However, ignoring the almost daily vertical ramps in US stocks and volatility from a seemingly bottomless pit of margin; the Bank of Japan has been buying stocks (directly through ETFs) for years... and as the Nikkei began to turn down in early August, the WSJ reports the BoJ undertook the longest and largest consecutive buying streak since it started purchasing ETFs in December 2010. As WSJ reports, While the central bank is well known for its massive purchases of Japanese government bonds as a part of its monetary easing program, it also buys ETFsalbeit in much smaller quantitiesthat track the Nikkei Stock Average and the broader Topix index. Through a trustee, the central bank purchased a combined 92.4 billion ($904.2 million) in ETFs over the first six business days of August. That's the BOJ's longest and largest consecutive buying streak since it started purchasing ETFs in December 2010. Many traders suspect that it may not be a coincidence that the central bank is scooping up ETFs at a time when both the Nikkei and the Topix are spending considerable amounts of time in negative territory. Speculation is rife that the BOJ is following an unwritten rule, called "the 1% rule" by traders, where it buys ETFs after the Topix index falls around 1% in the morning session. Thu, 08/14/2014 - 10:29 | 5092092 madbraz They are certainly doing something, it is no coincidence that we have reverse repos of $130 billion per day and every end of quarter it grows by $100 billion (last i checked it was something like $250 billion on June 30th), not to mention securities lending of $20 billion every day and God knows what else that they don't disclose because they don't have to... Thu, 08/14/2014 - 10:34 | 5092115 madbraz You put 2 and 2 together and you realize that maybe HFT and algos running the show is not a coincidence, that they didn't appear out of nowhere and regulation let them slip through the cracks. Aren't HFT and algos the ultimate weapon in trying to manipulate (volumeless) markets? Isn't that something that central banks ultimately desire, as long as you replace the word manipulate with "influence"... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-14/bank-japan-plunge-protection-team-goes-overdrive-buys-most-etfs-2010
Taking the Technical Temperature of a Big Health Care ETF - Yahoo Finance
XLV has more than doubled over the past three years. Given the ETFs and sectors recent and long-standing strength, now is a good time to evaluate XLV from a technical perspective. XLV has done really well the past few years, as its outpaced the S&P 500 by a large margin. The only Sector (lower left corner) that is ahead of Health Care over the past five years is consumer discretionary, notes Chris Kimble of Kimble Charting Solutions . The strong rally in XLV has taken it up to the top of its rising channel and a Fibonacci Extension level based upon the 2007 highs and the 2009 lows. Against the backdrop of health care sector strength, investors have not been shy about putting money to work in the sector. XLV pulled in $843 million in new assets for the week ending Aug. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/taking-technical-temperature-big-health-130029693.html
Consolidation must-know: A look into Kinder Morgan’s origins - Yahoo Finance
The fact that the very man who pioneered the MLP structure is discarding it has taken the energy industry by surprise. However, the markets reacted favorably to the news even as KMIs valuation surged by $800 million. Kinder, as the chairman and CEO of KMI, takes a $1-a-year salary and doesnt rely on bonuses from any of the four companies under KMI. His earnings come from his ownership stakes in all the companies in the form of dividends. His dividend income last year was a whopping $380 million, which is likely to rise given the new development. According to a report compiled by Bloomberg, annual dividends will increase by $100 million thanks to the deal. Kinder Morgans meteoric rise During the past 15 years, KMP has invested tens of billions to facilitate joint ventures, expansions, and acquisitions to achieve increased growth. One of its most noteworthy acquisitions was the purchase of El Paso Pipelines (or EPB) in May 2012. KMI paid approximately $38 billion (including debt assumed) to acquire EPB in what was then considered http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2014/08/12/prognosis-negative-for-russian-economy-equities/ to be the biggest U.S. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/consolidation-must-know-look-kinder-130019741.html
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF, 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index Fund, SPDR Gold Trust ETF, COMEX Gold Trust and CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust - Yahoo Finance
dollar. SHARES Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis 2014 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000302182&__source=yahoo%7cheadline%7cquote%7cvideo%7c&par=yahoo
Santelli: Bad news is good news in Europe
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free . Here are highlights from Wednesdays Analyst Blog: 3 Safe-Haven ETFs to Beat a Volatile Market Though the U.S. markets staged a solid recovery during the first half of the year, hitting multi-year highs and ignoring geopolitical threats and lackluster economic data, they have been in a defensive mode in the past few weeks retreating in many sessions. This comes despite the fact that we are seeing healthy Q2 corporate earnings, a gradually improving U.S. economy and a strengthening labor market with the four-week average U.S. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/zacks-analyst-blog-highlights-ishares-123940099.html