As with most things in life, making an investment in silver or gold is not without risk....What do you suppose is the biggest risk we face [and how should we go about protecting our holdings? Read on because you will be surprised!] Words: 1885

Investing is often a study of inconsistencies and contradictions. If it weren’t, the markets would be a simple game and there would no back and forth between buyers and sellers, greed and fear and technical analysts, fundamentalists and momentum players. Our experience with silver since the end of last year illustrates this [but] we [still] think it makes sense to get exposure to the metal. [Let us explain.] Words: 820

One of the hardest things for individual investors to do is to know when to sell a stock. Many times, you might sell simply because a stock has gone up and you've made some money. More often than not, though, this is not a great reason to sell [because, as mentioned in the title of this article,] you will never - ever - have a 10-bagger if you sell a stock after a 2-bagger. That being said, what things should one consider before selling? Words: 912

Canadians may wish to consider the underlying trends in inflation and unemployment before making major financial decisions. Recent unemployment data in Canada shows unemployment at 7.3% [vs. 9.0% in the U.S.] and inflation rising to an uncomfortable 3.2% [vs. 3.6% in the U.S. for a Misery Index of 10.5 vs. 13.6 in the U.S.]

With the October PMIs [having all been reported] I had another look at what to expect on the economic front with regard to economic growth in the major economic regions [Eurozone, U.S., Japan, China and the U.K. - and it is a mixed bag, to say the least. Let's take a look at a few charts.] Words: 475

The following charts indicate relative performance of US home prices in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Miami to Canadian home prices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. US home prices are reflected in Canadian dollars for comparison purposes. Words: 240

The technical situation is ultra-bullish for both gold and gold stocks. Sentiment indicators...continue to show [that] the dollar is poised for a serious decline and the MACD on the gold chart is giving one of the most powerful buy signals in the history of the bull market. The GDX should reach $75 a share by year-end and gold should push to new highs in the $2000 area by January of 2012 [while silver] could possibly be the best investment opportunity available to investors for many years to come! [Let me explain and back up my comments with an array of charts.] Words: 781

The Royal Canadian Mint has announced that it is making an initial public offering of exchange-traded receipts (ETRs) under the mint's new Canadian Gold Reserves program. Unlike other gold investment products currently available which only enable the purchaser to own a unit or share in an entity that owns the gold, the ETRs will enable the purchaser to actually own the physical gold bullion which will be held in the custody of the mint at its facilities in Ottawa, Ontario. Unfortunately, the ETRs have not, and will not, be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and, as such, may not be offered or sold in the U.S. Words: 745

Barclays Capital has done the math on what the events in the past several days reveal for Italy and the math is not pretty. The conclusion is that "Italy is now mathematically beyond point of no return." Words: 583

One of the things we look for in the markets is anomalies or disconnects from historical tendencies that signal some element of a traditional relationship between two things is changing or has changed. Often, the relationship is eventually returned to “normal”, meaning money can be made if an investor is on the right side of the trade. Other times, the relationship has been fundamentally altered in some way, so understanding the reasons behind the shift can become a source of opportunity, since it can either provide understanding about relevant long-term trends or signal a shift in an existing one. [Such being the case let's take a look at] the ratio between natural gas and crude oil [and determine how best to play this investment opportunity.] Words: 1069