about what, at the time, looked like an overvalued EURUSD (it was 1.3950). Zero Hedge had an article attributing the strength to ongoing capital repatriation by EU (primarily French) banks. My words:  As long as there is Euro repatriation, the EURUSD will remain overvalued. It’s about day-to-day demand, not the backdrop of the news. I c Read More...

Submitted by Tyler Durden In this twofer of a chartology packet, we take a look at Goldman’s target for 2012, which David Kostin has as unchanged for the time being (unlike Morgan Stanley which went bearish off the bat), as well as what one should expected from dividend stocks. First, regarding Goldman’s 2012 target of 1250 on the S&P, or unchanged from last year, “S&P Read More...

Tim Iacono Now, here are few data series that I’ve never seen on the same chart before – U.S. debt, the debt ceiling (just for fun, apparently), and the price of gold. This is from a presentation yesterday by Nick Barisheff, President & CEO of Bullion Management Group, at the 2012 Empire Club of Canada Investment Outlook Luncheon. Perhaps today, gold is acting more like a hedge against de Read More...

Courtesy of Mish It easy enough to increase sales if you discount enough. Profits are another matter as I have warned repeatedly throughout the Christmas season. Nordstrom and Macy’s did well but 4th quarter earnings estimates missed guidance in a number of high-profile retailers. The New York Times reports Retail Sales Edged Up in December After Stores Cut Prices Sharply Sales at stores open Read More...

Gold Scents About it every 35 to 40 days we get a major profit-taking event occur in the stock market. In bull markets that’s all it is, a profit-taking event. In a bear market it is a resumption of the cyclical downtrend triggered by deteriorating fundamentals. It still remains to be seen whether or not stocks have rolled over into another cyclical bear market. However we are entering the t Read More...