Via Energy and Gold.com: US equities have come under heavy pressure this week after the small-cap Russell 2000 post yet another all-time high last week. There are more than a few signs that all is not well for equities, however, the situation is not yet dire: The recent uptrend in IWM is currently being tested… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Howard Marks, the legendary founder of Oaktree Capital Management, is out with his latest quarterly memo and it is titled “Liquidity”. Marks offers us a treatise on liquidity in capital markets as he delves into the illusion of liquidity that many investors assign to mutual funds and ETFs. He also reviews the… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Less than 10 days ago the gold miners were being pushed to the brink of collapse as gold waffled in the mid $1100s. This morning after an impressive rally to finish last week the gold miners are back to being on the verge of testing an area of support/resistance which they have traversed… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: The small cap Russell 2000 Index has exhibited relative strength for several weeks and seemingly makes another all-time high with each new day. Even as the S&P and Dow suffered some notable down days the Russell managed to remain well bid and has spent the last four days of this week making fresh… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Eurozone equity allocations have not been this high since 2006 which happened to coincide with a major peak in relative performance of EU equities vs. the world:   Meanwhile, the German DAX Composite Index hasn’t been this far above its 50-day simple moving average ever! Not even the 2000 dot-com bubble… Continue Reading

The main driver of the US equity bull market and the recent slew of all-time highs has undoubtedly been corporate stock buybacks. Nearly 3/4 of S&P 500 companies (72%) participated in share buybacks during the 4th quarter of 2014 and the total dollar amount of share buybacks was the 2nd largest ever, second only to… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Solars are easily the best performing sector of 2015. Here are just a few of the percentage gains we have seen among solar stocks in 2015: CSIQ +32% FSLR +33% SPWR +26.3% TSL +21%   During the past week solars have fallen along with the broader equity market pullback. I believe… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Lets face it, nobody is bullish on the euro, nobody! Even ECB President Mario Draghi probably has a secret short position in the EUR/USD in order to hedge his euro exposure from his salary at the ECB. If the following sentiment chart could fall below 0 it would probably be at… Continue Reading

44 comments for TMX Group, directors, auditors, and regulators These 44 comments on TSX- and TSXV-listed natural resource companies, and the accompanying schedules, have been prepared with the objective of identifying some of the contributors to the many problems faced by junior exploration companies and their investors, and hopefully convincing those responsible that there is… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Some market commentators like to post bold headlines that make outrageous claims such as “Stock Set to Double in 3 Months” etc. While I do expect the junior resource sector to trade at multiples of current levels over the coming years, I prefer to deal in the reality of the next… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: The most bullish aspect of the recent equity market environment has been relatively tame sentiment. Only now after a 100+ S&P point rally within just 2 weeks is sentiment beginning to turn optimistic again:  Source: CNN Money Fear & Greed Index If the S&P prints fresh all-time highs over the coming… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: This is a question people have begun asking themselves this week. Previously the thought of a Greek exit from the eurozone brought about images of bank runs, stock market crashes, and other euro area members leaving the common currency. However, what if a Greek exit were to be contained and the… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: The Russell 2000 (IWM) is up nearly 400% from the 2009 market bottom, however, judging by the following chart pattern breakout the final blow-off rally may have just begun: IWM has been in a messy consolidation since the end of October and this morning’s breakout from the diamond pattern, if it… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Tomorrow morning (North American time) the ECB will make its much awaited announcement which is almost sure to include some form of quantitative easing program. A series of leaks this morning, the most market moving of which was reported by Bloomberg, disagrees on the size and duration of the program to… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com Commercial hedgers (“smart money”) are almost always short equity futures to some extent. As a market timing gauge when the commercials move to near a neutral positioning in futures it is usually a good time to get long equities, whereas, when the commercials move to an extremely large short position it’s… Continue Reading