After last week’s across the board taper talk drubbing in equities and bonds, I suspected that we might see a bit of a rebound this week. After all, stocks were spooked pretty bad a little more than a week ago, when Fed Chairman Bernanke told the world in a press conference that the central […]

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“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” –George S. Patton The pitfalls of groupthink are easily seen in a military environment. They also are easily identified in the behavior of the stock market. As an investor, you can’t ignore the herd mentality that drives the markets. You can, however, refrain from succumbing to

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Stocks are getting slammed, and bonds really are getting slammed. Still, if you’ve been holding stocks and bonds this year, you likely have some gains — but for how much longer? What would you do if those gains evaporated in a pre-taper sell-off? What happens if the market drops another 10% from here? At my […]

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When most people think of the agricultural sector, farming is most likely to come to mind. However, by focusing on only production, people miss the end result of consumption. There are relatively few farmers producing food, but everyone eats it. An exchange-traded fund which profits from this reality is PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage (PBJ).

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Bonds have gone bust, or at least it seems to be the case by looking at the tremendous spike in bond yields during the past month. Check out the chart here of the 10-Year Treasury Note yield. As you can see, this metric has gone parabolic since “Big Ben” Bernanke suggested the monetary sugar high […]

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Welcome to the Liquidation Cycle Whenever I hear the old adage that “there’s always a bull market somewhere,” I tend to think that people feel like they’re missing the boat on stocks. They start thinking to themselves that if only they were allocated to just the right sectors, all would be well. Now, while this

A Technical Look at the State of Stocks For the past couple of weeks, the 2013 bull stampede has slowed considerably. Indeed, ever since the Fed introduced the term “tapering” into the trading milieu (a reference to the potential for reducing its current bond-buying scheme) the market has seen the return of sellers. We’ve also

  Whenever I hear the old adage that “there’s always a bull market somewhere,” I tend to think that people feel like they’re missing the boat on stocks. They start thinking to themselves that if only they were allocated to just the right sectors, all would be well. Now, while this situation may be true

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I can’t tell you how relieved I am. I take this financial planning seriously, and I have learned a lot from reading Dick’s monthly newsletter. You can tell him that it’s the best advice I’ve ever found at any price, and I also am a very conservative investor who doesn’t buy into the latest investment fads. … Many thanks

  I think everyone knew that this week’s market action would be dominated by the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting and the subsequent press conference held by Chairman Bernanke. And while the Committee’s statement was actually rather dovish, with no real hint that there would be a policy change anytime soon, the Bernanke presser was quite […]

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