It’s hard to believe that 2011 has passed so quickly and that 2012 will soon be here. Now is a good time to look back over the past year and assess your finances. Did your choices this year put you in better or worse circumstances? Do you have the information needed to make wise decisions in t...

The Weekly Leading Index (WLI) growth indicator of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) posted -7.6 in its latest reading, data through December 23. The latest public data point is virtually unchanged from last week’s -7.7. The index has been hovering in a narrow range between -7.4 to ...

Without sounding too redundant the equity trade right now is divided between two camps. It is either a credit event trade or a simple consolidation where price is setting up for a new leg higher in the coming months. If you read various market analysis I would argue that the vast majority view this ...

Although originally published in 2004, the valuable series has been re-released in the Independent Investor eBook, along with over 100 pages of other reports that challenge conventional economic thinking. The following series is excerpted from two classic issues of Robert Prechter’s Elliott W...

It’s that time of year again when we do our best to put our best “guessing hat” on as to what the new year may bring in terms of the economy, the markets and the world.  This is a preview of the full report that will be released this coming weekend.  To access the full report si...

Bond action in the Eurozone has modestly picked up (yields steady or falling) since the ECB’s 3-Year LTRO program – Long Term Refinance Operation. However, European banks still do not trust each other, not even for overnight lending. Instead, banks park all available funds with the ECB, ...

One of the most important elements of entering a longer term trade is understanding why you are doing such. Price will go higher or lower alone is not sufficient. You need to understand the basis for such movement in price. That way as the trade evolves you can begin to understand if your thesis is ...

Recession is a four-letter word in the financial markets, striking terror into the hearts of everyone.  And if reports since August are to be believed, there is a recession hiding behind every tree.  For a myriad of reasons, economists have argued we are due to plunge into the next one any day now...

The below article is taken from the December 2011 edition of The Euro Pacific Capital Global Investor Newsletter. For full access to the rest of the newsletter articles, click here.  A central theme that has absolutely permeated the coverage of the Great Recession is that over the past few year...

The 30-year bond yield has dropped below three percent many times this year, dropping as low as 2.694% in October. It has been trending up since then, but today it looks as if the October low could be retested. ————————– (Decision Point subscrib...

Two weeks ago on Wednesday night, after the Chinese markets closed, the People’s Bank of China announced that it had cut the minimum reserve requirement by 50 basis points to 21% for the large banks, and lower for the smaller banks.  With the announcement coming just hours before announcements...

In January of 2009 (nearly three years ago, which is ironic), I went bearish on Sears due to a variety of reasons, the least of which was less than competent management (hedge fund managers don’t necessarily make good department store managers), macro conditions and fundamentals sloped towards...

The secrecy of the non regulated shadow banking market which is larger than the regulated deposit based market makes it difficult to find real time information as to the stress within the credit markets. A few charts below do support some recent dislocations within the market while highlighting the ...

Significant economic and political changes will make 2012 a historical year. The globe has experienced relative calm for the past 24 months. That stability won’t last much longer. Events that are not on anyone’s radar screen will matter the most. The following are the things that I think...

The recent massive demand for ECB’s LTRO (Long Term Refinancing Operation)–nearly 490 billion euro in three-year 1% loans from 523 banks–only confirmed the suspicion of some market participants that European banks are having financing issues, and that the LTRO is unlikely to flo...

The Depart of Transportation’s Federal Highway Commission has released the latest report on Traffic Volume Trends, data through October. Travel on all roads and streets changed by -2.3% (-6.0 billion vehicle miles) for October 2011 as compared with October 2010 (PDF report). Here is a chart t...