Stock Market Marches Higher

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. All three of the major indexes are marching along to record highs and looking to close the week out at record highs. This move higher is primarily due to Tax Reform, which is expected to be delivered by the GOP this afternoon.

Once delivered the Republican leaders hope to hold a vote on the legislation in the full House and Senate next week. President Donald Trump touted a tax cut regularly during his campaign and wanted an approved bill on his desk for his signature before Christmas.

It would be Trump's first major legislative victory since taking office in January.

MarketClub's Mid-day Market Report

Bitcoin is close to another all-time high of almost $18,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday, up 9% on the day, even as warnings grow over the risks of investing in the highly volatile and speculative instrument. This record push is partly due to the CME futures that are going to start trading on Sunday, which should see significant trading vs. the lighter volume that the CBOE saw last week.

Key levels to watch next week:
S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,598.87
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 23,545.02
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 6,734.13
Gold (NYMEX:GC.G18.E): 1,242.30
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.F18.E): 57.83
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.H18.E): 92.13
Bitcoin (CME:BRTI): 8,889.74

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com

Trump: Bad Bankers Beware

Posted on by George Yacik

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


So now President Trump has thrown himself into the discussion about Wells Fargo. Maybe now the bank will get the justice it deserves. And maybe now the message about Trump’s intentions about financial regulation will become less fake.

First a little background. Three months ago Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made some pretty startling comments for a Fed chief, publicly criticizing Wells’ behavior toward its customers as “egregious and unacceptable.”

She was talking, of course, about the bank’s years-long practice of signing up its customers for checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards and other products without asking their permission or even telling them. But since then there have been reports and admissions by the bank of several other excesses, such as charging auto loan customers for insurance they didn’t ask for, dunning mortgage customers for interest rate-lock extension fees when the bank itself caused the delays, overcharging military veterans on mortgage refinance loans, and allegedly closing customers’ accounts without telling them why it did so.

You would think that the Fed – which regulates Wells and other big banks – would have come down on the bank by now. Yet nothing’s happened since Yellen made those comments.

Then last week the president injected himself into the fray. Continue reading "Trump: Bad Bankers Beware" →

Ready, Set, Hike

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Hello traders everywhere. All three of the major indexes have advanced today with the DOW and S&P 500 hitting new intra-day records as technology stocks gained. Traders took positions, overlooking concerns of benign inflation ahead of the Federal Reserve announcement later in the day.

MarketClub's Mid-day Market Report

It's widely expected that the Fed will announce a rise in interest rates by 25 basis points, but more significantly, it may give its strongest hint yet on how the Trump administration's tax overhaul could affect the U.S. economy.

Key levels to watch next week:
S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,578.24
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 23,360.58
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 6,734.13
Gold (NYMEX:GC.G18.E): 1,253.40
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.F18.E): 56.85
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.H18.E): 92.13
Bitcoin (CME:BRTI): 7,750.62

Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com

Hot Investment Opportunity Related To Housing Market

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


US Housing data from October came in at their highest levels in ten years. High demand and limited supply are pushing housing prices higher this year. In August, housing prices in Denver, Miami, Houston and the Washington D.C. metro area hit levels that most consider being overvalued.

Furthermore, now reports indicate that home prices on the lower end of the spectrum are rising faster than those in the middle and high end. Acute shortages of housing, especially in the low end of the market is causing prices in that tier to increase much faster than those in the middle or high-end tier.

Many believe home prices are increasing because millennials are finally entering the housing market, which would certainly make sense when you consider the low end of the market, or starter homes, currently have the most demand.

Prices will increase until either supply, as in the number of homes available for purchase, catches up with demand or prices hit a point that reduces demand.

It is more likely the latter will occur first, due to the time required to build more homes and especially when we consider what is likely to continue happening with interest rates. The Federal Reserve has made it clear they plan to continue increasing interest rates for the next few years, and as rates rise, the cost of homeownership follows.

So, what does this all mean? Continue reading "Hot Investment Opportunity Related To Housing Market" →

Bitcoin: The Appetite for the Unknown

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


Over the past month, Bitcoin has become almost synonymous with the word bubble. In fact, Google searches for the combination words “Bitcoin” and “bubble” has jumped exponentially. That is unsurprising considering Bitcoin’s phenomenal ascent—piercing through record after record.

Even as calls and forecasts for Bitcoin’s eventual collapse intensify, the enthusiasm has intensified, as well. The cryptocurrency is now available for trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor, making its way forward as a form of legal tender. It’s also unsurprising, then, that in another Google search, the word combo of “buy” and “Bitcoin” is also at a record high.
So, how can we gauge Bitcoin? We cannot! And that is what I call the Unknown Factor.

Bitcoin Google Search Data
Chart courtesy of Google Trends

Bitcoin is No Tulip

Some prominent figures including Jaime Dimon CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co and John C. Bogle-founder of Vanguard Group. have labeled Bitcoin as a bubble, even the world's most famous investor Warren Buffet has been a skeptic on Bitcoin labeling digital currencies a “mirage.” In fact, most of all, the latest Bitcoin surge is compared to the Tulip Mania that took place way back in the 17th century in the Dutch Republic. Back then, Investors got caught up in a frenzy of tulips and began speculating on their price. A bubble was inflated, and eventually, like every inflated bubble, in 1637 the tulip bubble burst, leaving investors “wounded” and with “hefty losses.” The difference between then and now is that a tulip is, for lack of a better description, a “useless asset.” As a commodity, the tulip, albeit pretty, is nothing more than a decaying flower with no real use or applications in food or industry. Unlike a commodity such as gold or silver, a tulip cannot be used for jewelry.
Continue reading "Bitcoin: The Appetite for the Unknown" →