Moody's cut its debt rating on Boeing to "A3"Controversial airplane maker Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) is once again making headlines today, riding on the back of news investor service Moody's cut its debt rating. Specifically, the firm has cut Boeing to "A3," or four levels above "speculative grade." Moody's cited the volatile drama and fatal consequences of its 737 Max jet as the catalyst. BA looks to h...Read More

MBA mortgage applications are due late next weekIn light of the Christmas holiday, next week will be a bare on both the earnings and economic front. In terms of earnings reports, food safety name Neogen (NEOG) is the only one scheduled for the week, while the economic front will headline durable goods data, MBA mortgage applications, and new home sales. Worth noting, the stock market will close at...Read More

Fastmarkets' Middle East Iron and Steel 2019 event brought together hundreds of the region's top industry executives for meetings, panels, seminars and more this month in Dubai.Delegates left the conference armed with valuable insight to better navigate the industry waters made turbulent by safeguards and other protectionist policies. Participants heard calls from the Turkish steel industry for a...Read More

DBX implied volatilities are low at the momentOne of the better stocks on Wall Street today is Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ:DBX), up 9.1% to trade at $18.56, although the catalyst is unknown. In response to the breakout, there's noteworthy options activity going on worthy of examination.At last check, already over 32,000 calls have changed hands, a whopping 58 times the expected intraday amount and 29 tim...Read More

The firm plans on rolling back on fertilizer production until markets improve The shares of Fortune 500 name Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) are slipping today, following yesterday's one-month closing high of $20.86. The dip comes after Mosaic said it will reduce its fertilizer production, blaming weak market conditions and a problematic harvest in the U.S., which has dampened demand for the product. At las...Read More

CSCO shares are sporting strong gains todayU.S. stocks are continuing their steady grind higher, overcoming impeachment headwinds thanks to a strong day from a number of big-name tech stocks -- including Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) component Cisco Systems (CSCO). Like the Dow, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) have tagged new highs, with Netflix (NFLX) again standing as a...Read More

CSCO this morning toppled its 80-day moving averageTechnology giant Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the top Dow stock today, enjoying a 1.5% lifton the heels of an upgrade out of Barclays. Analyst Tim Long upgraded the blue chip to "overweight" from "equal weight," citing growth in a handful of key products that should improve within the next year for the company. CSCO is now trading at $47....Read More

Calls are rising in popularity today in responseBreakups can be difficult, but Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) seems to be doing just fine. Match Group stock is up 3.4% to trade at $73.68, after the Tinder app owner announced it will spin off all from parent company InterActiveCorp (IAC). The transition will be complete by the second quarter of 2020, with MTCH shareholders receiving one share of se...Read More

Needham just added Chegg to its conviction list for 2020Online learning platform Chegg Inc (NYSE:CHGG) is up today after Needham called the stock one of its top picks for 2020, and adding the equity to its conviction list. Now, the security is eyeing a five-day win streak -- its longest in over a month. At last check, the shares of CHGG are up 1.1% to trade at $38.81. In recent months CHGG has be...Read More

Barclays believes JNJ stock is trading at a discountAnalysts' top 2020 picks are starting to roll in, and Barclays this morning mentioned Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) as a stock that could be strong for bulls in the coming year. In a note, the brokerage firm wrote that the blue-chip drugmaker is still trading at a discount due to this year's litigation issues, and in response it upped its view to...Read More

Weekly jobless claims fell in the past week, but less than expectedDow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are modestly higher this morning, as investors brush off the political drama in Washington D.C. Last night, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump on two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Futures on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 In...Read More

China and the U.S. have reached a preliminaryagreement, which softens their trade war, while the landslide victory ofConservative Party in the UK parliamentary elections clears the path to Brexit.Given that downside risks for the global economy are now significantly lower,how much do investors still need gold? UKParliamentary Elections and GoldOn Thursday, the British people voted in another snapp...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinGold's latest technicals, resistance areas where bulls need to take out to get more interest going:Read More

Gold and silver are unchanged after majority of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump. In my view, gold and silver will remain firm due to Trump and his impeachment related news. Only some yearend profit taking in gold can result in a sell off. Exceptional year end US economic data release can also result in a selloff in gold. One needs to be ready to trade and ma...Read More

Federal Reserve ChairmanJerome Powell’s comments on inflation last Wednesday added fuel to the contra-dollartrade.During a press conferencefollowing the Fed’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged, Powell said,“In order to move rates up, I would want to see inflation that's persistent andthat's significant. A significant move up in inflation that's alsopersistent..."To...Read More

Steel demand in North Africa is projected to grow by around 3% in the coming year to 23.5 million tonnes, delegates were told at Fastmarkets' Middle East Iron & Steel Conference in Dubai on December 9-11.Ramy Saleh, the chief business development officer at Egypt's El Marakby Steel cited gross domestic product and population growth as the main drivers of steel demand in the region, which, accordin...Read More

Tonight I would like to update some commodities charts we haven’t looked at in a while. There have been some subtle changes taking place that need to be addressed. Just like the PM complex that topped out in 2011 many commodities also topped out that same year and have been correcting ever since. With the US dollar at an important inflection point it may be time for commodities in general to...Read More

Earlier this year,  various gold stock indices (XAU, HUI, GDX) gained more than fifty percent in just three months. Most of the negativity associated with the sector was brushed aside and replaced by positive expectations for the future.Of course, the 90-day rush to this year’s highs did not occur in a vacuum. The price of gold rose by twenty percent over the same three-month period. Th...Read More

Technical analyst Clive Maund charts the longer term picture for silver.Like gold, silver has been in a corrective downtrend following its peak early in September, and it looks like it has further to run before its done, partly of course because we have a downside target for gold in the $1360–$1400 area before it turns up. On the 6-month month we can see how it has been stumbling lower withi...Read More

Brazilian apparent steel consumption dropped by 2.1% year on year in November, as an increase in long-steel demand was not enough to offset a quick decline reported for flat-rolled products, national steelmakers' association Instituto A??o Brasil said on Thursday December 19.Steel consumption totaled 1.72 million tonnes during November, down from 1.76 million tonnes a year before.Flat-steel use wa...Read More