December Can Be A Difficult Month For Trading

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Well, here we are in December, the final trading month of 2016, and what a year it has been. After what can only be described as the most controversial, unorthodox and stressful presidential campaign in history I think the country just want to move on and into the holiday season.

For 2016 the major indexes have performed remarkably well. For the year the DOW has gained 10%, the S&P 500 7.24% and finally the NASDAQ is up almost 5%.

December has traditionally been a positive month for stocks and this December could well continue that trend. One word of warning about December, after about the second week of trading, liquidity begins to shrink dramatically as many traders and brokerage companies start to wind down operations for the year. Traditionally most market participants look forward to the holidays and a well deserved mental and physical break from the markets. This year is no different, in fact, I think it will be magnified as the equity markets have all performed well. Unless we see a "Black Swan" event in December, we expect to see stocks remain flat to positive month.

The reason I want to bring the month of December to attention is simply to alert you to this one fact. If you have not made your money for the year yet, the last two weeks of December is not the time to be taking big risks and swinging for the fences. Continue reading "December Can Be A Difficult Month For Trading" →

Cannabis Stocks Flashing Buy After Worst Week Of Year

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Analysis originally distributed on November 23, 2016 By: Michael Vodicka of Cannabis Stock Trades

If anyone thought investing in weed stock was going to be easy, this week was a reality check.

Cannabis stocks collided with two obstacles in the last week.

The first, four of the largest Canadian medical marijuana stocks were temporarily halted because of high levels of volatility.

For example, last Wednesday Canopy Growth Corp (CGC) was surging into a new all-time high above $17 – up more than 20% on the day.

While that was great news for shareholders, it set off the Toronto Stock Exchanges (TSE) circuit breaker. Shares were temporarily halted so the exchange engines wouldn’t melt down like a hunk of warm cheese.

Aphria (APH), the second-largest Canadian medical marijuana company, and Organigram (OGI), the third-largest Canadian medical marijuana company, were also halted last week after hitting new all-time highs.

The trading halts only lasted a few minutes at a time.

However, damage was inflicted. Continue reading "Cannabis Stocks Flashing Buy After Worst Week Of Year" →

Weekly Futures Recap With 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.

Gold Futures

Gold futures in the February contract settled last Friday in New York at 1,181 an ounce while now trading at 1,175 hitting a fresh 8 month low as prices continue to move southward on a weekly basis as I am kicking myself as I am not short, however, I have not been picking a bottom either. At present, I'm telling investors to avoid this market, but certainly, do not be buying this commodity as I do believe lower prices are ahead as I'm still very bullish the U.S dollar and the stock market as a whole since both of those are negative towards gold prices. The 10-year note today broke 2.40% which is the highest yield since January and I do believe interest rates are going higher which is not another negative influence towards gold prices. Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery" →

How The OPEC Deal Impacts The FX Arena

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


The much-anticipated OPEC deal to cut oil production has finally been reached. Brent and WTI Oil futures were not too late to react and jumped more than 7% with Brent Oil futures surpassing the $50 mark. And if momentum continues we could very well be looking at $60, perhaps rather soon. If that is the case, this can change the picture, not only for Oil futures and Oil companies but for currencies of Oil exporting countries, many of which were hit hard when Oil prices took a nose dive and could benefit now that oil prices are taking off.

The question is how exactly would an Oil rally play in petro-currencies in the current macro environment? Is it a good opportunity to buy into the battered Ruble? Or maybe a Norwegian Krona rally against the Euro? The options are numerous, but once we delve into the economic dynamics of each currency, the options narrow fast. Continue reading "How The OPEC Deal Impacts The FX Arena" →

With All Eyes On Equities - You May Have Missed This Sleeper

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Call it the Trump Rally, or any name you like, but the stock market certainly came alive when the election swung in Donald Trump's favor. While all eyes are on equities, other things are going on in other markets that you should be preparing for.

Today, I'm going to take an in-depth look at the gold market that has been out of favor the last several years. Gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO) did enjoy a strong rally in the first half of the year and was a top performer. Since moving close to $1400 in July, gold has steadily eroded down to around the $1,180. The question now is, is gold going to continue on the downside or begin to stabilize and start looking forward to what could be an inflationary future? With that in mind, I decided to look at three market keys that could unlock gold and determine its future.

Long-Term Negative Force Line

FIG 1. I have drawn a long-term down sloping trendline starting from gold's all-time high of around $1900 and connected it to several other high points over the years. To be a valid technical trendline, it must touch three points. When that happens, it confirms the validity of the line. The long-term negative force line seen in FIG 1 is the dominant and number one element that will determine which way gold is headed in the future. I would consider a move over the $1375 - $1400 (3) levels on spot gold as a major signal that gold has changed direction to the upside. When this happens, and it will happen sometime in the future, gold will enter into a multiyear bull market. FIG 1 is the number one technical aspect for gold and should be watched closely in 2017.

Gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO) Trendline

Continue reading "With All Eyes On Equities - You May Have Missed This Sleeper" →