It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again as the Russian Ruble Crashes

Battered by sanctions, the Russian ruble has fallen to historic lows against the U.S. dollar.
The last time the ruble slid this far was in the late 1990′s when I was still writing for an inside market publication called Russia Crisis Watch during the Russian financial crisis.
Three times a week Crisis would document the “real” condition of the Russian economy, while providing market intelligence from a network inside and outside the country.
From the impact of cross-border sovereign debt and bond defaults, to attempting to provide meaningful figures and estimates during what amounted to a currency freefall, Crisis covered it all. (more)

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Earn a 14% Yield From This ‘Hated’ Commodity

As long as there’s been debt, a way to resolve unpayable debt has needed to exist.
A passage from Deuteronomy in the Bible talks about creditors canceling debts every seven years.
Throughout 19th century Europe, those unable to pay their obligations would likely wind up in debtor’s prison, where they remained until their families paid their liabilities. (more)

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Linn Energy (Nasdaq: LINE): Lock In A 10% Yield With This Rare Monthly Dividend Payer

In my database, I count more than 700 securities that dish out monthly distributions. The overwhelming majority of those are ETFs and closed-end funds. The pool of common stocks is much shallower. But there are a few dozen to choose from, including a couple names you might already be familiar with, such as current High-Yield Investing portfolio holdings Realty Income (NYSE: O) and Prospect Capital (Nasdaq: PSEC).
Another one you might want to consider is Linn Energy (Nasdaq: LINE), a rare upstream master limited partnership (MLP). Much like one of my current holdings, Linn acquires mature oil and gas-bearing properties and then uses hedge contracts to stabilize pricing and immunize cash flows against commodity price volatility.
The company was attacked last year by a dubious short selling firm that questioned the Linn's accounting practices (among other complaints, alleging improperly calculated distributable cash flows). The bearish arguments spooked investors, almost cutting the stock price in half.
But a subsequent investigation by the SEC revealed no wrongdoing, and the shares have since stabilized. But they still don't adequately reflect the earnings potential of the firm's assets, particularly after the accretive $4.6 billion acquisition of Berry Petroleum in December 2013.
With 22,000 producing wells from Texas to North Dakota, Linn's oil and gas output now exceeds 1 billion cubic feet equivalent per day. And these long-lived properties hold 7 trillion cubic feet of reserves, which will provide a steady, predictable cash flow stream well into the future.
The shares have historically offered a robust 8.2% dividend yield over the past four years. But the recent dip has allowed investors a chance to lock in a 10% yield -- almost double the MLP average. And it comes in the form of 12 monthly payments of $0.242 per year, for an annual dividend of $2.90.
I don't have the space for a complete analysis today, but LINN will definitely be on my radar and should be on yours as well.
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Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN)

Myriad Genetics, Inc., a molecular diagnostic company, focuses on the development and marketing of predictive, personalized, and prognostic medicine tests in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Research, Molecular Diagnostics, and Pharmaceutical and Clinical Services. The company’s molecular diagnostic tests are designed to analyze genes; diagnose diseases, expression levels, and proteins to assess an individual’s risk for developing disease later in life; determine a patient’s likelihood of responding to a particular drug; and assess a patient’s risk of disease progression and disease recurrence.
Take a look at the 1-year chart of Gilead (Nasdaq: MYGN) below with my added notations:

MYGN has formed a solid resistance at $40 (red), which would also be a 5-month high if the stock could manage to break above it. In addition, the stock is climbing a short term, up-trending support level (blue) over the last 4+ months.
These two levels combined have MYGN stuck within a common chart pattern known as an ascending triangle. Eventually, the stock will have to break one of those levels. A break above $40 would most likely lead to a test of the $42.50 high (green)

The Tale of the Tape: MYGN has an uptrending support and a $40 resistance level to watch. A long trade could be made on a pullback to the trendline, or on a breakout above $40. A break below the uptrending support would be an opportunity to enter a short trade.
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Fear?

by Dan Norcini
Trader Dan Norcini
So much for stock market complacency.. the VIX – Volatility Index – or as I prefer to call it, the Complacency Index, hit a 10 month high today. The bulls have pretty much had a one way market for as long as we can seemingly remember. Looks like that has changed some! We have gone from confidence to uncertainty to concern. We have not reached fear however.
[...] By the way, further confirmation that those who have been preaching hyperinflation and currency induced cost push and whatever for so many years have been utterly confounded. The yield on the Ten Year Treasury hit a 16 MONTH LOW today!
Continue Reading at TraderDanNorcini.Blogspot.ca…
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S&P 500 Snapshot: Columbus Day Selloff as the VIX Surges

October 13th, 2014 Doug Short
The Eurozone started the week with a modest gain with the EURO STOXX rising up 0.23%. But the US indexes celebrated Columbus Day with a big selloff. The S&P 500 closed at -1.65%, just off its -1.68 intraday low as the 4PM bell started ringing. The VIX volatility index surged above the 20 level benchmark associated with increased volatility risk and closed at its highest number since early June of 2012.
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