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Another Bakken Found!
February 10, 2012 Publisher's Note: I want to introduce you to one of the best traders I’ve ever come across in my life. His name is Costas Bocelli, and he's developed a strategy — called the “Loaded Dice Technique” — that allows you to win on up to 80% of your trades. For the first time ever, Costas has offered to... Read More |
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The Greeks are Given Another 15 Days to Find More Cuts
February 09, 2012 As Chuck wrote yesterday, the markets were feeling confident that an agreement on a second financing accord for Greece was going to be finalized yesterday. The euro (EUR) continued to rally on the news through most of the day, but the talks stumbled over the issue of pension cuts, and EU/IMF officials had to give [...]The Greeks... Read More |
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Debt Beats the Economy in a Growth Race
February 09, 2012 Get out your chopsticks! Brush up on your sushi! Learn to read backwards and upside down! Yes…we’re going to Japan! The gist of the Japanese situation is this: The bubble burst in 1990. But rather than let their big businesses go belly up, the Japanese used every trick in the book. Counter-cyclical deficits up the... Read More |
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Watching the Greek Debt Episode of the Global Soap Opera
February 09, 2012 A serious question, Fellow Reckoner: Would you, if given the choice, be alive at any other time? We’ll get back to that in a second. First, our regular beat… Markets went precisely nowhere yesterday. It was as if everyone agreed to stay home…or go fishing…or to become reacquainted with that strange person... Read More |
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Coming Soon: Smart Television!
February 09, 2012 My colleague Ray Blanco and I recently attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The big story this year was the convergence in consumer electronics. Specifically, it was the arrival of extraordinary high-definition 3-D as well as “smart” TVs. In fact, Ray and I had backstage passes for the biggest 3-D events. We... Read More |
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Big Opportunity From Tiny Machines
February 09, 2012 Back in 1959, Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman delivered a now-famous talk titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” in which he envisioned the potential applications of tiny machines. Today, one of the most important innovations leading to the current generation of smartphones and tablets is known as... Read More |
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Of Fat Tails and Fashionable Gloom and Doom
February 09, 2012 “Worried that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. dollar are on the brink of collapse,” says a report at CNNMoney, “lawmakers from 13 states… are seeking approval from their state governments to either issue their own alternative currency or explore it as an option.” “In the event of hyperinflation,” warns Glen... Read More |
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3 Keys to Playing the Underground Small-cap Rally
February 09, 2012 It takes just ten minutes to prepare for a major market rally. By following my three simple steps, you can quickly find a handful of small-cap stocks that will outperform the market over the next 3 months. But before I reveal my screen criteria, I want to show you why I believe we’re entering an [...]3 Keys to Playing the... Read More |
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There Will Be No End to Quantitative Easing
February 09, 2012 The Bank of England is expected today to announce another round of debt monetization, called “quantitative easing”. A majority of economists polled by Dow Jones Newswire earlier this week expected the central bank’s policy committee to agree “to £50 billion ($79 billion) of additional bond purchases... Read More |
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Seven Dollar Unleaded By July
February 09, 2012 The price of oil has gone up — a lot. In 1973, before the Yom Kippur War, gas in the United States was selling for 30 cents a gallon, and a barrel of crude oil was around US$7 to US$8. The price per barrel climbed to US$15 in the 1980s, but then something strange happened and it shot up to $147 about five years ago,... Read More |
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Why Gold is Money Despite Changing Conditions
February 08, 2012 The price of gold shot up yesterday. Reports said investors were betting on another round of “quantitative easing,” aka money printing. But are gold buyers making a big mistake? Is history repeating itself? The New York Times suggests it is: As it was in 1980, could it be again in 2012? The 1980 presidential election... Read More |
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Fed to Devalue Dollar by 33%?
February 08, 2012 The currencies began to get some wind in their sails yesterday midmorning, and soon an all-out rally was taking place. The currency rally was led by the euro (EUR), just like in the old days, and the euro was getting bought like dealers were giving them away for free! Rumors of the European Central Bank [...]Fed to Devalue... Read More |
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The Value of a Thief
February 08, 2012 “Every human problem is an investment opportunity if you can anticipate the solution,” the old gentleman told me. “If not for thieves, who would buy locks?” I just met this remarkable fellow, full of wisdom on investing, yet hardly known beyond a small group of fans. His name is Thomas Phelps, and he’s had quite... Read More |
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Why You Should Avoid Zynga and the Sham “Social Gaming” Sector
February 08, 2012 Even when you’re scouring the market for fast-growing small-cap stocks, you need to remember the golden rule of investing: don’t lose money. It’s the rule that every successful investor has used to build wealth. And it’s the same rule that will destroy your trading account if you fail to heed its warning. That’s why I... Read More |
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The Ongoing Recovery from the Folly of Intellectuals
February 08, 2012 Gary’s Note: Patrick Cox explains how and why the intellectuals keep getting it wrong about the government and the free market…and how as the states the world over hit insurmountable debt crises, you can stand to profit enormously. I’ve often referred to a theory of business cycles that was first described by... Read More |
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A New Reason Gold Stocks Will Soar
February 08, 2012 But I think there's another reason why gold stocks will soar – one that hasn't dawned on many in the industry yet.... Read More |
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RBA Sounds Upbeat About Global Economic Growth
February 07, 2012 Good day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well… Yesterday, I realized that I couldn’t eat all day on Sunday, and expect to want to eat on Monday! But I’m ready to do so today! HA! I also realized yesterday just what a Donnie Downer I’ve been lately, with my insistence that there’s something [...]RBA Sounds... Read More |
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The Federal Reserve and Other Crimes Against Capitalism
February 07, 2012 New York Times writer, Steven M. Davidoff, recently dubbed the Federal Reserve, “the most successful hedge fund around.” After reading the article, we concluded that Mr. Davidoff is the most creative financial writer around. As such, Mr. Davidoff may be the perfect apologist for today’s dysfunctional monetary “system.”... Read More |
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When Emerging Markets Shape the Developed World
February 07, 2012 “America is back,” said the President of all the Americans, “Anyone who tells you America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” Well, Dear Reader, we’re here to tell you: America is in decline. We can give it to you straight because we’re not running for public... Read More |
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One of the Most Important Breakthroughs in Modern Medicine
February 07, 2012 I’ve spoken with scores of doctors and scientists who are using or recommending the use of one nutraceutical. These recommendations, however, were not based on clinical evidence. Rather, they come from the personal experiences of many in the research community who have seen remarkable improvements in health. In scientific... Read More |
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The Great Monetary Debate
February 07, 2012 Garys Note: What is the connection between monetary policy, the falling dollar and hope? Jeffrey Tucker explains below in todays feature article. When National Public Radio airs a segment on the gold standard, you know that the debate over the quality of money has reached the point where it can no longer be ignored. Another... Read More |
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The Fed Resumes Printing
February 07, 2012 The Federal Reserve recently announced important policy changes after its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.... Read More |
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Buy Low, Sell High
February 07, 2012 Making money in stocks is about the easiest thing you can do. In terms of time spent to money returned, it's right up there with being a supermodel or a rock star. And it all boils down to one simple plan: Buy low and sell high. The funny thing is that, by definition, most people don’t buy low. If they did, it... Read More |
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Jobs Data Sends Currencies and Gold Lower
February 06, 2012 Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Congrats to the fans of the Big Blue, NY Giants, who are the Super Bowl Champions, after a very entertaining game. It’s very foggy out this morning here in St. Louis, reminds me of the time my beautiful bride and yours truly were driving home from Des [...]Jobs Data Sends... Read More |
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How to Prolong an Inevitable Market Correction
February 06, 2012 Last week came and went. As near as we could tell, nothing was settled. The trends in motion stayed in motion… No end in sight. On Friday, Americans were still convinced that they were never going broke. The Europeans were still squabbling about how they were going to keep from going broke And the Japanese [...]How to... Read More |
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Get Rich Slow
February 06, 2012 Get-rich-quick investment advice is a fantasy. Get-rich-slow is a validated strategy for real wealth. Today, it is more important than ever to keep the long-run perspective firmly in mind… Lest you’ve forgotten, world financial markets are in a state of unparalleled disorder. More capital has been drained from markets,... Read More |
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Debunking the Super Bowl Indicator
February 06, 2012 Are you ready for some… er… stock picking? With the New York Giants’ win fresh in the minds of 111 million Super Bowl viewers, I guess it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that a slew of financial media outlets are talking about the “Super Bowl Indicator”. Here’s a bit from the Wall Street Journal:... Read More |
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How Change Happens
February 06, 2012 Gary’s Note: What drives the innovations that improve our standard of living at such an amazing clip? It’s not politics. Jeffrey Tucker explains in today’s feature article. My brother is teaching a semester in London, and he casually video Skyped me last week to show me around his apartment, which is small but... Read More |
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An Income Check Every 3 Days
February 06, 2012 I'm going to show you an income strategy where you literally receive a check in the mail every 3 ¼ days. You see, since the financial crisis of 2008, three of the best investments have been-dividend paying stocks like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and AT&T (NYSE: T), closed-end funds, trusts and Master... Read More |
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Hiring Surges in Pimps, Prostitutes and Drug Dealers
February 04, 2012 Yesterday’s unemployment report was a blockbuster... A dose of natural Prozac to the mind of the market. The Dow closed at 12,862, a 3-year high. In fact, it was the highest in the Dow since May 2008. Take a look: It’s sloppy, but the Dow has also formed the same double bottom pattern (“W”) that... Read More |
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A Crisis in Worthwhile Opinions of Capitalism
February 03, 2012 The Financial Times has continued its series on ‘Capitalism in Crisis’ much longer than we expected. Longer than seems decent, actually. The crisis will be over before the series ends. Each of the Davos-list celebrities to write on the subject basically ‘talks his own book.’ The politicians tell us that they can fix what... Read More |
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The Only Chinese Growth Story Worth Buying Right Now
February 03, 2012 There’s an intriguing growth story in China right now that you need to be following — particularly one specific play that could help you take advantage of a powerful new trend before it catches fire. This growth market is so compelling, in fact, that it’s making me rethink my long-standing prohibition on Chinese ADRs. But... Read More |
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The State of US Surveillance
February 03, 2012 Lovers of liberty have seemingly had a good bit to celebrate recently.... Read More |
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Who Is Buying All This Gold?
February 03, 2012 Today's jobs report came out better than expected. The unemployment rate fell to 8.3% and nonfarm payrolls climbed 243,000. This was the largest upward move since April of last year and it put more than 100 points on the Dow today. Gold sold off a bit this morning, but has been strong all week. The price of gold is... Read More |
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Finding an Edge When the Market Moves Higher
February 02, 2012 It is becoming more and more difficult for me to deny the rally we are now witnessing. The market is melting up right before our very eyes. Bears will try to explain away the 5%-plus move in the S&P so far this year as a fluke or a temporary reaction to oversold conditions. But there [...]Finding an Edge When the Market... Read More |
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Why I'm Investing in West Virginia
February 02, 2012 For years, West Virginia has been the butt of jokes on the East Coast. It was so bad that MTV filmed a "reality documentary" in 2009 called The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. Today those jokes stop. And as you read this, a conga line of Wall Street bankers, lawyers, and oil and gas executives wearing... Read More |
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How To Turn “Boring Banking” Technology Into Riches
February 01, 2012 I have to confess that I tend to find banking somewhat boring — at least compared with the subject of the transformational technologies that I normally write about. From my perspective, banking stocks lack the exciting potential of biotech companies working on a cure for cancer or semiconductor plays pushing the technological... Read More |
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The State of the Union, Just Another Reality Show
February 01, 2012 It looks just like a reality show that’s not going to be renewed for another season. President Obama’s State of the Union ratings are headed in the same direction as American Idol’s so far this season – down. Let me make a secret confession right here. For years, the producer of my radio talk show [...]The... Read More |
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Gas Your Wife Won't Mind
February 01, 2012 Around 1400 B.C., a goat herder saw a burning flame coming out of a spring. He also noticed his animals acted strangely after wandering near a particular chasm on Mount Parnassus. After investigating, he found himself "agitated like one frantic." The ancient Greeks named it Delphi. As you know, the Oracle of Delphi... Read More |
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Facebook’s IPO Could Cripple the Social Media Market
January 31, 2012 The idea of betting big on a hot new IPO in the hopes of making a buck is quickly losing credibility. And it soon might get much, much worse. Facebook — and it’s massive, impending stock offering — could be the nail in the coffin for social media stocks if all does not go according [...]Facebook’s IPO Could Cripple... Read More |
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About Those US Jobs
January 31, 2012 US politicians make a great show of concerning themselves with the level of unemployment. ... Read More |
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This Gold Chart Says It All
January 31, 2012 Gold and silver are on fire. The yellow metal is finishing up the month of January with a gain of more than 10%. But silver is the star... It’s going to double the performance of gold for the month. In fact, silver is up 21.5% in January! To put that into perspective, silver’s January gain has outperformed the... Read More |
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Why You Should Be Betting Against Financial Stocks
January 30, 2012 Investor uncertainty about Europe’s massive debt debacle is on the verge of dragging down the financial sector. Today, I want to show you why Europe still remains a threat — even though Wall Street seems to have forgotten about it — and how you can make one single move to make a bet against the [...]Why You Should Be... Read More |
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Chinese Gold-Buying Frenzy
January 30, 2012 Publisher's Note: For the past week, we've been telling you about our upcoming free informational seminar about investing in precious metals. Well, the day is almost here... The seminar begins tomorrow at 6 p.m. (EST). So if you want answers to any gold or silver questions you may have, take a moment to sign up today.... Read More |
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Massive Rally in Platinum
January 28, 2012 For the week ending January 27th, we covered the sectors where we think you can make money this year. It boils down to hard assets and hydrocarbons — or to be more precise, gold and fracking. Along the lines of precious metals, I wrote an article a few weeks ago detailing the gold/platinum ratio, and I pointed out that... Read More |
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Don’t Get Trapped By Sideways Stocks
January 27, 2012 Economists expected US GDP to expand by a 3% annual rate during the fourth quarter. It didn’t — instead expanding at a 2.8% clip. Traders immediately sold futures, only to buy back stocks an hour later when the market opened. We should continue to expect this tug-of-war between bulls and bears to continue for a... Read More |
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12 Shocking Facts about the Bakken
January 27, 2012 The extraordinary growth in oil production in North Dakota has been well-documented in Wealth Daily. But I thought I’d change it up today and tell you about the law of unintended consequences regarding the hyper-speed growth in economic output in the Bakken. Earlier this week, one of my sources sent me an article from... Read More |
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3 Easy Steps to an Unusual Investment “Guarantee”
January 26, 2012 This is probably my favorite special situation of all for its simplicity. Joel Greenblatt wrote about it in his 1997 book You Can Be a Stock Market Genius. Greenblatt, at that time, was a relative unknown. But his Gotham Capital had put up 50% average annual returns for 10 years. The book had a big [...]3 Easy Steps to an... Read More |
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Zero Percent Uber Alles
January 26, 2012 We are getting a sense of what life is like with the new Fed policy of openness. It means that the chairman tries to beat the world record for the longest, most-boring press conference in modern history. Ben Bernanke is getting even better at that crucial skill of repeatedly saying nothing at great length. The [...]Zero Percent... Read More |
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Gold's Father is Dirt
January 26, 2012 Everyone is talking around it, but the fact is the United States is in real trouble. I realize that this type of information is upsetting. Back in 2005 and 2006 when I wrote that the housing bubble was untenable, and that you should sell, I was ridiculed.... Read More |
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Today’s Market Movers: AAPL, BVSN, and the Great Pizza Rally
January 25, 2012 When you spend your days dissecting countless stocks, you sometimes stumble upon small groups of similar companies having their own private bull market. Often, the momentum can be traced back to an obvious catalyst — fundamental improvements within the group or a well-publicized buyout in the sector. But sometimes, investors... Read More |
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The Fed’s Men Behind the Curtain
January 25, 2012 The debate about the Fed is under way, and thank goodness. But as with many policy debates, there really shouldn’t be a debate at all. That’s because, if you think about it, the idea of central banking makes no sense. We don’t have a government-created central repository that plans and manages shoe... Read More |
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Will Iran Kill the Petrodollar?
January 25, 2012 The official line from the United States and the European Union is that Tehran must be punished for continuing its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.... Read More |
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Obama Reads Wealth Daily
January 25, 2012 Last night Obama delivered his 2012 State of the Union address. It sounded unusually similar to what I’ve been writing in Wealth Daily and Energy and Capital... Create millions of jobs by opening up our vast oil and gas shale formations. On November 18, 2011, I outlined my plan to get Americans back to work. In my... Read More |
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Get Rich by Hardly Trying
January 24, 2012 Once every ten to fifteen years, there is a major oil discovery or geopolitical shift that causes earthquakes in the global financial structure. Tectonic plates shift and a new paradigm is born. In the process, many people get rich. During the 1970s, BP found oil in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. The stock jumped... Read More |
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Gold and Silver are Breaking Out
January 23, 2012 Before I get into today’s Wealth Daily, let me wish you a happy Chinese New Year. My wife is Chinese, so I’m obliged to participate in the celebration and customs… even the ones that go against my hygiene, like not bathing the first day of the New Year (bathing washes away the good luck for the coming year).... Read More |
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Is Regulation Really What's Wrong with America?
January 23, 2012 Publisher's Note: As associate publisher and research assistant for The Wealth Advisory, Briton Ryle is the newest member of the Angel investment research team. I thought his insight on what's really ailing the U.S. economy worthy of sharing in our Weekend Edition. Have a great weekend, Brian Hicks How's the U.S.... Read More |
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The Most Valuable Gold Secret of All
January 20, 2012 TIPS are Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. They are financial instruments that are guaranteed to keep up with inflation. Right now, they are selling at a negative yield. According to Bloomberg: “The U.S. sold a record $15 billion in 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities at a negative yield for the... Read More |
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The Biggest Promise Obama Didn't Break
January 19, 2012 For all of Obama's flipping and flopping, it looks like he got one right. Last week, the White House released a report entitled, “Investing in America: Building an Economy that Lasts.” Amidst tensions between state governments, energy companies, the EPA, and a self-appointed panel of scientists and college... Read More |
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When Will Gold Reach a New High?
January 18, 2012 Some investors are frustrated and a few are worried that gold seems stuck in a rut. ... Read More |
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There Is No Gold on Yap
January 18, 2012 Publisher's Note: Before you get to Christian's editorial for today, please take moment to sign up for our educational presentation on silver and gold. It will be held on January 31st and includes a 2012 gold forecast, the best ways to buy, and how to avoid taxes. It's free to all who sign up. Good Investing, Brian Hicks... Read More |
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Bigger Than OPEC
January 17, 2012 On March 27, 1998, the FDA approved erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. The drug was a game-changer. A revolution in society. A miracle for once-boring marriages. Millions of men around the world bought the drug in droves. I watched it closely, and nearly recommended Viagra manufacturer Pfizer to my readers. But what most... Read More |
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Gold, Shotguns and Freedom
January 16, 2012 Many years ago, when I was young, single, and trying to find my way as a man, I lived on a mountain near Durango, Colorado. I was poor, worked two jobs, and spent all my money on skis, mountain bikes, and rebuilt transmissions. Gas cost about a buck a gallon and I had a faded red CJ-7. There were times I would seek out the... Read More |
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Hibernating Gold Stocks Guarantee Springtime Gains
January 14, 2012 “Gold will recover from its current malaise and hit a new record high in excess of $2,000 a troy ounce in 2012, according to an annual survey of industry predictions.” — London Gold Bullion Association For serious gold investors, the London Gold Bullion Association is like the Farmer's Almanac of price... Read More |
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The US Government Is Bankrupt
January 13, 2012 Everyone knows that the US government is bankrupt and has been for many years.... Read More |
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Gold Going to $2,200?
January 13, 2012 This is the time when all the Wall Street houses come out with their yearly predictions for the markets. It’s also the time when Wealth Daily does the same. Last week, I came out with Wealth Daily’s oil forecast. If you remember, I said oil would hit $125 a barrel. Whether or not it ends the year at that level, I... Read More |
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China Invades Africa
January 12, 2012 In case you haven't been paying attention, you should know that African oil explorers are on the move. Here is one we own in Crisis & Opportunity that goes by the name of Cove Energy: Since September 2011, the stock has more than doubled. Time to Buy the Wildcatters The stretch of ocean between East Africa and... Read More |
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India: Land of Energy Opportunity
January 11, 2012 Quick, what country is the economic engine that will power world growth? If you answered "China," you're far from alone.... Read More |
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Natural Gas Forecast for 2012
January 11, 2012 “Everything we do now is based on natural gas. Everything. It’s a major shift that’ll last for decades,” he said. “There’s so much supply coming to the market that there’s not enough storage capacity. It’s insane. The numbers I’m seeing are staggering. At a price of $3 per... Read More |
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Ron Paul's Gold
January 10, 2012 “Nothing good can come from the Federal Reserve. It is the biggest taxer of them all. Diluting the value of the dollar by increasing its supply is a vicious, sinister tax on the poor and middle class." — Ron Paul, End the Fed You know Dr. Paul as the only clearheaded guy now running for president. Which is why... Read More |
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Chart Suggests Oil Going to $125 a Barrel
January 09, 2012 Back in 1997, I enrolled in the Market Technicians Association. The MTA is a school for professional investors who want to become experts in technical analysis. The designation awarded after successfully passing three years of rigorous chart studies and tests is the CMT, or Chartered Market Technician. (Think of it as a... Read More |
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State Dept: Oil Could Be Up 50% in a Matter of Days
January 07, 2012 "Energy analysts say the price of oil would start to soar and could rise 50 percent or more within days." — New York Times In a development that has edged the world closer to full-scale war in the Persian Gulf, European powers stated Wednesday that a tentative ban would be placed on exports to Iran. The... Read More |
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The Gold/Platinum Ratio
January 06, 2012 About a month ago, a friend of mine was jewelry shopping for a Christmas gift. She wanted to buy a gold locket for her daughter, but went into price shock at the Macy's counter... It seemed the piece she was looking at had doubled in price from the last time she was browsing. She decided to go with “white gold”... Read More |
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Why Has Gold Been Down?
January 05, 2012 In spite of some short-term fixes, there remains no real resolution to the sovereign debt issues in many European countries.... Read More |
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Oil Price Forecast for 2012
January 05, 2012 Yesterday legendary market strategist and forecaster Byron Wien released his Top 10 Predictions for the coming year. Byron is the Vice Chairman of Blackstone Advisory Services LP and has made a living making prescient calls on the market. This is the 27th year he has produced the list, which he started in 1986. On CNBC... Read More |
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Doug Casey Addresses Getting Out of Dodge
January 04, 2012 The original "international man" discusses leaving the US before it becomes impossible to do so.... Read More |
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The Two-Faced God of Money
January 04, 2012 Welcome to 2012. I trust everyone had a memorable New Year's Eve. I myself spent the night with six children for an evening that culminated in watching the zombie Dick Clark count down as the ball dropped... The kids honked horns, shot silly string, bickered, and ate. In all, my demon offspring and their friends expended a... Read More |
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This Baby Boomer Stock Even Beat McDonald’s
January 03, 2012 My parents, Jerry and Darlene, have been married for over 40 years. They both recently retired in 2009. My father was a union carpenter for over 30 years. My mother spent nearly two decades working for the Boy Scouts of America. When they retired, they were given lump sum payouts from their retirement plans. It wasn’t... Read More |
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Putin Resigns, Gold Goes Down and More...
January 02, 2012 Gold Will Go Down, Then Up Look for gold to flat-line around $1,500 an ounce in the first half of the year and bounce heading into the 2nd half. As you can see by this one year chart we've been in a down-trend since August. There is support around $1,497 an ounce. If the price falls through that level we are getting to... Read More |
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Wealth Daily's Weekend Edition: By Doing Nothing, Congress Does Some Good
December 31, 2011 Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on... or by imbeciles who really mean it." — Mark Twain A hoary old trader once told me to never buy something based on a government subsidy because sometimes those subsidies end. In the case of Pacific Ethanol Inc. (PEIX), he... Read More |
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Urgent: U.S. Energy Department Issues Stark Warning
December 30, 2011 One of the world’s largest rare earth producers was just stripped of its ability to export rare earths on “environmental concerns.” The company is called Baotou Steel. It produces about half of the world’s rare earth supply, and was just excluded from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s list of 11... Read More |
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11 Shocking Predictions - Some Even Came True
December 29, 2011 Last year at this time I wrote up my predictions for 2011. It turns out I missed a few but got a lot right. Here is the short recap: 1. China real estate bubble pops This was spot on. The fall of Chinese housing has been a slow motion train wreck for about six months now. Newly-built Chinese ghost cities are a common topic... Read More |
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The One Answer Smith Really Wanted
December 28, 2011 There's the talk... And then there's reality. That's kind of what this column is all about: big lies — and the dark secrets they hide. The truth is always out there somewhere, buried on page six of a government report or in the tiny print at the end of a corporate press release. But sometimes, the truth is a lot... Read More |
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2011 Predictions Recap: What I Got Right, and a Few I Missed
December 27, 2011 Last year at this time I wrote up my predictions for 2011. It turns out I missed a few but got a lot right. Here is the short recap: 1. China real estate bubble pops This was spot on. The fall of Chinese housing has been a slow motion train wreck for about six months now. Newly-built Chinese ghost cities are a common... Read More |
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Are These the Cheapest Stocks in the World?
December 26, 2011 What's Really Behind the Solar Sell-off... And Why Did Warren Buffett Just Buy Them? In the past month, the world's greatest living investor stunned the markets by acquiring 2 solar projects. Last week, MidAmerican -- the utility component of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway -- said it would acquire an interest in the... Read More |
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Weekend: 3 Potential Geopolitical Chaos Spikes for Crude
December 25, 2011 The recent price for Nymex crude was $99.49. Brent has fallen to $109.38, and WTI Cushing spot price is trading at $98.72. The price for European-traded oil, or Brent, has been dropping for the past few months — and the spread between Brent and WTI has narrowed as the Eurozone GDP slows and Libya comes back online. The... Read More |
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2012 Shocker
December 23, 2011 It’s that time of the year again: predictions time. In the media world, the more extreme, scary, and shocking you can make them, the more attention that can be generated with your predictions — hence, the better the predictions are. They have nothing to do with reality. In the days ahead, you will hear and... Read More |
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A simple plan to keep your assets safe from an out-of-control government
December 22, 2011 By keeping all your assets in the country where you live, you commit, ahead of time, to ratify whatever policy your home government might adopt, no matter how objectionable, unreasonable or pernicious that policy happens to be.... Read More |
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Q1 2012: The Safest Places to Invest
December 22, 2011 Congratulations! You made it... After a year of extreme volatility and excessive whipsaw action, you made it through 2011 with us — with profits in hand. The same can't be said for some of the "greatest minds" on Wall Street, our competitors, brokers, financial "experts" and hedge fund managers still... Read More |
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Euro Slosh Boosts Gold
December 21, 2011 I am nominating Slosh for "Economic Input of the Year." I'm talking about the huge tides of wealth that have flowed back and forth between the U.S. dollar and euro over the past few months. Here's how I put it in a recent issue of Blue Chip Trader: Picture your kid in the bath. What happens when they scoot... Read More |
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Are You Tempted to Sell, or Eager to Buy?
December 20, 2011 It wasn't a fun week for gold. By the close on Friday, the metal was down 6.7% (based on London PM fix prices), the biggest weekly decline since September.... Read More |
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Meet Me Here Tomorrow at 6
December 20, 2011 You've probably seen it dozens of times in movies, old photos, and most recently, the Discovery Channel's reality show, Gold Rush Alaska... An old man with a big white beard sitting on a riverbank with a ridged tin pan in his hands, diligently sifting through sediment from the riverbed to produce a few precious flakes of gold.... Read More |
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Stick a Fork in Her: China's Done
December 19, 2011 For the past fifteen years or so, we've been reading about how China was destined to take over the world. China had the highest GDP growth of around 10% a year for more than three decades... It had the most people, including 92 million citizens with the surname Wang. The country produced the most scientists. It had the... Read More |
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Weekend: 2012 Will Not Be What You're Expecting
December 18, 2011 Most investors are scared of a market crash right now. Fear is the dominant theme. And fear of a genuine market collapse is greater than it has been in a long time. According to Google Trends, a service that allows you to search activity for certain themes, the number of searches for “Crash 2012” has increased 20... Read More |
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America's Energy Pipeline Dreams
December 16, 2011 The Keystone XL ruckus shone a light on pipelines like never before. From the heated nature of the debate one could be forgiven for thinking that long, high-volume pipelines are something new to America.... Read More |
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The Safest 40% Gain You'll Ever Make
December 16, 2011 A new bull market is forming. And it has everything a contrarian investor could want... It has been out of favor for years. In fact, USA Today recently said it's been left for dead for “nearly 25 years.” Its value has been slowly and consistently trending higher. Over the last decade, its run-up has been more... Read More |
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What Gold Supply Crunch?
December 15, 2011 We have reported on changes in global gold demand, from booming investment demand in Asia to European and US debt concerns that have re-solidified gold's long tenure as the ultimate safe-haven asset for turbulent times.... Read More |
