Any business can crank out hefty profits when conditions are favorable. The true test is how well it performs when the operating climate cools. As a group, energy stocks underperformed during the bull market. That’s no secret, given the persistent weakness in oil prices. The price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTIC) crude was once above $100 per barrel in 2014. After falling to the low $30s by 2016, prices have since only recovered to the mid-$60s. You can see how this affected stocks in the sector, as represented by the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (NYSE: XLE),… Read More

Any business can crank out hefty profits when conditions are favorable. The true test is how well it performs when the operating climate cools. As a group, energy stocks underperformed during the bull market. That’s no secret, given the persistent weakness in oil prices. The price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTIC) crude was once above $100 per barrel in 2014. After falling to the low $30s by 2016, prices have since only recovered to the mid-$60s. You can see how this affected stocks in the sector, as represented by the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF (NYSE: XLE), on the chart below. This is exactly what makes a company like Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) so special. We’re up more than 54% (with dividends reinvested) on the holding over at The Daily Paycheck. That not only blows the sector out of the water, but also the entire market. ​ We just got a glimpse of the kind of operating expertise necessary to pull that kind of performance off – and why I think it’s still a “buy” today.   Inside The Numbers The company's core refining margins slipped to $11.18 per barrel… Read More

In 1975, a young man named Ray Dalio founded, out of his apartment, investment management firm Bridgewater Associates. Today, it is the largest hedge fund in the world with about $160 billion in assets under management (larger than No. 2 and No. 3 combined).   Bridgewater has consistently outperformed its peers. The hedge fund’s flagship Pure Alpha fund has reportedly delivered an average annual return of 13% after fees since its inception in 1991. He even made money during the last financial crisis.  —Recommended Link— Wall Street Elites Collude With Media To Cover Up Breakthrough Discovery​… Read More

In 1975, a young man named Ray Dalio founded, out of his apartment, investment management firm Bridgewater Associates. Today, it is the largest hedge fund in the world with about $160 billion in assets under management (larger than No. 2 and No. 3 combined).   Bridgewater has consistently outperformed its peers. The hedge fund’s flagship Pure Alpha fund has reportedly delivered an average annual return of 13% after fees since its inception in 1991. He even made money during the last financial crisis.  —Recommended Link— Wall Street Elites Collude With Media To Cover Up Breakthrough Discovery​ Scientists just uncovered a “test tube miracle” that will revolutionize the marijuana industry. But the media has been strangely silent about it. Don’t let Wall Street insiders step on you again. Every $1,000 stake could turn into $61,770… but only if you take action before this discovery hits the evening news. Click here for details. Worried about the enormous amount of debt on many of the large institutions’ balance sheets, Dalio decided to take his findings — and warnings — to the Treasury Department, where he presented his research in December 2007. He later went to… Read More

The clock has ticked over, and we're at the beginning of a new year. And we all know what that means… It's resolution time. One of my resolutions for 2020 is to reduce risk. Not that we've ignored risk previously… But risk should always be at the forefront — the primary consideration when implementing any strategy.  Over the next few weeks, I want to answer some questions about risk, including how I think about risk and how it affects the way we trade. Today, I want to make you aware of the risks of winning. In my Income Trader service,… Read More

The clock has ticked over, and we're at the beginning of a new year. And we all know what that means… It's resolution time. One of my resolutions for 2020 is to reduce risk. Not that we've ignored risk previously… But risk should always be at the forefront — the primary consideration when implementing any strategy.  Over the next few weeks, I want to answer some questions about risk, including how I think about risk and how it affects the way we trade. Today, I want to make you aware of the risks of winning. In my Income Trader service, we consistently win on more than 90% of our trades. If you've been with me for some time, you know we've maintained that level of performance for more than six years. Now, I will never be complacent. My followers place their trust in me, and I take that very seriously. I spend a great deal of time looking for ways to reduce risk even more, which is why I'm doing that now. This brings me to an important point. The market just wrapped up an impressive year. And if you were in it, chances are you made some good money. Read More

If you're like most people, then you have probably received a box (or several) on your front door this month courtesy of Amazon Prime's free two-day shipping. Or perhaps it was sent by Wal-Mart or another online retailer. Wherever the source, there are countless packages whizzing from warehouse to doorstep during the Christmas shopping season. It has been estimated that FedEx (NYSE: FDX) made 510 million deliveries between Black Friday and New Year's Eve. The firm's hectic Memphis hub processes 2 million packages per day during the peak holiday season – about 500,000 per hour. Keep in mind,… Read More

If you're like most people, then you have probably received a box (or several) on your front door this month courtesy of Amazon Prime's free two-day shipping. Or perhaps it was sent by Wal-Mart or another online retailer. Wherever the source, there are countless packages whizzing from warehouse to doorstep during the Christmas shopping season. It has been estimated that FedEx (NYSE: FDX) made 510 million deliveries between Black Friday and New Year's Eve. The firm's hectic Memphis hub processes 2 million packages per day during the peak holiday season – about 500,000 per hour. Keep in mind, FedEx and Amazon have a testy relationship at best. Otherwise, that number would be even higher. The e-commerce king does quite a bit of shipping on its own and is becoming a real threat in that regard. Amazon even dictates how the 5 million independent third-party sellers on its website can and can't fulfill their orders. According to Business Insider, Amazon employs 75,000 private courier drivers who will deliver 3.5 billion packages this year. For context, UPS (NYSE: UPS) drops off 5.2 billion parcels annually. UPS estimates it will deliver 32 million packages per day globally this holiday… Read More

What a difference a year makes. The week leading up to Christmas 2018 was the worst for U.S. stocks since the 2008 crash. The market was already in turmoil when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sent out a bizarre tweet on Christmas Eve to say that he had spoken with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks and was reassured that there were "no liquidity problems or margin issues." The statement was meant to pacify jittery investors but instead had the exact opposite effect. In what is normally a quiet day for the market, traders fled and sent the Dow… Read More

What a difference a year makes. The week leading up to Christmas 2018 was the worst for U.S. stocks since the 2008 crash. The market was already in turmoil when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sent out a bizarre tweet on Christmas Eve to say that he had spoken with the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks and was reassured that there were "no liquidity problems or margin issues." The statement was meant to pacify jittery investors but instead had the exact opposite effect. In what is normally a quiet day for the market, traders fled and sent the Dow tumbling 650 points. It was the worst Christmas Eve selloff on record. There was a nice bounce two days later, but the damage had been done. The Dow Jones finished the month with a painful 9% decline, the worst December performance since 1931 when the country was in the grip of the Great Depression. I didn't buy into the doom and gloom. Unlike in 1931, the underlying macro backdrop at the time was quite positive. The following week, I said that "this crisis feels more manufactured than real" and predicted we'd see "a recovery on the horizon once confidence returns."… Read More