Shell shock from Asian exchanges continues to spread to the U.S. market.  On Wednesday, the Dow dropped 248 points to close below 15,800 and the broader S&P 500 lost more than 1%. That puts the index down nearly 10% for the year so far, and down just over 14% from the previous 52-week high that was set in May last year. The Volatility Index, which measures the market’s mood based on sophisticated traders’ positions in options contracts, has recently jumped to nearly 30, about twice its normal reading. #-ad_banner-#That’s a wrap-up of what you’ll hear on the financial channels.  And… Read More

Shell shock from Asian exchanges continues to spread to the U.S. market.  On Wednesday, the Dow dropped 248 points to close below 15,800 and the broader S&P 500 lost more than 1%. That puts the index down nearly 10% for the year so far, and down just over 14% from the previous 52-week high that was set in May last year. The Volatility Index, which measures the market’s mood based on sophisticated traders’ positions in options contracts, has recently jumped to nearly 30, about twice its normal reading. #-ad_banner-#That’s a wrap-up of what you’ll hear on the financial channels.  And that coverage misses the point. I’ve been sounding the alarm bell about China for a while now, and with such rampant uncertainty about the fallout — when and where it will end and how far it will fall — the global picture is probably going to get worse before it gets better.  But here’s what you need to keep in mind. Here is what no one else is going to mention… The mainstream financial media is there to broadcast a story. I’m here to temper their adrenaline with a little hyper-rationality.  A critical element of successful investing — and one… Read More

Let me start off by saying that today’s essay is not for everyone. But as Chief Investment Strategist for Game-Changing Stocks, it’s my job to bring readers the best aggressive growth investing opportunities the market has to offer.  If it just so happens to come from an industry that some find morally objectionable, then so be it. #-ad_banner-#But I received a question from a subscriber the other day that I know many of our readers have been wondering about: Should I invest in marijuana stocks? If so, which ones should I be looking at? Most Americans, about 62%, live in… Read More

Let me start off by saying that today’s essay is not for everyone. But as Chief Investment Strategist for Game-Changing Stocks, it’s my job to bring readers the best aggressive growth investing opportunities the market has to offer.  If it just so happens to come from an industry that some find morally objectionable, then so be it. #-ad_banner-#But I received a question from a subscriber the other day that I know many of our readers have been wondering about: Should I invest in marijuana stocks? If so, which ones should I be looking at? Most Americans, about 62%, live in states where cannabis of some sort is legal for medical or recreational use. And more states are either legalizing marijuana or taking fairly significant action to decriminalize.  This is a good move. In fact, had Ohio approved its recent legalization initiative, the pro-cannabis United States would have, for the first time, had enough votes in the Electoral College to decide the presidency.  Cannabis is not a drug. Cannabis is food. I know that’s a controversial statement, but I believe it. There is a scientific basis for this: Our bodies contain two types of receptors, CB1 and CB2, whose sole function… Read More

As I write this, the bull market has lasted for 2,473 days, making it the third-longest in U.S. history. The record is 4,494 days from 1987 to 2000, followed by the period from 1949 to 1956. While 2016 may well emerge as the best year the market has ever seen — and presidential election years are typically above average — the evidence I’m seeing suggests standout performance is not likely. The most optimistic forecast I’ve come across for 2016 has been “high single digits.” #-ad_banner-#That’s hardly a barn-burner. But these predictions… Read More

As I write this, the bull market has lasted for 2,473 days, making it the third-longest in U.S. history. The record is 4,494 days from 1987 to 2000, followed by the period from 1949 to 1956. While 2016 may well emerge as the best year the market has ever seen — and presidential election years are typically above average — the evidence I’m seeing suggests standout performance is not likely. The most optimistic forecast I’ve come across for 2016 has been “high single digits.” #-ad_banner-#That’s hardly a barn-burner. But these predictions are defensible based on the available evidence. Growth in the developed world is hardly robust. Estimates call for 3% growth in the United States and 2% in the European Union, which puts the majority of the world economy in low gear. Commodities are losing steam. Oil is trading for about $30 a barrel, more than $110 off its all-time high. This downtrend is also evident in the agriculture space, and even precious metals. Gold may well settle below $1,000 an ounce for the first time in recent memory, and silver isn’t faring any better. Read More

President Obama called it, “one of the most serious national security challenges [America] must confront.” Others are calling it “America’s greatest threat to national security.” In January, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, revised the annual list of the largest threats the United States faces, and he moved this threat to the top spot. #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about cyberattacks. Most people know that hackers and identity thieves are a growing threat — not just to individuals, but to national security. But what most people don’t realize is that… Read More

President Obama called it, “one of the most serious national security challenges [America] must confront.” Others are calling it “America’s greatest threat to national security.” In January, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, revised the annual list of the largest threats the United States faces, and he moved this threat to the top spot. #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about cyberattacks. Most people know that hackers and identity thieves are a growing threat — not just to individuals, but to national security. But what most people don’t realize is that the end of this threat could very well be on the horizon. Imagine technology capable of predicting data breaches days before they occur. This is the long-term goal of researchers and scientists in the U.S. intelligence community. Academics and industry scientists are teaming up to build software that can analyze publicly available data and find patterns suggesting the likelihood of a hack. The ultimate goal of their plan is to create a supercomputer capable of predicting things like whether or not China will try to intercept sensitive data from the President’s Daily… Read More

It’s a private stock market shared by millionaires, celebrities and double-digit dividend yields. This market is riddled with current and former government big shots… The Clintons, Mitt Romney, Al Gore, Rudy Giuliani and George H.W. Bush have all made millions in it. According to Bloomberg News, Hillary Clinton made $15.4 million in this market between 2003 and 2007. #-ad_banner-#Warren Buffett, Goldman Sachs, George Soros and others have made billions from this private market, too. …Yet I doubt your average investor has ever even heard of it. That’s because… Read More

It’s a private stock market shared by millionaires, celebrities and double-digit dividend yields. This market is riddled with current and former government big shots… The Clintons, Mitt Romney, Al Gore, Rudy Giuliani and George H.W. Bush have all made millions in it. According to Bloomberg News, Hillary Clinton made $15.4 million in this market between 2003 and 2007. #-ad_banner-#Warren Buffett, Goldman Sachs, George Soros and others have made billions from this private market, too. …Yet I doubt your average investor has ever even heard of it. That’s because for the most part, no one but the wealthiest 6% of investors has had access to this “millionaires only” market. But that’s quickly changing. In fact, I predict that in 2016, this private market will open up to more investors than ever before. And today, I am going to tell you about a way to tap into this premier market immediately and without having to be a millionaire. Similar to the double-digit yielding, “secret wealth” investments I talked about in a recent issue of StreetAuthority Daily, these investments give ordinary investors the ability to… Read More

Longtime readers know that I make it my business to identify “the next big thing.” This can come in the form of a product, service, technology or a company that materially disrupts the baseline assumptions for doing business in a particular industry.  In my premium newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks, I usually focus on a big idea and give readers my take on stocks that could deliver triple-digit gains for investors. I also recommend allocating about 20% of your portfolio to these kinds of picks in order to really juice your portfolio while compounding the other 80% of your money in “autopilot”… Read More

Longtime readers know that I make it my business to identify “the next big thing.” This can come in the form of a product, service, technology or a company that materially disrupts the baseline assumptions for doing business in a particular industry.  In my premium newsletter, Game-Changing Stocks, I usually focus on a big idea and give readers my take on stocks that could deliver triple-digit gains for investors. I also recommend allocating about 20% of your portfolio to these kinds of picks in order to really juice your portfolio while compounding the other 80% of your money in “autopilot” mode through safe, stable index funds or blue-chip stocks. But lately I’ve been making the case that the market is too overvalued and volatile for anything but the most tactical of new investment dollars. Until things return to normal, it’s the prudent thing to do right now.  So recently, I had a reader ask me this: Andy, if I’m sidelining new S&P 500 allocations, is there anything I should invest in in the meantime? If the S&P 500 is a no-go for a while, do you have any suggestions that meet YOUR criteria for a good 80% “Autopilot” stock? It… Read More

Only once a lifetime — twice, if you’re lucky — does an invention come along that truly changes the world. The wheel. The plow. The printing press. The combustion engine. The semiconductor. But with the benefits that come from mankind’s past and future achievements, there will always be exploitation. The wheel — and eventually the combustion engine — became (amongst other uses) weapons of war and oppression. The printing press can be used to spread propaganda, libel and plagiarism. Over-plowing depletes a soil’s nutrients and makes farmland infertile. Not only were these problems not solved overnight, but many of them… Read More

Only once a lifetime — twice, if you’re lucky — does an invention come along that truly changes the world. The wheel. The plow. The printing press. The combustion engine. The semiconductor. But with the benefits that come from mankind’s past and future achievements, there will always be exploitation. The wheel — and eventually the combustion engine — became (amongst other uses) weapons of war and oppression. The printing press can be used to spread propaganda, libel and plagiarism. Over-plowing depletes a soil’s nutrients and makes farmland infertile. Not only were these problems not solved overnight, but many of them are largely still present to this day… decades, even centuries, after the original tool was invented. Today, we are in the midst of a technological renaissance. The power of a semiconductor (the heart of most of today’s technological innovation) doubles every two years, according to the universally accepted Moore’s Law. Gadgets that nearly every American owns today are more powerful than the satellites launched into space decades ago. Nearly every aspect of life is now digitized: from family photos and funny videos to medical records and bank statements. And for the technologically savvy, all of that information is practically up… Read More

It’s an idea the richest and most powerful people in the world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock… Read More

It’s an idea the richest and most powerful people in the world almost never say out loud. But takeover king Wilbur Ross knows it. So does Herb Allen, the most exclusive banker in the world. And you can bet your boots that billionaire Warren Buffett knows what I’m about to tell you. In fact, he’s often said these are the types of deals he wants to pursue… Here’s Wall Street’s dirty little secret: The best investments in the world — those with the biggest returns and some of the highest yields — are not listed on any stock market. #-ad_banner-#They’re privately held… According to a study by professors at Duke and Ohio State covering a period from 1984 through 2010, private market investors earned 18% more than the S&P 500. It’s proof that when it comes to investing, the rich really are different — they invest in better companies. But exactly how do they do this? Well, rather than buying shares on the stock exchange, savvy big hitters write a very large check to a very special kind of firm. To be eligible to invest like this, federal law stipulates that an investor needs to have at least… Read More

Recently I’ve been telling my readers about a quiet revolution that’s taking place thanks to eccentric billionaire Elon Musk and his band of scientists at Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA).  You see, for years they’ve been working feverishly at their lab in Fremont, California on a battery that could provide enough energy to power a house.  Earlier this year, news came along that they’d finally broken through. And now, for the first time in decades, we could see the entire utility sector turned on its head as a result — leading to massive gains for early investors.  As you can see,… Read More

Recently I’ve been telling my readers about a quiet revolution that’s taking place thanks to eccentric billionaire Elon Musk and his band of scientists at Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA).  You see, for years they’ve been working feverishly at their lab in Fremont, California on a battery that could provide enough energy to power a house.  Earlier this year, news came along that they’d finally broken through. And now, for the first time in decades, we could see the entire utility sector turned on its head as a result — leading to massive gains for early investors.  As you can see, Tesla’s battery storage device looks nothing like your old-fashioned AA battery. It’s a sleek, compact unit that you can mount on the wall in your garage. One single, stand-alone unit delivers enough power to take an entire home completely off the grid. Simply charge it with a solar panel, windmill or any other power source, and you’ve got all the energy you need. Thanks to Tesla, the world is about to see that an energy sea-change has been quietly unfolding before their eyes for several years now. #-ad_banner-#And many of the world’s greatest investors are quickly staking their… Read More

Just as humankind sent men to the moon, developed instant communication and delivered clean water and energy to a world that constantly needs more of both… doctors and other researchers have once again moved the scientific ball forward. We’ve witnessed remarkable scientific advancements in the past century.  Influenza viruses can now be treated. Polio no longer keeps children inside. AIDS, while still a global pandemic, is treatable with antiretroviral drug cocktails. Smallpox and diphtheria are essentially eradicated. Many types of cancer are now considered manageable health concerns rather than deadly diseases with grim prognoses. Despite these medical advances, humanity lives… Read More

Just as humankind sent men to the moon, developed instant communication and delivered clean water and energy to a world that constantly needs more of both… doctors and other researchers have once again moved the scientific ball forward. We’ve witnessed remarkable scientific advancements in the past century.  Influenza viruses can now be treated. Polio no longer keeps children inside. AIDS, while still a global pandemic, is treatable with antiretroviral drug cocktails. Smallpox and diphtheria are essentially eradicated. Many types of cancer are now considered manageable health concerns rather than deadly diseases with grim prognoses. Despite these medical advances, humanity lives with the continual threat of serious and deadly diseases, some of which are functionally untreatable. What’s emerging as the key to combating many of these conditions is a series of novel approaches to delivering therapy. For most of the history of medicine, these therapies have relied on delivering a chemical to the bloodstream. Aspirin, Viagra, Xanax, Lipitor — these are all chemically based. But now the basic approach of cutting-edge therapeutics has shifted. The new class of medicines and vaccines don’t rely on chemicals, but on biology. They use the body’s remarkably powerful ability to respond to threats and heal… Read More