Category: US & Canada

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Canada: TSX 60 and potential breakouts

The TSX 60 index is consolidating in a narrow band between 700 and 715. Upward breakout is likely and would signal a primary up-trend. Recovery of 63-day Twiggs Momentum above zero would strengthen the signal. Target for the initial advance is 790.

TSX 60 Index

* Target calculation: 720 + ( 720 – 650 ) = 790

A screen of stocks with low Momentum but high buying pressure, as indicated by 21-day Twiggs Money Flow, reveals a list of 93 potential breakouts (after filtering out stocks with daily Value/Turnover traded of less than $1 million). Husky Energy [HSE], Crew Energy [CR] and Bank of Nova Scotia [BNS] are three that look interesting.

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QE3 – Wall Street’s biggest fantasy? | WSJ.com

WSJ.com – Mean Street

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Steven Russolillo discusses the prospects of another round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve based on recent comments by Dallas Fed Chief Richard Fisher.

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Odd Retail Data Aren’t as Worrying as Rising Gas Prices – WSJ

Higher oil prices, the loss of some refining capacity and higher world demand have pushed up U.S. gasoline prices more than they usually track in the winter. So far in February, a gallon of gas nationwide costs $3.56, up from $3.44 in January.

Because they are shelling out more at the pump than usual this winter, consumers have less to spend elsewhere.

The strain is likely to get worse. That’s because gasoline prices typically rise in the first half running up to the summer driving season.

via Odd Retail Data Aren’t as Worrying as Rising Gas Prices – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

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Robert Kagan on Why the World Needs America – WSJ.com

Many foreign-policy experts see the present international order as the inevitable result of human progress, a combination of advancing science and technology, an increasingly global economy, strengthening international institutions, evolving “norms” of international behavior and the gradual but inevitable triumph of liberal democracy over other forms of government—forces of change that transcend the actions of men and nations.

……But international order is not an evolution; it is an imposition. It is the domination of one vision over others—in America’s case, the domination of free-market and democratic principles, together with an international system that supports them. The present order will last only as long as those who favor it and benefit from it retain the will and capacity to defend it.

via Robert Kagan on Why the World Needs America – WSJ.com.

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Canada: TSX 60 retreats

Canada’s TSX 60 index retreated to test support at 700. Failure would warn of trend weakness, while recovery above 715 would confirm the primary up-trend.

TSX 60 Index

* Target calculation: 715 + ( 715 – 645 ) = 785

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Dow and S&P 500 test key resistance

Dow Jones Industrial Average is testing resistance at 12800. A large bearish divergence would be completed if 13-week Twiggs Money Flow retreated below 10% — and would warn of a bull trap. Reversal below medium-term support at 12300 and the rising trendline would also warn of trend weakness, while respect of these levels would indicate a primary advance to 13400*.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

* Target calculation: 12300 + ( 12300 – 11200 ) = 13400

The S&P 500 displays similar weakness on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow, but rising 63-day Twiggs Money Flow indicates trend strength. Breakout above 1370 would indicate an advance to 1450*.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 1300 + ( 1300 – 1150 ) = 1450

The Nasdaq 100 made a strong breakout above 2400, indicating a primary up-trend. Expect a retracement to test the new support level (2400); respect would confirm the up-trend.

Nasdaq 100 Index

* Target calculation: 2400 + ( 2400 – 2150 ) = 2650

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Did Economy Really Create 500,000 Jobs? – WSJ

A recent study by economists Katharine Abraham and John Haltiwanger at the University of Maryland, Kristin Sandusky at the Census Bureau and James Spletzer at the Labor Department found “substantial discrepancies” between employee payrolls and the household survey used to calculate Unemployment.

Some 6.4% of people who showed up as holding jobs on employee records were recorded as unemployed in the household survey. Many of them were 65 and older — which suggests they were people who considered themselves retirees even as they continued to draw some sort of paycheck. An even larger 17.6% of people who counted as employed in the household survey didn’t show up on employee records. Many of them had demographic characteristics, such as low education levels, that suggested they were working off the books.

via Did Economy Really Create 500,000 Jobs? – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

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US Labor Force Participation Rates

The Chicago Fed attributes part of the decline in US labor force participation to the baby boomer phenomenon producing a growing number of retirees, but this chart from their newsletter excludes retirees and highlights the real problem.

Female LFPR are expected to fluctuate by about 1 percent (from 1987 to 2020) while male college graduates have fallen by about 2 percent. Male high school graduates, however, have fallen by 6 percent and do not look like recovering any time soon. The primary cause is the declining manufacturing sector and loss of construction, banking and real estate jobs as a result of the housing market crash.

US Labor Force Participation Rates, Ages 25 to 54

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Peter Schiff Speaks to James Rickards, Author of Currency Wars | Peter Schiff | Safehaven.com

James Rickards: The dollar is not necessarily on the road to ruin, but that outcome does seem highly likely at the moment. There is still time to pull back from the brink, but it requires a specific set of policies: breaking up big banks, banning derivatives, raising interest rates to make the US a magnet for capital, cutting government spending, eliminating capital gains and corporate income taxes, going to a personal flat tax, and reducing regulation on job-creating businesses. However, the likelihood of these policies being put in place seems remote – so the dollar collapse scenario must be considered.

via Peter Schiff Speaks to James Rickards, Author of Currency Wars | Peter Schiff | Safehaven.com.

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Canada: TSX 60

Canada’s TSX 60 index broke resistance at 715 to signal a primary up-trend. Rising 13-week Twiggs Money Flow indicates buying pressure. Target for the initial advance is 785*.

TSX 60 Index

* Target calculation: 715 + ( 715 – 645 ) = 785

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