Since the first of this year, banks didn’t have much to brag about, as they lagged the broad market to the upside. While lagging, they potentially built a base that could reward the owners of banks for a while going forward.
Below looks at the Bank Index (BKX) over the past 6-years-
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE
Potential that the sideways choppy action in the BKX index this year was an upper-level base to spring higher off of.
Many gold bugs make an implicit assumption. Gold is good, therefore it will go up. This is tempting but wrong (ignoring that gold does not go anywhere, it’s the dollar that goes down). One error is in thinking that now you have discovered a truth, everyone else will see it quickly. And there is a subtler error. The error is to think good things must go up. Sometimes they do, but why?
In the traditionally quiet post-payrolls week, attention will focus on the US CPI report, retail sales and FOMC minutes as well as the Catalonia vote and Eurozone industrial production. Separately, we have UK construction, Chinese PMIs, Japanese BoP and inflation in the Scandies.
A breakdown of the key events this week from BofA:
Perth Mint Gold Coins Sales Double In September
With no North Korean nuclear test over the weeknd contrary to a Friday morning rumor, S&P futures rebounded and edged higher as European stocks gain, led by Spanish shares after mass demonstrations in favor of Spanish unity and speculation Catalonia may back down on unilateral independence demands, while Chinese mainland stocks reopened catching up to gains missed during the holiday week following last weekend's RRR cut.