Big Banks Boost Stock Market

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. Earnings season started with a bang early Friday as two major U.S. banks shared better than expected Q1 results which propelled the market higher at the open. The S&P 500 pushed above $2,900 for the first time since October of 2018, the DOW up over 290 pts in early trading and is trying to post a weekly gain after being quiet for much of the week and the NASDAQ continues to march higher gaining +.47% on the week making this three straight weeks of gains.

JPMorgan Chase earned $2.65 a share in the first quarter, easily beating third-party consensus estimates of $2.35. Revenue—which many analysts had expected to decline—rose 5% to $29.9 billion as the company appeared to benefit from higher interest rates and strength in consumer banking. Shares rose more than 2.5% in pre-market trading.

Wells Fargo was the other big bank reporting early Friday, and its results also topped third-party consensus. Earnings per share of $1.20 beat the average estimate of $1.10, while revenue of $21.6 billion out-performed the average estimate of $20.99 billion. Shares climbed about 2% right after the company released results.

post a weekly gain

The U.S. dollar retreated as the week ended with investors dumping haven assets turning to riskier assets like stocks after a strong round of earnings releases. The dollar will post a weekly loss of -.48% Continue reading "Big Banks Boost Stock Market" →

Gold And Silver Still On The Road To A Low Risk Setup

Posted on by The INO.com Team

From a post on gold and silver on Tuesday…

Very simply, if it’s an H&S it’s a minor one with a target to the SMA 200 or short-term lateral support. Gold has curled back up to test the underside of its SMA 50. A takeout of 1310 and then the March high could put yeller back in business. Otherwise, don’t personalize it. A test of the SMA 200 would be normal.

The H&S was not my thing. I tend not to get overly excited about short-term patterns and surely do not announce them far and wide to stir people up. It was a product of the gold community, some members of which have been flipping in head-spinning fashion between bullish and bearish views. I note it again because I don’t want that stink on me. The upside and downside parameters above were my stuff.

Per the NFTRH Trade Log, I shorted a chunk of GLD yesterday (while remaining long gold stocks and even more so, cyclical assets on balance) as gold poked the SMA 50 per the Futures chart below. Gold’s pullback today was not engineered by the Fed or da Boyz or da PPT, PtB, Trump, Mnuchin or some nefarious super algo. It’s normal. Okay, conspiracy mongers? N.O.R.M.A.L.

Click the chart for a clearer view of gold’s situation at the SMA 50. If it does not clear the March high the SMA 200 (at least) continues to yawn with its gaping maw. 1240 is also doable.

gold

Silver looks particularly lame, but ironically this is the metal I am expecting to bottom first with the question being the two noted (green) support areas. Don’t rule out 14.50. Continue reading "Gold And Silver Still On The Road To A Low Risk Setup" →

Easy Money vs. Free Money - Choose Your Poison

Posted on by George Yacik

When I was in high school, one of my political science teachers explained to us that the political spectrum wasn’t so much a straight line – with the liberals on the left and the conservatives on the right – but was really shaped like a horseshoe, with the far left and the far right moving closer together at the outer fringes to the point where they almost meet. That the name-calling and the accusations – and the behavior – are most vehement at the outer edges doesn’t change the fact that the things they say they believe in are virtually indistinguishable from each other, only the labels are different.

President Trump’s plan to nominate Herman Cain and Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve is a good example. These two men have undisputed conservative credentials and are also in sync with the president’s demand that the Fed adopt an easy money policy so as not to undermine U.S. economic and stock market gains. Not surprisingly, that makes them completely unacceptable to the left.
There’s been the obligatory hand-wringing and phony outrage by their opponents decrying that Trump “means to remake the 105-year-old agency into a partisan tool” (the Washington Post) and “trample over the Fed’s independence” (the Financial Times). We got the same blather when Trump nominated someone to the Supreme Court – which, we’ve been told, is completely independent and never, ever takes politics into consideration when it decides cases, and justices are never, ever chosen because of their perceived political views.

Already, even before they’ve been formally nominated by the White House, Trump’s opponents have started to dredge up all the dirty laundry they can about Cain – alleged sexual harassment eight years ago – and Moore – all the juicy details about his divorce. Whether or not those past sins will be enough to torpedo their nominations remains to be seen. But it’s likely their personal peccadillos – not their actual monetary and economic philosophies – will be the main focus of their nomination hearings, should they even get that far. Continue reading "Easy Money vs. Free Money - Choose Your Poison" →

Stocks Flat Ahead Of Fed Minutes

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its March monetary policy meeting this afternoon at 2 PM EDT. Last month, the U.S. central bank decided to maintain interest rates and hold off any further increases this year. The minutes should provide additional details for investors to understand why most Fed officials do not expect to raise interest rates in 2019.

U.S. stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday, steadying following Tuesday's decline as investors weighed data showing moderate inflation and the latest signs of caution from the European Central Bank.

March monetary policy meeting

The CEOs of America's biggest banks are appearing before Congress on Wednesday for the first time in 10 years, as they face new scrutiny over their practices and record profits a decade after the financial crisis. Continue reading "Stocks Flat Ahead Of Fed Minutes" →

Crude Oil Nearing Resistance

Posted on by Chris Vermeulen

The recent recovery in Crude Oil has, partially, been based on increasing expectations of a global economic recovery taking place and the continued news that the US/China will work out a trade deal. Crude inventories. Just last week US Crude Oil inventories came in at +7.2 million barrels vs. expectations of -425,000 barrels (). Additionally, concerns in Syria and Libya are pushing prices a bit higher as well. Whenever there are supply concerns or uncertainty out of this region, prices tend to rise.

The facts remain very dynamic for Oil. The US is continuing to produce more and more oil and is expected to become a “net exporter” of oil this year. Economic issues will, eventually, resolve themselves, yet we don’t know the final outcome of these trade deals or how the economy will react to any milestones that are required within the final settlement. And, again, these continuing issues in Libya, Syria and near this region are likely to cause some increased levels of uncertainty over the next 60+ days.

Our researchers believe the $65.00 level will act as resistance to this current upswing. We believe the upside price move may continue to levels near $67.50 before weakening and beginning a topping formation. We believe our expectation that precious metals will bottom near April 21~24 is key to understanding the dynamics of this move in Oil. As long as FEAR does not enter the market, then Oil will likely react to impulse factors exclusively related to Oil. Once Gold breaks out above $1500 per ounce, our belief is that Oil will react to fear factors related to some broader economic event driving investors into precious metals. Continue reading "Crude Oil Nearing Resistance" →