Rainer's Investment Insights

Merry Christmas 2010   As expected by our cyclical research, markets are treading a bit softer over the coming few trading days before a final push into the New Year .  Whether the actual downside pressure will amount to much remains to be seen. I don't see swings of more than -2/-3%.  This softness in the markets will manifest itself different in the various countries and sectors, - which is really what we are seeing in our portfolios at the moment: Gold rallied into $1425  (Dec 6), and is on a slide since. I expect prices to remain above $1360 per ounce. China stocks are having a tough time rallying, and even Indian and Singapore indices are somewhat lackluster.  Currencies continue their rollercoaster moves.  In other words, nothing out of the ordinary for the Christmas season: lower volumes, the annual window dressing exercise by institutional investors, clearing the deck of non-performers and of course early profit taking. Overall our portfolios are mildly in plus after

When it comes to Mr Fibonacci, his "levels" are as attractive as Casanova in his heydays, - that is to DJIA investors at least. The chart shows you just how much swing is in the daily steps, hitting the levels as if they were mere rungs on a ladder or musical scores.  Rising through Fibonacci Levels The rally arguably started in July, but you could also take the mid August low as the starting point, after the Dow temporarily broke below 10,000. The recovery was prompt and V-shaped; the rally went on in a grand way since. In October, the index passed the 4th level and then settled between the 5th level and the previous high in April.  November saw it bursting the range and running up to a new high for the year. Solid resistance blocked its path below 11,450. Since then, it fell back to the 5th level again, doing a two-step-up-down move every other day.  This Wednesday, it finally broke out of the narrow trading range, strongly moving toward its next target (mid December) of