Harley-Davidson, Inc. engages in the production and sale of heavyweight motorcycles. It operates in two segments, Motorcycles and Related Products, and Financial Services. The Motorcycles and Related Products segment designs, manufactures, and sells cruiser and touring motorcycles for the heavyweight market. This segment sells its products through a network of independent dealers and distributors primarily in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The Financial Services segment provides wholesale retail financing; and insurance and insurance-related programs primarily to its dealers and their retail customers in the United States and Canada. This segment also offers motorcycle insurance, as well as extended service contracts, credit protection, motorcycle maintenance products, gap coverage, and debt protection products to motorcycle owners. The company was founded in 1903 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
To analyze Harley's stock for potential trading opportunities, please take a look at the 1-year chart of HOG (Harley-Davidson, Inc.) below with my added notations:
HOG has rallied nicely with the overall market since October of last year. Over the last (5) months, the stock has created a couple of key price levels to watch. Most importantly, the $45 support level (navy) that was also a brief resistance back in January. This support has been tested on 5) different occasions. In addition, the $50 (red) price has commonly acted as resistance in both March and June.
The Tale of the Tape: If HOG rallies back up to $50, you could enter a short play. If it breaks above $50, you could certainly enter a long play. You could also buy HOG if it comes back down to the $45 level, or short the stock if it breaks that $45 support.
With global markets trading in a sea of red, the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, issued the following warning: “… it is dawning on Bernanke that the Fed cannot defeat the powers of deflation and the primary bear trend … and Bernanke knows it, but cannot talk about it – it’s too frightening.” Russell also discussed gold at length, but first, this was Russell’s disturbing conclusion regarding the precarious situation we face: “The Russell view — The Fed and all central banks are fighting the implacable forces of global deflation. This is really the primary bear trend that I’ve been writing about. It’s the result of a fundamental change in the world markets. Suddenly, within the space of a few years, Asia has entered the global economy.”
In a no-holds-barred interview with Bloomberg TV’s Francine Lacqua, the increasingly droopy-faced George Soros remains as sprite-minded as ever in his clarifying thoughts on Europe. His diagnosis is spot on: “Basically there is an interrelated problem of the banking system and the excessive risk premium on sovereign debt – they are Siamese twins, tied together and you have to tackle both” and summarizes the forthcoming Summit ‘fiasco’ as fatal if the fiscal disagreements are not resolved (and as of this afternoon, we know Germany’s constant position on this). His solution is unlikely to prove tenable in the short-term as he notes “Merkel has emerged as a strong leader”, but “unfortunately, she has been leading Europe in the wrong direction”. His extensive interview covers what Europe needs, the Bund bubble, GRexit, post-summit contagion, and Mario Monti’s impotence.
In what might be the most underreported financial story of the year, US banking regulators recently circulated a memorandum for comment, including proposed adjustments to current regulatory capital risk-weightings for various assets. For the first time, unencumbered gold bullion is to be classified as zero risk, in line with dollar cash, US Treasuries and other explicitly government-guaranteed assets. If implemented, this will be an important step in the re-monetisation of gold and, other factors equal, should be strongly supportive of the gold price, both outright and relative to that for government bonds, the primary beneficiaries of the most recent flight to safety. Stay tuned.
My Dear Extended Family,