You don’t need me to tell you that the internet changed the way we live. From emails that have pushed snail mail out of business to online shopping that endangers brick and mortar shops, our daily lives have been transformed forever.  So why does internet dating still carry a stigma in some quarters — or does it?  —Recommended Link— 2-Digit Code Predicts Market Crash This little-known indicator predicted the last market collapse… and can save you from the next one too. Full details here. For those of us who lived most of our lives before the internet, cell phones… Read More

You don’t need me to tell you that the internet changed the way we live. From emails that have pushed snail mail out of business to online shopping that endangers brick and mortar shops, our daily lives have been transformed forever.  So why does internet dating still carry a stigma in some quarters — or does it?  —Recommended Link— 2-Digit Code Predicts Market Crash This little-known indicator predicted the last market collapse… and can save you from the next one too. Full details here. For those of us who lived most of our lives before the internet, cell phones or texting, the old way of meeting people — in our place of work, study or through friends or relatives — still takes precedence. But for people who’ve lived most of their lives with the internet, filling out an online dating profile is as familiar as downloading a tune. #-ad_banner-#Among all age groups, though, the level of acceptance has been growing strongly. According to Pew Research Center, 41% of American adults say they know someone who uses online dating, and 29% indicate they know someone who has married or entered into a long-term partnership with someone they met online.  In… Read More

Quick, which nation reported the strongest economic growth last year?  I’ll give you a hint. The country is rich in minerals and agricultural products, is situated squarely in the Pacific’s volcanic Ring of Fire, and has an incredibly diverse population that speaks 852 different languages.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about Papua New Guinea. While most of its citizens live in rural farming communities, this island nation has been outrunning the world’s economic powerhouses. Some of the credit belongs to an influx of foreign capital. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE: TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) are just a few of the… Read More

Quick, which nation reported the strongest economic growth last year?  I’ll give you a hint. The country is rich in minerals and agricultural products, is situated squarely in the Pacific’s volcanic Ring of Fire, and has an incredibly diverse population that speaks 852 different languages.  #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about Papua New Guinea. While most of its citizens live in rural farming communities, this island nation has been outrunning the world’s economic powerhouses. Some of the credit belongs to an influx of foreign capital. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Total (NYSE: TOT) and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS) are just a few of the parties vying for a piece of the country’s rich oil and gas resources.  Papua New Guinea is also blessed with valuable metals such as gold, copper, nickel and cobalt. High in the rainforests of Enga Province, Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) pulled 493,000 ounces of the yellow metal from the Porgera Mine last year, and this is just one of sixteen large-scale mining projects in the country. Elsewhere, others are busy growing cocoa, coconut, and palm oil, the country’s top agricultural exports. Thanks to all these resources, the country enjoyed robust GDP growth last year that has been estimated at anywere… Read More

The internet turned 47 years old this year. That’s if you count from the first computer-to-computer linkup on ARPANET in 1969. Even counting from the creation of the world wide web in 1989, the online revolution would be getting close to its 30s. While few companies are trading at the dizzying heights of the dot-com bubble, there are still quite a few names that trade as ‘growth’ stocks on the assumption of years left to internet growth. But what if the internet stops growing? #-ad_banner-#Nearly everyone in the United States (89%) is connected and internet penetration is as high as… Read More

The internet turned 47 years old this year. That’s if you count from the first computer-to-computer linkup on ARPANET in 1969. Even counting from the creation of the world wide web in 1989, the online revolution would be getting close to its 30s. While few companies are trading at the dizzying heights of the dot-com bubble, there are still quite a few names that trade as ‘growth’ stocks on the assumption of years left to internet growth. But what if the internet stops growing? #-ad_banner-#Nearly everyone in the United States (89%) is connected and internet penetration is as high as 94% of the population in the United Kingdom. What happens when the growth that investors are assuming to drive internet-related companies just isn’t there? Turns out it may already be happening. A new study by Adobe suggests that internet growth has slowed considerably or even stopped altogether and it could be disastrous for a few tech names. The Internet Is Dead, Long Live The Internet A report by Adobe suggests that internet traffic may have reached its peak as fewer net new people come online every year. The company’s first Advertising Demand Report was compiled from more than 1.1… Read More

We’re less than six weeks from the November elections, and election season usually has investors picking stocks based on the prospective policies of candidates, leading to a certain amount of market volatility. Uncertainty around the global economy and monetary policy has only helped to boost volatility this election season. But betting on stocks that win on one particular candidate is a crap shoot at best, especially in this election. Clinton and Trump differ so radically across nearly every talking point that betting on stocks favored by a particular party means the potential for massive losses if the other candidate wins. Read More

We’re less than six weeks from the November elections, and election season usually has investors picking stocks based on the prospective policies of candidates, leading to a certain amount of market volatility. Uncertainty around the global economy and monetary policy has only helped to boost volatility this election season. But betting on stocks that win on one particular candidate is a crap shoot at best, especially in this election. Clinton and Trump differ so radically across nearly every talking point that betting on stocks favored by a particular party means the potential for massive losses if the other candidate wins. #-ad_banner-#The Real Clear Politics aggregate of national polls puts Clinton’s lead at just 2.3%, close to the tightest the race has been for months. Nobody is able to call this one yet. Unbelievable as it may seem, the candidates actually do agree on one topic. They’ve both made one particular sector of the economy a key position of their platform. For that sector, the news after November could range from good to very good and a leader in the space is primed to takeoff. This Sector Is About To Get A Government Jumpstart While unprecedented monetary stimulus helped to… Read More

Most investors have been trained to think that earning 6% or 8% a year on their trades is admirable. And the old saying is true: No one ever went broke taking a profit. But that doesn’t mean they got rich that way. You can bet Wall Street traders don’t settle for such meager returns, and your average trader doesn’t have to either. The same methods used by Wall Street’s elite are available to average traders. It’s just that they often don’t know about them or are too scared to try them. #-ad_banner-# For instance, there is a way to potentially… Read More

Most investors have been trained to think that earning 6% or 8% a year on their trades is admirable. And the old saying is true: No one ever went broke taking a profit. But that doesn’t mean they got rich that way. You can bet Wall Street traders don’t settle for such meager returns, and your average trader doesn’t have to either. The same methods used by Wall Street’s elite are available to average traders. It’s just that they often don’t know about them or are too scared to try them. #-ad_banner-# For instance, there is a way to potentially amplify those 6% to 8% gains into 30%, 50%, even 65% windfalls or more in a matter of months, weeks or even days. And I’m not talking about buying micro-cap stocks that no one has ever heard of. You can make these returns from some of America’s biggest and most well-known companies.  Wall Street’s ‘Backdoor’ Trading Method Some of the most famous and richest investors in history (including Warren Buffett) use a backdoor trading method to amass much of their wealth. I say “backdoor” because, while it’s certainly not a secret, you won’t hear it talked about by 99% of… Read More

Ok. I was a little early with my call on rising bond yields. In fact, they actually went down a little after I wrote that article. However, last week, bonds saw a healthy sell off which, naturally, bumped interest rates up. The blame fell on hawkish comments from a Fed official concerned about an economy that could overheat due to stubbornly low interest rates. Maybe someone should remind him that they’ve already gone up in the past year. When the Federal Reserve raised their target Fed funds rates (the interest rate they charge member banks) towards the end of… Read More

Ok. I was a little early with my call on rising bond yields. In fact, they actually went down a little after I wrote that article. However, last week, bonds saw a healthy sell off which, naturally, bumped interest rates up. The blame fell on hawkish comments from a Fed official concerned about an economy that could overheat due to stubbornly low interest rates. Maybe someone should remind him that they’ve already gone up in the past year. When the Federal Reserve raised their target Fed funds rates (the interest rate they charge member banks) towards the end of last year, they literally more than doubled interest rates. And with Fed Funds being right at 40 basis points, the Fed is within striking distance of its current target for the Fed Funds rate of 50 basis points. Stock markets reacted negatively to the change, and stayed depressed until spring of this year. But bond yields stayed stubbornly low. That may be changing. Since bottoming in July, the yield on the 10-year treasury has risen 22%. The longer end of the treasury yields has also gone up. #-ad_banner-#On average, long rates are up 17%; a significant number. With… Read More

Mark Zuckerberg is worth $60 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world. As the founder and CEO of Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), one of the most successful technology companies ever, Zuckerberg is a genius when it comes to technology. #-ad_banner-#But despite Zuckerberg’s financial resources and tech smarts, the young billionaire recently fell prey to hackers. In early June, Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked. The perpetrators found Zuckerberg’s passwords –“dadada” — in a database of more than 100 million usernames and passwords that were stolen from LinkedIn in 2012. Although Zuckerberg suffered little reputation damage… Read More

Mark Zuckerberg is worth $60 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world. As the founder and CEO of Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB), one of the most successful technology companies ever, Zuckerberg is a genius when it comes to technology. #-ad_banner-#But despite Zuckerberg’s financial resources and tech smarts, the young billionaire recently fell prey to hackers. In early June, Zuckerberg’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked. The perpetrators found Zuckerberg’s passwords –“dadada” — in a database of more than 100 million usernames and passwords that were stolen from LinkedIn in 2012. Although Zuckerberg suffered little reputation damage from the incident, the hacking was a bit embarrassing. After all, his company warns its users not to use their Facebook passwords anywhere else online. However, the hacking actually places Mark Zuckerberg in good company. Hacking is going viral in 2016. The headlines have been filled with high-profile hackings threatening the most powerful private and public institutions in the world. In May, Myspace was hacked and had 360 million email addresses and passwords stolen. Experts are saying it could be the largest hack ever. Last week Dropbox, one of the world’s largest suppliers of cloud storage, had more than 68… Read More

Wearables were all tech investors could talk about last year, with innovations like the Apple Watch and fitness tracker products. This year, though, Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) disappointing sales have tempered investor enthusiasm for the group.  New innovations in virtual reality seem to be getting a lot of attention, but we could still be years from a mass-market, profitable product.  #-ad_banner-#As investors search through patent applications and hunt for the next big consumer electronic craze, one trend has emerged under the radar. Industry demand is projected at double-digit growth over the next several years, with unit sales in the billions. Investors… Read More

Wearables were all tech investors could talk about last year, with innovations like the Apple Watch and fitness tracker products. This year, though, Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) disappointing sales have tempered investor enthusiasm for the group.  New innovations in virtual reality seem to be getting a lot of attention, but we could still be years from a mass-market, profitable product.  #-ad_banner-#As investors search through patent applications and hunt for the next big consumer electronic craze, one trend has emerged under the radar. Industry demand is projected at double-digit growth over the next several years, with unit sales in the billions. Investors have completely missed the trend because it involves components hidden away inside the most popular tech gadgets. One company controls nearly two-thirds of the market for this hot tech trend and is doing what it takes to keep its lead through innovation. A Voice-Assist Future All of the major consumer electronics companies have a product push tied to voice-assist technology. Apple was one of the pioneers with Siri, but others have recently unveiled major innovations. Amazon’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) desktop speaker, Alexa, takes voice commands for everything from music to internet searches. Google’s (Nasdaq: GOOGL) Home can control the smoke alarm,… Read More

Just before I started trading on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, I spent some time at an old Philadelphia boutique investment firm. The firm was small, but handled some of Philly’s wealthiest and most respected clients.  The experts at the firm were some of the best in America, and I learned a great deal from all of them. But it was our in-house technical expert, Andy, who I really bonded with.  Andy taught me the importance of charts and demonstrated just how powerful technical analysis could be. As an “options guy” who loved numbers and fundamentals, this was… Read More

Just before I started trading on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, I spent some time at an old Philadelphia boutique investment firm. The firm was small, but handled some of Philly’s wealthiest and most respected clients.  The experts at the firm were some of the best in America, and I learned a great deal from all of them. But it was our in-house technical expert, Andy, who I really bonded with.  Andy taught me the importance of charts and demonstrated just how powerful technical analysis could be. As an “options guy” who loved numbers and fundamentals, this was a bit of a stretch for me at first. I couldn’t believe that some lines on a screen could dictate how a stock behaves. Boy, was I wrong. — Recommended Link — 24-Hour Labor Day Sale: Grab These 7 ‘Forever Stocks,’ Enjoy The Market’s Biggest Profit Machines, And Save 70%… Warren Buffet once said, “If you wouldn’t hold a stock for 10 years, you shouldn’t hold it for 10 minutes.”  But is the old buy & hold strategy still true in today’s turbulent markets?  It is if you know exactly which stocks to get.  Here are 7 that would fit… Read More

The holiday shopping season is coming, and soon attention will turn to the hot toys every child wants for Christmas.  Aside from being a retailer’s dream, these hot seasonal toys hold the potential to take the manufacturer’s shares skyward. Investors in LeapFrog Entertainment were thrilled in 2011 when the company’s LeapPad, one of the first digital mobile devices for kids, got huge sales leading into the holiday season. #-ad_banner-#One toy maker has already started to see shares surge this year on momentum in its turnaround plan, with cost savings of more than $153 million in 2015 alone.  The company also… Read More

The holiday shopping season is coming, and soon attention will turn to the hot toys every child wants for Christmas.  Aside from being a retailer’s dream, these hot seasonal toys hold the potential to take the manufacturer’s shares skyward. Investors in LeapFrog Entertainment were thrilled in 2011 when the company’s LeapPad, one of the first digital mobile devices for kids, got huge sales leading into the holiday season. #-ad_banner-#One toy maker has already started to see shares surge this year on momentum in its turnaround plan, with cost savings of more than $153 million in 2015 alone.  The company also just overhauled one of its biggest brands. The toy accounts for nearly 20% of total sales and has the potential to see big buying this holiday season. Investors may want to give themselves an early Christmas present before the company’s toys are sold out this holiday. Iconic Brands And Cost-Cutting Turn This Toy Maker Around Shares of Mattel Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT) had been recovering since September of last year, and jumped 14% on the company’s fourth quarter earnings in February. Management delivered $153 million in cost savings last year and stabilized sales as part of a multi-year turnaround.  The… Read More