Stocks & Equities

Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong outperformed markets in the mainland and most of Asia ex-Japan on Friday, as strength in growth-sensitive stockshelped the H-share index have its biggest weekly gain in nearly two years.

The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings finished up 1 percent on the day and up 7 percent on the week, its biggest weekly rise since early December 2011. H-shares are now trading at their biggest premium over A-shares in three years.

The Hang Seng Index was up 0.5 percent at 23,696.3 points and up 2.9 percent for the week, but was just shy of the year’s intra-day high at 23,944.7.

Shares of Fosun Pharmaceutical and its parent Fosun International tumbled on speculation the chairman of the parent company was under investigation, but their falls for the day were pared after Fosun International said the rumor was baseless.

Precious Metals: The Long-Term Perspective

In our latest free essay, we focused on silver. We wrote: “the outlook for silver remains bearish and further declines should not surprise us.” On the same day, after the essay was posted, silver declined sharply moving very close to the declining support line that we had featured in that essay. On a side note, it was actually a long-term support line that stopped the decline (for now). 

With so much volatility this week, we have decided to zoom out a bit and take a look at the markets from the long-term perspective. Is the final bottom in for gold, silver and mining stocks? We have prepared 3 charts for you today that should help us deal with this issue. Let’s start with the Dow-to-gold ratio (charts courtesy of http://stockcharts.com).

radomski november222013 1

That’s one of the most important and useful ratios there are as far as long- and medium-term trends are concerned. In particular, the big price moves can be detected before they happen (note the breakout in the first months of the year that heralded declines in gold).

In Tuesday’s Market Alert, we wrote the following:

The Dow-to-gold ratio moved above the 12.5 level – to 12.56. The breakout is small and unconfirmed by the moment, but we are one step closer to the next (and probably final) plunge in the precious metals sector.

With the ratio even higher today, we have a good possibility that the breakout will be confirmed and that we will see a big drop in the price of gold in the coming weeks or months. 

Having discussed the above, let’s move on to the chart featuring junior mining stocks. This is actually the only somewhat bullish chart that we feature today. This might seem encouraging, until you consider the fact that the previous small breakouts turned out to be fake moves and led to even bigger declines.

radomski november222013 2

In our essay on mining stocks from Nov. 8, we wrote the following:

Although the juniors sector moved above the declining resistance line, we think that it’s still too early to say that the breakout has been truly confirmed – especially when we take into account the position of the RSI.

Please note that the last two times when the indicator reached these levels, major medium-term tops were formed. Therefore, we would need to see a verification of the breakout first to view it as an important medium-term signal. This would be the case in any other breakout as well, but in case of the above chart, waiting for a verification seems particularly justified because we have already seen a false breakout at the beginning of this year – one which was followed by a significant decline in the entire precious metals sector.

Since we wrote the above, juniors have declined (in the preceding two weeks and also this week) and they look like they are about to invalidate the previous breakout, which would – naturally – have bearish medium-term consequences for the entire precious metals sector.

If the decline that we are likely to see in the precious metals sector takes juniors back below their declining red support/resistance line, we will have one more indication that the next major move will be to the downside.

Please note that in case of the junior mining stocks the next significant support is much below the current value of the TSX Venture Index, so the coming decline will likely be very significant.

Finally, we would like to discuss the current situation with the gold-stocks-to-gold ratio.

radomski november222013 3

On the above chart, we see that the situation has deteriorated in recent days. Since the beginning of the week, the HUI-to-gold ratio has declined and hit a fresh monthly low on Thursday. Despite this drop, the gold-stocks-to-gold ratio is still above its previous 2013 lows. 

From this perspective, the downtrend remains in place, and it will remain in place as long as the HUI-to-gold ratio stays below the declining resistance line. Since the ratio is not that close to it, it doesn’t seem that we will see a breakout soon. In fact, we don’t expect to see one before another major plunge in the precious metals sector.

Summing up, the final bottom for the decline in gold, silver and mining stocks doesn’t seem to be in just yet. Consequently, jumping in with both feet into the gold market might not be the best idea right now. Still, when and how that bottom is reached is a different matter and we encourage you to keep an eye out for technical signs that could help you not only enter the market at the right moment, but perhaps make money also while metals and miners decline.

To make sure that you are notified once the new features are implemented, and get immediate access to our free thoughts on the market, including information not available publicly, we urge you to sign up for our free gold newsletter. Sign up today and you’ll also get free, 7-day access to the Premium Sections on our website, including valuable tools and charts dedicated to serious Precious Metals Investors and Traders along with our 14 best gold investment practices. It’s free and you may unsubscribe at any time.

 

Thank you for reading. Have a great and profitable week!

 

Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA

Founder, Editor-in-chief

Gold Price Prediction Website – SunshineProfits.com

 

 

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About Sunshine Profits

 

Sunshine Profits enables anyone to forecast market changes with a level of accuracy that was once only available to closed-door institutions. It provides free trial access to its best investment tools (including lists of best gold stocks and silver stocks), proprietary gold & silver indicators, buy & sell signals, weekly newsletter, and more. Seeing is believing.

 

 

Disclaimer

 

All essays, research and information found above represent analyses and opinions of Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA and Sunshine Profits’ associates only. As such, it may prove wrong and be a subject to change without notice. Opinions and analyses were based on data available to authors of respective essays at the time of writing. Although the information provided above is based on careful research and sources that are believed to be accurate, Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA and his associates do not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the data or information reported. The opinions published above are neither an offer nor a recommendation to purchase or sell any securities. Mr. Radomski is not a Registered Securities Advisor. By reading Przemyslaw Radomski’s, CFA reports you fully agree that he will not be held responsible or liable for any decisions you make regarding any information provided in these reports. Investing, trading and speculation in any financial markets may involve high risk of loss. Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA, Sunshine Profits’ employees and affiliates as well as members of their families may have a short or long position in any securities, including those mentioned in any of the reports or essays, and may make additional purchases and/or sales of those securities without notice.

 

 

 

Investors are pouring more money into U.S. stock mutual funds than they have in 13 years, enticed by a market nearing record highs and stung by bond losses that would deepen if interest rates rise further. Stock funds gained $172 billion in the year’s first 10 months, the largest amount since they netted $272 billion in all of 2000, according to Morningstar Inc. (MORN) estimates. With most of the cash going to international funds, domestic equity deposits are the highest since 2004. The move marks a reversal from the four years through 2012, when investors put $1 trillion into fixed income as the financial crisis drove many to redeem shares and miss out on profits as Standard & Poor’s 500 Index almost tripled from its low. Rare losses this year in core bond portfolios, coupled with a 25 percent gain in the S&P 500, spurred a switch back to equities that some professionals call risky performance chasing. “The timing of retail investors tends to be terrible,” said Jonathan Pond, an independent financial adviser in Newton, Mass. New fund deposits may be a contrarian indicator to show when a market is nearing a top, he said.

….more HERE

Geothermal: Avoid This Green Sector Until These Changes Happen

Screen Shot 2013-11-22 at 7.12.00 AMI mention alternative energy infrequently. Mostly because I’m not convinced much of the sector is investable.

One possible exception being geothermal.

Speakers at the GeoPower Latin America Conference this week in Santiago, Chile revealed some insights about the sector. Showing that it could be a viable source of baseload power. Almost.

Several industry presenters noted that geothermal plants work well once up and running. Power is available most of the time, at competitive operating costs.

The problem pointed to by all of these experts is development costs.

Drilling exploration test wells for a prospective geothermal project is expensive. These are wide-diameter holes, that require an array of specialized completions.

The whole process is somewhat akin to oil-well drilling. But unfortunately the geothermal drilling sector isn’t nearly as developed as its sister services industry in the petroleum business.

The reason is scale. Oil and gas is a big enough business that it attracts a lot of services companies. Creating intense competition and driving down costs.

But geothermal drilling is an incredibly small space. Especially today, when geothermal power is a completely new idea in many of the places globally where investors have been trying to establish projects.

This is a chicken-and-egg challenge. Geothermal developers need more services companies in order to make projects profitable. And services firms need enough projects to warrant setting up shop.

That’s a tough dilemma to solve. It may mean that geothermal will only take root in places with very high power prices–the type that can lure capital into project developments. Countries like Chile and South Africa might be candidates.

But until there are some definitive answers on this front, the sector will languish. We’ll see what the world comes up with.

Here’s to recognizing the barriers to entry,

Dave Forest

dforest@piercepoints.com / @piercepoints / Facebook

Fiat SpA (F) is set to gain the upper hand in negotiations to buy a health-care trust’s holding in Chrysler Group LLC if the final value for the American carmaker remains around the level currently being discussed.

Bank advisers are considering a valuation of about $10 billion for Chrysler, people with knowledge of the matter said. That would make the 41.5 percent of Chrysler owned by theUnited Auto Workers trust worth $4.15 billion, less than what analysts have expected Fiat to pay.

The trust and Fiat — Chrysler’s majority shareholder — are disputing the company’s value as Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of both carmakers, seeks to buy the UAW’s stake. The trust is working to determine whether to sell its holding to Fiat directly or press forward with an initial public offering as soon as next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

“It’s going in Marchionne’s direction,” said Sascha Gommel, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Commerzbank. “It’s in the interest of both parties to avoid an IPO. In the end, the most likely scenario is that Fiat takes the remaining stake.”

Fiat gained as much as 14 cents, or 2.3 percent, to 6.01 euros and was up 0.7 percent as of 11:45 a.m. in Milan trading today. The stock has climbed 56 percent this year, valuing the Italian automaker at 7.4 billion euros ($10 billion).

Investment banks working on the IPO have considered a range from $9 billion to $16 billion, said one of the people. The advisers are currently focusing on a range of about $10 billion to $11 billion for the IPO, said another person. Talks are fluid and the final number could change.

Valuations

…..more HERE

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