Stocks & ETFunds

Market historians will recall the term “Nifty 50” originated in the 1960’s bull market to describe 50 wildly popular large-cap stocks at the time. Interestingly, some of the same names from that list are leading the market higher today. The question for investors, of course, is what this selective advance means for the markets going forward.

The best way to understand how the stock market fluctuates is to study trends of individual stocks and broad market behaviors. I’ve created this infographic to help you do just that.

Should gold stock investors and speculators worry about the effect of a decline or cyclical bear market of the S&P 500 on the mining sector? You'll be surprised at the answer!

Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) is slowly becoming the de facto standard for measuring gold stock performance. Nearing its eighth birthday, GDX has even usurped the venerable HUI gold stock index as this sector's metric of choice in many circles. Let me explain why that is the case.

It's not crazy to think that gold stocks could easily double from their current levels if you realize the extreme condition the gold-stocks-to-gold ratio is in - and if you know your market history. Let me explain. Words: 336; Charts: 1

Stocks are pulling back in preparation for one final mind-blowing surge to top off this five-year bull market. Gold, on the other hand, looks like it is setting up for a final bear market capitulation phase where every gold bug finally throws up their hands in disgust and jumps over to the stock market right as it's putting in a final bubble top. For those...that are sitting in cash, this final capitulation is going to represent one of the greatest buying opportunities of this generation.

While the waterfall decline in gold stocks is painful for those of us already invested, the reality is that this is a setup we get a shot at only a few times in our investing life. It's a cruel irony that those who are fully invested are now faced with the buying opportunity of a lifetime; however, it would be a shame for anyone to miss this blood-in-the-streets opportunity.

We are near a low in gold and resource shares and, over the next few years, fortunes will be made by those investors staying the course and remaining committed to this investment sector. As Rick Rule says, “you have stayed for the pain, will you not stay for the gain?”

How would you feel if you went to the store to buy something, and someone rushed ahead of you and high purchased it first and then sold it to you at a higher price? Well, in the financial world this happens millions upon millions of times. In fact, this practice has become so popular that it has spawned an entire industry known as "high frequency trading".

Following the 2007-09 financial crisis, many investors decided they needed insurance on their portfolio to protect against the possibility of another “black swan” event and poured money into a host of new funds that were supposed to help if there was another downturn — long/short funds, tail risk strategies, absolute return funds, option hedging strategies, tactical asset allocation funds and the like - but they missed the idea completely. They were trying to plan ahead for uncertain events that could surprise everyone. Of course this is impossible, because you can’t hedge out the risks of unknown events - they’re unknown after all. So how should an investor protect oneself from another such occurrence? The answer is below.