What is underpinning current dollar strength is a shift in market focus toward some of the headwinds facing the global economic environment. That’s swinging the risk appetite pendulum back toward safety, which is positive for the dollar. Words: 692

By cutting the federal funds rate to a range of zero percent to 0.25 percent, the Fed has forced rates on short-term Treasuries, short-term certificates of deposit, and money market accounts into the gutter. You can’t earn squat on these safe, cash-like investments so where can you turn for the income you need? Words: 540

Of the $200+ trillion in derivatives on US banks’ balance sheets, 85% are based on interest rates and for that reason I cannot take any of the Fed’s mumblings about raising interest rates seriously at all. Remember, most if not all, of the bailout money has gone to US banks in order to help them raise capital. So why would the Fed make a move that could potentially destroy these firms’ equity and essentially undoing all of its previous efforts? That being said I still see derivatives as a trillion dollar ticking time bomb with a short fuse. Words: 506

Real estate has definitely not bottomed in the U.S., and probably not anywhere else either. You have to take a long-term view of this. At this point in time I am completely uninterested in speculating in U.S. real estate – and I don’t foresee being interested for at least five years. I reserve the right to change my mind, but I think it’ll be at least five years. Words: 1340

Gold has been the best-performing major commodity since the financial crisis began and we see no big reason why that outperformance should be over. After its breathless run to $1220, it’s entitled to correct back toward $1,000—or even a bit below that chiliastic level—without ending its bull market. Words: 707

Governments the world over have spent the past year bailing out, backstopping, insuring, and stimulating their financial sectors and economies throwing around trillions of dollars, euros, yen, and pounds like Halloween candy. Officials have assured us there’s little risk to that strategy but I believe that the opposite is true - that if you borrow and spend too much, all you’re going to do is transform a Wall Street debt crisis into a Washington debt crisis. Words: 882

The only place to be is in the stock market, because if the markets go up 10% and the dollar goes down 5% you are still ahead of the game. You are combating the weakness in the dollar by increasing the number of dollars you have at a much higher rate than the dollar is devaluing. Words: 1023

Secretly, the Fed is in a panic to ward off a bond market collapse! They know that, sooner or later, they MUST send the message that they're serious about cutting back on their mad money printing. The danger of course, is that foreign investors will get an entirely different message: that Washington's efforts to fight the most severe recession since the Great Depression are waning. If that happens, you could see turmoil — not just in the bond market, but in every asset class imaginable. Words: 770

What is surprising to me these days is how quickly investor mindset has shifted from the sheer uncontrolled fear they felt in October or November of 2008 or March of 2009. People seem to have completely forgotten how terrified they felt a few months ago. They have forgotten that they made impulsive decisions; that they made big decisions when they should have been making small ones; that, instead of making incremental adjustments to portfolios, instead of rebalancing at the margin, they bailed out of asset classes entirely or moved completely into cash. That's very troubling to me and it suggests that we're nowhere near out of the woods. It worries me so much I think we're probably in for another big surprise before we have a full recovery. Words: 1489

In the contrarian spirit of playing devil’s advocate four reasons are put forth as to why you shouldn’t buy gold today. Words: 553