Norad Tracks Santa
Econintersect: The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) uses its global tarcking technology to follow Santa Claus around the world.
Click through Read more >> to access NORAD Santa tracker tool.
Market Commentary: Markets Can't Keep Session Highs, Close Mixed
Closing Market Commentary For 12-24-2014
Markets closed early in accordance to Holiday schedules. During the last several minuted the averages suffered a -0.4% drop that recovered 0.2% at the close. Holiday market traffic is hard to judge what is the 'real flavor' of the investors thinking. But it was obvious that some investors decided to jump ship at least for the duration of the Xmas Holidays.
By 1 pm the averages closed below the session highs to mixed or flat status.
What We Read Today 24 December 2014
Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary "reading list" which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for "reading list" items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.
Shale and the Falling Price of Oil (Joe Nocera, The New York Times) The last time the price of oil went to extremes (2008) Saudi Arabia tried to lead production changes to dampen the swings. Nobidy followed and oil shot up to $147 and then crashed to less than $40. In the current boom and bust the Saudis are taking a different tack to avoid being seen as an "emperor with no clothes". Nocera says that the Saudis do not fear competition from shale oil; shale produces a different type of oil (light tight oil vs. middle eastern heavy oil). (Note: Other producers also have heavy oil, Venezuela and Russia for example, although Russia is believed to have major light oil reserves as well.) Nocera says that the Saudi's real targets are Iraq and Iran. More articles below on the current oil wars.
Ukraine Joining NATO?
Ukraine is paving its way towards NATO membership. Parliament in Kiev has voted to drop the law which forbids the country from joining any military blocs. Russia has already said that such membership could turn Ukraine into a potential enemy.
Market Commentary: Markets Open Up, DOW Squeezes Out New High On Low Volume
Opening Market Commentary For 12-24-2014
Premarkets were up +0.2% this morning before starting a short session that closes at 1 pm today and the markets will be closed tomorrow the 25th for Christmas Holiday.
Markets opened up and generally sea-sawed sideways with the DOW reaching up for a new high on low volume.
20 December 2014 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Significantly Improves and Near 40 Year Lows
Blue Line 4 Week Average
The market was expecting the weekly initial unemployment claims at 280,000 to 294,000 (consensus 290,000) vs the 280,000 reported. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving averagemoved from 298,750 (reported last week as 298,750) to 290,250. Rolling averages under 300,000 are excellent.
"Communist China", Really?
Written by Frank Li
According to the International Monetary Fund, China just overtook the U.S. as the world's largest economy. What a remarkable achievement for China! Note that in 1980 America's economy ($2.8 trillion) was nearly 14 times China's ($202 billion).
Yet, many Americans still refer to China as 'communist China'. Maybe communism isn't that bad, then? Maybe China is not communist? What's the truth? Here it is: today, China is more capitalistic than America in many ways, even per Steve Wynn!
Boom Bust Boom: MINSKY At the Movies
by L. Randall Wray, New Economic Perspectives
I highly recommend a movie to be released next year (that is, the year that begins next week). Terry Jones, of Monty Python fame, is one of the key developers of the film. It is on the Global Financial Crisis, but also provides a quick history of bubbles and crashes. It is highly entertaining and as good as any that I've seen on the crisis.
Why Silver Prices in December Have Been Up-and-Down
Money Morning Article of the Week
by Jim Bach, Money Morning
Silver prices in December have been all over the place.
December started with a weakening dollar and some short covering. This was enough to propel silver prices this month as much as 3.4%.
Silver had its third most productive week on the year a week ago - up 4.6%. But that rally was short-lived.
Oil Attempts to Form Intermediate-Term Low
by Erik McCurdy, Prometheus Market Insight
Oil has experienced a true market crash, declining 47 percent following the peak in June. However, the downtrend is declining at an unsustainable rate and the market has become extremely oversold across intermediate-term and short-term time frames. As a result, the decline will almost certainly be followed by a violent oversold reaction, and the large intraweek rebound that occurred last week suggests that the reaction may be imminent.
Median Household Income Improves Insignificantly in November 2014. Long Term Improvement Trend Remains In Play
from Sentier Research
According to new data derived from the monthly Current Population Survey (CPS), median annual household income in November 2014 was $53,880, not significantly different from the October 2014 median of $53,575. (The apparent increase of $305 was not statistically significant.)
Promoter Charged With Defrauding Investors Seeking Pre-IPO Facebook and Twitter Shares
from the Securities and Exchange Commission
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a stock promoter based in Santa Barbara, Calif., with fraudulently raising nearly $3.5 million from investors purportedly to purchase Facebook and Twitter shares prior to their initial public offerings (IPOs).
Infographic of the Day: An Anthology of Mythical Creatures
One of the ways we can learn more about different cultures is by studying the stories that they tell.
REPORT: 2014 Middle Market US IPO Activity Increases Over 2013 But Continues To Lag Behind Historic Levels
Action in Washington Necessary to Stimulate Middle-Market Public Capital Formation
from Cohn Reznick LLP
NEW YORK (December 22, 2014) - Despite year over year gains and historic returns, middle market initial public offering (IPO) activity in 2014 remained behind the level necessary to stimulate large scale economic growth, according to new research released today by CohnReznick LLP, a top ten accounting, tax, and advisory firm specializing in middle-market companies.
German Government Balances Budget while Earning Profit on its Debt
by Dirk Ehnts, Econoblog101
The German government had announced that it would balance a budget and get a black zero, and it seems like it is sticking to its strategy. The employers are celebrating this, with their Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft writing:
Of course, economically there is no reason to reach exactly zero financial deficit. Black Zero is not a theoretical concept but a number, a symbolic figure. Nevertheless, this figure represents the reliability of fiscal policy in Germany. It goes one step further than the debt brake rules which even allow for 'cyclical breathing'. This means that while a cyclical deficit is within the rules during an economic downturn, the debt needs to be paid back as soon as the economy recovers.
Investing.com Technical Summary 23 December 2014
Investing.com Technical Analysis (as of Tue, 16 December 2014 05:00pm EDT)
by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
Below, technical overviews and analysis for key stock indices, commodities and
currency pairs, based on market activity at the close of the 16 December 2014 U.S. session. This information is a comprehensive summary derived from simple and exponential moving averages along with key technical indicators shown for specific time intervals.
After Rosetta, Japanese Mission Aims for an Asteroid in Search of Origins of Earth's Water
by Elizabeth Tasker, The Conversation
The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission to land on comet 67P was one of the most audacious in space history. The idea of landing on a small chunk of icy rock 300m kilometres away from Earth and hurtling towards the sun at speeds approaching 135,000km/hour is incredible - made more so by the fact they actually achieved it.
