investment

Sitka Pacific Capital Management Client Letter, May 2013

"In many respects, the market action over the past 2 years — in stocks and gold — seems to reflect a misunderstanding of how periods of monetary expansion affect consumer prices and asset prices. In the pages that follow we’ll highlight a few of these monetary expansion/inflation misunderstandings, and we’ll explain why equity investors should be growing more pessimistic — not optimistic — in light of current market valuations and the Fed’s continued quantitative easing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSitka Pacific Capital Management Client Letter, May 2013

BIS Demands Global Depression?

"There is no avoiding what the Bank for International Settlements has just demanded. The top men at that august institution are demanding a global depression. And just to ensure that people especially in the West are thoroughly confused as they slip into starvation and despair, Austrian economics has been brought back into the argument. Free-market proponents didn't cause this disaster. Central bankers did, with their insistence on price fixing and monetary expansion. Determined to control all the elements of globalism, and keep them in place, they printed tens of trillions to stop a meltdown that must inevitably occur. By stretching it out, they prolong the agony for billions." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: The Bear Market in Bonds

"Get out now. You can ask all the questions you want later. Everyone saw (or still sees) a turn in the bond market coming. Bonds have been going up for 33 years. They can't go up forever. What can't last forever has to stop sometime. This seems like as good a time as any. But everyone cannot get out of their bond investments at the same time in a calm, orderly way. Some will hesitate... wait too long... and then, every bounce will encourage them to wait longer, hoping to recover their losses. Others will stumble and be crushed underfoot, selling their bonds at panic prices. Is the panic happening already? No. We've only smelled the first faint whiffs of fear." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: The Bear Market in Bonds

Crisis and Opportunity in the Junior Miners

"While it's true that junior miners routinely rise and fall like a roller coaster, the opportunity that today's dirt-cheap prices present is far from normal.To put it in perspective, remember when Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns all succumbed to the subprime crisis? When the financial system itself seemed to be crumbling, and panicked investors were selling everything they could catch a bid on? Well, junior mining companies are as cheap now as they were then. Even if you go all the way back to 2002 – before the gold bull really got running, and gold was going for just $315 an ounce – junior miners still weren't as cheap as they are today." Continue reading →

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Gold: Dead Cat Or Raging Bull?

"Gold prices are falling, but gold sales are going through the roof – what is the real truth behind these puzzling developments? Is the gold bull market dead, or is the best yet to come? And what are the implications for investors today? TheStreet has partnered with Casey Research to answer these questions – and more – in an exclusive video event focused on the gold debate that's raging across investment communities worldwide." Continue reading →

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NBC: ‘Bitcoin losing shine after hitting the spotlight’

"The old, informal methods of using Bitcoin are dying out: Of the two largest 'exchanges' where Bitcoins are bought and sold, one, Bitfloor, shut down in April following a major theft, and the other, Mt. Gox, is facing potential criminal charges after failing to properly disclose its financial practices to FinCEN, a U.S. regulatory body. FinCEN recently acknowledged 'decentralized virtual currencies' like Bitcoin as being real money, prompting scrutiny. New firms are learning from predecessors, working with regulators and established financial players from the get-go, and structuring themselves in order to handle large amounts of money without meltdowns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNBC: ‘Bitcoin losing shine after hitting the spotlight’

Ontario slashes Samsung green energy deal by $3.7 billion

"The cuts will hit a controversial sole-source deal with a consortium led by South Korea-based Samsung Group that offered special financial incentives in a bid to attract investment in renewable energy. The province’s change of heart is partly a response to the backlash over that arrangement – which made electricity bills more expensive – as well as an acknowledgment that Samsung was having trouble holding up its end of the bargain. It is also the latest sign of turbulence in the green-energy industry after the global recession reduced the need for power and an uncertain economy made less costly conventional electricity more attractive than pricey renewables." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOntario slashes Samsung green energy deal by $3.7 billion

The Rush to Tap Myanmar’s Energy Promise

"Myanmar, also known as Burma, has largely been shunned by the West for most of five decades of military rule that ended last year. Now open for business and shedding sanctions, the cash economy badly needs a working banking system. The population of more than 60 million wants mobile phones, newer cars, and Coca-Colas. But no one sector is as critical to Myanmar’s growth prospects as energy. The country has 7.8 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, worth about $75 billion at current U.K. benchmark prices. It now has 16 energy multinationals working on 17 onshore exploration blocks and 15 exploring or producing in 20 offshore blocks." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers on investing in Malaysia, the century of Asia, & frontier markets

"Malaysia has a few things going for it now. It has a government that understands how the world is supposed to work and it is trying to open up so that if people accomplish something they can see the fruits of their labor. They have lots of natural resources, are right in the middle of the region, and speak multiple languages, so Malaysia has a lot going for it. I have had criticisms of Malaysia in the past, but at the moment, I have investments in Malaysia for the first time in a long time. This is a government that understands economics better than some governments, has big reserves, and has a very large agricultural component of their economy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJim Rogers on investing in Malaysia, the century of Asia, & frontier markets

Exante Adds Share Trading To Global Bitcoin Hedge Fund

"Exante is the king of bitcoin funds. The tradeable fund shares are distributed exclusively through the Exante Hedge Fund Marketplace platform. Authorized and regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority, Exante offers the Bitcoin Fund with an initial minimum subscription of $100,000 and a 0.5% fee for subscriptions and redemptions (1 Bitcoin Fund share = 1 bitcoin). The fund carries a 1.75% annual fee (payable in bitcoin to preserve the ratio) for managing the intricate security necessary to safeguard the bitcoin private keys. Current assets under management in the Bitcoin Fund are $9.76 million (93,000 BTC) and there is no performance-based fee." Continue reading →

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