How Should Investors Prepare For A Market Correction Or Bear Market?

Chris and Tom, of Palisades Gold Radio, cover a range of topics through the lens of technical analysis. They delve into the following questions:

• Where is capital flowing to in the current market environment? What are the stages of the market and where are we right now? Why is the 150-day moving average important for gauging what stage the markets are in?

• Comparing the S&P 500 to precious metals or miners, when will money flow toward the latter? How are the stock market and miners correlated? What do the topping candles on the monthly Gold chart indicate?

• Can the US dollar and Gold go up together or will they work against each other? Is Gold the ultimate safe play for global investors?

• What is the outlook for oil and how does its current position compare to 2007? What is the importance of established support levels and price action?

• AI stocks seem to be holding the market up right now. What happens when these begin to falter?

• How important is it for investors to be prepared for when the markets begin to roll over? What are the dangers of ignoring this eventuality? And what does a drawdown actually mean for an investor? What are the dangers of the Buy-and-Hold, diversification, and dividend-paying strategies?

• How do you pull money out of the stock market with your strategies? Is frequent trading better than having fewer trades? What is an Asset Revestor? What indicators, trend analysis, risk, and position management tools are used to protect capital and grow your accounts?

        Watch Chris' Interview Here

We Adjusted Our Retirement Account Positions with This Major Signal Issued - Did You Get The Signal?

Our trading partner Chris Vermeulen, who are readers have followed for a while now, is loving what is happening in the markets for the last three weeks. He wants a big bounce here because it is going to set us up with a huge long-term investment position once price confirms this next entry signal.

Last week Chris issued a trade alert to members of his long-term investing newsletter. This allows you to protect your wealth and assets while continuing to take advantage of opportunities generated by the U.S and global markets over the next several months and possibly into next year. This is the first trade alert issued in 2020 of this kind, and he may have another very soon, but it's not too late to take advantage of the first signal.

If you are a trader or investor, with a retirement account of any type, or have assets in the stock market, then you need to take action and sign up to get these important investment trade signals.

We all have trading accounts, and while our trading accounts are important, what is even more important are our long-term investment and retirement accounts. Why? Because they are, in most cases, our largest store of wealth other than our homes.

If they are not protected during a time like this, you could lose another 25-50% or more of your entire net worth. The good news is we can preserve and even grow out long term capital when things get ugly like they are now and Chris shows us how.

Check It Out Here

Sincerely,

Chris Vermeulen
Founder of The Technical Traders

When Crude Oil Collapses Below $40 What Happens - Part III

This, the final section of this multi-part research article, will continue our exploration of the consequences that may result from our ADL predictive modeling system’s suggestion that Oil may continue to fall to levels below $40 over the next few months.

In Part I and Part II, we’ve highlighted what we believe to be very compelling evidence that any continue oil price decline from current levels may be setting up the global markets for a massively volatile price reversion – similar to what happened in 1929.

Prior to the stock market collapse in 1929 and the start of the Great Depression, commodity prices collapsed in 1921 and again in 1930. This commodity price collapse was the result of over-supply and a dramatic change in investor mentality. The shift away from tangible items and real successful investing/manufacturing and towards speculation in the housing markets and stock market.

Today, we want to focus on some of the core elements of our current global economic structure to attempt to present any more compelling evidence of a commodity collapse event that may happen after the past 7+ years of a massive credit market expansion event. Allow us to briefly cover the events of the past 20 years.

You can get my daily market analysis articles and trade ideas by opting into my free market trend signals newsletter.

1999: the DOT COM bubble burst after a mild recession in 1993-94 and a stock market rally from 1996 to 1999

September 11, 2001: Terrorist Attack on US soil. Shocked the world and global stock markets. Sent the world’s economy into severe contraction. US Fed lowered interest rates from 6.25% to 1.0% from 2001 to 2003.

2004-06: US Fed begins raising rates from 1.0% and gradually increased rates to 5.25% in August 2006: +525%. Pushing the US credit market, and housing market, over the edge and starting the 2008 Credit Crisis.

2007-2008: US Fed lowered interest rates to near ZERO over a very short 16-month span of time as the US Credit Crisis event unfolded.

2009-15: US Fed continued to keep interest rates near zero throughout this time-frame and continued to pump capital in the global capital markets with multiple QE and debt buying events. Other global central banks followed the US lead providing additional capital throughout the global markets. This massive expansion of credit/debt over a 7+ year span of time allowed foreign nations to “binge” on cheap US and Euro credit/debt while an Emerging Market and Foreign Market recovery were taking place.

2016-2019: US Fed raised interest rates from 0.08% to 2.42% over this span of time. Pushing US Fed rates up by the highest percentage levels EVER: +3025%

This continued global cycle of “boom and bust” has wreaked havoc on global consumers and business enterprises. Over the past 20+ years, various cycles of economic appreciation and depreciation have left some people considerably better suited to deal with these cycles while others have been completely destroyed by these events. Now, it appears we are entering another period of “early warning” as global manufacturing activity, growth and economic output appears to be waning. Are we entering another period like the 1929 to 1940 period of the US where a global economic contraction resulted in a deeper economic recession/depression and took 15+ years to recover from?

The US Fed has recently started acquiring assets again – at a far greater rate than at any time since 2012. It is very likely that the US Fed is “front-running” a crisis event that is already starting to unravel again – possibly aligned with institutional banking entities and global credit/debt risks.

(Source: https://wolfstreet.com)

Chinese factory orders have continued to fall recently and the news is starting to trickle out of China that the US trade tariffs have done far greater damage than currently expected. This suggests that manufacturing, exports, and GDP for China have entered a massive decline. What happens next is that commodity prices collapse because of the lack of demand from manufacturers and consumers. (Source: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/) Chinese new loan origination rates have fallen to a 22 month “new low” – which suggests corporate and consumer borrowers are simply not willing to take on any new debt/credit at the moment. This happens when a population decides they want to “disconnect” from any economic risks and shift towards a “protectionist” process. (Source: https://finance.yahoo.com)

Recent news suggests that Chinese demand for European consumer and luxury goods has also contracted dramatically. Germany will release GDP estimates on November 14th. It is our opinion that the Chinese have already shifted into a more protectionist consumer stance and that would mean that demand for non-essential items (call them high-risk purchases) are very low at this time. If this is the case, the lack of true demand origination out of China/Asia could push much of Europe into a recession. (Source: https://www.yahoo.com/)

The last thing China would want right now is to blow the potential for any type of US/China trade deal – even if it means giving up more than they may have considered many months ago. More tariffs or any type of tit-for-tat retaliatory trade war would not be in the best interest of either party at this stage of the game. Who flinches first? The US, or China, or the rest of the world?

So, the question, again, becomes...“will a commodity collapse lead the global stock market into a prolonged period of price decline and/or a global recession over the next 10+ years?”

If so, can we expect commodities to collapse as they did after the 1929 stock market peak?

You may remember this chart from the earlier sections of this multi-part article. It highlights what happened leading up to the 1929 stock market crash and how early warning signs of manufacturing and agriculture weakness continued to plague the markets while speculation in housing and the stock market pushed certain asset values much higher near the end of the “Roaring 20s”.

Are we setting up for the same type of event right now where global trade, manufacturing, and agriculture are weakening after the 2008 Credit Crisis and we are meandering towards a repetition of the events that led to the “Great Depression”? Will commodities prices collapse to 2002 or 2003 levels for most items? Will Oil collapse to levels below $30 ppb over the next 6 to 12+ months? And what will happen to Gold and Silver throughout this time?

Can we navigate through these troubling events without risking some type of new collapse event or reversion event? Are the central banks prepared for this? Are traders/investors prepared for this? Just how close are we to the start of this type of event?

The answers lie in what we do now and how the commodities react over the next 12+ months. The one major difference between now and 1929 is that the world is far more inter-connected economically and there are more people throughout the world that have moved into the “economic class”. Thus, it is our opinion that any event that is likely to happen will be followed by a moderately strong recovery event – no matter how severe the outcome. The world is in a different place right now compared to 1929. Overall, only time will tell if our research and ADL predictive modeling system is accurate with respect to future oil prices.

We believe it is critical for all traders to understand what lies ahead and the risks involved in “playing dumb” about the current market environment. We recently authored an article titled “Welcome to the Zombie-land for investors” and highly suggest you read it. Our researchers will share this one component that should help to ease some of the stress you may be feeling right now – the most capable, secure, mature and best funded (reserves) economies on the planet will likely lead any recovery process should an event as this happen. Therefore, look for strengths in the most mature and capable economies on the planet if some new crisis event begins.

Even if a trade deal between the US and China were to happen today and eliminate all trade tariffs, would this change anything or would this simply pour fuel onto the “capital shift” fire that is already taking place with speculation reaching frothy levels?

If you want to earn 34%-50% a year return on your trading account with very few ETF trades then join us at the Wealth Building Newsletter today!


The Technical Traders

The Iron Rule of the Financial Markets

This math formula that can literally predict the market:    dxt=θ(μ−xt)dt+σdWt

John Bogle the founder of The Vanguard Group, calls it the iron rule of the financial markets. Jason Zweig from the Wall Street Journal says it’s the most powerful law in finance.

Legendary trader James O'Shaughnessy says that historically, we have always seen it driving stocks. And over the last 8 years it could have paid you well in consistent reliable profits.

Now I’m Going To Show You How It Works ← Click Here

If you trade it with options it could produce rapid two week individual trade profits like....

  *  204% on XLU Put Options

  *  124% on XLE Call Options

  *  And even as much as 998% on XLE Put Options

  *  All in precisely two weeks - no more, no less.

Get The Facts ← Click Here

My trading partner Todd Mitchell has recorded a three video series explaining how it works. He’s making it available to you now - 100% for FREE.

This series will only be available for a very limited time. If you want to watch…

Visit Here to Check it Out Right Now

See you in the Markets!
Ray C. Parrish
aka the Crude Oil Trader

How to Use the New Market Manipulation to Your Advantage

It's time for another one of Don Kaufman's wildly popular webinars. Don’t miss this live online seminar, How to Use the New Market Manipulation to Your Advantage, with Don Kaufman this Tuesday December 6th. at 8:00 PM New York, 7:00 PM Central or 5:00 PM Pacific.

During this free webinar you will learn:

• How scarcely used recent additions in market structure have forever changed how we view price movement and volatility.
• What weekly strategy you can use to take minimal risk and produce astonishing returns surrounding predictable or manipulated movements in any stock, ETF, or index.
• The one product that has become statistically significant in determining the next market move so whether you're a long term investor, swing trader, or intra-day trader you can get tuned into what's driving today's marketplace.
• How you can use market efficiency to your advantage in all aspects of your investments, retirement accounts, stock and options trading accounts, futures trading and more.
• How you can trade up to several times per week without having to continually monitor your positions, "set it and forget it" with this low risk high reward trade.

      Don's Webinars have an attendance limit that we always hit. This one will be no exception.

      Visit Here to Register Now!

      See you Tuesday night!
      Ray C. Parrish
      aka the Crude Oil Trader

Why This Stock Rally Won’t Last…And What You Need to Do With Your Money Today

By Justin Spittler

Silver is sending us an important warning. Yesterday, the price of silver closed at $20.30, its highest price since July 2014. Silver is now up 45% this year. That’s nearly eight times better than the S&P 500’s 5.9% return. And it’s almost double gold’s 25% gain this year. If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know silver is rallying for the same reason gold’s taken off. Investors are worried about the economy and financial system.

Like gold, silver is real money. It’s also a safe haven asset that investors buy when they’re nervous. Unlike gold, silver is an industrial metal. It goes into everything from batteries to solar panels. Because of this, it's more sensitive to economic slowdowns. That’s why many folks think of silver as gold’s more volatile cousin.
Lately, silver has been acting more like a precious metal than an industrial metal. It’s soaring because the global economy is in serious trouble. Today, we’ll explain why silver is likely headed much higher. And we’ll show you the best way to profit from rising silver prices.

Silver has been in a bear market for the better part of the last five years..…
From April 2011 to December 2015, the price of silver plummeted 72%. This 56 month downturn was the longest silver bear market on record. As brutal as this bear market was, we knew it wouldn’t go on forever. That’s because silver, like other commodities, is cyclical. It experiences booms and busts. As you just saw, the losses in commodity bear markets can be huge. But the gains in commodity bull markets can be even bigger. During its 2008–2011 bull market, silver soared an incredible 441%. That’s why we watch commodities so closely. Every few years, they give you the chance to make huge gains in a short period of time.

On December 18, Casey Research founder Doug Casey said silver wouldn’t get much cheaper..…
Doug told Kitco, one of the world’s biggest precious metals retailers, that gold and silver were near a bottom:

My opinion is if it's not the bottom, it's close enough to the bottom. So, I have to be an aggressive buyer of both gold and silver at this point.

Doug’s call was dead on. Silver bottomed at $13.70 an ounce on December 17. That same day, gold bottomed at $1,051 an ounce. In other words, Doug was one day off from perfectly calling the bottom in gold and silver.

The price of silver has soared 49% since December..…
But it could head much higher in the coming years. Remember, silver soared 441% during its last bull market.
Silver is “cheap” too. It’s trading 58% below its 2011 high, even after this year’s monster rally. It’s also never been more important to own “real money.” That’s because it looks like the world is on the cusp of a major financial crisis. Doug explains:

Right now, we are exiting the eye of the giant financial hurricane that we entered in 2007, and we’re going into its trailing edge. It’s going to be much more severe, different, and longer lasting than what we saw in 2008 and 2009.

As longtime readers know, the last financial crisis caused the S&P 500 to plunge 57%. It sparked America’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. And it allowed the government to launch a series of radical “stimulus” measures, none which actually helped the economy.

BlackRock (BLK) sees tough times ahead too..…
BlackRock is the world’s biggest asset manager. It oversees $4.6 trillion. That’s more than the annual economic output of Japan, the world’s third biggest economy. BlackRock manages more money than Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Bank of America (BAC). This makes it one of the world’s most important financial institutions…and one that probably understands the global economy better than almost any other company on the planet. Like us, BlackRock’s chief investment strategist, Richard Turnill, thinks the next few years could be very difficult. CNBC reported on Monday:

"This feels more and more like we're in an environment of low returns and high volatility for some time," Richard Turnill said on "Squawk Box.” "The period of political [Brexit] uncertainty ahead of us isn't going to last for weeks or quarters, but potentially for years," he said.

According to BlackRock, the “Brexit” made the global economy more unstable..…
If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know Great Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) on June 23. The Brexit, as folks are calling it, shook financial markets from Tokyo to New York. It erased more than $3 trillion from the global stock market in two days. 

Then, stocks started to rally. By this Tuesday, global stocks fully “recovered” from the Brexit bloodbath. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average even hit new all time highs this week.

Many investors took this as proof that the worst was over. We, on the other hand, reminded readers to not lose sight of the big picture. We explained that stocks were rallying because they’re the least bad place to put your money right now. We encouraged you to not “get sucked back into the stock market.”

Larry Fink doesn’t think U.S. stocks should be rallying either..…
Fink is the chairman and CEO of BlackRock. That makes him one of the most powerful people in the world.
Like us, Fink isn’t “buying” this stock rally. CNBC reported yesterday:

"I don't think we have enough evidence to justify these levels in the equity market at this moment," Fink said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

According to Fink, stocks are rallying for the wrong reasons:

He said the recent rally has been supported by institutional investors covering shorts, or bets that stocks would fall, and not individual investors feeling bullish.
"Since Brexit, we've seen ETF flows almost at record levels … $18 billion of inflows," Fink said. "However, in the mutual fund area, we're continuing to see outflows."
What that tells you is retail investors are pulling out, he said. "You're seeing institutions who were short going into Brexit … all now rushing in to recalibrate their portfolios."

In other words, this rally could fizzle out any day.

We recommend you invest with great caution right now..…
If you still own stocks, consider selling your weakest positions. Get rid of your most expensive stocks. Only hang on to companies that you know can make money in a long economic downturn. We also encourage you to own gold. As we said earlier, it’s real money. It’s preserved wealth for centuries because it possesses a unique set of attributes: It’s durable, easy to transport, and easily divisible. You can take a gold coin anywhere in the world and folks will instantly recognize its value.

We recommend most folks to hold 10% to 15% of their wealth in gold. Once you own enough gold, consider putting money into silver. It could deliver even bigger gains than gold in the years to come. To learn why, watch this short video presentation. It explains why 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. The good news is that you can protect yourself from this coming crisis. Watch this free video to learn how.

REMINDER: Our friends at Bonner & Partners are holding a special training series..…  
If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know part of our job is to share exciting opportunities with you when we hear about them. Today, we invite you to take part in a special training series hosted by Jeff Brown, editor of Exponential Tech Investor.

If you haven’t heard of Jeff, he’s an aerospace engineer, tech insider, and angel investor. His advisory, Exponential Tech Investor, focuses on young technology companies with big upside. For example, Jeff recommended an IT security company in October that’s already up 72%. Another one of Jeff’s picks has jumped 38% since February. And one is up 178% in less than a month.

In Jeff's training series, he reveals his secret to making money in technology stocks. He also talks about a HUGE opportunity taking shape in the technology space.  Click here to sign up for Jeff’s training series.

It’s 100% free and will take up less than 15 minutes of your time. Click here to register.

Chart of the Day

Silver stocks just hit a new three year high. Today’s chart shows the performance of iShares MSCI Global Silver Miners ETF (SLVP), which tracks large silver miners. As regular readers know, silver stocks are leveraged to the price of silver. It doesn’t take a big jump by silver for them to skyrocket. This year, silver’s 45% jump caused SLVP to soar 171%. It’s now trading at its highest level since April 2013.

If you think gold and silver are headed much higher like we do, you could put some of your money into gold and silver stocks. According to Doug Casey, these stocks could enter a “super bubble” in the coming years. Keep in mind, these are some of the most volatile stocks on the planet. Many gold and silver stocks can swing 5% or more in a day. If you can stomach that kind of volatility, you could see huge returns in gold and silver stocks over the next few years.

The article Why This Stock Rally Won’t Last…And What You Need to Do With Your Money Today was originally published at caseyresearch.com.

Get our latest FREE eBook "Understanding Options"....Just Click Here!

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 Dispatch. I’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 citizens. As 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 value. Even 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.


Get our latest FREE eBook "Understanding Options"....Just Click Here!

Steve Swanson Shows Us How to Trade This Volatile Market

Steve Swanson's 4D technology [which you'll read about in a minute] predicted everything about January's sell off and subsequent rally way back in December. If you want to know the future too, just click on the video link below. An up to date chart of the S&P 500 Price/Time Continuum is posted below the video. See for yourself the precise day the next big rally will begin then use the profit magnifier detailed in this free eBook to earn 3 times more profits.

A revolutionary profit magnifier quietly introduced in November 2008 had the power to essentially change the fate of millions of beleaguered investors. Yet, to this day hardly anybody knows about it.  Do you? In his highly acclaimed new book, Steve Swanson [the brilliant trader and inventor who predicted every intermediate market top and bottom for more than two decades] reveals a safe and easy way for you to utilize the powerful Thanksgiving gift of 2008 to earn 3 times more money on every trade.  

This is something you really deserve to know about. And you can download his tell all new ebook this week for free. Just for starters, see how you can take that profit and triple it! See how this one simple change can earn you 3 times more money I was shocked. And I think you will be too when you see how ridiculously simple it is to make one minor change. Easy for anybody. And turn a boring 25% a year strategy into an exciting moneymaker that averages 108% a year with no compounding!

FREE Download:  Take That Profit and Triple It!

And that’s not all. When you download your FREE eBook, you’ll also gain instant access to Steve’s paradigm shifting video 

How TIME Controls Every Market Turning Point.

Steve Swanson actually invented a program that plots every intermediate market high and low. Past, present, and future on what’s called the “Price Time Continuum”. That’s how he’s been able to predict and profit from every market turning point for more than 2 decades. Some are calling Swanson’s 4^th Dimension breakthrough the “Discovery of the Century”.  

So you might want to at least take a peek.  Click Here Now.

See you in the markets,

Ray C. Parrish
aka the Crude Oil Trader

P.S. As with most free things, Steve Swanson’s generous offer is limited.  So, even if you don’t have time to delve into anything new right now, I’d encourage you to grab your free ebook while you can.  That way you’ll have it to look through whenever you like. Click Here Now.

Jim Rogers on Timeless Investing Strategies You Can Use to Profit Today

By Nick Giambruno

Recently I spoke with Jim Rogers about the most important investment lessons he has learned over the years.
Jim is a legendary investor and true international man. He’s always ahead of the game. Jim made a bundle by investing in commodities in the 1990s when they were out of favor with Wall Street. He’s also made large profits investing in crisis markets.

Jim and I spoke about timeless strategies that are truly essential to being a successful investor.
You won’t want to miss this fascinating discussion, which you’ll find below.

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Nick Giambruno: You’ve said that many times throughout history, conventional wisdom gets shattered. What are some widely held beliefs that will be shattered in the next 10 years?

Jim Rogers: That’s a very good question. Well, for one thing, I know bond markets are at all-time highs almost in every country in the world. Interest rates have never been so low. Everybody is convinced that bonds are a good thing to invest in. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be at all time highs.

I’m sure that 10 years from now, we are all going to look back and say, how could people have even been investing in bonds with negative yields? How could that possibly have been happening? But at the moment, everybody assumes it’s okay, and it’s the normal and natural thing to do. Ten years from now, we’re going to look back and say, gosh, how could we ever have done something so foolish?

So one of the things I do is I look to see - when everybody’s convinced that X is correct - I look to see, well maybe X isn’t correct. So when I find unanimity of a view, I look to see, maybe it’s not right. And it usually isn’t right, by the way. I have learned that from experiences and from lots of reading.

Nick: How does an investor deal with being accurate but early?

Jim: Oh, that’s the story of my life. I’ve always been accurate but early. If I’m convinced something is going to happen or if I should make an investment, I have learned that I should wait for awhile, because maybe it is too early. And it usually is too early.

I try to discipline myself to wait longer or to put in orders below the market and let the market come to me. But even then, sometimes I’m still too early.

Nick: How did studying history help you in investing?

Jim: Well, the main thing it taught me was that everything is always changing. If you go back and look at before the First World War, nobody could ever have conceived in 1910 that Germany and Britain would be slaughtering millions of people four years later. Yet it happened.

No matter what we think today, no matter what it is, it is not going to be true in 15 years. I assure you. You pick any year in history, and look at what everybody was convinced was correct and then look 15 years later, and you’d be shocked and astonished. Look at 1920, 15 years later. Look at 1930, 15 years later.

Any year you want to pick - 1900, 1990, 2000. Pick any year and I assure you, 15 years later everything is going to be different. I guess that’s the first thing I learned from the study of history.

Nick: What mistakes do empires always make?

Jim: They get overextended. They think they’re smarter than everybody else. They think they cannot make mistakes, and even if they are making mistakes they are so powerful they think that they can correct the mistakes. And then they become overextended. Usually they become overextended financially, militarily, geopolitically, in every way.

Nick: Is the US repeating those same mistakes?

Jim: Well, the US is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world now, and the debts are going higher and higher. The people in the US think it doesn’t matter that we’ve got all these debts and there’s no problem. People in the US don’t think that it’s a problem that we’ve got troops in over 100 countries around the world. I mean, when Rome got overextended militarily, it paid the price. Spain and many other countries have had this problem. Maybe it’s not a problem. Maybe America can have troops in 200 countries around the world and it won’t matter, but America has certainly gotten itself overextended in many ways.

Nick: Do you think wealth and power will continue to move East?

Jim: Wealth and power are moving East now, and that is going to continue. That’s because of historic reasons. There’s little doubt in my mind that China is going to be the next great country in the world. Most people are still skeptical of that. Most people know something is happening in China. They don’t really quite understand the full historic significance of what is happening in China including many Chinese.

Jim Rogers and Nick Giambruno

Nick: You mentioned in your most recent book, Street Smarts, about the lesson you learned when Nixon closed the gold window in 1971. At the time you were long Japan and short the US, and you just got killed. Can you tell us the lessons you learned from that experience?

Jim: That was a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Even if you have it right, or you think you have it right, something can always come along and change that, especially with politicians.

Politicians play by different rules from the rest of us. They just change the rules. Mr. Nixon just changed the rules because he was having a serious problem, and he thought America was having a serious problem. And when they changed the rules against all logic or against history, something is going to give. If you are on the wrong side, you are the one who is going to give, and I’ve learned that.

Nick: Any other investing lessons you’d like to mention?

Jim: Well, when you see on the front page of the newspaper that there’s a disaster - natural disaster, economic, any kind of a disaster - just pick up the newspaper and think, now wait a minute, everybody’s panicked right now. The blasting headlines are that the world is coming to an end. Stop and think, is the world really coming to an end? Is this industry going to survive? Is this country going to survive? Is this market going to survive? Because normally it is going to survive.

If you can just first stop and have that thought process, then you can think it through. Let’s say that these headlines are wrong. “What should I do?” You are probably going to be a successful investor. Be prepared for the fact that you are probably going to be early. If you can figure out how to spot the exact bottom and the exact turn, please call me.

Nick: This is exactly what Doug Casey and I do in our Crisis Speculator publication (click here for more details). Shifting gears now, you’ve also said that Harvard and other universities could go bankrupt. Why do you think that?

Jim: Well, first of all, some of the American universities have a very, very high cost structure. It’s astonishing.
Let’s pick on Ivy League. I went to an Ivy League school, so I can pick on them a little bit. They have a high cost structure. They think that what they know is correct and that people will always pay higher and higher prices.

To go to Princeton for four years now is probably going to cost you $300,000 in the end when you figure out the tuition, room and board, books, beer, travel, and everything else. It’s extraordinarily expensive to go to these places. Now what Princeton would tell you - and I didn’t go to Princeton but that’s why I’m picking on them - what Princeton would say is, yeah, but it’s better education. But I’m not sure it’s better education.

I know that many of the things that they teach in Ivy League schools these days are absurd and totally wrong. It’s conventional wisdom run amuck, so it’s not necessarily better what you learn at those places. If you go to the right universities, and you learn the wrong things, it’s going to cost you in the end.

Then they say, yes, but it’s a brand, it’s a label that’s good. Sure, it’s a label, it’s a very expensive label, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to make you successful. Just because your grandmother gives you a Cadillac, which is a good brand, it’s not going to make you successful at finding dates, or having a good job or anything else. You have to produce on your own.

Throughout history you've had many institutions that have been world famous and top of the line. They’ve disappeared. It doesn’t mean Harvard can’t too. I didn’t go to Harvard, so I shouldn’t pick on any of these places that I didn’t go to. So we’ll see. I’m skeptical of all of them.

Nick: Why do universities and governments embrace Keynesian economics? Why do they hate Austrian economics?

Jim: That’s a good question. Keynes himself, at the end, didn’t embrace what is now known as Keynesian economics. Keynes would probably be an Austrian now, because at the end of his life, he came to understand that some of the stuff was being misused.

The main reason people like Keynesian economics is because they think they can be powerful. They can change things. “I’m a smart guy. I went to an Ivy League school, therefore I know what’s best.

And if I say it’s best, let’s do it, and it will make things better.” That’s essentially what Keynesianism is now. The market is a lot smarter than all of us, and I wish we would all learn that. It always has been and it always will be.

Nick: Thanks for your time, Jim.

Jim: My pleasure.

Editor’s Note: Jim Rogers told us about the importance of looking past the news that frightens others away. It’s the key to finding deep value investment opportunities that can make you enormous profits. It’s one of the world’s greatest wealth creation secrets.

It’s been used by Warren Buffett, Doug Casey, John Templeton, Baron Rothschild, and many other successful investors. It’s a strategy that you can use too.

It’s exactly these kinds of opportunities we cover in Crisis Speculator. Click here for more details.

The article was originally published at internationalman.com.

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Why You Should Go to Africa Instead of College

By Doug Casey

Recently Doug Casey was a guest on the always excellent podcast, The Tom Woods Show. Tom and Doug talked about the enormous economic potential in Africa, Doug’s efforts to build a truly free market country, and better uses of your time and money than going to college.

It’s an exciting and informative conversation.

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Tom Woods: What a pleasure and a delight it is to welcome back to the show Doug Casey. Doug is a libertarian economist, best selling financial author, international investor, entrepreneur, and the founder and chairman of Casey Research. Doug, welcome back to the show.

Doug Casey: Thanks, Tom. It is my pleasure.

Tom: You’ve been up to some interesting activity in Africa that I’d like to ask you about. Let’s start off by telling us what you’ve been busy doing there.

Doug: Well, the last two weeks, I’ve been visiting the Islamic Republic of Mauritania with a short side trip to Senegal. I’ve been pursuing my hobby, which is to propose to a backward country a plan for complete and total free marketization… including taking the country itself public on a major stock exchange and distributing most of the shares directly to the people who theoretically own the government assets. I felt like I had Maria Muldaur’s “Midnight at the Oasis” playing in the back of my mind the whole time I was there.

Tom: Suppose you got everything you wanted, what would the outcome look like?

Doug: Well, 100% of all government assets, land, state owned companies - everything - initially go into a corporation and we distribute the shares.

Let’s say, 70% pro-rata to every man, woman, and child in the country, so they don’t just theoretically own the government, now they actually do. 15% would be put it in trust for the next unborn generation to defuse that time bomb. 10% would be distributed to people who, let’s say, are of significant help to making this happen, and people who are important, whose rice bowls would be broken, and 5% to take public in major stock markets to raise some capital. Then we get rid of all duties, taxes, and regulations.

Dubai was absolutely nothing in 1980. You know what Dubai is now. If we go back further, in 1960, Hong Kong and Singapore both were very poor and look what has happened to them. So I think in today’s world if somebody is daring enough to want to do this, I think it could be of world historic importance. So I’m looking for the right guy.

Tom: I’d like to get a glimpse inside of a meeting like this. If you’re sitting down with the president, you’re sitting down with top officials, how do you make that case, especially when the response is going to be, “What’s in it for me”?

Doug: Well, that’s always the first question, of course. I start my presentation with three things I can do for you, Mr. President. It’s always a question of the benefit to the buyer. Number one, this plan will make you legitimately a multibillionaire. That always goes down very smoothly, because they know that doing what Mobutu and Mugabe did doesn’t work quite as well now as it did in the past. So it gets their attention.

Number two, the people will love you and treat you as the new George Washington. That sounds pretty good too. Half the time in these places most of the population wants to kill them. And number three, we will put you on the front cover of all the world’s magazines in a favorable light for the next decade. Now that sounds good, because these people, if they are even known to exist, are considered pariahs.

So they always listen to the rest of presentation. Of course then things start to go wrong… usually from people under the president. It’s the people under the president who are usually making the big money, not so much the president himself. So they are often the problem.

It always makes for a fun adventure and interesting cocktail party stories that I can tell and retell to people for hours. But it’s my hobby. It’s not an occupation. I haven’t made any money on it yet, although I always have a plan B when I go to these countries: look for mining concessions and so forth.

Tom: Suppose you had to do it all over again. Let’s say you turned 18 in 2015. Have conditions changed to the point where you would take a different path, and incidentally would you go to college?

Doug: I would definitely not go to college. Even then, I only did it because everybody from my socioeconomic class was going to college, so there was no thought involved on my part. It was just like going from eighth grade into high school. I counsel students against it today. College serves no useful purpose unless you want to learn a trade like doctoring or lawyering or you need a piece of paper to practice a particular occupation, or there is a formal discipline, like a hard science or engineering.

You will pick up lots of bad ideas. You will spend a huge amount of money, get yourself under a huge financial rock that will take you years to dig yourself out from under. What I suggest people do instead is lay out what the most intelligent thing to do with that four years of time and probably $200,000 of capital. I like the idea of traveling. The place that I would put first and foremost on my travel list today for economic reasons is Africa. Go someplace where you can be a big fish in a small pond quickly.

Tom: Back in the ’50s and ’60s in the wake of decolonization in Africa, you had a bunch of Western educated semi-Marxist political leaders who were nationalizing property and confiscating assets from rich people and so on, you wouldn’t touch Africa with a ten foot pole. What has changed since then?

Doug: Well, politics always draws the worst kinds of people of course. Most of the presidents of Africa even today are ex-generals or ex-colonels or something like that. It has economically improved a lot. The population has exploded and it’s going to explode more in the years to come. It’s chaotic. But if you can bring order to chaos, that’s opportunity.

If you go to the Orient, there are a lot of rich, smart people there. You are not going to have much of a competitive advantage. That’s true to a lesser extent in South America too. Africa is actually the place, I think, you want to go.

Tom: Do you have any particular parts of Africa? I’ve heard good things about Botswana. Do you have any place in particular that attracts you?

Doug: Other than South Africa, I’d say Botswana is the most developed country in Southern Africa for sure. But where would I go now? Well, of course, the nice thing about Africa is that it’s divided basically into three parts, Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, and Lusophone Africa, and my French is still adequately conversational. I lived in France and Switzerland for a year during college. My Spanish is functional. The language thing is a consideration of course. But on the other hand, most of the educated people in most countries of the world speak English, which is the world’s lingua franca today.

Where would I go? There are around 50 countries in Africa. I like small, obscure ones. Maybe Ghana is too developed. Look at Benin or Togo or maybe the Ivory Coast. Mauritania, where I just was, is actually quite interesting. Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, you’ve got lots of choices. Somebody should get on a plane and just take a look. Then when they get into a country, a capital city, which is always where the action happens, get on the telephone to local lawyers and real estate agents and businessmen to set up appointments and see who you can get along with. One thing will lead to another.

I wouldn’t go to Africa as a lifestyle choice. I would go there for economic reasons and for the adventure that it would yield. I’d say as a lifestyle choice, it comes down to South America or the Orient. I lived in the Orient for years and I loved it.

Tom: What about the language barrier?

Doug: Well, I lived in Hong Kong and when I was there it was much more English. Of course everybody in China is learning English today, everybody, everywhere that you basically would want to talk to. I’m not trying to be elitist but the educated people - put it that way - all speak English today as a second language. This is one of the things that will slow down your progress on learning the local language, is that they all want to speak English to you. So that’s a double edged sword… but it’s really an advantage. No, don’t worry about the language problem.

Tom: Well, I sure appreciate your time, Doug Casey. You are the International Man himself, and we are always grateful for your time.

Doug: Well, thank you Tom. It is a pleasure to talk to you under any circumstances.

Editor’s Note: International Man is all about helping you make the most of your personal freedom and financial opportunities around the world. A great way to get started is to check out Going Global 2015. Normally, this book retails for $99. But we believe this book is so important, especially right now, that we’ve arranged a way for US residents to get a free copy. Click here to secure your copy.

The article was originally published at internationalman.com.

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Prove You’re Not a Terrorist

By Jeff Thomas

Recently, France decided to crack down on those people who make cash payments and withdrawals and who hold small bank accounts. The reason given was, not surprisingly, to “fight terrorism,” the handy catchall justification for any new restriction governments wish to impose on their citizens. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin stated at the time, “terrorism feeds on fraud, money laundering, and petty trafficking.”

And so, in future, people in France will not be allowed to make cash payments exceeding €1,000 (down from €3,000). Additionally, cash deposits and withdrawals totaling more than €10,000 per month will be reported to Tracfin—an anti-fraud and money laundering agency. Currency exchange will also be further restricted. Anyone changing over €1,000 to another currency (down from €8,000) will be required to show an identity card.

Do you need to make a deposit on a car? That might be suspect. Did you just deposit a dividend you received? It might be a payment from a terrorist organisation. Planning a holiday and need some cash? You might need to be investigated for terrorism. And France is not alone. In the US, federal law requires banks to file a “suspicious activity report” (SAR) on their customers whenever a customer requests a suspicious transaction. (In 2013, 1.6 million SAR’s were submitted.)

As to what may be deemed “suspicious,” it may be any transaction of $5,000 or more, but it may also mean a series of transactions that, together, exceed $5,000. The reader may be saying to himself, “But that’s just normal, everyday banking business—that means anybody, any time, could be reported.” If so, he would be correct. Essentially, any banking activity the reader conducts could be regarded as suspect.

In Italy, in 2011, Prime Minister Mario Monti began working to end the right of landlords, tradesmen, and small businesses to perform large transactions in cash, which critics say help them evade taxation. In December of that year, his government reduced the maximum allowed cash payment from €2,500 euros to €1,000.

Spain has outlawed cash transactions over €2,500. The justification? “To crack down on the black market and tax evaders.”

In Sweden, the country where the first banknote was created in 1661, the use of cash is being steadily eliminated. Increasingly, expenses are paid and purchases made by cellphone text message, and many banks have stopped handling cash altogether.

Denmark’s central bank, Nationalbanken, has another justification for ending its use of banknotes—producing paper money and coinage is not cost effective.

Israel also seeks to end the use of cash. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff has announced a three phase plan to “all but do away with cash transactions in Israel.”

Individuals and businesses would initially continue to be allowed to make small cash transactions, but eventually, all transactions would be converted to electronic forms of payment. The justification being used in Israel is that “cash is bad,” because it encourages an underground economy and enables tax evasion.

Across the Atlantic, banks and governments are on a similar campaign. A 2012 law in Mexico bans large cash transactions, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

In August 2014, Uruguay passed the Financial Inclusion Law, which limits cash transactions to US$5,000. In future, all transactions over that amount will be required to be performed electronically. The crying need for such a law? The stated reason was to improve the country’s credit ratings.

The Elimination of Paper Currency

In recent years, in commenting on the inevitability of currency collapse in those countries that are indebted beyond the possibility of repayment, I’ve made the prediction that governments and banks would jointly resort to the elimination of paper currency and replace it with an electronic one.

Some readers have understandably regarded the prediction as “alarmist.” After all, the idea is so farfetched—paper currency may be conceptually flawed, but it’s been around for a long time. But banks and governments seek total control of money, and this can only be achieved if they possess a monopoly on the flow of money.

If a worldwide system can be implemented in which currency transactions can only take place electronically through banking institutions, the banks will then have total power over the ability of a people to function economically. But why would any government allow the banks such dictatorial monetary control? The answer is that governments would then realise a long held, but heretofore impossible dream: to have access to a record of every monetary transaction that takes place for every single individual.

Governments have been both more proactive and bolder than I had anticipated and are simply imposing the restrictions worldwide under the justifications previously stated. As yet, there hasn’t been any backlash, and it may be that people worldwide may simply swallow the pill, not understanding what it means to their economic liberty.

If the public are not treating the new system as serious business, governments most assuredly are. Bankers on both sides of the Atlantic have forcibly become unpaid government spies. If they don’t comply, they can be fined and/or lose their banking charter. Directors can be imprisoned.

The US Justice Department already wants to take this overreach even further. Banks are now being asked to call the authorities whenever something “suspicious” occurs, presumably so that immediate action may be taken. What we are witnessing is the creation of totalitarian control of your finances. The implication that you may have some sort of terrorist involvement is a smokescreen.

As the above information attests, if for any reason you object to any of these measures, you have already been forewarned—you may be suspected of money laundering, tax evasion, or even terrorism. If you use cash for any reason—to pay your rent, to buy a used car, or (soon) to pay for your lunch—you may trigger an investigation. (The onus of proof that you are not guilty good will be on you.)

The take away from this discussion? Totalitarian control of currency is an inevitability, and it will take place sooner rather than later. The only question is whether the reader can retain some control of his wealth. Fortunately, wealth may still be held in land and precious metals, but these are only safe if they’re held outside a country that seeks totalitarian rule over its people. The ability to retain wealth still exists and, as always, internationalisation remains a key element to its continuation.

Editor’s Note: The ultimate way to diversify your savings internationally is to transfer it out of the immediate reach of your home government. And we've put together an in depth video presentation to help you do just that. It's called, "Internationalizing Your Assets."

Our all star panel of experts, with Doug Casey and Peter Schiff, provide low cost options for international diversification that anyone can implement - including how to safely set up foreign storage for your gold and silver bullion and how to move your savings abroad without triggering invasive reporting requirements. This is a must watch video for any investor and it's completely free.

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The article was originally published at internationalman.com

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The Healthy Bull Market: Bah, Humbug!

By Tony Sagami

Are you a long term investor? Convinced that all you have to do is wait long enough to be guaranteed huge stock market profits? Take a look at the chart below of rolling 30 year returns of the S&P 500 and tell me if it affects your enthusiasm.

The reality is that stock market results vary widely depending on what your starting point is. For example, any investor who put $100,000 into the stock market 1954 was rewarded with roughly the same $100,000 30 years later in 1984.

Yup… 30 years in, and not a penny of profits.



With the stock market at all-time highs, you may find it hard to be pessimistic, but the stock market is doing as well as it’s ever done, with a rolling 30-year return of better than 400%.

How would you feel about earning 0% on your money for 30 years?

Could the stock market go even higher? Yes, it could—but the odds aren’t favorable after the QE fueled rally has pushed stocks to historically high valuations. High valuations? Despite what the mass media and the Wall Street crowd try to tell you, valuations are quite high.

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The most popular myth spouted on financial TV these days is the notion that the S&P 500 is trading at 19 times earnings. Baloney!

First, that 19 P/E is based on “forward” earnings, not trailing earnings. As unreliable as economists and self-serving analysts are, I’m surprised that anyone—especially you—believes anything they say.

Second, that forward looking earnings forecast is based on those 500 companies increasing their earnings by an average of 23% over the next 12 months. Yup… a 23% increase!

That’s extremely optimistic, but I think especially misplaced now that the steroid of quantitative easing is behind us. Consider this: everybody agrees that stocks responded extremely positively to quantitative easing, so doesn’t it make sense to be concerned now that the monetary punch bowl has been yanked away?

The first place to look for signs of waning enthusiasm are small-cap stocks. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were setting all-time highs, the Russell 2000 wasn’t able to punch through its March, July, and September peaks.



This quadruple top looks like a formidable resistance level for small stocks and clear evidence that investors are reducing risk by rotating out of small-cap stocks and into big cap stocks.



Additionally, financial stocks are showing signs of exhaustion too. Healthy bull markets are often led by financial stocks, but the financials are lagging the major indexes now. That’s why I think last week’s 3.9% GDP print smelled fishy; some weak economic numbers are spelling trouble.

Durable Goods Orders Not So Good: The headline number for October durable goods orders was strong with a +0.4% increase, but if you back out the volatile transportation sales, the picture is a lot uglier. If you exclude transportation—because just a few $100 million jet orders can skew the numbers—the 0.4% gain turns into a 0.9% decrease.

By the way, orders for defense aircraft were up 45.3%, but orders for non defense aircraft orders were down 0.1% in October. If not for some big government orders, the results would be absolutely horrible!

Unemployment Claims Rise Despite Holiday Hiring: The job picture, which had been improving, showed some deterioration last week despite going into the busy holiday hiring season. Initial jobless claims jumped to 313,000, a 7.2% increase from last week as well as much higher than the 286,000 forecast. It also broke a 10-week streak of claims below 300,000.

Before You Cheer Cheap Oil: After OPEC agreed to keep production levels unchanged, the price of oil plunged by 7% on Friday to less than $68 a barrel. That’s good news for drivers, but oil’s falling prices (as well as those of other commodities) are a very bad sign for economic growth. Moreover, the energy industry has been one of the few industries producing good, high-paying jobs. Thus, low oil prices could turn that smile into a frown in no time.



The Bond Conundrum: The yield on 10 year Treasury bonds was as high as 3% earlier this year but dropped to 2.31 last Friday. If our economy were rocking as well as the 3.9% GDP rate suggests, interest rates should be rising… not falling like a rock.

The stock market may not fall out of bed tomorrow morning, but the holiday season for stock market investors looks like it may be more Scrooge than Santa Claus.

30 year market expert Tony Sagami leads the Yield Shark and Rational Bear advisories at Mauldin Economics. To learn more about Yield Shark and how it helps you maximize dividend income, click here.

To learn more about Rational Bear and how you can use it to benefit from falling stocks and sectors, click here.

The article Connecting the Dots: The Healthy Bull Market: Bah, Humbug! was originally published at mauldin economics

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Using Stock Buybacks to Mask Deep Business Problems

By Tony Sagami

Stock buybacks are always a good thing… right? That’s what the mass media has trained investors to believe, but there are times when stock buybacks are a horrible strategy.

Let’s take a look at Herbalife, which has had very visible news items as billionaires like Carl Icahn, George Soros, Daniel Loeb, and Bill Ackman publicly debate the future of the company.



Herbalife shares have lost more than half their value in 2014 because of a Federal Trade Commission investigation and a big drop in profits. 50% is a huge haircut, but I believe Herbalife is poised for even more pain.

Rapidly Disappearing Profits

Herbalife recently reported its third-quarter results and they were just awful. Herbalife earned $0.13 per share in Q3, but that was a whopping 92% decline from the $1.32 it earned last year.

That’s awful, but Herbalife says business will be even worse going forward. The Wall Street crowd expected Herbalife to grow revenues by 7% in 2015, but the company said that its revenues will fall by -1% to -2% instead.

Part of that lower guidance is from the impact of the strong US dollar. Guidance for Q4 includes an unfavorable impact of $0.31 from currency conversions. If you remember, I previously wrote that the strong dollar was going to kill the 2015 profits of companies that do lots of business overseas.

I have to admit, I am skeptical of all the multilevel marketing businesses, but Herbalife is reinforcing that preconceived notion.

FTC and FBI Investigation

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Herbalife for what could ultimately result in charges that Herbalife is operating an illegal pyramid scheme.

In March, the FTC sent Herbalife a civil investigative demand (CID), which is a subpoena on steroids because all the evidence produced by a CID can be used by other agencies in other investigations, such as the FBI, which is also investigating Herbalife.

The FTC outcome is unknown. Heck, Herbalife could eventually be declared innocent and pure… but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Board Members Gone Bad!

When your company is in the middle of FTC and FBI investigations, the last thing you want is for your company officers to get in trouble with the law. A current Herbalife board member, Pedro Cardoso, has been charged with illegal money laundering by Brazilian prosecutors. Time will tell if the charges are true… but it looks very bad.



That’s not the only problem with the Herbalife board of directors. Longtime Herbalife Board Member Leroy Barnes announced that he is leaving. Board members leave for legitimate reasons all the time, but Barnes is the fourth Herbalife board member to leave in 2014. Talk about rats jumping the ship!

The Smoke and Mirrors of Stock Buybacks

The above issues are all serious and enough to stay away from Herbalife, but the biggest red flag I see is the abusive financial engineering that Herbalife is using to prop up its stock.

Example: In Q2, Herbalife spent over $500 million to buy back its own stock for the purpose of propping up its earnings-per-share ratio. Fewer shares translates into higher earnings per share.



The root of the problem is that Herbalife is using up all its cash AND borrowing money like mad to finance the stock buyback.



In the last year, Herbalife’s debt has exploded by over $1 billion. Herbalife is using every penny of operating cash flow and taking on new debt just to buy back its stock.



Moreover, since Herbalife’s stock has plunged by 50% this year, Herbalife wasted hundreds of millions of dollar of shareholder money by buying stock at much higher prices.

And now that revenue, profits, and free cash flow generated by operations are shrinking, Herbalife is on a collision course with insolvency.



Carl Icahn, who is certainly a much better investor than I will ever be, is a big Herbalife fan and even went as far as to call the shares undervalued. “I would tell you I do believe Herbalife is quite undervalued and it is still a good business model.”

Ahhhh… Carl… sorry, but I think you couldn’t be more wrong.

George Soros, by the way, appears to agree with me because he reduced his Herbalife holdings by 60% after the company reported those disastrous third quarter results a few weeks ago. I’m not suggesting that you rush out and buy put options on Herbalife tomorrow morning. As always, timing is everything, but I have very little doubt that Herbalife’s stock will be significantly lower a year from now.

Moreover, the real point isn’t whether Herbalife is headed higher or lower, but that good, old fashioned fundamental research can help you make money in any type of market environment.

Even during bear markets.

30-year market expert Tony Sagami leads the Yield Shark and Rational Bear advisories at Mauldin Economics. To learn more about Yield Shark and how it helps you maximize dividend income, click here.

To learn more about Rational Bear and how you can use it to benefit from falling stocks and sectors, click here.

The article Connecting the Dots: Stock Manipulation 101: Using Stock Buybacks to Mask Deep Business Problems was originally published at mauldin economics

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