“The cult of inflation may only have just begun.”  That was a bold and eye-opening sentiment legendary bond fund manager Bill Gross expressed in the summer of 2012. What on Earth is he talking about? After all,… Read More

OK, I’m always the first to admit it. When it comes to investing in Chinese stocks, I’m a bit of a skeptic.  That’s why I’ve opted to get investment exposure to… Read More

They’re the creme de la creme of the income universe.  Each one has increased its dividend every year for at least two decades… some sport track records with more than 50 years of consecutive dividend increases. All told, these… Read More

In the 1930s, the U.S. government sought to boost a flagging economy by maintaining very low interest rates. Throughout the decade, consumers benefited by obtaining low-rate mortgages — though their savings accounts garnered insultingly low levels of interest as well. Sound familiar? Well,… Read More

OK, I’m always the first to admit it. When it comes to investing in Chinese stocks, I’m a bit of a skeptic.  That’s why I’ve opted to get investment exposure to China only through mega-multinational companies such as PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) or General Electric (NYSE: GE).#-ad_banner-# I’ve always sided with the bears, who contend China’s economic numbers can’t be trusted because the command-and-control nature that the government has over the economy. Read More

OK, I’m always the first to admit it. When it comes to investing in Chinese stocks, I’m a bit of a skeptic.  That’s why I’ve opted to get investment exposure to China only through mega-multinational companies such as PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) or General Electric (NYSE: GE).#-ad_banner-# I’ve always sided with the bears, who contend China’s economic numbers can’t be trusted because the command-and-control nature that the government has over the economy. However, I’m also a big fan of emerging markets and telecom stocks. That’s why I just can’t deny the relevance of state-owned China Mobile Ltd‘s (NYSE: CHL) role in this investment theme. With nearly 600 million subscribers, China Mobile holds the position as the world’s largest wireless provider by market capitalization, with a whopping $227 billion. China’s economic growth has resulted in a rising middle class and telecom providers are usually one of the first sectors to benefits from this rise. Read More

Markets move in cycles of varying lengths. Some indicators, like the relative strength index (RSI), are based on that idea. RSI was designed by J. Welles Wilder for the commodity markets and some traders believe that commodities… Read More

They’re the creme de la creme of the income universe.  Each one has increased its dividend every year for at least two decades… some sport track records with more than 50 years of consecutive dividend increases. All told, these stocks are some of the most reliable dividend payers on the planet.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about the S&P 500 “Dividend Aristocrats” and their kissing cousins, the S&P “High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats.”  To become a member of these elite groups, a company must pay a regular… Read More

They’re the creme de la creme of the income universe.  Each one has increased its dividend every year for at least two decades… some sport track records with more than 50 years of consecutive dividend increases. All told, these stocks are some of the most reliable dividend payers on the planet.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about the S&P 500 “Dividend Aristocrats” and their kissing cousins, the S&P “High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats.”  To become a member of these elite groups, a company must pay a regular dividend, but it must also enjoy a stellar track record of growing that dividend every year for at least 20 years. With such stringent membership criteria, only about 70 U.S. companies make the grade. As you’d expect, a wide variety of industries are represented. You’ll find an overweighting of consumer staples such as Procter and Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Kimberley Clark (NYSE: KMB), and a healthy chunk of electrical utilities, such as Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) and Northwest Natural Gas (NYSE: NWN). But there’s one group that makes the list that you would probably… Read More

Markets move in cycles of varying lengths. Some indicators, like the relative strength index (RSI), are based on that idea. RSI was designed by J. Welles Wilder for the commodity markets and some traders believe that commodities move in line with a 28-day cycle. In fact, some traders, including Wilder, believed that the phase of the moon had a large effect on commodity market prices. Default values for calculating RSI are set to 14 days, one-half of the cycle length or… Read More

Markets move in cycles of varying lengths. Some indicators, like the relative strength index (RSI), are based on that idea. RSI was designed by J. Welles Wilder for the commodity markets and some traders believe that commodities move in line with a 28-day cycle. In fact, some traders, including Wilder, believed that the phase of the moon had a large effect on commodity market prices. Default values for calculating RSI are set to 14 days, one-half of the cycle length or about one-half the length of a lunar month.#-ad_banner-# I’m not convinced a lunar calendar can help anyone time trades, but the idea of cycle analysis does make sense. In particular, there is a business cycle where the economy alternates between contraction and expansion. This cycle varies in length but averages about four years. Martin Pring recognized the importance of considering several cycles and developed an indicator he called Know Sure Thing (KST) to look at short-term, intermediate-term and long-term cycles.  “I’ve learned after all my years trading… Read More

The pullback this week in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE: TEVA) is an opportunity to use the power of options for a capital-preserving, stock substitution strategy. We’re seeing bullish divergence in Teva… Read More

Shorting a stock is considered one of the sexiest and most complex moves on the Street.#-ad_banner-# Investors are dazzled by stories of hedge fund titans such as David Einhorn and John Paulson raking in billions, going against… Read More