Opinions

I have been saying this for a while: You can’t have a housing recovery unless actual home buyers are involved. We are very far away from seeing the housing market reach its 2005 highs…and as time passes, it becomes clearer that this generation may never see them again.  How can

If business conditions are good for a public company, then it’s highly likely that its share price has already been doing well in this great monetary expansion.  With the stock market at a high, it’s tricky being a new buyer/speculator. As we’ve seen with biotechnology stocks, the price momentum can

The three-day buying streak last week offered some optimism that maybe the worst was over for the stock market, but my technical analysis of the charts indicates otherwise.  While blue chip and large-cap stocks are holding up fairly well, this cannot be said of the technology, growth, and small-cap segments

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its growth forecast for the global economy. It says the world economy will now grow by 3.6% in 2014 and 3.9% in 2015; it grew at three percent in 2013. (Source: International Monetary Fund, April 8, 2014.)  I see the IMF forecast on

Being financial reporting season, it’s important to discern between results that beat Wall Street consensus and real economic growth.  Abbott Laboratories (ABT) just announced better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, but they weren’t better than the comparable quarter of 2013. Operating earnings, earnings from continuing operations, and diluted earnings per share were all

The stock market staged a minor rally last week, but don’t get too excited yet; the buying support was largely triggered by a technically oversold market, rather than solid fundamentals or a fresh catalyst.  What I can say is that investors need to be careful with the high-beta stocks that

Willem Middelkoop and Terence van der Hout of the Netherlands-based Commodity Discovery Fund believe that when the world’s reserve currency is reset away from the U.S. dollar in the next decade, gold prices will rise and mining equities will follow. Van der Hout and Middelkoop tell The Gold Report that

As you read this issue of Profit Confidential today, I will be in Rome, Italy celebrating my 50th birthday. Yes, I turn the ripe age of 50 today.  My father, who is getting close to twice my age, says life begins at 50. We’ll see. (He told me the same

Traditionally, the first big American public company to kick off each new corporate earnings season is Alcoa Inc. (NYSE/AA). For the current quarter, Alcoa reported a net loss of $178 million, or $0.16 per diluted share. The company stated it had some special restructuring costs in the quarter; if you

Once again, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has come through for investors. The company just reported a very solid first-quarter earnings report.  Continued strength in the company’s pharmaceutical business is the big reason for the growth. Total global sales grew 3.5% to $18.1 billion, with domestic sales growing 2.2% and international

The chase for high-beta stocks appears to be fading at this juncture, as we are seeing a shift in the risk profile to lower-beta and more conservative large-cap stocks in the stock market.  After the staggering gains made by technology and small-cap stocks in 2013, it’s time to take a

While there continue to be many gold bugs out there, I’m not one of them—but I do see gold as a trading opportunity.  Given what we have seen so far and looking ahead, I just don’t see gold as a buy-and-hold strategy at this time. Yes, there’s money to be

Dr. Copper may be in a supercycle, but there are serious problems. In this interview with The Gold Report, Salman Partners’ Vice President of Commodity Economics Raymond Goldie explains why even though the base metal acts pathologically and has a bad case of seasonal affective disorder, these six equities are

We are told that in the month of January, inflation in the U.S. economy increased by one-tenth of a percent. In February, prices increased by a similar percentage. In the entire year of 2013, the “official” rate was only 1.5%. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics web site, last accessed April

Trading action in stocks has been all over the map so far this year, while investor sentiment remained generally positive. The fact that there was a bunch of profit-taking after the solid recovery in February and March is neither a surprise nor unnatural for a market at a high.  The

Mark Twain once said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” For stock market investors, the time to pause and reflect is now.  Everywhere you look (except in these pages), you’ll find individual investors and institutions bullish on key stock indices.

 The significant price reversal in biotechnology stocks is very meaningful and appropriate, considering the massive capital appreciation the sector provided over the last three years.  There’s a reset going on with stocks, even with the Fed still onside. Earnings are not expected to grow that much in the first quarter

From our recent reader survey, I see our readers are not that concerned about what happens in the eurozone. But there’s a phenomenon occurring there that I believe every investor who is interested in gold bullion should be aware of.  Let me explain…  It’s a known fact that when central

The retail sector can return some amazing gains as we have witnessed since the recession ended—but it can also provide periods of anxiety.  How the retail sector performs is dependent on many variables, including the economy, jobs, housing, consumer confidence, interest rates, and even the weather, as we witnessed this

The tension in the stock market is clearly evident, especially with the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 breaching their respective 50-day moving average (MA).  What we have seen in the stock market is a shift away from higher-beta growth and small-cap stocks to the perceived safety of blue chips and large-cap