Bearish U.S. dollar play : long platinumabout PTM 07/01/08
Platinum has many industrial uses, including fuel cells and catalytic converters. While U.S. consumers have no money to spend on precious metals like platinum, but consumers in Asia will. Fundament...
Medium-term correction: DJIAabout DXD 05/02/08
Adding to short positions based on continuation of derivatives markets writedowns, slowing economy, rising unemployment, increasing cost of capital, and shifts of speculative money overseas.
China: Short-term correction overabout FXI 05/02/08
The short-term correction in China is over. I'm adding this ETF (iShares FTSE/Xinhua China) to other country-specific ETF's (like EWX - Brazil), that hold the greater promise for growth globally. T
World aluminum demand : Aluminaabout AWC 04/13/08
Two new major projects for Alumina in Brazil come online in 2008. This is an ADR, and in addition to the productivity of the company provides the holder with foreign diversification, since this is an...
Signet (Kay / Jared Jeweler) : Tough times ahead fo..about SIG 04/12/08
Signet owns Kay Jeweler and Jared Galleria of Jewelry. This is an ADR of a firm based in the UK. 75% of sales are from the US. This retailer may have even more problems than Tiffany's and other ...
Re: China: Short-term correction over05/02/08
There's a typo in my preliminary comment. The Brazil ETF should be listed as EWZ (not EWX). Apologies.
Re: Yes, it's happening again...04/13/08
I agree with all the fundamental reasons mentioned to own gold. This store of wealth is so compelling that governments (including our own) have sought to manipulate the price of gold in order to create the illusion of a stronger currency, or even confiscated gold from citizenry. Even Switzerland has now relaxed the gold backing of the Swiss Franc.
The recent launch of China's g...
Re: Market Trading Cycle 104/12/08
I've heard the double bottom argument.
I'm not a technical analyst. I can tell you that the levels we see today are entirely disconnected from reality for two reasons. First, the "E" in "P/E Ratio" is wildly overestimated for 2009 and beyond. Second, we have only just begun to see the tip of the iceberg on "securities" exposure across the markets, as we saw with GE today. Looking out 12 mon...
Re: Reasons investors fail (and how to prevail)04/12/08
The "smart money" and "sophisticated" set that is paid seven or eight figures on Wall Street are many of the same set that brought us CDO's, SIV's, biased ratings, and recommendations to continue buying even as the Nasdaq topped 5000 some years ago.
There's very little reason to think that an individual with some sense of what goes on around her can't make decisions more aligned with her lo...
Re: Minimum Amount to Start Investing04/12/08
Any discussion of investing needs to have some view of the level of diversification available to the account owner, and the nature of any other savings they may have, such as an IRA or 401(k). The timeline of the investor is crucial. If one needs the money in two or three years, I think few financial planners would recommend delving into a handful of stocks in an attempt to create gains based o...
