“You can bet your bottom dollar, residential real estate will never go down in value!” The real estate seminar speaker exclaimed. He backed up this proclamation with slides of long-term charts and graphs to the excited wannabe-investor audience hanging on his every word. As a natural contrarian and experienced investor, this overconfidence in the housing market struck me as a possible signal that a crash of untold devastation was in the cards. #-ad_banner-#That was in 2005, and we all know what happened during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Easy money sparked an unsustainable bubble in the residential housing market. Feeling secure… Read More

“You can bet your bottom dollar, residential real estate will never go down in value!” The real estate seminar speaker exclaimed. He backed up this proclamation with slides of long-term charts and graphs to the excited wannabe-investor audience hanging on his every word. As a natural contrarian and experienced investor, this overconfidence in the housing market struck me as a possible signal that a crash of untold devastation was in the cards. #-ad_banner-#That was in 2005, and we all know what happened during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Easy money sparked an unsustainable bubble in the residential housing market. Feeling secure that price appreciation would never end, banks were heavily pushing NINJA (no income, no job, no assets)-type loans. There were stories of low paid retail workers purchasing $500,000-plus McMansions and other tales of incredible financial debauchery. Economists estimate that second mortgages during the bubble years fueled $1.25 trillion in consumer spending from 2002 to 2006. When the bubble burst, consumption collapsed, triggering the Great Recession. Huge numbers of homeowners lost their homes as the housing market was rocked by overleverage and plunging real estate prices. No longer able to sustain the payments by refinancing, many homeowners and investors just walked… Read More

The other day, a headline in a financial publication caught my attention. “Small Is No Longer Beautiful,” it read. I was intrigued. I knew all about the strength in small-cap stocks this past year and how their strong post-election rally started to fizzle in December. But would I go so far as to predict that these stocks have totally lost their appeal compared with their large and mega-cap peers? I don’t think so. Yes, it’s true that the Russell 2000, represented on the chart by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE: IWM), strongly outperformed the S&P… Read More

The other day, a headline in a financial publication caught my attention. “Small Is No Longer Beautiful,” it read. I was intrigued. I knew all about the strength in small-cap stocks this past year and how their strong post-election rally started to fizzle in December. But would I go so far as to predict that these stocks have totally lost their appeal compared with their large and mega-cap peers? I don’t think so. Yes, it’s true that the Russell 2000, represented on the chart by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE: IWM), strongly outperformed the S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) index of U.S. large-cap stocks over the past year. And it might also be true that the index was getting a little ahead of itself, as suggested by its December pause. —Sponsored Link— The 8% Income Strategy: Never Run Out Of Money In Retirement If you’re living off income from your investments, or are nearing retirement and worry how long your savings will last, the “No Withdrawal” approach could change everything. Inside, you’ll discover the simple portfolio strategy to locking in 8%-plus dividends, along with six top high-yielders set to gain 20%… Read More

James Carville, the colorful political strategist also known as the “Ragin’ Cajun,” once quipped about reincarnation, “I’d like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.” That used to be the case. However, with half a decade of abnormally low bond yields, investors no longer seem to fear the bond market. That’s about to change. The equity markets shifted to wide-open rally mode with the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the Oval Office. Warren Buffett has often referred to the stock market as a voting machine. If that’s case, Trump won the popular vote in a landslide,… Read More

James Carville, the colorful political strategist also known as the “Ragin’ Cajun,” once quipped about reincarnation, “I’d like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.” That used to be the case. However, with half a decade of abnormally low bond yields, investors no longer seem to fear the bond market. That’s about to change. The equity markets shifted to wide-open rally mode with the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the Oval Office. Warren Buffett has often referred to the stock market as a voting machine. If that’s case, Trump won the popular vote in a landslide, with the Dow advancing 12% since election night. But while a 12% move in stocks always gets my attention, this stopped me dead in my tracks. It seems that Trump’s Twitter app isn’t the only thing he’s pounding. Now, to be fair, as much as it may disappoint the President, he alone isn’t causing the 44% rise in 10-year Treasury yields. The most likely culprit is a combination of expected fiscally expansive government policy combined with a rapidly improving economy spurred by wide sweeping deregulation. An accelerating business cycle is long term bullish for stocks. However,… Read More

President Trump has made a border tax adjustment a key part of his trade policy, promising to raise taxes on imports into the United States to make domestic production relatively inexpensive. The idea has also been used to keep companies from moving production abroad. The President has explicitly threatened automakers… Read More

An app that allows users to create their own virtual personal assistants, and a Web browser extension that helps you learn a foreign language by replacing a few words on the pages you visit. Those are two of the potential game… Read More

Coal has been an important fuel source since the dawn of history. Scientists have found evidence that Neanderthals used coal as a fuel in Les Canalettes, France as far back as 73,500 years ago. Today, coal counts as the largest source of electric energy worldwide. #-ad_banner-#Of course, there’s one major… Read More

One would think that the company would be making headline news after returning over 360% in the last 52 weeks. However, this high-return stock is not very popular among investors. The majority of today’s stock market players seem to prefer the latest technology or cutting edge pharmaceutical stock to this top performer. In fact, the entire sector has fallen out of favor due to years of underperformance and lackluster returns. But things are changing and changing quickly. Investors who caught this trend early have earned handsome profits, but don’t worry — there are still plenty of profits to be made… Read More

One would think that the company would be making headline news after returning over 360% in the last 52 weeks. However, this high-return stock is not very popular among investors. The majority of today’s stock market players seem to prefer the latest technology or cutting edge pharmaceutical stock to this top performer. In fact, the entire sector has fallen out of favor due to years of underperformance and lackluster returns. But things are changing and changing quickly. Investors who caught this trend early have earned handsome profits, but don’t worry — there are still plenty of profits to be made by risk-embracing investors. #-ad_banner-#Rest assured, I’m not talking about flash-in-the-pan, sky-high-return penny stocks with shady marketing, or questionable biotech stocks with “miracle cures.” This company has existed for over 115 years, and counted many of them as the market-leader. It boasts revenues of nearly $12 billion annually and a market cap of almost $7 billion. I can’t think of many companies further away from the penny stock arena. The company is Pittsburgh-based steel company U.S. Steel (NYSE: X).  Once one of the leading industrial firms in the nation, the company has suffered since the 1980s due to cheap imports. It… Read More

Last week, I told you that my colleague Joseph Hogue had just put the finishing touches on his new book about investing in innovative startup companies before they go public. Joseph is one of the foremost experts in what’s known as “pre-IPO investing” through the relatively new form of online crowdfunding. I also explained how we are extending a special offer to StreetAuthority readers who want to get their hands on Joseph’s new book. (To read that article, go here.) For newcomers, I won’t be spending much time going over the basics of how this works today. Frankly, we’ve covered… Read More

Last week, I told you that my colleague Joseph Hogue had just put the finishing touches on his new book about investing in innovative startup companies before they go public. Joseph is one of the foremost experts in what’s known as “pre-IPO investing” through the relatively new form of online crowdfunding. I also explained how we are extending a special offer to StreetAuthority readers who want to get their hands on Joseph’s new book. (To read that article, go here.) For newcomers, I won’t be spending much time going over the basics of how this works today. Frankly, we’ve covered this topic extensively and I don’t want to get too much into the weeds. Suffice it to say, as we’ve pointed out many, many times before, we think pre-IPO crowdfunding represents one of the absolute best chances to make the kinds of life-changing returns every regular investor has always dreamed about. —Sponsored Link— Did Elon Musk Just Lock In FAST 985% Gains For HZNM? Tesla Motors needs as much lithium as they can get to keep up with demand for their electric cars. Recently discovered Horizon Minerals (HZNM) could give them exactly what they need!… Read More

Blockbuster drugs are like rocket fuel for pharma stocks. When a hot new drug reaches blockbuster status with $1 billion in annual sales, two good things usually follow: Record revenue and record share prices. This was recently on display with pharma industry leader Gilead (Nasdaq: GILD). In 2012, Gilead released a promising drug called Sovaldi designed to treat Hepatitis C. Sovaldi was a big hit right away, reaching blockbuster status in its first year. That sent shares of Gilead soaring for the next three years. Take a look at the huge gains below. Today, I see this same… Read More

Blockbuster drugs are like rocket fuel for pharma stocks. When a hot new drug reaches blockbuster status with $1 billion in annual sales, two good things usually follow: Record revenue and record share prices. This was recently on display with pharma industry leader Gilead (Nasdaq: GILD). In 2012, Gilead released a promising drug called Sovaldi designed to treat Hepatitis C. Sovaldi was a big hit right away, reaching blockbuster status in its first year. That sent shares of Gilead soaring for the next three years. Take a look at the huge gains below. Today, I see this same pattern unfolding. One of the largest pharma companies in the high-growth cannabis sector is moving closer to the first ever cannabis blockbuster. Its promising new drug is in Phase 3 FDA testing, with a final decision expected by the end of 2017. I wrote about the promise of the medical cannabis industry last November. Here’s what I said at the time: This recent wave of legalization has given birth to the fastest-growing industry in North America. Market research firm Arcview is projecting North American legal cannabis industry sales to grow more than 200% in the next… Read More