Stocks have been on a tear lately and the trend should continue into today’s session as well, though seasonally low volumes could exacerbate volatility. The strong recent run should continue into the New Year as well. But whether the S&P 500 can produce another double-digit return in 2015 after three back-to-back years of such returns…
As we have discussed numerous times, the best and easiest way to make money in the stock market is to follow the principles of value investing. Removing noise from the market and focusing solely on the economics of a given business allows an investor to form a clear conclusion about the company. As Warren Buffet…
It is hard to sum up the chasm between economic reality and manipulated criminogenic financial markets any better than this epic take-down by former Assistant Secretary of Treasury Paul Craig Roberts. This one should be listened to by all who wish to separate the wheat from the chaff. His comments on Russia and neo-liberal economics are…
At best it is the holiday season when hopes and wishes abound. It may be as it was for Ebenezer, “an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of undone potato.” At worst it is spiked eggnog and the peppermint schnapps. How else could reasonable people, like former…
Gold has been on the back foot since the bears defeated the bulls on the 1235/40 battlefield. A collapse in oil prices curbed demand for the metal as an inflation hedge and a friendly risk environment encouraged investors to put their cash into higher yielding assets such as equities. Also, the weight of expected interest-rate…
For the past few months, the one silver lining to the energy complex – with crude oil plummeting to levels not seen since 2009 – was natural gas, which soared to the mid-$4s in early November on expectations of a brutal polar vortex for the second year in a row sending heating demand surging. Well,…
It has been an eventful year for the biotech sector with mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and deals showing no signs of slowing down. Moreover, several companies came out with important and highly-awaited pipeline updates especially at the annual meeting of the American Society of Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). Deal-Making Frenzy…
Another day, another lifetime high, eh, folks? For the Russell 2000, which I think has been the most interesting big domestic index this year, we are again at a make-or-break point with respect to its own reversal points. If the MidCaps are any guide, though, the prior highs will be swept aside, making a nightmarish…
You won’t hear the bimbos, boobs, and shysters on CNBC talking about this chart. It seems even after a couple of rough years for the barbaric relic, its 12 year bull market has helped it retain its supremacy over the stock market. Now the real question. Over the next ten years, will the Dow/Gold ratio…
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE When we look back on 2014, one thing is clear, it wasn’t a good year to “Buy & Hold” the Gold Bugs Index (HUI). The chart below reflects that that HUI has under performed the S&P 500 by 32% YTD. CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE The multi-year decline has taken…
