I was recently speaking to a former Canadian professional hockey player about his mining company and the precious metals markets. After the standard company’s assets in the ground and cash position discussion, the conversation turned to business television. He told me that he had the pleasure of meeting with commentator, columnist and author Charles Krauthammer of Fox News at an investment conference. In our view, Charles Krauthammer is the most intelligent analyst and commentator on television so it came as no surprise that the retired hockey player felt the same way. He already knew that Charles was brilliant but what really surprised him was his knowledge of sports, particularly baseball. A little history here; Charles Krauthammer attended grammar school in Montreal and graduated from McGill University.  He later graduated from Harvard Medical School and is a licensed medical doctor. As well, he is bi-lingual. He is quite balanced in his views and generally speaking we find him to be absolutely correct approximately 99% of the time. Whether you are in Canada or the U.S., we suggest that investors pay close attention to his comments-he is that insightful and accurate.   Wayne Rogers is a regular panelist on Fox News Saturday morning “Cashin’ in” segment. You may recognize Wayne as a television (M*A*S*H*) and movie actor (“Cool Hand Luke”) with numerous television credits going back to the sixties. At the same time, he has been a successful investor and money manager for decades. What we find so appealing about Wayne is […]

Investors will find this book of great value. Experienced investors know that technical analysis coupled with fundamental analysis is vital to investment success. In our opinion, intensive fundamental analysis requires technical analysis for the critical timing in the buying and selling of stocks and commodities. Renowned technical analyst and celebrated author John Murphy outdoes himself in his latest book. It is exceptionally comprehensive, yet John puts it in very understandable terms for those not experienced in technical analysis. Money managers and full time professional  investors will find the book informative as well. 

                    *Our advice for a difficult stock market is to “insist on value.” *We want to emphasize that we are always invested in the markets and that the advantage we find in bear markets is that they give us the opportunity to invest in stocks when they are severely undervalued. To us, bear markets are “super sales” and we find many stocks that are undervalued-naturally they are not the prime choices of the esteemed U.S. brokerage industry.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention was held last week in Toronto. Our comments from last week still stand and we still believe that we are soon commencing a positive cycle in gold and mining stocks. Our technical, cyclical and fundamental analyses suggest now is the “time” to be accumulating the gold stocks. Price weakness can be frustrating but what few consider is that it is an opportunity to invest when the mining stocks are “on sale.”

Last week one of the largest weekly “insiders” stock  sales by offcers and directors occurred. These most informed of all investors (they work at these companies) reported approximately $23,000,000 of purchases by the “insiders” but at the same time they reported an enormous $578,000,000 in sales of their own companies shares. Insiders have been selling very heavily over the last year and this level of selling generally occurs during periods when the stock market is making a major top. HOWEVER, we can find many stocks that are very undervalued and are being bought by their own officers and directors.

What is New on the Macro Level?  By Hubert Marleau The Fed Will Delay the Expected Interest Rate Liftoff to September 2015 The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)had a very lengthy debate on January 27-28 about its strategy and timing for raising its policy rate from the current 0.25% level. Put simply, the rate setters got cold feet and the sense of urgency wasn’t apparent. There are several factors that support this renewed cautious stance. Firstly, the sudden plunge in oil prices is keeping the inflation rate far away from the Fed’s target rate of 2.0%.

EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION GDP Story: A Fairy tale turned to horror story Once upon a time a considerable time ago there was a far off land called Europe that decided to form a more perfect union, but a still a less-than-perfect union, and blend its data together using an average weighted by GDP and population to express conditions within its borders. To this day many people still feel it is the right way to summarize conditions in this land of milk and honey. And if the milk in Germany is fresh but it is beyond its sell date in the rest of Europe on balance the large German weight might make it all seem fresh. But I don’t think buying soured milk from France would taste good in your coffee because German milk is so very up-to-date. Yet, that is the nature of data from Europe and impact of the rules prevailing in euroland…not to be confused with Euro-Disney but in fact quite confusable with euro-Disney because of the fun ride it has been giving investors recently…weeee! I want to go to Greek-land next, daddy!

THE STOCK MARKET IS IN A PERIOD OF EXCESSES SO INVEST IN WHAT IS UNDERVALUED NOT WHAT IS POPULAR.  Before I start, I want to emphasize that we are always invested in the market as we always find stocks that are undervalued……..many!  We may be bearish for many large caps that have performed well. But our view is that now is the time to take profits in some of them. But we always find numerous stocks that are undervalued and offer the potential for exceptional capital gains; Gold stocks are at the top of the list.

Robert A Brusca, PhD, Chief Economist FAO Economics, New York; Bob has been excellent in his views and forecasts for the world’s economies and the economy as well.  We pay close attention to his outlook which advises institutional investors. The following contains Bob’s very cautious economic outlook for this year.