Expert View

Like selling apples in the Great Depression

Tim Iacono — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:15:00 -0500

Anyone who has lived in the southwestern part of the U.S. for any length of time over the past few decades will surely appreciate how grave the situation has become for some Americans when considering that the ranks of day laborers standing on street corners in the morning are no longer restricted to recent immigrants and illegal aliens.

It should be clear to even the most casual observer that the biggest busts have occurred in parts of the country where the biggest booms once flourished - that would be California, Nevada, and Arizona - where tales of woe are now spreading as fast as home prices rose back in the first half of the decade.

Reuters Survey of economists shows declining trend

Prieur du Plessis — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:13:00 -0500

The October edition of the Reuters South African Survey of Economists has just been published. (The Reuters Econometer is a measure of economic sentiment drawn from a monthly poll of forecasts by leading economists in South Africa and abroad and presented in the form an index). The weightings used in the index are: GDP growth [...]

Weekend Winners and Losers - Alert HQ BUY and SELL signals for November 6, 2009

Sal Mangano — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:43:00 -0500

This is the usual quick post announcing that the weekend's stock signals are now available at Alert HQ.

Today we have the following:

Based on daily data, we have 61 Alert HQ BUY signals and 29 SELL signals
Based on weekly data, we have 1 Alert HQ BUY signal and 53 SELL signals

read more

Prieur’s readings (November 7, 2009)

Prieur du Plessis — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:10:00 -0500

This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy. Please also add the links to any other worthwhile articles you would like to share to the comments section.

Combining Bollinger Bands on Rates of Change in the VIX

Bill Luby — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:21:00 -0500

As far as I can tell, I have not yet posted about the use of Bollinger bands in conjunction a rate of change (ROC) indicator to identify volatility breakouts.

In summarizing the action in the VIX over the course of the past two weeks, the chart below captures some of the drama in terms of 10% (solid green) and 20% (solid blue) moving average envelopes. In the six month time frame included in the chart, the moving average envelopes flag last week’s VIX spike as the most powerful since stocks turned up in March. The moving averages also indicate that the VIX low of 20.10 from three weeks ago is the second strongest in terms of penetration of the lower moving average envelopes.

Tremendous Week! GOOG, GLD

Andy Wang — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:20:00 -0500

We’ve had another tremendous week this week. We were very careful to start the week. But, when gold appeared to be breaking out, we jumped on the gold-rushing train, as a member exclaimed today:
billbigD November 6, 2009 12:45 PM
GLD- Happy very nice on those two GLD trades before the India announcement. Congrats
We also did very [...]

A Guide to Reverse Mortgages

Tushar Mathur — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:45:00 -0500

If you are a senior and own your home, you might be eligible for a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage allows you to borrow against the equity you hold in your home and enjoy the money as you see fit. The only requirements are that you must be at least 62 years of age as well as own a substantial amount of equity in the home that you live in. When you pass away, your home will be sold by your estate to pay the reverse mortgage back in full. In some cases there will be money left over, and sometimes not, however this is a great way to ensure that you get all that you can out of your home without leaving your estate or heirs, in any kind of debt.

Teaching Money Management Through Self-Responsibility

Trent Hamm — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0500

In the past, I’ve strongly advocated for families to introduce their teenagers to financial reality as early as possible. I know that in my own case, I went off to college with almost no idea of how to manage my money and it really showed in the spending decisions I made over the next [...]

Indestructible

Tim Price — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:42:00 -0500

“Alternative 1: on average there is more than one ownership claim on each gold bar conforming to London Good Delivery.. Essentially, the market operates on a fractional reserve basis.. If it is true, the next phase in the gold bull...

MORE JOB DESTRUCTION, BUT THAT'S JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Jim Picerno — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:45:00 -0500

Today's update on October's employment status is neither surprising nor encouraging. The U.S. economy is still bleeding jobs, but that's hardly shocking at this point. It's been clear for some time now that the risk of a jobless recovery is...