Commentary

Will the Scottish Vote on Independence Be the "Black Swan"to Financial Markets?

I wonder if the issue of an independent Scotland would actually be something of a black swan for the U.S. and world financial markets? According to Reuters, the international news agency, investors this past month, August 2014, have pulled approximately $27 billion out of UK financial assets. This is the biggest capital outflow since the Lehman crisis in 2008.
Commentary

Housing Starts, Personal Consumption Expenditure and Durable Good Orders Show the Truth

The U.S. GDP number doesnt lie. Housing starts, Personal Consumption Expenditure and Durable Goods Orders show the truth.
Commentary

Retail Apocalypse and Negative GDP Point to Unsustainable U.S. Stock Market

Evidence continues to pile up that the next recession has already begun, and at the very least, Americans in the lower and middle income brackets are feeling it the most. The United States is running out of steam and is bogged down by trillions of dollars in debt, increased regulation, and fewer jobs. Its like we are all trying to swim upstream in the middle of a biblical flood! The United States isnt coming to an end but it is changing dramatically in front of our eyes.
Commentary

Financial Market Warning Signs

For those that are actually loving the rise in this U.S. financial market this past week, Warren Buffett has so me pretty cheeky advice to share in his annual letter to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
Commentary

Is an Avalanche Waiting to Hit the U.S. Stock Market? (The Slippery Slope of Stupidity)

The U.S. economy as we know it is headed for a huge correction. The only questions remaining are when will it start and what will be the trigger that starts the cascade? Financial and economic implosion is always a slow and stealthy process that grows over time behind the scenes.
Commentary

Will China Overtake the U.S. as World Leader and Reserve Currency?

Will China Overtake the US as World Leader and Reserve Currency? This has not happened yet, but it may not be far down the road if the US does not get its fiscal house in order. The United States has been the biggest national economy since 1871, but more than half of Americans have slapped an expiration date on its global reign.
Commentary

The Fed's Forced Feeding Will End Badly

This financial market reminds me of when we were kids sitting at the dinner table and the one thing almost all of us heard back in the 1970s was "that plate better be clean by the time I get back or else." This left us with images of torture that would follow the "or else."
Commentary

Short-Term Trends Can Have Long-Term Consequences

There are short-term trends that can have implications for the long-term investors investment portfolios. The first trend and outcome for 2014 is Americans are earning less and have less money to spend.
Commentary

Predictions for the 2014 U.S. Financial Markets

Ive had so many phenomenal and diverse guests on my syndicated radio show, Financial Myth Busting, this year: Steve Forbes, Mort Zuckerman, David Stockman, Michael Belkin, David Walker, Dr. Ben Carson, Marc Faber, and even Ted Nugent. This is a very eclectic group, but they all have certain opinions in common. They all share the same concerns that the U.S. economic growth remains anemic and the continued economic instability and political deadlock along with business communitys mistrust of the U.S. government will continue to destroy Americas bottom line in the future.
Commentary

Beware the Haunting of Stock Market Corrections Past!

I do think the ghosts of stock market corrections past are haunting us. Those who forget the lessons that history teaches us are predestined to repeat them. As an apprentice of U.S. stock market history, Ive seen this maxim made true, time and time again. I believe I have seen the ghosts of the 1929, 1987, 2000 and 2008 U.S. Stock market crashes because they have materialized in 2013 and are appearing in front of everyone.
Commentary

Setting Sail on the QE Express

Ive been managing money for over 25 years and rarely have I seen the level of craziness and insanity in both our politics and financial markets in the U.S. Im frightened of this deepening manmade disaster thats unfolding in front of us right now in both the financial markets and the economy. Too much faith is being placed in untested theories and that quantitative easing is going to cure all of our ills.
Commentary

U.S. Financial Market Red Flags

The latest American Association of Individual Investors survey showed the lowest amount of pessimism about the U.S. financial markets in the past 21 months, while optimism in the survey is the highest its been in the past 10 months. This is a red flag because historically its typically a sign that investors are becoming too complacent. Call me a contrarian if you like, but when "Joe (or Jane) Donut" is excited about the economy, watch out for falling equities.
Commentary

Lack of Earnings of U.S. companies Scarier Than Washington Grid-lock

I think U.S. investors believe whatever happens in Congress, there will always be a last minute deal, which is the main reason for the recent major stock market surge on nothing more than hope. The markets, of late, have not been trading on fundamentals; they have been trading on news. This is a dangerous phenomenon, when news is bad; there is no backstop to the market. It causes volatility to surge and institutional confidence to falter.
Commentary

Party like it's 1999? Not with your investments

Party over, oops out of time? I wasnt dreamin when I wrote this, but these financial markets in the U.S. are beginning to feel like 1999. Back in the 1980s musician Prince, in all his purple majesty, urged people to party like it was 1999. Strangely when that year came, people did just that, but a year later they got clobbered by a horrific hangover by way of their investment portfolios. Investors need to prepare yet again for those times because these parties werent meant to last.
Commentary

The Curse of the Magazine Cover Indicator

Its fitting that last week former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson came out to speak about debt issues during a month when Time published a bull on the cover of its magazine. The bull is a symbol of a strong and positive stock market, but it seems whenever a U.S. company makes the cover of a publication, the company is in trouble and that its run is at an end.