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Philosopher Jacques Maritain once observed that the shortcoming of modern times is “the primacy of verification over truth.” Many people determine what is true, and then forget about it, rather than let it nourish their lives, Maritain said. So it is with investing. View Enlarged Image The hardest challenge of investing isn’t learning all the probability-based rules [...]
The world faces another economic catastrophe worse than the European debt crisis and the 2008 financial crisis, according to the authors of the best-seller “Aftershock.” Cindy Spitzer and brothers David and Robert Wiedemer contend people need to dump stocks and preserve their money in gold, silver and short-term bonds. As the managing director of Bethesda, [...]
A handle pattern on a stock chart represents one last shakeout before a stock tries to break out to new highs. You want to see light volume as this pattern takes shape. This signals an orderly exit by some investors, rather than a stampede out of the stock by many big investors. You also want [...]
For 18 consecutive quarters, from Q2,’02 through Q3,’06, S&P 500 operating earnings increased at least 10% each quarter. Initially the gains were a rebound from the earnings declines of the 2000-2002 Bear market and recession, and later on they were reflective of an accelerating market and recovering economy. Then came the housing bust, liquidity, unemployment, [...]
You don’t have to be a gold bug to wonder if the Federal Reserve has completely lost its mind. Can’t the Fed see what’s happening to the prices of commodities, such as gasoline, grains, metals and other raw materials? Is the Fed blind to the inflation that’s raging all around? Yet, the Fed still clings [...]
Unemployment near 10 percent in Europe will weigh on workers’ wages, preventing a sustained surge in prices, said Carl Weinberg, chief economist and founder of High Frequency Economics Ltd. in Valhalla, New York. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet this month said the ECB may raise interest rates in April for the first time in almost three years to [...]
Thierry Stern, chairman of Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe SA, says his home nation may be better off adopting the euro as the franc’s appreciation hurts exports. “It’s a nightmare for everybody,” Stern said during a March 24 interview in Basel. “We have to adapt. Something will come. I don’t know when, but one day it [...]
A perfect place to store gold bullion offshore? We expect gold storage operators will be opening shortly in the Singapore free zone. Peter Macfarlane reports below… It’s not just money that Swiss banks have been haemorrhaging lately (as reported in our last Q Bytes). As Swiss and other private banks are increasingly moving asset protection [...]
Peter Macfarlane reporting from Tocumen Airport in Panama, in transit to the Caribbean… I don’t write much in Q Bytes about my travels, but most of my clients are aware that I travel almost constantly… meeting clients and suppliers, doing research and due diligence. The last few weeks I have been in South America driving [...]
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) still has not discovered or explained what triggered the now infamous 1,000 points plunge on May 6, 2010 – enough to wipe more than US$1 trillion in U.S. market value. The 9.2% drop was the biggest intraday percentage loss since 1987 and largest point drop ever. This event may [...]