Please welcome Paul Judd to the Trader’s Blog stage where he will present to you a very interesting trick…BONDS ARE GOOD! Paul should know as he’s dedicated the last 14 years to treasury bonds where he’s learned the in’s and out’s that we should all take a look at! So please read the article below, visit Paul’s Blog here, and let the comments fly!

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I can take a position in the bond market prior to the release of an economic report. Once the report is released, I can close out my position and take profits. Cash is King!

Not so if you are a long-term investor in stocks.

A popular slogan used by many “salespeople” on Wall Street is to buy and hold for the long term. However, not only is your money tied up for years but also holding for the long term doesn’t necessarily mean you will make a

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This post is a guest contribution by Dian Chu*, market analyst, trader and author of the Economic Forecasts and Opinions blog.

The dollar’s value against major currencies has fallen in recent months as the US fiscal outlook worsened and amid expectations that interest rates will remain close to zero for some time to fight the economic downturn.

This week, the euro broke above the psychologically important level of $1.50 driving gold prices to record levels, prompting many global central banks intervening on currency markets to slow the dollar’s fall (Fig 1).

How did we get here?

Since the financial crisis last fall, currency markets have taken their cues mostly from stock markets. When stocks plunged in March of this year, investors rushed to the safety of US government bonds, pushing the

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I just read a mind blowing article. This is one of the most intense rants I have ever seen. Yet the sad part is the author is not exaggerating. Hat tip to Stewart Dougherty, this piece is an eye opener. I have excerpted the best part: There is accumulating evidence that the Washington – Wall Street moral hazard experiment has gone disastrously wrong, and that just like any other accidental discharge of a deadly virus, the moral hazard virus is now loose and swiftly propagating throughout society. By so blatantly colluding with Wall Street, Washington has lost all moral authority, and the people now have only one place to turn: themselves. An ethic of, “If they can do it, so can I,” is spreading, as people realize that fabric of American society has been shredded and replaced by a free-for-all mentality whereby everyone must fend for oneself in ...

When it comes to investment strategies, you’re looking for two key elements right off the bat: Simplicity and understandability.  After all, if you know what you’re doing, your chances of success are greatly heightened. And that’s especially true in the sometimes murky world of options.

For example, I often get questions from folks at seminars, asking why I don’t use strategies like butterfly spreads, condor spreads, or iron crosses.

Simple. They’re too complex!

There are many strategies that are much easier to execute than these and are proven to work time after time, so why confuse the issue?

Even if you’re an options aficionado, I believe in keeping it simple. Making a complex trade only defeats the purpose. Just because a trade is complex doesn’t necessarily mean you‘re going to get higher profits or greater win rate consistency.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve addressed covered call selling, using deep-in-the-money (DITM) options - my

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Stock market-wise, I wish we were back in July 2008. At that time, a 1% swing in the market was an anomaly. Today, it’s the norm. And even though we’ve seen volatility calm down somewhat in recent weeks, don’t be fooled. As we enter another earnings season, we’ll see volatility pick up again. So what are you going to do?

Paralysis is not an option. Neither is making 1% or less on your cash every year when there is a high probability of out-of-control inflation in the years ahead.

You need to have a plan that can take advantage of what the market offers. And simply put, that means employing strategies that work both the long and short sides…

Expand Your Investment Horizons

Until recently, most investors have feared executing anything but the most basic investment strategies: Buying stocks, trading stocks, and in many cases, just buying and holding stocks.

While there’s nothing wrong with any of

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Last week was a very important one. The U.S. Treasury placed a record level of debt, the Federal Reserve announced it would not expand its monetary easing, and we got many top players opining about the economy.  In addition, we are facing the uncertainties about ‘Cap and Trade’ legislation and the healthcare reform.

And to cap it all, we are about to close the first half of 2009, with all the consequences in terms of portfolio adjustments that need to take place.

The Treasury debt placement was well received by the markets.   We saw these issues amply oversubscribed and trading well after their placement.  This was very encouraging.  End of the half adjustments also saw a bid coming back into the U.S. dollar.  And, with the Federal Reserve issuing a statement in which they are not expanding quantitative easing further, the ghost of hyperinflation is delayed for the time

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The silver market is showing signs of bullish strain and an incredible opportunity is being presented to you. I’m a staunch silver advocate and it’s time for an update right now. Silver stands to outperform gold as the long term precious metal bull market continues to unfold.The price of silver, along with gold, is kept under wraps by officials of the New York COMEX market, aka CRIMEX. The old boy network which runs CRIMEX have whipsawed the market in their desired direction for decades and profited accordingly. These actions are government sanctioned because precious metals are competition to un-backed fiat money. State mandated fiat is so weak and poorly designed that it cannot stand competitors.

I wrote a silver article 4½ years ago entitled Silver: Anatomy of A CRIME(X). In that article I compared activities at the COMEX market to prior incidents at Long Term Capital Management, Enron and Arthur

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Chinese business and social culture are generally very subdued and conservative… and above all, respectful. But students at Peking University in Beijing just couldn’t help themselves this week.U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner traveled to China, hat in hand, to allay the concerns of our biggest creditor about the soaring budget deficit and Washington’s loose monetary policy. And by loose, I mean that we are rapidly printing the dollar into worthlessness.

In a speech before the student body, Lil’ Timmy told those gathered that Chinese dollar holdings and investments in U.S. debt were safe and that the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve are committed to a strong dollar policy.

Ha! That’s a good one. And the Chinese students let him know it, with a collective belly laugh. I suspect some of them were actually rolling on the floor. And they weren’t laughing with him. They knew he was full of it. I expect

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Insider Buying: The Best Buy Signal You Can Get

by Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

Did you miss the perfect insider buying opportunity? You might have.

Over the past two months stocks have climbed almost 40%. After hitting historical lows - and being completely oversold - the markets have been clawing their way back up, week by week.

And even with the ugliness caused by the release of the banking stress tests last week, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing values plunge. There’s simply too much money sitting on the sidelines, and it’s slowly creeping back in.

Since 1987 the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) has conducted a monthly survey on how we allocate our money between stocks, bonds and cash. And per the most recent survey, the percent of direct investments in individual stocks is at an all-time low of 17%, nearly half the

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The VIX (a measure of options volatility, an indicator of stock market volatility risk, and reputedly a “fear gauge”) has come down so far from being historically high, that commentators now speak of it as low.  The fact is that is it still high relative to the intermediate past.

The 10-year average VIX is 22.  The 6-month average is 41.  The current level is 35.

click image to enlarge

The chart shows the VIX for several troubled times:

A: Asian currency crisis (1997) - VIX 38 B: Russian economic crisis (1998) - VIX 46 C: terrorist attack on New York City (2001) - VIX 44 D: multiple major US bankruptcies (2002) * - VIX 45 E: CDO and general credit crisis (2008) - VIX 90 F: today - VIX 35

* 7 of 15 largest US bankruptcies occurred in 2002 (or Dec 2001): Enron, Global Crossing, Conseco, Worldcom, UAL, NTL,

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