Capitalogix

Here Are Some Interesting Links for Your Review

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Strategy Essentials: Ignore at Your Peril. (HarvardBusinessReview)
• The Global Creativity Index. (TheAtlantic)
• M.I.T. Expands Free Online Courses. (NYTimes)
• IBM's Top 12 Tech Trends for 2012 Include Cloud, Analytics, Mobile. (eWeek)
• What If Employees Used A "Viral Pay" System to Determine Each Other’s Bonuses? (Fastcompany)

 

Trading Links:

• Fed Strengthens Its Tools for Preventing Collapse of Large Financial Firms. (Bloomberg)
• Real Estate Developers Take Advantage of Financing-for-Visas Program. (NYTimes)
• Global Funds Positioned Defensively Against Market & Sovereign Challenges. (W.A.)
• 50 Economic Numbers from 2011 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe. (BizInsider)
• SEC Stepping Up Aberrational Performance Fund Inquiries. Looking for fund performance inconsistent with fund strategies and/or benchmarks. (LexisNexis)

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2012

During this holiday season, I hope you are grateful for the things that are great in your life,
that you choose what you can use from the things weren't great …
and that you invest those lessons in your future.

The hardest part of finding a better way is often just remembering that there might be one.

___________________

 

Best wishes to you for a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.

 - Howard

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Jim Rogers Says the Fed Is “Ruining an Entire Class of Investors” - Do You Agree?

No matter what you've heard to the contrary, "there is QE3, the Fed is pumping money into the system," says legendary investor Jim Rogers, disregarding most every Federal Reserve statement over the last six months.

In the video, below, Rogers explains his lack of trust for the Federal Reserve and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

 

 

 

Rogers has been a critic of the Fed's quantitative easing programs and artificially low interest rates, pointing to the latter as something akin to "QE3 in drag".

"They're lying to us," he says of the Fed. "One reason the markets are holding up so well is that they are printing money as fast as they can."

"What the Federal Reserve is doing now is ruining an entire class of investors," says Rogers. By forcing rates down and keeping the economy on a flatline, he believes the Fed could cause another lost generation of investments.

Rogers isn't simply a disgruntled American , he's an investor with a legendary record of success. So, where Rogers is putting his money now?

"I'm long commodities and currencies; I'm short emerging market stocks, U.S. technology stocks, and I'm short European stocks," Rogers discloses. His logic is that he wins if the economy turns up due to commodity scarcity. And if the economy remains weak, Rogers' short positions will more than offset his long positions.

Related articles

• Sorry Folks, QE 3 Ain't Coming... (Phoenix Capital Research)
• Face to face with Jim Rogers on commodities and more (investmentpostcards.com)
• Why the Performance Differential Between Treasury Bonds and the S&P Matters (zerohedge.com)

Uncle Jay's Singing Year in Review - 2011 Edition 2011

Silly, clever, and with a more than a hint of the truth ... Watch as Uncle Jay sings his year-end summary of the news.

 

 

 
Uncle Jay has a website he says "helps small minds understand big news".

Happy Holiday Season, and Best Wishes for the New Year.

 

Zeitgeist 2011: The Year In Review through Google's Top Searches

See what the World searched with Google's 2011 Zeitgeist.

Here is the video.

 

 

 

Don't expect too much; apparently, we are a shallow species.

Explaining The U.S. Federal Budget Deficit [GRAPHIC]

Here is a picture of our Federal Budget as we close out 2011.

Since last August, it's been clear that the United States federal deficit would top $1 trillion in 2011 for the third year in a row. At 8.7 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product, the debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the worst in the past 40 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Government spending far outweighs, government revenues by a difference of nine percentage points in favor of spending, according to a CBO infographic .

The graphic also shows that individual's debt has grown especially large in recent years; debt held by the public accounted for 67 percent of U.S. GDP in 2011, the highest level in four decades.

Here is the U.S. federal budget infographic from the Congressional Budget Office.

 

via Huffington Post.

Related articles

• Rick Santelli Balances U.S. Federal Budget (wallstreetpit.com)
• Temporary Deal Averts Government Shutdown - NYTimes.com (policyabcs.wordpress.com)
• Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go? (omnivoracious.com)

Some Links for Your Weekend Reading

Heads we get a Santa Claus Rally ... Tails we get a recession.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• Sneak Peek at Santa's Warehouses: Where Gifts Really Come From [PICS]. (Mashable)
• Some Easy Ways to Teach Creativity. (TheAtlantic)
• News You Don’t Want to Use: Mild Electric Shocks Speed Learning. (BigThink)
• iWant YOU!: Election May Be Decided By Who Has the Best App. (TheDaily)
• Man Robs Ultimate Fighting Expert - Or Tries To, and Earns Epic Mug-Shot. (Newser)

 

Trading Links:

• The State of Venture Capital and the Internet Presentation. (Mark Suster)
• Has Inequality Been Growing? Why the Rich Have Gotten So Much Richer. (Slate)
• Tremors from a Euro Collapse Would be Global, with U.S. Recession Likely. (WPost)
• Mohamed El-Erian: The European Fix Is Neither Quick nor Comprehensive. (CNBC)
• Overweight in Metal, This Band Tries to Play Tunes in Forex. Metallica, and Other Rockers, Go Hardcore to Master Currency Moves. (WSJ)

All That - Infographic Showing What Happens in 60 seconds on the Internet

This infographic shows you what happens in 60 seconds on the Internet.

I just came from the malls, and based on the number of close parking spaces I found, a lot of people are doing their holiday shopping online.

This chart displays a wide range of actions taken (like e-mails checked, Tweets posted, or songs downloaded) each minute on the Internet.

 

Interesting.

Related articles

• Going Viral Visualized [INFOGRAPHIC] (mashable.com)
• How The Internet Looked in 1996 vs 2011 [Infographic] (socialtimes.com)

Interesting Links for Your Weekend Reading

Don't get into a fight you can't win.

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links:

• 8 Dangers of Collaboration. (Yes & Know)
• Brad Feld’s New List of Books for Entrepreneurship. (Feld)
• A List of the Articles Most-Shared on Facebook in 2011. (Facebook)
• Bionic Contact Lens 'To Project Emails Before Eyes'. Just what you need. (BBC)
• A New Trend? Tech Firm Outlaws Email Because It Wastes Too Much Time. (Newser)

Trading Links:

• Goldman’s Top Investing Picks for 2012. (FinancialPost) 
• Stock & Pony Show: The Toothless Ban On Congressional Insider Trading. (TheDaily) 
• Can Facebook Raise $10 Billion at a $100 Billion Valuation in Its IPO? (WSJ)
• CEO Outlook: 15 Predictions about 2012. (Chief Executive Magazine)
• Speculation or Trepidation? Fear is More Powerful than Greed. (Economist)

Diversification Ideas for this Market

David Stendahl sent me some stats that point to some diversification opportunities. 

Does the following chart look like a bunch of scribbles?  Good; it shows the diversified returns of the S&P 500 Index, Gold, Euro, 10-Year Note, Corn and Crude.

 

 

Keep these markets in mind as trading options that often offer performance not highly correlated with the S&P 500 Index.

What follows are a similar set of comments for various markets.

 

Gold

Over the past 14 yrs, the top 20 winning mos. in Gold produced an avg return of 8.3% … The same mos for the S&P 500 returned 0.6%.

Since 1997 Gold generated a total return of 165.3% based on its top 20 grossing mos. … The S&P 500 index returned 12.5% for the same mos.

Gold generated an avg return of 8.3%/mo based on its top 20 grossing mos. since 1997 … Returns the next month were up on avg 1.3%.

FYI: Gold generated an avg return of 0.6%/mo based on its top 20 grossing mos. since 1997 … Returns the next month were up on avg 1.3%.

14 year perspective … top 3 monthly returns for Gold 13.4%, 13.2% & 12.3% vs. those for the S&P 500 index 11%, 10.1% & 9.3%.

The short advantage ... top 3 negative monthly returns for Gold -17.9%, -11.4% & -9.2% vs. those for the S&P 500 index -18.1%, -12.2% & -11.5%.

 

Crude Oil

Over the past 14 yrs, the top 20 winning mos. in Crude Oil produced an avg return of 9% … The same mos for the S&P 500 returned 1.8%.

Since 1997 Crude Oil generated a total return of 179.2% based on its top 20 grossing mos. … The S&P 500 index returned 35.3% for the same mos.

Crude Oil generated an avg return of 9%/mo based on its top 20 grossing mos. since 1997 … Returns the next month were up on avg 1.6%.

FYI: Crude Oil generated an avg return of 1.8%/mo based on its top 20 grossing mos. since 1997 … Returns the next month were up on avg 1.6%.

14 year perspective … top 3 monthly returns for Crude Oil 19.2%, 17.3% & 11.6% vs. those for the S&P 500 index 11%, 10.1% & 9.3%.

The short advantage ... top 3 negative monthly returns for Crude Oil -23.3%, -15.1% & -13.6% vs. those for the S&P 500 index -18.1%, -12.2% & -11.5%.

 

Corn

Over the past 14 yrs, the top 20 winning mos. in Corn produced an avg return of 10.7% … the same mos for the S&P 500 returned 1.9%.

Since 1997 Corn generated a total return of 214.7% based on its top 20 grossing mos. … the S&P 500 index returned 37.7% for the same mos.

 

Euro

Over the past 14 yrs, the top 20 winning mos. in Euro produced an avg return of 5.5% … The same mos for the S&P 500 returned 2.4%.

Since 1997 Euro generated a total return of 109.2% based on its top 20 grossing mos. … The S&P 500 index returned 49% for the same mos.

 

Ten Year

Over the past 14 yrs, the top 20 winning mos. in 10 Yr. T-Note produced an avg return of 2.1% … The same mos for the S&P 500 returned -1.5%.

Since 1997 10 Yr. T-Note generated a total return of 42.3% based on its top 20 grossing mos. … The S&P 500 index returned -29.8% for the same mos.

10 Yr. T-Note generated an avg return of 2.1%/mo based on its top 20 grossing mos. since 1997 … Returns the next month were up on avg 0.1%.

FYI: 10 Yr. T-Note generated an avg return of -1.5%/mo based on its top 20 grossing mos. Since 1997 … returns the next month were up on avg 0.1%.

14 year perspective … top 3 monthly returns for 10 Yr. T-Note 5%, 2.7% & 2.4% vs. those for the S&P 500 index 11%, 10.1% & 9.3%.

The short advantage ... top 3 negative monthly returns for 10 Yr. T-Note -3.7%, -2.6% & -2.5% vs. those for the S&P 500 index -18.1%, -12.2% & -11.5%.