Silver
Silver is a precious metal that is the best conductor of electricity known to man. Silver, for thousands of years, was used a currency, even before gold. Currently, there are numerous new uses for silver being found in biotechnology, solar energy and in technology in general.
Fed’s Actions Making Retirement a Nightmare for Seniors
By George Leong for Investment Contrarians | Mar 25, 2013
On the surface, the Federal Reserve’s objective is to make sure America doesn’t fall into ruins. Following an aggressive strategy of monetary easing, the end result is interest rates at nearly zero percent and an endless flow of easy money. As I have already stated many times in these pages, the Federal Reserve has created an artificial economy.
Yet, if you think about it, the Federal Reserve’s push for low interest rates has helped the economic recovery—but it has also made life difficult for many Americans. The Federal Reserve’s low finance rates tend to make consumers buy more, enticed by the low carrying charges. This means more buying in homes, furniture, cars, clothes, or whatever goods and services that can be financed at cheap rates. But therein lies the problem. What happens when the Federal Reserve begins to raise interest rates? It’s going to get ugly.
There will be massive debt loads that will be subject to higher carrying charges and greater hardships for many consumers as wages for many continue to be flat.
And with the low interest rates due to the Federal Reserve, people are reluctant to save. Making less than one percent at the bank is not exactly an incentive to deposit money. In my last article, I discussed this issue of low savings. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a staggering 57% of workers surveyed said they had less than $25,000 in combined household savings and investments, excluding their homes. (Source: Greene, K. and Monga, V., “Workers Saving Too Little To Retire,” Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2013.) The problem is that the low … Read More
U.S. National Debt to Surpass GDP for Third Year in a Row
By George Leong for Investment Contrarians | Mar 18, 2013
The more I look at the size of the national debt, the more I get squeamish. With the national debt at $16.7 trillion and growing, something needs to be done, as the Federal Reserve continues to print money, creating the artificial economy that is making people think America is faring well and forgetting about the national debt.
The sequestration program will help, but will it hold as the two parties continue to argue about where the cuts should be from and alternative revenue sources? Budget cuts due to the sequestration are already at $17.2 billion and running (source: U.S. Debt Clock web site, last accessed March 14, 2013), but as I have said on numerous occasions, $85.0 billion a year will likely do very little to tackle the mounting national debt. Just the interest on the national debt is already around $223 billion, so the national debt will continue to expand in spite of the sequestration cuts. I wonder if the government gets it. You have $17.2 billion in cuts as of March 14, but $223 billion in interest costs. Something just doesn’t add up here.
The U.S. national debt as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 102.9% in 2011. (Source: “List of Countries by Public Debt,” Wikipedia, last accessed March 15, 2013.) This was just below the massive 208.2% in Japan and the 160.8% in Greece, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Translation: America is in a financial mess, and it will not be easy to get out of it.
And despite the national debt burden, the Federal Reserve has its hands tied. … Read More
This Mining Sector’s Ready for a Big Move
By Sasha Cekerevac for Investment Contrarians | Feb 4, 2013
When it comes to developing and creating a long-term investment strategy for your portfolio, one of the more difficult aspects is maintaining a focus on the horizon. What this means is that sometimes one needs to look past the short-term aberrations and focus on where the economy and stocks will be in the future.
The topic of mining stocks has come up quite often lately. Initially, when one talks about mining stocks, many people automatically gravitate toward gold and silver companies.
I would suggest that there are data showing that other commodity mining stocks might offer strong long-term potential capital appreciation.
Professionals know that the market price of a stock offers far more information than any one data point. If the price of a stock or commodity is moving, this is certainly an indication of where people are placing their funds through their own investment strategy.
While some might have an investment strategy primarily in mining stocks, I would urge diversifying away from any one commodity in this sector, creating a more diversified portfolio in general.
Getting ahead of the curve over the retail public is a difficult but attainable investment strategy. I would suggest that, in addition to looking at economic data in forming one’s own analysis, one should look to the price charts and see what’s happening on the ground.
Recently, we’ve seen a recent breakout in one commodity that might surprise a lot of people: copper.
“Doctor Copper,” as the commodity is often called due to its ability to predict economic growth, has just broken out of its downtrend. While many are focusing on the recent negative … Read More
Buy Silver if Global Economy Strengthens
By George Leong for Investment Contrarians | Jan 23, 2013
In April 2011, when silver was trading at $50.00 an ounce, Bank of America Merrill Lynch was extremely bullish and suggested $80.00 was possible. (Source: “Prospect of silver hitting $80 shakes up stock, ETF markets,” International Business Times, May 1, 2011, last accessed January 22, 2013.) Of course, this hasn’t been the scenario, as the metal faces tough resistance at $35.00. Until there is a strong breakout here, I doubt the $40.00-level will be achievable.
While the majority of investors focus on gold, I feel silver could actually have more price upside, given its more speculative nature as more of a trading commodity.
In reality, the buying in the white metal is generally in line with the global economic growth, driving the demand for industrial goods that use silver as a raw material, pushing up income levels, and increasing the global demand for jewelry.
Here in the U.S., the economic recovery is faring well. The better-than-expected U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth, revised up to 2.7% for the third quarter, along with other encouraging economic data are also adding some optimism of economic renewal. China is offering some hope of a turnaround, but the stagnant condition in the eurozone and Europe remains an issue.
As I said, while gold is considered more of a pure-play hedge against risk, any sign of industrial recovery helps, as silver, unlike gold, is used in numerous industrial applications.
As you can see on the chart, silver is caught in a sideways channel, largely between $30.00 on the support side and $35.00 on the top of the channel. Silver is currently testing its 50-day moving … Read More
Why the Ballooning Student Debt Should Be on Your Radar
By John Whitefoot for Investment Contrarians | Dec 12, 2012
We’re two weeks away from surviving the Mayan Doomsday and three weeks away from stepping over the fiscal cliff. But the unabated student loan debt is just getting warmed up. Instead of dealing with the problem, Washington’s policies continue to stoke the fire. And that economic strain spells continued misery for America’s ongoing credit crisis woes.
Outstanding student loan debt has surged 165% in just seven years, from $360 billion to $956 billion. Furthermore, the average loan balance for U.S. college students has increased more than 68% since 2005 to $27,000. (Source: “Student Loan Debt History,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York web site, last accessed December 11, 2012.)
On a more granular level, student loan debt jumped $42.0 billion, or 4.6%, over the previous quarter to $956 billion. During the same period, car loan balances increased for the sixth consecutive quarter to $768 billion. U.S. credit card debt held firm at approximately $601 billion.
Eleven percent of all student loan balances are 90 or more days delinquent, surpassing all other forms of debt. Credit cards, car loans, and mortgages are all in better shape than student loans, with 90-day delinquency rates of 10.0%, 4.3%, and 5.9%, respectively.
According to the Federal Reserve, student loan debt is the only form of consumer debt that has grown since the peak of consumer debt in 2008, and it is the largest form of consumer debt outside of mortgages. What’s more is that unlike credit card debt, student debt is not forgivable in bankruptcy.
And that is creating a nightmare scenario for graduates young and old. In fact, every age group is experiencing … Read More
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