We’re onto day two of trading in 2018 and it seems like the US Dollar is still hungover from last year. Ongoing enthusiasm in US equities after the passage of the tax reform bill seems to have been lost on the greenback: rates markets have not changed the expected timing of the next rate hike…
The US dollar is stabilizing but the tone remains fragile. The euro, which has advanced for five consecutive sessions coming into today is slightly lower. The euro had stalled yesterday as it approached last year’s high set in September near $1.2090. Yesterday was also the third consecutive close above the upper Bollinger Band, which is found…
Well, never a dull moment in the cryptosphere. As usual, there was notable Bitcoin news overnight, although not as it relates to prices. Everyone’s favorite digital currency is still off its post-holiday lows thanks to the remnants of the sugar high that accompanied yesterday’s WSJ article revealing a “monster” stake held by none other than Peter Thiel….
Wells Fargo analyst Jim Birchenough upgraded Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA) to Outperform and raised his price target for the shares to $53 from $19. The stock closed yesterday up 7% to $36.21. An improved FDA environment could facilitate approval of ralinepag in pulmonary arterial hypertension, Birchenough tells investors in a research note. He’s upgrading the…
The unrest in Iran may give the Trump administration the ammunition it needs to back out of the Iranian nuclear deal and slap new sanctions on Iran. President Trump views Iran as the number one state sponsor of terror and feels that the Iranian regime is one of the major causes of war and conflict…
OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS Mar E-mini S&Ps (ESH18 +0.12%) this morning are up +0.16% at a new record nearest-futures high on optimism in the U.S. economy. Also, lower market volatility is positive for equity prices as the VIX volatility index dropped to a 1-1/2 week low. In addition, a +0.51% increase in Feb WTI crude oil…
At every discipline human beings have ever conceived, a fresh face or new look is almost always welcome whenever it reaches the inevitable sticking point or true rough patch. We have a word for such people in the 21st century, as an entire industry of consultants has sprung up to provide just such an outside…
One day after US equity markets closed the first trading day of the new year at an all time high for the first time since 1992, and the Nasdaq closed above 7,000 for the first time ever, US equities are set for further gains for equities on the second session of the new year after…
All eight indexes on our world watch list posted gains for 2017. The top performer in 2017 was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng with a gain of 35.99%, followed by India’s BSE SENSEX at 28.06%. In third is our own S&P 500 with 19.42%. 2017 Performance Here is an overlay of the eight illustrating their comparative…
Markit’s second purchasing managers’ index for December wasn’t better than the first one. Manufacturing PMI fell by 2 points in the last month of 2017 and the construction PMI also missed. It fell from 53.1 to 52.2 points, short of 53 predicted. GBP/USD had already challenged the initial mid-September high of 1.3615 but it fell from there…
