Category: INO.com Contributors

Should We Believe The 'Transitory' Story?

Posted on by George Yacik

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


The bond market may have stopped listening to the Federal Reserve, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't know what the voting members of its monetary policy committee are thinking. What's clear is that they're not as united as they were at their last meeting just two weeks ago, when they voted nearly unanimously to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, with only Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari voting against.

Now, no sooner was the vote cast, but it appears that it at least one member, maybe two, have misgivings about voting for the increase. At the very least, they're not as much in a hurry to raise rates again soon, if not until the end of this year, if not even later.

Still, as you would expect – or hope for – in a body of intelligent people, there's a strong difference of opinion on what the Fed should do next as it concerns interest rates. Continue reading "Should We Believe The 'Transitory' Story?" →

Why ETFs Close And How To Avoid Buying One That May Close

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


As Exchange Traded Funds become more popular and more money flows into this asset class, it is inevitable that more ETFs will both open and unfortunately close. Currently there are more than $3 trillion in assets in ETFs spread across more than 2,000 different options to choose from.

In 2016 we saw 216 new Exchange Traded Funds. But we also saw 58 funds closed last year. While there can be a number of different reasons funds are closed, the bulk of ETF closures occur because of one of the following three reasons; a weak ETF issuer, low assets under management, or a low rank within its industry.

If you understand why these are the three main reasons an ETF will close, you will be able to avoid buying ETFs that show similar traits. Furthermore you will likely save yourself a big head-ache, and more importantly a lot of money. Continue reading "Why ETFs Close And How To Avoid Buying One That May Close" →

Global Seasonal Oil Stock Draw In Jeopardy

Posted on by Robert Boslego

Robert Boslego - INO.com Contributor - Energies


OPEC has set as its goal to reduce global OECD oil inventories to their five-year average. In his opening address to the 172nd meeting of the OPEC conference, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid A. Al-Falih, remarked, "The market is now well on its way toward rebalancing."

After the meeting, Mr. Al-Falih said in a press conference that the current production quotas will "do the trick" of rebalancing stocks to normal levels within six months. But they extended the cuts to nine months because of the seasonal decline in demand expected in the first quarter of 2018.

OPEC Khalid A. Al-Falih

In May, OPEC reported that OECD global inventories are 276 million above the 5-year average. OPEC estimated its production in the first quarter to be 31.944 million barrels per day (mmbd). Assuming April's production of 31.7 holds for the remainder of 2017, there will be a total global stock draw of just 29 million in 2017: Continue reading "Global Seasonal Oil Stock Draw In Jeopardy" →

Stock Analysis From A To Z: Letter "B"

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

Aibek Burabayev - INO.com Contributor - Metals


In this post I would like to share with you the analysis of the stocks with a name starting with letter “B”. There are more stocks to choose from this time, according to the earlier mentioned filter criteria. Four stocks were shortlisted this time as they have clearer chart structure, but only two stocks reached the “well done” level. I witnessed again and again that U.S. stock market offers a lot of opportunities for investors and traders.

Below is the long list for letter “B”.

Table 1. Selected stocks for letter B

Table 1. Selected stocks for letter B
Image courtesy of finviz.com

Out of 24 filtered stocks I picked only four as they have clear chart structure: BBBY, BGCP, BWA and BYD. BBBY is oversold and has the potential for the long trade setup, but one should wait for the breakout of the multi-month downtrend, and try not to guess the bottom, which is always risky. Others have potential short trade setups. BYD, like BBBY is also not ready and continues upside. As I told you many times before, we shouldn’t be biased. I am neither a Permabear nor a Permabull, however only short setups have appeared recently on the chart radar. Continue reading "Stock Analysis From A To Z: Letter "B"" →

Nikkei 225: Follow The Trail

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


Since the start of 2017, the Nikkei 225 has lagged in performance; with a 2.8% return since 2017 began, it lagged the S&P 500'S 2.8% RETURN, and it lagged its Asian peers, the Hang Sang and the South Korean KOSPI, which gained 16% and 16.7%, respectively, year to date. Despite all that lagging, however, the future trend for the Nikkei 225 might be the most promising. The reason? The BoJ’s monetary policy, and how it is trailing the performance of the Japanese economy.

BoJ Policy vs Reality

In a recent speech at the University of Oxford, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stressed that, despite the latest improvement in Japan’s economic performance, inflation (the rise in prices) is still far from the BoJ’s target of 2%. As the official statistic released from Japan’s statistic Bureau suggests, Kuroda is right. Japan’s headline inflation hit 0.4%, still persistently close to 0%. Add to that the risk of another sell-off in oil and the downside risk for Japanese inflation seems very present. Together, that makes it incumbent upon the Bank of Japan to keep its ultra-loose policy. Nonetheless, something about Japan’s official data doesn't add up. Continue reading "Nikkei 225: Follow The Trail" →