For over two thousand years, China practiced what came to be known as the “tributary system,” reflecting the view that it alone was the center of the civilized world. All who wished to do business with the Chinese were considered tributary states. Rulers and travelers from other lands had to follow certain procedures, including gift…
Mario Draghi made himself very clear: he is going to do everything in his power to fight off deflation. Many analysts believe that gold will play a role in this fight. We can hear you think “yeah right, the ECB buying gold…”, but the title of this article did not fall from the sky; it is…
The Federal Reserve may start raising interest rates next year for the first time in nearly a decade, but the focus at the moment is on deflation risk, or so it seems by way of the market’s softer inflation forecast via a closely followed yield spread in Treasuries. The implied outlook for inflation slumped to…
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE Around 60-Days ago the Power of the Pattern suggested that the “most important commodity on the planet” should be on its way to $70 zone if the bottom of the pennant pattern broke support. (Post Here) Well 64 days later Crude Oil has broken the bottom of the pennant pattern…
OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS December E-mini S&Ps (ESZ14 -0.12%) this morning are down -0.22% and European stocks are down -0.37%% as energy producing stocks sank after OPEC refrained from reducing output and kept its production ceiling of 30 million bpd. The inaction by OPEC prompted a plunge in crude prices to a 4-1/2 year low and drove down the…
OPEC decision to roll-over existing quotas sent oil prices sharply lower, pushed European bonds and stocks higher, and generally gave the US dollar a boost. Today’s theme is more consolidative in nature. At the same time, the dollar’s firmer tone against the yen helped lift the Nikkei while European stocks and bonds are struggling to extend…
The biggest, and most market-moving, event overnight continues to be yesterday’s shocking OPEC announcement, which is still reverberating across the energy space as markets largely ignore European and Japanese inflation data which is once again sliding back dangerously fast, or Italian unemployment which rose more than expected, and joined France in hitting a new record…
The Swiss referendum will be the this weekend to prevent the central bank from selling its gold. While Swiss sources say this is really about a protest against the central bank policy since they pegged the Franc to the Euro incurring tremendous losses, the Swiss are now watching their currency decline with the Euro. There…
The EUR/USD pair has been in a massive downtrend for some time. However, during the entirety of November, we have seen quite a bit of consolidation near the 1.25 handle. I think that the market is probably due for a bounce at this point, and as you see on the chart I have highlighted the…
