Banking on Your Phone

America has lagged behind much of the world in terms of digital wallets. Elsewhere, people routinely use phones instead of credit cards. There are several reasons for this.

Partly, it is because North America saw mobile phones so early. When other regions finally rolled out mobile phones, infrastructures were more modern. The larger reason, however, is that there is so much at stake.

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My Favorite Way to Own Silver

My favorite way to own silver is the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSE:PSLV). This is a product of the Eric Sprott group, of Toronto.

Units of this trust were trading well above $20 a few months ago. But today, even after silver’s January rally, the units are trading below $15. That’s a 25% decline, which is in sync with the drop in the price of silver.

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Buying Gold in Uncertain Times

Dow down slightly yesterday. Oil falling further below $100. And gold still going up.

What is most interesting is the movement in the price of gold. It seems to be heading up again — almost no matter what else is happening.

So, let’s look at what might be going on…

If investors sensed a recovery…they would expect banks to lend more freely…people to shop more freely…and prices to rise.

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Investment Alternatives in a No-Growth Market

Baltimore…best bet for investors?

We drove back into town on Sunday night. People moped around in front of bars. Groups walked uptown from the stadium, their shoulders down, the chins dragging. The city was dark…and unhappy.

There was no joy in Baltimore on Sunday night. Baltimore is a sports town. The Ravens — the only team we know named after a poem — had lost. They would not be going to the Super Bowl.

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Gold in the Face of Facebook

Stocks are up today. The major indexes have jumped 1%… for no obvious reason.

There’s talk of a halo effect from the pending IPO of Facebook, which could file the paperwork as early as today.

Oy… Talk about “riding on a smile and a shoeshine,” to borrow from Death of a Salesman.

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Goldman Sachs is a “Sell”

For once, we agree with the insiders at Goldman Sachs. The company’s stock is a “Sell.”

Okay, so the insiders didn’t exactly say their stock is a “sell,” but they didn’t need to. Their feet did all the talking. Last week, nine Goldman insiders scurried away from their stock as fast as the law would let them.

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Manufacturing Growth Continues

I have to tell you what’s on my mind this morning after watching the price action again yesterday… I know, it’s just me, and no one else in the writing/analyst world will tell you this, because they have no proof… I don’t either, but that never stops me from saying what’s on my mind regarding these markets now, does it?

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Goldman Sachs is Probably Not a “Buy”

“I don’t know much about the stock market,” says Matt Taibbi, the witty critic of Goldman Sachs and other financial atrocities, “but when the O’Neills of the world start telling me what a great investment opportunity the American stock market is, I start getting the urge to buy canned food.”

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The Most Common and Costly Investment Mistake

I’d like to tell you about a study I read recently.

It’s a slim little booklet titled One-Way Pockets by Don Guyon (a pen name for a broker). The book, which was first published in 1917, covers some studies he did on the trading behavior of accounts at the time. What he found was timeless.

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