Something to read

Jobs Report: Expect 200,000 Print As Unemployment Falls To 7.2% On Tuesday

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Beyond putting the U.S. on the verge of default, the government shutdown clearly had an economic impact, shaving as much as 2% off annualized GDP growth. The debt ceiling showdown between President Obama and Speaker Boehner also forced federal statistics agencies to delay their relapse of important data, yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics is now ready to issue the September jobs report, scheduled for Tuesday 22, which should show non-farm payrolls expanding by 200,000, according to Barclays BCS -0.72%.

Markets were forced to fly blind over the past few weeks as the government shutdown deprived investors of crucial economic data. Arguably the most important data point, the jobs report, was never released on October 4, as Democrats and Republicans exchanged blows in Washington.

With the shutdown becoming a thing of the past, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released an updated schedule of its upcoming data reports. The September jobs number will be released on October 22, and it could come relatively strong. Despite the negative economic impact of the shutdown, and the hundreds of thousands of furloughed workers, Barclays estimates the economy added 200,000 jobs in September, with the unemployment rate falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 7.2%.

They point to falling jobless claims, which continue to trend lower. The economy did take a hit from the protracted shutdown, with Standard & Poor’s estimating it shaved 0.6 percentage points off annualized fourth quarter GDP growth, or about $24 billion which effectively was taken out of the economy. An index of sales managers is more extreme, noting U.S. GDP was cut by 2%. Major companies, from Boeing BA +0.19%, Lockheed Martin LMT -0.36%, and United Technologies, to Walmart and Costco acknowledged the effects, while the Fed’s beige book revealed business owners were unsettled by rising uncertainty.

A 200,000 print for nonfarm payrolls would suggest the labor market is increasingly resilient. That number would top both the September jobs report, where the economy added 169,000 jobs, and the September ADP report which came in at 166,000. It would also set the bar higher for the October jobs report, delayed one week to November 8, and would serve as further evidence for the Federal Reserve that the economy is improving, despite the self-inflicted pain caused by the shutdown.

Harmonic Trading, Volume One: Profiting from the Natural Order of the Financial Markets: Scott M. Carney: 9780137051502: Amazon.com: Books



Harmonic Trading creator Scott Carney unveils the entire methodology to turn patterns into profits. These strategies consistently identify the price levels and market turning points that reveal the natural order within the chaos of the financial markets. Analogous to the predictable behavior of many of life’s natural processes, Harmonic Trading examines similar relationships within the financial markets to define profitable opportunities in an unprecedented manner. Carney introduces new discoveries such as the Bat pattern, Alternate AB=CD structures, the 0.886 retracement, and more. These strategies are entirely new to the trading community, and they represent a profound advancement beyond all other Fibonacci methodologies!

After you’ve discovered how to identify harmonic patterns, Carney presents a complete methodology for applying them in trade execution and handling them throughout the entire trade management process. From savage bear to rampaging bull, Harmonic Trading can be employed in all markets--equities, currencies, commodities, and foreign markets--for both short- and long-term timeframes.

Harmonic Trading, Volume Two: Advanced Strategies for Profiting from the Natural Order of the Financial Markets: Scott M. Carney: 9780137051519: Amazon.com: Books



Now, in Harmonic Trading: Volume 2, Carney takes a quantum leap forward, introducing new strategies, patterns, and methods that make Harmonic Trading an even more powerful tool for trading the financial markets. For the first time, he reveals how to utilize harmonic impulse waves and introduces measurement techniques that identify market turning points even more accurately. Finally, he demonstrates how to integrate the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) with advanced Harmonic Trading techniques to separate minor “reactive” moves from major opportunities.

The Gartley Trading Method: New Techniques To Profit from the Markets Most Powerful Formation (Wiley Trading): Ross L. Beck



A detailed look at the technical pattern simply referred to today as the Gartley Pattern

Gartley patterns are based on the work of H.M. Gartley, a prominent technical analyst best known for a particular retracement pattern that bears his name. In recent years, Gartley patterns-which reflect the underlying psychology of fear and greed in the markets-have received renewed interest.

This definitive guide skillfully explains how to utilize the proven methods of H.M. Gartley to capture consistent profits in the financial markets. Page by page, you'll become familiar with Gartley's original work, how his patterns can be adapted to today's fast moving markets, and what it takes to make them work for you.

- Examines how to identify and profit from the most powerful formation in the financial markets
- Discusses the similarities, differences and the superiority of the Gartley Pattern compared to classical chart patterns including Elliott Wave
- Shows how to apply filters to Gartley patterns to improve the probability of your trading opportunities, as well as specific rules where to enter and exit positions

Gartley's pattern is based on a unique market position where most traders refuse to participate due to fear. This book reveals how you can overcome this fear, and how to profit from the most consistent and reliable pattern in the financial markets.

Fibonacci Trading: How to Master the Time and Price Advantage: Carolyn Boroden



Product Description :

Made famous by the Italian mathematician Leonardo De Pisa, the Fibonacci number series holds a Golden Ratio that is universally found in nature and used by architects, plastic surgeons, and many others to achieve “perfect” aesthetic proportions. Now, in this groundbreaking guide, noted technical trading advisor Carolyn Boroden shows you how Fibonacci pattern studies can be used as an extremely effective method for achieving greater profitability in stocks, futures, and Forex markets.

Fibonacci Trading provides a one-stop resource of reliable tools and clear explanations for both identifying and taking advantage of the trade setups naturally occurring in the markets that will enable you to reach the highest rate of profitable trades. Inside, you'll find a unique trading methodology based on Fibonacci ratios, and the author's personal experience analyzing and setting up the markets in real time, which makes this practical volume invaluable to the self-directed investor.

Complete with detailed charts and insightful graphics in each chapter, Fibonacci Trading features:

- Dependable guidance for determining important support and resistance levels, along with expert advice for using them to maximize profits and limit losses
- Step-by-step processes for using Fibonacci analysis to predict turning points in the market far enough in advance to generate substantial profit
- Valuable tips for using Fibonacci analysis to establish optimal stop-loss placement
- Revealing coverage on how Fibonacci relationships can create a roadmap for the trader based on high percentage patterns

Fibonacci Trading also provides a four-step formula for applying the covered techniques in a highly effective approach. Flexible enough for all markets and trading styles, the formula helps you focus your newly developed knowledge and skill sets into a solid trading methodology, defined trading plan, successful trading mindset, and disciplined trading approach that stacks the odds for profit in your favor.

This hands-on guide is packed with a wealth of actual trading situations, setups, and scenarios that bring the four-step formula to life so you can immediately use it in the real world.

Where are the Stops? Monday, October 28: Gold and Silver

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Below are today's likely price locations of buy and sell stop orders for the active Comex gold and silver futures markets. The asterisks (**) denote the most critical stop order placement level of the day (or likely where the heaviest concentration of stop orders are placed on this day). See below a detailed explanation of stop orders and why knowing, beforehand, where they are likely located can be beneficial to a trader.

December Gold	Buy Stops	Sell Stops
	**$1,356.40	$1,346.10
	$1,365.00	**$1,335.30
	$1,375.40	$1,330.00
	$1,380.00	$1,325.00
December Silver	Buy Stops	Sell Stops
	$22.715	$22.375
	**$22.91	$22.26
	$23.00	**$22.00
	$23.25	$21.74

Stop Orders Defined
Stop orders in trading markets can be used for three purposes: One: To minimize a loss on a long or short position (protective stop). Two: To protect a profit on an existing long or short position (protective stop). Three: To initiate a new long or short position. A buy stop order is placed above the market and a sell stop order is placed below the market. Once the stop price is touched, the order is treated like a "market order" and will be filled at the best possible price.
Most stop orders are located and placed based upon key technical support or resistance levels on the daily chart, which if breached, would significantly change the near-term technical posture of that market.

Having a good idea, beforehand, where the buy and sell stops are located can give an active trader a better idea regarding at what price level buying or selling pressure will become intensified in that market.

The major advantage of using protective stops is that, before a trade is initiated, you have a pretty good idea of where you will be getting out of the trade if it's a loser. If the trade becomes a winner and profits begin to accrue, you may want to employ "trailing stops," whereby protective stops are adjusted to help lock in a profit should the market turn against your position.

The Importance Of Creating A Forex Demo Account

Creating a demo trading account prior to setting up a live online forex trading account will almost certainly pave the way for your forex trading success. A demo trading account offers numerous advantages to the forex beginners, including learning the fundamentals of your selected trading platform, familiarizing yourself with the services provided by your selected forex broker, testing various manual trading system/strategies, testing various expert adviser for optimization result and establishing your trading strengths and weaknesses.

Although forex trading seems like an exciting and unique way to make a sizeable investment, it is also an easy way to lose money fast if approached with the wrong attitude and intentions. This is why setting up a demo trading account may be the most sensible step you can take, prior to getting started with the real thing.

Why Begin With a Demo Account?

Before depositing real funds with a forex broker, it is a wise idea to set up a demo trading account. This is because, although demo trading and live forex trading are two entirely different things, beginning with a demo account means that you can learn the ropes in a comfortable and safe setting, without any additional pressure or threat of losing funds.

Online forex trading is an exciting investment strategy, but it poses a number of risks to any trader. By first learning the ground rules of trading on a demo trading account, you will be in an excellent position to:


- Study the ins and outs of your chosen forex trading platform
- Establish some fail-safe trading strategies/EAs
- Learn what currency or commodity pairs suit your trading needs
- Take advantage of educational resources and other facilities provided by your selected forex brokers

The Importance of an Effective Risk Management Strategy

Although it is easy and convenient to copy someone else’s trading style, it is absolutely essential to ensure that your own trading style sustains your personal and financial needs. This is why the risk management strategies that you choose to follow must wholeheartedly suit your personal and financial needs.

Setting up a forex demo account gives you the opportunity to practice various risk management strategies, risk-free. This means that you can implement various forex trading strategies and understand what works best for you.

Finally, as with any investment strategy, patience is key. Trading forex through a demo account will give you the opportunity to repeatedly practice forex trading, and, although you may only be winning fake money, at least you will have the chance to learn what suits your needs, where your weaknesses lie and how you can best achieve online forex trading success.

The World's Most Powerful People 2013

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Who’s more powerful: the autocratic leader of a former superpower or the handcuffed commander in chief of the most dominant country in the world? This year the votes for the World’s Most Powerful went to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He climbs one spot ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama, who held the title in 2012.

Putin has solidified his control over Russia while Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president — latest example: the government shutdown mess. Anyone watching this year’s chess match over Syria and NSA leaks has a clear idea of the shifting individual power dynamics.

The Most Powerful People in the World list is an annual snapshot of the heads of state, CEOs and financiers, philanthropists and NGO chiefs, billionaires, and entrepreneurs who truly rule the world. It represents the collective wisdom of top FORBES editors, who consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers – one for every 100 million people on Earth — based on their scope of influence and their financial resources relative to their peers. (See full methodology here).

This year’s list features 17 heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of some $48 trillion — including the three most powerful people, Putin, Obama and Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China. The 27 CEOs and chairs control over $3 trillion in annual revenues, and 12 are entrepreneurs, including new billionaires on the list, Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote (No. 64), founder of Dangote Group, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison (No. 58). Speaking of, this year’s class has 28 billionaires valued in excess of $564 billion.

Here, a quick peek at the Most Powerful People in the World 2013:

Newcomers: Among the 13 newcomers are Pope Francis (No. 4), Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee (No. 41), Volkswagen’s Martin Winterkorn (No. 49), South Korean President Park Geun-hye (No. 52), IBM CEO Virginia Rometty (No. 56), and Janet Yellen (No. 72), nominated by President Obama as the next leader of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Rosneft CEO and Putin confidant Igor Sechin (No. 60) and Jill Abramson (No. 68), the executive editor of the New York Times, make a return appearance after dropping of the list in years past.

He’s Not No. 1: This is the first year that Putin carries the crown. Obama has been on the top of the list for every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former political and military leader of China, was No. 1.

Women Moving Up In Numbers: This year there are nine women on the list, representing 12% of the world’s most powerful — in stark contrast to being 50% of the world’s population. Both 2011 and 2012 featured six women leaders, and the inaugural list from 2009 included only 3 — or just 4.4%. Recently elected Park of South Korea joins the other female heads of state German Chancellor Angela Merkel No.5), Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff (No. 20)and de facto head of India Sonia Gandhi (No. 21). Two of the world’s most important NGO’s are run by women: Christine Lagarde (No. 35) leads the IMF and Margaret Chan (No. 59) steers the World Health Organization.

Billionaires: Worth a cumulative $564 billion. Sure they’re rich but many of these billionaires deserve special attention for their philanthropic work, including Warren Buffett (No. 13), Michael Bloomberg (No. 29), Li Ka-shing (No. 30), Charles and David Koch (No. 31), and Mohammed Ibrahim (No. 71).

Entrepreneurs Represent: There are 12 in total. As expected, many are headquartered on the West Coast: Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin (No. 17), Mark Zuckerberg (No. 24), Elon Musk (No. 47), Ellison and Reid Hoffman (No. 65). Global entrepreneurial spirit spans from Japan’s Masayoshi Son (No. 45) and China’s Robin Li (No. 61) to Africa’s Dangote and Ibrahim.

Year-over-year growth: The FORBES Most Powerful started in 2009, seeking to answer a straight yet complex question: What is the true nature of power and can we really compare and rank heads of state with religious figures and drug traffickers? The premise has always been to select one person for every 100 million on the planet. The first list had 67 slots. This year we are up to 72. At this fifth edition, it’s notable that most of the leaders who made the top 10 on the inaugural list are still on today: Obama, Putin, Bill Gates (No. 6), U.S. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke (No. 7), the King of Saudi Arabia (No. 8), Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke (No. 10), billionaire Carlos Slim Helu (No. 12), Page and Brin, and Rupert Murdoch (No. 33).

Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBS confirm forex probes

The multinational probes of foreign exchange trading represents the latest investigation of crucial financial benchmarks that affect personal and business transactions worldwide.

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Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Scotland are the latest global banks confirming that their foreign exchange trading is under investigation.

In its third-quarter earnings report Friday, New York-based Citigroup said it had "received requests for information" from government agencies probing the issue and was "cooperating with the investigations and inquiries and responding to the requests."

JPMorgan Chase's quarterly filing also filed Friday said the New York-headquartered bank was cooperating with requests from "relevant authorities" about foreign exchange probes that are "in the early stages."

Similarly, Royal Bank of Scotland's third-quarter earnings statement said the bank had received inquiries about the trading from several governmental and regulatory authorities, including Great Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.

Barclays Faces $435 Million Fine, Another Probe

LONDON— Barclays BARC.LN -2.77% PLC faced a double-barreled assault from U.S. authorities, as the federal energy-market regulator sought a record $435 million in penalties for the bank's alleged manipulation of U.S. electricity markets, and the lender also disclosed that it was facing a U.S. anti-corruption investigation. The corruption investigation focuses on potential violations during the bank's efforts to raise money from Middle Eastern investors in the early days of the financial crisis. The probe, being conducted by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, is at an early stage.

Barclays said Wednesday that it is investigating the matter itself and cooperating with authorities. The U.S. investigation follows a similar probe that British regulators opened earlier this year.

According to people briefed on the U.S. probe, it is examining Barclays's use of middlemen serving as brokers to connect the bank with powerful Middle Eastern interests at a time when the bank was seeking a cash injection from investors in the region.

Barclays disclosed the investigation Wednesday at the same time it reported a £106 million ($170.4 million) third-quarter loss, weighed down by an accounting charge, repayments to retail customers and sluggish investment-banking revenue.

The new investigations represent the latest blows to the British institution. This summer, Barclays paid about $450 million to settle U.S. and British civil charges that it sought to manipulate benchmark interest rates, sometimes at the behest of top executives. The ensuing political furor led to the resignations of Barclays's chairman, chief executive and chief operating officer.

The British bank faces penalties from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for alleged manipulation of electricity prices in the Western U.S. from 2006 to 2008, charges that Barclays denies. On Wednesday, the FERC said it was seeking civil penalties of $435 million, which if collected would be an agency record, as well as an order for the bank to disgorge $34.9 million it had earned. The regulator also sought $18 million in penalties from four Barclays traders and ordered the bank to show why it shouldn't have to pay.

Earlier Wednesday, new CEO Antony Jenkins acknowledged that the bank has "much to do" to restore trust among shareholders and the broader public but played down the severity of the U.S. investigations. "You should not assume that either of them will imply any wrongdoing on behalf of the Barclays group," he told analysts. Barclays said the Justice Department and SEC investigation involves possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which, among other things, bars companies with U.S. operations from bribing overseas politicians or corporate executives in order to win business.

In June 2008, as the financial crisis was gaining steam, senior bankers at Barclays persuaded the Qatar Investment Authority and other investors to inject about £4.5 billion into the U.K. bank, seeking to erase fears about Barclays's health. As part of that deal, Barclays hired the Qatar fund to provide "advisory services" in the Middle East. The bank later disclosed that it was paying about £238 million in fees and commissions to Qatar Investment Authority and related entities.

This summer, the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority launched a formal investigation into Barclays's public disclosures of those arrangements. The probe focused on past and present Barclays executives, including finance chief Chris Lucas, as well as on the manner in which Barclays wooed the Qataris to invest, according to Barclays officials. Mr. Lucas declined to comment.

The British investigation intensified in late August, when the Serious Fraud Office sent a letter requesting that Barclays hand over evidence related to its 2008 Middle Eastern fundraising, these people said.

The U.S. investigation got under way more recently. In October, the Justice Department and SEC contacted Barclays and requested phone records, emails and other evidence, according to people briefed on the case.

The investigators are focused in particular on Barclays's use of external brokers who facilitated meetings between bank officials and powerful Middle Eastern families, businessmen and others, these people said. Barclays and other banks regularly rely on such "introducers," often well-connected local businessmen or consultants, to lay the groundwork for deals.

Barclays recently started conducting an internal investigation, with the help of an outside law firm, to figure out whether it or its Middle Eastern introducers might have run afoul of U.S. anticorruption laws, according to a person close to Barclays. This person said the bank hasn't been presented with evidence that it did violate anticorruption laws. The investigation has fueled speculation among some Barclays executives that Mr. Lucas, due to his role in the investigation, might step down from his post as finance chief in coming months. A senior Barclays official said Mr. Lucas has no plans to do so.

In the FERC case, the agency alleges that Barclays employees traded next-day electricity contracts to move the prices in a way that benefited separate financial positions the bank held at the same time. The agency said it had evidence of the traders discussing the strategy, including internal messages from a trader saying he had "propped up" the market. It also said the traders knew their trading was "likely unlawful" and ignored warnings from a Barclays executive, who told the FERC he had advised employees against losing "money on a transaction for the intention of making money on another transaction."