I don’t even want to begin to count the hours wasted in DC on the shutdown and debt ceiling let alone what it did to innocent Americans, our economy and our focus as a nation. Yet our elected officials are celebrating like they won the World Series?!?! What an embarrassing mess. White House staffers were quoted as saying they were “winning”. Speaker Boehner said they “fought the good fight”. I am glad our elected officials in DC treated this debacle […]
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I haven’t written about gold in a while, probably because it’s been so darn frustrating. And if you ask my thoughts on the metal, they will vary greatly depending on the time horizon. Long, long-term, I believe the secular bull market that began in 2001 is alive, but gold is curently in a cyclical bear market that began in mid 2011 and could last until we elect a new president in 2016 or it could end in short order. It’s […]
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John Boehner didn’t call me (he should have) and I doubt he reads my comments (he should), but at least the republicans figured out that their tactics were not working. They may not have unilaterally raised the debt ceiling long-term, but if the reports are accurate, they are going to offer a short-term raise in exchange for negotiations with the democrats on a variety of fiscal issues. As you would imagine, the markets responded favorably although Europe led the way as […]
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More than any TV segment this year, I thought this discussion was great in letting me comment on the major topic at hand, spell out my forecast and offer some comments on managing money. Also, although I may have looked a bit “stiff”, people say I never looked better! http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2730186363001/what-if-the-us-defaults/
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With the exception of those directly affected and impacted by the government shutdown, it doesn’t seem like the public really cares. If it wasn’t constantly shoved down our throats by the media, I am not sure most people would even know. From the polls I have seen, the public is not in favor of closing the government as a strategy to forestall ObamaCare, but at the same time, they are also not in favor of ObamaCare itself. So conclude what you […]
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The government may be closed but the markets are open for business and apparently not too concerned about the shutdown. This week stocks are down less than 1% and trade as if a solution is not too far off. That’s not how I see it, but what do I know?!?! My thoughts were and remain that if we saw a shutdown for more than a day, it would be a lengthy one that would bleed into the debt ceiling deadline on […]
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Stocks continue to feel the hangover from the post Fed no taper party as well as Larry Summers stepping aside. While the Russell 2000 Index of small caps briefly saw all time highs today, the other major indices remain in pull back mode. This all seems very healthy and routine and I would expect another leg higher in the bull market after this period of weakness ends over the coming 2-7 weeks. In the very short-term, stocks are oversold and are supposed […]
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Last week, Dow Jones, the keeper of the popular stock market indices Dow Jones Industrials, Transportation and Utilities, had a major shake up in their most widely watched Industrial Average. Being thrown out are Alcoa, Bank of America and Hewlett Packard. On the other hand, Goldman Sachs, Nike and Visa are coming on board. On the surface, this makes all the sense in the world as Alcoa has been a stodgy old aluminum company while B of A and Hewlett are […]
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I will on CNBC’s Closing Bell today, Friday, at 4:00pm discussing the lack of any taper from the Fed, what they see that the masses don’t and where the markets are ahead. Earlier this week in Street$marts (click on link to see) and on my blog, www.investfortomorrowblog.com I spelled out the three scenarios that could result from the Fed meeting. While I did not believe any taper was warranted, the market was expecting a token $10-$15 billion. When Bernanke & Company did nothing, risk […]
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Why does it seem like every single Fed meeting has become “the single most important FOMC meeting ever” in the media? And here we are again. The Fed begins a two day meeting tomorrow and it is widely expected that they will announce the first of many subsequent tapers at either this meeting or the one in November. The only surprise will be if they remove any kind of taper talk from their announcement or commentary. Although I do not agree with tapering […]
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