Despite economists’ expectations that the unemployment rate would climb well into the economic recovery, the percentage of unemployed, job-seeking Americans fell 0.3 percentage point in January to 9.7 percent, its lowest point since August. The unemployment rate is calculated through a separate survey from the payroll count, which found the nation’s employers still reluctant to add new workers, as jobs fell by 20,000.

The report truly brought mixed news. While employers are still not beefing up their payrolls, the Labor Department’s survey of households found major employment gains. The results were altogether better than many were expecting. “All in all, we see encouraging signs of progress in labor market conditions and expect to see much better payroll performance … in coming months,” Morgan Stanley economists Ted Wieseman and David Greenlaw wrote in a morning note. Read more…

Talking Points

British Pound Continues to Retrace the Decline From December, Euro Remains Supported by 200-Day SMA

The British Pound crossed back above the 50-Day SMA (1.6338) during the overnight trade to reach a high of 1.6381, and the GBP/USD may continue to retrace the decline from December as market participants raise their appetite for risk. Meanwhile, Ernst & Young’s Item Club held a cautious outlook for the U.K. and said that the region faces a “challenging” year as households face a weakening labor market paired with tightening credit conditions, and forecasts the growth rate to increase at an annual pace of 1.0% in 2010 as the expansion in monetary and fiscal policy continues to feed through the real economy. Read more…

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — 2009 was a golden year with bullion making a $340 upwards move (+35%) from Jan. 3 to the Dec. 26 highs.

At the same time the Usd was the one of weakest currencies in global trade. However, since Dec. 3 and the last U.S. non-farm payroll report, gold has declined by more than $150 (-12%) in just three weeks, as shown on this chart.

The three-week gold move has fed off very strong down-side momentum, and a freshly broken trend-line suggests that this may be a near-term, first leg, of something larger to follow. The Elliott Wave team at the TheLFB.com will monitor gold weakness and Usd strength in the first part of 2010. Read more…

Additionally, Forex trading with us is done on a margin system, essentially using a free short-term credit allowance used to purchase an amount of currency that greatly exceeds the traders account value

Understanding the Margin System
Trading currencies on margin lets you increase your buying power. Here’s a simplified example: If you have $2,000 cash in a forex margin account that allows 1:100 leverage, you could purchase up to $200,000 worth of currency-because you only have to post 1% of the purchase price as collateral. Another way of saying this is that you have $200,000 in buying power.

You are probably wondering how a small investor can trade such large amounts of money. Think of your broker as a bank who basically fronts you $100,000 to buy currencies and all he asks from you is that you give him $1,000 as a good faith deposit, which he will hold you for but not necessarily keep. Sounds too good to be true? Well this is how forex trading using leverage works. Read more…

The dollar has fallen for much of this decade, and lately the decline is picking up speed. Already down more than 15% against the euro since March, the buck is expected to sink another 10% by the first quarter. Usually, when a once-strong asset falls this far out of favor, the correct long-term strategy is clear: Be a contrarian and buy.

But the dollar isn’t an asset — it’s a vehicle through which investments are made. And the fact that investors around the world are buying more and more non-U.S. assets suggests that the dollar will keep falling. Read more…

Exchange traded funds are collective investment vehicles which track indices – they can allow low cost exposure to the performance of an index as quickly and efficiently as the most liquid stocks.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs)  are listed on an exchange and can be traded intraday. Investors can buy or sell shares in the collective performance of an entire stock or bond portfolio as a single security. Exchange traded funds add the flexibility, ease, and liquidity of stock trading to the benefits of traditional index fund investing.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are increasing in popularity, as they are often responsible for approximately 50% of the daily trade volume on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). ETFs are passive funds that track their related index and have the flexibility of trading like a security. They are managed by professionals and provide the investor with diversification, cost and tax efficiency, liquidity, marginability, are useful for hedging, have the ability to go long and short, and some even provide quarterly dividends. Read more…

LONDON (Reuters) – Gold hit a fresh record high near $1,150 an ounce on Wednesday, boosting precious metals across the board, as a dip in the dollar index added to momentum buying as prices broke through key technical resistance levels.

In non-U.S. dollar terms, gold also climbed, hitting multi-month highs when priced in the euro, sterling and the Australian dollar.

Spot gold hit a high of $1,147.45 and was at $1,146.05 an ounce at 0948 GMT, against $1,141.50 late in New York on Tuesday.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange also hit a record $1,148.10 and were later up $7.10 at $1,146.40 an ounce. Read more…

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stock markets advanced Monday as better-than-expected news about U.S. retailers buoyed confidence in the world’s largest economy and gold prices hit a new record. European shares were modestly higher.

Major markets across Asia rose between 1 percent and 2 percent as the foundering dollar led investors to pour more money into commodities and shares of resource companies. Gold broke above $1,130 for the first time and oil traded higher around $77.

Encouraging quarterly reports Friday from large U.S. retail chains, as well as The Walt Disney Co., helped ease investor worries about American consumer spending, long a major source of growth for Asia’s export-oriented economies. Read more…

SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) – Warren Buffett is finally spending some of Berkshire Hathaway’s cash hoard. And he’s buying a railroad company. As the greatest investor of our generation, does his latest acquisition signal a market bottom?

Dissecting the Deal

Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A – News), agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI – News) for $100 a share valuing the deal at $44 billion.

Over the past year, Burlington’s stock price has lagged the performance of its peer benchmark, the Dow Jones Transportation Average (NYSEArca: IYT – News). Read more…

The U.S. economy got to play “trick or treat” early and ahead of the Halloween festivities with several economic indicators.  New home sales and consumer confidence clearly were tricks with numbers being very disappointing. But equity investors got a treat on Thursday as real GDP posted a stronger-than-expected 3.5 percent annualized gain for the quarter.  The relatively strong number sent the “equities-are-in-correction” traders scurrying for cover—or rather short covering for the day.  Nonetheless, the question remains—how strong is the recovery and is there reason to believe equities are a little ahead of where economic growth is really headed? Read more…