Smart Money Preparing For Sell Off Like Never Before

Zero Hedge readers already know that in the latest week the insider selling to buying ratio hit unprecedented levels. Obviously, corporate officers and insiders have decided to take advantage of the artificial wealth effect and bail, especially since it is still unclear whether capital gains taxes will be the same in the following year. However, it is not only insiders who see between the lines. As the following charts demonstrate, the smart money is now either bailing from the stock market in droves or hedging for a market crash like never before...

First, from Sentiment Trader, here is the put/call ratio. Self-explanatory: (more)

10 Investing Facts You Probably Don't Know -- but Should

The securities industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year in advertising, but that doesn't mean the general public is getting the straight scoop. Nor does the blanket coverage from the financial media ensure that the public is shielded from misinformation. So, as you contemplate investing for the New Year, here are 10 facts you probably don't know (but should):

1. This wasn't the "lost decade": All the talk about the "lost decade" is complete nonsense. Investors who bought and held a globally diversified portfolio of low-cost stock and bond index funds did just fine. Dividing that portfolio into 60% stocks and 40% bonds, while not suitable for everyone, is an average asset allocation and is routinely used by defined-benefit retirement plans. The annualized return for that asset allocation for the past decade was approximately 6%. Investors in a portfolio of 100% stocks, invested in the same globally diversified manner, had an annualized return of almost 8%. But, yes, it was a "lost decade" for those who invested all of their assets just in the S&P 500. I don't know why anyone would do that. I also don't understand why any "expert" would use that index as a benchmark for the entire market. It isn't.

2. "Great" companies can be lousy investments: Consider Lehman Brothers, WorldCom, General Motors, Conseco and Chrysler. Companies that are "great" one day can tank the next. There's no way to tell who's next. (more)

Jay Taylor: Turning Hard Times Into Good times

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As The Euro Goes The Way Of The Dodo, Where Does That Leave The Dollar?

The Eurozone is heading for a crash—anyone saying otherwise is either stoned, works in Brussels, or hasn’t checked the European bond market action lately: All hell is breaking loose there.

The Euro:
A famed, flightless bird, now extinct.

And if, as I have argued here, the Irish Parliament decides not to pass the austerity budget next December 7—that is, decides not to take the European Central Bank bailout—then hell is going to break out in Europe just in time for Christmas: Satan and Santa Claus just might be squaring off on the Rue Belliard before year’s end.

Therefore, the smart money starts thinking about what’s going to happen after the euro-crisis-climax happens.

In other words, what’s going to happen to the dollar, once the euro goes the way of the dodo.

First, we have to understand how we got here, in order to figure out what’s going to happen next. (more)

BNN: Top Picks

Derek Webb, Chairman and CIO, Webb Asset Management, shares his top picks.

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Uranium Price Hits 2 Year High

The new yellow metal In town

In 1883, an historic cataclysm of 10 days that shook the world and vaporized Krakatoa, an island between Java and Sumatra. An umbrella of ash rose 50 miles high and sent sonic reverberations 7 times around the world. Deaths numbered 120,000. Scientists of that time were awed by the magnitude of nature’s forces that were being unleashed. They speculated that one day ways would be found to harness this energy. Even The Bible concurred with the physicists that all inert matter contained particles of energy that if harnessed could provide inexpensive and abundant energy to replace the coal, steam and oil that fueled the industrial revolution of that era. Now if Faraday’s and Boyle’s could return to 2010 they could witness the fulfillment of their most visionary dreams with the advent of The Nuclear Age.

International demand for U2O6 is rising. Knowledgeable investors who made a killing when uranium reached a $136 a pound in June 2007, are once again in the accumulation mode. The Russians, Koreans, and particularly The Chinese are investing in joint ventures all over the world to gain control of future supply. In fact our contract for Russia dismantled nuclear warheads expires in 2013, not far away. This will further exacerbate the supply and demand deficit. China is likely to purchase off take agreements with uranium miners who do not have any. It is important to find the miners who are in the driver’s seat. This is the miners market to catch a solid big at higher levels. Certain miners who are close to production with uranium that is not yet purchased are setup to reap the benefits of this hot sector. (more)

US Real Estate Prices