Category: General

Fed to keep up stimulus

Posted on by The INO.com Team

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy "paused" in recent months because of temporary factors and reaffirmed its commitment to try to stimulate growth by keeping borrowing cheap for the foreseeable future.

The Fed took no new action at its two-day policy meeting. But it stood behind aggressive steps it launched in December to try to reduce unemployment, in a statement released after the meeting.

Last month the Fed said it would keep its key short-term interest rate at a record low at least until unemployment falls below 6.5 percent. The rate is currently 7.8 percent.

And it said it would keep buying $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds to try to keep borrowing costs low and encourage spending. Continue reading "Fed to keep up stimulus" →

What the Narrowing WTI/Brent Price Gap Means for Investors

Posted on by admin

The Energy Report: U.S. oil prices hit their third peak of 2012 soon after your last interview with us, then bottomed around $85 per barrel ($85/bbl) in early November. Now they're back in the mid-$90s. What's causing the recent strength?

Elliott Gue: New pipeline capacity is alleviating some of the supply crude glut in places like Cushing, Oklahoma. As a result, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has gained ground against Brent, which is now trading just under $114/bbl and has been in that same $107115/bbl range since August. Over the next year or so, a number of other pipelines will open up to the Gulf Coast, which will help narrow the spread between Brent and WTI.

TER: Will the increased oil supply at the Gulf refineries be good for gasoline prices? Continue reading "What the Narrowing WTI/Brent Price Gap Means for Investors" →

Stocks advance, pushing Dow toward 14,000

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Pfizer helped keep the stock market rally alive Tuesday. The drugmaker's stock gained after posting strong earnings, pushing the Dow closer to 14,000.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 73 points to close at 13,954.42 points, ending higher for the seventh day in eight. The Standard and Poor's 500 also rose, adding eight points to 1,507.84 points. The Nasdaq composite dropped less than a point to 3,153.66.

The January rally looked as if it was running out of steam yesterday as stocks pulled back from their highs, but Tuesday they resumed their ascent toward record levels. Demand was bolstered at the start of the year after lawmakers reached a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" and was sustained by reports that have added to evidence showing the U.S. housing market is recovering and the jobs market is slowly healing. Continue reading "Stocks advance, pushing Dow toward 14,000" →

Commodity Chart of The Week

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Each week longleaftrading.com will be providing us with a commodity chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

The copper market is very sensitive to both Chinese growth statistics and US Housing numbers. Both groups have been trending in the right direction for months and that has given the copper trade a boost. Last week's US housing numbers missed, blunting a nice move off of support the prior week. It was reported last week that China's manufacturing activity in January grew at the fastest pace in two years, according to the preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing purchasing managers' index, which rose to 51.9 in January from 51.5 in December. This growth trend bodes well for China's 2013 economic outlook and it is in line with the comments from the IMF made the prior week, with respect to projected growth in China.

The fundamental forces at had set a nice backdrop for copper, but as we all know that does not amount to much if the market is not providing a way to enter a trade with a strong risk/reward profile. The technical developments in copper appear to be orderly and I will be looking to come into the copper this week based on the strong technical picture. Continue reading "Commodity Chart of The Week" →

Moving Averages Can Identify a Trade

Posted on by The INO.com Team

These 3 charts help you understand how moving averages work

By Elliott Wave International

Moving averages are a popular tool for technical traders because they can "smooth" price fluctuations in any chart. EWI Senior Analyst Jeffrey Kennedy gives a clear definition:

"A moving average is simply the average value of data over a specified time period, and it is used to figure out whether the price of a stock or commodity is trending up or down... one way to think of a moving average is that it's an automated trend line."

Moving averages are both easy to create and extraordinarily dynamic. You can choose which time frame to study as well as which data points to use (open, high, low, close or midpoint of a trading range).

Jeffrey Kennedy shares 3 of the most popular moving averages in this excerpt is from his 10-page eBook: How to Trade the Highest Probability Opportunities: Moving Averages. Continue reading "Moving Averages Can Identify a Trade" →