There is an overabundance of predictions about investing in 2014. The predictions range from those made by market scholars who have spent most of their lives studying markets to those not yet humbled by the markets. A very intelligent investor I know put in a lot of effort to develop
Rebalancing between bonds and cash at year-end is quite common. Traditionally some practitioners have suggested a higher proportion of bonds as an investor ages. A split of 60% for stocks and 40% for bonds is quite popular. In a year like 2013 when stocks have been up strongly, to maintain
Yesterday, as comments from China to de-Americanize the world hit the wires, my inbox was quickly flooded with over two dozen emails from alert subscribers asking if they should buy gold based on the news. Such subscribers are right in that if China succeeds at de-Americanizing the world, the right
Secretary of State John Kerry’s comment implies that a strike by the U. S. on Syria is imminent. The war trade is on. Gold, oil and Treasury bonds are up. Stocks are down. Here is the most pertinent part of a long Kerry speech, “At President Obama’s direction, I’ve spent
(Click here to enlarge the chart) Hindsight is always 20/20. Fortunately in the world of investments, there are times when foresight can also come close to being 20/20. Ben Bernanke’s testimony before the Congress on May 22, 2013, was one of those times. In a similar fashion, the Federal Open
Both the stock and bond markets are becoming increasingly volatile. Going back 30 years, high volatility is common after a sustained run and subsequent to the appearance of technical patterns that indicate a reversal. This time is no different. On May 30, I wrote about how an island reversal was highlighting
On May 23, I wrote about the market forming an ominous technical pattern. The pattern I discussed was an “outside day” which is a reversal pattern. Now, days later, the stock market has traced out another reversal pattern called an “island reversal.” You can see the pattern through the link below.
In the wake of Bernanke’s testimony before Congress and the release of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, the U. S. stock market traced an ominous technical pattern. In traditional technical analysis, this pattern is known as an “outside day.” The outside day is visible on the chart of
The stock market has been overbought for a while, and overbought markets can be vulnerable. Usually there is an excuse in the form of bad news that runs the overbought market down to alleviate the overbought condition. Monday was no exception. The bad news was that in Italy, Berlusconi garnered more votes than expected. He
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes from January 29 -30 were released yesterday afternoon. Within the Federal Reserve System, the FOMC is responsible for making key decisions about money supply and interest rates. One paragraph in the minutes spooked gold and silver bulls, as well as stock and