Opinions

There is a recent statistic that is quite shocking: the total amount of debt globally is now over $100 trillion, a jump of 40% over the last six years.  According to the Bank for International Settlements, which is run by 60 central banks, since the financial crisis, the majority of

When it comes to gold bullion prices, despite their mere 10% climb since the beginning of 2012, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see gold bullion prices increase even further. With this, companies producing or looking for the precious metal are still presenting a great buying opportunity. Let me

The optimism on the key stock indices is increasing as the fundamentals that suggest the rally will go on continue to deteriorate. Investors beware; this disparity doesn’t end well. The possible upside gains look to be very small, and the downside risks are increasing. To me, it feels like we

Everyone is blaming the poor economic numbers we have been seeing on the misery of the horrific winter.  Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested that the winter was to be partly blamed for the somewhat lousy economic readings in December through to February. With the fierce winter, people are hesitant

Since 2009, the U.S. stock market has become one of the hottest plays. Investors have poured in money and have reaped the rewards. In the last five years, many stocks have doubled or more. Looking at all this, one must really question if the stock market can go at this

Understanding the economic slowdown in the Chinese economy is very important because not only does it impact American companies doing business there, but what happens in the Chinese economy—now the second-largest economy in the world—affects the global economy. While media outlets tell us the Chinese economy will grow by about

It’s amazing how the stock market can easily reverse course from bad to good and vice versa. When the threat of Russia invading Crimea picked up, the stock market retrenched; but it didn’t last long, as the subsequent withdrawal of Russian troops led to a stock market in the following

A good amount of speculative fervor has come out of this market so far this year, but there’s still quite a bit of valuation froth around. Across the board, 3D-printer stocks have come back. 3D Systems Corporation (DDD) still boasts a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 150. Tesla Motors,

This past Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 175,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in the month of February. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 7, 2014.) The way the media reported it… “Friday’s jobs market report caught the market by surprise,” was what most media outlets

There’s a big push on buying green stocks, a move that has the ability to make investors feel good and make money at the same time. Here, we are talking about alternative energy stocks and companies that have mandated that their impact on the environment be one of their core

Among the many lessons to be learned by 2013’s stunning stock market performance, one is that dividend-paying blue chips can also experience significant capital gains. Portfolio strategy can be based on blue chips, but it can also include companies with varied market capitalizations; mixing it up is always useful. The

  PDAC curse or blessing? Fresh from the Letter Writer Presentations track at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, The Gold Report asked thought leaders to share their impressions from the annual minefest. Adrian Day Asset Management Founder Adrian Day, Exploration Insights Publisher Brent Cook, House Mountain

Advances in automotive battery technology are making graphite the next big thing for commodity investors. Graphite is the critical material for the new generation of batteries, even more than lithium or rare earths. In this special interview with The Mining Report, Focus Graphite President and Chief Operating Officer Don Baxter

The S&P 500 recently traded at a record-high, just before tensions in the Ukraine erupted and the global stock market declined as fear of an escalation and war intensified. While the charts continue to show the stock market wanting to move higher after excellent gains in February, I still sense

This week, I went to one of the world’s biggest mining and exploration conventions, which was hosted by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and was held in Toronto. There were hundreds of gold mining and exploration companies showcasing their projects and making their case for how they

The chart below is of the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index, an index that tracks home prices in the U.S. housing market. As the chart shows, from their peak in 2007 to their low in late 2011, U.S. homes prices fell by about 30%. Since then, prices in the housing

Currently, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ/AAPL) is largely considered a commodity stock that needs to excite investors with new innovations and growth in order to propel its long-term growth. The stock has been stuck in a relatively tight range between $500.00 and $560.00 since late October 2013, as Apple looks for stronger

With the stock market jittery due to geopolitical events, its underlying strength is highlighted by the relative outperformance of the NASDAQ Composite, the Dow Jones Transportation Average, and the Russell 2000. If these indices are doing relatively better than the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, then there is

These days, we have been hearing a significant amount of news out of Ukraine. “Pro-Russian troops” are now in control of the security and administrative systems in the Crimea region, which is the mainly Russian-speaking area of the country. World leaders are saying that this is nothing but an act

One of the most difficult things for an investor to do is look beyond the current environment. One of the biggest reasons that many investors underperform is because of their own human biases. This is perfectly natural, as we tend to expect more of the same in terms of what