Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/31/12

Zero Hedge sums up today’s Fed reaction perfectly: buy the rumor, sell the news, then BTFD (though, ironically, we need more upside before this looks something other than “toppy” to me).

From PragCap, Li Zoujan (an economist from within China’s Bureacracy) believes its centrally-planned economy is a crisis in the making.

Behavioral Investing makes a case that the bond market is unquestionably in a bubble at the moment.

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/30/12

At Big Picture, Barry Ritholtz reminds us Americans that it’s no longer a Right vs Left world in politics, it’s Corporations vs Us.

John Aziz of Azizonomics on what it might look like to open the door to genuine currency competition.

Think there’s a correlation between monetary policy and rising equity prices since 2009?  From Zero Hedge:

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/29/12

James Kostohryz at Seeking Alpha on the seeds of financial ruin planted – and nurtured – by the Fed (ZIRP, Bernanke put, etc).

The Technical Take looks at a “real-time” recession indicator, and suggests QE3 will have to be gargantuan to have an economic impact.

Along the same lines, Chris Street of StreetTalkLive makes the case that the QE3 mechanism is broken.

Howard Davies on the ongoing failings of the field of Economics in the wake of 2008’s meltdown.

Joel Bowman at the Daily Reckoning recalls Leo Tostoy, railing against Statism and embracing altruistic anarchism.

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/28/12

From Zero Hedge, equities and consumer confidence continue moving in opposite directions.  I would expect that one will sharply correct before too long.

John Hussman on the reliability of moving average crossovers as market indicators.

EconMatters suggest gas prices could remain elevated despite “sagging” demand.

Ace technical analyst Chris Kimble notes a the NAQ composite and the NAS 100.

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/27/12

From the Big Picture: Iceland did it right, everyone else did it wrong.

Zero Hedge diagrams the endless cycle of hope that has elevated equity prices for the last 3 years.

Chris Kimble notes that the Shanghai Index is breaking below a 20 year old support trendline.

From PragCap, according to Zillow, home prices continue to edge higher.

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/24/12

Sober Look makes the case that cooler heads should prevail at the Fed, holding off on QE3.

Steve Kroft of 60 minutes on the lack of accountability and criminal prosecution following the Financial Crisis of 2008.

From WSJ, China’s unsold goods (both raw and finished) are starting to pile up.

Here’s a chart from Bloomberg showing the plummeting shipments of Iron Ore to China.

This graphic from NYT, showing how China is – quite simply – producing more than its sells these days:

 

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/23/12

HSBC Chinese Purchase Managers Index (PMI) continues to deteriorate.

Mike Shedlock on whether a Fed green-light of QE3 is a sell-the-news event.

From Zero Hedge, Eric Sprott on the negative interest rates currently being seen on German (and other) bonds, and whether it suggests a collapse in the financial system is approaching.

The Bloomberg consumer comfort index continues to plummet, reversing spring’s uptrend.

QQQ facing 10 year old resistance?

I noted possible trendline resistance faced by the S&P yesterday.  Today, we look at Nasdaq’s QQQ ETF which appears to be facing trendline resistance of its own that dates back over 10 years.

Daily Reading on the Financial Markets: 8/22/12

Ace market technician Chris Kimble has noted that silver is breaking out, while the US Dollar appears to be breaking down.

Wolf Richter at Testosterone Pit on the rush of Euro hopium that has pushed the market to recent highs.

From Of Two Minds, an essay on ways the healthcare system can be made more efficient.

To the dismay of Fed doves, the NY Fed has released a paper suggesting no further QE is needed at this time, since Fed policy cannot effect the current “mismatch” of labor supply and demand.

From Visualizing Economics, while scare tactics are aplenty about what higher tax rates might mean, historically, we remain near the lowest rates in American history:

S&P Resistance?

Diagnosing charts for patterns is a pretty subjective activity, but a case can be made that the S&P is close to hitting resistance in a very long term wedge.

Personally, I prefer a shorter term trendline that runs up a bit higher, but this one seems worth noting… especially on a potential reversal day like today.