I was researching comparative Asian wage data the other day and was astounded with what I found. Textile workers earn $2.99 an hour in India (PIN), $1.84 in China (FXI), and $0.49 in Vietnam (VNM). This is an 18 fold increase in labor costs from ten cents an hour since Chinese industrialization launched in 1978.
I strongly urge readers of this letter to log on to Amazon and by a copy of Options for the Beginner and Beyond by W. Edward Olmstead. Options contracts offer investors a wonderful instrument for minimizing risk, while maximizing the upside, and I am going to recommend many more such strategies in the future. So,
Global Market Comments August 22, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (WHY I SOLD OIL), ?(USO), (UNG), (UUP) (SALUTING THE ?OLD BREED?) United States Oil (USO) United States Natural Gas (UNG) PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP)
I think that oil peaked last week with the Egyptian Army?s ferocious and bloody attack on the Muslim Brotherhood. I hate to sound cynical here, but count the daily bodies in the street, which has been trending down sharply since Thursday?s, 1,000 plus tally. Fewer bodies mean lower oil prices. This has most likely broken
Global Market Comments August 21, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (WHY YOU SHOULD BUY THIS DIP), ?(SPX), (IWM), (INDU), (THE BIPOLAR ECONOMY), (TESTIMONIAL) S&P 500 Index (SPX) iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) DJ Industrial Average (INDU)
There?s nothing like coming home and getting slapped in the face with a fresh mackerel the second I step off the plane. That?s what happens when you travel from a continent that is universally positive about US stocks, to one that is largely negative. Take a look at the chart below from my friends at
Corporate earnings are up big! Great! Buy! No wait! The economy is going down the toilet! Sell! Buy! Sell! Buy! Sell! Help! Anyone would be forgiven for thinking that the stock market has become bipolar. According to the Commerce Department?s Bureau of Economic Analysis, the answer is that corporate profits account for only a small
Global Market Comments August 20, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (I?M BACK!)
I sit here at Virgin Atlantic?s upper class lounge at London?s Heathrow airport, awaiting their transcontinental nonstop service to San Francisco, listening to Bach?s Sonata No.1 in G Minor on my headphones. I am returning from a two-month tour of Europe that was highly informative, exciting, and even mind expanding. The proof is the ten
Global Market Comments August 19, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (HOW THE GOVERNMENT UNDERSTATES THE ECONOMY), (HOW TO GET A FREE TRIP TO EUROPE)
I am writing this in the second-class cabin of the Wales to London express train, which is packed to the gills with holiday revelers. In the adjacent seat there is a gaggle of four young ladies dressed to the, nines sporting feathers from their hats, obviously headed for a late summer wedding. They are sharing
During my recent trip to Europe, I made another startling discovery about the woeful state of America?s 19th century health care system. I needed to get refills on my prescription drugs when I was in Zermatt, so I stopped by the local pharmacy and placed an order. This was for three different drugs I take
Global Market Comments August 16, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (WHY I LOVE/HATE THE OIL COMPANIES), (XOM), (KNOWING THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING AND THE VALUE OF NOTHING) (WHY BUFFET HATES GOLD), (GLD), (GDX), (ABX) Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX)
The first thing I do when I get up every morning is to curse the oil companies as the blood sucking scourges of modern civilization. I then fall down on my knees and thank God that we have oil companies. You?ve got to love ExxonMobil (XOM), which constantly trades places with Apple (AAPL) for being
As a fanatical follower of the price of everything, I have long been an avid viewer of the television program, Antiques Roadshow, for 14 years, and the English version of the show well before that. This is where you learn what stuff like majolica is. Many aspiring collectors come into the open appraisal events hoping
The ?Oracle of Omaha? expounded at length today on why he despises the barbarous relic. The sage doesn?t really care if the yellow metal hit an all-time high today of $1,440. He sees it primarily as a bet on fear. If investors are more afraid in a year than they are today, then you make
Global Market Comments August 15, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (CALIFORNIA MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN?) (DEATH OF THE CONSUMER), (SPX) ?S&P 500 Index (SPX)
Who was the top paid state employee in California last year? The governor? The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? How about the leader of the Senate? Nope. It was a prison psychiatrist who took home an eye popping $838,706, most of it in overtime. I love it! The state drives people insane by sending
I often get asked why I never put out ?BUY? recommendations on consumer discretionary stocks. I promptly send them in search of the latest consumer spending figures at the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which do not paint a pretty picture (click following link ?http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm). Since 2008, quarterly spending has come in at a scant 0.5%,
Global Market Comments August 14, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (END OF THE COMMODITY SUPERCYCLE, OR NOT?) (CU), (DBA), (USO), (FCX), (BHP), (ABX), ?(RIO), (JPM), (GS), (ECH), (EWZ), (IDX) (BRING BACK THE SMOKE FILLED ROOMS), (SPX), (TBT) First Trust ISE Global Copper Index (CU) PowerShares DB Agriculture (DBA) United States Oil (USO) Freeport-McMoRan Copper &