Investors 411 Blog

Football lover Karl Marx

Football and Karl Marx

Football is America’s #1 sport. The Superbowl where (economically shattered) New Orleans Saints beat another small market team the powerful Indianapolis Colts, was watched by more viewers here than any other American sporting event.

Football reins supreme because there is parity in the league or socialism. There is a market cap which no team can go over in payment for all combined players, and a draft for new players where the worst teams choose first.  This is a socialist goose that has been laying GOLDEN revenue eggs for the NF. Unlike baseball that’s hurting for revenue and is in decline because of a less balanced revenue program. In Baseball any team outside major media markets has a far less chance at winning. Each stadium gets packed in football, while only a half dozen do in baseball. Karl Marx would clearly be a football fan.

Now owners and players both want to change the system in a rush of unregulated capitalist greed. So if anyone asks you if socialism works in the USA – you say it sure does – its called the National Football League. Socialism Makes Everbody Rich. Why change it?

Elections – Iceland/Iraq

Two major elections took place late last week

• Iceland – Remember Iceland was perhaps the country worst hit in 2008 meltdown because their shadow banks believed in Greed based capitalism. Over 98% of the voters there voted to renegotiate loans of foreign investors who had put their $ in Icelandic banks.  Seems they did not want to pay back billions with their tax dollars.
• Iraq – Over 2 million Iraq refugees voted from Foreign countries. They are too afraid to return. Still the world’s largest refugee crisis. Even with the elections there are many signs that the different religious/ethnic factions have no intentions of compromise. Oh well, neither do the two major parties in the USA.

KISS & Stocks (Keep It Simple Stupid)

If you don’t understand a term look in up at Investopedia.com dictionary

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 5 years of beating benchmark S&P 500 and almost all major US indexes

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

See Positions , Strategy , and Overview for changes made over weekend. (No changes this weekend)

US equities rallied significantly on Friday. but volume was just a wee bit higher. Long term capital is just NOT flowing into equities in the USA. Unlike the start of the bull market in 2009 when we saw massive amounts of volume. Investors are staying on the sidelines. Volume has been for decades the #1 confirmation factor of a price move. However for the last 6 months its been pretty anemic & useless as a forecasting tool.  Basically this looks technically like we are building a bubble and obviously investors are doubting the rally

The Russell 2000 has already broken out to new highs

Overbought US markets (SPX up 6 days in a row, and up 11 of the last 14 trading days) are all close to new highs. The NASDQ is o.o2 points away from a breakout to a new high.

Last Week’s Fearless Forecast

Investors411 predicted a rally at the week’s start that would get sold into because of an overbought market & the unemployment report – Therefore a “flat week” As stated last Friday - ” The unemployment numbers Friday were as good as it gets for US stocks.” The fact that employment is NOT declining means interest rats will stay low and the Fed will keep flooding the economy with money. From Friday AM -  “Expect a rally.”

Miscalculation about the jobs number (I expected worse than a flat -9.7%) and ignoring looking at the exploding BDI (see below) were the reasons for last week’s miscalculations.

This Weeks Fearless Forecast

The McClellan Oscillator hasn’t been this high (+75.33) since last April. We are also approaching a major resistance level – the January  high of 1150 on the benchmark SPX or S&P 500 (now at 1139).  It seems likely that this level will get challenged.

• Fundamentally it sure looks like the FED has reason NOT to raise interest rates (employment numbers) and that will keep interest rates low – great for stocks.
• The BDI is exploding higher. (see below)
• The Gree debt problem seems to have settled and “will not spread.”
• Any serious attempts at financial regulations seems to be disintegrating.

So fundamentals are moving in one direction against strong technical resistance. Look for a week where at least the NASDQ joins the Russell 2000 and breaks out to a new high, Even though volume is lacking – momentum should make this an up, but volatile week.

Significant Indexes

• McClellan Oscillator jumped significantly to  +75.33 yesterday We are now well above +60 or Overbought territory. StockCharts has a better version of the McClellan chart ($NYMO) LINK. The only other time we saw numbers on the McClellan move higher than this was three times from November to March 2008/2009. The all time high was +121.86 in the last week of last year.
• BDI – The Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of world trade (also a good indicator of how China is doing since they are huge exporters/importers) has exploded higher in the last few weeks = Bulls rule
  

Because Investors411 recently changed the Long Term Outlook to Cautiously Bullish - any pullback in the McClellan Oscillator to say +20 would be an opportunity to nibble again.  This market wants to move higher.

Positions

The  Positions Section = latest buys and sells – (Revised positions last weekend) - These are positions I actually own

Wish Investors411 had more stock positions (only @20% invested in stocks because of overbought technical situation) Will keep selling into any major rally the remainder of the portfolio.  Certainly a breakout over SPX 1150 would be one of those situations.  Right now what to look for is are stocks going to go “elliptical” (continue to move higher at a rapid rate) and blow through last years high.

Would sell more into that rally and buy/nibble more on any drop in McClellan to @ +20.

IMAX – 3D Alice in Wonderland had a HUGE $116 million dollar opening. Avatar’s opening weekend was $55 million.

Long Term Outlook = CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

2010 Future?

Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, China and Future Wars

The NYT is carrying an ominous front page story on 3 Americans dying in Pakistan . And you thought there were NO US troops in Pakistan.

How the Pakistan media portrays the US – 123 civilians killed & 3 al Qaeda fighters in drone attacks January. US to increase drone attacks by 75% Only 9% of Pakistani’s support these drone attacks. The opposition Muslim party is by far the now the most popular and their mantra is “Go America Go ” – Hint – they are not cheering us on, but telling us to get out.

Combine this with our growing problems in Yemen, Iran & China (see yesterday’s Investors411) and 2010 is shaping up to be another year where animosity between the US and the rest of the world grows. Recently the NYT reported that over 30 other US companies besides Google were hacked in China. The China/US economic relationship is key to the growth of their and the world’s economic well being.

Check out Popeye’s comments on right of blog. I’m certainly not as strongly anti Obama as he is, but he brings up some good points. Especially, the American media failed to mention that NATO refused to send 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan.  Once again another “coalition of the willing” seems to be breaking down.

Perhaps the real reason for the troop escalation in Afghanistan is preparation for an invasion of Iran . We now will have over 100,000 troops on both sides of Iran – In Iraq & Afghanistan. Best blog for educated inside information continues to be Prof.Coles Informed Comment

Bottom Line – Trend - 2010 looks to be a year of growing instability with the US and the rest of the world. This could have a negative impact on stocks.

KISS & Stocks (Keep It Simple Stupid)

If you don’t understand a term look in up at Investopedia.com dictionary

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 5 years of beating benchmark S&P 500 and almost all major US indexes

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

See Positions , Strategy , and Overview for changes made over weekend.

US markets rallied significantly again.  This time volume increased and was just above average. Increased volume is what bulls love to see in a 1% or greater rally. But these figures were not the BIG volume bulls want to see and were there when stocks fell over the last few weeks.  So far we have an oversold bounce . Time will tell if it develops into anything.

The major event of this week will be the Monthly jobs report at the end of the week.

February is historically a BAD month for stocks.

Markets had every reason to tank as Obama economic adviser and legendary Fed Chair Paul Volker spoke in front of the Senate Finance committee about breaking up too big to fail banks. Instead, stocks move higher.  Much needed financial reform of the shadow banks looks DOA to investors.

Significant indexes

• McClellan Index at -21.79 = We’ve pulled way back from -90 or oversold levels two days ago.
• BDI – This chart shows the Baltic Dry Index (scroll down) , a measure of shipping costs, Has broken through a major month long  support level at @ 3000 and is still falling. Yesterday the BDI closed at  2691.= Bearish – especially for China. More on this tomorrow)
  

Mistake – Unfortunately, I was away Thursday through Monday.  It looks like Thursday Friday when the McClellan Oscillator hit -70 then -90 was the time to buy.

Chinese stocks bottomed 5 trading days ago and are once again leading US stocks higher.  There is a disconnect or contradiction with the BDI falling. China, whose economy is both export and import driven, should see an INCREASING BDI when its markets grow.

Positions

The  Positions Section (also at top of blog) has the latest buys and sells (Usually updated over weekends – will try to update last few weeks today) – These are positions I actually own

SELLING & BUYING

Stock Watch List

NB – I feel much more confident with ETF’s because they reflect global trends than individual stock. Too many things can go wrong with individual stocks. Click on ticker symbol for chart

• SEED – A China related stock. In a buy the dip position at 50 day moving average
  
• AAPL - Apple’s latest product seems to be a bit of a dud. Former leader now under performing.
  
• HMIN - Failed breakout . China play. Will recover when  China does.  Will drop from list soon
  
• CAAS – Broke down though 50 day, but has rallied last two days in STRONG volume. Tempting
  
• PCLN – Fell below 50 day moving average. Had a good pop in price and volume on Monday. Tempting
  
• F – Now less over extended. Too much recent down day volume. Tempting
• DRWI - Big exporter to China -  Was way too overextended to buy, and now sitting on 50 day MA support level  No big volume as stock dropped= good sign. Buy the dip .
  
• ENOC – New – Reduces costs for utilities – No big volume behind its recent fall. Potential buy the dip .
• ATHN – New - Software reduces costs for health care - Broke its longer term bullish trend in big  volume – Will drop from list soon.
  
• IMAX – Great long term chart – falling back to its 50 day moving average. Outperforming overall market Still a buy the dip opportunity . Investors411 has a 2% of portfolio position in this stock

IMAX still rules. DRWI, SEED & ENOC seem to be the best of the rest. Would open position in any of these on an overall stock market dip.

Looking for a couple new suggestions to YOUR recommended list.

Long Term Outlook = NEUTRAL

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Paul Volker

Shadow Banks – Shake & Break?

The WSJ is reporting that former Fed chair Paul Volker (like Elizabeth Warren one of the good guys/gals in the Obama administration) has finally got Obama’s attention. Perhaps it was the loss of the Senate seat in MA that helped. “Obama on Thursday is expected to propose new limits on the size and risk taken by the country’s biggest banks.”

This should have happened almost a year ago, and we will have to wait to see if this is just political spin or if Obama is serious. Economist Simon Johnson asks all the right questions

How to know if something serious is going to happen – shadow banks stocks will fall.

Author Simon Johnson is the former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, an MIT Professor and author of a must read - The Quiet Coup (referenced in earlier Investors411) This article is about history repeating itself. Financial oligarchies have crushed many developing countries and arguable the IMF helped break those oligarchy. He believes “recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. “

Remember Iraq

A withdrawal was another one of Obama’s “change we can believe in promises.” Virtually nothing’s happened. A poll in the distinguished Foreign Policy magazine states that Arab publics say that ending the US military presence in Iraq is the single most important thing the US could do to improve its relations with that region.

“What they [Arabs] saw as US atrocities in Iraq motivated many of the terrorists active after 2003″

Bottom Line – You want to reduce the number of people threatening terrorist attacks on the USA – Keep your promise, stop nation building and get out of IRAQ. What ever happened to elections that were supposed to happen there?

KISS & Stocks (Keep It Simple Stupid)

If you don’t understand a term look in up at Investopedia.com dictionary

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 5 years of beating benchmark S&P 500 and almost all major US indexes

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

See Positions , Strategy , and Overview for changes made over weekend.

Stocks staged a major fall (below 1%) in increased, above average volume. Volume, our #1 confirmation factor did again confirm the move lower. 3 of the last six trading days have seen significant falls in increased above average volume. While the numbers on the downside could have been larger, this is cause for concern.  It shows institutional investors leaving or selling stocks and stocks go no where without the big boys and girls.

Markets did recover about 30%+ of the losses at the end of the day.

• McClellan Index at -17.72 = A little bit oversold.  There’s a long way to go till we reach @-60 or oversold or @ +60 or overbought. Notice a clear trend of lower highs and lower lows on chart. = Bearish pattern

IBM & INTC have both had better than expected earnings results and are down (not much – a few %) This is not a good sign for stocks, especially in technology.  It looks like you’ll need a grand slam earnings report to move higher

US Stocks have been flip flopping between up and down days, but volume has been with the bears.

China , who has led the world out of the recession looks to be in a pull back or correction. Down about 10+% . China could correct some more. Odds are US will follow China and some sort of correction is starting in USA. Not logical to see the country leading the world out of recession in a pull back and the US not follow.

Positions

The  Positions Section (also at top of blog) has the latest buys and sells (Usually updated over weekends)

These are positions I actually own

SELLING & BUYING

ETF Watch List

Ideally, you’d like to McClellan index below zero (the further the better) and these all would be better buys. The closer to -60 the more you think about buying and the closer to +60 the more you think about selling.

Strategy – going to hold tight till conditions reach overbought or oversold.

Charts set to 2 years – click on ticker symbols.

• EWZ – Brazil (16% of portfolio) – Reaching a critical inflection point. This chart is either near a low point in forming a base or after an outstanding run of over 100% about to take a hit. Perhaps, like China its time to lighten up.
• MOO – Agriculture (10% of portfolio) – Latest buy had a strong upside run, pulled back a bit and is moving sideways.
• FXI – China (Reduced to 6% of portfolio) – Over the last month or two we’ve been taking profits on FXI. (Down from 24% of portfolio to 6% ) Lots of volume when stock moves down and now FXI has established three lower highs and lower lows over the last three months.
• see Positions section of blog for some considered ETF alternatives

Again – Waiting for McClellan Oscillator to reach oversold or overbought positions before making a major move.

Investors411 opened a small positions in ENOC (2% of portfolio) Bought at 35.95. Of all the stocks on our watch list this one was holding its own on a big down day.  More Later.

See POSITIONS (scroll down) for details on this and what’s under consideration for 2010.

Long Term Outlook = CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING

Check out the comments from Bob, Monitor, Doggies Mom, D. & Popeye on right side of blog. Are they right?

The Green Revolution

The Iranian Green Revolution has again erupted into massive demonstrations. Today’s lead editorial at NYT Iran’s War on Its People LINK

One video shows protesters stopping a lynching LINK More pro reform video’s of demonstration LINK The BBC (almost always superior to American media) has photos of clashes LINK & Andrew Sullivan (Atlantic Magazine) again outstanding in coverage LINK Al Jazeera (Arab media’s largest outlet) also has lots of coverage LINK Warning some of these pictures and videos are violent

About the worst thing that could happen is if Israel or the USA launched some sort of attack. We didn’t when the satellites of the old Soviet empire crumbled and we should not now. It would create martyrs in Iran and almost all those demonstrating are asking us to stay out. To help - the best YOU can do is spread the news/videos.

The irony here is in Iraq we have put in power the same kind of religious theocracy. Maliki, our supposed puppet head of Iraq, was the first (government/group) along with Hamas and Hezbollah to recognize Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent presidential election. The two major religious leaders in Iraq Sard and Sistani have never even spoken to any Americans.

Yemen & Saudi Arabia

Al Qaeda of Saudi Arabia has claimed responsibility and Yemen was where the attempted bomber of the Christmas plane flight was trained. We seem to be already using drone planes to attack suspected bases in Yemen. These two groups seemed to have merged. For more see LINK

Let’s put together an incomplete list of where these (Sunni as opposed to Shia) al Quaeda terrorists are from or trained – The USA, Saudi Arabia, England, Yemen, Iraq, France, Germany, Syria, Indonesia, Spain,Nigeria, Egypt and the list goes on and on and on and on and grows and grows and grows and grows.

Your Stocks Picks

Perhaps you want to put some of these in your holiday portfolio stockings. I do NOT recommend any but can give you a little fundamental and technical analysis . That said, some many look like pretty good buys. Remember this analysis barely skims the surface and professional investors have a big advantage because they have banks of computers and armies of people going over each investment they make. You can see the Chart by clicking on the ticker symbol. The following are stocks that got the most recommendations I’ve changed charts to 1 year charts to get a long term outlook

• BIDU – Baidu Inc. China’s version of Google. After a HUGE 300% rally tis year it looks technically like this stock is leveling off. The last 3 months it has tried to break out above 350 and failed.  The BDI  which is often used for a proxie on China has fallen for 6 weeks. I’d wait for a turn in the BDI and/or a BIDU breakout over the 450 level before investing.
  
• AAPL – Apple Computer – A company that everyone knows. Along with AMZN & GOOG, AAPL has led tech stocks higher.  Apple has just broken out to a new high. There has been increased volume (a good sign)supporting AAPL for the last few months. Right now US markets & AAPL are nearing overbought levels. Right now this limits upside movement. Still tempting and a buy the dip stock.
  
• AMZN – Amazon – Internet retail giant.  Looks like Christmas season for this giant is going to be better than expected. Investors411 has bought and sold this stock. There was a good buy the dip opportunity a week+ back when AMZN dipped back to its 50 day moving average. Like AAPL a lot of increased volume behind AMZN in the last few months – good sign. If markets move higher these last two will lead. A buy the dip stock.

That’s it – Use the calender at the top of the page and go over all YOUR stock choices made over the last week+.  Some of them are great “buy the dip opportunities”

Next  Stock forecast for 2010

KISS & Stocks

Keep It Simple Stupid

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 5 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

• Brown = repeat statements
• Green = usually bullish statements
• Red = Usually bearish statements

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

Another low volume day. Stocks have been up 6 days in a row on extremely low volume.

Holiday sales estimated to be up 3.6%. This is a positive surprise LINK = Bullish fundamental

McClellan Oscillator at +48.42 (very close to overbought – see below) = Bearish technical

See changes in positions below.

FEARLESS FORECAST – same as before “Up to flat week” – Historically this is an up period (Santa Clause rally) Even though we are entering overbought territory – hope of a positive employment report for Dec. & historical bullish factors should keep stocks on the up.

If you don’t understand a term look in up at Investopedia.com dictionary LINK

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Significant forecasting tools/Indexes for stock markets

The Dollar & the BDI have been temporarily eliminated. Right now how overbought we become is taking on more significance.

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$NYMO The NY Stock Exchange McClellan (EOD) Index measures how much the NYSE is oversold or overbought .

The index closed at +48.42 This is very close to an  Overbought Position. = Time to start lighten up on positions. This does not mean the markets won’t move higher. I’ve set up a yearly chart of the $NYMO LINK You’ll notice that the $NYMO went all the way up to +100 in the big March rally. So + 60 is NOT an automatic sell of everything, but a signal to lighten up. See buys/sells below.

It’s spilled over a little bit, but the McClellan index has moved between +25 & -25 for a month+ =  There has been no clear buy or sell signal for over a month.

Oversold conditions (@-60) = buy, Overbought positions (@+60) = sell The closer we get to +/- 60 the better our chances of making money with a shorter term buy/sell signal

Positions

The  Positions Section (top of blog) to see all the latest buys and sells (Updated over weekends)

These are positions I actually own

SELLING & BUYING

Sold (6% of portfolio)  FXI at 42.35. FXI now 12% of portfolio – Profit +36% Will add to the this key position when BDI turns positive for over a week and/or the $NYMO is closer to oversold positions

Very tight stop on 1/2 the position of UWM (ETF that does 2X what small cap sacks do) The other stop at 1/2 is at the price UWM was bought.  Will sell 1/2 into any rally

Now 48% invested in stocks. If you count one mutual fund I’ve owned for 5 years (BRSIX ) I’m 54% invested in stocks. Click on POSITIONS section at top of blog for more.

When/If McClellan Index gets back above +60 will sell some more.

Long Term Outlook = CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH

Iran

What was supposed to be demonstrations marking the 29th anniversary of the Iranian revolution turned into a night and day that members of the Green Revolution let their voices ring out. Professor Juan Cole’s website has details and video. Its heatening to see so many protest (“huge crowds”) despite those that have disappeared into Ahmadinejad’s Iranian prison system. LINK

Vietnam & Iraq/Afghanistan – Optimism

Even though many including this blog have focused on the negatives surrounding the “unjustified” invasion of Iraq and long term consequences,there are some major reason for long term optimism.

In Vietnam we used chemical weapons (agent orange) carpet bombing and even resistance was slow to organize. These weapons were not used in Iraq. Democracy was insisted on by Sistani (the #1 Shia religious leaders) and after a year of demonstrations the US relented. In Afghanistan the poll numbers have already turned negative LINK This poll was before the election debacle.

In no way does this excuse our growing nation building disaster in the Mideast under Bush and Obama. But, it is a long term ray of sunlight in an otherwise dark cloud.

US Elections

Republicans won two governorships in NJ and VA formerly held by Dems. The Dems won a congressional seat in NY – formerly heavy Republican district.  Overall a better night for Republicans and bottom line is about the economy.  Three out of mainstream observations

• NJ Democrat Gov. candidate was a mucky muck at Goldman Sachs.  GS & Wall Street are loved about as much on Main Street as the New York Yankees outside NY metro area.
• The “conservative” running in NY congressional race considered radical right wing FOX commentator Glenn Beck “his hero.”  He had huge support from the “tea bagger” or dominant wing of the Republican party.
• Long time incumbents spent huge money and had difficulty getting elected – example mayors Bloomberg in NYC and Menino in Boston.

STOCKS

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 4 1/2 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

(see results for last 1/2 year – click  6/25 & scroll down)

• Brown = repeat statements
• Green = usually bullish statements
• Red = Usually bearish statements

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

This is the last post for the week

Friday’s jobs report is the news for the week .  What we have is an oversold market going nowhere. Wall Street term for this is “churning.” Because we are so oversold a good jobs number (loss less than 200,000) would probably move market higher.  Oversold also limits downside risk.

Best Read of Tea Leaves – We will not get a sub 200,000 number.

For traders – A high unemployment figure means the stimulus will keep flowing  and I’d buy the dip. Even though everyone is watching Friday’s employment figure – keep an eye on the dollar. If we have a significant break through of the resistance level expect a meltdown in stocks as the dollar rises.

In Asia and Europe oversold markets rallied last night, so this could carry a positive bias to the USA today.

FOMC meets to day – expect no change.  Any changes in wording would be negative and a shock.

The Dollar War - (Part 2) The big news of the day was India buying $6.7 billion dollars worth of gold from the International Monetary Fund. This is an investment in gold not dollars. Still, obviously central banks did buy enough dollars to halt any dollar decline yesterday.

FYI - Best 25 preforming stocks since Obama’s election LINK

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Significant forecasting tools/Indexes for stock markets

(Besides #1 Volume & #2 Reaction to News)

BDI - The Baltic Dry Index measures the flow of goods by price (world trade) .

The BDI is @ 24% off its high (early June) Before that it gained almost over + 630% from its all time low of 663 in Dec. of 2008 (April 2009 high of 4291 )

The BDI rose a significant +62 points yesterday and closed at 3247. The rate of change is diminishing slightly. A higher high price on its chart pattern has been confirmed The BDI has rallied almost 1100 points since late September. =  Bullish for stocks & world trade right now

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The Dollar is currently the #1 forecasting tool .

$USD - Check out the 6 month chart (to the left) or a multi year chart of the US dollar of the US dollar.

Mantra – Dollar up = US stocks down & Dollar down = US stocks up

US dollar rose a modest -0.12% yesterday. The dollar closed at $76.33 . The dollar did briefly rise above its 50 day moving average.  The dollar is technically doing what prices do in front of major resistance/support levels – hesitating. The longer it hesitates the better the chances for reversal.

From yesterday – The next important resistance level for the dollar is the falling 50 day moving average (blue line on chart). This is at $76.67 this AM . So dollar is only 0.34% away from major resistance. It’s the line in the sand – Best read of the tea leaves is that it will hold. In fact, Investors411 will add to some positions  as we get close to this resistance level.

Positions

The  Positions Section (top of blog) to see all the latest buys and sells

Our major core positions into weekend. (See Monitor’s post in comments section)

NB  – These core positions have been long term positions for years and are STILL OUTPERFORMING the benchmark S&P 500 – For more see overview section

GLD – Gold rose a significant 2.41% and broke out to a new all time high in huge volume. This was based on the news of India buying a huge hunk of the shinny yellow stuff. (buy the dip)

EWZ – Brazil – has gone up too far too fast and was overdue for a correction. (see past updates)It had about a 10% correction (see chart) and its 50 day moving average is acting as strong support.  Think those of you who bought the dip will be rewarded in the long run.

FXI – China -  too recetly had almost had a 10% correction, another buy the dip opportunity.

Both China and Brazil could go lower if the jobs number is bad or the dollar rises too high. They go down faster than US markets, but rise much faster than US markets. The BDI recent move higher is favorable for both.

Considering diversifying into Indonesia & Vietnam ETF’s Also, for traders as an individual stock AMZN – great technicals& fundamentals, but also a swine flu play. If the flu ends up keeping folks housebound AMZN should profit. (more on Monday) It is currently dipping.

Concerns – 10 even 20% corrections are healthy for FXI and EWZ in the long term. Yes, these and other emmerging markets are recovering fundamentally far faster than the USA. But anything that goes up to too fast forms a bubble and they burst.

SPX – Selling entire position as soonas I get back from art show – taking profits and freeing $ for other investments.

Long Term Outlook = NEUTRAL

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

More than Just Wall Street Horrors

Photo from SeekingAlpha.com

Wall Street

Let’s call it the Halloween Horrors (See analysis below under stocks)

Mideast

Afghanistan – The run off election process in Afghanistan has broken. The challenger Abdulla Abdulla has withdrawn from the process.  The UN, as well as most of the world, determined that the first election was corrupt. The current president refused to even change the head of the Afghan Election Commission who was in charge of the corrupted election so the Abdullah Abdullah resignation is understandable.  This leaves the obviously corrupt Karzi as the only candidate and the future partner of the USA.  Story from BBC LINK

Latest news on tube is that there will be no runoff election .

Pakistan The UN (development agencies) is pulling out of Tribal areas. Story from Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper LINK Hillary Clinton’s recent trip to Afghanistan reviewed by Pakistani newspapers – Reviews basically NOT favorable – “White Goddess Should Leave Pakistan ” LINK Deterioration in Pakistan continues and another massive terrorist bombing LINK

Turkey/Iran – This may come as a shocker, but Turkey, who is seeking NATO membership, seems to be taking a pro Iran stand when it comes to nuclear development. Al Jazeera story (Remember AJ has no reason to have a pro Iran bias – AJ is Arab & pro Sunni and Iran is Persians & pro Shia) LINK

Bottom Line – Nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorist is something no one wants.  But the more we try to nation build the worse it gets. Let’s accept noble prize winner Joe Stiglets estimate that so far our nation building has/will end up costing us almost $3 trillion.

• How much is it going to cost to turn tribal Afghanistan from an opium (heroin #1 economic product) to a viable state?
  
• How much is it going to cost us to maintain Iraq? Remember the Iraq government along with Hezbollah and Hamas was the first to recognize Ahmadinejad. The two main Shia religious leaders – Sistani, refuses to even speak with Americans and Sadr lives in Iran.
• How much is Pakistan – almost 3 times larger than Iraq & Afghanistan combined going to cost?
  

Crossroads moment for Obama – Adding more troops and nation building in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Can we afford the trillions it will cost? Wouldn’t it be better to economically help Pakistan more right now than have to nation build their later.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

The mantra for Investors411 is that job creation is going to be even slower this time than after any other recession. This recession is bigger and badder.  The new jobs from American companies are going to first be in countries with growing middle classes like India, China Brazil and smaller countries – Cheaper labor and you are closer to a growing market.

Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman in today’s NYT offers a short term solution LINK

STOCKS

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 4 1/2 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

(see results for last 1/2 year – click  6/25 & scroll down)

• Brown = repeat statements
• Green = usually bullish statements
• Red = Usually bearish statements

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

Volume the #1 historical confirmation factor is telling everyone - GET THE HELL OUT. However, the dollar still rules .

The Long Term Long Term Outlook is back to NEUTRAL As mentioned last Wednesday – When the Long Term Outlook is changed we often go back and forth for a while as stocks move above or below key support levels

A falling dollar helped stocks move higher under Bush and its doing the same under Obama . (Check out weekly stock charts of S&P 500 & The Dollar for last 5 years) This inverse relationship between stocks and the dollar was quite different before Bush. (more on this later)

Lots of major economic events this week – The Fed meets and October’s unemployment # comes out Thursday are the big events.

FEARLESS FORECAST -  I’ve never seen volume be so huge on the downside days and the markets not continue to fall.  However, right now the dollar rules. It looks like its resistance level for the dollar (see below) will hold. Still downside risk is growing.

Investors411 has taken profits on its (20% of portfolio) position in the SPX and short term TRADERS might want to take a little of some other positions off the table (FIX & EWZ) in a rally. – There is NOTHING wrong fundamentally with these ETF’s.  In fact, the BDI is bullish,

Fundamentally, long term I see the dollar falling and technically it looks as if the resistance level will hold. This is good for stocks in the short term – next  month or two.

I’d rather have some more cash to buy any possible major sell off.

Long term – Bearish on the US economically. The mess in the Mideast could deteriorate rapidly and the long term cost are astronomical, especially considering the deficit & the recession. We still have NOT changed the same unregulated “free market” system that caused the financial meltdown. Agree with Krugman on stimulus/unemployment. Think things will hold up till the dollar reaches the low it had under Bush or the Mideast erupts.

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Significant forecasting tools/Indexes for stock markets

(Besides #1 Volume & #2 Reaction to News)

BDI - The Baltic Dry Index measures the flow of goods by price (world trade) .

The BDI is @ 29% off its high (early June) Before that it gained almost over + 630% from its all time low of 663 in Dec. of 2008 (April 2009 high of 4291 )

The BDI rose a significant +90 points Friday and closed at 3103. . A higher high price on its chart pattern has been confirmed The BDI has rallied almost 900 points since late September. =  Bullish for stocks & world trade right now

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The Dollar is currently the #1 forecasting tool . It would be a wild guess to predict the daily moves of the dollar, but longer term fundamentals are clearly negative – the trend of a falling dollar should continue.

$USD - Check out the 6 month chart (to the left) or a multi year chart of the US dollar of the US dollar.

Mantra – Dollar up = US stocks down & Dollar down = US stocks up

US dollar rose a SIGNIFICANT +0.52% yesterday. The dollar closed at $76.36 .  

From yesterday – The next important resistance level for the dollar is the falling 50 day moving average (blue line on chart). This is at $76.74 this AM . So dollar is 0.40% away from major resistance. It’s the line in the sand – Best read of the tea leaves is that it will hold. In fact, Investors411 will add to some positions  as we get close to this resistance level.

Positions

The  Positions Section (top of blog) to see all the latest buys and sells

Friday – Going to sell some SPX-reasons – Free cash for other investments & take profits

Long term investors should realize that positions like EWZ & FXI are going to have more dramatic moves than American stocks.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Tom Friedman’s Dream/Nightmare

Sunday TF wrote an editorial LINK that opened with imagining President Obama in 2012 standing in Iraq under a banner “Mission Actually Accomplished .”

This is the dream of anyone who wants to build a 20th century colonial empire.  The person who should be standing ALONE under any banner in Iraq in 2012 or any future date is an Iraqi President.

• Britain got out of India – It wasn’t pretty but the end result is the world’s largest democracy in India and a fragile democracy in Pakistan.
• The US got out of Vietnam – Again it wasn’t pretty, but now Vietnam has one of the world’s fastest growing economies and even its own ETF – VNM . Like China there is one party rule, but millions are coming out of poverty into a growing middle class.

Our efforts to colonize the Muslim world have made the overall situation worse, cost trillions in dollars and who knows how many lives. Let the nightmare of colonialism go .  If there is a clear and present danger – act. Now we are on the verge of nation building in Afghanistan whose #1 economic product is opium not oil. It’s long past time for a change to a new strategy.

STOCKS

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 4 1/2 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

(see results for last 1/2 year – click  6/25 & scroll down)

• Brown = repeat statements
• Green = usually bullish statements
• Red = Usually bearish statements

Technicals, Fundamentals & Analysis

Reading the Tea Leaves -  BE CAUTIOUS volume has in no way confirmed the move higher. If you look at the beginning of the bull run (March April and May)(check out weekly charts of a major US index) there was huge volume behind the move higher. You expect some slower volume in the summer, but volume has not returned to the markets. In fact there has been significantly more volume on downside days than upside days this month.  Our #1 confirmation factor of price moves is calling for – bears to rule

The Dollar (see below) The slow/moderate fall of the dollar is a trader’s dream . One danger for a fall in the dollar is the rise in oil prices. $100 dollar oil would negatively impact stocks.  As long as the dollar falls it holds up stocks. – Bullish for stocks

Bottom Line – Still CAUTIOUSLY BULLISH Long Term Outlook (see below) The dollar trend is the trump card that is firmly in place. Every big volume decline is trumped by the falling dollar that pushes US equities higher. The second major reason is the stimulus packages in emerging markets like China, India and Brazil have worked. China, especially, never entered recession and the growing middle classes here has led the world equities higher.

The drag is concentrated in the USA. Why – We already had a huge debt, our financial industry still has  huge phony unregulated profits, and we are/will be wasting trillions trying to nation build.

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Significant forecasting tools/Indexes for stock markets

(Besides #1 Volume & #2 Reaction to News)

BDI - The Baltic Dry Index measures the flow of goods by price (world trade) .

The BDI is @ 30% off its high (early June) Before that it gained almost over + 630% from its all time low of 663 in Dec. of 2008 (April 2009 high of 4291 )

The BDI rose a significant +42 points yesterday and closed at 3043. A higher high price on its chart pattern has been confirmed The BDI has been rising (with one bump) since late September. =  Bullish for stocks & world trade right now

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The Dollar is currently the #1 forecasting tool . It would be a wild guess to predict he daily moves of the dollar, but longer term fundamentals are clearly negative – the trend of a falling dollar should continue.

$USD - Check out the 6 month chart (to the left) or a multi year chart of the US dollar of the US dollar.

Mantra – Dollar up = US stocks down & Dollar down = US stocks up

US dollar rose a significant +0.56% The dollar closed at $75.47 . Bullish for stocks

Last year’s low was around $71,(March 08 ) so there is a long way to go before the major and very crucial support level is reached . The dollar does have a support level around $74.00( a high from about a year ago – see long term chart)

Positions

The  Positions Section (top of blog) to see all the latest buys and sells

Trades made this week are updated at the end of the week. -  Sold 50% of position in EWZ and all of EWY. – This sure looks like – a big mistake – Should have been adding instead of subtracting – especially EWZ – Still no one ever went broke taking profits. - Sorry – Did not update Positions section.

Outside the USA in Emerging Markets (especially China, & Brazil) are much better in the long run - My problem is one of timing. We can’t get a 5 to 10% dip to invest. Investors 411 should have much larger positions in emerging markets .

For Traders (not long term Investors )

NVS - One of the 2 stocks owned (the other is CSCO). This is a swine flu play. Obama has declared a national swine flu emergency and NVS’s vaccine is not due to be distributed till mid December.  NVS is going to have too little too late. Taking profits today. (You could also sell 50% and put in a stop/sell order)

EWZ – Yes it was a mistake to sell 9% of this. Buying it back.  Will add to both FXI (China) and EWZ this week  A falling dollar is just an additional fundamental reason to own these areas. Other reasons have been listed over and over again.

Traders – Three major tech stocks leading the charge – Hope CSCO joins them when it reports earnings.

• AAPL – cutting edge computers and telecom revolution (phone’s) moving into China.
• AMZN – Fabulous earnings report and forecast.
• GOOG – Internet adds is growing even in USA.
  

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

The 3rd Surge

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek asks – Do we need a Third Surge in Afghanistn? LINK

• In Jan 2008 we had 26,607 troops in Afghanistan.
• The first “quiet” Surge under Bush added almost 22,000 to 48,250 by the end of 2008
• The second surge in 2009 under Obama we added @ another 20,000 troops
• Now “generals” have turned up propaganda for a third surge of 40,000 to 80,000 more troops.
• The total surge in Iraq was only  20,000 troops.

Zakaria offers an interesting alternative strategy. You may or may not like Zakaria’s strategy. But, it is is certainly far less costly than nation building or colonialism throughout the Arab world . See link above.

Two huge bombs went off in Baghdad Iraq today killing hundred(s) (to early to tell how many died) LINK

Just a reminder that in Iraq the Shia slaughtered the Sunni’s (many who were terrorists) and million(s) fled or faced slaughter.  This had a huge impact on entrenching the new Shia dominated government. The new Iraq Shia led government is corrupt, sustains high unemployment, and along with Hamas and Hezbollah was the first to recognize Holocaust denier Ahmadinejad in Iran even while he was brutally crushed the “Green Revolutions.”

The two major Shia religious figures in Iraq with millions of fanatic followers -  Sadr, embraces Ahmadinejad and Sistan i remained silent about “Green Revolution..”

We are about to enter our second decade of nation building or colonialism in the Muslim world that continues to add trillions to our deficit .

Afghanistan Bubble Building

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan جمهوری اسلامی افغانستان (Persian: Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Afġānistān) د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت (Pashto: Da Afġānistān Islāmī Jomhoriyat)

So after adding 21,000 to the original 38,000 troops in Afghanistan the generals are calling for another 45,000 troops for Obama’s “necessary war.” This would be a unilateral increase of American troops. This unilateral increase would put over 100,000 troops in nation building Afghanistan for the next 5 to 10 years. Basically we will end up unilaterally increasing troops by almost 200%. How is any of this different than the unilateral Cheney/Bush military approach.

Have we learned nothing from the trillion(s) spent in Iraq. – A corrupt government, dominated by Shia’s who love Amadinejad & still have huge economic problems. Imagine Israel bombing a suspected Iranian nuclear plant. It not only would turn Iranian religious fanatics into terrorist bombers, but the Shia’s in Iraq would join them.

What happens next probably Pakistan, Yemen, the Sudan ? Frank Rich has a column on this “Obama on the Precipice” in the NYT LINK

China blowing by the USA

Tom Friedman had another column this weekend entitled “The New Sputnik” on China blowing by the USA in the creating of alternative energy. LINK

This is just another reason why the #1 investment choice of Investors411 continues to be FXI -The China ETF.

Blowing and Building Economic Bubbles

Both the WSJ and the major financial channel are cheerleading unregulated capitalism this AM. Why not, the Lehman Brothers collapse is a year behind us and taxpayers have bailout Wall Street. Happy days are here again and nothing substantive has been done to regulate or reform what got us into trouble in the first place. Economist Simon Johnson on “Was the G 20 Summit actually Dangerous” traces the lack of capital requirements for US financial institutions. LINK

STOCKS

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 4 1/2 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

(see results for last 1/2 year – click  6/25 & scroll down)

• Brown = repeat statements
• Green = usually bullish statements
• Red = Usually bearish statements

Technicals and Fundamentals

Volume declined and was below average. Technically, it looks like the bears are running out of momentum. In the very short term we are a bit oversold – so look for an early rally.

Big news for week is the jobs number fro the month of Sept. coming out Friday.

BDI seems to be turning higher = Bullish

Fearless Forecast – Took it on the chin last week as major US indexes fell. However September is turning out to be a pretty good month. The dollar is the over ridding factor in market direction. It would be good in the long run  if US markets stopped moving higher without some sort of more major retreat (5 to 10%) Constantly going higher feels too much like a bubble building.  Fearless forecast for the week is for the dollar to fall and markets to rise.

This rally is built on the falling dollar, means US goods (exports) will cost less abroad. Therefore for major US companies that sell overseas profits will grow.

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Significant forecasting tools/Indexes for stock markets

(Besides #1 Volume & #2 Reaction to News)

BDI - The Baltic Dry Index measures the flow of goods by price (world trade) .

2388 is support now resistance level/number to watch – Yesterday BDI +20 t o close at 2183. Short term Bullish for stocks

The BDI is @49% off its high (early June) Before that it gained almost over 630% from its all time low of 663 in Dec. of 2008 (April 2009 high of 4291 ) A 50% retracement from highs is a major support level. Therefore some stabilization is understandable.

What this means – World trade is in trouble – lots of ships are sitting in ports empty.  To some degree, China has stopped buying raw materials and/or the US consumer is not buying as rapidly as earlier in the year. Braking a support level is significant, but 2183 (current level) is still a long way from the Dec. 2008 663 low. = Storm clouds gathering

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$USD - Check out the 6 month chart (to the left) or a multi year chart of the US dollar of the US dollar.

Mantra – Dollar up = US stocks down & Dollar down = US stocks up

The dollar fell -0.17% yesterday and closed at $76.78. After a major two day rally that created a higher price high (bullish) the dollar cooled off a bit.

Last year’s low was around $71, so there is a long way to go before the next major support level.

Positions

The  Positions Section (top of blog) to see all the latest buys and sells

revised to reflect recent trades this weekend

Plan to add to EWZ (Brazil)

Also MVIS (a stock) NOT an ETF is technically looking like its small three day retreat makes it a possible buy.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

China

CHINA RULES (or at least is beginning to) – The Shanghai stock exchange has dropped over - 20% from its summer high (You have to be Chinese to invest) Monday it dropped -6.7% and had slight gains overnight. This plunged commodity prices lower (example oil down -3.82% Monday) China imports lots of oil.

Here’s CNBC’s Jim Cramer on why China rules LINK Here’s another analyst CNBC LINK – “I don’t think China is driving the rest of the world, I think that’s a little bit of an over exaggeration,”

Bottom line – China’s economic power is growing and becoming more crucial to the world each day.  To put it bluntly their managed capitalism is kicking the butt of our “free market” system relative to growth and has been doing it for almost a decade. These short three paragraphs are an oversimplification, but the China is kicking our butt part is very real.

Stop Escalating in Afghanistan

Conservative columnist George Will is calling for a serious draw down in Afghanistan. Obama – Afghanistan is a “necessary war.” It may have been one back when it started, but there is a lot of logic in what Will proposes.

To start, The elections in Iraq were less than honest, but it sure looks like the elections in Afghanistan were an outright fraud.  Times of London LINK

Here’s Will’s editorial in the WaPo LINK

His conclusion (the military industrial complex dominates the Obama administration will never allow this) below

“So, instead, forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters. ”

Iraq/Iran

The Green Revolution has been pretty much crushed, but still smolders in Iran. An emerging power struggle between the Supreme Leader and Ahmadinejad seems to be taking place. NYT & others have run front page stories on this recently.

Perhaps the first three entities to recognize Ahmadinejad as the “legitimate ” president in Iran were Iraq, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Iraq is looking more and more like Iran’s best friend rather than what it used to be – its worst enemy.

History repeating itself – Remember Russia depleting itself economically and militarily trying to Nation Build in Afghanistan. As my favorite philosopher Yogi Berra would say, “Déjà vu all over again.” – The USA is spending trillions trying to nation build in the mid east and quietly but very successfully China is rising. Teach your kids Mandarin .

STOCKS

AS ALWAYS, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!

Investors411 record – 4 1/2 years of beating benchmark S&P 500

(see results for last 1/2 year – click  6/25 & scroll down)

• Brown = repeat statements
• Green = usually bullish statements
• Red = Usually bearish statements

Technicals and Fundamentals

Volume decreased as stocks fell.  The lack of volume is a sign that the predicted correction (see yesterday’s update) might not be upon us yet .

The 5 deeply trouble bailed out institutions (AIG etc) had major corrections yesterday. AIG chart link . Volume decreased significantly. These shadow institutions obviously have some more volatile days in front of them. But for now falling in lighter volume is what bulls want to see.  Even though the Obama administration & Fed are not going to allow these institutions to fail & they do not have to use mark to market accounting (no transparency) the fundamentals simply do not justify the run up in price.

If you prefer gambling to investing, I’d wait another day or until prices get closer to 200& 50 day moving average before putting bullish chips on the table.

Therefore , FEARLESS FORECAST – is for a down week .

The  jobs report for August comes out Friday most important fundamental of the week. ISM (manufacturing ) report out today.  What’s key here is  we get a good number (above 50 would mean manufacturing growth) If market does not move higher on good number, it is a strong indication that market correction underway.

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S significant forecasting tools/Indexes for stock markets

(Besides #1 Volume & #2 Reaction to News)

BDI - The Baltic Dry Index measures the flow of goods by price (world trade) It looks like we could be forming another lower high and that would reinforce the mid term bearish pattern .

The BDI Retreats – What are its drivers ? From Seeking Alpha LINK

“Remember almost every country has based their recovery on exporting their way out of this mess” The infotainment financial channels and analysts used the BDI when things were going well and are now ignoring it. The #1 factor behind the BDI’s retreat is China seems to have stopped or seriously slowed down buying commodities.

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$USD - Check out the 6 month chart (to the left) or a multi year chart of the US dollar of the US dollar.

The dollar was rose -0.19 % yesterday. Dollar closed at $78.15. Its  major support level is @$77.5 & it has 2 major resistance levels – a falling 50 day moving ave. at @$79.20 and the August highs of @ $79.5 .  If it breaks down through support stocks should rise, if it breaks up through resistance stocks should fall.

Mantra – Dollar up = US stocks down & Dollar down = US stocks up

This is the index to watch because its impact is immediate.

Positions

The whole Positions Section has been revised (Click on “Positions” at top of blog). Check it out

The BDI and Shanghai Stock Index’s fall are cause for concern in our Brazil  & China positions. China has turned off the stimulus spigot and its impossible to tell just how much further these ETF’s positions will fall.  We have made some huge profits that are getting eaten into.

Investors411 has slowly tuned more toward US equities because of this (XLF & SPX) and cut some foreign positions.

In the long term China Rules, but shorter term expect further losses . Considering taking some more profits.

Your Comments

Both privately and in the comment section of the blog you are asking for individual stock recommendations. OK I have a few. Stay tuned.

AS ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTING!