StockBuz

As global central banks continue their race to devalue their currency in hopes of supporting their own weak economies (most recently Bank of Israel unexpectedly cutting their base interest rate overnight by 15bps from 25bp to 10bp) global money flows continue to seek safe haven in the U.S. dollar.  And everyone agrees there is no end in sight near term.

In fact the daily chart is in a beautifully, tight bollinger band squeeze which I feel is going to break even higher.

Pressure looks to continue for large cap multinationals as currency strength will continue to pressure balance sheets with overseas sales.  A great time for the consumer to take a vacation across the pond however as your greenback outperforms every currency out there.

Bragging rights in a weak…

Life has intervened of late however I felt I would post my random thoughts viewing my port yesterday:

• Russia is still working. RSX at it’s 100d today. I will add more if it comes back to the 50d http://screencast.com/t/Eh88iqLP   Long hold, definitely.  Throw it in a drawer and forget about it.

• Buffet lowered his XOM stake and bought DE.  DE Monthly sure looks like its coiled up for something. Buffet obviously thinks new all time highs http://screencast.com/t/rlyFa0yzLeb  DE earnings this Friday bmo. I'd be long common and get put protection.  Buy or add on any selloff.  Daily view, bouncing off that 50% fib (to me) equals good chance it wants to challenge/break the high…

Depending on the condition of your home, the list of upgrades required to make it the home of your dreams might seem daunting and impossible to complete on your own.  Hiring a professional is not always a bad idea, especially when major work needs to be done to make a home safe to reside in.  But many times hiring a professional is not necessary if all the home needs is some tender love and care from its owners.  So before scouring the internet for the best contractor in your area, first determine how many of the upgrades you can complete on your own.
 
Why do-it-yourself projects are worth the time
 
You might have the skills to complete home improvement projects on your own, but have little time to do so.  You might have even heard rumors that do-it-yourself projects can be even more costly than hiring a professional to complete the projects.  You might be limited on time, so hiring a…

I'm back from Illinois after "life intervened" and I rushed out the door and gold has done exactly what I felt it would do.  In this previous post I felt that the 100 week SMA would pose a resistance and if you think about it, it makes complete sense.

• From a season standpoint, gold doesn't have much demand until last Summer when Indian festival and wedding season kicks in followed by jewelry gift giving as the Winter holidays approach.  (see seasonal chart)
• Inflation is very low = no need to hedge with gold
• The stock market is challenging new highs.  When equities are…

As discussed yesterday in Chat, small caps appear to be forming a diamond which can represent a "top" or merely taking a rest or consolidation before resuming it's trek higher.

Theory is to trade the direction of the break higher or lower.  IWM would work for a bullish breakout and TWM for a bearish break down for those who are unable to short.

fwiw we recently traded TWM on market weakness.  Looks as though it may be setting up again.

For more information on diamonds, I would suggest you browse through Thomas Bulkowski's pages at ThePatternSite.

For a technical analysis trader or investor, you need to…

In December I pointed out cyber security firm Vasco Cyber Security VDSI and scratched my head as it certainly seemed to these eyes seems one that is pumped up in a scramble for yield and then plummet as markets experienced mean reversion after 2000  and 2007.  As we all know from experience, parabolic moves, very often correct violently.  On a 10 year monthly chart, VDSI certainly seemed parabolic.

They target banks and financial services customers.  After JPM, Visa and Mastercard were all hacked the last few years, is there trouble in paradise?  Did this laggard deserve the run up?

Historically it generally traded very thin, under 100k shares per day but suddenly in 2014, volume ramped up and traders were piling in.  Was a laggard being pumped?  "Who doesn't love cyber security?  Let's buy them all." but are all cyber…

As the latest Baker Hughes rig count continues to plummet with the collapse in oil pricing some are still trying to catch a bottom.

Total Rigs down to 1633
Down -43 or -2.6% compared to last week
Down -144 or -8.1% year-over-year

Gas seems to be shuttering more than oil and inland waters more than land or offshore.

With many pundits forecasting crude to remain low for a few years (barring disruption in supply) this will be interesting to monitor going forward.

With Schlumberger (SLB) to layoff 9000 and Baker Hughes (BHI) to layoff another 7000, this is only the…

Over the past 50 years, the global economy expanded sixfold as the world’s population and per capita income each grew at unprecedented speed. The global population more than doubled while average per capita income almost tripled to about $13,000 at 2012 purchasing power parity. However, there are significant doubts that this growth bonanza will continue in the long term given that the demographic tailwinds of the past half century are now waning.  Hundreds of millions of people were lifted out of poverty.  Yet without significantly boosting the one engine the world economy still has—productivity growth—this period may prove to be a historic anomaly. 

Unless we can dramatically improve productivity, the next half century will look very different. The rapid expansion…

2015 is the year which we were supposed to be "back to the future" riding hover boards.  While it appears we're getting close and I have to wonder what venture capitalists are contributing to their ground floor as well as flying cars.  Where will they in another 10 years?  Beam me up Scotty! 

For the love of Pete.  I can only imagine what's going through the minds of investors.  First fears of energy name defaults and now China's real estate (bubble) may have it's first big default?  It'll be a fun Sunday night when futures open. 

The Chinese real-estate developer Kaisa Group Holdings had a healthy balance sheet, according to investors and observers alike. It was the top-rated residential-property-sales firm in the city of Shenzhen, in the first half of 2014. It was known for fast, reliable work.

But on Thursday, Kaisa appeared to become the first Chinese development firm to default on offshore…