Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
In their policy announcement last week, the members of the FOMC claimed:
“Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in May indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising moderately so far this year.”
Update: Sears Canada was authorized to obtain financing of C$450 million. The bankrupt company said it would close 20 full-line locations plus 15 Sears Home stores, 10 Sears Outlets and 14 Sears Hometown locations; it would also cut 2,900 positions across retail network, corporate head office in Toronto.
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The market has gone absolutely nowhere for 15 weeks now.
That is not a typo, nor am I bearing overly negative. Since the end of February, when President Trump last tweeted that he had big plans for the economy, the S&P 500 is up a total of just 1.6% or roughly 39 points.
And THIS is the raging bull market that everyone is so crazy about? A market in which it took almost FOUR months for stocks to eek out a 1.6% gain?
Meanwhile against this backdrop of unhinged bullishness, the credit markets are flashing MAJOR warning signals.
Authored by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com,
Oil prices have cratered in recent weeks, dipping to their lowest levels in more than seven months and any sense of optimism has almost entirely disappeared. All signs point to a period of “lower for longer” for oil prices, a refrain that is all too familiar to those in the industry.
WTI dipped below $44 per barrel on Tuesday, and the bearish indicators are starting to pile up.
There has been a distinct shift in sentiment when it comes to oil this morning: after plunging 22% from its February highs, many commentators are suggesting that the bottom is finally in and that it is time to turn "contrarian."
One among them is GS Banque's Loic Schmid, who posits three ideas on why oil is weaker: