Month: July 2013

By MoneyMorning.com.au

TECHNOLOGY:

If You Think 3D is Cool, 5D Will Blow Your Mind!

We’re not specifically talking about a new type of visual wizardry here. It’s not about going to the movies to watch Ironman 4 or Fast and The Furious 7 in the 5^th dimension.

What we’re talking about is a new breakthrough that could mean all your digital data is safe and secure, forever. Well actually the timeframe is more like one million years, but that’s pretty much forever right?

Scientists at the University of Southampton have recorded and retrieved five-dimensional digital data. They’re saying that this technique means, ‘360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1000°C and practically unlimited lifetime.’

This kind of breakthrough is nanotech science at its finest. Using nanoscale lasers in glass crystals they were able to store a 300kb digital text file in all five dimensions. Just in case you weren’t sure, the extra two dimensions aside from the normal three are size and orientation.

The scientists have coined the crystals the ‘Superman Crystals’ for their resemblance to the ‘memory crystals’ from the Superman movies.

But superheroes aside, the university is now looking for commercial partners to bring this new kind of data storage to commercial reality.

Commercialisation of this tech is a part of the explosion of Big Data. If you’re unaware, Big Data is the term given to the unbelievable amounts of data we now generate in the world.

To understand how much data, we’re talking in the realm of Zetabytes. One Zetabyte is the equivalent of streaming the entire Netflix catalogue 3.17 million times. With all that data, it needs to be stored somewhere. And traditional storage systems are simply running out of space.

Thankfully scientific research will more often than not help solve our problems. And with this kind of breakthrough our Big Data problem will stop becoming a problem and start becoming a benefit.

ENERGY:

You Can Rely on The Dutch to Try Something the Rest of The World Won’t

The Netherlands is a progressive country, from the liberal city of Amsterdam to piezo-electric dancefloors. They’ve always had a very forward approach towards the liberties and living standards of their citizens.

As well as having (on average) the tallest citizens in the world, certain studies also suggest they’re the happiest country in the world. And we’re starting to see why.

Imagine living in a country that looks to the future and thinks about the big issues that face its people. A country where they do their upmost to plan and implement the means to allow free and happy living for all citizens. We’d be pretty happy too in that environment.

Don’t get me wrong, the Netherlands have their fair share of issues too. But on the balance of it, it’s an innovative, progressive country. And the same goes for Dutch companies too. There are a number of innovative Dutch companies that look to the future and think about ways to make the world a better place.

Fastned is one of those progressive companies. Back in January 2012, Fastned approached the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure. Their goal was to get permits to deploy 245 electric charging points at services stations across the Netherlands.

By the 16^th of January (within a couple of weeks) Fastned had approval for 173 stations. Straight away they began the process to build electric charge-stations across the country. Now that’s how the application process should work in all government!

 Source: Fastned

Fastned are currently in progress with their lofty goal. All stations are due for completion at the end of 2015. When it’s finished you’ll be able to drive across the Netherlands in an electric car and never be more than 50kms away from a charging station.

As Fastned explain on their company website, ‘Chicken-or-egg — If you cannot charge your battery, you will not be able to drive an electric car. As long as there are few fast-charging stations, electric vehicle adoption will be limited and vice versa.’

They’re on track to make the Netherlands the most populous nation to roll out an electric car charging network. It’s this kind of forward thinking and innovation that hopefully sets the scene for other countries to follow.

HEALTH:

This Could Be the Silver Bullet for Cancer Treatment

It seems as though there are a lot of very smart scientists at the University of Southampton. Aside from the ‘Superman Crystals’ mentioned earlier, another group of scientists from the University have discovered a new way to kill cancer cells.

This particular method of cancer fighting is different to traditional methods. This new way keeps healthy cells alive and only attacks the cancerous cells.

Importantly this isn’t a target treatment for one particular type of cancer cell. The discovery includes the ability to attack various types of cancer.

What the researchers have done is use a molecule from our own body, the CD27 molecule, manipulate it and have it fight cancer. Not only is this discovery breakthrough, the university now holds it as a patent in the US.

With a new method to fight cancer and now a patent under their belt, this means a spin-off company is likely, which means commercial opportunities. This is one we’d be keeping an eye on.

There are numerous efforts to rid the world of cancer, or at least make a big dent in its occurence. Inevitably there will be a cure, but it might not necessarily come in the way we’d all hope.

When most people think of a cure for cancer, the vision is of a pill or injection. In this case and in all reality it’s likely that we’ll have multiple cures of cancer in the future. And it will be nano sized techniques and methods of going about it.

However, we all hope for a ‘silver bullet’. As unlikely as that may be, this kind of research from the University of Southampton is the first step in maybe one day getting the complete cure we need.

Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst, Revolutionary Tech Investor

From the Archives…

The Power of Low Interest Rates Coming to the Aussie Market
5-07-2013 – Kris Sayce

S+P 500 Downtrend Looms? Counting Down The Days…
4-07-2013 – Murray Dawes

Here’s Your Six-Point Stock Buying Checklist
3-07-2013 – Kris Sayce

Are the Credit Rating Agencies at it Again?
2-07-2013 – Kris Sayce

Why This Could be Another Great Year for Australian Stocks…
1-07-2013 – Kris Sayce 

By MoneyMorning.com.au

There’s no law in the market that oil and gold have to move together. But when they begin to diverge in a big way, like now, it pays to wonder why. Maybe BHP has the answer. It’s put Texas tea on the drinks menu, at the top of the list. So today’s Money Weekend will journey across the Pacific to visit the great American energy boom looking for answers…

Behind the Numbers, a Changing World

Actually, it’s wrong to suggest all the energy action in North America is in Texas. The new drilling technology is unlocking supply from Canada to North Dakota to the Atlantic states.

To get an idea of the North American energy boom, check this out: 2012 saw the largest growth in oil production in US history. That’s according to the June release of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. The oil biz in the US goes all the way back to Colonel Drake in 1859.

To be clear, BP is looking at the figures from 2012. But stepping back from the day to day data and news is probably more fruitful for tracking the big trends.

Here’s a curious point: on a net basis last year, the oil market didn’t change that much in 2012. Growth was a pretty meagre 1.3%. But in a regional sense, it’s no exaggeration to say the oil market is being completely remade, or in the spirit of Joan Rivers, ‘reworked’.

A Visual Metaphor For the Oil Market?

Source: Google

You can boil it down to this: US net imports have fallen 36% from their 2005 high. Meanwhile, China accounts for 86% of the growth in net imports in the same period. That’s huge. While North America drives the supply boom, China revs the demand.

But the thing that jumped out at us from this report is the fact that oil is actually losing market share. That’s as a percentage of global energy consumption. It’s at 33.1% and in the 13th consecutive year of decline. 

Why that jumped out at us is because nobody seems to be telling the oil traders. The West Texas benchmark hit a 12 month high during the week. 

Oil on the Up

Source: StockCharts

Do they know something we don’t?

For now, that rising chart looks very lucrative if you happen to be a shareholder in a company operating in the energy business. As we said, one of those happens to be BHP.

They told investors at the Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference a few months back that a US$1 move in the oil price moves their net profit by 45 million either way. The only commodity with a bigger impact on the bottom line is iron ore. 

The brass at BHP maintains that the outlook for iron ore is more robust than the market expects. But they have a pretty handy hedge by having a foot well and truly in the door of the oil and gas industry in the USA.

There’s a kind of tussle between the spreading chaos in the Middle East and other oil producing countries against the uplift in production from North America. There might be a big premium to be had for good reserves in countries that are outside the possible danger zones.  

That’s an idea Dan Denning over at The Denning Report says is worth following. That’s largely what he’s positioned his readers for. Norway, USA and Australia look a lot less risky and a whole lot more lucrative than Venezuela, Iran or the Sudan when it comes to speculating in energy on higher oil prices. 

BHP’s Big Oil Play in the USA

Of course, you need to have the reserves in place to capitalise if oil does go higher. For BHP, the most exciting prospect today is in the South Midland section of the ancient Permian basin in West Texas.

Apparently it’s no exaggeration to say this might be the biggest oilfield after Ghawar, Saudi Arabia. Ghawar has been producing for decades — the biggest ‘elephant’ oilfield of all time. 

You probably already know that the Permian basin can’t replicate the cost base of Saudi Arabia. The oil of the Permian is very deep plus hard and expensive to access. But it makes up for it in possible size. It’s estimated to be 50 billion barrels. It could be triple that. Nobody knows for sure.

According to the International Energy Institute, the world currently uses 89 million barrels a day. That’s 32 billion barrels a year. So the Permian could have over one year of global supply, at least.

That’s the industry aspect of it. The geopolitical side is even more intriguing. Take this from the Australian Financial Review on Tuesday:

‘[Oil production from the Permian basin] would speed America on its path to topple Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer, slash US imports, mute price spikes from Middle East unrest and even make substantial US oil exports feasible.’

That’s pretty high stakes in anyone’s books. That reminds us of something rogue economist Phil Anderson said in his Remembering the Future presentation: lower energy costs thanks to North America (if the Middle East can stay stable) could allow Ben Bernanke to get away with prodigious money printing. Phil argued deflation in energy costs will nullify the inflation of the US money supply. There seems to be some big assumptions in THAT argument.

We suppose there usually is in any investing case. For now, it’s telling that the world’s largest diversified miner has made oil and gas one of its four major pillars. It might pay for investors to think on similar lines.

Callum Newman+
Editor, Money Weekend

Join Money Morning on Google+

From the Port Phillip Publishing Library

Special Report: The Sixth Revolution

Daily Reckoning: Why Natural Gas Could Save Us From an Impending Energy Crisis

Money Morning: Red Alert: Why This Stock Market Rally is a Trap

Pursuit of Happiness: Make Sure You’re Not a Property Investing ‘Loser’

By www.CentralBankNews.info Here’s today’s Central Bank News’ link list, click through if you missed the previous link list. The list comprises news about central banks that is not covered by Central Bank News. The list is updated during the day with the latest developments so readers don’t miss any important news.

By www.CentralBankNews.info     Mexico’s central bank held its benchmark target for the overnight rate steady at 4.0 percent, saying this policy stance is consistent with a lack of inflationary pressures,  slower economic growth and the fragile and volatile international financial markets.
    The Bank of Mexico, which cut its rate in March, said recent information suggest that the economic slowdown since the second half of last year “worsened significantly” in the second quarter of this year, reflecting lower exports and weak domestic spending.
    Like other emerging market economies, Mexico’s peso has depreciated in recent months due to expectations of changes to U.S. monetary policy and long-term interest rates have “increased considerably,” increasing the downside risks to Mexico’s economy, the bank said.
    However, the central bank said the rise market interest rates and the decline in the peso had been in an orderly fashion and economic activity is expected to improve in the next half year, a slightly less pessimistic outlook than in its previous statement from June.
    Although the fall in peso will generate some inflationary pressures, the central bank was not overly concerned and said the overall balance of risks to inflation had improved with the slack in the economy limiting the transfer of exchange rate changes to overall prices.

    Mexico’s inflation rate eased to 4.09 percent in June from 4.63 percent in May, and the central bank – known as Banxico – said it expects the downward trend to continue in coming months with inflation between 3 and 4 percent in the third and fourth quarters of this year.
    Next year, inflation is expected to be “very close to 3 percent” – the central bank’s target – the same forecast the bank gave in June.
    Mexico’s peso rose gradually in the first four months of the year but from early May to late June it fell by 10 percent against the U.S. dollar, along with other emerging market currencies, as major investors re-evaluated their exposure to riskier markets, withdrawing capital.
    But since June 24, Mexico’s peso has rebounded and is largely unchanged from the beginning of the year, quoted at 12.82 to the U.S. dollar today compared with 12.84 on January 1.
    Mexico’s economy slowed sharply in the first quarter with Gross Domestic Product up by only 0.45 percent from the fourth quarter, and annual growth of only 0.8 percent, down from a rate of 3.2 percent in the previous quarter, the slowest rate since the 2009 recession.

    www.CentralBankNews.info

Article by Investazor.com

Chart: AAPL, H1

The stock of the week is Apple Inc. with a pretty interesting price pattern.  After the 15% drop started at the beginning of June the stock managed to gain back 61.8.

On the way up the price started drawing a Rising Wedge, which topped at 430.50$ per share. The price pattern was formed during the last 3 weeks. In all this time it can be observed that the volume started to drop. Next to this signals we can also add the 14 periods RSI which has made a negative divergence and it dropped under its trend line.

Now the price got very close to the apex of the pattern. The width of the Wedge is 21.50 dollars. If the pattern will be confirmed by a close, on a one hour chart, under the lower line, we can expect for the stock to lose at least 5%. Why at least? Because if we look at the trend, it is descending, so a new drop might become another impulse for the current main trend.

Even though our favorite scenario is on the down side, we have a backup. If the price will break and close above 431$ per share we will revise our analysis.

The post Apple Inc. Is Signaling a 5% Drop on Rising Wedge appeared first on investazor.com.

By The Sizemore Letter

From Jeff Reeves at The Slant:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that  central bank policy in the U.S. will stay loose “for the foreseeable future” amid low inflation and high unemployment.

It was off to the races for stocks as a result, with the major indexes pushing to new highs.

Bernanke  spoke in Cambridge, Mass., to the National Bureau of Economic Research. But it’s not the first speech of his that investors and market pundits have parsed closely for insights into talk about “tapering” of Fed policy in the coming months.

Bernanke caused waves when he said the Fed likely will reduce its stimulus later this year and end it by mid-2014, with investors worried that the central bank is taking its foot off the gas too soon in regards to its $85 billion monthly bond buying program known as “quantitative easing.”

So is this really news? Charles Sizemore and I don’t think it really is.

And what’s next? Well, we both feel pretty optimistic.

By The Sizemore Letter

From Jeff Reeves at The Slant:

We’re halfway through 2013 and our Best Stocks for 2013 Buy List on InvestorPlace.com has had plenty of time to shake out.

The good news: Three InvestorPlace contributors including myself, Louis Navellier and Charles Sizemore, are in the top three spots with market-beating returns.

The bad news: As a whole, the list itself is underperforming – including one pick 34% in the red.

As for the winners, paint manufacturer Sherwin Williams ($SHW), automaker Daimler ($DDAIF) and semiconductor stock Intel ($INTC), they happen to share one commonality: an unpopularity several months ago that has been replaced by turnaround hopes and optimism. The reasons are different, but the themes are the same.

Watch or listen in above to get complete details from me and Charles on our picks and the outlook for the next few months.

By www.CentralBankNews.info     Chile’s central bank held its benchmark overnight rate steady at 5.0 percent but said it may cut its rate in coming months due to an expected fall in economic growth and inflation.
    The Central Bank of Chile, which has held rates steady since January 2012, said recent information shows that economic output and demand is continuing to slow down, especially investment, but the labor market is still tight.
   “Consumption has remained strong, but the evolution of credit conditions and confidence surveys suggest this variable will lose momentum,” said central bank said. In its June Monetary Policy Report, released on July 1, the bank lowered its 2013 forecast for growth and inflation.
    “The consolidation of the trends outlined in the last Monetary Policy Report could call for adjustments to the monetary policy interest rate in the coming months,” the bank said.
    In the policy report, the central bank cut its 2013 growth forecast to 4-5 percent from a previous estimate of 4.5-5.5 percent and its inflation forecast to 2.6 percent from 2.8 percent.
    Chile’s economic growth has been slowing in recent months, with the annual rate of its Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter slowing to 4.1 percent from 5.7 percent in the previous quarter.
    Chile’s inflation rate rose to 1.9 percent in June from 0.9 percent in May, getting closer to the central bank’s tolerance range of 2-4 percent. The central bank said inflation expectations remain around its target.
    The central bank took note of the recent tightening in international financial conditions, especially in  emerging market economies, following signs of an earlier-than-expected withdrawal of monetary stimulus in the United States.
 
     www.CentralBankNews.info

London Gold Market Report
from Adrian Ash
BullionVault
Friday, 12 July 08:20 EST

BOTH SILVER and gold slipped in London on Friday morning, edging down to $1271 per ounce and $19.80 respectively.

 European equities pushed higher while the US Dollar rallied and major government bond prices rose.

 US crude oil prices headed for their 3rd weekly gain on the trot, rising above $105 per barrel.

 Gold cut this week’s gain to 3.9%. Silver prices held onto 4.2% week-on-week gains.

“A weekly close [in the gold price] above $1267 will bring in fresh buying on the belief [of a] bullish signal,” says a technical note from market-maker Scotia Mocatta.

 Scotia pegs near-term resistance in the gold price just above Thursday morning’s 2-week high of $1299 per ounce – hit after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said US monetary policy will remain “highly accommodative for the foreseeable future.”

 Doubting Bernanke’s assurances, however, “You have to be a brave man or woman to hold gold into a Fed tightening cycle and a Dollar rally,” writes The Daily Telegraph’s international business editor  Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.

 “My guess is that the Fed will indeed to have to retreat from [tapering] QE in the end, just as it had to back away from premature tightening after QE1 and QE2.

 “But we are not there yet, and they will take longer to blink this time.”

 A new report from ANZ Bank agrees, saying that the gold price is likely to fall further short term because “volatility remains high, and the drivers that have seen gold drop 25% so far this year remain in place.”

 “With many [gold] investors remaining trapped in a falling market,” says the latest Commodities Weekly from French investment bank and bullion dealers Natixis, “there may be more rounds of bloodletting to go before some degree of sanity returns.”

 Natixis commodities analyst Nic Brown now expects “that the price of gold will drop slightly lower over the remainder of the year [before] the gradual return of net investment demand offers increasing support” in 2014 but the average annual price drops to $1200 per ounce.

 Over in Turkey, a strike by workers at the Turkish State Mint – reputedly the world’s heaviest producer of gold bullion coins between 2000 and 2010 – has crimped supply and started to push local gold prices higher, according to Hurriyet Daily.

 In wholesale trading, “idiosyncratic factors to do with supply are driving up lease rates, and driving up the gold price at the moment,” said Roubini Global Economics analyst Gary Clark to CNBC yesterday.

 “But we haven’t seen a rise in tail risk, so that rally should not be sustained.”

 Yesterday in Frankfurt, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi replied to Portuguese MEP Nuno Melo asking whether Cyprus’ planned sale of some gold bullion means “other member states may be ‘obliged’ to sell their reserves?”

 Most Eurozone reserve assets are now held and managed by the ECB, said Draghi. Even where the national central bank retains control of some reserves, he went on, such transactions are “above a certain limit subject to approval by the ECB in order to ensure consistency with the exchange rate and monetary policies of the Union.”

 In 2009 Draghi famously rejected then Italian prime minister Berlusconi’s attempt to tax Italy’s national gold reserves – the world’s third largest – when head of the Banca d’Italia.

 Over in China meantime, stock markets closed lower as new data showed a surge in consumer credit but a slowdown in money-supply growth.

 Early Monday morning will bring China’s second-quarter GDP data, notes Marc Ground at Standard Bank – “generally not as important” for the gold price as for industrial commodities, but “Asian physical buying (particularly from China) has provided a crucial crutch for gold amid Fed tapering concerns.”

Adrian Ash

BullionVault

Gold price chart, no delay | Buy gold online

Adrian Ash is head of research at BullionVault, the secure, low-cost gold and silver market for private investors online, where you can buy gold and silver in Zurich, Switzerland for just 0.5% commission.

(c) BullionVault 2013

Please Note: This article is to inform your thinking, not lead it. Only you can decide the best place for your money, and any decision you make will put your money at risk. Information or data included here may have already been overtaken by events – and must be verified elsewhere – should you choose to act on it.

By www.CentralBankNews.info     Russia’s central bank maintained its policy rate at 8.25 percent, as expected, along with its outlook, saying that “the risks of further economic slowdown remain given the weak investment activity and the sluggish recovery in external demand.”
    The Bank of Russia, which last cut rates in September 2012, added that it would “continue to monitor inflation risks and the downside risks to economic growth,” indicating that a rate cut is not immediate.
   Although economic growth remains low, the bank said the fall in the growth rates of some indicators in May was partly due to calendar effects and “labour market conditions and credit dynamics are still providing support to domestic demand.”
    While economists had expected the Bank of Russia to hold rates steady, the outcome of the meeting was highly anticipated because it was the first board meeting chaired by the new governor, Elvira Nabiullina, former aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nabiullina took over from Sergei Ignatyev who retired after 11 years as governor.
    While the central bank’s economic outlook was a replica of its June statement, it dropped the warning that inflationary expectations could be affected if inflation remains high for a prolonged period.

    Another change during Nabiullina’s first meeting was that the board now provides an exact date for its next meeting compared with a more vague indication in the past, and added a new instrument to its tool box for providing funds to banks.
    Beginning next week, the Bank of Russia will provide banks with funds, secured by non-marketable assets and guarantees, for 12 months with a floating interest rate at 5.75 percent. By reducing the market collateral held by the central bank, this should improve the efficiency of the interbank market.
    “The conduct of the longer-term operations with floating rate will contribute to intensifying the monetary policy signal as the changes in interest rates will be transmitted to the change of the cost of funds, previously provided by the Bank of Russia to credit institutions,” the central bank said.
    Russia’s inflation rate fell to 6.9 percent in June from 7.4 percent in May, but was still above the central bank’s target range of 5-6 percent.
    As of July 8, inflation was estimated a 6.6 percent, the bank said, adding that core inflation in June was 5.8 percent.
    The central bank repeated that it still expects inflation to return to its target range in the second half of the year, barring any adverse food price shocks.
    Russia’s economy shrunk in the first quarter with the Gross Domestic Product falling 0.07 percent from the fourth quarter for annual growth of only 1.6 percent, down from 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter and the fifth quarter with a declining growth rate.
    In June, Nabiullina said in an interview with Reuters that interest rats could be cut in the third quarter of this year but only if inflation is clearly falling.

    www.CentralBankNews.info