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Some Oil Companies Are Profiting From The Price Slide Through Trading

Some Oil Companies Are Profiting From The Price Slide Through Trading How Big Oil Is Profiting From the Slump by Javier Blas Europes largest oil companies are gaining support from an unlikely source as they confront the industrys worst slump since the financial crisis: lower oil prices. Although better known for their oil fields, refineries, and petrol stations, BP Plc (BP), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS/A) and Total SA (TOT) are also the worlds biggest oil traders, handling enough crude and refined products every day to meet the consumption of Japan, India, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The trios sway in commodities trading, largely unknown outside the industry, is set to pay off in 2015 as the bear market allows traders to generate higher returns by storing cheap oil today to sell at higher prices later and using lower prices to make more []

By This Measure, The Current Bull Market Is Reaching Historic Levels

By This Measure, The Current Bull Market Is Reaching Historic Levels Where Does The Current Bull Market Rank Historically? by Bespoke Invest We just passed Mondays six-year calendar anniversary of the S&P 500s 3/9/09 bear market low. The generally accepted measure for a bull market is a rally of at least 20% that was preceded by a decline of at least 20% (based on closing prices). Using this calculation, below are two tables showing historical bull markets for the S&P 500 (SPX) (SPY) going back to 1928. The table on the left shows bull markets by date (oldest to most recent), while the table on the right shows bull markets by length (from longest to shortest). Looking at the table on the right, the current bull market now ranks 4th in terms of longest bull markets on record. Since its beginning at the close []

Will Fridays Selloff Have Legs? Weekly Market Outlook

Will Fridays Selloff Have Legs? Weekly Market Outlook Though it wasnt necessarily a bullish week, the market was holding up well enough until Fridays implosion. That one bad day pulled the market under some key support levels, and as such we now have to entertain the possibility that some selling weakness has been opened. And yet, theres still a beacon of hope for a quick rebound. Well dissect the broad markets odds below. First, lets paint look at the bigger picture painted by the economy. Economic Data Though last week was jam-packed with economic news, none of it was as important or as impactful as Fridays grand finale Februarys employment data. It was much better than expected, sparking a chain reaction of events that may have caused some of the selling on Friday and could have longer effects. The good news was, the nations unemployment []

Will Fridays Selloff Have Legs? Weekly Market Outlook Though it wasnt necessarily a bullish week, the market was holding up well enough until Fridays implosion. That one bad day pulled the market under some key support levels, and as such we now have to entertain the possibility that some selling weakness has been opened. And yet, theres still a beacon of hope for a quick rebound. Well dissect the broad markets odds below. First, lets paint look at the bigger picture painted by the economy. Economic Data Though last week was jam-packed with economic news, none of it was as important or as impactful as []

Watching Closely Here Weekly Market Outlook Believe it or not, the S&P 500 (SPX) (SPY) lost ground last week. It was a just barely situation, and the Russell 2000 (RUT) (IWM) as well as the NASDAQ Composite (COMP) (QQQ) both ended the week higher even with Fridays pullbacks. The across-the-board weakness to close out the week, however, is something to think about even if its not yet something to worry about. The odds are weighed below. Lets first dissect last weeks economic numbers and preview whats coming up this week. Economic Data It was a busy week last week from start to finish on []

Pretty Clear Breakout Amid Valuation Challenges Weekly Market Outlook It wasnt necessarily a huge gain for the market last week, but it was an important one. Most indices tiptoed into new-high (record high) territory on Tuesday, and after stalling for a couple of days then made a bold thrust into record high territory again on Friday. All told, last weeks close of 2110.3 for the S&P 500 (SPX) (SPY) translated into a 0.6% gain for the holiday-shortened week. Though valuation challenges are going to make it tough for stocks to continue rallying, from the technical perspective this is a pretty clear breakout. Just keep a []

Textbook Breakout, Will It Confirm? Weekly Market Outlook While most everyone knows last week was a good one for the market, it may not be clear just how eventful it really was. The S&P 500s (SPX) (SPY) 2.0% gain last week carried the index to record highs and a record high close. On the surface its technically bullish, so well take the clue at face value. Well also point out, however, most of the recent surges like last weeks ended up turning tail pretty quickly. Well still need to keep things on a short leash until this breakout effort is confirmed as the real []

Some Oil Companies Are Profiting From The Price Slide Through Trading How Big Oil Is Profiting From the Slump by Javier Blas Europes largest oil companies are gaining support from an unlikely source as they confront the industrys worst slump since the financial crisis: lower oil prices. Although better known for their oil fields, refineries, and petrol stations, BP Plc (BP), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS/A) and Total SA (TOT) are also the worlds biggest oil traders, handling enough crude and refined products every day to meet the consumption of Japan, India, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The trios sway in commodities trading, []

China by the Numbers While the economy is slowing, theres still plenty of demand by Malcolm Scott Chinas Premier Li Keqiang Thursday announced a slower economic growth target of about 7% for 2015. Is that bad news for the world? Some of the other numbers detailed in his 39-page work report suggest theres still plenty of demand stemming from the worlds second-largest economy (FXI). Here are a few: The number of broadband Internet users exceeded 780 million, more than the populations in the euro area and U.S. combined. An extra 230,000 kilometers (142,915 miles) of roads were built or upgraded in rural areas thats []

Small Cap Health Care & Biotech Leading The Way In 2015 Thus Far Health Care/Biotech Names Still Dominating The average stock in the Russell 3,000 (which makes up roughly 98% of US-listed stocks) is now up 1.68% in 2015. Below we have calculated the average year-to-date performance of stocks by sector. As shown, Health Care (XLV) (IBB) stocks are up by far the most with an average YTD gain of 8.06%. Technology (XLV) stocks are up the second most at just +2.29%, followed by Telecom at +2.14%. Health Care, Technology and Telecom (IYZ) are the only three sectors outperforming the average stock in the Russell 3,000 []

Contrarian Alert Big Spike In Short Interest In Energy Sector Energy Sector Short Interest Going Parabolic by Bespoke Invest Short interest figures for the end of January were released after the close Tuesday. There were a number of noteworthy aspects to this months report, but the one that sticks out the most has to do with the Energy sector (XLE). As of the end of January, the average stock in the Energy sector had 9.88% of its floating shares sold short. As the chart below illustrates, this is the highest level of short interest for the sector since at least 2008. The fact that []

Gold Sentiment Is Low Amid Poor Price Action, But Not At Extreme Lows Gold-market investors I follow are now 100% in cash by Mark Hulbert The gold-market timers I track arent exhibiting the extreme pessimism and despair that is the hallmark of a bottom in prices, despite a dismal six-week period for the yellow metal. Over the past month and a half, the March Comex gold contract has fallen by more than $100 from a high of $1,307 on Jan. 22 to a low of $1,195 earlier this week. Its currently just above $1,200. In fact, bullion is now back to within shouting distance []

Is China Preparing For Currency War? by William Pesek China has entered the global monetary-easing fray, along with more than a dozen other economies, after its central bank surprised investors by cutting reserve requirements 50 basis points to spur lending and combat deflation. But Beijing may be raring for an even bigger and more perilous fight in the currency markets. Reducing the amount of cash that banks are required to set aside (to 19.5 percent), as China has just done, is largely symbolic a dont-panic-were-on-top-of-things reassurance to international markets and local property developers. Still, the move is also an inflection point. China is []

Euro Hits 11 Year Lows After ECB, Could Be Headed To $1 Parity Euro falls sharply, hits 11-year lows as sellers rush in after ECB by Barbara Kollmeyer The Euro (FXE) was falling on Friday, tumbling to levels not seen in 11 years as reaction to a massive asset-purchasing program from the European Central Bank continued to take a toll on the single currency. Aussie Dollar (FXA) also hits new low under $0.80. In Australia, the dollar ripped lower against the U.S. currency. ECB President Mario Draghi said Thursday the central bank will buy 60 billion Euros ($69 billion) of public and private-sector debt every []

Surprise Huge Move In Swiss Franc From Switzerland Central Bank From tsunami to bombshell, reactions to Swiss shock move by Sara Sjolin The Swiss National Bank took financial markets by deep surprise on Thursday, when it scrapped its euro exchange cap and lowered interest rates. [The Swiss Franc surged more than 20%, ending more than three years of calm in Swiss foreign exchange markets. The Swiss National Bank has intervened in markets since September 2011 to prevent the franc climbing too high, acquiring billions of Euros in an effort to stop the common currency dropping below 1.20 to the franc. In the aftermath of the []

By This Measure, The Current Bull Market Is Reaching Historic Levels Where Does The Current Bull Market Rank Historically? by Bespoke Invest We just passed Mondays six-year calendar anniversary of the S&P 500s 3/9/09 bear market low. The generally accepted measure for a bull market is a rally of at least 20% that was preceded by a decline of at least 20% (based on closing prices). Using this calculation, below are two tables showing historical bull markets for the S&P 500 (SPX) (SPY) going back to 1928. The table on the left shows bull markets by date (oldest to most recent), while the table []

The Most Heavily Shorted Large Cap Stocks Heres a List of the Most Heavily Shorted Stocks in the Russell 1,000 by Bespoke Invest Below is a basic list of the most heavily shorted stocks (short interest as a percentage of equity float) in the Russell 1,000 (large cap stocks). Each stock on this list has at least 20% of its floated shares sold short. For each stock, we also include its year-to-date performance. The average year-to-date change of the stocks on this list is currently +0.75%. Compared to the average YTD change of roughly 3.5% for all stocks in the Russell 1,000, the most heavily []

The Hot New Statistic Oil Traders Are Watching Is 71 Years Old by Lynn Doan & Daniel Murtagh It was like clockwork. Every week since 1944, Baker Hughes Inc. would release its survey of how many rigs were out drilling for U.S oil and gas. And every week, oil and gas traders would, for the most part, overlook it. What a difference a $50-a-barrel slide in oil (USO) makes. This past Friday, traders were bent over their desks, staring at their screens, waiting for 1 p.m. New York time to see whether drillers extended their biggest-ever retreat from U.S. oil fields. (They did.) Oil futures []

Chart Analysis Of Oil, Dollar, Commodities Has Oil Finally Bottomed? by Gary Savage Has oil finally bottomed? I think yes well at least temporarily. Let me explain. A main culprit driving the CRB (Commodity Research Bureau Index, a basket of commodities) and oil (USO) down over the last 7 months has been the powerful surge in the dollar (UUP). Dollar / Oil / CRB Chart Over the last week oil has shown all the signs of putting in an intermediate degree bottom. It has completed a weekly swing low, along with a classic undercut bear trap reversal. Both are signs that a larger degree bottom has []

13 Experienced Investors Share Their Biggest Mistake & How To Fix It 13 Investors Share Their Biggest Investing Mistake And What They Did To Fix It by Lukas Neely We tapped the minds of some of our favorite investors and experts to tell us what their biggest investing mistake was and how they fixed it. Here are the panel of experts — David Merkel, Principal of Aleph Investments. — William Bernstein, Best Selling Author of The Four Pillars of Investing, EfficientFrontier.com. — Charlie Tian, Founder of GuruFocus.com. — Todd Sullivan, Co-Founder and General Partner in Rand Strategic Partners. — Tobias Carlisle, Founder and managing director of []

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Using Fibonacci To Find Key Long-Term Levels Placing Fibonacci Grids Is Key To Your Trading Strategy by Alan Farley The Fibonacci grid found in popular charting programs lets traders uncover hidden support and resistance created by the Golden Ratio, but most fail to tap its enormous potential because they dont know how to stretch the grid, often picking the wrong prices. Even worse, they fail to add long- term grids that are often needed for an in-depth harmonic analysis. Lets correct these technical errors with a quick primer on the most effective ways to construct perfectly placed grids. The Fibonacci grid supports all sorts of []

5 Stocks Likely To Boost Their Dividends Soon Five stocks that are about to boost their dividends by Michael Fowlkes As a dividend-focused investor, there is nothing I like more than news of a stock in portfolio announcing a dividend increase. Companies are always announcing dividend increases, and while the expected increase does not typically result in the stock price moving higher ahead of the announcement, shares are likely to trend a little higher just following the news. When companies announce dividends, they also announce an ex-dividend date, which is the last day you can buy the stock and still be eligible for the higher []