Is Canada Next? Housing Bubble Threatens ‘Financial Stability’

wolfstreet.com / by Wolf Richter • October 1, 2014
Canada’s truly magnificent housing bubble, incomparably more magnificent that the housing bubble in the US that blew up with such spectacular results, is starting to worm its way into all sorts of venues. And on Tuesday, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Agathe Côté had a special place for it in her discussions of “vulnerabilities and risks” to the “stability of the financial system.”
Home prices in Canada rose more moderately than in the US during the crazy go-go years from 2000 until the financial crisis: in the US they more than doubled in that period, according to the CaseShiller Index, while they rose “only” about 70% in Canada, based on the Teranet–National Bank National Composite House Price Index.
But then the hot air was let out of the housing bubble in the US between 2007 and 2011. In Canada, after a minor ripple between 2008 and 2009, home prices continued soaring – to this very day. In August, they rose another 0.8%. Over the last 14 years, prices have increased by 150%, twice as fast as in the US.
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Transocean (RIG) : Add This Beaten-Down Oil Driller to Your "Watch List" Today

It's one of the world's greatest collections of oil drilling assets.

It pays a big dividend.

It's a top holding of legendary investor Carl Icahn.

And its share price has been killed.

I'm talking about Transocean (RIG), the world's premier owner and operator of oil drilling ships.

So is the stock a buy today?

The answer is not yet. But we're close. (more)

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Qiwi PLC (NASDAQ: QIWI)

QIWI plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates electronic online payment systems primarily in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. It provides payment services through operating approximately 127,000 kiosks and 42,000 terminals in its payment processing platform. The company also offers Visa Qiwi Wallet, an online and mobile payment processing, and money transfer system that allows accountholders to pay for the products and services of merchants, as well as to perform peer-to-peer money transfers through a virtual wallet in the online and mobile environment. In addition, it is involved in licensing software and trademarks. The company is based in Moscow, the Russian Federation.
Take a look at the 1-year chart of QIWI (Nasdaq: QIWI) below with my added notations:

QIWI has formed a relatively clear down-channel chart pattern over the last (4) months. A channel is simply formed through the combination of a trend line support that runs parallel to a trend line resistance. When it comes to channels, remember that any (3) points can start the channel, but a 4th point or more confirms it. You can see that QIWI has several points of channel resistance (blue) and support (red).

The Tale of the Tape: QIWI has formed a common pattern known as a channel, in this case a down channel. A long trade could be entered on a pullback down to the channel support (approaching $30), or on a break through the channel resistance, which is currently getting close to $38.
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Russell 2000 Enters 10% “Correction” As S&P, Dow, Transports Break Crucial Technical Support

zerohedge.com / by Tyler Durden on 10/01/2014 13:11
The small-cap Russell 2000 is down over 10% from its July highs (down 6.2% year-to-date) as VIX is back over 17. Treasury yields continue to collapse (down 8-9bps today alone) with 10Y trading with a 2.40% handle (and 3Y under 1% again). All other major equity indices are also red from the Russell 2000 peak in July and have broken various key technical levels today – S&P below 100DMA, Dow Industrials below 100DMA, Dow Transports At 100DMA, and Nasdaq broken well below its 50DMA. Russell is back at levels first seen a year ago.
Russell in correction…

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Gold Will Surprise In More Ways Than One

news.goldseek.com / By Bob Loukas / 1 October 2014
Everywhere you turn today, gold is again being dismissed as a relic of the past, totally worthless, non-producing, with no place in any modern day portfolio. During the past 3 years, the gold complex has experienced the progressive stages of fear, capitulation, and despair, all classic bottoming phases of a long term Cycle. The question now is whether this high level of apathy is a symptom of a new secular bear market or a period of “stealth smart money” accumulation.
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