RE: Complimentary 7-day cruise …

by Martin Weiss on November 6, 2009

in General

What are your forecasts for 2010?
Where will the greatest profit opportunities be?
Click here to join the discussion!

I knew The Weiss Forecast Contest would be popular — but NOTHING could have prepared me for this!

After just three days, more than 10,000 of our readers have registered to win a 7-day Caribbean cruise, a Dell laptop computer or an Apple iPod Touch — and EVERY entrant has automatically won a free membership in one of the five wealth-building newsletters we publish.

How about YOU? Have you given us your forecasts for 2010?  If not, there’s no time like the present! Just click this link and use the handy form to give us your forecasts for 2010 now and we’ll rush your new complimentary membership materials to you … no strings attached!

Now, here’s an update on how your fellow investors are voting so far:

Interest Rates: The clear consensus is that they’re headed higher — maybe substantially higher. An impressive 21.8% of our readers say they’ll even blow through the 5% barrier in 2010!

Gold: Only 7.8% of you say the yellow metal could retreat significantly from today’s levels. The majority — a whopping 54.6% — say it’ll end the year as high as $1,499 per ounce. 

What’s more, 37.6% predict we’ll see gold even higher — soaring to $1,999 or even more!

Oil: Bad news for consumers here, but outstanding news for energy investors — crude is on its way to $149 per barrel, or so 40.8% of our contest entrants say. Plus, another 7.4% see energy going even higher — over $150 per barrel in 2010!  

The world’s most profitable global stock market: No surprises here; the #1 answer is China. Care to hazard a guess which country is winning second place? 

The answer, according to 27.5% of our contest participants is BRAZIL. That’s right, more than one-quarter believe that in 2010, the Brazilian Bovespa will be even more profitable than China’s Shanghai Composite!

Meanwhile, only about one in 20 — a mere 4.6% — predict that the Dow will lead the world in the year ahead.

So where IS the Dow headed in 2010? The vast majority are predicting that it will be flat to lower. Some are even saying it will go as low as 5000 … or even 4000. 

Who’s right? Well, in a few days, my team of professional analysts and I will give you our own, independent forecasts for 2010 as well as specific recommendations for the investments we believe will enjoy the best performance.

First though, if you haven’t done so already, please do NOT forget to enter The Weiss Forecast Contest. 

There is zero cost to enter … nothing for you to buy …
and no obligation whatsoever on your part.
Better yet, you win just by entering!

Just for sharing your predictions for the year ahead, you get a complimentary three-month membership to any one of our flagship investment services:

You can choose my Safe Money investment service … Larry Edelson’s Real Wealth Report … Nilus Mattive’s Dividend Superstars … Tony Sagami’s Asia Stock Alert … or Bryan Rich’s World Currency Alert. And no matter which service you choose, you’ll also receive bonus profit guides worth hundreds of dollars.

Then, if your forecasts prove to be among the most accurate submitted by our readers, you could win one of ten valuable prizes:

cruise

Grand Prize (one winner): A luxury 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise for two aboard Royal Caribbean’s spectacular Liberty of the Seas.

First Prize (three winners): A Dell Studio 17 laptop computer with a 17-inch screen, loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and Microsoft Works.

Honorable Mention (six winners): A 64GB iPod Touch that holds 14,000 songs or 80 hours of video, including earphones, remote control and microphone.

You can enter The Weiss Forecast Contest and reap the rewards in three, easy steps:

STEP #1: Click this link now and use the handy form to give us your forecasts for 2010. We’ve made it easy for you — participating only takes a few seconds.

STEP #2: Watch your email inbox on Monday for your free gift certificate and click the appropriate link to select the free service you prefer.

STEP #3: Scroll down and use this blog to join us in a lively and enlightening discussion on the financial threats and profit opportunities ahead.

Simply by participating, you’ll be taking a giant step towards preparing yourself for the greatest financial dangers and profit opportunities of 2010. And later, if you’re one of our contest winners, I’ll personally contact you to tell you what you’ve won.

Good luck and God bless!

Martin

For complete contest rules and regulations, please go to: http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/tc/rules.html.

October jobs down 190,000, unemployment hits 10.2%

by Mike Larson on November 6, 2009

in Economy

The October jobs report was just released. It showed the economy losing 190,000 jobs last month, slightly worse than the -175,000 forecast. However, September’s job loss was revised to only -219,000 from -263,000, while August’s reading also improved to -154,000 from -201,000.

The unemployment rate spiked to 10.2% from 9.8%, well above the 9.9% forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg and the worst reading since April 1983. The “all in” unemployment rate that includes people marginally employed, those working part-time because they can’t find full-time work, etc., rose to 17.5%, the highest since they began tracking it in 1994.

Average hourly earnings were a bright spot, up 0.3% against a forecast for +0.1%. But average weekly hours held at 33, tying the worst level in U.S. history (the data goes back to 1964). The diffusion index, which measures how many industries are shedding jobs vs. how many are adding them, weakened to 33.8 from 37.5.

7,500 winners so far – have you grabbed your reward?

by Martin Weiss on November 5, 2009

in General

What are your forecasts for 2010?
Where will the greatest profit opportunities be?
Click here to join the discussion!

When it comes to The Weiss Forecast Contest, everybody who enters is a winner!

Just for taking a few seconds to give us your forecasts for 2010, you get a free subscription to any one of the FIVE wealth-building newsletters we publish — and so far, more than 7,500 of our readers have taken the challenge and claimed their reward.

I sincerely hope that you’re one of them; but if not, there’s still time to enter:  Just click this link and use the handy form to give us your forecasts for 2010 now!

Not sure where you see the Dow, interest rates, gold, oil and other investments going in the year ahead?  Just take a look at the news:  The headlines could give you some important clues.

Take yesterday, for instance:  The big news was all about India’s purchase of 200 tons of gold and an announcement that the country is diversifying its reserves out of the falling U.S. dollar.

oil

Unsurprisingly, gold exploded higher — hitting a new all-time record high of $1,092 per ounce. 

India made out like a bandit:  It spent $6.7 billion to buy its new gold hoard — and the value of that gold shot up to $7.4 billion almost immediately.  That’s a gain of $700 million in less than one day!

Most of the folks who entered The Weiss Forecast Contest weren’t the least bit surprised at yesterday’s historic move in gold.  So far, only 8.5% of our contestants see gold closing at below $999 in 2010. 

The majority — a whopping 53.1% — expect the yellow metal to go as high as $1,499.

Plus, an impressive 29.5% say you’ll see gold prices surge as high as $1,999 per ounce … and 8.9% predict gold will at least double in 2010 to over $2,000 per ounce!

If they’re right, you’d expect select gold stocks to more than double your money in the year ahead.  After all — if history proves anything, it’s that the stock of companies that control vast amounts of gold in their reserves can rise up to five or ten times faster than gold bullion prices!

In a few days, my team and I will give you our own, independent forecasts for 2010 — not just for gold, but also for the Dow, oil, tech stocks, emerging markets and more — as well as specific recommendations for the investments we believe will enjoy the best performance.

First though, if you haven’t done so already, please do NOT forget to enter The Weiss Forecast Contest. 

There is zero cost to enter … nothing for you to buy …
and no obligation whatsoever on your part.

Better yet, you win just by entering!  Just for sharing your predictions for the year ahead, you get a complimentary three-month membership to any one of our flagship investment services:

You can choose my Safe Money investment service … Larry Edelson’s Real Wealth Report … Nilus Mattive’s Dividend Superstars … Tony Sagami’s Asia Stock Alert … or Bryan Rich’s World Currency Alert. And no matter which service you choose, you’ll also receive bonus profit guides worth hundreds of dollars.

Then, if your forecasts prove to be among the most accurate submitted by our readers, you could win one of ten valuable prizes:

cruise

Grand Prize (one winner): A luxury 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise for two aboard Royal Caribbean’s spectacular Liberty of the Seas.

First Prize (three winners): A Dell Studio 17 laptop computer with a 17-inch screen, loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and Microsoft Works.

Honorable Mention (six winners): A 64GB iPod Touch that holds 14,000 songs or 80 hours of video, including earphones, remote control and microphone.

You can enter The Weiss Forecast Contest and reap the rewards in three, easy steps:

STEP #1: Click this link now and use the handy form to give us your forecasts for 2010. We’ve made it easy for you — participating only takes a few seconds.

STEP #2: Watch your email inbox for your free gift certificate and click the appropriate link to select the free service you prefer.

STEP #3: Scroll down and join us in a lively and enlightening discussion on the financial threats and profit opportunities that you see ahead.

Simply by participating, you’ll be taking a giant step towards preparing yourself for the greatest financial dangers and profit opportunities of 2010. And later, if you’re one of our contest winners, I’ll personally contact you to tell you what you’ve won.

Good luck and God bless!

Martin

For complete contest rules and regulations, please go to: http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/tc/rules.html.

Fed keeps “extended period” language, slightly cuts agency debt plan

by Mike Larson on November 4, 2009

in Currency Analysis, Economy, Falling Money, Interest Rate News

The Federal Open Market Committee just released its latest interest rate decision and statement. Rates were left unchanged, as expected, at a range of 0% to 0.25%. The Fed also held onto its language pledging to keep rates low for an “extended period.” One minor surprise: The Fed said it would reduce the size of its program to buy agency debt to $175 billion from the previously announced $200 billion. The Fed said the move “reflects the limited availability of agency debt.” It kept its MBS buying program target at $1.25 trillion. The vote for the policy actions was unanimous.

Those “Free Credit Report” Guys …

by Nilus Mattive on November 4, 2009

in General

The New York Times just put up a great story on the whole “free credit report” phenomena. I’ve emphasized the importance of obtaining your credit reports from the official government website before, but this story is an important reminder that:

A. Yes, you should monitor your info as you are now entitled to

But

B.  You need not pay for that info, nor obsess over your score on a monthly basis.

I do personally receive monthly updates on my FICO score, but that’s provided as a free service from my credit union. If you have access to a similar service, by all means take advantage. But for most people, it isn’t worth paying for. 

Nilus

P.S. And if you missed my criticism of the FICO system, see this Money & Markets column.

Thousands of Free Subscriptions Being Delivered NOW!

by Martin Weiss on November 4, 2009

in General

What are your forecasts for 2010?
Where will the greatest profit opportunities be?
Click here to join the discussion!

The response to The Weiss Forecast Contest is off the charts!

Thousands are already giving us their forecasts for 2010 … receiving free subscriptions to their choice of our investment newsletters … and taking their shot at winning one of the ten valuable prizes.

The forecasts are fascinating. Some say the Dow will close at over 15,000 in 2010 — and a handful say it will absolutely crater to 1,000 or below. Plus, it’s clear that you have very strong opinions on where interest rates and gold are heading and also where the hottest global stock markets will be in the year ahead.

response oil chart 4 Thousands of Free Subscriptions Being Delivered NOW!

Oil prices are of particular interest. Given the plunging dollar and exploding demand from China, India and other Asian countries, only 16.7% of you see oil closing lower in 2010.

Meanwhile, 37.6% of you predict that oil prices will end the year pretty close to where they are now — between $80 and $99 per barrel.

But an impressive 38.2% are expecting oil prices to surge to as much as $149 — nearly a double from today’s prices …

And a significant 7.5% say you’d better hang onto your hat: Oil is going to $150 per barrel or even HIGHER!

Think of it: Altogether, nearly half of our readers — a remarkable 45.7% of you — say we’ll see oil prices explode or even double in just over 12 months!

That’s important: Clearly, if you’re right, it means that select oil stocks could rise even faster.

Right now, my team and I are burning the midnight oil, formulating our own independent forecasts for 2010 and also our recommendations for the investments we believe will enjoy the best performance. We’ll be sharing them with you shortly.

First though, if you haven’t done so already, we want to give YOU the chance to enter The Weiss Forecast Contest … to tell us what you see ahead for key investments next year … to engage in a lively discussion with me … and to win some great prizes.

There is zero cost to enter … nothing for you to buy …
and no obligation whatsoever on your part.

To thank you for entering The Weiss Forecast Contest, we’ve reserved a complimentary three-month membership to any one of our flagship investment services for you:

You can choose my Safe Money investment service … Larry Edelson’s Real Wealth Report … Nilus Mattive’s Dividend Superstars … Tony Sagami’s Asia Stock Alert … or Bryan Rich’s World Currency Alert. And no matter which service you choose, you’ll also receive bonus profit guides worth hundreds of dollars.

Then, if your forecasts prove to be among the most accurate submitted by our readers, you could win one of ten valuable prizes:

cruise

Grand Prize (one winner): A luxury 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise for two aboard Royal Caribbean’s spectacular Liberty of the Seas.

First Prize (three winners): A Dell Studio 17 laptop computer with a 17-inch screen, loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and Microsoft Works.

Honorable Mention (six winners): A 64GB iPod Touch that holds 14,000 songs or 80 hours of video, including earphones, remote control and microphone.

You can enter The Weiss Forecast Contest and reap the rewards with three, simple steps:

STEP #1: Click this link now and use the handy form to give us your forecasts for 2010. We’ve made it easy for you — participating only takes a few seconds.

STEP #2: Watch your email inbox for your free gift certificate and click the appropriate link to select the free service you prefer.

STEP #3: Scroll down to join us in a lively and enlightening discussion on the financial threats and profit opportunities ahead.

Simply by participating, you’ll be taking a giant step towards preparing yourself for the greatest financial dangers and profit opportunities of 2010. And later, if you’re one of our contest winners, I’ll personally contact you to tell you what you’ve won.

Good luck and God bless!

Martin

For complete contest rules and regulations, please go to: http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/tc/rules.html.

CNBC says “Sell the dollar?”

by Mike Larson on November 4, 2009

in Currency Analysis, Forex Trading, Interest Rate News

That was interesting. CNBC just carried a report from Steve Liesman , the gist of which was (in my humble opinion) “Go ahead … sell the dollar!” Specifically, Liesman said that unnamed policy officials told him the U.S. government view is that the dollar decline is no big deal. The decline is orderly, it just reflects a retracement of last year’s big move, and it’s nothing to get all worked up about. Supposedly, there are contingency plans in place should the move get disorderly. But as long as that doesn’t happen, no worries. That’s how I’m paraphrasing the report, anyway.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that the market already “knows” the Fed and Treasury don’t care about the dollar. But using a plugged-in reporter to essentially communicate that view publicly, on live financial television, is pretty noteworthy. If the Fed does what I expect them to in a few hours (NOT signal any shift toward tightening) the buck could get creamed here. We’ll see …

Congress to pressure Fed to keep helping housing? Plus: Why can’t our regulators stand up to TBTF banks?

by Mike Larson on November 3, 2009

in Banking, Economy

There are a couple of interesting stories worth mentioning this morning. The first is from Bloomberg, which talks about the possibility of Congress pressuring the Federal Reserve to continue its housing and mortgage market support next year.

My take? The idea that the Fed will pull back proactively, or will stand up to political pressure, is a total joke. The Fed has become totally politicized, working hand in glove with the Treasury in the past year. There is no way in you-know-where they’ll stand up to pressure to keep supporting the housing market early next year, should that pressure be brought to bear.

More from Bloomberg:

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is gambling that come March, he can stop the purchases of mortgage-backed securities that have propped up the U.S. housing market. Congress may have other ideas.

“The central bank says it must eventually withdraw its unprecedented economic stimulus to avoid a surge of inflation as a recovery takes hold. Plans to buy $1.25 trillion of housing debt are the centerpiece of its program to pull the nation out of the worst recession since the 1930s.

“Bernanke, who convenes a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee today, is counting on private investors to fill the void left by the Fed when its purchases end. If he’s wrong, he may come under pressure from politicians to maintain support for housing or even extend credit programs for small businesses and consumers. That would threaten the Fed’s ability to conduct an independent monetary policy.

“The nightmare scenario for the Fed would be to see them try to sell their mortgage portfolio, and Congress steps in and tries to stop it on the grounds that the housing market hasn’t fully recovered,” said Ethan Harris, head of North American Economics at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in New York. “The attempts to influence the Fed in the exit strategy will be pretty strong.”

“The Fed chairman has already come under pressure from lawmakers including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Representative Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, both Democrats, to aid car companies and provide more credit to commercial real estate.”

The second article is in the Washington Post. It talks about how the U.K. is trying to shrink the size of its “Too Big to Fail” banks, forcing them to sell off assets and reduced their overall footprint in order to get more aid.

Here in the U.S., though, our regulators continue to suck up to the TBTF companies. The Obama administration has essentially ignored the advice of Bank of England governor Mervyn King, former IMF Chief Economist Simon Johnson, and even one of its own advisers, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. They all think it makes sense to tame these behemoths before they blow themselves up again … and require even more taxpayer-funded bailouts.

More from the Post:

“The British government — spurred on by European regulators — is forcing the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Northern Rock to sell off parts of their operations. The Europeans are calling for more and smaller banks to increase competition and eliminate the threat posed by banks so large that they must be rescued by taxpayers, no matter how they conducted their business, in order to avoid damaging the global financial system.

“The move to downsize some of Britain’s largest banks comes as U.S. politicians are debating whether American banks should also be required to shrink. The Obama administration has maintained that large banks should be preserved because they play an important role in the economy and that taxpayers instead should be protected by creating a new system for liquidating large banks that run into problems. But Britain’s decision already is being cited by a growing chorus of experts, including prominent bankers and economists, who want the United States to pursue a similar approach.”

Macs vs. Windows 7

by Nilus Mattive on November 2, 2009

in General

In the latest issue of Dividend Superstars, I said I had some concerns about MSFT’s stock in the short run … including Windows 7 proving to be a dud and further market share loss to Apple.

Well, check this out and you’ll see that perhaps my fears were well founded!

Pending home sales surge 6.1% in September

by Mike Larson on November 2, 2009

in Economy, Housing Market, Real Estate

We just got pending home sales figures from the National Association of Realtors. Here’s what they looked like:

* Pending home sales surged 6.1% in September. That was much better than the unchanged reading that economists were expecting. It’s also the eighth consecutive monthly rise.

* On a year-over-year basis, the pending sales index jumped 21.1% to 110.1 from 90.9. That’s the highest index value since December 2006.

* Regionally, pendings were relatively strong. They rose 4.9% in the South, 8.1% in the Midwest, and 10.2% in the West. Sales dropped 2% in the Northeast.

The existing home market continues to heat up, fueled by cheaper house prices and the first-time buyer tax credit. Pending sales have climbed for eight straight months, and contract signings haven’t been running this hot in almost three years.

Clearly, buyers were eager to get business done before the credit’s November expiration. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see some giveback in pending sales over the next month or two. But with Congress set to extend the credit through mid-2010 … and expand it to a broader pool of potential buyers … the market should remain fairly well-supported. In other words, the “three steps forward, two steps back” recovery in housing remains on track.

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