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What’s Really Wrong With America

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:59:08 +0000

� Here’s a wonderful video I came across visiting Washington’s Blog this morning. It’s a great read if you haven’t discovered it already. As the video reminds us…. “The Funders” are not “The People”. You have to act to get it back. � There is a reason everything is so screwed up. The further you stray from our beginnings the worse everything becomes. Related Article: NEWSFLASH: The Meltdown Didn’t Have to Happen Bill Black: Fire Holder, Geithner and Bernanke The No Spin Zone: Bill Black Calls BS Epic Fail: Brooksley Born Demolishes Alan Greenspan Matt Taibbi: Goldman is “Re-creating the conditions for another crash” To learn more about Wealth Daily click here Advertisement 21st Century Medicine … Is exactly what you thought it would be. An AIDS vaccine has been tested. New organs are being grown. Limbs are being created from scratch. But humanity isn’t the sole motivator… Serious cash stands to be made by curing diseases. One small biotech firm — featured on 60 Minutes — is on the path to even wilder medical breakthroughs. To see what I mean and learn about this company, watch this brief presentation . What’s Really Wrong With America originally appeared in Wealth Daily . Wealth Daily is a free daily newsletter featuring contrarian investment insights and commentary.

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What’s Really Wrong With America

Look! Gold and Silver Company Warrants Dramatically Outperform …

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 02:41:04 +0000

Isn’t it time investors, analysts and commentators conveyed the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth when it comes to investing in gold bullion and gold-related securities? This article will do just … Most financial writers and advisors are of the mistaken impression that warrants are just associated with penny stocks – the ‘juniors’ – but as the breakout of commodity-related companies with LT warrants*by market cap below shows that is not entirely the case: …

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Look! Gold and Silver Company Warrants Dramatically Outperform …

Avoiding Margin Calls

admin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:22:52 +0000

Image via Wikipedia MB Wealth Corp. is not responsible and does not endorse anything outside of the content of this article authored by Matthew Bradbard; President of MB Wealth. In the current Wild West trading environment, where 5% price swings have become commonplace, avoiding margin calls is a bigger challenge now than what I’ve ever seen in my career. Traders can take all the necessary steps and still there is still no assurance that a margin call can be avoided, here are some suggestions that may aid in deterring future margin calls when trading commodities. Let me start by explaining exactly what a margin call is; a call from a clearinghouse to a clearing member, or from a broker or firm to a customer, to bring margin deposits up to a required minimum level. When the balance of the account drops below the maintenance margin level a margin call is issued. Once a margin call is issued the party receiving the call generally has 48-72 hours to bring their account balance back above the initial maintenance amount. If you wish not to satisfy the margin call the alternative is liquidating the position and taking the loss. Moving onto margin; the amount of money deposited by both buyers and sellers of futures contracts and by sellers of options contracts to ensure performance of the terms of the contract. The margin in commodities is not a down payment, as in securities, but rather a performance bond . For every commodity there is an initial margin and a maintenance margin determined by the exchange that the underlying commodity trades on. For example, when trading 30-yr bond futures, margins are set by the CME Group , while when trading cotton futures margins are set by ICE . The leverage involved when trading commodities can at times be massive; by definition leverage is the ability to control large dollar amounts of a commodity with a comparatively small amount of capital. Leverage is a double-edged sword working as your best friend when properly positioned and your worst enemy when positioned incorrectly. Because the leverage at times can appear excessive, a possible solution would be to not over leverage one’s trading account. For example if the initial margin amount for one Crude oil futures contract is $5,000 then in your mind you should allocate $10,000 to mitigate extreme swings in you trading account. When trading commodities be selective and don’t think that all the money in your trading account needs to be allocated at all times. I try to trade a very aggressive asset class conservatively…which is easier said then done. Related articles “CME Group Announces Money and Margin Requirement Increases” and related posts (jsmineset.com) Are These Investments Worth the Risk? (fool.com) ICE Announces December Holiday Trading Schedules (prnewswire.com) Other possible solutions include, but are not limited to: trading mini- futures contracts , decreasing one’s trading size, purchasing options, or a trading …

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Avoiding Margin Calls

OPEC’s Cheating and Peak Oil

admin — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 23:56:47 +0000

Editor’s Note: In light of recent energy price spikes, this article by my colleague Nick Hodge seems especially relevant. It was originally published in our sister publication, Energy and Capital . If you’re interested in learning more about peak oil — and its implications for investors — EAC is a daily must-read. Adam Sharp Analyst, Wealth Daily —————————— Now that peak oil production has passed , all sorts of interesting tidbits are emerging. Take the December 13th BusinessWeek article that declared OPEC is cheating the most since 2004… Apparently, the oil cartel pumped 26.78 million barrels per day (mmbd) this year. Yet they have a production limit of only 24.845 mmbd, set at the end of 2008 in response to the recession. So your friendly neighborhood fuel gang has been breaking its output limit by 1.934 million barrels — everyday, all year long. ~~SIGNUP_WD~~ With crude at its highest price in two years, overproduction allows OPEC members to boost profits without formally changing output targets. An extra 1.934 mmbd at $80 works out to a nice “informal” $56.47 billion boost. OPEC’s been lying… That’s nothing new. What’s important here is to note the willingness to extract as much as they can as prices rise. Analysts, start your engines If the price of oil creeps high enough, OPEC will officially raise its target to cash in. $100 seems to be the obvious trigger to make that happen, and the consensus is that it will happen this year. Oil’s at $91.43 as I write this�— up 30% from the year’s low. Goldman says it’ll “average $100 in 2010 and $110 in 2012.” JPMorgan says we’ll see $120 by the end of 2012. Adding to the pricing fire, U.S. stockpiles declined by 19 million barrels this month thanks to intense cold and holiday travel. That’s the biggest monthly decrease since December 2006. I’m sure you’ve noticed gas station marquee numbers are back on the march. A $3.00 appetizer Prices at the pump have officially broken $3.00 for the first time since October 2008. And they aren’t expected to ease anytime soon. John Hofmeister (former President of Shell, current Head of Citizens for Affordable Energy) is touring TV land this week with a new prediction: We’ll be paying $5.00 per gallon in less than two years, and sometime between 2018 and 2020 there will be another 1970s-style energy shortage requiring rationing. And this guy didn’t just jump on the bandwagon; he’s been saying for years that “the last days of affordable gas are behind us.” He’s been attacking our national energy policy since the turn of the century, saying business as usual would lead us to an “energy abyss”. And like an ever-increasing cadre of oil execs, he admits conventional oil production is in decline, and is convinced we must turn to unconventional sources to fill the gap�— and avoid gas station rationing. There’s still time to put this trend to work for your portfolio. Oil at $…

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OPEC’s Cheating and Peak Oil

JPMorgan Initiates Coverage on Credit Card Providers (AXP, COF, DFS)

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:51:34 +0000

Analysts at JPMorgan on Wednesday initiated coverage on several leading credit card providers. The firm published the following ratings and price targets for the stocks below: American Express ( AXP ) – “Overweight” rating and $50 price target (16% upside). Capital One Financial ( COF ) – “Neutral” rating and $41 price target (10% upside). Discover Financial ( DFS ) – “Neutral” rating and $18 price target (flat upside). The Bottom Line Shares of American Express ( AXP ) have a 1.67% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $43.22. Shares of Capital One Financial ( COF ) have a .54% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $37.23. Shares of Discover Financial Services ( DFS ) have a .44% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $18.28. None of the dividend stocks mentioned in this article currently have a high enough Dividend.com DARS™ Rating to qualify for our “Recommended” list. Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .

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JPMorgan Initiates Coverage on Credit Card Providers (AXP, COF, DFS)

The Forest, the Trees and the TSA

admin — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:32:47 +0000

With all the naked viewing and groping going on, I wonder if this is the United States of America or the back room of an adult video store. We have two major problems here, the TSA and its intrusive unconstitutional invasions of our rights, and the bigger question of why are we turning into a police state. Let’s start with the TSA. How many passengers have I seen interviewed on TV who all share the notion that “If it makes us safer then I think it is a good idea. I just want to get to my destination in one piece.” Not only does this presume that the government is more capable at assuring safety than private citizens, but it also illustrates an alarming trend in this country where we have become willing to so easily trade freedom for the illusion of safety (or prosperity, or charity). Let me ask you this — who has the greatest interest in safe and secure airplanes? The government? On the contrary, the people themselves have the greatest self interest in safety. The airlines would not want to jeopardize their reputation, their financial security, nor the lives of the passengers. Then there would be the insurance companies who insure those planes who would insist on the airlines taking proper steps for safe travel. And finally there are the passengers, who are so interested in safety that they willingly bend over and accept the government’s intrusion. So we now have three key private players with major interest in the safety of planes. The TSA only had a two-year contract before the airlines could opt out. I believe it is time for America’s airlines to opt out, or for the people to opt out of America’s airlines. Let airlines decide what security policies they employ, and then let the free people of America choose which airlines they feel safest flying. This simply means if you don’t want to blow up prematurely (if blowing up was already on your agenda), ride on a plane with tight professional security, and if you don’t want to pay more for a ticket (or be probed) ride on the plane without it. Freedom and security is not a trade off. Freedom IS security. If you believe that the federal government has the greatest interest in a secure plane, or that we should employ a more intrusive “papers please” approach or the Israeli model of rapid fire interrogations, let me ask you a few questions. If we could make airlines 100% safe, so safe that we know that a terrorist will never board a plane and take it over, would that be the end of terrorism as we know it? Do secure airlines mean a secure America? Hardly, considering that in America we have thousands of events held daily where greater numbers of people gather. Which brings us to the title of this article, “The Forest, the Trees and the TSA.” The TSA is actually only a symptom, while the real problem is our foreign policy. Our history in the Middle East did not start on Sept. 11, 2001. Understanding our involvement around the world and how it has a habit of coming to roost is key before we end up with check points outside our children’s soccer games. Though any step toward privatization in the airline industry is an improvement, the ultimate solution to our problems is bringing our troops home and minding our own business. Foreign belligerence is immoral, incredibly costly, and it threatens our security by inspiring people to hate us. This is not a “blame America …

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The Forest, the Trees and the TSA

Revisiting [The say when you don’t fall on bearish news, you’re not bearish]

admin — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 16:19:19 +0000

This was our article yesterday about Crude and very the first line reads “This certainly then holds true for Crude [At least for NOW] which we have found to be on bid ever since the Saudi King flew to U.S for medical attention”. The API figures were bearish on Tuesday and Energy market [clearly] discounted them altogether as the street finds the API figures “erratic” at [times] however, on Wednesday DOE numbers come and they came and yet absolutely nothing happened to Crude rather on a bearish news as the street was of consensus that inventories would decline they increased as we had anticipated them to increase but Crude took it as a bitter pill, shut close its eyes and then focused on the earlier U.S Economic data of which it had paid absolutely no heed to and shot up like a cannon. Certainly there were no prisoners taken yesterday as all stop orders went and the shorts were forced to be a part of buying frenzy as in order for them to square their trades they had to “Buy” thus further putting a bid on crude. We could compare Crude WTI’s move to that of Gold which took place day before when Gold spontaneously came to life and pushed from $1,365 to $1,382 which is a gain of 1.24% whereas Crude’s move yesterday was 2.92% or 2.35 times stronger than that of Gold. Can we explain this move except that Crude pushed up because North Koreans do not seem to be backing down? Or that Crude pushed higher because the Jobless claims finally have broken the lower side of

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Revisiting [The say when you don’t fall on bearish news, you’re not bearish]

More Oil Discovered in NoDak

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 15:50:00 +0000

About a month ago, I wrote about a bona fide black gold rush going on in North Dakota. I told you how workers have been sleeping in tents and cars because of the housing shortage the booming oil industry created. The unemployment rate is the lowest in the nation; only the surrounding suburbs of Washington, D.C., come close to NoDak’s near full employment. Cadillac, Mercedes, and BMW dealerships can’t keep cars on the lot… Exactly a month ago, I said: “It seems like new oilfields are being discovered almost every year in NoDak.” It’s true. Since 2008, the Bakken, Three Forks, and Spearfish formations have experienced a renaissance of activity. Guess what? Since the publication of my article, another, new oil formation is getting a lot of attention: the Tyler formation. Well, it’s not actually “new.” None of these formations are really new. What is new are the flow rates… and the method of drilling. Horizontal fracking is opening up a flood of oil and natural gas that’s been stuck in shale for millennia. (Please note: This doesn’t change Peak Oil .) According to recent reports, NoDak state officials say the oil formation in Southwestern North Dakota believed to be similar to the Bakken shale formation is getting a lot of interest. Department of Mineral Resources geologist Stephan Nordeng says the Tyler Formation above the Bakken encompasses nearly all of Western and Southwestern North Dakota and extends into South Dakota. State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms — who now has celebrity…

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More Oil Discovered in NoDak

Consumer’s Revolt, Shun the Chains of Debt

admin — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:35:17 +0000

As I discussed in this article, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. That’s where the ultimate sticking point is for the Fed — especially in an economy where consumption is 70% of GDP. Because while the Fed can force money into the system in exchange for government bonds, they can’t necessarily make the money circulate to create new goods or more importantly, new jobs. In short, that leaves the Fed essentially “pushing on a string” while commodity prices rise across the board. Meanwhile, consumers are refusing to go along with the Fed’s ongoing effort to hook them on even more heroin… From Bloomberg by Caroline Salas entitled: U.S. Household Debt Shrank 0.9% in Third Quarter, Fed says. “ U.S. households cut their debt last quarter, borrowing less against homes and closing credit card accounts, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Consumer indebtedness totaled $11.6 trillion at the end of September, down $110 billion, or 0.9 percent from the end of June, according to the New York Fed’s quarterly report on household debt and credit. Households have slashed about $1 trillion from outstanding consumer debts since the peak in the third quarter of 2008, the New York Fed said. U.S. households, facing a jobless rate that’s persisted near a 26-year high, have slashed debt and increased savings following the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. That’s pared consumer spending and slowed the economic recovery, helping to prompt the Fed’s decision last week to start another round of unconventional monetary stimulus. “ Consumer debt is declining but only part of the reduction is attributable to defaults or charge-offs,” Donghoon Lee, a senior economist at the New York Fed, said in a statement. “Americans are borrowing less and paying off more debt than in the recent past. This change, which we continue to study carefully, can be a result of both tightening credit standards and voluntary changes in saving behavior.” Individuals paying off their debt crimped their cash flow by about $150 billion in 2009, the New York Fed said. Between 2000 and 2007 borrowing increased consumers’ cash flow by $300 billion a year, according to the district bank.” Needless to say, the borrow and consume model is has seen better days. Phony is as phony does. Related Articles: Hoenig: QE2 May Lead to “future instability” Agflation is Here: Hate to Say I told you So… Hoenig: QE2 Won’t Work Jim Grant on the Fed’s “Mission Creep” Jim Grant: “The Fed is out of its lane” � To learn more about Wealth Daily click here Advertisement Masamune’s Secret Metal Six centuries ago, a Japanese sword master accidentally dropped some into the steel he was making… creating the first ever true Samurai Katana blade. Today, it’s the cornerstone of a $987 billion-a-year industry. Find out how you can bank up to 2682% as one tiny mining company taps into one of the world’s last remaining untouched deposits. Consumer’s Revolt, Shun the Chains of Debt originally appeared in Wealth Daily . Wealth Daily is a free daily newsletter featuring contrarian investment insights and commentary.

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Consumer’s Revolt, Shun the Chains of Debt

China Boosts Canada’s Timber Industry

admin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 19:40:19 +0000

The housing crisis seemed to affect everything. It certainly hurt Canada’s timber export to the United States. In 2005, when U.S. housing starts peaked at 2.5 million, 17 billion board feet of lumber left British Columbia for American consumers. We all know how the housing market turned out, but the decrease in U.S. demand wasn’t necessarily the worst thing. It gave Canada room to branch out. Enter China. But that wasn’t the only reason for British Columbia’s lumber boom in the middle kingdom. The Chinese have recently been subjects of a Russian imposed 25% export tariff on logs headed to China. The Russians were trying to promote more direct investments in Siberian sawmills, which they got from Chinese companies, but it still takes time for production to settle in. So what did China do? Reach out for an alternative source of lumber to avoid that pesky 25% tariff. Thanks to the Chinese, British Columbia is 70% ahead of last year’s timber output. And let’s not forget, Canada exported 1.6 billion board feet of lumber to China last year, an 800% increase from 2006! Increasing demand from China has helped lift timber prices over the past 18 months. But even though timber has outperformed the Dow by four times since January 2009, prices are still nearly 40% lower than their 2004 highs. There are many ways investors can get exposure to timber without growing a forest. In a recent article for Weath Daily, analyst Luke Burgess gives speculators three options for timber investments. You can read his article, titled Five Gold Investment Alternatives , by clicking here or copying and pasting the following link into your internet browser’s address bar: http://www.wealthdaily.com/articles/five-gold-investment-alternatives/2811 Good Investing, Michael Boytano Editor, Wealth Daily China Boosts Canada’s Timber Industry originally appeared in Wealth

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China Boosts Canada’s Timber Industry

Sea ice extend – answer to skepticalscience.com

admin — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:18:21 +0000

Guest Post by Frank Lansner (frank), Answer to the Skepticalscience.com article: http://www.skepticalscience.com/DMI-data-on-Arctic-temperatures-Intermediate.html regarding the article: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/08/05/dmi-polar-data-shows-cooler-arctic-temperature-since-1958/ I can see that skepticalscience appears satisfied with the DMI data when you use the full year data – so what causes the summer temperature … Continue reading →

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Sea ice extend – answer to skepticalscience.com

Market Report on S and P 500, Oil, Gold & Dollar

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:34:00 +0000

Guest ArticleWednesday the market didn’t tell us anything new. The equities market is still over extended on the daily chart but the market is refusing to break down. Each time there has been seen selling in the market over the past two weeks, the ma…

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Market Report on S and P 500, Oil, Gold & Dollar