Archive for June, 2007
June 29, 2007 - Make no mistake about it, the U.S. economy is not healthy. Despite all the reassurances from the Feds about the subprime fiasco being under control, the housing markets having already bottomed out, inflation being under control, unemployment at lows, and whatever other statistics they choose to manufacture out of thin air, the real story is quite the opposite. If my assertion is correct, many ask, “how could have the U.S. markets have performed so well in the first half of 2007?” The answer is quite simple- the Feds creation of easy liquidity. Everything from low-interest equity pulled from exotic mortgages that people shouldn’t have been able to afford if responsible lending practices had been adhered to, to the creation of easy money for foreign investors as well. Well now the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost as pulling equity from homes has virtually ceased in the face of this housing slump, consumer debt is rising, GDP is non-existent and foreign creditors are becoming more savvy to the game that they quiet willingly engaged in earlier. Read more …
June 29th, 2007
June 18, 2007 - In her recent speech to the Democratic National Committee Clinton told the story of one of her New York constituents that approached her and complained about the loss of manufacturing jobs with the question: “Why can’t we get tough on China?” Hilary replied,“How do you get tough on your banker?” It’s not only China, but the U.S. economy now depends on the Middle East as well to keep its economy going. The situation has reversed almost 180 degrees from the past where developing countries’ economies could tank overnight based upon the decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve (and they did – remember what happened to Argentina in the 1970’s?) Now, other countries hold the fate of the U.S. economy in their hands. Read more …
June 18th, 2007
June 17, 2007 - Yes, we’ve trumped the so-called experts again, including the person everyone in the media turns to regarding the direction of U.S. bonds, PIMCO’s Bill Gross, this time by more than 6 months. On January 7th, I wrote an article titled, “Ten Reasons Dollar Denominated Bonds Aren’t as Safe as You Think”. This week’s June 16th issue of The Economist, more than 6 months later after we published the reasons why dollar-denominated bonds were not low risk, contained an article discussing reasons for the “surprising” plunge in the prices of dollar denominated bonds this past month, and discussed why U.S. bonds, typically safe havens of investment for older investors, are not so safe anymore. Of course, they wrote this article after soaring bond yields had already sent bond prices plunging. At SmartKnowledgeU, however, we weren’t surprised at all. In fact, we told you all the reasons why dollar denominated bonds weren’t safe six months ago and had you merely read the article I wrote here, many of you that own bonds could have saved yourself a lot of grief. In fact, our investment strategies that allow us to be ahead of the game by six months to a year of everyone else in knowing which way markets will turn is exactly what enables us to so easily make high double digit and triple digit returns on many individual stocks. Read more …
June 17th, 2007
June 17, 2007 - Hello. We’ve been busy adding two new stock research services, the U.S. Stock Picker and the Global Stock Picker, now available by clicking here, so that’s why the new postings here have not been as frequent. Unfortunately, with our two new services we won’t be posting as many free stock picks here anymore, but you can certainly look at our track record in the posting below. Imagine if those are our middle-tier picks, how the top-shelf picks of our fee services will perform!
June 17th, 2007
June 17, 2007 – Canada? Not China? Not Singapore? Not Hong Kong? Not the United States? Canada? Yes, Canada. Just take a look at the performance of the Canadian i-shares ECW chart for the past two years that I’ve posted below. Sure, you may have made more money investing in the broad Shanghai stock market index over the past two years, but by best, I don’t mean what market has had the best broadest performance, but the pertinent question to ask is this. What market has had the best performance over the past couple of years with the least amount of risk and will continue to offer these two characteristics going forward? Read more …
June 17th, 2007
June 5, 2007 - Over the past six months, the gold bears have been out in full force, especially given the latest downturn in Gold this past May. Several months back, Timothy Middleton on MSN Money stated, “Is the party over? For gold, my bet is that it is. The party ended a week ago yesterday. Having reached a 25-year high price of more than $570 an ounce that Monday, the price of gold bullion began a two-day, 5% tumble that left gold at $544. Toward the end of the week the price was rebounding, but not to its peak level.” About a year ago, the India Times reported, “ Interestingly, gold is in a major bear market since May of this year. Read more …
June 5th, 2007
June 4, 2007 - If you look at our free stock picks from just one day, October 30, 2006, EVERY SINGLE STOCK WE PROFILED that day has gained a significant amount, and on average they gained 35%. As well, you can view returns of the stocks we profile in our investment newsletter here. In fact, with most of these picks, if you bought them after we profiled them here, I would take one of two actions right now. Read more …
June 4th, 2007
