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 Friday, October 24, 2008

Dire Predictions Fulfilled


Remember this post I made on August 8, 2008?

In that post I called for $640 gold, $1100 platinum, $11 silver, $200 palladium, and Canadian dollar at 84 cents. I also predicted that the US would pull out of Iraq, and predicted that oil would slide to $55 a barrel. My prediction was that all of these things would happen before the US elections.

Let's look at just how remarkably right my predictions were.

When I made that post, prices were as follows:
Crude oil: $120/barrel
Gold: $870/oz
Silver: $16/oz
Platinum: $1550/oz
Palladium: $350/oz
Canadian dollar: 94 cents US

Today's lows?
Crude oil: $62/barrel (Prediction: $55)
Gold: $680/oz (Prediction: $640)
Silver: $8.60/oz (Prediction: $11)
Platinum: $760/oz (Prediction: $1100)
Palladium: $165/oz (Prediction: $200)
Canadian dollar: 79 cents US

Clearly some of the prices overshot to the downside but that's to be expected in any bear market.

So what about my prediction that the US would pull out of Iraq in October? Well, let's see...

US to pull out of Iraq within a timeframe of 18 months (Obama) to 48 months (McCain).

US forces to withdraw from Iraqi territory no later than Dec. 31, 2011.

I strongly encourage you to read both those articles so you can see for yourself that this Iraq timeline is a very important (and recent) development, and it applies to both Obama and McCain.

Stay tuned for the bitter-sweet celebration of the fulfillment of my final prediction: McCain becomes President.

Friday, October 24, 2008 8:24:20 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Monday, October 20, 2008

CFR: US Dollar a Historical Anomaly


It's official: The Council on Foreign Relations now calls the US dollar a "historical anomaly," a "piece of paper of no intrinsic merit."

Check it out - straight from the horse's mouth.

Monday, October 20, 2008 8:38:28 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Yom Kippur War II


This year, Yom Kippur falls on October 8th, 2008.

Web Bots are saying there will be an important 9/11-like event on October 7th:

This correlates with my earlier prediction that we are "days away" from a world-changing event.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:03:05 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Friday, September 19, 2008

Mad As Hell


Guess what, American taxpayers just got SCREWED OVER by their OWN government! The government just used their OWN money to erase the debts of PRIVATE COMPANIES.

If you're an American, now would be a good time to yell, "I'm as MAD as HELL, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Here's a video from Don Harrold that should get you fired up:




This is the greatest example of government tyranny since the days of Nazi Germany. Everyone should be up in arms. But the ignorant debt-slave sheeple are just happy that they still have their low-paying jobs at Walmart or McDonald's and their infinite lines of credit, while owning NOTHING.
 
Way to go America, land of the FREE, home of the BRAVE.

Friday, September 19, 2008 7:21:24 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Indeflation: The Dollar Liquidity Crisis


What is "indeflation"?

It's inflation and deflation, at the same time. And it's what's happening right now in the financial markets.

Let me explain to you how it works. As you may already know, inflation is a loss of purchasing power. Deflation is the opposite of that. So how can both be happening at the same time? Isn't that a paradox?

Right now, vast amounts of money are being wiped out as the Greenspan derivatives bubble finally implodes. There is no doubt that money is disappearing from the system at an alarming rate. As a result, prices are collapsing in just about every asset class, including commodities, and the dollar index has rallied from 70 to 80 in just a few weeks.

Yet, there is inflation going on as we speak. The dollar is losing its purchasing power. Just look at gasoline prices at the pump. Even though gasoline futures are now under $2.50/gallon (!), gas prices at the pump are unchanged! Check out the price of bullion on eBay. Just try to obtain any gold or silver at current spot prices. You will be faced with severe shortages. Bullion dealers are even offering to buy back bullion at a premium to the spot price!

Even though most asset prices are about the same as (or lower than) what they were in 2007, and even though the money supply has not grown at all, the dollar has lost purchasing power because you cannot obtain the same quantities of REAL STUFF that you once were able to obtain. The limitation is imposed by supply shortages, rather than price. The US dollar fantasy has finally slammed against the hard concrete wall of reality.

The cold reality is that the liquidity of the dollar has evaporated. The dollar is no longer liquid. Nobody wants dollars, even though the supply of dollars is dwindling. Basically, demand for dollars has dried up faster than supply. Demand for REAL things, on the other hand, is stronger than ever.

Remember how everyone was saying in 2007 that the global financial system was suffering a liquidity crisis? Well, now the US dollar is suffering a liquidity crisis. Soon, every currency in the world (since they are all backed by the dollar) will also become illiquid.

Check out the LIBOR rates this week. They were as high as 6%. The money markets are coming apart at the seams. All of this is indicative of a liquidity crisis in fiat currencies themselves. All signs are pointing toward indeflation. The REAL purchasing power of the dollar (and other fiat currencies) is going down at the same time as prices are falling and the US dollar index is rising.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 11:47:13 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Friday, August 08, 2008

Dire Predictions


A most dire thought ran through my mind... What if the US dollar has bottomed? What will happen between now and the US presidential elections?

Long-term trends in commodity prices would surely be broken if the US dollar staged any sort of rally. Already, the long-term bullish trends in palladium and oil have been broken (trends going back at least two years). Where will commodity prices be four months from now?

I have some rather shocking predictions which I hope will NOT come true, because if they do, the US will be going right back to its terminal oil addiction, and the world will not make the progress towards renewable energy that it needs to make.

I predict that by December, 2009, prices will be as follows (again, I HOPE this doesn't happen):

$55 a barrel oil

This has been predicted a while ago by Lindsey Williams, who has stated that the oil cartel will open up two gigantic oil fields: one in Indonesia and one in northern Russia. They will both be foreign, so America will continue to import its oil, when there is still plentiful oil under US soil sitting untapped.

$640 an ounce gold

We're going right back to mid-2007 levels. If you're invested in commodities, hold on to your gold because it will be the one commodity that will decline least. Gold is far less volatile than the other commodities, so you won't lose much if this scenario unfolds.

Canadian dollar at 84 cents US

This one seems almost incredible, but it will happen. The Canadian dollar is heading down, fast. Why? As commodity prices collapse, so will the Canadian dollar. Already it has broken down below a key level of support and it's now sitting at just 94 cents US! The resulting inflation, combined with extremely low oil prices, will push the Canadian economy over the edge into a recession. The only positive is that manufacturing would slowly return to Ontario thanks to the weaker dollar. Also, the lower Canadian dollar will cause Canadian commodity prices to decline less than in the US.

Collapsing commodities --
$11 an ounce silver
$1100 an ounce platinum
$200 an ounce palladium

Palladium will retreat to levels not seen since 2003. I have a feeling Russia has way more palladium than it's telling the world. Remember that palladium has only been mined for 200 years. Therefore, the total world reserves are still very uncertain. Also, palladium has virtually zero industrial applications. Plus, with cheaper platinum, the use of palladium as a cheap alternative to platinum in catalytic converters would decline substantially. Silver is also vulnerable because it's not gold. It's not held by central banks. The decline in all of these metals will be greater than the decline in gold. The prices I'm predicting are the absolute worst-case scenario bottom prices. So you might actually want to hold on to silver and platinum because the decline will be fairly small from where we are now.

And the October surprise will be...

The October surprise that will seal McCain's victory in November is this... are you ready for this?

Victory in Iraq

Yep! There. I said it. In October of 2008, the Iraq war will come to an end. Troops will be redeployed to Afghanistan temporarily while war plans are drawn up for a war with Iran, right after McCain's landslide victory.

You may wonder what sort of psychedelic drug I took to give me this level of clairvoyance. I'll tell you in November, right after all of my predictions are fulfilled :)

Friday, August 08, 2008 11:31:03 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Saturday, July 19, 2008

The US is Insolvent (Part 2)


I found two articles that confirm my view that the US is currently insolvent...

The United States is Insolvent (by Dr. Chris Martenson)

Is the United States Bankrupt? (Google cached version)

Saturday, July 19, 2008 3:43:37 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Current Oil Price Reveals Speculation


Sign of a Speculative Bubble?

It is very possible that the recent rise in oil prices (after Hurricane Katrina) be due entirely to speculation. In fact, it is very possible that oil is in a gigantic bubble right now, just about to burst.

To understand why, let's go back to 1998 and check out what prices were like back then...

Oil: $16/bbl
Gasoline: $1.10/gallon

Now return to the present (2008) and check out what the prices are...

Oil: $135/bbl
Gasoline: $4.11/gallon

Something looks odd...

Did you catch it?

Oil went up 744%. Gasoline went up only 274%.

Since gasoline is produced directly from oil, this doesn't add up. Either gasoline would be $9/gallon today or oil would be $60/bbl. The oil-gas ratio was about 15 in 1998. Today, it's 33.

In other words, gasoline today is ridiculously cheap given the rise in the oil price. None of the oil price has filtered through to the cost of gasoline. The oil price is inflated 120% over "normal" levels. Oil would need to return to a price of $61/bbl to be "in line" with the price of gas at the pump.

Historical Perspective

Let's see how this ratio has varied over the ages (all-time highs are in bold type)...

1973 - 18
1978 - 23
1979 - 41
1980 - 28
1983 - 25
1988 - 19
1990 - 24
1993 - 17
1998 - 15
2000 - 19
2003 - 18
2004 - 27
2005 - 30
2006 - 26
2007 - 30
2008 - 33

The only time when the ratio was higher than it is today was in 1979! And we all know what happened that year. That year the 1970s oil bubble peaked. Huge inventories were suddenly "discovered" in 1980 and released onto the market.

Conclusion

The numbers confirm my hypothesis that this is a speculative bubble, which has been in force since 2005 and really picked up steam in late 2007. This oil-gas ratio of 33 cannot be sustained for much longer. Either gasoline will have to go up in price substantially (i.e. up to $8 or $9 a gallon!) or oil is set for a spectacular crash (from $130 down to $65 a barrel!). If I were an investor right now, I'd go long gasoline. It is ridiculously cheap right now.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:21:58 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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The US is Insolvent


The emperor has no clothes! The emperor has no clothes!

The collapse of Freddie & Fannie is the admission of the insolvency of two companies together holding about $5 trillion...
$5 TRILLION
in mortgages.

$5 trillion amounts to about 35% of US GDP, and about 50% of the US public debt!

We're talking about 35% of the entire US possibly being insolvent!

Here's a revealing video of what could happen now...


Wednesday, July 16, 2008 4:13:31 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The Perfect Storm


We are about to enter the last inning of the biggest financial unwinding in the US since 1979. There must be a reason why the gold price surged this week to almost $990 per ounce, during a time of extreme seasonal weakness.

Here's some data that will shock you:
  • IndyMac which failed last week was 3 times bigger than all the bank failures since 2000 combined!
    IndyMac had $32 billion in total assets.
  • The bond market is finally turning south. We are talking US treasuries here. These have been in a bubble since late 2007.
  • A collapse of US treasuries would force the Fed to raise interest rates. Watch out! The Fed may raise interest rates early, and fast! Rising interest rates are the final step in this paper-bearish gold-bullish cycle.
  • Oil fell the most in 17 years today.
I urge everyone to read this article: "What if gold gave a party and everyone came?"

What is transpiring here is nothing short of a perfect storm for gold. There are no other assets to be long right now. Oil is weakening. Housing has lost favor. The dollar is certainly not bullish. All US stock indices are falling precipitously. And now the last safe haven, treasury bonds, is overbought and crashing.

Next steps:
  • Fed will raise interest rates surprisingly high, surprisingly fast. They will be forced to.
  • More US banks will fail. Main Street banks where your average American holds money.
  • The words "depression" and "hyperinflation" will come to be used to describe the US financial situation.
Sit back and relax because the show has just begun!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:20:22 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Friday, July 11, 2008

Weekly Market Calls - July 11, 2008


In this segment, I give you my view of where certain stocks/indexes/commodities will go during the next week, based on my own research into technical trends. I also look at my previous week's calls to see what I got right and what I got wrong.

Let's begin...

But first, last week's score: 4.5 / 6 (okay)

1. US Dollar Index

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop 72)... HALF RIGHT (got the stop right)

Right now, the US dollar is at 71.89. This is lower than last week but it's not an all-time low. For next week, a short rally is to be expected followed by more downside. I'd jump in short on the next rally.

My call: SHORT
Stop: 72.70

2. Dow Jones Industrial Average

Last Week's Prediction: SHORT (Stop 11,450)... RIGHT

The Dow took its embedded stochastic and fell some more. It's sitting at 11,100 now. If you went short on 11,290 you'd be about 1.7% up. Continue to be short but take 50% off the table. Move your stop in to 11,240. Enjoy.

My call: SHORT
Stop: 11,240

3. Gold

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop $925)... HALF RIGHT

OK I'll admit it - I was wrong about my stop. Gold fell to $918 this week then rallied all the way to $970! If you held in there, good for you. Otherwise, you just missed a gigantic move to the upside. I'd continue long but narrow my stop over to $945. Don't put too much money on the table now because resistance at 1000 is a sure thing.

My call: LONG
Stop: $945

4. Silver

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop $17.70)... RIGHT

Unlike gold, I got silver spot on! (Pun intended). The pullback happened exactly as I described and if you hung in there with your long position you'd be up about 3.8%!! Booya! What's next? A slight pullback to $18.20 then the moon! $21 is the next stop to the moon so put your stop at $18.20 and continue long and enjoy the ride.

My call: LONG
Stop: $18.20

5. Crude Oil

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop $140)... HALF RIGHT

Oil plunged to $137 this week then recovered to above $142. Not bad but not good either. If you were stopped out great. Now's the time to load up again. Keep trying that $140 stop with your long position. Something's bound to happen.

My call: LONG
Stop: $140

6. Pick of the Week - Platinum

I think platinum is going to make a move next week. Usually platinum leads gold and silver in rallying but this time it was the other way around. In fact, platinum has been sitting idle for months now. Resistance at $2100 is futile. Go long, put a stop at $1950 and enjoy.

My call: LONG
Stop: $1950

Last Week's Pick:

Remember last week I picked NVIDIA. I told you to go long after the stock had crashed 30%! I told you to put your stop at $10 (to allow for a bit more downside). Now, generally stocks like NVIDIA are for the long-haul so what happens in a week is pretty meaningless. However, this week NVIDIA didn't fall much. It fell to $11.67 a share. I was DEAD ON ACCURATE!

Friday, July 11, 2008 7:07:43 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Friday, July 04, 2008

Weekly Market Calls - July 4, 2008


In this segment, I give you my view of where certain stocks/indexes/commodities will go during the next week, based on my own research into technical trends. I also look at my previous week's calls to see what I got right and what I got wrong.

Let's begin...

But first, last week's score: 5 / 6 (excellent)

1. US Dollar Index

Last Week's Prediction: STAY AWAY... RIGHT

Right now, the US dollar is at 72.72. This is less than 0.5% higher than last week. There was no major change, so my call to stay away was right. Now, for next week, you should expect a rally in the dollar, to over 73 and maybe even over 74. Place your stop on 72.00 and enjoy.

My call: LONG
Stop: 72.00

2. Dow Jones Industrial Average

Last Week's Prediction: SHORT (Stop 11,700)... RIGHT

The Dow took its embedded stochastic and fell, but not by much. It's sitting at 11,290 now. If you went short on 11,350 you'd be about 0.54% up. Continue to be short. Move your stop in to 11,450. Enjoy.

My call: SHORT
Stop: 11,450

3. Gold

Last Week's Prediction: SHORT (Stop $930)... RIGHT

Last week I called gold SHORT. Well, gold called my bluff by crashing (up) through $930. If you placed your stop on $930 you would not have lost anything. The spike up to $950 was nothing, so you couldn't have gone long either. But now, gold's stochastics are starting to embed (on the BUY side). Gold is at $934 now. Go long with $925 as your stop.

My call: LONG
Stop: $925

4. Silver

Last Week's Prediction: SIT TIGHT... WRONG

If you followed my prediction and stayed out of the silver market, you would've not lost any money, but you would've stayed out of a very nice rally. My predicted pullback to $16.80 never materialized.

Silver now is sitting at $18.15. I could not be more bullish on silver right now. We may see a pullback to $17.70 but there's the very high chance that silver will challenge $19 next week and maybe even make it up to $20.

My call: LONG
Stop: $17.70

5. Crude Oil

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop $140)... RIGHT

Oil struggled this week. Although it hit $146 at one point, it's back down to $144. If you went long last week you would've made about 2% on your investment. What should you do now? I'm waiting for a pullback to $140, but then we should see crude challenge the $150 area. However, if we fail to hold $140 next week, all my money will be on the short side at that point. In any case, reduce your long position.

My call: LONG (cautiously)
Stop: $140

6. Pick of the Week - NVIDIA

Everyone knows NVIDIA. They make excellent graphics cards. So why did they fall 31% today? Earnings forecasts weren't very good. However 31%? It seems like an over-reaction, and a great time to buy this amazing company at a discount.

My call: LONG
Stop: $10

Last Week's Pick:

Remember last week I picked the S&P/TSX Composite. I told you to go short. Well, I was RIGHT! It never touched 14,500 but it came close... my stop was DEAD ON accurate! Now it's down to 14,000 and you'd be foolish not to take a profit at this point. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Friday, July 04, 2008 4:52:32 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Friday, June 27, 2008

Weekly Market Calls - June 27, 2008


Last week, I did my first installment of my "Weekly Market Calls."
In this segment, I give you my view of where certain stocks/indexes/commodities will go during the next week, based on my own research into technical trends. I also look at my previous week's calls to see what I got right and what I got wrong.

Let's begin...

But first, last week's score: 2.5 / 6 (pathetic)

1. US Dollar Index

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop 72.90)... HALF RIGHT

If you went long on 73.04 with stop on 72.90, you would have lost 0.19% (1.9% leveraged 10:1). Not a major loss, but I admit I got this one totally wrong. However, I did get the stop right.

Right now, the US dollar is at 72.37. This is not a bad time to cover your shorts (if you went short). Why? Because we are hitting the bottom of the Bollinger bands, so my prediction is the US dollar will rebound next week but it may fall further by the end of the week. There is too much uncertainty to go long though.

My call: STAY AWAY!

2. Dow Jones Industrial Average

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop 11,800)... HALF RIGHT

Boy did I ever get this one epically wrong! However, with that tight stop in place you would've lost only 0.4%! I got the stop right, but I got the direction wrong.

The Dow took a beating late this week, or better said, it crashed like it was 1929. For the moment stochastics are getting embedded, which means SELL the next rally. This is a classic case of a downward spiral, and we may have a lot more downside room remaining. My feeling is we could see Dow 8,800 before we level off.

My call: SHORT
Stop: 11,700

3. Gold

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop $890)... HALF RIGHT

Gold fell through $890 down to $880, so if you followed my stop you would've been stopped out. However, if you only followed my call, you would've been right (and up by 2.8%).

Gold is now extremely overbought. I'm looking for a (potentially sharp) pullback next week to perhaps as low as $876. I'd be willing to venture a short here with my stop on $930. If you went long, SELL SELL SELL...NOW (unless you can stand losing 5% next week).

My call: SHORT
Stop: $930

4. Silver

Last Week's Prediction: LONG (Stop $17.00)... HALF RIGHT

Well, this week silver fell well through my stop of $17.00, so on that part I was wrong. However, I was right about going long, because silver is up 1.8% on the week.

Next week, I see a pull-back to the $16.80 area, before the next rally. I certainly wouldn't go long at this point, nor would I go short. Just sit tight, and if you went long last week, reduce some of your position now.

My call: SIT TIGHT

5. Crude Oil

Last Week's Prediction: SHORT (Stop $140)... HALF RIGHT

Well, last week I told you crude was overbought and would probably break down. I was wrong on that part. Crude just burst through $140 today! However, my stop was DEAD ON ACCURATE.

Now that we've busted through the "psychological" $140 number, it's basically smooth sailing ahead (and up). This one is easy to call: Go long, set your stop at $140, and enjoy the ride!

My call: LONG
Stop: $140

6. Pick of the Week - S&P/TSX Composite

The Canadian version of the Dow has been doing quite well this year. However, has the tide turned? The chart looks ominously bearish. There's a triple top, followed by a break-down. However, for the medium term, we're looking at a potential rally back to the 50-day moving average at 14,500. So if you're going to go short, set your stop there. In any case, this is NOT a bull market.

My call: SHORT
Stop: 14,500

Last Week's Pick:

Remember last week I picked palladium. Well, as it turns out, palladium is down now but only by a bit. My call was wrong and my stop was wrong, so I got that one TOTALLY WRONG. Oh well...

Friday, June 27, 2008 3:58:13 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Thursday, June 26, 2008

Economic Meltdown Day


Today, the Dow just crashed below the all-important 11,800 support level... and all hell broke loose. Here's a collection of MAINSTREAM articles that just came out showing the gravity of the situation:

CNN Money - "Buffett vs Bernanke: The Inflation Showdown"

New York Times - "Fuel Prices Shift Math for Life in Far Suburbs" (i.e. the end of suburbia!)

USA Today - "Hitting Home: New faces join ranks of the homeless"

The last one reminds me of a prophetic quote by Thomas Jefferson:

"If the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

But on the plus side, gold is up today...by nearly 3%!

Thursday, June 26, 2008 3:26:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Monday, June 23, 2008

Remembering George Carlin


George Carlin passed away today. He had many fans, including me. The man was a genius on multiple levels.

Here's a video of George Carlin telling nothing but the truth:



Monday, June 23, 2008 8:31:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
News
 Friday, June 20, 2008

Phoenix finds water on Mars!


This is an historical event:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

The pictures speak for themselves!

Friday, June 20, 2008 7:02:08 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
News | Science

Weekly Market Calls


I'm starting a new segment on this blog known as the "Weekly Market Calls."
I'll be giving you my view of where certain stocks/indexes/commodities will go during the next week, based on my own research into technical trends. Every week (starting next week) I'll also be looking at my previous week's calls to see what I got right and what I got wrong.

Let's begin...

1. US Dollar Index

The US dollar is at a temporary low of 73.04 right now, just touching the 50-day moving average. I see the dollar moving higher next week, possibly taking out the 74 level decisively. This is on a purely technical basis. If you are short, definitely cover some of your position now.

My call: LONG
Stop: 72.90

2. Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow is at a very dangerous low right now of about 11,850. This may look bearish but my gut says this is a bear trap. The stochastics are dangerously oversold. I would NOT want to be a bear right now. I'm looking for the Dow to rally next week, but I'd be cautious about going long or short (short especially).

My call: LONG (with caution)
Stop: 11,800

3. Gold

Gold has rallied nicely and seems to be staying above $900. However, it is in a medium-term bear trend. In the stochastics, it is getting slightly overbought. I'm looking for a minor pull-back in gold next week but it's definitely nothing to trade on. There's a nice base of support at $890 so if you're bullish you might go long at this price.

My call: LONG
Stop: $890

4. Silver

Silver is making a turn-around toward bullish after being very oversold for several weeks and maintaining a solid bottom at about $16.50. I would be a bull right now simply because silver is sitting right on its key support (of several moving averages). Support is at $17.10. With respect to silver, I'm bullish as can be.

My call: LONG
Stop: $17.00

5. Crude Oil

Crude is overbought right now and it's making lower lows and lower highs. There is major psychological resistance at $140. This is not good and is an indicator of weakness. The stochastics have turned down and it could be that we'll finally see a major sell-off in crude next week. I would take my chances and go short crude next week. The downside target is a juicy $122. I'd put my stop right at the $140 resistance level and see how it goes.

My call: SHORT
Stop: $140

6. Pick of the Week - Palladium

Ah! My favourite precious metal! Palladium in case you haven't noticed is making higher highs. It has turned around after a major sell-off. It is however very high above all averages right now. Could it run higher? Sure. Could it pull back? Of course! I would definitely not be short right now (there's not much downside). So what else can I be but long?

My call: LONG
Stop: $420

A note about the Pick of the Week:

Every week I will choose one additional item to report about (different from the previous week). It'll be my way of keeping things interesting.

Friday, June 20, 2008 4:39:24 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Final Frontier: Labour Cost Inflation


The era of cheap labour is ending. Here's how I came to that realization:

The average wage of Chinese workers in 2007 was around 25,000 yuan per year, according to this article. This was an increase of 19% over the previous year! Now, keep in mind the yuan is artificially pegged to the US dollar. China could at anytime choose to revalue its currency versus the US dollar. In fact, the RMB is rising right now, so the average wage increased by more than 19% in US dollars! Taking the USD-RMB exchange rate into account, the average wage in China actually increased about 27% in US dollars in 2007.

In India, the story is the same. In 2007 alone, the average wage of Indian workers rose by 14%! And if you look at the rupee, the exchange rate went from 44 INR to 1 USD in early 2007 to 39 INR to 1 USD in early 2008. In total, Indian wages rose 28.6% in US dollars in 2007!

What does it mean when wages in the traditionally-cheap countries are rising at about 28% per year in USD dollar terms? It means US companies will soon run out of places to exploit cheap labour. It means the average American will soon start paying more for manufactured goods but at the same time the average American worker will finally have some bargaining room in terms of wages. This all seems to point toward a nasty wage-price spiral coming soon in the US. Bernanke has repeatedly stated that US dollar devaluation will only cause the prices of imported goods to rise. Either he is an idiot, or he is deliberately lying, because I've just demonstrated how US dollar devaluation can cause US workers to receive higher wages, which in turn can fuel domestic inflation through the dreaded wage-price spiral. America, you have been warned.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 5:02:10 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Friday, June 13, 2008

The End of the Internet


I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it appears we have problems bigger than just Canadian copyright laws.

In an article by Paul Joseph Watson on PrisonPlanet.com,

"

Over the past few years, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and further lead it down a path of strict control has spewed forth from numerous establishment organs:

  • Time magazine reported last year that researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time.
  • The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet 2.

  • In a display of bi-partisanship, there have recently been calls for all out mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens by both Democrats and Republicans alike.

  • The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence.

  • The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror.

  • In a speech last October, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent skills." His solution is "intelligence fusion centers," staffed by Homeland Security personnel which will go into operation next year.

  • The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress. Criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year could be the punishment for non-compliance.

  • A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government.

  • A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy.
...
"

The plan is to shut down the Internet as we know it today and start up a new highly-supervised Internet known as Internet 2.0, which will resemble cable TV, with a few corporations controlling all content.

Enjoy!

(BTW, in Sydney I could be breaking copyright laws by just linking to things! Yikes!)

Friday, June 13, 2008 7:43:23 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Monday, June 09, 2008

How the News Industry Works


This is how FOX and other networks lie to you all the time for profit.

(This is an excerpt from the documentary, "The Corporation." Watching the rest of the documentary is highly recommended.)

Monday, June 09, 2008 1:09:04 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Draconian Copyright Laws Coming to Canada!


URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL CANADIANS

Please read the following article:
$500 fine eyed for illegal file downloads

As a result of these new copyright laws, your car WILL be searched at the border and any iPods / laptops WILL be confiscated!

Also, if the law passes you can be sued for file sharing just like in the US!

Make your voice heard...
Send a letter to the Prime Minister

For more on this topic...

Digg - URGENT MESSAGE TO CANADIANS, Our way of life is in danger


Also, come next election, I'm voting NDP!


UPDATE: "Copyright reform bill appears to be in limbo"
Wednesday, June 04, 2008 8:55:01 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Saturday, March 22, 2008

The Commodity Bubble Orgy


So what's all this "commodity bubble" stuff I keep hearing about? Well, I looked it up on Google News, and was surprised to find just how many articles on the bursting of the commodity bubble have appeared nearly overnight in the mainstream media. Surely they must be right. Right? Here's a brief subset of the articles that have appeared recently:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15... Shall I go on?

Wow! They really nailed the top of this market, didn't they?

I wish there was this much coverage on the day the housing bubble burst. Well, while the real estate market today is filled with bottom pickers, the commodity market seems to be filled with top pickers. There's way too much wishful thinking going on.

My advice to the media: Leave the bottom picking and top picking to psychics and historians, okay? Kthxbye.

Saturday, March 22, 2008 9:34:06 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Tuesday, March 04, 2008

ECB to cut rates


The last domino has fallen! Or will fall, very soon.

The outcry caused by the $1.50 Euro is too much to bear for the Eurozone. Look for a rally in the US dollar index and gold as a result.

As the Telegraph puts it, in this article,

"
The euro has surged to an all-time high of $1.51 against the dollar, prompting bitter complaints from European industry and setting off a sharp sell-off in sovereign bonds from southern states deemed least able to withstand a super-strong currency.

Germany's car-maker BMW said it was slashing 5,600 jobs and warned of more drastic action if there was a "sustained rise" in the euro above $1.50.

Charles Edelstenne, head of France's Dassault Aviation, told Le Monde that the euro's rise was reaching asphyxiation level. "We can't cope with a such an exchange gap by producing and sourcing in the eurozone.

Airbus has also drawn a line in the sand at $1.50, warning that it will have to turn its industrial structure inside out if it is to meet aircraft delivery contracts priced in dollars.

A top aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy fired a shot across the bows of the ECB yesterday, demanding that "monetary policy must remain within reasonable bounds". The comments are a clear hint that Paris may try to force a change of tack by invoking Maastricht Article 109, which gives EU politicians the power to dictate exchange policy. France has lacked allies for use of this so-called "nuclear option", but this may change now that a number of eurozone countries are in trouble.

Spreads between 10-year German government bonds and the equivalent debt across the eurozone's Latin bloc have jumped to the highest level since the launch of EMU, reaching 45 basis points for Greece, 43 for Italy, 36 for Greece. The spreads on Spanish bonds have ballooned to 28 from 4 last May, reflecting an abrupt change in perceptions as the property boom deflates and investors take a closer look at Spain's current account deficit, now a 10pc of GDP.

"The widening spreads are telling us that these countries are going to be hit harder than core Europe in a downturn," said Simon Derrick, head of currency research at Bank of New York Mellon.

Hans Redeker, currrency chief at BNP Paribas, said foreigner investors had largely stopped buying euro-zone bonds, suggesting that the euro rally is now on its last legs. The inflow is mostly "hot money" speculation.

Mr Redeker said there may soon come a point when the ECB's ultra-hawkish turns negative for the euro, causing traders to look beyond instant yield and focus on the risk that monetary overkill could tip the bloc into a deep downturn.
"

Tuesday, March 04, 2008 7:45:03 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Sunday, March 02, 2008

Genetic Holocaust


Forget nuclear war. Forget global warming. We are on the verge of a genetic holocaust. The biotech industry is destroying all life on Earth as we speak. There is the real risk that every species on this planet will soon be extinct, including the human species. After listening to the 2/29/2008 Alex Jones show, my attitude toward the future of humanity is now one of despair. A massive extinction has begun, and nobody seems to care (except perhaps those who built the Doomsday Vault).

Please listen to the show (thanks to Gatekeeperinvasion) and I dare you not to be outraged:



                                                              Next video...

After listening, I went to Health Canada's website to see what the government has done about this. The website is incredibly dovish on the whole GM issue:

"
What are the risks of applying the techniques of genetic modification to foods?

The techniques of modern biotechnology do not introduce risks which are different from those already associated with the food supply. Many of the issues raised by foods resulting from genetic modification are equally applicable to foods produced by conventional means.
"


Did Monsanto write Health Canada's website? This is absolutely disgusting and shocking.

Please visit SeedsOfDeception.com to find out the truth.

Sunday, March 02, 2008 9:00:09 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Global Cooling is Back!


The following is quoted from: http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm
"
Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling
Michael Asher (Blog) - February 26, 2008 12:55 PM


Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on.

No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it.

Let's hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat. The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans -- and most of the crops and animals we depend on -- prefer a temperature closer to 70.

Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news.

(Update 2/27: Anthony Watts, who kindly provided the graphics herein, otherwise has no connection with the column. The views and comments are those of the author only.)
"

I can tell you one thing, global cooling has certainly made its mark here in Toronto. Just look at the weather forecast for February 28 and take a look at the frozen mountains of snow outside. There was no February thaw this year.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 9:22:57 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] -
News | Climate
 Friday, February 01, 2008

I read the news today


Oh boy!

Things are happening WAY faster than I ever thought possible.

Today, palladium (the underdog precious metal) finally broke out. A 7.8% move in one day! Impressive. And it's only the beginning. Buy palladium with both hands and feet right now.

But more importantly...

China's Inflation Hits American Price Tags

Looks like my prediction of higher hardware prices will come to fruition. Better buy that video card soon, because next year the same video card could cost 5% more! I think we've hit the "bottom" in hardware prices. For those feeling uber-adventurous, I'd recommend "investing" in hardware commodities (like CPUs, video cards, etc.) Anything made of plastic will perform very well. Plastic is non-biodegradable, and it's the perfect way to "own" physical oil (without getting dirty). Plastic "bullion" will be highly regarded some day, long after peak oil.

Now I'll end off with an advertisement:
Gatekeeperinvasion on YouTube has all your latest Alex Jones shows.
Friday, February 01, 2008 10:17:51 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] -
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 Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Why more Fed cuts won't save this economy


Too much stuff to do these days so I'll be brief:

Read these articles:

The Road To Hyperinflation, Part 2 - A failure of central banking

and

The Sixty-Year Storm, by George Soros

Looks like the skeletons are finally coming out of the closet!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:50:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] -
Finance | News
 Friday, January 25, 2008

The palladium bull begins