Showing posts with label currency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label currency. Show all posts

Thursday, March 10, 2022

How You Can Minimize Trading Risk & Grow Capital During A Global Crisis

To minimize trading risk and grow capital during a global crisis is somewhat hinged on the answers to speculative questions. 
  • How long will the Russia – Ukraine war last? 
  • How high is the price of oil and gas going to go? 
  • How quickly will central banks raise interest rates to counter high inflation? 
  • What assets should I put my money into? 
Knowing what the Best Asset Now (BAN) is, is critical for risk management and consistent growth no matter the market condition. Buy the Dip or Sell the Rally? Let's start here with the DJI weekly chart

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Eye Opening Dollar and Currency Charts

The incredible strength of the U.S. Dollar over the past 12+ months has put downward pricing pressure on Gold and Silver. I believe this downward pricing pressure could be muting any upside price advanced in Gold and Silver by as much as 20% to 30% or more.

The U.S. Dollar has turned into the global “safe haven” for international investors and foreign governments. Over the past 6 to 12 months, or more, the U.S. Dollar has been the only fiat currency to see any strength and upward trend. All the other major global currency levels have fallen – some dramatically lower.

The EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF have all fallen sharply over the past 6 to 12 months as the strength of the US Dollar and US Economy continued to surprise many. We’ve been calling this a “capital shift” that started back in 2015~2016 – when the 2016 US Election cycle began and China began to implement capital controls. At the same time, foreign nations such as Brazil and Venezuela began to shift into an economic abyss while the UK dealt with BREXIT negotiations. All of these external factors created an environment where the U.S. Dollar became a global safe haven for global investors – all of which were seeking U.S. equities and U.S. Dollars to hedge weakening foreign currencies and weak foreign stock market performance.


I think that the US Dollar strength, in combination with the continued foreign Gold acquisitions has amounted to a resolved “reversion” in Gold prices that could reflect a 10% to 20% price anomaly. In other words, the strength of the US Dollar has muted the advancing price of Gold by our estimates of 2x to 2.5x the strength of the US Dollar. Over the past 12 months, the US Dollar rallied from 89.42 (April 2018) to 97.92 (May 2019: current price). This reflects a 9.60% increase in the value of the US Dollar.

If my research is correct, the price of Gold should have rallied by about 18% to 26% from the April 2018 levels IF the US Dollar had not appreciated in value as it has. Therefore, the true price of Gold should be somewhere near $1600 (18% above April 2018 levels) to $1700 (26% above April 2018 levels) if we attempted to eliminate the “reversion effect” of the US Dollar strength.

We come to this conclusion by statistically analyzing the US Dollar strength after April 2018 and how Gold reacted to this strength – by falling over 12.5% from near $1350 to a level near $1170. That range of time reflected an 8% price advance in the U.S. Dollar. Thus, a ratio of 1.5 to 1 has clearly been established within that move. More recently, from August 2018 till now, the US Dollar has rallied 1.47% while the price of Gold has rallied 8.87%. The current price of Gold is -5.60% below the April 2018 price level.

If we were to assume that the rally in the U.S. Dollar deflated the price appreciation of Gold by nearly equal ratios, then we take the April 2018 price of Gold ($1350) and add the related price variances of Gold over this span (essentially reverting the price of Gold to April 2018 U.S. Dollar levels : $1350 * 1.27) and we end up with $1714.50. This reflects a greater than 30% price anomaly from the current price of Gold.



Gold Futures 

We need to ask ourselves one simple question, what would it take for Precious Metals and the global stock markets to revert back to these expected price levels? Would it be a move away from the U.S. Dollar? Would it be some shift in foreign currency valuations? Would it be a combination of factors that drive greater fear into the markets and reflect a U.S. Dollar valuation decline? In the second part of this article, I will explore some possibilities and explain why I believe we are just days or weeks away from finding out exactly what will cause this price anomaly to revert along with my proprietary gold price cycle forecast.

I just highlighted the strength of the U.S. Dollar in comparison to other foreign currencies and suggested this U.S. Dollar strength may have created a “price anomaly” setup in Precious Metals – specifically Gold. I believe a very unique setup is happening in the global markets right now and that the price of Gold is substantially undervalued compared to risks that are present throughout the global economies. I believe the strength of the U.S. Dollar has muted the upside potential of Gold by at least 20% to 30% over the past 12+ months and I believe a shift is taking place where Gold is starting to break these pricing constraints.

If the analysis is correct, I believe traders only have about 3~6+ weeks before we’ll find out why and what will cause this price anomaly to revert back to what I believe is “price normalcy”. The strength of the US Dollar, as well as the continued global “capital shift” where foreign investors are piling into the US stock market and US Dollar related investments, have continued to put incredible pricing pressures on Precious Metals. We believe this “shift” may be about to revert back to some levels of normalcy in term of Precious Metals pricing.

I believe a major Pennant/Flag formation is setting up in Gold where this price anomaly event will be resolved. This type of price anomaly reset, or reversion will prompt a massive upside price advance in Gold and Silver that will attempt to restore proper pricing levels to the Precious Metals commodities. I believe we are just weeks away from the completion of this Pennant/Flag apex/breakout event and believe the upside price targets identified align with a series of key events that are likely to unfold over the Summer months of 2019. Take a few minutes to read the recent three-part research post regarding these events and how they relate to the global stock/commodity markets here.



Our predictive modeling systems have been warning that a price advance in Gold and Silver will take place between April/May of 2019 and Aug/Sept or 2019. We are calling this the “initial upside price leg” because we believe this upside price move will be just the beginning of a much larger move higher for Precious Metals. We’ve highlighted some of the biggest concerns we currently have related to the global stock market price appreciation levels and the concerns related to the US Presidential Election cycle in precious articles – Please read them here :




We believe it is imperative to alert all investors/traders of this event and to attempt to allow all investors/traders to plan for what may become one of the biggest global stock market swings in recent history as well as one of the biggest moves in Precious Metals in history.

My proprietary cycle analysis and trade signals are suggesting a mild price recovery in Gold will prompt moderate upside pricing pressure over the next 10-20+ days. This aligns perfectly with our Pennant/Flag formation, see the previous chart. It would be expected that Gold prices would form a moderate price support level near $1270 before moving back up to the upper Pennant price channel, near $1295. Then, price should set up the “Apex Breakout” move – which will likely be a “washout-low” price rotation (somewhere near or below $1270) with a very quick reversal to the upside – breaking $1330 and rallying much higher. This type of rotation is very common and often prompts traders to jump into short positions on the “washout-low” formation before getting clobbered on the reversal/rally. Be prepared.



Lastly, we want to alert everyone to a chart we’ve been following that could become a determining factor for the future of the global stock market levels, the U.S. Dollar and Precious Metals. The one thing we don’t want to see is a massive decline in yield in the 2 Year Treasuries. This would indicate failed growth expectations throughout the globe and, in particular, reflect concerns that the US markets could contract/decline in line with further global market devaluations.

We’ve already been trying to warn investors that the U.S. Presidential Election cycle will likely create a stalling price pattern in the US stock market. We’ve been warning, for the past 18 months, that Gold is setting up a massive bottom/breakout formation. We’ve recently highlighted the global concerns (Europe, China, US, and others) that may combine to create something like a “perfect storm” for currencies and the global equities markets. If that translates into “yield weakness” in the US Treasuries, think about how that would translate into the Precious Metals “reversion” that we are suggesting is only a few weeks away?



We strongly urge investors to pay very close attention to our research and prepare for this event. Yes, the Capital Shift event is still taking place and as long as nothing disrupts this shift, capital will continue to flow into the U.S. Dollar and U.S. Equities. Our concern is that the charts are telling us we are very near to the end of this event cycle and we are alerting all of our followers so they can prepare for this move. It may start out mildly – it may not. We do know that our predictive modeling systems are suggesting that July/August 2019 are on our radar for a major price rotation/event.

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

First, we typically see stocks sell off and as the old saying goes, “Sell in May and Go Away!” which is what has been happening.

So what does this mean? It means we should start to see money flow into the safe-haven assets like the Utility sector, bonds, and most importantly precious metals. I anticipated this and our XLU utilities ETF taken with members has already hit our first profit target, and our VIX ETF trade also hit out 15% profit target and we the balance of it is still up 25% as of yesterday.

Second, my birthday was this month, and I think it's time I open the doors for a once a year opportunity for everyone to get a gift that could have some considerable value in the future.

For May I am going to give away and ship out silver rounds to anyone who buys a 1-year, or 2-year subscription to my Wealth Trading Newsletter. You can upgrade to this longer term subscription or if you are new, join one of these two plans listed below, and you will receive:

(Could be worth hundreds of dollars)

2-Year Subscription Gets TWO 1oz Silver Rounds FREE 
(Could be worth a lot in the future)

I only have a limited number of silver rounds I’m giving away ​​​​​​​so 
upgrade or join now before it's too late!


Happy May Everyone!
Chris Vermeulen


Stock & ETF Trading Signals

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Technical Analysis and Rates Unchanged – Here We Go

The U.S. Federal Reserve is one of the only central banks to attempt to raise rates consistently over the past few years, has possibly learned a very valuable lesson – no good comes from raising rates to the point of causing another market collapse. The news that the US Fed will leave interest rates where they are, temporarily, is good news for a number of reasons.

First, this allows the markets to shake out weaker players and weaker components of the corporate world. Where corporate debt levels are concerned, interest rates are tied to debt repayment liabilities and refinancing costs. Firms that are unable to manage at current interest rates certainly would not be happy about rising rates. This allows these corporations to either struggle to resolve their debt issues or collapse under the weight of their own debt. This will also play out in the foreign markets as well.

Second, it allows the housing market and private debt markets to shake out some of the “at risk” consumers. We authored an article a few months ago about how foreclosures and pre-foreclosures were starting to increase in nearly all markets. At the time, many people in the real estate field shrugged off these increases as par for the course. With the decreasing foreign investment in real estate and the increasing pressures on the local consumer markets, we saw a dramatic slowdown in housing starts and sales activities recently. This is because the demand side of the market is falling much faster than the supply capacity.

The uncertainty in the foreign markets, global central banks, and foreign investments have prompted many people to pull out of the local markets – even the hot markets. The at-risk consumers that were trying to sell near this top suddenly found the buyers were just not there or ready to make the commitment. This put the at-risk consumers in a difficult position as they could not flip their houses as easily as they could 6 months ago.

Yet, in the global equity markets, investors can sell or buy with much faster transaction times – at the click of a mouse button in most cases. This allows equity investors to pull capital away from risky investments and migrate that capital into more secure investments in a matter of minutes or hours – not weeks or months. And that is exactly what has been happening over the past 30+ days in the global markets.

Capital is repositioning for the next phase of this market; where the US economy is strong, housing continues to weaken and at-risk consumers continue to feel the pressures of the US Fed interest rate policies. Where foreign consumers attempt to deal with their own version of “central bank hell” and asset devaluations in an attempt to find more secure investment vehicles for their capital. Money market funds, investment funds and, of course, the US value/blue-chip equities are looking very promising right about now.

This Daily SPY chart shows our recent ADLC indicator (price cycle turning points) and our oversold extreme price levels shaded with lime green. When these two things align the market tends to rally for 1-3 days with strong momentum. During pre-market last week, we told our followers that the big gap lower in price was going to be bought and price should rally for 2-3 days, which is exactly what has unfolded thus far.



Global capital will continue to rush into the US markets as long as the US Fed does not do anything to derail things. Our research team believes the US Fed may even decrease the interest rates by 0.25% before the end of the year depending on how much pressure is placed on the economy by these “at risk” participants.

We will continue to keep you updated as to our findings and we want to urge you to visit The Technical Traders Free Market Research to read all of our most recent research posts. You really owe it to yourself to understand what is happening in the global markets right now and how we have continued to stay 30-60 days ahead of these moves for our valued members. There are so many opportunities setting up in the markets for traders it is almost hard to understand the dynamics at play right now. If you want a dedicated team of researchers and traders to help you navigate these markets, then visit The Technical Traders to learn how we can provide you with even more detailed daily research and support.

Chris Vermeulen



Stock & ETF Trading Signals

Friday, April 7, 2017

Surviving and Thriving During an Economic Collapse

By Nick Giambruno 

In just over a century, the international monetary system has collapsed three times: in 1914, in 1939, and in 1971, when Nixon severed the dollar’s last ties to gold. We are due for another major breakdown soon.

This time, the US dollar will lose its status as the world’s premier reserve currency. And the ramifications of that happening are hard to overstate. It will likely be the tipping point at which the US government becomes desperate enough to officially restrict the movement of people and their money… desperate enough to nationalize retirement savings… and desperate enough to make other forms of overt wealth confiscation routine.

For decades, countries around the world have conducted most of their international trade in US dollars. If they want to play in the international sandbox, most have to buy US dollars on the currency market first. This creates a (frequently artificial) demand for dollars, which makes those dollars more valuable.

Imagine the overall boost this arrangement gives to the dollar’s value. It’s enormous.

This system allows the US government and US citizens to live way beyond their means. It also gives the US government immense geopolitical leverage. It can pick and choose which countries can participate in the US-dollar-based financial system—and, by extension, the vast majority of international trade.

All of these unique benefits will disappear when the dollar loses its premier status. No one knows exactly when that will happen, but we’re quickly moving in that direction. Russia, China, Brazil, and India are all making serious moves to dump the dollar and trade in their own currencies. The momentum is quickly gaining critical mass.

I believe it won’t be long before the US government will be desperate enough to enact the restrictive measures we all fear. It’s important to prepare for the economic and financial consequences now. However, you also need to prepare for the sociopolitical consequences of the next economic collapse. It’s probably not going to happen tomorrow, but the direction the bankrupt US government is headed is clear.

Once the dollar loses its status as the world’s premier currency, your options for protecting your savings will have likely narrowed significantly, if not disappeared altogether. It’s important to act before that happens.

P.S. New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and I think that a crisis for the record books is coming soon. We think your savings are highly vulnerable. There’s a good chance you could be wiped out.

That’s why we released an urgent new video on surviving and thriving during the next financial crisis. 

Click here to watch it now.




Stock & ETF Trading Signals

Thursday, February 16, 2017

The Most “Horrifying” Chart in the World

By Justin Spittler

Larry Fink is terrified. Fink runs BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. The company manages a whopping $5.1 trillion. That's more than Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, or Wells Fargo. It’s more than the annual economic output of Japan, the world’s third largest economy. This makes Fink one of the most powerful people on the planet. Obviously, you don’t climb to the top in Wall Street by being easily rattled. But right now, Fink’s nervous. He’s worried about “a lot of dark shadows that could impact the direction of the marketplace.”

Fink’s especially worried about consumer confidence.…
Consumer confidence measures how everyday people feel about the economy and their own financial situation. It’s subjective. You can’t measure it. That’s why some investors don’t take it seriously. But they should. After all, sentiment is what really drives stocks. It’s far more important than earnings, valuations, or the health of the economy. It’s why stocks can rally despite serious fundamental problems. According to a recent survey by the University of Michigan, consumer confidence has been climbing since 2011. It recently hit the highest level since 2004.

Americans have good reason to be confident.…
After all, we just elected our first “investor” president. Unlike Obama, Donald Trump wants to put American businesses first. He also wants to cut taxes, ease regulations, and rebuild American infrastructure. These policies should help U.S. companies and workers. That’s why Americans are so confident. It’s why the S&P 500 has rallied 9% since Election Day. It’s why the Dow Jones Industrial Average just topped 20,000 for the first time ever. You can clearly see Trump’s impact on stocks in the chart below. You’ll also notice that consumer confidence hasn’t been this high since just before the 2008–2009 financial crisis.



Thanks to Trump, greed is in the air again…
But this isn’t a good thing. It’s a warning sign. Today, consumer confidence is even higher than it was in 2007. And we all know how that ended. The S&P 500 plunged 57% over the next two years. The Russell 2000, which tracks 2,000 small U.S. stocks, dropped 60%.

Fink doesn't think you should be buying stocks right now.…
He explained why in a Yahoo! Finance investor event last week:
When consumer confidence was at the lowest, that was the low point of the equity market. You should be buying then. And now consumer confidence is high and the S&P 500 is very high. Maybe you should be selling now.
Fink’s not the only Wall Street legend who thinks this, either. Sir John Templeton, one of the greatest stock pickers ever, famously said:
Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.
This is why Fink thinks the chart above is “horrifying.” But that’s not the only thing keeping him up at night.

Fink says “we’re living in a bipolar world”.…

He continued:
In my conversations with CEOs in Europe and CEOs in the United States they may be very bullish about what may come but most business people are not investing today.
Some folks might find this confusing. After all, the stock market is supposed to reflect the health of the economy. But Dispatch readers know this hasn’t been the case lately. Since 2009, the U.S. economy has grown just 2% per year. That makes the current recovery one of the slowest on record. Meanwhile, stocks have been rallying for nearly eight years. That makes the current bull market one of the longest in U.S. history.

U.S. stocks are now incredibly expensive.…
Companies in the S&P 500 are trading at a cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE) of 28.9. That’s the highest level since the dot-com bubble. It means U.S. stocks are 73% more expensive than normal. And that’s just one measure. Last week, we showed you two other key metrics that prove how absurdly expensive U.S. stocks are today. In short, there’s not much upside in U.S. stocks, even if Trump can breathe life into the economy.

We recommend you take precautions today.…
You can get started by holding more cash and owning physical gold. Setting aside cash will help you avoid big losses if stocks crash. Gold will also help you weather the next financial crisis. That’s because gold is the ultimate safe haven asset. It’s survived everything from stock market crashes to full blown currency crises. It will survive the next financial crisis, too. To be clear, we aren’t saying U.S. stocks will crash this year or even the next. But these simple steps will protect you should the “unthinkable” happen.



Chart of the Day

Silver is rallying. Today’s chart shows the performance of the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV), whichs tracks the price of silver. It’s the most active silver fund in the world. Every day, investors trade more than 9 million shares of SLV. This makes it a great way to track investor demand for silver. You can see in the chart below that SLV has been in a downtrend “channel” since last summer. A channel is a range that an asset trades in. The bottom line acts as support. The top line acts as resistance.

You can see SLV just “broke out” of this channel. It’s now in an uptrend. This tells us that silver should head higher in the near future. If you own silver, this is great news. If you don’t, now might be a good time to buy some. Just don’t wait too long. Silver could be headed much higher from here.




The article The Most “Horrifying” Chart in the World was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

How to Profit From These Massive, Brexit Induced Trends

By Justin Spittler

This has the makings of a classic speculative opportunity—one where politically caused distortions are liquidated and prices readjust. But a word of caution. It’s going to take place within the context of the Greater Depression. And, as Richard Russell, who lived through the last depression, observed: In a depression, nobody wins. The winner is just the person who loses the least.

The EU will disintegrate. It never made sense from the beginning to try to get Swedes to live by the same rules as Sicilians or Germans by the same rules as Portuguese. Not to mention that the rules are entirely arbitrary. Worse, almost all the rules are economic in nature, with legislated winners and losers. Deals like that always lead to resentment, among both the winners and the losers.

In addition to this, the EU is very problematical when it comes to immigrants. There will be more migrants trying to settle in Europe. Why? Because the Muslim world, the swath of countries extending all across northern Africa, through the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Far East, is likely to become increasingly unstable. The EU, as a very politically correct organization is loathe to turn them away. However, once they’re within Schengen, the migrants can travel anywhere. Perhaps where welfare benefits are best and where other migrants are gathering. Remember, when times get tough, both politicians and the capite censi look for someone to blame.

How to profit from this? Most people don’t think the EU will collapse just because Britain (which has always been closer to the U.S. than the Continent anyway) has left. They’re wrong. For one thing, although Brussels won’t become a ghost town, it’s going to lose scores of thousands of highly paid Eurocrats and their minions. I recall that property there was some of the cheapest in Europe in the early ’80s, it’s going to return to that status. We’ll look for a REIT to sell short, specializing in the Brussels market.

It will accelerate the disintegration of nation-states everywhere. 

There are about 200 nation-states in the world. The international “elite,” the “intelligentsia,” the members of the Deep State everywhere, and organizations like the EU in Brussels, would like to see a much smaller number of more powerful states. Orwell anticipated just three mega-states in his dystopia. But the actual trend is in the opposite direction.

It’s not just the UK seceding from the EU, but Scotland from the UK. The Basques and Catalans may eventually secede from Spain. Belgium, a totally artificial country, may eventually break up into Flemish-speaking Flanders and French speaking Wallonia. France has half a dozen secession movements. Italy was only unified into its present form from scores of principalities, duchies, and baronies in 1871 by Garibaldi. It was the same with Germany until Bismarck in 1871. 

The break-up of the USSR in 1990 into 13 smaller states was a good start, but Russia itself is a small empire with dozens of distinct ethnic and linguistic groups. You will rarely hear about this in the mass media, but there are dozens of secession movements throughout Europe. That’s one more reason why (in addition to the interest rate risk and the inflation risk, which are both substantial) you should stay away from long-term government bonds.

The euro will cease to exist.....
The Esperanto currency was doomed from the beginning. It was not just an “IOU nothing,” like the U.S. dollar, but a “Who owes you nothing” since it’s not even backed by a specific government’s taxing power. How to profit? I’ve put on long-term futures contracts, long the British pound vs. short the euro. My rationale is simple. Britain will benefit from exiting the EU, attracting capital and strengthening the pound—which is down 11% against the euro since Brexit. The euro, meanwhile, will approach its intrinsic value at an accelerating rate.

A truly major banking crisis.....
Much worse than that of 2007–2009. Governments, who are all bankrupt, borrow money from commercial banks. Commercial banks have lent it to them because they believe it’s a risk free loan. Governments encourage them to lend recklessly, hoping that will jump-start sluggish economies. Central banks, which are the arms of their governments, have taken interest rates to zero and below for that reason and to make it easier for governments to service their debt. This policy has encouraged businesses to take on debt.

It’s an idiotic and reckless experiment that will end—likely in this cycle—with bankrupt central banks and governments bailing out bankrupt commercial banks and businesses. Just the way they did in 2007–2009. Except this time, the situation is much more serious. How to profit? Don’t own European companies, stocks or bonds, and banks in particular. In fact, even though they’re already down considerably, they’re going lower and are excellent candidates for short sales, or the sale of naked calls.

A panic into gold..... 
You’ve heard this story many times before here. But it’s truer than ever as we approach a genuine crisis. There are no stable paper currencies anywhere in the world. The dollar has been strong only because it’s liquid. Liquidity is good, but here, we’re talking about liquid like nitroglycerin. Hedge funds will start buying gold in size. As will central banks, who don’t want to hold each other’s paper. As will individual investors. Right now, few people even think about gold, much less understand it. How to profit? Buy gold. I expect we’ll see it well over $5,000 this cycle. Silver should do even better in relative terms. And gold stocks have explosive upside.

An exodus of capital and people from Europe.....
to parts of Latin America, plus to the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This is, obviously, bad for Europe and good for the recipient countries. In recent years, I might not have included Latin America, but things have changed. Argentina and Colombia are liberalizing economically. The continent isn’t involved in any entangling alliances, isn’t on the migration highway, and has low costs. Why a wealthy European would stay in that stagnant and unstable continent when he could live better, and mostly tax free, at a fraction of the cost in Argentina is a mystery to me.

Chaos in Africa..... 
Almost every country in Africa is an ex-European colony. Over the last 50 years, Europe, with the U.S. and now China, have shipped over a trillion dollars to the continent. Most of it has been recycled back to Europe by the African elites that stole it, and the rest has mostly been wasted. 

That flow is going to stop for a number of reasons, but among them is that it makes no sense in an “every-man for himself” world. At the same time, essentially all of the world’s population growth over the next couple of decades is going to come from sub Saharan Africa. It’s a nasty economic environment that’s a formula for conflict. 

Millions of Africans will want to emigrate, especially to the homelands of their ex-colonial masters in Europe. They won’t, however, be welcome. How might one take advantage of this? The higher population is going to put upward pressure on commodities, and the chaos is going to make their production much riskier in Africa.

In conclusion..... 
Brexit itself is likely to be good for Britain. And it augurs some big changes in the world at large. Don’t forget that it will all be in the context of both the Greater Depression and the accelerating and world-changing technological revolution I described last month. Our objective here remains to not only keep you advised of what’s happening, but help you profit from opportunities while avoiding major dangers.

Editor's note: The biggest threat to your wealth right now isn’t an economic recession, a stock market crash, or even a global banking crisis. It’s something much bigger and far more dangerous. This short video explains more…

It explains how violent currency moves—like we’re seeing today—have preceded some of the worst financial disasters in history. By the end of the video, you’ll know why you can’t afford to ignore the warnings we’re seeing right now. You’ll learn how to protect yourself and profit from the coming crisis. Click here to watch this free video.



Get our latest FREE eBook "The Rebel's Guide to Trading Options"....Just Click Here!

Stock & ETF Trading Signals

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Did You See This Explosive Signal in PCLN?

Did you see how PCLN took off like a rocket the other day? Every trader dreams of catching a trade like that. But instead of making massive profits most traders get left behind. Or they get stopped out because they were on the wrong side of the move. It’s happened to all of us and this is what it looked like this time around in PCLN.....


PCLN


So you gotta ask yourself..…

  • How do you know when support or resistance is likely to hold?

  • How do you know when to chase a ‘rocket trade’ like this move in PCLN?

  • How do you know when a breakout is really a fake out?

The answer is hidden below the surface and you can’t see it just by looking at the chart. You can’t see it looking at volume or candlesticks or other popular indicators. And when you get these questions wrong you lose money. The good news is that now there is a way you can tell - in advance - whether a move is likely to fizzle out or take off like a rocket.

All you need do is spy on what Wall Street’s biggest funds are doing. You see small retail traders don’t generate explosive moves like that. When you see a ‘rocket trade’ it’s driven by huge institutional trade volume. The problem is that 9 out of 10 traders have no clue how to spot these opportunities. And that’s why they lose.

I’m telling you this because my friend John Carter’s been developing four all new indicators that reveal when a breakout is fueled by big money and when it’s likely to fizzle out. Listen, John’s the real deal. He’s been trading for more than 25 years and he’s famous for making profitable trades like this one in PCLN in front of a live audience. 

What you need to know now is that these four new indicators are crazy accurate but they haven’t been released to the trading public yet. However, you can actually check them out now because John just did a FREE training last night and I’ve scored you access to the recording.

Listen, you probably don’t want to take another trade until you watch this video. Once you see this training you won’t look at a price chart the same way ever again. Go ahead and get the whole story now because the recording will only be up for a few days.


See you in the markets,
Ray C. Parrish

P.S. Be sure to watch this ASAP because the training is coming down soon


Get John's latest FREE eBook "Understanding Options"....Just Click Here!


Sunday, March 6, 2016

Hillary’s Scary New Cash Tax

By Justin Spittler

Have you heard of “negative interest rates?” It’s become a phenomenon with economists and the media. There’s a good chance you’ve read an article about it. We’ve covered it many times in the DispatchI’m writing to tell you something about negative interest rates you haven’t heard. You certainly won’t hear about it in the mainstream press.

What’s coming at you is a historic event. It’s something our grandchildren will hear stories about...much like the Great Depression or the Cold War. What’s coming could send the price of gold much higher in the coming years...and hand gold stock owners 500%+ gains. If you know what’s coming, it could mean the difference between having lots of free cash in retirement or barely getting by.

To understand the gravity of this moment, let’s cover one of the most bizarre ideas in the world...Negative Interest Rates. In a normal world, your bank pays you interest on your savings. It takes your money, pools it with other people’s money, and loans it out. The bank makes money by paying out less in interest on your deposit than it earns in interest from borrowers.

For example, it might pay out 3% to depositors while earning 6% from borrowers. This is how it has worked for decades. Negative interest rates turn your “normal” bank account upside down. Negative interest rates could only exist in a crazy world where idiot politicians are in control. Unfortunately, that’s just what we’re dealing with right now. Politicians all over the world are ordering banks to charge depositors (you) a fee for storing cash.

It’s a perversion of saving. It’s a perversion of capitalism. It’s a perversion of planning for the future.
And it’s going to result in disaster. Politicians think that by making it unattractive for you to keep money in the bank, you’ll save less money. Instead, you’ll spend more money on things like smartphones and cars. You’ll invest in things like stocks and real estate. This would “stimulate” the economy.

This thinking is very, very wrong. No matter what the government does, it can’t force you to spend money. It can’t force you to make investments if you don’t see good opportunities. Forcing people to pay banks to hold their money is a tax. It is wealth confiscation for the digital age.

The government and the mainstream press won’t dare call it a tax. But that’s exactly what it is. A negative interest rate policy is a tax. Any time you hear a politician, central banker, or news anchor say “negative interest rates,” just think “TAX.” Think “TAX ON MY CASH”. I’ll say it again: Negative interest rates are going to result in financial disaster.

The coming disaster will wipe out many people. But you don’t have to be one them. I’ll explain how you can sidestep this disaster—and even make a lot of money as a result of it—in a moment. But let’s quickly cover one more thing about negative interest rates.

The Ugly Twin Sister of Negative Interest Rates

If the government makes it unattractive for you to keep cash in the bank, you can pull cash out of the bank. You can simply store it in a safe or under the mattress. Politicians know this. That’s why they’ve created another dangerous policy that works hand-in-glove with negative interest rates. That policy is banning cash.
You see, if you pull your money out of the banking system and stuff it under the mattress, you aren’t doing what the government wants you to do.

You’re not spending money or investing in stocks. This is a major reason why governments are banning large cash transactions and large denomination bills.

They are fighting a War on "Cash". In just the past few years…

  • Spain banned cash transactions over 2,500 euros
  • Italy banned cash transactions over 1,000 euros
  • France banned cash transactions over 1,000 euros, down from the previous limit of 3,000 euros

And just a few weeks ago, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called for a ban on the $100 bill!
Historians aren’t surprised by Summers’ idea. Franklin Delano Roosevelt banned $500 and $1,000 bills in the 1930s. You can bet that Big Government types like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will do the same thing in a financial emergency.

By making it so difficult (or illegal) to buy and sell things with cash, the government wants to force people into the banking system. That way it can monitor us and coerce us into whatever it wants...like pay outrageous new taxes.

It’s all a dream come true for government central planners.

The governments say these new currency laws are for fighting terrorism, money laundering, and drugs.
But the ultimate goal is control of society…and to confiscate the wealth of private citizensAs congressman Ron Paul said, “The cashless society is the IRS’s dream: total knowledge of, and control over, the finances of every single American.”

Whether you agree with these regulations or not, the conclusion is obvious. By driving us more and more towards trackable digital payments, the government has made it much, much easier to confiscate our wealth. We’re like sheep that have been “herded” into a corral, ready for shearing. And Hillary Clinton (and her Big Government cronies) is holding the clippers. However, you don’t have to be sheared. You can avoid the shearing by learning how to navigate what will become the largest underground currency market in history.

Hillary Doesn’t Want Your Gold. She Wants Your Cash

On April 5th, 1933, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued one of the most controversial orders in U.S. history. It went by the name “Executive Order 6102” Not one American in 1,000 knows about this order. But to this day, many experts consider it to be one of the most destructive acts in U.S. history. It violated sacred principles held by our founding fathers. It impoverished millions and confiscated the savings of honest, hardworking Americans.

Executive Order 6102 made it illegal for private citizens to own gold. Citizens were ordered to turn in their gold to the government. Why would the government confiscate the wealth of private citizens? You can fill a book on the history surrounding Executive Order 6102. But in a nutshell, it was the act of a desperate government in the midst of a financial crisis. The government wanted the gold in order to increase the nation’s money supply. It believed an increase in the money supply would revive the struggling economy.

Please review those last two paragraphs.....

An increase in the money supply...a struggling economy...a desperate government. Sound similar to what is happening right now? Since the answer to that question is “YES,” we have to ask another question. Could such a confiscation happen again?

As the crisis develops, our deeply indebted government will act like a giant wounded beast, lashing out in all directions. It will grow more desperate for control. It will grow desperate for money. And just like FDR did in the 1930s, it will confiscate the wealth of private citizens. But Hillary Clinton (or Donald Trump, or whoever wins the election) won’t go after your gold. Nowadays, the gold market is very small compared to the overall economy.

Going after gold would be too much work for the government. The government is going to go after YOUR CASH. It will regulate your cash. It will tax your cash. It will take your cash. This has all kinds of implications for banking and the economy.

But here’s the most important thing you need to know as an investor. Negative interest rates and their partner, the War on Cash, will create a renewed interest in gold. This could cause gold to double or even triple in valueEven children know what the government is doing is crazy. And people aren’t going to take this lying down.

Rather than participate in the government’s mgovernment, onetary farce, people will go underground. They will pull cash out of banks and hoard it in safe places. And they will seek the safety, anonymity, and reliability of gold and silver. Gold and silver have served as money for centuries. Gold is the ultimate currency because it doesn’t rot or corrode...it is durable…easily divisible...portable...has intrinsic value…is consistent around the world...and it cannot be created from thin air. It cannot be debased by the government.

By enforcing negative interest rates and fighting a War on Cash, the government will create a huge underground currency market. And the ultimate underground currency will be gold and its sister metal, silver. Gold is trading for around $1,260 an ounce right now. As the government blunders into a negative interest rate disaster, gold will likely rise 50%...100%...possibly even 200% higher. There’s an underground currency market coming to your neighborhood.

If you own enough gold, you’ll be its king.
If you don’t yet own gold, buy it now.
If you own a lot of gold, buy more.

Regards,
Brian Hunt

Editor’s Note: Brian just alerted readers to an extremely rare opportunity in the gold market…one that could lead to 500%+ gains in a short period. This situation has only occurred a handful of times in the last 20 years. But every time it occurs, some investors see gains as large as 1,700%, 4,300%, and 5,000%.

If you’re interested in this idea, please act now. With gold prices surging, the window of opportunity won’t be open long. And once it closes, we likely won’t get another one for years. Read more here. The article Hillary’s Scary New Cash Tax was originally published at caseyresearch.com.


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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Whoever Does Not Respect the Penny is Not Worthy of the Dollar

By Nick Giambruno

This definitive sign of a currency collapse is easy to see…When paper money literally becomes trash. Maybe you’ve seen images depicting hyperinflation in Germany after World War I. The German government had printed so much money that it became worthless. Technically, German merchants still accepted the currency, but it was impractical to use. It would have required wheelbarrows full of paper money just to buy a loaf of bread.

At the time, no one would bother to pick up money off the ground. It wasn’t worth any more than the other crumpled pieces of paper on the street. Today, there’s a similar situation in the U.S. When was the last time you saw someone make the effort to pick up a penny off the street? A nickel? A dime?

Walking around New York City recently, I saw pennies, nickels, and dimes just sitting there on busy sidewalks. This happened at least five times in one day. Even homeless people wouldn’t bother to bend over and pick up anything less than a quarter. The U.S. dollar has become so debased that these coins are essentially pieces of rubbish. They have little to no practical value.

Refusing to Acknowledge the Truth

It costs 1.7 cents to make a penny and 8 cents to make a nickel, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The U.S. government loses tens of millions of dollars every year putting these coins into circulation. Why is it wasting money and time making coins almost no one uses? Because phasing out the penny and nickel would mean acknowledging currency debasement. And governments never like to do that. It would reveal their incompetence and theft from savers.

This isn’t new or unique to the U.S. For decades, governments around the world have refused to phase out worthless currency denominations. This helps them deny the problem even exists. They refuse to issue currency in higher denominations for the same reason. Take Argentina, for example. The country has some of the highest inflation in the world. In the last 12 months, the peso has lost over half its value.

I was just in Argentina, and the largest bill there is the 100 peso note, which is worth around $7. It’s not uncommon for Argentinians to pay with large wads of cash at restaurants and stores. The sight would unnerve many Americans, who’ve been trained by the government through the War on Cash to view it as suspicious and dangerous.

For many years, the Argentine government refused to issue larger notes. Fortunately, that’s changing under the recently elected pro market president Mauricio Macri. His government has promised to introduce 200, 500 and 1,000 peso notes in the near future.

This is the opposite of what’s happening in the U.S., where the $100 bill is the largest bill in circulation. That wasn’t always the case. At one point, the U.S. had $500, $1,000, $5,000, and even $10,000 bills. The government eliminated these large bills in 1969 under the pretext of fighting the War on Some Drugs. The $100 bill has been the largest ever since. But it has far less purchasing power than it did in 1969.

Decades of rampant money printing have debased the dollar. Today, a $100 note buys less than a $20 note did in 1969. Even though the Federal Reserve has devalued the dollar over 80% since 1969, it still refuses to issue notes larger than $100.

Pennies and Nickels Under Sound Money

For perspective, consider what a penny and a nickel would be worth under a sound money system backed by gold. From 1792 to 1934, the price of gold was around $20 per ounce. Under this system, it took around 2,000 pennies to make an ounce of gold. At today’s gold price, a “sound money penny” would be worth about 55 modern pennies. A “sound money nickel” would be worth about $3. I don’t pick up pennies off the sidewalk. But I would if pennies were backed by gold. If that were to happen, I doubt there would be many pennies sitting on busy New York sidewalks.

Ron Paul said it best when he discussed this issue…
“There is an old German saying that goes, ‘Whoever does not respect the penny is not worthy of the dollar.’ It expresses the sense that those who neglect or ignore the small things cannot be trusted with larger things, and fittingly describes the problems facing both the dollar and our nation today.
Unless Congress puts an end to the Fed’s loose monetary policy and returns to a sound and stable dollar, the issue of U.S. coin composition will be revisited every few years until inflation finally forces coins out of circulation altogether and we are left with only worthless paper.”

There’s an important lesson here.

Politicians and bureaucrats are the biggest threats to your financial security. For years, they’ve been quietly debasing the country’s currency… and inviting a currency catastrophe. Most people have no idea how bad things can get when a currency collapses….let alone how to prepare.

How will you protect your savings in the event of a currency crisis? This just released video will show you exactly how. Click here to watch it now.



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Monday, December 14, 2015

Evaluating Brazil

By Doug Casey

Editor’s Note: Casey Research originally published this article in January 2013. We’ve updated it with new, timely commentary. Doug’s analysis of Brazil is still vital today. They are timeless lessons on what happens to a country when a currency collapses.

Let’s explore Brazil, the “B” in the BRIC countries. It’s been getting a lot of applause as the new breadbasket of the world, and Brazilians are viewed as taking their place among the world’s new rich guys. I recently spent a week in São Paulo. I’d been to Brazil a half dozen times over the years, but never to São Paulo, a gigantic city that could easily be mistaken for L.A., except that it lacks the charm, is said to have vastly more crime, and speaks Portuguese, not Spanish. I was there to play in the Brazil Series of Poker, but also because I just wanted to see the place, since it vies with Mexico City to be the biggest agglomeration of people in the Western Hemisphere and is one of the biggest cities in the world. And it’s only a two hour flight from Buenos Aires.

It’s fairly easy to generalize about the other countries in South America. They’re all quite different from one another, but, relative to Brazil, each is small and homogeneous. For an American, getting to know Brazil is much harder than for a Brazilian to get to know the U.S. For one thing, it’s vastly more difficult to get around; you’ll basically have to fly everywhere. And the country hasn’t yet been homogenized with the franchise clones making cities and towns indistinguishable from one another. Brazil is a veritable subcontinent. Let me recall a few facts that almost everybody knows (and therefore are hardly worth mentioning), and also some that relatively few know (and that may, therefore, offer you some edge).

Brazil is somewhat larger than the continental U.S., has 5,000 miles of beachfront, and 190 million people. Nearly half of them are concentrated in the southeast, in just 10% of the country’s area. The countryside there roughly resembles Georgia in the U.S. One-third of Brazil’s GDP comes from in and around São Paulo, which is the functional center of the region. That city is where the action is, but it truly has no soul. It’s almost entirely of recent construction; what’s left of the quaint old downtown is now just a hangout for beggars, bums, and pickpockets. I consider the burg devoid of attraction, unlivable, and have no urgent desire to go back.

Only businesspeople go to São Paulo; tourists go to Rio, a much more appealing place. Surprisingly, Brazil only gets about 5 million tourists a year, and most of them are from neighboring Argentina. This is a very low number. France gets 80 million, the U.S. 60 million, Thailand 20 million, and Singapore 10 million. Cuba and Uruguay get about 2.5 million apiece. Even Syria reported 5 million in 2011 - a number I find hard to credit and which may include numbers of tourists who are heavily armed. Further proof you have to take all government statistics with a grain of salt; all the bureaucrats know is what someone casually puts on a form.

The good news is that a tourist number as low as Brazil’s can only go up, which is favorable, unlike most of what I’ll have to say about the place. And it will go up, because they’re hosting the FIFA World Cup soccer contest in 2014 and then the Summer Olympics in 2016. It’s completely unclear to me, however, where they’re going to put all the sports fans or how the visitors are going to get around and get on generally, even though the government plans on spending $20 billion on stadiums, airport upgrades, and road building to accommodate the crowds. Most of the money will inevitably be frittered away on monument construction, as opposed to things that make life easier or more pleasant.

Doug Casey: You might want to read my editorial about the ongoing FIFA so-called scandal.
I haven’t found Brazil to be convenient for anything. It’s extremely difficult to find a place to exchange even dollars - forget about other currencies. Except at major hotels, where you’ll pay a 15% fee. But there aren’t a whole lot of hotels, reflecting the low number of arrivers. And the average Brazilian speaks only Portuguese, although kids are learning either Spanish or English in schools. But how well did you speak a foreign language when you got out of high school? If I didn’t have some Spanish (which is much more comprehensible to a Portuguese speaker than vice versa), I would have been reduced to hand gestures.

That’s apart from the fact that illiteracy is officially figured at 10%, although my guess is that it’s much higher.

Demography, Cities & Race

São Paulo is different from Rio in every aspect. It’s flat, as opposed to mountainous. It’s non-centered, with numerous subcities, rather than being focused on the beach. It’s purely about business and getting ahead, as opposed to having a good time. Both cities are famous for their high rates of violent crime, emanating from the favelas, which are the shantytowns that ring all the major cities. They originated in the ’50s, when poor people started moving into the cities looking for opportunity. The cities were much more pleasant and more livable before the favelas arose - but they’re actually good things. They’re the first step to urbanization. And in the Third World, that’s essential for increasing literacy, improving incomes, and slowing the production of waifs and street kids.

When you think of the favelas, you might imagine the population is swelling. Just the opposite, actually. As people move into the cities, they redirect their attention from family to work, and women take advantage of modern birth control. Women find jobs, and there are few grandparents around to help raise the kids - who are now seen as an expense, as opposed to cheap labor for the farm.

So here’s a shocking statistic. As late as 1980, the average Brazilian woman had four children; the country was in the midst of a population explosion. As of 2011, however, the average was down to 1.8. The government estimates that in 15 years, it will drop to 1.5, which is far below the replacement rate of 2.2. This is happening almost everywhere in the world now, not just in Europe, North America, China, Japan, and other developed countries. The implications of this trend - which I believe will accelerate worldwide - are profound. But that’s for another article. Brazil is now essentially an urban country, with almost 85% of its 190 million inhabitants living in towns and cities.

The degree of urbanization relates not just to the birth rate, but to other phenomena, like racism and even slavery. Brazil has long had a reputation as a non-racist society. I think that’s true, even though it was the last major country in the world where the slavery of blacks as a group was abolished, in 1888. An event which is, in my view, irrefutable proof that the U.S. War Between the States was neither necessary nor essentially about slavery.

One reason there’s little antagonism between the races in Brazil is that the country never had a Lincoln, or a war, to polarize them. I think there’s going to be ever more racial harmony as more people live in cities and almost necessarily start seeing each other as individuals, as economic units, rather than as members of a racial group. There was no racial hostility that I could see. Slavery is still said to exist in the Muslim world, but only on an individual, as opposed to a legalized and institutional, basis. That’s because it’s completely uneconomic today; it’s hard to incentivize slaves to work productively in a high-tech economy.
Doug Casey: Actually, it does exist. I spent 10 days in Mauritania in June, where it was only officially abolished in 1987. But it still exists. Mostly because the slaves are well treated, and don’t have a better alternative.
And common laborers, doing grunt work, are less and less either necessary or desirable. Within a generation from now, intelligent robots will be doing most menial labor, making human muscular input almost redundant. But that’s just the culmination of a trend that’s been in motion since the start of the Industrial Revolution, when people started moving into cities on a grand scale. In those days, London had its own versions of the favela, as New York City later also did.

The fact is that the southeast of the country - the area from Rio on down - is socially very European, while the rural and undeveloped northeast is quite African. It’s mild de facto segregation. At the poker tournament I played in, there couldn’t have been more than 10 blacks among the 1,800 players. That’s partly a reflection of São Paulo’s demographics (even though, as a national event, people were from all over the country) and partly because the 1,800 real (US$900) entrance fee was prohibitive for those who aren’t solidly in the middle class. And in Brazil, that still leaves out almost all the blacks.
Doug Casey: You’ll notice the real has lost over half of its value in only three years. This is one reason why the average person here - who saves in reals - can’t get ahead.
But a rising tide raises all boats. The question is: What’s going to happen to the economy in Brazil? And how can you profit from it?

The Economy

Brazil has, from its very beginning, been plagued with dirigiste government. When it comes to papers to fill out, stamps and approvals to garner, layers of taxes to pay, and bureaucrats to soothe, it may be the worst place in Latin America. I think anyone who runs a business in the country is both a saint and a hero, although that’s becoming the case almost anywhere. The country has done as well as it has mainly because it’s so big, and Brazilians are used to dealing with Brazilians, mostly within Brazil.

The place has a lot of native wealth. You’d think it almost couldn’t help but be prosperous. But that would be untrue, as demonstrated by the Congo, which is a basket case despite being at least as rich in resources as Brazil; and with the counterexample of Japan, which is extremely wealthy despite having no resources at all except its people. Brazil is midway between them. For what it’s worth, the largest Japanese community in the world outside Japan lives in Brazil.

Except for the very recent past, the country’s history is all about dictators, military governments, and currency destruction - but its promoters overlook these things. You might think history would have taught Brazilians a lesson and shown them what not to do, so that they don’t repeat the same mistakes. But that’s not the way it seems to work. Instead, every disaster becomes ingrained as part of the culture. I admire the makers of the surreal movie Brazil for capturing much of the essence of the place.

There’s an old saying about Brazil: It’s the country of the future - and always will be. That may be true partly because it’s a closed economy and always has been. Brazil is essentially an island, cut off from the rest of the continent by a jungle. And the southeast, the developed part of the country, is cut off from the interior by the highlands. And it’s rather unlikely that a bridge is ever going to cross the Amazon anywhere near the coast; the river’s 200 miles wide at its mouth. The place could plausibly be at least two or three different countries. Brazil’s mainland links to the rest of the continent are Uruguay and Paraguay - both small, quiet, backward countries that offer little in the way of trade possibilities but do present a language difference.

China is now Brazil’s big export destination for iron ore, soybeans, beef, and chicken. But the China bubble is overdue to burst, and the country’s imports of iron ore are going to collapse. Brazil will feel it especially, partly because of shipping costs, since it’s literally on the other side of the planet from China, and partly because producing anything in Brazil has become expensive.

Iron ore neared $200 a tonne at the peak of the recent boom, up from about $20 at the 2001 bottom. It probably costs Vale, by far Brazil’s largest producer and largest company, about $40 to produce the stuff and perhaps $20 more to ship it. The ore currently trades at around $120 in China, but I don’t see why the price couldn’t collapse to less than production cost. Further, Australia not only produces the stuff for less than $30 a tonne, but is much closer to the Orient, so the shipping cost is half of Brazil’s. Vale is a heavily touted stock today. I wouldn’t touch it, for that and other reasons covered below.
Doug Casey: This, I’ve got to say, was an accurate call.
Brazil’s second-largest trade partner is the U.S. But what’s going to happen as the U.S. economy winds down? Third is Argentina, where exports are already collapsing because of the Kirchner regime. But it’s really incorrect to think of Brazil as a major force in trading. According to World Bank data, Brazil’s exports in 2011 amounted to only 12% of its GDP. The figures for Russia, India, and China were, respectively, 31%, 25%, and 31%. A few ag sectors qualify as exceptions, but overall the country is an isolated, self-contained island.

Brazil has made real progress over the last 13 years, since the bottom of the commodity cycle in 2001. Average prices of its commodities have gone up 2.5 times, and volumes have grown 50%. National income has boomed, more than trebled, in real terms. So, of course, the country has done well. But mostly for reasons extraneous to itself.

Agriculture

Over the last two decades, Latin America has become an increasingly important supplier of agricultural commodities to the rest of the world. In 1980, Latin America accounted for 30% of global soybean exports (oilseed, meal, and oil); in 2012, it accounted for over 60%. That’s mostly Brazil, in that while Argentine production has risen, punitive taxes under the Kirchners have kept it from rising by much. U.S. producers, meanwhile, have lost half their market share. Brazilian corn exports have gone from 11% of the world total in 1980 to 29% in 2012, while U.S. export numbers have collapsed due to the insane policy of turning corn into ethanol fuel.

Brazilian export numbers have boomed for coffee, sugar, beef, chicken, and orange juice as well. So a major argument by Brazil promoters is that it’s become the world’s food storehouse, and it’s going to grow from here. Unlike many of their arguments, this makes some sense, I think. But it’s not a good enough reason to invest there anytime soon.

Over the short term, global demand for agricultural commodities is likely to increase because, despite the downturn in world economic growth, world population is still going up. But even in Africa and the Muslim world, the population growth rate is slowing radically and will soon head down. The main driver for agriculture, in the long run, won’t be rising populations but rising standards of living.

Since the 1960s, world per-capita consumption of grains has increased at 0.5% per year compounded, on top of the growth in population. Planted area per capita has been declining, however, because of the expansion of the world’s cities, most of which were founded in prime agricultural areas. To compensate, new land has had to be cleared, and most of that has been in Brazil. Fortunately, advances in plant genetics, ag techniques, fertilizers, pesticides, and the like have increased production by something like slightly over 2% per year from 1970 to 1991, but at only half that rate since then. The result has been the commodity boom, mainly reflected in grains. But grains are poor people’s food. And they’re also highly political commodities, almost on a par with oil. I’m disinclined to invest in farmland for the grains.

I’m much more interested in specialty products, like grapes, olives, and other fruits. And cattle. Interestingly, cattle producers really haven’t participated in the recent ag boom, partly because they’ve been pushed onto less productive land, reflecting the weak profits for many, many years. Because of that, herds have been liquidated, and headcounts all around the world are at their lowest levels in three generations. That’s why I’m especially bullish on cattle. But that’s another story.

In the last five years, land prices in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil have risen 15% to 20% per annum. That’s mostly because, of course, grain prices have exploded. In the U.S., by comparison, farmland prices have only risen 10% per annum. Land in Latin America has done better partly because infrastructure had room to improve, and partly because the market is becoming ever more global because of generally lower tariffs and bigger, more efficient ships.

Will there be a worldwide shortage of arable land? I doubt it. The demand for grain is likely to flatten out. There’s an immense amount of underused farmland everywhere (especially in Africa). And I have no doubt technology will again increase productivity. So Brazil will grow in importance for food, but that’s not the bonanza a lot of promoters seem to think.

Stocks

Around 400 companies are listed on Brazil’s main exchange, the Bovespa, for about US$1.2 trillion of market cap. By far the biggest are iron miner Vale and Petrobras, the national, state-controlled oil company.
Those two and 27 other Brazilian stocks are traded in the U.S. They’ve historically always traded at a discount to their foreign peers because of the country’s well-known problems - high taxes, intense bureaucracy, onerous import restrictions and duties, high crime rate, uneducated population, and subpar infrastructure.

As well as Brazil has done, it’s been a laggard by comparison to its peers in Latin America. In the last 10 years, corporate earnings in Latin America have grown on average by 18% annually. The countries that have recorded the highest earnings growth rates are Peru (28%), Colombia (23%), Chile (13%), and Mexico (12%). Brazil trails the list with 11% growth. During that time, Latin American stocks averaged a 10-to-1 P/E ratio. Most expensive (but deservedly so, as by far the most liberal economy in the region) was Chile, at 15, followed by Mexico, Colombia, and Peru with P/Es of 12. Brazil has historically traded cheaper, with an average P/E of 8. I attribute that to the country’s tax and regulatory structure.

According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2011 report, Brazil is ranked 127th out of 183 countries for business friendliness. Mexico ranks 35th and Chile 43rd. Brazil scores particularly badly in categories related to starting a business, registering property, paying taxes, and closing a business. It’s Kafkaesque here, as in many other Third World countries, in that they make it nearly impossible to open a business (because they’re trying to protect those already in existence), and equally hard to close one (because they’re trying to protect the workers).

Say what one will about how screwed up Argentina is - and its economy is a real mess and getting worse - at least the country has a strong tradition of classical liberalism. There are a lot of Argentines who know who Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard are and who study their work; that offers some hope for a renaissance. That just doesn’t seem to be the case in Brazil.

Based on all of this, I can’t see buying Brazilian stocks. Actually, the place to look is Argentina, which currently has some of the world’s most tempting market statistics - a P/E ratio of 3 (whereas its average over the last 10 years has been 12); a price-to-book-value ratio of 0.9 (versus an average of 2.0 over the last 10 years); and a dividend yield of 13% (versus an average of 4.2% over the last 10 years). Argentina is a bargain. But, like most bargains, nobody wants to touch it.
Nick Giambruno: Casey Research originally published this article in January 2013, and the Argentine market went up by more than 200% over the next 33 months.

Taxes

I’ve mentioned how brutal Brazilian taxes are. They’re a major reason everything in the country is so expensive - especially imported items. I decided to find out just how Byzantine the regime might be. Suppose you decide to import something to take advantage of the country’s vaunted growth. It had better be a highly desirable, extremely high margin item, because there are six levels of tax on imports, and they compound, each tax being levied upon the previous taxes. Nothing leaves the harbor before your check clears.

I’ll list them in the order they’re applied. On top of one another. They’re generally referred to by their Portuguese acronyms, in parentheses, to avoid confusion.
  • Merchant Marine Renewal Tax (AFRMM) - 25% of the shipping and port handling costs. Used to subsidize the merchant marine and shipbuilding industries.
  • Import Tax (II) - From zero to 35%, depending on the product. The level depends largely on which domestic industry they’re trying to protect.
  • Industrialized Products Tax (IPI) - From zero to 20%. Another protectionist tax.
  • Merchandise and Services Circulation Tax (ICMS) - This is essentially a VAT, levied by the states. It averages 18%, but ranges from zero for some “essential” items, to 25% for “luxury” goods.
  • Contribution to the Social Integration Program and Civil Service Asset Formation Program (PIS/PASEP) - 1.65%.
  • Contribution to Social Security Financing (COFINS) - 7.6%.

More Taxes

But I’ve only mentioned the import duties. The Corporate Income Tax (CIT) runs from 25% to 34%. Plus there are lots of rules regarding deals with related companies, companies in low-tax jurisdictions, and outbound interest payments. This is because, living in both a Latin culture and a high-tax jurisdiction, the Brazilians have grown expert at denying revenue to their voracious government. The government, in turn, adds more layers of rules.

Of course there’s also a personal income tax ranging to 35%. Then, on top of it, is Social Security (INSS) tax of 20%, accident insurance (SAT) of 1% to 3%, Employee Indemnity Guarantee Fund (FGTS) and Education Fund (SE) of 2.5%, plus assorted other taxes adding up to another 3.3% of income. There’s even a 10% tax on the acquisition of foreign technologies. This isn’t a treatise on Brazilian tax law, so I haven’t researched the limits, exclusions, exemptions, and deductions. But if you’re going to do anything here, you’d better have a good accountant.

Total import taxes can easily add up to 100% or more. It’s actually quite insane. Countries like Cuba and Iran complain about being placed under trade embargo and suffering from the dearth of imports. But Brazil - and, for that matter, almost every country in Latin America and Africa - effectively puts itself under embargo with its own tariffs. Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina are by far the worst self-tormentors.

Restricting purchases to things made within the arbitrary borders of one country (almost always to subsidize some inefficient local industry) makes about as much sense as limiting purchases to things made within a state, a county, or a city - or within a city block, for that matter. What’s happened in Brazil, as with all these places, is that it’s full of uneconomic industries, which turn out relatively high-cost/low-quality products. And often with a surfeit of workers - since keeping lots of workers on the payroll is considered smart public policy. That makes it very hard to make a sensible investment in these places.

It’s all happened before. Eventually reality wins out, and out of either intelligence or simple necessity, the duties come down, the protected industries collapse, and lots of workers become unemployed. The bigger and richer a country is, however, the more mistakes it can make before its eventual comeuppance. And Brazil is a rich country. In other words, Brazil has created some artificial and temporary prosperity in exchange for a very real depression sometime in the future. Neither an individual nor a country can get rich by producing inefficiently and wasting resources.

So Brazil should be doing vastly better than it is now and be on a much sounder foundation. But first it’s going to have to liquidate a lot of malinvestment and allow the severe distortions that have built up over the decades to unwind themselves. It won’t be fun, and it’s going to happen regardless of what’s going on in the rest of the world. This is a major factor that Brazil’s lately arrived cheerleaders either don’t see or don’t understand. It’s why Brazil - as with all controlled, politicized markets - has to be treated as a speculation, not as an investment.

History Equals Culture

Let’s take a look at where Brazil has been to get a better grip on where it’s likely to go.
Brazil split from Portugal in 1822 (about the time the rest of Latin America was breaking political ties with Spain), but remained a monarchy. After independence, the head of state was styled “Emperor” until 1889. (Would the U.S. be the country it is today - yes, the description is loaded with irony - if it had been a monarchy that late in its life?) The next 40 years saw political instability, with alternating military and oligarchical governments, essentially all financed with coffee exports. In 1930, a military coup installed the Vargas dictatorship, typical of governments the world over in the ’30s in its promotion of industrialization by state-owned companies. It survived coups by both pro-Communist and pro-Nazi elements while resembling both.

Another general was elected president in 1946, followed by one headstrong statist after another promising the era’s version of hope and change, by making “50 years’ progress in 5 years.” Part of that promise included moving the capital from Rio to Brasilia, a city built from whole cloth in the middle of the jungle, in the middle of nowhere, starting in 1956. Three million people now live there, so it has been construed a success by some. I think it’s better described as an ongoing disaster and a monument to the gigantic size, complexity, and cost of the Brazilian government.

Brazil was again a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, with all the things that have come to be expected from a banana republic ruled by generals - repression, torture, corruption, and runaway inflation. This brings us to the current era, with the ascension of Fernando Collor de Mello in 1985, then the first elected leader in 29 years. He started a trend toward liberalization - beginning the privatization of companies like Vale, Embraer, and Telebras - and toward political moderation that’s been in motion since.

Predictably, Collor de Mello was tried on corruption charges. I say it’s predictable both because enemies of liberalization wanted to punish him and because it was inevitable that, with lots of new capital being liberated, some of it would stick to the president and his cronies. That’s what politics is all about everywhere.

A big change came in 1994 with the invention of the real, the present currency, which was initially priced at US$1.25. Brazilians were overwhelmed at the thought of their currency being worth more than a dollar, even if only for a while. Surprisingly, the currency has been managed fairly prudently, losing just 60% against the dollar over 20 years. Part of the real’s comparative durability was that Brazilians were reacting against the immense inconvenience of one currency destruction after another; part was the simultaneous partial liberalization of the economy on a number of fronts, especially imports.

But when Lula da Silva (who’d run for president twice before) was elected in 2002, the real collapsed to US$0.25, because he and his leftist party had long promised to roll back what reforms had been made and return to a more closed economy. Surprisingly, da Silva proved quite moderate. And he had the singular good luck to be elected at the beginning of the great commodity boom, which brought lots of capital into Brazil, facilitated nearly full employment, and increased the value of the real to its current two to the U.S. dollar.

It was a given that his protégé, Dilma Rousseff, would easily be elected in 2011. Rousseff used to be a communist radical, but like da Silva, she’s acted in a fairly responsible and reasonable way so far. She’s even talked about freeing the economy further and reducing some taxes. These things are possible. But so far she’s been presiding over good times. When things get tough, it’s likely she’ll return to her intellectual and psychological roots, and the government will act the way it usually has.

So I wouldn’t plan my life around meaningful liberalization in Brazil. Or good times in any of its markets. One reason is that the commodity boom has already run a long way, and further gains are likely to be marginal in real terms. But a bigger reason is simply the country’s history and culture - dictators, generals, chronic inflation, and consistently destructive economic policies. When the world economy turns down in the near future, it’s not going to help Brazil. They’ll likely revert to form. Or simply act like almost every other government in the world today and “do something.” Brazil is a prime example of the wisdom of the old saw “Never invest in a country that has the color green in its flag.”

Culture and Currency

Four recently published books promote Brazil as the place to be, mainly because it’s a BRIC that has established a great “track record” since 2001. This is typical of what happens at the top of a bubble. When stocks are at a peak, people want a book about how the Dow is going to 40,000; this is true across all times, places, and markets. People are now writing books on Brazil.

But it’s almost always a mistake to buy popular investments and speculations. In order to make serious money, you have to buy while something is cheap and unwanted, even unknown - better yet, despised. Not after it’s expensive and everyone’s hungry for it. People tend to confuse investments with people. When it comes to people, track records are critical. With people, past performance isn’t just the best, it’s essentially the only predictor of future performance.

Someone who has exemplified the Boy Scout virtues in the past is likely to continue on that course; someone with a panoply of vices and bad habits is likely to carry them to a bad end. The same is true of companies, at least until management changes. But even when it does, corporate culture lingers for a considerable period. This is even more the case with countries. Change in a country’s culture takes generations, if it happens at all.

Everyone talks (quite correctly) about how totally irresponsible Argentina has been with its currency, but Brazil’s follies have been forgotten in the celebrating of its success over the last 15 years. You may find a comparison of interest.

Argentina has had only five currencies in its modern history - the peso moneda nacional (PMN), the peso ley, the peso argentino, the austral, and the current peso convertible. The PMN was used from before WWI until 1970. In its early days, it was tied to gold, and the PMN traded at about 2.25 pesos to the dollar. It started slipping after the Great Depression began in 1929 and then went from 4.2 (to the dollar) in 1947 to 15 in 1950. At that point Peronism, a peculiar blend of corporatism, populism, socialism, fascism, Keynesianism, militarism, nationalism, and other variants of statism that seemed like good ideas at various times, took over. And the ideas have never let go of the popular Argentine psyche.

In 1970, the PMN was replaced by the peso ley, for a 100-1 rollback.
In 1983, the peso ley was replaced by the peso argentino, for a 10,000-1 rollback.
In 1985, the peso argentino was replaced by the austral, for a 1,000-1 rollback.
In 1992, the austral was replaced by the peso convertible, for a 10,000-1 rollback.

This happened with the election of Carlos Menem, who greatly liberalized the economy (while facilitating grand larceny among his cronies). Menem maintained this peso’s relative value with a currency board, wherein the central bank was supposed to take in and hold one U.S. dollar for every peso it issued. They kept to that for a while, then started fraudulently issuing extra pesos, which led to the famous crisis of 2001, with a 75% devaluation.

If you’d held Argentine currency through its various replacements over the last 100 years, you’d have retained only 1/70 trillionth of its original value. At the moment, the peso has an “official” value of 4.7 to the dollar, but trades on the semi-illegal free market for 7 to 1. It’s on its way to zero again. The history of currency in Brazil is even worse, despite the Banco do Brasil mission statement’s talk of “ensur[ing] the stability of the currency’s purchasing power and a solid and efficient financial system.” But all central banks say that.

Brazil long maintained its original real from the 18th century and then replaced it with the cruzeiro in 1942, for a 100-1 rollback.
In 1965, the cruzeiro novo replaced the cruzeiro, for a 1,000-1 rollback.
In 1986, the cruzeiro novo was replaced with the cruzado, for a 1,000-1 rollback.
In 1993, the cruzado was replaced with the cruzeiro real, for a 1,000-1 rollback.
In 1994, the cruzeiro real was replaced with the real, for a 2,750-1 rollback.

Since then, the real has lost about two thirds of its value relative to the dollar. I see no reason why it shouldn’t meet the fate of its predecessors. I calculate destruction against the dollar so far at about a quadrillion to one. But numbers of this order of magnitude are academic. I fully expect that, when the pressure for revenue and economic stimulus next arises, the Brazilians will once again destroy their currency.

The Bottom Line

My view is that in today’s world, it’s extremely hard and risky to invest. You must remember the correct definition of investing: to allocate capital to produce new wealth. Essentially that amounts to buying equipment, hiring people, renting real estate, and seeing that a business is run sensibly over the long term.

Investing is all about funding successful businesses. In order for that to be possible, you need some predictability and a certain amount of stability. Unfortunately, those are ingredients that go into short supply whenever government gets involved in the economy. And today, from what are already the highest levels in modern history, governments all over the world are becoming much more virulent. And since most of them are now manifestly bankrupt but are burdened by huge promises for welfare and transfer payments to the masses who voted them in, you can expect things to get even worse.

When there are no opportunities for investing, you can only speculate, which means, look for politically caused bubbles, collapses, and distortions. Brazil should only be viewed as a speculation. As chronically and pathetically mismanaged as Brazil has always been and continues to be, it’s astonishing how well it’s done. And there’s no reason that it shouldn’t continue progressing, despite the weight of government and its seeming inability to learn from its mistakes. People will keep producing, and technology evolving.

Am I negative on Brazil? No. I highly recommend you visit, especially before FIFA in 2014. I really like the country (notwithstanding São Paulo). But it’s not a sure ticket to wealth. In fact, over the next decade, I’d recommend you stay away from Brazilian markets. But armed with this information, hopefully we’ll recognize the Bovespa’s next bottom.
Doug Casey: Hmm...maybe the bottom is close now. Or certainly closer.

Editor’s Note: Doug Casey has been warning of a currency collapse. He believes a collapse of major currencies could wipe out trillions of dollars in wealth, including pensions. Here’s Doug:
It’s going to be much more severe, different, and longer lasting than what we saw in 2008 and 2009…The U.S. created trillions of dollars to fight the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. Most of those dollars are still sitting in the banking system and aren’t in the economy. Some have found their way into the stock markets and the bond markets, creating a stock bubble and a bond super-bubble. The higher stocks and bonds go, the harder they’re going to fall.

Unlike most people, Doug Casey has actually lived through a currency crisis. He was in Argentina when its currency collapsed in 2001 during the largest sovereign debt default ever. By making smart investments, he even managed to make a large gain on his money in the aftermath of the crisis.

We recently recorded a video presentation with Doug on this topic. In the video, Doug shares his advice on how to position your money and investments for the collapse of a major currency like the U.S. dollar. Click here to watch the video.

The article was originally published at internationalman.com.


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