Will Your Favorite Oil Company Go Bankrupt?

By Justin Spittler

Oil companies are getting desperate. If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know oil is in a horrible bear market. The price of oil has crashed 69% since June 2014. Last month, oil hit its lowest price since 2003.

The world has too much oil..…
For years, many folks thought the world was running out of oil. The price of oil soared more than 1,200% from 1998 to 2008. The “Peak Oil” crowd saw this as proof that oil production was in terminal decline. They were very wrong. “Peak Oil” believers failed to understand that high prices would create huge incentives to develop new ways to produce oil. Oil companies developed new methods like “fracking” to unlock billions of barrels of oil that were once impossible to reach. U.S. oil production has nearly doubled over the last decade. Last year, it hit its highest level since the 1970s. World oil production levels are also near record highs.

The world isn’t consuming oil fast enough..…
The global economy produces about 1.7 million more barrels a day than it needs. With U.S. oil reserves at their highest level since the Great Depression, companies are running out of places to store the extra oil. To deal with the surplus, companies have started storing oil on tankers floating at sea and in empty railcars. Other companies are selling barrels at huge discounts just to get rid of them.

Low oil prices have hammered major oil companies..…
The world’s five biggest oil companies—Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Total S.A. (TOT), BP (BP), and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A)—have fallen an average 34% since June 2014. Oil services companies, which supply “picks and shovels” to the oil industry, have crashed, too. Schlumberger (SLB), the world’s largest oil services company, has plunged 36% since 2014. Halliburton (HAL), the world’s second biggest, has plunged 53%.

Oil companies have cut spending to the bone..…
Companies have walked away from billion dollar projects. They’ve sold pieces of their businesses. As Dispatch readers know, some have even cut their prized dividends. The industry has laid off more than 250,000 workers since oil prices peaked. Last year, oil and gas companies cut spending by 22%. Reuters reports that the industry could cut spending another 12% this year.

On Thursday, Halliburton laid off 5,000 workers..…
It’s now laid off 29,000 workers, more than a quarter of its workforce, since 2014. Like most companies in the oil business, Halliburton is struggling. Its sales have fallen four straight quarters. Last year, the company lost $671 million, its first annual loss since 2004. The latest round of layoffs suggests Halliburton doesn’t expect business to pick up anytime soon.

The oil market is cyclical..…
It goes through big booms and busts. Right now, it’s going through its worst bust in decades. Eventually, the oil market will boom again. After all, the world needs oil. Companies that survive this bust should deliver huge gains during the next boom. If you can buy great oil companies near the bottom, you could set yourself up for huge gains when the next boom comes. So…is this the bottom?

According to The Wall Street Journal, one third of U.S. oil producers could go bankrupt this year. To be profitable, many companies would need the price of oil to get back up $50. With oil at $32.84 a barrel on Friday, those companies are in trouble. We expect a wave of bankruptcies to rip across the oil industry. This would likely trigger another leg down in oil stocks. So we’re not ready to buy oil stocks yet.

Instead, we recommend “stalking” your favorite oil companies..…
Nick Giambruno, editor of Crisis Investing, just added a world-class oil company to his watch list.
If you don’t know Nick, his specialty is buying beaten-down assets during a crisis. Most investors run away from crisis. But if you can keep your head and buy when everyone else is panicking, you can often pick up a dollar’s worth of assets for a dime or less.

Shale oil stocks are in crisis today. Even the largest shale companies have been obliterated. Major shale oil producer Apache (APA) has plunged 51% since June 2014. Anadarko (APC), another larger shale company, has plummeted 65%. Shale oil is more expensive to extract than conventional oil. And at today’s prices, most shale oil projects can’t make money.

Many shale companies borrowed too much money during oil’s boom times. Now that oil is in a bust, they can’t generate the cash flow to pay back their debts. Last month, investment bank Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. warned that half of all U.S. shale oil producers could go bankrupt before oil prices recover. To survive, these companies would need the price of oil to more than double.

Nick has found a shale company unaffected by these problems. It’s a world-class shale oil company that has virtually no risk of going bankrupt. However, its stock has gotten extremely cheap along with all other shale oil stocks. Nick says this company has “trophy assets in the major U.S. shale basins. It has a solid balance sheet.

And, unlike many of its peers, it didn’t over leverage itself during the last boom.” The company also has the industry’s highest profit margins. Nick plans to buy this company at once in a generation prices. He will tell Crisis Investing readers when it’s time to pull the trigger.

In the meantime, Nick is investing in Cuba..…
As you may know, the U.S. has had a trade embargo against Cuba since 1962. The embargo bans all trade, making it illegal for Americans to invest in Cuba. But that could soon change. About a year ago, Cuba and the U.S. announced they were working to repair diplomatic and economic relations. In August, the two countries reopened their embassies in each other’s capitals. President Obama is going to Cuba next month. He will be the first sitting president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

Nick thinks the embargo could soon “become a page in the history books”..…
The end of the embargo will create the “potential for enormous profits,” as Nick explained in Crisis Investing.

When the embargo goes away, American tourism to Cuba will explode. The International Monetary Fund estimates there could be up to 10 million visits from Americans every year as soon as the embargo comes down.

Today, it’s still illegal to invest in Cuba. But Nick has a “back door” way to profit from the opening up of Cuba’s economy. Nick’s investment in Cuba legally trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It should deliver huge gains when the embargo is lifted…which may happen very soon. You can get in on Nick’s Cuba investment by signing up for Crisis Investing. You’ll also learn about the world class shale oil company on Nick’s watch list. Click here to begin your risk-free trial.

Chart of the Day

Shale oil stocks have been decimated. Today’s chart shows the performance of the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (FRAK). This fund tracks 50 companies involved in the shale oil and gas industries. FRAK has crashed 65% since June 2014. Last month, it hit an all-time low. As we mentioned, most shale oil companies simply can’t make money right now.

The article Will Your Favorite Oil Company Go Bankrupt? was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

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How to Spot Big Market Reversals in Advance and Beat Wall Street Silly

Thinking about living a ‘dream lifestyle’ is tough for a lot of traders right now, because they’re getting their faces ripped off. And there’s no doubt, these conditions are some of the craziest that we’ve ever seen. Stocks were down 9% in January, that’s the worst market performance in history.

Predictably, some expected the world to end and loaded up on the short side. Of course, then the market reversed in February and is already up 1.4%. Take a look at the Nasdaq roller coaster that traders just rode for nasty losses or pretty awesome gains.

It’s clear that the bulls got destroyed in January, and then bears gave back all of their profits and then some in February. In other words, both sides got creamed. Classic Wall Street shenanigans, right? In case you were wondering, the markets are designed to deliver maximum pain to the most traders possible. How would you like to turn the tables and finally beat those guys at their own game?

Well, on Tuesday, March 1st at 7pm Central, John Carter is going to show you why his account is up 48% already this year.

For starters, he’ll show you the signal that told him to get short the NQ on the way down, and then buy for the ride back up. As you can imagine, spotting those kinds of reversals in advance would give you an almost unfair advantage. Well, it’s easier than you think and you don’t have to be a psychic. What John is doing isn’t magic. He is just trading simple setups that have passed the test of time.

If you’re getting your clock cleaned by this volatility, we can all relate. It took John years to figure this stuff out. If you join him this Tuesday, March 1st at 7 pm Central, he’ll show you how to use a simple indicator to spot major reversals and piggyback your trades on what the biggest Wall Street institutions are doing. He’ll cover that and a whole lot more.

And let’s take advantage of this "once in a decade" volatility. The next twelve months could offer the best opportunity to rapidly grow your accounts since the 2008 crash. Don’t buy into the myth that volatility automatically means high risk. John will show you how to strictly manage risk and still position your account for major gains.

Put this special webinar on your calendar....Sign Up Right Here!

See you Tuesday.
Ray C. Parrish
aka the Crude Oil Trader

P.S.   John gave us a video primer earlier in the week......Watch That Here



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Here’s Why Nobody Understands the Markets

By Jared Dillian

I used to be a big astronomy nerd when I was a kid, locked up in my room, reading space books. I actually was once interested in planetary science. Now I study finance. How depraved. Nassim Taleb is right—finance actually is depraved. If you study finance, you study money, of course. But why is money interesting?  Because it doesn’t sit around in static piles that you shuffle and count. It can grow asymptotically, or else simply disappear.

This is true not just of stocks and bonds, but also of currencies, which are supposed to be worth something, and even commodities, which are really supposed to be worth something. Then you have gold, which is totally useless from a practical standpoint and whose value fluctuates dramatically.

Funny thing about money exploding or disappearing is that it’s so hard to understand that we hire physicists to figure it out.  And then they come up with these really mundane solutions, like an options pricing model that doesn’t work, or a way to forecast future volatility (that also doesn’t work).  None of this ever comes close to figuring out why money explodes or disappears.

Human Behavior is Unquantifiable

The reason we aren’t any closer to the answer is because we keep using the wrong methods.  You can get the math geeks to come up with equations to describe human behavior, but then human behavior changes or does something new, and you are back to square one. The study of money is the study of people, and people behave in sometimes predictable, but often unpredictable ways. Just when you think you have a rubric (like Nate Silver with elections, a related field), along comes a Trump who blows apart the whole model.

I’ve always felt that finance is a very qualitative discipline. You are no worse off hiring English or history majors. It’s no accident that all the heavy hitters in this business are also really great writers. The quants are starting to catch on, and a lot of the algorithmic traders are writing programs to mimic and predict human behavior… though it’s really just technical analysis and trend following in a computer program. Technical analysis has an uneven reputation, but when you can quantify and backtest it and it works, the reputation gets markedly better.

Hard to argue nowadays that even weak-form EMH holds when you have a cottage industry of very profitable systematic strategies. Of course, there is a lot of math behind the quant stuff, and the guys doing it are mathematical geniuses, but the best of them are also very sharp market folks with a nose for when trades start to get crowded.  The quant blowup of 2007 happened because all the smart quants were in all the same ideas. So even in the world of high level mathematics, you still have to deal with unquantifiable stuff: human behavior.

When someone like hedge fund manager Bill Ackman sees his portfolio get slaughtered by about 20% in 2015 and then double digits in the first month of 2016, that’s not just bad stock picking. This is what happens when crowded trades become un-crowded. Computers may be computers, but the people who program the computers are just human and utterly fallible.

Why I Believe in Behavioral Finance 

When I taught my college finance class last semester, I’d say the most consensus long among the students was Disney (DIS) because of Star Wars.

Of course, I had been doing a bunch of work on the short side for months.

Disney has some serious problems like declines in sports viewing and superhero movies and cable industry trends—secular stuff that’s completely out of their control.  Suffice it to say that by the time the MBA students in South Carolina get bulled up on a stock, it is probably pretty close to the end.

That’s behavioral finance in a nutshell.

This is what I do for a living. I watch the market, not the stocks, if that makes any sense. I am always collecting data. Every person I talk to on the phone, every chart I look at, every tweet or article I read, it all goes into the soup, and from that soup, I am trying to gauge sentiment. Sentiment tells you everything. Cheap things get cheap, and expensive things get more expensive. Markets are alternately rational and irrational because people are alternately rational and irrational. Seems like a crazy way to allocate resources, but it works better than all the alternatives. If you want to read more about my investment process, you can choose between the monthly version or the daily.

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A master in behavioral economics, Jared probes the mind of today’s market to gauge the trends of tomorrow. Following his intellectual adventures is a true thrill ride for every investor. Sign up for his weekly missive, and don’t miss another one of his captivating conclusions.

The article Here’s Why Nobody Understands the Markets was originally published at mauldineconomics.com.

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Strategies to Profit in this Volatile Market - John Carter's Next Free Webinar

Join our trading partner John Carter this Tuesday evening March 1st at 8 pm est for the next of his wildly popular free webinars. John will walk us through his favorite strategies that he is utilizing to remain profitable in today's volatile market.

Just Sign Up Here

Earlier this week John gave us just a sample of how he uses these methods to trade everything from crude oil to Netflix in this short video....watch it here. Spend an hour or more with John Tuesday night to get a detail explanation on how to find and execute these trades exactly like John does.

John is having another banner year in 2016 and as always he is showing us how to get this done no matter what the size of your account.

Seating is limited so Sign Up Now

See you Tuesday night,
Ray @ the Crude Oil Trader



Get John's latest FREE eBook "Understanding Options"....Just Click Here!

New Video: John Carters Strategy for Trading Everything from Crude Oil to NFLX

Our trading partner John Carter of Simpler Options is back with another amazing new video. Join John as he walks us through his favorite strategies to utilize in today's volatile market. Get a sneak peak on how he has already grown his account by 48% in 2016.

Visit Here to Watch John's New Free Video

Learn John's favorite strategy for trading everything from Crude Oil to NFLX and why John believes that decades from now investors will look back at 2016 as the best trading ever. You will also get an insider look at.

•  The reasons why volatility can be your best friend even for newbies with small accounts

•  Why options are the best trading vehicle on the planet right now

•  Why down markets are better than up markets

•  How to make successful trades on your phone while you are at work

Watch John's free video then put his methods to work right away. Take advantage of his ability to help you find your own trading style and how to recognize your own psychological limits. In the process John will help you dispel all of your fear of this volatile market. In fact you will welcome it.

Don't wait any longer.....Just Click Here to Watch John's Free Video

See you in the markets,

Ray @ the Crude Oil Trader

P.S.  Get an even better understand of John's trading methods by downloading his free eBook "Understanding Options".....Get it Right Here

Mike Seery's Weekly Futures Recap - Crude Oil, Natural Gas, U.S. Dollar, Gold, Silver, Sugar

It's Saturday and that means it is time for a heads up from our trading partner Michael Seery. We've asked him to give our readers a recap of the this weeks futures markets and give us some insight on where he sees these markets headed. Mike has been a senior analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets. 

Crude oil futures in the April contract settled last Friday at 31.91 a barrel while currently trading at 32.00 basically unchanged for the trading week with a possible double bottom being created around $29 the level occurring. Crude oil prices are still trading below their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is to the downside as the long term trend is also to the downside despite the fact that several countries decided to freeze production this week, but that still leaves production at record levels as investors found that as another negative situation.

The volatility in crude oil is extremely high at the current time as I’m looking to possibly enter into a short position on any type of rally as the chart structure has improved tremendously, therefore, lowering monetary risk, but at this point I’m sitting on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity which could develop any day. The commodity markets in general still look weak as I still have many short positions in several different commodity sectors including natural gas which is hitting another contract low today as supplies are just too high across the board despite the fact that the U.S dollar may have topped out.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor

Natural gas prices in the April contract settled last Friday in New York at 2.03 while currently trading at 1.89 trading lower 7 out of the last 8 trading sessions as the original recommendation was a short position in the March contract as we rolled over and if you took that trade continue to place your stop loss above the 10 day high which stands at 2.23 as the chart structure is very poor at the present time.

Natural gas prices continue to move lower on a weekly basis as this trade has gone straight down from the original recommendation so continue to place the proper stop loss as the chart structure will start to improve on a daily basis, as I still see lower prices ahead possibly retesting 1.75 and if that is broken I think we can test 1.50 as extremely warm weather in the Midwestern part of the United States continues to plague this commodity.

The fundamentals in natural gas are extremely bearish with all time high inventories as we were producing too many products especially in the energy sector including natural gas so continue to play this to the downside as I'm looking at adding more contracts once some type of price kickback develops, as I still see no reason to own natural gas especially as we enter the month of March, as springtime is upon us.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor

The U.S dollar in the March contract settled last Friday at 95.98 while currently trading at 96.92 up around 100 points for the trading week as I’m currently recommending a short position from around the 96.90 level while placing my stop loss above the 10 day high at 97.50 risking around 60 points or $600 per contract plus slippage and commission.

The dollar is trading below its 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is to the downside as prices are near a 4 month low due to the fact that the interest rates in the United States have been dropping dramatically, as lower rates mean a lower U.S dollar generally. Volatility in the dollar certainly has increased because of the stock market which is on a roller coaster ride daily sending shockwaves into currency markets.

The next major level of support is around the 95.00 level and if that is broken I think we can retest the 93 level in the coming weeks as it certainly looks to me that interest rates are even going lower as worldwide rates have turned negative in certain countries which is an amazing situation in my opinion as the risk/reward is in your favor at the present time as I am still recommending this trade even if you did not take the original advice.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor

Gold futures in the April contract settled last Friday in New York at 1,239 an ounce while currently trading at 1,231 down about $8 for the trading week trading in a highly volatile manner. Gold prices are trading above their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is to the upside as prices have skyrocketed from the contract low around 1,050 and now have rallied over $200 in a matter of weeks as panic around the world is sending gold prices sharply higher.

At the current time, I am sitting on the sidelines as the risk is too much for me to tolerate as the only recommendation in the precious metals currently is the silver market as the gold chart structure is terrible. The S&P 500 has been extremely volatile in the year 2016 and that has supported gold prices however the S&P has rallied significantly over the last week, but it has not been a negative influence on gold as there is demand for gold at the current time and I’m certainly not recommending any type of bearish position as that would be counter trend and poor trading in my opinion so avoid this market at the present time.

Trading is all about risk as I see other opportunities in the commodity markets where the risk/reward is in your favor coupled with outstanding chart structure as gold does not meet any of my criteria to enter into a trade as sometimes you miss trades and that’s exactly what has occurred in this situation.
Trend: Higher
Chart Structure: Poor

Silver futures in the March contract settled last Friday in New York at 15.79 an ounce while currently trading at 15.47 down about $.30 in a highly volatile trading week with large swings on a daily basis as I have been recommending a bullish position from around 14.80 and if you took that trade continue to place your stop loss below the 10 day low which now stands at 14.90 a chart structure has improved tremendously over the last several days.

The next major level of resistance in silver is around the $16 level as we will have to roll out of the March contract into the May contract early next week due to expiration as I will give the new stop loss in that blog as well. Silver prices are trading above their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is to the upside as money flows continue to go back into the precious metals for the first time in several years as the precious metals have fallen tremendously from their highs just hit in the year 2011.

In my opinion, the U.S dollar has topped out which is bullish the precious metals so stay long this market while placing the proper stop loss as volatility has certainly come back into this market which is generally a bullish indicator.
Trend: Higher
Chart Structure: Improving

Sugar futures in the May contract settled last Friday in New York at 13.12 while currently trading at 12.64 a pound hitting a fresh 5 month low as I’ve been recommending a short position originally in the March contract as we rolled over into the May contract and if you took that trade place your stop loss above the 10 day high which stands at 13.50 as the chart structure is poor.

Sugar prices are trading lower for the 3rd consecutive day as I still think there’s a probability that prices will fill the gap at 11.80 which is still another 85 points away as prices are still trading far below their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the trend is getting stronger to the downside on a weekly basis so stay short in my opinion while placing the proper stop loss.

Sugar prices experienced a rounding top which I’ve talked about in many previous blogs over the last several weeks peeking out around 15.50 as being nimble is a major key to success in my opinion as waiting for the trade to develop is definitely beneficial in the long run so stay short as I’m looking to add more contracts once the chart structure and the risk/reward meet my criteria as lower prices are ahead in my opinion.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor

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These Important Stocks are Trading Like a Financial Crisis Has Begun

By Justin Spittler

European bank stocks are crashing. Deutsche Bank (DB), Germany’s largest bank, has plunged 36% this year. Its stock is at an all time low. Credit Suisse (CS), a major Swiss bank, has plummeted 40% this year to its lowest level since 1991. As you can see in the chart below, the STOXX Europe 600 Banks Index, which tracks Europe’s biggest banks, is down 27% this year. It’s fallen six weeks in a row, its longest losing streak since the 2008 financial crisis.

These are huge drops in a short six week period. It’s the kind of price action you’d expect to see during a major financial crisis. The sell off in Europe’s banks has dragged down other European stocks. The STOXX Europe 600 Index, which tracks 600 large European stocks, is down 15% this year to its lowest level since October 2013.

European banks are struggling to make money…..
Deutsche Bank lost €2.12 billion for the fourth quarter… after making a €437 million profit the year before. Credit Suisse lost €5.83 billion last quarter… after making a €691 million profit the year before. Profits at BNP Paribas (BNP.PA), France’s largest bank, plunged 52% last quarter.

Europe’s crazy monetary policies are starving banks of income..…
Dispatch readers know the Federal Reserve has held interest rates at effectively zero since 2008. The European Central Bank (ECB), Europe’s version of the Fed, also cut rates after the global financial crisis. Unlike the Fed, the ECB didn’t stop at zero. The ECB dropped its key rate to -0.1% in June 2014. It was the first major central bank to introduce negative interest rates. Today, its key rate is -0.3%.

The ECB’s key rate of -0.3% sets the tone for all interest rates in Europe..…
It forces banks to charge a rock-bottom interest rate on loans. This has eaten away at bank profits, as The Wall Street Journal reports:

Very low interest rates hurt the profits banks make on loans, especially when investors believe loose monetary policy is here to stay. Long term rates at which banks lend then fall to be little more than short-term ones at which banks borrow.

The idea of negative interest rates likely sounds bizarre to you..…
After all, the whole purpose of lending money is to earn interest. With negative rates, the lender pays the borrower. So, if you lend $100,000 at -1%, you’ll only get back $99,000.  Negative interest rates are a scheme to get people to spend more money.

According to mainstream economists, spending drives the economy. By cutting its key interest rate to less than zero, the ECB is making it impossible for people to earn interest on their savings. This discourages saving and encourages spending.

But as Casey Research founder Doug Casey says, this isn’t just wrong, it’s the exact opposite of what’s true. Spending doesn’t drive the economy. Production and saving drive the economy. You have to save to build capital, and capital is necessary for everything.

Negative rates haven’t helped Europe’s economy…
Europe’s economy grew at just 0.3% during the third quarter. Europe’s unemployment rate is up to 9%, nearly double the U.S. unemployment rate. And the euro has also lost 17% of its value against the U.S. dollar since June 2014.

If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know negative interest rates are a new government scheme..…
Until recently, negative interest rates didn’t exist. Governments invented them to push us further into “Alice in Wonderland.” That’s our nickname for today’s economy, where eight years of extremely low interest rates have warped prices of stocks, bonds, real estate, and nearly everything else.  

For months, we’ve been warning that negative rates are dangerous. Last month, Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, joined the list of countries using negative rates. Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland all have negative rates, too. According to The Wall Street Journal, countries that account for 23% of global output now have negative interest rates. 

This has set the stage for a huge economic disaster..…
To avoid big losses, we recommend owning physical gold. Unlike paper money, central bankers can’t destroy gold’s value with bad policies. Instead, gold’s value usually rises when governments devalue their currencies.

For example, Europe’s currency (the euro) has lost 17% of its value against the dollar since June 2014. But the price of gold measured in euros is up 14% in the same period. We recently put a short presentation together that explains the best ways to “crisis proof” your wealth.  We encourage you to watch this free video here.

Chart of the Day

Deutsche Bank’s stock has been destroyed. Today’s chart shows Deutsche Bank plummeting 46% over the past year. Yesterday, it hit an all time low. Today, Deutsche Bank jumped 10% after the company said it’s considering a bond buyback program. The company hopes this will ease investor concerns.

E.B. Tucker, editor of The Casey Report, doesn’t think the plan will work:

Deutsche Bank is in trouble. It barely survived the last crisis. In the aftermath, it took tremendous risks to make as much profit as possible. But its winning streak is coming to an end… and it still has to pay for all its obligations. Deutsche Bank also has problems beyond its control. Europe isn’t growing. It’s also dealing with negative interest rates. This is a double whammy for big banks, especially ones that took on too much risk.

The article These Important Stocks are Trading Like a Financial Crisis Has Begun was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

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Whoever Does Not Respect the Penny is Not Worthy of the Dollar

By Nick Giambruno

This definitive sign of a currency collapse is easy to see…When paper money literally becomes trash. Maybe you’ve seen images depicting hyperinflation in Germany after World War I. The German government had printed so much money that it became worthless. Technically, German merchants still accepted the currency, but it was impractical to use. It would have required wheelbarrows full of paper money just to buy a loaf of bread.

At the time, no one would bother to pick up money off the ground. It wasn’t worth any more than the other crumpled pieces of paper on the street. Today, there’s a similar situation in the U.S. When was the last time you saw someone make the effort to pick up a penny off the street? A nickel? A dime?

Walking around New York City recently, I saw pennies, nickels, and dimes just sitting there on busy sidewalks. This happened at least five times in one day. Even homeless people wouldn’t bother to bend over and pick up anything less than a quarter. The U.S. dollar has become so debased that these coins are essentially pieces of rubbish. They have little to no practical value.

Refusing to Acknowledge the Truth

It costs 1.7 cents to make a penny and 8 cents to make a nickel, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The U.S. government loses tens of millions of dollars every year putting these coins into circulation. Why is it wasting money and time making coins almost no one uses? Because phasing out the penny and nickel would mean acknowledging currency debasement. And governments never like to do that. It would reveal their incompetence and theft from savers.

This isn’t new or unique to the U.S. For decades, governments around the world have refused to phase out worthless currency denominations. This helps them deny the problem even exists. They refuse to issue currency in higher denominations for the same reason. Take Argentina, for example. The country has some of the highest inflation in the world. In the last 12 months, the peso has lost over half its value.

I was just in Argentina, and the largest bill there is the 100 peso note, which is worth around $7. It’s not uncommon for Argentinians to pay with large wads of cash at restaurants and stores. The sight would unnerve many Americans, who’ve been trained by the government through the War on Cash to view it as suspicious and dangerous.

For many years, the Argentine government refused to issue larger notes. Fortunately, that’s changing under the recently elected pro market president Mauricio Macri. His government has promised to introduce 200, 500 and 1,000 peso notes in the near future.

This is the opposite of what’s happening in the U.S., where the $100 bill is the largest bill in circulation. That wasn’t always the case. At one point, the U.S. had $500, $1,000, $5,000, and even $10,000 bills. The government eliminated these large bills in 1969 under the pretext of fighting the War on Some Drugs. The $100 bill has been the largest ever since. But it has far less purchasing power than it did in 1969.

Decades of rampant money printing have debased the dollar. Today, a $100 note buys less than a $20 note did in 1969. Even though the Federal Reserve has devalued the dollar over 80% since 1969, it still refuses to issue notes larger than $100.

Pennies and Nickels Under Sound Money

For perspective, consider what a penny and a nickel would be worth under a sound money system backed by gold. From 1792 to 1934, the price of gold was around $20 per ounce. Under this system, it took around 2,000 pennies to make an ounce of gold. At today’s gold price, a “sound money penny” would be worth about 55 modern pennies. A “sound money nickel” would be worth about $3. I don’t pick up pennies off the sidewalk. But I would if pennies were backed by gold. If that were to happen, I doubt there would be many pennies sitting on busy New York sidewalks.

Ron Paul said it best when he discussed this issue…

“There is an old German saying that goes, ‘Whoever does not respect the penny is not worthy of the dollar.’ It expresses the sense that those who neglect or ignore the small things cannot be trusted with larger things, and fittingly describes the problems facing both the dollar and our nation today.

Unless Congress puts an end to the Fed’s loose monetary policy and returns to a sound and stable dollar, the issue of U.S. coin composition will be revisited every few years until inflation finally forces coins out of circulation altogether and we are left with only worthless paper.”

There’s an important lesson here.

Politicians and bureaucrats are the biggest threats to your financial security. For years, they’ve been quietly debasing the country’s currency… and inviting a currency catastrophe. Most people have no idea how bad things can get when a currency collapses….let alone how to prepare.

How will you protect your savings in the event of a currency crisis? This just released video will show you exactly how. Click here to watch it now.

The article Whoever Does Not Respect the Penny is Not Worthy of the Dollar was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

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Mike Seery's Weekly Futures Recap - Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Gold, U.S. Dollar, Coffee, Sugar

Today it is time for a heads up from our trading partner Michael Seery. We've asked him to give our readers a recap of the last weeks futures markets and give us some insight on where he sees these markets headed. He has been Senior Analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets.

Crude oil futures in the March contract are trading below their 20 and 100 day moving average hitting a contract and multi year low in Thursday’s trade before rallying this Friday currently trading at 28.10 a barrel up nearly $2 on massive short covering ending the week. Crude oil futures traded as low as 26.05 in Thursday’s trade only to rally, but this market certainly remains weak, but at the current time on sitting on the sidelines as the risk does not meet my criteria as the chart structure is very poor presently. As a trader you must think about probabilities of success and at the current time I’m only focused on the soft commodities as they have very tight chart structure with solid trends to the downside as crude oil remains choppy down these levels as the easy money to the downside has already been made in my opinion. The problem with crude oil is the fact that we have huge worldwide supplies as there is a possibility that the United States might be entering a recession due to the fact that the world has slowed down tremendously as global growth is a thing of the past in the short term.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor

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Natural gas futures in the March contract continue to head lower despite the fact of very cold temperatures in the Midwestern part of the United States currently trading at 1.98 as I’ve been recommending a short position from around the 2.14 level and if you took that trade continue place your stop loss at the 10 day high which now stands at 2.17 as the chart structure is outstanding at the present time. Natural gas prices are trading below their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short-term trend is to the downside as the long term now trend line is also intact so I remain short as I think there’s a possibility that we can retest the December 18th contract low around 191 as winter is almost behind us, therefore, demand could weaken even more. If you did not take the original trade wait for some type of price rally before entering, therefore, lowering risk as the 10 day high will not be lowered for another 9 days, so you’re going to have to be patient with the risk tolerance at this point. Natural gas prices are trending stronger on a weekly basis in my opinion as who knows how low prices could actually go.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Outstanding

Gold prices experienced a wild trading week settling last Friday in New York at 1,157 an ounce while currently trading at 1,233 up around $75 for the trading week hitting a 1 year high as panic has struck the financial markets sending huge money flows into the interest rate market and precious metals. At the current time, I’m sitting on the sidelines in gold as the chart structure is terrible as the risk is huge at this point, but I’m certainly not recommending any type of bearish position as that would be counter trend so avoid this market at the present time. The S&P 500 has certainly propped up gold prices here in the short-term as gold prices are trading far above their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the trend is to the upside as my only recommendation in the precious metals is silver. Gold is in overbought territory in my opinion as volatility is huge at the current time as we had over a $50 rally in Thursday’s trade as I think volatility will continue to remain high as there is so much uncertainty worldwide at the present time. The U.S dollar has also entered into a bearish trend topping out around the 100 level which is a fundamental bullish indicator towards gold prices.
Trend: Higher
Chart Structure: Poor

The U.S dollar in the March contract settled last Friday at 97.05 while currently trading at 96.12 continuing its bearish momentum as I missed this trade to the downside as I’m currently on sitting on the sidelines remaining bearish, but the chart structure and the risk/reward did not meet my criteria to enter into a short position. The dollar is trading below its 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is to the downside as prices are right at a 4 month low due to the fact that the interest rates in the United States have been dropping dramatically, as lower rates mean a lower U.S dollar generally. Volatility in the dollar certainly has increased because of the stock market which is on a roller coaster ride daily sending shockwaves into currency markets as I’m looking to enter into a short position once the risk/reward is in my favor which could happen sometime next week so keep a close eye on this market as we could be entering into a new trade soon. The next major level of support is around 95.00 level and if that is broken, I think we can retest the 93 level in the coming weeks as it certainly looks to me that interest rates are even going lower as worldwide rates have turned negative in certain countries which is an amazing situation in my opinion.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor

Coffee futures in the March contract are trading below their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is to the downside as this market remains extremely choppy and has been over the last 6 months as I’m sitting on the sidelines waiting for something to develop. Coffee settled last Friday in New York at 123.20 a pound while currently trading at 115.40 down about 800 points for the trading week as the commodity markets and especially the soft commodities remain weak in my opinion. However, a breakout has not occurred at the present time. Recently there has been very little fresh fundamental news to dictate short term price action as this is basically a technical trade, but keep an eye on this market as a breakout will occur in my opinion, so you are going to have to be patient as I do like trading the coffee market, but have not been involved for many months. As a trader you must be diversified for example sometimes the grain market or any other market might go sideways for a long period of time, so it’s tough to go to make money, however that’s why you must be diversified and look at all markets, as something is always developing, therefore, giving you a better chance of success in my opinion so keep a close eye on this market as I’m very hopeful one day we will be involved.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Solid

Sugar futures in the May contract settled last Friday in New York at 13.14 a pound while currently trading at 13.12 basically unchanged for the trading week as I have been recommending a short position for several weeks and if you took the original trade we were short the March contract and now we have rolled over into the May contract while now placing your stop loss above the 10 day high which stands around 13.50 as chart structure is outstanding at the present time. Sugar prices are right near a 4 month low as one of my main reasons for selling this market was the fact of a rounding top on the daily chart taking about 3 months to occur, but as a trader, you must have patience as this paid off here in the short-term. The chart structure at the current time is outstanding as the 10 day low will not be lowered for another 7 days, so you’re going to have to be patient with the risk situation, as the next major level of support is around 12.75 and if that is broken I think we could test the contract low around 11.50 so remain short in my opinion as I still see no reason to own many of the commodities as currently I’m short cocoa, cotton, and, of course, the sugar market.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Excellant

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Here’s Why Crude Oil Stocks Haven’t Bottomed Yet

By Justin Spittler

Oil companies are hemorrhaging money. The oil market is in its worst downturn in decades. The price of oil has plummeted 72% since June 2014. Oil is trading below $30 a barrel for the first time since 2003.
If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know the world has too much oil. In recent years, technologies like “fracking” have unlocked billions of barrels of oil that were once impossible to extract from shale regions.
Global oil production has climbed 20% since 2000. Last year, global output hit an all time high. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported the global oil market is oversupplied by 1.5 million barrels a day.
Because oil is leaving the ground faster than it’s being consumed, oil storage tanks are overflowing. 

Companies are now storing oil on tankers floating at sea, according to Bloomberg Business.

Low oil prices have slammed oil stocks..…
Since June 2014, Exxon Mobil (XOM), the world’s largest oil company, has dropped 27%. Chevron (CVX), the second biggest oil company, has plunged 38%. European oil giants Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A), BP (BP), and Total S.A. (TOT) have plummeted 46%, on average, over the last 18 months. Together, these giant companies are known as the oil “supermajors.”

BP had a $3.3 billion net loss last quarter..…
And it lost $6.5 billion for the year, its worst annual loss in at least 30 years. Exxon sales fell 28% last quarter. Its profits plunged 58% to $2.78 billion, the company’s lowest quarterly profit since 2002. Chevron also booked its worst quarterly profit since 2002. Shell expects to report a 42% decline in profits for their fourth quarter.

Oil and gas companies slashed spending by 22% last year..…
Analysts expect another 12% cut this year to $522 billion, according to Reuters. The industry hasn’t spent that little since 2009…when the U.S. economy was going through its worst downturn in almost a century. More spending cuts are coming this year. Chevron plans to cut spending by 24% this year. The company laid off 10% of its employees in October. Exxon plans to cut spending by 25% in 2016. And BP plans to eliminate 9% of its jobs over the next two years.

The supermajors have not cut dividends yet..…
Regular readers know these oil giants pay some of the steadiest income streams on the planet. Shell hasn’t cut its dividend since World War II. Exxon and Chevron have both increased their annual dividends for at least the past 25 years, which earns them a spot in the “Dividend Aristocrats” club. Investors view these dividends as sacred. Some have even passed along their original shares to children and grandchildren, like grandma’s ring or the family farm. These giant oil companies have been paying regular dividends for decades, even through the 2001 dot com crash and 2008 financial crisis. Cutting their dividends would be a last resort.

The world’s oil giants may have to do the “unthinkable” if oil prices stay low..…
Financial Times reported in December,

…(J)ust weeks ago, BP and France’s Total each pledged to balance their books at $60 a barrel oil, saying they aimed to cover their dividends from “organic” cash flow by 2017.

…(E)ven at $60, the three biggest European majors will need to take further cost-cutting action to cover investor payouts…Total’s $6.8bn dividend would exceed its projected organic free cash flow by $800m two years from now. For BP, the cash shortfall is put at $500m…

These oil companies cut costs to be profitable at $60 oil. But with oil now at $30, they need to make even more drastic cuts.
BP is running out of places to cut spending according to Bloomberg Business.

While Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley has trimmed billions of dollars of spending, cut thousands of jobs and deferred projects in response to the plunge in crude prices, BP’s cash flow still doesn’t cover investments and dividends…

BP has already cut “a lot” from capital expenditure, Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said Tuesday at a press briefing in London. When asked how much room it has to reduce spending further before cutting into the bone, Gilvary said “we are around that zone.”

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded Chevron and Shell this week..…
Ratings agencies downgrade a company’s credit rating when they think the company’s financial health is getting worse. Like a person having a bad credit score, a downgrade can make it harder and more expensive for a company to borrow money. S&P cut Shell’s credit rating to the lowest level since 1990. S&P also put the debt of BP, Total, and Exxon on watch for downgrades.

S&P doesn’t think oil companies have cut spending enough. Bloomberg Business reported:

S&P’s moves come after the ratings company lowered its 2016 oil-price assumption Jan. 12, reducing Brent crude by $15 a barrel to $40. The 52 percent average price decline in 2015 won’t be matched by most companies’ cost and spending reductions, S&P said.

As regular readers know, the oil market is cyclical. It goes through big booms and busts. Eventually we’ll get an amazing opportunity to buy world-class oil companies at absurdly cheap prices. But with dividend cuts looming, the bottom likely isn’t in yet. We recommend avoiding oil stocks for now.

Louis James, editor of International Speculator, sees an opportunity to profit from cheap oil..…
Louis is our resource guru. He specializes in finding small miners with huge upside. Louis is an expert in the cyclical nature of commodities. He knows how to make money during booms and busts. And now, Louis sees opportunity in airlines. Jet fuel, which is made from oil, is a major operating expense for airlines. So, airline stocks often move up when oil drops. Last year, jet fuel prices fell by more than one-third. Major airlines are now raking in cash. The U.S. airline industry made $22 billion in profits during the first nine months of 2015, according to the Department of Transportation. That’s more than any entire year in its history.

In December, Louis recommended his favorite airline stock in International Speculator.....
The company has doubled its profits during the third quarter of 2015. On Monday, Louis said the company doubled its profits again last quarter.

The company just announced more-than-solid financial results for last quarter, doubling its quarterly profit. The company says it’s on track to hit the high end of its operational goals for the fiscal year. All great, but even better is that the stock rebounded from its recent slide on the news. That’s “proof of concept” that this stock can buck the market by delivering to the bottom line when other businesses are hurting, which was one of the main reasons we bought this stock.

The stock surged 4% with the quarterly news…and Louis thinks the stock will continue higher. You can learn more about Louis’ favorite airline by signing up for a risk-free trial to International Speculator.

Chart of the Day

BP just had its worst year in at least three decades. Today’s chart shows BP’s profits since 1985. Since then, the oil giant has made money in 27 years and lost money in 3. Last year, BP lost a record amount of money. It lost more than it did in 2010 when one of the company's oil rigs exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has cut billions of dollars in spending. It’s laid off thousands of workers. Yet, it’s still bleeding cash. The company may soon have to do the unthinkable and cut its dividend.

The article Here’s Why Oil Stocks Haven’t Bottomed Yet was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

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