By Bob Stokes
4/20/2012 4:45:00 PM
Four years after we brushed up against "financial Armageddon," it appears our financial system is still not as stable as it needs to be. We believe that you should plan ahead for a run on bank deposits. Here's why...
Filed Under: banks, Ben Bernanke, cash, Club EWI, conquer the crash, credit crisis, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Robert Prechter, safe banks, safe haven, subprime lending, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Bob Stokes
3/26/2012 4:15:00 PM
A look at the performance of small-capitalization stocks is one way to tell whether investors are in the mood for risk taking. See a revealing chart...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, quantitative easing, risk appetite, stock indexes, Traders
Category: Stocks
Gold and Silver Take A Flying Leap: Now What?
EWI's Metals Specialty Service uses Elliott wave analysis to reveal today what tomorrow's news will bring for gold and silver.
By Nico Isaac
3/1/2012 1:30:00 PM
February 29, 2012 was a calendar Leap Day. But for the world's biggest precious metal markets, it was Take-A-Flying-Leap-Off-the-Edge-Of-A-Cliff-Day. Gold prices ended the session $77 per ounce lower in their steepest single-day drop in six months. AND silver joined the rout with a near 7% nose-dive.
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Elliott wave, fundamental analysis, Gold, precious metals, silver, Elliott Wave trading
Category: Gold and Silver
By Bob Stokes
2/7/2012 5:00:00 PM
Take note: there's an eerie similarity between what is developing economically today and what happened from 1929-1933...
Filed Under: 1929 Stock Market Crash, Ben Bernanke, deflation, economic depression, financial forecast, unemployment
Category: U.S. Economy
By Vadim Pokhlebkin
1/25/2012 5:45:00 PM
On January 25, Ben Bernanke spoke no surprises: The Fed's interest rate policy will be unchanged for another two years. Question: What does this mean for the stock market through 2014? Let me show you how quickly you can get lost if you try to answer this question using "fundamental" analysis.
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Bernanke, Bob Prechter, djia, Elliott wave, Interest Rates, market forecasts, prechter, S&P 500, technical analysis, technical indicators, unemployment
Category: Stocks
By Bob Stokes
12/23/2011 4:45:00 PM
Many people say that the Federal Reserve will just keep "printing money." But to say that the government will just keep "stimulating" is to ignore the simple truth that institutions consist of people. Even people in authority come under the influence of prevailing psychology -- which today is one of increasing...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, debt crisis, deflation, Elliott Wave Theorist, great depression, monetary policy, monetization, QE2, quantitative easing, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Bob Stokes
11/16/2011 4:45:00 PM
Is this the point where Bernanke can no longer use Fed policy to "inflate at will"? Well, Robert Prechter says something "momentous" happened on September 21, 2011...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, central banks, deflation, inflation, monetary policy, QE2, quantitative easing, Robert Prechter, stimulus package, Treasury bonds, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Bob Stokes
10/28/2011 4:30:00 PM
Stories of her frugality are legendary: she traveled in an old carriage, bought broken cookies in bulk because they were less expensive, and reportedly spent half a night looking for a lost two cent stamp. But the most extreme example of her pathological stinginess relates to...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Robert Prechter, central banks, deflation, history, monetary policy, stimulus package, Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed), Wall Street
Category: U.S. Economy
By Bob Stokes
10/10/2011 5:15:00 PM
Many people still talk about a "recovery," or at worst only see a possible double-dip recession. But what if the mistake was to think the economy was only in a recession in the first place?...
Filed Under: Bank of England, Ben Bernanke, central banks, debt crisis, deflation, economic depression, great depression, Treasury bonds, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Nico Isaac
8/29/2011 5:15:00 PM
On Monday August 29, much of the Big Apple (i.e., New York City) breathed a huge sight of relief. And not just because flood-bringing tropical storm Irene failed to deliver the "nightmare hurricane" scenario feared by the entire eastern seaboard. The opening to a brand new week also saw the violent stock market storm that has blown through Wall Street since early July taper off into clear skies.
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Bernanke, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Elliott wave, fundamental analysis, stock indexes, trendlines, Wall Street
Category: Stocks
By Bob Stokes
8/5/2011 5:00:00 PM
External resistance to the Fed's policies is one thing. But the machinations of America's central bank are also encountering resistance from within the Fed itself, albeit "behind closed doors"...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Robert Prechter, central banks, Elliott Wave Theorist, Greenspan, QE2, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Bob Stokes
7/26/2011 5:15:00 PM
As European bailouts become "politically questionable" and the Federal Reserve continues to lose credibility, what's next for the economies of Europe and the United States?...
Filed Under: bailouts, Ben Bernanke, central banks, debt crisis, european central bank, European debt crisis, European Union (EU), Robert Prechter, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: Global Markets
By Bob Stokes
7/22/2011 2:45:00 PM
Some in the financial media argue that QE2 worked because the Fed has prevented a Japanese-like deflation. But is inflation alive and well? Keep the above chart in mind as you read...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, central banks, deflation, monetary policy, QE2, quantitative easing, Robert Prechter, stimulus package, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Robert Folsom
7/18/2011 6:00:00 PM
When Ben Bernanke became Fed Chairman in 2006, he knew that books about his predecessor had published with titles like Maestro. He read quotes like these from columnists and major news outlets:
"If we had been lucky enough to have Alan Greenspan at the Fed in the fall of 1929, there might well have been no Great Depression." (New York Times, Jan. 2006)
"For 18 years as chairman of the Fed, financial markets hung on his every word, and in both major policy pronouncements and brief utterances, Greenspan could literally move markets." (ABC News, Sept. 2007)
Hence it only stands to reason that, with so much love out there for the Fed, Bernanke concluded that more "transparency" from the central bank would be a good policy. And he did proceed to speak more frequently in public.
What the new Fed chairman did not expect was for the wheels to come off the economy and the stock market to lose more than half its value.
The only thing Bernanke may have expected even less was loud, public dissent about his policies from no few than four regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents. This mutiny has erupted in just the past year -- the president of the Dallas Fed openly criticized Bernanke's QE2 policy as the "wrong medicine."
The obvious question is "Why," though the answer may not be as obvious as it seems. Yes, the bad economy plays a role -- but the full answer transcends the Federal Reserve and the economy itself.
Here's a preview of that answer, from Bob Prechter's just-published Elliott Wave Theorist:
What the new Fed chairman did not expect was for the wheels to come off the economy and the stock market to lose more than half its value. The only thing Bernanke may have expected even less was loud, public dissent about his policies from no few than four regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents. This mutiny has erupted in just the past year...
Filed Under: Robert Prechter, Ben Bernanke
Category: Stocks
By Robert Folsom
7/6/2011 4:00:00 PM
To say that "a feeble economy hurts the Fed's image" is to state the obvious. There's a deeper reason the public is turning against the central bank. And if anything, Bernanke's attempts to "manage" perceptions will only make it worse...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: Stocks
By Vadim Pokhlebkin
6/28/2011 5:15:00 PM
You may remember the event that dominated last week's U.S. economic calendar: the June 22 Federal Reserve's interest rates announcement followed by Ben Bernanke's press-conference. In a credit-based economy that revolves around lending and borrowing, interest rates are a hugely important component of the overall economic picture. So it's no wonder that Wall Street and Main Street both pay close attention to the Fed's interest rates decisions. But the fact is that the Fed is no more in charge of interest rates than it is of the weather. See this chart...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, central banks, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), monetary policy, Robert Prechter, stimulus package, Treasury bills (T-bills), Treasury bonds, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
What Will Happen to the Stock Market When QE2 Ends?
Club EWI's free "Independent Investor eBook, 2011 Edition" offers you an unorthodox view of the Fed's quantitative easing program
By Vadim Pokhlebkin
6/27/2011 12:00:00 PM
Club EWI's free "Independent Investor eBook, 2011 Edition" offers you an unorthodox view of quantitative easing and its "effects" on stocks and the economy...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Elliott wave, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), liquidity, market manipulation, monetary policy, monetization, Robert Prechter, QE2, quantitative easing, Robert Prechter, stimulus package, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: Stocks
By Vadim Pokhlebkin
6/24/2011 5:15:00 PM
On Wednesday, June 22, the Federal Reserve Bank released its latest interest rates policy statement (no change). Afterward the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke held a press conference, followed by a Q&A period. The financial media paid lots of attention to what Bernanke said. Our own Steve Hochberg -- editor of the Monday-Wednesday-Friday Short Term Update -- had this to say about Bernanke's press conference...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, economic depression, Elliott wave, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), gross domestic product (GDP), monetary policy, QE2, quantitative easing, recession, stimulus package, stock indexes, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: Stocks
By Nathaniel Williams
6/14/2011 3:45:00 PM
The mainstream financial media almost always make the Fed out to be a group of all-powerful market magicians. This characterization isn't new. But is it accurate? For just one example, let's take a trip back to 1999...
Filed Under: Ben Bernanke, Campaign for Independent Thinking, central banks, Greenspan, market manipulation, real Dow, U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed)
Category: U.S. Economy
By Vadim Pokhlebkin
6/10/2011 5:30:00 PM
As of June 10, the Dow has suffered the "longest losing streak since the fall of 2002," reports The Associated Press. As for why stocks are falling, most observers agree: Blame "weaker hiring, industrial output, and a moribund housing market." The economic reports from the past two weeks made that clear. But wait a minute. The DJIA didn't top in the past two weeks -- it topped on April 29!
Filed Under: Bear market, Ben Bernanke, bull market, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), economic depression, Elliott wave, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, stimulus package, unemployment
Category: Stocks