Tag Archives: Robert Shiller

One of the most controversial topics in investing is the price of gold with many goldbugs saying that gold will soon break $2,000, then $5,000 and then $10,000 a troy ounce but, frankly, how can anyone reasonably calculate what the price of gold should be when they don't understand the factors that drive gold? So let me explain.

What hope can there be for motivated stock pickers to outperform the low-cost index funds that simply mechanically track the market? Well - in spite of the absurd rise of the Nobel-acclaimed, and highly promoted, Efficient Market Hypothesis that claims that individual investors can't beat the market - it turns out there is plenty! [Let me explain.] Words: 1574

It is my contention that the price of gold rallies whenever the U.S. dollar’s real short-term interest rate is below 2%, falls whenever the real short rate is above 2%, and holds steady at the equilibrium rate of 2%. Let me explain.

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.

These days anything with a sustained gain is called a bubble that’s just about to burst so what’s an investor to do?

We estimate that a 'fair price' for the market is a Shiller PE of around 16. With the market at close to a Shiller PE of 26, the market is overvalued by about 60%. Now is not a historically good time to initiate a position in the S&P500.

Some of the most respected prognosticators in the financial world are warning that what is coming in 2014 and beyond is going to shake America to the core. Many of the quotes that you are about to read are from individuals that actually predicted the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and the financial crisis of 2008 ahead of time so they have a track record of being right. Does that guarantee that they will be right about what is coming in 2014? Of course not. In fact, as you will see below, not all of them agree about exactly what is coming next but, without a doubt, all of their forecasts are quite ominous.

We have been in the throes of a secular bear market, subject to strong cyclical swings in either direction, since 2000. Currently, based on the 5 leading investment indicators analyzed in this article, the measures all confirm that, from a longer-term perspective, the market remains overvalued. Let's take a look at each to see why that is the case.

By smoothing out the effect of the business cycle on corporate earnings, investors get a truer picture of how expensively or cheaply stocks are priced. Yale professor Robert Shiller has popularized this concept and packaged it as the Shiller P/E ratio, alternatively known as the cyclically-adjusted P/E (CAPE) ratio, and it has become a widely followed and efficacious stock market valuation measure. Currently the ratio is standing at a 21.4 (approximately 30% higher than its long-term average) causing many value investors to adopt a cautious stance toward US stocks. [Let me explain more fully.] Words: 690

[We have determined that] the current cyclically adjusted real yield of 5.28% is telling us that the stock market is expensive, at least by historical standards. [In addition,] ...we have also determined that, relative to bonds, the real spread between stocks and bonds is 7.2% in terms of yields, i.e., stocks relative to bonds seem cheap. If stocks are expensive, and stocks relative to bonds seem cheap, this implies that bonds are also expensive. Everything is expensive! [Let me show you the math that confirms just that.] Words: 1590