Snow Can't Dampen Brighter Employment News

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


The only thing standing in the way of an interest rate hike this week is the blizzard that’s supposed to hit the Northeast corridor on Tuesday, which might postpone the Federal Reserve meeting (unless they meet by conference call) but it only delays the inevitable.

If the verdict hadn’t been sealed already, it surely was after last Friday’s February jobs report. The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls rose by 235,000, well above the consensus estimate of 200,000 and at the high end of individual forecasts. Labor also upwardly revised January’s figure to 238,000, making it the best back-to-back performance since last July. At the same time, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7% while the labor participation rate rose another tick to 63.0%. Wages grew 2.8% compared to a year earlier.

The report was actually the second strong jobs story of the week. ADP said private sector payrolls jumped by 298,000 last month, beating the consensus forecast by more than 100,000.

While I’m reluctant to give a president who’s been in office less than two months much credit for this showing, I think we have to give President Trump more than a few props for it. Despite the daily barrage of attacks, negative stories and fake news in the so-called mainstream press on Trump, unquestionably he has almost single-handedly changed the investment tone in this country since he was elected. First, it showed up in the stock market; now it’s starting to goose the employment numbers. Continue reading "Snow Can't Dampen Brighter Employment News"

Doubts And Fears Still Loom For The Dollar

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


Growth momentum is back in America? That is what investors believe after the positive surprise from the latest US GDP release. The second US GDP release for Q4 2015 was revised higher to 1% from 0.7%. Core PCE Inflation was also encouraging, reflecting a 1.67% rate of inflation. But while data from the last quarter has certainly been less anaemic, Dollar bulls shouldn’t pop the champagne just yet. Doubts over the current quarter continue to exist. Risks still loom and hurdles need to be cleared before we get another move higher.

What Looms On The Dollar?

Of course, I continue to reiterate that the Dollar’s long-term trajectory is still up. However, there are soft patches along the way because even the US economy can’t always perform well. And when those soft patches occur the FX market will be filled with doubt and the Dollar will dip again.

Then, when once again it becomes clear the US economy is still the outpacing its peers, confidence will return. And with that, we will get another bullish wave. But as long as there is doubt the Dollar will find it hard to break into new highs. Continue reading "Doubts And Fears Still Loom For The Dollar"

Are Investors Secretly Turning Bearish On The Dollar?

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


Less than two weeks into 2016 and history has already been made. This January will go down in the record books as Wall Street’s worst in decades. China is losing control, the Middle East is boiling over and the Emerging Markets are in dire straits. All of which has led stocks to shed more than a trillion dollars in value.

It’s the classic boiling-to-the-brim pot which suggests we’re ready to push the dollar higher, right? Instead, dollar strength has really been rather tame which, on the face of it, is quite puzzling. That is unless investors have secretly been turning bearish on the greenback. The question is, are they? Continue reading "Are Investors Secretly Turning Bearish On The Dollar?"

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.

Before the release of the Non Farm Payrolls last week on Friday, US markets could not catch a break. Lower highs and lower lows were put in on the daily chart of the S&P 500 after the new high was printed on November 29th. On Thursday, stocks took the day to consolidate inside the prior days price range, but exploded to the upside at 7:30 cst. Markets were treated to a better-than-expected jobs number where 203,000 jobs were created and the jobless rate in the US hit a five year low. Additionally, Consumer Confidence in the US shot up to a five year high soon after the jobs numbers were posted. In short, LAST WEEK traders and investors used favorable reports as a reason to buy equities. The big question is whether the stock market will react the same way THIS WEEK, when data is released. We will have to wait and see. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"