Category: General

Oil price rises to near $94 after sharp drop

Posted on by The INO.com Team

The price of oil rose to near $94 a barrel on Monday, rebounding after sharp losses last week that were due to concerns over abundant supplies and weak U.S. employment figures.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for May delivery was up 97 cents to $93.67 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 56 cents on Friday and was down 5 percent from midweek.

The price of oil last week fell after a weak jobs report cast doubt on the strength of the U.S. economy. The Labor Department reported the economy added 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months. The slowdown may signal the economy will weaken this spring.

"The latest jobs data provide a useful reminder that this is still an uneven recovery in the U.S. economy," said Caroline Bain, commodities analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Continue reading "Oil price rises to near $94 after sharp drop" →

When Should You Take Social Security? 62 or Full Retirement Age?

Posted on by The INO.com Team

My wife, Jo, started receiving Social Security as soon as she could. When she wondered aloud how much larger her checks would have been if she'd waited, I said, “It makes no difference! You are already four years ahead of the game.”

When we applied at the local office, the agent kept reminding her of the big raise she would get if she waited until full retirement age, or better yet until she was 70. Stop with the hard sell; she wanted it at 62, period!

Why did she take it early? To illustrate, I did a little investigating on the Social Security Administration's website and used its retirement planner. Continue reading "When Should You Take Social Security? 62 or Full Retirement Age?" →

Weekly Futures Recap W/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.

Coffee Futures--- Coffee futures in New York are trading higher for the 3rd consecutive session currently in the July contract at 142.70 a pound looking like a possible bottom may have been hit a couple weeks ago at 135 on the fact of possible crop production cuts in Vietnam and  Central America due to drought and rust which could consume up to 20 to 30% of next year’s crop while this year’s crop should be very large coming out of Brazil and that is one of the reasons why prices have been going lower right near a new 2 ½ year low. Many of the commodity markets in recent weeks have been heading lower as the U.S dollar has rallied but coffee seems to have stabilized here at this level and remember coffee traded above 300 a pound over 2 years ago and has really fallen out of bed so eventually I do think if you’re longer-term investor these prices are very attractive down at these levels. Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap W/Mike Seery" →

Chart to Watch - Live Cattle

Posted on by The INO.com Team

We've asked our friend Jim Robinson of profittrading.com to provide his expert analysis of charts to our readers. Each week he'll be be analyzing a different chart using the Trade Triangles and his experience.

Today he is going to take a look at the technical picture of Live Cattle (LE.M13.E).

I hope you are having a GREAT week !!!

Live Cattle looks to be setting up a possible trading opportunity with the MarketClub Trade Triangles.

MarketClub recommends using the weekly Trade Triangle for trend and the daily Trade Triangle for timing when trading futures. Continue reading "Chart to Watch - Live Cattle" →

U.S. economy adds 88K jobs, rate drops to 7.6 pct

Posted on by The INO.com Team

U.S. employers added just 88,000 jobs in March, the fewest in nine months and a sharp retreat after a period of strong hiring. The slowdown may signal that the economy is heading into a weak spring.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 7.6 percent from 7.7 percent, the lowest in four years. But the rate fell last month only because more people stopped looking for work. People who are out of work are no longer counted as unemployed once they stop looking for a job.

The percentage of Americans working or looking for jobs fell to 63.3 percent in March, the lowest such figure in nearly 34 years. Continue reading "U.S. economy adds 88K jobs, rate drops to 7.6 pct" →