It’s a tough time to be an investor. Earlier this week, Warren Buffett repeated his warning “the economy would be in shambles.” Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said, “The pace of economic contraction is slowing.”  And central banks added it intends to keep short-term interest rates at record low levels for “the foreseeable future.” And what happened? The markets came roaring back to life yesterday with no market-driving news. That’s because right now most news is just noise. Good news, b... Read Full Story

“We are at the base building period for the next bull market. What I see happening is perhaps this continuing till the end of the year, and then a break out.” That’s what Mark Mobius, who manages $20 billion for Templeton Asset Management and who was recognized as one of the “Ten Best Investors of the 20th Century,” told investors a few weeks ago. An outrageous prediction, right? Well, it is and it isn’t. Here's what Mobius is seeing that most of the market has just passed right over. Read Full Story

The divide between bull and bear camps is growing wider each day. There isn’t much middle ground. You’re either in it, waiting for a pullback, or waiting for the collapse. Despite the divide, the market shows considerable strength. And the big question remains, “Where are the markets headed from here?” Frankly, there’s still no easy answer. This is the stock market. It’s nearly impossible to predict what is going to happen in the short-term. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to tell. Thes... Read Full Story

According to the Economist, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and China have been “quietly” buying up more than $20 billion of this asset. It’s not oil or natural gas assets though. And it’s not the molybdenum they need to build thousands of miles of new pipelines. They’re buying up one of my favorite long-term investments, farmland. The way things are shaping up, investors who follow their lead now will do exceptionally well in the short-term and long-term. Let me explain... Read Full Story

I wouldn’t believe it unless I saw it myself. After seeing it though, I’ve felt more confident than ever that the markets will be able to hang onto recent gains and add more over the next few months. Let me explain. Every six months, hundreds of CEO’s, investors, and commentators focused on the microcap stocks on the TSX Venture Exchange gather in the lovely city of Vancouver, Canada (your editor’s part-time residence) for a conference. But I saw something there which is one of the biggest... Read Full Story

This is how a recovery begins. A few months ago it seemed like there was no end to the downward spiral. More than 20,000 people were losing their jobs every day. The stock market was steadily falling. Panicked consumers were cutting back aggressively. The government pushed through $787 billion in emergency stimulus spending under the guise of getting the economy going again. Here we are a few months later and a few things appear to be turning around. Everyone is spotting those “green shoots... Read Full Story

Bernard Baruch, one of the world’s most legendary speculators, said, “The main purpose of the stock market is to make fools of as many men as possible.” Right now, that’s exactly what’s going on. And I assure you, a lot of folks will be made into complete fools in the next year or so. Chances are though, the folks who are going to look like fools are not who you think. A Fool and His Money The amount of bearishness from the market commentators is as strong as it ever was. The recent rall... Read Full Story

The two of us just sat there eating some leftovers from KD’s Bar BQ, drinking from sweaty bottles of water, watching it. The numbers on the rusty old meter just kept rolling over. One…by one…by one.  “This has to be the best business in the world,” I said. “Yep, nothing can get done without them. They all need our compressors.” the company’s chief engineer said in a thick Texas accent. 412…413…414… “Is this for real?” “Yep. The compressors are essential for the wells to work.” 421... Read Full Story

Is this a “normal” market? GM is bankrupt. Unemployment is rising every month. Oil prices are up 90% in six months. And the market goes up. Does it make any sense at all? Well, it should. A few weeks ago we looked at the three stages of a bear market rally. And right now, it looks like we are squarely in the middle of the third and final stage. As we noted a few weeks ago when we analyzed the greatest bear market rally ever: Stage 3 [of a bear market rally] is when we see a lot more m... Read Full Story

The dollar is out. The U.S. dollar index has fallen 5% last week. Treasury bonds are quickly falling out of favor. The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds has climbed from 2.5% to almost 3.5% since March signaling inflation fears and an unwillingness to fund ballooning government borrowing. Gold is hot. Gold prices are back on the rise and gold stocks have done even better. Is this a sign of things to come? Well, if you take a look at the mainstream headlines, you’d think so. And if you tak... Read Full Story