I read a lot of articles about retirement that make me cringe. Most of them are about people who are not on track for a financially secure retirement. But this week I read an article that really got my blood boiling. Oddly enough, it was about a group of people who have more than enough for retirement. A recent study by the Center for Effective government and the Institute for Policy Studies found that the retirement accounts for Fortune 500 company CEOs had a combined worth of $4.9 billion — equal to the retirement account savings of 41% of all… Read More

I read a lot of articles about retirement that make me cringe. Most of them are about people who are not on track for a financially secure retirement. But this week I read an article that really got my blood boiling. Oddly enough, it was about a group of people who have more than enough for retirement. A recent study by the Center for Effective government and the Institute for Policy Studies found that the retirement accounts for Fortune 500 company CEOs had a combined worth of $4.9 billion — equal to the retirement account savings of 41% of all American households with the least retirement wealth. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I’m jealous. I’m disappointed that many of these CEOs have retirement plan options that they don’t offer their own employees. But even that’s not what upset me most. My problem is that these kinds of articles can discourage the “rest of us” from taking steps to secure our own retirement security. People read these articles and conclude the retirement game is rigged. It’s for CEOs and celebrities. For regular folks, a secure retirement seems like a lottery — where they aren’t allowed to buy a ticket. Read More

Just as humankind sent men to the moon, developed instant communication and delivered clean water and energy to a world that constantly needs more of both… doctors and other researchers have once again moved the scientific ball forward. We’ve witnessed remarkable scientific advancements in the past century.  Influenza viruses can now be treated. Polio no longer keeps children inside. AIDS, while still a global pandemic, is treatable with antiretroviral drug cocktails. Smallpox and diphtheria are essentially eradicated. Many types of cancer are now considered manageable health concerns rather than deadly diseases with grim prognoses. Despite these medical advances, humanity lives… Read More

Just as humankind sent men to the moon, developed instant communication and delivered clean water and energy to a world that constantly needs more of both… doctors and other researchers have once again moved the scientific ball forward. We’ve witnessed remarkable scientific advancements in the past century.  Influenza viruses can now be treated. Polio no longer keeps children inside. AIDS, while still a global pandemic, is treatable with antiretroviral drug cocktails. Smallpox and diphtheria are essentially eradicated. Many types of cancer are now considered manageable health concerns rather than deadly diseases with grim prognoses. Despite these medical advances, humanity lives with the continual threat of serious and deadly diseases, some of which are functionally untreatable. What’s emerging as the key to combating many of these conditions is a series of novel approaches to delivering therapy. For most of the history of medicine, these therapies have relied on delivering a chemical to the bloodstream. Aspirin, Viagra, Xanax, Lipitor — these are all chemically based. But now the basic approach of cutting-edge therapeutics has shifted. The new class of medicines and vaccines don’t rely on chemicals, but on biology. They use the body’s remarkably powerful ability to respond to threats and heal… Read More

I’ve always been fascinated by the Pet Rock.  For the past four decades now, it’s become the epitome for an idea so cleverly simple, you wish you’d thought of it.  #-ad_banner-#The creator — Gary Ross Dahl — decided in the late 70’s that a rock would be the perfect pet for kids who would never have to feed or walk it. The fad only lasted about six months, but it made Dahl a millionaire.  The fact is there’s big money to be made from simple ideas. And while a lot of problems may be complex, I’ve noticed the best solutions… Read More

I’ve always been fascinated by the Pet Rock.  For the past four decades now, it’s become the epitome for an idea so cleverly simple, you wish you’d thought of it.  #-ad_banner-#The creator — Gary Ross Dahl — decided in the late 70’s that a rock would be the perfect pet for kids who would never have to feed or walk it. The fad only lasted about six months, but it made Dahl a millionaire.  The fact is there’s big money to be made from simple ideas. And while a lot of problems may be complex, I’ve noticed the best solutions are the ones you always end up wishing you’d thought of first.  Take California’s devastating drought situation… Consider these three facts:  1. California has more people than locally available hydrological resources can support.  2. The region is in the throes of a serious long-term drought.  3. The place sits next to the largest body of water on the planet. Now I don’t profess to be the sharpest hedge clipper in the potting shed. But even I can see the simply obvious solution to this massive problem… Find a way to talk the salt out of the damn seawater.  Well as… Read More

As the S&P 500 peaked last week, I issued a bearish alert to my Profit Amplifier subscribers. We are already up more than 50% on the trade I recommended, but I see much more downside to come in the market.  And that could mean big profits for those of you reading this right now. Many of you may not be aware of it, but we are currently in a recession. It’s not a full-blown economic recession (yet), but it is an earnings recession.  At the end of last week, 444 of the S&P’s 500… Read More

As the S&P 500 peaked last week, I issued a bearish alert to my Profit Amplifier subscribers. We are already up more than 50% on the trade I recommended, but I see much more downside to come in the market.  And that could mean big profits for those of you reading this right now. Many of you may not be aware of it, but we are currently in a recession. It’s not a full-blown economic recession (yet), but it is an earnings recession.  At the end of last week, 444 of the S&P’s 500 companies had reported Q3 earnings. According to FactSet, the blended results (actual results for companies that have reported plus estimated results for companies that have not reported) showed a 2.2% decline versus Q3 2014. That’s even worse than the second quarter, which ended the season with a 2.1% decline in earnings. #-ad_banner-# If Q3 earnings growth is still negative once everything has been reported — and it looks like it will be — it will be the first time we’ve seen consecutive quarters of earnings declines since 2009. To make matters worse, analysts expect a 3.7% drop in… Read More

All major U.S. indices closed lower last week, breaking six straight weeks of gains from the late-September lows. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 and small-cap Russell 2000 led the way down, both posting 4.4% declines. As has been the case for most of this unusual year, investors have been optimistic enough buy virtually every minor pullback since January. At the same time, they’ve lacked the conviction to push the major indices to new highs. I’ll discuss this phenomenon in more detail in a moment and share a key to getting an early read on the market’s next move. Last… Read More

All major U.S. indices closed lower last week, breaking six straight weeks of gains from the late-September lows. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 and small-cap Russell 2000 led the way down, both posting 4.4% declines. As has been the case for most of this unusual year, investors have been optimistic enough buy virtually every minor pullback since January. At the same time, they’ve lacked the conviction to push the major indices to new highs. I’ll discuss this phenomenon in more detail in a moment and share a key to getting an early read on the market’s next move. Last week’s market collapse was led by the economically sensitive energy sector, which lost 5.5%. Recent weakness in crude oil and industrial metals like copper, which I’ll cover this week, has revived fears of global deflation. That fear is at least part of the reason the stock market took it on the chin last week. #-ad_banner-# A Tale Of Two Levels In last week’s Market Outlook, I pointed out that the market-leading Nasdaq Composite was testing its tech-bubble high at 5,133 for the fifth time this year. As I’ve been saying, if the index can stay above this level,… Read More

Large infrastructure projects can mean a boom for the economy and users of the new structures once they’re done but construction can seem to go on forever. Shares of companies that will benefit from the new structures are bid up only to come back down when mega-projects get delayed and run over budget.  One such project has gone nearly two years over schedule and more than a billion dollars over budget. Once a hot subject among investors, this project has faded into the background after more than eight years of construction. But a new progress report shows light at the… Read More

Large infrastructure projects can mean a boom for the economy and users of the new structures once they’re done but construction can seem to go on forever. Shares of companies that will benefit from the new structures are bid up only to come back down when mega-projects get delayed and run over budget.  One such project has gone nearly two years over schedule and more than a billion dollars over budget. Once a hot subject among investors, this project has faded into the background after more than eight years of construction. But a new progress report shows light at the end of the tunnel. The building consortium has given a completion date for early next year. And one company stands to gain on multiple fronts while the project’s completion could touch off a rebound for an unloved industry. An Expanded Panama Canal And A Boom For East Coast Shipping Despite news of leakage in the third lock, representatives of the building consortium insist that the Panama Canal expansion will be completed by April 2016. The project has run over-budget and way past its original October 2014 deadline, but now completion is in sight.  The new canal will support ships… Read More

When Profitable Trading developed a new indicator based on momentum two years ago, we knew it’d be good. After all, we had spent hundreds of hours backtesting it.  So it wasn’t shocking when it was a success right out of the gate. From the day we first revealed it to a small group of traders, it has beaten the market time and again, delivering gains of: — 23% in two months — 57% in six months — 114% in eight months — 242% in 12 months And many more. Using this indicator, we’ve been able… Read More

When Profitable Trading developed a new indicator based on momentum two years ago, we knew it’d be good. After all, we had spent hundreds of hours backtesting it.  So it wasn’t shocking when it was a success right out of the gate. From the day we first revealed it to a small group of traders, it has beaten the market time and again, delivering gains of: — 23% in two months — 57% in six months — 114% in eight months — 242% in 12 months And many more. Using this indicator, we’ve been able to identify, and recommend to readers, some of 2015’s biggest winners. By March of this year, eight stocks it tagged as “buys” had already soared between 20% and 50% — while the market had gained just 2%.  Throughout 2015, it delivered winners of 47%… 55%… 60%… and 88%. What’s the secret? #-ad_banner-# Well, one thing that makes this indicator unique is that it doesn’t rely on just one technical or fundamental tool to identify potential winners. Instead, this indicator is derived by combining two of the market’s most effective “triggers” — a technical trigger and a fundamental trigger. Read More

You often hear about recession-resistant investments, especially in the years since 2008… when the financial world was burning to the ground. #-ad_banner-#But if you had to guess which industry performs the best in all bear markets — one that delivered 9.5% returns in 2008 (when the S&P 500 lost a third of its value) and more than tripled in value during the Great Depression (when other stocks lost more than two-thirds of their value) — what would your guess be? Unless you read the same studies and research as me, I’m guessing you wouldn’t answer trees. That’s right… and it… Read More

You often hear about recession-resistant investments, especially in the years since 2008… when the financial world was burning to the ground. #-ad_banner-#But if you had to guess which industry performs the best in all bear markets — one that delivered 9.5% returns in 2008 (when the S&P 500 lost a third of its value) and more than tripled in value during the Great Depression (when other stocks lost more than two-thirds of their value) — what would your guess be? Unless you read the same studies and research as me, I’m guessing you wouldn’t answer trees. That’s right… and it makes sense too. A tree doesn’t know anything about too-big-to-fail banks, tech bubbles or savings and loan scandals. They keep growing, constantly getting bigger… offering more resources to harvest. Timberland is not just a good bet for bear markets, however. Over the last 18 quarters — four and a half years — the NCREIF Timberland Index has only had one negative quarter of performance. And that one barely counts, since the index fell just 0.35%. So even though trees aren’t necessarily a sexy investment, it’s one you should pay attention to… or at the very least… Read More

I learned something recently that scared the pants off me. It began with an extremely esoteric element of U.S. government rules. Specifically, Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 601, Subsections 40-46. The rules in this subsection give truly extraordinary power to a few individuals. You didn’t vote for a single one of them. But they’ve been entrusted with this power because of their expertise and experience. You’d think that something of this magnitude would have been on the news. If I were a network news director, I’d have run the story at the top of the telecast. Read More

I learned something recently that scared the pants off me. It began with an extremely esoteric element of U.S. government rules. Specifically, Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 601, Subsections 40-46. The rules in this subsection give truly extraordinary power to a few individuals. You didn’t vote for a single one of them. But they’ve been entrusted with this power because of their expertise and experience. You’d think that something of this magnitude would have been on the news. If I were a network news director, I’d have run the story at the top of the telecast. But get this: no major news outlet reported a word of it. One of two extraordinary things must’ve happened. Either the watchdogs at news organizations like The New York Times missed the story outright… … or they were ordered to stand down. Now, let me just warn you. I don’t do hysterics. I don’t overdramatize. The watchword of my premium newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks, is hyper-rationality.  I’m going to tell you what happened, though. And let me say right now that it has nothing to do with partisan politics. But I think you’ll still feel like your government sucker-punched you square… Read More

Consolidation in the telecommunications and pay-TV markets has put the two industries in flux. We’ve seen mega-mergers like the tie-up between AT&T (NYSE: T) and DirectTV approved while others have been thwarted.  A big deal may be coming soon that could translate to strong upside for a beaten-down leader in the pay-TV market over the next few months. Dish Adapting To The Changing TV Landscape Shares of Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) fell this week even though the satellite TV provider reported a better-than-expected 35% jump in Q3 earnings year over year. Sales came in below expectations, though, and… Read More

Consolidation in the telecommunications and pay-TV markets has put the two industries in flux. We’ve seen mega-mergers like the tie-up between AT&T (NYSE: T) and DirectTV approved while others have been thwarted.  A big deal may be coming soon that could translate to strong upside for a beaten-down leader in the pay-TV market over the next few months. Dish Adapting To The Changing TV Landscape Shares of Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) fell this week even though the satellite TV provider reported a better-than-expected 35% jump in Q3 earnings year over year. Sales came in below expectations, though, and subscribers continued to decline. The company reported a net loss of 23,000 subscribers in the quarter — nearly double the loss posted a year ago.  With many viewers “cutting the cord” and shifting to over-the-top Internet-based products, Dish launched its Sling service in February. This Internet-based service offers live streaming of more than 30 premium channels.  While the company doesn’t break out the number of satellite versus Sling subscribers, UBS (NYSE: UBS) analyst John Hodulik said it likely lost 173,000 satellite TV customers in the third quarter while adding 150,000 Sling subscribers. Adapting to the changing TV viewing landscape is… Read More