investment

Texas votes to abolish taxation of gold

"The Texas Senate on Wednesday night passed H.B. 78, a bill that eliminates the sales tax on precious metal coins and bullion. It now goes to Governor Rick Perry’s desk for his signature into law. Existing Texas statute applies the 6.25% sales tax to purchases of gold and silver under $1,000. 'This sends a powerful message to other states that taxing gold makes no sense because gold is money,' said Rich Danker. 'What is particularly right about this bill is that it removes a tax that affected middle and lower income people who wanted to acquire gold. These are the people losing the most from the long-term erosion in the dollar’s value and need this sound money option.'" Continue reading →

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Schizophrenic investors expect slump, bet on boom

"Some 57pc think there will be no escape from the 'twilight' conditions afflicting the western world, and 20pc expect an full-blown global recession. That is a remarkably bearish set of views. Yet the same investors are overwhelmingly bullish on stocks and property. This schizophrenic exuberance seems entirely based on the assumption that QE and central bank largesse will keep the game going, flooding asset markets with liquidity. Indeed, 80pc think the ECB will cut rates again, and half think it will have to swallow its pride and join the QE club in the end. Four fifths think equities will gallop on upwards over the next year. Complacency is rife." Continue reading →

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What If Stocks, Bonds and Housing All Go Down Together?

"In the past, central banks were pleased to inflate one bubble at a time, enabling money both smart and dumb to flee one smoking ruin and get busy inflating the next bubble-ready asset class. But now, thanks to essentially unlimited liquidity and credit, the central banks have inflated three bubbles at the same time: stocks, bonds and housing. That raises an interesting question: what if all these bubbles pop in unison? Will the central banks be able to place a bid under all three markets simultaneously? If so, where will all that freed-up cash go next?" Continue reading →

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Secrets From The Sexist Pitchbook Of One Of Wall Street’s More Notorious Firms

"BuzzFeed has obtained the 'Golden Pitchbook' used by top brokers at John Thomas Financial. In its pages: How cold-calling brokers pressure prospects to buy stocks from the troubled firm. The aggressive pitch tactics in the book and supporting JTF documents, such as what one scenario described by the source as 'Don’t Pitch The Bitch,' have caught the attention of the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority." Continue reading →

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Get Ahead of the Pack and Unload Bonds Now

"Why oh why does this love affair continue? Some of it is inertia. People just don’t want to sell what worked for them in 2009, 2010, and early 2011 … even if it isn’t working any more. Some of it is fear. Investors were burned so badly by the 2008 stock market crash, when Treasury bonds were about the only asset class that went up in value, that they’re willing to buy bonds at almost any price. And some of it is the fault of central bankers worldwide. They’re essentially cornering the bond market, making the Hunt Brothers’ infamous cornering of the silver market in the late 1970s and early 1980s look like child’s play." Continue reading →

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Japanese Stocks Plunge 1000 Points; Central Bank Injects 2 Trillion Yen

"Japan’s Topix index fell almost 7 percent, the most since the aftermath of the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, as financial companies plunged amid rising bond yields. The rout triggered a halt in Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures trading in Osaka." Continue reading →

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The Words That Sent the Stock Market Tumbling

"Stocks closed down nearly 1 percent in a volatile session after the minutes from the last Fed policy setting meeting suggested the Fed is divided on when it may start to pull back on its monetary stimulus. The market had moved higher earlier in the session when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated that tapering bond purchases will depend on an improvement in the economic data. But then during the Q & A, Bernanke said that the Fed could decide to scale back the pace of bond purchases at one of the 'next few meetings' if the economic recovery looked set to maintain forward momentum." Continue reading →

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Miss a Little … Miss a Lot

"Goldman Sachs and Franklin Templeton recently published separate studies that analyzed investment returns over the 20-year period from 1992-2011. The results were astounding — even for me, a 30-year market veteran. During this 20-year period, made up of 5,046 trading days, the market returned an average of 7.81 percent per year. However, if you missed the 10 best days during those two decades, your annual return dropped to 4.14 percent. If you missed the best 30 days, your average annual return actually turned negative — coming in at -0.39 percent. And if you missed the best 40 days, your returns fell even further to -2.31 percent." Continue reading →

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Sam Zell says sell

"At least one notable investor thinks we may be in bubble trouble again. Sam Zell on Thursday at the SALT hedge fund conference in Las Vegas said stocks are due for a fall. The legendary real estate investor thinks the market is out of touch with what is really going on in the economy. 'Right now you are buying at an all-time high,' says Zell. 'And there are times when stocks hit a high, and then go higher, but that's when you have a good economy.' By contrast, Zell said the companies he runs and looks at are still struggling to increase sales. Zell said he was worried about problems in the Middle East and recent aggressive efforts by the Bank of Japan." Continue reading →

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