Chart of The Week - E-Mini S&P 500

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.

The major US stock indices pushed into record high territory late last week ahead of the start of the second quarter earnings season. To start this week, we see equity markets on a lower track following strong US economic data last week. Japan and European shares underwent profit taking, and with a relatively light US economic calendar ahead of the release of Wednesday’s FOMC minutes, we may see a round of profit-taking following last week’s record high print.

Friday, July 4th, saw a consolidation within the previous day’s range with light holiday volume after the 7 previous sessions had finished in the green. As we open the week on a bearish note, I would look to be a seller in the September E-mini S&P 500 just below Friday’s low of 1973.50 or better. My downside objective would be just above the underlying long-term trend-line at 1950. I would place a protective stop-loss order just above Friday’s high print at 1978.00. Should the market follow through to the downside, I would roll my stop order behind the position accordingly. Continue reading "Chart of The Week - E-Mini S&P 500" →

How to Score in the World's Key Commodity Markets

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By: Elliott Wave International

If you've ever tried your hand at futures trading, and if you've been watching the 2014 World Cup, you've probably thought to yourself -- Yup. This looks like how it feels to invest in commodities.

Hey, if the cleat fits!

The world of commodities trading is competitive and cutthroat. The action is nonstop. Passes happen in the blink of an eye. There are no commercial breaks, or half times. And those on the field never stop paying attention to price charts, scanning and waiting for opportunity to strike.

And then comes the moment to act. You're the last guy in a penalty shootout. All that stands between you and the goal is the ticking of the clock, fatigue, and doubt.

But if you make it, the reward is like nothing else. Continue reading "How to Score in the World's Key Commodity Markets" →

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 August contract went out on a sour note this shortened holiday trading session down $12 at 1,318 reacting negative to the U.S jobs report which came out at 288,000 new jobs as the economy is improving as the S&P 500 hit all-time highs once again today as the money flow is coming out of gold and into equities and that has been this precious metals problem for quite some time as there is not a lot of demand for gold currently. I am sitting on the sidelines in this market but I have a couple of trading recommendations if you are bullish gold and think prices will continue to move higher buy at today’s price of 1,318 place your stop below the 10 day low of 1,305 risking $1,300 per contract and if you’re bearish gold and think that its finally topped out you would sell at today’s price while placing your stop above Tuesday’s high of 1,335 risking $17 or $1,700 per contract as the chart structure has become very tight in the last 2 weeks. As I’ve talked about in previous blogs I do believe the stock market will continue to move higher and I believe that gold here in the short term still looks negative in my opinion unless something crazy comes out of Iraq.
TREND: MIXED
CHART STRUCTURE: EXCELLENT

Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery" →

Time To Buy Gold

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Yesterday, the spot gold market flashed a major trend change to the upside. Major trend changes do not occur that often and when they do I like to pay close attention to them. The signal came in at $1,331.45, and even though gold is now lower than that point, it is still a valid signal.

With all the Trade Triangles now positive and the fact that we are seeing a pullback today in gold (FOREX:XAUUSDO), this may be an ideal time to get long gold in the ETF SPDR Gold Shares (PACF:GLD), a leveraged ETF, or in futures.

The current pullback on the intraday 15-minute chart puts this market back into a Fibonacci support area which should offer good support. With the long Fourth of July weekend, I do not expect anybody will want to be short this market going in to the weekend. I expect to see some recovery later today from the lows seen this morning.

There are no guarantees in trading, but with all of the Trade Triangles positive on gold, I feel this is a fairly low risk trade on the upside. As always, you should protect your position with money management stops. If you'd like to learn more about money management stops, you can read about them here.

Chart Legend: Continue reading "Time To Buy Gold" →

Minimum Wage, Maximum Stupidity

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Doug French, Contributing Editor

The minimum wage should be the easiest issue to understand for the economically savvy. If the government arbitrarily sets a floor for wages above that set by the market, jobs will be lost. Even the Congressional Budget Office admits that 500,000 jobs would be lost with a $10.10 federal minimum wage. Who knows how high the real number would be?

Yet here we go again with the “Raise the minimum wage” talk at a time when unemployment is still devastating much of the country. The number of Americans jobless for 27 weeks or more is still 3.37 million. And while that’s only half the 6.8 million that were long-term unemployed in 2010, most of the other half didn’t find work. Four-fifths of them just gave up.

So, good economics and better sense would say, “make employment cheaper.” More of anything is demanded if the price goes down. That would mean lowering the minimum wage and undoing a number of cumbersome employment regulations that drive up the cost of jobs.

But then as H.L. Mencken reminded us years ago, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Which means the illogical case made by Republican multimillionaire businessman Ron Unz is being taken seriously.

We Don’t Want No Stinkin' Entry Level Jobs Continue reading "Minimum Wage, Maximum Stupidity" →