Blog

July 9, 2007 – Counterparty risk is often ignored and misunderstood. But it can only be ignored at one’s peril, particularly now that the subprime mortgage blow-up is looking more and more like a mushroom-shaped cloud. The knock-on effect from the initial subprime defaults will I expect lead to more defaults, notwithstanding the Pollyanna’s atRead more

June 25, 2007 – The terse Reuters announcement this past Friday contained only 101 words. Brookstreet Securities Corp., an Irvine, California broker-dealer, closed its doors on Friday after heavy losses in the collateralized mortgage obligation market, terminating at least 650 independent brokers, the firm’s president said. Brookstreet President Stanley Brooks said the firm faced heavyRead more

June 4, 2007 – Last week the S&P 500 Index made a new all-time record high, finally joining the Dow Jones Industrial Average in that exulted territory. Much has been made of this news, and all types of reasons have been offered for the remarkable gains being scored by these major stock indices. However, whenRead more

May 28, 2007 – I am writing this newsletter one week earlier than planned because several markets are at critical points. In short, there is simply just too much happening at the moment to leave this letter until next weekend. In the last letter I wrote about the Battle for $700. The gist of theRead more

May 14, 2007 – We have a battle on our hands. It’;s the Battle for $700, and it is just the latest clash in a long war being fought between gold and its perennial antagonist – the gold cartel. I feel like an old soldier, having already endured so many of these battles. They happenRead more

May 7, 2007 – Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was an indicator that accurately predicted when the price of gold was about to rise? Well, here’s an indicator that so far is batting 100%. The important point is that this infallible indicator recently flashed another ‘buy’ signal. The Economist rarely writes about gold, butRead more

April 30, 2007 – The US government claims that the Treasury Department owns and has in its possession 261.5 million ounces of gold, which is colloquially referred to as the US Gold Reserve. At the so-called “official” but patently bogus price of $42.22 per ounce, the book value of this gold is reported by theRead more

April 23, 2007 – It is widely recognized and understood that bull markets have three stages. What is less well understood is how those three stages apply to any market. Each stage is distinct. Stage 1 begins when the previous bear market ends. The last of the weak hands are flushed out, and the lowRead more

April 9, 2007 – Over the past few years I have carefully analyzed the gold exchange-traded fund (NYSE ticker symbol: GLD) and written extensively about it. My principal conclusion is that GLD is not a viable alternative to owning physical gold. My articles explaining this conclusion can be read at the following link: www.financialsense.com IRead more

March 26, 2007 – For several years there has been an ongoing effort in New Hampshire to re-establish sound money within the state. See for example the legislation proposed a few years ago enabling citizens to require the state to use gold or silver in transactions with them: www.goldmoneybill.org. This legislation has been bogged downRead more