The NYSE has released new data for margin debt, now available through April. We’ve updated the charts in this commentary to include the latest numbers. The New York Stock Exchange publishes end-of-month data for margin debt on the NYXdata website, where we can also find historical data back t...

Part 1 of our FREE report on the recent build-up in credit includes a chart of U.S. corporate debt issuance since 1998 you don’t want to miss Whatever your politics, creed or nationality — we can all agree that a huge catalyst for the 2008-9 global financial meltdown was the universal b...

Bubbles are followed by echo-bubbles, and the bursting of the second bubble ends the speculative cycle. If we have learned anything in the past 20 years of massive asset bubbles and equally massive declines when the bubbles finally pop, it’s this: those caught up in the expansionary phase of t...

There are probably quite a few of you reading this article who do not remember the old“Memorex” commercials when “cassette tapes” were THE recording technology of the day. It was yesterday’s release of the housing starts data that reminded me of that slogan –R...

A recent Goldman Sachs report explains where this year’s stock market profits (should there be any) will come from: Buybacks and Dividends All That’s Left in S&P 500, Goldman Says (Bloomberg) — The $1 trillion that U.S. companies are on track to return to shareholders this year will const...

Gold has been fairly volatile so far this year, seeing plenty of big daily surges and selloffs.  But with all these largely netting out to the sideways grind of recent months, gold’s price action has been frustrating for bullish and bearish traders alike.  Gaming gold in these strange central-ba...

With the three-day Memorial Day weekend in the immediate offing, the S&P 500 spent the day in semi-vacation mode. The intraday high-low trading range of 0.29% was the smallest of the year. The peak coincided, not surprisingly, with Janet Yellen’s “Outlook for the Economy” speec...

Yesterday we reported separately on the latest residential building permits and housing starts in the government’s report for April data, courtesy of the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Despite the fact that both are monthly SAAR series (seasonally adjusted a...

Elliott Wave International’s European markets expert Brian Whitmer often cautions his subscribers to beware of the pitfalls that will accompany the developing deflation in Europe. On May 20-27, Brian is hosting a free 5-video event at elliottwave.com: Investing in Europe: 5 Critical Insights. ...

The S&P 500 hits its -0.14% intraday in the opening seconds. But the 10 AM announcement of disappointing existing home sales and a weaker than forecast reading from the Philly Fed index put the index in modest rally mode. It then trended sideways with a pop to its 0.40% intraday high twenty minu...

The Greek government says that a “moment of truth” is coming on June 5th.  Either their lenders agree to give them more money by that date, or Greece will default on a 300 million euro loan payment to the IMF.  Of course it won’t technically be a “default” according to IMF rules for anot...

No one could have predicted the sheer scope of global monetary policy bolstering the private banking and trading system. Yet, here we were – ensconced in the seventh year of capital markets being buoyed by coordinated government and central bank strategies. Today we welcome Nomi Prins as our n...

From the point of view of history, a reversion to generational lows is inevitable, and a valuation level around 50% of GDP for stocks is a fair target. If we look back to 1981 valuations of stocks and bonds as a guide to valuations at the next generational low, we find stocks and bonds are due for a...

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have now published their findings for April new residential housing starts. The latest reading of 1.135M was well above the Investing.com forecast of 1.019M. Here is the opening of this morning’s monthly report: Priv...

Do you remember what happened when Cyprus decided to defy the EU?  In the end, the entire banking system of the nation collapsed and money was confiscated from private bank accounts.  Well, the nation of Greece is now approaching a similar endgame.  At this point, the Greek government has not rec...

The S&P 500 sank to its modest -0.25% intraday low shortly after the opening bell. With no economic news on tap, the focus of the day would be the afternoon release of the FOMC minutes. Sure enough we got a typical 2 PM fast-money trade, with the index rising to its 0.32% intraday high (a record...