Distressed Volatility | Financial Markets, Technical Analysis, Economy

Energy - Balancing the Bonanza: Interview with Mark Thoma - Guest Post

2013-05-23T19:03:00.000-05:00

Guest post submitted by Oilprice.com Energy - Balancing the Bonanza: Interview with Mark Thoma If you want an objective view of energy, ask an economist, who can tell you what to expect to pay at the pump in the coming years, and why, as well as...

$SPY, $GLD, $IEF Down, $UUP Up On QE Taper Risk (Chart, Links)

2013-05-22T22:51:00.002-05:00

$SPY, the S&P ETF, fell 0.74% on all of this QE taper talk today (FOMC Minutes, Bernanke's testimony before the Joint Economic Committee/video). The S&P didn't lose much in percentage terms, but it saw a major intraday swing after being up over...

More Footage of the Moore, Oklahoma Tornado (5/20/2013)

2013-05-22T08:42:00.002-05:00

After watching the time lapse footage of the destructive tornado from the sky, watch it filmed from the ground by Basehunters (facebook/youtube/twitter). They said they "intercepted the tornado from within a half mile by South Moore High School." I...

138,000 $SPY May 166.5 Puts Traded With 25k Open After Friday's Big Trade, These Options Expire In Three Days

2013-05-21T22:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, what the flip are these $SPY options doing? They expire in three days (May 24). On Friday, 135,000 SPY May 165 puts traded with 43,921 of open interest, and now there are 165,327 contracts open. And today (Tuesday), 138,000 SPY May 166.5 puts...

Time Lapse Video of the Oklahoma City/Moore Tornado

2013-05-20T19:36:00.002-05:00

This time lapse footage of the tornado that hit Oklahoma City/Moore today is insanely terrifying via WMCTV.com (via HuffingtonPost). According to WMCTV, "the storm has been given a preliminary rating of EF-4. EF-4 tornadoes have wind speeds of...

$SPY May 165 Puts Active, Put/Call Ratio and SVI Moving Higher With $SPY (Hyperinflation Volatility Ahead?)

2013-05-19T17:34:00.001-05:00

The S&P 500 ETF ($SPY) closed at $166.94 on Friday, a new high. We haven't seen a correction in a while, so I was wondering if a portion of those 135,000 SPY May $165 puts that traded on Friday with 43,921 of open interest were positioning for...

Chicago Lakefront, Skyline & Street Art (Trying Out The Vine App)

2013-05-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

I will definitely have some fun with this. Follow me on Vine here (vine://user/910259282254106624). Vine accounts aren't on the web yet. Check out the Chicago lakefront and skyline from the north side and some street art.

U.S. Dollar ETF $UUP is Near the July 2012 High, Above 200W Moving Average

2013-05-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

Whether traders are positioning for Fed tapering/tightening, higher rates, or a pending deflationary depression, the U.S. dollar is trending higher at the moment and near the July 2012 high. I think gold is getting killed on the belief that...

Facebook's IPO Investors Should Have Invested in Yahoo! and AOL (Chart via @StatistaCharts)

2013-05-17T11:28:00.002-05:00

Web 1.0 for the win! (courtesy of statista's chart of the day). You will find more statistics at Statista

Excess Money From QE is Causing Hyperinflation in the Stock Market (S&P vs. Monetary Base Since 2009)

2013-05-16T14:04:00.001-05:00

Look how the S&P 500 and monetary base have been moving up in tandem since 2009. Amazing isn't it? The second chart is a better view of the hyperinflation going on in the S&P. Hedge fund manager David Tepper told CNBC on Tuesday that if the Fed...

Historical Footage of the Cleveland Federal Reserve in 1950 (Videos)

2013-05-15T12:51:00.001-05:00

Source: Cleveland Federal Reserve on Youtube

France Enters Recession, GDP Decreased Again In Q1 2013 (-0.2%), EUR/USD Tests 1.29

2013-05-15T01:38:00.002-05:00

EUR/USD fell to 1.2903 on the news. Source: Yahoo Finance Here is the French data via INSEE (National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies): source: INSEE "In Q1 2013, French growth domestic product (GDP) in volume* decreased...

David Tepper Predicting the Second "Tepper Rally" on CNBC (12/17/2012)

2013-05-14T23:56:00.003-05:00

David Tepper, founder and CIO of the $17.9 billion hedge fund Appaloosa Management, has made amazing calls on CNBC since 2010 (Tepper Rally #1 on QE2). He was interviewed again today and is STILL bullish on stocks after this crazy Fed fueled rally...

Dollar Stores and Discount Retailers Are Still Trading Below Their 2012 Highs ($DLTR, $FDO, $DG, $ROST, $BIG)

2013-05-14T23:37:00.002-05:00

While the S&P 500 hyperinflates to new highs on the Fed's billi's, dollar stores and discount retailers like Dollar General (DG), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Family Dollar (FDO), Ross Stores (ROST) and Big Lots (BIG) are still trading below their 2012...

Guest Post: Three Reasons to Buy Gold Equities Today

2013-05-13T17:12:00.002-05:00

Guest post submitted by U.S. Global Investors (the first two paragraphs are important). Three Reasons to Buy Gold Equities Today By Frank Holmes CEO and Chief Investment Officer U.S. Global Investors A strong stomach and a tremendous amount...

5Y CDS Spreads Tighten on Japanese Electronics Cos as Yen Hits 4-Year Low, Fujitsu To Raise Prices (Chart)

2013-05-13T13:08:00.000-05:00

As the yen keeps making new lows (now at four-year lows), Japanese electronics companies have seen their 5-year credit default swap spreads tighten during the last three months, according to CMA. They also said that Fujitsu plans to "raise prices in...

Animated Trigonometry GIF Shows How the Stock Market and Economic Cycles Work

2013-05-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

On Business Insider's post "7 Animated GIFs That Will Make You Instantly Understand Trigonometry", #5 is the key to understanding the stock market and economic cycles, IMHO. Source: Imgur via Business Insider

The Most Important Macro Links For May 2013 (Canada, Australia, Ira Sohn, Federal Reserve)

2013-05-12T12:43:00.001-05:00

Articles/blog posts on the Ira Sohn Conference, Canada's housing market, Australian dollar, commodities, Federal Reserve, Treasuries, U.S. economy, stocks and more. Fed Maps Exit From Stimulus (Jon Hilsenrath at WSJ) Bernanke Sees Important Risks in...

Housing Goes For $3.2 Million In China's English-Style Ghost Town In Songjiang ("Thames Town")

2013-05-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

VICE TV took a tour through "Thames Town" in Songjiang, China. It was built in 2002 to look like an English market town. The tour guide said the town is only used to take wedding pictures, but housing goes for $3.2 million. Wow.

UBS's Investment Bank and Wealth Management Arms Drive Q1 Profit, Watch $20 Resistance (Activist Wants To Spin-Off Investment Bank)

2013-05-10T15:57:00.001-05:00

I saw that UBS, "the second-largest private bank in the world after Bank of America," uploaded a Youtube video summarizing its Q1 2013 financial results, so I embedded it below for all the UBS fans, investors and employees out there. I also took a...

$FXY's Crash Continues as $USDJPY Breaks Through 100, Energy Costs Rise In Japan

2013-05-09T18:15:00.001-05:00

$FXY, the Japanese Yen ETF, hasn't stopped bleeding after the Bank of Japan on April 4, 2013 announced its plan to double the monetary base to 270 trillion yen by 2015 to achieve its 2% inflation target (¥270 trillion = $2.68 trillion with USD/JPY at...

Google: "All Google Services Inaccessible" In Syria (Chart)

2013-05-07T16:10:00.000-05:00

Scary. More internet info is at Business Insider. Source: http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/disruptions/82/ Google services inaccessible in Syria. See Transparency Report: goo.gl/sI7iP — A Googler (@google) May 7, 2013

Statista: Text Messaging in the U.S. Declines for the First Time In 2012 (Chart)

2013-05-07T12:05:00.001-05:00

Text messaging is on the decline! Don't Facebook, Tweet, G+ and drive people. Here's an interesting stat via Statista.com. Find more statistics at Statista "In times of Whatsapp, Facebook and other IP-based messaging services, the good old text...

Google Invests In Lending Club; Google Investment Bank Coming Soon? ($GOOG)

2013-05-06T10:41:00.002-05:00

Google is making an interesting move investing in Lending Club, an online peer-to-peer lending network like Prosper. I think we are witnessing a slow revolution in the credit market after the 'too-big-to-fail' banks destroyed the financial system and...

NYSE Margin Debt Approaching 2007 High, Look How the S&P Reacted at Previous Extremes (Analysis)

2013-05-06T08:32:00.003-05:00

NYSE margin debt outstanding is approaching the 2007 high. It hit $379.5 billion in March and a high of $381.3 billion in July 2007. And based on historical data via nyxdata and Yahoo Finance, every time margin debt went parabolic on the chart, the...