Articles by Author: John Banks
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Parting Thoughts on a New Era
April 5, 2021 | Educational
The first quarter of 2021 — which closed on March 31 — was the worst quarter for U.S. Treasury bonds since 1980. The last time treasuries looked this ugly, Paul Volcker was Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Jimmy Carter was president. Prior to last quarter, bond prices at the long end of the curve (the 10-year and 30-year) had…
You Can Still Beat the Big Money into Cryptos
April 2, 2021 | Investing Strategies
Editor’s Note: The markets are closed for Good Friday, and we will return on Monday. Our good friends at InvestorPlace have some excellent research on altcoins that we think you will find interesting. Without further ado, here is Matt McCall. –JCL Upon hearing the news that Thomas Edison was working on an electric light bulb, a committee in Britain’s Parliament…
Big Changes are Coming to TradeSmith Daily
April 1, 2021 | Investing Strategies
A new day is dawning for TradeSmith Daily. Big changes are coming. If you’ve come to enjoy and appreciate the TradeSmith Daily format, the changes won’t be what you’re used to. But change can be a great thing — especially at the start of an exciting new chapter. Starting soon, all TradeSmith Daily broadcasts will be written in the Japanese…
The Archegos Blow-Up was a Big Bank Bamboozle
March 31, 2021 | News
The more we learn about last week’s blow-up of Archegos Capital Management — a family office that behaved far more like a gunslinger hedge fund — the bigger, stranger, and fishier it looks. A number of things about the blow-up don’t make sense — unless you factor in actions and motivations like market manipulation, shady dealing, and possibly even straight-up…
The Crypto Asset Adoption Path is in the ‘Knee of the Curve’ — as Visa Newly Confirms
March 30, 2021 | News
Bitcoin continues to follow its own narrative, and the broader cryptocurrency space along with it. (We note with amusement that, at the time of this writing, Bitcoin continues to press against all-time highs in the $60,000 area, even as tech stocks turn red and the broader market finds itself gripped by a new market structure event — the fallout from…
Last Week’s Market Structure Event Was One of the First Popcorn Kernels to Pop
March 29, 2021 | News
On Feb. 26 — less than a month ago — we explained why risk levels were elevated for a “Market Structure” related meltdown event. A few weeks on, the danger has only grown. As we said in the piece: A market structure event is major price dislocation — like a meltdown or a flash crash — that happens for reasons…
The Suez Canal Jam-Up is More Fuel to the Fire for the Bullish USD Outlook
March 26, 2021 | News
One of the world’s largest container ships, greater in length than the height of the Eiffel Tower, is stuck in a narrow canal. It is stuck because the ship ran aground on the sides of the canal. High winds blew the ship off course, causing it to drift sideways until its ends were firmly lodged in the sides of the…
The Saudis are Underestimating U.S. Shale — For the Second Time in Less Than a Decade
March 25, 2021 | Educational
In early December 2020, TradeSmith Decoder turned aggressively bullish on energy stocks. We bought a sizable basket of fossil-fuel-related energy names at that time — eight in all — anticipating a recovery-fueled share price surge as a result of resurgent oil demand. That overall basket did quite well, providing multiple instances of either triple-digit gains or close to triple-digit gains,…
The Time is Right for the U.S. to Aggressively Confront China
March 24, 2021 | News
A general tone of conflict with China is escalating now — not just in respect to China versus the United States, but China versus Western allies as a group (with the United States at the forefront). This is ominous news for Western companies with significant business exposure to China (like Apple and Tesla). It is ominous news for countries with…
ARK’s Latest Tesla Target is Completely Nuts (With Zero Incentive to Be Rational)
March 23, 2021 | Educational
Tesla’s share price — which closed 24% off its highs yesterday — saw a nice little bounce (though still down 24%) after ARK Investment management released its latest Tesla price targets for 2025. The targets are not just unrealistic, they are laugh-out-loud unrealistic, almost to the point of being nonsensical. They offer three levels: “Bear case”: TSLA reaches $1,500 by…