In attempting to guarantee her re-election in the fall of 2014, the incumbent Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff manipulated the federal budget figures to mask a rising deficit. There were fears that if the public was more aware of the rising debt levels, her chances of being returned to office would have been diminished. The President was at a cross roads and she made a choice to obscure and falsify documentation to preserve her power. It has been a slippery slope ever since. […]
Weekly Market Review & Target Fills April Week 2
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has revised downward global trade growth for 2016 from 3.9% to 2.8%. This is the same rate of growth for 2015 and it is the fifth year in a row, that it has remained below 3%. The slowdown in China and the volatility in world markets, continue to depress growth on a broad level. The present divide among officials in the United States Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) between those that think interest rates should be raised immediately […]
The United States Recession Of 2016 Is Already Here
On March 18th of this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) was finally in positive territory for the year at 0.3%. For most of the quarter, investors had witnessed massive losses in most equity markets in the United States and globally. The domestic GDP (Gross Domestic Product) slowed further to below 1% after a steadily declining performance in 2015. Although the United States narrowly escaped negative growth for the quarter, business profits were already in recession. They are likely to remain […]
Weekly Market Review & April Week 1
The week began with markets closed for the Easter holiday in Europe and in Hong Kong. Asian indices were mostly in the red on Monday. In contrast, the major exchanges in the United States started positive for investors. The most important financial news of the week was the announcement by the United States Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Janet Yellen, that there was no urgency to increase interest rates at this time. There was also further indication that instead of four rate rises […]
Massive Migration Into Europe Has Created A Crisis
What had began as a mainly humanitarian effort has turned into a full scale crisis. The deluge of migrants arriving into Europe from not only the war shattered countries of Iraq and Syria, but from all over the Middle East has created an untenable situation for a number of countries. Time is rapidly running out for advocates of policies that favor refugees, as the economic and political costs continue to mount. The epicenter of the fiasco is Germany. The country has become […]
Weekly Market Review & Target Fills March Week 4
This week was dominated by two events, the terrorist attacks in Belgium and the increasing talk of a possible interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve Bank in the United States. Together they put a halt on an ongoing 5 week rally for investors in the global markets, that had erased most of the losses from earlier this year. The Central Bank of the United States some claim may raise interest rates as early as next month. Other analysts disagree, but the […]
Weekly Market Review & Target Fills March Week 3
This week saw a general movement up for most world markets. In the United States (U.S.) the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) moved into positive territory on Thursday, for the first time this year. It has been a remarkable comeback from the worst start ever for this key exchange. The composite is now above 17,600 points. The American S&P 500 reached its highest level for 2016 this week. These developments were largely the results of stabilizing oil prices, easing recessionary fears and […]
Weekly Market Review & Target Fills March Week 2
The week began on the positive side for investors with markets in the United States advancing for the third week in a row. This was directly the result of the jobs report from last Friday confirming the creation of 242,000 jobs in the month of February of which 230,000 originated in the private sector. The performance in the markets were also correlated to two other factors which included, rising crude prices and the hope of more stimulus by the ECB (European Central […]
Oil Prices: No Real Recovery Yet
The pundits continue to insist that a real recovery in oil prices has arrived or will be here shortly. They will provide a host of reasons why this will occur. Meetings and comments by various individuals associated with crude production, are given far more credence than is warranted by actual results. Investors are given a daily barrage of conflicting reports, that fail to accurately give a reliable direction for prices beyond a single day. There are many brokers, investment houses, international banks […]
Weekly Market Review March Week 1
There was a broad recovery in oil prices this week. American WTI (West Texas Intermediate) bounced back above $34.00 USD (United States Dollar) and international priced Brent moved above $37.00 USD. The problem for investors remains oversupply. The world will use about 95 million barrels of crude and other liquid fuels a day in 2016. This is an increase of 1.2 million from last year. The problem remains that there will be a surplus production of well over 1 million barrels a […]