Tag: Guest Bloggers

Why My Portfolio Gained 30% This Year: John Stephenson

Posted on by admin

The Energy Report: John, In your last interview, you were pretty optimistic about much higher oil prices. What can you attribute the oil market's recent weakness to? Did everyone just get spooked?

John Stephenson: There was a rumor that the U.S. was going to release strategic petroleum reserves, which would lower prices at the pump and also lower prices in the world market. It would be a temporary fix, because the actual total volume of the reserve is only about a month's worth of U.S. consumption. Nonetheless, it would definitely lower prices. There's some waning of geopolitical risk, and some of that risk rhetoric was positive for oil prices.

The European ban on importing Iranian oil has had a pretty dramatic impact on tightening supply. It's roughly equivalent to when Libya was offline because of its revolution. That same level of production, about 1.5 million barrels (MMbbl) is off the global market now, creating a fairly tight supply picture. Then there is the Israel/Iran nuclear confrontation, which has also driven oil prices higher. Realistically, there's very strong support for oil prices in the $9095 per barrel (bbl) range because one of the big sources of demand for oil has actually turned out to be the Middle East itself, where the producers are becoming their own best customers. They're like drug dealers getting hooked on their own supply, and their consumption growth rates are double those of China. Continue reading "Why My Portfolio Gained 30% This Year: John Stephenson" →

Gold Rush!

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Mike Landfair

I’ve recommended buying Gold since 2004 and I always get the look.  Are you crazy? Or Gold? Isn’t that risky? Or, How do I buy it? Or, Hasn’t it already moved? They may ask how much should I buy and I’ll give them a percentage and they will say, Where do you I buy it? Should I buy Gold or stocks?  What are you doing with your money?

Then a year or two later, I’ll meet them again and they’ll say, “Do you still own your Gold?”  I’ll say yes I do.  And they will say, “I wished we’d bought it when you told us.  We just took a big hit in the market.  Of course Gold is too high now, isn’t it?”

Here we are at $1775 as I write this and I think Gold will double from here and Silver could be at $100 or more, maybe in 2013.  When I suggest this to anyone who asks me what I’m doing to get better returns than CDs, I always get the look. Continue reading "Gold Rush!" →

FrankenMarket Lives (On)!

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Excerpted from the September 30 edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole:

I often refer back to my first publicly written article (FrankenMarket Lives, 2004) because it simply stated the terms by which the stock market lives here in the age of Inflation onDemand, which was kicked off by Alan Greenspan in 2001 and is ever more aggressively managed to this day by his successor, Ben Bernanke.

From the article’s opening segment: "As we enter the summer of 2004 [fall of 2012], our markets appear to be moving with all the grace of Dr. Frankenstein’s creation, staggering forward, arms outstretched and seeking sanctuary [i.e. inflation]."

From the ending segment: "This market was stitched together with debt, and it will require more of the same to keep it going." Continue reading "FrankenMarket Lives (On)!" →

Gold Chart of The Week

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Each week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report (October 1st through October 5th)

“Better late than never” comes to mind as I prepare this week’s Weekly Gold Report. Just as I sat down to capture the weekly chart for December Gold, the market erupted after another perfectly timed announcement from a US FED official.

After dismal news from the European Manufacturing sector overnight, a European Union Commissioner made upbeat remarks about Spain, followed by FED member Charles Evans stating that he would like to see “Operation Twist” continue past the December 2012 deadline and go on for another calendar year. The remarks from Olli Rehn in Europe and supportive comments from Evans in the US were enough to offset the worst Manufacturing number that Europe has seen in three months. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week" →

John Mauldin's Prescription for Avoiding Economic Catastrophe

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Best-selling author John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics says the EU is only left with choices that range from bad to disastrous. Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats will have to hold hands and walk off the cliff together to solve U.S. economic problems. In this exclusive Gold Report interview, Mauldin expands on his comments at the Casey Conference, "Navigating the Politicized Economy." Read more about the consequences of those choices and necessary compromises—and how he would reform the U.S. tax code.

The Gold Report: Back in January you said the European Union (EU) would have to make serious political decisions with "major economic consequences" in 2012. Is the EU making those decisions and what is your prognosis?

John Mauldin: It is doing its best to avoid making decisions, but is being forced to make them, ad hoc. The EU allowed the European Central Bank (ECB) to print money to monetize debt. The ECB is buying time for governments to achieve structural reform.

Structural reform, not the debt, is the problem. The debt is a symptom of bad policies, of a system set up for failure. The EU translated a theory into fact, and the theory did not work.

TGR: Is that theory the EU itself?

JM: The theory is the monetary union. If the EU had just left the trade union alone without trying to layer the monetary union on, it would have been just fine. But the EU wanted a single currency. It was part of the Europhiles' dream. The EU thinks the monetary union is the sine qua non and it is not. Continue reading "John Mauldin's Prescription for Avoiding Economic Catastrophe" →