The Folly of My Inbox
Each and every day, I receive countless emails containing get rich-quick schemes, bogus trading systems, at-home business ideas, the latest and greatest investment opportunity, the next gold stock set to soar, etc etc. The list is endless, providing a good source of humor in an otherwise gloomy environment. Sometimes...
Edge Chart User’s Guide
The early development of my Relative Strength Momentum (RSM) sector rotation model took place in the mid-1980s. The ranking system proved a valuable tool over the years, and the computer printout format served its purpose – identifying the sectors and groups with an edge. If a picture is worth...
Beware the Juicy Dividend
Income oriented investors are yield-starved with T-bills yielding nearly zero. For those of you willing to extend the maturity of your Treasury investments, you can get nearly 1.5% on five-year securities or about 2.4% if you can commit to a 10-year investment. Given the paltry payouts from Treasury...
Four Steps To Buying A Stock
As we wind up the year and head into 2009, it’s a good time to step back to consider some of the basics again. If only investors had kept to the fundamentals, there would be far less financial regret over the past 12 months. One of those basics is picking the right investments. In this case, we...
Santa’s Wheel House!
The official time period of the so-called “Santa Claus Rally” phenomena is the last 5 trading days of the year and the first two days of the new year. That means we are presently in Santa’s wheel house, as the S&P 500 is +1% or so over the past two days. Kowabunga!! Wall...
Cash is Risky
When considering what to do with the growth-oriented part of your portfolio, have you considered how dangerous it might be to hold cash? Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the problem with cash, let’s review how difficult it is to tactically manage around corrections and bear markets. Having...
Re-Booting America
We are undergoing a significant change in America. Political and market forces are dramatically altering the psychology of each and every one of us. I am especially bullish for the long term as I think the moral and ethical fabric of society has been exposed, and we don’t like what we see. Investors...
Is it Too Late to Sell?
Did the market bottom today? Does a VIX near 60 signal capitulation? Are there some compelling buys out there? We don’t know if the bottom is in. Maybe it was today, maybe it is tomorrow. It might be next week. That said, it could be a major mistake to sell out and risk missing the...
Smart Investors: A Contradiction In Terms
There seems to be an underlying assumption in the markets, whether you read the Wall Street Journal or hear the Fed Chairman issuing assurances from on high. That is, professional investors are very smart people. They always make completely rational decisions based upon the best information available....
Cheaper By The Bushel: What Corn Prices Tell Us About Inflation
Today the Labor Department reported that producer prices jumped 1.4% in May. This should not surprise anyone. It is patently obvious to all fully conscious American adults that the price of, well, everything is going nowhere but up. Why some people cannot grasp this fact is a subject for psychologists...
