Every so often we like to step outside the normal mold, and give readers something different. One of the great things about StreetAuthority.com is that we can write about anything we want – well anything related to investing at least – so long as we see it as a value to our loyal subscribers. We have a variety of newsletters that specifically focused on recurring investment themes or strategies, but not this one. #-ad_banner-#​StreetAuthority.com is our main outlet to share with you what we would want to know if our roles were reversed. Fairly often our top analysts… Read More

Every so often we like to step outside the normal mold, and give readers something different. One of the great things about StreetAuthority.com is that we can write about anything we want – well anything related to investing at least – so long as we see it as a value to our loyal subscribers. We have a variety of newsletters that specifically focused on recurring investment themes or strategies, but not this one. #-ad_banner-#​StreetAuthority.com is our main outlet to share with you what we would want to know if our roles were reversed. Fairly often our top analysts will respond to reader Q&A, and the exchange proves to be a very candid look into the thought processes of our top analysts. So today I wanted to share with you a Q&A from one of our readers that addresses an important question many investors face. Where do I start and which strategies should I follow? With so many different investing strategies out there, it’s tough for investors to know where to begin or what advice to follow. A reader posed this question to Andy Obermueller,… Read More

In last week’s Market Outlook, I cautioned readers that a 57-year pattern of seasonal weakness in the S&P 500 warned of a near-term decline in equity prices. That is exactly what we got with the S&P 500 down 3.5% for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was hit with its biggest one-week decline since 2011, losing 3.8%. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 lost 2.5%, pushing the beleaguered small-cap index back into negative territory for the year. #-ad_banner-#Bigger picture, however, as I said last week, “any short-term weakness that emerges this month is likely to lead to… Read More

In last week’s Market Outlook, I cautioned readers that a 57-year pattern of seasonal weakness in the S&P 500 warned of a near-term decline in equity prices. That is exactly what we got with the S&P 500 down 3.5% for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was hit with its biggest one-week decline since 2011, losing 3.8%. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 lost 2.5%, pushing the beleaguered small-cap index back into negative territory for the year. #-ad_banner-#Bigger picture, however, as I said last week, “any short-term weakness that emerges this month is likely to lead to a better buying opportunity as the economy continues to strengthen into early next year.” The defensive utilities sector was the only sector of the S&P 500 to post a gain last week, which supports my bullish bias in the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLU) first mentioned in the Oct. 27 Market Outlook. XLU rose 5.1% to a high of $46.79 last week, just below my upside target of $47. Last week’s weakest sectors were energy, materials and industrials. Dow Theory Warns of More Near-Term Pain In addition to the weak seasonality, another early sign… Read More

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been revealing to StreetAuthority.com readers how my research team and I honed in on “The 10 Stocks to Own For the Rest of Your Life.” #-ad_banner-#I explained how “Irreplaceable Assets” can shower investors with increased wealth for the long haul here and how we use a very unique set of criteria to find the “World’s Greatest Businesses” here. But there’s still one more vital trait that we used to find our elite group of “Forever Stocks.” See, perhaps more than anything, my Forever Stocks have an obsession with… Read More

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been revealing to StreetAuthority.com readers how my research team and I honed in on “The 10 Stocks to Own For the Rest of Your Life.” #-ad_banner-#I explained how “Irreplaceable Assets” can shower investors with increased wealth for the long haul here and how we use a very unique set of criteria to find the “World’s Greatest Businesses” here. But there’s still one more vital trait that we used to find our elite group of “Forever Stocks.” See, perhaps more than anything, my Forever Stocks have an obsession with paying shareholders rich, growing dividends. As an investor, this makes perfect sense. Since 1926 nearly half of the market’s total return came from dividends, according to Standard & Poor’s research.   In other words, if you ignore dividends, then your potential for long-term growth is cut in half. You’d also be ignoring some of the market’s best performers. From January 1972 through March 2014, dividend-paying stocks in the S&P 500 returned 9.3% on average annually, according to Ned Davis Research. That far exceeds the 2.4% annual return for S&P stocks that… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices finished in positive territory last week except for the Nasdaq 100, which lost 0.6%. Technology stocks must resume their leadership role quickly, ideally with some help from small caps, to power this year’s broad market advance into 2015. If they cannot, the market could stumble into next year. From a sector standpoint, last week’s modest advance was led by financials, health care and materials. Globally, the aggressive recovery by European equities is a good sign for U.S. stocks into the early to middle part of 2015. #-ad_banner-#Seasonality, Congress Could Hurt Stocks This Week Our first… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices finished in positive territory last week except for the Nasdaq 100, which lost 0.6%. Technology stocks must resume their leadership role quickly, ideally with some help from small caps, to power this year’s broad market advance into 2015. If they cannot, the market could stumble into next year. From a sector standpoint, last week’s modest advance was led by financials, health care and materials. Globally, the aggressive recovery by European equities is a good sign for U.S. stocks into the early to middle part of 2015. #-ad_banner-#Seasonality, Congress Could Hurt Stocks This Week Our first chart displays the weekly seasonal pattern for the fourth quarter in the S&P 500 based on data since 1957. Historically, the second week of December, which is this week, is the second seasonally weakest of the entire quarter. On average, it closed 0.21% lower while posting a negative close 56% of the time. This chart is of particular interest to me this week because, despite the fact that it has received little coverage in the financial press, Congress has until midnight on Thursday to pass legislation to keep the government from shutting down. For perspective, last year’s government shutdown… Read More

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the robber barons. These affluent industrialists were considered some of the wealthiest — and most successful — businessmen of the 18th and 19th centuries. (The term originally appeared in the August 1870 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine.) The most famous robber barons have even become standard icons in American culture. The stories of wealth amassed by tycoons like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie are recounted in public school history classes throughout the United States each year. I’ll show you how you can get started in modern day Rockefeller investing… #-ad_banner-#Unfortunately, to most… Read More

You’ve undoubtedly heard of the robber barons. These affluent industrialists were considered some of the wealthiest — and most successful — businessmen of the 18th and 19th centuries. (The term originally appeared in the August 1870 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine.) The most famous robber barons have even become standard icons in American culture. The stories of wealth amassed by tycoons like J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie are recounted in public school history classes throughout the United States each year. I’ll show you how you can get started in modern day Rockefeller investing… #-ad_banner-#Unfortunately, to most people the word robber baron is not a term of endearment. It’s generally used to contextualize a greedy Wall Street “fat cat” with an insatiable thirst for money — the kind of caricature you would expect a political cartoonist to feature in Sunday’s edition of The Washington Post. But that’s not how I look at them. When I picture the robber barons, I see some of the best investors the world has ever known. Rockefeller, for example, was said to have accumulated an inflation-adjusted net worth of $360 billion by the time he died in 1937. To put that in… Read More

I’m going to show you a simple strategy that has never lost money in the market. A recent study by mega-investment firm Oppenheimer proved just as much. Don’t worry, it’s not some “too good to be true” story. But there are some caveats. First, I could tell 100 people about this strategy… and I’d guess 99 of them would flat ignore it. That’s despite the evidence I’ll show you backing it up. “That strategy is for suckers.” “Its time has passed.” “You have to be an idiot to think that would work today.” I know some people will say this… Read More

I’m going to show you a simple strategy that has never lost money in the market. A recent study by mega-investment firm Oppenheimer proved just as much. Don’t worry, it’s not some “too good to be true” story. But there are some caveats. First, I could tell 100 people about this strategy… and I’d guess 99 of them would flat ignore it. That’s despite the evidence I’ll show you backing it up. “That strategy is for suckers.” “Its time has passed.” “You have to be an idiot to think that would work today.” I know some people will say this — because they already have. We asked some of our regular readers to give us their thoughts on this strategy. And those were the type of responses I heard from some people. I was shocked. #-ad_banner-#Second, you can’t use this strategy for every stock. Use it on the wrong ideas, and you can still lose money. But across the market as a whole, it hasn’t failed once in the past 60 years. The truth is, you don’t have to trade every day… or every week… or even every year to beat the market. In fact, your success actually increases with… Read More

Insiders in the natural resource business often talk about “shopping season” this time of year. But they’re not referring to Christmas presents. As I’ve discussed before, this is the time of year when many natural resource investments can be had at bargain prices. This is particularly true for the smaller firms that my premium natural resource newsletter, Scarcity & Real Wealth, was created to focus on — the kind of companies that offer potential for double or even triple-digit gains through the discovery of major mineral or petroleum deposits. #-ad_banner-#This month’s buying… Read More

Insiders in the natural resource business often talk about “shopping season” this time of year. But they’re not referring to Christmas presents. As I’ve discussed before, this is the time of year when many natural resource investments can be had at bargain prices. This is particularly true for the smaller firms that my premium natural resource newsletter, Scarcity & Real Wealth, was created to focus on — the kind of companies that offer potential for double or even triple-digit gains through the discovery of major mineral or petroleum deposits. #-ad_banner-#This month’s buying opportunity is upon us — ironically — because 2014 has been a difficult year for many resource companies. With commodities prices falling, a large number of firms have seen their share prices decline. Sentiment has in fact turned down to such a degree that many of these firms are selling for cash flow multiples lower than we’ve seen in decades. I’ve been purchasing a number of these companies for my portfolio over the past few months. The thing is, today we’re seeing even better prices on these already-cheap companies. That’s because many… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices finished in positive territory last week, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which gained 2% and is up 20.8% so far in 2014. With small-cap stocks lagging all year, the broader market continues to rely heavily on technology to drag it higher. From a sector standpoint, last week’s advance was led by consumer discretionary and technology, which gained 2.5% and 2%, respectively. The energy sector collapsed 9.8% on fears of global oversupply in crude oil after Saudi Arabia blocked calls for output cuts from poorer OPEC members. #-ad_banner-#Globally, the recent recovery in European equity prices,… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices finished in positive territory last week, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which gained 2% and is up 20.8% so far in 2014. With small-cap stocks lagging all year, the broader market continues to rely heavily on technology to drag it higher. From a sector standpoint, last week’s advance was led by consumer discretionary and technology, which gained 2.5% and 2%, respectively. The energy sector collapsed 9.8% on fears of global oversupply in crude oil after Saudi Arabia blocked calls for output cuts from poorer OPEC members. #-ad_banner-#Globally, the recent recovery in European equity prices, particularly in Germany, points to more strength in the U.S. stock market into early next year. Failed Pattern Bodes Well for U.S. Market In mid-October, I pointed out a bearish chart pattern in the German DAX Index that targeted an 11% decline to 7,800. This particular chart pattern, a head-and-shoulders, is a common and typically reliable indication of a major bearish change in the price trend of an asset. However, on the rare occasion this pattern fails, it shows that investors have had a sudden and strong collective change of opinion on market direction. The chart… Read More

There was a period of time over the last couple of months where a form of corporate engineering dominated headlines. Apple was one of the most high-profile examples of companies taking advantage of this practice. But a number of other lesser-known firms were doing the same, either by relocating their operations abroad or acquiring an internationally-based competitor. I’m talking about tax inversions. #-ad_banner-#This practice has caused some controversy because it has allowed the companies to lower their taxable earnings in the U.S. and shift them abroad to countries with lower tax rates. Needless to say, the U.S. Government was not… Read More

There was a period of time over the last couple of months where a form of corporate engineering dominated headlines. Apple was one of the most high-profile examples of companies taking advantage of this practice. But a number of other lesser-known firms were doing the same, either by relocating their operations abroad or acquiring an internationally-based competitor. I’m talking about tax inversions. #-ad_banner-#This practice has caused some controversy because it has allowed the companies to lower their taxable earnings in the U.S. and shift them abroad to countries with lower tax rates. Needless to say, the U.S. Government was not happy — it wanted its tax dollars. But just over a month ago the U.S. Department of Treasury updated five sections of the tax code to make inversions more difficult to execute, and less profitable. The news from the Treasury tossed a wet blanket on the boom in tax inversions. The headlines began to wane and it seemed as if tax inversions were dead and gone. So last month as I was preparing the next issue of my premium newsletter, High-Yield International, I was surprised when I came across news of a small acquisition, where another company was planning to… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices finished in positive territory last week except for the small-cap Russell 2000, which lost 0.1% and is up just 0.8% this year. On the other end of the spectrum, the tech heavy Nasdaq 100 — which has powered the 2014 broad market advance — gained 0.6% and is up 18.4% year to date. From a sector standpoint, previously downtrodden energy and materials led, which suggests that cyclical sectors may be making a comeback. If this is indeed the case, it bodes well for a strengthening global economy as we head into 2015. #-ad_banner-#Also significant is… Read More

All major U.S. stock indices finished in positive territory last week except for the small-cap Russell 2000, which lost 0.1% and is up just 0.8% this year. On the other end of the spectrum, the tech heavy Nasdaq 100 — which has powered the 2014 broad market advance — gained 0.6% and is up 18.4% year to date. From a sector standpoint, previously downtrodden energy and materials led, which suggests that cyclical sectors may be making a comeback. If this is indeed the case, it bodes well for a strengthening global economy as we head into 2015. #-ad_banner-#Also significant is the recent recovery in European equity prices, which had previously been a drag on U.S. performance, as I discussed in the Oct. 13 Market Outlook. As long as European stocks remain strong, which my analysis suggests is likely at least in the near term, it will help support further strength here in the States. Technology Continues to Lead Market Higher In last week’s Market Outlook, I said Cisco Systems’ (NASDAQ: CSCO) mid-November breakout targeted a run to $32 in the stock and also signaled more strength to come in the market. CSCO… Read More