Financial Sense's mission is to give each investor, no matter their income, net worth, or level of financial expertise, a greater understanding of the markets, and a more informed approach to making investment decisions; our primary purpose is the financial education of the investing public. It is our goal to provide a forum in which a variety of perspectives about the markets and the economy flourishes, so that our visitors & readers have access to a well-rounded body of financial information. http://www.financialsense.com/ Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Asha Bangalore. "Orders of durable goods increased 3.3% in September after a 1.0% drop in the prior month. The September gain is entirely from a 105% jump in bookings of civilian aircraft. Excluding transportation, orders of durable goods fell 0.8% in September vs. a 1.9% increase in August. In September, excluding aircraft and electrical equipment (+0.4%), orders of all other major components such as primary metals, machinery, autos, computers and electronics declined. " http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/asha-bangalore/aircraft-orders-lift-bookings-of-durable-goods-in-september Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Jim Willie. "The mortgage & foreclosure scandal runs so deep that ordinary observers can conclude the US financial foundation is laced with a cancer detectable by ordinary people. The metastasis is visible from the distribution of mortgage bonds into the commercial paper market, money market funds, the bank balance sheets, pension funds under management, foreign central banks, and countless financial funds across the globe." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/jim-willie/imminent-big-bank-death-spiral Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Jeff Clark. "We once had an ongoing series in BIG GOLD called, "1001 Reasons to Own Gold." The idea was that there were so many valid reasons to own the metal that I wanted to track and report on them. If you've been invested in the precious metals arena, you know there have been a myriad of bullish indicators for silver this year as well. Here's a couple new reasons to own silver that a lot of mainstream investors probably aren't aware of…" http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/jeff-clark/the-silver-sleuth Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Monty Guild & Tony Danaher. "In the world of stock, commodities, and real estate investing, it is common knowledge that capital flows to where inflation exceeds the cost of borrowing. Clearly, if you can borrow at 4% and inflation is 6% it pays to borrow money and speculate in the appreciating stocks, commodities, and real estate. This is the situation in many developing nations today, especially in China, India, and some other countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America; borrowing costs are less than the commonly accepted “true” rate of inflation. Additionally, companies and industries are growing, and this makes stocks in those countries doubly attractive." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/guild/where-inflation-is-higher-than-interest-rates-liquidity-will-flow Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Vedran Vuk. "A friend of mine met an interesting real estate investor recently. The guy claimed that he escaped the entire market crash relatively unscathed. At first, I didn’t really believe it, but his strategy made a lot of sense. I thought that it was worth passing along. Essentially, he flipped houses throughout the entire boom as many did. The difference between this investor and others is his discipline. Every time a property increased by 10%, he sold it. On the way down, he was equally disciplined. As soon as the market turned downward, he priced his remaining inventory below the market to liquidate them all. Sometimes, it’s better to take a known loss than face an unlimited downside." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/vedran-vuk/real-estate-investors-or-speculators Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Chris Wood. "Stock buybacks have been in the news a lot lately. Sitting on piles of cash and too nervous to invest in new workers or plant and equipment, many companies have started to deploy their cash reserves to buy back their own stock. So far this year, according to stock market research firm Birinyi Associates, firms have announced they will purchase $273 billion of their own shares, more than five times as much compared to this time last year." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/chris-wood/a-look-at-stock-buybacks Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Gary Dorsch. "The ink had barely dried on the October 24th, G-20 communiqué, aimed at averting a global trade war, before cynical currency and commodity traders began doubting its durability, and seeing it as a simple propaganda ploy. G-20 finance chiefs agreed in Gyeongju, South Korea to refrain from massively printing their currencies to promote exports, and instead, to allow markets to decide foreign exchange values." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/gary-dorsch/fed-instills-uncertainty-about-size-of-qe2-defends-us-dollar Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Russ Winter. "The formula to watch looks like this: Profit = Sales – (input cost + production cost + overhead). If companies want to subsidize consumers by keeping prices down, then profits are squeezed. If they want to offset input costs with offsetting production and overhead costs, then labor (consumers) and capex gets cut. The realities are as follows: We are getting increasing confirmation about this on the stranguflation watch. And remember that this reflects 3Q input costs, which have since gone parabolic. For instance, Goodyear and Cooper Tires put through a significant price increase last month. Rubber futures have since surged even higher." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/russ-winter/stranguflation-in-abundance Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Bob Clark. "Sometimes the picture is not clear. This type of trading environment is what separates the men from the boys. Risk management is not well understood, but it is vital to successful investing and trading. The precious metals markets are correcting as expected. Commodities in general and the metals in particular have seen a "love in" that would make Woodstock blush. So now what? In the following chart I have overlaid the Baltic dry index which shows what it costs to ship non liquid commodities. Notice that this is the first time that it has not confirmed the up moves in the price of silver." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/bob-clark/fuzzy-silver Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Alex Daley. "With talk of quantitative easing round 2 (or QE2 for short), the potential government bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and mounting problems with state finances, government pension funds, and funding for social programs all coming to a boil ahead of this election season, one thing seems to be abundantly clear: there is much more federal spending still to come. Hundreds of billions more. " http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/alex-daley/fdic-loses-25-billion-in-one-year Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Global Intelligence Report. "If you are heading north on the Chesapeake Bay, just above where the Patuxent River enters it, and you will see the Cove Point liquefied natural gas terminal and gas processing plant. Journey on, about three miles, and you will see a superbly landscaped industrial installation that, unlike the gas terminal, blends into the cliffs of Maryland. This is the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, which has been making electricity quietly, efficiently and abundantly since 1975." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/global-intelligence-report/us-government-agency-faulted-in-nuclear-abandonment Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Nu Yu PhD & W Lorimer Wilson. "The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, as an average or a benchmark of the total equity market, continues the rally that has been led by the internet and the basic materials sectors since September 1. In the short-term scale, the Wilshire 5000 index (see chart below) has established a 7-week uptrend channel (orange lines). The 6-month Inverted Roof or Complex Head-and-Shoulders Bottom pattern (blue lines) suggests there would be potentially another 4% upside measured move from the present price to the target price of 13000." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/nu-yu-phd/gold-performance-to-continue-to-lag-the-stock-markets%20 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 Arnold Bock & W Lorimer Wilson. "Are you taking this approach to investing in gold and silver? It is genuinely amazing that so many economists and investment professionals continue to promote “business as usual” investment advice. Their clients will surely pay a steep price for this “head in the sand” approach to investing. Here’s why." http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/arnold-bock/a-no-brainer-or-head-in-the-sand