When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, nearly everyone had some connection to the steel industry. If not your own parents, then it was your uncle or neighbor who was employed by the huge steel mills lining the riverbanks. Even the city’s pro football team is named in homage to… Read More

In the more than 10 years StreetAuthority has been in business, we’ve never come across a trading system that’s got this much potential. In preparation for the inaugural issue of the advisory Maximum Profit, StreetAuthority’s latest investment advisory, Michael J. Carr took a close look at all the holdings in all of StreetAuthority’s newsletters — more than 130 stocks, partnerships and trusts across 10 portfolios. The mission was to discover the No. 1-ranked… Read More

In the more than 10 years StreetAuthority has been in business, we’ve never come across a trading system that’s got this much potential. In preparation for the inaugural issue of the advisory Maximum Profit, StreetAuthority’s latest investment advisory, Michael J. Carr took a close look at all the holdings in all of StreetAuthority’s newsletters — more than 130 stocks, partnerships and trusts across 10 portfolios. The mission was to discover the No. 1-ranked stock — the stock that had the most potential for capital appreciation in the current climate — from a group of fundamentally strong holdings that had already been vetted by the StreetAuthority experts. Of the dozens of choices, which single pick would rise to the top? Which stock would show the greatest momentum and value in the current environment? Which current StreetAuthority holding would rank highest in Mike’s all-important combined indicators of relative strength and cash-flow growth? It turns out the No. Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact,… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact, stock markets already seem to be recovering, creating even more confusion for investors. Rather than relying on headlines to determine when I should join in the selling, I base decisions on my 26-week rate of change (ROC) system. The 26-week ROC system is designed to buy the strongest ETFs when the market is rising and avoid positions in markets that are weak. Right now,… Read More

Stocks drifted higher last week after suffering a sharp pullback. The question now is whether that pullback is over. Volatility Recedes As Stocks Inch Higher SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) ended the week with a gain of 0.85%. The ETF is now 5.12% below its all-time high reached in May. Pullbacks of 5% to 10% have usually been considered normal in the stock market, but it seems that all declines since 2009 have… Read More

Stocks drifted higher last week after suffering a sharp pullback. The question now is whether that pullback is over. Volatility Recedes As Stocks Inch Higher SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) ended the week with a gain of 0.85%. The ETF is now 5.12% below its all-time high reached in May. Pullbacks of 5% to 10% have usually been considered normal in the stock market, but it seems that all declines since 2009 have been accompanied by warnings that the end of the bull market is near. For a longer-term perspective, the monthly chart of SPY is shown below. This is the sixth significant decline since the bull market began in 2009. There is no way to know if any pullback will develop into a bear market. But we do know this market is very sensitive to the actions of the Federal Reserve. The latest sell-off was sparked by comments from Fed… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact,… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact, stock markets already seem to be recovering, creating even more confusion for investors. Rather than relying on headlines to determine when I should join in the selling, I base decisions on my 26-week rate of change (ROC) system. The 26-week ROC system is designed to buy the strongest ETFs when the market is rising and avoid positions in markets that are weak. Right now,… Read More

As many companies have spent the past few years rebuilding their sales and profits after a deep slide in 2008 and 2009, a handful of companies are still struggling to regain altitude. Their own income statements were decimated… Read More

If you want to be successful in the stock market, then sometimes you must think like a contrarian. I’ve spent 15 years in the investment industry. In that time, I’ve seen many investors struggle and many others make a fortune. The difference between success and failure usually has little to do with intelligence or analytical skills. Rather, the best investors generally have an ability to stay cool under pressure and the fortitude to break… Read More

If you want to be successful in the stock market, then sometimes you must think like a contrarian. I’ve spent 15 years in the investment industry. In that time, I’ve seen many investors struggle and many others make a fortune. The difference between success and failure usually has little to do with intelligence or analytical skills. Rather, the best investors generally have an ability to stay cool under pressure and the fortitude to break away from the herd when necessary.#-ad_banner-# This is the best way to make money when it comes to commodity investing. Like many investors, I’ve been neutral to bearish for most precious and industrial metals over the past couple of months. However, there is one notable exception. Before I tell you about this metal, let me give you some background on it first… It’s one the scarcest metals on the planet. In fact, for every… Read More

Since the Federal Reserve’s recent announcements regarding the “tapering” of its quantitative easing programs, the real estate investment trust (REIT) market has been in a tailspin. The Dow Jones Equity REIT… Read More

Interest rates remain near historic lows. And when they eventually rise, bond prices will fall, as the two move opposite to each other. The question of how much they will fall over the long… Read More

I love it when rain keeps falling on a company whose future is sunny.  News that the Internal Revenue Service was scrutinizing this company’s application to become a real estate investment trust (REIT) sent the shares down 5.5% in one day last month. Regardless of whether the company is allowed to change its corporate status, the fact that it’s applied to do so means upward of $420 million in additional taxes over the next four years.#-ad_banner-#… Read More

I love it when rain keeps falling on a company whose future is sunny.  News that the Internal Revenue Service was scrutinizing this company’s application to become a real estate investment trust (REIT) sent the shares down 5.5% in one day last month. Regardless of whether the company is allowed to change its corporate status, the fact that it’s applied to do so means upward of $420 million in additional taxes over the next four years.#-ad_banner-# This company’s shares also took a beating on April’s first-quarter earnings report, plummeting 12% when revenue and profits missed lofty analyst expectations. Even though revenue increased 17% over the previous year and the company’s gross margin was an outstanding 50%, analysts expected 7 cents more in earnings per share. Investors punished the stock, and short-sellers are swarming, with almost 17% of… Read More