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Investments go from Friday 13th to Ides of March-- Thread March 15, 2015
Weekly investment & finance thread ^ | MARCH 15, 2015 | Freeper Investors

Posted on 03/15/2015 7:00:49 AM PDT by expat_panama

Seems like there's an awful lot of doom'n'gloom out there:

(excerpt from)

  More Volatility Sends Market Down for a 3rd Week

The stock market was hit hard on Friday, capping a third week of declines as investors reacted to a steep drop in oil prices and a jump in the value of the dollar.

Utilities, major exporters and companies that make basic materials like steel had the biggest declines.

The sell-off came at the end of a volatile week, and it sets the stage for a Federal Reserve policy meeting next week. Investors will be watching closely for clues about the central bank’s views on the economy and interest rates.

“This week has really been about investors’ outlooks adjusting in the face of higher interest rates later this year,” said Gabriela Santos, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 145.91 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,749.31. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index lost 12.55 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,053.40, and the Nasdaq lost 21.53 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,871.76. Continue reading the main story

Benchmark United States crude fell $2.21 to close at $44.84 a barrel in New York. Oil is now within 40 cents of its low for the year, and its lowest level in six years, after a drop of 10 percent this week. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many American refineries, fell $2.41 to close at $54.67 a barrel in London.

Several energy stocks followed the price of oil lower...

[snip]

In the bond market, United States government bond prices did not move much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was unchanged at 2.12 percent.

Gold edged up 50 cents, to $1,152.40 an ounce, silver fell 2 cents, to $15.49 an ounce, and copper was flat at $2.66 a pound.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

(excerpt from)

US stocks fall for third-straight week; worries about oil prices and interest rates persist

The stock market was hit hard Friday, capping a third week of declines, as investors reacted to a steep drop in oil prices and a jump in the value of the dollar.

Utilities, companies that make basic materials like steel, and major exporters had the biggest declines.

The sell-off came at the end of a volatile week and sets the stage for a Federal Reserve policy meeting next week. Investors will be watching closely for clues about the central bank's views on the economy and interest rates.

"This week has really been about investors' outlooks adjusting in the face of higher interest rates later this year," said Gabriela Santos, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

 

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, March 13, 2015. U.S. stocks are opening slightly lower a day after the market notched its best performance in five weeks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

 

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 145.91 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,749.31. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 12.55 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,053.40 and the Nasdaq composite lost 21.53 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,871.76.

Oil dropped sharply after the International Energy Agency said prices had further to fall because supplies were continuing to rise. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $2.21 to close at $44.84 a barrel in New York. Oil is now within 40 cents of its low for the year, and its lowest level in six years, after a drop of 10 percent this week. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell $2.41 to close at $54.67 a barrel in London.

[snip]

Gold edged up 50 cents to $1,152.40 an ounce, silver fell two cents to $15.49 an ounce and copper was flat at $2.66 a pound. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 4.8 cents...

 

 

 

 

 

(excerpt from)

U.S. stocks end rocky stretch with third straight weekly loss

 

Consumers aren't as optimistic. Sentiment index slides in March.

 

 

U.S. stocks suffered another bout of selling on Friday and the main indexes registered losses for a third straight week.

The turbulent week was dominated by wild swings in currencies, with the dollar surging to multiyear highs against the euro as expectations rose for a rate hike by the middle of the year.

Oil prices fell nearly 10% over the week as the commodity had been hit hard due to a stronger dollar, reports of a supply glut and heightened output. Weaker-than-expected economic data added to the dour Wall Street mood.

The S&P 500 SPX, -0.61% closed 12.55 points or 0.6%, lower at 2,053 and lost 0.9% over the week. Energy sector stock led the decliners over the week, falling 2.8%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.82% dropped 145.91 points, or 0.8%, to 17,749.31 and recorded a 0.6% loss over the week.

The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.44% ended the day down 21.53 points, or 0.4%, at 4,871.76 and lost 1.1% over the week.

Investors grappled with mixed economic reports over the week. Friday’s producer prices report showed a surprise drop. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment slid in March, falling more than experts had forecast. Those less-than-stellar reports followed a report on Thursday showing a sharp fall in unemployment claims.

[snip]

Regardless, Skelly thinks market reaction to the eventual hike will be measured.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, and although no rate changes are expected, investors will closely be watching Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s news conference for hints on how patient the central bank will be before tightening its monetary policy.

 

 

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

 

 

Then again, universal doom'n'gloom's usually a very bullish indicator.  That and the fact that most of the price plunge took place before this past week when the trend turned flat...

 

 

This is the thread where folks swap ideas on savings and investment --here's a list of popular investing links that freepers have posted here and tomorrow morning we'll go on with our--

Open invitation continues always for idea-input for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.   Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket, economy.

 



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; financial; stockmarket; wallstreet
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin; Wyatt's Torch

whatever it is this morning it’s good for stocks and bad for metals


41 posted on 03/17/2015 6:28:34 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: abb

you’ve got a point but the DOW just ain’t what it used to be, kind of like the lower Manhattan financial district, not much left along the old ‘Wall St.’


42 posted on 03/17/2015 6:30:40 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama

Europeans defy US to join China-led development

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0655b342-cc29-11e4-beca-00144feab7de.html


43 posted on 03/17/2015 8:58:48 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: expat_panama

Charles Dow never intended the Dow Jones Industrial Average to be a finely tuned barometer of the overall stock market. It was, and still, is reflective of the most “important” publicly traded companies, and is a shorthand indicator of how the broad market is doing.

It still serves that purpose admirably, IMO. It is STILL the most widely quoted index that answers the question of “how’s the market doing.”

See this note at Investopedia.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/08/dow-history.asp

“Considering the breadth of today’s economy, one might mistakenly believe that an index consisting of a mere 30 stocks could hardly be of any value. That is simply untrue. In addition to representing 30 of the most highly capitalized and influential companies in the U.S. economy, the Dow is also the financial media’s most referenced U.S. market index and remains a good indicator of general market trends.

If one compares a pricing chart of the Dow with a chart of the Wilshire 5000, the most inclusive of all U.S. indexes, it is evident that the two have followed astonishingly similar paths. The Dow has historically begun to decline for extended periods before the more speculative Nasdaq index, a pattern which occurred in the stock market downturns that began in April of 1998, January of 2000, December of 2001, January of 2004, December of 2004, and October of 2007.”

Also, this history.

http://www.djaverages.com/?go=industrial-overview

“When Charles H. Dow first unveiled his industrial stock average on May 26, 1896, the stock market was not highly regarded.

Today, stocks are widely accepted as investment vehicles, even by conservative investors. The circle of investors has widened far beyond the Wall Street cliques of the past to millions of everyday working men and women. These people are turning to stocks to help them amass capital for their children’s college tuition bills and their own retirements. Information to guide them in their investment decisions is now abundantly available.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average played a role in bringing about this tremendous change. One hundred years ago, even people on Wall Street found it difficult to discern from day to day whether the wider stock market was rising, falling or treading water. Charles Dow devised his stock average to make sense out of this confusion. He began in 1884 with 11 stocks, most of them railroads, which were the first great national corporations. He compared his average to placing sticks in the beach sand to determine, wave after successive wave, whether the tide was coming in or going out. If the average’s peaks and troughs rose progressively higher then a bull market prevailed; if the peaks and troughs dropped lower and lower, a bear market was on.

It seems simplistic nowadays with the array of market indicators in the public eye, but late in the nineteenth century it was like turning on a powerful new beacon that cut through the fog. The average provided a convenient benchmark for comparing individual stocks to the course of the market, for comparing the market with other indicators of economic conditions, or simply for conversation at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets about the market’s direction.

The mechanics of the first stock average were dictated by the necessity of computing it with paper and pencil: Add up the prices and divide by the number of stocks. This application of grade-school arithmetic, while creative, is hardly useful more than a century later. But the very idea of using an index to differentiate the stock market’s long-term trends from short-term fluctuations deserves a salute. Without the means for the ordinary investor to follow the broad market, today’s age of financial democracy (in which millions of employees are actively directing the investment of their own future pension money and as a result are substantial corporate shareholders) would be unimaginable.”


44 posted on 03/17/2015 12:25:14 PM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: abb
...a shorthand indicator of how the broad market is doing.  It still serves that purpose admirably, IMO...

It does that imho too.  The DIIA with all it's elegant simplicity ends up tracking the S&P500 closely to the point that watching one's about as good as following the other.

45 posted on 03/17/2015 1:09:15 PM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama

Found that interesting that early on something was needed that could be done with pencil, paper, and simple arithmetic.


46 posted on 03/17/2015 1:12:02 PM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: expat_panama

Strange day today. I checked IBD’s Stocks On The Move a couple of times earlier and just now and it kept saying
“There are currently no stocks that meet the Stocks on the Move criteria.” I don’t believe I’ve seen that before.


47 posted on 03/17/2015 1:33:18 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: 1010RD; A Cyrenian; abb; Abigail Adams; abigail2; AK_47_7.62x39; Aliska; aposiopetic; Aquamarine; ..
 
Markets   Yesterday   Today
metals

 

  November's bases failing for gold (to $1,148.40) and still holding for silver ($15.57)   Trading lower; futures -0.58%
       
stocks

 

  As IBD put it: "...bounced from session lows Tuesday in a new sign that last week’s bottom could hold."   futures now trading lower for most indexes, over all to -0.39%

A very happy day to all, even if maybe a bit more "adventurous" than we'd prefer.  Trading direction seems in flux, maybe they're nervous about the  FOMC Rate Decision after the MBA Mortgage Index and Crude Inventories.  If traders are upset about Isreal's election results imho they shouldn't be.  News headlines:

The Fed Is Raising the Price Of a Free Lunch - Tad Rivelle, RealClearMarkets
As Fed Gears Up, Global Investors Go Bearish - John Shmuel, National Post
WH Wind Power Claims Are Implausible, Dangerous - Julian Morris, RCM
Finally, A Bank Stands Up to Obama's Shakedown - Editorial, Investor's
Shares up in Europe and Asia before Fed meets; dollar steady Reuters - 8 hours ago LONDON (Reuters) - European shares followed Asian stocks higher on Wednesday and the dollar held steady before a Federal Reserve meeting that's expected to lay the groundwork for the first increase in U.S.
China stocks at 7-year high on stimulus hopes as other world benchmarks brace ... Fox Business - 2 hours ago A currency trader holds up Malaysian ringgit notes at a currency exchange store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday, March 17, 2015.
Dollar bulls bank on Fed losing its patience
Oil Drops to Six-Year Low as Dollar Swings Before Fed


48 posted on 03/18/2015 5:32:53 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin
no stocks that meet the Stocks on the Move criteria

Huh. Well we did have a sharp reversal during the day, then again it may have been just that the IBD-StocksMove guy was late coming back from lunch.  Just the same, I hadn't seen that so mucho tx for the heads up.

49 posted on 03/18/2015 5:37:22 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama

The “free lunch” article is fantastic.


50 posted on 03/18/2015 7:38:07 AM PDT by palmer (Net "neutrality" = Obama turning the internet into FlixNet)
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To: expat_panama

I am hardly able to breath, waiting to here if the Fed will stop saying the word “patient”! /sarc

I have a meeting with an investment banker this afternoon. I rolled about half of all my retirement funds into a variable annuity that has an “enhanced Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal” and “Enhanced Return of Premium Death Benefit” riders.... It’s managed by FifthThird bank.

It’s a pretty complicated investment vehicle. I’ve read through the contract about 5 times, and still only understand about half of it. Right now, all the money is still sitting in money market funds. Today, we’re supposed to talk about the underlying investment options.

So, I GUESS.... I’m hoping the Fed gets aggressive and the market tanks about a 1000 points in the next couple of days. As long as it bounces back quickly, of course!


51 posted on 03/18/2015 7:43:10 AM PDT by SomeCallMeTim ( The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them!)
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To: ConstantSkeptic

Amen Brother!

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

What “The sky is falling!” contingent misses is that when you invest in stocks, you are investing in American business.

American business WILL figure out a way to win. They always have, they always will. Their CEOs want it, the politicians want it - both the liberals and the conservatives.

Individual companies come and go, but, as a whole, American business succeeds.”

Then, add in the foreign money pouring into America to buy stock and property as the Euro/Ruble/? crumble. They don’t sem to be interested in Gold or Silver.


52 posted on 03/18/2015 9:48:55 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (When will Sisi, Bibi, King Abdullah & ?, take out Isis in our White House, AG Dept, CIA, & State?)
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To: expat_panama

Well, It’s getting closer. Will she or won’t she? Patience! I bet anything but patience will be exercised if she does or doesn’t say it.


53 posted on 03/18/2015 10:20:26 AM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin; expat_panama

Well, there you go. Hunting every excuse in the world NOT to hike rates.


54 posted on 03/18/2015 11:18:29 AM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin; abb

huh, everything took off soaring and the rate announcement is still a 1/2 hour away. Someone must of leaked “no change”...


55 posted on 03/18/2015 11:31:31 AM PDT by expat_panama
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To: expat_panama
Patience
56 posted on 03/18/2015 11:35:01 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch
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To: expat_panama

57 posted on 03/18/2015 11:36:04 AM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: Wyatt's Torch

58 posted on 03/18/2015 1:42:17 PM PDT by abb ("News reporting is too important to be left to the journalists." Walter Abbott (1950 -))
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To: abb

LOL


59 posted on 03/18/2015 1:45:15 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: Wyatt's Torch; abb; Lurkina.n.Learnin
Seriously, here's the release: Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement.  Someone tell me what I'm missing, but all I gof from it was the economy's going nowhere, they aren't raising rates this month, they probably won't raise 'em next month, and they might sometime after that.  So why is everyone so (1) surprised, and (2) for what possible reason should the FOMC have said anything different?
60 posted on 03/18/2015 6:21:43 PM PDT by expat_panama
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