Marin Katusa: Winter is Coming, How Investors Can Win in the 'Colder War'

The Energy Report: Your book, "The Colder War," is based on the idea that world domination will come through control of the energy economy, and that Russia is winning the fight. How is Russia using the petrodollar to achieve energy supremacy?

Marin Katusa: Under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, Russia has reestablished itself as the alternative to the American superpower. Putin has aligned himself with nations like China to work in concert against U.S. interests globally. Furthermore, a new bank formed by the BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will attempt to assert itself as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund.

The Colder War will be a long battle, just like the first Cold War, but in the Colder War, judgment day of the petrodollar will be the critical battle. One must understand global politics and the Colder War to be a successful investor in the energy sector.

TER: What is China's role in this struggle? Continue reading "Marin Katusa: Winter is Coming, How Investors Can Win in the 'Colder War'"

Why Investing In Chinese Stocks Can Leave Investors Vulnerable To Risk

Something about the deal smelled fishy.

China Marine Food Group Ltd., a Chinese company then on the New York Stock Exchange, spent $27 million in January 2010 to acquire a firm whose main asset was "algae-based drink know-how." The weird thing: Three months earlier, the beverage formula had been valued below $8,800.

But when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tried to review the deal, it got nowhere. The company's Chinese accounting firm refused to provide documents. And the SEC has been stymied since.

And China Marine? Its share price topped $8 in 2010. It's now around 12 cents.

The case represents a cautionary tale for investors eager to invest in Chinese companies on American exchanges. Chinese companies like Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA), whose initial public offering this year set a record high, operate under lax standards compared with other stocks on U.S. exchanges. That means higher risks for investors. Continue reading "Why Investing In Chinese Stocks Can Leave Investors Vulnerable To Risk"

Key Week For Stocks

This past weekend was an interesting one as it marked the five year anniversary of the bull trend for the stock market here in the US. Looking back on March 9, 2009, we've come a long way on the upside. According to the popular ETF SPY (PACF:SPY), we are up over 181% from the bear market low.

Over in China this weekend, their stock market collapsed to a five year low because of poor demand for their exports. So, on one side of the ledger you have the US market making new highs and in China we are witnessing their market make five year lows.

Can we see these two trends continue? Can the US continue going higher after five years? Is the economy so bad in China that it means that their exports will drop off even more than the recent decline of 18%? Being their number one trading partner, we put ourselves in a bind. If we can't sell the imported goods, then it would appear our economy really isn't that great either.

Seldom do you see such dichotomies in economic trends between two powerhouse economies. Something has to give.

Last week I talked about the US market reaching a tipping point, you can read that post here. What I did not mention is that margin debt, or the money investors borrow from their brokers for stock trading, has reached a new all-time high. This normally indicates that an excessive amount of speculation is going into stocks, especially low-priced stocks. Could this be a warning sign of what's ahead? Continue reading "Key Week For Stocks"

Gold Chart of The Week

Each Week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report (July 1st through July 5th)

The second quarter of 2013 came to a close with a decent rebound in the US Stock Indexes. A three day up-move was the result of favorable consumer spending, housing, and unemployment numbers. Despite the move up, it was not an easy week to predict market movement, nor was it a week to feel comfortable in a trade for more than a half day. This is because last week’s schedule of economic reports was punctuated daily by FED Members that now have the ability puppeteer global markets with one interview. Even though the FED decided to keep rates unchanged and maintain their Bond buying on a monthly basis (QE), the interviews that followed the decision had the potential to negate the initial response to the rate decision. Last week required the attention of traders each day as one FED Member after the next was asked about their thoughts on whether or not Ben Bernanke and Co. would begin to scale out of QE sooner or later. My opinion is that the scaling back has already begun. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"

Gold Chart of The Week

Each Week Longleaftrading.com will be providing us a chart of the week as analyzed by a member of their team. We hope that you enjoy and learn from this new feature.

Weekly Gold Report (June 24th through June 28th)

Selling pressure carries over from last week to begin the last five trading days of June. If the FOMC statement weren’t enough for market bears, China added fuel to the fire with alarming overnight news from their banking sector. With a busy week ahead of economic data, coupled with a daily dose of speeches from US FED members, we should have enough news to give the markets some nice volatility to trade. Continue reading "Gold Chart of The Week"