What We're Reading

Things rising now are for the most part due to those (few) who see better earnings ahead, an earnings beat or rising on the struggling dollar........while peers get a definitely smaller bid....or none.  It's a struggle.  You'll notice more losing trades recently as markets are searching out the "good".  Some are talking recession (I don't buy that) while others struggle to find a way to get "through" the soft patch; waiting for 2016.  

In futures, volume has dropped off the cliff overnight.  It's amazing (and worth noting).

One things that's stood out for me is the increase in dividends and buybacks.  Yes, there's been an increase and new ones begun while O&G cut theirs.  Isn't it interesting how the market will do whatever it can to keep people in stocks.  Just sayin'.

AMZN is leading the Nasdaq with AAPL reporting this week but MRVL just announced a much lower 2015 than previously believed so computers seem a weak area.  Spot plays remain such as SNE who just raised their guidance ag

For all you doubters out there, yes I have out my pompoms on the move in gold and silver this week.  You scoffed in March when I said a right shoulder could be formed.  Then again chuckled in April and May 3rd but I ask you who's laughing now?  Already I'm seeing tweets of a possible H&SB and I'm comfortably long SLV calls, enjoying the sunshine.  Scoff all you wish you financial gurus.  Charts don't lie; people do.

This daily for GLD and SLV is intriguing, showing both breaking out of falling wedges (they should test support which would be great to get in or add more shares or calls).

Gold seasonal demand doesn't actually kick in until late Summer for festival season in India, unless you're a believer of getting in early.  Silver does see some season demand in the Summer due to coin manufacturing BUT these two could also be signalling some fear in the equity market topping.  Of course this could also be nothing more than short covering (inflation hedge?) but it is what it is  Bull

• Stocktwits: "investor say the bottom is in for gold"
• Hey, wait a minute.  Didn't StockBuz say watch for a gold (GLD) weekly right shoulder to form back in March and early April?  Even posting on the gold miners here.  We're ahead of the herd once again......maybe.   (click image to enlarge)  At least risk is minimal; stop below $120
• SINA pre-announced an earnings beat but also announced it has received two notices from Chinese regulators stating its "License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs would be revoked due to certain unhealthy and indecent content from third-parties or by users" on Sina.com and its affiliated online literature site.  Ouch!
• JPMorgan becomes the first to warn on trading revenues in Q2, expecting markets revenue to slip 20% after declining 17% in Q1.
• AAPL wins a Federal jury decision again Samsung on smart phone patients but it's a victory for Samsung with less than 10% sought, actually being awarded ($120m vs. $2bil).  The jury rejected Ap

It may not be a popular view but then again, when everyone's on one side, doesn't the market tend to do the opposite of what's expected?  It seems the Elliott Wavers of the blogisphere are calling for gold to head lower here but I stand by my call of last week that the low will hold and we'll see a head-and-shoulders bottom (right shoulder) forming here.  Silver and all of the miners reflect a similar pattern, as posted here at StockBuz last week.  The weekly even resembles a possible double bottom.  Wouldn't that be sweet!  At the very least, down side risk is defined (last weeks low) but with fear in the market and heavy selling continued after the first of the month, utilities (safe haven) are already hitting a new high and I believe flight to precious metals will continue as well.  At least in the near term.  Not a long/hold.

• Schwab says HFT is a "Cancer" that must be addressed.  "The primary principle behind our markets has always  been that no one should carry an unfair advantage. That simple but fundamental principle is being broken." When big players such as Schwab begin to speak out, one must wonder if this will gain attention now.
• GT sold some AMZN 360/365 bear call spreads.  Still feel that's a HST
• Citibank $C reports$400M in fraudulent loans out of their Mexico subsidiary; lowered profit forecast. 
• Kos is calling bearish head-and-shoulder tops in a few ETFs.  Find out which in our charts section.
• Corporate profits continue to show strength - this for the long term investor Califia Beach Pundit
• Using California as a proxy, enrollment in ACA has been good with the exception of Latinos and to a lesser extent young (healthy) Americans.
• After the close, CME lowered margin rqmts. on crude oil, gold, silver and coal..  Seriously?  As if we need higher gasoline to jeopardize the recovery?  Well, inflation

• For all the worrying about weather impacting job creation, Trim Tabs say real time tax receipt data (allegedly more reliable than BLS data) suggests that the economy has been picking up steam.  24/7WallStreet
• A 8.2% magnitude earthquake overnight off the coast of Chile with a 2 meter tsunami.  Supposedly mining operations have not been affected buy you try to tell that to silver and gold this morning.  They're not buying it (so far)
• Interesting metrics from Flurry on mobile usage today.  GOOG accounts for 18% of time spent by consumers which includes YouTube, while FB is 17%.   Android web browsing is losing market share, going from 20% or usage down to 14%
• Facebook apps continue to hold strength ahead of Google according to Comscore data..  Twitter's app was only used by 22.8% of U.S. smartphone users in January. 77.6% used Facebook's core app, and 27.5% Instagram. Five different Google apps were used by over 40% of users.
• The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) met it's targ

Today was a typical Saturday.  I began to scan my watchlist, ran through the indexes and flipped through my favorite web pages for tidbits of stockmarket insight.   At one point I noticed that in wake of yesterdays selloff in gold/silver, suddenly people were posting seasonal charts for gold and silver.....as if they had just been discovered.  Helllllo McFly.   No, there is no seasonal demand for  the shiny stuff here.  Hasn't been; move along.  Economies are healing; meaning there's less of a need to hedge yourself with gold and bonds.  With no demand and less of a flight to safety,the big boys are taking profits.  Again, nothing there, move along.

I think some people just stopped paying attention but world economies are less bad, period.  While we're not out of the woods, unemployment is stabilizing.  Jobs are coming back, albeit slowly and low paying...but things are no longer deteriorating.  Maybe the gurus out there just didn't want their subscribers to know the secret to their a