Line up, dear reader. It’s time to pay the government to hold your money. The economy is barely showing any signs of life…meanwhile the government and the Fed are trying everything they can to get gross domestic product (GDP) growth going again. One area for economic stimulus that has been explored to the point of being completely exhausted is reduced interest rates. Or so I thought. Short-term interest rates can’t go any lower, can they? I stand corrected. What I’m about to tell ...

Investor sentiment is changing on a dime in this stock market and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we experienced a bit of a pullback now. The broader market’s been doing very well since the beginning of the year, especially the NASDAQ. This business regarding the sovereign debt problem in Greece is one gigantic pain for equity investors. It’s like a lingering threat to your pocketbook that just won’t go away. (See The Debt Crisis & the Great Euro ...

One of the first things I look at when investigating a potential stock is whether insiders are buying or selling and what institutional investors and money managers are doing. The concept of following the money of institutional investors is the belief these experts are likely to understand the company’s situation more than anyone outside of the executive management group. By looking at the flow of money from institutional investors and monitoring what stocks they are buying, you can get a much ...

Silver had a very volatile year in 2011. The big moves up and down might have been so jarring to knock out your silver fillings, but I hope not, as there appears to be a silver lining. After such a move, many investors in silver and mining stocks are asking the question: “What will happen now?” Although no one can predict the future, the most likely scenario is that we are setting the stage for resumption in the move up ...

There are many reasons to be skeptical about this past January’s market rally. One of the most important key indicators flashing a warning sign is the fact that the stock market’s big rise in January occurred on very light trading volume. But there’s another key indicator that is also flashing a red warning sign: insider selling. Insiders are officers, directors and the largest shareholders of corporations. It is critical to follow whether insiders are buying or selling their company’s stock; it could ...

If the S&P 500 Index consolidates around the 1,350 level, then I think it’s fair to argue that the stock market is appropriately valued given all the information we have right now. I’m thinking that this will happen as investors digest news about Greece’s sovereign debt crisis and other economic news. So, if you think the stock market is close to being fairly valued like I do, then the big question is: what does the future hold for your equity investments? ...

The bulls have been good to us so far in 2012. The stock market continues to show optimism; the key stock indices are displaying a “golden cross, with the 50-day moving average (MA) above the 200-day MA. All of this buying bias is encouraging, but the light trading volume tells us to be careful, as there continues to be numerous threats that could drive fresh selling. Bullish investor sentiment in the stock market continues to drive buying interest despite the technically ...

Copper prices, as well as all precious metals, have bounced strongly off the lows last year and there are many signs that this move up is only the beginning of the move that will push up mining stocks. Precious metals prices are based off supply and demand. Inventories of copper, which show the level of supply, are sitting at the lows not seen in over two years, as reported by the London Metal Exchange. This is due to several reasons, but ...