The Dow v S&P500 v NASDAQ – What’s the Difference?


 

 

QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong

 

Why do you always use the Dow Jones Index? It seems to have the least logical construction of the major indices. Why not use the S&P500?

Many thanks for your informative and thought-provoking blog,

G

ANSWER: Each index offers a completely different perspective. The Dow Jones Industrials is the “big” money. You will notice that this index leads the way. It is the first out of a key low because it is typically the foreign capital that comes in based on currency. You will also notice it tend to top out first because the big money tends to start to pull out first also due to currency.

The S&P500 is domestic institutions and this tends to reflect the more serious money in the market.

Last, but not least, is the NASDAQ. This is the retail market. You will see this is the last to peak and is the one that gets the retail all hot and bothered.

Each index has its place and reflects a different segment. The foreign capital always buys the big names. That is why the Dow is very important. It is also where big money parks in crisis.

Nudges – Egypt Opens Gaza Border For First Time Since Palestinian Authority Unity Agreement…


It was massively unreported in 2014 when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took control of the Gaza Sinai border and began removing the Hamas Terror tunnels.  As we watched the local media reporting, it was almost unbelievable how western media were ignoring the events. (example)

A full one-third of all homes on the Gaza border with Egypt contained Hamas tunnels used to smuggle weapons.  One of the discovered tunnels was 1.5 miles long (link).  In order to deal with the scale of the issue, al-Sisi ordered the removal of houses to facilitate an almost mile-wide buffer zone.   During the effort massive tunnels were discovered that the terrorist network Hamas was using to smuggle weapons.

It was al-Sisi’s efforts on that border that eventually forced the terms of a 2014 ceasefire between Hamas/Palestinian Authority and Israel.  By forcing Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to speak with one voice President al-Sisi changed the paradigm of willful blindness supporting terrorism.

Since 2014/2015 the border area has been secured by Egypt and no weapons have been able to flow into Gaza.  The inability of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to fuel further terror created the space for the Palestinian Authority to extend it’s influence.

Eventually, absent their ability to fuel terrorist activity, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood diminished in influence; later granting the PA with unified governing authority.  The “big squeeze” paid off.

Almost three years later, the efforts of President Sisi to raise moderate voices to the top of the political dynamic, are yielding positive results:

Egypt opened its largely sealed border with Gaza on Saturday for the first time since a reconciliation agreement saw the Palestinian Authority take control of the crossing from Hamas.

A Palestinian official at the Rafah crossing said it had opened at 0700 GMT and was expected to stay open for three days.

“Egypt will open the crossing for humanitarian cases registered with the interior ministry,” the official said, adding that civilian and security personnel on the Palestinian side were all employees of the reconciliation government headed by Rami Hamdallah.

Up to 20,000 people from Gaza have applied to enter Egypt. during the brief reopening.

Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip had been totally sealed since August, and was largely closed for years before that.

Under the terms of a Palestinian reconciliation agreement reached last month, Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas are supposed to cede civil power to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority by December 1.

As a first step, they handed over control of its border crossings on November 1.

The Egypt-brokered deal is expected to lead to more regular opening of the Rafah crossing.  (read more)

This is another significant step toward a possible Arab/Israel peace deal.

“The impossible is just where we begin”..

~President Donald J Trump

The Fibber is Caught – Gloria Allred Refuses To Release Yearbook for Independent Authentication…


Notorious political/legal activist, and evidence manufacturer, Gloria Allred, represents a woman named Beverly Young-Nelson who claims Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore assaulted her 40 years ago.

Judge Roy Moore stated he’s never personally met Mrs. Nelson but he was assigned -and presided over- her civil divorce case about 18 years ago.

To prove Moore has met Mrs. Nelson, Gloria Allred produced Nelson’s high school yearbook claiming to contain the signature of Roy Moore.  However, a review of the signature shows considerable evidence that it is fraudulent.  Mr. Moore challenged Allred to present the yearbook for independent authentication.  Allred is refusing.

Even Keith Olberman’s former girlfriend, Katy Tur, see’s through the B.S.:

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Attorney/activist Allred is demanding a Senate hearing against Roy Moore, which is absurd because the U.S. Senate has no jurisdiction over Moore as a private citizen running for office.  Allred, an activist and Democrat delegate, is simply attempting to manufacture a political fiasco to benefit her ideological and partisan endeavors.

The signature appears to be entirely fraudulent and manufactured to create a connection between Mrs. Nelson and Judge Moore.

It is clear from a simple review of the inscription that two inks were used, and two different types of handwriting appear present.

Providing further evidence toward Moore’s defense, he notes the “DA” following the signature are specifically the same as the divorce documents he signed for Mrs. Nelson in 1999 (see below):

The “D.A.” does not stand for District Attorney, it stands for “Delbra Adams”, Judge Moore’s former assistant who started working for him in 1987, ten years after the “DA” which appears in Mrs. Nelson’s yearbook.

The evidence showing Gloria Allred manufactured the yearbook seems overwhelming and presumably that’s why she is refusing to allow independent inspection.

Lithium – the new White Gold


Lithium is known and “white gold” since electric cars require a lot of batteries. This has resulted in transforming the metal into a valuable and sought-after commodity. The demand keeps rising as there is a need for energy storage that can only be produced if lithium is available in sufficient quantities.

The price has soared from $1,550 to $9,100 a metric ton. This interesting metal was once used as a treatment for brain disorders. It was also the title of a song by Nirvana for its effect on the brain. Lithium is often found in salt flats when water repeatedly evaporates from a shallow lake, leaving behind a crusty layer of salt minerals. Consequently, Lithium is unique because it is the lightest known metal.

During the 1790s, it was a Brazilian naturalist who discovered the mineral called petalite on an island in Sweden. Then in 1817, a chemist in Sweden discovered that petalite contained a previously unknown element. He was able to isolate one of the salts, but he could not isolate the mineral itself. Nevertheless, he gave it its name – lithium, which meant “stone” in Greek.

Finally, 1855 a British and a German chemist were able to separate the metal from the salts. Once this was accomplished, commercial production of the lithium metal began in Germany in 1923. Because it is so light, it is known for its wide use in batteries.

The latest story involved a pair of exploding headphones on a plane. That incident came after the Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 recall of their phones, which ended that line. You can’t chalk it all up to incompetence, either. At the famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a robot named RoboSimian blew-up thanks to a lithium battery. So what is so dangerous? Inside, there is a thin and porous slip of polypropylene that normally keeps the electrodes from touching. If that separator is breached, the electrodes come in contact, and things get very hot very quickly. So why even use them? Lithium-ion batteries are indeed the most efficient battery. They hold an amazing amount of energy in a tiny package that is light. They can keep a laptop running all day.

They have been used in batteries going back 25 years ago by Sony. However, they seem to get more volatile as time goes on because we are pushing the envelope. We want lighter products to last longer and they have to be cheap.

Devices containing lithium metal or lithium-ion batteries (laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.) should be carried in carry-on baggage. Most airlines will not allow you to check them in baggage.

The Hunt for Taxes Destroying Healthcare in Britain


The Hunt for Taxes is now creating a crisis in healthcare in Britain. The UK government is gearing up for a massive tax clampdown targeting private sector contractors. The UK Treasury estimates in its budget that this taxing of private contractors in healthcare will create £185m in new taxes for the year 2017/18. This is known as the IR35 regime, which will apply to hundreds of thousands of freelancers outside the public sector.

At the core of this is the issue where someone who is incorporated pays less tax and national insurance than an employee on the same income working freelance under contract. Many suspects that this is just a test run and the government will extend the tax increases to the private sector in a year.

 

Because most are freelance contractors in the Public Sector healthcare, there is an immediate decline in patient care standards in NHS due to this hunt for taxes under IR35. UK healthcare is deteriorating rapidly. A survey of 450 healthcare locums by ContractorCalculator and the Independent Health Professionals Association(IHPA) has revealed that the NHS is failing to replace critical contract workers who have been forced out of the sector due to IR35 and questionable compliance procedures. It’s all about taxes.

And so many people in the USA think that public healthcare is free in Europe and so much better, they are just victims of propaganda. There is a major crisis unfolding in the British healthcare system all because of the hunt for taxes.

Remaining EU Member will have to pay 15% More upon BREXIT


QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; All the news here in Britain is always how bad it will be if we leave the extortion ring in Brussels. You have mentioned that we are the biggest market for German cars. What will Brexit do to the EU?

Thanks

GD

ANSWER: Once the British exit from the EU “extortion” ring as you call it, the remaining nations will have to pay more than an additional €10 billion euros to keep Brussels floating in jobs and exorbitant pension. Besides the German auto-industry being clipped for political reasons as the EU punishes Britain to act as a deterrent to prevent others from leaving, Germany’s proportion of making up the shortfall from BREXIT will be almost €4 billion. With BREXIT, everyone will have to contribute an additional 15% so they can do nothing but make more miserable in Europeans.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani calls for a doubling of the budget of the European Union. “We need twice as much money as today, so 280 billion euros instead of 140 billion euros per year,” said Tajani the spark newspapers. The doubled EU budget should not be financed by additional transfers from the Member States, but by the introduction of taxes.

“This will require new EU own resources, such as a financial transaction tax on stock exchanges,” Tajani said. The President of the European Parliament justified his initiative with the costs of dealing with the refugee crisis and the fight against terrorism, as well as the increased need for investment. “Europeans must invest more in energy and digitalization of the economy in the future,” the Italian said. Only in this way could the EU compete with the US, China, India or Russia in global competition.

The EU Parliament is currently negotiating with the finance ministers of the EU governments for the Community budget for the year 2018. The EU parliament demands funds of 146.7 billion euros for the coming year – 2.3 billion euros more than the finance ministers want to make available.

Almost 80 percent of the EU budget is covered by the contributions of the member countries, the remainder comes from so-called own resources of the EU – these are mainly customs revenue. Germany, the largest net contributor, contributes just under 20 percent to the EU budget.

On top of that, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has called for a doubling of the budget of the European Union. Since the EU cannot issue debt, that means the doubling of the EU budget should not be financed by additional transfers from the Member States, but by the introduction of taxes. They are looking at increasing the tax burden even more on Europeans in the Eurozone.

The EU wants to impose its own tax resources, such as a financial transaction tax on stock exchanges. This is being justified, believe it or not, to cover the costs of dealing with the refugee crisis and the fight against terrorism as they claim. They are right now negotiating with the finance ministers of the EU governments for the Community budget for the year 2018. They now want 146.7 billion euros for the coming year – 2.3 billion euros more than the finance ministers want to make available. Brussels knows how to spend money. Almost 80 % of the EU budget is covered by the contributions of the member states. The rest is primarily customs revenue. Germany, the largest net contributor, contributes just under 20 percent to the EU budget.

Is the Dollar Really a Petrodollar anymore?


QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I want to thank you so much for shedding light on what can only be deranged forecasts on the dollar and gold and never change regardless of how much money they lose people year after year. I received this email with the headline How Much Longer Can the Petrodollar Survive? They claim that now adversarial nations like “China, Russia and Iran” are threatening the petrodollar hegemony by establishing their own trading and banking infrastructure that excludes dollars for trade. Suddenly Iran is now a world power and as you said at the conference, the dollar support is not trade or oil, but where big money parks.

My question is, just how can these people sleep at night putting out false information all the time? Isn’t that what the investment banks pled guilty to putting out false forecasts to support their own positions during the Dotcom bubble?

ANSWER: Yes, you are correct. It is one thing to put out analysis that is unbiased and it is raw corruption to put out forecasts that support your own investments creating a conflict of interest. It would not be a criminal act as long as they disclose what their portfolio is. Only the government gets a free get out of jail card for fake forecasts.

The decline in commodities was was due to a number of factors, including an economic slowdown in China, a severe recession in Brazil, with falling prices for oil and other commodities, and exchange rate volatility that saw the dollar rise. Despite positive growth in trade volume terms, the current dollar value of world merchandise exports declined by 14% in 2015, to US$ 16.0 trillion, as export prices fell by 15%. Even the dollar value of world commercial services exports also fell 6% in 2015 to US$ 4.7 trillion, although the decline was less severe than for merchandise.

All these claims that the “petrodollar” is going to collapse are just a total joke. Oil is less than 10% of world trade. These people are living in the ’70s. Hey, cut the hair and get rid of the bell bottoms. It’s 40+ years later!

There is not even an attempt to be a true honest analysis of the subject. Just look at the figures. The oil and gas drilling sector make up between 4.6% and 6.5% of the global economy.  The FX market DAILY trading volume is about $5.3 trillion which dwarfs the equities and futures markets no less oil and gold.

The support behind the dollar is (1) it can be used worldwide without permission from the USA as is the case with the Japanese yen. It is a single currency with a single federal debt market where BIG money can park – that is not the case for the Euro, Ruble, or Yuan. The Iranian Rial has gone through major inflation. It will be devalued and called the “toman” despite the aliollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), who confirmed that the CBI has sent a bill to the government requesting the removal of a zero from the currency to reflect the public’s use of the term “toman” to refer to 10 rials. Any revaluation must wait until inflation has stabilized. And this is the currency that will dethrone the dollar? Give me a break!

Ethereum Cryptocurrency – Almost $400 Million Vanishes


Thanks to a string of screw-ups and bugs, an unsuspecting developer recently took possession of an estimated $US390 million worth of the Ethereum cryptocurrency by accident. In an attempt to give back the money, however, the guy ended up locking up the funds permanently. Essentially, the money has just evaporated.

It turns out that hackers started the trouble getting into the cryptocurrency wallet service stealing about $42 million. To then patch the vulnerability to their block-chain technology, they introduced a bug that affected multi-signature wallets. These are wallets which require several people to enter keys before funds get transferred. This was intended to be top security for Ether which is the second largest cryptocurrency. Somehow, a guy called “devops199” triggered the bug and took control of all multi-sig wallets unintendedly. Then devops199 attempted to reverse the process to give back the money which then triggered they bug. The result was the destruction all of the funds. The bug caused a chain reaction of events that locked all multi-signature wallets that cannot now be unlocked.

Welcome to the world of Cryptocurrency.

20 Year List of Annualized Congressional Harassment Settlements…


Reid Wilson via The Hill provides a list of “Congressional Office of Compliance releases year-by-year breakdown of congressional harassment settlements and awards”:

(LINK)

*Note* Democrats took over Congress via elections in November ’06 for congressional year 2007.  Republicans retook Congress via elections in November ’10 for congressional year beginning 2011.

Roy Moore Attorney Questions Authenticity of Accusers Evidence – Press Conference Video…


The attorney for Alabama Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore appeared today for a brief press statement and provided material that strongly suggests the documents provided by the accusers attorney, Gloria Allred, were forged.  In a subsequent follow-up interview with Allred she refused to say the documents were not forged.

Apparently Judge Roy Moore was the presiding judge in the divorce case of Beverly Young Nelson.  The signature on the yearbook Mrs. Nelson provides as evidence, via Gloria Allred, looks like it was taken from the judge’s signature on her previously undisclosed divorce documents.

Roy Moore’s attorney Phillip L. Jauregui says Judge Roy Moore has been falsely accused, and wants Gloria Allred to release Beverly Nelson’s yearbook for handwriting analysis and inspection.  The key points to defend Roy Moore from the larger accusations are found within the motive of Allred and Mrs. Young falsifying documents.

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Additionally, Gloria Allred appeared on CNN (Wolf Blitzer) and twice refused to state the signature was authentic.  She sounds very sketchy and evasive (video below).

The writing definitely appears to be in two different inks and by two different people.

Here’s Allred refusing to confirm the documents are authentic and not a forgery [06:45].

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