6 Silver Stocks Ready to Follow SLV's Momentum

The author is an avid silver investor, and is watching the silver price this week with an eagle eye. Is it now time for the "good guys" to win for a change?

CFTC Silver Revelations

Last week we had Silver shocking news from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that silver futures pricing may have been manipulated:

I do believe that there have been repeated attempts to influence prices in the silver markets,” Mr Chilton said on Tuesday at a meeting in Washington. “There have been fraudulent efforts to persuade and what I consider deviously control that price.

With this news and revelations being priced into the markets, Silver appears poised for a new movement upwards. The author reviews the silver price and the status of his Six Silver Stocks recommendation made on September 17th, 2010. (more)

David Morgan Explains Why Silver Has Broken Out and Catching Up and Where It Goes Next

Daily Bell: David, welcome back and thank you for sitting down with us today. Remind us about the difference between silver and gold both as precious metals and money metals.

David Morgan: "The major monetary metal in history is silver, not gold." – Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman in an interview with James Blanchard at the New Orleans Investment Conference. November 7, 1993. The above quote is fact of monetary history but few in the West study or know silver's history. Yes, gold is money but silver has been used as money more often, in more places, by more people than gold ever has.

Daily Bell: Why has silver been known as the peoples' metal?

David Morgan: Because of value per unit, as this interview takes place gold is about $1400 US per ounce and silver is about $25 per ounce. Since most transactions are small daily transactions by all people it is known as the peoples' money. Silver buys your small items—food, water, energy, and clothes for example. Large settlement purchases would be done in gold.

Daily Bell: What is the gold/silver ratio and where is it today? Has it closed the gap since we last spoke?

David Morgan: It is the price of gold in dollars divided by the price of silver in dollars. As of this interview that would be 1400/25, which is 56. The ratio has moved from 68 to 56 in the past six weeks and it has moved in favor of silver since our last interview. (more)

Dollar sinks before 'busiest week in decades'

The dollar hit a 15-year low point against the yen on Monday and sank against the euro ahead of "the busiest week in decades" during which the US Federal Reserve could announce fresh stimulus measures.

Financial markets will focus on major interest rate decisions from across the world, as well as mid-term elections and key jobs data in the United States, traders said.

"The busiest event week in decades gets started with a weaker dollar," said analyst Kathleen Brooks at online trading site Forex.com.

"Market angst is likely to reach fever pitch this week as we lead up to no less than five central bank meetings, mid-term elections in the US and a non-farm payroll report on Friday.

"A week packed full of so much event risk is a rare thing in the financial markets, and the dollar has started as it left off on Friday -- trading with an air of nervousness," Brooks added.

The dollar plunged to 80.22 yen in Asian trade, nearing its lowest level since World War II, as US data bolstered expectations of further credit easing, dealers said. (more)

Updated Market Maps for the Dow, Gold, and Oil!

With the critical mid-term elections tomorrow weighing in the balance, it seems that most investors are standing on the sidelines, waiting for something big to happen.

But in my opinion, they’re going to be sorely disappointed. Other than perhaps some short-term market gyrations, the trends you’ve been witnessing over the past few months will remain in place, only their momentum will likely increase in the weeks and months ahead.

And no matter what the Federal Reserve announces on Wednesday regarding its money printing operations, don’t you be fooled by that either: The Fed, no matter how much money printing it will announce, will always have the ability to print more money. It also has a lot more ammo up its sleeves.

Having said that, I think today is a great time to give you an objective update of my market roadmaps for the Dow, gold and oil. They are cyclical charts based on actual signals from my computer models.

I watch these signals very closely because they tell me when a fork … speed bump … an acceleration of recent trends … or even a U-turn is coming in the markets. They are critical indicators, and they should not be ignored. (more)

Long Term Growth Trend DJIA

U.S. home prices expected to slide another 8%

(CNNMoney.com) -- The robo-signing controversy is just another issue that the already sluggish housing market didn't need -- but most analysts do not think it will have far-reaching impact.

Nevertheless, the housing market still faces many problems: a weak economy, sluggish hiring, tight mortgage underwriting, falling home prices, and slowing sales.

Then there's the potentially disastrous number of foreclosures that may occur over the coming years.

"The market faces much bigger problems than the robo-signing issue," said Mike Larson, a housing market analyst for Weiss Research.

Prime among them are declines in home prices. And while cheaper homes are good for buyers, they also speak to a housing market that won't stabilize.

Fiserv, a market analytics company, has scaled back its home price projections considerably. In February, it forecast national price gains of about 4% through the end of 2011. The company's latest prediction is for a 7.1% drop in prices between June 30, 2010 and June 30, 2011. (more)

Could Thorium Replace Uranium For Nuclear Power?

Goodbye, Great Bond Bull Market

HERE WE ARE on the eve of an election on which precariously hangs the fate of the nation, if not the universe. We know that because both the contending parties tell us so. We have to own up, though, to some small kernel of doubt, since lo! the many elections we've been witness to over the years were invariably also described as being crucial for the fate of the nation, if not the universe.

But as someone who staunchly believes in Winston Churchill's conclusion that democracy is the worst political system devised by man except for all the others, the history of this nation compels us to diffidently suggest that truly "crucial" elections have been rare as hen's teeth and the country has survived even the numerous times the populace perversely has chosen to throw rascals in instead of out.

Still, this election, whatever the outcome, does boast a significant distinction from all its midterm predecessors. Not, unfortunately, in the quality of the candidates; they're easily as mediocre or worse a crop as any produced in the past couple of hundred years. But where they truly stand out is in the enormous sums raised on behalf of their candidacies. As Will Rogers put it so aptly, "politics have gotten so expensive that it takes lots of money even to get beat." (more)

The Ten Biggest American Cities That Are Running Out Of Water

Some parts of the United States have begun to run low on water. That is probably not much of a surprise to people who live in the arid parts of America that have had water shortages for decades or even centuries. No one who has been to the Badlands in South Dakota would expect to be able to grow crops there.

The water problem is worse than most people realize, particularly in several large cities which are occasionally low on water now and almost certainly face shortfalls in a few years. This is particularly true if the change in global weather patterns substantially alters rainfall amounts in some areas of the US.

24/7 Wall St. looked at an October 2010 report on water risk by environmental research and sustainability group Ceres. We also considered a comprehensive July 2010 report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, which mapped areas at high risk of water shortage conflict. 24/7 Wall St. also did its own analysis of water supply and consumption in America's largest cities, and focused on the thirty largest metropolitan areas. One goal was to identify potential conflicts in regions that might have disputed rights over large supplies of water and the battles that could arise from these disputes. And, 24/7 Wall St. examined geographic areas that have already been plagued by drought and water shortages off and on. (more)

Why Bill Nygren Is Buying Stocks Now

Many of Wall Street's greatest investors seem to agree: Now is a great time to buy stocks.

Warren Buffett has opined that stocks are a better buy than bonds these days. Legg Mason's Bill Miller, famous for the 15-year streak in which he beat the S&P 500, is also bullish, arguing that large caps now present the investment opportunity of a lifetime.

Now Bill Nygren, co-manager of several high-performing Oakmark mutual funds, has joined that chorus. His Oakmark I (OAKMX) fund has placed in the top 10% of funds in its category over the past three, five, and 10 years. Over the past decade, it ranks in the top 2%!

Growing dividends and buybacks
In his third-quarter commentary to shareholders, Nygren shook his head at investors plowing money into bonds while withdrawing from stock funds. "We continue to believe that equities are attractively priced," he wrote, "and are highly likely to dominate returns from more popular assets such as fixed income."

He goes on to explain that many investors look only at companies' income statements, and see sales grow too slowly, if at all. But they're missing all the mighty heaps of cash that many companies have been accumulating. Nygren expects to see rising dividend payments and heightened share repurchases, both of which can benefit shareholders significantly. (more)