Stocks could plunge 50% in the next year or two: Blodget

As regular Daily Ticker viewers will know, I have recently become concerned about the possibility of a stock-market crash — or, at the very least, a long period of crappy stock returns.

Importantly, I'm not predicting a crash, but I think the odds of one are increasing. And I am holding onto my own stocks only because I have a balanced portfolio and a long-enough investment horizon that I am comfortable with the possibility of stocks plunging, say, 50%, over the next year or two.

Of course, stocks have done so well over the past five years that almost everyone is bullish these days, so whenever I talk about the possibility of a market crash, people cackle with laughter or dismiss me as a hater, short seller, or moron.  (more)

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David Gurwitz – Charles Nenner & Company 2014 Forecasts

from Financial Survival Network
David Gurwitz has a number of forecasts for 2014 that will surprise and even shock you. We talked about:

• Bearish on Copper – Short on Crude
• Apple to hit new highs – Google is topping
• Dollar to hit brick wall – Dow to hit brick wall
• Softbank an interesting buy

…and many other interesting calls you need to hear about.
Click Here to Listen to the Audio

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Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX)

When you're hot, you're hot, and medical device maker Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) is sizzling. On Monday, the stock spiked 3.35% to a four-year high after receiving a double dose of upgrades from analysts at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Oppenheimer (NYSE: OPY).

Shares continued to climb Tuesday, and the latest move in the stock is telling us that the bull run in BSX just doesn't want to stop -- and hey, why should it?

According to David Lewis, who follows the stock for Morgan Stanley, BSX deserves his bullish "overweight" rating in large part because of the strength in the company's pipeline and its opportunities for margin expansion.

"Over the past several years, the company has targeted investments across several markets to accelerate growth and drive leverage," wrote Lewis in a note to clients. "We believe better recognition of this strategy will drive future out performance even after a robust 2013 as accelerating sales and earnings growth drive improving financial performance over the next several years."  (more)

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McAlvany Weekly Commentary

2014: Year of Unintended Consequences

Posted on 08 January 2014.

About this week’s show:
-Central Bank printing on steroids
-China & Obamacare (with pre-existing conditions)
-Discussion of European gold hoard - CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

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Did Soros Just Predict a China Crash?

George Soros probably shouldn't expect any warm invitations to Beijing -- not with the much-reviled short seller warning of a giant Chinese crash.

The billionaire first shook a major government in September 1992, when he led an attack on the British pound. For his role in humiliating London and forcing John Major's government to exit the European exchange-rate mechanism -- essentially the euro -- Soros reportedly netted $2 billion. Soros made a bundle off America's subprime debt crisis as well. Here in Asia, his legend has loomed large since 1997, when then-Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused him, bizarrely, of heading a Jewish conspiracy to spark an Asian crisis.

Now Soros has his eye on China. In a Jan. 2 op-ed for Project Syndicate, Soros didn't say whether he's shorting China. But he did connect the dots in a way that can't make President Xi Jinping happy. To Soros, the main risk facing the world isn't the euro, the U.S. Congress or a Japanese asset bubble, but a Chinese debt disaster that's unfolding in plain sight. (more)

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Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG): This Overvalued Biotech is in Danger of Plummeting as Much as 30%

As the stock market recovered in 2009 through 2011, almost every sector posted impressive gains. Those steady-as-she goes increases continued for most stocks well into 2012 and 2013, but major biotech stocks simply took off like a rocket. Many of them surged more than 100% over the past two years, creating tens of billions of dollars in profits for investors.

Leading biotechs adroitly refilled their drug pipelines (through both acquisitions and internal R&D), which set the stage for steady, solid sales growth. Thirty-nine new drugs were approved by the FDA in 2012, a rate that had not been seen since the mid-1990s. That flurry of approvals helped fuel sales growth in subsequent years, even though the number of new approvals dropped to 26 in 2013, according to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).  (more)

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