Yesterday, during dinner my son asked me what was the most important quality to succeed in business. Without hesitation I replied, “Perseverance.” Intelligence, talent, good looks, creativity are all great.. But all of them combined cannot act as a substitute for perseverance. I have lived long enough to see some extremely bright ,Ivy-League-educated friends flounder…

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Perhaps the biggest macroeconomic event to watch for is the potential that the US Treasury bond market is turning south – and that bond yieldswill rise significantly. This has many implications for the global economy, as capital flowing out of the US Treasury bond market – the largest non-currency financial market – will drastically impact values in other markets. First, let’s look at price. Below is a weekly chart of the TLT, an ETF tracking 20+ year US Treasury bonds. Note that price has been in a decliningpattern for the past year. In terms of fundamentals, many people believe a mass exodus out of Treasury bonds is likely to occur at some point – however timing is the bigissue. Concerns about the US Treasury bond have existed for quite some time, given that US debt/GDP has surpassed 100%, and that debt is stillgrowing as the US continues to run a budget deficit. Michael Pento’s book, The Coming Bond Market Collapse, elaborates on this thesis. That thisidea has been discussed for years while bonds have rallied, though, has turned many off to the idea that a sustained run out of the bond market isimminent. But if the trend does continue and US treasury bonds end up giving up their gains since April of 2011 and more, what might happen in other markets? Where might capital flow? I believe precious metals would be the biggest beneficiaries, with commodities being the second biggest. Certain stock sectors could do well – perhaps consumer staples? – though I’d be wary of stocks, as they have been rallying strong since the start of the year in most equities markets around the world, and since an increase in interest rates would reduce credit available for buying stocks on margin. I would expect the decline in availability of credit to decrease the value of most real estate as well. Last but certainly not least, I think the value of the US dollar would decline as well, as demand for Treasuries and dollars is deeply linked since the Treasury market is so huge and…

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How to Trade Forex on News Releases   If you choose you trade on the forex market, then you are committing your money to an extremely volatile and unpredictable past time. It is also a financial environment with high levels of liquidity and opportunity, however, and one that can deliver significant returns to investors. There…

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MahiFX trading platform announced as winner of Best Trading System at 13th annual FStech Awards recognising excellence and innovation in financial services sector. LONDON, 19 April 2013 – MahiFX, the proprietary-built FX trading platform that provides retail traders with direct access to institutional quality execution speeds and spreads, today announced it has been awarded the 2013 FStech Award for ‘Best Trading System’…

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Breakout Trading – Is it a Strategy for you? As the number of accessible derivative products continues to soar, so too does the volume of trading methods used by investors. These variable strategies may cover one or several market practices, and each offer different advantages to the traders who adopt them. Breakout trading is one…

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Have you ever thought to yourself. I wonder which country’s trade the most? I have put together a table and you might be quite surprised by the results. The UK tops the chart by almost double its next competitor the USA. This is mainly because of London being such a larger financial centre. The Greenwich mean time Plays a key factor also in the transactions can take place around the clock at a convenient time for both sides of the world…

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The ongoing turmoil in Cyprus saw equity traders offer stocks lower in early trade as risk appetite was tempered by an uncertain Eurozone backdrop. The rumour mill continues to churn out speculation surrounding Russian intervention, but with no concrete offer on the table and Plan A firmly rejected by the Cypriot parliament, fears of a disorderly exit continue to weigh on investor sentiment…

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Political positions in the US appear near certain to result in no action on over $85 billion in mandated spending cuts scheduled to take place beginning on March 1st and culminating March 27th when the US Government’s spending authority expires completely. Until that time little or no action is expected by the US Congress that…

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London, 14 March 2013 – Aggressive quantitative easing programmes from the US and Japan are creating a dilemma for the Chinese leadership, which may only be resolved by revaluing the China Yuan upwards versus the US Dollar. Inflation and unemployment are two major preoccupations for the Chinese leadership as a nasty bout of either can create social instability…

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