Salient to Investors: Michael Pento at Pento Portfolio Strategies writes: In not allowing participants to sell stocks, China has fallen off the free market wagon. The same China that believes that economies grow by building empty cities. China’s actions are the antithesis of capitalism and free markets so it shocking to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gaurav Agnihotri writes: The short to medium-term outlook for oil is mostly bearish. The Iran nuclear agreement, Greece, high OPEC production, and China’s market turmoil make an oil price rebound highly unlikely in the near future. Low oil prices will most likely result in more job losses. The
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Sven Jari Stehn at Goldman Sachs said: The massive supply shock in half2 2014 accounted for most of the oil price decline, joined by slowing demand in December and January. Since the stock market is a good indicator of economic demand, when stocks move in tandem with oil
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gary Cohn at Goldman Sachs predicts oil will decline to as low as $30. Astenbeck Capital Mgmt said shale oil will soon be needed to make up for global production declines, pushing US prices to as high as $65. Giovanni Staunovo at UBS says oil is yet to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The median economist expects the jobless rate by June 2015 to be very near the 5.2%-5.5% range considered full employment, while the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge will not have budged from its current 1.4%. 27 of 50 economists say unemployment at 5.5% or lower would prompt the Fed to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds cut bullish wagers on oil by the most in six weeks, while short positions rose to the highest level. John Kilduff at Again Capital said oil prices reflect speculation that further declines are more likely. IEA said US crude production will climb to the most since
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mark Wiseman et al at Goldman Sachs said: LNG projects in Africa, Canada and Australia face delays or cancellations as global demand slows, US output increases, nuclear reactors restart in Japan, China’s success in shale-gas E&P, and economic conditions in ASEAN. Global demand will compound at 5%
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Investors pulled the most money from US ETPs backed by raw materials since April. US corn and soybean crops are the biggest ever, global stockpiles of nickel are at an all-time high, the US is producing the most oil since 1986, while China is headed for its slowest
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Robin Brooks at Goldman Sachs said: The dollar’s rise is small in historical and economic terms as many traders wait/hope for a pull-back which won’t come. Euro-dollar levels are not remotely pricing in the kind of balance sheet expansion that Draghi talked about in September, so future ECB press conferences
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jan Hatzius at Goldman Sachs said: Home construction will grow 10% to 15% by 2015-2016, while capital spending will fall to 5%, a reminder of how very different this recovery is. It is unusual for a housing recovery to lag a capital-spending recovery. Gains in business investment
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