You know how you just roll right on through stop signs with nary a hesitation ... when you're in residential areas, parking lots, or anytime you're the only vehicle around. You know exactly what that big red and white sign means. But you also know there is no one around to slap you on the wrists for your little rule breaking.

Naked Capitalism’s Yves Smith pointed to an Oct 10 2010 article written by Tim Duy as a “must read.” Coming as it was from Yves, I made it a point to read it first thing. Here is the link:

If you are a gold futures trader, perhaps you took advantage of the recent breakout trade opportunity created by the symmetrical triangle price created that began in January 2009. Gold gave us one of the best examples of how to anticipate a range breakout trade and play for a precise price target using simple pattern analysis. Let’s take a look inside this example and brush up on classic technical concepts.

It's always difficult to pinpoint where we are in terms of a trend. Long-term trends in the currency markets have ranged from six to ten years, measured by the various bull and bear markets in the dollar since the inception of the free-floating currency market back in 1971. Here's the pattern of long-term bear and bull markets in the dollar as measured by the US $ Index...

China’s new fiscal stimulus package is receiving rave reviews across the board this morning. Bond prices lower, stocks higher, oil higher, gold higher and the dollar getting whacked—it’s déjà vu all over again for the risk appetite crowd.

Today is interest rate day! That is, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank culminate their most recent monetary policy discussions and announce changes to their benchmark interest rates.

...we are big believers that after following the chain of price action, sooner or later, it all comes back in some way to the rate of interest. Interest rates are the core of all things financial, though the link may be seemingly distorted at times.

After the worst week in its 112-year history, the Dow is staging a mighty rally. More importantly, it comes on the heels of strong stock-market surges in Europe and Asia. But is this strictly a dead-cat’s bounce or the beginning of a legitimate reversal and new bull market?