Gold Chart of The Week

Each Week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report (August 19th through August 23rd)

Market bulls were dealt a blow last week as stock traders began booking profit on long positions in expectation of a FED taper in their bond purchase program. The selling pushed the stock indexes lower throughout the week until the Dow suffered its largest weekly drop in over a year. Similarly, the US Bond Markets fell under pressure as traders continued to try to anticipate the FED’s next decision regarding Quantitative Easing and Interest Rates. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"

Gold Chart of The Week

Each Week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report August 12th through August 16th

Summer markets and light volume trading should continue to be the focus for the upcoming week. Despite the fact that the next five trading days have quite a bit of data to present, the reports are divided equally between the United States and Europe, along with a few from Japan and Great Britain. This mix of intermarket and intercontinental data should provide decent intraday volatility to trade, but I do not expect any fireworks.

The two standouts this week will be Retail Sales in the US and GDP reports from Germany, France and the Eurozone. Any one of these reports can provide some nice movement in the Currencies and Stock Indexes, but lighter volume trading should cap any major movement. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"

Gold Chart of The Week

Each Week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report (August 5th through August 9th)

I am probably not alone in thinking that I am happy to finally have last week in the rear view mirror. Despite the fact that most economists had their sights set on the September FOMC Meeting, there was still the possibility of a surprise decision to taper ahead of next month. After hearing the news that the FED will maintain their QE stance, we still had to deal with Central Bank announcements from the BOE and the ECB. Following the same supportive outlook, we looked ahead to the monthly Non Farm Payroll on Friday.

Despite decent figures from the private sector in the US, along with an improvement in the weekly jobless claims, the NFP did miss expectations. Considering the fact that Ben Bernanke and Co. have pegged their participation largely to the labor market, this miss bought the market at least another month of FED support. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"

Are Gold Equities on the Cusp of an Upswing?

The Gold Report: Ron, the Federal Reserve has decided to continue quantitative easing (QE) for the foreseeable future. Gold has risen steadily since that news. Is that what you predicted the Fed would do?

Ron Struthers: It is not that hard to predict the Fed's behavior when you understand what it's trying to do and how it's trying to do it. I do not take what they say literally, except within the context of its goals. The Fed is trying to instill confidence in the economy because of massive U.S. debt and its future debt appetite. The economy needs to improve for there to be higher tax receipts. We need foreign investment to finance the debt. If the Fed can convince Americans and those abroad that its bonds are the safest/most attractive, its stock market will have the best returns and that debt machine keeps running.

But the truth is that the economy is very weak. Employment is weak. Foreign investment has been fleeing. The Fed has to purchase $85 billion of debt a month because nobody else will. The Fed can't do this forever, and it knows it. It has to talk as if the economy is improving so the Fed debt purchases can end in the near future.

If you dig into what's really going on in the economy and markets, you'll find the underlying weakness that guarantees that QE will be here for a long time, as least as long as the markets themselves will allow it or are tricked into allowing it.

TGR: Why are Americans so complicit in this? Continue reading "Are Gold Equities on the Cusp of an Upswing?"

Gold Chart of The Week

Each Week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report July 29th through August 2nd

Fasten your seat belts traders, for this upcoming week is about as full as can be with data in the US and across the pond. We begin the week with Pending Home Sales in the US and tonight Japan will report Industrial Production figures. Tuesday provides German CPI and Consumer Confidence number in the US. Traders will have to be up early to see what will likely be more disappointing unemployment figures in Europe, followed by the ADP Employment Report and the US GDP before the opening bell. A few hours after stocks open, we should breeze through the Chicago PMI report in anticipation of this month’s FOMC announcement and Interest Rate Decision where the FED is not expected to make any policy changes. Early on Thursday morning, we hear from the BOE and the ECB regarding their Interest Rates, followed by Weekly Jobless Claims in America, and finally ISM figures after the open. To close out the week, we will see Non Farm Payrolls followed by a speech from a FED Member. And try not to forget that we are still reporting earnings in the United States! Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"