Tag: quantitative easing (QE)

What Are You Doing To Prepare For 2015?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

One of the things I've always done over the years is close out all my accounts just before the middle of December. Looking back on the year, I have to say it's been a good year and I hope 2014 was a good year for you too.

This is perhaps the most dangerous time of the year when the markets are very thin and volatile. They can swing dramatically one way or the other and make very little sense. It's not that way every year, but trading does drop off dramatically and liquidity becomes a problem, even with big stocks.

If you haven't made your money for the year by the middle of December, you're not going to make it in the last two weeks of December. I can practically guarantee that.

So here's what I do, I look forward to enjoying the holidays with my family and I look forward to 2015 and get mentally prepared for the markets. There is absolutely zero doubt in my mind that there will be some huge moves next year. You only need to catch one of these giant moves to make your year. I happen to think that next year will be golden - that is when the new bull market starts in gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO). Now remember, that is what I think, but I'm going to have to have the Trade Triangles back those thoughts with solid technical evidence that gold is going higher. Continue reading "What Are You Doing To Prepare For 2015?" →

Economy Post-'Jobs’ Report; Real or Memorex?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Now it gets interesting because early in the bailout process the Fed talked about achieving certain employment milestones before hiking interest rates.  Here we are at the 10th consecutive month with 200,000+ job gains (321,000 in November) and the jobless rate down to 5.8% and still there is a question on when or whether ZIRP will be withdrawn?

Well I am a visual learner so I for one can never get enough pictures to inform my thinking.  Pardon the redundancy in this chart’s frequent appearances in NFTRH…

sp500
Source: SlopeCharts

The rectangular red box is zero interest rate policy (ZIRP), which is 6 years old this month.  If we play it straight we would be expected to believe what the mainstream believes, that the “Great Recession” is a thing of the past and that something built of abnormal policy can proceed per normal metrics and assumptions when abnormal policy is removed.  I don’t buy it. Continue reading "Economy Post-'Jobs’ Report; Real or Memorex?" →

How To Avoid The Mistake Most Investors Are Making

Posted on by admin

By: Brad Briggs of Street Authority

It finally ended...

The Federal Reserve recently announced that it would end its third (and possibly final) round of quantitative easing (QE).

This brings to close the $1.7 trillion that was pumped into the economy in this round alone. October marked the last month of the $15 billion in monthly bond purchases -- down from $85 billion when QE3 started in 2012 -- and ends the nearly six-year bond purchasing program.

You can see what the program has done to the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve:

The central bank's bond purchasing program has sent the stock market soaring... and hopefully you've been able to capitalize on this tremendous bull market. Continue reading "How To Avoid The Mistake Most Investors Are Making" →

Goldzilla

Posted on by The INO.com Team

"History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man" – Blue Oyster Cult, Godzilla

I would have written off the gold sector long ago in its ongoing bear market had I thought for one moment that gold's utility as insurance against the acts of monetary madmen/women in high places had been compromised in any way. On the contrary, the monetary metal is simply having its price marked down in a bear market while its value, especially given its current price and all that has gone on in the financial system over the last 3 years remains just fine.

Indeed gold, an element dug out of the ground for centuries, once as money and now as a marker to sound money systems will one day be shown to be a calm oasis from the fallout to global monetary shenanigans currently ongoing. At least it would be an oasis to those who have valued it as such. It is going to feel like a giant dinosaur (minus the kitsch value) ripping through a city built on paper to the multitudes who have taken the bait on the current too big to fail global inflationary operations. They will fail. Timing is the only question. Continue reading "Goldzilla" →

They Do Ring A Bell At The Top Of The Market

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders and MarketClub members everywhere! Just this morning I was thinking of an essay I had read many, many years ago. The intriguing feature to me was the headline which read, "They Do Ring A Bell At The Top Of The Market."

Well, I have to say it was an intriguing headline which got me to read the article, perhaps like you're reading this post now. The essence of the article was when interest rates go up, they usually signal a top in the market. As we all know, we have had unusually low interest rates for a prolonged length of time with one QE after another. All of which has boosted the stock market, but I believe the jury is still out on the economy.

With the end of quantitative easing, it's only going to be a matter of time before the Fed begins to raise interest rates. So the question is, how is that going to affect the markets? On one side of the coin, you can argue that it is only going to be good for people that have fixed incomes and rely on bonds and interest-bearing instruments. On the other side of the coin, will investors be willing to risk hanging in the market if they can get a return elsewhere with little or no risk? Continue reading "They Do Ring A Bell At The Top Of The Market" →