Gold Nears Two-Month High

February 2, 2012

Wall Street Journal

By Matt Day

Gold climbed to the highest level in almost two months on as investors sought the precious metal as an alternative to the slipping U.S. dollar after a batch of upbeat global economic data.

Gold for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, rose $9.10, or 0.5%, at $1,749.50 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement price since Dec. 2.

The dollar eased as investors dumped the perceived safe-haven currency after relatively upbeat readings Wednesday on Chinese and European manufacturing to U.S. private-sector hiring. A weaker dollar can lift dollar-denominated gold and other commodities by making the futures appear cheaper for investors using other currencies.

Gold and the dollar have an added link, as some investors use gold as a hedge against instability in the currency. The ICE US Dollar Index on Wednesday touched its lowest level since Dec. 9.

“It’s hard to look at this rally and believe that it is not going to continue,” said Dave Meger, director of metals trading with brokerage Vision Financial Markets. “Obviously if Europe fell apart once again you’d start seeing selling pressure across the board, but shy of that I think we have the environment for higher metals prices.”

Click here for the full report.

Is Trading Dead?

January 23, 2012

CNN Money

By Maureen Farrell

It’s been eerily quiet on stock trading desks around Wall Street and across the United States. In fact, it’s been the slowest and lowest volume start to the year since 2007.

During the first 10 trading days of 2012, roughly 6.8 billion shares a day changed hands in the United States, down from 8 billion in 2011 and 8.3 billion in 2010, according to the New York Stock Exchange. In 2007, trading volumes dropped as low as 5.8 billion.

Historically, trading slows down in December, as investors close out their books for the year. But activity tends to immediately ramp up in January.

Not so this year.

“People seem to be adopting a more cautious tone and really aren’t looking to do anything,” said Michael James, head equity trader at Wedbush Securities. “It definitely seems that many more people are observing from the sidelines. I haven’t seen any aggressive buying or shorting.”

That’s an understatement. Americans have been hoarding record amounts of cash since last July, according to the Federal Reserve data.

The monthly amount of cash placed in checking, savings and money market accounts, known as M2, grew at the fastest rate during the last six months of 2011 since the period following September 2001, according to the Fed.

To put that in perspective, investors put $889 billion, or eight times as much, into checking and savings accounts as they put into stocks or bonds during the first 11 months of 2011, according to TrimTabs Investment Research.

Click here for the full report.

The Unfortunate Truth About an Overbought Stock Market

November 1, 2011

Options Trading Signals

By JW Jones

Writing about financial markets is probably the most challenging endeavor I have ever immersed myself into. I am a trader first and a writer second, but I have really come to enjoy scribing missives about financial markets because it really forces me to concentrate on my analysis.

Writing for the general public has really enhanced my perception of the market and forced me to dig deeper and learn new forms of analysis. I find myself learning more and more every day and the beauty of trading is that even for the most experienced of traders there is always an opportunity to learn more. As members of my service know, I strive to be different than most of my peers as my focus is on education and being completely transparent and honest.

I want readers to know that I was wrong about my recent expectations regarding the European sovereign debt summit. I was expecting the Dollar to rally based on the recent price action and quite frankly I expected stocks to falter after running up nearly 15% into the announcement. My expectations could not have been more untimely and incorrect.

I share this with you because as I read and listen to market pundits discussing financial markets I find that too many writers and commentators flip-flop their positions to always have the appearance of accuracy. In some cases, there have been television pundits that stated we were possibly going to revisit a depression in 2012 no more than 5 weeks ago. These so-called experts have now changed their positions stating that we have started a new bull market in recent weeks. How can anyone take these people seriously?

Financial markets are dynamic and consistently fool the best minds and most experienced traders out there. Financial markets do not reward hubris. If a trader does not remain humble, Mr. Market will happily handle the humbling process for him. I was humbled this week. I was reminded yet again that financial markets do not take prisoners and they show no mercy. I am sharing this with readers because I want you to know that I refuse to flip-flop my position without first declaring that I was wrong.

When I am wrong, I will own up to it purely out of sense of responsibility. My word and my name actually mean something to me, and while I strive to present accurate analysis I am fallible and I will make mistakes. The key however to the mistakes that I make is my ability to learn from them and the past week was a great learning opportunity.

After regrouping and stepping back after the price action on Thursday, a few key elements really stood out to me regarding recent price action. First of all, in the short-term we are extremely overbought. The chart below illustrates the number of stocks in domestic equity markets trading above their 20 period moving averages over the past 5 years:

What is apparent from the chart above is that prices are almost as overbought right now as they have been anytime in the past 5 years. The number of domestic equities trading above their 50 period moving average over the past 5 years is also nearing the highest levels seen during the same period as the chart below illustrates:

Click here for the full report.

Worried About Silver? Listen to Eric Sprott’s Stump Speech

October 24, 2011

DollarCollapse.Com

By John Rubino

Hedge fund manager Eric Sprott’s speech at this week’s Silver Summit turned a room full of nervous precious metals owners into pumped-up silver buyers. Some of the highlights are posted below, and here’s a link to a recent Financial Sense interview where he makes many of the same points.

The US Mint sells about the same dollar amount of gold and silver coins, which means it sells 50 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold. It’s more or less the same story at GoldMoney and Sprott Money.

Ten times more silver than gold is produced each year, and the ratio in the earth’s crust is 15:1, so how can the price be 50:1? Expect a return to the historical norm of 15:1, which implies that silver will outperform gold.

The demand/supply picture has seen a 380 million ounce per year positive swing — in a 900 million ounce market. Where is the silver coming from?

The paper silver markets trade a billion ounces a day and the world only produces 900 million in a year. The amount available for settlement of these futures contracts is something like 1.5 million ounces, ludicrously little compared to the amount of paper.

“On the physical side I’m seeing only buyers.”

“There are a lot more people who can afford a one-ounce silver coin than an ounce of gold.”

Gold will be a reserve currency and silver will also play a role.

“We tried to buy 15 million ounces of silver and had to wait three months — and some of the silver we got was manufactured after we ordered. So there’s not a lot of silver sitting on shelves waiting for people to buy it.”

“Somewhere along the line some manufacturer will say ‘I can’t get the silver I want’ and the jig’s up.”

People will prefer gold and silver to having money in a bank where there’s tremendous counterparty risk. Three months ago Dexia was considered to be the best capitalized European bank and now they’ve been nationalized.

“You go to some of the biggest names who own gold and ask them about silver and a lot of them haven’t even looked at it.”

Central banks are selling gold surreptitiously.

“It’s shocking how undervalued the junior miners are…Gold and silver stocks are growth stocks. They all have a plan to increase production dramatically. Small miners can start a new mine and double in size…The relative value of gold stocks will become apparent with time…The breakout, when it comes, will be very sudden.”

Click here for the full report.

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 8-6-11

Today, Kevin reveals the facts behind insider trading in Washington and how much your “representatives” are REALLY worth! Plus, the creator of the Resolve mineral detox, Dr. Ray Lala, stops by to explain how his mineral detox can virtually cure you from any viral infection, including herpes and HPV.

Self Help:
Second Stream Of Income
The Secret To Perfect Health
Resolve The “Unresolvable”
Protect Your Brain
Cleanse The Toxins From Your Body
Eliminate Fluoride Consumption

Health:
What’s In Your Milk?
Cellphones, Cancer and Infertility
The Silent Enemy More Dangerous Than Cigarettes
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

Education:
How Cursive Writing Affects Brain Development
Indiana Latest State To Drop Handwriting Requirement

Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Stand with KT!
Kevin is on YouTube!
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How to Survive the Stock Market’s Wild Ride

August 5th, 2011

Daily Finance

By: Sheryl Nance Nash

The stock-market roller coaster has been wild enough to make even the most stoic, stiff-necked investors queasy. After falling in 10 out of the last 11 trading sessions, the stock market plunged more than 500 points Thursday, making it the worst day for the Dow since Oct. 22, 2008, the day that marked the beginning of the global financial crisis. On Thursday, the index lost 4.3% — erasing all the gains for the year — to end at 11,384.

What’s stoking the volatility? The U.S. dodged the default bullet, but not everybody is impressed. “The negotiated debt-ceiling settlement is being seen by world’s financial markets as a smoke screen,” says James DiGeorgia, publisher of the Gold and Energy Advisor newsletter. “No matter how many times my fellow Republicans repeat the mantra that Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, the truth is we cannot make a dent in the national debt unless we reduce spending and raise revenues.

“Without swift tax reform lowering corporate and individual rates in exchange for eliminating the special-interest patchwork of tax breaks and subsidies, we’re going to continue to see the national debt spiral higher and the dollar weaken.”

The fact remains that the U.S. economy is not just lackluster, but flirting with recession part deux.

“Continued weakness has shown in the recent economic numbers. The [gross domestic product] at 1.3% is at a recessionary level and not nearly what is necessary to reduce the compounding effect of our deficit,” says Jeff Sica, president and chief investment officer of Sica Wealth Management. “Downward revisions on economic numbers make lagging indicators even worse, suggesting what we always believed: we never left the recession.”

Unemployment remains high, even though it fell to 9.1% in July, from 9.2% in June. And even worse, job cuts have surged 60%, which will boost unemployment much higher, Sica says.

Not Alone

At least the U.S. isn’t alone. “The European economy is collapsing,” Sica says.

Europe is addressing its fiscal and monetary problems way too slowly, DiGeorgia says. Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are in seriously bad shape. Banks in Europe are on the hook, he says, as are many banks throughout the U.S. that have been playing interest-rate arbitrage, borrowing at a quarter of a percent and lending to Italy for 6% and Greece for 9%, for example.

“For anyone in the know, its a catastrophe in the making,” Sica says. “Bottom line: A financial crisis worse than the one that took place in 2008 and 2009 could ignite at any moment.” And because many Europeans take the month of August off, the first emergency meeting to address the euro and the danger isn’t scheduled until Sept. 6th, in France. Europe is a dark cloud getting darker by the day, Sica says.
Another concern is China, points out Matt Freund, senior vice president of investment portfolio management at USAA. What if the Chinese economy falters — a scenario that seems much more likely than it did as 2010 ended? Real estate and construction have become dominant sectors in China’s economy, but easy credit and speculative building may be creating a surplus in luxury apartments and other properties that sets the stage for a major correction.

A reversal of China’s economic fortunes could have wide-ranging effect. It could lower demand for industrial and construction equipment, dampening revenues for the companies that make it; weaken demand for commodities, which could pressure the emerging-market economies that depend on them; and reduce overseas profits for large multinational corporations as growth stalls around the world.

What are Investors to Do Now?

A confluence of such factors are creating plenty of uncertainty. Investors are wondering what in the world they can expect from the market for the rest of this year.

“Given the debt deal, the likelihood of another stimulus package is decreased,” says Steve Wood, chief market strategist for Russell Investments.

And that will slow the recovery, says John Liu, president of Firstrade, an online broker. “Without government help, the market is going to get worse before it gets better,” he says. “It doesn’t mean it won’t get better, it will just take longer.”
Sica predicts that the market will decline 15%-20% by the end of the summer. Given the economic headwinds, it’s hard to envision a return to a robust and steadily growing economy anytime soon.

Investors should expect the recovery to remain choppy and uncertain, marked by below-average economic growth and periodic setbacks — including the potential for another recession, Freund says.

For sure, the outlook suggests investors should tighten their seatbelts and brace themselves for one jolt after the other. How can you protect yourself? Here’s what the pros are suggesting:

Keep your cool

“Don’t panic, and keep your emotions in check,” says Thomas Yorke, a Covester model manager and managing director of Oceanic capital Management. “These movements should flush out some of the more leveraged players and provide an opportunity to make some selective buys at a significantly lower levels. In situations like this, most investors are more likely to sell their best performers and hold their worst — the trading in gold today being a prime example of that behavior. When you are ready to make some adjustments, make sure you pitch your poor performers and opt for the market leaders who apt to recover more quickly.”

This is the time to re-evaluate your portfolio and determine how diversified you truly are, Yorke advises. But keep in mind that the correlations between different asset classes will converge at times like these, when the market is moving downward so strongly, he says. “You should study what classes performed best and plan to increase your exposure to them when things start to return to normal,” he says. “Doing this during high-stress periods will more likely have you buying things too expensively and selling things too cheaply. Your goal should be to create the proper asset allocation and understand that
over time this more balanced approach will achieve a better ‘risk adjusted’ return and enable you to sleep better at night.”

If you are a long-term investor, take a deep breath and stay the course, says Mark Fissel, a certified financial planner with Beacon Hill Investment Advisory. From the standpoint of price-to-earnings ratios, or stock prices compared to company earnings, the stock market is the cheapest its been since 1990. So, yes, there’s great uncertainty, but that also means there’s an opportunity to make money. By the time the sky is blue, the market will have already gone up, Fissell says.

Fred Dickson, senior vice president and chief investment strategist with D.A. Davidson & Co., has similar advice to investors: Find the upside. Use the recent 10% market dip to invest in high-quality stocks that have a long history of increasing dividends, he says.

Click here for the full report from Daily Finance

Congressional Staffers Gain From Trading in Stocks

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

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 9-22-10

Today, Kevin explains the significance of the Unites States dropping to the 50^th best country to start a business and why banks around the world are failing at record rates!

Self Help:
Lose A Pound A Day
Help Others
Switch To Grass Fed Beef
Make Your Voice Heard

Health:
FDA’s Real Agenda Behind The Massive Amount of Food Recalls
Study Finds Nearly 1 Million Kids Misdiagnosed With ADHD
Drug-Resistant Superbugs Found in 3 States
HFCS Getting Rebranded To Deceive Customers

Government:
Tea Party Fear
Four Al-Qaeda-Linked Prisoners Escape US Custody In Iraq
New 1099 Requirements for B2B Transactions

Wealth:
Unemployment Rates Rise… AGAIN!
US Falling Behind In The Markets

NWO:
Monsanto Contracted Blackwater Spies to Infiltrate Opposition

Everything Kevin:
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Support Kevin!
Kevin is on YouTube!
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Hospitals Secretly Promote Black Market Organ Trading

June 15, 2010

Natural News

By David Gutierrez

(NaturalNews) Many hospitals in the United States are tacitly participating in the illegal organ transplant industry by not scrutinizing potential donors too closely, experts worry.

The purchase or sale of organs is illegal in most countries, including the United States, but a chronic shortage of organs for transplant has led to a thriving international black market. Typically, poor donors (usually from Third World countries) are paid several thousand dollars for organs that are then resold for upwards of $100,000 to rich recipients, usually from the First World.

The arrests of 44 U.S. residents on organ trafficking charges in July marks the first documented case of the practice in the United States, and has raised concerns that hospitals here might be encouraging it.

Click here for the full report.

Dow Plunges Over 200 Points In First 2 Minutes

May 25, 2010

CNBC

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 150 points, led by Kraft [KFT  28.0481    -0.8819  (-3.05%)    ], Caterpillar [CAT  57.4111    -1.8089  (-3.05%)    ] and Alcoa [AA  10.87    -0.22  (-1.98%)    ]. Home Depot [HD  33.23    0.01  (+0.03%)    ] was the only gainer on the Dow.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell more than 1 percent.

Losses steadied, however, after about 15 minutes of trading and coinciding with an NBC report that North Korean troops were not on military alert despite tensions with the South.

The CBOE Volatility Index [VIX  39.93    1.61  (+4.2%)   ] climbed back above 40 as fear spread quickly that geopolitical and economic storms across the globe would weigh on growth and sap the stock rally that sent major indexes up more than 70 percent from the March 2009 lows.

“If you’re sitting as an investor today saying, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ it means you’re taking on too much risk,” advised Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx, an institutional investment advisory firm in New York. “You have to make sure you’re positioned with your portfolio not to have to make big decisions on big down days.”

Click here for the full report.

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