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DougD

10 Reasons Why Janet Yellen Won?t Raise Rates

Diary, Newsletter

No way, Jose.

That is my read on the likelihood of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at next week?s Open Market Committee meeting.

The evidence against it is overwhelming. Here are ten reasons why:

1) Chairwoman Janet Yellen has told me on many occasions that she will not raise interest rates until she sees ?the whites of inflation?s eyes? to paraphrase a Battle of Bunker Hill metaphor (we lost that one).

There is no inflation of any kind anywhere in the world. Deflation is still rampant. A US CPI of 0.8% YOY is not what rate hikes are made of.

2) The US economic data has recently slowed. Central banks are supposed to raise rates to prevent economies from getting overheated.

Overheated?

August Nonfarm Payroll came in at a lowly 151,000. The August ISM Manufacturing Index plunged from 52.6 to 49.9, a six year low. To a data dependent Fed, these numbers are shouting ?STOP?.

Need I say more?

3) Remember that election? The Fed is loathe to take any action before November 8. If the economy were in free fall, as in 2008, or going to the moon, like we saw in 1999 that would be a different story. But it?s not.

4) Even the hint, the rumor, or even a scintilla of a rate rise is keeping the US dollar at its high for the year. That is wreaking havoc with US multinationals which are seeing their products priced out of the international markets. This alone is a significant drag on the economy.

5) Watch the Fed fund futures. It is showing a 20% probability of a rate rise on September 20, or a one in five chance. Always follow the people who are putting their money where their mouths are, not the talking heads or dime newsletters that flood the Internet.

6) By the way, the same Fed funds futures are showing only a 48% chance of a December rate rise, which means there is a better than even chance that there will be NO rate rise in 2016. Did I mention that has been my view all year?
?
7) After watching the Fed for 45 years I can tell you that when in doubt, the fed always does nothing (remember the magisterial Arthur F. Burns?). It NEVER makes 50/50 calls.

8) Remember that black long chain carbon molecule, oil. Its price is in free fall again. That is delivering another deathblow to the oil patch, which accounts for 6% of US GDP (formerly 10%). I?m sure the new Dallas Fed governor has views on this situation.

9) Thanks to a gale force deflationary headwind, the Fed will be limited to only eight quarter point rate rises in this business cycle, and it has already used one. Why waste a rate hike now, when dry powder in the future is more valuable.

10) While the longest economic recovery in history is slow, but steady, it has also been uneven at best.

Growth has primarily been focused on the coasts, while those left behind by globalization in the Midwest and South are still suffering.

For many of these unfortunate people, the 2008 recession never ended. A rate rise just might push them over the edge.

To sum it all up, inertia is always a huge influence at the Fed.

Yes, we are already in a rate raising cycle in the wake of the December, 2015 25 basis point snugging. The Fed will raise again, it?s just a question of when.

And while there has been an abundance of Fed speakers over the past week, in the end, only one view counts.

That would be the one of my former UC Berkeley economics professor, Janet Yellen, possibly the most dovish Fed chairperson in history.

I rest my case.
uup
Janet Yellen

What?s On Your Mind, Janet?

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Janet-Yellen-e1484877247453.jpg 300 238 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-14 01:07:362016-09-14 01:07:3610 Reasons Why Janet Yellen Won?t Raise Rates
DougD

September 13, 2016

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
September 13, 2016
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(STOCKS TO BUY FOR A TRUMP WIN IN NOVEMBER),
(CVX), (XOM), (COP), (BP), (RIG), (DO), (BTUUUQ),
(CCJ), (CHK), (DVN), (NOC), (GD), (ZMH), (UNH),
(HUM), (PFE), (AAPL), (UNP), (BAC),
(SEPTEMBER 14TH GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR),

(ARE YOU IN THE 1%?),
(SNE), (HMC)

Chevron Corporation (CVX)
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)
ConocoPhillips (COP)
BP p.l.c. (BP)
Transocean Ltd. (RIG)
Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO)
Peabody Energy Corporation (BTU)
Cameco Corporation (CCJ)
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK)
Devon Energy Corporation (DVN)
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC)
General Dynamics Corporation (GD)
Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (ZMH)
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH)
Humana Inc. (HUM)
Pfizer Inc. (PFE)
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Union Pacific Corporation (UNP)
Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
Sony Corporation (SNE)
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-13 01:09:162016-09-13 01:09:16September 13, 2016
DougD

Stocks to Buy for a Trump Win in November

Diary, Newsletter

Given Hillary's stumble last weekend, both literally and figuratively, we have to consider the unimaginable, a Trump win in November.

For a start, let's discount the obvious. Volatility will absolutely go through the roof and live there for the next four years. The old 90 handle high hit in the fall of 2008 will be a chip shot and may even print the day after the election.

Vol traders will think they've died and gone to heaven.

What would a Trump win in November mean for your portfolio?

I had a lot of fun with this one.

I spoke to more than a dozen investors, all Republicans, and the responses I received were as varied as they were interesting.

Of course, the knee jerk reaction was to recommend concrete stocks, as Trump has promised to build a 2,000 mile, 20 foot high wall along the Mexican border.

That won?t work because Trump is going to get the Mexicans to pay for the wall. So that means the business will go to Mexican cement companies, if there is such a thing.

How about airlines to transport 11 million deportees back to their home countries? Nope. These would all be one-way trips, and the planes would have to return empty. What kind of business model is that?

A Trump win in November is not impossible. He could motivate tens of millions of angry, underemployed, gun toting blue-collar workers, while preventing traditional loyal moderate Republicans from staying home. Add that to a low Democratic turn out, and he just might pull it off.

This is an easy call to make. Expect a dramatic roll back of the leftward policies the country has adopted over the last seven years, and a sudden, drastic lurch to the right. The lists of winners and losers are huge.

In fact, if you look at the charts below, many of the stocks I am suggesting have already started to discount a conservative win.

It is hard to imagine big oil companies not being the biggest winners from a Trump win. American oil imports from the Middle East will accelerate, where the industry earns 80% of its profits.

You want a war to get oil prices up? No problem! Donald will give you more wars than you imagine possible.

That will take oil over $100/barrel quickly, and eventually to $150 or $200. Restrictions on both onshore and offshore drilling will get rolled back to their Bush era laissez faire levels, cutting costs and boosting profitability.

You want to own Chevron (CVX), ExxonMobil (XOM), Conoco Phillips (COP), and of course, BP (BP). The drilling and service companies, like Transocean (RIG) and Diamond Offshore (DO), should come roaring back from the graveyard.

Coal will benefit immensely from relaxed environmental regulation, paving the way for more exports to China. You want to own the few companies that have yet to go bankrupt, like Peabody Energy (BTU). The railroads will love this too because 70% of their profits are earned hauling coal, especially Union Pacific (UNP) with its East-West routes.

Nuclear Energy is a big beneficiary here, which should drive you into Shaw Group (SHAW) and top uranium producer Cameco (CCJ).

Forget about natural gas companies, like Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and Devon Energy (DVN). Relaxed environmental controls will give the green flag to the new fracking technology that is unleashing huge supplies on the market, driving prices for CH4 into the basement.

After all, it?s about free enterprise now!

The Trump portfolio should also have a heavy weighting in defense companies, as an expanded war against terrorism means we will be fighting more wars in more places for longer.

Any shopping list should include Northrop Grumman (NOC) and General Dynamics (GD). Also prospering mightily will be the makers of prosthetic limbs for the military, like Zimmer Holdings (ZMH).

Health care is easy. A Republican win in the House would wipe out Obamacare so fast it would make your head spin.

Health care companies like United Health (UNH), Humana (HUM), and Pfizer (PFE) will rocket, no longer facing the imminent prospect of price controls. The Hillary Tweet will be sent to the dustbin of history.

Major tax cuts for the top 1% of income earners costing $700 billion over ten years and more loopholes for corporations pared with increased defense spending promise to send government deficits through the roof.

Short positions? You want short positions? The Donald promises to deliver fabulous short side trading opportunities up the wazoo. Jim Chanos! Trump is your man!

The mere possibility that Trump will reverse 50 years of globalization is worth at least an immediate 20% market correction because of the enormous uncertainty it will bring. If he actually goes through with it, make that 50%.

This is why the Republican establishment is fighting Trump tooth and nail. They know the party will never survive causing two Great Recessions within a single decade.

You can start with the entire technology industry, which earns over 60% of its profits from abroad. Bring an end to international trade, which Trump is threatening to at least seriously impair, and you can kiss those earnings goodbye.

It also reduces to scrap metal value the hundreds of billions in overseas manufacturing facilities that corporate America has built in Europe and Asia over the last half century.

Apple (AAPL), the most widely owned company in America (and one of the cheapest), would be especially hard hit.? Trump has already singled it out for special abuse.

You can count on subsidies for alternative energy to get axed as unaffordable luxuries even though this industry has created 500,000 jobs in California alone in the past five years.

After all, global warming is nothing more than a leftist hoax, right?

The good news is that the higher oil prices (USO) Republican policies are guaranteed to bring means that green companies of every stripe will be forced to become profitable in their own right, making subsidies unnecessary. Many are already close to accomplishing that.

Remember, Bush policies took crude from $20 to $150/barrel, topping up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the absolute top. What better incentive is there to go green than that?

A recession would force Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen to take the one 25 basis point interest rate hike off the table post haste. That is when the Fed has to start entertaining the negative interest rates already endemic in Europe and Japan.

Needless to say, banks stocks get absolutely demolished in this scenario as their interest rate margins disappear up their own exhaust pipes. Bank of America (BAC) shares, $5 here we come, which was the 2009 crash low.

As the two parties are diametrically and violently opposed to each other on virtually every issue, the impact of a regime change on the economy and the markets promises to be huge. I could write on this subject for days, so these are just the high points.

If elected, Trump may take his file full of draconian proposals and lose it behind a radiator somewhere in
the White House. If he does that, he may find those radiators already stuffed with folders left there by previous presidents.

It wouldn?t be the first time that a president didn?t deliver what he promised on the campaign trail. When markets figure this out, they will rally hard.

You rarely get to choose between diametrically opposed worlds in an election.

This is one of those times.

Be careful what you wish for.

gd
cop
btuuq
pfe

TRUMP

All Hail The Donald!

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/TRUMP1.jpg 354 296 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-13 01:08:162016-09-13 01:08:16Stocks to Buy for a Trump Win in November
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

September 13, 2016 - Quote of the Day

Diary, Newsletter, Quote of the Day

When asked about the urban legend that the vaults at Fort Knox are empty, and that the Fed has no gold, former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke responded, ?I?ve been to the basement of the New York Fed. The gold is there. I?ve seen it.?

Gold Bars

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Gold-Bars-e1445180085267.jpg 264 400 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2016-09-13 01:05:532016-09-13 01:05:53September 13, 2016 - Quote of the Day
DougD

September 12, 2016

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
September 12, 2016
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE COMING WEEK),
(SPY), (VIX), (SPG), (T), (ELD), (JNK),
(THE UNMISTAKABLE FINGERPRINTS OF THE RISK PARITY TRADERS!),
(VIX), (SPY), (TLT),
(TESTIMONIAL)

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
VOLATILITY S&P 500 (^VIX)
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG)
AT&T, Inc. (T)
WisdomTree Emerging Markets Lcl Dbt ETF (ELD)
SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK)
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-12 01:09:452016-09-12 01:09:45September 12, 2016
DougD

Market Outlook for the Coming Week

Diary, Newsletter

Ouch!

That one had to leave a bruise.

All of a sudden, two months worth of trendless, sideway-moving markets showed its hand, and it was a definite thumbs down.

At the lows, the Dow Average was off 400 points, the first time it moved more than 1% since early July. The Volatility Index (VIX) exploded from 12 to 17.

It was as if all of the volatility of the past two months bunched up into a single day.

It was a selloff that had many fathers. Point to the North Korean nuclear test, the prospect of a Fed rate rise next week (they?re not), the ECB?s pass on a QE increase, Jeffrey Gundlach?s umpteenth prediction that bonds will fall, Trump?s bump in the polls, or the massive new scandal at Wells Fargo.

None of these events would individually have been market moving. But pile them up together, and you get a long overdue meltdown.

Or you could simply point to the calendar. The big players are finally back from their summer vacation, and the decision has been made to lighten up ahead of the presidential election.

The entire high yield space was taken out to the woodshed and beaten like the proverbial red headed stepchild (with apologies to red heads everywhere).

That would include REIT?s (SPG), junk bonds (JNK), utility stocks (T), and emerging market debt (ELD).

I have been warning readers about the risk in these sectors for over a month, and now the chickens are finally coming home to roost.

Every attempt by investors to offset low returns with greater leverage always ends in tears.

Of course, everyone is going to be holding their breath to see if the selloff has follow through on Monday or whether we bottom out here.

My view is that we are still in a long-term bull market, and this is no more than a 5% correction on the path to new all time highs. There are still mountains of cash on the sidelines, and the economy is modestly improving.

On Monday, September 12 we get no less than three Fed speakers amid a flurry of Treasury bill auctions, ramping up the drumbeat going into the September 20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

On Tuesday, September 13 at 8:55 AM EST we receive NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, which should continue a modest uptrend.

On Wednesday, September 14 at 10:00 AM we see the MBA Mortgage Applications which should continue strong in the face of ultra low interest rates.

On Thursday, September 15 we get a cornucopia of data releases. At 8:30 AM EST the Weekly Jobless Claims should confirm that employment remains at decade highs. August Retail Sales and the Empire State Manufacturing Index are also out then. August Industrial Production follows at 9:15 AM

Friday, September 16 is quadruple witching in the options market. We have taken profits on all of our September positions, so we?ll be sitting on our hands.

We wind up with the Baker Hughes Rig Count on Friday at 1:00 PM EST. Worryingly, the trend has been up for the past two months, driving oil prices lower.

I conclude with the chart below showing Speculative Net Hedge Fund Long Positions at a three year high. Given that hedge funds are the new ?stupid money? you have to be concerned.

hedge-fund-spec-net-long
t
spg
eld
jnk
John Thomas

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/John-Thomas1-e1421097493926.jpg 355 400 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-12 01:08:212016-09-12 01:08:21Market Outlook for the Coming Week
Mad Hedge Fund Trader

September 12, 2016 - Quote of the Day

Diary, Newsletter, Quote of the Day

?He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither,? said Benjamin Franklin, the Revolutionary War US ambassador to Paris and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

New $100 Bill

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/New-100-Bill.jpg 243 570 Mad Hedge Fund Trader https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png Mad Hedge Fund Trader2016-09-12 01:05:282016-09-12 01:05:28September 12, 2016 - Quote of the Day
DougD

September 9, 2016

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
September 9, 2016
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(SEPTEMBER 14TH GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR),

(HOW THE COST OF ENERGY IS GOING TO ZERO),
(SPWR), (TSLA),
(SEPTEMBER 16TH PORTLAND, OR GLOBAL STRATEGY LUNCHEON)

SunPower Corporation (SPWR)
Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA)

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-09 01:09:152016-09-09 01:09:15September 9, 2016
DougD

September 8, 2016

Diary, Newsletter, Summary

Global Market Comments
September 8, 2016
Fiat Lux

Featured Trade:
(FANG IS BACK!),
(FB), (AMZN), (NFLX), (GOOG),
(THE FINAL WORD ON THE TAX ?WASH SALE RULE?)

Facebook, Inc. (FB)
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)

?

https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png 0 0 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-08 01:08:372016-09-08 01:08:37September 8, 2016
DougD

FANG is Back!

Diary, Newsletter

All of a sudden, it became so clear.

While lugging a 60-pound pack up to a local mountain peak, I was struck by an epiphany. What the markets were trying to tell me suddenly made all the sense in the world.

Friday?s shockingly weak August Nonfarm Payroll at 151,000 meant that the chance of an interest rate hike at the September 20 Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting just went to zero.

This means that the tidal wave of buying awaiting Janet?s decision moved forward two weeks, to like, NOW!

And while the coming gains in the major stock indexes may be muted, there is one sector that will benefit mightily.

That would be the FANG stocks of Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Alphabet (GOOG).

When you are in a stock picker?s market, you better start picking stocks, or you?ll soon be washing windshields at the nearest intersection.

Who wouldn?t want to own tech stocks?

They own mountains of cash, some $230 billion in Apple?s (AAPL) case. Some are growing by 20% a year. Technological breakthroughs are accelerating. It is the sector that every absolutely HAS to own.

The move into FANG is also part of a broader secular move out of defensive income earners into growth stocks.

This is exactly the sort of reallocation you would expect to take place if the US GDP growth rate is about to ratchet up from 2.0% to 2.5% or even 3.0%.

The latest batch of Q2 corporate earnings are hinting as much, having come in surprisingly good.

Corporate stock buy backs, after plunging during the summer, have come back to life, providing more rocket fuel for share prices. That is what keeping interest rates lower for longer gets you.

By buying dividend paying equities through cheap borrowed money, companies can essentially get their own stock FOR FREE.

And the charts, let?s not forget the charts. Many names like Alphabet (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) are hitting new all time highs as I write this. The recent upside breakouts and the momentum are there.

If you had to make one switch, I would be taking profits on the recent $17 run up in Apple (AAPL) and shifting the money into Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOG) and Netflix (NFLX).

The iPhone 7 announcement is now behind us. Apple is really a value hardware utility now, rather than a double-digit grower.

The stock will appreciate, but not enough to write home to your mother about.

divident-and-buyback-spending fb amzn nflx goog john-with-3-d-glasses

Suddenly, Everything is So Clear!

https://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/John-with-3-D-Googles-e1473300276461.jpg 400 295 DougD https://madhedgefundtrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-mad-hedge-logo-transparent-192x192_f9578834168ba24df3eb53916a12c882.png DougD2016-09-08 01:07:132016-09-08 01:07:13FANG is Back!
Page 436 of 678«‹434435436437438›»

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