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The Gold market and the metals complex as a whole had a strong run in 2024 , and Gold has seen this strength continue over the last few weeks. Since the highs in October, Gold has seen some consolidation with prices falling due to many factors such as the changing Fed environment and the overall sentiment of the precious metals complex. Some of the metals are...

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Since the turn of the New Year, equity markets have seen a lot of volatility. The ES and NQ markets have both seen consolidation from the highs back in December, and now after testing the November lows are moving back higher. There is still a lot of uncertainty in the markets with a shift in global economics and politics on the front of many traders minds, but...

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Outside of the typical financial markets traders may track, the agricultural markets have had an interesting start to 2025. Looking at the March Corn contract, traders saw significant selling pressure in 2024 and Corn has struggled to climb back over the $5.00/bushel mark. Since the August 2024 lows, Corn has seen a slow grind higher with some significant chop...

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Crude Oil Futures have seen continued strength to the upside after seeing a choppy trading environment for several weeks. Crude Oil has several indicators that can sway the prices to the upside or downside very quickly based on global supply and economic uncertainty, and traders and seeing all of this in action starting off the new year. Tensions in the Middle...

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The precious metals complex as a whole saw strong gains across 2024 and increased volume across markets such as Gold and Silver. During the year, the Fed's interest rate policy along with inflation concerns helped bring the Gold and Silver market near their all time high levels. Toward the end of the year, the Fed decided to leave rates unchanged and the prices in...

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The start of 2025 has been anything but quiet for the U.S. stock indices. Looking at the March ES and NQ contracts, traders have seen selling pressure and have both broken below the 50-day moving average. With critical economic data being released this week regarding inflation and consumer data, traders will be watching for more aggressive selling into the 200-day...

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As we are approaching year end, this is a great time as a trader to go back and see how different markets performed relative to the positions you had throughout the year. Many different sectors had excellent performances this year such as the precious metals complex, with Gold hitting all time high levels, and the crypto market led by Bitcoin. With that said, the...

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At a Glance With vehicle efficiency up and China's economy slowing, WTI crude oil prices experienced late summer lows, though they have since started to rebound Driving would need to increase by nearly 2% each year to keep fuel demand stable Crude oil prices fell sharply in late August and early September. Does this mean that oil is a bargain? The answer...

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The Nasdaq-100 has been a stellar performer since its debut in 1985, rising 22,900% (with dividends reinvested) for a 14.8% compounded annual total rate of return. By comparison, the S&P 500 returned 7,200% over the same period with dividends reinvested, an 11.5% compounded return (Figure 1). Figure 1: Since the inception of the Nasdaq-100 index in 1985, it...

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2600 years ago, the Anatolian Kingdom of Lydia minted the world’s first gold and silver coins. In doing so, the Lydian King Alyattes and his successor Croesus introduced the world’s first exchange rate: the gold-silver cross. Like any cross rate, the amount of silver that can be purchased with an ounce of gold is driven by both demand and supply-side factors,...

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AT A GLANCE: Despite ongoing geopolitical conflict, oil prices and volatility are relatively low A rise in U.S. crude production and weak demand in China are helping oil inventories maintain average levels Considering many factors like the Russia-Ukraine war, OPEC+ cutting production by 3.6 million barrels per day and conflict in the Middle East, many...

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What do the labor market and the stock market have in common? They are both showing a huge divergence between the fortune’s big companies and smaller companies. From 2009 to 2021, the large caps in the S&P 500 and the small caps in the Russell 2000 moved more-or-less in lock step. Since the end of 2021, however, investors in the S&P 500 have earned a 9% return....

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REPORT HIGHLIGHTS: The fourth bitcoin halving event, scheduled on or around April 19, 2024, heralds a significant transformation in the cryptocurrency landscape. This halving, marked by the reduction of bitcoin supply subsidy, the emergence of a liquid investment ecosystem via CME Group futures and options, the advent of spot Bitcoin ETFs and the introduction of...

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During the 1990s and again in the 2010s, equity and bond investors celebrated a goldilocks economy. GDP and employment growth were solid and core inflation remained comfortably around 2% per year despite increasingly tight labor markets. That scenario was occasionally interrupted, notably by the tech wreck recession in 2001, the 2008 global financial crisis, and...

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We entered 2023 with a pessimistic consensus outlook for U.S. economic performance and for how rapidly inflation might recede. As it happened, there was no recession, and personal consumption posted sustained strength. Inflation, except shelter, declined dramatically from its 2022 peak. The big economic driver in 2023 was job growth. Jobs had recovered all their...

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Looking back to 1928, when the time series for the S&P 500 began, U.S. equities have had an average annual price return of 5.9%. But gold isn’t far behind with an average yearly gain of 4.9%. It can be instructive to reprice equities in gold terms by dividing the S&P 500 index by the dollar price of gold. The S&P 500 to gold ratio has been through broad swings...

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Will the 2020s look like the 1970s with unstable inflation and soaring prices? Or will we return to the 2010s with low stable inflation rates of around 2%? There is a case to be made both ways. Those who worry about the possibility of durably higher inflation argue that the quarter century of low, stable inflation rates was a consequence of the end of the Cold...

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Over the past 18 months, U.S. mortgage rates have soared from 2.9% to 7.6%, their highest since 2001. Will this tremendous increase in mortgage rates cause the U.S. housing market to crash like it did in 2008? On one hand, higher mortgages have led to a steady decrease in the number of new mortgages being issued. In recent weeks, the number of new mortgages has...