It’s a beautiful, long holiday weekend. I’ve been celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, and I’m sure many of you are also busy with relatives and friends. So I’m going to keep this week’s column short.
Specifically, I’m going to highlight three big questions we should all be thinking about — and offer up my best answers. I [...]
Archive for November, 2008
Three big questions to ponder this Thanksgiving weekend
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Financial Mayhem to Fuel Gold’s Next Surge?
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, I wrote about how our oil-rich friends in the Middle East are buying gold hand over fist. It turns out they’re not the only ones. The latest figures from the World Gold Council show a frenzy of activity in the most recent quarter.
And gold ended last week with a bullish move to the [...]
A Hidden Benefit of Roth IRAs
Posted in Investments, Taxes on November 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
With the upcoming holiday rapidly approaching, we should all start thinking about what we’re thankful for. You know, just in case someone at the dinner table puts us on the spot.
I’ve previously told you about the beauty of Roth IRAs.
To quickly recap: They give most working Americans the ability to sock away money, [...]
S&P 500 Crashes Through Bear Market Low! Housing Heads South!
Posted in Economy, Investments, Real Estate on November 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Thursday was a historic day for the market. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index plunged by 6.7% to 752.44. The bear market low of October 2002 was 768.63 — and we sliced through it like a hot knife through butter.
Stated another way, every last penny of profit an investor earned — even if he bought at [...]
What’s bearish for stocks, is bullish for the dollar
Posted in Economy, Investments, Real Estate on November 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I came across a study that confirms just how tightly tied the markets have become. According to James Bianco, president of Bianco Research LLC:
Over the last six months, seven separate assets have maintained an 85%, or better, correlation with the S&P 500.
That means, at least 85% of the time these assets moved the same direction as [...]
Citigroup Failure Imminent
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Citigroup, the nation’s second largest banking conglomerate, is on the brink of failure.
Its stock price collapse is the canary in the coal mine, wiping out over nine-tenths of the company’s market cap since its 2007 peak, decimating two-thirds of its value just last week alone.
At the same time, the collapse in its market [...]
Are Oil-Rich Sheiks Being Scared Into Gold?
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Our oil-rich friends in the Middle East are scared. How do I know?
Because they are buying gold like crazy!
First, we got the news that Saudi investors spent $3.47 BILLION on gold in a recent two-week period. On a ratio-to-GDP basis, that’s like investors in the U.S. spending $131 BILLION.
Why are they doing this? [...]
Global recession spreading – time to be cautious
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In 1944, our country had recently emerged from the Great Depression and was in the middle of World War II when 730 delegates from 44 Allied nations met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
Those global leaders had come together to develop a monetary system to govern the financial relationships between the world’s largest economies.
They set up [...]
My “Outrage List” keeps getting longer and longer
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I don’t know about you. But I started keeping a mental “Outrage List” a while back. The idea: Chronicle all the ridiculous statistics, all the lies, all the questionable practices, and all the dubious “rescue packages” Wall Street and Washington keep shoveling onto the public’s lap.
And boy oh boy, is it getting long these days! [...]
Behind the scenes : The G-20’s Secret Debt Solution
Posted in Economy, Investments on November 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
If you think this weekend’s G-20 meetings in Washington are only about designing short-term fixes to the financial system and regulatory reforms for banks, hedge funds, brokers, mortgage companies and investment banks … think again.
Behind the scenes, a far more fundamental fix is being discussed — the possible revaluation of gold and the birth of [...]
