The newest ETFs are

• Direxion Daily BRIC 2x Bull (BRIL) (summary)
• Direxion Daily BRIC 2x Bear (BRIS) (summary)
• Direxion Daily India 2x Bull (INDL) (summary)
• Direxion Daily India 2x Bear (INDS) (summary)
• Direxion Daily Semiconductor 3x Bull (SOXL) (summary)
• Direxion Daily Semiconductor 3x Bear (SOXS) (summary)

For those who haven’t heard the term, BRIC refers to the four largest emerging market nations: Brazil, Russia, India and China.  BRIL and BRIS  provide long and short coverage, respectively, to the BNY Mellon BRIC Select ADR Index with 200% daily leverage.  INDL and INDZ do likewise for the Indus India Index.

These four will be the first Direxion ETFs to offer anything less than 300% daily leverage.  Why they are doing so is unclear.  As we’ve said before, people who want to use leverage typically can’t get enough of it, so we doubt they are doing it for marketing reasons.  More likely some kind of legal or operational constraint prevents Direxion from achieving a 3X daily target in these particular indexes.

The remaining two new ETFs are domestically-focused, specifically on the PHLX Semiconductor Index, often called the SOX.  This index has been a popular tool among options traders for many years, so we suspect SOXL and SOXS will gain a following fairly quickly.  Both the long and inverse versions are leveraged at 3X.

As we always say, everyone should be aware that leverage is reset daily and results over longer periods can vary dramatically.  These are trading vehicles, not long-term investments.  Use with caution.

Patrick Watson
Invest With An Edge

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Prosecutors in Italy are seeking to ban Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) division Merrill Lynch from pursuing lucrative government contracts with the Mediterranean nation.  This is based on derivative swap losses that the investment institution’s performed for Milan, Italy’s financial capital.  According to DOF Online, the losses stand in the neighborhood of $1.19 billion (870 million Euros) out of a total $2.28 billion (1.68 billion Euros) deal.  After the Goldman Sachs debacle in Greece, it would appear that governments in Europe are beginning to grow wary of large financial investment institutions like B.of.A.

British Airways (LON:BAY) union has announced it’s members will go on strike from March 20^th to 23^rd, and from March 27^th to March 31^st.  The union will not continue the strike over Easter.  The airline is already hampered by 60 million pounds of annual losses, and it appears that negotiations on how to reduce losses with the union have broken down.  According to the BBC, the sides are still “far apart” after months of negotiations.

For some positive news, seasonally adjusted retail sales rose in the month of February 0.3%, beating economists predictions.  Overall, sales have increased for the new year by 0.4% after January’s numbers were revised.  Sales now stand at approximately $355.5 billion, according to the Commerce Department.

President Obama appeared before the Export-Import Bank conference yesterday and said that he was interested in aggressively reducing the current American trade deficit.  According to the President, he’d like the US economy to double it’s exports within a five-year time period, and apparently wants to use an export-focused government programs to create jobs. “When other markets are growing, and other nations are competing, we’ve got to get even better. We need to secure our companies a level playing field. We need to guarantee American workers a fair shake. In other words, we need to up our game.”, Mr. Obama said.   It was announced yesterday that the US trade deficit has been unexpectedly decreasing this year, but it still has a long way to go before America is close to balanced

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) has seen some brisk trading early today after it was announced that their earnings per share for the first quarter were lower than originally expected.  Analysts were anticipating a report of $0.16 for the first quarter, but investors are instead looking at $0.10.  – Reuters

Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) announced yesterday it’s first quarter earning information are scheduled to be announced on April 21^st, a Wednesday.  The press release will be available by clicking here.

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The Gold Report: The Olympics have just ended after about six years of preparation, was it worth it for Vancouver and was it worth it for Canada?

Louis Paquette: In terms of good will and sportsmanship—and pure fun—they were a success. Were they worth it in monetary terms? That depends on what you believe a benefit is. There’s been a lot of debate and argument about this, but this is one point that I haven’t seen brought up. That is, people are measuring the benefit—the cost and the benefit by the economic activity that is being generated, the free advertising and the increase in tourism now and later. But the problem is that much of the United States is going through a bear market in real estate right now, as we all know. It’s called the housing crisis because housing prices are falling.

Vancouver is having the extreme opposite situation. We have a bubble in real estate prices here in Vancouver. In Windsor, Ontario, Canada’s industrial heartland, it costs on average of 2.2 times a person’s average annual salary to buy a home. Here in Vancouver it’s over 10. It’s five times less affordable to own a home in Vancouver. The biggest problems in Vancouver are homelessness and child poverty. Why? Because housing, whether it’s rent or whether it’s a mortgage, is sucking up everybody’s income—all of their income. So there’s no money left for anything else. So when I hear the Premier of B.C. giddy as a schoolgirl bragging about how this has been a success, attracting attention to Vancouver, it’s the last thing that we need. We don’t need more people. We need less people. We need less demand for housing. So on that basis alone, I would say it’s kind of a contradiction. I’m very much against the Olympics; but in the last week or two, myself and my family decided we’re just going to enjoy it and it’s been a ball. In terms of fun, it’s been really great.

TGR: Real estate has been a good investment for Vancouver since 2004 based on the Olympics. Is that bubble going to continue to grow or will it pop within a couple of years?

LP: I’m absolutely sure it’s going to pop for a number of reasons. Number one, in any post-Olympic year, real estate prices usually drop in the city it’s held in. There’s always speculation prior to the Olympics. We’re going to see that.

Number two, we have a new harmonized sales tax that’s kicking in July. So everybody is buying now prior to this I think, it’s a 7% additional tax that’s going to kick in. You’re going to have a lack of buying after July. So you got two big, big things that are going to be negatives—plus the prices that are just sky high here. I think we’re going to see a real sharp retracement in the housing prices here.

TGR: In your February newsletter, you noted that there are two forces driving the markets. One is the negative sentiment towards the euro driven by fears of the PIIGS’s defaults. You pointed out that states such as California are fairing far worse potentially than Greece, Italy, Spain or Portugal. Why is this relevant boosting the dollar and depressing gold prices?

LP: For the obvious reason. For a while now, the euro has been the one that’s weak. The attention has gone to Greece and people are thinking, well what’s going to happen if this contagion spreads to Spain and other countries that are looking bad over there? We’ve just seen this shift after a whole year of the U.S. dollar falling. It got really overdone. It got to be a really crowded trade and now sentiment has shifted negative against the euro, which has allowed the U.S. dollar to recover.

Interesting note on a technical basis, the U.S. Dollar Index has now had a 50% retracement of the negative down move that took place in 2009. So who knows? Maybe we’ve seen enough of a rebound now of the U.S. dollar, and the euro has come down enough that we’re going to see a reversal now. Maybe the U.S. dollar will have a downturn now but, at the moment, all the attention—the negative attention—is towards the euro.

TGR: Well factoring into the U.S. dollar I’m sure, California’s population is well over three times the population of Greece. It’s the largest U.S. state and it’s in serious trouble financially, many say much more than Greece. Are the eyes of the world investment/finance community just in the wrong place right now?

LP: I don’t know if it’s the wrong place because the euro has a really serious problem. The ratios—the debt per gross national product and the debt ratios—in many countries in Europe and England are terrible. I don’t know if the investment community is looking at the wrong place. These things ebb and flow. For a while, the negative sentiment and the selling has been on the euro; and that’ll continue until it gets to be too much, and then something will happen. Some news event will take place regarding the U.S. dollar, and then it will have a decline. That’s just the nature of markets. They move back and forth.

TGR: When the U.S. dollar declines, are we expecting to see a focus back onto the euro, or would we start seeing focus on other currencies such as the yuan or rupee?

LP: I think the focus will go back on the U.S. dollar because it will have had a pretty darn good move up and the short sellers will probably swoop down on the dollar again. In terms of other currencies, we just keep hearing good things about the Canadian, Australian and Indian currencies. So I think the bears will circle the U.S. dollar again sometime later this year.

TGR: How do you think the Chinese yuan ETF factors into the equation right now?

LP: Well you can’t pressure the Chinese to do anything. Telling them to let their yuan rise is almost counterproductive. They may not let it happen just because you want it to. They’re going to do whatever they want no matter what.

TGR: As we move into this bear focus on the U.S. dollar, and we know there are issues with the euro, are we going to see a decoupling from the euro-goes-up-dollar-goes-down (or vice-versa) mindset, to euro-and-dollar-go-down, and Canadian, Australian dollars go up?

LP: That’s what I think is going to happen.

TGR: How does an investor play that?

LP: It’s kind of a race to the bottom with most of these currencies, even with Canada’s. I hear the big, big investors saying, Canada’s such a great place, and we’re supposed to have a conservative government, yet they’re going to have a huge massive deficit this year. Even the most favorable countries are now spending beyond their means and I guess the only way to play this is to have some gold in your portfolio. Have some raw gold, have some bullion and have some shares of good mining companies. If you’re really aggressive, talented and you know how to short and play the futures markets, then you can try and time these, the bigger declines. Sooner or later the U.S. dollar will top out again. If you’re really comfortable with doing that you could do a short sell on the dollar with the futures markets but I’m not that comfortable doing that kind of thing. So I just hold gold.

TGR: Do you feel confident that the Canadian banking system is going to remain strong given what you’ve just said, or do you just see that waning a bit too?

LP: Well the corporations themselves have run themselves fairly well. But sadly with—it seems like anytime the population figures out it can vote someone in who spends more, that’s when you run into trouble. It seems like every country is doing that. Perhaps China and India aren’t, but here in the West that’s happening. I’m not comfortable with the government, but the Canadian banking sector is still being run fairly prudently.

TGR: There’s a growing belief of a double dip recession for the second half of 2010. You refer to Dan Arnold’s work, The Great Bust Ahead, predicting the bust will begin in 2013. If there is a bust ahead, how should the typical investor play a busting market? Some feel the prudent strategy is to go long in cash/gold avoiding equities whose value will fall during a bust. Is this your opinion?

LP: I would stick with holding some gold equities of really good companies. If we do get a real meltdown in the currencies, it’s going to impact the price of gold—and the companies should make terrific profits. But will they melt down, too, in a big meltdown? I really don’t know, but I would just hold some. The one thing I would be confident in doing is saving a lot of cash. I would short stuff and own more cash. I would not buy luxury items and I would save cash.

TGR: In our last interview with you, we discussed the typical seasonality in gold, especially gold stocks, both of which have a fall and a spring rally followed by a typically quiet summer and whether or not that seasonality was breaking down in your opinion. At that time, you were uncertain if the climate had truly shifted for gold. A year later, do you think it has? Also, has the psyche for accumulation of the metal itself moved into the acquisition of promising junior or mid-tier gold mining company stocks?

LP: Let me answer the second question first. For the last year, the emphasis has moved toward the metal. The gold shares, I’m looking at a chart right now of appreciation of gold and gold shares, and the gold shares have gone sideways for the past two years and gold has gone up. So for the moment, there’s better value in the gold producers, in the shares of the companies, and people have been buying the bullion price.

The first question, has seasonality broken down? I think the answer is yes, kind of. The last buy time for seasonality was last August. That did work. The price of gold started to take off after that. But now when it comes to the high point, gold peaked on December 3rd; it hit a parabolic high at that point—and looks like a cyclical high now—and it’s not strong. It’s supposed to be peaking around now, and we’re $100 or so below the peak. I would say the seasonality is breaking down because the price is now being driven by investment demand as opposed to physical demand for jewelry. So the answer is yes. The seasonality is breaking down and you have to revert to other methods to pick your highs and lows now.

TGR: To what extent do you believe news and the news media can make a market? And has the gold market yet to be made?

LP: I think it has a lot to do with it. And I don’t think we’ve seen the full extent of it yet. We haven’t seen a media-driven parabolic rise yet. You don’t see the average person lining up to buy gold coins at this point. I think that day is going to come, but I don’t believe we’ve seen it yet.

TGR: What are you recommending for portfolio diversification with regard to gold stocks, ETFs and the physical metal?

LP: The leveraged two-times ETFs were really popular here in Canada, and I’m completely avoiding them. They experienced time decay. So zero for the leveraged ETFs. And the main focus is on junior mining companies, exploration situations and near producers with growing reserves. I’m not buying gold anymore. I used to buy it years ago in the beginning first few years of the bull market, but I just sit on that. That’s 5%, 10% of one’s portfolio in the metal, in the bullion, and for me a lot larger than that with the gold share (but I specialize in that). So I don’t know what the good number is for the average investor, but I’d say maybe 5%–10% of the gold shares of selected junior mining companies.

TGR: In the last interview one of the companies you mentioned was Rainy River Resources (TSX.V:RR). Would you give our readers an update on this company?

LP: I’m just looking at the chart, and it’s had a very nice big move from $2–$5 area. I’ve actually taken profits on that. I’m just using the charts at that point. I’m not really following the moves of the company. Instead I’m buying and accumulating a company that holds shares of Rainy River right now at a big discount.

TGR: Which company is that?

LP: The company name is Skana Capital Corp. (TSX.V:SKN) and it’s a merchant bank/holding company. It’s kind of interesting because it’s trading for around $0.18. It’s probably worth $0.36 book value. It’s got quite a bit of cash in the bank and it also holds shares in a bunch of promising juniors, including Rainy River. So I’m able to buy Rainy River at a half price sale by purchasing SKN.

TGR: What other companies do you favor currently and why?

LP: One gold junior exploration company is one called Yorbeau Resource (TSX.A:YRB). Trades for about $0.26. They’re exploring a property in Quebec and hit two very rich intersections of gold located about 600 meters apart from one another. I just started connecting the dots and I’m thinking, if this is a continuous stretch of rich mineralization, they’re going to have a lot of gold in the ground. I call it the next possible Osisko Mining Corp. (TSX:OSK), which holds a multi-million ounce gold deposit in Quebec. So it’s just a promising exploration play.

TGR: Do you have any other companies that you’re following?

LP: The one area outside of gold that I kind of like is the lithium area because of the battery use. There’s one company called, Ultra Lithium (ULI.V) and it trades for $0.06. So it’s pretty small market cap and the chart’s very flat. If you know something exciting happens there I figure they might have some upside. So I’m following that one, too.

TGR: Are they an exploration company?

LP: It’s a lithium exploration play. They have a couple of properties. I understand they’re still in the acquisition mode, so there may be some more to come in to the company but its focus is entirely on lithium.

TGR: Earlier on we were talking about a double dip recession. You said people should short stop and go long on cash. So the suggestion is to hold cash; but really early on we were talking about the devaluation of the dollar and the euro. How is this a good strategy?

LP: Well, all I can tell you is what I’m also doing—taking a fair number of those dollars and owning stocks that pay good dividends. At least I’m making an income with that money. I guess that’s where you have a portion in the gold sector too, if the currencies are going to devaluate. Consumer goods are going to fall in value even faster than everything else.

TGR: Value declines as soon as you take it out of the store.

LP: Exactly. So I’m not in a big hurry to buy brand new cars. They’re going to be cheaper in the future.

TGR: So you were talking also a bit about having 5% –10% of your portfolio in metals, which leaves another 90% of your portfolio in other types of things. Given that there are significant reports of green shoots and some positive economic news, at least coming out of the U.S., what other sectors would recommend our subscribers invest in so they have a balanced portfolio?

LP: The areas I like are gold and energy. On weakness, I have been purchasing shares of these income trusts that pay 5%–10% yields. So I’m about 50% cash and about 5%–10% in the metal, say 20% in gold shares and the balance in energy shares. Also in special little situations, I’ve got the odd investments—biotech and even a social media company. Some very small micro cap situations are also in there, not specific to any sector, but “bottom up” selections based on the merits of the company.

TGR: In terms of energy, are there specific subsectors of energy that you’re focusing in on?

LP: Yes. I’ve got a love/hate relationship with natural gas right now. The production community seems to be determined to drive the price to zero. But I hold something called Daylight Resources Trust (OTCBB:DAYYF). It’s weighted towards natural gas, but the price of this stock just keeps going up and they’re paying me almost 9% to hold it at the current price. They can do this because they’re very good at hedging. They’re actually getting a better price than what the market is paying for natural gas, and they just seems to be doing all the right things. So in spite of the sad situation with the natural gas price, there’s a company that is performing really, really well. Sooner or later, this natural gas situation is going to turn around. They’re going to deplete all these new reserves they’ve found and there’s going to be a shortage of it. I’m not saying in the next month or so, but in the coming years there may be a great opportunity in natural gas.

TGR: So Daylight really seems to be more of a dividend play in the energy field as opposed to an upside opportunity in natural gas in the next year or two.

LP: I’d call it both. They do have reserves in natural gas. So if gas were to turn around, you’d get a pop in the unit price because of that. At the moment, you’re right, it’s more of an income play.

TGR: Lou, thank you so much for joining us today.

Louis Paquette launched Emerging Growth Stocks in 1995 to provide investors and speculators with a unique alternative to what he saw was a growing problem with corporate governance and conflict of interest on Wall Street. Lou posts a 15-minute audio interview, “Week in Review with Lou,” most Fridays on his Emerging Growth Stocks website, along with “Charts of the Week,” featuring his technical analysis and some political rants as well. He also has an Emerging Growth Stocks blog, which features a wide variety of interviews and articles. Lou also offers a Market/Management Psychology Investment newsletter that doesn’t marry one sector but rotates with the tide of the market.

Paquette is regularly quoted in Investor’s Digest, Bull & Bear, and Money Saver, and publishes on Info-mine, Kitco, and Goldseek.com, etc. He is a regular speaker on Cambridge House Investment Conference circuit.

Interview by Ellis Martin
The Gold Report

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G10 Advancers and Decliners vs USD
	CHF	0.19
	EUR	0.12
	GBP	0.10
	JPY	-0.09

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The Dollar remained lower against higher yielding currencies today, after mixed economic data published yesterday. Crude Oil prices remained mainly unchanged on concerns of Chinese monetary policy tightening which might dampen the country's demand for commodities.

Economic News

USD – Dollar Down Slightly on Mixed U.S Data

The Dollar weakened slightly against the EUR yesterday after the release of mixed U.S. data and better than expected Chinese data. First time unemployment claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 462K, down from a revised 468K in the prior week; however, the result was higher than the expected 456K. Also released Thursday, the U.S. trade deficit shrank to $37.29 billion from $39.90 billion in December. Analysts had anticipated a slight increase.

The Dollar index which measures the U.S. unit against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies rose to 80.542 after the data, up from 80.484 late Wednesday.

Looking ahead to today, traders are advised to follow the release of the Retail Sales at 13:30 GMT and the Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment at 14:55 GMT. If the results are better than expected we might see a stronger Dollar going into next week.

EUR – Pound Gains on Higher Inflation Expectations

The EUR gained versus the Dollar on signs Greece's deficit crisis has been contained. The EUR received a slight boost today from a better than expected Trade Deficit data. However, the EUR declined as investors learned the decline was due to a drop in both imports and exports. By late afternoon in New York, the EUR had strengthened to $1.3685 from $1.3651 late Wednesday and was at 123.88 Yen from 123.59 Yen.

The U.K. Pound strengthened versus the Dollar Thursday after the Bank of England's quarterly inflation expectations survey showed the public expects annual inflation of 2.5%, up from 2.4% in the previous survey. The report helped boost the Pound slightly as it boosted investors' expectations the BoE will start tightening monetary policy sooner that expected. The Pound pushed back above the $1.50 level to $1.5063 recently, up from $1.4964 late Wednesday.

While the major news today is expected from the U.S, investors should pay attention to the release of Euro-Zone Industrial Production data, due to be released at 10:00 GMT. Better than expected result may help strengthen the EUR further.

JPY – JPY Continues to Decline on Expectation of Further Monetary Easing

The Yen declined against 15 of its 16 major counterparts as U.S. stock gained and concerns over Greek debt eased, dampening demand for the safe heaven currency. The Yen is down ahead of the Bank of Japan's Policy meeting next week on speculation the Bank of Japan will monetary easing steps as the world's second-largest economy struggles with deflation. The Yen dropped to 124.09 per EUR from 123.82 in New York yesterday. Japan's currency traded at 90.69 per dollar from 90.51.

OIL – Crude Remains Mainly Unchanged On Chinese, U.S data

Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled unchanged Thursday at $82.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and is currently trading at $80.20. Oil Prices remained stagnant as data from China showed higher than expected inflation, prompting expectation the country could start tightening monetary policy and raise interest rates; a move that might dampen it demand for commodities. China is the biggest driver of global Oil demand growth. Positive Oil data reports from China and the U.S this week had sent oil over $83 a barrel Wednesday.

Looking ahead to today, investors should keep an eye for U.S data, as continued improvement in U.S economic conditions will likely provide further support to Oil prices.

Technical News

EUR/USD

The pair has experienced a period of consolidation over the past three weeks, As such; the daily chart shows a triangle pattern has formed. The price has moved back up to the 1.3700 price level, approaching a significant downward sloping trend line that began on December 3rd. Traders may want to go short when the price arrives at the trend line. Selling near a downward sloping trend line is can be an excellent entry point into the market.

GBP/USD

The 4-hour chart presents a good selling opportunity. The price has failed to break the significant downward sloping trend line that began at the swing high on January 19th. The chart's Slow Stochastic Oscillator shows a bearish cross has formed, indicating at a potential downward price movement. Aggressive traders may want to enter short now, while those that are more conservative may want to wait for 7-day RSI to breach below the 70 mark to provide further support of a downward price move.

USD/JPY

The recent upward correction the pair has made over the past 7 days may be coming to an end. The daily chart shows some technical resistance to the price move, so traders may want to begin to scale back any long positions they may have. The 7-day Relative Strength Indicator has breached below the 70 mark, indicating a sell signal. The price of the pair could rise until 91.25 and then reverse back down in the direction of the long term trend.

USD/CHF

The downward price trend for the pair is showing little technical resistance on the daily chart. The currency is trading well below the 10-day simple moving average and the 10-day Momentum indicator shows a steady downtrend. Traders may want to stay short on the pair until the support line of 1.0610.

The Wild Card

EUR/JPY

Yesterday the pair made a modest correction to the upward sloping price trend that began on February 25th. The price failed to breach this trend line, indicating the uptrend is still intact. The 7-day RSI has also maintained its rising trend line and continues to move higher. The pair could rise to its short term resistance level of 0.9150. Forex traders may want to be long on this pair as a breach of this price could propel the pair to its next resistance level of 0.9410.

Article Source: Dollar Lower on Mixed Data

Source: ForexYard

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U.S. Dollar falls as Demand for Risk Surges

The U.S. Dollar declined into the close after trading in a tight range most of the day. A strong surge in the equity markets late in the session confirmed investor demand for risky
assets, thereby pressuring the lower yielding Dollar.

At times on Thursday, traders were demanding lower yielding currencies in response to an overnight report that showed China’s consumer-price index spiked higher in February. Investors
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Gamestop (NYSE:GME) had a strong day due to takeover rumors.  The video game retailer, which has carved out a healthy niche due to a popular used-game trade in policy, was up 5.85% on the day.  It’s predicted that the game company will have an estimated $3.45 billion in revenue for the year.

For the third time in a month, Greece is in the midst of a general strike.  Transportation and public service workers announced a 24-hour walk-out in protest of recent cutbacks by the government.  Riot police clashed with anarchists following a 30,000 person-strong demonstration through the city of Athens early today, grinding the capital city to a halt.  A dozen people were arrested and two riot police injured in the clashes.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was up today in a generally strong day for banking.  Citi CEO predicted big profits for his company, upwards of $20 billion, which evidently reflected positively on most major banks in the US.  Sen. Dodds says he’s close to a bipartisan financial reform bill, aimed to prevent taxpayer-based bailouts in the future like the ones received by Citi, B.of.A, and others.

After good sales figures for the month of February, and projected even higher sales for March, Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is close to breaking it’s 52-week high.  The now-largest automaker in the US was up today 0.7 percent, and is only 10 cents below its resistance level of 13.01.  Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT), one of the largest food companies in the world, announced today it was replacing it’s 2,500 strong United States based sales vehicle fleet with the US automakers vehicles.  2010 has indeed been a good year for the Detriot-based companies investors.

That’s all for the day!  See you tomorrow, faithful readers!

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G10 Advancers and Decliners vs USD
	GBP	0.45
	EUR	0.10
	JPY	0.09
	CHF	0.05

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One niche we like is cloud computing. We’ve previously highlighted the cloud computing trend. We talked about several cloud computing stocks that may help investors profit from the group’s rapid growth. Today we add one more name to that list: Informatica Corp. (NYSE:INFA). California-based Informatica boasts some strong fundamentals. In the most recent quarter, Informatica reported its profits rose 29% and revenue surged 21%.

Analysts are forecasting earnings growth of 11% in 2010 and 20% in 2011. Those are impressive statistics. According to Investor’s Business Daily, which features Informatica among its top 100 stocks, the number of mutual funds owning Informatica shares rose to 213 from 188 during the last quarter. That’s another positive sign that the smart money crowd is taking note of the stock.

Informatica is taking steps to enter new business segments, highlighted by the company’s January acquisition of Siperian, a master data management company. This was Informatica’s first foray into that space and the company’s biggest acquisition to date. The Siperian buy was greeted warmly by both investors and customers. It makes sense as master data management is one of the fastest growing sub-sectors in the tech space.

Given all of the news, it isn’t surprising to see analysts enthused about Informatica. Just this week Broadpoint AmTech mentioned Informatica as one of its top cloud computing picks. The stock is up more than 15% in the past month and touched a new 52-week high Tuesday on heavy volume.

Whether you call Informatica a growth stock or a momentum stock, the signs are decidedly bullish at this point. Yet the company still has value relative to other tech stocks. For example, the stock trades for nearly five times book value and over 22 times forward earnings. Compare these numbers to Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which is trading around 11 times book value and 34 times forward earnings. Informatica looks cheap in comparison.

Regardless of comparisons, Informatica is a strong stock in a strong sector. This means more gains could lie ahead. To play the cloud computing angle with a strong company, go with INFA.

Brandon Clay
Invest With An Edge

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Citigroup (NYSE:C) CEO, Vikram Pandit, released an official statement today regarding the companies Citibank division.  There are predictions that the bank could grow by approximately five percent for the next two years.  This would give the company a twenty billion dollar profit margin by the end of 2012, according to the Financial Times.  This scheduled announcement has caused shares of the large bank to rise early this morning (3/11/10).

The US trade deficit has unexpectedly decreased.  The deficit was expected to be approximately $41 billion in the first month of this year, but data showed that America’s imports of oil and cars declined in January.  Exports were also down 0.3%, but imports dropped by a much larger 1.7%.  The trade deficit sits at $37.3 billion, 6.6% lower than in December of 2009.  – Yahoo! Finance

Riots again broke out in the Greek capital of Athens today.  An estimated thirty thousand strong demonstration was scheduled to protest the indebted Bulkan nation’s recent social program cuts and tax hikes.  The demonstration turned violent, and street clashes broke out between riot police and anarchists.  Greece has implemented the new austerity program in an effort to appease its EU partners, who are displeased with the nation’s recent debt ratio.

In technology news, mobile phone company Motorola (NYSE:MOT) has announced a strategic alliance with software company Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT) to deploy the Bing search engine services to Motorola’s Android-powered devices.  This will provide both search engine and mapping services to their mobile customers, and are initially planned for release in China this year.

JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) has won a bid to provide an expanded collateral management services for derivatives to the Canadian government, American Banking News is reporting.  JPM manages over seventy billion in collateral total annually, and already has a business relationship with the Canadian government.  Collateral management solutions “enable clients to better reduce their counterparty credit risk through effective and efficient collateralization” - ABN

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U.S. equity markets are expected to open weaker this morning but off their lows. Last night’s news that China’s inflation was higher than expected, fueled speculation of a rate hike
which helped drive down demand for higher yielding assets. The lack of follow-though to the downside has triggered a short-covering rally which is helping to boost equity prices from their overnight
lows. Yesterday the March E-mini S&P 500 stopped at its January high of 1148.00, triggering a profit-taking break. The overnight rally from its low and building momentum could trigger another
test of this level today. The daily swing chart suggests a breakout over this level will ignite a rally to 1156.00 by March 12th.

June Treasury Bonds are trading lower. Traders are selling Treasuries in anticipation of a rate hike by China. Technically, this market is hugging a 50% line at 116’04. This price
will dictate the direction of the next move. Holding above it means the market is discounting the news. Falling below it will indicate a further drop to 115’06. Today’s Weekly Initial Claims Report
should …

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G10 Advancers and Decliners vs USD
	JPY	0.18
	GBP	-0.03
	CHF	-0.11
	EUR	-0.18

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Following yesterday's bearish downturn for the U.S. Dollar, the greenback will try and recover some of its losses with the help of several critical economic indicators today. Both the U.S. Trade Balance Report and this week's unemployment claims are likely to have an impact on Dollar positions. Whether or not they can provide USD with the necessary momentum to reverse its current direction is yet to be known.

Economic News

USD – Dollar Stuck in Downward Trend Ahead of Busy Trading Day

After taking some serious losses against several of its major counterparts in trading yesterday, the Dollar remains in its bearish cycle as investor risk appetite has returned. EUR/USD shot up over 50 pips yesterday before slightly retreating to its current level of 1.3635. GBP/USD made similar gains, increasing over 60 pips throughout the afternoon. The pair is currently trading at 1.4955. In overnight trading, the Yen continued to make gains on the greenback with the pair currently trading around the 90.28 level.

Analysts do not appear to be optimistic about the Dollar's prospects in trading today. At 13:30 GMT, both the U.S. and Canadian trade balance figures are set to be released. While positive figures are forecasted for Canada, the U.S. will likely have a negative trade figure. If the predictions are true, traders can expect USD/CAD to go down in afternoon trading.

Also set to be released today are the weekly American unemployment figures. Analysts are cautiously optimistic regarding the current employment situation in the U.S., and they are currently forecasting a figure of around 456K. If true, this would signal a slight improvement over last week, and may lead to a slight Dollar rebound. Still, various Chinese indicators continue to stir risk appetite among investors. Forex traders will want to pay careful attention to their Dollar pairs as the day progresses.

EUR – Euro Attempts to Maintain Gains on Dollar and Yen

With risk taking apparently on the rise, the Euro is currently capitalizing on the global economic climate and maintaining its gains against its major rivals. The Euro was bullish throughout the day yesterday, and faired particularly well against the Yen. EUR/JPY, up over 100 pips from this time yesterday, is currently trading around the 123.19 level. Comments yesterday from European officials regarding Greece gave the impression that the current debt crisis may finally be coming to an end.

Today, there are no significant Euro news events. Still, that does not mean that Euro pairs will not see some activity in trading today. The British Consumer Inflation Expectation Report as well as the Swiss short-term interest rate report will likely lead to volatility for both the EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF pairs. Traders will want to pay particular attention to the Swiss report, as CHF has been performing fairly well against the Euro as of late.

JPY – Yen Takes Losses Following Bank Announcement

Following yesterday's announcement that the Japanese central bank may ease monetary policy in the coming weeks, the Yen traded bearish against several of its counterparts throughout the day. USD/JPY moved up in afternoon trading before retreating slightly to its current level of 90.32. CHF/JPY shot up over 100 pips throughout the day yesterday before correcting itself. At this time, the pair is trading around the 84.35 level.

Today, the Yen will likely maintain its current course, especially as risk taking seems to be the predominant sentiment among investors. Still, if the negative forecasts regarding the U.S. Trade Balance Report prove true, JPY could make some gains in afternoon trading against the greenback.

Crude Oil – Oil Prices Fall as Stockpiles Remain High

Crude oil prices fell dramatically to their current level of $81.55, following OPEC's announcement that it will continue to pump above its stated quota for the foreseeable future. The announcement caused Crude to fall, largely out of fears that supplies would remain high for the time being. Yesterday, prices rallied after U.S. crude inventories came in slightly lower then expected. The commodity was not able to maintain its bullish trend, and subsequently fell in evening and overnight trading.

Today, the price of crude will largely be determined by which way the Dollar moves. If USD is able to recoup some of its losses from yesterday, traders can expect oil prices to continue to fall. On the other hand, if the greenback continues to fall, crude may see an upward correction.

Technical News

EUR/USD

The daily chart is showing mixed signals with its Slow Stochastic fluctuating at the neutral territory. However, the weekly Chart's RSI is already floating in the oversold territory indicating that a bullish correction might take place in the nearest future. When the upward breach occurs, going long with tight stops appears to be preferable strategy.

GBP/USD

The price of this pair appears to be floating in the over-sold territory on the weekly chart's RSI indicating an upward correction may be imminent. The upward direction on the daily chart's Momentum oscillator also supports this notion. Going long with tight stops appears to be preferable strategy.

USD/JPY

The typical range trading on the 4-hour chart continues. The weekly chart RSI is floating in neutral territory. However, there is a bearish cross forming on the daily chart's Slow Stochastic indicating a bearish correction might take place in the nearest future. Going short might be a wise choice.

USD/CHF

The pair has been range-trading for a while now, with no specific direction. The Daily chart's Slow Stochastic providing us with mixed signals. The 4 hour charts do not provide a clear direction as well. Waiting for a clearer sign on the hourlies chart might be a good strategy today.

The Wild Card

Gold

Gold prices are once again dropping, and it is currently traded around $1107.45 an ounce. And now, the 8-hour chart's RSI is giving bullish signals, indicating that gold prices might go up. This might give forex traders a great opportunity to enter a very popular trend.

Article Source: Bearish Dollar Will Try and Recover Losses Today

Source: ForexYard

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Euro Building Support Base for Potential Upside Breakout

The U.S. Dollar was mixed in light trading at the close in an unusual day as the normal correlations between the Dollar, gold and equities at times were not working. The lack of major
U.S. economic reports this week is still influencing the trade although this will change with Thursday’s Weekly Initial Jobs Claims Report.

Early in the session it was clear that traders were looking for risk as the stock indices rose with the March …

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