[[wysiwyg_imageupload:2273:]]By Clif Droke
Silver has once again stolen the investment market spotlight. Margin requirements for silver trading rose 84 percent last week, which prompted a major sell-off. Silver posted its worst four-day drop since 1980 and was down more than 25% after the CME Group raised the costs for investors to trade the metal four consecutive times within a week.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:2111:]]By David Galland
A Casey Report interview with Dr. Andrew Bogan
Dr.Andrew Bogan is a managing member of Bogan Associates, LLC in Boston, Massachusetts. He has spoken at many international investor conferences - his specialty being global equity investing - and has been interviewed on live television for CNBC's Strategy Session.
In an attempt to understand the relatively new but wildly popular Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Dr. Bogan did extensive research into the structures used by ETF operators, with a special focus on the potential risks that might arise should they be faced with large and sudden liquidations. Given that there are about 2,000 ETFs in existence, with assets totaling over $1 trillion, we thought it appropriate to find out what Dr. Bogan has learned in his research.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:2047:]]By Jeb Handwerger
Physical demand for gold and silver is strong as investors seek protection of wealth against uncertainty in the Middle East. It has already been reported that Col. Qaddafi has been a wise gold investor, preparing for this crisis by hoarding a large amount of the precious metal to fund his military and to hedge against economic sanctions. Just like he's been hoarding precious metals, many throughout the Middle East are trying to sell their assets and seek out the shelter of safe havens. It is being reported by the International Monetary Fund that Qaddafi has amassed one of the largest gold positions in the world. Libya's gold reserves are estimated to be worth over $6 billion, and the gold can be used to buy paid fighters. At a time when international sanctions have been increased, gold has been Qaddafi's store of wealth; he appears to have been ready for this day because Libya's holdings are much larger when compared to countries with similar demographics.
By Jordan Roy-Byrne, CMT
The spot price of Uranium as reported by UXC.com, just hit $68/lb. It is up nearly 70% since June, but remains only half the level of its peak back in 2008. In the early phase of the commodity bull market, Uranium ran from $7/lb to $140/lb. Interest in uranium and the uranium stocks is picking up after a nearly 3-year long bear market. Uranium is an intriguing bet for 2011 and beyond because of the supply/demand situation and because of the value at the current price.
By Tim Wood
Senior gold stocks are trading at their most discounted values since the depths of the 2008 credit crisis and its wake into Spring 2009. The recent selloff commenced at the start of the year and has driven equities values down to levels that are more suggestive of gold prices at around $1,250 per ounce, or some $100/oz lower than current prices. That raises the question whether gold stocks are a screaming buy or gold bullion is a screaming sell.
A price war is slashing expenses to the bone on index-tracking exchange-traded funds and mutual funds. And that suits Harold Evensky fine.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:1097:]]By Chris Vermeulen
I hope everyone had a great holiday and new years!
It's time to reset our profit counter to zero and start looking for new profitable trades along with managing our current open positions on our small cap stocks which we continue to hold with gains of 66%, 35% and 10%.
Last year was a tough one as the stock market chopped around in a very large range giving off buy and sell signals every week and some times every other day...
Tech Talk for Dec 27. Seasonal indicators show continued strength until the end of the year, but the VIX continues to compress as well as the Balist Dry Index.
