Financial Sense Newshour on the Markets

Jim welcomes back Evelyn Browning Garriss, editor of The Browning Newsletter. Evelyn discusses how the El Niño weather pattern has returned; the only question is how strong it will be. She sees warmer and wetter weather for the US this winter, cold weather for Europe and warm and wet in Asia. She notes that the El Niño pattern helped the soybean crop in the Midwest this year, but the corn harvest has been poor. Meat producers have been stressed as grain prices have risen. Look for higher beef prices next year.

Jim welcomes John Butler from London, Amphora’s CIO and author of The Golden Revolution. John notes that central bankers are not taking accountability for their mistakes, which is leading to unintended consequences. He also sees the concentration of wealth continuing to grow in the financial sector, as "too big to fail" institutions grow ever bigger. John also believes we will see banks begin to charge fees on deposits at banks, as banks pass along higher fees on cash charged by the Federal Reserve. As to gold and commodities, John sees hard assets as the most undervalued sector today, with gold more underpriced today than during the financial crisis of 2008. He stresses that investors need to own hard assets, but exercise extreme due diligence when choosing commodity funds or ETF’s.

In this segment of the Big Picture, Jim begins with “Don’t Fight the Fed”, and discusses the recent decision by the Fed to move to “open-ended” Quantitative Easing, spending $40 billion a month buying mortgage-backed securities, indefinitely. He will discuss the investor implications of this decision, and how fighting the Fed’s actions is usually not a good strategy. In “Beating The Banks (part 3)” Jim looks at how to deploy your money more efficiently, and to not let the banks take advantage of you with interest rate spreads while your money earns next to nothing.

Jim welcomes back legendary technician Ralph Acampora, Director of Tactical Investments at Altaira Wealth Management. Ralph believes the big cap stocks are in a new bull market, and the markets continue to climb the proverbial "wall of worry." He sees the financial stocks leading the way currently, and bonds in bubble territory. Ralph also notes many individual and institutional investors are on the sideline, which is the wrong place to be. Also in this segment, Ryan Puplava has this week’s Market Wrap-up and Rob Bernard looks at bonds in the Fixed Income Report.

Jim is pleased to welcome back Eric Janszen, Founder & President at iTulip Inc. Eric notes that the market impact of the Fed’s recent announcement of QE3 has been underwhelming thus far. He still is an owner of gold, but is reducing his treasury bond holdings and moving toward private equity instead. Eric believes the next big event will be trouble in the bond markets, caused by the Fed’s continuous intervention. He also sees "peak cheap energy" as a limiting factor on economic growth in the future.

Jim welcomes technician Tracy Knudsen CMT, Senior Analyst at Lowry Research Corporation, back to the program. Tracy is still somewhat cautious with regard to higher stock prices in the near term. Her indicators have not yet turned fully bullish, so her outlook for stocks at this level is still one of caution. Also in this segment, Ryan Puplava looks back at this eventful week, particularly the Federal Reserve announcement of more QE in his Market Wrap-up report. Rob Bernard reports on this week in the fixed income markets. Last, but certainly not least, Jim answers your Q-Calls in this segment of the program.

Jim is pleased to welcome back James Dines, editor and publisher of The Dines Letter. Mr. Dines believes there is no way to save the dollar, and it will have to be abandoned as the world’s reserve currency. He recommends to resume buying gold and silver, and notes that gold stocks are now supporting gold’s rise. Mr. Dines sees the rise in oil prices as signaling approaching conflict in the Middle East. He also sees parallels between China’s aggressiveness to its Asian neighbors and Japan’s similar actions in the 1930s.

Jim is pleased to welcome back Dr. Marc Faber, publisher of the "Gloom, Boom & Doom Report." Marc notes that without current US government deficits, the economy would be in recession. He also expects the Fed to initiate QE3, but believes its main impact will be on investment markets, not the economy. Marc is still bearish on bonds, but admits to have been too early with his bearish call. If he had to choose one investment for the next ten years, it would be gold, with stocks next in line. Marc also makes the case that we are no longer living in a free-market environment, and one has to re-think what is considered a "safe" investment. His greatest concern is the US might confiscate gold again, as FDR did in 1933.

Jim welcomes back Michael Kantrowitz CFA, Director, Portfolio Strategy & Quantitative Research at Wolfe Trahan & Co. in New York. Michael notes that his research points to higher stock prices this fall and a turnaround in the leading economic indicators (LEI’s). He believes the "Risk On" trade is returning and the new sector leaders will be Industrials, Energy and Materials.