There’s no fear anymore - anywhere - and I’m talking about the type of fear that overwhelms investors – and, in turn, the market. The surest indication of this can be found in the following chart.

Each December we publish a list of investment themes that we feel are critical to the coming year. Below are our expectations for the U.S, Japanese and European stock markets, municipal bonds and gold.

The stock market is likely to experience a 4-year overall market loss of -25%, followed by positive 9% average annual total returns for the S&P 500 over the subsequent 6-year period, which would compound to produce a 10-year total return averaging 2.3%.

Fed Chair Bernanke vehemently denies that the Fed “monetizes the debt,” but our research shows the Fed may be increasingly doing so. We explain why and what the implications may be for the dollar, gold and currencies.

The dramatic rise in Bitcoin is the best reminder for all those buying and holding physical gold and silver, for whatever length of time and at whatever price, better days are assured. It is just a matter of time.

It appears that the American economy — capital management division — has found the long-wished-for magic alternative energy source: horseshit. It is fueling the conversation all over the Web and over the senile mainstream media megaphones. [Let me explain.]

While the stock market is the only game in town - for now - stocks will not continue to out perform all other asset classes indefinitely. Eventually either bonds and gold will rally or stocks will crash very hard. It is one, the other, or even more likely a mixture of both.

Whenever the Fed has decided to reduce the extent of their purchases of "agency" debt products, the SP500 also declined in a dramatic way. [As such,]... it makes it extremely important to contemplate a “tapering” off in the rate of growth of Fed assets, or even an outright end to quantitative easing (QE). [Indeed, if you own stocks you may well want the Fed QEternity program to be just that - to eternity - in spite of the inflation that will surely follow.]

TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities) are telling us that inflation is expected to be low for as far as the eye can see, and the economy is expected to be weak for some time to come. This article provides an understanding of what TIPS are, how they work and what they are currently saying.

The Fed continues to assert that its Quantitative Easing bond purchases will boost economic growth by lowering borrowing costs for businesses and consumers but the evidence shows that QE bond purchases have actually coincided with increases in long-term interest rates.