U.S. stocks are off to one of their best starts in years. Most indices are up 10% year to date, prompting many investors to ask: "Are we in another bubble?" The answer is no, at least when it comes to equities. Here are three reasons why:

Anyone who says they know for certain where the stock market is heading is a prevaricator, but what we can do is look at historical trends, current market conditions, and make an educated decision on the direction it is most likely to take. With that said, I have made a list of the five things that could indicate that the recent stock market rally has seen the best of its days, and now may be on the down-slope of its March madness ride.

With the stock market forging ahead it is imperative that those who manage other peoples money (and/or their own) become extremely well read - beyond their normal corporate reports, opinions and analyses - on the reality of what is evolving in the marketplace from as many different perspectives as possible. Because it would take days to gather such information we have gathered together a number of such articles on the subject with introductory paragraphs and hyperlinks to each. They are well worth your time to read.

The economy is heading for unprecedented volatility between rampant inflation and deflation courtesy of Ben Bernanke’s sponsorship of the $7 trillion increase in new Federal debt since 2008. Investors need to plan now while they still have time before the economic chaos begins.

Russia may be the ninth largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product, but its abundance of natural resources in the Ural Mountains, Siberia and the Russian Far East makes it much more important in the world of commodities. Below, we dissect Russia’s commodity industry to give investors an in-depth look...and some specific ideas on how investors might participate. Words: 935

Looking at the recent Gold Miners price action and crash-like conditions, I cannot hide my excitement. As we judge the recent cyclical bear market within the longer term secular uptrend, we can see that Gold Miners are becoming very attractive. Whether it is the technically oversold levels that only occur a handful of times over a generation, the rock bottom valuations on nominal or relative basis, or the extreme sentiment that the overall sector is going through, all of these indicators point to one conclusion: we are fast approaching a major buying opportunity. [I support that contention below with the use of 8 charts and a full explanation of each.] Words: 1133; Charts: 8

We had previously speculated that the 30-year bond rate would continue downward to around 2% based upon a number of very long-term charts. Short-term charts, however, are showing strong technical evidence that interest rates may be turning up in the long term. Words: 267; Charts: 2

The United States is one of the few countries to have experienced two currency collapses during its history (1812-1814 and 1861-1865). Is it about to happen again? Words: 1450

I read many hundreds of articles every week looking for writers who have an in-depth understanding of our economy and who are not reticent to tell it like it is. Monty Pelerin (a pseudonym) does just that week after week, year after year. This post includes introductory paragraphs and links to 25 of his most enlightening and current articles. Take a look. There are bound to be several that will grab your interest.

On the surface, policy settings around the world look very inflationary with large fiscal deficits and aggressively easy monetary policies yet it is hard to see inflation gaining any traction [with] global activity so weak and the monetary transmission process so impaired in many countries. There is more of a deflationary than inflationary tone to the economic environment and it does not look as if this will change any time soon.