This week in Barrons - 12-27-09

This Week in Barrons – 12-27-09:
Thoughts – I truly wish it was a Merry Christmas for all…

I'm writing this as I review real estate offerings in various coastal areas in Florida and notice that the prices are beginning their second leg of a decent (with more to come in my opinion). I’m struck by the lack of traffic at the malls, and the amazing amount of small business that aren't there any more. I’m listening to every talking head on CNBC telling me that the next two years will be years of increased merger and acquisition (M&A) activity – and them thinking that this is a ‘good thing’. What if the majority of ‘sellers’ are selling because they “HAVE TO” and not because they “CAN”? Doesn’t all of this tell you that your ability to actually ‘GET’ the price that you think you should be getting for your widget, your house, or your business is eroding very, very quickly – and this increased M&A activity could be an act of ‘survival’ and not one of ‘growth and prosperity.’

A couple facts to take us into the New Year:
- 10%+ unemployment is draining states' unemployment-compensation funds so fast that 40 state programs could go broke within two years, and will need $90B in loans to keep issuing benefit checks
- And while continuing unemployment claims dropped by 127K to under 5.1M, emergency unemployment compensation (for people who have exhausted regular benefits) rose by 142K to 4.4M, up from just 1.5M a year ago - a sign that people who have lost their jobs are having an especially hard time finding new ones.
- And remember: Stocks FALL MUCH FASTER than they rise!

Remember that last point – because there will come a time in the very near future that we will recommend shorting the market, or buying “Puts”.

For those reading this that are afraid of going short – let me describe the elements of a short sale:
- A short sale simply means that if the stock goes DOWN you will make money.
- You start by “borrowing” say 500 shares of XYZ from your broker – and sell it on the open market for say $50 per share (this is all done electronically) – you place a "sell short" order for 500 shares of XYZ at market. In a matter of moments you will have sold XYZ. For selling it, your account will take in the proceeds – 500 shares at $50 = $25,000.
- Now you sit and wait, and in a matter of a month, XYZ is now 40 dollars a share. You decide that it probably won't go lower, and you want to "cover your short". All you do is "BUY" 500 shares of XYZ at market. The moment you do, the brokerage will get back the 500 shares you borrowed from them and it's all a done deal.
- The transaction is finished - but look at what happened: You sold 500 shares at $50 = and took in $25,000. Then you bought 500 shares a month later to close out your short – but at $40 = so you spent $20,000. The difference of $5,000 is yours to keep.

It's our opinion that there's going to be a tremendous shorting opportunity coming at us in 2010. With headlines like this: "The number of borrowers that fell behind on their mortgages - including the most creditworthy - rose in Q3. And the percentage of current and performing mortgages dropped for the sixth consecutive quarter. Those that fell behind on their prime mortgage payments more-than doubled to 3.6% from a year ago. Such troubles could mount as banks and thrifts remain unable to match modifications with the number of struggling borrowers who need help.” You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that things are actually getting worse not better, and one day the market will align itself with that reality. That means stocks will fall, and the people that get rich off it will be the ones that understand shorts and buying puts.

Moving to the market itself:
So, they ran us sideways and up into Christmas, the next question is, what about New Years week? My guess is that we'll be pretty flat, with certain individual stocks moving up on their own merits – but a wholesale sell off, is sort of off the table, because who's going to want to pay the tax penalty of selling now, when they can sell in January if they want, and push the tax burden out to 2011?

For weeks AMAT has been playing around in the 12 - 14 area with 14 acting like a brick wall. It simply got repelled each time it got there. But with Thursday's close "at" 14.00 – if AMAT were to climb up and over 14.15 – I would consider that a pretty good buy in area, and AMAT could reward us.

The commodity plays are still acting well as are some of the technology plays. We thought that if CTXS ever got over 40.00 it would probably be a runner and tack on a few bucks – and sure enough it 40, we hopped in and it hit a high of 42.34. Not bad work in two days – and I think it's got some more in it.

As you appreciate your holidays, I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends. Potentially you can find a way to give something to someone who needs it. They will appreciate it, and it will give you something positive in return – I guarantee it.

Have a joyous and prosperous New Year!

TIPS:
We sold our SPY’s and our CY’s for a handsome profit – so we’re sitting with:
CTXS at 40.04 Hard Stop at 40.44
ANR at 40.04 Stop at 43.45
CLR at 40.56 Stop at 41.90
AMAT over 40.15

That said, we're looking at DRIV, CLD, WFR, STEC, CIEN and a couple others.
We were tempted to sell some ANR (as it opened at the 46 level), but I resisted – it’s hard to "sit tight" when you're looking at 5 dollars per share in gains!

We will be buying the GDXJ’s / and SGOL’s – but wait until gold settles a bit here – also we’ll be looking at the Silvers … PAAS / SLW – etc.
And we have about 70% of our money at work in the 401k’s – the rest in cash.

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

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com
http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/

This week in Barrons - 12-20-09

This Week in Barrons – 12-20-09:
Thoughts – “If You Can’t Say Something Nice About Someone…”

I assume at this point – “If you can’t say something nice about someone – don’t say Anything At All” must be what all the talking heads are practicing right before the holidays. On Tuesday morning, James Paulson, of Wells Management. (a $3B fund) was convinced that by April, 2010 the consumer was going to be swinging for the fences and this recovery will be much stronger than anyone believes. And Mr. Paulson tells us that the weak dollar is going to be good for our manufacturers because we can export more goods. Now Factually: (a) Capital One's credit-card debt that the company doesn't believe it will be able to collect - rose to 9.6% in November from 9.04% in October, while 30-day delinquencies rose to 5.87% from 5.72%. Mr. Paulson – if the consumer is so strong – why can’t he pay off his credit cards? (b) Only 24% of companies are giving holiday bonuses this year, down from 42% a year ago. Mr. Paulson – if everyone is going to be rolling in it in 4 months – why not celebrate a little early? (c ) Well the Empire State manufacturing index fell back substantially, and the orders component also showed a slowing declining to 16.6 from November’s 34.57. Could it be Mr. Paulson that the only real activity we saw was the rebuilding of inventory for the Holiday shopping season and without that stimulus, they wouldn't need to produce anything?

Honestly, when you push trillions of anything into one side of a pipe, "something" has to come out the other side. When you push trillions of dollars into the economy, two things come out the other side. One is a jump in economic activity, and this produces a ripple effect. The people that receive the money first, rush to spend it, which creates a ripple around the immediate area of commerce. Then those people spend their new-found money in their local economy creating a second ripple. But somewhere along the third ring of ripples, people see the money coming and ‘increase their prices' a bit to take advantage of the wave of money coming. That is the second part of what always happens when fiat money is printed and pushed into the system. Unfortunately by the time the money reaches the outer rings of ripples, the money has no effect, increased prices at all levels ‘eat up’ the advantage of having more of it. Now Factually: the Producer Price Index rose 1.8 percent in November. The index less food and energy rose 0.5 percent in November. So, taken annually, that’s 6% inflation at the core. Isn't 6% inflation a bit of a problem considering our T bills are paying eseential 0%? It means that for every dollar you put in the bank, you're losing 5.5% a year – wow – so save enough like that and you'll be bankrupt in no time.

That is why you always need more and more and more stimulus to have the same desired level of economic increase, and that is why it’s ultimately doomed. So I truly understand Mr. Paulson not telling you the truth. He can’t tell you the truth or you'd take your money out of his fund and go buy gold and silver and the poor man would have no job. There's not much work for a fund manager with no fund, so it's in HIS best interest to keep telling you that the promised land is just around the next corner. Heck, just this week the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB = the group that sets the rules on our accounting guidelines) declared that banks should be able to "decouple" from those ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Principals’ and be allowed to use more flexibility in reporting their worth. So Banks should be allowed to have 2 sets of books – one set for investors and another to tell the truth. Shouldn't the guy who's going to buy 10K shares of a banking institution really know what things are really worth? The Chairman of FASB doesn't think so – he finds it too annoying. And finally – this week we learned that the IRS was going to let Citibank off the hook for some $38 Billion in taxes, so that it would be easier for them to repay the TARP and therefore keep their stock price high. Frankly the way things are shaping up, it looks to me like they will throw the kitchen sink at this market in order to keep it at least flat through the end of the year.

The Market:
As we come to the end of 2009, it's been a VERY good year for us. There's little doubt that some of the biggest gains of all next year will be in shorting stocks. I'm already half through a list of stocks and ETF's I am going to be shorting ( and buying puts against) and I truly believe that if you've never done any shorting or buying of put options, you better learn quick, or you're going to miss a tremendous opportunity. In the meantime, we've witnessed a market that is trying to "hold up" while slowly the big funds (that did well this year) have been pulling back, locking in their gains. The market appears tired – and just wants to survive the balance of the year. The chart guys will tell you that the market has developed some very ugly patterns in the past few months, patterns that suggest a massive downward movement. I'm not a "chart slave" but I think it’s indeed coming and just a matter of when.

Will there be a "January effect" this year? If so how long will it go? If not, when does the real selling start? These are all great questions, and of course no one but Bernanke knows the answer. Our guess is that we remain fairly flat till year end, experience some form of New years run up, and then the wheels start coming off – my guess is around March, 2010.

In the meantime, Let me wish you all the Happiest of Holidays.

TIPS:
We have SPY from 109.30 Stop at 111.11
We have CY at 10.0 Stop at 10.35
We have ANR at 40.04 Stop at 41.75
We have CLR at 40.56 Stop at 40.60
We will be buying the GDXJ’s / and SGOL’s – but wait until gold settles a bit here – also we’ll be looking at the Silvers … PAAS / SLW – etc.
And we have about 70% of our money at work in the 401k’s – the rest in cash.

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

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com
http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/

This week in Barrons - 12-13-09

This Week in Barrons – 12-13-09:
Thoughts – Young Frankenstein – “It’s Alive”

While in Chicago, picking up my son from Northwestern Univ – we were fortunate enough to get tickets to see “Young Frankenstein” starring a friend of ours – Mr. Roger Bart. Great show – Roger’s amazing – but there’s a running gag in the show on how Dr. Frankenstein’s last name is being mispronounced that rings true to our economy: “Not Frankenstein – but Fronk-en-stine.” It reminded me of the Obama administration telling us that we only lost 11k jobs in November – and then finding that the TrimTabs’ employment analysis, which uses daily income tax deposits to compute employment growth, estimated that the US economy shed 255,000 jobs in November. How are we to reconcile both of these elements? And then there are the national chain store sales - which fell 5.2% in the first week of December. And then the government reported that only 474K applied for first time unemployment benefits - unfortunately this number was closer to 665,000 – but which do you think plays better to the Christmas audience?

I used to believe in only two certainties in life – death and taxes. Let’s add a third one to that – you can turn on CNBC and guaranteed you will always hear how great the economy is, and that it's a great time to buy stocks, no matter how horrid the global economy is doing. It’s just like Dr. Frankenstein saying “It’s Alive”. Does our President and our Secretary of Treasury really believe we can SPEND our way out of a recession? That’s a lot like drinking your way out of alcoholism – yes? Then we find that Tim Geithner is going to extend the TARP program right up through October of 2010 – now if we were truly “Alive” would we really need to do that? Then the FDIC released figures showing that the amount of loans outstanding in the nation's banks fell $210.4 billion in the third quarter of 2009. That is the largest quarterly decline since the FDIC began tracking loans in 1984.” If the banks and executives really believed that our economy was “Alive” they would be granting and asking for more loans, not less.

A couple hundred nations met in Copenhagen this week – to talk about regulating CO2 emissions, and increasing energy efficiency. Now what didn't get much airplay was a paper that was circulated that moved the bulk of the program from the U.N. to the World Bank! Now who would have guessed that something as sweeping as carbon footprints, monitoring of your energy use, and forcing 3rd world countries to shoulder more of the cost than the big boys, would now be in the hands of Bankers! Well – remember when we told you so ☺. Allow me to make this very clear, bringing the control of the world’s CO2 emissions under the World Bank are moving us one step closer to a centralized economy controlled by a single group of people. Factually back in the 70’s – during the oil embargos – we only imported about 14% of our energy – today we import over 60%. We have enough coal, oil and natural gas to be completely energy independent. Just this week the EPA declared "greenhouse gasses" as being dangerous to humans – so just in case Obama can't get his ‘Cap and Trade’ bill through Congress, the EPA now has the ability shut you down. It's because of things like this, I am so able to make long range predictions about our economy. And there are very few things that survive well during a long drawn out soft depression – those elements are gold, silver and food.

The Market:
Many of our long-term readers have made fortunes investing in the metals and commodities. In 2001 – we wrote that the US Dollar’s days were numbered – and that shorting the dollar, and purchasing gold were excellent long-term investments. I still think that the gold and silver trend have a long way to go, the short dollar trade also has a way to go – however the dollar is going to bounce at times. I don’t think that the final leg of gold or silver will mature for approximately 18 more months or so. But you should begin to purchase a few ten ounce bars of silver for $200 bucks each, you'll be doing "something" to help preserve your wealth.

In the short term, we all know that the market is only where it's at because it's being "supported". The only question is, how long will they support it – tomorrow, Christmas or March? This isn't about fundamentals, earnings, the economy – it’s simply about deception. Things are NOT “Alive” and even in the play you find that it doesn’t much matter HOW you pronounce “Frankenstein” – the government needs this market up to convince everyone that things are getting better. With Obama's approval rating plummeting day-by-day, with layoffs continuing, he actually “Needs” Wall Street to help his image with people.

What seems most likely is that they hold the market up into year-end and beyond. But given the market’s main job is to take as much money from people as possible – it would be like Mr. Market to roll over and dash all those hopes. So we have a war between Obama and his henchman Bernake, versus the market. The market would love to take a plunge and beat up the end of the year bulls, while Benanke is using Fed money to feed TARP money to banks to speculate and keep things up. For the short term it "appears" like the tag team of Bernanke and Obama will be able to go the distance. But just know that the plunge is lurking, warming up, building pressure.

We've been trying to lean long into the market, but this late in the game we also keep our finger near the sell button. We take profits quickly and if necessary we stop out quickly. I just don't believe you can let it all hang out, not after the magnitude of the run we've had. Our "advise" is that you too should lean long, but be very cautious. Pick your spots, and take your profits.

TIPS:
We have SPY from 109.30 Stop at 110.39
We have CY at 10.0 Stop at 10.30
We have ANR at 40.04 Stop at 39.70
We will be buying the GDXJ’s / and SGOL’s – but wait until gold settles a bit here – also we’ll be looking at the Silvers … PAAS / SLW – etc.
And we have about 70% of our money at work in the 401k’s – the rest in cash.

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

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com
http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/

This week in Barrons - 12-06-09

This Week in Barrons – 12-06-09:
Thoughts – Mr. Mark Twain

Mark Twain: “It isn't the sum you get, it's how much you can buy with it.” Gold ended the week near the 1,200 an ounce figure – and for the past 2 years I’ve heard every ‘guru’ tell us why gold is “baloney, no good, and barbaric.” And the fact is – they’ve ALL been wrong – terribly wrong. The fact is our country is bankrupt, our currency is being dismantled on purpose, and the world’s governments have had enough of the US’s fiat printing press money. Now the real question is: are all the guru’s really that blind, or were they "told" to dismiss it? Of course the answer is that they were “told” to dismiss it. Consider that 90% of all the "funds" you can buy into are long only. Most 401K's don't allow shorting or even have inverse ETF's where you can go short. So, if you're a "long only" fund manager is there ever a time when you're going to tell people to sell – heck NO – because you would have nothing to manage. So it's "ALWAYS" the best time to buy stocks – yes? Well the same thing happens with gold. When you purchase gold it just “sits there.” Wall Street can’t use it for derivative games, for credit swaps, and at the FED level it gets in the way of their bogus printed money. But here it is – at $1,200 per ounce. Now it will pull in – everything does – but gold still has a date with higher prices and that can’t be stopped. “Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it” – Mark Twain

Mark Twain: “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.” Potentially the more interesting part of gold: is SILVER. The gains in silver could easily outstrip gold (in percentage terms) over the next several years. At $18 an ounce, you can buy 100 ounces for under $2,000. Now, some will say that silver is not as respected as gold – and that’s true enough. Some will say it's not really as good as gold at being money, and that’s false. And some will say that it’s already peaked, and that is also false. Silver was money BEFORE gold and has lasted longer as coined money than gold did (we still had silver in our coins in the 60's while gold was gone long before that). As far as "money" silver has been legal tender forever, while gold was actually outlawed as being legal tender by our own Government. Silver is in short supply, and each year we need more of it – and as the dollar becomes more worthless, it will price higher just because of the inflation factor. I have no reason to believe that silver cannot make $50 dollars in the short term, and $75 in several years. Gold has a date with a smack down, and it could be brutal. It’s like Mark Twain said: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” Gold could fall $150 per ounce if the dollar jumps on the world stage, and all that would do is give me a chance to buy more. As far as silver goes, I think it's in its infancy, and that a 100% gain is not that far off. Remember, where the metals go, so go the miners. You might want to take a few bucks and buy a small basket of good ones, because they could soar more than you think. “You can tell German wine from vinegar by the label, and denial ain't just a river in Egypt.” – Mark Twain.

The Market:
Mark Twain: “Get the facts first. You can distort them later.” To some extend – the unemployment report on Friday showed that all the people that could be cut – have been cut. You still need someone to open the door each morning. Factually, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 293,000 to 5.9 million . Among the marginally attached, there were 861,000 discouraged workers in November, up from 608,000 a year earlier. The bottom line is simply that the employment number was baloney. Everyone knows it, even the most uppity of the talking heads suggested that "there could be some revisions" to this. But the push goes on, as they try and keep the markets elevated. Friday was very interesting, in the morning the averages roared higher on the bogus jobs number, but then reversed and went negative by some 40 points, only to reverse again and end the day mildly green. Some would say the amateurs rushed in and the professionals sold stock to them. Is it possible that Friday morning was some form of short term top? I believe it's possible, but you risk wading in dangerous water when you try picking tops in this market.

I wouldn't look to go long a whole lot of stuff until this market clears that 10,500 level and holds it. Then they could use that as the springboard for the last Christmas rush. But until that level is taken out, shorts will be bolder, chart players looking at "wave C" patterns will pull in, and funds that had a very profitable year might just want to lock in those gains and go play polo somewhere. Remember: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is just putting on its shoes” – Mark Twain.

TIPS:
We have HL at 4.51, with a hard stop at 6.49.
We have SPY at 108.84, with a hard stop at 110.1.
We have NEM at 52.72 with a hard stop at 52.20 – over 55 buy more.
We have POT at 117.79 with a stop at 118.45
We will be buying the GDXJ’s / and SGOL’s – but wait until gold settles a bit here – also we’ll be looking at the Silvers … PAAS / SLW – etc.
And we have about 70% of our money at work in the 401k’s – the rest in cash.

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

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com
http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/

This week in Barrons - 11-29-09

This Week in Barrons – 11-29-09:
Thoughts – Mr. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde: “Illusion is the first of all pleasures.” We give ALCORN millions each year – only to find out that they help prostitutes buy houses in order to carry on her "business" and they even offered ways to help import underage girls to work in the industry. With Healthcare - no matter what they try and tell us, the facts show it will cost more, be more intrusive, be less effective and we can't afford it. Wasn’t it just a year ago that Bankers lost billions – came crawling to congress begging for a bail out before financial Armageddon – and now they’re suddenly swimming in billions of profits again, while main Street crawls along, hoping for a rescue. Corporate profits that show Mark to Model instead of Mark to Market accounting. Revenues continue to fall while profits increase. Corporations announce stock buybacks with no plans to execute them – and insiders are still selling 18 times more than they are buying. Our own government states that unemployment as 10.2% - but based upon 1980’s calculations (before "rejiggering") it's well over 20%. Inflation that “doesn’t exist” – meanwhile oil, food, medical, insurance and education continue soaring higher – and while GDP is constantly being revised lower. And, the FHA’s recent binge to subsidize mortgage loans – will result in an astounding 20% default rate. Oscar Wilde: “I guess I’m not young enough to know everything. It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.”

Oscar Wilde: “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” In midweek – we learned that Dubai has had to ask it's creditors for an extension. Now – if you owe people money - and you ask those people to postpone your debt payments – it clearly tells you that they don't have the money, they need time to re-jigger things – and they are in financial trouble. In CNBC’s view - Dubai's 80 billion is a drop in the bucket and this event could be the perfect buying opportunity for those looking to get into the next stage of the bull market rally. But understand our own ‘sovereign’ situation is a thousand times worse – with just one government agency (the FHA) set to default on 20% of it’s $725B in bad mortgages – and that isn’t counting Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Social Security, Medicare/caid, or the FDIC. The FDIC itself said this week that “bank lending fell by the largest amount since the government began tracking data.” Also total loan balances fell by $210B – the largest decline in history. News flash à the U.S. will default (devalue) on it’s payments. There’s no other way out – you only print money for so long as a world abandons you as an investment vehicle. The Fed is monetizing our debt – it’s printing money, swapping it with other Governments through currency, and then that very money is coming back to us via treasury auctions. This is worse than a zero sum game, it’s normally called a 3-card Monty. We can't tax enough, or cut spending enough to make it work. Oscar Wilde: “America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.”

Oscar Wilde: “I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability.” Now – why is gold so despised by TV’s talking heads? Well respected fund managers who lost their shirts in 2008 – while gold was increasing by 20% continue to point out a bubble. Millions around the globe are coming to the realization that the whole world is a fraud, fiat money is worthless and "he who has the gold makes the rules". Now it's migrated from silly newsletter writers to entire Governments like India and China. Well – you can justify a stock price by whatever means you wish – but gold just sits there. An ounce equals an ounce, there are no earnings to massage, no sales to jigger, or interest to swap. They hate it because they can’t lie about it. Gold is NOT rising because it's a hedge against inflation – or because it does well in deflationary times also. Gold is rising because its the only money that's going to count when more and more Dubai's come to center stage. When Uncle Sam has to finally admit that the jig is up, we're busted and we need to devalue our currency and default on our debt. We told people in the year 2000, that gold will be $1,500 an ounce – and now we’re $300 from that point. With the 2010 Congressional elections looming – our government will want to pass more stimulus, and do more monetization. Hundreds of banks will go belly up, and there will be hundreds of thousands of foreclosures. The dollar will get crushed, and we will pave the way into the next massive bear market. Gold is still buyable – as is silver. Oscar Wilde: “We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.”

The Market:
Dubai is going belly up, and what happens in the global markets? Europe had a big down day and ended the next day green - Asia had two red days because they have a lot of exposure to the mid east region – the U.S. market opened down 250 points and in an hour and a half almost looked like it was going green. Now for those new readers – it’s my opinion that the DOW will see 4500 sometime in the next few years. I plan on shorting and buying long dated puts on the averages when it's time – but it’s not yet time. This fall we’ve seen three major forces at work. One is the desire for performance, as all the hedge fund managers got killed and liquidated in 2008 – are doing anything they can to keep the market higher in order to make their bonuses. Then we have the talking heads cheerleading the recovery daily. And finally, we have the U.S. injecting trillions of dollars in stimulus via buy backs, interventions, backstops, guarantees, and direct ‘dark pool’ purchases. All of this has caused a complete market disconnect with the real economy. On the other hand, there are many who did make their fortunes this year and are quite happy to cash out and hide in safety.

The market warfare over the next couple weeks is going to be intense, with those wanting out probably outweighing those looking to get in. I'm thinking that the analysts will hype black Friday's sales as being "very good" and that will push the market up for a couple days, but after that, I wouldn't be surprised to see it back off again. This is great news for daytraders, but not exactly the environment that we like to trade in. In 2009 the market ran from 6600 to 10450 in a lousy economic atmosphere – and 2010 is shaping up to be a real "doozie" as far as the economy and bad news is concerned, so to think we have significantly more upside is probably looking too hard.

The easiest way to play this will be to simply daytrade or sit on your hands if the DOW is below 10,450, and go long if it gets over it. Even if we seem to be rolling over hard, I wouldn't go short for anything more than very short term trades. I think our shot at going wholesale short is coming, but it's not here yet. Oscar Wilde: “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”

TIPS:
We have HL at 4.51, with a hard stop at 5.75.
We have SPY at 108.84, with a hard stop at 108.35.
We have NEM at 52.72 with a hard stop at 52.20 – over 55 buy more.
Let’s begin to watch GDXJ – the junior gold mining ETF – and SGOL (thanks to Josh for this one) – as there will be something here.

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

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com
http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/

This week in Barrons - 11-22-09

This Week in Barrons – 11-22-09:
Thoughts – Mr. Mark Twain

Mark Twain: “A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar." In these days, people on financial networks often influence our actions. For example: famed guru Jim Cramer declared several months ago that housing had bottomed. Since then foreclosures have hit more all time records, mortgage defaults have hit all time records, the median price has fallen, and there is no bottom in sight. Now did Cramer really believe housing had bottomed, or did he simply lie and push the Wall Street/banker agenda. Now really, Jim can read the numbers as easily as I do, and therefore his ‘truths’ have caused people to do something that will cost them dearly. Now, when does he come out and tell us that he ‘lied’ to us? Heck, for the first time in US History, the number of foreclosed homes exceeds the number of homes for sale. Overall, about 14% of all mortgage loans were delinquent or in the foreclosure process during the quarter. That is the highest level recorded since 1972, and is up from about 10% during the same period last year. Mark Twain: “Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish.”

Mark Twain: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.” Just this week Mr. Bernanke said: “It is inherently extraordinarily difficult to know whether an asset's price is in line with its fundamental value. It's not obvious to me in any case that there's any large misalignments currently in the U.S. financial system." Mr. Bernanke, what isn’t obvious about: 122 bank failures, joblessness – charge-offs – bankruptcies – and foreclosures at record highs, gold at 1140, oil back to 80, AIG never paying us back, Goldman is making hundreds of billions, and YOU not noticing any misalignment! When you compare the 1980’s to today the misalignments are striking: Stock market P/E multiples were 8X not 26X, Dividend yields were 6% not sub-2%, Monetary policy was aimed at reducing money growth and inflation rates not creating both, Deficits were peaking and coming down not surging to 10%+ relative to GDP, Deregulation back then was in vs today it is all about re-regulation and government ownership, Credit and household balance sheets were expanding not contracting, AND Tax rates on income, capital gains, and dividends were declining then vs rising now. Sony CEO Howard Stringer said the consumer electronics industry continues to languish and he warned the recovery "will be neither a V nor a W, but an L.” Mark Twain: “Now, suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress – ah but I repeat myself.”

Mark Twain: “If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.”
We are all witness to a generational event – where the United States will no longer be the economic engine of the world, and our standard of living will forcefully contract. I think everyone has become comfortable of China being a huge part of the global economy, but few will come to the conclusion that China will dominate global economics in the future. The interesting part to me on China is that China has never had to depend upon us for protection. And to that regard - we have absolutely NO power over them. China laughs out loud at our inept economic advisors, and when we threaten them over the value of their Yuan, they simply say "shut up, look what you're doing to your own dollar - jackass". China will continue to shift more of their attained dollars into gold, silver and resources, as we will use our dollars (printed out of thin air and then borrowed) to bail out bankers. And how this will end is that the Fed (for the next 1 or 2 years) will continue to push stimulus, and deficit spending. Once that is proven not to work - will cause rapid inflationary pressures, and we'll roll over into a deflationary depression. Just this Thursday, hundreds of protesters chanted, marched and took over a building on the UCLA campus, where University of California regents were scheduled to vote on a 32% student fee increase. 32% is that price inflation that we’re not supposed to have? Mark Twain: “It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”

Please watch and applaud Ron Paul’s push to have the Fed more closely audited. The House Financial committee approved it this week. Now it should pass after Thanksgiving, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The Markets:
The fight is on, and it's getting awfully nasty out there. Back in March, the market started on a tremendous bear market bounce, however many of the shell shocked fund managers were so afraid of losing any more money they didn't catch the wave. Now that the market has passed 10K, there's a war going on, a war between those that entered in March - made their 35% and are happy and cashing out, versus those fundies that came late - are up only 10 to 15% and are pressing the market for more. We opened last week at 10,318.61, and ended the week at 10,318.16. Now as this market has run up the pattern that we’re seeing is this: we had a run to 9370, a dip, and an open at 9119 to start the next run – a close at 9622, a dip lower and an open at 9276 to start the next run – a close at 9840, and a dip, then an open at 9434 to move higher – a close at 10,081, a dip and an open at 9844 to move us back up. Now we just recently put in a close at 10426, and a dip to 10318. What’s that mean – well if we move up from here it means that this is the shallowest dip of this whole run. So the pattern suggests that we could see a bit more downside before they turn us back higher again.

On the gold front, all hell has broken loose and it's not just supply and demand, it's starting to become much wider than that. Although the ultimate push higher will come when enough people look to it as being "money" instead of a commodity, or a storehouse of value, we are also seeing all manner of possible upside pressures coming into play. People are genuinely worried that the Governments don't have the gold they say they do. Fake bars have been found in inventory in Asia, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that there just isn't enough of the "real stuff" to satisfy demand. Now, I do expect gold to take it's lumps as people who are 'trading it" take their profits and move on, and the cartels do their best to beat it lower again. But there's no doubt in my mind the economic suicide they have us on will ultimately demand that more and more Governments move toward the metal, along with the hedge funds that are gold centric, and the push for more ETF shares. Just an interesting thought here folks, in the GLD prospectus, there's no guarantees about the fineness of the gold they supposedly hold, and no real oversight of the third party auditing of the gold.

Gold and Silver will go higher. The complication now becomes – what if you make 30% on your stocks – and the dollar continues to decrease by 30% per year?

Let me wrap this up today by wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and there's so much to be thankful for, that at least we have ONE day to catch our breath and say thanks.

TIPS:
We’re still holding our HL purchased @ 4.50
Let’s begin to watch GDXJ – the junior gold mining ETF – there will be something there.

Until next week – be safe.

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com
http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com/

This week in Barrons - 11.15.09

This Week in Barrons – 11-15-09:
Thoughts – An Alice in Wonderland Market

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying, one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, why sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!" Here in the US, the Fed, along with our White house and economic leaders want us to believe completely impossible things. And judging by the people that call in to talk shows, especially Cramer's, it's apparent that many people are perfectly willing to believe absolutely impossible things. Nothing drives this point home better than the two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers who were found not guilty of securities fraud in federal court in Brooklyn. Despite emails between the two that show explicitly that they knew the toxic sludge they were pawning off on people was destined to blow up, WHILE they assured investors of the high quality of those instruments, the jury found no evidence of fraud. And worse than that - one of the defendants, Mr. Cioffi was also found not guilty of insider trading charges on accusations that he moved $2 million he had invested in one of the failing funds to another less risky fund while telling investors he was adding to his position. The moral of that story is what The Duchess said: “The more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.”

And what's a little flip flop among friends? Well, Al Gore finally sat down and did some real math surrounding Global Warming and he sounded a lot like Alice: “Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is -- oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!” So Al decided to change his mind! In a most stunning reversal, Al Gore has now changed his mind on Co2 being as much of a concern in Global Warming. According to Al, Co2 is no longer that mean nasty gas that we all need to live (on this planet) but rather it’s now "black soot" and methane that are the main culprits for the majority of global warming. Al did admit to Newsweek magazine that he does understand that his position change might make it a bit harder to rally the people around Carbon Taxation. Well it's really quite simple, when people were fat, dumb and happy from 2003 to 2007, everyone bought Gores dog and pony show about global warming. But when housing imploded, the stock market crashed, unemployment hit 10%, layoffs, foreclosures, bank closings and lack of credit hit – then of course we set record low temps around the world, and had more snowfalls earlier than ever recorded all around the globe. People started thinking – I’m broke, the system’s broken – why do we need to spend umpteen $ trillions to combat global warming that doesn't exist? As the Eaglet said “Speak English! I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!”

As The Duchess said: “If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.” More and more people are believing that the Fed did it, they pushed the right buttons, pulled the right levers and somehow we end up all fat dumb and happy, and we're going to party like it's 1999. Honestly, as the Fed (in each country) prints trillions of dollars, each trying to get their currency below their neighbors so their exports can sell, we are seeing a rise in economic activity. You simply cannot push an entire years GDP worth of money into the system without seeing little pools of activity pop up. The masses are looking at this as proof positive that the all-clear bell has rung. That will be a monumental mistake. It is my hope that we ride this market for what it’s giving us in order to save money, pay down more debt, and hunker into a more reasonable lifestyle. In the opinion of many, we aren't going to double dip into recession we are going to roar headlong into depression. I know that sounds horrid, but you don't have to be Alice to "get it". In Alice’s own words: “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”

In terms of a ‘Trading Tip’ this week – in the words of Jessie Livermore (famous stock operator) – the big money is always sitting idle. The concept is simply that if the trade you entered hasn't shown any fundamental reason why it's no longer a good buy (or sell), then you must hold through some dips and divots and over the longer haul, as long as your initial trend and hypothesis hold up, you'll make big money. Now – this is a very difficult thing to do. For example – back in March/April, DOW at 6600 – we knew the market would run to 9600 and said so – it started with Ben Bernanke’s statement “consumer confidence will rise with a gradual rise in the equity markets". Now – how did Ben know the markets would rise? Easy, he gave bankers free money to play with – and the markets ran from 6600 to 10K while employment fell, wages fell, commercial real estate imploded, foreclosures hit all time highs, etc. So, we KNEW two things. 1) Ben was going to backstop the market and 2) all that money he was printing would be major inflationary for the commodities. We knew it, we told you about it and we traded based upon it. The take away here is: some stocks we enter as a trade – and earning $2 or $4 a share is fine. There are other trades we enter where it's based on a "theme" such as the falling dollar, and when you enter a "theme" trade, it's fine to skim a bit off the top if the trade shows a good profit, but please do your best to let the balance of your position ride, especially if nothing about the reason for you entering the trade has changed. The big money is indeed always in waiting. When your money is in a trade – you’re always waiting for it to fully develop. When your money is in cash – and you don’t see a trade – you’re simply waiting until things line up properly – and that makes for a great trader.

The Market:
This week the "Junior Gold / Silver Miners" ETF launched. The symbol is GDXJ. What I find compelling about this is that the juniors are the ones with the biggest leverage. If gold continues up, this little basket of miners should do very well. I'll give it a few days to calm down from the initial launch, but I tend to think that at some point we'll dive into that one.

President Obama’s approval rating dipped below 50% for the first time, as we continue to see retail sales declining, unemployment rising – and deficit spending rising. If you ever divide the amount of stimulus + bailout spent – by the number of jobs created – it would have been less expensive to give every homeowner $50k and tell them to spend it (but that wouldn’t have helped Goldman – humm). We’re still allowing 100% home financing with 2% down – isn’t this what got us into this mess? And courtesy of Steve Forbes – as you look across the landscape of our states – realize that state sales tax and income tax receipts (which make up the bulk of state income) are down 12% and in the 30%’s respectively. Also – according to Bloomberg – mortgage applications (to purchase homes) plunged last week to their lowest level in almost 9 years. Now – how is it possible that people are saying ‘housing has put in a bottom?’ Don’t you have to actually buy something to show that it’s put in a bottom?

Up – pause for a day – pause for a bit – and move up. That's been the pattern for a while now and it played out again Friday. As we said before "lean long, but be cautious" – because at any time the music could stop and you're going to need to hurry to grab a seat. Remember, this isn't the beginning of some bull market bounce that started in March - after 7 months of soaring higher, we are in the stratosphere, and only up here because of fraud, manipulation and Wall Street's desire to finish out the year strong. Those are NOT fundamental ‘theme’ trading strategies but rather the $2 and $4 per share kind. Banks are using the ‘bailout’ funds the FED gave them to move the market (pay their broker’s bonuses) – rather than make loans. Did you know that according to Goldman's 10Q, out of all the trading days last QUARTER they lost money on just ONE? Do you know what the odds are against just losing money on ONE DAY out of a QUARTER? But when you tell me that Goldman Sachs IS the FED – ah – it all comes together for me. Now – what will happen when the FED money runs out - we fall and fall hard. It could be tomorrow, it could be in February it could be in October 2010. Now we should see the market pause for a bit this week. But again - all we can do is lean into the prevailing trend – but I sure wouldn’t be shy about taking profits.

TIPS:
It was a good week last week – in the course of the week we jumped in and sold:
- DIA’s for a $2 gain
- GG for a $6 gain
- NEM for a $6.50 gain
- And broke-even on RIG and UYM
We’re still holding our HL purchased @ 4.50

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

R.F. Culbertson
rfc@getabby.com