Can Apple Pull A Rabbit Out Of A Hat?

Today is Apple's big day to show off all its shiny new toys, the only difference this year is that Apple doesn't seem to have any new surprise rabbits (products) in the hat.

You have to ask yourself, has Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) finally reached its zenith? As a longtime Apple fan and user of many of their products, I find that I am just not upgrading as fast as I once did. For example, I still carry an Apple 5S iPhone and not the new 6 or 6+ iPhone.

Research has shown that the smartphone market is leveling off and is not expected to grow as the market is saturated. The only growth area left in the phone market is the low-end, which is not an area that Apple will enter as it will cannibalize sales of its higher end iPhone. This is a huge concern for Apple, who derives two-thirds of its income from the iPhone. Logically if Apple has reached a saturation point in the smartphone market they cannot grow revenues. Then new revenues are going to have to come from a new whiz-bang product. In today's tech-driven world, that is going to be extremely difficult to do even for Apple. Continue reading "Can Apple Pull A Rabbit Out Of A Hat?"

Summer's Over, But Is The Market?

Summer's over but is the market, that's the burning question on every investors mind as they return from the long Labor Day weekend.

I expect that the volatility that we have seen in the last few weeks will begin to abate and settle down. That would be the normal course of action for this type of market. One of the first questions traders are going to ask themselves is this, is the Federal Reserve going to hike interest rates and if they are by how much?

Another item of interest to traders will be China, which in my opinion is not over with yet.

The last wild card in this bunch has to be the political scene that should be getting into high gear now that Labor Day has passed. The wildcard in the bunch, of course, is Donald Trump, who has defied every political pundits imagination and predictions. Whether you love him or hate him, Donald Trump is channeling the frustration level of the public with career politicians in general. If that were not enough we have Joe Biden is who is contemplating a run for the presidency of these United States. The political cycle this year should be both entertaining and dramatic much more so than previous years. Continue reading "Summer's Over, But Is The Market?"

Elliott Waves Point To Market Probabilities

The "personality" of a third wave shows itself in recent market action

By Elliott Wave International

A classic issue of The Elliott Wave Theorist published this exchange:

Q. Do you believe that the Wave Principle provides for an objective form of analysis? ... There are market watchers who say that applying wave theory is very subjective.

Prechter: I always ask, "compared to what?" There is no group more subjective than conventional analysts who look at the same "fundamental" news event ... and come up with countless opposing conclusions. ... The Wave Principle is an excellent basis for assessing probabilities regarding future market movement. Probabilities are by nature different from certainties. Some people misinterpret this aspect of analysis as subjectivity, but all probabilities may be put in order objectively according to the rules and guidelines of wave formation.

So: While no one can "see" the future, you can use the Wave Principle to assess probabilities.

The Wave Principle's basic pattern includes five waves in the direction of the larger trend, followed by three corrective waves. This illustrates the pattern in a bull market: Continue reading "Elliott Waves Point To Market Probabilities"

Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery

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 December contract settled last Friday in New York at 1,134 an ounce while currently trading at 1,122 down about $12 this week trading below its 20 and 100 day moving average near a 2 week low as I’m currently sitting on the sidelines as this market remains choppy with poor chart structure. The monthly unemployment report number was released this morning in the United States adding 173,000 new jobs which was below consensus having very little impact on gold prices today as I still see no reason to own gold currently as the risk/reward is not your favor so look at other markets that are starting to trend. Gold prices had a significant rally in the month of August bottoming out around 1,080 then rallying to 1,170 which was impressive in my opinion due to short covering and a flight to quality as the stock market has experienced volatility in recent weeks sending money out of stocks and into gold as a safe haven but things have settled down putting short-term pressure on gold. Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery"

It's Friday And Things Could Get Ugly

Even before the announcement of non farm payrolls, which is one of the most significant data releases of the summer, the markets were on the decline. One of the reasons for that has to be yesterday's market action, all the indices fell from their best levels of the day and closed at or close to the lows.

Yesterday's close in both the Dow and the S&P 500 was on target to be the lowest Friday close if nothing happened today. The fact that we are down sharply this morning is a huge negative in my book, but is not one that is surprising.

As we go into the long Labor Day weekend look for the markets to be very thinly traded and volatile. I'm looking for a new low Friday close today. The lowest most recent Friday close was 16,559.75 on the Dow and 1,970.89 on the S&P 500. The NASDAQ was the only index to remain above its lowest Friday close yesterday by just a few points. The level to watch in the NASDAQ is 4,717.16, that level represents the lowest most recent close on a Friday. Continue reading "It's Friday And Things Could Get Ugly"