A look at the status of the economy, and in particular money supply, shows that deflation is starting to show up. Below are 7 charts that support that view. Words: 370

We use crude oil for everything from running our cars to making plastic. The need for oil causes conflicts and gives power to those countries that have an abundance of it. Taking all this into account, not too many of us actually know how it’s priced. A lot of us hear how much it costs per barrel or get mad when prices go up at the pump but what’s the method behind the madness? Hopefully, I can shed a little light on the process. Words: 790

One of the most fundamental relationships of the modern economy is the tie between the amount of energy a country consumes and their GDP and is an excellent way to predict a country's economic productivity. [This article analysis the daily number of barrels of oil consumed for 20 countries relative to their PPP adjusted GDP. Germany has the largest residual of all developed countries followed closely by the U.K. while the U.S. has the poorest and Canada is not far behind. Read on to determine just how efficient your country actually is in its crude oil utilization.] Words: 470

Introduction: "The crisis in the eurozone is the result of France’s persistent pursuit of the “European project,” the goal of political unification that began after World War II [with the hope] that a political union, a United States of Europe similar to America's, would...prevent the types of conflict that had caused three major European wars...[and] also make Europe a power comparable to the United States, and thereby give France, with its sophisticated foreign service, an important role in European and world affairs." [What went wrong and what does the future hold?]

Worries about an economic catastrophe in Europe are heating up again, and dramatic forecasts about doom are popping up everywhere. What's important? How did we get here? Let's put this all in perspective. Words: 2356

Based on my technical analysis gold will drop to $1,450/oz. before the end of May and then go parabolic in the next C-wave to $3,950/oz. Below is a chart of how I see the price of gold unfolding over the next while.

There’s clearly a lot of fear in capital markets around the world and that’s usually represented by a rush to short-term government bonds, in particular US dollar government bonds. With this type of fear and the need for liquidity, just about all assets get sold and gold is one of those assets. If you have a longer-term view, however, and you believe these problems will be met with additional liquidity, then gold is something you should accumulate.

As investors become more and more worried about the world economy...it makes sense to us to look into stocks that held up best in periods of market decline. Managing risk is as important as reaching for return. One aspect of managing for risk is the past behavior of particular stocks in negative market periods. Toward that end, we identified four key, recent down periods for the S&P 500, and identified those liquid stocks that were in the top quartile for price return in each of those four periods, and did at least as well as the S&P 500 index in the 2008 crash period. [Take a look!] Words: 620

So far, the decline in the market has been fairly orderly; no panic, no hysteria to get out - even the VIX has remained calm [but] I wonder how much longer the decline will continue to be orderly. Frankly, there's something eerie about what's happening and, to be honest, what's happening is almost beyond analysis. I have nothing to compare it with....I really have to go on my intuition and instinct at this point - and my instinct is to get in cash.

The Russell 3,000 is currently up 4.97% year to date, yet the average stock in the index is up 3.98% so far in 2012. This means that the bigger stocks in the market cap weighted index have been doing better than the smaller stocks. Below is a list of the 35 best performing Russell 3,000 stocks year to date, which are all up more than 75%. There are 16 stocks in the index that are up more than 100% year to date. Words: 278