NYSE: KKR Archive
Why Dr. Skousen is Still Bullish on Stocks
by Mark Skousen, Investment U Research
Wednesday, May 1, 2013: Issue #2024
“Bears make headlines, bulls make money.” – Old Wall Street saying
I have on my bookshelf a series of books with opposing titles: The Alpha Strategy and The Omega Strategy; Asia Rising and Asia Falling; Free to Choose and Free to Lose; How to Win Friends and Influence People and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People… Visitors love the collection.
Now I can add the perfect counterpoint to Norman Vincent Peale’s classic The Power of Positive Thinking.
In The Power of Negative Thinking, the author is no longer “Bobby” Knight. The infamous college basketball coach now goes by Bob Knight. But I wonder if he has grown up and learned from his mistakes (the theme of his book).
I bought the book hoping he would apologize in print for his out-of-control tirades, violent temper, and ugly expletives that destroyed his marriage and his career as a successful coach.
I had to read the entire book to find out, since it has no index (one of my pet peeves). And no, he never brings up any negative stories about himself, like the throwing of a chair at officials in 1985 or the choking of a player that got him fired from Indiana.
I like a lot of what Knight says about “hollow platitudes” by the eternal optimists, such as “you can do anything you want to do in life,” and athletes who are always praising God when they score a basket.
There’s too much Pollyanna praise heaped on kids these days, and not enough discipline.
To continue reading, please click here...Jim Cramer, You’re Right… Dow Chemical Will Shine in 2013
by Mike Kapsch, Investment U Research
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Jim Cramer has one of those personalities you love to hate.
He’s wildly entertaining. Yet he’s so manic that he talks faster than he can move his lips.
His show, however educational, is on television a lot… And he pumps too many stocks as a result. Despite having previously managed a hedge fund, Cramer seems to make a lot of bad calls.
It probably sounds harsh. But I’m not actually writing today to point out Cramer’s faults. Just the opposite, in fact.
You see, when it comes to stocks in 2013, regardless of any shortcomings, I believe Cramer will be spot on about one thing… Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) is going to have a great year.
Cramer says Dow is a “Buy” this year, because the company is taking advantage of cheap natural gas feedstock.
Simply put, natural gas isn’t just used for fuel. Companies like Dow also use it to make other products, such as plastics and fertilizers. Cheap gas prices today are making the production costs less expensive. And that’s leaving extra cash around for firms to reward shareholders.
Investment U readers may recall, I wrote about three industries that would thrive from cheap natural gas prices (plastics, methane and biofuels) back in January of last year.
To continue reading, please click here...Three Ways to Play the Great Real Estate Rebound
by Jason Jenkins, Investment U Research
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Numbers reported earlier this month continue to support the growing belief that the real estate market is on its way back – slowly but surely.
Standard & Poor’s reported that home prices in its S&P/Case-Shiller 20 City Index rose 0.9% from April to May of this year. If you do all the seasonal adjusting, that’s an increase of about 2.6% from the beginning of the year.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University in their annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report summarized the current market in these terms:
“Housing markets are showing signs of reviving. While still in the early innings of a housing recovery, rental markets have turned the corner, home sales are strengthening, and a floor is beginning to form under home prices. With new home inventories at record lows, unless the broader economy goes into a tailspin, stronger sales should further stabilize prices and pave the way for a pickup in single-family housing construction over the course of 2012…”
What’s even more striking is that its managing director stated in the report that inventories of new, single-family homes in March were at their lowest point in nearly a half century. This means that it would take less than six months to sell all of it. A five-to-six-month period is considered a balanced market.
With this budding rebound in housing, let’s not sell ourselves short. There are other ways to take advantage of a real estate comeback than just single-family homes.
Over the last few months, I’ve searched for some of the best ways to play a rebound in real estate. Here are three of the most popular…
If we believe we’ve reached a bottom in the market, there’s data to show we could be reaping the benefits of a recovery for years to come. The International Monetary Fund found that on average, after home prices hit rock bottom, the rebound lasted about seven years. They found this to be true in the 55 housing rebounds worldwide over the last five decades.
To continue reading, please click here...
