trade

There has been some unusual action on the Japanese commodities markets that demands a comment.

I mentioned earlier this week that over the last two weeks the Japanese have revved up several new structured investment products tracking commodities.

There are now some "seismic signals" registering in those markets, showing these new ETFs and trusts may be having an immediate impact.

The U.S. Dollar traded mixed in a tight and narrow range. The trade weighted Dollar Index finished slightly lower after confirming last Friday’s closing price reversal top.

U.S. stock indices are trading in a tight range overnight as investors await testimony before the House Financial Services Committee by Fed Chairman Bernanke. Expectations are for Bernanke to talk about the state of the employment situation as well as addressing whether more financial stimulus is required.

Stock Indices, gold and crude oil are trading relatively flat overnight. Yesterday’s strong buying has been met with uncertainty following the inability of the European Union to reach a loan guarantee agreement with Greece.

Rallying stocks were a delight for investors yesterday after better than expected earnings from companies. Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W.

Thursday saw shares fall once again led by banks and commodity stocks, added to this was concern over Greece's economic health. The US durable goods data also was weaker than expected, disappointing investor confidence in equities.

U.S. equity markets are called to open lower after a volatile Asian trade triggered by a possible debt rating cut in Japan and another sign that China is serious about tightening its monetary policy.

U.S. equity markets produced modest gains on Monday. The trading action suggests that short-covering and bottom picking were most likely the catalysts behind today’s rally. Volatility slowed compared to last week’s trading action. Investors may be standing aside as they await Wednesday’s Fed FOMC announcement.

There’s some interesting data emerging on the world trade situation.

One of the surprising things is the U.S. export market is actually fairing reasonably well.

People often pan America for having no exports. It's a common complaint the U.S. doesn't produce anything the rest of the world wants.

Investors pushed the Agribusiness ETF—creative symbol (NYSE: MOO)—to new recovery highs, but has price moved too far too fast?

Let's look at a critical weekly overhead resistance level - the final level for bears to hang their cowboy hat on - that should give us a clue if the ETF price overheated, or still has room to roam.

Much ink has been spilled over the bond market bubble. I myself have written extensively on the subject. The idea that US debt is the biggest bubble in all of history is clear in my mind.

I've noticed with some interest a recent spate of scary blogdom articles focused on the current minefield of dangers faced by active retail traders. . . HFT, dark pools, order masking, program trading, prop shop bracket orders, C2C (commercial to commercial ) trading pipelines, and the usual plethora of algo trading games.

Last month, it appeared that net insider trading transactions (the number of individual buyers minus sellers) was breaking out to the upside. It was certainly acting as a leading indicator for the end-of-year rally. Updating this for the week ending December 31, it appears that insiders have been looking to sell into market strength.

Gold aficionados have for many years contended with the plaints about the metal's sterility. "Gold doesn't earn interest" is a constant refrain heard from nonowners.