Now that the second half of 2011 has begun, investors are asking what sectors to look at. Here’s a case for looking for looking at two of them: gold miners and U.S. auto manufacturers. Gold miners Gold has done well so far this year, beginning 2011 at $1424.20 an ounce and now topping $1600, an…
Today, Moody’s Investors Services (MCO) placed the U.S. Government’s bond rating on review for a possible downgrade, substantially increasing the possibility that one of the major credit rating agencies would downgrade the United States’ credit outlook or credit rating, as I warned here on Thoughtsworththinking.net in December 2010. Neither action has occurred yet, so an…
With gold in the mid-$1300s ($1356.70 as of February 11 close), still within sight of its historic nominal high of $1421 on November 9, 2010[i], people who have accumulated gold and gold-related assets are asking if it’s time to sell. While it’s never wrong to manage risk by trimming assets when prices appreciate, I believe that…
In her classic novels The Foutainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand distinguished between people who make choices based on their own objective observations, and “second-handers” – people who are more apt to follow the opinions of other people than their own just because those other people are popular. The case I want to make is…
Back in November, when gold was red hot, I warned investors against making big bets on gold or gold-related assets in the 4th quarter of 2009. I was on target here. During the week of that writing (November 16-20), gold was trading in the $1,130-$1,150/oz. range. It hit a peak of $1217.40 on December 3,…
Back in 1987, I was working retail for a company that was then a major foreign exchange and precious metals dealer. A non-descript man entered the office with his family. The man, who was wearing a flannel shirt one might use for garden work, asked me what our price to buy gold was. I asked…