Some witless pollyannas will say the title of this article is inappropriate. Unfortunately, these hapless souls suffer from excessive greed, rampant euphoria and hyper-complacency. Furthermore, they are ignorant of stock market history and its immutable cycles where only magnitude and duration vary. They foolishly delude themselves into believing that the US Fed has “banned” bear markets and has discovered the “magic elixir” to kill all potential bears while they are still cubs or in hibernation.

Our "Barnyard" analysis from a year ago resulted in 6 out of 8 points indicating that the market would be favorable over the next 6-18 months. That has come true, with the S&P 500 up nearly 20% since then. We expect many will be surprised by the latest Barnyard Forecast which we present below.

In our view, the four primary drivers of market valuations are earnings, dividends, interest rates and inflation, of which two stand out above the others as being the most important. We look at each factor and then conclude with what it means for stocks.

Is a major top at hand? It is often said that bells do not ring to signal the end of a bull market but if the broad averages were in fact to plummet in the weeks ahead, never forget that bells did indeed ring. This article contains the opinions of three heavyweights in the guru world which are so insightful that any investors who ignore their observations do so at their great peril.

This article suggests that the Australian and Canadian dollars, and the British pound Sterling, can expect to decline significantly relative to the U.S. dollar in the months ahead and gold to decline even further relative to industrial commodity prices. Here's why.

The ultra-wealthy are able to stay ultra-wealthy for a reason, and they are usually a step or two ahead of most of the rest of us, so do they know something that we don't? Yes, like any rational person should be able to see, they realize this financial bubble is going to end very, very badly and are making moves to protect themselves from the inevitable chaos that is coming.

Our financial system is in far worse shape than it was just prior to the financial crash of 2008. The truth is that we are right on schedule for the next great financial crash. You can choose to ignore the warnings if you would like but, ultimately, time will reveal who was right and who was wrong and, unfortunately, I think I will be proven to have been right.

Who knows how long before the Dow Jones Index finally receives a well overdue market enema, but I can assure you of this, when it arrives it will be a VERY messy occasion!

It is frighteningly clear to any objective analyst and/or intelligent investor that the present bull market rally in stocks (2006-2014) is "beyond the pale" (outside the bounds of acceptable behavior) i.e. the excess valuation is dangerously above the market excesses of the 1920s.

The Fed and the bond market are responding appropriately to declining risk aversion and a somewhat improved economic outlook. There is no reason to fear the end of QE or the beginning of higher short-term interest rates. Let me explain further.