This Week in Barrons – 1-27-2013
The Untouchables
Do
you remember the old TV series starring Elliott Ness as the unstoppable crime
fighter – The Untouchables? This week
there was an a lot of buzz concerning a "Front Line" video that emphasized
the fact that no high ranking banking officials have been put in jail for the banking
(housing) meltdown of 2008 - 09. Despite
hundreds of whistle blowers, and millions of lines of testimony from accountants,
the Lords of Wall Street's biggest houses got away without a scratch. Watch the video below. It’s about an hour long, but moves quickly and
is incredibly well done – showing you exactly (step-by-step) the moves that "blew
up" the financial system. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/untouchables/
Speaking
of Untouchables: CFTC (Commodity Futures
Trading Commission) commissioner Jill Sommers unexpectedly resigned this
week. On one hand this is great news
because she is one of the commissioners that allowed JPM to virtually dictate the
silver market. But also, Ms. Sommers has
consistently backed the “too big to fail” banksters, and was prominent in the
investigation of John Corzine’s – MF Global melt down. Ms. Sommers did NOT resign in order to spend more
time with her family. This is all about John
Corzine and MF Global. Some new appointees
to that investigation were going to make life very difficult for Ms. Sommers, so
she ‘bailed’ before the heat started to rise.
Continuing
with The Untouchables: just days after
the above film hit and stirred up so much controversy, President Obama appointed
Mary Jo White as the new head of the SEC.
At first glance, you notice that she was a former prosecutor, and Obama
made a point of saying just how tough this gal is and how she's going to clean
up the Street.
And what was omitted from Ms. White’s bio was that after her
role as ‘prosecutor’, her most recent role was in the private sector DEFENDING
Wall Street kingpins. That part must have
slipped people’s minds. The New York
Times noted that Ms. White “has defended some of Wall Street's biggest names,
including Kenneth D. Lewis, a former head of Bank of America." But not many know that she also was deeply
involved in an SEC scandal involving Morgan Stanley’s CEO John Mack. She also
prevented Mr. Gary Agguire, (a ‘foot soldier’ in the SEC who was trying to
investigate John Mack for fraud, corruption, and insider trading) from doing
his job and ultimately got him FIRED.
Once again, we have yet another fox guarding yet another hen house.
So
in the course of one week we've gotten a very damaging video about the callousness
of Wall Street and the impotency of our Government officials. We've had Ms. Sommers, a commissioner that's
knee deep in the John Corzine / MF Global scandal resign unexpectedly, after two
new commission appointees were noted as possibly making life tough for her and
that investigation. And we have Ms.
White, the new head of the SEC who was billed as someone who will save us from
the Wall Street crooks, but who made the bulk of her money DEFENDING those same
Wall Street crooks.
Often
I need to go to a movie to see a script like this. In my opinion the fraud now is worse than it
was back then. As we enter the ‘get all
you can, while you can’ phase of the economy – I’m wondering where Elliott Ness
is when we need him.
The
Market:
Do you remember the old Fifth Dimension song: “Up, Up and Away”? The
market has been on a tear for the month of January and it doesn't appear like
it's over. I've said that I felt that
this market would ultimately attack the all time highs set in November of 2007,
and we're well on our way there. The
part that I missed was thinking that when we got to the recent highs, we would take
a pause, back up a bit, and regroup. That didn't happen. We just powered up.
Well
now things get a bit dicey. Yes I still believe we ultimately challenge and
then set all new highs on the DOW and S&P. The printing presses are cranked up all around
the world, and that money always finds its way to the markets. But we have been up 10 days out of 11. The S&P is on a track to set a 7-year
streak. Despite the money printing and
the celebrations, we are terribly overdue for a pause.
If
we do see a profit-taking spell this next week – I don't believe it will be a
big dip. I would be surprised if it were more than just a small percentage
drop. In fact, I think the dip would be
buyable. But because we feel a ‘dip’ is
lurking, it makes it harder to dive in and just buy-buy-buy.
We
are not far from the all time highs. In
fact the DOW is less than 300 points away. The Central bank liquidity has to go somewhere,
and right now it's going into stocks. As
we approach the new high, I would suspect that we will see some ‘fits and
starts’ in order to get past it. But
ultimately I do think we pull it off and post all new highs in the not too
distant future. So I continue to "lean
long", but I’m certainly not shy about taking profits. In fact, if you're NOT in the market right now,
you might be best served waiting on a pull back before you commit too much
capital.
This
week we are going to hear over 100 S&P companies announce earnings, and the
market will experience some wild swings surrounding that news. I have been watching the energy patch lately,
and it's been doing well. Some names that
you might want to watch this week are: LNG, NBR, and NOG.
Tips:
My current short-term holds are:
- LLTC – in at 36.60
(currently 36.70) – stop at entry
- ORCL – in at 35.14
(currently 35.38) – stop at entry
- LNG – in at 21.03
(currently 21.00) – stop at 20.80
- PAY – in at 34.04
(currently 35.94) – stop at entry
- PTEN – in at 19.78
(currently 20.14) – stop at entry
- NOG – in at 17.30
(currently 17.31) – stop at entry
-
HD – in at 61.53 (currently 67.83) – stop at
65.60
-
MS in at 18.50 (currently 22.72) – stop at 21.00
-
SPY in at 141.97 (currently 150.03) – stop at
148.00
-
SIL – in at 24.51 (currently 20.76) – no stop
yet
-
GLD (ETF for Gold) – in at 158.28, (currently
160.73) – no stop ($1,656.40 per physical ounce), AND
-
SLV (ETF for Silver) – in at 28.3 (currently 30.25)
– no stop ($31.18 per physical ounce).
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: <http://rfcfinancialnews.blogspot.com>
.
Please write to <rfc@getabby.com>
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: 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
No comments:
Post a Comment