South Africa's rand falls to its lowest level in four years as clashes between mine owners and workers erupt again today. Government "heavy-handedness" with mining companies has created a "major negative" for investors both inside and outside mining, as it reduces companies’ abilities to set their balance sheets and control their own destinies, Greenbriar Partners says. AU -3.3%, GFI -3%, HMY -2.6%. [View news story]
Zimbabwe is a unique situation, in that the government is out of money. The monetary system has collapsed there. Barter and black market trade are the order of the day, as is border crossing for work for those able to do so (legally or illegally).
South Africa recently became part of a currency swap agreement involving China, Brazil, and India. While South Africa does have lingering problems, I don't see them throwing away the progress made so far.
Agreed on waiting to see where all this settles. I don't think we have seen the low in gold miners.
South Africa's rand falls to its lowest level in four years as clashes between mine owners and workers erupt again today. Government "heavy-handedness" with mining companies has created a "major negative" for investors both inside and outside mining, as it reduces companies’ abilities to set their balance sheets and control their own destinies, Greenbriar Partners says. AU -3.3%, GFI -3%, HMY -2.6%. [View news story]
There are also laws to make strikes at mines illegal without following proper protocol, yet those were somewhat overlooked in the violence of last year.
Strikes are not unusual, but extreme violence was an unusual occurrance last year. It appeared then that AMCU wanted more power, and they were able to build a following amongst some due to animosity towards NUM, especially the tie-in with the government.
Quite simply, I don't think it is possible to operate any mines at a loss. It could happen, but not for long. There are laws in place for halting mining, so this is not something that could happen quickly.
I think South Africa, and many other African countries, are a long way from following the path of Zimbabwe. This could happen if the mines were turned over to people who knew nothing about running mines, but the potential is so incredibly extreme that I think the risk is extremely rare. The US auto industry was being crushed by pension obligations, so I think that model is very different. Yes, South Africa could collapse and have a total failure of their economy, but levels on credit default swaps suggest that possibility is very remote.
Obviously any sign of risk will be enough to make investors flee until the dust settles. I highly recommend that anyone who worries about the risk in gold miners, completely avoid the sector. There is a value in sleeping well at night, and it is simply not worth worrying about your investments.
South Africa's rand falls to its lowest level in four years as clashes between mine owners and workers erupt again today. Government "heavy-handedness" with mining companies has created a "major negative" for investors both inside and outside mining, as it reduces companies’ abilities to set their balance sheets and control their own destinies, Greenbriar Partners says. AU -3.3%, GFI -3%, HMY -2.6%. [View news story]
Might as well add SBGL to that list, since that is the spin-off of GFI with mines only in South Africa. The importance of mining for the economy of South Africa is far too great for the country to fail in solving this problem. The mining unions understand they have some leverage, but if they play their hand too far then some mines will simply close. No company will continue to operate any mine that is not profitable.
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
Thanks for answering my question. Congratulations on choosing number 4. ;)
Those did not appear to be questions for which you wanted answers, but here goes:
"Are you going to have access to critical automobile systems?"
I'll have to guess a bit on the "critical" part of that, but I doubt any company would allow you to steer, brake, or accelerate using your smartphone.
"Are you going to allow 3rd parties to write apps?"
QNX does have a developer kit specifically to allow "apps" to be created for in car displays. You can find that information when you look through their website.
"You know what would have been both useful and believable?"
I'll take another guess here that you think the video was faked. In other words, the touch controls really did not control heating or cooling systems, nor were they able to select music. I suppose you think the video phone call was faked too. If you could prove those things were faked on that Bentley demonstration, then you should contact the SEC and whatever the market oversight entity is in Canada.
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
The only reason some people comment on BlackBerry when they do not hold shares is:
1. they have a short position 2. they have a friend with a short position 3. they have a position in AAPL and want to push down interest in any potential competitor, in the false belief that doing so will elevate their position 4. they are a troll
So which one are you? My guess is that you would enjoy seeing BBRY fail, though perhaps you might share why you feel that way?
If we keep moving up like this, stocks could go "parabolic," says Art Cashin. The stocks that have the heaviest short positions have already raced ahead of the indices, and they are going to crumble if we keep going. (Video). [View news story]
You may find this of interest. This is M2 Velocity of Money from the St. Louis Federal Reserve.
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
I disagree with your assessment of my statement, since it is not illogical. Perhaps you don't understand my statement of "BlackBerry still has work to do to leverage this asset." You may also not understand why prototypes are shared in public. There is no revenue today from what was shown in that Bentley, but why would you not want to see BlackBerry put more work into that?
I'm not expecting that to happen soon. My best guess is late 2014 or even into 2015 before tighter integration occurs between QNX automotive systems and BlackBerry smartphones. I disagree with tim's stated time frame of "nine months". Automotive product cycles can take a long time before technology changes appear.
If we look at various automobiles that include an iPod dock, we can see that sales barely changed due to that implementation. People tend to keep their cars far longer than they keep the average mobile phone. The value of showing that Bentley system now is that it carries an association with high end luxury products. There is marketing value now to show that. BlackBerry bought QNX from Harman International. All it would take to have the BlackBerry brand and logo appear on QNX automotive systems, would be updated agreements with those automotive companies in that link I provided. I don't see any reason why that would be bad.
Kosmos Energy (KOS) -16.1% AH after announcing its Sipo-1 exploration well on the Ndian River block in Cameroon failed to encounter commercial reservoirs. Due to the well results, KOS will record ~$75M against exploration expenses in its Q2 earnings. [View news story]
The latest insider selling activity is quite interesting.
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
The more affordable Acura, Honda, GM, Hyundai and Chrysler systems will bring in more revenues than a high end Bentley system, though showcasing in a Bentley or Porsche is more impressive.
There are already many installed QNX systems, though they lack BlackBerry branding. I doubt the majority of people using these installed systems realize BlackBerry owns QNX, or even that the underlying system is QNX. BlackBerry still has work to do to leverage this asset.
If we keep moving up like this, stocks could go "parabolic," says Art Cashin. The stocks that have the heaviest short positions have already raced ahead of the indices, and they are going to crumble if we keep going. (Video). [View news story]
Snoopy1 - I would expect a pullback rather than a correction, though we could just go sideways until the next earnings season start. We could see a higher S&P by the end of this year, or into 2014, but not moving in a straight line.
I'm looking at some sectors doing better than others over the summer. Materials sector looking oversold. USD/JPY may not reach above 110 in the near term, and I am looking for a pullback there. Europe appears to be bottoming, or near bottom, which could signal more gains in periphery countries, though EUR/USD weakness would be the area to watch for that; I do have one position somewhat betting on Euro weakness. I am watching various futures, and watching for changes in margin requirements, which would lead to a shift in some commodities.
There is a huge amount of leverage, and activity in shadow banking is heavy at the moment. If you can watch the information changes there, we may get a good signal ahead of profit taking. The very high leverage in some sectors, especially housing, should be a warning, but if problems happen in small increments, then it may not impact markets too far.
Next big US fiscal hurdle is early September, according to the US Treasury. I continue to watch yield changes on 10 year and 30 year Treasuries, though keep in mind that the Federal Reserve is still purchasing some Treasuries.
I try to look towards 2018, when Basel III rules come into full force. Many large financial companies still need to amass greater capital holdings. A profitable stock market is one way to accomplish that, and I think the central bankers are lining up similar policies to make that workable. As the saying goes, don't bet against the central banks, at least in the long run. Meanwhile I am positioned for approximately 4.7% dividends overall on my primary account. Current cash (money market) position is near 30% compared to near 50% this time last year.
Anyway, more things I follow week to week than I can type here. Watching Forex moves is first, then futures and commodities. The other thing is the changes in movements of ships around the globe, though that is more of a month to month indicator.
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
Not "How are", but how will some hedge funds lose?
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
Raw materials, especially iron ore. Those were run up under QE1. Also, some emerging markets are not seeing this sort of upside.
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
A round of applause for Mr. Ben Bernanke. While other central banks tried to use various methods of re-capitalizing banks, or boosting capital levels, Mr. Bernanke instead created one profitable micro-bubble after another through quantitative easing programs. The plan is brilliant in that large international banks headquartered in the United States will be able to meet upcoming Basel III rules, simply by generating better profits.
On the losing side of those bets, the hedge funds and private equity giants; willing participants in the capital building at the largest financial companies. We should applaud them too, while we can, because we may see several of them failing over the next five years.
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
If we keep moving up like this, stocks could go "parabolic," says Art Cashin. The stocks that have the heaviest short positions have already raced ahead of the indices, and they are going to crumble if we keep going. (Video). [View news story]
AAPL has roughly been following gold, which is odd.
South Africa's rand falls to its lowest level in four years as clashes between mine owners and workers erupt again today. Government "heavy-handedness" with mining companies has created a "major negative" for investors both inside and outside mining, as it reduces companies’ abilities to set their balance sheets and control their own destinies, Greenbriar Partners says. AU -3.3%, GFI -3%, HMY -2.6%. [View news story]
South Africa recently became part of a currency swap agreement involving China, Brazil, and India. While South Africa does have lingering problems, I don't see them throwing away the progress made so far.
Agreed on waiting to see where all this settles. I don't think we have seen the low in gold miners.
South Africa's rand falls to its lowest level in four years as clashes between mine owners and workers erupt again today. Government "heavy-handedness" with mining companies has created a "major negative" for investors both inside and outside mining, as it reduces companies’ abilities to set their balance sheets and control their own destinies, Greenbriar Partners says. AU -3.3%, GFI -3%, HMY -2.6%. [View news story]
http://seekingalpha.co...
Strikes are not unusual, but extreme violence was an unusual occurrance last year. It appeared then that AMCU wanted more power, and they were able to build a following amongst some due to animosity towards NUM, especially the tie-in with the government.
Quite simply, I don't think it is possible to operate any mines at a loss. It could happen, but not for long. There are laws in place for halting mining, so this is not something that could happen quickly.
I think South Africa, and many other African countries, are a long way from following the path of Zimbabwe. This could happen if the mines were turned over to people who knew nothing about running mines, but the potential is so incredibly extreme that I think the risk is extremely rare. The US auto industry was being crushed by pension obligations, so I think that model is very different. Yes, South Africa could collapse and have a total failure of their economy, but levels on credit default swaps suggest that possibility is very remote.
Obviously any sign of risk will be enough to make investors flee until the dust settles. I highly recommend that anyone who worries about the risk in gold miners, completely avoid the sector. There is a value in sleeping well at night, and it is simply not worth worrying about your investments.
South Africa's rand falls to its lowest level in four years as clashes between mine owners and workers erupt again today. Government "heavy-handedness" with mining companies has created a "major negative" for investors both inside and outside mining, as it reduces companies’ abilities to set their balance sheets and control their own destinies, Greenbriar Partners says. AU -3.3%, GFI -3%, HMY -2.6%. [View news story]
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
Those did not appear to be questions for which you wanted answers, but here goes:
"Are you going to have access to critical automobile systems?"
I'll have to guess a bit on the "critical" part of that, but I doubt any company would allow you to steer, brake, or accelerate using your smartphone.
"Are you going to allow 3rd parties to write apps?"
QNX does have a developer kit specifically to allow "apps" to be created for in car displays. You can find that information when you look through their website.
"You know what would have been both useful and believable?"
I'll take another guess here that you think the video was faked. In other words, the touch controls really did not control heating or cooling systems, nor were they able to select music. I suppose you think the video phone call was faked too. If you could prove those things were faked on that Bentley demonstration, then you should contact the SEC and whatever the market oversight entity is in Canada.
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
1. they have a short position
2. they have a friend with a short position
3. they have a position in AAPL and want to push down interest in any potential competitor, in the false belief that doing so will elevate their position
4. they are a troll
So which one are you? My guess is that you would enjoy seeing BBRY fail, though perhaps you might share why you feel that way?
If we keep moving up like this, stocks could go "parabolic," says Art Cashin. The stocks that have the heaviest short positions have already raced ahead of the indices, and they are going to crumble if we keep going. (Video). [View news story]
http://bit.ly/yfiMV9
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
I'm not expecting that to happen soon. My best guess is late 2014 or even into 2015 before tighter integration occurs between QNX automotive systems and BlackBerry smartphones. I disagree with tim's stated time frame of "nine months". Automotive product cycles can take a long time before technology changes appear.
If we look at various automobiles that include an iPod dock, we can see that sales barely changed due to that implementation. People tend to keep their cars far longer than they keep the average mobile phone. The value of showing that Bentley system now is that it carries an association with high end luxury products. There is marketing value now to show that. BlackBerry bought QNX from Harman International. All it would take to have the BlackBerry brand and logo appear on QNX automotive systems, would be updated agreements with those automotive companies in that link I provided. I don't see any reason why that would be bad.
Kosmos Energy (KOS) -16.1% AH after announcing its Sipo-1 exploration well on the Ndian River block in Cameroon failed to encounter commercial reservoirs. Due to the well results, KOS will record ~$75M against exploration expenses in its Q2 earnings. [View news story]
Blackberry (BBRY) is downgraded to Hold by Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu, who lowers his price target to $15 from $22. "We dislike the risk/reward of our BB10 trade," he writes. "With Blackberry Live behind us, we see few additional positive catalysts coming through in the next 6 months." Shares -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
http://bit.ly/ySdz0U
There are already many installed QNX systems, though they lack BlackBerry branding. I doubt the majority of people using these installed systems realize BlackBerry owns QNX, or even that the underlying system is QNX. BlackBerry still has work to do to leverage this asset.
If we keep moving up like this, stocks could go "parabolic," says Art Cashin. The stocks that have the heaviest short positions have already raced ahead of the indices, and they are going to crumble if we keep going. (Video). [View news story]
I'm looking at some sectors doing better than others over the summer. Materials sector looking oversold. USD/JPY may not reach above 110 in the near term, and I am looking for a pullback there. Europe appears to be bottoming, or near bottom, which could signal more gains in periphery countries, though EUR/USD weakness would be the area to watch for that; I do have one position somewhat betting on Euro weakness. I am watching various futures, and watching for changes in margin requirements, which would lead to a shift in some commodities.
There is a huge amount of leverage, and activity in shadow banking is heavy at the moment. If you can watch the information changes there, we may get a good signal ahead of profit taking. The very high leverage in some sectors, especially housing, should be a warning, but if problems happen in small increments, then it may not impact markets too far.
Next big US fiscal hurdle is early September, according to the US Treasury. I continue to watch yield changes on 10 year and 30 year Treasuries, though keep in mind that the Federal Reserve is still purchasing some Treasuries.
I try to look towards 2018, when Basel III rules come into full force. Many large financial companies still need to amass greater capital holdings. A profitable stock market is one way to accomplish that, and I think the central bankers are lining up similar policies to make that workable. As the saying goes, don't bet against the central banks, at least in the long run. Meanwhile I am positioned for approximately 4.7% dividends overall on my primary account. Current cash (money market) position is near 30% compared to near 50% this time last year.
Anyway, more things I follow week to week than I can type here. Watching Forex moves is first, then futures and commodities. The other thing is the changes in movements of ships around the globe, though that is more of a month to month indicator.
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
On the losing side of those bets, the hedge funds and private equity giants; willing participants in the capital building at the largest financial companies. We should applaud them too, while we can, because we may see several of them failing over the next five years.
There is no precedent for the current market, writes The Fat Pitch. Consider: 1) The S&P (SPY) has been up 56 of 88 trading sessions this year 2) It's up an uncorrected 24% since the post-election low - the longest streak in over 3 decades 3) The Nasdaq (QQQ) is on pace for a 7th straight up month, an occurrence with a 3-in-100 probability. Long term it's bullish, writes Ukarlewitz, as this sort of strength is rarely the end of a trend. Short term? Stay nimble. [View news story]
If we keep moving up like this, stocks could go "parabolic," says Art Cashin. The stocks that have the heaviest short positions have already raced ahead of the indices, and they are going to crumble if we keep going. (Video). [View news story]
http://read.bi/11Pyzxh
Interesting article there. Of course many correlations do not last for long. It's mostly a curiosity to me to see this.