Gold Chart of The Week

Posted on by The INO.com Team

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

Weekly Gold Report (April 8th through April 12th)

After the worst weekly decline of the year in US equities, we are slowly on the mend as we enter a week full of FED activity.

A few standouts from last week included a terrible Non Farm Payroll number on Friday and a full throttle campaign from the BOJ to continue to crush the Yen. Fridays jobs number was a big miss as 88,000 jobs were added and some real numbers regarding the drop in individuals that are actively looking for jobs was revealed. Even after these figures were announced, the stock indexes were only rattled for a short period of time before the realization that the FED will step up Quantitative Easing set back in. Since then, the stock market seems to be holding up fairly well. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week" →

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" →

Today's Video Update: Confidence Might Be Running Out Of The U.S. Economy

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, President of INO.com and Co-creator of MarketClub, with your mid-day market update for Friday, the 5th of April.

Confidence Is a Fragile Entity
Confidence in sports, business and almost everything else in life is a very important element. The same can be said for confidence in the markets and in the economy. Today with the release of the non-farm payroll, confidence was badly shaken. The question becomes, with everyone who has a 401K program and who has made money in the last few years, will there be a rush to get out of the market with their profits?

After seeing the disappointing results of the non-farm payrolls report this morning, is Chairman Bernanke and the Fed going to keep their uncharted risky policy of pumping money into the system? With all of these uncertainties floating around in investors' heads today, I believe confidence is on the wane for any sustainable economic recovery that Washington was hoping for. Continue reading "Today's Video Update: Confidence Might Be Running Out Of The U.S. Economy" →