Sponsored Posting: It’s All the Same Market in a Deflationary Environment

It’s All the Same Market in a Deflationary Environment

September 26, 2011

By Elliott Wave International

On September 22, the Dow and S&P opened down over 2.5%. Oil was down, copper was down, and even GOLD was down sharply. Watch this video excerpt from Robert Prechter’s special video issue of the August Elliott Wave Theorist where he explains what is causing diverse markets such as these to move together in today’s environment.

Free Report: Stocks — Buying Opportunity or Another “Free Fall” Ahead?

Find out what these market moves mean to your investments with current analysis from Elliott Wave International. Bob Prechter has just released a FREE report — with urgent analysis from his August and September 2011 Elliott Wave Theorist market letters, including another video excerpt from the special video issue of the August Theorist.

Stocks — Buying Opportunity or Another “Free Fall” Ahead? will help you put these uncertain markets into perspective so that you’ll be better positioned to both protect your investments when needed and prosper when opportunities arise.

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Interesting Video and Article: What Personality Type Makes the Best Trader?

Learn more about managing your emotions, developing your trading methodology, and the importance of discipline in your trading decisions in The Best of Trader’s Classroom, a FREE 45-page eBook from Elliott Wave International.

Since 1999, Jeffrey Kennedy has produced dozens of Trader’s Classroom lessons exclusively for his subscribers. Now you can get “the best of the best” in these 14 lessons that offer the most critical information every trader should know.

Find out why traders fail, the three phases of a trader’s education, and how to make yourself a better trader with lessons on the Wave Principle, bar patterns, Fibonacci sequences, and more!

Don’t miss your chance to improve your trading. Download your FREE eBook today!

This article was syndicated by Elliott Wave International and was originally published under the headline What Personality Type Makes the Best Trader?. EWI is the world’s largest market forecasting firm. Its staff of full-time analysts led by Chartered Market Technician Robert Prechter provides 24-hour-a-day market analysis to institutional and private investors around the world.

Some sound investment advice

Evaporation of Wealth on a Vast Scale
How $1-million can disappear
September 19, 2011

By Elliott Wave International

The bursting of the “debt bubble” which started in 2008 is far from over.

It’s the financial story of our age and it’s happening before our eyes. The full scope is hard to keep up with because it’s unfolding at various levels.

The top level is the sovereign debt crisis:

  • National governments: Several in Europe and even the U.S.

 

  • State and local governments: services slashed; vendors waiting to get paid.

 

  • Corporations: financial institutions at home and abroad remain in questionable health. PIMCO Chief tells Bloomberg (9/13) “We’re getting close to a full-blown banking crisis in Europe.” And CNBC reports (9/14) “Moody’s Investors Service said…it downgraded the credit ratings of Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.”

 

  • Individual Households: “under-water” mortgages; “new conservatism” toward spending.

As the credit bubble continues to deflate, the evaporation of vast wealth may follow on a historic scale. Please read this excerpt from the second edition of Conquer the Crash (pp. 94-95):

“…a lender starts with a million dollars and the borrower starts with zero. Upon extending the loan, the borrower possesses the million dollars, yet the lender feels that he still owns the million dollars that he lent out. If anyone asks the lender what he is worth, he says, ‘a million dollars,’ and shows the note to prove it. Because of this conviction, there is, in the minds of the debtor and the creditor combined, two million dollars worth of value where before there was only one. When the lender calls in the debt and the borrower pays it, he gets back his million dollars. If the borrower can’t pay it, the value of the note goes to zero. Either way, the extra value disappears…

“The dynamics of value expansion and contraction explain why a bear market can bankrupt millions of people. At the peak of a credit expansion or a bull market, assets have been valued upward, and all participants are wealthy — both the people who sold the assets and the people who hold the assets. The latter group is far larger than the former, because the total supply of money has been relatively stable while the total value of financial assets has ballooned. When the market turns down, the dynamic goes into reverse. Only a very few owners of a collapsing financial asset trade it for money at 90 percent of peak value. Some others may get out at 80 percent, 50 percent or 30 percent of peak value. In each case, sellers are simply transforming the remaining future value losses to someone else. In a bear market, the vast, vast majority does nothing and gets stuck holding assets with low or non-existent valuations. The ‘million dollars’ that a wealthy investor might have thought he had in his bond portfolio or at a stock’s peak value can quite rapidly become $50,000 or $5000 or $50. The rest of it just disappears. You see, he never really had a million dollars; all he had was IOUs or stock certificates. The idea that it had a certain financial value was in his head and the heads of others who agreed. When the point of agreement changed, so did the value. Poof! Gone in a flash of aggregated neurons. This is exactly what happens to most investment assets in a period of deflation.”

Now is the time to prepare for a deflationary depression by reading the 90-page Free Report titled Deflation Survival Guide. This eBook is now updated with Robert Prechter’s most important analysis and forecasts regarding deflation.

You can read this free financial guide right away as a Club EWI Member (membership is free). Joining Club EWI is easy and just takes moments. See the Deflation Survival Guide on your screen by following this link>>

Bob Prechter explains current stock trends

(Video) Bob Prechter Explains ‘Triple Top’ Forming in U.S. Stock Market

This excerpt from the special video issue of the August Elliott Wave
Theorist
brings you Bob Prechter’s analysis of the triple top
that has been forming in the U.S. stock market over the past 12 years.
Watch as Bob himself explains what this pattern means for you and the markets.

You can get even more analysis – including an 84-year
study
of stock values – that will help you gain perspective
about the recent market moves with Elliott Wave International’s FREE
report
, “Reality Check: Studying the Past to Bring
Clarity to the Future.”

You’ll get a glimpse into the in-depth analysis Robert Prechter presents
each month in his Elliott Wave Theorist with 3 excerpts from
his most recent issues.

Don’t let extreme market volatility leave you confused and scared. Prepare
yourself for today’s critical market juncture with your FREE report from
Robert Prechter.

Read Bob Prechter’s FREE report “Reality Check: Studying the Past to Bring Clarity to the Future.”

In case you thought I was kidding about buying Gold

Here we go!

Remember when I said to buy Gold?

I was not kidding.

Check this out from the U.K. Telegraph:


As the twin pillars of international monetary system threaten to come tumbling down in unison, gold has reclaimed its ancient status as the anchor of stability. The spot price surged to an all-time high of $1,594 an ounce in London, lifting silver to $39 in its train.

On one side of the Atlantic, the eurozone debt crisis has spread to the countries that may be too big to save – Spain and Italy – though RBS thinks a €3.5 trillion rescue fund would ensure survival of Europe’s currency union.

On the other side, the recovery has sputtered out and the printing presses are being oiled again. Brinkmanship between the Congress and the White House over the US debt ceiling has compelled Moody’s to warn of a “very small but rising risk” that the world’s paramount power may default within two weeks. “The unthinkable is now thinkable,” said Ross Norman, director of thebulliondesk.com.

Fed chair Ben Bernanke confessed to Congress that growth has failed to gain traction. “Deflationary risks might re-emerge, implying a need for additional policy support,” he said.

The bar to QE3 – yet more bond purchases – is even lower than markets had thought. The new intake of hard-money men on the voting committee has not shifted Fed thinking, despite global anger at dollar debasement under QE2.

•snip•

“One of the big US banks texted me today to say that if QE3 actually happens, we could see gold at $5,000 and silver at $1,000. I feel terribly sorry for anybody on fixed incomes tied to a fiat currency because they are not going to be able to buy things with that paper money.”

•snip•

Step by step, the world is edging towards a revived Gold Standard as it becomes clearer that Japan and the West have reached debt saturation. World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said it was time to “consider employing gold as an international reference point.” The Swiss parliament is to hold hearings on a parallel “Gold Franc”. Utah has recognised gold as legal tender for tax payments.

A new Gold Standard would probably be based on a variant of the ‘Bancor’ proposed by Keynes in the late 1940s. This was a basket of 30 commodities intended to be less deflationary than pure gold, which had compounded in the Great Depression. The idea was revived by China’s central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan two years ago as a way of curbing the “credit-based” excess.

Mr Bernanke himself was grilled by Congress this week on the role of gold. Why do people by gold? “As protection against of what we call tail risks: really, really bad outcomes,” he replied.

Indeed.

 

My friends, if this is not the time to buy gold; I really do not know what is.

Click this link to find out how to get into gold today

A Reminder: Go Gold

Just a follow up to yesterday’s posting; it would seem that this would be a good time to invest in gold, even if you cannot afford the expensive stuff, a small investment in the cheaper stuff would be smart.

As you know I am an affiliate for GoldSilver.com  and they offer some great coins and bullion for those who wish to invest in that sort of the thing.

GoldSilver.com offers

You can also check out their Silver Products Here

Want more proof? Check out this video from Russian TV:

I think it is time to invest in Gold. I mean, when the fed chairman says he does not believe that Gold is money; something is horribly wrong.

David Morgan and Chris Vermeulen talk about Metals Trading

I do these posts here to help with the financial situation around here, or in my case; a lack of it. As it does say, up in that top left hand corner box on here; I have no had a “real job” since 2005.  So, if you would please click on the links and sign up for the newsletters. I get a nice referral fee, if you do. This is for those who do not like or do not trust Paypal. Every little bit helps! So, if you want to help a unemployed “right of center” type of guy, who has a blog, this is the time to do it. Thanks so much!

-Pat

—-

The Audio:

[podcast]http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2011-0520-1.mp3[/podcast]

More info Here

You can also see Chris Vermeulen’s last forecast, where he nailed the prediction on what Silver would do in the markets.

 

Is Gold in a bubble? Perhaps Not

Sounds like a good endorsement to me!: (H/T HotAir)

Gold is in a bubble. Anyone will tell you that. They’ve been saying it since gold was about, oh, $500 an ounce.

But it’s a funny kind of a bubble. It’s the only one I’ve encountered where so few people seem to own the asset in question.

During the dot-com bubble, you met lots of people with tech stocks. Taxi drivers told you what dot-coms they owned.

During the housing bubble you met normal, ordinary people who were trading up to expensive homes using adjustable-rate mortgages, buying new condos off plan to flip, and cashing out their fictional “equity” through a refinance mortgage.

But who actually owns gold? I keep hearing about the gold bubble, but every time I ask people if they own any themselves, they say, “no, no, of course not, it’s a bubble.”

Some bubble.

Now take a look at our chart.

It’s an updated version of one I ran nearly a year ago, when gold was $1,176 an ounce.

It compares the bull market in gold with the last two undisputed “bubbles,” namely tech stocks and housing. It shows the gold price since 2001, the Nasdaq Composite COMP (^IXIC – News) from 1989 to 2001, and Standard & Poor’s index of Homebuilding stocks from 1995 to 2007.

The picture is pretty remarkable.

If gold is a “bubble,” it doesn’t look like it’s peaked yet. Indeed it looks like it might be just about to enter its big, blow-off phase.

via gold-bubble-marketwatch: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance.

Numbers and Charts do not lie.

Director Blue writes:

Gold is a quirky investment, to be sure, and I’m about the last person to advise anyone on anything when it comes to financial matters.

But one thing is certain: the administration’s policy of “Quantitative Easing” (or, as I like to call it, “Quantitative Bankrupting of America’s Future”) has unleashed the Treasury’s printing press like nothing ever seen in world history.

Trillions in cash has materialized from thin air as the Treasury Department issues IOUs and the Federal Reserve purchases them on the open market. Which, by the way, enriches Goldman Sachs (and other so-called “primary dealers”) with tens of millions of dollars in needless commissions each month.

Until the money-printing stops, until the deficit spending is brought under control, and until the dollar is rescued from the most radical administration in American history, I would hold some precious metals like gold.

It’s a hedge against governmental stupidity — and heaven knows we need it now more than ever.

I got two words; Invest Now.

As you all know, I advertise for a small compensation, if you buy something, from GoldSilver.com; here are the products that are offered:

  1. American Gold Eagles 1 oz
  2. American Gold Eagle 1/2 oz
  3. American Gold Eagle 1/4 oz
  4. American Gold Eagle 1/10 oz
  5. American Gold Buffalo
  6. Canadian Gold Maple Leaf 1 oz
  7. Gold Austrian Philharmonic
  8. Gold Austrian Philharmonic
  9. 1 oz Gold Bar
  10. Johnson Matthey Ten Ounce Gold Bar
  11. Credit Suisse 10 Oz Gold Bar
  12. 1 Kilo Johnson Matthey Gold Bar
  13. 400 oz Gold Bar

….and also, check out GoldSilver.com‘s Silver products as well. Silver is an emerging alternative to the high priced gold investments.  Either it is, as Doug ross very well put it; a hedge against Governmental stupidity and we all need protection from that. 😀

Some related videos to watch:

Can the government take your savings? from Rich Dad on Vimeo.

I’ve learned more about Economics, Investing and the stock market; than I ever intended to, after the big stock market crash in 2008. It was as if the stock market, politics and Government were involved in a multi-car pile up and we bloggers were left to sift though the wreckage. It was a mess, to say the least! many people lost money and the best the political people could do was point fingers at one another. Having said all of that, I highly recommend that you check out GoldSilver.com, it is the place to buy REAL gold!

Could the DOW Could Fall 6,000 Points??!?!

Someone thinks so… (H/T GoldSilver.com)

Video:

The Story via Business Insider:

There’s a distinct possibility the U.S. stock market could plunge as much as 6,000 points if the U.S. continues to rack up record amounts of debt, causing the dollar to lose its reserve currency status, says Daily Ticker favorite Howard Davidowitz. (See video below)

“The dollar has never been at greater risk,” he tells Henry in the accompanying clip. Davidowitz is confident that if Washington doesn’t cool its spending habits, interest rates will spike and inflation will soar. Look at the value of the dollar, and the crisis is already brewing, with foreigners and sovereign nations diversifying away from dollar-denominated assets, he says.

What’s an investor to do in this scenario?

Buy hard assets, he suggests. Davidowitz says investors should own physical gold, silver and diamonds. He also thinks land is a winning bet, even suggesting young adults buy and work farmland. “I think investment in farmland with water on it is a great investment. Finance will be less important,” in the future, he says.

Sounds like a good time to buy gold to me!

Video: Las Vegas Boom & Bust – A Preview for Singapore & China?

This comes via GoldSiver.com:

Wouldn’t it be a good time to invest in Gold and Silver and beat the rush?

Free Trading Advice: Trendlines: How a Straight Line on a Chart Helps You Identify the Trend

A free 14-page Club EWI report shows you 5 ways trendlines can improve your trading decisions
By Elliott Wave International

Technical analysis of financial markets does not have to be complicated. Here are EWI, our main focus is on Elliott wave patterns in market charts, but we also employ other tools — like trendlines. Are they effective? You be the judge — once you read the free 14-page Club EWI report by EWI’s Chief Commodity Analyst Jeffrey Kennedy. Enjoy this free excerpt. Read more.

Trading Advice: What Most People Don’t Realize About The Fed’s Superpowers

Bob Prechter’s Conquer The Crash reveals whether the Fed really can rescue the US economy
January 27, 2011

By Elliott Wave International

Since its creation in 1913, the primary intended role of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank has been that of protector. In theory, the central bank was bestowed with the power to shape monetary policy in a way that would keep both booms and busts in check. The two main tools at its disposal — interest rates and money creation — would provide a “ceiling of normalcy” above expansions AND a “net of safety” below contractions.

To this day, the financial mainstream holds great faith in the Fed’s ability to fulfill its save-the-day duties — as these recent news items make plain:

  • “Why Raising Fed Funds Rate Is Positive For Equities.” (Seeking Alpha)
  • “Fed’s Moves Lift All Asset Classes.” (Associated Press)
  • “US Stocks Erasing Losses: The aggressive moves of the Fed have been an important driver for the stabilization of stock prices.” (Bloomberg)

But of all the variables the Fed creators took into account, there’s one glaring factor they neglected to consider: Namely, it cannot force consumers to spend, creditors to lend, or businesses to borrow. The events of 2007-2009 “credit crunch” and the subsequent “Great Recession” made that obvious. Remember how the government was upset at banks for sitting on the bailout funds instead of lending them out to consumers? And consumers weren’t exactly lining up on the street to get a loan, either.

The Fed’s inability to change social mood is the central theme in Chapter 13 of EWI President Bob Prechter’s NY Times business bestseller book Conquer the Crash. There, Bob describes the Fed’s strategy of lowering the federal funds rate to stimulate spending to be as effective as “pushing on a string.” Writes Bob:

“The primary basis for today’s belief in perpetual prosperity and inflation with an occasional recession is what I call the ‘Potent Directors Fallacy.’ It is nearly impossible to find a treatise on macroeconomics today that does not assert or assume that the Federal Reserve Board has learned to control both our money and our economy. Many believe that it also possesses the immense power to manipulate the stock market. The very idea that it can do these things is false.”

And so begins one of the most groundbreaking studies into the very real INABILITY of the Fed to fell the great bears of economic declines, or to feed the great bulls of economic vigor.

The best part is, you can read Chapter 13 of Conquer the Crash in its entirety FREE via a Club EWI resource “You Can Survive And Prosper In A Deflationary Depression.” The free report also includes SEVEN other chapters of Conquer the Crash that shed equal light on some of the most misleading notions of mainstream economic wisdom.

Don’t stay in the dark. Read all 8 chapters today by joining the rapidly expanding free Club EWI community today. Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • Chapter 10: Money, Credit and the Federal Reserve Banking System
  • Chapter 13: Can the Fed Stop Deflation?
  • Chapter 23: What To Do With Your Pension Plan
  • Chapter 28: How to Identify a Safe Haven
  • Chapter 29: Calling in Loans and Paying off Debt
  • Chapter 30: What You Should Do If You Run a Business
  • Chapter 32: Should You Rely on Government to Protect You?
  • Chapter 33: A Short List of Imperative “Do’s” and Crucial “Don’ts”

Keep reading this free report now — all you need to do is create a free Club EWI profile.

Video: Ron Paul talks with John Stossel on the SOTU address

This comes via The Daily Paul:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Comments are Welcome!

Stock and Trading Advice: WARNING TO OPTIONS TRADERS LOOKING AT NETFLIX EARNINGS

One of the hardest things for me to remember is not to believe everything I see. I am a sucker for the latest “can’t lose” strategy supported by the experts. This morning I ran across a trade that looked too good to be true. I think it is, but I think it is instructive to walk through the potential hidden land mine. The event is the Wednesday afternoon release of NFLX earnings but there is a hidden trap for option traders using one commonly used earnings play structure.

The construction of the play is that of a “double calendar” spread. The underlying profit engine is an attempt to exploit the routinely seen spike in implied volatility (IV) of the options series most closely following earnings release. In this case, NFLX has weekly options which expire 48 hours after the scheduled announcement.

In order to understand the situation, let’s walk through the components step-by-step. First, is the routinely observed spike in IV seen as earnings release approaches present? As shown in the options pricing matrix below, the IV of the weekly options is substantially higher than the next series in time, the February monthlies:

Next, we need to get an idea of the magnitude of the price movement expected by option traders. This price range can be imputed from the break even points of the at-the-money straddle in the front most options. As shown in the graph below, this analysis gives a current expected price range of 167-203 following earnings release.

Now let us consider a double calendar spread with strikes selected to encompass this anticipated price range. To review quickly, a calendar spread consists of selling a short dated option while buying a longer dated option at the same strike price. An example of such a trade in NFLX is presented below:

That looks pretty sweet, right? We have projected break even points of 147.3 and 238.86 and a probability of profit (P.P.) of 100%. So all we have to do is put this on, wait for earnings, and barring any huge surprise, we take profit of 100% or more home.

What could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately there is a high probability of a sequence of events that will totally erase any profits and likely result in a loss. Go back and look at the option pricing matrix above and focus on the IV of the options we are buying. These options trade at a volatility of 60%. Is that high or low? You tell me from this historic graph of volatility in NFLX options:

As you can see, the current level of volatility that you are buying in the long legs of the calendar is quite elevated on a historical basis. Furthermore, the spread between statistical (historical) and implied volatilities has rarely been greater. This combination of events sets up a high probability of a “volatility crush” on the options you hold long as part of the spread. The moving parts of this crush are:

1. Cessation of the “bleeding” of juiced IV from the weeklies into the monthly series as the weekly option IV deflates massively.

2. Convergence of IV toward the value of historical volatility in order to close the huge divergence in the levels currently present.

This situation sets up a high probability for a negative impact on the trade which will almost certainly result in a loss. Do I know these events will transpire? Absolutely not, and I may be 100% wrong. Survival as an options trader is all about recognizing high probability events and structuring trades accordingly. No free cheese here; time to move along to the next trade.

If you would like to receive these reports please join my free newsletter: http://www.optionstradingsignals.com/profitable-options-solutions.php
J.W. Jones

How a Simple Line Can Improve Your Trading Success

Elliott Wave International’s Jeffrey Kennedy explains many ways to use this basic tool
January 19, 2011

By Elliott Wave International

The following trading lesson has been adapted from Jeffrey Kennedy’s eBook, Trading the Line – 5 Ways You Can Use Trendlines to Improve Your Trading Decisions. Now through February 7, you can download the 14-page eBook free. Learn more here.

“How to draw a trendline” is one of the first things people learn when they study technical analysis. Typically, they quickly move on to more advanced topics and too often discard this simplest of all technical tools.

Yet you’d be amazed at the value a simple line can offer when you analyze a market. As Jeffrey Kennedy, Elliott Wave International’s Chief Commodity Analyst, puts it:

“A trendline represents the psychology of the market, specifically, the psychology between the bulls and the bears. If the trendline slopes upward, the bulls are in control. If the trendline slopes downward, the bears are in control. Moreover, the actual angle or slope of a trendline can determine whether or not the market is extremely optimistic or extremely pessimistic.”

In other words, a trendline can help you identify the market’s trend. Consider this example in the price chart of Google.

That one trendline — drawn between the lows in 2004 and the lows in 2005 — provided support for a number of retracements over the next two years.

That’s pretty basic. But there are many more ways to draw trendlines. When a market is in a correction, you can draw a trendline and then draw a parallel line: in turn, these two parallel lines can create a channel that often “contains” the corrective price action. When price breaks out of this channel, there’s a good chance the correction is over and the main trend has resumed. Here’s an example in a chart of Soybeans. Notice how the upper trendline provided support for the subsequent move.

For more free trading lessons on trendlines, download Jeffrey Kennedy’s free 14-page eBook, Trading the Line – 5 Ways You Can Use Trendlines to Improve Your Trading Decisions. It explains the power of simple trendlines, how to draw them, and how to determine when the trend has actually changed. Download your free eBook.

What Really Moves the Markets: News? The Fed?

By Elliott Wave International

“There is no group more subjective than conventional analysts, who look at the same ‘fundamental’ news event a war, interest rates, P/E ratio, GDP, economic policy, the Fed’s monetary policy, you name it and come up with countless opposing conclusions. They generally don’t even bother to study the data.” — EWI president Robert Prechter, March 2004 Elliott Wave Theorist.

If you watch financial news, you probably share Bob Prechter’s sentiment. How many times have you seen analysts attribute an S&P 500 rally to “good news from China,” for example — only to focus on a different, supposedly bearish, news story later the same day if the rally fizzles out?

You need objective tools to make objective forecasts. So, we put together a unique resource for you: a free 118-page Independent Investor eBook, where you see dozens of examples and charts that show what really creates market trends.

Here’s a quick excerpt. For details on how to read the entire Independent Investor eBook online now, free, look below.


Independent Investor eBook
Chapter 1: What Really Moves the Markets? (excerpt)

Action and Reaction

In the world of physics, action is followed by reaction. Most financial analysts, economists, historians, sociologists and futurists believe that society works the same way. They typically say, “Because so-and-so has happened, such-and-such will follow.” … But is it true?

Suppose you knew for certain that inflation would triple the money supply over the next 20 years. What would you predict for the price of gold?

Most analysts and investors are certain that inflation makes gold go up in price. They view financial pricing as simple action and reaction, as in physics. They reason that a rising money supply reduces the value of each purchasing unit, so the price of gold, which is an alternative to money, will reflect that change, increment for increment.

Figure 4 shows a time when the money supply tripled yet gold lost over half its value. In other words, gold not only failed to reflect the amount of inflation that occurred but also failed even to go in the same direction. It failed the prediction from physics by a whopping factor of six, thereby unequivocally invalidating it.

Investors who feared inflation in January 1980 were right, yet they lost dollar value for two decades… Gold’s bear market produced more than a 90% loss in terms of gold’s average purchasing power of goods, services, homes and corporate shares despite persistent inflation!

How is such an outcome possible? Easy: Financial markets are not a matter of action and reaction. The physics model of financial markets is wrong. …

Cause and Effect

Suppose the devil were to offer you historic news a day in advance. … His first offer: “The president will be assassinated tomorrow.” You can’t believe it. You and only you know it’s going to happen. The devil transports you back to November 22, 1963. You short the market. Do you make money? …

[…continued in the free 118-page Independent Investor eBook]


Read the rest of the eye-opening report online now, free! All you need is a free Club EWI profile. Here’s what else you’ll learn:

  • The Problem With “Efficient Market Hypothesis”
  • How To Invest During a Long-Term Bear Market
  • What’s The Best Investment During Recessions: Gold, Stocks or T-Notes?
  • Why “Buy and Hold” Doesn’t Work Now
  • How To Be One of the Few the Government Hasn’t Fooled
  • How Gold, Silver and T-Bonds Will Behave in a Bear Market
  • MUCH MORE

Long-Term Bonds: The Best Possible Investment? Think Again

A free Club EWI report reveals why bonds do not provide shelter from the storm
December 23, 2010

By Elliott Wave International

TREASURIES — the very name conveys a thing that is secure, protected, and will appreciate over time. Otherwise, it’d be called something like “TRASHeries” or “Mattress Stuffers.” Then, there’s the official seal of the US Department of Treasury: its image of a scale and a key symbolize “balance” and “trust.”

And, finally, there’s the mainstream economic experts who have it on good authority that long-term bonds increase in value during financial instability and uncertainty.

On this, the following news items from November-December 2010 reflect the enduring faith in fixed-income assets as the ultimate safe-havens:

  • “Bonds Tumble On Signs of Economic Recovery” (Reuters)
  • “US Treasury Prices Rise as traders positioned for negative headlines….” (Associated Press)
  • “Treasury’s rise as investors sought shelter in safe haven assets amid rising fears about sovereign debt woes in the eurozone. The slow motion train wreck is likely to play out over year end as each country plays musical chairs with solvency. The market’s concern here is ‘What is next?’ The 10-year Treasury yield will fall if the problems get worse from here.” (Wall Street Journal)

There’s just one problem with this notion: namely, bonds (of any denomination) do NOT have a built-in disaster premium. This is the myth-busting revelation of the latest, free report from Elliott Wave International. The resource titled “The Next Major Disaster Developing For Bond Holders” includes a thoughtful selection of various EWI publications that expose the very real vulnerability of bond markets to economic downturns.

The premier study on the subject comes from Chapter 15 of EWI President Robert Prechter’s book Conquer The Crash by way of this memorable excerpt:

“If there is one bit of conventional wisdom that we hear repeatedly with respect to investing, it is that long-term bonds are the best possible investment [in downturns]. This assertion is wrong. Any bond issued b a borrower who can’t pay goes to zero in a depression. Understand that in a [major contraction], no one knows its depth and almost everyone becomes afraid. That makes investors sell bonds of any issuers that they fear could default. Even when people trust the bonds they own, they are sometimes forced to sell them to raise cash to live on. For this reason, even the safest bonds can go down, at least temporarily, as AAA bonds did in 1931 and 1932.

The first chart (see below) shows what happened to bonds of various grades in the deflationary crash. And the second chart (see below) shows what happened to the Dow Jones 40-bond average, which lost 30% of its value in four years. Observe that the collapse of the early 1930s brought these bonds’ prices below — and their interest rates above — where they were in 1920 near the peak in the intense inflation of the ‘Teens.”


That’s just the tip of this myth-busting report. “The Next Major Disaster” uncovers flaws in other widely-accepted bond lore, including these two assumptions:

  • High -yield bonds rise during economic expansions
  • AND — municipal bonds provide a steady refuge in times of economic stress.

Read more about Robert Prechter’s warnings for holders of municipals and other bonds in his free report: The Next Major Disaster Developing for Bond Holders. Access your free 10-page report now.

Investing Advice: Trading the Holiday Grind

It’s that time again when volume dries up and prices rise into the new year. A lot of individuals are scrambling to prepare for the holidays, even though we had a year to prepare. The big money has already done most of their year end shuffling and will be taking it easy until January.

The market is overbought and sentiment readings are at extreme levels which in the past have been the start of large sell offs and even bear markets. While I am keeping a close eye for a top, there is not much we can do but stay long stocks and commodities until the market tips its hand and distribution selling is in control. The U.S. federal government is the only wild card going into year end that should be on traders’ radars. They have been doing a great job boosting prices in the equities and commodities market, but can they continue to hold things up when the big money and the proverbial herd start unloading positions in 2011?   — Please, Click here to read the rest.

Gold and Stock Advice: Playing new fear in equities markets

So far this week we have been seeing fear creep in the equities market. This Wednesday we started to see fear (green indicator) reach a level which tells me to start looking for the market to bottoming. I do follow a few other charts and indicators which warn me of a possible trend reversal (high probability setup) before it takes place but the US Dollar and selling volume are key.

As we all know, when the market is trying to top and roll over it tends to be more of a process than a couple day event. It’s this lengthy topping process which has a lot of choppy price action sucking traders into a position much to early or shakes you out of the position before the market does what you anticipated. Knowing that tops tend to drag out for an extended period of time is critical for an options trader simple because of Theta (time decay)

On the flip side, bottoming is more of an event because it tends to happen after a strong wave of panic selling. Fear is the most powerful force in the market (other than the Fed/Manipulators.. but that’s another topic). That being said, when you know what to look for in bottoms you can generally see the market starting to bottom and prepare for it. — Read More Here

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Disclaimer: Quite bluntly, I post these articles to make money; period. The posting of this and other articles is in no means to be considered a endorsement of the ideas and investment strategies. In other words, if you try this and lose your butt; do not come crying to me or wanting me to refund your money. Because it is not going to happen, period.

New Report: It’s Dangerous to Diversify — Find Out Why

New Report: It’s Dangerous to Diversify — Find Out Why

A free report from Elliott Wave International reveals the risks of portfolio diversification
By Elliott Wave International

Despite near-unanimous endorsement among mainstream advisors, the strategy of portfolio diversification has a huge, glaring flaw: Namely, when large sums of liquidity begin to flow into global investment markets, formerly disparate trends become strongly correlated. And markets that go up together ultimately go down together; in turn, the value of diversified portfolios goes down with them. Read more.

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Disclosure: If you follow the link and sign up, I get a small amount of compensation at no extra cost to the customer.

Disclaimer: Quite bluntly, I post these articles to make money; period. The posting of this and other articles is in no means to be considered a endorsement of the ideas and investment strategies. In other words, if you try this and lose your butt; do not come crying to me or wanting me to refund your money. Because it is not going to happen, period.

Personal Advice from ME: If you are small time stock investor, GET OUT NOW!

…and here is why….

This comes via Gateway Pundit, who is one hell of a great blogger:

The story via the U.K. Telegraph:

US Treasuries last week suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The borrowing costs of the government of the world’s largest economy have now risen by a quarter over the past four weeks.

Such a sharp rise in US benchmark market interest rates matters a lot – and it matters way beyond America. The US government is now servicing $13.8 trillion (£8.7 trilion) in declared liabilities – making it, by a long way, the world’s largest debtor. Around $414bn of US taxpayers’ money went on sovereign interest payments last year – around 4.5 times the budget of America’s Department of Education.

Debt service costs have reached such astronomical levels even though, over the past year and more, yields have been kept historically and artificially low by “quantitative easing (QE)” – in other words, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s virtual printing press. Now borrowing costs are 28pc higher than a month ago, with the 10-year Treasury yield reaching 3.33pc last week, an already eye-watering debt service burden can only go up.

Few on this side of the Atlantic should feel smug. The eurozone’s ongoing sovereign debt debacle has pushed up Germany’s borrowing costs by 27pc over the last month – to 3.03pc. The market has judged that if Europe’s Teutonic powerhouse wants the single currency to survive, it will ultimately need to raise wads of cash to absorb the mess caused by other member states’ fiscal incontinence…

Some say that growing signs of a US economic recovery are positive for stocks, which means money is being diverted out of Treasuries, so lowering their price, which pushes up yields. That’s wishful thinking. Sovereign borrowing costs have just surged in the US – and therefore elsewhere – because a politically-wounded President Obama caved-in and extended the Bush-era tax cuts, combining them with a $120bn payroll tax holiday…

The market is increasingly alarmed at the rate of increase of the US government’s already massive liabilities. America’s government debt is set to expand by a jaw-dropping 42pc over the next few years, reaching $19.6 trillion by 2015 according to Treasury Department estimates presented (amid very little fanfare) to Congress back in June. Since then, government spending has risen even more. So US debt service costs, like those of many other Western nations, are expanding rapidly in terms of both the volumes of sovereign instruments outstanding, and the yields on each bond.

You know what that means? It means that if you are a small time investor; that you need to get out of the Market NOW! This could have a huge impact on the market, and you could lose very big. I do virtual trading and so far, I have done well on my trades. But I am not about to lose my shirt, so, I ordered a sell off of everything. Now the big time guys will be able to afford to ride this out, because they have the wealth to spare. But the small time people will get burned. The best thing I can tell you small times investors, is to dump your shares and put it all into Gold. That would either be into EFT‘s or real actual Gold.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be a expert on the subject of stocks, trading or even Gold. However, it does stand to reason that when such news as this is report, that it will affect the U.S. markets and the United States financial system. I do however, promote a great investment advice service called Elliotwave. You might want to check it out.

Stock, Gold and Oil Trading Advice: Gold/Silver – Controlling Your Trades, Money & Emotions

Last week we had typical pre-holiday light volume trading going into US Thanksgiving. The previous week I warned every one to trade with extreme caution because of the light volume and the fact that the market is on the verge of a sizable drop for both stocks and commodities. Any price action could not be taken seriously because of the light volume. We will not know until later this coming week what the big money wants to do… Buy or Sell, also what the manipulators will do… Seems like there are a lot of wild cards out there with Europe issues and both unemployment and payroll numbers out on Friday morning.

Below are a few charts showing my intermediate term outlook for gold and silver.

Gold & Silver Futures – Daily Chart
You can see both metal are showing a possible reversal head and shoulders pattern. While they have yet to confirm and close below the neck line we must be aware of this pattern and the risk/potential it provides us with. Both metals are still in an uptrend but showing signs of weakness.

US Dollar Index – Weekly Chart
This chart is not really that helpful for trading stocks, commodities or options right now but I wanted to post it because it allows me to show you how I analyze the market and my trades.

As you can see, the past 3 weeks have been in a strong uptrend reaching the first resistance level. The point of this chart is to show you that if you step out to the next longer time frame you can get a solid feeling of where an investment will find major support and resistance levels. Any investment not matter if it’s a stock, commodity or currency, if the price is trading in the middle of a large range like this chart you should not be taking large positions because it almost becomes a 50/50 bet on the market which is not a good winning strategy unless you are very experienced at managing your trades and money.

If you are going to trade then you want to focus on the underlying trend and you do that by looking at the next larger time frame. For example: if you focus on trading the daily chart, then you must step back each week and review the weekly chart to be sure you are trading with the underlying trend which is up for the dollar right now.

Weekend Trading Ideas:
Tuesday morning we saw the SP500 gap lower and continue to sell off. Traders started panicking out of their long positions and we could see it using the intraday market internals charts, which I cover each morning in the pre-market trading videos. Me being a contrarian (buying into market fear, selling into market strength) I used that high level of fear in the market along with the expected light volume holiday week ahead as an excuse to book profits near the lows on SP500 using the SDS bear fund allowing us to profit from the falling market. I feel we are going to have some crazy moves on the markets going into year end and it should be a lot of fun if done correctly.

Trading in general is a very difficult task especially if you are doing it for a living and planning on using your monthly income to pay bills, salaries etc… We all know the stress which comes with trading and if do not have a solid trading strategy, rules and cannot properly manage yourself (emotions) then you are most likely running into problems like over-trading, getting shaken out of trades easily, and taking bigger risks than your account can handle. Each of these cause more traders to blow up their accounts and big up on trading.

I am giving away my book on how you can control your trades, money and emotions. This short and to the point guide is full of my trading techniques, tips and thoughts which will help you get a handle of your emotions turning the market noise into music.

For great stock, gold and oil trading tips; Please, click here to sign up for this great service for the day trader!

Video: Max Keiser’s Call: Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver

This comes via GoldSilver.com:

Quote:

Mike Maloney was recently in Europe working on his next top-secret project. While passing through France, Mike got the chance to visit with the one and only Max Keiser.

Intelligent, witty, and never bashful, Max Keiser is pure financial entertainment. With over 25 years of experience with markets and finance, Max often draws from first hand experiences when providing his listeners explicit insights on how the financial markets truly operate.

He has been described as a film producer, a journalist, and as JP Morgan and friends are now finding out, an activist investor with powerful ideas on how the masses can help themselves in taking their financial power back.

The Video:

The time in invest in gold and silver is now! Click here to find out how!