Investing

Unsustainable trends can survive much longer than most people anticipate, but they do end when their “time is up” – at the culmination of their time cycles...In an effort to bring clarity in how and when these trends could change direction we analyzed more than 20 different cycles. They almost unanimously point to tectonic shifts in the months and years ahead … starting now. We have been warned. At this point, we have enough confirmation to accept that the gold and silver crash – starting in April of 2013 – was the first shot across the board of what is to come. Read on!

Copper is one of the most important and popular industrial metals in the world. With 3% per year production growth since 1900, approximately 16 million tons of the metal was produced in 2011, according to the International Copper Study Group. Below, we outline some of the largest and most important copper-producing nations across the world:

What do 1929, 2000 and 2007 all have in common? Those were all years in which we saw a dramatic spike in margin debt. In all three instances, investors became highly leveraged in order to "take advantage" of a soaring stock market but, of course, we all know what happened each time. The spike in margin debt was rapidly followed by a horrifying stock market crash. Well guess what? It is happening again.

The most dangerous, wealth-destroying investment in the world is leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On the surface, these ETFs promise to double or triple the movements of the underlying markets they track...but they'll do anything but. You see, double- and triple-leveraged ETFs (whether long or short) pack a nasty surprise. It's almost unbelievable, actually, and particularly in this volatile market, theses ETFs are hardwired for losses. Here's what I mean.

Over the past 6 years, when the yield on high yield bonds (junk bonds) broke above resistance of bullish falling wedges, the S&P 500 ended up declining between 17% & 50%. Will it be different this time?

As investors we crave a specific plan of attack for every conceivable market scenario so here are five alternative courses of action (other than cash) to consider in the current market. (Yes, it’s possible to put the market volatility to work for us.) So writes Louis Basenese (www.wallstreetdaily.com) in edited excerpts from his original article* entitled The Five Smartest Responses to the Stock Market …

Don't give in to your flight instinct in response to the latest stock market volatility. Running for cover in cash right now promises to be the worst possible move. I know, I know. Cash is supposed to be the ultimate safe haven. A riskless investment, if you will but, in truth, cash is the proverbial "Death Star". [Let me explain why and show you some irrefutable proof.] Words: 544; Charts: 3

Stocks rallied through May this year mostly on expectations of continued easy money from the Federal Reserve but after the Fed indicated last week that tapering could begin as early as this fall, coupled with concerns about Chinese growth, stocks sharply reversed course and Treasury yields spiked. I expect market volatility to last through the summer as investors remain uncertain about the future of monetary policy and the strength of the global recovery. That said, I wouldn’t advocate abandoning stocks. Here's 3 reasons why.

There are many, many different takes on why the stock market has been ripe for a fall and why it has finally happened. Below are 30 of the best-of-the-best such analyses to help you come to some sort of resolution.

The rubber band of Mr. Market has been stretched tight and is ready to release. The problem is that it is impossible to know which end is going to snap. Will it snap up or snap down?