According to Tobin’s Q, equities in the U.S. are valued about 10% above the cost of replacing their underlying assets -- higher than any time other than the Internet bubble and the 1929 peak. Here's why.

If you had invested in gold in 2004 you would have earned about 10.4%, annualized. I am writing this article, though, to say that you should not consider gold to be a good long-term investment and you should not have a significant proportion of your portfolio in gold. Let me explain.

At this mature stage of a cyclical bull market, it’s important to avoid allowing your hubris to go haywire - to believe you’re just so damn good that your next goal should be to “beat an index.” I offer 3 ways to let you keep yourself in check - to avoid losing your ass - as markets eventually revert to a mean.

The correction in gold is approaching, or is at, its conclusion although gold could drop to $1000 before it’s done. That being said, however, further losses are looking less likely as the dollar has broken down from its parabolic uptrend and is vulnerable to a severe decline. The long-term outlook for gold and silver is a massive parabolic ramp similar to, but much greater in magnitude than that which occurred in the 1970’s, taking gold eventually to $5000 or higher. Silver may prove to be an even better investment. Here's my explanation with a good number of charts.

It's impossible to accurately forecast the coming direction in precious metals but it is clearly evident from the monitoring our set of charts and indicators that gold, silver, et al, is nearing a pivot point.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Warren Buffett’s favorite tool for measuring the overall valuation of the market: the ratio of total market cap to GDP. Today, we’re going to dig a little deeper into that analysis and compare the U.S. market to 20 other countries you may be interested in investing. Take a look HERE at a chart showing the current market-cap-to-GDP ratio within the context of its historical range. You will find the results very interesting.

The pressure on gold prices has seen some analysts suggest that the Midas Metal has had its time in the sun and that the precious metal will stay out of favor but any investor with an understanding of how market cycles can quickly change will see that the predicted demise of gold would be the wrong call to make.

One of the crucial measures of the global economy – the most recent 3 month average global trade momentum – slumped the most since the financial crisis of 2008. It wasn’t because of the USA but, rather, Asia, and, in particular, China. Below are specific details along with some very illustrative charts.

There is literally nowhere for the bond market to go except down and, when this bull market turns into a bear, it will create chaos and financial devastation all over the planet.

Equity markets in the U.S. have bounced back over the past couple of weeks and have shown strong momentum to the upside. We are now well into the fourth year of a rising equity market and we might now reasonably ask the obvious question, "When might this end?"