InvestMacro Forex News

London Gold Market Report
from Adrian Ash
BullionVault
Thurs 19 April, 08:55 EST

U.S.DOLLAR PRICES to buy gold slipped to two-week lows in London’s wholesale trade on Thursday, “falling victim to a strengthening Dollar” as one analyst put it while stock markets and commodities also gave back earlier gains.

The European single currency failed to hold above $1.3150 for the 3rd day running, dropping despite Madrid successfully auctioning some €5 billion in new Spanish debt.

Prices to buy gold were little changed for Euro investors, holding flat for the day at €41,180 per kilo, despite falling $10 per ounce to $1634 against the Dollar.

“The upside is very heavy because the Euro remains under pressure [vs. the Dollar],” Reuters today quoted Peter Fung at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong.

“Weak physical demand isn’t helping,” he added, saying that a price-drop to $1600 would likely encourage traders to buy gold.

“Physical buying out of Asia is strengthening as we approach the Indian Akshaya Tritiya festival beginning 24 April,” says Marc Ground at Standard Bank today. But “the pace of demand is not to the extent that we expected.”

“No imports of gold have taken place in the last week,” said Bachhraj Bamalwa, chairman of the All India Gem & Jewellery Trade Federation, to the Economic Times earlier.

“Demand is lacklustre and there will be hardly any growth in the Akshaya Tritiya period this year.”

Considered an auspicious day on the Hindu calendar to buy gold and begin new ventures, Akshaya Tritiya this year sees the Indian Post Office working with the World Gold Council and Reliance Money to offer 6% discounts on gold coins sold through India Post branches.

“The Rupee is weaker than Dollar, which is pushing up prices to buy gold,” says a private broker.

“There is an increasing demand for diamonds as it is better preferred by the youngsters,” says one jeweler in Hyderabad, speaking to IBN Live.

Over in China, the world’s #2 consumer-gold market behind India  – and where economic growth slowed for the 5th quarter running between Jan. and March  – “The central bank will continue to implement a prudent monetary policy,” said a Chinese official to the Xinhua news agency today, “to facilitate a stable and relatively rapid development of the national economy.”

Japan is “fully committed [to] powerful monetary easing” said Tokyo’s chief central banker Masaaki Shirakawa late Wednesday.

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, followed Tuesday’s no-change decision on monetary policy by telling a press conference yesterday that 1% interest rates are “consistent” with hitting the Bank’s 2% annual inflation target, with economic growth forecast at 2.4% in both 2012 and 2013.

“The most sensible thing to do is to take the cheap (free) money and convert it into solid things, like, for example, industrial metals,” says an editorial on global monetary policy in Metal Bulletin today.

“That’s why the warehouses are full, and why the prices remain firm.”

Latest data from the Comex US futures exchange showed a small decrease Wednesday in warehouse stockpiles of silver bullion, but this week’s 20-year record “certainly points to plentiful supply on the global silver market,” notes Swiss refining and finance group MKS.

“[It’s] very likely to block any major price increases in the short-term.”

Adrian Ash
BullionVault

Gold price chart, no delay   |   Buy gold online at live prices

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 today vaulted in Zurich on $3 spreads and 0.8% dealing fees.

(c) BullionVault 2012

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 TraderVox.com

Tradervox (Dublin) – The Swiss government has endorsed the Swiss National Bank Interim Chairman Thomas Jordan as the new SNB president. This announcement was given yesterday after the policy makers met to discuss the issue. The Swiss franc fell against the euro after this announcement. The decision by the Swiss policy makers has eased concerns that the SNB president would abandon the 1.20 limit cap policy that Jordan has pledged to stick with. Jordan is seen by the market as a proponent for the policy and he has indicated he is willing to do anything to protect the cap.

The policy makers meeting held in Bern announced the decision to the press causing the franc to decline the most against the euro. According to Peter Rosenstreich, a Swissquote Bank Foreign Exchange Strategist in Geneva indicated that Jordan’s ascension officially removes any doubts about the continuity of the policy. Despite the relatively weakness of the franc, the demand for the franc is still high as investors prefer the franc over the euro as risk aversion continues in the market. The continued demand for the Swiss asset will keep strengthening the franc on euro hence the SBN will have to act in the short term to avert another aggression on the imposed cap.

After the naming of Thomas Jordan as the new SNB chairman, the Franc depreciated against the euro by 0.1 percent to trade at 1.2012 per euro. It had earlier weakened the most since April 11 when it went down 0.2 percent.

Some analysts still hold the view that the franc remains expensive against the euro and raising the cap to 1.25 makes good sense. Analysts are expecting to see a raise during this quarter or in the next quarter as SNB tries to keep its policy intact.

Other people who were also appointed are Fritz Zurbruegg who is now the Head of Federal Finance Administration and Jean-Pierre Danthine who is the new Vice Chairman of the SNB.

Disclaimer
Tradervox.com is not giving advice nor is qualified or licensed to provide financial advice. You must seek guidance from your personal advisors before acting on this information. While we try to ensure that all of the information provided on this website is kept up-to-date and accurate we accept no responsibility for any use made of the information provided. Opinions expressed at Tradervox.com are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Tradervox.com or its management. 

Article provided by TraderVox.com
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Source: ForexYard

The euro turned bearish against virtually all of its main currency rivals yesterday, as risk aversion returned to the marketplace ahead of today’s Spanish debt auction. Additionally, a positive UK Claimant Count Change figure led to a steep drop for the EUR/GBP. Today, in addition to the Spanish news, traders will want to monitor a batch of US news, including the Unemployment Claims and Existing Home Sales figures. Should any of the American news come in above expectations, the US dollar could see gains as a result.

Economic News

USD – US Existing Home Sales May Lead to Dollar Gains

The combination of worries regarding euro-zone debt and the Japanese trade deficit caused investors to shift their funds to the greenback during yesterday’s trading session. The EUR/USD dropped close to 70 pips during the European session, reaching as low as 1.3057 before staging a slight upward correction. Meanwhile, the USD/JPY traded as high as 81.55 yesterday, up around 50 pips for the day. The pair did see some slight downward movement toward the evening session and eventually stabilized at 81.30.

Turning to today, all eyes will likely be on the Spanish long-term debt auction. Unless the auction goes smoothly, euro-zone debt fears are likely to dominate market sentiment which could cause the EUR/USD to tumble. In addition, the dollar could see some volatility against its other main currency rivals following the release of the US Unemployment Claims, Existing Home Sales and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index later in the day. Analysts are predicting positive results for all three indicators, which if true, could help the greenback extend yesterday’s bullish trend.

EUR – Spanish Debt Auction Forecasted to Generate Heavy Volatility

The euro saw significant downward movement yesterday, as fears regarding the Spanish debt situation resurfaced leading to risk aversion. In addition to losses against the US dollar, the euro also tumbled vs. the JPY and GBP. The EUR/JPY dropped as low as 106.16 during the European session, down some 70 pips for the day. The British pound saw major gains against the euro, following a better than expected UK Claimant Count Change released earlier in the day. The EUR/GBP was down around 65 pips, reaching as low as 0.8173.

Today, the long-term Spanish debt auction is likely to be the highlight of the trading day. Analysts are warning that today’s debt sale is likely to be significantly more difficult than Tuesday’s. Should the sale not go smoothly, fears that the debt crisis could spread to other countries may lead to heavy euro losses. That being said, should today’s news turn out to be positive risk taking may return to the marketplace, which could benefit the euro.

Gold – Gold Falls amid Euro-Zone Debt Fears

The price of gold fell throughout yesterday’s trading session, as euro-zone news generated risk aversion in the marketplace. Gold prices have become heavily influenced by euro-zone news in recent weeks. Negative data has caused investors to abandon higher yielding assets, including gold, silver and platinum, in favor of safe-haven currencies like the US dollar. The precious metal fell as low as $1637.64 an ounce during afternoon trading, down from a high of $1654.10 earlier in the day.

Turning to today, the direction gold takes will likely be dependent on the Spanish debt auction. Any positive developments with regards to the Spanish debt crisis could help boost gold prices during the afternoon session. At the same time, analysts are forecasting that today’s auction will be more difficult than the one earlier this week. If true, the price of gold could fall further.

Crude Oil – Oil Turns Bearish Following US Inventories Figure

Crude oil reversed some of its earlier gains during yesterday’s trading session as a higher than forecasted US inventory figure signaled decreased demand in the world’s largest oil consuming country. The US Crude Oil Inventories came in at 3.9M, well above the predicted figure of 1.5M. The price of oil dropped over $1 a barrel yesterday, reaching as low as $103.82 during the evening session.

Turning to today, oil traders will want to carefully monitor the results of the Spanish debt auction. Should the sale not proceed as smoothly as the one earlier this week, risk aversion is likely to return to the marketplace. In such a case, the price of oil is likely to extend yesterday’s bearish trend.

Technical News

EUR/USD

In a sign that a price shift for this pair could occur in the near future, the Bollinger Bands on the weekly chart are narrowing. While most other technical indicators are currently in neutral territory, the MACD/OsMA on the same chart appears close to forming a bullish cross. Traders will want to keep an eye on this indicator, as it may be a sign of future upward movement.

GBP/USD

A bearish cross has formed on the daily chart’s MACD/OsMA, indicating that this pair could see downward movement in the near future. In addition, the Williams Percent Range on the same chart is approaching overbought territory. Traders may want to go short in their positions, ahead of a possible downward correction.

USD/JPY

In a sign that this pair may see downward movement in the coming days, both the Relative Strength Index and Williams Percent Range on the weekly chart are moving toward overbought territory. Traders will want to keep an eye on both of these indicators. Should they continue moving up, it may be a sign of an impending bearish correction.

USD/CHF

Most long term technical indicators show this pair trading in neutral territory, meaning that no defined trend can be predicted at this time. Traders may want to take a wait and see approach, as a clearer trend is likely to present itself in the near future.

The Wild Card

Platinum

The daily chart’s Williams Percent Range has crossed into oversold territory, indicating that an upward correction could occur in the near future. Furthermore, in a sign that any upward movement could be prolonged, the weekly chart’s Slow Stochastic appears to be forming a bullish cross. This may be a good opportunity for forex forex traders to open long positions ahead of a possible upward breach.

Forex Market Analysis provided by ForexYard.

© 2006 by FxYard Ltd

Disclaimer: Trading Foreign Exchange carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. There is a possibility that you could sustain a loss of all of your investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with Foreign Exchange trading.

By MoneyMorning.com.au

Don’t let a bunch of pin-striped bankers tell you how to invest…

When we told one of our new research assistants we couldn’t give a stuff about central bank bailouts, money printing and European sovereign debt, he was shocked.

“None of it matters,” we told him.

“I won’t let a bunch of pin-striped pen pushers and bankers dictate how I play the market. I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done. Scan the market for stocks that could give investors triple-digit percentage gains.”

“And what’s more, I’ll show you just how I plan to do it.”

The result is a film explaining our five best small-cap stock ideas for 2012… you can watch it by clicking here…

A Small-Cap Stock Buyer’s Market

The backbone of our strategy is managing risk.

But not in the way you think.

We’re not managing risk by avoiding it; we’re managing risk by meeting it head on.

While the mainstream runs scared (a headline in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review (AFR) read, “The party’s over, so rein in your risk”) we see value we haven’t seen since 2009.

The “rein in your risk” stuff that mainstream journos write today is what we wrote about two years ago. The AFR went on to say:

“The International Monetary Fund has warned of a decade of restraint for overleveraged economies as they look to make amends for their past sins.”

Don’t get us wrong. That’s good advice… if you had read it in 2009 or 2010.

That’s when we told investors the market had topped out. That it was time to take profits off the table after the 2009 stock rally.

And since then, we’ve warned investors that buying and holding blue-chip growth stocks is a loser’s game. Sure, you’ll get some winners, but as we told Australian Small-Cap Investigator readers in November 2010:

“…the days of locking stocks away in a bottom drawer and forgetting about them are long gone.”

That’s still true. But it doesn’t mean you should turn your back on stocks. Because today the trick to investing isn’t to avoid risk and volatility, it’s to embrace it.

And as we see it, there’s a simple and – if you do it properly – low risk way of using risk and volatility to your advantage…

Don’t Lose Money Like Most “Safe” Investors

It’s funny, but what many investors think of as a “safe” strategy is actually not far from being the riskiest strategy they can make.

Time and again, we hear people say they only buy blue-chips… safe stocks… or big companies… “anything else” (they say) “is just too risky”.

You can see the problem with that strategy right here on this chart…

It’s the S&P/ASX 20.

We’ve chosen this index because it contains 20 of the Aussie market’s biggest stocks. Stocks that most mainstream investors have in their portfolio.

The problem is obvious. Those who bought these “safe” stocks since 2007, are losing money.

In fact, today the index is trading back at 2006 prices.

So for six years, buy and hold investors have seen almost no gains on their blue-chip stock portfolio. Even during the past year, “safe” blue-chip stock investors have lost 15% of their wealth.

Yet still, investors turn to these loser stocks as a way of minimising risk.

When what you should do is ditch them completely.

Then stick most of your cash in the bank.

Buy a handful of dividend paying blue-chips. And with a small portion of your wealth, use volatility and risk to your advantage.

The best way to do that is in the small-cap sector of the market…

The Best Time to Buy Small-Cap Stocks

We know. That sounds crazy.

Yesterday, Spain only just managed to sell €3.2 billion of bonds… reports are that Chinese house prices are falling… and the Reserve Bank of Australia is so worried about the Aussie economy, an interest rate cut is on the cards.

Only a mentalist would think about buying stocks with all that going on in the background.

Well, feel free to call us mental. Because we’re buying stocks.

And if you’ve any interest in having a plus sign in front of your portfolio at the end of this year, we strongly suggest you join this mental gang and buy stocks too.

You see, the reason we don’t care about bailouts and central bankers, is that markets and businesses carry on regardless. In fact, most of the business people we’ve met have nothing but contempt for the folks in Martin Place and Canberra.

Even though the central bankers and pollies think they run the economy, the truth is – they don’t. The people running the economy are individuals… you included.

Think about it. Very rarely do you sit around and wait to see what the pollies or central bankers will do next.

(Even if you put off buying a house because interest rates are going up, that’s just one decision out of the millions of decisions you make each year.)

Business people and entrepreneurs are the same. They’re in the game to make a quid. And you don’t make a quid sitting on your hands. You have to do things… come up with ideas… invent new products and services… muscle in to new markets… the list goes on.

All those things (and more) are happening today… as you read this. And they’ll keep happening whether Spain gets a bailout from the European Central Bank or not.

Take one of the companies we recently tipped in Australian Small-Cap Investigator. It has increased its customer base by an average 159% per year since 2007… it has signed six major deals with multi-national companies in just the past 12 weeks…

And it’s currently working on a new project that could cement this company’s place as a market leader in the Aussie market. Yet the company still has a market capitalisation under $100 million!

It’s those small entrepreneurial companies that we look to invest in. Sure, there’s a lot of risk, and their share prices can be volatile.

In some cases, if the company backs the wrong idea, the shares could even halve in value (just as many blue-chip stocks did in 2008, such as the four major banks).

And if the worst happens, they could even go bust (just like blue-chip stocks Babcock & Brown, Lehman Brothers and Kodak).

But here’s the thing. When a blue-chip company gets things right, it’s not often you see the share price double, triple or quadruple in the space of a few months.

Yet that’s exactly what you can see with small-cap stocks…

Using Small-Cap Stocks To Make Triple-Digit Gains in 2012

You invest just a small part of your portfolio (say 10%) in volatile small-cap stocks. If the worst happens and every one of the stocks you’ve backed goes bust (that’s not very likely), the most you’ve lost is 10%.

But if things go your way, and these tiny entrepreneurial dynamos hit the big time, you could double, triple or quadruple your 10% in just a few months.

That’s the beauty of small-cap investing. You only need to place small bets in order to have the chance to make big gains.

And because you’ve only placed a small bet, your downside is limited to the value of your investment.

The bottom line is this: right now, there’s plenty written about how risky the market is (and it is… very risky). But rather than running scared, it’s your cue to look for spectacular profit opportunities.

And believe me, from what we can see of the market right now, there are plenty of opportunities for risk-hungry investors in small-cap stocks to make big gains.

In fact, in our view, the market hasn’t looked this good in over three years. That’s why now is a great time to buy small-cap stocks.

Cheers.
Kris

P.S. Remember to check out the latest video footage where we explain our top five small-cap stock picks for 2012. Including how we identify these potential money-multipliers, and the easy steps you can take to buy a stake in these companies today. Click here for more…

The Conference of the Year “After America” DVD

Why You MUST Speculate

Disruptive Technology Stocks For Smart Small-Cap Investors

How to Use Small-Cap Stocks to Beat the Buy-and-Hold Blue Chips

By MoneyMorning.com.au

In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay.

The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed.

By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements.

At this point, the imperial government was spending the majority of the funds it collected on either the military or public entitlements. For a time, according to historian Joseph Tainter, “those who lived off the treasury were more numerous than those paying into it.”

Sound Familiar?

In the 5th century, tax riots and all-out rebellion were commonplace in the countryside among the few farmers who remained. The Roman government routinely had to dispatch its legions to stamp out peasant tax revolts.

But this did not stop their taxes from rising.

Valentinian III, who remarked in 444 AD that new taxes on landowners and merchants would be catastrophic, still imposed an additional 4% sales tax… and further decreed that all transactions be conducted in the presence of a tax collector.

Under such a debilitating regime, both rich and poor wished dearly that the barbarian hordes would deliver them from the burden of Roman taxation.

Zosimus, a late 5th century writer, quipped that “as a result of this exaction of taxes, city and countryside were full of laments and complaints, and all… sought the help of the barbarians.”

Many Roman peasants even fought alongside their invaders, as was the case when Balkan miners defected to the Visigoths en masse in 378. Others simply vacated the Empire altogether.

In his book Decadent Societies, historian Robert Adams wrote, “[B]y the fifth century, men were ready to abandon civilization itself in order to escape the fearful load of taxes.”

Perhaps 1,000 years hence, future historians will be writing the same thing about us. It’s not so far-fetched.

In the economic decline of any civilization, political elites routinely call on a very limited playbook: more debt, more regulation, more restriction on freedoms, more debasement of the currency, more taxation, and more insidious enforcement.

Further, the propaganda machine goes into high gear, ensuring the peasant class is too deluded by patriotic fervor to notice they’re being plundered by the state.

And just in case anyone falls out of line or starts thinking too much, they give a handful of people badges, weapons, and the authority to terrorize the population.

Whether direct taxation in the form of outright theft, or indirect taxation in the form of inflation, these tactics have been used for millennia to maintain privilege for an elite few at the expense of everyone else.

This Time is Not Different

At $780 billion, the US government’s budget deficit for just the first six months of FY2012 is more than the entire GDP of Indonesia. This is absurdly unsustainable, yet there is no end in sight to reckless spending habits… let alone paying back what’s owed.

Meanwhile, a whopping $5.5 trillion worth of US debt is maturing over the next three years. And it’s unlikely that foreigners will continue to generously loan their hard earned savings to Uncle Sam at sub-inflation rates.

Further, given the millions of new entitlement recipients, it’s unlikely that intragovernmental agencies like Social Security will have the cash flow available to mop up any meaningful portion of this debt.

That leaves the old tried and true options – direct confiscation from the people through debilitating taxes and capital controls, and indirect confiscation through painfully higher inflation.

Like the 5th century Romans before us, people may be ready to abandon civilization itself to escape the burdens placed on them by today’s ruling class. Only, by the time this happens, it may be too late to start doing anything about it.

Simon Black
Contributing Writer, Money Morning

Publisher’s Note: This article originally appeared in Sovereign Man: Notes From the Field

From the Archives…

The Deep Ocean Frontier For Mining Profits
2012-04-013 – Dr. Alex Cowie

The Turkish Economy: Knocking At The Door
2012-04-12 – Karim Rahemtulla

Inflation and Sovereign Debt – Why The Best Is Yet To Come
2012-04-11 – Nick Hubble

How to Make the Most Out of Small Cap Investing
2012-04-10 – Kris Sayce

Why You MUST Speculate
2012-04-09 – Kris Sayce

All Transactions to be Conducted in the Presence of a Tax Collector

By MoneyMorning.com.au

You have to feel sorry for leaders of banana republics these days – developed world governments have stolen all their best tricks.

Britain, America, Europe and Japan are all printing money; you’ve got capital controls in the form of limits on cash transactions in various parts of Europe; and capital controls by the back door in the US, in the form of draconian legislation that makes it pointlessly risky for overseas financial companies to accept American clients.

How can you top all that?

Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernandez, has just gone with an old classic – a straightforward asset grab. Shareholders in Spanish oil company Repsol look set to have their 57% stake in Argentina’s biggest oil company ripped from them.

That’s bad news for them. And it’s not a good sign overall. It’ll embolden more governments to make similar moves.

But believe it or not, this is a trend that you can profit from.

It Always Boils Down to Politics

Earlier this week, the Argentinian government announced that it was nationalising the country’s largest oil company, YPF.

The trouble is, more than half of YPF was owned by Spanish oil company Repsol – it now looks set to lose almost all of that stake. Repsol is seeking at least $10bn in compensation, but it’s hard to see it having much luck.

The FT quotes RBC Capital Markets analyst Peter Hutton: “Argentina already has more disputes pending against it at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes than any other country.”

Why has Argentina decided to do this? It’s the usual story – politics. The country is in a pretty lousy economic state: inflation is rampant; oil production has fallen because the state keeps interfering to artificially hold down domestic prices, meaning there’s no incentive to invest.

Rather than accept that its own policies are flawed, the Fernandez government would rather fiddle the inflation figures and try to keep the voters happy with populist rhetoric. Hence all the carping about the Falklands, and now the nationalisation of YPF.

On top of that, there may be an internal political angle, according to John Paul Rathbone in the FT. In short, Fernandez may have fallen out with an Argentinian oligarch family who own a big stake in YPF. The nationalisation could be linked to this too.

So it’s all about politics and corruption as usual. In any case, pundits across the world rightly condemned the move. The general line taken is that this sort of theft can’t be tolerated. That’s fair enough, although unenforceable.

The other argument that is always made when this sort of thing happens is that the country in question is shooting itself in the foot. No one else will work with them.

This is perhaps a bit more idealistic. Investors are a remarkably forgiving bunch when they think there might be a profit to be made. There’s always the temptation to believe that you’re smarter than the next person, and that you’ll be nimble enough to get in and out to snatch the quick buck before it’s pulled off the table.

As Stefan Wagstyl points out in the FT’s beyondbrics column, “oil companies have rarely been slow to trample on each other’s toes… For example, after Russia seized the assets of the Yukos group in the early 2000s, Moscow didn’t find it difficult to find potential partners for the state-controlled Rosneft company which now owns most of the former Yukos oil fields”.

Resource Nationalism

This isn’t the last we’ll see of this sort of thing. Governments across the world are keener than ever to get what they see as their ‘fair share’ of their resource profits. It’s called ‘resource nationalism’, though ‘theft’ might be a better word in some cases.

What does this mean for investors? In effect, if governments are going to grab all the best assets for themselves, then it’s bad news for oil companies. However, they’re still going to need external expertise to develop these oil fields. And that’s potentially good news for oil services companies.

However, as far as I’m concerned, I’d rather not play chicken with unpredictable governments.

Developed countries are more than happy to jack up tax rates on resource companies. Britain is a perfect example of that. But at least you can be pretty sure as a shareholder that a whole company won’t be snatched from under you.

John Stepek
Contributing Editor, MoneyWeek (UK)

Publisher’s Note: This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in MoneyWeek (UK).

From the Archives…

The Deep Ocean Frontier For Mining Profits
2012-04-013 – Dr. Alex Cowie

The Turkish Economy: Knocking At The Door
2012-04-12 – Karim Rahemtulla

Inflation and Sovereign Debt – Why The Best Is Yet To Come
2012-04-11 – Nick Hubble

How to Make the Most Out of Small Cap Investing
2012-04-10 – Kris Sayce

Why You MUST Speculate
2012-04-09 – Kris Sayce

Resource Nationalism: Argentina’s Seizure of Oil Company YPF

USDJPY had formed a cycle bottom at 80.31 on 4-hour chart. Further rise to test the resistance of the upper border of the downward price channel is possible later today. As long as the channel resistance holds, the rise is treated as consolidation of the downtrend from 84.17, and another fall is still possible after consolidation. On the other side, a clear break above the channel resistance will indicate that the fall from 84.17 had completed at 80.31 already, then further rise to 83.00 area could be seen.

Written by ForexCycle.com

Source: ForexYard

Crude Oil dropped during  Wednesday’s trading after U.S Supply increases more than expected, resulting in losses for the first time in three days.

Crude prices fell 1.9 percent after claims from the government that crude oil inventories climbed 3.86 million barrels last week. The crude oil inventories result took investors by surprise at it comfortably surpassed the forecast figures.The Bloomberg Survey indicated that the inventories were forecast to rise 1.8 million barrels, the result of the report shows that the actual figures were almost double that.

Oil Inventories rose to 369 million, the highest number since the last week of May of this year.

Forex Market Analysis provided by ForexYard.

© 2006 by FxYard Ltd

Disclaimer: Trading Foreign Exchange carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. There is a possibility that you could sustain a loss of all of your investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with Foreign Exchange trading.

Article by Investment U

Digital Domain Media Group (NYSE: DDMG), the company behind the CGI image of Tupac, is flashing some powerful warning signs right now. Approach with caution.

Tupac’s ghostly appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend may have ushered in a new era of entertainment…

Imagine being able to attend a “live” performance of Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, or any other fallen legend.

Such visions of the future sent Digital Domain Media Group, Inc. (NYSE: DDMG), the company behind the CGI image of Tupac, soaring more than 20% since Monday.

But make sure you do your homework before buying into the hype here. I’m not saying DDMG isn’t an intriguing company to watch going forward, but there are some powerful warning signs flashing right now.

Not So Fast…

Here are a few reasons why it’s best to take a wait-and-see approach with DDMG:

• Digital Domain Media Group is being touted as “the company behind the Tupac Hologram.” Which is the undoubtedly the cause of the 20% run-up this week. However, this is only a half-truth. First, as Ars Technica reported, the image wasn’t technically a hologram at all. It was a slick illusion using an age-old theatre technique called Pepper’s Ghost. And the company that projected the image is Arizona-based private company AV Concepts, Inc. The two companies worked closely to create the illusion with Dr. Dre as the mastermind and financial backing behind the endeavor.

• Although there are already rumors this technology is going to spur a tour including the virtual Tupac, the performance at Coachella was reportedly in the six-figure price range. This high cost will eventually come down, but for now this is something that would have to be saved for a few huge festivals or stadium performances. Meaning it isn’t likely to create a big fad in the near future.

• Digital Domain Media Group isn’t new to this sort of thing. The company was founded by three men, including none other than film-director James Cameron in 1993. It’s already won a slew of Academy Awards for its digital renderings and special effects. But despite the success and longevity, it isn’t currently a profitable endeavor. That should be a major warning sign to investors.

• When DDMG IPO’d late last year, it reached more than $7 per share on its first day. Since then it hasn’t even come close to that level – its still under $6.50 even after the recent 20% bump. One reason for this is that earnings have been horrendous. The company had a precipitous drop in annual earnings for 2011 and didn’t even bring in a gross profit in the final two quarters of 2011.

This stock is obviously just rising on the news alone and that bump likely won’t last much longer. As Alexander Green has stated over and over, the only thing that actually pushes stock prices higher in the long run is earnings growth, and right now DDMG is actually experiencing earnings shrinkage – making it an intriguing short candidate.

That being said, it’s a company that’s very good at what it does and one reason earnings are terrible is because of all the projects it’s trying to push forward over the next few years. So it’s worth the watch – and possibly an entry if the price gets low enough – but investors should definitely avoid this run-up.

Good Investing,

Justin Dove

Article by Investment U