RF's Financial News

RF's Financial News

Sunday, May 29, 2016

This Week in Barrons - 5-29-2016

This Week in Barrons – 5-29-2016:

         
















It’s Memorial Day … Coming to a Theatre Near You

This Memorial Day there are some incredible, global situations converging.
-       Venezuela: All of the U.S. news outlets have done an excellent job of downplaying the horror that is going on inside that country.  The country is in melt down mode.  On a regular basis 5,000 people will storm a grocery store because they heard that there might be ‘bread’ inside.  Remember those Wal-Mart videos showing maniacal shoppers trampling people to death on Black Friday over a flat screen TV?  Image ten times the number of shoppers, hungry from 3 days of starvation, all hearing that a bread truck is coming.  That’s Venezuela.
-       The Middle East: A place where it’s common to experience a car bombing, a hostage taking, an ISIS strike, and of course a modern passenger jet falling from the sky – all in a single day.
-       Europe: The ECU is still clinging to its 17-nation experiment.  It’s bankrupt, rudderless, and being over-run by migrants.  They are still printing 85B Euros a month to keep these 17 zombie economies alive.  And have $8T sitting in banks accounts, in a dozen countries, earning negative interest.
-       Russia: Amazing in its calmness as the U.S. and NATO continue to move bases closer to its border.
-       China: Continues to build military bases on islands that they have created.

And just when you think that it can’t get any weirder, on the main stage we have Donald and Hillary.  First off, if any of us did what Hillary did with her e-mail server, we would all be in orange jumpsuits by now.  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dY77j6uBHI]  I think all of the current political drama is a part of a much larger theatre than: ‘Real Estate Mogul’ versus ‘Lifetime Bureaucrat/Liar’.  Presidential politics are planned years in advance – with the people simply buying tickets in November.  But this election is different.  I mean: Where did Donald Trump come from?  Am I to believe that he was just hanging out on a golf course and one day decided to ‘Give this President thing a shot’?  Am I to believe that Donald "Art of the Deal" Trump decided to put his life on parade for millions to criticize, run around the country giving speeches – all on a whim?  Donald preaches: ‘Negotiate from a position of strength.’  So there is NO WAY Donald entered this race without some form of assurance that he could win.

After all, Trump gets more media coverage than Hillary and Bernie combined.  Media normally costs money, but The Donald has gotten billions of it, for free.  Normally when the media disagrees with someone they just shut them down by cancelling interviews and erasing news spots.  The media can make you go away by ignoring you, except if you’re Donald Trump.

Why would the global elites want Donald Trump in the White House?  Surely his stance on everything from building a wall, making Iran pay, and his views on Muslim terrorists – fly in the face of globalization?  I think the reason The Donald is there is due to his bankruptcy expertise.  I've been talking about a monetary reset for a few years now, and The Donald is The King of bankruptcies.  I know this is convoluted, but what if the plan is to have a global monetary reset and discharge all debts.  You would want someone at the top you can trust, who is NOT a banker – and someone that could guide J.Q. Public through a really tough patch.  Trump would be the perfect pick.

If there is a monetary reset, and the U.S. loses it’s grasp on its global currency reserve status – all ‘heck’ will break loose.  J.Q. Public will not listen to a career politician or a banker.  But J.Q. Public may be ‘okay’ with The Donald.  Trump talks like a regular Joe – rough around the edges.  He's not political, but rather tells you his opinion.  He's been in business, and knows how to work systems.  I'm starting to believe that Donald Trump is actually the elite’s pick for President, because something ugly is coming and Donald has the history to work through it.

All I can say is: “Get out the Popcorn”, because these next few months are going to be quite a show.


The Market:
Factually:
-       Today, 78% of the eligible workforce between the ages of 25 and 54 is working – versus 82% in 2000.  That 4% difference equates to 6M fewer jobs, with a rapidly increasing number being taken over by technology.
-       For the first time in 130 years, MORE men aged 18 to 34 are living at home than co-habiting.
-       Donald Trump wants to bring back all of the jobs lost to overseas workers, because he knows that job retraining won't work as well in the future.
-       Commodity prices have fallen 55% since 2015 – the same margin they fell during the global financial crisis.
-       This week was the 17th week in a row of stock market institutional selling.
-       As oil flirts with $50/barrel – most of the oil tanker ships around the world lay parked and full of oil.  From Singapore to the U.S., oil companies are using tanker ships as storage, because there's no place else to put it.
-       The Chinese devalued their Yuan again – taking it back to 2011 lows.
-       The overall manufacturing conditions are the weakest since October 2009.
-       Deutsche Bank paid $400M in fines for ‘Equity Trading Fraud’.
-       25 U.S. Non-Financial companies – control over HALF of the total amount of cash held by all U.S. Non-Financial corporations.  What makes these companies so different is that they all are technology companies that generate significant cash flow over-seas.

Memorial Day is “a day on which those who died in active military service are remembered.”  My father served in WWII, and earned a purple heart.  When Vietnam came around I was too young, and the war ended just as I turned 18.  But I lost two older friends in that affair.  For them and the millions like them I say Thank You.  Enjoy this holiday weekend, and a heartfelt tip of the cap to all of you that have served and continue to serve.

On the other hand, often the reason those brave souls were sent to fight these wars boiled down to nothing more than pure greed.  Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 - June 21, 1940) was a Major General in the United States Marine Corps – the highest rank authorized at that time.  At the time of his death he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history, and one of only two people EVER to earn two Medals of Honor.  After his military career had ended, Smedley wrote a book titled: "War is a Racket".  In it he said:
-       “WAR is a racket.  It always has been.  It is: possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, and surely the most vicious of rackets.  It is the only racket in which the profits are collected in dollars and the losses in lives.”
-       “A racket is best described as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people.  Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about.  It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.”
-       In World War I, at least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the U.S.  How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle or dug a trench?  How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dugout?  How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells, shrapnel and machine gun bullets?  How many of them parried a bayonet, or were wounded in battle?”
-       "I spent over thirty-three years in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps.  I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.  In short, I was a gangster for capitalism."
-       “I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914.  I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys.  I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.  I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912.  I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916.  And in China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.”

And there (in a nutshell) is why Memorial Day shreds me emotionally.  I have an incredible and deep respect for our fighting crew, and a deep disgust for the greed at the top of the food chain that orders the wars to take place.  Smedley’s ideal was simple: "There are only two reasons to send our youngsters to war.  One is in defense of our homes. The other is in the defense of our Bill of Rights. Every other reason is a racket, pure and simple." 

For those of you needing a patriotic refresher: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaxGNQE5ZLA]

In terms of the market itself, after a couple of monster up days earlier this week, we ended Friday with the S&P basically at 2100 (2099.6).  That was certainly a well-done ‘work of art’ by our Central Bankers.  You see, on April 20, we closed with the S&P at 2102.  The market then traded sideways and down, hitting a low of 2025 on May 19.  Since then it has been steadily up, and we're basically back at that April high.  Do the economic fundamentals warrant a move back up to these levels?  Heck no.  But fundamentals went out with ‘my father’s Oldsmobile’, and today it's all about keeping the market up at all costs.

Our Central Bankers have engineered a ‘stick save’ from the edge of a nasty looking cliff, and now everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.  Is that it?  Do we just go up from here, and make all time new highs?  It's possible.  With just 35 more points to go for an all time high, they might as well give it a shot.  But, I think it is more probable that they run into resistance here, and start mildly selling-off around mid-week.

Enjoy the holiday with your friends and family.  If you have the time, send a good thought along to all who have served and are serving.  Thank them for keeping us safe.


TIPS:
I am:
-       Long various mining stocks: AG, AUY, CDE, FFMGF, FSM, NGD, and PAAS,
-       Long AMZN June 3 / 705 Calls,
-       Long MA June 3 / 96 Calls,
-       Long TSLA June 3 / 220 Calls,
-       Long TLT June / 128 Calls,
-       And Long an oil supplier: REN.

To follow me on Twitter.com and on StockTwits.com to 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, R.F. Culbertson, contributing sources and those he interviews.  You can learn more and get your free subscription by visiting: <http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com> .

Please write to Mr. Culbertson at: <rfc@culbertsons.com> to inform him 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 his thoughts - please feel free to sign up as a Twitter follower -  "taylorpamm" is the 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: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Z9I_6ciH0


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, May 22, 2016

This Week in Barrons - 5-22-2016

This Week in Barrons – 5-22-2016:
















Unintended Consequences…

Ms. Yellen, even I was surprised by the ‘unintended consequences’ surrounding the market’s reaction to the minutes of your last FED meeting.  By now I thought everyone knew that you trained your peeps to talk like hawks, and act like doves.  You all believe that the direct costs of waiting to raise interest rates (inflation) along with the indirect costs (pension fund solvency [http://cnnmon.ie/1XFciMB] and people’s savings) are insignificant at best.  Your GDP forecasts are wishful thinking.  You continue to believe that your policy tools will move the economy quickly in your desired direction, and you are constantly surprised when they do not.  Factually, monitoring the LIBOR rate does a better job of predicting future FED movements than listening to your rhetoric.  And by the way, the LIBOR rate has barely budged since the release of your last FED minutes – suggesting that no rate hike is coming in June.  Your FED believes that inflation was yesterday’s problem, and today’s FED problem is stagnant median incomes.  Your FED believes that a ridiculously loose monetary policy and a hyper-inflated stock market will help solve that problem.  Your FED is trying to act more like politicians (trying to manipulate markets with their words) than trying to do something about it with their actions.  Your FED should really study Martin and Volcker, and learn from a more knowledgeable and effective group.  History will remember your FED by their actions and ‘unintended consequences’, not by their newly acquired, political oratory skill set.
Secondly Ms. Yellen, I’m sure you realize by now that all of this ‘crap’ is set to hit the fan right about the time Obama (and presumably you) leave office – yes?  As SF and I talked this week, at what point in our nation’s history did our elected and appointed officials adjust their time horizons to be: “Just make it right while it’s MY responsibility, because I really don’t care what happens on the next guy’s watch”?  Where did the Golden Rule go?  I assume you know:
-       That health insurers in the state of Washington are throwing the ‘affordable’ portion of the Affordable Care Act right out the window by requesting a 13.5% premium increase next year, and offering fewer insurance choices.
-       That the Empire State manufacturing report that was expected to show a growth reading of +6.5 came in at a recessionary MINUS 9.
-       That 52% of the most recent lay-offs are in the oil sector, with 2nd place (another 21%) coming from the HIGH-TECH sector.  So the good jobs continue to leave, while the ‘Do you want fries with that’ continue to grow.
-       That the slump in retail has spread to the agricultural equipment industry – where sales are down 20% year over year (YOY), and to the big truck industry where the numbers are down 39% YOY.
-       And that over 30% of today’s auto loans are ‘upside-down’ (meaning people owe more than the car is worth).  This is due to auto dealers writing 6, 7 and often 8-year auto loans in order to keep the monthly payment down.  With payments that low, it’s no surprise that people are upside-down after only being 3 years into an 8-year contract.  But honestly, didn’t we see this movie before with the 2007 housing crisis?  I guess we figured that we’d try it with J.Q. Public’s 2nd most expensive asset this time.

Lastly, I do NOT think you will ‘hike rates’ in June, but not for the reasons you think.  Back in December 2015 the rate on the 10-year Government bond was 2.24%.  You then raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point, and by February 2016 that same 10-year Government bond had actually dropped to 1.8%.  So your rate increase went completely un-noticed – except for the ‘unintended consequence’ that was the stock market’s negative reaction.  If we didn't have an election coming in November, I would hope that you would raise interest rates in a heartbeat.  But I can’t imagine Hillary on stage debating The Donald without a strong stock market to back her up.  Right now the market is barely hanging on, and despite a FED rate hike being a non-issue, the market could take a big hit on a rate increase.  If I were you, I would wait to see a super-strong May Non-Farm Payroll Report, along with polling numbers showing a convincing Non-BrExit (the UK voting to stay in the EU) before I would make a decision to increase rates.
In the beginning, I thought that all of these data points surrounding your FED’s actions were just ‘unintended consequences’.  Lately however, I’m growing to believe that you REALLY have it all figured out.  You have realized that your economic time bomb will hit right around election time – when you will have one foot out the door.  And now you’ve planned the ‘Audit the FED’ bill (that’s making it’s way through the Senate) – to hit just after your retirement party.


The Market:











Over the last 6 months, we have seen the S&P index go from 2070 in December, to 1810 in February, to 2100 in April, and now 2052.  I do NOT believe the school of thought that the market is building a strong foundation from which to launch a new bull market, but rather the one saying that it’s in Central Bank desperation mode – trying to avert a market crash.  One reason for my belief is that for the longest stretch ever recorded (16 going on 17 weeks) the ‘smart money’ has been selling out of this market.  Secondly, stock buy-backs are not having the same affect that they had in the recent past.  Thirdly, business bankruptcies have soared to a rate not seen for over a decade.  I’m not talking just about the oil frackers going bankrupt.  In fact on Friday we learned that The Sports Authority (that had announced the closing of SOME stores) has instead decided to close and liquidate ALL of its stores.  Combine all of that with X-FED heads telling us that the FED consciously inflated the stock market in order to increase the “wealth effect”, and if stocks would fall it  "could trigger systemic risk" to our entire economy.
Do we keep trading sideways inside 1825 and 2130?  Possibly – maybe even probably.  But one day this will end.  Will the economy recover to the point we breakout, or will some event cause us to breakdown?  My guess is that we trade sideways until we can't, and then we fail.  We crash and work off many years of QE.  Right now it’s a struggle, but the FED has deep pockets.  I would not be surprised if we add to Friday's bounce and go up early in the week.  But remember anything you buy this week is a ‘trade’ not an ‘investment’.  The idea of buying something 7 years into a fake recovery at 20 times earnings – sorry, that math just doesn’t work for me.  But snagging a few stocks for a quick 10-15% return, and hopping out before the next wave of selling hits, makes perfect sense to me.  Closing over 2060 on the S&P would be mildly bullish, and over 2066 would be even more bullish.  Closing under 2040 would spell near term disaster.  Watch the numbers.

            The AG Play:
If you played AG with me back in the fall, you are sitting pretty.  For every $10,000 you invested, you’re sitting $74,500 richer today.  Many of you (that have written to me) have told me that this 650% uptake in 9 months – is the best trade you ever made in your entire life.  Again I say - congratulations.  So this week I’d like to give you a couple more places where I think we can prosper just like we did in AG.  First off, AG was a really good mining company – with a good management team.  Secondly, their stock was priced at 10% of it’s all-time high.  And lastly, AG had long-term (January 2018) options in order to minimize risk. 
NGD is the next stock that I would consider.  It’s a good company, and it has weathered the downturn.  The only problem is that the mining sector is red hot lately.  Many miners are already up 200%, and taking on a new position could very well move into the red quickly if the sector experiences a pullback.  However, these types of plays are all about the future.  I continue to believe that we’re heading toward an economic ‘reset’.  I think gold has a date with $3,800 and silver north of $70 as the Chinese are buying it, and every Central bank is storing it.  If I’m right and a major event takes place in the next 19 months, the mining stocks will be the biggest winners. 
If you bought 1,000 shares of NGD stock at $4.21 and it went to its $14 high – you would net about a $9k profit.  However, if we executed a strategy like we did in AG, that profit would be closer to $25k.  Currently, NGD is selling for $4.21.  I am looking at the $4, January 2018 call option chain, and I’m seeing overhead resistance at the $5 level.  Now, the ideal situation may be to let the stock get over that $5 resistance level before investing in it, but we have a LOT of time between now and January of 2018.  The $4 options were adjusted down by 3% on Wednesday, and you can buy them for about $1.55 each.  The $4’s are 21 cents in the money, and as NGD rises we should be able to buy twice as many $8’s with our $4 profits – similar to the AG trade.  Because of the ‘red hot’ nature of the sector, I would buy half your normal size now, and the other half if we get a slight pullback in the next couple of months.
I like AUY (another miner) for the same reasons, and although I already have it from when it was $2.75, I am going to buy more next week.  AUY was a $20 stock, 3 years ago.  I think that it could get there again.  You can buy the $5, January 2018 calls for $1.47 and once the stock gets to $10 – you roll the $5 calls into twice as many $10’s.
CDE is another miner that could rise to $50 – as it did a couple years ago.  Unfortunately CDE options are a little expensive, so I would move to the $10 options and buy them for about $2.  The mechanics would be the same: when CDE gets to $15 - sell the $10’s and get TWICE as many $15's.  Then at $15, sell them, and buy TWICE as many $20's. 
Finally, SSRI has partnered with a Canadian company called Golden Arrow (GARWF).  The head of Golden Arrow has just found ‘potentially’ the biggest silver deposit on earth, and has partnered with both PAAS and SSRI.  You can get the $10, January 2018 call options on SSRI for about $2.85 per option.   SSRI (once a $40 stock) is currently trading for $9.67, and when SSRI gets to $15, I would trade those $10 options in for TWICE as many $15’s.
PAAS has access to the bulk of Golden Arrow's biggest find (1.1B ounces) in Argentina.  PAAS options are a little expensive, but an investment in the $15’s could be rolled to the $20’s and correspondingly into the $25’s and $30’s.
Could this really work, OR maybe we just got lucky with AG.  I think that over the next couple years we're going to see much higher gold and silver.  If you like penny stocks – then just buy some shares in GARWF for $0.58 / share – and wait for a year.  You should wake up on January 2018 with a smile on your face.


TIPS:
-       SPY (S&P indicator) could rally this week due to the put/call ratio being close to 1.  90% of the time that there are this many ‘short positions’ in the market, a rally ensues that brings the ratio down closer to 0.85,
-       Tesla (TSLA) could move higher into $232,
-       Google (GOOGL) could move higher into $750,
-       EOG could move higher into $84.33,
-       Facebook (FB) has the highest ownership within all hedge funds, and is in the top 10 holdings of more hedge funds than any other stock.  That normally indicates that they’re NOT going to be selling it any time soon so a long position in FB would not be a bad choice,
-       Gold may need to consolidate here a little bit and I will begin to consolidate my mining holdings into: AG, NGD, PAAS, CDE, SSRI, FFMGF & GARWF.

I am:
-       Long various mining stocks: AG, AUY, DRD, EGO, FFMGF, FSM, GFI, IAG, KGC, and PAAS,
-       And Long an oil supplier: REN @ $0.56

To follow me on Twitter.com and on StockTwits.com to 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, R.F. Culbertson, contributing sources and those he interviews.  You can learn more and get your free subscription by visiting: <http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com> .

Please write to Mr. Culbertson at: <rfc@culbertsons.com> to inform him 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 his thoughts - please feel free to sign up as a Twitter follower -  "taylorpamm" is the 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: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Z9I_6ciH0


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>