RF's Financial News

RF's Financial News

Sunday, February 26, 2012

This week in Barrons - 2-26-12

This Week in Barons: 2-26-12:

All the Gold is not enough to give, in exchange for Virtue… Plato

After decades of not allowing citizens to own gold, China is openly promoting the private ownership of gold. Can you blame them? They see what funny money is doing to world economies and they want to own real gold again. And as a slap in the face to NY and London, in June, China is going to launch PAGE (the Pan Asian Gold Exchange). For the first time in a hundred years, there's going to be an exchange that challenges NY and London. The exchange is going to allow payment in Yuan (Chinese Dollars instead of U.S. Dollars). WHY? The short answer is that China is in a terrible box and wants out. They hold more US debt in the form of dollars than anyone else, and The Ben Bernanke (and Geithner) are steadily dropping the value of those dollars. China wants it's currency to be backed by gold, and respected as a an equal to the other world reserve currencies. We will see in June just what happens when NY and London are threatened by the first competition ever.

In terms of my thoughts on gold, John A directed me to Mr. Sinclair’s thoughts on Gold and I second his emotion:
- Shortly, China will be called upon to help provide funds to the IMF for bailout purposes. For this backstop, China will extract significant benefits.
- Greek gold will be held hostage to their debt, and this will accelerate both the trend of gold repatriation, and the utilization of other currencies (other than the US dollar) for payment of international goods and services.
- The volatility in gold, silver and equities is simply foreshadowing what is coming.
- The last man standing will be gold and gold alone.

In terms of exchanging Gold for Virtue, this week we were all witness to a blatant lie by President Obama when he said: "Anybody who tells you we can drill our way out of this problem doesn't know what they're talking about, or just isn't telling you the truth." Oh really? Well, we would need the EPA to approve additional refineries, and Obama would have to approve the Keystone pipeline – but putting those two together would give us $2 gas for decades. Why? Well, currently both US coasts are seeing $5 gas because they are purchasing (more expensive) imported oil due to the lack of refining capacity and a pipeline. While in ‘middle America’ we are seeing $3 gas because they’re using less expensive Texas crude and the excess refinery capacity. Imagine if we could process more oil, and we were allowed to bring it (via pipeline) from Canada – bingo - $2 gas.

But it’s easier (and politically more beneficial) to blame it on Iran. Now, there is a risk premium when a substantial portion of the world’s oil goes through a small channel that just happens to border Iran. However, the real question isn’t about Obama’s sanctions, but rather WHEN Israel will go in and blow up the reactor sites. Thus far, Obama has held them off, saying that sanctions will work. Iran has effectively countered that by initiating trade with China and India in a currency OTHER than U.S. dollars. And Iran has told Europe that Iran will not sell them any more oil! Honestly, Europe's in no shape to have to pay more for oil. The question is: why continue to push for sanctions versus letting Israel go in and do its thing? Well, I think we will see an invasion by Israel right about October. Obama knows that sitting Presidents do well in times of "war". So, if he lets Israel move in late September (early October), and we have to provide back up (since we're the ally); his chances of staying in the White House improve dramatically.

Understand, Israel will not allow a nuclear Iran, and the Federal Reserve will not allow a country to operate without U.S. petro dollars. Iran's invasion is a foregone conclusion and simply a matter of timing. My guess is that it will be Obama's "October Surprise".

So this year is indeed shaping up to be every bit as exciting as the Mayans had suggested. In just a few short months we're going to see China threaten the London and New York gold and silver manipulators via their own exchange. By November, I believe we'll have seen Israel attack Iran, and a small war break out over the Straights of Hormuz, thus bringing the U.S. into play. I'd suggest that buying gold and silver are still the two ways to stay safe in this mess.

The Market
DOW 13,000 has proven to be a formidable resistance, but the issue is really the S&P. While the DOW is the tourist stop (the single most watched and quoted index in the entire world), it’s comprised of JUST 30 stocks. The S&P however is 500 stocks, and represents a wider swath of industry than the DOW. When push comes to shove, the S&P is much more powerful than the DOW. So, as the S&P reached the 1350 level (placing it just below the big resistance area of 1360 to 1371) it became important to watch. Would they trade us sideways, build a base at that level and then push us higher? That makes sense because that's how markets advance. But the big negative is that the markets are ONLY moving because of the trillions of dollars that The Ben Bernanke printed, and will continue to print so Obama can point to and (like he did yesterday) say: “Our stock market is continuing to improve."

Some companies – like Apple (AAPL) would be "up" even if the market were not. It's a great company that makes money. But in the overall, there are very few instances of any real growth, just activity pockets because of the stimulus. This leaves most stocks being priced not on fundamentals, but on funny money, hence the danger.

The S&P is stuck in a resistance zone between 1360 to 1371 level, and the DOW can't soar unless the S&P breaks free. Now, the market is very, very overdue for a correction. You can smell it. The market wants to correct, but it keeps getting "saved" in the nick of time. In our short term trading account we have 9 positions and 8 of them are positive for us. But I hold them all nervously. At any moment we could pull down 8%, or 10%. My guess is that they're going to make one more attempt at pushing us through resistance and if we don't make it by mid-week, I'd expect some real selling to hit. I think it's a fine time to be overly cautious here. If the S&P loses 1350, look out below. If the S&P gets over 1371 for more than two days, we're going higher. In between 1350 and 1371, we’re walking in a minefield where one could blow up any minute.

Tips:

Jim T sent me a great chart this week – showing that the US per capita debt (under President Obama) would more than DOUBLE what exists currently in Greece. So if you think the U.S. Economy is NOT in trouble – think again!

We continued to lean long into this week – and keep our stops tight.

We’re currently holding:
- SNDK SanDisk – in at 49.17 (currently 48.83) – stop at 48.60,
- KOG Kodiak Oil and Gas – in at 10.55 (currently 10.80) – stop at 10.15,
- CPNO Copano Energy – in at 35.5 (currently 37.68) – stop at entry
- SWN Southwestern Energy – in at 34.36 (currently 35.40) – stop at entry
- DOV Dover Corp – in at 64.15 (currently 65.61) – stop at 65.15,
- ADBE Adobe Corp – in at 30.00 (currently 33.40) – stop at 32.80,
- SPY (ETF for S&P) – in at 131.16 (currently 136.94) – stop at 135.50,
- GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 159.49, (currently 172.54) – no stop, AND
- SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28 (currently 34.41) – no stop.
- SOLD = FNSR Finisar Corp – $1.50 profit

To follow me on Twitter and get my daily thoughts and trades – my handle is: taylorpamm.

Please be safe out there!

Disclaimer:
Expressed thoughts proffered within the BARRONS REPORT, a Private and free weekly economic newsletter, are those of noted entrepreneur, professor and author, RF Culbertson, contributing sources and those he interviews. You can learn more and get your free subscription by visiting: .

Please write to to inform me of any reproductions, including when and where copy will be reproduced. You may use in complete form or, if quoting in brief, reference .

If you'd like to view RF's actual stock trades - and see more of my thoughts - please feel free to sign up as a Twitter follower - "taylorpamm" is my handle.

If you'd like to see RF in action - teaching people about investing - please feel free to view the TED talk that he gave on Fearless Investing:

To unsubscribe please refer to the bottom of the email.

Views expressed are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as an offer, an endorsement, or inducement to invest and is not in any way a testimony of, or associated with Mr. Culbertson's other firms or associations. Mr. Culbertson and related parties are not registered and licensed brokers. This message may contain information that is confidential or privileged and is intended only for the individual or entity named above and does not constitute an offer for or advice about any alternative investment product. Such advice can only be made when accompanied by a prospectus or similar offering document. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Please make sure to review important disclosures at the end of each article.

Note: Joining BARRONS REPORT is not an offering for any investment. It represents only the opinions of RF Culbertson and Associates.

PAST RESULTS ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. THERE IS RISK OF LOSS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GAIN WHEN INVESTING IN MANAGED FUNDS. WHEN CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS (INCLUDING HEDGE FUNDS) AN INVESTOR SHOULD CONSIDER VARIOUS RISKS INCLUDING THE FACT THAT SOME PRODUCTS AND OTHER SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT PRACTICES MAY INCREASE RISK OF INVESTMENT LOSS; MAY NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AS MUTUAL FUNDS, OFTEN CHARGE HIGH FEES, AND IN MANY CASES THE UNDERLYING INVESTMENTS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT AND ARE KNOWN ONLY TO THE INVESTMENT MANAGER.

Alternative investment performance can be volatile. An investor could lose all or a substantial amount of his or her investment. Often, alternative investment fund and account managers have total trading authority over their funds or accounts; the use of a single advisor applying generally similar trading programs could mean lack of diversification and, consequently, higher risk. There is often no secondary market for an investor's interest in alternative investments, and none is expected to develop.

All material presented herein is believed to be reliable but we cannot attest to its accuracy. Opinions expressed in these reports may change without prior notice. Culbertson and/or the staff may or may not have investments in any funds cited above.

Remember the Blog:
Until next week – be safe.

R.F. Culbertson

Sunday, February 19, 2012

This Week in Barrons - 2-19-12

This Week in Barons: 2-19-12:
The Market Makes My Head Spin…

All – a short letter today due to the holiday!
The older I get, it seems that the faster time goes by. It’s the middle of February already – and wasn’t it just Christmas? We are also
seeing a very healthy density of utterly bizarre news, and it’s my assessment that the actual level of insanity is climbing to new heights. I tend to enjoy sniffing out the fraud and baloney of the Wall Street gangs – the likes of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc. – but here are some quick tidbits that rolled across my screen this week:
- $3.9 Billion in Fed Cash Flowed to Energy Firms With Ties to The White House
- Website helps Florida Co-Eds find ‘Sugar Daddys’
- Russia and Iran are still arming Syria
- Gasoline Prices up 83% during The Obama Administration
- Chicago is the most corrupt city in USA
- Obama’s deficit spending is costing each person $17,000, and each family $70,000 per year.
- US Voter Rolls in disarray – listing over 1.8M dead people as active

The point of the above is that each and every one of these little snippets has a story behind it – and the sheer magnitude of all the stories and insanity is simply overwhelming.


The Market:
There's a lot going on folks. We are in a technical no mans land. If we don’t hold the 1350 line on the S&P things can indeed get ugly. Why did I pick 1350? Well, the real barrier line is from 1355 to 1361, that's the old 3-year high. But I've noticed that when a market is trying to push up and through a multi-year high, it often takes a position right below that and "lurks" there. It builds a base, and just wiggles around for several days. Then it tries to make its move and bust over the old resistance. If we can't hold 1350, the "base" that
we need to build won't get built, and we're in for a 5 to 8% pullback.

But that all said, I told you last week that we'd see them get the market to the S&P 1350 level and they did. I also told you of course it doesn't belong there, it's a hope and extend rally. This whole move has been built on accounting lies, Bernanke money, and outright fraud. This market may very well soar to ALL NEW HIGHS. In fact, sometime this year it probably will, but is now the time, or do we get the pull back first? That's the part we are struggling with.

I’ve gotten really defensive starting last Friday, and have sold down a lot of positions and have taken a lot of profits. We still have a small handful of things working in case they do muster the oomph to blast us off, but my guess is that we get a pull down first. If we get a 5,
8, 10% pullback, I'll buy it like there’s no tomorrow, because The Ben Bernanke will use that pull back as an excuse to shovel QE3/4/and 5 on us, and we will rally big time.

Now, the European situation is technically hopeless. Greece is arguing over 130B Euro's and even if they get it, their debt to GDP is over 120%. It will solve nothing and everyone knows it. What if the hard liners on the right simply say no to more austerity? What if it really gets ugly and they just cut Greece loose from the EU zone? The U.S. market has an implied backstop. The Ben Bernanke has winked and nodded that if the market gets really soft, he'd be to the rescue with QE3. But how soft would it need to get? I think the market could fall 5 to 8 percent and potentially nothing would be done. But have it cross over 10% and keep moving toward a 20% correction – that will
cause a major Q3 eruption.

So, a good report out of Greece Sunday will probably propel us to new market highs very quickly, and we would see DOW 14K. If things don’t go so well over the weekend, there's a really good chance that this attempt at break out will fail and we're in for a pull back before they try again.


Tips:
Brad L writes us with some more facts:
- There are 23 elections around the world this year – a 50 year high for a single year!
- There is heavy down-volume coupled with light up-volume,
- The 52 week high list is pathetic,
- Bullish sentiment is 69% bulls, and
- Insider selling is 8.5 to 1 (insiders are taking profits) – which is quite high!

We continued to lean long into this week – and keep our stops tight. The gap up on Friday didn’t allow us to add all that much going into the long weekend. We’re currently holding:
- CPNO Copano Energy – in at 35.5 (currently 36.76) – stop at entry
- SWN Southwestern Energy – in at 34.36 (currently 35.54) – stop at entry
- FNSR Finisar Corp – in at 22.51 (currently 23.41) – stop at entry,
- DOV Dover Corp – in at 64.15 (currently 66.10) – stop at 65.15,
- ADBE Adobe Corp – in at 30.00 (currently 32.70) – stop at 31.80,
- SPY (ETF for S&P) – in at 131.16 (currently 136.75) – stop at 132.50,
- GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 159.49, (currently 167.59) – no stop, AND
- SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28 (currently 32.30) – no stop.

To follow me on Twitter and get my daily thoughts and trades – my handle is: “taylorpamm”.
Please be safe out there!

Disclaimer:
Expressed thoughts proffered within the BARRONS REPORT, a Private and free weekly economic newsletter, are those of noted entrepreneur, professor and author, RF Culbertson, contributing sources and those he interviews. You can learn more and get your free subscription by visiting: .
Please write to to inform me of any reproductions, including when and where copy will be reproduced. You may use in complete form or, if quoting in brief, reference: rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com >.
If you'd like to view RF's actual stock trades - and see more of my thoughts - please feel free to sign up as a Twitter follower - "taylorpamm" is my handle.

If you'd like to see RF in action - teaching people about investing - please feel free to view the TED talk that he gave on “Fearless Investing”:

To unsubscribe please refer to the bottom of the email.

Views expressed are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as an offer, an endorsement, or inducement to invest and is not in any way a testimony of, or associated with Mr. Culbertson's other firms or associations. Mr. Culbertson and related parties are not registered and licensed brokers. This message may contain information that is confidential or privileged and is intended only for the individual or entity named above and does not constitute an offer for or advice about any alternative investment product. Such advice can only be made when accompanied by a prospectus or similar offering document. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Please make sure to review important disclosures at the end of each article.

Note: Joining BARRONS REPORT is not an offering for any investment. It represents only the opinions of RF Culbertson and Associates.
PAST RESULTS ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. THERE IS RISK OF LOSS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GAIN WHEN INVESTING IN MANAGED FUNDS. WHEN CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS (INCLUDING HEDGE FUNDS) AN INVESTOR SHOULD CONSIDER VARIOUS RISKS INCLUDING THE FACT THAT SOME PRODUCTS AND OTHER SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT PRACTICES MAY INCREASE RISK OF INVESTMENT LOSS; MAY NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AS MUTUAL FUNDS, OFTEN CHARGE HIGH FEES, AND IN MANY CASES THE UNDERLYING INVESTMENTS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT AND ARE KNOWN ONLY TO THE INVESTMENT MANAGER.

Alternative investment performance can be volatile. An investor could lose all or a substantial amount of his or her investment. Often, alternative investment fund and account managers have total trading authority over their funds or accounts; the use of a single advisor applying generally similar trading programs could mean lack of diversification and, consequently, higher risk. There is often no secondary market for an investor's interest in alternative investments, and none is expected to develop.
All material presented herein is believed to be reliable but we cannot attest to its accuracy. Opinions expressed in these reports may change without prior notice. Culbertson and/or the staff may or may not have investments in any funds cited above.

Remember the Blog: http:/>rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/
Until next week – be safe.

R.F. Culbertson

http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com

Sunday, February 12, 2012

This Week in Barrons - 2-12-12

This Week in Barons: 2-12-12:
The Average American…

It wasn’t all that long ago that my view of the “Average American” was someone who: got up, went to work, earned money, maybe raised a family, saved for their old age, and potentially helped to take care of their parents. They were responsible for their actions. If they didn't work, they were not able to live well, which caused most people to get a job. The “Average American” was NOT: (a) One of the 46 million that are on food stamps. (b) One of the animals that trampled a Wal-Mart employee to death on Black Friday. Or (c) part of the 99%'rs that hate all things American because "He's got more than me."

I’m not sure you all caught this last week but the ‘Climate Catastrophe’ was called off! One of the fathers of Germany's modern green movement, Professor Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt (a social democrat and green activist) decided (along with geologist/paleontologist Dr. Sebastian Luning) to author a climate science skeptical book. Dr. Vahrenholt's skepticism started when he was asked to review an IPCC report on renewable energy. He found hundreds of errors, and when he pointed them out, IPCC officials simply brushed them aside. Stunned, he asked himself, "Is this the way they approached the climate assessment reports?" Dr. Vahrenholt decided to do some digging. His colleague Dr. Luning also gave him a copy of Andrew Montford's “The Hockey Stick Illusion.” He was horrified by the sloppiness and deception he found. In their book Dr. Vahrenholt and Dr. Luning cite over 800 sources (including over 80 charts and figures) and conclude: the climate catastrophe is called off. They conclude that the science was hyped, misinterpreted and in many instances invented. The book has started hitting the bookstores today and has already hit #1 on the Amazon.de list for environment books – and is continuing to climb on the overall bestseller chart. The reason I bring this up – is ‘climate change’ spawned literally thousands of new regulations. ‘Climate change’ created entire markets for "carbon credits". Companies couldn't expand because it would add to their carbon footprint. Companies spent hundreds of millions of dollars to update systems, and the ones that didn’t simply shut down and went to China. Do you think the ‘Average American’ will ever hear of this book?

My guess is that the ‘Average American’ thinks that the Greeks are just stupid, lazy, and dragging down the entire European Union. Factually, when the EU was drafted the Greeks couldn't get in. Greece didn't qualify because of their debt ratio. But Goldman Sachs came in and re-structured the financial ledgers in order to enable Greece to get in. Now that Greece is insolvent, who do you think is picking the bones off their dying corpse – absolutely – none other than the Goldman Sachs! Congratulations on ‘fudging’ the numbers to get Greece in, and being there to ‘fudge’ the numbers at the end.

The Market:
For some 12 years, that I’ve been involved in the market, there’s never been a period where you could sit back and say: 'This is easy". It's never easy. But that said, it was light years easier then, than it is now! The level of fraud and manipulation was simply much less. In previous years, you could invest via fundamentals: expansion, top and bottom lines, debt to equity ratios, and dividend paying abilities. (Remember: For stocks not paying dividends – you’re simply betting on someone buying it from you at a higher price.) Today, approximately 80% of all stocks traded are on this ‘Greater Fool Theory.’ (i.e. I'm going to buy XYZ because it's going to go up and I'll sell it to someone else. I am NOT buying it for the income stream – hold it for 10 years - and have the dividends end up ‘paying you’ for the stock.) Today it’s all about flipping – and that’s not bad – we just need to understand the game.

Today we don’t focus on the long-term stocks that much any more. Why? Two reasons are angst and volatility. I truly dislike being in a stock that's up $10 per share, and then having to sit through a pull down and a few months later you're up just $3. Sure, maybe the stock works its way back up and maybe even goes higher – but during that year (or more) you've done a lot of sitting and fretting. Another reason is volatility. Time frames have become compacted. Moves that used to take 2 years, now take 2 weeks. You once had to wait 6 months for your stock to move $4 – today we see $4 moves in 4 minutes. But the real problem of the long-term hold is that your entry point becomes very important. For example: If you started investing in 2007 – and you invested in index funds – allow me to remind you that in 2012 (5 years later) you still haven’t recovered your investment. So, when you're looking to hold for the long term: (a) look for a significant market "bottom", or (b) your investments need to have a lot of growth ahead of it. This market (currently) is far from a bottom!

We currently have a Federal Reserve that's placed over $25 Trillion in the global economy. We have Europe on the ropes, countries insolvent, we have a morbid housing market, and a horrible jobs picture. If the DOW was at 6000 right now – I’d be screaming BUY AND HOLD. But it’s at 12,800 and stinks like 5-day old fish. No thanks, getting long for the long haul way up here seems like suicide to me.

We've been doing a lot of short-term swings lately, meaning trades that last a few days to a couple weeks. But even that comes with risk because of something I can only consider "criminal" activity. For example: On Thursday, we heard from Mario Draghi (our man in Greece) that there was now a solid plan for Greece, they were getting funded, and for the first time things really looked great! Correspondingly, the market didn't go nuts but it held up nicely and we took on two new positions that were in breakout mode. Then Friday came, and we were told that there was NO Greek deal, and in fact they were sending the whole agreement back to the drawing board. Our positions quickly went from positive to negative "overnight" with no chance of backing out. Now Mario Draghi previously worked for Goldman Sachs – so do you think that he knew that things were ‘not good’ on Thursday? Of course he did. Do you think he got the word out to his Goldman Sachs buddies to get real short ahead of the news that he knew would come out on Friday? Please, this is the fraud and manipulation that we live with everyday.

If the market really reflected the economy, it would be at 7K right now, and looking lower. Instead we're trying to take out 13,000, and we just might! And if the S&P can hold over 1350 for a few days, and The Ben Bernanke resumes his daily operations, we could see the market rally like you've not seen in a long time to all new highs!

In a "real" world we'd all be short, and making a fortune as the market fell to 7K. Unfortunately, in this world, we could see QE3 announced and be at DOW 14K in 4 months. Here’s a headline from Saturday: “According to Bernanke: Housing may no longer be viewed as a Secure Investment!” Is that another push The Ben Bernanke is making to get investors to put money in the market instead of into housing? It sure could be! As Steve Forbes writes us: “Let’s think thru housing. To purchase a house you need at least 2 years on the same job, or longer if you’re self-employed. Now, as the workforce continues to contract (a 1.5M person contraction last month) – how many fewer people do you think will be buying homes in the next year?”

With the market at its present level, it could go either way very soon. The S&P is at 1343 and if it reclaims 1350+ and holds, my guess is there's more upside to come. But, if we can't reclaim 1350, it's my guess we're in for a 5 to 8 % pullback. So this coming week is indeed important.

Tips:
We continued to lean long into this week – and keep our stops tight – but the gap down caught us on Friday (as it did everyone outside of the brokerage houses!)

We’re currently holding:
- CREE – sold out at our stop,
- UYM – sold out at our stop,
- DOV - at 64.15 (currently 64.51) – stop at 64.25,
- SPY at 131.16 (currently 134.66) – stop at 133.50,
- ADBE at 30.00 (currently 32.21) – stop at 31.80,
- GLD at 159.49, (currently 167.30) – no stop, AND
- SLV at 28 (currently 32.57) – no stop.

To follow me on Twitter and get my daily thoughts and trades – my handle is: “taylorpamm”.

Please be safe out there!

Disclaimer:
Expressed thoughts proffered within the BARRONS REPORT, a Private and free weekly economic newsletter, are those of noted entrepreneur, professor and author, RF Culbertson, contributing sources and those he interviews. You can learn more and get your free subscription by visiting: .

Please write to to inform me of any reproductions, including when and where copy will be reproduced. You may use in complete form or, if quoting in brief, reference .

If you'd like to view RF's actual stock trades - and see more of my thoughts - please feel free to sign up as a Twitter follower - "taylorpamm" is my handle.

If you'd like to see RF in action - teaching people about investing - please feel free to view the TED talk that he gave on “Fearless Investing”:

To unsubscribe please refer to the bottom of the email.

Views expressed are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as an offer, an endorsement, or inducement to invest and is not in any way a testimony of, or associated with Mr. Culbertson's other firms or associations. Mr. Culbertson and related parties are not registered and licensed brokers. This message may contain information that is confidential or privileged and is intended only for the individual or entity named above and does not constitute an offer for or advice about any alternative investment product. Such advice can only be made when accompanied by a prospectus or similar offering document. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Please make sure to review important disclosures at the end of each article.

Note: Joining BARRONS REPORT is not an offering for any investment. It represents only the opinions of RF Culbertson and Associates.

PAST RESULTS ARE NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. THERE IS RISK OF LOSS AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GAIN WHEN INVESTING IN MANAGED FUNDS. WHEN CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS (INCLUDING HEDGE FUNDS) AN INVESTOR SHOULD CONSIDER VARIOUS RISKS INCLUDING THE FACT THAT SOME PRODUCTS AND OTHER SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT PRACTICES MAY INCREASE RISK OF INVESTMENT LOSS; MAY NOT BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AS MUTUAL FUNDS, OFTEN CHARGE HIGH FEES, AND IN MANY CASES THE UNDERLYING INVESTMENTS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT AND ARE KNOWN ONLY TO THE INVESTMENT MANAGER.

Alternative investment performance can be volatile. An investor could lose all or a substantial amount of his or her investment. Often, alternative investment fund and account managers have total trading authority over their funds or accounts; the use of a single advisor applying generally similar trading programs could mean lack of diversification and, consequently, higher risk. There is often no secondary market for an investor's interest in alternative investments, and none is expected to develop.

All material presented herein is believed to be reliable but we cannot attest to its accuracy. Opinions expressed in these reports may change without prior notice. Culbertson and/or the staff may or may not have investments in any funds cited above.

Remember the Blog:
Until next week – be safe.

R.F. Culbertson