Contrarian Profits
Stock marketing investing news and opinion from a contrarian perspective with insights about commodities, gold investing, oil, energy, china, the Fed, inflation, deflation, and global markets
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Why Shorting The Dollar Is Better Than Shorting Treasuries
It seems everyone is turning against US Treasuries now. But Justice Litle says it might not be the best move. After a vicious fall at the start of the year, investors could flock back to Treasuries as the recent rally in stocks subsides. Justice says the arguments for shorting the dollar are far mor …
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Trade Barriers Could Deepen Global Economic Crisis
The breakdown of international trade is key threat to the global economy in 2009, says Chris Mayer. Several countries have already taken action to protect domestic industries, including the US with its auto bailout. If this trend continues, Chris says the global downturn could become even deeper tha …
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The Great Reinflation
Responding to growing concern about the quality of the Federal Reserve Systems assets, former Federal Reserve Governor Lyle Gramley told reporters last week that You have to reckon with the fact that one of the Feds assets is gold certificates, which are priced, as I remember, at US$42 an ounce, …
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And Then Theres This Wednesday, January 07th, 2009
When I finally fired off yesterdays commentary (to my editor) in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, I must admit that I wasnt overly optimistic about what I would find when I turned my computer on after a few hours of shut-eye. I was expecting the worstbut got something entirely different. Gold bounc …
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Resource Stock Roundup: Wednesday, January 07th, 2009
It was another upbeat session for the Canadian Markets during Tuesday trading with investors continuing to pick up resource related equities. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange added 2.01%, while the TSX Gold Index finally rallied adding 1.9% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canadas largest ju …
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Industrial Metals Rally Strongly
The base metals were all strongly positive on Tuesday. Copper rose from the pre-dawn hours straight through the New York day, just edging below its intraday highs to finish at $1.5308/lb., up more than 10½ cents. Nickel peaked as New York opened, but only slipped a little during the day, closing at …
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The Other Shoe Drops: Silicon Valley Officially Cuts Green Investments
On September 5th we reported that Silicon Valley, the major green booster, had retrenched by pulling out of long-term investments in alternative energy. Today, the other shoe dropped. The Cleantech Group in San Francisco reported that venture-capital investment in clean technology fell 35% in Q4 fro …
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Buck Finishes Higher Against Euro
In the currency market, the dollar lost most of its early gains but still finished slightly higher against the euro. Late Tuesday, the euro was trading at $1.3529 vs. $1.3588 on Monday. The buck declined after the release of minutes of the Federal Open Market Committees mid-December meeting, which …
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Precious Metals Advance
Gold was lower overseas, dropping below $840 at the London open and again just before New York opened on Tuesday, but it edged higher to the noon hour, then really took off, peaking at $870 in early Globex trading before easing to finish at $864.60/oz., up $6.30. Overnight, gold has been flat. Plat …
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A Trading Pattern For Gold
The currencies rally back! The risk takers are back! Mixed bag of economic reports A cross thing for sterling And Now Todays Pfennig! Well, front and center this morning is a rally in the currencies that began yesterday …
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Madoff as Metaphor
There is a saying in the world of Austrian economics about the business cycle. The puzzle is not to explain business failures. Those are part of the normal course of life, and the sign of a healthy economy. The puzzle is to explain the cluster of errors that appears at the beginning of a recession …
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Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) - Another Nail In The Coffin
Can you hear that, Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI)? Its the sound of obsolescence. With the news that LG Electronics will be producing high-definition televisions that will stream movies from Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), you can add another nail in the coffin for Blockbuster. At first, Netflixs threat to Block …
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Investing In Oil Now Could Be The Trade Of The Year
Geo-political tensions are mounting in the global energy game. And that could make investing in oil right now the trade of the year, says Manraaj Singh. Buying shares of oil majors is a good move now. But Manraaj says quality mid-sized oil companies are best placed to return big profits in the next …
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Corporate Bankruptcies Will be a Key Investor Concern in the New Year
Investors are breathing a sigh of relief that 2008 is over, but they shouldnt get too comfortable. After all, with a worldwide recession under way, investors can expect acceleration in corporate bankruptcies in 2009. But the question is - which ones? In the financial services sector, 2008 was a y …
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Buying into the Health Care Comeback
How many times have you looked at a stock chart and thought, If only I had bought shares five years ago? If we all had time machines, we would be millionaires. But we have not had the luxury of playing Monday morning quarterback with our investments. Until now, that is Thanks to the recent stock ma …
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Obama To Declare War on Cayman Islands, Bermuda
O.K., so the headline isnt exactly accurate, but it did catch your eye. And if one David Cay Johnston has his perverse way, it would be a statement of fact. Indeed, Johnston seriously calls for a U.S. declaration of war not only on the Cayman Islands, but also Bermuda and other offshore tax havens. …
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Anti-Depression Remedies, Part II
You probably know John Maynard Keynes as an economist, but may not know that he was also a great investor, maybe the most the successful of the Great Depression era. And for that reason, given all that our own markets are going through, it may be a good time to look at his investment career. Keynes …
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Dont Expect An Economic Recovery Until 2010
T. Boone Pickens thought oil was going to hit $150 last year and go up from there. I dont mean to pick on him. Hes worth about $3 billion. Hes earned his stripes. I have nothing but respect for the man. Pickens wasnt the only person who got 2008 wrong. There were plenty of others. When it comes down …
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Stock Market Gyrates as Reports Show Economy Deep in Recession
The stock market struggled to recover from a tumultuous 2008 yesterday (Tuesday) while digesting a trio of downbeat economic reports from the manufacturing, housing and service sectors. The reports included separate data on factory orders and pending home sales for November, as well as the Instit …
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History Points To Huge Opportunities Amid The Gloom
Last year, the illusion of permanent wealth and prosperity was shattered. Just as The Great Depression followed the roaring 20s, so we now face a huge correction to years of unrestricted gains. But take the historical parallels further, and Andrew Gordon says this year could be your best chance in d …
Contrarian Profits
