Gold Prices Top Record $1,600
July 18th, 2011
CNNMoney.com
By: Aaron Smith
Gold prices broke a new record Monday, driven by concerns over mounting debt worries in the United States and Europe.
Gold futures for August delivery reached a fresh high of $1,607.90 per ounce Monday. That’s up more than 1%, from the prior session.
The buying was also helping lift shares of gold ETFs, with Market Vectors ETF Trust (GDX), SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and Pro Shares Ultra Gold (UGL) moving higher.
The yellow metal has been on a roll since July 12, when it got an extra boost from the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting. They indicated that the central bank could be open to more monetary stimulus.
Further stimulus could undermine the U.S. dollar, triggering a flight to gold, the age-old stalwart in troubled times, when investors are afraid to put their money elsewhere.
“I think people are coming to realize that the economy is weakening again and the government might see a need to try to stimulate the economy further,” said Joe Foster, portfolio manager for the Van Eck Global International Investors Gold Fund (INIVX).
Gold has also been lifted by concerns over European debt, especially from the fiscally hamstrung nations of Ireland and Greece.
“Greece is sort of on the verge of default and they’re still trying to figure out how to engineer a recovery for Greece without inflicting a default on the country [and] the markets are sensing that’s almost impossible,” said Foster. “Until the situation is resolved in these peripheral countries, it’s going to drive gold.”
Jono Remington-Hobbs, precious metals analyst for FastMarkets Ltd. in London, said that gold investors will be closely watching the European Union’s economic summit scheduled for Tuesday.
“European leaders have been kicking the can down the road for so long they don’t realize that they’ve walked into a cul de sac,” he said.
Market does the safety dance
Remington-Hobbs also said that gold prices could be heavily influenced this week by what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says when he speaks Thursday about financial regulation.
Silver was taking its cues from gold, with prices breaking the $40-an-ounce mark for the first time since May 4. Silver rose nearly 3% on Monday to $40.13 per ounce but is still short of its April 25 record of $49.81, noted Remington-Hobbs.
Gold is also still far from its true peak, when adjusted for inflation. Gold hit its real record on Jan. 21, 1980, when it rose to $825.50 an ounce. Adjusted for inflation from 1980 dollars to 2011, that translates to an all-time record of $2,261.33 an ounce.
Click here for the full report from CNNMoney.com
The Kevin Trudeau Show: 7-16-11
Today, best-selling GMO author and independent filmmaker, Jeffrey Smith, gives you the inside story behind genetically modified food and how it is affecting your health. Plus, Dr. Bob Marshall gives you the facts behind the dangers of Magnesium Stearate & Stearic Acid!
Self Help:
Tap Your Way To Happiness
A Solution To Your Health Issues
Stop Eating Conventional Meat
Health:
Omega-3s May Beat Cancer
10 Things Snack Food Companies Don’t Want You To Know
Once Scarce, H1N1 Vaccines Now Trashed
Economy:
Spirit Airlines To Charge $45 For Carry-Ons
Big Pharma:
Feds Find Pfizer Too Big To Nail
Dallas Toddler Killed by Big Pharma
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The Kevin Trudeau Show: 7-15-11
Get your metaphorical pitchforks ready! Today. Kevin reveals how much your congressmen and senators are really worth!
Self Help:
Protect Your Brain
Remove Fluoride From Your Water
Fight With KT!
Health:
Cellphones, Cancer and Infertility
The Silent Enemy More Dangerous Than Cigarettes
High Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated With Mercury
Fluoride Consumption Leads To Brain Damage
Autism Linked To Prozac
Government:
WH Staffer Calls Fox News’ Bret Baier A ‘Lunatic’
Congressional Trading on Advance Info Not Illegal
Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks
Congress Mulls Trading Curbs for Its Own
Everything Kevin:
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Congressional Trading on Advance Info Not Illegal: SEC
July 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
July 15th, 2011
CNBC.com
By: Eamon Javers
When you buy and sell stocks based on secrets you learned at the office, it could be insider trading.
But when a United States Senator does it, it’s probably perfectly legal.
That’s because the SEC has largely determined that trading stocks based on advance knowledge of action in Congress is not insider trading.
If anything, it’s “outsider” trading — buying and selling shares based on knowledge of an outside force that’s about to hit a company’s share value.
Think of it like a trader who sees a satellite image of a hurricane bearing down on an oil rig — and shorts the oil company’s stock in expectation of the damage.
Except in the case of Capitol Hill, the members of Congress can be both the trader and the hurricane — buying and selling shares in expectation of the effect that their own action has on the company’s stock price.
Some critics say that’s probably going on a lot on Capitol Hill — although they don’t have any direct proof.
“It’s really quite outrageous,” said Craig Holman, the legislative representative for Public Citizen. “If you just take a look at the statistics, members of Congress are either geniuses when it comes to stock trading or they are in fact trading off of some of this insider information.”
A pair of recent academic studies found that House members beat the market in their personal stock trading by about 6 percent, and Senators beat the market by about 10 percent.
In the 2011 study “Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives,” four university professors found that a portfolio that mimics the purchases of House Members beats the market by 55 basis points per month, or approximately 6 percent annually. That study looked at 16,000 common stock transactions made by approximately 300 House delegates from 1985 to 2001.
“Overall we find that the common stocks purchased by Members of the U.S. House of Representatives earn statistically significant positive abnormal returns. Our results indicate that Representatives, like Senators, also trade with a substantial information advantage,” wrote the study’s authors, Alan J. Ziobrowski of Georgia State University, James W. Boyd, of Lindenwood University, Ping Cheng of Florida Atlantic University and Brigitte J. Ziobrowski of Augusta State University.
The group also noted that stocks purchased by Democrats outperform stocks purchased by Republicans.
The SEC generally does not view trading on the basis of advance knowledge of Congressional action to be insider trading. Both House and Senate ethics manuals say that members of Congress are not supposed to make any personal profit from confidential knowledge, although no member of Congress has ever been publicly sanctioned for such trading.
Critics of the loose rules say they can’t prove that members of Congress or their staffs are actually trading and profiting from their positions, but they still believe that’s the only explanation for the returns members of Congress generate over time.
“It just boggles the imagination to think that members of Congress are so much smarter than we are and other traders that they just for some reason enjoy a much higher rate of return on their stock investments than the rest of us,” said Holman. “I just don’t believe that.”
And once again this year, two Democrats have introduced legislation called the STOCK Act — or Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act — that would prohibit such political speculation.
Under the measure, sponsored by Reps Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Tim Walz, D-Minn., members of Congress, their staffs, and others in Washington would face a new set of legal prohibitions.
The proposal:
- Prohibits Members and employees of Congress from buying or selling securities, swaps, security based swaps, or commodity futures based on nonpublic information they obtain because of their status;
- Prohibits Executive Branch employees from buying or selling securities, swaps, security based swaps, or commodity futures based on nonpublic information they obtain because of their status;
- Prohibits those outside Congress from buying or selling securities, swaps, security based swaps, or commodity futures based on nonpublic information obtained from within Congress or the Executive Branch;
- Prohibits Members and employees of Congress from disclosing any non-public information about any pending or prospective legislative action for investment purposes;
Click here for the full report from CNBC.com
Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks
July 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
July 15th, 2011
The Wall Street Journal
By: Brody Mullins, Tom McGinty and Jason Zweig
Chris Miller nearly doubled his $3,500 stock investment in a renewable-energy firm in 2008. It was a perfectly legal bet, but he’s no ordinary investor.
Mr. Miller is the top energy-policy adviser to Nevada Democrat and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who helped pass legislation that wound up benefiting the firm.
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Mr. Reid’s office, initially defended Mr. Miller’s purchase of shares in the company, Energy Conversion Devices Inc. He said the aide had no influence over tax incentives for renewable-energy firms, and that other factors boosted the stock.
But on Sunday, Mr. Manley added: “Mr. Miller showed poor judgment and Senator Reid has made it very clear to Chris and all his staff that their actions must not only follow the law, but must meet the higher standards the public has a right to expect from elected officials and their staffs.”
Mr. Miller isn’t the only Congressional staffer making such stock bets. At least 72 aides on both sides of the aisle traded shares of companies that their bosses help oversee, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers for 2008 and 2009.
But on Sunday, Mr. Manley added: “Mr. Miller showed poor judgment and Senator Reid has made it very clear to Chris and all his staff that their actions must not only follow the law, but must meet the higher standards the public has a right to expect from elected officials and their staffs.”
Mr. Miller isn’t the only Congressional staffer making such stock bets. At least 72 aides on both sides of the aisle traded shares of companies that their bosses help oversee, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of more than 3,000 disclosure forms covering trading activity by Capitol Hill staffers for 2008 and 2009.
The aides identified by the Journal say they didn’t profit by making trades based on any information gathered in the halls of Congress. Even if they had done so, it would be legal, because insider-trading laws don’t apply to Congress.
A few lawmakers proposed a bill that would prevent members and employees of Congress from trading securities based on nonpublic information they obtain. The legislation has languished since 2006.
“Congressional staff are often privy to inside information, and an unscrupulous person could profit off that knowledge,” says Vincent Morris, a spokesman for Rep. Louise Slaughter (D., N.Y.), a leading backer of the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act,” or STOCK Act. “The public should be outraged there is no law specifically banning this.”
When the bill was introduced nearly five years ago, just 14 other lawmakers endorsed it. The current version of the bill has fared worse: Only nine lawmakers support it. There is no companion legislation in the Senate.
Congressional aides have ringside seats on the making of laws that affect American business. Receiving salaries up to roughly $170,000 a year, they can glean information about policies and government action before the public. They have access to information about hearings or legislation that can move stocks and markets.
The current Congressional disclosure rules on stock trading stem from a scandal involving Robert Baker, a senior Senate aide, in the early 1960s. Mr. Baker was accused of using his Senate office for personal gain, partly involving the operation of a network of vending machines. He was eventually convicted of income-tax evasion and spent 16 months in prison.
The scandal led to a Senate rule in 1968 that required lawmakers and aides to disclose information about their finances. The House of Representatives imposed similar requirements about the same time.
The rules require all members of Congress and about 2,900 of the highest-paid congressional aides to disclose information once a year on their finances, such as their assets, debts, spouse’s employment and other sources of income they earn, including capital gains from trading securities. Some 15,000 lower-paid Congressional staffers aren’t covered by the disclosure rule.
Unlike many Executive Branch employees, lawmakers and aides don’t have restrictions on their stock holdings and ownership interests in companies they oversee. Congressional rules say that requiring employees to do so could “insulate a legislator from the personal and economic interests that his or her constituency, or society in general, has in governmental decisions and policy.”
Click here for the full report from The Wall Street Journal
Congress Mulls Trading Curbs for Its Own
July 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
July 15th, 2011
The Washington Post
By: Zachary A. Goldfarb
A congressional committee yesterday pushed for stronger curbs to prevent financial trading based on confidential information by lawmakers, their staff or other government officials.
Lawmakers and market experts said stronger limits are needed now that the government is playing a much bigger role in the private sector as a result of the financial crisis. They said it is much more likely that policymakers will know market-sensitive information about public companies.
“Congress and the federal government are now so enmeshed in the operations of our financial markets that the potential for abuse by members of Congress, congressional staff and federal employees is staggering,” Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said at a hearing of the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services.
Slaughter and Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) have introduced legislation that would prohibit lawmakers and their staffs from trading stocks or engaging in other financial transactions based on information they learn in their jobs that is not also available to the public.
Currently, there is no prohibition.
Under the proposal, lawmakers and their staff would have to disclose any stock, bond or commodity trades exceeding $1,000 within 90 days. They also would not be able to pass confidential information to outsiders.
A vote on the legislation has not been scheduled.
There has been no specific evidence of insider trading by lawmakers or their aides. But suspicions surface from time to time. A 2004 study by a Georgia State University professor said senators got returns on investments 25 percent higher than ordinary investors.
And recent disclosures showed that many lawmakers have sizeable investments in the financial firms that have been bailed out over the past year.
Executive-branch employees are supposed to follow government ethics rules that prohibit trading based on nonpublic information. However, the conduct of two Securities and Exchange Commission employees came into question recently in an inspector general’s report raising concerns about the timing and appropriateness of trades by the employees.
Inspector General David Kotz said this was indicative of a broken system at the SEC for ensuring that workers don’t abuse their positions.
“The SEC had essentially no compliance system in place to ensure that its own employees, with tremendous amounts of nonpublic information at their disposal, did not engage in insider trading themselves,” Kotz said yesterday.
The SEC issued a statement describing what it is doing to try to improve internal safeguards. “The employees at the SEC have a well-deserved reputation for integrity and professionalism,” the statement says. “When fully implemented, these measures will further bolster our standing by helping to prevent not only an actual impropriety, but the appearance of one as well.”
Kotz said the steps the SEC outlined would meet or exceed his recommendations.
Click here for the full report from The Washington Post
White House Emails Show Staffer Calling Fox News’ Bret Baier A ‘Lunatic’
July 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
July 15th, 2011
The Huffington Post
A cache of emails released by a conservative watchdog group on Thursday shows White House staffers complaining about Fox News and calling one of its anchors a “lunatic.”
Judicial Watch released 81 pages of email correspondence from October 2009 that it obtained through a FOIA request. The emails mostly show the back-and-forth between various White House aides, Treasury Department staffers and members of the media over a series of interviews with Kenneth Feinberg, who had been tapped to provide oversight of the TARP bailout program.
One email shows a White House staffer emailing a Treasury colleague, saying it would be better “if you skip Fox News” in a group of media outlets that was conducting a pooled interview with Feinberg.
Other members of the White House press pool balked at this, and Fox News’ Major Garrett ultimately interviewed Feinberg. At the time, though, the White House and the Treasury strongly denied that there had been any attempt to exclude the network. Most of the emails show staffers coming up with a response to the flurry of emails and published reports about the controversy from various journalists (including HuffPost’s own Michael Calderone, then working for Politico).
Another email lashes out at “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier: “Bret Baier just did a stupid piece about the [rumored exclusion] — but he is a lunatic.”
Click here to read all of the emails.
Click here for the full report from The Huffington Post
The Cholesterol Scam
July 15, 2011 by KT
Filed under Kevin's Blog
I read an article recently that just made my stomach turn. The headline is, The Five Most Profitable Drugs That Don’t Cure Anything. This story talks about the five most profitable drugs that don’t cure anything; they just address a symptom and end up hurting you even more!
Lipitor is number one, which doesn’t surprise me. I talk about this at length in my book, Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About. High cholesterol is the one of the biggest medical frauds of all time. I know this first hand. A group of guys got together and the basic conversation went like this, “What can we sell that a person will take every day for the rest of their life? What can we sell that the doctors will scare the patients into believing that if they don’t take this drug, they are going to die? What can we sell that the patient will believe that their health is going to be better if they take this drug everyday for the rest of their life?” The scam that they came up with was “everyone has high cholesterol.” It actually is not high cholesterol, folks. You all have varying amounts of cholesterol in your blood; HDL and LDL triglycerides. Some people have 600 cholesterol counts and some people have 150. The group got together and said, “We know that 70% of all people have cholesterol over 225, so if we come up with a number and say if you are over this number, you are at risk of heart disease, which is the number 1 killer in America, we will be able to convince them to take this drug for every day for the rest of their life!” So, they arbitrarily made up a number and then bribed and paid the researches to do a fake research study about the cholesterol connection.
Well, there is no “cholesterol connection.” Click here for the truth: http://bit.ly/qL0ZjV
Yours in health…
KT
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What’s In Your Stomach?
July 14, 2011 by KT
Filed under Kevin's Blog
Food is such a vital part of your daily routine. It controls the way you feel, how you sleep, your digestion, and your energy levels. And the way you feel and perform on a daily basis will determine your success in life. That is why you should only be putting the best of the best into your body on a daily basis.
So, what should you do in terms of food?
Click here to find out: http://bit.ly/qVRWhT
Yours in health…
KT
