Company earnings help markets higher.

Company earnings in both the US and Europe helped stock markets finish mostly higher on Friday. US Durable Goods was the major headline economic news item for the day and the reading was weak overall but was not weak enough to see traders hit the sell button with any conviction. The technology heavy Nasdaq Index broke records again as traders cheered some strong tech stock earnings and buyers came for Microsoft buying it up by as much as 10%.

If you tried to pick a major theme for financial markets last week you’d likely struggle however there is more than enough news coming this week to give us something to talk about by the weeks end.

It appears the Greeks and European leaders made little progress on the debt and loan issues and this subject will no doubt simmer throughout the week with Greece due to pay some big bills next month and right now it has no money to make those payments.

LTG GoldRock Members can check this Morning's GoldRock Insider Report for the full run down on what will be happening in the markets this week and any upcoming Trades. 

The US markets are back to work today.

The USA celebrated Martin Luther King Jnr Day on Monday with financial markets closed in recognition of the civil rights activists birthday. The focus will be on the continued release of company earnings and if US companies can meet or exceed what the market expects I would anticipate US stocks and the US dollar to continue to appreciate. 

So keep an eye on the headlines surrounding why US stocks are rising and falling and this will give you a guide as to what the company earnings are. Good bad or indifferent.

LTG GoldRock Director, Andrew Barnett provides a daily report to LTG GoldRock clients each day discussing what is happening in the markets and how he is looking to profit from this Fundamental and Technical data.

Stock markets surge on US Fed rate suggestion.

The US stock market had its biggest one-day gain for 2014 as the Santa Rally returned in full force. The Dow Jones rose 2.43% or 421 points only needing to rise another 187 points to finish the year on a new high. Thursday was a classic risk on trading session as traders dumped the safe haven currencies of the Yen and Swiss Franc and piled back into the US Dollar and Pound. The US economy got another piece of positive economic news overnight with weekly jobless claims falling by 6,000 to 289,000.  

Andrew Barnett is Co-Founder of LTG GoldRock, a boutique financial education and investing company located on the Sunshine Coast, QLd Australia.

US First Quarter Earning threat to Stocks?

The US first quarter company earnings season which is about to kick off threatens to be another trigger point for stocks to decline. If the big ticket US companies do not beat market estimates it is a virtual given that stocks will continue to decline. Full year’s earnings growth is expected to be overall 7.3% and if it’s closer to 5% than 7% then stocks will decline further.

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The Market Views on the US Dollar - LTG GoldRock

The US Dollar seemed to hold up well considering the negative close on Wall Street Friday and also the drop in existing home sales of 5.1%. The market expected a negative number of 3.5%. The US 10 Year Treasury Yield also dropped a touched and is trading at 2.73%. My prediction of 3.5% is not likely any time soon and will only be reached if the US can get itself back on track economically. What's going to help it get back on track? A change from winter to spring will certainly be welcomed.

Andrew Barnett and the LTG GoldRock Reviews team explore the latest Forex News on http://www.facebook.com/ltggoldrock

Question marks are now being put on the rally LTG Goldrock reviews...

What would you do if you were up 23% plus for the year and you were a major hedge fund trader on Wall Street and 23% plus was the best return for your firm since 1997? In fact it was the best return since you started work on Wall Street over 10 years ago and your end of year bonus was looking very healthy indeed. You'd give careful consideration to selling part of your positions to lock in some profit, particularly when there is so much chatter amongst traders on just when the US Fed will taper and you know the taper will destroy any further rally higher in stocks. Play it safe I hear you say, sell down some money and lock it away. That's exactly what many traders will be thinking and to sell a little makes perfect sense. But I doubt they will.

Greed is what drives Wall Street and this coming Friday many traders will be happy to see a poor unemployment number in the US because it means their profitable positions in the stock market will simply continue to rise in value whilst the country continues to stubble along.

Whilst millions of Americans still remain out of work or search for work, and the official unemployment rate still remains over 7% Wall Street is cashing in with the best year since 1997. Will they sell down some positions and give us a correction on the stock market? Not while they are convinced the US Fed is going to continue to inject the free cash that's been 100% responsible for pushing up stock values to record highs. If stocks continue on this artificial trend higher, supported only by the US Fed's free money the stock markets around the world including Australia run the risk of a very big correction at some point in 2014.

This snippet of a LTG GoldRock Review comes from the GoldRock Insider Report on Tuesday 5th of November, 2013