TREND Technical Trader's blog

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — “Is the U.S. Condemned by History to Slow Growth?” asks Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Yes. But for traders and investors, it’s far worse than just bearish slow growth. Plan for no growth or zero growth.

Why? Wall Street, America and the world economy are in the early stages of a long era of “de-growth,” a reversal of economic growth and reduction in market growth as population growth adds new stresses on commodities resources, creates unrest, disasters and wars. Big problems ahead.

Some 25 years ago, Wall Street saw its biggest one-day percentage slide ever sparking familiar worries about small investors and depressions.

The long-term damage wasn’t as severe as the 1929 crash, but the 1980’s bubble pop was spectacular by any measure. Here’s a look at 10 other great market crashes and some of their unusual consequences.

Full Story: MarketWatch.

Prepare yourself for another stock market crash as big as the free fall in October 1987.

That’s a daunting prospect indeed, since at current levels such a decline would mean the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI:DJIA) would plunge by more than 3,000 points in a single trading session.

And we’re kidding ourselves if we think that market regulatory reforms such as circuit breakers will be able to prevent it.

The U.S. economy is in bad shape, the Federal Reserve is doing untold damage and investors are terrified – and there may be evidence that we’ve entered another recession.

As if that wasn’t enough, we’re heading into a quarter where there’s likely to be falling profits among publicly-traded companies.

When he was leader of the Conservative party, William Hague once likened membership of the euro to being trapped in a burning building with no fire exit. It was an apt description, as young people in Greece would testify: in a country that has already contracted by more than Germany did during the Great Depression, the jobless rate for Greeks under 25 is 55%.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — One of the leading hawks on the Federal Reserve slammed the central bank’s new asset purchase program on Tuesday, saying that it wasn’t necessary, wouldn’t work and is risky.

“We are unlikely to see much benefit to growth or employment from further asset purchases,” said Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Fed Bank, in a speech to financial market trade groups in Philadelphia.

(Reuters) - Chinese banks and companies looking to seize steel pledged as collateral by firms that have defaulted on loans are making an uncomfortable discovery: the metal was never in the warehouses in the first place. 

China's demand has faltered with the slowing economy, pushing steel prices to a three-year low and making it tough for mills and traders to keep up with payments on the $400 billion of debt they racked up during years of double-digit growth.

By MarketWatch

BEIJING--A U.S. complaint filed with the World Trade Organization against China's auto and auto parts sector is clearly political, Commerce Ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said Wednesday.

President Barack Obama announced Monday the U.S. complaint during a campaign trip to Ohio in the industrial Midwest ahead of presidential elections in November.

The new complaint accuses Beijing of putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage by illegally subsidizing exports of automobiles and automobile parts.