S&P 500 Posts Another Record Close On Friday

The S&P 500 rose slightly on Friday, climbing +0.2% to post a new record closing high of 4,247.44, its second record close in a row to end the week. The NASDAQ advanced +0.4% to 14,069.42 with Apple, Microsoft, and Netflix all making gains, and the DOW gained 13.36 points or +.04% to 34,479.60.

As for the weekly results, the S&P 500 posted a +0.4% gain marking its third consecutive positive week. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ had the largest gains of the three major indexes, gaining +1.8% for the week and posting its fourth straight winning week in a row. Meanwhile, the DOW's struggles continued, with it falling -0.8% on the week. Continue reading "S&P 500 Posts Another Record Close On Friday"

Silver Favor Bulls; Bitcoin To Zero?

Let us start with the positive news; I spotted a hopeful sign in the silver chart. In my earlier update last month, I anticipated a correction to come in the dollar, gold, and silver charts.

Daily Silver Chart

The cleanest retracement among the assets mentioned above appeared in the silver chart as it met minimum requirements. Silver’s price broke below gray support, and the correction almost hit the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level. It consists of two distinct legs down marked with red numbers. Continue reading "Silver Favor Bulls; Bitcoin To Zero?"

The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange

In our prior installments, we talked about Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), two cryptocurrencies that were worthy of a place in just about everyone’s portfolio: BTC is the big boy on the block and is a great store of value while ETH takes advantage of the computational features of blockchain technology.

Hopefully, I was also painfully clear that investing in any cryptocurrency – including BTC and ETH -- involves substantial risk. You can lose big. So, if you’re thinking about taking the plunge, do so sparingly. A good rule of thumb: Don’t set aside more than 1% to 2% of your portfolio for crypto.

Now, after all, that, if you’re set to invest in a little cryptocurrency, welcome to the club! I think this class of assets is the future. It’s super-exciting and chock-full of potential, including profit potential.

But before you can get to that potential, you’ll need to actually buy some cryptocurrency. So, today, we’re going to do a deep-dive into one of the best ways to buy crypto: By using the popular crypto exchange, Coinbase (COIN).

Coinbase Is Big And Easy

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past few months, you’ve heard about the wildly popular IPO (actually, direct listing) of Coinbase. Although it's off its highs, the shares now boast an eye-popping $63 billion market cap. And while Coinbase isn’t the biggest on a global scale, it’s the biggest in the U.S. Continue reading "The Best Cryptocurrency Exchange"

S&P 500 Post Fourth Straight Monthly Gain

The S&P 500 rose slightly on Friday in light trading heading into the long weekend to post its fourth straight monthly gain amid growing optimism over the U.S. economic recovery.

The S&P 500 ended the session up +0.1% to 4,204.11, sitting just 0.8% from its all-time record high. The DOW gained 64.81 points or +.19% 34,529.45, and the NASDAQ inched up +0.1% to close at 13,748.74.

Both the DOW and the S&P 500 advanced +0.9% and +1.1% last week, respectively, with both indexes breaking a two-week losing streak. The NASDAQ rose +2% to post its best weekly performance since April 9. Continue reading "S&P 500 Post Fourth Straight Monthly Gain"

Bitcoin Falls To End Volatile Week

Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market overall are heading into the weekend down after a volatile week. Bitcoin will end the week down roughly -23% as I write this article after China released a statement stating that it is necessary to "crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field."

China's tough talk comes just a day after U.S. officials pledged to get tough on those using Bitcoin to conduct "illegal activity broadly including tax evasion." The Treasury Department said it would require reporting on cryptocurrency transfers of more than $10,000, just as with cash. Continue reading "Bitcoin Falls To End Volatile Week"