Well, well, well, thus far today, the market is behaving in a manner befitting a market that is not, I repeat not, falling prey to the breathless media. It appears to be assessing its recent march toward record highs, again, and in that, it is shaking off the buy up of technology last Friday, which seems normal. Yet, it taketh more days than one to convince me it is on the way back to normalcy.
Costa Rica, India, Eurozone, and taxes are on my agenda for today, but first I need to look at oil and the US dollar, as they have been paramount in the real news as of late.
- U.S. stocks edged higher on Monday following strong gains in major indexes the previous week, as investors assessed gyrations in the dollar and crude prices and their impact on equities.
Now, here is the interesting thing (things). In the last weeks, the breathless media marched out those folks who told us the US Dollar was likely headed higher (think Fed) and how bad that would be for the US multi-nationals. True, not everyone was saying that, but a lot of ink, airtime, and digital space went to those who did. Today, the US Dollar is down to around 97, give or take a decimal or two. And that has affected the price of oil.
- Oil prices rose close to $56 a barrel on Monday as a weaker dollar offset concerns over global oversupply after Saudi Arabia said it was pumping around 10 million barrels per day, near a record high.
A second interesting thing about the price of oil today – it is up a bit, but can it hold? Here is what is happening around the oil-pumping world – Saudi Arabia is crying foul on non-OPEC producers.
- Oil producers outside OPEC must cooperate to boost falling crude prices as the cartel refuses to take responsibility alone, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister has said.
The battle for market share continues, which, in the end, will play bigger for the price of oil than a measured rise and fall in the US Dollar. In the end, it will come down to economic fundamentals, rather than market fundamentals, as global-oil producers keep on pumping to retain market share.
- Eurozone consumer confidence jumped much more than expected in March to -3.0 points from -6.7 points in February, the first estimate from the European Commission showed on Monday.
The above has to be good news for Europe, the global economy, and the US economy. Things there could be on a momentum track, and that would be good for everyone.
- Official statistics published on February 9th revealed that India’s GDP rose by 7.5% in 2014, a shade faster than China’s economy managed over the same period.
This is good news for India, for sure, and it is good news for the global economy, as India has had a rough few years, and it has such potential. It must also be good news for China, as it now has a comparative, another large economy for the media to scrutinize, a country that can take some of the unreasonable-expectation heat away from China.
Now to Costa Rica …
- Costa Rica is running without having to burn a single fossil fuel, and it’s been doing so for 75 straight days.
Granted, Costa Rica is a country of 5-million folks, and it has no major manufacturing base, and it has lots of rain to run its hydropower plants, and it is sitting on a geothermal furnace, and it gets its fair share of wind, but let that not diminish the accomplishment. In fact, take the information and plug it into your preferred search engine. You will be amazed at what you find out about other countries moving toward energy self-reliance with renewable energy. I know I was amazed.
The transition is coming and it is coming faster than the talking heads and other such folks are saying it is coming. This means market opportunity now, not later.
This time of the year sucks. It is tax time. Do you hate it as well? I feel a big tax bill coming, which means a check to the IRS. Now, after reading Julie Saltzman’s article today, I am thinking about my IRA and the IRS. Check it out …
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
