It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The financial media was full of pundits declaring a complete technical breakdown in the stock market.#-ad_banner-# Many were left asking what it all meant. Part of what it meant was that the once esoteric quasi-science known as technical analysis had gone mainstream. In the days before the personal computer, practitioners of technical analysis used quotes out of the newspapers or quote books to draw charts and make projections. Intraday data were very difficult to obtain outside of… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The… Read More

It was September 2008, and the stock market was in chaos. The Dow Jones industrial average experienced its largest point decline, plunging 777 points in just one session. The support of the 50- and 200-period moving averages were slashed like a hot knife through butter, while the Volatility Index (VIX) rocketed through technical resistance as if it wasn’t even there. The financial media was full of pundits declaring a complete technical breakdown in the stock market.#-ad_banner-# Many were left asking what it all meant. Part of what it meant was that the once esoteric quasi-science known as technical analysis had gone mainstream. In the days before the personal computer, practitioners of technical analysis used quotes out of the newspapers or quote books to draw charts and make projections. Intraday data were very difficult to obtain outside of… Read More

Everything was looking great with my new investment.  The stock had been steadily climbing higher since my purchase in early January. This company was among the original members of the S&P 500 and once ranked among… Read More

This month marks the five-year anniversary of an era many would rather forget.  The S&P 500 fell nearly 10% in June 2008, and investors began to brace for an eventual market crash later in the year. That was… Read More

I learned the hard way not to rely purely on technical analysis to make investing decisions.  In the early 1990s, I had built up a decent trading stake by riding the momentum lifting high-tech… Read More

I learned the hard way not to rely purely on technical analysis to make investing decisions.  In the early 1990s, I had built up a decent trading stake by riding the momentum lifting high-tech… Read More

In recent days, investors might not have noticed a very unusual trend playing out in global markets. A number of once-robust currencies are in freefall against the U.S. dollar — and counterintuitively, that spells opportunity for U.S. investors. Looking For A Bottom From the South African rand and the Brazilian real to the Australian dollar, a worldwide slump is emerging. It’s very unusual for currencies to gain or lose value in a rapid fashion, but the recent charts are quite humbling, as this chart of the Australian dollar shows. Read More

In recent days, investors might not have noticed a very unusual trend playing out in global markets. A number of once-robust currencies are in freefall against the U.S. dollar — and counterintuitively, that spells opportunity for U.S. investors. Looking For A Bottom From the South African rand and the Brazilian real to the Australian dollar, a worldwide slump is emerging. It’s very unusual for currencies to gain or lose value in a rapid fashion, but the recent charts are quite humbling, as this chart of the Australian dollar shows. For U.S. investors with exposure to these markets, the currency shift eats away at a stock or fund‘s value, which comes on top of existing weakness in many foreign markets when denominated in their own currencies. For example, the iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund ETF (NYSE: EWA) has underperformed the S&P 500 by a stunning 20 percentage points since the… Read More

On June 7, I watched the Internet video feed from Las Vegas as Mike “The Mouth” Matusow pocketed $266,503 by winning the 13th event in the 2013 World Series of Poker. Matusow has won nearly $9 million playing tournament poker, and I’ve studied nearly every hand he has ever played. I even sat next to his mother the night he won $1 million in the Championship Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. During his recent tournament, Matusow seldom had the lead. But he played a disciplined game. He folded many hands while his opponents wasted chips, chasing after… Read More

On June 7, I watched the Internet video feed from Las Vegas as Mike “The Mouth” Matusow pocketed $266,503 by winning the 13th event in the 2013 World Series of Poker. Matusow has won nearly $9 million playing tournament poker, and I’ve studied nearly every hand he has ever played. I even sat next to his mother the night he won $1 million in the Championship Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker. During his recent tournament, Matusow seldom had the lead. But he played a disciplined game. He folded many hands while his opponents wasted chips, chasing after hands they didn’t have the odds to win. Matusow’s patience and premium hand selection over the course of the three-day event were rewarded with the first-prize gold bracelet. I’ve played poker for more than a decade. I’ve had the opportunity to study — and go up against — some of the best professionals in the world. I’ve seen players amass big leads in a tournament, only to turn right around and give every chip back. In my experience, both as a poker player and an investor, the decision to not play a mediocre hand can be the most profitable decision… Read More

In China, economic prosperity has created a new class of affluent consumers with a nearly insatiable appetite for goods and services. For example, consider the $7.1 billion bid that China’s largest meat processor made last week for America’s largest hog farmer and pork producer. Shuanghui International Holding is looking to… Read More

Last August, StreetAuthority analyst Nathan Slaughter made a bold prediction. At the time, the price of natural gas had reached decade-low prices just a few months before, falling below $2 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in April of 2012. Nathan predicted that natural gas was due for a rebound. He also spotted a huge disconnect between the rising price of natural gas and the share prices of the companies that produce it. Since June 2012, the price of natural gas has doubled, reaching $4.40 in… Read More

Last August, StreetAuthority analyst Nathan Slaughter made a bold prediction. At the time, the price of natural gas had reached decade-low prices just a few months before, falling below $2 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in April of 2012. Nathan predicted that natural gas was due for a rebound. He also spotted a huge disconnect between the rising price of natural gas and the share prices of the companies that produce it. Since June 2012, the price of natural gas has doubled, reaching $4.40 in April before tapering off. Now, if we were to take a look at the share price for the stock of a “pure play” natural gas company (as opposed to one that produces a combination of gas and oil), we might expect the share price to mirror the price of gas. After all, the spread between how much it costs for these companies to drill for gas and how much they are able to sell it for on the open… Read More