Author: The INO.com Team

Crude Oil Rises Alongside Stocks

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. Crude oil climbed to its highest level in six weeks, a 2.6% gain to $65, after inventories in the U.S. dropped for the first time in a month, catching traders many off guard.

Refiners and brokers pulled more than 2.6 million barrels of crude from American storage facilities last week as many analyst and traders were expecting an increase. The withdrawal occurred amid speculation that the U.S. may intensify sanctions against Iran, OPEC's third-largest supplier.

Check our Robert Boselgo's updated 2018 crude oil outlook that we posted this morning.

Crude Oil Rises

The stock market is anxiously awaiting Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's news conference this afternoon at 2 pm where it is widely expected that he'll announce a rate hike after wrapping up the FOMC's two-day meeting. The expectation is for a 25 basis-point bump in rates.

Investors will also look for clues about the Fed's tightening trajectory for the rest of 2018.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

Continue reading "Crude Oil Rises Alongside Stocks" →

Facebook Data Woes Pull Down Tech Sector

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. Facebook's decline of over 7% today has put pressure on the entire stock market, especially the tech sector. Facebook fell after reports surfaced that the political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica was able to collect data on 50 million people's profiles without their consent. It begs the question, should the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Snap be under some form of federal regulation?

This drop by Facebook is the most significant drop in its stock price in 16 months. The fall is more than 10% below its all-time high set on Feb. 1 and it also pushed the price below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, two key technical levels.

Facebook

Key Events On Tap This Week:

The Fed decision and Powell's news conference come on Wednesday.

The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates and its asset-purchase program unchanged on Thursday. Attention will be on language and the odds for a May hike.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House this week as part of a U.S. visit.

Company earnings scheduled for this week include Tencent, FedEx, Porsche, Hermes, PetroChina, Nike, Enel, and Oracle.

Key Levels To Watch This Week:

Continue reading "Facebook Data Woes Pull Down Tech Sector" →

Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery

Posted on by The INO.com Team

We've asked Michael Seery of SEERYFUTURES.COM to give our INO readers a weekly recap of the Futures market. He has been Senior Analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets.

Michael frequently appears on multiple business networks including Bloomberg news, Fox Business, CNBC Worldwide, CNN Business, and Bloomberg TV. He is also a guest on First Business, which is a national and internationally syndicated business show.

Gold Futures

Gold futures in the April contract settled last Friday in New York at 1,324 an ounce while currently trading at 1,317 down about $7 for the trading week near a two week low. I'm not involved in this commodity, however, I am looking for a possible short position in next week's trade once the chart structure improves. In my opinion gold prices could retest the March 1st low of around 1,303 as we are now trading under their 20-day moving average, but still above their 100-day moving average as this market remains choppy to sideways in the short-term. The U.S dollar looks to have bottomed out and that would be a negative towards the precious metals as silver remains very weak as well as the commodities, in general, have turned negative due to the Trump tariffs which are rattling the markets as we are worried about repercussions coming out of China sending prices lower. Volatility in gold remains relatively low as a double top looks to have been created around the 1,365 level so look to play this to the downside. I think the path of least resistance is to the downside, but wait for the risk/reward to become in your favor; however, I am certainly not recommending a bullish position.
TREND: MIXED
CHART STRUCTURE: IMPROVING
VOLATILITY:INCREASING
Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery" →

All Eyes On Bitcoin's Death Cross

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. Technical traders and the market in general, are closely watching Bitcoin heading into next week. The reason for concern, a looming Death cross. As I noted earlier in the week, Bitcoin's 50-Day moving average has dropped to the closest proximity to its 200-Day moving average in nine months. The last time it crossed below that level was in 2015 where it remained for ten months before breaking out.

The "death cross" pattern occurs when the 50-Day moving average drops below the 200-Day moving average. The idea is that this cross marks the spot where a shorter-term decline is turning into a longer-term downtrend.

Death Cross

Bitcoin has come under growing pressure recently with Google announcing that they will not only ban all ads for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and initial coin offerings (ICOs), they will also ban cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets, as it seeks to "tackle emerging threats."

Regulation is also becoming a growing concern for Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency space as nations around the world are imposing stricter regulations on the use and mining of cryptocurrencies.

Key Levels To Watch Next Week:

S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,647.32
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 24,217.76
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 7,084.83
Gold (NYMEX:GC.G18.E): 1,330.50
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.J18.E): 60.11
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.H18.E): 89.33
Bitcoin (CME:BRTI): 11,662.32

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com

One Word Can Protect Against A Trade War

Posted on by The INO.com Team

As Trader's, we've experienced a lot of uncertainty recently around a pending global trade war. In fact, I have read that economists believe a full-blown trade war could cost the global economy $470 billion. Now that's a significant number, and it certainly could negatively impact your portfolio if you're not careful.

So how do you protect your portfolio and preserve capital?

The answer may have come from your Grandma; it certainly did from mine. She used to say this simple phrase to me on what seemed like a weekly basis, "don't put all of your eggs in one basket!"

Well, it turns out Grandma was right! Grandma knew a great deal about the power of diversification and how it reduces risk in different aspects of your life, and we can relate that directly to trading and investing.

It just doesn’t make sense to trade only one market. There is just too much risk and too little opportunity. A trader needs to stay flexible, and at the same time be diversified. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of market diversification, let's take a look at how the dictionary defines "diversification." Continue reading "One Word Can Protect Against A Trade War" →