Ian Cooper's Market Insider

You know what they say about bull markets...

There's always one somewhere. And rest assured, we'll find it.

In fact, if you pay attention to President Obama long enough, he'll lead you to the opportunities himself.

Check out LED technology, for example, which "just got a bit brighter" thanks to the President. (Pardon the pun.)

You see, in announcing the latest energy efficiency efforts, Obama said one of the new steps is to set new efficiency standards on fluorescent and incandescent lighting. "Now I know light bulbs may not seem sexy," said Obama, "but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and our businesses.

"Between 2012 and 2042, these new standards will save consumers up to $4 billion a year, conserve enough electricity to power every home in America for 10 months, reduce emissions equal to the amount produced by 166 million cars each year, and eliminate the need for as many as 14 coal-fired power plants.

"And by the way, we're going to start here at the White House. Secretary Chu has already started to take a look at our light bulbs, and we're going to see what we need to replace them with energy-efficient light bulbs."

And that sounds like an LED push to me.

But to understand why it'll pay to be bullish on LED technology stocks, we have to go back to December 2007.

That's when President Bush inked an 822-page energy measure that included a future ban on 100-watt incandescent bulbs by 2012.

It was intended to make way for bulbs that use 25% to 30% less energy, lop an estimated $18 billion off annual U.S. electric bills, and cut consumer electricity usage by 60%.

Even American Technology Corporation CEO Richard Prati agreed, saying LED technology would grow "astronomically" in coming years. He even believed LED technology would proliferate like Internet companies did in the 1990s, and that LED could save consumers up to 90% on energy bills.

And we're not talking about small industry growth either. In 2005, the LED industry was valued at $205 million. By 2011, it could be valued as high as $1 billion — 388% growth in six short years.

There'll be plenty of demand, and possibly tight supply, which will benefit LED companies. But if we name the companies here, we risk "jacking" prices too high.

However, you can find more information and the names of two LED companies (on radar) in the latest alert from Pure Asset Trader.

Taking Advantage of Wall Street's Panic

Can't say we're surprised. As I write this, the S&P 500 is back to where it was at the start of the year.

The rally that began in March? Never mind. Fear and loathing are back in the market. Which is why I wanted you to see the latest report from former Whiskey contributor Dan Amoss.

You haven't heard much from him lately because since the start of the financial crisis, he's been busy executing what he calls the Fear Factor strategy.

It works like this: For every $1 a certain stock tanks, you collect $3. Or as much as $7 if traders get really fearful.

The Fear Factor strategy's track record: An average gain of 103%.

At least one of Dan's latest recommendations, issued late last week, is still below his buy-up-to price. But I don't know how long that'll last. So read on to learn how to make the Fear Factor strategy work for you.

Around here, we never tire of tweaking the titans of finance who've wreaked so much havoc on the U.S. economy.

Today we write so we can show you a method to use their folly to your advantage.

Dan Amoss calls it the 'fear factor' strategy, and he put it into effect just five days after the start of the financial crisis.

The idea is simple: For every $1 a stock tanks, you can pocket $3. Or if traders get really fearful...up to $7.

The results are phenomenal: An average gain of 102%. And individual plays returning up to 462%.

There's still time to act on at least one of his most recent recommendations - if you jump on it soon. Dan's report below tells you exactly how to put the 'fear factor' strategy to work.

The Fear Factor Strategy:For every $1 these stocks tank, you could pocket at least $3…and as much as $7

While the S&P 500 crashed 43.3%… this strategy has bagged average 102.9% returns

Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fear Factor strategy has crushed every asset class - top stocks to buy, bonds, gold, you name it

It's proven to turn $1,000 into $2,619… $3,383… even $5,718

To get in on the next Fear Factor play, you have to act now. It could come out in the next 24 hours.

I love it when panic grips Wall Street.

The more fearful they get, the more greedy I get.

Traders can send a retail stock tanking 45%… and you can collect a gain of 238% from the same exact move.

Think about that for a minute.

For every $1 someone else loses on that best stock, you pocket more than $5.

Or a bank stock. It gets whacked 39%. You gain 220%.

So for every $1 someone else loses in a panic, you calmly collect nearly $6.

Months before Lehman Brothers blows up, the stock plunges 68%. You bag a gain of 462%.

Every $1 some poor guy loses during that time because he can't keep his head, you make nearly $7 without breaking a sweat.

That's the Fear Factor strategy in action.

Let me explain a bit. I don't profit from other folks' misery.

I simply figured out a way to tell when a company is set to crumble.

And then I show you how to profit from the inevitable fall.

It works for me. It can work for you.

No fuss. No effort.

The Fear Factor's strategy worked time and again since the financial crisis got cranked up.

I've used it to close out just 23 plays in 18 months. And the average return is 103%.

That's right — it's the same as doubling your money — 23 times in a row!

Compare that to a 43% loss in the S&P 500.

Every $1 somebody lost on an S&P index fund? You could've made more than $2.

I don't know of any other method that makes more money, more reliably, in this crazy market.

And the concept is so simple:

1. Zero in on top stocks set to crash and burn

2. Then execute the Fear Factor strategy

It's proven to work over and over again.

How the "Fear Factor" Makes You Money Whenever You Put It to Work

See, falling top stocks market have something I call a Fear Factor Multiplier.

That's not a made-up term. It doesn't describe a common figure like the price-earnings ratio. Or free cash flow. Or anything like that.

Instead, the Fear Factor Multiplier is your key to the profits you can make from top stocks set up for a big fall.

No other analyst uses the Fear Factor Multiplier to generate gains this reliably. There's simply nothing else like it.

I'm thinking of a clothing maker. It has a Fear Factor Multiplier of 2.96.

What does that mean to you? It means every $1,000 invested turned into $1,666 in just over a month.

There's a retailer with a Fear Factor Multiplier of 5.28.

That means $1,000 turned into $3,383 in less than three months.

Lehman Brothers, before it collapsed, had a Fear Factor Multiplier of 6.94.

Translation: Every $1,000 invested turned into $5,717. In 77 days. Less than three months.

And if you had plugged in $10,000, you'd make $57,170!

The broader best stock market? It has a Fear Factor too. It's 2.38.

Every $1,000 invested using the Fear Factor strategy has turned into an average $2,029.

Just days after the start of the financial crisis, I started using the Fear Factor strategy. It exploits Wall Street's panic and paranoia to generate steady, reliable, stress-free gains.

How is the Fear Factor multiplier calculated?

I'll get to that shortly.

Right now, here's the important thing to know. The higher the Fear Factor multiplier… the more money you could have made.

Here's a sample of top stocks to buy, their Fear Factor multipliers… and how much money they could have made you following the Fear Factor strategy.

How the Fear Factor Delivers Triple-Digit Gains, Time After Time

What makes the Fear Factor strategy such a winner?

Simple: It exploits the fear that's gripped the markets since August 2007.

That was the month the financial system started going haywire.

Credit markets froze up. Mortgage lenders imploded. Hedge funds melted down.

The Federal Reserve ordered an emergency cut in interest rates on August 17.

And five days after the Fed acted, I told a select group of readers to begin executing the "Fear Factor" strategy.

They targeted stocks in some of the most vulnerable sectors of the economy. Banks. Homebuilders. Selected retailers.

Their first target: The regional bank TCF Financial.

Using the Fear Factor strategy, a $1,000 investment becomes $1,969 in just over eight months. Almost a double!

Even better: Another regional bank, PNC Financial.

The Fear Factor strategy applied to PNC turns $1,000 into $3,220 in just 109 days. Less than four months!

A vulnerable retailer of computer gear called Systemax?

The Fear Factor strategy turns a $1,000 investment into $2,733 in 104 days. Again, less than four months!

Their biggest haul? A bet on the fall of Lehman Brothers.

The Fear Factor strategy applied to Lehman transforms every $1,000 invested into $5,617.

That's the power of the Fear Factor.

I know the Fear Factor multiplier sounds mysterious. But in a few more moments, I'll tell you exactly what it means and how it's calculated.

Now… here's the most remarkable thing about the Fear Factor strategy.

The Fear Factor Strategy In Action…Money-Doubling Gains Without Constantly Trading In and Out

You already see how the Fear Factor strategy could have reliably doubled your money since the start of the financial crisis.

You've also seen how individual Fear Factor plays can make you three times, even five times, your money.

But get this. It's been 18 months since I put the Fear Factor strategy into action. And in that time, I achieved these results using the strategy on just 23 plays.

And yet, with 23 plays, I could have doubled your money 23 times. Even after you take a handful of losing plays into account. Average performance through the first quarter of 2009 was a gain of 102.9%.

And, the Fear Factory strategy has blown away top stocks for 2010, bonds AND gold since I created it.

First, let's compare the Fear Factor track record to the performance of the S&P 500…

The Fear Factor strategy got off to a slow start in late 2007. The S&P held steady, while the Fear Factor strategy generated a modest loss.

But look at what's happened ever since. Every quarter has closed out with average gains of a minimum 72%.

And it's not just top stocks 2010 that the Fear Factor strategy outperforms by a mile.

Look how it crushes the bond market.

Panicked best stock investors have sought "safety" in Treasuries during the financial crisis. But even during bonds' best quarter in late 2008, the Fear Factor strategy did three times better.

How about gold? Gold has held up very nicely as a safe haven during the financial crisis.

But using the 23 plays of the Fear Factor strategy, you could have doubled your money. 23 times! Even factoring in the losing plays, the "Fear Factor" strategy delivered average gains of 102.9%.

Again, that's just with 23 plays over 18 months.

So executing the Fear Factor strategy won't take up a lot of your time.

You won't be on the phone with your broker every day. You won't be tracking performance on the internet every 15 minutes.

And you won't rack up a lot of fees and commissions.

So now you understand the power of the Fear Factor strategy.

Now I'm going to show you exactly how the Fear Factor multiplier is calculated… and how it can mean big, big money in crazy, crazy markets.

The Fear Factor Multiplier Revealed —For Every $1 These Stocks Tank,You Could Collect $3… $4… Even $7

OK, I've made you wait for a full explanation for long enough.

It's time I reveal exactly what the Fear Factor multiplier is. What it means. And how it translates into the money you make.

It works like this.

For every $1 a top stock falls in price, the Fear Factor Multiplier is the amount of money you could have made using the Fear Factor strategy.

So the retail stock I mentioned with a Fear Factor multiplier of 2.96? That was HanesBrands. For every $1 it fell in early summer 2008, the Fear Factor strategy delivered $2.96.

The retailer with a Fear Factor multiplier of 5.28? That's the fabric outfit Jo-Ann Stores. Every $1 it fell in late 2008 delivered $5.28.

Lehman Brothers? Recall its Fear Factor multiplier was 6.94.

So in the late spring and early summer of 2008, every dollar it fell could have meant $6.94 in your pocket. Nearly $7 for every $1 the best stock tanked!

Remember, the higher the Fear Factor multiplier, the more money you could have made!

And don't forget the broad market, either. The S&P 500 crashed 43.3% from the onset of the financial crisis through the first quarter of 2009. The S&P's Fear Factor multiplier during this period? 2.38.

So if you invested an equal amount of money in all 23 of the Fear Factor plays over the last 18 months, every dollar would now be $2.38.

So you see the Fear Factor is a powerful strategy that can deliver you big, big profits.

But I have to be absolutely upfront with you.

There's a tragic catch to the Fear Factor. It means there's only one way you can make it work for you and generate reliable money-doubling gains.

Skittish About Options? Don't Worry. Here are Five Ways I'll Help You Use the Fear Factor Strategy to Make Easy Doubler after Doubler

Maybe you got excited reading about the Fear Factor strategy. But then you read that it involves options. Scary. Intimidating.

I'm here to put your mind at ease.

If you've never traded options before, Strategic Short Report is the best way I know how — especially if you're just getting started.

Let me lay out five reasons why.

1. You won't place a lot of trades. That's not what I'm all about. I've generated my money-doubling track record over 18 months with just 23 plays. That's about one play every three and a half weeks. So if you want to get in on the action, this won't take up a lot of your time and energy.

2. You won't have to obsess about the positions. These are usually longer-dated options. That means they don't expire for several months out. So you don't have to check websites four times a day to see how they're performing. Of course you can if you like, but it's not necessary. I give you a comprehensive email update every Friday afternoon.

3. I'm with you every step of the way. Every new recommendation ends with the exact words you can read to your broker if you want to execute the trade. And when it's time to book profits, I'll let you know right away. Once again, you can have the exact words in front of you on your computer screen when you call your broker.

4. You're consistently beating the odds in the options market. Maybe you've read about how 80% of options positions expire worthless. Well, that's true, and maybe that's scared you out of the options market till now. But that's never happened with one of my positions. A handful have lost money. But the biggest loss I've booked through the first quarter of 2009 is 20%. Compare that to…

5. All the money you can make! Go back to those charts showing how the Fear Factor strategy has demolished top stocks to buy, bonds and gold since the start of the financial crisis. Every $1,000 invested in the Fear Factor strategy is now $2,029. And some of the individual plays have delivered gains of 173%…224%… 238%… 334%… even 461.7%.

I've prepared a special report just for you — the options newcomer — ready to use the Fear Factor strategy to double your money in 18 months. It's got everything you need. Who to call, what websites to visit, the works.

It's called The First Timer's Handbook: Using Options to Generate Triple-Digit Fear Factor Profits. It's yours FREE with your subscription to Strategic Short Report. Read on to learn how to get your copy.

The Tragic Catch to the Fear Factor — and the Only Way You Can Use It to Generate Steady, Reliable Triple-Digit Gains

Maybe you've figured it out already.

The catch is this. The "Fear Factor" strategy isn't something you can do on your own.

You can't just pick a random best stock, calculate its Fear Factor multiplier, and execute the Fear Factor strategy if the multiplier looks high enough.

After all, you'd have to know how much the best stock for 2010 was going to fall.

And how much money you could make by applying the Fear Factor strategy.

You could never know those things in advance for certain, but how in the world would you go about estimating the potential?

You'd have to crunch dozens of numbers. Pore over a company's balance sheet and income statement. Study its filings with the SEC.

And you'd have to consider the bigger picture. The Federal Reserve. Monetary policy. Political decisions in Washington. And how all those things affect both the company and the sector it competes in.

Sounds overwhelming.

To understand a company's numbers, you'd need to be a chartered financial analyst.

To understand the bigger picture, you'd need a rock-solid grounding in macroeconomics.

But you don't need any of those things to execute the Fear Factor strategy and bag average gains of 102.9%.

Because I do all of that for you.

All you have to do is read and follow my Fear Factor recommendations.

It couldn't be easier. I've closed out only 23 plays in 18 months.

So it doesn't take a lot of time, or energy, or extra money.

No obsessively checking on your positions eight times an hour. No endless commissions to fork over to your broker.

In a few moments, I'll show you some concrete examples of how I pulled off some of the incredible Fear Factor results — results that can turn $1,000 into $2,619… $3,383… even $5,718.

I'll walk you through it step-by-step. When you see the Fear Factor strategy in action, you'll see how sensible, how logical, and how understandable it is.

That's because it uses the same common-sense principles that make investors good money during bull markets. Only it turns those principles on their head to make even better money during bear markets.

Most of the time, I recommend my readers do it using put options.

Don't let that scare you off if that's new to you. In a few moments, I'll show you five ways I'll help you use the Fear Factor strategy to make doubler after doubler.

So by now, you're probably wondering about my background. What I bring to the table with the Fear Factor strategy. So allow me to introduce myself.

How I Developed the Fear Factor Strategy… and How It Can Double Your Money 23 Times in 18 Months

My name is Dan Amoss.

And I'm one of those lucky people who feel like they're born to do the work they do.

Everything that's happened in my life has led me to where I am now — executing the "Fear Factor" strategy to double the money of people just like you.

I developed an early interest in business and finance. So I was admitted to a good school with a good reputation for teaching those things.

That's not unusual. Here's what is.

I started college around the time the dot-com boom started to bust.

My classmates hardly noticed. No offense to them, but they were too busy partying. So they had enough trouble just learning how to read a company's balance sheet and income statement.

For me, it wasn't just enough to ace those things. I got really curious: How did the tech bubble get so big? What were the root causes?

I sought out tons of information in books, in journals, and online. (In fact, I was one of the earliest readers of Bill Bonner's e-letter The Daily Reckoning.)

At this moment, I got a really lucky break. The first of three, actually.

The Three Lucky Breaks That Led Me to Create the Fear Factor Strategy — and Give You the Chance to Double Your Money Over and Over

See, I majored in business. But I took economics courses on the side. And I found a mentor in a professor named Thomas DiLorenzo.

Maybe you've heard of him. He's a senior scholar at the Mises Institute. And he's written popular books like How Capitalism Saved America and Hamilton's Curse.

DiLorenzo introduced me to the works of the great "Austrian school" economists like the Nobel laureate Freidrich von Hayek, and Hayek's mentor Ludwig von Mises.

So I started putting the pieces together. All that insane speculation in dot-com stocks that had no earnings? It couldn't have happened without the easy-money policies of the Federal Reserve in the 1990s.

Of course, that's almost common knowledge now. But I already understood it while it was happening.

So then I graduated, and it was the worst possible time to look for a first job. The tech bust had hit full force. The economy was hitting bottom.

I wanted to stay close to my family in the Baltimore area. But the big finance firms in town — T. Rowe Price and Legg Mason — had a hiring freeze.

This turned out to be another incredibly lucky break.

I landed an analyst job at a company that managed a top-ranked small cap mutual fund. Instead of being an anonymous drone at a big firm, I came under the wing of another mentor, fund manager Robert McDorman.

So right away I got up close and personal with CEOs who came into town to make their case for the fund to buy their shares. With Bob's guidance, I quickly figured out when a CEO was being straight-up… and when he was giving a song and dance.

And all the while, I continued my education… completing three years of rigorous training as a chartered financial analyst (CFA).

As great as this experience was, I was starting to chafe a bit. Sure, I enjoyed studying companies' business plans and raw numbers.

But I had little opportunity to flex my economics training. I knew the housing boom was a bubble that had to burst sooner or later. I knew the financial sector was making way too many irresponsible bets.

I knew it wouldn't end well. But I couldn't put that knowledge directly to work to make money for folks like you.

That's when I got still another lucky break.

Bestselling author Addison Wiggin was looking for an editor to add to his industry-leading team of analysts at Agora Financial — a team that called the housing bubble way back in 2004.

It was the perfect match. Especially since I could do both the bottom-up analysis of a company's numbers, and top-down analysis of the big economic picture.

So I jumped at the chance… and got down to work right away, developing the outlines of the Fear Factor strategy.

Born at the Start of the Financial Crisis… The Fear Factor Strategy's Proven Record of Average 102.9% Gains

On August 22, 2007… five days after the financial crisis hit full force and the Fed launched its emergency interest rate cuts… I put the Fear Factor strategy into effect.

And I was finally doing what I was born to do — using all of my skills to make big money for people like you.

During 2008, thousands of my readers racked up gains of 92%… 162%… 173%… 238%… even 462%.

Some of them were making the first option trades of their lives.

Others are recently unemployed… but now think they can retire this year.

Reader Marty R. writes, "I feel almost guilty at all the money I've made."

Wouldn't you like to have that "problem"?

For still others, their biggest worry is how their stellar performance will affect their tax bill.

Wouldn't that be a nice problem to have?

Especially at a time like now. That's what many readers of my premium service, Strategic Short Report, tell me:

Grateful in this market environment "I have you to thank for an approximately 450% gain. I am very grateful, especially in this market environment."

— Pat M.

If only I'd found you sooner! "Actual profit less commissions… 442%. If only I had found you before I lost 85% of my resources following other services!!!!"

— Bruce H.

Safe harbor in a bear market "I could not thank you enough for doing this service. Without it, I would have lost a lot more money in this bear market."

— Wyzzy"

And they don't tell that just to me. They shout it from the rooftops.

Strategic Short Report is the highest-rated premium research service by readers of investment newsletters on stockgumshoe.com.

Folks there don't mince words. If they think a service is lousy, they'll say so. But when they talk about Strategic Short Report, they say…

Made double my subscription cost in 3 months "I've made over double the subscription cost in profit in 3 months."

— "Tampat"

I value this service the most "Dan seems to have an almost uncanny ability to spot opportunity. I have several services and this is the one I value the most."

— "ahappyfred"

Best service I've used "This is the best service I've used. I've lost lots of money with other newsletters, but had some big gains in this one. I think Dan will do well in any kind of market."

— Dustin

But I don't want you to just take the word of other people how much money Strategic Short Report can make for you.

I want to walk you, step-by-step, through real examples of real recommendations that made real money for real people.

If they can do it, so can you.

78 Days to a 462% Gain — Step by Step

Step 1: Friday, April 25:

Strategic Short Report readers received an e-mail with the subject line, "The Next Bear Stearns."

I spell out all the reasons that Lehman Brothers is the next big investment bank to start circling the drain.

Then I spell out the exact words readers should tell their brokers if they want in. "Action to Take: 'Buy to open' the January 2009 $40 LEH Put Option (VHEMH) up to $6 per contract."

Step 2: Wednesday, June 11:

Lehman shareholders had taken a hit of 49% in 48 days. But Strategic Short Report members are already up 224% on those put options.

Now, you need to know something about me. I don't like to get too greedy. I don't like to tempt fate. I think you've already got the sense that I'm a pretty conservative guy.

So I issue an e-mail alert telling members to close out half the position — and lock in that 224% gain.

Step 3: Friday, July 11:

Lehman shares are down nearly 70% in 78 days. The Fear Factor multiplier has shot up to 6.94… and the remaining half of the puts that I recommended is now up a staggering 462%!

So I issue an e-mail alert: "The chances of a sharp rally in LEH are very high. So let's take profits on the second half of your put position."

It's that simple. While your neighbors fret about the index funds in their 401(k) plans, you could be pocketing $5,617 on an initial position of just $1,000.

Nobody who got in this trade complained!

$2436 becomes $9799! "For the Lehman puts, I invested $2436. After the two sales, I got $9,799 back!"

— Gary W.

250%… But I'm Not Complaining! "I got too conservative on the LEH puts and only made 250%. I am not complaining, I don't think I have made anywhere near 250% in any of my trades and I have been trading for over twenty years."

— "Wyzzy"

$32,348 on my first option trade! "My buy price was 4.65 and I got out at 18.15 for a profit of $32,348. Not bad for my first option trade!"

— Robert K.

567% profit! "I held on to the 2nd half of my Lehman Brothers Puts until 9/10/08. I sold them at that time for a 567% profit. Thank you for this outstanding recommendation!"

— Paul J.

Up to $20,000 in Profits! "I haven't added it all up, but total profits are well over $15K, perhaps even $20K. Hell of a nice return on my subscription price. The only negative I can think of about subscribing to Strategic Short Report is going to be my tax bill. I think I can handle it."

— David M.

Ex-Lehman Employee pockets $200,000! "As a Lehman alum I was hesitant to put this one on. A cool $200,000 profit later, I'm a Strategic Short Report disciple!"

— Wilson R.

But gains like those are just half the story.

The other half is why I picked Lehman puts in the first place.

My Keys to 462% Gains: Painstaking Research — and a Refusal to Follow the Herd

Let me share with you the "back story" on just what made that trade so lucrative.

Friday, April 25: Look, a bet on Lehman's fall looks obvious now. But back then, I was really putting myself on the line. Conventional wisdom had it that Lehman wouldn't go under.

But there's something huge that conventional wisdom overlooked.

I explained it in my first e-mail alert. See, at the time the Federal Reserve was willing to backstop Lehman bondholders. But Lehman stockholders? They'd be the first to take any losses.

And I was right. Those losses turned out to be nearly 70% in 78 days. And my readers gained 462%. Not bad, huh?

Thursday, June 5: In one of my weekly e-mail updates on our existing positions (I told you, I hold your hand through the whole process), I cite a recent New York Times story in which Lehman sold more than $100 billion in assets to clean up its balance sheet.

I told readers something was fishy. How could Lehman dump all that toxic junk without taking a huge loss? I speculated Lehman might have financed the sale to a hedge fund run by someone who used to work for Lehman.

Six days later, I tell Strategic Short Report members to take 224% profits on half of their Lehman puts.

Thursday, July 3: Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil publishes an expose that confirms my theory.

It turned out that the buyer of all that junk — an outfit called R3 Capital Partners — was owned in part by Lehman. And it was run by several recently-departed Lehman executives!

Thursday, July 10: Lehman files a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission called a 10-Q. It confirms all the dirty details about R3 Capital Partners.

The next day, I tell Strategic Short Report members to take 462% gains on the remaining half of their Lehman puts.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Lehman shares rallied 32% in the following week.

For many of my readers it wasn't just the big money that made them feel so good.

It was the guidance I gave them every step of the way. It gave them the knowledge and the security that they were doing the right thing, and not just blindly following some "guru."

But I'll let them speak for themselves…

"Thorough analysis" for a 304% gain "$4319 gain for 304%. Thank you very much! Always enjoy reading and appreciate your expert and thorough analysis."

— Heng L.

"In-Depth Research" Pumps Out $21,980 "I just sold 10 contracts of LESMH for $26.45 which I purchased for $4.47 for a total gain $21,980!! This is very exciting stuff...keep 'em coming like that if you can. I really appreciate your hard work, in depth research and thorough detailed coverage. Awesome trade Dan! You are the man!"

— David Y.

450% Gains During the Market's Worst Year in Decades "I have you to thank for an approximately 450% gain on this trade. I am very grateful, especially in this market environment."

— Pat M.

442% — "If only I'd found you first" "Actual profit less commissions — 442%. If only I had found you before I lost 85% of my resources following other services!!!!"

— Bruce H.

428% — "Best market deal I've ever had" "I paid $4.93 on May 6th at a total cost of $1501.92 and then sold at $26.50 netting $7,922.92. I made profit, after fees, of $6,421 or 428%. The best market deal I've ever had!"

— Steve S.

So there you have the story of my biggest win — so far — in the 18-month history of Strategic Short Report.

I wanted to give you an idea of the thinking that goes into every Fear Factor play.

Let me show you another example. This is from a few months later. By this time Lehman is gone and the best stock market is in full-blown meltdown mode.

And yet… one smart play on one shaky retailer netted a 238% gain.

How "Big-Picture" Thinking Nets 238% More Gains

Thursday, September 25: I recommend put options on the fabric retailer Jo-Ann Stores.

Four Wall Street analysts cover the best stock. I think every one of them is wrong about falling sales. I write:

"Are these optimistic analysts reading the newspaper? Mileage driven by U.S. consumers is down, so retail foot traffic is down. Foot traffic is vital to Jo-Ann. As it slows, Jo-Ann will have to step up its spending on promotions and advertising."

"Expect lower discretionary spending in the coming months — right when Jo-Ann needs it to meet earnings guidance."

Of course, I also took a good hard look at Jo-Ann's balance sheet. I found a huge rent bill it pays to the owners of shopping centers. "After paying suppliers, employees, landlords, creditors, and the tax man, Jo-Ann is left with precious little cash to return to shareholders. A slower consumer economy could easily shut down Jo-Ann's current trickle of free cash flow."

Friday, November 7: Jo-Ann reports its quarterly sales figures are down. I tell readers to hold on tight.

Friday, December 5: Jo-Ann reports poor earnings. I say the chain faces a real challenge getting shoppers in the door: "Jo-Ann must sacrifice profit margin to generate sales volume." Steady as she goes.

Friday, December 12: I tell readers in my regular Friday update to expect monetary "shock and awe" from the Federal Reserve. The Fed would meet the following week to decide on interest rates.

I figured on a big rate cut to goose the stock market. So I gave readers a heads-up: Expect a sell order before the announcement is made on Tuesday the 16th.

Tuesday, December 16: I issue an alert first thing in the morning: "Let's take some profits ahead of today's Fed meeting."

The Fear Factor multiplier on Jo-Ann had reached 5.28. Time to cash in those Jo-Ann puts for a gain of 238%.

Hours later, the Fed slashes rates to historic lows. The Dow rallies 4.2%. JAS shares rallied 30% over the next two weeks.

Once again, the appreciative e-mail poured in.

A 252% Gain! "I bought for $2.50 on 9/25, and sold for $8.80 on 12/2. Thanks!"

— Bob K.

Up 232% — No complaints! "I cashed mine in over a month ago. Bought at $2.40 and sold at $7.92. No complaints!"

— Michael F.

An $1100 profit! "Pulled the plug at $8 for a $1,110.00 profit. Keep up the good work!"

— Patrick G.

222% Profit! "222% profit on this one. You are doing a really great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

— Herb K.

(Yes, those 20 exclamation points were his, not mine.)

So now you have a pretty good idea how I weave together the strands of retail trends, a company's balance sheet, and Fed policy into gains of 238%.

By now, you might telling me: "Sure, you do a fantastic job when the market is tanking. But what about when the overall market is flat, or even rallying? There are fewer top stocks to buy against. How do you make the Fear Factor work when there's less to be fearful about?"

A great question. It deserves a great answer.

How about a 338% gain?

An "Uncertain" Investing Environment… But Not for Strategic Short Report Readers Who Bagged 338%

Friday, November 14. An incredibly tough time to figure out where to invest.

The stock market was recovering slightly from the body blow it took in September and October. Would the recovery last?

A new president had just been elected. What would he do?

It was what the business press calls an "uncertain" investing environment.

But on this day, I was certain about one thing. I wrote, "There's every reason to expect radical new inflation policies in the coming months."

Remember, I'm keeping an eagle eye on the Federal Reserve and on Washington, D.C. On top of the income statements and balance sheets of literally dozens of companies.

"How can you profit from this unprecedented inflation?" I continued. "By owning precious metals and precious metals stocks."

I tell readers to pick up call options on GDX — an exchange-traded fund (ETF) made up of gold mining stocks.

Again, I'm really swimming against the tide on this one. Mainstream analysts see no inflation threat on the horizon. But the potential payoff becomes apparent in just one week.

Friday, November 20. GDX rises 20% in one day, after rallying much of the week. The calls of course are up much more. But I say it's not too late to get in.

Friday, January 2. The GDX options have now tripled. But I say hold on tight, they've got more room to run.

Friday, January 16. GDX has climbed back down from its year-end 2008 highs. Readers are getting nervous. But I say stay the course. "I don't think Bernanke and the Fed are bluffing, and I recommend you operate under that assumption."

Friday, February 20. I issue an alert to sell. "It looks like day traders are piling into gold just because it's going up. So there's a good chance that gold prices and GDX will correct in the coming weeks."

Result? A gain of 338%.

Oh, and sure enough, GDX fell 20% in the following three weeks.

No, not a play on falling top stocks market. But my readers weren't complaining…

 

275% profit! "In at 3.20, out at 12.00 = 275% profit."

— Brian R.

Nice job, good call! "I sold at $12 booking 287% profit. Nice job, good call."

— Daniel C.

Well worth the price "I got in at 3.00 and exited today at 12.10 for a 303% profit! Not too shabby for 3 months. You are well worth the price of a subscription. Great work as usual, Dan!"

— Derek L.

330% gain! "I bought in at $2.75 and sold at $12 for a 330% gain! My only wish was that I would have bought more. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for the next recommendation!"

— John K.

Nearly 5 Times My Money! "Excellent trade... I split my buy at $3.00, $2.50, and $2.00. Today I exited at 11.80 and booked a 4.8x return. Dan is the man!"

— Quint B.

So you see, it doesn't matter whether the market is going up or down. I make the Fear Factor strategy work even when fear isn't sweeping the markets. Strategic Short Report has you covered either way.

So when do I issue the next Fear Factor play, you ask?

The Next Fear Factor Play — Coming Out in as Little as 24 Hours

Here's the thing.

I don't issue my Fear Factor plays on a set schedule.

I think by now you understand why.

At any given time, I'm evaluating the income statements and balance sheets of literally dozens of companies. And all the while, I'm keeping an eye on what the Fed, the White House, and Congress plan to do next.

That's a lot of variables to watch.

Point is, the stars don't align for the ideal Fear Factor play like clockwork.

I call 'em when I see 'em. And I strike when the opportunity is hottest.

I said earlier that on average, I issue a new Fear Factor recommendation about every three and a half weeks. Call it 25 days.

But… I've gone as long as 35 days between recommendations. And I've gone as little as three days.

My most recent recommendation? June 19. It's not too late to get in on that one… but it could rocket up past my buy price very soon.

Point is, I could issue my next Fear Factor recommendation literally any day now.

I mean, less than 24 hours.

You wouldn't want to miss out on the next chance to bag a gain of 92%, 162%, 173%, 238%, even 462%, would you?

But just in case you're still skeptical, I'd like to give you the chance to try out six months of Strategic Short Report - absolutely FREE.

Get Six Months of Strategic Short Report - Absolutely FREE

How much would you be willing to pay for access to a proven strategy that's doubled every dollar invested since the start of the financial crisis?

How much would you be willing to pay for access to a proven strategy that's turned $1,000 into $2,619… $3,383… even $5,718?

Fact is, you could have bought just one contract of every position I closed in 2008… and you'd have enough money to pay for a one-year subscription to Strategic Short Report four times over.

And that's if you paid full price of $1,995.

That's how much we normally charge for Strategic Short Report.

That's more than enough to cover the gains of the most conservative investor who puts the Fear Factor strategy to work.

But until I issue my next recommendation, you can access a year's worth of service for the price of just six months.

That's right — a full year of Strategic Short Report at HALF off — just $995.

That's not much money to ask for a service that recently sent out a play that rocketed up 462%. A service that averages 103% over every single play it's ever published…

But this offer is strictly limited to only the most enthusiastic and able readers.

It expires as soon as I issue my next recommendation.

I'll say it one more time. I don't know exactly when that will be. It depends on dozens of variables. I've gone as long as 35 days between recommendations. And I've gone as little as three.

My last recommendation came on June 19. So my next one could come literally any time now. Within 24 hours even.

And when that recommendation hits the inboxes of my current subscribers, this offer is over. You can still sign up after that — but only at the regular price of $1,995.

Besides, why would you want to miss out on even one of my recommendations when our average performance is a gain of 102.9%?

With a track record like that, you'd pay for your already discounted membership in just one or two plays, anyway…

Try Strategic Short Report With
Absolutely No Risk

When you sign up to try out Strategic Short Report for six months FREE, you'll have 60 days to take advantage of all these member benefits:

My exclusive Fear Factor buy recommendations. This comes to your email inbox as soon as I spot the opportunity and write it up for you. On average, I issue a new recommendation every three and a half weeks. But I've gone as little as three days. It all depends on when an opportunity presents itself… and I never want to pass up the chance at a money-doubling gain for you.

Complete Fear Factor sell recommendations. Again, these arrive in your email inbox as soon as I think it's time to take profits like 238%… 334%… or 462%. I'm there with you every step of the way.

Weekly email updates. Every Friday, I give you a thorough briefing on the state of the open Fear Factor plays. I've already given you a sense of how comprehensive these are… and how much readers appreciate what I put into them.

The Fear Factor Strategy: Five Steps to Locking in Triple Digit Gains. This FREE special report reveals five of the key variables I look at when choosing your Fear Factor plays. You can review this information as soon as you sign up to subscribe. This will give you instant insight when I issue the next Fear Factor recommendation.

The First Timer's Handbook: Using Options to Generate Triple-Digit Fear Factor Profits. You'll value this FREE special report if you're new to trading options — which is how most of my Fear Factor plays work. Maybe you can be like one of my readers who made $32,348 on his very first option trade!

Members-only access to the Strategic Short Report website. Here you'll have password-protected access to all of my previous recommendations, buy-and-sell alerts, and weekly email updates. And you can review the complete Strategic Short Report portfolio — past and present recommendations. It's just as impressive as I've described!

All of this is yours to study risk-free for 60 days. If at any time during those 60 days, you decide the Fear Factor strategy isn't your bag, you can call a toll-free number and cancel. You'll get all your money back, and you can keep your FREE special reports.

I think that's a plenty fair deal, don't you?

But I believe so much in the power of the Fear Factor strategy, I want to take this protection to a whole new level.

Our One-of-a-Kind Guarantee: The Fear Factor Strategy Gives You a Chance to Double Your Money… or Your Money Back

I'm going to take this guarantee one step further. A guarantee keyed directly to the performance of my recommendations.

It works like this. Once the 60-day unconditional refund period is up, you still have a performance-protection guarantee. My recommendations during your one-year membership must average 100% or better… or you can ask for your money back.

In other words, my average performance has to work out to double your money… or you're entitled to a full refund.

That's been my performance for the first 18 months of Strategic Short Report's existence. I think that's the least I can guarantee for you.

And that guarantee applies for your entire subscription term.

So if on the 364th day of your subscription, I'm not generating average money-doubling gains, you can still call and get your money back.

But I'm confident you'll never have to place that call. I think you'll be more than happy with the triple-digit gains you'll have socked away.

Better yet… you'll have the security of knowing you can use the Fear Factor strategy to generate steady, reliable triple-digit gains while everyone else is losing their heads.

That's real peace of mind. And isn't that what you're looking for at a time like this?

Investing in the Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB)

Most investors are weary about the Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB). That's understandable, considering the amount of bankruptcies, shell companies, and de-listings that occur in over-the-counter markets. But there is a very large misconception that is widely shared among investors: that no over-the-counter company has to report current financial information. That is the case with the Pink Sheets, but not so with the OTCBB.

You see, before 1990 the over-the-counter securities market was a wild-west show. Not complete lawlessness, but close to it. So that year, the SEC started the Over The Counter Bulletin Board as part of the Penny Stock Reform Act. The OTCBB's main purpose was to bring more quotation and last-sale information. By 1999, the OTCBB had evolved to the point where every company had to report regular financial information. This sets it apart from others, specifically the Pink Sheets, which don't have reporting requirements.

There are absolutely no requirements for Pink Sheet companies. They don't have to file regular and current financial information (although a recent classification system is slowly changing that), they don't have a strict minimum market cap requirement, and they certainly don't have to pay the couple hundred thousand dollars just to be traded on a major exchange.

The OTCBB, on the other hand, is a much stricter form of the Pink Sheets. Over the Counter Bulletin Board companies have to keep up with regular financial reporting. This truly makes all the difference in the world.

Here's an example:

Company A is traded through the Pink Sheets, and Company B is on the OTCBB. Both companies issue press releases claiming to be "transitioning their businesses". Company A really just slumps into a shell company state, because no one has to know what's actually going on over there. Whereas Company B has to file regular quarterly earnings. If it doesn't the OTCBB will add a dunce cap (or in this case the letter "E" to the end of the company's ticker), which immediately tells investors that the company isn't showing enough corporate responsibility. This can make or break that investment. People invested in Company A are out of luck. Company B investors can get out before the going gets too tough.

But, that doesn't explain why OTC companies are even worth investing in. There are two reasons to get involved in the OTC market…

The main reason most OTCBB investors keep trading these securities is the profit potential. Obviously, a $300 billion Blue Chip can't double in size too easily. That doesn't give investors too much to work with. A $3 million company can double in size overnight without flinching. Which would you rather have in your portfolio?

The second reason is also a pretty clear one. Because many of these tiny companies are working on a much smaller scale, overall general market attitude has a very small effect on them. There are almost never any big institutional investors or large mutual fund managers pulling money in and out of these companies. These two groups of investors are more interested in macro market sentiments than what individual companies are doing. So, in bear markets, it's quite possible to have a bunch of these OTCBB companies take off.

In a 2001 study published in the Journal of Alternative Investments, a four –year period of Over the Counter Bulletin Board trading was studied for a risk to return ratio. The interesting conclusion they came up with was that OTCBB stocks didn't reflect what the general market was doing at that time. There were some years of extreme bullish overall sentiment, which can be defined as a solid return on the S&P, and the overall OTCBB market lost a lot of money. On the flip side of that, years of extreme bearishness in the S&P, along with the major exchanges, showed positive returns for many OTCBB companies.

So whether you are a safe-bet kind of investor or a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type, there is still a place for you, just off the major exchanges.

Investing in Penny Stocks Right Now

Tiny companies are a great way to make a fortune off of the best stock market. Every trading day one thing's almost certain: the biggest gaining stocks are bound to be penny stocks. The profit potential of penny stocks has been turning heads for some time now, but before you decide to plunk down your money on a small stock, there are some things that you should keep in mind…

It's absolutely true that penny stock investors can make very quick gains. Synutra International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYUT) is a great example of a penny stock. This dairy-based, nutritional-products company has jumped from a little Bulletin Board operation to a billion dollar corporation. The company finally graduated from Over-the-Counter status to the NASDAQ Stock Market bringing with it 113% gains in less than two months.

This happens all the time and it's how some of the best investors in the world became the richest investors in the world. Buying some shares for pennies on the dollar and selling at $10 or $20 is possibly the fastest way from being a hobby investor to a super investor.

In fact, penny stocks are a compelling investment even when the economy's not so hot. According to a research done by financial news outlet The Motley Fool's Ilan Moscovitz, "[During a recession] small stocks outperformed T-Bills, bonds, and the S&P about two-thirds of the time — and they did so by a ridiculous margin."  This is all well and good, but do you really think that you have access to these lucrative companies? Not really. The problem is many of them aren't even traded on a major exchange.

Over the Counter Stocks Can Make Over the Top Profits

Generally speaking, any stock that doesn't trade on a major exchange is considered an over-the-counter (OTC) stock… that includes both Pink Sheets stocks and OTCBB stocks.

One of the questions we get a lot here at Penny Sleuth HQ is, "How exactly do I buy penny stocks?" The truth of the matter is that buying penny stocks isn't much different from buying any other stock out there.

Two places where you will see a difference with investing in penny stocks are in the commissions you pay and your ability to use margin, or borrow shares from your broker. Most brokers have a slightly different fee structure for stocks that cost less $1. More on that later…

How to Pull Off Penny Stock Profits

OTC stocks frequently bank mind blowing returns for investors. Just look at Like Explorations Group (OTC: EXGI), a company that acquires and manages parking lots and garages in New York City. Its shareholders just banked 2,521%. Or Zagg (OTC: ZAGG), a company that makes protective coverings for iPods – in the last few months, its small group of owners has made 827% gains.

One of the best ways to find penny stocks with this kind of gain potential is to look out for "growth catalysts". That's because without some big event or monolithic development coming down the road, there's no reason for investors to care about these tiny companies.

You see, the majority of investors are only interested in making 5%–10% per year. That's pretty much the maximum you can expect to gain if you are investing in blue chips. Here at Penny Sleuth, we view the best stock market a little differently.

We want the money multipliers — double-, triple-, even quadruple-digit gains that I told you about just a minute ago. For that to happen, we need some kind of spark to set our top penny stocks apart from the rest. After all, there are currently over 6,000 to choose from.

So, what kind of catalysts can make a penny stock pop? Let's look at a couple big ones:

Commercialization — After years of research and development, and sometimes painstakingly long clinical trials and efficacy tests, there comes a time in any successful start up company's life when it needs to actually manufacture and sell its products or services. Just take a look at what happened to Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM)…

As you might already know, this was the growth story of last year, and it continues to today. Tata is the Indian car giant that made its mark on the global economy, when it released the world's cheapest car.

In March of this year, the company commercialized a new product. It started selling the Tata Nano in India. Investors were so excited by this car design, they started buying enormous amounts of Tata stock. Since the company started pre-selling the car, shares are up 165%.

Buyout Candidates — Sometimes, it's as simple as waiting for a larger competitor to buy the penny stock. When one company buys another, they agree on a price. Many times, that price is much higher than what the soon-to-be-purchased company's share price is currently trading. This gives those shareholders an instant gain.

A few weeks ago, I discussed the consolidation of the soda industry. Both PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and Coca-Cola Inc. (NYSE: KO) are buying out their bottling operations to save on expenses and double spending.

Pepsi is in the process of buying its two largest bottlers: PepsiAmericas and Pepsi Bottling Group. Shares of both of these companies popped more than 22% the day it was announced.

From their March lows, PepsiAmericas is up 67% and Pepsi Bottling Group is up 94%.

Legal Battles — The last of the major catalysts is court rulings. In many cases, a simple ruling can make or break a penny stock. Hardly any company has been entrenched in the courtroom like TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO).

We wrote about TiVo back in December 2007. Its revolutionary digital recording technology is both a huge moneymaker and a legal nightmare. You see, plenty of other competitors claim rights to certain patents TiVo profits from.

It takes a tech geek to decipher the differences between most of its intellectual properties, which isn't usually a prerequisite for a judge. For the last five years, TiVo has been tied up in court with its competitor EchoStar Communications Corp, now part of Dish Network Corp., over a patent dispute. The court finally ruled in favor of TiVo, rewarding the company $103 million plus interest.

Upon the day of the ruling, shares of TiVo jumped 53%. This gain sent TiVo's stock over $11 per share and out of penny stock land. That just a drop in the bucket of what a lawsuit ruling can do for a company. Imagine what $103-plus can do for an even smaller company…

These are just four types of things to consider when thinking about buying a penny stock. But even if you do have the perfect catalyst lined up, that's only the beginning.

Pile Into the Pink Sheets

Of the OTC stocks out there, there are two places where they can trade: Pink Sheets, LLC or the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB). Until recently, it has been nearly impossible to get good information about companies like these. Until a few months ago, the pink sheet stocks offered virtually unaccountable information. No required filings, inaccuracies rarely corrected, and even shell companies… Until now…

The pinks have released a new classification system that helps investors sort out the companies with little or no information, leaving you with only credible companies with enough info to make smart investment decisions.

The top level of classification is called PremierOX. This level ensures investors that the companies listed here sell for at least $1 per share, have at least 100 shareholders with a minimum of 100 shares each, as well as meet the requirements of all the major exchanges.

The second tier is called PrimeOX. This level requires virtually the same except there is no minimum share price and only 50 shareholders with a minimum of 100 shares to gain entry.

The third is for international companies. This level, International OTCQX, is currently being broken into two separate categories, Int'l Premier OTCQX and Int'l Prime OTCQX. The requirements here are basically to meet those of the company's national exchange (a UK company would have to meet the London Exchange's requirements). The second prerequisite is to have their filings available in English.

This new classification system makes all of us at Penny Sleuth ecstatic because it gives more insight into the relatively unexploited area of true "penny stocks."

A Safer, Premium Way to Play the Pink Sheets

A major concern we've been hearing about investing in stocks listed on the Pink Sheets is accidentally stumbling onto an illegitimate company that could instantaneously drop 50%, 75% or even 100%. We'll help you avoid those sub-penny shell companies that do nothing more than issue press releases and more shares of worthless stock.

First, some background information is necessary. You see, the Pink Sheets is not an exchange like the NASDAQ or Amex. It's only a quotation service. The only requirement a company faces on the Pinks is that it must have at least one market maker quoting its stock. Financials do not need to be disclosed.

Even on the OTCBB, companies are required to keep current filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This lack of information can make investing in the Pink Sheets downright frightening.

But there is a very small group of stocks on the Pink Sheets you need to know about, especially if you have never traded on the Pinks before. It's a new premium listing service called OTCQX. The new listing service includes three different levels, each with specific requirements for the companies.

As I mentioned earlier, the top tier is called PremierQX. These are securities that trade for a minimum of $1 and meet all of the requirements to be listed on a national stock exchange. This means the companies are required to post quarterly and annual reports, as well as interim information that could affect share prices.

PrimeQX stocks, the second group, must also meet the requirements to be listed on a major exchange.

However, the stocks listed in this group do not have to trade for the $1 minimum. International OTCQX stocks, the third category, must meet requirements of their foreign exchange and make their reports available in English. All three groups require the companies to maintain ongoing operations, keeping away any shell companies that are constantly changing strategies.

Together, these three lists make up the safest investments on the Pink Sheets. It's a great place to start looking if you've never invested in these types of companies before. The OTCQX commenced trading on March 5, 2007 with only seven companies (you can view a complete list of OTCQX companies at www.otcqx.com). But more penny stocks are being added to the list every week as they meet the requirements. Of course, being added to the list is great exposure for some small, legit firms.

Penny Stock Stumbling Blocks

Being listed on the OTCQX doesn't make a stock a good investment in and of itself. Just like any company that's listed on a big exchange like the NYSE or NASDAQ, OTCQX stocks need to be analyzed based on their merit as investments. That said, there are a couple of factors that make stocks that trade on the pink sheets – even the OTCQX – act differently than those on major exchanges.

First up is volatility. Volatility for penny stocks is double-edged sword: while it means that penny stock investments can be comparatively riskier than their blue-chip counterparts, it also provides the opportunities to profit 100%, 500%, even 1,000% in a short period of time.

In penny stocks, volatility is largely the result of low trading volume. Penny stocks have less exposure to big investors because of their tiny market capitalizations, which in turn limits the amount of daily transactions that occur in their stock.

Having low trading volume isn't necessarily a bad thing – it's just something to be aware of.

Another thing to keep in mind when you buy penny stocks is your broker commission. It's not uncommon for brokers to use a special commission schedule for stocks that trade under $1 or that trade on the Pink Sheets or OTC.

While that generally means you're paying slightly more in commissions to your broker when you buy penny stocks, your commissions shouldn't add up to a significant chunk of your overall position in a stock. If they do, you should rethink the size of your investments.

If you want to learn more about Pink Sheets stocks, the Pink Sheets website offers a treasure trove of information – namely, stock quotes for these tiny companies, financial data, and charts.

5 Profitable Penny Stock Tips

If the idea of investing in penny stocks still sounds alluring to you, here are 5 pieces of investment advice that could mean the difference between making profits and losing your shirt in these hectic markets…

Know What You Own. In the world of Wall Street, whether you're investing in penny stocks or blue chips, one of the biggest rules is to "know what you own." What does that mean? You should know the company you're investing in inside and out. Know its business. Know how it makes money. Know its management. But as important as this rule is for any investor, it's doubly important for investors in penny stocks! That's because with penny stocks, share prices can change quickly if you don't keep a handle on them. So know what you own and your investments won't end up owning you.

 

Don't Get in Over Your Head. When you see a hot penny stock that's ready to take off, it can be hard to keep from cashing out your 401(k) to buy as many shares as you can…getting in over your head with penny stocks is an almost sure way to get burned. Even though penny stocks can make you some serious money, they're volatile — and that means you shouldn't put more than 10% of your portfolio on the line. What's the smart penny investor to do? Set up an account (or a section of your main brokerage account) for just penny stocks and load it only with money you're prepared to lose.

 

Be a Skeptic. Just because a company has an interesting new idea doesn't necessarily mean it's a good prospect for your portfolio. The key is… Do you think that it can monetize its idea? If that answer isn't immediately clear, it's time to dig a little deeper into that company's prospects. Thinking outside the box is a great way to get innovative companies on your radar, but being a skeptic is the only way to make sure that translates into gains for your portfolio.

 

Think, Then Buy. When you're ready to buy shares of a penny stock, make sure you take a second to think about what you're doing. All too many first-time penny investors take the jump on just a few shares of a penny stock without realizing how much the size of their investment will affect their returns. Think about it this way… You're an investor who sees an attractive stock for $1 per share. You don't have a large portfolio yet, and you don't want to take too much of a risk, so you buy just 50 shares for $50. Turns out you picked a winner that made 40% in just a week — $20 of pure profit. You sell and rejoice in your penny stock success. But wait…is that celebration justified? You're forgetting about those $10 execution fees you paid to buy and sell that stock. That's $20 altogether. Looks like you only broke even, despite the fact that you had a stellar stock. When you're buying penny stocks, make sure you're buying a large enough quantity that account costs (like execution fees) don't eat up your profits. You can find out your minimum returns to break even with this: Execution Fees/Stock Acquisition Price x 100 = Break-even Gain (Percent) Needed

 

Don't Get Greedy. Lots of penny stock investors see 200%, 500%, even 1,000% gains on a stock but still end up losing money in the end. It's not because they didn't plan their buys properly…it's because they got greedy! It doesn't matter how much money a stock makes if you're not ready to press the button and realize those gains. That's why you need to set solid exit points for any penny stock you buy.

It's human nature to want to hold onto an investment as you see it climb with no end in sight, but doing that is a great way to miss out if that trend turns around. When you analyze an investment, think about a logical exit price and sell for that. Picking solid exit points will become easier as you develop your investing chops.

Your Penny-Sized Path to Profits

Hopefully, this little primer on investing in penny stocks has shown you that the learning curve for these kinds of investments isn't nearly as bad as it seems.

Penny stocks can be a risky investment to be sure, but if you make informed decisions and approach your penny investments with the same thoroughness that you'd use in your other investments, you too can unlock a whole lot of profit potential. And don't worry, at the Penny Sleuth we'll be here to deliver your daily dose of stock market sanity.

BRIC Nation Investors: Sleepwalking off a Cliff?

Today I want to share what could soon be an extremely profitable short:

The BRIC Claymore/BNY Mellon BRIC ETF (NYSE:EEB).

That's because the world is now waking up from the BRIC dream.

Six years after Goldman Sachs researchers coined the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China in a report titled Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050, long investors could end up sleepwalking off a cliff.

You see, the World Bank just revised its global growth forecast for 2009 from -1.7% to -2.9%, and BRIC nations are finding it hard to fight the international market downtrend now forming.

The first BRIC summit took place last week in the consummate Eurasian location of Ekaterinburg, Russia, just east of the Ural Mountains that divide the two continents. Where the four countries called for a "stable, predictable, more diversified monetary system" and greater power in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the Claymore/BNY Mellon BRIC ETF (NYSE:EEB) plummeted the first chance it got.

EEB gapped down on Monday, June 22 to a quick 4% loss, after 50% YTD gains through June 11.

Commodity and savings-driven optimism put BRIC cheerleaders high on the astral plain over the past few years. But strong pricing and demand for oil, gas, sugar, iron and even debt—i.e. China's massive stockpiles of dollars and U.S. bonds—depend on healthy bank-fed credit flows.

Investors and consumers all have to keep their expectations up as well, in order to justify rising costs in raw materials, consumer goods, and government bonds alike, and sagging confidence ripples far and fast.

State-level action is where BRIC matters most now—and the political echelon is also where BRIC could crumble. For example, China has launched a $585 billion stimulus package, but one-party rule casts a long shadow.

Running Down a Dream... Going Wherever it Leads?

Is the BRIC dream a profound vision to be interpreted, like when Joseph turned the Pharaoh's dream into history's first best stock forecast? (seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine... the ultimate bull-bear play!)

Or is BRIC more of an interrupted fantasy, like squaring up to kick the winning goal in the World Cup—right before your morning alarm goes off?

It's a bit of both.

Asia Times Online, columnist Chan Akya called the inaugural BRIC conclave a farce, but also a "much-needed first step in a journey that could well overhaul global economic architecture in decades to come."

The BRIC summit, and the very idea of BRIC as an independent, self-sustaining unit, both reflect the past decade or so of economic growth trends and foreshadow a possible scenario for new economic leadership.

As with "decoupling," though, BRIC oversimplifies a complicated and continuous process of global economic expansion and shifts in power.

Political and business leaders in Brazil, Russia, India, and China would be wise to concentrate on smart growth that fits their needs, rather than conforming to a slick buzzword.

But when it comes to investors like us, it's easy to profit from the falling fortunes of BRIC ETF components.

Shorting the EEB BRIC ETF

EEB is chock-a-block full of vulnerable mega-cap top stocks to buy from the four countries in question. Here's what I mean...

Top holding China Mobile stands to lose from migrant workers returning home and cutting cell phone service.

Earnings at Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil's national oil company, are of course subject to oil price flux, and future earnings will be hurt by near-term underinvestment should crude fall to far.

And even though national governments have become primary lenders across all continents and even in BRIC nations, EEB doesn't register the stimulus-era shift in financing—financials comprise 16% of the base index.

Instead of dreaming with long positions in that BRIC ETF, look at the reality of what's going on.

Right now, heads of state around the developing world are looking first and foremost at ways to shore up domestic demand. "Buy American" or "Buy Chinese" provisions dot the $5 trillion in stimulus spending governments have promised. For India, China's insular buying of its own goods adds to Indian entrepreneurs' frustration over cheap Chinese goods. That's right, even in India, Chinese imports are a major concern.

No wonder... Manufactured goods from the Middle Kindgom come in at between 10% and 70% less than Indian-made equivalents!

Corruption and Quarrels Hold BRIC Back

Corruption is also a major stumbling block on the path to BRIC dominance or even parity. Consulting group Kroll just issued its Global Fraud Report, which focuses on stimulus spending. Using data from anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, Kroll estimates that a full 10% of total global stimulus funds—$500 billion—will end up in the hands of profiteers and dishonest officials.

Russia's petroleum-heavy resource economy will suffer with dropping oil prices, India's infrastructure problems still have that country pinned, and China aims its economic efforts not only toward boosting domestic demand but also to prevent social unrest that could easily arise from prolonged joblessness.

The World Bank did recently revise its China growth forecast upwards from 7.2% from 6.5%, but the Bank's projections are notoriously fudgy.

Brazil, the only BRIC member in the Western Hemisphere, is still struggling to fight corruption. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is steadily opening the country to more foreign investment and cleaning up national finances, but U.S. weakness will create drag from the north.

And of course, just because it would be more convenient for those countries to play nice, don't expect aggressive growth strategies to coincide. The aforementioned China-India trade battle is just one snapshot of how bitter bilateral relations can get when the going gets tough.

Through the rest of 2009, be nimble and ready to short emerging markets and related ETFs when uptrends show signs of reversal.

There's no better time than now to wake up and beat the markets to the punch.

Why Now Could Be the Right Time for Gold Stocks

Conditions have improved for gold equities, and economic policy decisions being made in Washington could further increase the investment appeal of these mining stocks for 2010.

The charts below clearly illustrate the relationship between gold- mining stocks to buy and the federal budget.

The top chart below compares the total-return performance of the S&P 500 (blue line) with that of the Toronto Gold & Precious Minerals Index* (gold line) going back to 1971, when President Nixon ended dollar convertibility into gold and deregulated the price of gold.

At that time, the United States was in the thick of the Vietnam War and was pumping billions of dollars into the financial system to pay for it. The dollar's value dropped compared to other currencies, and the demand for gold and its price shot up. At the same time, the U.S. top stocks market was languishing, taxes were high and new regulatory entities like the EPA were being created. It was also a period of socialism, unionism and protectionism in Europe.

The bottom chart shows the federal budget, and the trend is readily noticeable - when the federal government is spending more than it takes in, gold stocks for 2010 tend to outperform the broader market.

One hundred dollars invested in the S&P 500 at the start of 1971 underperformed the gold-stock index essentially for a quarter-century. In each of these years, the federal government engaged in deficit spending. The S&P 500 surpassed the gold-stocks market in 1997, in the midst of the tech boom and budget surpluses under President Clinton.

When those surpluses reverted to widening deficits after the Sept. 11 attacks, you can see the spread between the broad market and gold equities narrowing. At the same time, another important event occurred - China began to deregulate its precious metals markets. During that period, the S&P 500 dropped before largely leveling off, while gold stocks to buy charged forward.

Gold stocks have delivered a 9.9 percent average annual return since 1971, while the S&P 500's annualized return has been 9.6 percent. That $100 invested in gold stocks in 1971 would have grown to nearly $3,800 at the end of May 2009, while the same amount in the S&P 500 Index would be worth about $3,400.

Gold stocks are among the most volatile asset classes, but old and new research shows that their judicious use can enhance investor returns without adding portfolio risk.

U.S. Global Investors has updated research on gold stock investing by Jeffrey Jaffe, a finance professor at the Wharton School, that was published in the Financial Analysts Journal in 1989. Prof. Jaffe's study covered the period from September 1971, just after President Nixon ended convertibility between gold and the dollar, to June 1987.

The Jaffe study concluded that adding gold and gold stocks to a large portfolio increases both risk and return, but that the additional return from these non-correlative assets more than compensates for the additional risk.

During the study period, gold bullion saw an average monthly return of 1.56 percent, considerably better that the 1.06 percent average monthly return for common stocks represented by the S&P 500. Gold stocks shone even brighter, returning an average of 2.16 percent per month.

On the risk side, gold and gold stocks had greater volatility (measured by standard deviation) than the S&P 500. But Jaffe found that, due to their non-correlative qualities, adding gold-related assets to a diversified portfolio would likely reduce overall risk.

We picked up the Jaffe study's result for gold stocks (measured by the Toronto Stock Exchange Gold and Precious Minerals Total Return Index, converted to U.S. dollars) and compared it to the S&P 500 Total Return Index from September 1971 through the end of May 2009.

Our research included creation of an efficient frontier series to establish an optimal portfolio allocation between gold stocks and the S&P 500, with annual rebalancing. As you can see on the chart above, a portfolio holding 85 percent S&P 500 and 15 percent gold equities has essentially the same volatility as the S&P 500 (horizontal axis) but delivered a higher return (vertical axis).

Between September 1971 and May 2009, the S&P 500 averaged a 9.34 percent annual return. A 15 percent allocation to gold equities, with annual rebalancing, would have yielded on average an additional 0.89 percent per year.

How much is 0.89 percent per year? Assuming the same average annual returns since 1971 and annual rebalancing over 25 years, a $10,000 investment in the portfolio with 15 percent gold stocks would be worth about $114,000, 22 percent more than the 100 percent S&P 500 portfolio, while adding virtually zero risk.

U.S. Global Investors consistently suggests up to 10 percent gold in a portfolio allocation, so we also looked at returns for investors at that level. A 10 percent allocation to gold equities, with annual rebalancing, would have yielded on average 0.63 percent more than an exclusive S&P 500 portfolio.

In dollar terms, the $10,000 investment in the 90-10 portfolio would grow to $107,611 over the ensuing 25 years (assuming, the same average annual returns since 1971 and annual rebalancing), compared to $93,210 for the portfolio solely invested in the S&P 500.

And when you look at the efficient frontier in the chart, the 10 percent weighting is two diamonds above the 100 percent S&P 500 allocation. You can see that adding gold stocks also increased return with no increase in the portfolio's volatility.

More than two decades and many ups and downs have passed since Prof. Jaffe published his study, but our follow-on research shows that the relationship between gold, investor returns and volatility has remained pretty much the same.

Another bullish indicator for gold and gold stocks is that, for the first time in my 20 years at U.S. Global Investors, pension fund consultants and other gatekeepers for large institutional investors are advocating an exposure to gold.

These gatekeepers have influence over managers of many hundreds of billions of dollars in retirement funds, and they are advising a 5 percent to 8 percent allocation to gold, which is similar to the long- term exposure suggested by U.S. Global.

Another thing that held gold stocks down was the number of gold equity financings. In early 2009 there were roughly 50 deals and more than $5 billion raised, and that put a short term cap on many of the established gold producers that that said that they were going to start buying the junior exploration companies.

The emergence of a new merger-and-acquisition cycle has been a key driver for the small exploration stocks, which have significantly outperformed the actual producers in 2009. The miners that can replenish their reserves while also controlling their costs to enhance profitability will see this reflected in their stock price.

The Great Credit Contraction Cometh

"In a fundamental shift, consumers are saving rather than spending," notes the
Los Angeles Times.
 
This is the shift we've been talking about for months. The great credit
expansion of 1945-2007 is over. Now cometh the great credit contraction.
 
During the bubble years, more and more credit produced less and less real
prosperity. It was as if you were borrowing more and more, to invest in your
business or merely to increase your standard of living, but your income didn't
rise fast enough to keep up with the interest payments.
 
In 2005, Americans saved nothing. Not even aluminum foil or string. Now,
the savings rate is approaching 5% of disposable income � a big
turnaround.
 
We know from logic and experience that saving money � not spending it � is
the key to getting wealthier. Saving money gives you capital. And it's capital
accumulation � in the form of factories, roads, ships, buildings,
machines...and raw savings � that gives people the ability to produce more. It
may take a man with a shovel a whole day to dig a decent grave. Give him
capital � in the form of a backhoe � and he can bury everyone in town. That's
why capitalism works. It rewards the fellow who saves his money.
 
Yet every yahoo economist in the year of our Lord 2009 takes news of rising
savings rates like the death of Michael Jackson. If households don't consume,
they reason, how can a consumer economy grow?
 
The problem is that you can't really grow an economy by borrowing and
spending.
 
Recent history proves it. Despite the biggest splurge of borrowing and
spending in history, the US consumer economy barely grew at all.
 
"In the five years to December 2007," reports Grant's Interest Rate Observer,
"America's credit stock market debt climbed by nearly 57%, to $18 trillion.
However, in the same half-decade, nominal GDP was up by only $3.3
trillion."
 
For every five dollars people borrowed, they only increased their incomes by
$1. Imagine that the borrowing had an average effective interest rate of 10%
(credit card debt can be much more expensive). At that rate half of the
additional income earned between 2002 and 2007 had to be used just to pay
the interest.
 
This was not the kind of growth that was likely to last. In fact, it didn't.
The whole thing came crashing down in '07 and '08. And now, the consumer
has had a cup of coffee. He's looked at himself in the mirror. He's sorted
through his pile of bills. And he's made up his mind: that's enough of that!
 
"The ratio of cash held by households as compared with assets has been rising
sharply," says James Saft in The New York Times.
 
"Companies, households and banks all want to pay down debt and...prefer to
hold cash rather than assets, partly because the outlook for those assets is poor
and partly because after a decade of excess, everyone now looks a bit over-
extended.
 
"This is exactly what happened in Japan during its lost decade, when a
balance sheet recession, one characterized by the paying down of debt and
liquidations of assets, was self-reinforcing and very difficult to stem."
 
And now this from David Rosenberg:
 
"The ultimate question is where all this cash is going to be deployed, and
we believe it will ultimately be diverted toward debt repayment."
 
Let's see. We can figure this out from the numbers above. American
consumers must have added about $7 trillion in extra debt during the Bubble
Epoque, 2002-2007. Now, instead of buying things, they use their money to
pay it down. The average household has about $43,000 worth of income. Let's
keep the math simple by saying there are 100 million households in the United
States...and that they save 5% of their income. And let's say they use every
penny of savings to pay down debt. Hey...it will only take about 30 years to
pay it off! Get ready for a long, long slump.
 
To read more about the drag the lack of consumer spending will have on the
US economy, see The Richebacher Letter's latest report here.
 
More news from The 5 Min. Forecast:
 
"Every once in a while we stumble upon a chart or table that says it all,"
writes Ian Mathias in today's issue of The 5. "Here's one hot off the press:

"Oh my, where do we begin? This beast calls for bullet points.

Obviously, Wal-Mart is no longer No. 1. That title now goes to Royal
Dutch Shell. The American consumer is out, and a global oil
conglomerate is in… 'nuff said

There's a clear sea-change in American business. AIG, Lehman and
Bear Stearns fell off the list from 2008-2009. Nike, Google and
Amazon moved up.

The world is increasingly less Amero-centric. An American company
is not No. 1 for the first time in over a decade. In the whole list for
2009, 140 companies are American, the lowest number on record

The world is increasingly more Sino-centric. Look at China National
Petroleum and Sinopec. Both Chinese companies are by far the biggest
movers up from 2008-2009. Sinopec, an oil and gas company, also
marks China's first foray into Fortunes' Top 10. China now has 37
companies in the list of 500, its largest presence ever

Oil is still where it's at. In spite of all the price drama over the last
year, seven of the top 10 firms are oil companies.

In the face of the worst global economic environment of our lifetimes,
the world's biggest companies are still making lots of money. The
2008 top 25 pulled in $4.88 trillion in revenue. This year they made
$5.38 trillion.

And freakin' GE… what a black box. The world's producer of
everything was one of very few companies to retain the same position
from 2008 to 2009. And despite the infamous GE Capital, the finance
arm that apparently threatened to torpedo the whole company, GE
ended up increasing revenues by nearly $7 billion.

"Hmmm…"
 
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Financial's paid publications, such as Strategic Short Report. Check out their
latest report, which details a strategy that uses panic on Wall Street to its
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Monday, June 13. Get all the details here.
 

And back to Bill, with more thoughts:
 
Yesterday, top stocks market went nowhere. Oil went nowhere. And the dollar went
down as gold went up.
 
The reason for the dollar's decline and gold's rise was given in the front-page
headline of today's Financial Times. China launched a "new dig" at the dollar,
it says. As near as we could tell, China merely stated the obvious � that the
world is going to have to find a better monetary system. The US dollar won't
be king of the hill forever. And China, which is up to its neck in dollars,
would like to find a solution sooner rather than later � that is, before the dollar
goes the way of all paper.
 
The dollar will eventually give way to inflation and devaluation, but probably
not soon.
 
"I'm absolutely worried about inflation," says John B. Taylor.
 
But here at The Daily Reckoning, it is not inflation that worries us...it's the
lack of it. Making a long story short, as long as the feds see no inflation they
will continue trying to create it. In the end, they will get more than they
wanted.
 
And where will investors flock when that day comes? You guessed it � to our
favorite yellow metal. Beat the rush…pad your portfolio with gold now.
 
Though, right now, instead of inflation, we have deflation. Today's New
York Times tells us that deflation in Ireland has reached 5.4% ― the highest
since the Great Depression of the '30s.
 
You know the reasons for deflation as well as we do. The world suddenly has
too many people who borrowed too much money buy too many things they
really didn't need and really couldn't afford. This caused the world's
producers to greatly over-estimate the 'real' demand. Their customers began
to disappear in 2007. Their factories are still standing.
 
"Is it always so cold in July?" asked an American visitor yesterday. London
has been cold, windy and rainy for the last week. It comes as a shock to
American tourists, who inevitably show up in shorts and t-shirts.
 
Europe has a milder climate than North America. Our guest comes from
Ottawa, Canada.
 
"Everybody thinks it is so cold in Canada. But it's much hotter there than it is
here. A lot of houses in Ottawa have air conditioning. Here, almost no one has
it. And I guess they don't need it."
 
But in the winter, the streets of North American cities turn bitter cold and
bums freeze up on the sidewalks. That doesn't happen in Europe. It rarely
gets cold enough to freeze a bum here. Maybe that's why there are so
many of them.
 
Around the corner from our office is something we had never seen before. A
mother-daughter team of 'street persons.' Dressed in black rags, they sit with
their bags and talk. They are there when we get to the office in the morning.
They are there when we leave in the evening.
 
The daughter appears to be in her 20s or early 30s. She is a pretty girl, as near
as we can tell. The mother must be in her 50s...maybe 60s. The two look very
similar � like the mother/daughter combinations you see in skin cream
advertisements. They dress the same. They have the same very English faces.
They have the same expressions and same postures...sitting on the sidewalk
with the backs to the wall. Whenever we pass, they are chatting with each
other � happily, it appears.

"War Criminal says Sorry, Sobs," was the headline in the Nation on February
9th, 2004. Robert McNamara had just done something extraordinary for
Secretaries of War: with tear in his eyes, he apologized for his role in the
Vietnam War. The war made ghosts out of 58,000 American soldiers. On the
Vietnamese side, the total was over a million. This week, McNamara went to
meet them.
 
Why do smart people do such stupid things? The French had already shown
what Western powers were up against in Indochina. De Gaulle had warned
Kennedy that it was a "rotten" country. Still, the United States sent in
troops...and McNamara, to his credit, spent the last 40 years of his life
regretting it.
 
We do not disrespect the shades here on the back page. But once they are
down, we can hardly wait for the autopsy report. We want to know what was
wrong with them. McNamara had a brain "like a computer," say the
morticians. Too bad. He needed more than that.
 
Robert McNamara was described in the obituaries as the "architect" of
the Vietnam War. This is libelous to real architects; as near as we could tell,
the war went on without plans or blueprints. Instead, Robert McNamara took
an economist's approach to war. His formula had only three numbers: how
much damage he could inflict on the enemy; at what price; and how much
pain the Vietcong/North Vietnamese could stand. Later, he discovered that the
enemy wasn't even counting.
 
Long gone are the days when economists thought deeply about how life
actually works. Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, Anne-Robert Turgot � the
great "moral philosophers" � all died hundreds of years ago. Since then, the
trade has gone bad. They're all numbers guys now. An economist, of the
modern variety, is a statistician...an extrapolator...and a mountebank. If
numbers go up two months in a row, he predicts they will go up another one.
He rarely stops to ask whether his numbers really make any sense.
Instead, he merely adds them up and rolls them out. Thus � at the bubbly top
in 2006 � he was he able to describe the likelihood of default on a certain
derivative instrument as a "Six Sigma event" without laughing. A Six Sigma
event happens once every 2,500,000 days. Then again, when the Bubble of
2002-2007 popped, they happened once a week.

The blogs are full of chatter on the subject. What good is the economics
profession, asks Paul Samuelson, if it cannot foresee the biggest single
economic event in at least a quarter-century?
 
Yet, those same economists � who had failed so miserably at diagnosis and
prevention � they barely hesitated. Rather than spend months in drunken
shame, contemplating their own incompetence, and wondering what a bubble
really is, they denied the wild bubble side of life altogether...and tried
their hands at prescription. President Obama's economics advisors went to
Congress last autumn to predict that without the stimulus measure joblessness
in the United States could rise to 8%! Bernanke made it seem that if the bill
wasn't passed that day, the economy may cease to exist all together. How he
could know the future, when he demonstrably knew so little about the recent
past, was a mystery. Still, the politicians responded by enacting the biggest
bank bailout boondoggle in history.
 
What would have happened had the legislators failed to jump when
economists threw them a bone? We don't know. But we know what happened
after the stimulus measures were passed � they failed to stimulate. The
employment numbers for June showed that economists had misjudged both
the direction and the speed of the oncoming bus. Instead of shifting down, the
rate of job losses increased to 9.5% in the United States. Instead of going
forward, the economy was backing up!
 
Do these setbacks cause economists to stop and wonder if their theories
are bogus and their numbers are nonsense? Nope, they do what McNamara
did. They turn up the heat. They propose to spend more money they don't
have on more programs that don't work. Predictably, Obama advisor Laura
Tyson now suggests that the stimulus thus far is "too small." Other
economists too are talking about a "son of stimulus," that will offer even more
credit to the debt-saturated consumer. Only trouble is, neither consumers,
businesses nor banks cooperate. Despite trillions in cash and credit to the
financial system, lending is still going down.
 
Robert McNamara was as smart as any of today's number crunchers. A
Harvard "whiz kid' with a 'can do' attitude, he was one of the 'brightest and
the best,' the kind of American that makes you proud to be one. He was an
efficiency expert. But everything has its place. Poetry is not much in demand
from bridge builders. In love, war and bubbles, on the other hand, rational
efficiency is at best a second tier concern.

When asked to take the job at the Defense Department, McNamara replied to
John Kennedy that he was "not qualified." That was the last thing he was right
about. As to everything else, he missed the point completely.
 
Sometimes it is the brain that fails. Sometimes, it is something else.

4% of the World Controls 12.6% of the Gold

With gold prices getting ready to soar, we've decided to find out who owns the most bullion in the world.

It's no surprise that governments, central banks, and investment funds are world's largest holders of gold reserves. These organizations know gold is the ultimate store of value that protects against inflation and offers a safe haven during times of economic and geopolitical turmoil.

To find out who owns the most gold in the world, we referred to data from the International Monetary Fund's International Financial Statistics Report.

The 10 biggest gold owners in the world:

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
10	Netherlands	612.5	61.4%

The Netherland central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank, oversees the Dutch national finances, including the country's 612.5 tonnes of gold reserves. The Dutch gold is currently worth over $20 billion and accounts for 61.4% of the country's foreign reserves.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
9	Japan	765.2	2.1%

Although Japan is ninth largest gold owner in the world, its 765.2 tonnes of gold accounts for just 2.1% of the nation's total foreign reserves. On the open market, Japan's gold reserves would fetch approximately $25.4 billion and are managed by the Bank of Japan.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
8	Switzerland	1040.1	37.1%

Conducting Switzerland's monetary policy is the Swiss National Bank, which oversees the country's 1,040.1 tonnes of gold. The gold is believed to be stored in huge underground vaults near the federal Parliament building in Berne, but the Swiss National Bank treats the location of the gold reserves as a secret. With the world's eighth largest reserve of the yellow metal, Switzerland's stockpile would fetch approximately $34.5 billion in today's gold market, accounting for 37.1% of the country's foreign reserves.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
7	China	1054.0	1.8

The world's most populous country also has the world's seventh largest gold reserve. With a population of 1.33 billion, the country holds about $26 worth of gold per person, worth a total of almost $35 billion. The Chinese gold accounts for only 1.8% of the nation's total foreign reserves.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
6	SPDR Gold Shares ETF	1,120.6	n/a

Originally listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2004, SPDR Gold Shares has been one of the fastest growing ETFs in the world. SPDR Gold Shares now trade on the Singapore Stock Exchange as well as the Tokyo Stock Exchange. All of the Trust's gold is held by the Custodian, HSBC Bank, in their London vault except when the gold has been allocated in the vault of a sub-custodian.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
5	France	2,450.7	72.6%

The Banque De France is responsible for France's gold holdings, which have been reported at about 2,450.7 tonnes by the International Monetary Fund. With the fifth largest gold reserve in the world, France's amount to about $81.3 billion, accounting for 72.6% percent of the country's foreign reserves, which is the second highest percentage of gold in foreign reserves on our top ten list.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
4	Italy	2,451.8	66.5%

The Italian National Bank, Banca D'Italia, manages the country's large gold holdings, which account for 66.5% of its foreign reserves. With approximately 2,451.8 tonnes of gold in reserve, Italy's holdings are very close to France's and are also worth approximately $81.3 billion at current prices.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
3	International Monetary Fund	3,217.3	n/a

The International Monetary Fund oversees the global financial system by following the macroeconomic policies of its member countries 185 member countries. It is an organization formed to stabilize international exchange rates and facilitate development and offers highly leveraged loans mainly to poorer countries. The IMF's gold policies have changed in the last quarter century, but the reserves remain in place for use in stabilizing international markets and aiding national economies. The IMF's official policy on gold as it is stated on the organization's website is governed by the following principles:

• As an undervalued asset held by the IMF, gold provides fundamental strength to its balance sheet. Any mobilization of IMF gold should avoid weakening its overall financial position.
• The IMF should continue to hold a relatively large amount of gold among its assets, not only for prudential reasons, but also to meet unforeseen contingencies.
• The IMF has a systemic responsibility to avoid causing disruptions to the functioning of the gold market.
• Profits from any gold sales should be used whenever feasible to create an investment fund, of which only the income should be used.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
2	Germany	3,412.6	69.5%

The Deutsche Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, is the most influential member of the European System of Central Banks. With a hefty 3,412.6 tonnes of gold reserves, which are valued at about $113.2 billion at current prices, Germany's gold accounts for almost 70% of the country's total foreign reserves.

Rank	Owner	Tonnes	Share of Foreign Reserves
1	United States	8,133.5	78.3%

The United States holds the largest gold reserve in the world. With 8,133.5 tonnes, the US gold holdings are worth approximately $269.67 billion. This massive gold reserve represents about .9436 an ounce for ever person living in the country. The majority of the American gold is reported to be held in the world famous United States Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky, although there is some controversy that suggests otherwise. The remainder of the US reserves are held at the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint, the West Point Bullion Depository and the San Francisco Assay Office.

The top ten largest owners of gold in the world are reported to control a total of 24,258.3 tonnes, or over 855 million ounces. At current spot prices, this gold would be worth approximately $804.35 billion and represents about 15.4% of all the gold ever mined.

We continue to urge all Gold World readers to buy and hold both gold and silver in anticipation of significantly higher precious metal prices.

So You Have Two Choices of Stocks Investment

The day has finally come.

Whether you agree with it or not, the $787 billion stimulus is now law, and will spend no less than $104 billion on clean technology.

So you have two choices.

You can oppose it, probably with little, if any, success. Or you can accept it and choose to profit.

It seems like an easy enough decision to make.

You see, the stimulus will guarantee demand for all types of renewable energy and related infrastructure by creating billions of dollars worth of tax breaks and incentives for the industry.

It's all on the taxpayers' dime anyway, so why not use the outcome of the stimulus to send a few dollars back your way?

The sectors from which you can reap profits are many, as billions are slated for solar, wind, energy efficiency, transmission, and even clean water.

And to get the most out of this rare opportunity for government-backed profits you should take a stake in each of those sectors.

The strategy outlined in the report below will help you do just that. It outlines 10 companies -- across the entire cleantech spectrum -- that investors will flock to when the stimulus money starts flowing.

That could be as soon as March 3rd, when federal agencies must begin reporting how they'll use the stimulus funds.

You'll want to establish your positions before then, when the rest of the Wall Street masses rush to take part in this easy profit taking.

America is - quite literally - falling apart.

Consider this recent example - one that could've come straight from a Hollywood disaster flick:

On December 23, 2008 at about 8 a.m., a 60-inch water main burst along a major road in Bethesda, MD, hurtling 135 million gallons of water per minute over streets and lawns.

Without a second to prepare, drivers in this sprawling D.C. suburb were stricken with terror as a 5-foot wave of icy water - 60 feet wide in some areas - barreled down, trapping them in their cars...

Boulders, trees, and even cars were suddenly swept up in the flood. Cell phone calls from panicked motorists overwhelmed even the 911 dispatchers.

The street called River Road turned into an actual river.

But here's what's truly horrific...

This was just one of 1,357 water main breaks in Montgomery County, Maryland in 2008 (down from 2007's record 2,129 breaks)... In many of these cases, homeowners were left without water or electricity.

In fact, another pipe recently burst there, closing over 800 restaurants and leaving tens of thousands of people hunting for water clean enough to drink.

And water main breaks just like the ones above attack roughly 255,500 locations every single year across the U.S.

What if the same road you've driven thousands of times over... was the next one to cave in?

Truth is, it's all part of...

America's Underground Epidemic

... And we have no choice but to fix it. Here's why:

The oldest pipes in our nation's infrastructure date all the way back to the late 1800s, are made of cast iron, and typically last about 120 years.

During the Roaring '20s, more pipes were laid to accommodate our expanding population. But these pipes normally start to crumble long before their 100th birthday.

The last major installation of pipes came during the boom after World War II. These pipes are scheduled to last 75 years.

A quick look at the following table will tell you just how real this scenario is:

Installed	Durability	Replacement
1890s	120 years	2010-2020
1920s	100 years	2020-2030
1940s	75 years	2015-2025

By all measures, we've reached critical mass when it comes to having to replace the bulk of the country's water pipes.

On average, 700 water main breaks happen every day in North America, and the results are often disastrous...

On December 26, 2006, a several-ton Portland city truck nose-dived into a massive sinkhole, injuring two workers, rupturing a water line, and causing a natural gas leak...

On May 2, 2007, a broken water main in Seattle caused a 10-foot deep and 20-foot wide sinkhole that swallowed a car and a minivan, and flooded a neighboring district with water and mud...

A Hollywood water main break this New Year's Eve damaged the roofs of two apartments and left 60 to 70 residents without water...

Last April, 294,000 gallons of untreated sewage flowed into Seattle's Lake Washington after a pump failure went undetected for 3 days...

And just this month, a million-dollar court case was settled involving a misplaced sewer line in Milwaukee drained groundwater and rotted wood pilings beneath an office building during a construction project.

But within America's monstrous infrastructure problem lies a billion-dollar "shovel-ready" solution... one that's virtually guaranteed to make informed investors like you exceedingly wealthy.

How so?

Just imagine how much money you could make, knowing which specific companies will be hired to fix this rapidly expanding problem... before they're called to do it.

Even better, imagine also knowing the specific date that a national project to fix them all starts.

Timing it right, you'd be setting yourself up to collect an absolute fortune!

And it all starts with...

The $2.2 Trillion Problem

The money about to flow into infrastructure projects is going to dwarf the amount spent on some of the biggest events in U.S. history (adjusted for today's dollars).

Today, the Louisiana Purchase would cost a mere $217 billion. And we could go to the moon and back 4 times with the gobs of dough about to be spent on transmission lines and sewer pipes alone.

Bringing the country's fundamental support systems up-to-date will be recorded in the history books, along with The New Deal, as one of America's greatest moments.

The profits made from it will be equally legendary. And you can be a part of it all.

You see, our nation's infrastructure is in need of a drastic overhaul.

Take the Seattle sinkhole I just mentioned... the water main at fault was installed in 1912. And the pipe behind the Bethesda flood was installed in 1964.

But frankly, that's just the norm.

(In fact, some of the water pipes running under our streets here in Baltimore date back to the 19th century. Some of them are even wooden.)

But the U.S. government has ignored the problem for so long that water - the most essential substance on earth - has now become a multi-billion dollar dilemma.

The EPA estimates that the necessary upgrades to wastewater treatment and collection, sewage, and storm water management systems will cost a bare minimum of $202.5 billion over the next 20 years... And that's not including the $276.8 billion investment we'll need to upgrade our drinking water systems.

But these inadequate water systems aren't the only symptom of our crumbling infrastructure...

It would take 40 cents a gallon more in gas taxes over the next five years to keep our nation's highways in their current condition... and even still, they'd be subpar...

One quarter of U.S. bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and bringing them up to code will cost $140 billion...

The Texas Transportation Institute says highway congestion costs us $78 billion each year due to the 4.2 billion hours and 2.9 billion gallons of gas we waste being stuck in traffic...

Even our telecommunications system is far slower than the broadband speeds of competing countries.

The problems are so bad the American Society of Civil Engineers says it'll take $2.2 trillion to fix them.

As Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio, put it, "We're basically sliding toward Third World status. It's pathetic."

And the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) couldn't agree more...

The United States Is a D-List Country

That's because America is nearly last in line to take the infrastructure bull by the horns.  But now that the Federal government has acted you can make an absolute fortune.

China, for instance, is constructing a new 53,000-mile national highway system, while our own roads are checkered with potholes, cracks, and uneven pavement...

In fact, according to Pennsylvania's transportation secretary Allen D. Biehler, "China is spending 9% of its GDP on infrastructure, and we're spending something like 1% or 2%."

Plus, Japan, Taiwan, and 17 other nations have already beaten us in broadband deployment.

And for America to play catch up, the ASCE estimates we'll need $2.2 trillion in government and private investment over the next 5 years...

But with foreign nations making these major infrastructure investments first, more and more U.S. jobs could be moved overseas... in what could be a punishing blow to our already-unstable economy.

Infrastructure, as it turns out, is...

America's Defining Crisis. And It's the New Way to Build a Massive Fortune.

All told, failing infrastructure could be the crisis that defines the U.S. Its impact on our country could overshadow the effects of both peak oil and climate change...

But the lucrative investment opportunities to emerge from this crisis will assuredly be plentiful.

You see, behind the scenes, billions of dollars are already pouring into solving this national epidemic...

And just as savvy investment minds took advantage of skyrocketing oil prices not long ago...

I want to show you how you can personally benefit from...

The $787 Billion "Green Infrastructure Stimulus"

 As you know, Congress has passed a new $787 billion stimulus that was signed into law this February.

That bill sets aside billions for infrastructure and clean technology projects, and creates incentives to lure private capital to those industries.

It'll be an investment that will more than dwarf Dwight Eisenhower's interstate highway system launch of the 1950s.

And as you can plainly see, this investment is long overdue.

In fact, history has proven that now is the time for an infrastructure overhaul...

President Roosevelt invested $11.4 billion in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression (that's about $175 billion in today's dollars)...

And despite the 25% unemployment rate, that WPA investment created 8.5 million jobs between 1935 and 1943.

That means President Obama's $787 billion "green infrastructure stimulus" is really just history repeating...

But solving modern problems means investing in modern solutions. Which is why Obama is putting such a major emphasis on renewable energy and infrastructure with his stimulus package...

In fact, Obama's plan is set to double clean energy generating capacity over the next three years. That's enough to power 6 million American homes...

More importantly, it's 3 years of easy profits for those who know where to get in now...

Just look at the shear volume of money coming to these sectors. . . .

The bill allocates $47 billion just for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid technologies.

Another $20 billion will be set aside for tax incentives that will lure wary investors back into financing major cleantech infrastructure projects, thereby stimulating demand and causing stock prices for involved companies to rise.

Yet another $20 billion will be dedicated to spending initiatives for clean water.

And $17 billion is slated for mass transit improvements like high-speed rail lines and the purchase of buses that use clean technology.

That $104 billion will certainly help fix our failing infrastructure. . .

... But the really good news is you can take a direct cut of this massive stimulus fund for your own private portfolio.

All you have to do is invest in the public companies that will be executing billions of dollars worth of infrastructure and cleantech projects.

Word from the White House is that Federal agencies will start reporting how they'll use the billions by March 3rd. 

And I've already singled out 10 companies that will deliver blockbuster gains once the projects are announced.

That's precisely why I'm writing to you today.

So, let me show you exactly how to land a...

302% gain in Less Than 5 Months There's No Better Time to Load up Than Right Now

I'm sure you know by now: things always begin brewing behind the scenes long before the mainstream media breaks the story.

This "green infrastructure stimulus" is no exception...

Those in the know have already booked some impressive gains in the infrastructure sector.

Why, in the water industry alone, you could've made:

65% in 7.5 months on Tetra Tech

302% in less than 5 months on Lindsay Corp.

273% in 8 months on Calgon Carbon Corp.

185% in 7 months on Flowserve Corp.

129% in 7 months on Badger Meter

And all that was before the added help of billions of federal dollars.

The perfect storm has been created to leverage the stimulus and our infrastructure needs into legendary market profits. . .

Stock prices are low compared to just six months ago, so any future gains will be even more magnified. 

To put it simply, it's a sure bet.

And I'll prove it to you...

The Alternative Energy Speculator

My name is Nick Hodge. And I'm the managing editor of the Alternative Energy Speculator.

All through 2008 - even during one of the absolute worst markets in recorded history - I've helped investors like you avoid the pitfalls of this full-blown market meltdown, while successfully leading them to double- and triple-digit gains in the alternative energy and infrastructure sectors.

From a 121% gain on a Canadian marine energy play to a 262% gain on a tiny thin-film solar company (not to mention all 5 of the water-industry winners I just told you about), Alternative Energy Speculators were cashing in while the Dow nose-dived into oblivion... and Wall Street ran for cover.

And because we've been so successful this year, I decided to put together two brand-new special reports - Infrastructure Investing: Sky-High Underground Profits and Water: Profiting from the Disappearance of the World's Most Valuable Resource - to help my readers get off to the best possible start in 2009.

With these reports, my readers will be able to strategically position themselves to get as much out of this $787 billion government investment as they can...

You see, I've found 10 specific water and electric infrastructure top stocks that will deliver the quick boost your portfolio surely needs after one of the worst years in market history.

In fact, I've put together two additional special reports that spell out specifically...

Which 10 water and electric infrastructure hot stocks will deliver the biggest (and fastest) gains...

How you can turn the "Clean Water Atlanta" program into 9 months of steady profits...

How to boost your portfolio with the company that powers both the water and energy industries from behind the scenes...

Which innovative power-systems supplier will be leading the renewable energy charge for the largest municipal utility in the country...

And much, much more.

My readers will know how to profit from every angle of the infrastructure boom, from bridges to bandwidth...

And I want you to join them.

So to get you started, I'm giving you access to both of my special reports absolutely FREE.

You'll learn how to use all this information to your advantage - pouncing at just the right time, and riding the best stocks for a very long and profitable run.

Of course, this is nothing new for us.

Just take a look at some of the gains the Alternative Energy Speculator portfolio saw in 2008:

Arise Technologies (TSX: APV) - 262%

Solarfun Power Holdings (NASDAQ: SOLF) - 182%

Emcore Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR) - 156%

Xantrex Technologies (TSX: XTX) - 25%

Sierra Geothermal (TSX-V: SRA) - 90%

And there's more to come in 2009.

I promise you, the 10 infrastructure picks I'm going to reveal to you in my free special reports are just the beginning...

I've got my sights on a whole year's worth of money-making infrastructure plays... because with Barack Obama's backing, this is sure to be one of the most exciting - and one of the most profitable - years in the history of alternative energy.

In fact, at this very moment we have new stocks market in our queue.

That means at any moment, we're going to issue as many as 14 new recommendations...

And that's why I want to send you both free reports right away - so you can claim each and every one of these upcoming gains, starting NOW.

With these reports to guide you, you'll have the chance to join us as we continue exploiting every opportunity afforded to us by the ongoing alternative energy revolution and Obama's $787 billion "green infrastructure stimulus."

And all you have to do to claim your place in this growing market today is accept a no-risk charter membership to the Alternative Energy Speculator.

Not only will you have access to these special reports immediately...

But you'll also receive a username and password for the Alternative Energy Speculator web site. This will give you unlimited access to past issues, help you keep track of the top stocks in our portfolio, and allow you to read all of our other reports...

And in addition to these reports, every week you'll also receive detailed updates on the companies in the Alternative Energy Speculator's portfolio... including the 7 solar energy stocks investing that are currently making our subscribers a mint.

You'll learn how these and all our open positions are doing, the latest in their research, and any breakthroughs that come in the sector.

Plus, the second we decide to add or sell a company, I'll contact you - instantly.

You'll know at what price to get in, how much you should expect to make and, most importantly, when to sell.

These instant alerts are simply too important for the weekly issue.

But that's still not all!

Because this is a charter membership offer, I want to extend a one-time deal to you...

You see, with all the time that goes into uncovering these little-known energy plays found in the Alternative Energy Speculator, and the substantially larger gains involved, we had no choice but to make it somewhat pricier than our flagship Green Chip Stocks service.

In other words, we had to cover our own cost of unearthing these gems. Since we do a great deal of travel, meet with CEOs, and inspect many of the companies with our own eyes, it tends to get pricey... especially when you consider how many opportunities we turn down before we actually find one worth getting excited about.

That's why the membership fee to the Alternative Energy Speculator is $499 a year...

But if that's too heavy a lump sum, you can register for our quarterly auto-renewal service for only $139! Your membership will be automatically updated every quarter for the life of your subscription. That means you won't miss a single pick or buy/sell recommendation. And even better: no annoying renewal notices.

Now, there's no way I can keep an offer like this on the table for too long...

In fact, after March 3rd, I'll have to bump the price back to its normal level...

That's the date Obama himself has set for the launch of his stimulus plan, and that's when the starter pistol will go off for these infrastructure companies... and once they're off, the profits will go to the investors who got in early.

But if you sign-up now, you'll be ready to claim every penny of profit from Obama's $787 billion infrastructure boost.

And whichever subscription plan you choose, you'll still get your two free reports, weekly emails, urgent buy and sell updates, and full access to the Alternative Energy Speculator website...

And there's still more...

I'll even throw in a copy of my newly-released book: Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks, which I co-authored with energy experts Jeff Siegel and Chris Nelder (a $27.95 value).

So, here's the final tally:

Membership in the Alternative Energy Speculator

Access to our 2 latest reports

Instant updates and recommendations

And a FREE copy of my new book...

All for just $139 if you accept this offer today!

And here's my promise to you:

I will give you 30 days to examine our top-notch research and investment philosophy. If you decide that the Alternative Energy Speculator is not for you at any time during this trial period, simply let me know, and I'll completely reimburse you every penny. That's right - every penny.

You can even keep the book. It's my gift to you.

So if you're ready to join this elite group of infrastructure and alternative energy insiders, just click the subscribe button below.

But I urge you to act fast.

March 3rd is just days away. So time is not a luxury if you want to make the most of your portfolio in 2009.

 

Show Me the Money!

I just wanted to say to you all that it has never been easier than it is today to make money.  The information and the ability to make money are out there.  The question that you have to ask yourself is:

Am I willing to put in the effort and do what it takes to make money?

This is the hardest part.  The easiest thing to do in life, whether it's about how much you weigh or how much money you have, is to just accept mediocrity, but you don't have to; the choice is truly yours.

With the advent of the internet, you can get financial advice from people who a few years ago were only available to the richest people in the world.  You needed at least $1,000,000 in your  account just to simply exchange basic words with these world class money managers.

Now, because of services like investment newsletters, some of the best financial minds coming from Wall Street can simply e-mail you what they think and why they think it, and it only ends up costing you a few dollars a day!!

That said, with all of the tools and technology that exist that make it seamless to act on profitable trading and investment ideas, shockingly, there are still some people out there who continue to find excuses not to do so!

What do you need to take your money seriously?  Do you need someone to come to your house and press the buttons on your keyboard for you?  Come on…

Some of the more common excuses that I have heard from people for not making money trading are:

1)    My Brokerage firm won't allow me to do certain types of options trading.

Folks, if your brokerage firm does not allow you to trade the way that you want, then FIRE THEM!  There are about a thousand firms (e.g. optionsXpress, E*Trade, Scottrade, etc.) out there that would love to accept your business.  You can find a firm that will let you trade the way that you want.  DO YOUR RESEARCH!

When assessing a firm that you are thinking about trading with, you should, of course, take into account such factors as:

a)    Commissions and Fees
b)    Trade Executions
c)     Margin Rates
d)    Interest Paid on Cash
e)    Responsiveness
f)     User friendly website

Just to name a few.

2)    I can't do options or other types of speculative trades in my IRA or 401k.

That is OK.  Don't do it in your IRA or 401K, but open up an account where you can do the trades.  Remember: don't risk money that you can't afford to lose.  Your IRA and 401k are meant for your retirement, and I would never say that you should take your money out of either of them and "play" with it.  What I am saying is that if your assets are allocated correctly, you can take a slice of your overall portfolio and put it into a discretionary account that you can trade with.

3)    I don't understand options.

I bet you didn't know how to ride a bicycle, either, when you first got on one, right?  Here at Tycoon, we have heard those of you who have voiced this issue loud and clear, and that is one reason why Chris Rowe released his C.R.I.S.S. product on November 15th.  If you truly go through the entire package that comes to you with the program, you will gain knowledge that could make you hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.  Not to mention the money that you will make from avoiding common "rookie" mistakes.

4)    Options are too volatile.

Believe it or not, options, if used correctly, can be used to reduce risk, not increase it.  Furthermore, risk and reward go hand in hand.  As previously mentioned, I would never suggest that you mortgage your home and put all of your money into options.  What I would suggest is that you have a slice of your portfolio in more aggressive plays (such as certain kinds of options) to give your portfolio that extra kick.

5)    I think that the stock market is going to crash.

With all due respect, don't quit your day job.  The market will go up and down.  Over the long term, the market always goes up. 

With derivative investments like options, the more volatile the underlying asset from which the option derives its value, the more valuable the option is.  When you get a chance, take a look at some of the option prices on some of the more speculative, higher Beta stocks; you have to pay more for them.  Generally the lower Beta stocks have options that are less expensive, which indicates less interest/demand because people know that the probability of that option going significantly higher before expiration date is about as probable as Britney Spears' wearing underwear.

Now, what is your excuse for not cashing in?

Until the next time, folks, spend your hard-earned money wisely.

When Financial Titans Fall, Do What?

Around here, we never tire of tweaking the titans of finance who've wreaked so much havoc on the U.S. economy.

Today we write so we can show you a method to use their folly to your advantage.

Dan Amoss calls it the 'fear factor' strategy, and he put it into effect just five days after the start of the financial crisis.

The idea is simple: For every $1 a stock tanks, you can pocket $3. Or if traders get really fearful...up to $7.

The results are phenomenal: An average gain of 102%. And individual plays returning up to 462%.

There's still time to act on at least one of his most recent recommendations - if you jump on it soon. Dan's report below tells you exactly how to put the 'fear factor' strategy to work.

The Fear Factor Strategy:For every $1 these stocks tank, you could pocket at least $3…and as much as $7

While the S&P 500 crashed 43.3%… this strategy has bagged average 102.9% returns

Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fear Factor strategy has crushed every asset class - top stocks to buy, bonds, gold, you name it

It's proven to turn $1,000 into $2,619… $3,383… even $5,718

To get in on the next Fear Factor play, you have to act now. It could come out in the next 24 hours.

I love it when panic grips Wall Street.

The more fearful they get, the more greedy I get.

Traders can send a retail stock tanking 45%… and you can collect a gain of 238% from the same exact move.

Think about that for a minute.

For every $1 someone else loses on that best stock, you pocket more than $5.

Or a bank stock. It gets whacked 39%. You gain 220%.

So for every $1 someone else loses in a panic, you calmly collect nearly $6.

Months before Lehman Brothers blows up, the stock plunges 68%. You bag a gain of 462%.

Every $1 some poor guy loses during that time because he can't keep his head, you make nearly $7 without breaking a sweat.

That's the Fear Factor strategy in action.

Let me explain a bit. I don't profit from other folks' misery.

I simply figured out a way to tell when a company is set to crumble.

And then I show you how to profit from the inevitable fall.

It works for me. It can work for you.

No fuss. No effort.

The Fear Factor's strategy worked time and again since the financial crisis got cranked up.

I've used it to close out just 23 plays in 18 months. And the average return is 103%.

That's right — it's the same as doubling your money — 23 times in a row!

Compare that to a 43% loss in the S&P 500.

Every $1 somebody lost on an S&P index fund? You could've made more than $2.

I don't know of any other method that makes more money, more reliably, in this crazy market.

And the concept is so simple:

1. Zero in on top stocks set to crash and burn

2. Then execute the Fear Factor strategy

It's proven to work over and over again.

How the "Fear Factor" Makes You Money Whenever You Put It to Work

See, falling top stocks market have something I call a Fear Factor Multiplier.

That's not a made-up term. It doesn't describe a common figure like the price-earnings ratio. Or free cash flow. Or anything like that.

Instead, the Fear Factor Multiplier is your key to the profits you can make from top stocks set up for a big fall.

No other analyst uses the Fear Factor Multiplier to generate gains this reliably. There's simply nothing else like it.

I'm thinking of a clothing maker. It has a Fear Factor Multiplier of 2.96.

What does that mean to you? It means every $1,000 invested turned into $1,666 in just over a month.

There's a retailer with a Fear Factor Multiplier of 5.28.

That means $1,000 turned into $3,383 in less than three months.

Lehman Brothers, before it collapsed, had a Fear Factor Multiplier of 6.94.

Translation: Every $1,000 invested turned into $5,717. In 77 days. Less than three months.

And if you had plugged in $10,000, you'd make $57,170!

The broader best stock market? It has a Fear Factor too. It's 2.38.

Every $1,000 invested using the Fear Factor strategy has turned into an average $2,029.

Just days after the start of the financial crisis, I started using the Fear Factor strategy. It exploits Wall Street's panic and paranoia to generate steady, reliable, stress-free gains.

How is the Fear Factor multiplier calculated?

I'll get to that shortly.

Right now, here's the important thing to know. The higher the Fear Factor multiplier… the more money you could have made.

Here's a sample of top stocks to buy, their Fear Factor multipliers… and how much money they could have made you following the Fear Factor strategy.

How the Fear Factor Delivers Triple-Digit Gains, Time After Time

What makes the Fear Factor strategy such a winner?

Simple: It exploits the fear that's gripped the markets since August 2007.

That was the month the financial system started going haywire.

Credit markets froze up. Mortgage lenders imploded. Hedge funds melted down.

The Federal Reserve ordered an emergency cut in interest rates on August 17.

And five days after the Fed acted, I told a select group of readers to begin executing the "Fear Factor" strategy.

They targeted stocks in some of the most vulnerable sectors of the economy. Banks. Homebuilders. Selected retailers.

Their first target: The regional bank TCF Financial.

Using the Fear Factor strategy, a $1,000 investment becomes $1,969 in just over eight months. Almost a double!

Even better: Another regional bank, PNC Financial.

The Fear Factor strategy applied to PNC turns $1,000 into $3,220 in just 109 days. Less than four months!

A vulnerable retailer of computer gear called Systemax?

The Fear Factor strategy turns a $1,000 investment into $2,733 in 104 days. Again, less than four months!

Their biggest haul? A bet on the fall of Lehman Brothers.

The Fear Factor strategy applied to Lehman transforms every $1,000 invested into $5,617.

That's the power of the Fear Factor.

I know the Fear Factor multiplier sounds mysterious. But in a few more moments, I'll tell you exactly what it means and how it's calculated.

Now… here's the most remarkable thing about the Fear Factor strategy.

The Fear Factor Strategy In Action…Money-Doubling Gains Without Constantly Trading In and Out

You already see how the Fear Factor strategy could have reliably doubled your money since the start of the financial crisis.

You've also seen how individual Fear Factor plays can make you three times, even five times, your money.

But get this. It's been 18 months since I put the Fear Factor strategy into action. And in that time, I achieved these results using the strategy on just 23 plays.

And yet, with 23 plays, I could have doubled your money 23 times. Even after you take a handful of losing plays into account. Average performance through the first quarter of 2009 was a gain of 102.9%.

And, the Fear Factory strategy has blown away top stocks for 2010, bonds AND gold since I created it.

First, let's compare the Fear Factor track record to the performance of the S&P 500…

The Fear Factor strategy got off to a slow start in late 2007. The S&P held steady, while the Fear Factor strategy generated a modest loss.

But look at what's happened ever since. Every quarter has closed out with average gains of a minimum 72%.

And it's not just top stocks 2010 that the Fear Factor strategy outperforms by a mile.

Look how it crushes the bond market.

Panicked best stock investors have sought "safety" in Treasuries during the financial crisis. But even during bonds' best quarter in late 2008, the Fear Factor strategy did three times better.

How about gold? Gold has held up very nicely as a safe haven during the financial crisis.

But using the 23 plays of the Fear Factor strategy, you could have doubled your money. 23 times! Even factoring in the losing plays, the "Fear Factor" strategy delivered average gains of 102.9%.

Again, that's just with 23 plays over 18 months.

So executing the Fear Factor strategy won't take up a lot of your time.

You won't be on the phone with your broker every day. You won't be tracking performance on the internet every 15 minutes.

And you won't rack up a lot of fees and commissions.

So now you understand the power of the Fear Factor strategy.

Now I'm going to show you exactly how the Fear Factor multiplier is calculated… and how it can mean big, big money in crazy, crazy markets.

The Fear Factor Multiplier Revealed —For Every $1 These Stocks Tank,You Could Collect $3… $4… Even $7

OK, I've made you wait for a full explanation for long enough.

It's time I reveal exactly what the Fear Factor multiplier is. What it means. And how it translates into the money you make.

It works like this.

For every $1 a top stock falls in price, the Fear Factor Multiplier is the amount of money you could have made using the Fear Factor strategy.

So the retail stock I mentioned with a Fear Factor multiplier of 2.96? That was HanesBrands. For every $1 it fell in early summer 2008, the Fear Factor strategy delivered $2.96.

The retailer with a Fear Factor multiplier of 5.28? That's the fabric outfit Jo-Ann Stores. Every $1 it fell in late 2008 delivered $5.28.

Lehman Brothers? Recall its Fear Factor multiplier was 6.94.

So in the late spring and early summer of 2008, every dollar it fell could have meant $6.94 in your pocket. Nearly $7 for every $1 the best stock tanked!

Remember, the higher the Fear Factor multiplier, the more money you could have made!

And don't forget the broad market, either. The S&P 500 crashed 43.3% from the onset of the financial crisis through the first quarter of 2009. The S&P's Fear Factor multiplier during this period? 2.38.

So if you invested an equal amount of money in all 23 of the Fear Factor plays over the last 18 months, every dollar would now be $2.38.

So you see the Fear Factor is a powerful strategy that can deliver you big, big profits.

But I have to be absolutely upfront with you.

There's a tragic catch to the Fear Factor. It means there's only one way you can make it work for you and generate reliable money-doubling gains.

Skittish About Options? Don't Worry. Here are Five Ways I'll Help You Use the Fear Factor Strategy to Make Easy Doubler after Doubler

Maybe you got excited reading about the Fear Factor strategy. But then you read that it involves options. Scary. Intimidating.

I'm here to put your mind at ease.

If you've never traded options before, Strategic Short Report is the best way I know how — especially if you're just getting started.

Let me lay out five reasons why.

1. You won't place a lot of trades. That's not what I'm all about. I've generated my money-doubling track record over 18 months with just 23 plays. That's about one play every three and a half weeks. So if you want to get in on the action, this won't take up a lot of your time and energy.

2. You won't have to obsess about the positions. These are usually longer-dated options. That means they don't expire for several months out. So you don't have to check websites four times a day to see how they're performing. Of course you can if you like, but it's not necessary. I give you a comprehensive email update every Friday afternoon.

3. I'm with you every step of the way. Every new recommendation ends with the exact words you can read to your broker if you want to execute the trade. And when it's time to book profits, I'll let you know right away. Once again, you can have the exact words in front of you on your computer screen when you call your broker.

4. You're consistently beating the odds in the options market. Maybe you've read about how 80% of options positions expire worthless. Well, that's true, and maybe that's scared you out of the options market till now. But that's never happened with one of my positions. A handful have lost money. But the biggest loss I've booked through the first quarter of 2009 is 20%. Compare that to…

5. All the money you can make! Go back to those charts showing how the Fear Factor strategy has demolished top stocks to buy, bonds and gold since the start of the financial crisis. Every $1,000 invested in the Fear Factor strategy is now $2,029. And some of the individual plays have delivered gains of 173%…224%… 238%… 334%… even 461.7%.

I've prepared a special report just for you — the options newcomer — ready to use the Fear Factor strategy to double your money in 18 months. It's got everything you need. Who to call, what websites to visit, the works.

It's called The First Timer's Handbook: Using Options to Generate Triple-Digit Fear Factor Profits. It's yours FREE with your subscription to Strategic Short Report. Read on to learn how to get your copy.

The Tragic Catch to the Fear Factor — and the Only Way You Can Use It to Generate Steady, Reliable Triple-Digit Gains

Maybe you've figured it out already.

The catch is this. The "Fear Factor" strategy isn't something you can do on your own.

You can't just pick a random best stock, calculate its Fear Factor multiplier, and execute the Fear Factor strategy if the multiplier looks high enough.

After all, you'd have to know how much the best stock for 2010 was going to fall.

And how much money you could make by applying the Fear Factor strategy.

You could never know those things in advance for certain, but how in the world would you go about estimating the potential?

You'd have to crunch dozens of numbers. Pore over a company's balance sheet and income statement. Study its filings with the SEC.

And you'd have to consider the bigger picture. The Federal Reserve. Monetary policy. Political decisions in Washington. And how all those things affect both the company and the sector it competes in.

Sounds overwhelming.

To understand a company's numbers, you'd need to be a chartered financial analyst.

To understand the bigger picture, you'd need a rock-solid grounding in macroeconomics.

But you don't need any of those things to execute the Fear Factor strategy and bag average gains of 102.9%.

Because I do all of that for you.

All you have to do is read and follow my Fear Factor recommendations.

It couldn't be easier. I've closed out only 23 plays in 18 months.

So it doesn't take a lot of time, or energy, or extra money.

No obsessively checking on your positions eight times an hour. No endless commissions to fork over to your broker.

In a few moments, I'll show you some concrete examples of how I pulled off some of the incredible Fear Factor results — results that can turn $1,000 into $2,619… $3,383… even $5,718.

I'll walk you through it step-by-step. When you see the Fear Factor strategy in action, you'll see how sensible, how logical, and how understandable it is.

That's because it uses the same common-sense principles that make investors good money during bull markets. Only it turns those principles on their head to make even better money during bear markets.

Most of the time, I recommend my readers do it using put options.

Don't let that scare you off if that's new to you. In a few moments, I'll show you five ways I'll help you use the Fear Factor strategy to make doubler after doubler.

So by now, you're probably wondering about my background. What I bring to the table with the Fear Factor strategy. So allow me to introduce myself.

How I Developed the Fear Factor Strategy… and How It Can Double Your Money 23 Times in 18 Months

My name is Dan Amoss.

And I'm one of those lucky people who feel like they're born to do the work they do.

Everything that's happened in my life has led me to where I am now — executing the "Fear Factor" strategy to double the money of people just like you.

I developed an early interest in business and finance. So I was admitted to a good school with a good reputation for teaching those things.

That's not unusual. Here's what is.

I started college around the time the dot-com boom started to bust.

My classmates hardly noticed. No offense to them, but they were too busy partying. So they had enough trouble just learning how to read a company's balance sheet and income statement.

For me, it wasn't just enough to ace those things. I got really curious: How did the tech bubble get so big? What were the root causes?

I sought out tons of information in books, in journals, and online. (In fact, I was one of the earliest readers of Bill Bonner's e-letter The Daily Reckoning.)

At this moment, I got a really lucky break. The first of three, actually.

The Three Lucky Breaks That Led Me to Create the Fear Factor Strategy — and Give You the Chance to Double Your Money Over and Over

See, I majored in business. But I took economics courses on the side. And I found a mentor in a professor named Thomas DiLorenzo.

Maybe you've heard of him. He's a senior scholar at the Mises Institute. And he's written popular books like How Capitalism Saved America and Hamilton's Curse.

DiLorenzo introduced me to the works of the great "Austrian school" economists like the Nobel laureate Freidrich von Hayek, and Hayek's mentor Ludwig von Mises.

So I started putting the pieces together. All that insane speculation in dot-com stocks that had no earnings? It couldn't have happened without the easy-money policies of the Federal Reserve in the 1990s.

Of course, that's almost common knowledge now. But I already understood it while it was happening.

So then I graduated, and it was the worst possible time to look for a first job. The tech bust had hit full force. The economy was hitting bottom.

I wanted to stay close to my family in the Baltimore area. But the big finance firms in town — T. Rowe Price and Legg Mason — had a hiring freeze.

This turned out to be another incredibly lucky break.

I landed an analyst job at a company that managed a top-ranked small cap mutual fund. Instead of being an anonymous drone at a big firm, I came under the wing of another mentor, fund manager Robert McDorman.

So right away I got up close and personal with CEOs who came into town to make their case for the fund to buy their shares. With Bob's guidance, I quickly figured out when a CEO was being straight-up… and when he was giving a song and dance.

And all the while, I continued my education… completing three years of rigorous training as a chartered financial analyst (CFA).

As great as this experience was, I was starting to chafe a bit. Sure, I enjoyed studying companies' business plans and raw numbers.

But I had little opportunity to flex my economics training. I knew the housing boom was a bubble that had to burst sooner or later. I knew the financial sector was making way too many irresponsible bets.

I knew it wouldn't end well. But I couldn't put that knowledge directly to work to make money for folks like you.

That's when I got still another lucky break.

Bestselling author Addison Wiggin was looking for an editor to add to his industry-leading team of analysts at Agora Financial — a team that called the housing bubble way back in 2004.

It was the perfect match. Especially since I could do both the bottom-up analysis of a company's numbers, and top-down analysis of the big economic picture.

So I jumped at the chance… and got down to work right away, developing the outlines of the Fear Factor strategy.

Born at the Start of the Financial Crisis… The Fear Factor Strategy's Proven Record of Average 102.9% Gains

On August 22, 2007… five days after the financial crisis hit full force and the Fed launched its emergency interest rate cuts… I put the Fear Factor strategy into effect.

And I was finally doing what I was born to do — using all of my skills to make big money for people like you.

During 2008, thousands of my readers racked up gains of 92%… 162%… 173%… 238%… even 462%.

Some of them were making the first option trades of their lives.

Others are recently unemployed… but now think they can retire this year.

Reader Marty R. writes, "I feel almost guilty at all the money I've made."

Wouldn't you like to have that "problem"?

For still others, their biggest worry is how their stellar performance will affect their tax bill.

Wouldn't that be a nice problem to have?

Especially at a time like now. That's what many readers of my premium service, Strategic Short Report, tell me:

Grateful in this market environment "I have you to thank for an approximately 450% gain. I am very grateful, especially in this market environment."

— Pat M.

If only I'd found you sooner! "Actual profit less commissions… 442%. If only I had found you before I lost 85% of my resources following other services!!!!"

— Bruce H.

Safe harbor in a bear market "I could not thank you enough for doing this service. Without it, I would have lost a lot more money in this bear market."

— Wyzzy"

And they don't tell that just to me. They shout it from the rooftops.

Strategic Short Report is the highest-rated premium research service by readers of investment newsletters on stockgumshoe.com.

Folks there don't mince words. If they think a service is lousy, they'll say so. But when they talk about Strategic Short Report, they say…

Made double my subscription cost in 3 months "I've made over double the subscription cost in profit in 3 months."

— "Tampat"

I value this service the most "Dan seems to have an almost uncanny ability to spot opportunity. I have several services and this is the one I value the most."

— "ahappyfred"

Best service I've used "This is the best service I've used. I've lost lots of money with other newsletters, but had some big gains in this one. I think Dan will do well in any kind of market."

— Dustin

But I don't want you to just take the word of other people how much money Strategic Short Report can make for you.

I want to walk you, step-by-step, through real examples of real recommendations that made real money for real people.

If they can do it, so can you.

78 Days to a 462% Gain — Step by Step

Step 1: Friday, April 25:

Strategic Short Report readers received an e-mail with the subject line, "The Next Bear Stearns."

I spell out all the reasons that Lehman Brothers is the next big investment bank to start circling the drain.

Then I spell out the exact words readers should tell their brokers if they want in. "Action to Take: 'Buy to open' the January 2009 $40 LEH Put Option (VHEMH) up to $6 per contract."

Step 2: Wednesday, June 11:

Lehman shareholders had taken a hit of 49% in 48 days. But Strategic Short Report members are already up 224% on those put options.

Now, you need to know something about me. I don't like to get too greedy. I don't like to tempt fate. I think you've already got the sense that I'm a pretty conservative guy.

So I issue an e-mail alert telling members to close out half the position — and lock in that 224% gain.

Step 3: Friday, July 11:

Lehman shares are down nearly 70% in 78 days. The Fear Factor multiplier has shot up to 6.94… and the remaining half of the puts that I recommended is now up a staggering 462%!

So I issue an e-mail alert: "The chances of a sharp rally in LEH are very high. So let's take profits on the second half of your put position."

It's that simple. While your neighbors fret about the index funds in their 401(k) plans, you could be pocketing $5,617 on an initial position of just $1,000.

Nobody who got in this trade complained!

$2436 becomes $9799! "For the Lehman puts, I invested $2436. After the two sales, I got $9,799 back!"

— Gary W.

250%… But I'm Not Complaining! "I got too conservative on the LEH puts and only made 250%. I am not complaining, I don't think I have made anywhere near 250% in any of my trades and I have been trading for over twenty years."

— "Wyzzy"

$32,348 on my first option trade! "My buy price was 4.65 and I got out at 18.15 for a profit of $32,348. Not bad for my first option trade!"

— Robert K.

567% profit! "I held on to the 2nd half of my Lehman Brothers Puts until 9/10/08. I sold them at that time for a 567% profit. Thank you for this outstanding recommendation!"

— Paul J.

Up to $20,000 in Profits! "I haven't added it all up, but total profits are well over $15K, perhaps even $20K. Hell of a nice return on my subscription price. The only negative I can think of about subscribing to Strategic Short Report is going to be my tax bill. I think I can handle it."

— David M.

Ex-Lehman Employee pockets $200,000! "As a Lehman alum I was hesitant to put this one on. A cool $200,000 profit later, I'm a Strategic Short Report disciple!"

— Wilson R.

But gains like those are just half the story.

The other half is why I picked Lehman puts in the first place.

My Keys to 462% Gains: Painstaking Research — and a Refusal to Follow the Herd

Let me share with you the "back story" on just what made that trade so lucrative.

Friday, April 25: Look, a bet on Lehman's fall looks obvious now. But back then, I was really putting myself on the line. Conventional wisdom had it that Lehman wouldn't go under.

But there's something huge that conventional wisdom overlooked.

I explained it in my first e-mail alert. See, at the time the Federal Reserve was willing to backstop Lehman bondholders. But Lehman stockholders? They'd be the first to take any losses.

And I was right. Those losses turned out to be nearly 70% in 78 days. And my readers gained 462%. Not bad, huh?

Thursday, June 5: In one of my weekly e-mail updates on our existing positions (I told you, I hold your hand through the whole process), I cite a recent New York Times story in which Lehman sold more than $100 billion in assets to clean up its balance sheet.

I told readers something was fishy. How could Lehman dump all that toxic junk without taking a huge loss? I speculated Lehman might have financed the sale to a hedge fund run by someone who used to work for Lehman.

Six days later, I tell Strategic Short Report members to take 224% profits on half of their Lehman puts.

Thursday, July 3: Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Weil publishes an expose that confirms my theory.

It turned out that the buyer of all that junk — an outfit called R3 Capital Partners — was owned in part by Lehman. And it was run by several recently-departed Lehman executives!

Thursday, July 10: Lehman files a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission called a 10-Q. It confirms all the dirty details about R3 Capital Partners.

The next day, I tell Strategic Short Report members to take 462% gains on the remaining half of their Lehman puts.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Lehman shares rallied 32% in the following week.

For many of my readers it wasn't just the big money that made them feel so good.

It was the guidance I gave them every step of the way. It gave them the knowledge and the security that they were doing the right thing, and not just blindly following some "guru."

But I'll let them speak for themselves…

"Thorough analysis" for a 304% gain "$4319 gain for 304%. Thank you very much! Always enjoy reading and appreciate your expert and thorough analysis."

— Heng L.

"In-Depth Research" Pumps Out $21,980 "I just sold 10 contracts of LESMH for $26.45 which I purchased for $4.47 for a total gain $21,980!! This is very exciting stuff...keep 'em coming like that if you can. I really appreciate your hard work, in depth research and thorough detailed coverage. Awesome trade Dan! You are the man!"

— David Y.

450% Gains During the Market's Worst Year in Decades "I have you to thank for an approximately 450% gain on this trade. I am very grateful, especially in this market environment."

— Pat M.

442% — "If only I'd found you first" "Actual profit less commissions — 442%. If only I had found you before I lost 85% of my resources following other services!!!!"

— Bruce H.

428% — "Best market deal I've ever had" "I paid $4.93 on May 6th at a total cost of $1501.92 and then sold at $26.50 netting $7,922.92. I made profit, after fees, of $6,421 or 428%. The best market deal I've ever had!"

— Steve S.

So there you have the story of my biggest win — so far — in the 18-month history of Strategic Short Report.

I wanted to give you an idea of the thinking that goes into every Fear Factor play.

Let me show you another example. This is from a few months later. By this time Lehman is gone and the best stock market is in full-blown meltdown mode.

And yet… one smart play on one shaky retailer netted a 238% gain.

How "Big-Picture" Thinking Nets 238% More Gains

Thursday, September 25: I recommend put options on the fabric retailer Jo-Ann Stores.

Four Wall Street analysts cover the best stock. I think every one of them is wrong about falling sales. I write:

"Are these optimistic analysts reading the newspaper? Mileage driven by U.S. consumers is down, so retail foot traffic is down. Foot traffic is vital to Jo-Ann. As it slows, Jo-Ann will have to step up its spending on promotions and advertising."

"Expect lower discretionary spending in the coming months — right when Jo-Ann needs it to meet earnings guidance."

Of course, I also took a good hard look at Jo-Ann's balance sheet. I found a huge rent bill it pays to the owners of shopping centers. "After paying suppliers, employees, landlords, creditors, and the tax man, Jo-Ann is left with precious little cash to return to shareholders. A slower consumer economy could easily shut down Jo-Ann's current trickle of free cash flow."

Friday, November 7: Jo-Ann reports its quarterly sales figures are down. I tell readers to hold on tight.

Friday, December 5: Jo-Ann reports poor earnings. I say the chain faces a real challenge getting shoppers in the door: "Jo-Ann must sacrifice profit margin to generate sales volume." Steady as she goes.

Friday, December 12: I tell readers in my regular Friday update to expect monetary "shock and awe" from the Federal Reserve. The Fed would meet the following week to decide on interest rates.

I figured on a big rate cut to goose the stock market. So I gave readers a heads-up: Expect a sell order before the announcement is made on Tuesday the 16th.

Tuesday, December 16: I issue an alert first thing in the morning: "Let's take some profits ahead of today's Fed meeting."

The Fear Factor multiplier on Jo-Ann had reached 5.28. Time to cash in those Jo-Ann puts for a gain of 238%.

Hours later, the Fed slashes rates to historic lows. The Dow rallies 4.2%. JAS shares rallied 30% over the next two weeks.

Once again, the appreciative e-mail poured in.

A 252% Gain! "I bought for $2.50 on 9/25, and sold for $8.80 on 12/2. Thanks!"

— Bob K.

Up 232% — No complaints! "I cashed mine in over a month ago. Bought at $2.40 and sold at $7.92. No complaints!"

— Michael F.

An $1100 profit! "Pulled the plug at $8 for a $1,110.00 profit. Keep up the good work!"

— Patrick G.

222% Profit! "222% profit on this one. You are doing a really great job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

— Herb K.

(Yes, those 20 exclamation points were his, not mine.)

So now you have a pretty good idea how I weave together the strands of retail trends, a company's balance sheet, and Fed policy into gains of 238%.

By now, you might telling me: "Sure, you do a fantastic job when the market is tanking. But what about when the overall market is flat, or even rallying? There are fewer top stocks to buy against. How do you make the Fear Factor work when there's less to be fearful about?"

A great question. It deserves a great answer.

How about a 338% gain?

An "Uncertain" Investing Environment… But Not for Strategic Short Report Readers Who Bagged 338%

Friday, November 14. An incredibly tough time to figure out where to invest.

The stock market was recovering slightly from the body blow it took in September and October. Would the recovery last?

A new president had just been elected. What would he do?

It was what the business press calls an "uncertain" investing environment.

But on this day, I was certain about one thing. I wrote, "There's every reason to expect radical new inflation policies in the coming months."

Remember, I'm keeping an eagle eye on the Federal Reserve and on Washington, D.C. On top of the income statements and balance sheets of literally dozens of companies.

"How can you profit from this unprecedented inflation?" I continued. "By owning precious metals and precious metals stocks."

I tell readers to pick up call options on GDX — an exchange-traded fund (ETF) made up of gold mining stocks.

Again, I'm really swimming against the tide on this one. Mainstream analysts see no inflation threat on the horizon. But the potential payoff becomes apparent in just one week.

Friday, November 20. GDX rises 20% in one day, after rallying much of the week. The calls of course are up much more. But I say it's not too late to get in.

Friday, January 2. The GDX options have now tripled. But I say hold on tight, they've got more room to run.

Friday, January 16. GDX has climbed back down from its year-end 2008 highs. Readers are getting nervous. But I say stay the course. "I don't think Bernanke and the Fed are bluffing, and I recommend you operate under that assumption."

Friday, February 20. I issue an alert to sell. "It looks like day traders are piling into gold just because it's going up. So there's a good chance that gold prices and GDX will correct in the coming weeks."

Result? A gain of 338%.

Oh, and sure enough, GDX fell 20% in the following three weeks.

No, not a play on falling stocks. But my readers weren't complaining…

 

275% profit! "In at 3.20, out at 12.00 = 275% profit."

— Brian R.

Nice job, good call! "I sold at $12 booking 287% profit. Nice job, good call."

— Daniel C.

Well worth the price "I got in at 3.00 and exited today at 12.10 for a 303% profit! Not too shabby for 3 months. You are well worth the price of a subscription. Great work as usual, Dan!"

— Derek L.

330% gain! "I bought in at $2.75 and sold at $12 for a 330% gain! My only wish was that I would have bought more. Keep up the good work. Can't wait for the next recommendation!"

— John K.

Nearly 5 Times My Money! "Excellent trade... I split my buy at $3.00, $2.50, and $2.00. Today I exited at 11.80 and booked a 4.8x return. Dan is the man!"

— Quint B.

So you see, it doesn't matter whether the market is going up or down. I make the Fear Factor strategy work even when fear isn't sweeping the markets. Strategic Short Report has you covered either way.

So when do I issue the next Fear Factor play, you ask?

The Next Fear Factor Play — Coming Out in as Little as 24 Hours

Here's the thing.

I don't issue my Fear Factor plays on a set schedule.

I think by now you understand why.

At any given time, I'm evaluating the income statements and balance sheets of literally dozens of companies. And all the while, I'm keeping an eye on what the Fed, the White House, and Congress plan to do next.

That's a lot of variables to watch.

Point is, the stars don't align for the ideal Fear Factor play like clockwork.

I call 'em when I see 'em. And I strike when the opportunity is hottest.

I said earlier that on average, I issue a new Fear Factor recommendation about every three and a half weeks. Call it 25 days.

But… I've gone as long as 35 days between recommendations. And I've gone as little as three days.

My most recent recommendation? June 19. It's not too late to get in on that one… but it could rocket up past my buy price very soon.

Point is, I could issue my next Fear Factor recommendation literally any day now.

I mean, less than 24 hours.

You wouldn't want to miss out on the next chance to bag a gain of 92%, 162%, 173%, 238%, even 462%, would you?

But just in case you're still skeptical, I'd like to give you the chance to try out six months of Strategic Short Report - absolutely FREE.

Get Six Months of Strategic Short Report - Absolutely FREE

How much would you be willing to pay for access to a proven strategy that's doubled every dollar invested since the start of the financial crisis?

How much would you be willing to pay for access to a proven strategy that's turned $1,000 into $2,619… $3,383… even $5,718?

Fact is, you could have bought just one contract of every position I closed in 2008… and you'd have enough money to pay for a one-year subscription to Strategic Short Report four times over.

And that's if you paid full price of $1,995.

That's how much we normally charge for Strategic Short Report.

That's more than enough to cover the gains of the most conservative investor who puts the Fear Factor strategy to work.

But until I issue my next recommendation, you can access a year's worth of service for the price of just six months.

That's right — a full year of Strategic Short Report at HALF off — just $995.

That's not much money to ask for a service that recently sent out a play that rocketed up 462%. A service that averages 103% over every single play it's ever published…

But this offer is strictly limited to only the most enthusiastic and able readers.

It expires as soon as I issue my next recommendation.

I'll say it one more time. I don't know exactly when that will be. It depends on dozens of variables. I've gone as long as 35 days between recommendations. And I've gone as little as three.

My last recommendation came on June 19. So my next one could come literally any time now. Within 24 hours even.

And when that recommendation hits the inboxes of my current subscribers, this offer is over. You can still sign up after that — but only at the regular price of $1,995.

Besides, why would you want to miss out on even one of my recommendations when our average performance is a gain of 102.9%?

With a track record like that, you'd pay for your already discounted membership in just one or two plays, anyway…

Try Strategic Short Report With
Absolutely No Risk

When you sign up to try out Strategic Short Report for six months FREE, you'll have 60 days to take advantage of all these member benefits:

My exclusive Fear Factor buy recommendations. This comes to your email inbox as soon as I spot the opportunity and write it up for you. On average, I issue a new recommendation every three and a half weeks. But I've gone as little as three days. It all depends on when an opportunity presents itself… and I never want to pass up the chance at a money-doubling gain for you.

Complete Fear Factor sell recommendations. Again, these arrive in your email inbox as soon as I think it's time to take profits like 238%… 334%… or 462%. I'm there with you every step of the way.

Weekly email updates. Every Friday, I give you a thorough briefing on the state of the open Fear Factor plays. I've already given you a sense of how comprehensive these are… and how much readers appreciate what I put into them.

The Fear Factor Strategy: Five Steps to Locking in Triple Digit Gains. This FREE special report reveals five of the key variables I look at when choosing your Fear Factor plays. You can review this information as soon as you sign up to subscribe. This will give you instant insight when I issue the next Fear Factor recommendation.

The First Timer's Handbook: Using Options to Generate Triple-Digit Fear Factor Profits. You'll value this FREE special report if you're new to trading options — which is how most of my Fear Factor plays work. Maybe you can be like one of my readers who made $32,348 on his very first option trade!

Members-only access to the Strategic Short Report website. Here you'll have password-protected access to all of my previous recommendations, buy-and-sell alerts, and weekly email updates. And you can review the complete Strategic Short Report portfolio — past and present recommendations. It's just as impressive as I've described!

All of this is yours to study risk-free for 60 days. If at any time during those 60 days, you decide the Fear Factor strategy isn't your bag, you can call a toll-free number and cancel. You'll get all your money back, and you can keep your FREE special reports.

I think that's a plenty fair deal, don't you?

But I believe so much in the power of the Fear Factor strategy, I want to take this protection to a whole new level.

Our One-of-a-Kind Guarantee: The Fear Factor Strategy Gives You a Chance to Double Your Money… or Your Money Back

I'm going to take this guarantee one step further. A guarantee keyed directly to the performance of my recommendations.

It works like this. Once the 60-day unconditional refund period is up, you still have a performance-protection guarantee. My recommendations during your one-year membership must average 100% or better… or you can ask for your money back.

In other words, my average performance has to work out to double your money… or you're entitled to a full refund.

That's been my performance for the first 18 months of Strategic Short Report's existence. I think that's the least I can guarantee for you.

And that guarantee applies for your entire subscription term.

So if on the 364th day of your subscription, I'm not generating average money-doubling gains, you can still call and get your money back.

But I'm confident you'll never have to place that call. I think you'll be more than happy with the triple-digit gains you'll have socked away.

Better yet… you'll have the security of knowing you can use the Fear Factor strategy to generate steady, reliable triple-digit gains while everyone else is losing their heads.

That's real peace of mind. And isn't that what you're looking for at a time like this?

What Will Replace the Dollar?

If you haven't seen it, there was a "news" item supposedly from Pravda that tells us the United States, Canada and Mexico have secretly planned to introduce a new North American currency, the Amero. Below is the alleged sample of the 50 Amero bill:

Amero to become USA's new currency when dollar collapses? Doubtful.

Will the Amero replace the dollar? Not at all...this myth has already been debunked online. If there were a new currency we also wouldn't expect to see it any time soon, that's our guess. We're in a depression. Maybe it will become a Great Depression...or a Greater Depression, we don't know. But it is a time of credit contraction...not credit expansion.

For the moment, prices are falling. The dollar is safe...at least, for now.

We paid a visit to France over the weekend. No one knows how France stays in business. Everything is very expensive and very difficult. Half the population struggles to earn a living. The other half struggle to stop them. But more about that later....

What caught our eye, walking down the street near the Communist Party headquarters, was a clothing shop. A few blocks away, you will pay $100 for a pair of jeans. But in this sidewalk shop, you can get a pair for $10. Shirts for $5. Jackets for $8.

The store is owned and run by what appears to be a Chinese family. They probably skirt French employment law by keeping the entire operation in the family. Then, rather than an expensive store, they have a cheap storefront in a bad part of town and put everything out on the wide sidewalk. Even in bad weather, they stretch out a tarpaulin over the clothes racks.

A $3 shirt? A $10 pair of jeans? That's deflation. A few months ago, these same clothes may have had designer brands on them - alligators or polo players, perhaps. But upscale sales are falling. So the factories take off the brands and dump their excess production onto the low-rent market.

We don't know that for a fact...we're just putting two and two together.

Excess capacity was built with excess credit. That's what happens in an expansion. Entrepreneurs borrow to increase production so they can sell more products to credit-addled consumers. Then, the excess capacity dooms them. They put out too many goods and too many services. When demand falls - along with incomes and housing - prices fall too.

Yesterday, the dollar held steady. The yield on the 10-year T-bond fell to 3.69% after reaching up toward 4% a few days ago. The rise in bond yields (with falling bond prices) was probably the most interesting story in the financial world...until they stopped rising.

What's going on?

As we explained, there is no real economic recovery taking place. In fact, there is a lot more risk and mayhem on the horizon.

And with no real economic recovery, don't expect a real bull market on Wall Street. Or real pressure on bond yields. (Of course...there's much more to the story...so stay tuned.)

In the meantime, yesterday, the Dow dropped 200 points. It looks to us as though the rally is coming to an end. If you're invested in U.S. top stocks market now, sell them. They could go higher...but it's not worth the downside risk. In the meantime, check out the 'millionaire's market'. It may be your best bet for turning a profit in this environment. See here.

More news from the 5 Min. Forecast:

"Sales of existing homes inched up 2.4% in May," Ian Mathias reports today. "The National Association of Realtors announced a sales rate of 4.77 million units a year this morning. Given that the rate of existing home sales has managed to stay near that level most of 2009 - in fact this month's pace is only down 3.6% year over year - we hear a growing chorus declaring a bottom to the housing market. As you might expect, we hesitate to sing along.

"Why? Because the rest of the numbers just don't add up. According to the NAR's release this morning, 3.8 million homes are still for sale... a nosebleed-high, 9.6 month supply.


"Home prices are still falling too, down almost 17% year over year - an obvious sign homes aren't cheap enough yet. And mortgage rates have climbed about 50 basis points since the end of May - an equally obvious sign that the all is not well with the American credit market.

"What's more, distressed properties accounted for a third of all sales in May. Without foreclosures, bank sales and the like, existing home sales last month would have rung in closer to an annual rate of 3.2 million... a number that would send traders running to the hills. And of those 3.2 million more "traditional" sales - consider the Uncle Sam's $8,000 tax credit and the Fed's multi-billion dollar mortgage rate manipulation. This ain't the free market at work... calling the bottom still feels premature."

The 5 Min. Forecast is taking today and tomorrow off, as the Agora Financial editors and analysts are once again gathering at our Baltimore HQ for our bimonthly editorial meeting. Unfortunately, this meeting is closed to the public - but you can catch up with all of Agora Financial's best and brightest at this year's Agora Financial Investment Symposium in Vancouver, B.C. The symposium promises to be the event of the year - so don't miss out! Secure your ticket now - before the event sells out! See more here:

Agora Financial Investment Symposium, July 21-24

And back to Bill, with more views:

Some things are obvious and predictable. Other things are not. And, of course, we always have to remember that we don't know what we are talking about. As colleague Alex Green's delightful new book reminds us, "the only certainty is surprise." More later...

What is more or less predictable is that a severe depression is developing. Our iron law puts it this way: the force of a correction is equal and opposite to the deception that preceded it. The Bubble Epoque was extraordinary in practically every way - with illusions, frauds and absurdities galore. Ergo, so must be the Bust Epoque that follows.

From the housing sector comes news that even though houses are much cheaper they are not necessarily much more affordable. While prices are falling so are incomes and employment. Mortgage lenders, meanwhile, learned that they needed to be more careful about whom they lent money.

In 2007, the banks were so loose their arms practically fell off. If they had been young girls, you would have found short poems about them in the boys' toilets. They weren't prudent lenders; they were promiscuous ones. But now house prices are falling and lenders say 'no' to everyone. But unfortunately, that won't undo the mistakes of the past - the mistakes that are deciding the future of the US economy. The lax lending standards caused the first wave of loan defaults that rocked the banks to their core...and now the second wave is headed straight for the United States. Learn more about it here.

So the poor lumpen are trapped between falling incomes and rising lending standards; they can't buy a house even at a much lower price.

The retailers are trapped too. They leased huge spaces to sell their wares; now they have no one to sell their wares to.

Sales go down; so do earnings. Bloomberg reports that business executives see what is coming. They look at the figures and see their businesses trapped between high output capacity and low pricing power:

"Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years," begins the headline.

"Executives are taking advantage of the biggest stock-market 2010 rally in 71 years to sell their shares at the fastest pace since credit markets started to seize up two years ago.

"Insiders of Standard & Poor's 500 Index companies were net sellers for 14 straight weeks as the gauge rose 36 percent, data compiled by InsiderScore.com show.

"Sales by CEOs, directors and senior officers have accelerated to the highest level since June 2007, two months before credit markets froze, as the S&P 500 rebounded from its 12-year low in March. The increase is making investors more skittish because executives presumably have the best information about their companies' prospects."

Even governments are trapped. Yesterday, Nicolas Sarkozy told the French that he wasn't going to follow the 'austerity policies' urged on him by the European Central Bank. "Austerity policies never work," he said.

The French deficit is more than twice the levels permitted by the European Union's economic guidelines. But at 7% of GDP, it is still barely half America's government deficit.

And over on America's left coast, the government of Arnold Schwarzenegger is faced with the same crisis - only worse. The New York Times tells us that states, led by California, are putting government employees on forced furloughs, releasing prisoners early, closing parks and reducing education budgets. They need to watch out; citizens might notice that they never needed to spend so much money in the first place.

Speaking of prisons, for example, the states could save a fortune simply by getting rid of the jailbirds who never really did anyone wrong. By that, we mean the people who didn't harm anyone but themselves...and arguably, not even themselves. There are hundreds of thousands of people in prison for drug crimes, for example. Let them pay a fine and turn them loose.

(If we were running things, we'd legalize drugs and make alcohol and cigarettes compulsory. TV, rap music and Barbra Streisand performances, on the other hand, would be outlawed.)

"France is rotten," said a dinner guest on Saturday night, recalling de Gaulle's famous warning that Vietnam was a "rotten country"...and that Americans should stay out.

"I'm fed up. You can't do anything in this country without either getting permission or getting a fine. You can't drive fast...even though the highways are made for much faster traffic. You can't smoke. You can't start a business...or sell one...or hire anyone. The way these employment laws work it's safer to murder a bad employee than fire him.

"Someone is always telling me what to do...and it wasn't like that a few years ago. I'm old enough to remember what it was like in the '60s and '70s. France was still a free country back then. You could do pretty much what you liked. You could ride down the road without putting on a seat belt. You could smoke in bars. If you didn't like your job you could tell your boss to go to hell. Then, you'd just look in the paper...there were always hundreds of jobs. People changed jobs. If one didn't work out...they tried a different one. Now, if they don't like their job they go to court and the employer is really in trouble. The whole process is rotten.

"What I'm really surprised about is the way the French have gone along with all this bossing... They're sheep."

"Wait a minute," another guest challenged her. "France is still a great place to live. The food is good. The weather is usually pretty good. The health service works. The trains run on time...at least, when the workers aren't on strike. It's pretty to look at. I don't know how much you've traveled, but compared to the places I've seen, France is way ahead. Besides, if you don't like it so much, why don't you just leave? Find some other country you like better..."

"Ha...I'm too old now...and besides...they're all rotten."

Make Money From Best Stocks Market

Steve M. is just like you.

Well, just like you, except for the fact that Steve recently became $200,000 richer ― in just 78 days.

How'd he do it? He made one simple move.

And he bagged 200k in profits. That's some real money, right there.

Here's the best part ― if you act TODAY ― you could make MORE.

Steve M. from New York made $200,000 with my pinpoint analysis.

In just a second, I'll show you how YOU can make that much too. Or more…

First, I want to tell you all about Steve. Because he wants me to share his story.

See, Steve M. from New York made close to a quarter of a million dollars in just 78 days by following my "pinpoint" recommendation.

Steve's HUGE profit works out to more than $2,564 per day.

That's about $394 for each hour the markets are open.

Are you ready for this kind of money?

I hope you don't mind the friendly question, but do you make $394 an hour right now?

You CAN make that much, or more… with my "pinpoint" analysis.

Just like Steve M. from New York did. With no work, effort, or stress on his part.

No, I'm not trying to brag.

But when Steve M. sent me a note about his $200,000 profit… I have to admit it. I smiled.

I love the idea of someone using my "pinpoint" analysis to rake in that kind of money.

And it's not just Steve M. who's been making life-changing cash with my analysis…

The Results Are In: My "Pinpoint" Analysis Made a Guy Like YOU $200,000 in Just 78 Days…

$200,000 is a lot of extra money, after all.

Like I said ― Steve M.'s not alone…

S. Porter from California recently wrote me to say he's made $32,348.

And L. Myers of Portsmouth, NH sent me a note about the $21,980 in fast profits he made too!

Plus Jack R. from Mesa, AZ recently wrote in about the $15,000 he made…

The list goes on and on. My readers consistently make life-changing gains following my simple, direct "pinpoint" analysis…

It's money you too can start making today.

Because in the next three minutes, I'm going to tell you all about my incredibly lucrative "pinpoint" research…

Plus ― I'll take you step-by-step through what Steve M. of New York did to make $200,000… quickly, easily, and from the comfort of his home…

Before I go any further, however, I must make one thing crystal clear ― if you're interested in receiving my "pinpoint" analysis…

You absolutely must reply to this note before Midnight, Mon. July 13.

Because I'm about to release my NEXT "pinpoint" recommendation. 250%, 400% gains ― or MORE ― the sky's the limit for this new play.

This way, if you reply by Midnight on Monday, July 13, you'll have time to read over the "pinpoint" play and decide whether to take action on it before the markets open on Tuesday.

And you could be on your way to raking in MORE than Steve M. from New York!

First, I should show you exactly how readers have recently made some serious cash following my "pinpoint" analysis.

"Pinpoint" Analysis At Work:Get Paid $394 an Hour ― That's $2,564 a Day or $12,820 Each Week!

The potential to make $394 or more per hour is certainly startling.

Imagine raking in $2,564 per day (that's $12,820 a WEEK!) ― Monday through Friday ― just for riding along on a piece of "pinpoint" information…

Now, this "pinpoint" research I provide to my readers… it comes right to their email inbox.

I tell them what to do. I tell them why to do it. Total time spent on putting a pinpoint play to work if they want in on the action: three minutes or less.

Then… my readers can sit back, enjoy their day… and simply wait.

When it's time to take our gains and move on, I send you another simple email.

You can close your position and take all your pinpoint profits in another three short minutes.

So yes, if there's any doubt in your mind ― you can be just like Steve M. from New York.

You can quickly, and very reliably change your life with this amazing cash!

Because your $12,820 a week works out to $51,280 a month! In extra cash!

You can pay off bills with Monday's cash.

Plan a luxury vacation with Tuesday's money. Sock money away for the future on Wednesday and Thursday ― and do whatever you want with Friday's cash!

I know, I know. I'm getting ahead of myself…

I still haven't told you exactly what Steve M. from New York did to make his $200,000.

Or why it's so important you take swift action before Midnight, Monday, July 13.

Let me begin by showing you how Steve M. followed my "pinpoint" recommendation to $200,000 in easy profits…

The Secret Behind My Pinpoint Advice Could Pay YOU An Extra $51,280 Every Month…

I'm sure you've heard of what I do. You might have already figured out the simple key to my pinpoint plays:

I recommend put option plays to my readers.

As you probably know, the put option is the one you use when you think the best stock market will go down.

The Truth About Put Options…

The gain potential of puts is almost limitless. You can make 10x, 15x, even 20-times your money on simple puts vs. playing regular top stocks for 2010.
You can play put options just as easily as buying a regular old best stock.

If you play puts properly (like I'll tell you how) they are no more risky than regular best stock buying. Why?

Because my "Pinpoint" advice opens up a new world of gains.

Normally, folks only profit from one side of a market � when things go up.

Puts give YOU the power to make HUGE profits when things go DOWN.

It was one simple put that made Steve M. $200,000.

This isn't some shot in the dark play Steve used, either. As I'll show you in just a second, I average over 80% success with my "pinpoint" recommendations ― and help my readers rake in absolutely staggering gains ― over and over again!

Before I get to that though, I need to tell you which specific play I recommended to Steve and all my other readers.

Pinpoint Example #1: How YOU Can Make HUGE Profits From Falling Top Stocks To Buy

On Friday, April 25, 2008 ― I sent my readers a short email.

In that brief alert, I told them exactly why I thought Lehman Brothers ― the Wall Street titan ― was poised for a tremendous fall.

See, even though the "smartest guys in the room" on Wall Street just ignored it at the time, I knew Lehman Brothers was in terrible shape.

The company had a huge amount of debt from making bad investment bets.

And my research showed me that Lehman had become a market "zombie."

Lehman was "walking dead." It was only a matter of time. A few months after some of my readers used Lehman to get rich, the company went bankrupt.

All I did on April 25 was select the best "pinpoint" put option ― and fire off an email to my readers.

About a month and a half later, I told my readers to sell half their position for 224% gains.

Then, exactly one month after the sell-half email, I told my readers to sell the other half of their puts for total gains on the play of over 461%!

That's what Steve M. did. Simple. Easy. Stress free.

And he walked away with $200,000.

Keep in mind ― what I'm showing you today about Lehman Brothers is just one example among many…

Because I've recently booked some HUGE gains for my readers. (I'm even going to share my WHOLE track record with you today too…)

And in just a second, I'll tell you my whole story…

Why I Must Hear From You Before Midnight, Monday July 13

I want to give you my NEXT "pinpoint" put option play… on what could be the next major financial firm to go belly-up.

This company is kidding itself if it truly thinks it's in as good a shape as it claims.

The numbers just don't add up…

And you could play this company's bad books to make a simple, fast gain of $200,000 or more…

However, I must warn you ― if you're interested in what I'm showing you today, you simply must reply to this note BEFORE Midnight, Monday, July 13.

Because this "bad bank" setup I'm following right now that could make Steve M.'s gain look like small potatoes!

And I'm so excited about you having a chance at the huge profits possible that I'm prepared to GIVE YOU A HUGE DISCOUNT on the price of my research. This discount, however, ends promptly at Midnight, Monday July 13.

I'll tell you how my newest recommendation will be distributed in just a second...

For now though ― here's another example of my "pinpoint" research at work…

Pinpoint Example #2: How My Readers Crushed Jo-Ann Fabric Stores For 238% Gains

Jo-Ann Stores, the fabrics retailer, is a great example of what I look for in a company to play on the downside… here's why…

Jo-Ann is a specialty store with a small market in good times. That market gets even smaller market when the economy sours. Just like it did in fall 2008.

So I recommended one simple "pinpoint" put play on Jo-Ann Stores on Sept. 25, 2008.

Then, less than three months later ― I sent my readers another short note. This was the week before Christmas.

I recommended my readers sell their puts for 238.33% gains.

Yes, my research delivered 238% gains to a whole bunch of folks just like you.

And my readers ― they don't need any special trading accounts.

They don't need any knowledge of how and why certain top stocks are poised to fall.

All they do is read my emails and decide whether to put the trades in place.

Then, they rake in the gains just like Steve M. from New York ― and so many other folks just like him ― have done for over a year now…

Here's a recent example of the life-changing money you can start making…

My Pinpoint Puts Pay You $1,693.84 EVERY WEEK

I sent a short email to my readers on Feb. 20, 2009. In that email, I told them to close a simple position.

The resulting gain? 334.48% ― enough to turn just $1,000 into $4,344.80.

Or $2,000 into $8,689.60. But that cash was just the beginning.

Exactly one month later, I recommended my readers close another position for 25.71% gains.

Then, just over a week later, on March 31st, I closed a THIRD position ― for 63.27% gains.

So in about five weeks, I closed three positions for average gains of 141.2%.

With just $2,000 to start in each ― that's total gains of $8,469.20. Or $1,693.84 a week.

What would you do with an extra $8,469.20 in profits next month?

It's a down payment on a fancy new car.

Or the vacation of a lifetime. Or a huge boost to any retirement account. Here's my point:

You could've booked a fast $8,469.20 in profits. In just five weeks!

My readers have been doing it over and over again… here's just a taste of what they've written to me recently…

"Pinpoint" Results, Revealed: Readers Speak Out

I love receiving mail from my readers.

And I've especially enjoyed getting mail like this…

Profits of $32,348, Not Bad For My First Trade!

I got out at 18.15 for a profit of $32,348. Not bad for my first option trade.

― S. Porter, Valencia CA

Profits Are Amazing, Thanks!

Total profits are well over $15K!

― Jack R., Mesa AZ

I Won't Rush You, But I Can't Wait For Your Next Recommendation!

I have you to thank for a 450% gain. I am very grateful, especially in this market environment. I know you provide only well-researched recommendations so I won't rush you, but I eagerly look forward to your next recommendation.

― Tony B., Columbus OH

Thank You For This Outstanding Recommendation!

I sold [play] for a 567% profit. Thank you for this outstanding recommendation. I look forward to your future recos and commentary.

― P. Zane, Macon GA

I'll show you more letters just like these!

But first, I think it's time I showed you the TOTAL RESULTS ― THE FULL PROOF behind why my readers are so happy.

Then, I promise I'll tell you all about myself.

And in a minute, I'll give you a chance to get my next "pinpoint" recommendation… so long as you reply before Midnight, Monday July 13.

Why is that date so important? Well ― it's simple.

My next "pinpoint" recommendation stands to be so lucrative ― and the price could go up so fast ― that you absolutely must be in by that date to see the biggest gains.

PLUS ― the extreme discount I'm offering you for access to my research expires promptly at Midnight on Monday.

My alerts are written in easy language. So you can read it and take advantage of the specific play in three minutes or less.

To get the info the fastest and see the biggest gains ― you simply must be among the first to receive my alert. It's that simple.

Plus ― I'll also send you a new report I just finished… it's called Five Ways to Profit From Falling Top Stocks To Buy where I put all my "pinpoint" research methods right out in the open.

It's yours ― FREE ― just for giving my research a risk-free test. Yes, absolutely free.

We'll get to all that later though. First, it's time I showed you just how "PINPOINT" my "pinpoint" research really is…

I Bet I Know What You're Thinking: "Just How Pinpoint Precise Is This Guy?"HERE'S YOUR ANSWER…

I began issuing my pinpoint recommendation alerts during the 2nd week of September 2007.

Only a few hundred "testers" received this original email.

From that week until early June 2009 ― I issued 24 total recommendations.

It works out to a little more than one per month. Now here's my confession…

Five were losers. Among the five losers, the average loss was just 35.5%.

This, of course, means ALL 19 of my OTHER PLAYS WERE WINNERS!

Average gain among those 19 winners?

156.1% Average Gains From My "Pinpoint"
Recommendations

So ― not only do I produce winning recommendations 80% of the time, the average among my winning plays is 156.1%. With $2,000 to start in each of those winners ― that's over $97,000 in total possible profits!

But that's not good enough. Nowhere close. Let's take my track record one step further…

You Get LIMITLESS POTENTIAL ― But Let's Be CONSERVATIVE For a Second…

Ok ― here's the conservative way to look at it…

Let's say you started with $2,000 way back in September 2007 with my first recommendation.

If you put just $2,000 into each of my plays (including losers)… you'd be sitting on over $93,000 today.

Break that down to months ― and we're talking about a simple average of $4,266 extra, per month for you.

From following my simple, direct "pinpoint" research.

Yes, Steve M. from New York struck it perfect and made $200,000.

So while you certainly do have the potential to do the same… I can crunch my entire track record and tell you that even if you don't make $200,000 on one trade…

You could rake in $4,266 EACH AND EVERY MONTH ― on average ― just by following my recommendations.

Now here's how my story proves the expertise I've been describing…

A Decade Studying Economics With the Masters Taught Me That the NUMBERS NEVER LIE…

My name is Dan Amoss. I'm the Editor of and Director of Research for Strategic Short Report.

How I came to helm it is a story that could have a huge impact on your financial future.
After graduating summa cum laude with a concentration in finance, I knew I had to choose a path. Basically, it breaks down to either buy-side or sell-side.

You either specialize in figuring out which top stocks for 2010 will go up, and buy them. Or specialize in figuring out which top stocks will go down and sell them.

I ended up working buy-side analysis out of college.

Years later, in 2002, I was in charge of initial screening for new investment ideas at the Investment Counselors of Maryland Small Company Portfolio.

I was the first line of defense, so to speak. It was my research that allowed a company to move toward "investment quality" for the Portfolio.

If I found any red flags on the books of these companies, it was my responsibility to immediately discard the idea.

What I learned was that even in researching the buy-side… the best analysts still pay strict attention to the sell-side. It was the best experience possible for you and me… because…

I could see the macro-economic storm clouds gathering. That's when I made my move…

I Started Strategic Short Report At a Profoundly Profitable Moment ― And I Never Looked Back

By November 2005, I knew the economy was on the brink of disaster…

Housing prices couldn't go up forever. The economy was running on false fumes.

Because my time at Investment Counselors of Maryland had taught me an important lesson ― "If a company looks sick, it's probably sicker than it looks."

It was easy to see from my perch to see what was happening to the economy, watching companies getting more and more creative with their projections…

So I took the helm of the famous monthly investment newsletter Strategic Investment ― and began sharing my market-beating ideas with a wider and wider audience.

And even though I guided readers just like you to great profits from oil, gas, and energy top stocks, I was convinced the sell-side opportunities for huge gains were even BETTER.

It was time to make the big switch ― from buy-side to sell-side. And provide people like you ― and like Steve M. ― the chance to make huge profits from falling top stocks to buy…

So I started Strategic Short Report to show you how to profit from the gathering storm with pinpoint put options.

Almost two full years later, I still haven't looked back. The future is full of potential.

Because, as you know, we're living in a new reality now. All the old rules don't apply.

The worst financial crisis of the last century has changed how everything works. Which is actually great news for your future…

Because the financial firm I'm targeting in my next issue ― well, I'll just tell you...

This company is living in a dream world.

I'm not forecasting they're going to go bankrupt. Because they don't have to for folks like you to make massive gains ― life-changing gains ― from the hurt this company has on the near horizon…

And I must say it again ― if you're interested in receiving my next "pinpoint" recommendation ― you must reply before Midnight, Monday, July 13.

Here's just a snapshot of the sorts of gains you can start making starting July 13…

Pinpoint Example #3: You Could Have Made 220% Gains Off PNC Financial ― Just Like My Readers Recently Did…

On Aug. 4, 2008, I sent a short note to my readers.

In this note, I told them why PNC Financial Corp. was in trouble.

Now, the bank was headed for trouble, but it wasn't about to go belly-up…

That's important… here's why: On Nov. 21, just a few days before Thanksgiving, I sent my readers another email that told them to sell their PNC position.

The result was 220% gains.

Now here's the best part…

Small Stock Moves Mean Huge Gains For YOU

When I recommended the PNC play on Aug. 4 ― the best stock closed that day at $71.64.

When I closed the play for 220% gains on Nov. 21, the best  stock closed at $43.69.

Here's my point…

The best stock went down about 39%.

And my readers made 220% with my "pinpoint" recommendation.

That's how my readers made exponentially larger gains than what the best stock fell…

And I'll tell you what ― a 39% decline can return awesome, life-changing profits in a short amount of time. Here's a few more examples of small moves making big gains…

It's YOUR TURN to Get Rich From "Pinpoint" Puts!

I hope I've shown so far that it's not just guys like Steve M. who are making life-changing money from my "pinpoint" research.

Reader after reader have taken my analysis and put my simple recommendations to work…

Here's another example of how small top stock falls can mean HUGE gains for my readers…

Last year, HanesBrands (the tee-shirt and underwear maker) fell 23%.

In the amount of time the best stock dipped that 23%, my readers could've booked a 91.9% gain from my pinpoint play.

Then there was the case of Systemax. The best stock fell 39%.

And my readers could've booked up to 173.3% gains.

The best stock falls a little. And you make many, many times the percentage it falls!

And you can make five, 10, 15, even 20 times as much as the best stock goes down.

With my "pinpoint" recommendations. And just like my readers you've met do over and over again…

Now here's the key to what I do, and why it's so urgent you reply before Midnight Monday, July 13.

How I Play Puts: HUGE UPSIDE, LOW RISK, PLUS TIME TO LET THE PROFITS RUN ― It's the "Pinpoint" Edge That Could Change Your Life…

It's really "no-brainer" easy.

You read the emails I send where I lay out my case. Then, if you choose, you act.

And start raking in huge amounts of cash just like Steve M. from New York.

Here's what you can count on with each and every recommendation I ever send to you…

HUGE UPSIDE: Every piece of advice I issue has at least 100% gain potential.

LOW RISK: In my "pinpoint" advice alerts, I'll tell you how I've targeted the best play with the most gain potential.

TIME TO RUN: I always give our trades time to work their magic. I don't issue "spur of the moment" trades.

TIME TO EXIT: When it's time to take safe gains and get out � I always tell you…

In the bonus free report I also want you to have, Five Ways to Profit From Falling Top Stocks To buy, I'll tell you even more about my strategy…

But, of course, you don't even need to read this report. If you only want to receive my "pinpoint" research, you're free to ignore the report…

All you have to do right now is get on my list to receive my next "pinpoint" recommendation on Monday, July 13.

You could be raking in as much as ― or even more than ― Steve M. in just days…

Countdown to Monday, July 13: ― Why You Simply Must Receive My Next "Pinpoint" Play…

You've seen examples of past plays that have shot up 220%, 238%, 461%… with an overall 80% success rate ― and average gains OVER 156%!

Making my readers profits of $30,000-50,000 ― even $200,000…

And my next recommendation, set to hit your email inbox on Monday, July 13… there's no telling how much potential it could hold.

Life-changing profits could be right around the corner ― just as soon as you join me at Strategic Short Report.

Here's everything that comes with your 100% RISK-FREE test drive of my research…

My Monday, July 13 "Pinpoint" Advice Issue � Guaranteed to contain at least one new play you can immediately put in motion for huge, life-changing gains.

Monthly Issues of Strategic Short Report � Sent right to your inbox, you'll receive all the details on at least one new idea from me each and every month.

Weekly Email Updates � As our open positions move, I'll update you every step of the way. I'll keep you on top of the news with all our plays, tell you what I'm watching, what I'm following… and when you can expect your profits!

Flash Sell Alerts When It's Time To Cash Out Gains � If a play is moving fast and it's time to take our gains off the table, I'll send you a quick email alert that'll guarantee you make the best gains…

FREE REPORT: Five Ways to Profit From Falling Top Stocks For 2010 � Where I share my strategy, how I locate the best plays, plus tell you all the details on how simply and easily you can make life-changing gains with my "pinpoint" advice.

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By now you're probably wondering what it costs, in dollars and cents, to receive all the Strategic Short Report benefits above… including my next profitable recommendation on Monday, July 13…

Here's the deal: receiving my alert by Monday, July 13 is so important ― it could have such a huge impact on your financial future…

That I convinced my publisher to offer you the lowest price for a year of Strategic Short Report… EVER OFFERED.

However, on Monday, July 13 at midnight ― the incredible discount you're about to see will disappear.

This means the "pinpoint" potential to change your life for good may never be cheaper than it is right now… but it gets even better…

A 100% Risk-Free Test Drive of Strategic Short Report ― At the Lowest Rate I've Ever Offered

Remember how just five weeks earlier this year I closed three positions ― and how you could've tagged along and made $1,693.84 each week for those five weeks?

Well, when I first approached my publisher with the incredible idea I'm tracking and suggested the discount until Monday, July 13 ― he told me to use the $1,693.84 as my discounted price.

"Just one week of potential profits," he said. "Seems a small price to pay for a year of pinpoint profit plays."

Problem is ― Strategic Short Report normally costs $1,995 a year. And I decided offering a year at $1,693.84 isn't enough of a discount.

So I demanded the chance to offer Strategic Short Report at $990 for a full year.

"Why in the world would I allow that?" he asked.

Here's what I told him ― "I want to cut the price of a full year in half. I'll take responsibility for the huge discount the new readers receive.

What I'd like is to give them the chance to use your discount toward the idea I'll provide in my new issue, if they choose. Because that means they'll have a chance to make even bigger gains."

Since the meeting with my publisher ― I've decided to take things a step further.

So on top of the over 50% discount which must expire at Midnight on Monday, July 13 ― I offer you this…

If my urgent "pinpoint" recommendation doesn't deliver at least a 100% gain during the life of the play ― you can ask for ALL your money back…

Yes, I'm not only taking on $1,005 for each new member who joins me.

Meaning all you pay is $990…

I'm also guaranteeing you that my "pinpoint" idea you'll receive if you act before Monday, July 13 will AT LEAST DOUBLE YOUR MONEY… or you can ask for all your money back!

I Know I Could Charge More ― But I Must Get Your Attention About My July 13 Opportunity…

I know I could do it. I could certainly "get away" with charging $2,500 or $4,000 a year (I know of services nowhere near as good as mine that try to)…

But I'm only charging $990. The lowest price ever offered for a FULL YEAR of Strategic Short Report. Remember ― this deal only lasts until Midnight, Monday July 13.

And my 100% gain guarantee? Here's how it works. Join me today. Receive my "pinpoint" idea (I'm set to publish it for existing readers this Friday).

And see if you want to act on it. If it doesn't go up at least 100% by the time I issue a sell recommendation, you can have all your money back.

PLUS, you ALSO have 60 full days to decide if Strategic Short Report is for you.

If you're not completely satisfied, just call and cancel up until midnight on your 60th day, and you get all your money back. Simple. Easy. No questions asked. EVEN IF the play I recommend to you does go up 100%.

YOU RISK NOTHING by joining me today at Strategic Short Report…

Bottom line… not only are you getting the biggest discount ever for a full year of Strategic Short Report… you get 60 full, risk-free days to try me out.

You have 60 full days of total protection. PLUS a 100% gain guarantee for my next "pinpoint" recommendation…

BUT YOU MUST REPLY BY MIDNIGHT, MONDAY, JULY 13 to get the discount!

Bottom Line ― To Begin Your Life-Changing Profits, You Must Reply By Midnight, Mon., July 13

That is, hands down, the best offer I can make. It's no-risk, and brimming with potential.

The potential to change your life, your fortunes… and your future.

Steve M. from New York isn't the only reader to make huge amounts of money from my "pinpoint" recommendations…

Because I hope you're about to join him… and rake in $200,000 or more of your own from my remarkably accurate research.

I hope to hear from you soon ― so my next profitable idea hits YOUR inbox right along with Steve M.'s!

There's More to Wealth Than Money

Some Fridays are better than others. This last one was not pretty. Like a character that refuses to die in a bad horror movie, the U.S. job market posted some shocking June numbers. It has revived the dormant nightmare that this may be a long "L" shaped recession. Or even worse, a double dipper, with the second dip just getting started.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that around 467,000 Americans lost their jobs in June. This was unwelcome news. The data had been getting less bad every month since January. Then the June numbers rocked up, fell out, and took top stocks down with them. This is causing everyone with a pulse (and most with a brain) to have second thoughts about just how good things are-or how much worse they might get.

The S&P and the Dow both fell nearly three percent. Oil and gold were down too. About the only things up were Treasury bonds and notes. Speaking of which, the U.S. will auction another $73 billion of those this week. Wednesday's auction is for $19 billion in ten-year notes while $11 billion in 30-year bonds go on sale Thursday.

"You may have green shoots, whatever you want to call them, you may have temporary relief, but you are still in a world that's breaking," Black Swan author Nassim Taleb told CNBC's Squawk Box. "Anything that's fragile like the financial system will eventually crash, he said...We're in the middle of a crash...So if I'm going to forecast something, it is that it's going to get worse, not better."

Taleb's point is not a popular one. But it is a realistic one. The fiat money, leveraged finance Western financial system went global in the last twenty years, providing an epic rise in asset prices (and the debt used to purchase them). There's no doubt that real goods and services have traded hands with world growth. But now we wonder how much of that is sustainable when you take the credit away.

Did we use phony money to build a world with completely unrealistic levels of growth? Were trillions of dollars of capital allocated based on final demand that was artificially pumped up by credit, currency manipulation (low U.S. interest rates and global dollar pegging), and government stimulation?

Yes we did!

Mind you, the crash of the financial system is not the end of the world. It is a massive calamity to be sure, wiping out the value of retirement assets many people were counting on to make it through their golden years. But as many readers have reminded us in the last few months, there is more to life than money.

Fair enough. But there is more to wealth than money too! Peace of mind, having your assets in forms that can't be inflated away or won't suffer from debt deflation...we would count these as "wealth" at a time like this.

That brings us back to the problem growing at the back of our mind yesterday. Can a massive deflating credit bubble nullify the liquidity measures by central bankers, which are puny in comparison to the nominal value of the assets at risk? "Yes you can!" comes the answer from some of the friends we put the question to.

"I'm tempted to disagree that expansion in government credit won't reach the economy and therefore won't be inflationary," replied Money Morning editor Kris Sayce. "I'm not mistaken, the Fed is buying up these 'assets' in order to take them off the banks and also to help price them. If the Fed didn't do this then the banks wouldn't be able to lend extra money to customers as they would breach their lending limits."

"It's not so much that the Fed is directly feeding the banks money which flows through to the economy, it's more that the Fed is feeding the banks money which allows them to expand lending which they otherwise wouldn't be able to do. Thus at the very least is preventing prices from falling, or from falling as much as they ordinarily would without the intervention. In effect there is more money flowing in than there otherwise would be. There already IS inflation."

Another colleague in the States replied that, "I am leaning more and more to the idea that the credit-based stuff will deflate (real estate, stock prices of 2010) but the cash-based stuff could rise (like foodstuffs, energy). In a way, it's not a debate about inflation or deflation, but which assets inflate and which deflate. There might be a strong dichotomy within the economy between the two."

To the extent that you cannot eat a mortgage-backed security, we see the wisdom in this view. The world has a lot of people. They have a lot of real needs. Regardless of the value of derivatives and opaque financial assets, a certain level of economic activity for a certain kind of tangible good will still be there. The challenge for investors is to determine if you can profit from this in traditional ways (top stocks 2010 and bonds) or if you have to venture into less traditional asset classes and forms of ownership (land, real commodities, precious metals).

And of course, the thesis could be incorrect. If credit is not money — or if the large lending and government guarantee programs don't reignite a lending boom in the real economy — then you may simply see a lot of wealth disappear down the memory hole.

Finally, a mystery Aussie commentator who wishes to remain anonymous but whom you may hear from in the future in this space sent a philosophical yet practical reply.

"What is money? Currently, that's what the Federal Reserve (and other central banks) put in the reserve accounts of their member banks. The banks then use this as a base to create their own money, or 'like money'. I guess this is also known as credit. So yes, credit is not money.

"And this bank credit is now contracting as the natural force of the market tries to drive prices lower and correct the boom. The Fed is offsetting this process by swapping 'money' (fed funds) for the impaired assets. But the banks are sitting on the cash, and obviously do not have the risk appetite (or the demand) to lend it out."

"So at this point additional base money is not being lent out as inflationary 'like money'. I'm not sure the Fed has the mechanism to make out and out purchases of assets other than through lending facilities, unless they are Treasury or Agency purchases. As far as I'm aware, the Fed can only distribute its newly created money through the banking system, and no other way. The banks have always been the source of inflation, and they need to lend to create this. They will probably use their excess reserves to buy Treasury's in the coming years, and then the Fed can but the Treasury's back off them in time. This will be inflationary."

"Where does gold come into it? Well, gold is real money...chosen independently by the people. As trust in the US dollar continues to evaporate, demand for gold will increase. At some point gold will again be referred to as money. Because the amount of credit (debt) in the world dwarfs the amount of gold, and because gold will be a legitimate extinguisher of the debt, gold will likely rise massively to have the capacity to extinguish the debt. This is a process unfolding over years though.

"A rising gold price is actually deflationary in that it represents a rise in the purchasing power of money. So I think deflation is the ultimate force that cures this massive credit bubble...outright deflation if long-term faith in the US dollar remains, or gold price induced deflation should the bottom fall out of US dollar trust. The quantity of US dollars may be rising at the moment but the real turning point will be when the perceived quality of the dollar declines."

Hmm. Gold rising indicates the rising value of cash...because gold is money. But if money is not wealth...and gold is money...does this mean gold is not wealth? Now there is something to think about.

Stem Cell Breakthroughs and Investor Fortunes

Something happened last week that I predicted many months ago. Big Pharm initiated a collaboration with one of the stem cell companies I recommended to my Breakthrough Technology Alert readers. Specifically, Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) announced a partnership with GE Healthcare.

The deal is to develop and sell drug-discovery technologies derived from two stem cell lines approved by the Bush administration. The best stock rose over 10%, adding about $70 million to Geron's capitalization.

I don't write this to crow about being right. I write this because it is critically important that you understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg. For anybody familiar with the way pharma interacts with disruptive startups, it was inevitable. New products from Big Pharma have slowed to a trickle in recent years. The old platforms have largely played out. Slowly, recognition is dawning on the world's medical giants that it's time to invest in the most disruptive technology the world has ever seen ― stem cell technologies.

Let's look at the implications.

Pharm is a lumbering behemoth. It may take years for the industry to change focus, but it spews cash wherever it turns. The Geron deal is only the first, so let's consider what's next.

Geron has had years to cultivate its Big Pharm contacts, but Geron's founder, Dr. Michael West, was busy creating and acquiring his own stem cell lines. His inventory, as a result, dwarfs Geron's.

He has, in fact, most of the stem cell lines approved by the Obama administration's new funding guidelines. They comprise, remarkably, more than 50% of all known eSC lines. At last count, he had over 200 lines, and 88 had important genetic diseases.

These cell lines, incidentally, were acquired from genetic screeners who help parents who carry genetic diseases assure that they do not pass them onto their children. They include cystic fibrosis, Huntington's, muscular dystrophy and breast cancer.

Ironically, these cell lines hold the promise of producing treatments for birth defects that currently motivate a significant percentage of abortions. This means, of course, that the utilization of these cells may produce cures that reduce abortion rates.

The story does not end there. West's ACTCellerate platform is producing the tools for potentiating stem cells into different cell types. Currently, West knows how to turn stem cells, including induced pluripotent stem cells created from adult cells, into more than 140 cell types. Recently, for example, he announced the ability to program cells to repair cartilage and connective tissues.

Therefore, the real number of cell lines that he can produce is in excess of 200 eSC lines times 140 SC types, which is over 28,000 cell types. If only a fraction of these cell types have drug discovery potential, West will do very well, indeed.

And he's not the only one. You too can invest in West's groundbreaking discoveries. I'll show you how… I'll also give you the name of five more revolutionary companies. Only 63 people in the world know what makes these companies so revolutionary.

Do You Think You've Missed The Boat With Bonds?

Bonds are supposed to be the "boring" asset class--good for a regular coupon payment and a fairly stable value of principal--but the past six months in the bond market have been anything but boring!

The "safest" bonds in the world--U.S. Treasury debt--actually produced NEGATIVE RETURNS in the first half of 2009, dropping 4.5% in value as interest rates rose from historic lows last fall. 

On the corporate side, however, bonds have soundly beaten stock market returns in 2009. Investment-grade corporate bonds returned a solid 9.2%, according to Merrill Lynch data, and high-yield "junk" bonds returned a whopping 29%.

This is good news for me and for my Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor subscribers.  In hotlines and in each monthly issue of this fixed-income investment newsletter, I make updates to our model portfolios of bonds, preferreds, and other fixed-income securities.

We've been cleaning up in 2009!  And there is still big money to be made.

Click here for Marilyn Cohen's current municipal bond and bond fund buy-list found only in Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor.

The April issue of Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor recommended AutoZone bonds with a 5.5% coupon due 11-15-15 at 88.96. Recently these bonds traded at 97, for a principal profit of $80.40 per bond--more than a 9% profit on principal--not including the substantial 7.66% yield that readers who acted on my recommendation still enjoy.

The May issue of Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor profiled Jefferies Group. The equity investors were optimistic, but the bond investors foresaw trouble ahead. Someone was wrong. After our analysis we determined the bond investors were overly negative. We enthusiastically recommended Jefferies Group 7.75% bonds, due 3-15-12, at 93.5. These bonds recently printed at 100.25 for a principal profit of $67.50 per bond--a capital gain of 7% in just one month. Plus, investors who followed my advice locked in a juicy 10.46% yield. 

We didn't stop there.  We backed up the truck for Jefferies.  Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor also recommended Jefferies Group's 5.5% bonds due 3-15-16 at 79. These bonds recently traded at 87 for a principal profit of $80 per bond--more than a 10% profit before including interest earned. People who bought with us grabbed a 9.79% yield. 

Big Opportunity in Bonds

There are tremendous rewards in bonds for investors willing to do a little homework--or at least to listen to someone like me who scours the fixed income landscape in my money management business for bargains day in and day out.

Many people have lost their shirts in the fixed-income market, and unless you know what to look for in a bond and its issuer, the deck is stacked against you as if the dice were loaded in the casino's favor.  The unwritten rules of how to keep your money safe and still prosper in the bond market have all changed.

The Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor shows you how to beat the house. Each monthly issue is packed with essential information for your money invested in fixed-income instruments. This is information so valuable that no bond investor can afford to be without it. 

Here are some questions you need to ask yourself to determine if you need help navigating the bond market?

Are you up to date on your state's financial situation? I live in California…and I can attest to budget deficits. I know what budget crises do to municipal bond prices. The Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor tells you which states are in trouble and what to do about it.

Do you own municipal bonds that are in fact school bonds? How safe are they? Are your bonds part of the state's intercept program? Do you even know what an intercept program is? If the answer is no to any one or all three questions, then just imagine how you will feel peering into an empty mailbox when bond payment time comes around.

Are you loaded with Certificates of Deposit that are ready to mature?  Repulsed by 2% yields? There's an opportunity for the taking that only Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor subscribers receive. Invest in municipal bonds with a substantially higher yield, greater safety and more liquidity.

Are you afraid of BBB rated corporate bonds? There are a number of BBB bonds that may fit your investment strategy. Every month the Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor provides specific BBB rated bond recommendations with CUSIP numbers to make finding them easy.

Do you think a fallen angel is an ornament that falls off your Christmas tree? Every month some appear in the Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor newsletter, boosting reader's profits.

The bond market is not nearly as transparent as the stock market. There is no ticker tape crawling across your television screen to tell you prices. Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor shows you explicitly what to buy and sell, leaving the legwork to me and the profits for you!

Timely Advice That Pays Off

As the financial markets collapsed last fall, Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor urged readers to take advantage of the historic opportunities to buy select corporate and municipal bonds when fear was rampant, prices were rock-bottom, and yields were sky-high.

Now our readers are reaping the windfall of smart and timely action.  The credit crunch has eased, but there are still great opportunities to capitalize on financial distress.  I don't want you to miss out!

Armed with the information you get with your Forbes Tax Advantaged Investor subscription, our Special Reports and our emergency Action Alerts you don't have to settle for the inflated prices and ill-advised recommendations of your stock broker. Knowledge-wise and information-equipped, YOU become the 800-pound guerilla in Bondland.  

The Smart Grid's Two-Fold Profits

The smart grid is delivering two-fold profits. I know this because I've personally reaped dividends from both folds.

First, from what I call the non-sexy side of smart grid: efficiency.  And secondly from the very sexy side of smart grid: investing.

Here's an account of each. . .

Smart Grid Savings

We've barely reached the first rung on the ladder of smart grid deployment, and it's benefits are already apparent.

When it comes to wealth, protecting it can be just as important as growing it.  Limiting how much goes out is one way to protect it.  And the smart grid can help you do that.

This past winter, months before air conditioning was on anyone's mind, I made a call to my local utility, Baltimore Gas  & Electric (BGE).  Through their Smart Energy Savers Program, they offer something called Peak Rewards.

In a small nutshell, Peak Rewards offers a discount electricity bill to anyone who signs up.  I got a $36 credit last month.  My bill was $130, so I had to pay $95-a 27% savings.  I, and several thousand other customers, will enjoy that same discount throughout the summer.

Peak Rewards is a fancy way of saying the smart grid has arrived.  Upon signing up, an appointment was made for a switch to be installed on my outside air conditioning unit.  On days when electricity demand is excessively high, a radio frequency will be sent to my switch telling it to cycle my unit.

Cycling means my fan continues to run, but the unit doesn't cool the air, saving electricity that can then be used where needed.  During a cycling event, which don't happen that often, the temperature in my home can be affected by a degree or so.  And they usually happen during peak hours, when I'm at work anyway.

So the smart grid is already paying me $35 a month.  But this is only the beginning.  The very beginning.

Because over the next 20 years, over $2 trillion will be spent on revolutionizing our electricity infrastructure.  When complete, my switch will seem archaic.

That's because the grid will finally be in the 21st century, instead of lumbering around like Edison was still here.  You'll monitor your home's electricity use from a webpage, charging your car and turning off lights with a click of the mouse from your laptop.  I'm serious.

You may even be able to choose which wind farm you want power from.

It'll help consumers save billions of dollars (and kilowatt-hours) by engaging them in electricity use, rather than alienating them from it with a complex monthly statement.  But it's also a mega investment opportunity.

Smart Grid Investments

Somewhere down the line BGE partnered with a smart switch provider.  A contract undoubtedly worth millions.  In this case, Honeywell is the name stamped on the switch.

This process is being, and will be, repeated hundreds of times as utilities across the world adopt smart grid practices.  As I said earlier, the total will top $2 trillion.

But it's not just switches.

It's smart meters.  Software.  Batteries.  Transmission wire.  LEDs. Substations.  And more.

Hundreds of multi-million dollar contracts will drive related top stocks to buy higher.  It's the second fold of smart grid profits. . . and they directly affect your portfolio.

So while you're knocking a third off your utility bill on the front side, you can be reaping double and triple digit winners on the back end.  It's going on right now:



If you're not on board yet, don't worry.  This is a decades-long process, and the benefits will only grow.

Call your local utility and see what kinds of new programs they're offering.  Encourage them to adopt an efficiency or related rebate program if they don't have one already.

And by all means, start investing in the companies making the smart grid a reality.  But don't do it on a whim.  

It explains how the smart grid will come to be, what technologies it will encompass and, most importantly.

Picking A Strategy

I recently wrote a little about picking a best stock for 2010 and mentioned a few of the myriad ways in which an investor or trader might go about selecting a candidate. In my own trading life, as I review stocks, I find that the process becomes much more one of elimination than selection. As I look at a chart, for example, I can see that good old XYZ may have just reached up to a resistance and is turning down. A quick fundamental review may show that earnings have dipped due to some new competition, debt is considerably higher than other stocks in the sector, and a potentially large lawsuit has just been commenced against the company. If all this is occurring in a bull market, XYZ is not a buy for me; it is eliminated as a potential bullish addition to my portfolio since I know there are other better candidates out there. Does that mean that as a trader I am not interested in the stock? Definitely not. Though I have quickly rejected it as a buy I may give further consideration to XYZ as a bearish candidate. I may look at a different strategy that looks like it might have a greater chance of success with XYZ. Does it fit my parameters to short the stock, or to buy puts, or maybe put on a bear put debit spread or a bear call credit spread? I can see how those strategies might be a better choice given the information I have about XYZ and its price performance.

A majority of investors and retail traders may pass right over XYZ since their bias is bullish and they are only looking for top stocks to buy. Those investors may only really consider one strategy; buy the stock first and sell it later. In so doing they easily may miss the apparent opportunity the XYZ scenario offers to an investor armed with more than one strategy. There are many ways to making money in the markets, and the utilization of various strategies can add income streams and profits to the trader or investor who gains understanding.

How we invest or trade is a personal decision. The decision is influenced by how much time we have, how much cash we have to invest, our age, our family situation, our risk tolerance, our interest and a variety of other factors. No matter who you may be, if you have the interest to read this article, there is almost certainly a strategy that will fit your situation and comfort level. I devoted my new book to this subject. "Smart Investors Money Machine" is designed for investors as well as traders. In "Smart Investors Money Machine," I have tried to consider a wide variety of investors and traders using examples of a young single person, a growing family, and a couple reaching retirement to show numerous ways each might select a strategy that fits them and their lifestyle and at the same time will provide them with more income. The book isn't limited to option strategies though it does discuss some. The scope of "Smart Investors Money Machine" encompasses a variety of strategies from buy and hold to dividend capture to writing covered calls, to specific sectors that offer exceptionally high yields and includes a basic primer on bond investing and annuities, and even explains a little about reverse mortgages. With each strategy, I not only describe the strategy but also show how people in differing times and stations of life might use it to bring in more income to lighten their daily load.

The point is there are lots of ways to create streams of income. Some of them require a lot of time and some very little time. Some are very risky and offer higher potential rewards while others are accompanied by a lesser risk but offer a lesser potential reward. There are plenty of ways to do it and some of those ways are likely to fit your specific circumstances. In my view, it is definitely worth the trouble to explore the possibilities and see what you like and what can work for you.

Almost assuredly there are strategies for you. What I often see is people trying to be traders rather than investors when they have neither the time, the knowledge, the capital, nor the risk tolerance to really be traders. My advice to them universally is it is great to be a trader, but first you need to acquire the knowledge. In the meantime, there is no reason why they shouldn't be generating additional income using other strategies that may be less complex, less time consuming, require less attention (in some cases even no attention), and still add a stream or streams of income.

The strategies we utilize are critically important to our success and choosing what strategy we will employ may be as important, and sometimes even more important than the specific XYZ we select.

Recommended Top Stocks To Buy:

FAS (Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares)
This past week, Option Trader closed a debit spread on FAS for a before commission gain of 76% in just under three months. Thereafter, a new debit spread was entered using slightly different strikes. For those with an interest in financials, FAS is an interesting vehicle.

UNG (United States Natural Gas Fund ETF)
Trend Trader opened and quickly closed a one day trade to grab a 2.4% return before the small commission. Since exiting, UNG has been drifting down toward an uptrend line. I'm continuing to watch to see how the share price behaves as it deals with the trend line.

Cap and Trade Shenanigans

To put an end to this cap-and-trade fiasco, the only option is probably to cap all the "revolving door" stooges and trade them out for oil and coal execs. But unfortunately, Shooters, that won't be the fate of cap and trade. Not if the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) can help it!

Linda Brady Traynham, our Whiskey morning glory, had us poking into HR 2454 when she mentioned Texan Rep. John Carter's amendments to it in her recent shot.

Ron Paul is right on the money in saying this bill will "sell pollution permits to the industry as the Catholic Church used to sell indulgences to sinners."

But the intrepid Carter was no Martin Luther. Dem House leaders barred his amendments from floor debate on June 25. Carter was bested by the 309-page amendment from California Democrat ― and bill sponsor ― Henry Waxman. Of course, Waxman's folly came to a floor vote before House Members had time to read it. HR 2454 squeaked by with seven more yeas than nays.

Harry Reid expects Senate results this fall. But in the meantime, let's take best stock and follow the money trail to the bill's real supporters.

Behind That Green Machine, Pope Goldman Is Pushing

Project Cap and Tax began with the unholy Enron. That blind Cyclops of Energy pushed hard for cap-and-trade policy before its 2001 demise. But you'll never believe who wanted in on it next.

Insurance titan AIG. The once-proud member of USCAP.

AIG knew creating exotic "insurance" wasn't going to stay profitable much longer. But investing in currently worthless carbon credits and tanking alternative energy companies COULD mean big-time money ― if Congress wanted it.

Back in 2007, then-CEO Martin Sullivan wanted to jump in feet first, saying that AIG:

"can help shape a broad-based cap-and-trade legislative proposal, bringing to this critical endeavor a unique business perspective on the business opportunities and risks that climate change poses for our industry."

Note that Sen. Dodd has been AIG's donation darling since 1990 ― netting $284,000 from AIG's employees, executives and PACs. And right now, Chris Dodd can help make the Senate's version of the cap and trade. He's so pro-cap and tax he wants to tack on a carbon tax ― above and beyond cap and trade ― that he hopes will generate $50 billion annually for renewable energy research..
 
But in February 2009, Joe Barton (R) led to charge to cut AIG out of USCAP. He cited AIG's use of taxpayer money to finance lobbying activities. Point for cap-and-trade critic Joe Barton! We bet GM will drop from the USCAP roster if Barton has a hand in it.

But AIG's single biggest counterparty will pick up the slack. Goldman Sachs spent $3.5 million on climate issues alone last year.

Then on Jan. 12, 2009, former Goldman CEO Hank Paulson offered think tank Resources for the Future (whose chairman of the board is also a Goldman alum) this interview: "How Markets Can Help Address Climate Change and Other Major Environmental Problems."

We doubt this interest is merely because Hank Paulson is a lifelong bird-watcher.

Paulson confides that he "could see at Goldman" the value of carbon credits: "to come up with a system ultimately that has got credibility or is verifiable, that when someone pays to avoid it, you know, a ton of carbon emissions, they know they're really getting a ton of carbon emissions avoided."

When pressed, Paulson pooh-poohed the carbon tax. He said a tax wasn't transparent, as the cap and trade was ― amid crowd hoots and howls of laughter ― as he emphasized the words "fair," "credible," "efficient" and "transparent."

Is this the same man who guaranteed an efficient, transparent, and, um, highly credible, unregulated credit default swaps market? Is this the same purveyor of the clarity and transparency of the Moody's and S&P ratings on bundles of mortgages?

But where Paulson may have stepped down, a new pro-CAP man steps up.

Treasury chief of staff Mark Patterson clocked lots of time across the street from Capitol grounds. From 2005 until April 11, 2008, he lobbied for Goldman as VP of government relations. While you'd think allowing a former lobbyist to work on an issue he has lobbied for within the past two years would besmirch Obaman ethics, we've been assured that he "steps out" of such matters at the Treasury, like a judge stepping down from a case. Yeah, sure he does.

Goldman likes cap and trade for one big reason: Its investments depend upon it.

Follow the Money Trail to Mr. Derivative

When you ask who's the biggest winner if the bill goes through, you'll find the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), co-founded by Hank Paulson and Al Gore. Members include Amtrak, DuPont, Ford, Oakland, Chicago, and the Iowa Farm Bureau.

The whole idea is the brainchild of Richard Sandor ― aka "Mr. Derivative." He's the guy to thank for interest rate futures, as well as earthquake futures. In the early '90s, he pioneered the collateralized mortgage obligation(CMO). And while you might not know exactly what a CMO is, you've probably heard the name Kidder, Peabody ― where Mr. Derivative worked. By the mid-'90s, it held 28% of the total world CMO pie on its own balance sheet. Surprise, surprise, it all blew up in 1994, forcing the 130-year-old firm to the auction block ― because of toxic instruments that look an awful lot like the mortgage securities that just blew up on us in 2007.

Do you feel confident?

Goldman sure does. It owns a 10% stake in it. It also owns a 19% share in CCX's parent: Climate Exchange Plc. It nearly doubled its holdings in January 2009.

The icing on the cake is its stake in Blue Source, a Utah-based purveyor of carbon creds. In 2005, when Paulson drew up the bank's environmental policy and started Goldman on a stream of energy partnerships, investments and subsidiarys, he offered this comment: "We're not making those investments to lose money."

In 2009, Goldman got caught up in a botched IPO of its investment Changing World Technologies, which turned Butterball turkey offal into diesel ― at the cost of $80 a barrel ― before filing for Chapter 11. You can bet Goldman will ensure this sort of misstep doesn't happen again.

Government-Guaranteed Price Hikes

The government "cap" is what makes this stocks market a true racket.

As Peak Oilers know, the less and less of a dwindling resource, the higher the price you can get from the people that need it.

Capped carbon follows the same logic. We start with a high cap of carbon pollution and that's the national limit of how much CO2 can be emitted that year. Each year, that cap shrinks a little more, and the next year even more, until we reach the "no-harm" level ― which some environmentalist absurdly place at zero.

Now here's the catch. The government divvies up the shares of emissions among businesses that produce or consume energy. (This handout may be based on history of consumption.) Say hello to a new breed of lobbyist pimping a whole new tier of Beltway bureaucracy.

The "surplus" credits will trade on exchanges like Chicago Climate Exchange or Blue Source, allowing companies to outbid each other for the leisure of producing more than the government said they could.

Each year, the government will hand out fewer and fewer emissions indulgences. Meaning there will be fewer credits to trade. And we commodity buffs know that the less there is of something, the higher the price rockets.

And the Chicago Climate Exchange will score larger and larger sums from the corporate carbon largesse. Goldman and company have everything to gain from this.

And you've got to ask: What exotic new derivatives can come out of this? Will institutional investors bet on futures of how much the government will lower the cap in 2025…2030? Wait, there already is a Chicago Climate Futures Exchange. Of course, it's the wholly owned subsidiary of the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Could the coal companies purchase carbon default swaps? After all, what happens when they discover the hydropower credits they bought in Brazil didn't quash emissions as much as anticipated?

That brings us to a big flaw: Does it really work?

Capital Abandons Its Own Carbon Purchase Scheme

The best part of this swindle? It's hard to tell if it's a swindle. You see, the credits fund development projects in countries like India or Brazil, for installing things like hydropower plants or rice husk-fired generators. Watchdog group International Rivers concluded that three-quarters of these projects would probably have been funded anyway, since they were already completed at time of approval.

Consider tree planting. How do you measure the carbon offset? It all changes based on soil and climate conditions, not to mention growth rate. Only when a tree has lived 100 years does it become a net carbon absorber.

Mr. Sandor doesn't care if it works or not. He finds the debate: "quite interesting, but that's not my business…I'm running a for-profit company."

So why does the House of Reps think cap and trade will work? Well, it shouldn't ― based on recent experience.

It's "Green the Capitol" campaign began with compact fluorescents. Then it switched to natgas power to keep the lights on. But the Capitol still wasn't carbon neutral, so the House bought 24,000 metric tons of carbon offsets on the Chicago Climate Exchange. (Yep, through the same outfit owned 10% by Goldman Sachs.) But in February, after not being able to confirm that it offset any of its carbon, the House dropped all plans to "go green" with offsets.

So we have a classic case of "do as we say, not as we do" from our honorable reps.

We got the above anecdote from Ted Gayer ― who worked a single year as deputy assistant secretary of economic policy at the Treasury: 2007-2008. Wonder if the unpopularity of his opinions turned him toward Georgetown professordom?

Lest we leave out another odious option, let's talk direct carbon tax. The carbon heavies would pay a penalty for the carbon content of their products. The idea is that companies would cut emissions for the sake of avoiding the tax. But they'd probably just tuck the added cost into what you and I will pay.

So that's our choice: A private tax collection scheme that's government backed or yet another Fed tax that business will probably loophole its way out of.

Either way, Shooters, we'll end up with a case of cap and stick it…and you're holding the bag, as usual. Estimates from various sources say you could pay $175-3,300 per household because of it.

The only way to trump this system? Hope the government will hand us a set of credits for owning ― but not using ― our clothes dryer…and then, as we hang our clothes to dry in the free sunshine, selling our credits to the highest bidder via the Blue Source Exchange.

Of course, if you feel the need to storm your senator's home office during the summer recess, we wish you luck.

Cap and Trade: The Death of the Industrial West

Hey here's a question to start your Wednesday off with. If Bernie Madoff gets 150 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme, what do you think the people who designed Social Security and the Superannuation scheme ought to get?

And speaking of colossally stupid government programs, you may have seen the news that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a climate change bill on Saturday by a narrow vote of 219-212. The cap-and-trade bill, otherwise known as Waxman-Markey (for the nominal writers of the bill), mandates that U.S. manufacturers and utilities reduce carbon emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% by 2050.

Under the sausage making process that is the American Congress, the bill was filled with compromises. Congressmen from coal-producing states or states with lots of manufacturing jobs had to be bribed into supporting it through various means. It must now go the Senate, which must pass its own version of the bill.

If the Senate bill is different from the House bill (and it almost always is, given the different agendas in both bodies and the need for more bribes), the two bills go to "reconciliation." That's where a committee made of members from both houses settles on a final compromise version of the two bills and sends them back to their respective bodies to be voted on. Then it gets sent to the President to become the law of the land.

By the way you may have missed an amendment to the bill that's stirred a bit of controversy. It was inserted the night before among the bill's 1,200 pages, which you can be sure none of America's elected officials actually read. The amendment placates Congressmen from Rust Belt states who worry about losing even more manufacturing jobs to the developing world (China). It requires the U.S. President to make a "border adjustment" on goods from countries that do not cap or reduce carbon emissions by 2020. It's a tariff.

Already President Obama has backed off that particular amendment. He says, "At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we've seen a significant drop in global trade, I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there." Very careful, sure. But you already did send the signal didn't you?

For what it's worth, we think this was all an exercise in political window dressing to get some version of a bill passed. If the Senate and the House actually agree on a climate change bill that puts a high tax on carbon, then the apotheosis of Obama will be complete.

We will take The One at his word, though. Besides, as everyone knows, the real purpose of the bill is not to start a trade war (although it may do so). The purpose is to make conventional energy more expensive AND ― in an era of declining government tax receipts and rising liabilities ― to create a huge new source of government revenues by taxing carbon. It's a revenue and power grab by an institution (the Nation state) that finds itself increasingly off-balance.

It's also a massive project in socioeconomic engineering that ignores the reality (and physics) of energy generation in an industrial society. It's true the world could benefit from cleaner and cheaper energy. But cleaner and more expensive energy is a recipe for economic suicide. It's something Western nations seem particularly keen on committing, although we can't really figure out why. It could be that the global Left simply finds modern life aesthetically ugly and consumerism (with all that pesky individual choice) a vulgarity that should be destroyed via legislation.

But speaking strictly in economic terms, unless a region or a country has ample hydroelectric or geothermal resources, it's impossible to meet base load electricity needs reliably with renewable energy. Advocates envision a world full of ultra-long life batteries, windmills, and solar farms. But it's just a fantasy. If the climate bills become law in Australia and America, it will accelerate the deindustrialising of Western economies and mean the transfer of even more manufacturing jobs to the developing world.

Of course maybe that's just what the architects of these laws want. Who knows? We know they want to tax productive enterprise and make the bulk of the population dependent on government handouts. That makes people compliant and easily controllable. That is big government Utopia. Advancing the fears of climate change is the easiest way to get more control.

We'd expect to see the construction of a lot more natural gas fired power plants in the coming years in the West (although they are more expensive than coal-fired plants). All those re-chargeable plug-in hybrids have to get their electrons from somewhere. If it's not going to be coal (which will be taxed out of existence), it's probably going to be cleaner-burning natural gas power plants, powered by both conventional and unconventional gas.

Right now, global LNG capacity is rising and stockpiles are fairly high. But if you keep your eye on the big picture and we see a transition of the world's power plant fleet from coal to natural gas, it obviously favours gas producers and explorers. Australia is moving ahead by leaps and bounds in this area with conventional offshore production in the North West Shelf and Timor Sea and more unconventional production (hopefully) from coal-seam-gas in Queensland.

Looking for Gains In Stocks Market

Finding penny stocks capable of doubling or tripling in value is not the hard part. It's finding the ones capable of reaching quadruple digits that's difficult. To do that, you need to first find an investment climate that can produce such results.

Unfortunately, today's market isn't presenting nearly as many of these opportunities as it used to. But we scoured the enormous ― and growing ― universe of penny stocks and found one with the potential of a blue chip.

Transition from "Developing" to "Developed"

"China" was the buzzword on Wall Street over the past few years. This recession is putting a damper on that, though. No one is jumping in on Chinese top stocks quite the same as in 2006 and 2007. That fact alone has forced many of these stocks below their true value. But that alone is only a small fraction of the story.

You see, China is still a mega-growth story. It's not going to churn out double-digit growth like it has been this year or next. But it's still a major investment opportunity if you know where to look.

One of the most obvious places to find a solid investment is Chinese education. As any country transitions from "developing" to "developed," its people inevitably transition from peasant to white-collar jobs. That means there will be a huge stream of students flooding colleges and trade schools.

There are plenty of easy ways to get in on this transition. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE: EDU) is probably the most obvious. While it has only a $2.4 billion market cap, it is still one of the largest publicly traded Chinese education plays on the market. The company has 47 schools, 257 learning centers and countless bookstores.

Another cheap, easy way to play China's educational growth story is ChinaEdu Corp. (NASDAQ: CEDU). This small play (only $134 million market cap) runs 12 universities and is still expanding. This is another way for you to double or even triple your money. But as promised, we want more. The growth potential in this field is astronomical.

Dominating the Recession-Proof Testing Market

We found a backdoor play on this fast-growing market. This company is not a pure education play, which saves us from making a huge mistake in this recession. We'll get to that in a minute.

Instead, it is the market leader in testing services. It runs computer-based testing operations for the government, corporate industries and, of course, academic institutions. The company's testing platform consists of everything these customers need.

For instance, 11.4% of the company's revenue comes from the Securities Association of China, which is the People's Republic version of the SEC here in the U.S. The Securities Association pays this tiny Chinese play for its employees or potential employees to take regulation tests on the company's systems. The number of tests and regulations has only gone up over the past several decades as the Far East superpower continues to open up to foreign investors.

In academia, the company is also a huge player. Nearly all students have to take tests like the SATs or ACTs here in the U.S. just to get into school. They also have to take placement tests to determine what level of schooling they are at. This is like when you take a Spanish test during freshman orientation to see at which level you should start.

All these tests add up, and the industry is continuing to blossom. So why are we looking at this backdoor play into education?

While this industry continues to grow at a fast pace during this recession, people are taking a few years off school to work. When that happens, schools don't get paid. But this company does. You see, it doesn't matter where these would-be students work: There's a good chance they'll have to take a test at some point. This bodes well for the company. It gets paid no matter what: if the person is in school or applying for work.

It's as simple as that. So why do we think this is such a huge opportunity? Simple: The company is growing at record speed even though the rest of the economy is sinking. Once we hit a recovery, or at least when investors come back into the market, this one will be huge.

As you can see in the accompanying chart, the number of exams delivered took off last year as the rest of the global economy collapsed. Now is the time to buy, before anyone realizes it.

Unfortunately, we can't just give away this pick. You see, we promised first dibs to a select group of readers. It's included in a report called Top 5 "Cheat-Sheet" Stocks for 2010. To join this group and receive this report. It'll tell you everything you need to know…

Can Apache Corporation Live Up to Traders' High Hopes?

This article notes that crude oil prices are beginning to recover from their precipitous plunge, and as a result, investors are starting to rediscover a few names within the oil sector. Apache Corporation (APA: sentiment, chart, options) is cited as one name within the group that's worth taking a look at, thanks to "its large stake in the U.S. and its high success rate in oil drilling of about 93%," according to Joseph Tatusko, chief investment officer at Westport Resources Management.

The author observes that APA is currently trading at a discount to its larger-cap peers, even though the equity has already regained a significant amount of ground from its 52-week low of $51.03, tagged as recently as mid-March.

In addition to the upside potential in the top stocks to buy, there's also a chance for APA to bulk up its fundamental position through key property acquisitions -- the article notes that the firm "has a history of augmenting its production volume growth through acquisitions." Plus, since the company's 11% debt ratio "is among the lowest in the sector," investors can breathe easy about APA's balance sheet.

Contrarian Takeaway:

If you're going to play the oil sector, it's much better to focus in on a lower-profile name, such as APA, rather than one of the bloated heavyweights in the group, such as Exxon Mobil (XOM). However, there are a few pressing technical concerns for APA at the moment, and contrarian investors will want to take note of the relatively heavy optimism surrounding the shares.

Specifically, the stock is poised to end the week below support at its 10-week moving average, and the shares have also pulled back beneath their 10-month trendline. In fact, since early May, APA has spent most of its time bouncing aimlessly between the $75 and $85 levels.

Despite the lackluster price action, option traders are favoring bullish bets. APA's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.60 ranks in the upbeat 18th annual percentile, and traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 3.41 times more calls than puts during the past two weeks. This ratio ranks higher than 86% of comparable readings during the past year, indicating that calls on the equity are in greater demand than usual.

In other words, traders seem to have high hopes for the best stock of 2010, even as it's showing signs of a technical breakdown. Unless the shares can snap out of their sideways channel in short order, APA could be vulnerable to downside as disappointed bulls hit the exits.

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Highest Option Volume for the Week Ending Monday, June 22, 2009
Ticker Symbol	Call Volume	Put Volume	Total Volume*	Put/Call Ratio
Citigroup Inc(C)	488,217	410,369	898,586	0.84
Spdrs(SPY)	346,660	422,258	768,918	1.22
S&P 500 Index(SPX)	180,212	211,125	391,337	1.17
Nasdaq 100 Index Trckng Stck(QQQQ)	164,142	201,476	365,618	1.23
Ishares Ftse/xinhua China 25(FXI)	262,285	20,477	282,762	0.08
Bank of America Cp(BAC)	211,711	57,585	269,296	0.27
Sel Sec Spdrs Fd Financial(XLF)	58,262	161,282	219,544	2.77
General Electric Co(GE)	89,824	93,713	183,537	1.04
Research In Motion Ltd(RIMM)	113,036	65,060	178,096	0.58
CBOE Market Volatility(VIX)	92,587	16,510	109,097	0.18

Highest Option Volume Compare to Average Volume for Week Ending Monday, June 22, 2009
Ticker Symbol	Call Volume	Put Volume	Total Volume*	5-week Avg Volume	Volume Ratio	Put/Call Ratio
Genzyme Cp (GENZ)	38,427	52,832	91,259	24,164	0.73	1.37
Mcmoran Exploration Co (MMR)	6,901	6,205	13,106	3,693	1.11	0.90
Matrixx Initiatives Inc (MTXX)	19,598	11,501	31,099	6,320	1.70	0.59
Smithfield Foods Inc (SFD)	22,238	11,633	33,871	9,745	1.91	0.52
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (SID)	20,105	3,353	23,458	5,882	6.00	0.17
Western Digital Cp (WDC)	8,095	75,565	83,660	23,462	0.11	9.33
Sel Sec Spdrs Fd Materials (XLB)	292,856	32,930	325,786	76,647	8.89	0.11
Sel Sec Spdrs Fd Industrial (XLI)	364,255	21,426	385,681	109,121	17.00	0.06
Sel Sec Spdrs Fd Utilities (XLU)	639,430	23,949	663,379	154,667	26.70	0.04
Consumer Discretnary Sel Spdr (XLY)	270,247	47,545	317,792	86,682	5.68	0.18

 

The technology sector has been hot in 2009, with the PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQQ) gaining more than 20% since the beginning of the year. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has added roughly 1.6%. Furthermore, the trust has soared more than 41% since hitting a low of $25.63 in early March. Technically speaking, QQQQ still looks strong, and has drawn its 80-day and 200-day moving averages into a bullish cross. Despite this outperformance, investors continue to bet against the shares. In the options pits, the 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE) and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) put/call volume ratio of 1.94 indicates that nearly two puts have been bought to open for every one call purchased during the past two weeks. This ratio also ranks above 89% of all those taken in the past year. Meanwhile, heavy put open interest resides at the July 35 and 36 strikes, and could provide options-related support for the trust. One concern would be that the QQQQ's 50-day buy-to-open put/call ratio is beginning to roll over, and might mean that hedged players are no longer in accumulation mode. Within the sector, our favorites include Palm Inc. (PALM), Synaptics Inc. (SYNA), Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR), and priceline.com Inc. (PCLN).

 

After enjoying a strong rally from its March lows through early June, the energy sector has begun to waver a bit. The Select Sector SPDR Energy Fund (XLE) is still up more than 31% since mid-March, but XLE has declined about 10% from its June 11 peak. Furthermore, the fund has slipped back to its converging 50-day and 200-day moving averages, breaching the upper rail of its September 2008 through May 2009 trading range. Furthermore, XLE's 50-day buy-to-open call/put volume ratio has turned sharply higher, giving us the impression that hedge funds may be shorting the energy sector following the September-June rally. We'll continue to monitor this ratio. Another potential concern is that sentiment toward the U.S. dollar has reached extreme levels, placing the greenback in position for a potential reversal, which would be negative for dollar-denominated commodities. On the other hand, open interest on crude oil futures is rebounding from low levels, a signal that has had bullish implications since early 2007. Finally, traders should keep a close watch on technical support at the 49 level for XLE, as a move below this area, which is home to the fund's 50-day and 200-day trendlines, would be bearish for the sector.

 

Treasurys are getting quite the bad rap lately. There has been talk in the financial media of a bursting bubble, a sentiment that was recently highlighted by a bearish Barron's cover story. Furthermore, a recent survey of investment managers indicated that optimism in regard to government debt is at its lowest level in quite some time. However, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLT), which seeks results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the long-term sector of the United States Treasury market as defined by the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury index, is currently in the process of consolidating into support near its 80-month moving average and the round-number 90 level. Furthermore, the U.S. Dollar Index is holding support in the 80 region, which could be bullish for Treasurys. Should these support levels hold, we could see an unwinding of pessimism on both fronts, potentially sending bonds steadily higher. Making the TLT even more attractive is the fact that the trust's 14-week relative-strength index (RSI) of 37.46 remains extremely low. Furthermore, readings below 40 appear to be solid longer-term entry points.

Profit from the Generation Y�New Media Connection

Newspapers and nightly television news programs are as good as dead. A study performed by Drs. Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa found that Generation Y (born between 1981-1992) gets 34% of its news from the Internet, compared with only 11% from newspapers.

Web sites like Digg and The Drudge Report are sending more people than ever to Internet news sources ― everything from small independent news organizations, blogs and video feeds to traditional media outlets like The New York Times and CBS. News is only a fraction of the story, though.

According to CBSSports.com, 7.52 million visitors watched some of the NCAA men's basketball tournament online this year. That turned out to be 8.6 million hours of video and audio. These numbers represent a 58% growth in visitors and 75% increase in total hours watched/listened to.

No other media source can claim that kind of growth. Online media is booming, despite our flailing economy. Monetizing it can be tricky, but most media conglomerates know that it's too important a part of the growing market to pass up.

You can watch the majority of network television on the Internet now. You can also watch live news feeds from many cable providers. Web sites like YouTube and Hulu are tearing this generational gap wide open.

Those two combine for about 141 million unique visitors per month ― many from Generation Y.

In relation to this growth is the problem of actually transmitting these videos. Google, which owns YouTube, is dealing with astronomical costs on its bandwidth. Hulu, which is doing slightly better, is still burning cash every month. Most others, like NBC.com, CBS.com and CNN.com, are outsourcing their video problems. That's where the real money is.

The search for companies that can handle the massive amounts of video in one cost-effective and high-quality bundle is on. While this field is still highly competitive, one small company is starting to emerge…

Providing Everything from Oprah to the Super Bowl

Limelight Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: LLNW) is a content delivery network (CDN) provider for some of the largest media companies in the world. Its customer list contains the likes of MSNBC, Disney, Netflix and Fox…to name a few. Its No. 1 customer, making up 17% of revenue, is Microsoft, which is desperately trying to compete with Google on every front (including YouTube).

Limelight's contracts with these customers have included all kinds of widely watched events such as the Beijing Olympics, the Super Bowl, President Obama's Inauguration and even Oprah's Book Club.

These contracts have helped Limelight's top line grow 508% over the past three years. But a quick glance at the company's most recent income statement is a bit misleading.

You see, Limelight has been tied up in litigation with one of its top competitors, Akamai Technologies, over patent infringement. This battle has been waging since 2006, but recently, a court ruled in Limelight's favor. This ruling saved the company $65.6 million.

The company had this money set aside in case of an unfavorable ruling. In the most recent quarter, this money was released back to the company's balance sheet, which makes it look like Limelight turned a $55.1 million profit. The real number is more like a $10.5 million loss ― still better than previous quarters.

Not the Right Time to Strike…Yet

Investors responded to this announcement quite favorably. Shares are up 47.5% since the ruling and 114.3% on the year. That's the major reason we aren't ready to pull the trigger on this one just yet. This run-up was a bit too much too fast. We expect a correction in share prices on the way.

Another worrisome area is the company's small profit fortress. This industry is extraordinarily competitive. YouTube and Hulu aren't direct competitors, but companies like AT&T, Level 3 Communications and Akamai are.

We recently put Limelight on our Penny Stock Fortunes watch list. This industry is consolidating right now, so we may see a buying opportunity at any moment. We'll tell readers when that happens. To make sure you get the news, we're going to let you in for free.

The Boeing Company, General Dynamics Corp., Rambus

The Boeing Company (BA)

It is often said that the best offense is a good defense. Given the recent saber rattling out of North Korea and the turmoil taking place in Iran, not to mention the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, now might be a good time to take a closer look at the defense sector and the potential portfolio protection offered within. Since the market bottom in early March, the AMEX Defense Index (DFI) has rallied more than 45%. The index has also outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by more than 12% on a relative-strength basis during the past 60 trading sessions.

Technically speaking, DFI has enjoyed the support of its 10-day and 20-day moving averages since bottoming near 885 on March 6. The index is now poised to close its first month above its 10-month moving average since May 2008, and could maintain this peak, with potential technical support residing in the 1,250 area. This region provided resistance in February, April, and May, and could now provide a springboard for DFI on any pullbacks.

Despite this impressive outperformance, there are still signs of pessimism toward the defense sector from the analyst community on Wall Street. Of the 178 brokerage firm ratings on DFI's components, 44% remain rooted as either "hold" or "sell" ratings. This configuration leaves ample room for potential upgrades, which could boost the securities higher.

One potential opportunity within the defense sector is The Boeing Company (BA). The world's largest aerospace company is the No. 2 defense contractor in the U.S., behind Lockheed Martin, according to Hoover's. Boeing is also the No. 2 manufacturer of commercial jets, behind EADS N.V.'s Airbus unit.

Technically speaking, the best stock has gained 13% since the start of 2009. More impressive is the equity's 68% rally from its early-March low near $29 per share. Throughout this rebound, BA has been guided higher by support from its 10-day and 20-day moving averages. What's more, the shares are in the process of rebounding off the latter of these trendlines following a recent bout of selling pressure in the broader market.

Despite the security's stellar technical performance, investors are attempting to call a top to BA's rally. Among options players, we find that the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) stands at 1.17, as puts outnumber calls among options with less than three months until expiration. This ratio also ranks above 88% of all those taken in the past year, pointing toward a sizable degree of negativity from the speculative options crowd.

Elsewhere, Wall Street analysts have sided with the growing negativity in the options pits. Currently, 15 of the 22 brokerage firms following BA rate the shares a "hold" or worse, according to Zacks. What's more, Thomson Reuters reports that the consensus 12-month price target for the best stock to buy rests at $47.26 per share - a discount to BA's Wednesday close at $48.55. Any upgrades or price-target increases could provide additional buying pressure for the equity.

On a final note, short sellers have abandoned BA in droves in recent months. The number of BA shares sold short has plunged from 12.7 million shares to a mere 3.3 million shares during the past six months. Should this trend continue, we could see BA benefit as a result of a continued short-covering rally.

To take advantage of BA's uptrend, investors should consider a 45-strike call option - the August call (premium is 10.7% of the share price) or November call (premium is 14% of the share price).

General Dynamics Corp. (GD)

Another potential opportunity in the defense sector is General Dynamics Corp. (GD). The company ranks behind Boeing in the defense business, arriving as the Pentagon's fourth largest contractor. That said, GD is no slouch from a technical standpoint. The shares have soared more than 65% since tagging a low of $35.28 per share on March 6. During this rally, GD benefited from support at its rising 10-day moving average. The shares were recently rejected by overhead resistance near the 61 level, but GD has since rebounded from support at its 32-day moving average. Furthermore, the shares are poised to close above formerly staunch resistance at their 10-month moving average for the first time since August 2008.

Like BA, the shares of GD have seen an increase in pessimism recently. The stock's SOIR has ground higher from its June 12 reading of 0.68 to its current perch at 0.69, as puts have been added at a faster rate than calls among near-term options.

Wall Street is similarly skeptical of GD, as nine of the 17 analysts following the company rate it a "hold" or worse. Any upgrades from this group could provide additional upside pressure on the security.

Rambus (RMBS)

Call options on Rambus Inc. (RMBS) have become quite the hot property on Wall Street, with volume ratcheting up sharply last week. During the past five days, traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) have bought to open 21,451 calls on RMBS, compared to just 7,465 puts. In other words, option players on this exchange have purchased nearly three times more calls than puts during the past week.

As a result, the stock now boasts an inflated 10-day ISE call/put volume ratio of 3.03. However, this reading ranks almost squarely in the middle of its annual range, suggesting that the current bias toward bullish bets is simply business as usual for RMBS.

In fact, the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) has actually escalated of late, arriving today at 0.45, in the 83rd annual percentile. This ratio is significantly higher than its June 12 perch at 0.35, in the 49th annual percentile. During the past week, near-term put open interest has surged 63.3%, while comparable call open interest has increased by just 28.9%.

The equity's July 20 and July 17 puts hosted much of the new put open interest, with each strike adding roughly 1,200 contracts during the past five days. Implied volatility on the July 17 put has dropped from 80.4% on Monday to 74.4% by Friday's close, though, suggesting that sellers could be responsible for some of the new open interest at this strike.

Likewise, implied volatility on RMBS' July 20 put has dwindled throughout the week from 80.5% to 75.0%, indicating that the influx of open interest here was not the result of newly purchased bearish bets.

With RMBS trading squarely between these two strikes at last check, potential put sellers are gravitating toward both in-the-money and out-of-the-money options. Meanwhile, call buyers have added roughly 1,100 new contracts at the stock's out-of-the-money July 20 strike during the past week, with implied volatility on the option jumping from 71.3% to 76.9% as a result.

At the same time, short sellers have been rushing for the exits when it comes to RMBS. Short interest on the shares fell by 11.7% during the past month, dropping by 9.3% during the most recent reporting period alone. These bearish bets still account for more than 5% of the stock's float, though, suggesting that some short sellers remain firmly entrenched.

The recent flood of bullishly oriented option volume was sparked by the recent news that RMBS reached a tentative settlement with the European Union (EU) regarding antitrust charges. However, the stock was already performing respectably well on the charts, as evidenced by its 60-day relative-strength reading of 162% versus the S&P 500 Index (SPX).

Specifically, RMBS has cruised higher since late February along the support of its 10-day and 32-day moving averages. The shares could also now find support near the $17 region.

Thanks to its recent show of strength on the charts, RMBS is now poised to finish June on the north side of its 20-month moving average -- a stubborn resistance level that hasn't been breached on a monthly closing basis since May 2008.

As the security maintains its short-term uptrend, a continued migration toward the bullish bandwagon could help RMBS extend its EU-related rally.

Quick, Proven Way to Grab Easy Gains

You have less than 24 hours to act on what I'm about to reveal.

So I'll get straight to the point:

When the Fed cut rates just this past Tuesday, you could have made $27,300 or more in pure profit.

How?

By making the six simple Forex moves that I'll show you in this letter — moves that could have made you:

$6,800 playing the Swiss franc

$4,950 betting on the euro

$4,450 going "long" the Aussie dollar

$3,850 buying the Canadian dollar

$2,000 venturing on the Japanese yen

$5,250 riding the British pound up

That's a quick total of $27,300 in pure profits.

Sounds crazy. I know.

But here's proof…

Flash Forex Move #1: Buy the Swiss Franc For A Quick $6,800

On Tuesday morning the Fed cut interest rates, instantly smashing the dollar down.

But did you profit directly from the dollar's slide?

If not, here's how you could have…

You could've made this simple Swiss franc move at 9:30 A.M. Monday morning and…

… you could've more than doubled your dough with pure gains of $6,800.

In just about 72 hours.

Risk: $5,000
72-Hour Total Pure Profit: $6,800

But the Swiss franc wasn't the only world currency that gained ground against the dollar when the Fed lowered rates…

The euro took off, too.

And here's the second move you could have made on Monday morning…

Flash Forex Move #2:Go "Long" Euros for $4,950 in Pure Profit

If you had gone "long" the euro, with only $5,000 at risk, you could have cashed out of that move for a nice $4,950 in pure profits.

In just about three days.

And if you think that Forex trading carries "unlimited" risk, I'll show you how you could make these moves without losing one wink of sleep.

Shoot, you don't even have to open a different brokerage account if you already have one. In less than 45 seconds I'll show you how you could make these plays just as easily as you could buy or sell a stock.

But first let me show you the next Forex play you could've made…

Risk: $5,000
72-Hour Total Pure Profit: $11,750

Flash Forex Move #3: Aussie Dollar Move Plants $4,450 in Your Pocket

I'm sure you see a trend here…

If you had gone long the Aussie dollar on Monday — using this simple Forex move I'll show you in a second — you could've made a short-term profit of a sweet $4,450.

That's nearly a doubler in just days…all from an extremely simple Forex move that you could've played in less than five minutes…

Risk: $5,000
72-Hour Total Pure Profit: $16,200

Three moves — each taking only five minutes — adding up to a total of $16,200 in pure profit into your bank account.

And — we're only halfway through.

Before I show you how the final three moves could have made you $27,300 total, let me quickly reveal the secret behind these urgent profit plays…

How To Grab YOUR SHARE of the $4 Trillion Currency Market

Five months of research…late night phone calls… $54,836 spent…

And Agora Financial has finally figured out the perfect strategy for you to play the currency markets.

You see, nearly $4 trillion changes hands in the currency markets EVERY DAY.

That's over 40 times larger than the stock market.

So we knew extreme profits were being made… but we didn't know the right guy to help you make them.

Until we met Bill Jenkins.

Bill's a currency day trading expert, inside and out.

In fact, in our first meeting he told us that he hasn't bought a stock in over 10 years. He makes all of his trading money from the foreign exchange market.

And he showed us a much easier currency options strategy that could let you make money from the FOREX market while still sleeping easy at night.

He calls it the "everyday Joe's" way of getting your slice of the currency market pie.

And the results from our 664 person live beta-test have been nothing short of amazing.

By using this little known currency options strategy, Bill's already shown his beta testers how to play euro puts for 23% gains, British pound calls for 33% gains and pound calls again for 100% gains in just 24 hours!

Bill's quick gain filled track record is precisely the reason we've decided to launch a brand new research service around his Forex options strategy called Master FX Options Trader.

Come tomorrow at 6 P.M., EST we're going live with Master FX Options Trader.

Readers will pay $1,495 for one year of this new research service…

But for the next 24 hours you'll be able to claim your subscription 100% free… before others will pay thousands of dollars.

I'll explain the details of this offer in a second.

But first let's quickly return to the rest of that $27,300 you could've made using these simple Forex options…

Flash Forex Move #4: In at 13… Out at 23… The Canadian Dollar Could Have Paid You $3,850 in Pure Gains

Next, you could've turned to Canada for a couple thousand dollars more…

You see, buying a call option on the Canadian dollar gives you highly leveraged gains with strictly known risk.

And by doing the exact same thing — going "long" the Canadian dollar with simple call options any broker can place for you — you could've gotten a swift payout of $3,850.

Risk: $5,000
72-Hour Total Pure Profit: $20,050

Flash Forex Move #5:How to Use the Yen to Make $2,000… in 72 hours!

It's the same with using call options on the yen. You could've swiped an effortless $2,000 in just three days.

That brings your 72-hour Forex profits tally to a total of $22,050…but wait, there's still one more…

Let's turn to the final play you could've made earlier this week…

Flash Forex Move #6: You'd Have Seen an Extra $5,250 Playing the Pound

Yup, even the pound could've more than doubled your stake in less than a week.

To be precise, the pound calls could've paid out a tidy $5,250. I don't know about you, but that's a pretty fine profit for such a short amount of time…

I know it sounds astonishing, but YES, you could've made AT LEAST $27,300 in less than 72 hours with Forex options…

And you could've done that with a simple piece of information that you knew anyway — that the dollar would tank after the Fed slashed rates.

Risk: $5,000
72-Hour Total Pure Profit: $27,300

You just needed the right options plays on the right currencies…

And you could've done that with strictly known, strictly controlled risk…you could've even placed those trades in five minutes or less!

The quick, explosive profit potential is the reason why we decided to launch Master FX Options Trader.

The lucky 664 people who've been beta testing the service the past five months have written in to say:

Thanks for another great option call! I got my position on Wednesday at $3 even, per contract, and sold in the last 30 minutes of trading yesterday for $3.90.

30% in 48 hours - nice!

— J. M.

P.S.: I am interested in the FOREX spot market, but that takes some attention that I am not always able to give. The [FOREX] option trades have been easier to handle.

I sold the two Euro $129 puts at $3.80 for a profit of $208.00! Keep this option train going!

— P. G.

I made 27% on my first currency option trade. Even though I kept the size of this first transaction small to gauge your service, I made $325 which was a psychological boost in this current bear market.

— M. M.

When we go live Master FX Options Trader tomorrow at 6 P.M., EST, your fellow readers will be forced to pay $1,495 per year.

But if you respond to this letter quickly enough, it's just one of the of two new research services I'm ready to give away for free. I'll explain how you can get them in just a moment.

Here's the second…

Income on Demand: How to Generate Instant Income From Top Stocks You Already Own

If you're like most readers, you probably want additional ways to generate regular work-free income...

And with Income on Demand, Wayne Burritt's ready to show you how.

With over 28 years of experience navigating through the options market, Wayne's developed a little known option strategy that you could use to:

Safely and immediately boost your regular income — using stocks you already own.

Generate "dividends" on demand from almost any stock.

Significantly reduce your downside on stocks that are falling.

This option strategy is one of my personal favorites.

And even better — I've heard stories about readers who could have used similar strategies to generate up to $200,000 a month in extra work-free income.

For example, you could use this strategy right now to generate an immediate 16.8% "dividend" on demand from Apple.

With this one tiny, five-minute step you could buy 1,000 shares of Apple stock and demand an immediate $15,200 "dividend."

Most investors never use this strategy.

But you'll have the chance for "dividends" on demand with Wayne's soon-to-be-launched Income on Demand.

When we launch Income on Demand later this month, subscribers most likely will have to pay $1,495 per year.

But as long as you're one of the first readers who respond to this letter, you'll also receive this service for free, for life.

Why am I willing to give away these brand new services for free? And why to only the first people who respond?

Allow me to introduce the Agora Financial Reserve.

A Hushed and Private Invitation FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. . .

The Agora Financial Reserve is the most intimate, elite inner circle out of our 135,000 paid subscribers.

The Reserve is simple: You get every single newsletter, "VIP" stock research service, and fast acting options research service Agora Financial currently publishes for as long as we publish them.*

You also get almost every single product we launch in the future. You get almost every single special research report we write. For as long as we publish them — or for as long as you want.

*With the exception of Bulletin Board Elite and The Richebächer Letter.

And you get all of that — for life — for less than the cost of one year of all of those services.

What newsletters and research services am I talking about?

You'll receive these investment research newsletters: the world-famous Outstanding Investments, Capital & Crisis, Easy Money Options, Penny Stock Fortunes, and our soon to be launched Lifetime Income Report.

On top of that you'll get our high-end VIP "special opportunity" monthly stock research services: Energy & Scarcity Investor, Mayer's Special Situations and Breakthrough Technology Alert.

You'll get our fast-paced, intensely profitable option research services delivered direct to your e-mail inbox: Resource Trader Alert, Options Hotline, Gold & Options Trader, Strategic Short Report…

And you get both of the brand new, high priced services I just told you about: Master FX Options Trader and Income on Demand.

That's not all, of course — Agora Financial has unveiled some insanely beneficial services exclusively for Reserve Members...

First and foremost, we have created the "World Travel to Profits" program. We scour our worldwide network of insider contacts looking for under-the-radar investment opportunities, in everything from local stocks to real estate. Up until now, whenever our analysts came across one of these deals, we had to sweep it under the rug. They were just too small to share them with a large audience.

Those tiny, yet possibly highly profitable opportunities, were some of our main motivations for creating the Reserve service — so sophisticated individuals could take advantage of the same microscopic, under-the-radar international opportunities that we always found intriguing, but never had a small, intimate enough forum to release them to...

And there's one benefit to the Reserve that's entirely new to the independent financial publishing industry... a benefit all of our editors agreed on when we formulated the Reserve.

This advantage is called the Legacy Program — but before I tell you more, let me make it perfectly clear why I'm honored to invite you to become an Agora Financial Reserve Member today.

THIS INVITATION WILL NOT BE SENT TO THE PUBLIC

There are two strict reasons why we will send this invitation only to loyal readers like you.

First, because I can reward only people who are already familiar with our research with these two brand new $1,495 services.

Second, because there are so few Reserve Memberships available, the invitation can go to only a dedicated Agora Financial reader like yourself.

For that reason, I respectfully ask that you do not forward this e-mail to anyone else.

But exactly how few Reserve Members can we accept?

** Invitation Limited to the First 1% of Existing Readers**

Only one in 100 of existing Agora Financial readers may join... If all of our readers knocked on the door, 99% of them would have to be turned away!

It's not that we're being snooty or unfair. We simply know that some of the profit opportunities that we will research and present to you are too small and sensitive for too many people to know about.

That's why we picked the 1% threshold — we want to see what will happen when a small group of serious individuals gets hold of nearly every single profit opportunity that we know of.

Exclusive Benefits That 99% of Our Readers Cannot — and Will Not — Ever Profit From

We must limit the available seats in the Reserve to 1% of our readership. Membership is first come, first served.

If we do eventually permit more folks into the Reserve, the price could go up by as much as $2,000.

And, that's a BIG "if." We may never extend another invitation. It depends 100% on how the Reserve Members' interest affects these infinitesimal underground opportunities...

There are two unbreachable limits placed on this invitation.

I just told you about the 1% limit. But we also have a limit in time.

This application period for new Agora Financial Reserve Members expires immediately on midnight, Jan. 1, 2009.

We were compelled to do that so we have a clear cutoff point to see how these new services perform with so many new members.

But please don't make the mistake of thinking you can wait until Jan. 1.

I fully expect to fill our 1% limit long before that day rolls around. But let's quickly return to that lifetime research that I want to send you...

A Lifetime of Profitable Research. . .For Less Than the Cost of Just One Year!

You'll have a lifetime of our fast-paced trading research services, stock recommendation newsletters and other independent research — on top of the various new services and reports that we will unveil in the future — for far less than the normal price you'd pay for one single year.

You'll benefit from far more than our world-class newsletters and trading research services, though.

You'll be the first potential beneficiary of the exclusive "hush-hush" opportunities that, before now, were far too small and sophisticated to share with a large group of people. That's one of the main reasons we decided to hit the ground running on the Agora Financial Reserve — we want to introduce you to tiny, unknown opportunities.

Opportunities that we hear whispered from our extensive network of insiders. Previously invisible opportunities that we unearth with our own research.

(The invitation I'm extending, however, can last for far longer than a lifetime, as I will show you in one moment.)

First, I'd like to introduce you to some of the specific benefits entitled to Reserve Members:

You Get All of Option Plays for Free for Life. . .

When you accept this charter invitation to the Reserve, you will immediately lock into each and every one of our aggressive and profitable option trading research services.

Services that have recently brought in these gains: 100% on British Pound calls in less than 48 hours, 195% from sugar calls in only 20 days, 173% in 104 days on Systemax puts, 1,011% on UPS calls after holding for just over four weeks and 611% in three months from Newmont Mining...

Resource Trader Alert: 15 of 17 in 2008, Average 2008 Gain is 91%!

Resource Trader Alert uses our addiction to commodities to help you benefit from the world of commodity options.

And the publication has one of the best records that I've seen after 18 years of independent investment research publishing.

Since 2005, 82% of the total number of closed commodity options recommended in Resource Trader Alert ended up winners. And over that same time we've averaged 63% per recommended play, including losers.

That's one heckuva streak, and it shows signs of only continuing...

So far in 2008 we're 15 of 17... with an amazing average gain of 91%!

Here are some of the recent gains from Resource Trader Alert's commodity options recommendations:

108% on Feb. 12 2008, from sugar calls

195% on Feb. 26 2008, from sugar calls

220% on Feb. 28 2008, from a silver spread

107% on April 17 2008, from a gold spread

114% on June 25 2008, from a soybean spread

189% on June 26 2008, from a corn spread

107% on July 14 2008, from a gold spread

186% on Sept. 22 2008, from the short leg of a bull gold call spread.

You know that oil and gasoline prices have shot steadily up. And you can be sure Resource Trader Alert will be there to deliver on some aggressive gains on crude and gas options. In the past, our readers have seen:

Crude oil calls held for 20 days, for 119%

Unleaded gas calls held for one month, for 17%

Crude oil puts held for three weeks, for 39%

Crude oil spread held for just over three weeks, for 27%.

Resource Trader Alert's record shines just as impressively outside of the oil and gas market, though.

We rode corn straight up in late '07, when our recommended corn call soared 74% skyward in 19 days. Even at this obscene level of gain, we still thought corn would shoot up some more — so we recommended that our readers sell just half of their position.

Exactly 49 days later, we recommended that our readers sell the second half. Lucky them, bagging 219% on that second half of their corn calls in just over two months.

Please wait. Here are some more:

400% on silver calls

241% on wheat calls

270% in 30 days from a simple coffee call

120% from live cattle (yup, that's right — from options on 1,000
head of cattle!)

154% in 34 days from an easy-to-follow cotton call.

Resource Trader Alert is your way to learn how to play the quick, strong price changes in commodities. And — it's easy. You can do it from home, with a multitude of brokers, just like buying top stocks for 2010.

I bought 3 silver spreads...My calculations show a gain of about 1500% from my initial price. My two best current holdings...are cocoa, up 335% and wheat, up 320%.

So here's a brief history. I subscribed to RTA in Dec '05 and opened a brokerage acct with $15,000. I had absolutely no knowledge about commodities... Since opening the acct I've withdrawn $30,000 and the account value as of today is over $123,000. So as of now I'm up over 10x. Money isn't everything, but all things being equal, I'd rather have some than not. I really appreciate the guidance you given me. I hope this note puts a smile on your face. Thanks.

— Greg

Hi,

I opened my RTA account with $2000... Added $5000 more... Account value today is ~$34,000.

— Pete

89 of 107 plays positive since 2005

63% average gain over all plays, including losers

Normally, Resource Trader Alert subscribers pay $1,495 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing.

Options Hotline:  How a Humble Options Master Crushed the Million Dollar Milestone

Options Hotline is one of the oldest options services in America. 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of Paul Sarnoff creating the service.

A friend of the legendary Hunt brothers, Paul became famous as one of the first to teach investors how to use stock options in the '60s. In 1989, Paul launched Options Hotline, delivering his subscribers gains for 10 years...

In October 1999, Steve Sarnoff took the service over from his father and mentor. Steve studied options analysis alongside his dad for over a decade — and gave the system a couple of proprietary tweaks of his own.

Here's how it works...

Each week — on Sunday night — Steve sends out the single best option play for the week. It takes less than five minutes to read his entire e-mail. And his recommendations could make you a heap of dough...

Just how much?

I'll let his track record explain... please just take a look at his performance over the last nine years... and how you could've broken the million-dollar milestone with him. (Please remember that average gain accounts for winners AND losers...)

Now how is it that Steve can claim such a stellar achievement? Simple. Steve recommends opening positions and gives a general strategy to help readers determine a good closing point, but readers must use their own judgment in exiting a position. Because of this, we calculate Steve's previous track record based on the highest point each of his actionable recommendations hits after he alerts his readers.

That stellar long-term track record makes it easier to see how Steve's the only one I know who has broken the coveted "Million-Dollar Gains Milestone."

After Steve recommended UPS calls that could have made as much as 1,011% gains for his readers, he broke right through the million-dollar mark.

If you had plugged $5,000 into Steve's first trade when he took over from his father... plugged that same amount into every single one of his recommendation since that time, and ridden each one to its highest possible point, you would have over a million dollars in profits! That's unbeatable — passing the million-dollar milestone in a little over five years...

Bought SMH LH... Closed today up 75% in a week. Good Call. Appreciate it.

— Jim Mahoney

I wanted to drop you a quick note of "thanks" for using the power of options helping me pay for Christmas this year. Let me explain...

I am an Agora Financial Reserve Member and used Steve Sarnoff's recommendation this week to net $900 in about in 3 hours with less than 5 minutes of my time...Not bad for 5 minutes of "work."

Thanks again for the great services you provide and have a very happy Holiday season!!!

— Warmest regards, Paul G.

Normally, Options Hotline subscribers pay $995 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing.

Strategic Short Report:  Your Way to Profit As the Real Estate Bubble Implodes

Now, you know that the markets related to housing — specifically, subprime mortgages — shoot lower every day.

And Dan Amoss has taken advantage of that trend by playing put options on subprime mortgage insurer MGIC.

Let's take a look at a company Dan had his eye on. Here's the chart for MGIC's stock price:

71% seems like a big drop for MGIC stock over just nine months, doesn't it? But even that 71% move paled in comparison with the move that an option play on that same stock made...

Brave investors who got in and out at the right time could've swiped 336% gains from a play that used put options as leverage.

That works out to a profitable move of almost four times the negative move the share price suffered. Nice little way to make some lemonade while avoiding the lemon!

But Dan doesn't focus in on just housing stocks. He also wrote up a Whiskey & Gunpowder article that pointed out the problems with Hansen, the hyped energy drink and soda company.

He said that intrepid readers should short Hansen. And they could've made as much as 27.4% in six days...

"27.4% in 6 days...Thanks, Dan!"

Many thanks for Dan Amoss' June 26 analysis and discussion of Hansen Natural. I felt the market was trending down, and the stock was inflated...Based on this and Dan's analysis, I shorted the stock Aug. 1 at $45.50 and covered the short sale [on Aug. 7] at $33.

Thanks so much!

— R. R.

Dan's got a knack for finding companies that sell for far more than what they're worth. So he decided to take his expertise in playing put options and shorting top stocks investment to launch a small research service called Strategic Short Report.

And in just the few months that we've been publishing the service, Dan's readers have had the chance to see some nice gains...

Like the 173% that they could have made after Dan recommended put options on Systemax — an overly hyped online retailer of computer hardware and off-brand PCs...

The 97% they booked in a few short months with put options on TCF Financial — a troubled Midwestern mortgage-heavy bank...

Or the whopping 461% they could have made by following Dan's recommendation to buy and sell put options on Lehman Brothers!

All in all Dan's averaging 92% across all of his 16 closed positions. And that includes the rare losing play.

But what about open positions?

All five of his current open positions are positive. And he's sitting on an average gain of 58%.

No wonder his subscribers have written in to say:

I just sold 10 contracts of LESMH for $26.45 which I purchased for $4.47 for a total gain $21,980!! This is very exciting stuff...keep em coming like that if you can. I really appreciate your hard work, in depth research and thorough detailed coverage. Awesome trade Dan! You are the man!

— D. Y.

I just wanted to thank Dan Amoss for the Strategic Short Report letter. After recently closing out my second half of the Lehman put, I have a scored a personal rate of return of 342%!!!! This is in addition to the average of 72% so far on his other recommendations.

Thanks so much, Dan. This one newsletter has actually paid for my entire membership fee for the reserve membership.

If you are ever in Medford, Oregon. Look me up. Dinner is on me.

— P. B., MD

As a Lehman Alumni I was hesitant to put this one on... a cool $200,000 profit later I am a Strategic Short Report disciple!

Spectacular call on Lehman. Keep 'em coming

— Wil

13 of 16 plays in 2008

92% average gain over all plays, including losers

Dan's stellar performance was precisely the reason behind my recent decision to double the price of his research service.

Strategic Short Report subscribers used to pay $995 per year for Dan's research...

... But now they're paying $1,995.

As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing for life.

Gold & Options Trader:  How to Protect Your Wealth From the Dollar's Coming Collapse. . . and Ride the Historic Gold Bull Market for Obscene Profit Potential

You know that gold's been on an absolute tear over the last few years. In fact, it shot from $300 to its recent high of $1,033. That's a climb of 244%.

And the reasons behind gold's run-up seem obvious:

Rampant government money printing (especially in the U.S.)

Global strife boosts fear and uncertainty

Worldwide demand for real commodity wealth, not credit or phantom finance profits.

It's no wonder gold — the only trusted, true haven for wealth and future prosperity — has become more desired. And it will become only more dearer as the years pass.

This inescapable fact has led us to launch a new research service dedicated specifically to gold gains.

Now, members of many of our services have had the opportunity to take great gold gains. Specifically, readers of Outstanding Investments. And our options services Resource Trader Alert and Options Hotline have played many gold futures and stocks options for more speculative gains.

But the historic gold bull has compelled us to devote an entire newsletter to gold...it's titled the Gold & Options Trader.

Gold & Options Trader has two simple missions.

First, it seeks to show you gains on the best gold stocks in the world. You might get a recommendation on a junior mining company or a microcap exploration and production company.

And second, Gold & Options Trader will play options on gold stocks. That way you can apply leverage to normal moves in share price. This can give you a quicker, larger, more speculative winner.

You'll be profiting from gold's long trend upward, and simultaneously, learn how to hedge your portfolio against short-term corrections...

And we couldn't have found a better guy to man Gold & Options Trader than Ed Bugos. Ed comes straight from the Wall Street of the gold market — Vancouver's Howe Street.

During the nasty commodity bear market in the '90s, Ed still guided his clients to gold profits in Argentina Gold and Arequipa. The massive Barrick Gold ended up buying both companies.

He also founded the Bugos Gold Stock Index, which included no more than 10 stocks anytime. From Dec. 2001-May 2006, his index gained 200%, averaging 30% compounded annual gains.

And he's showing no signs of slowing down that incredible pace.

Normally, Gold & Options Trader subscribers pay $1,495 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing for life.

You'll also get both new services I told you about earlier: Income on Demand and Master FX Options Trader.

As an Agora Financial Reserve Member, you'll receive the six option trading research services we just discussed for free. Added up, those six services are worth $8,970 per year.

You'll Get our "VIP" Stock Research Services, Too

So you've heard about how you can use our wide variety of speculative option plays to boost your wealth...

But what about the explosive stock gains that happen from mergers, buyouts, special dividends, spinoffs, and "special opportunity" stocks that are too small to recommend to tens of thousands of readers?

Well, we've got those covered, too.

As an Agora Financial Reserve Member you're guaranteed to receive these high-end, VIP "special opportunity" monthly stock research services:

Mayer's Special Situations:  Small Explosive "Special Situation" Plays

Each month Agora Financial's managing editor, Chris Mayer, applies his due diligence to small "special situation" companies.

In this way, you can combine strictly lowered risk with speculative opportunities.

Chris sends these "safe speculations" out to a small circle of readers with his new research service, Mayer's Special Situations.

Let's take a quick snapshot of the two-year-old service's track record:

13 out of the 21 closed positions have gone up.

The average gain over those closed positions was 38%, including the losers.

Biggest gainers: 194% on T-3 Energy Services... 177% on Titan Intl....122% on Gorman-Rupp Co.... and 100% on Lindsay Manufacturing.

And, as far as open gains go, as of November 19 his readers are up:

28% from a tiny pharmaceutical spin-off

36% on a company that's helping China solve its water crisis

54% on water pump manufacture.

This excellent short-term track record has made some of Mayer's Special Situations readers quite happy:

Your Libbey recommendation alone just paid for my Acapulco vacation. THANKS! :-) Your reports are very professional without being stuffy. I look forward to your e-mail!

— E. Culpepper

I joined the Agora Financial Reserve when it was very first launched.

I manage my own accounts and my father's very large IRA for him. I have purchased about 90% of the top stocks to buy you have recommended in MSS and couldn't be happier with the returns.

I love your strategy and reasons for picking a stock and plan to stick with you as long as possible. I only hope you stay for many years to come. I hate the thought of finding out you left to do something else.

Thanks so much for your excellent research and the great job you are doing. My experience with MSS has been exactly what I was hoping for when I joined the Reserve.

— Brad B.

Normally, Mayer's Special Situations subscribers pay $995 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing for life.

Energy & Scarcity Investor:  How You Can Harness Slow Volcano Power" to Ride California's Government-Mandated Green Power Boom

Byron King lives and breathes natural resources.

Each month his contacts and research come up with dozens of overlooked opportunities. Some of these finds make their way into the pages of Byron's Outstanding Investments. But the ones with the best profit potential are micro caps — just too speculative to send out to a wide audience.

That's why Byron launched an elite research service called Energy & Scarcity Investor, that taps into these tiny resource opportunities. For proof of the concept behind this new service, here are some previous winners in the realm of tiny resource stocks just like the ones Energy & Scarcity Investor focuses on:

214% on Pan Orient Energy 211% on Ur Energy 1,062% on Virginia Mines 958% on Seabridge Gold 1,076% on Minefinders 732% on Pan American Silver 208% on Compass Minerals 2,568% on Silvercorp

700% on Almaden Resources 450% on Antares Minerals 1,258% on Bear Creek Mining 4,500% on Brett Resources 1,236% on Dynasty Metals 2,860% on Denison Mines 428% on Cirrus Energy 1,376% on Enexco.

But now Byron has found an exciting discovery that could make those gains seem like small potatoes.

You see, California's Senate has mandated that the state must derive 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by December 2010.

Byron says that "Slow Volcano Power" is the renewable energy source best suited to provide California's huge population with electricity.

And he's recommended five of the smallest pure plays completely devoted to the little-known green energy source "Slow Volcano Power."

You can immediately get all the information you need on those five stellar "Slow Volcano Power" plays when you accept your Reserve invitation.

Normally, Energy & Scarcity Investor subscribers pay $1,495 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing for life.

Breakthrough Technology Alert: Thinking — and Profiting — Like a Venture Capitalist

Imagine buying into Microsoft at the venture capitalist stage... before it unveiled Windows. Imagine getting into Google on the bottom floor, with the first round of investors.

Those two companies' innovations changed the world, and Patrick Cox continually digs for the next revolutionary companies — the Googles and Microsofts of tomorrow.

Breakthrough Technology Alert uncovers the small, unknown companies on the verge of such transformational discoveries.

Patrick sniffs around like a true venture capitalist, scanning for the least-known opportunities before they take off, talking with their CEOs and drilling down the most exciting — and potentially, most profitable — opportunities.

In the past, we've taken gains like 371% on PowerChannel Inc., 288% on Cray Inc., 244% on Nuance Communications and 321% on Anatolia Minerals.

I am a new subscriber and I like the approach you take and the companies you follow. It's refreshing being out of the mainstream stocks with their massive float. Knock on wood - the investments I've made with your picks are beyond what I had hoped for...Again, thanks for your help and your insight into these companies.

— J. Parker

When I first subscribed I was not an experienced investor, but on the past four months' journey, [Breakthrough Technology Alert] has helped me to widen my exposure to different forms of investing. I'm also impressed with your due diligence on new stocks you recommend.

— M. Sorensen

Normally, Breakthrough Technology Alert subscribers pay $995 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing.

Once again, as an Agora Financial Reserve Member, you'll receive these three "VIP" Special Opportunities Stock Research services for free. Added up, those three services are worth $3,485 per year.

Your one-time Reserve entrance fee and miniscule annual maintenance fee will secure all of those stellar services for life.

And I repeat — you get a lifetime of super-profitable options recommendations as well for less than a one-year subscription at their regular price. That alone makes the Agora Financial Reserve a good bargain.

On top of all this, as a Reserve Member, you will receive a free lifetime subscription to each one of our five profitable research newsletters.

You Get All of Our Finest Stock Research Newsletters for Free. . . for Life. . .

Your status as a Reserve Member will deliver you these benefits:

Outstanding Investments: The #1 Ranked Newsletter Over THREE Five-Year Periods

Byron King's Outstanding Investments was independently rated by Mark Hulbert as the top-performing newsletter in the world.

That's an amazingly high honor, considering that as of last year Hulbert tracks 127 different investment newsletters.

Devoted to natural resource stocks for 2010 since its inception, Outstanding Investments has delivered some gains that might make you bashful if you told anyone that you grabbed them...

And as you know, oil and oil related stocks have been on a huge tear lately. So have coal, steel, uranium, timber, shipping and natural gas companies. And readers of Outstanding Investments had a front-row seat for riding the global hunger for raw materials.

Like these recent winners: 182% from Talisman Energy, 332% from Glamis Gold, 118% on Anglo-American PLC, 174% on PetroChina, 147% on BG Group, 177% on Coeur d'Alene Mines, and 228% on Niko Resources.

Catching hold of the massive global energy bull, this year, Outstanding Investments has returned an average of 25% on its closed positions.

And this isn't a fluke, either. Last year, Outstanding Investments averaged 79% gains from its closed resource stock recommendations.

And as for open positions, we have 272% on Suncor, 194% on American Century Global Gold, 103% on Valero, and 143% on EnCana.

I almost "bailed out" awhile ago when gold and oil took a dip, but followed your recommendation and stayed with it. I'm up 28% with only your recommendations in my portfolio. Keep up the good work.

— W. Burger

You have to hand it to...Outstanding Investments. I have subscribed to many investment and trading services and dropped a lot of the poorly performing ones. But not RTA or OI...Perhaps a Nobel Prize for Resource Trading should be awarded.

— D. Davidson

2008 closed positions average including losers: 25%

Normally, Outstanding Investments subscribers pay $99 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing for life.

Capital & Crisis: 36% From the Safest Stocks on the Street

Chris Mayer's unswerving devotion to conservative value investing has led him to recommend 29 out of 38 winners in Capital & Crisis. That's right — he's batting a nearly perfect 76%.

What's his secret? Simple. He'll buy a stock for only less than it's worth. And that seems to work just fine since — over the course of 38 closed recommendations — his positions gained 36% on average.

What about his open positions?

44% on an Asian telecommunications company.

12% on a leading manufacturer of welded steel pipes.

With Capital & Crisis, you can draw in some nice gains from the safest stocks on the Street...

Yes - very good gains, such as: Horizon — $4,109... Chiquita Brands — $5,400... Agrium - $5,900... Ameriprise - $6,100... Intrawest - $10,000. I am currently using the proceeds to build up the retirement fund. I think Capital & Crisis is the best investment advisory that I have either read about or used. My only recommendation — don't do anything different.

— W. McMillan

Chris, you're just about the best writer there is, a great analyst while still enjoyable to read. It's a treat for my retirement portfolio to watch your theories play out. I can't give you a specific number but it's approximately 20%, after investing 5K in each selection. I'm still recovering from the tech meltdown 2000-2002, thank you so much for helping to make it happen.

— D. Ricci

Normally, Capital & Crisis subscribers pay $99 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing.

Penny Stock Fortunes: Imagine Getting Rich

The largest, quickest gains on Wall Street usually come from the unknown and sometimes feared segment of stocks priced under $10...The infamous "penny stocks."

But, as Greg Guenthner, editor of Penny Stock Fortunes explains, "Some of the biggest names in Wall Street history, like Tweedy, Browne; Ben Graham and John Templeton made their massive fortunes in the penny stocks arena. You won't read much about these under-the-radar opportunities in The Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily or Barron's."

But you will read about them in Penny Stock Fortunes.

Here are some past gains from closed-out Penny Stock Fortunes recommendations: 82% in only 48 days from First Cash Financial, 109% from Vallco Energy, and 103% from Forward Industries.

Normally, Penny Stock Fortunes subscribers pay $59 per year. As a Reserve Member, you pay nothing.

Easy Money Options: How to Receive an MBA-style Stock Option Education. . . for FREE

You've already seen how options can quickly bring your portfolio 100–500% profits...

But what if you've never used options before and don't know how to get started? I've got the perfect solution for you...

In Wayne Burritt's letter, Easy Money Options, he'll deliver you an options education that you can't get anywhere else.

Each month, he'll teach you an "inside tip." Then he'll simply and easily provide you with directions on how to take advantage of the best options plays on the market right now.

And although the service is just under a year old, I'm proud to announce that Wayne's already scored gains of 89% on Proctor & Gamble calls and an explosive 150% and 169% on S&P 500 Depository Receipts November 2008 puts.

Here's what his subscribers have already written in to say:

As a novice to the option world, you have taught me a good deal. All your instructions are very clear and easy to follow. In each issue you set out the topics to be covered and then show us step by step on how to research different options... most important of all the newsletters contained a wealth of information!

— D. L.

Easiest money I have ever made! Over 85% gains in just 5 trading days! You lay everything out and make it simple. I have tried other options services before, but they usually did not provide sell signals so you were left to the whims of the market and sometimes lost gains. I prefer your conservative approach to take gains off the table. Keep up the good work!

— Thanks,
G. S.

Today I sold the XLFXR for $1446.51 for a profit of $555.01. I sold SWGXQ for $2502.51 for a profit of $1599.01. So my profit in a week from these two transactions was $2154.02.

I am ever so grateful for your excellent recommendations!

— Yours truly
C. C.

Through this service, you'll quickly learn how fun and profitable stock options can be!

Easy Money Options normally costs $99 per year. As a Reserve Member, it's yours FREE for life.

Lifetime Income Report:  How to Let the World's Best Companies Fund Your Retirement

Imagine having one of the world's top companies fund your retirement even though you never worked for them a day in your life...

Now imagine that your retirement income isn't limited to just that one company.

You can have five, six, even 10 of the world's best companies pay you weekly checks.

Without working a single second for them.

How?

Buy buying shares in companies that have been proven to send out growing dividend payments.

And that's exactly what editor Jim Nelson will show you how to do in his new research service, the Lifetime Income Report.

Each month he'll focus on finding you the best income paying stock on the market. After a year, you could be receiving weekly checks of $2,243, $5,465, or $11,000. That's the best part. You decide how much you want to be paid.

When we launch Lifetime Income Report later this month, new subscribers will have to pay $99 per year. As a Reserve Member, it's yours FREE for life.

Added up, all five of Agora Financial's world-class, independent and profitable newsletters cost $455 per year.

But if you do what's best — by accepting this invitation to the Reserve — you'll get those newsletters for free for the rest of your life. As a Reserve Member, you'll save $455 per year from the newsletters alone. That comes out to $2,275 in savings every five years... and $4,550 saved over the next decade...

If you are serious and quick enough to be that one in a 100 that can enter the Reserve... if you decide to become a member in time, you will get all of those newsletters for free for life.

But that's not nearly the last in the heap of benefits your Reserve status will confer upon you...

Introducing the Agora Financial Focus List: Exclusively for Reserve Members

We've created something solely for Reserve Members that may be the most valuable benefit we've discussed yet... it's called the Agora Financial Focus List.

As you can see, Agora Financial publishes a steep deluge of investment ideas. Ideas that cover the entire spectrum of stock investment possibilities...from value investing to resources and hard assets to emerging technology companies to penny stocks...

You might be wondering: "That could end up being too many stock plays. If I don't want to go for all of them, how would I pick the best ones?"

We realize that it may be difficult to thoroughly go over and familiarize yourself with every single recommendation we offer you.

That's why each of our editors will handpick a small portion of their recommended stock plays to add to the Agora Financial Focus List. This portfolio will never have more than 20 stocks in it at one time, so it will be a breeze to use and understand.

The Focus List's recommendations will come from across all of the newsletters, directly from the editors themselves. Here's how it works:

Once per quarter, the editors will personally take a look at their contributions to the Focus List portfolio.

They will distill the absolute best stocks to buy from their already superlative track records — and, essentially, manage a unique, world-class portfolio for a small group of elite Reserve Members. That's pretty remarkable, don't you think?

We've conservatively valued this unique benefit at $995 per year.

As a Reserve Member, you get the Focus List for free for life.

Announcing the Legacy Program. . . and Your Free "Enduring Wealth Library"

We're not content to "merely" publish the most independent — and highly profitable — stock research newsletters and options services in the industry. Agora Financial has decided to jump right into the hitherto unknown world of book publishing.

You may know of The New York Times and Amazon.com best-sellers written by
long-time Agora Financial contributors like Chris Mayer, Bill Bonner, and me.

As a Reserve Member, you're entitled to copies of these books just after they're released... for free, of course.

All you do is give us a call or shoot us an e-mail and we'll FedEx you a copy.

As I said, you can find those books at any bookseller — but we'll send them to you FREE of charge. I call this series of books the "Enduring Wealth Library."

And there's one other special addition to this series. It's called Seeds of Wealth...

Seeds of Wealth is probably the most unique — and valuable — book I have seen come across my desk in my 18 years in financial publishing.

Seeds of Wealth is a wealth-building manual that helps you help your children become wealthy. Wealthy by their own efforts... It's actually quite easy for your child (or grandchild) to build a whopping $250,000 war chest by age 18 just with rigorous saving and the power of compound interest.

And as the Agora Financial editors and I thought about the benefits to your children and grandchildren that the Seeds of Wealth program can bestow, we came up with what could be the most powerful benefit to your Reserve Membership — the Agora Financial Legacy Program...

You Can Pass Your Reserve Membership on to Any Family Member of Your Choice!

As the Agora Financial team put the last round of updates into the Seeds of Wealth program a flash of brilliance struck someone — "Hey, if we're trying to help future generations build a life of comfortable affluence with Seeds of Wealth, shouldn't we allow our Reserve Members to pass on their Reserve Member status to their children?"

We all agreed that it was a great idea. So we instituted the Agora Financial Legacy Program, which allows a Reserve Member to pass membership over to a family member.

Of course, that family member is entitled to free receipt of every single Reserve service, newsletter, conference, book, and special report that the Reserve ever publishes...

But there's plenty more to the Reserve Membership benefits than all of the newsletters, options services, the Enduring Wealth Library and Legacy Program. In fact, we've come to what may very well be my personal favorite part of the Reserve...

Only for Reserve Members: Free Lifetime Enrollment in the Agora Financial "World Travel to Profits" Program

We fully realize that some sophisticated and successful investors want to do more with their time than steadily and aggressively grow their wealth.

At Agora Financial, we strive to provide you with the most thorough independent research that you can get. This thoroughness leads us to travel around the globe to find the next explosive opportunity. And since we have footholds and affiliate offices around the world, we often travel abroad to visit the companies and countries we research.

After a while, we developed a love for travel itself, without regard to the value it adds to our research. So when we came together and created the Reserve, we wanted to share the value that international (and domestic) travel has, for its own sake...

Let me quickly explain...

Your Personal Invitation to the Annual Agora Financial Reserve Summit. . .

As a Reserve Member, you will be exclusively invited to attend the yearly Summit meeting. The Summit is a private conference open only to Reserve Members.

Our editors will play host to you. They will speak to Reserve Members on the most exclusive of opportunities — those strictly limited to small groups. Intriguing, fun, and sometimes out-of-the-ordinary opportunities that can yield impressive gains.

And it's all included FREE with your Reserve Membership.

All you have to do is make it out to the Summit site and pay for lodging. We'll cover the conference, refreshments and meals.

In the past we've held our Reserve Summits in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia.

And future Summits could take place anywhere around the world where Agora Financial has a firm foothold — places like Paris; London; Waterford, Ireland; the Pacific coast of Nicaragua; Madrid; Melbourne; Milan; Johannesburg; Bonn; Baltimore; and Delray Beach, Fl.... or some other equally beautiful locale.

We conservatively value the Reserve Summit at $1,000 per year. As a Member, you get an exclusive invitation to each Reserve Summit every year, for free for life.

But, in addition to free admission to the Reserve-only Summit meetings, you will have free lifetime admission to Agora Financial Investment Symposium.

Here's Your Ever-Renewed and 100% Free Ticket to the Annual Agora Financial Investment Symposium

You may know that the annual Agora Financial Investment Symposium takes place every summer in Vancouver...

It's always a superb time, held in the historic Fairmont Hotel right in middle of my favorite North American city's lush, gorgeous downtown district...

The Investment Symposium is a comfortable, intimate multi-day conference at which all the Agora Financial editors give speeches and workshops on their proprietary research on stocks and options. In addition to the stately roster of Agora Financial editors, we handpick affiliated experts to speak at each of these conferences.

In the past we've welcomed Steve Forbes, Bill Bonner, Jim Rogers and Doug Casey.

The Investment Symposium generally costs $899. But, as a Reserve Member, you get "Always free, Always VIP" access to our public event of the year.

Please keep reading, though: That's not the final benefit bundled into your free lifetime enrollment in the Agora Financial Reserve's "World Travel to Profits" program...

The most unique, under-the-radar travel/investment opportunity we know about, though, could be this one:

Only for Reserve Members: Your Guide to Utterly Exclusive, Ground-Floor Deals on Rock-Bottom Real Estate in Formerly Downtrodden South American Countries

As a Reserve Member, you have the unique ability to get in early on some truly amazing real estate deals in forgotten countries like Nicaragua.

If the Reserve had existed and you had been a member at the time of our affiliate's first foray into Nicaragua... this could have happened:

For next to nothing, you could have bought a sizeable chunk of land sitting right on the rocky bluffs and pink beaches of the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. You might have built a palatial Spanish-style house for less than a third of what it would cost in the U.S. You could have lived in that home. You could've used it as a vacation getaway. Or you could've bought multiple lots and built multiple homes to sell at some future date...

Yes, it's obvious that such opportunities aren't for everyone.

We know that buying international real estate isn't the most convenient way of taking some decent gains. But, we figured that a small group of elite individuals like the Reserve Members would want every possibility open to it, from the ordinary to the exotic.

And if the possible real estate deals in paradisiacal locales weren't enough, we come to the final benefit of the Reserve's "World Travel to Profits" program... this final benefit is so sensitive that even Reserve Members must meet certain requirements to obtain an invitation... but once those requirements are met, you can act like a venture capitalist and get in on this type of hush-hush, closed-door opportunities.

The total yearly value of enrollment in the Agora Financial "World Travel to Profits" program: at least $2,690 per year.

Your Benefits Added Up: Save at Least $122,162

Lifetime subscriptions to all of our research newsletters...
value: $455 per year

Lifetime membership to all of our "VIP" stock research services...
value: $3,495 per year

Lifetime membership to all of our option trading services...
value: $8,970 per year

Lifetime receipt of the Agora Financial Focus List portfolio ...
value: $995 per year

Lifetime free enrollment in the "World Travel to Profits" program ...
value: $2,690 per year

Free Lifetime subscriptions to every single research newsletter and options service that the Reserve is able to publish in the future...
value: unknown, but massive.

The right to use the Legacy Program to pass your lifetime Reserve Membership to a member of your family...
value: priceless.

So, as you can see, the total measurable yearly value of a Reserve Membership is $16,605. And that yearly value will increase at a steady rate as we launch new research newsletters and options services.

That means... five years of Reserve benefits is conservatively valued at $83,025... and a full decade of stellar profits, travel, and research is worth $166,050, at the very least.

That's why you might think I'm crazy to offer the Reserve for a one-time $10,000 price for a lifetime of membership.

That's a savings of $6,605 in the first year alone... and you receive almost everything Agora Financial publishes for free for life! Over the next decade, you'll save a whopping $156,050... but wait — because I'm not going to charge anywhere near $10,000 for you to join the Reserve.

Why You Really Ought to Act Right Now. . .

For this invitation to the Reserve, I've also decided to slash the price another 35%, to only $6,497.

That's a small one-time payment for you to receive such a lifetime of research and gains.

That's all you'll ever pay, except for a small annual maintenance fee of $149 to cover the ever-rising print and postage costs — conveniently charged directly to your credit card each year.

Without this small maintenance fee, we wouldn't be able to offer the Reserve at such a low price — a price that could save you at least $158,212 over the next decade.

Please remember, though, that this offer is strictly limited.

When we hit our 1% enrollment limit or when Jan. 1 rolls around — whichever comes first — you may never see this special offer again. In fact, you may never see another Reserve Membership at any price.

If we offer Reserve Membership invitations again — and that's a pretty big "if" — the price could be $7,000 or higher. (The price may go even higher than that, depending upon how many new services we launch...)

So accept this invitation to make absolutely sure you can take advantage of the unique benefits reserved solely for Reserve Members.

After all, when we hit our 1%, we're going to carefully study how Reserve Members take advantage of the hush-hush and tiny, thinly traded opportunities open only to them. If we see that the Reserve's microscopic benefits can't handle any more exposure to serious investors, we will be forced to forever close the doors of the Reserve.

We'll simply have to shut it down, in that case, to protect the interests of Reserve members... so I recommend that you act immediately to ensure you grab your spot. And here's why you won't have a doubt about joining the Reserve right now:

Your Complete "Satisfied and Wealthy" Guarantee: Get the Reserve Free for 30 Full Days

Since the Reserve is the most uniquely beneficial service that Agora Financial has ever unveiled, it also has the most unwavering guarantee.

You get one full month to decide if the Reserve fits your needs and profit targets. If not, you can get a complete refund. You heard that right: If you let 30 days pass and call us on that last day of the month, we will immediately and cheerfully refund 100% of your membership price, no questions asked.

You keep every service and newsletter we provide you with over that month... so we're essentially offering you a free 30 days of our best research, along with the travel Summits and other services closed off to non-Reserve Members.

Why the heck would we do something like that?

You see, we want to make absolutely sure each and every Reserve Member is 100% satisfied with the pinnacle of Agora Financial service.

We want you to read our newsletters and take respectable, market-pummeling gains from the best stocks recommended therein. We want you to take monstrous, sometimes triple-digit gains in short time frames from our aggressively profitable options research services.

We want you to attend each and every one of our public conferences and Private Reserve Summits, to meet us personally and take advantage of the smaller hush-hush opportunities that can only be shared with small groups.

We want you to love — and profit from — the Reserve so much that you look forward to passing it onto your most loved family member through our Legacy Program.

If you're unsatisfied with even one aspect listed above, we don't want you to have to spent your hard-earned money on the Reserve.

That's why we insist on this guarantee that puts Agora Financial at considerable risk if you find yourself the least bit unsatisfied with the Reserve — because, after all, if the service is as good as we intend it to be, Agora Financial has no risk at all, because you'll be ecstatic with the benefits you derive from your Reserve Membership and you'll stay with us for the long haul.

Why It Might Be Unwise to Wait Until Midnight, Jan. 1. . .

I cannot stress this enough: We're going to close the Reserve Membership (perhaps for good) at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2009.

But I'm firmly convinced that we'll be forced to cut off memberships long before then. That's because I'm personally convinced that we'll hit our limit of 1% of existing Agora Financial readers very quickly.

 

You're Insane if You're Still Not in Renewable Energy

The doubters are still out there.

I'm referring to those who question the validity of renewable energy. . . those who think it's government-sponsored. . . who think it's not scalable.

Or even worse, those who think it's not profitable.

If you're one of them, you're wrong. Plain and simple.

Let me explain...

Biggest Banks in the World

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a finance forum held at the Waldorf Astoria a few weeks ago.

One by one, representatives of the smart money took to the podium to talk about their renewable energy investment strategies.

These weren't socialists or greenies. They were hardcore capitalists. And they love renewable energy.

In the panel titled Global Financial Markets, the heads of the largest investment banks in the world lined the stage and praised renewable energy for its business sense, not for its environmental stewardship.

Ray Wood of Credit Suisse said:

It's a phenomenal time to be involved with renewable energy. We actually have several titles for it within our firm and one of them is alternative energy. I'm very much looking forward to the day, which I think is coming soon, where the alternative part will be misrepresenting how important it is in terms of utility scale. And we think we're getting very close to that day.

And the other banks were just as sycophantic, rattling off their green stocks investment expertise one by one.

Citi's Vice Chairman boasted they've advised on 8 of the 10 largest green mergers and acquisitions since 2008, including the largest wind transaction ever between EDP Renewables and Horizon Wind ― worth $2.9 billion.

Jim Metcalfe, the Global Head of Power and Utilities at UBS, boasted his company is "the leading global franchise in advising and raising capital for renewable energy companies." And he had the chart to prove it.

This chart represents IPOs, M&A, Follow-on offerings, and Convertibles:

Nearly $8 billion worth of deals come from UBS alone. And that's without the other $30 billion coming from other global banks.

And the bragging didn't stop there.

Kevin Genieser, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, had the following to say:

We look at this as a global business. We have been extremely active all throughout the various markets around the globe, whether it be Europe, Latin America, North America, or even parts of Asia.

We have been doing different types of transactions. It's been everything from early stage private placements through IPOs through follow-on offering, project finance and, in particular, M&A. And based on the number of transactions we have been extremely active even in this down period.

We've done things in solar. We took First Solar public. We've done things within the smart grid having taken EnerNoc public. We just last night filed the IPO for A123 so hopefully we'll be kicking off, once again, the clean technology space with regard to IPOs.

But it wasn't all about the past.

Looking to the Energy Future

It was mentioned during the panel that since 2007, over half of new energy capacity additions have been renewable-based.

Think about that. For every two new megawatts of power capacity added in the last two years. . . more than one came from a renewable resource.

According to the panel, that's because of simple economics. Not because of policy. Not because a greener earth makes them feel all cozy. But because, according to Parker Weil of Bank of America, "It comes down to unit economics. It is obvious that if you ― for wind and solar, very capital intensive ― invest the initially high capital to displace fossil fuels you will make a very profitable return on invested capital. Returns well in excess of invested capital."

That sentiment echoed throughout the room.

Each bank executive continually pointed to the growing external costs associated with fossil fuels. Some of them have ceased funding new coal plants altogether.

And they all said capital is ready, once again, to flow in all forms. But after having just been burned by a financial crisis, they are being more selective about potential deals, mostly waiting for federal agencies to release stimulus funding rules before they proceed.

As that happens, they are still pursuing stocks investments in less-capital-intensive cleantech arenas. One of them happens to be the smart grid. Smart grid companies reach profitability sooner because many don't need large production facilities or the capital required to build them.

There was much talk about taking advantage of these opportunities now, before the release of stimulus rules and dollars shift the focus back to energy production technologies like solar and wind.

Make no mistake, the smart money is flowing into clean technologies. The largest and most well-capitalized banks in the world are chomping at the bit. And they are increasingly viewing long-term fossil fuel-related stock investments as liabilities.

If you haven't starting investing in cleantech yet, you're part of shrinking ― and increasingly less wealthy ― minority.

How to Read the Market for Short-Sell Signals

What started out as a hopeful week for investors turned sour Thursday as the markets sold off, leaving investors running for the sell button. The Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 all triggered short-sells last week. The Dow staged a five-waves up pattern, and then sold off as shown in the blue box.  This sell-off is called a First Thrust Down. 

The Dow then attempted to rally near its 50-day moving average in an attempt called a Pullback Off Lows, shown by the pink line.  The Pullback Off Lows pattern is a classic short-sell set-up, something investors keep their eyes open for to profit from a falling market. A break below the pink line triggers a short-sell ― that's just what happened Thursday.

As far as the NASDAQ is concerned, it too staged a five-waves up pattern.  After finding support at its 50-day moving average, it rallied, but only back to resistance at a prior high, thus forming a double top.  A break below the pink upward trend line triggers a short-sell.

These are classic short-sell patterns ― First Thrust Down for the Dow and Change In Trend (up to down) for the NASDAQ.

Finding Profitable Trades in This Market

Now that the indexes have triggered short-sell trades, we want to be looking for individual top stocks to buy that have formed the same short-sell patterns. 90% of successful investing in stocks is simply trading in tandem with the market.

The market talks to us through patterns, and it's talking right now. We want to be going short on stocks that have patterns similar to the indexes. When the indexes trigger a short-sell trade, we want to be going short in set-ups that are also triggering.  So here are some top stocks for 2010 that had similar set-ups to the indexes that triggered Thursday:

With AAPL and CTRP it's all about a downside break of the pink line. It's all you need to know to take a trade.  Notice how they mirror the chart of the NASDAQ?

Now let's take a look at these two top stocks with Thursday's action included. As you can see, both stocks triggered by breaking below the pink line.

First Thrust Down Short Sell Patterns

With NILE and BUCY it's all about the pink line ― a downside break a short sell.  Notice how the patterns are similar to the Dow?

Finally, let's take a look at these two top stocks with Thursday's action included ― again, both triggered.

While most investors scramble for a plan when the market turns south, you can sit back, relax, and let the market tell you what you should be doing to make a profitable trade. While the signs might not always be as clear as Thursday's were, knowing the patterns to look for can protect your portfolio from a big slide down the road. As always, we'll be on the lookout for the market's moves.

Faber and Greenspan: Shills for Fed Snake Oil

"Just how can the Fed credibly promise to be irresponsible...?"

Here's a thought ― that tiny handful of investors and analysts warning how Fed policy risks hyper-inflation are in fact doing the central bank's work.

The Fed wants you to believe hyperinflation is looming. Or at least, it should want that, if doubling its balance-sheet ― purchasing and lending against investment junk ― is going to work the wonders that modern central-bank theory says it can. And the Fed certainly wants you to believe it will stop at nothing to avoid deflation ("whatever means necessary" as the chairman put it put back in 2002).

So anyone touting the hyperinflation risk in public is playing the shill, a decoy ― seemingly unconnected ― proclaiming the miracle powers of Dr.Ben Bernanke's snake oil to CNBC anchors at every chance.

In fact, they're doing the Fed's work better than the Federal Reserve itself. Really.

"The major danger with a zero lower bound for the interest rate," said Swedish policy-wonk Lars Svensson (also a Princeton colleague of the Fed chief and his credit-bubble associate Paul Krugman) in a speech earlier this year, "is that inflation expectations will be too low and even negative, and that the real interest rate will thus become too high."

With it so far? Slashing interest rates to the very minimum of 0% suggests inflation has vanished, at least in the central bank's eyes. But that, in turn, reduces the rate of inflation expected by consumers, investors and business. Central banks are credible forecasters, you see. At least in central-bank eyes. So in Svensson's philosophy, the zero-rate solution to falling inflation proves self-fulfilling as people hoard cash and sit tight in bonds.

"It is thus necessary to...to counteract expectations of falling inflation, and preferably to create expectations of higher inflation," Svensson went on. But "as Paul Krugman put it" says the Riksbank's deputy governor, "How will the central bank 'credibly promise to be irresponsible'...?

Heaven knows the Fed's trying. (So's Krugman, to no one's surprise.) But while it's embraced credible recklessness, the Fed's stop short of French kissing it.

Why so coy...?

"We have a very serious recession, we have a 9.4% unemployment rate," said San Fran Fed governor Janet Yellen in a speech in California on Tuesday. "If we were not at zero, we would be lowering the funds rate...We should want to do more."

Just how much further would the Fed go ― all the way to hyperinflation perhaps? Racing to first base, "The vigorous policy actions of the Fed and other central banks, combined with sizable fiscal stimulus here and abroad, have sent a clear message that deflation won't be tolerated," Yellen said.

"Based on measures of inflation expectations," she went on, an apparently reading straight from Svensson, "the public appears confident that the Fed will adopt policies that will maintain a low, positive rate of inflation. Evidently, the credibility that the Fed and other central banks have built over the past few decades in bringing inflation down has spilled over into a belief that we won't allow inflation to get too low either."

Steady on, cheeky! Second base next, and "A glance at history shows that many countries with massive structural deficits and without an independent central bank turned to the printing press to pay off their debts," Yellen continued.

Straight to third then, and "That's a recipe for high inflation and, in some cases, hyperinflation."

Gulp, almost home! But then, somewhere between third and fourth base, the Fed's gone shy and rebuttoned its blouse. Because "I don't believe the United States faces that threat," Yellen said, showing the come-on to be just one big tease.
 
"Looking back in history, runaway fiscal deficits have often been accompanied by high inflation," she explained in Tuesday's speech in the bankrupt state of California. "But, since World War II, such a relationship has only held in developing countries. In countries with advanced financial systems and histories of low inflation, no such connection is found."

Oh man, what a let down! Who's gonna put out hyperinflation if not the Fed...?

"In order to make up for the collapse of credit, we are effectively creating money," said George Soros, the legendary if only occasionally accurate hedge funder, at a Washington forum in March. "If and when credit is restarted, you would then have an incredibly swollen monetary base, which, if it were leveraged, you would have an explosion of inflation."

The trouble comes, as Lars Svensson guessed back in January, with that "if and when". Because it opens the door to the idea that a central bank might opt instead to withdraw all this new money after the deflation panic has ended. And that in itself is enough to make creating it useless. Pointing to Japan's five-year experiment with "quantitative easing" between March 2001 and March 2006, said Svensson, boosting the monetary base by some 70% failed to "noticeably affect expectations of inflation and the future price level."
 
"For example, the Yen did not depreciate as it should otherwise have done. Firms and households clearly believed that the expansion of the monetary base was temporary and not permanent, which subsequently proved to be true. The monetary base fell back to normal levels when the interest rate was later raised to above zero."

Sure, the Bank of Japan's trillions did triple Japanese gold prices. But even with gold refusing to drop back against the Dollar right now, eagle-eyed readers will note that, quite apart from the urgent debate in Europe, the US authorities are at pains to deny they need an 'exit plan' any time soon. White House advisor Christina Romer made that much plain in last week's Economist magazine, blaming the double-dip depression of 1937 on "an unfortunate, and largely inadvertent, switch to contractionary fiscal and monetary policy." Yellen said it again Tuesday.

So Team Bernanke have got the right idea ― at least on Planet Svensson ― if not the right level of irresponsibility just yet. Slip a little vodka into their juice though, and they might start talking up inflation like Alan Greenspan, Bernanke's predecessor and the Maestro himself, writing last week in the Financial Times. He tried to spook everyone out of cash and into the stores by warning of a decade of inflation ahead!

"A pending avalanche of government debt is about to be unloaded on world financial markets," Sir Alan of Greenspan warned sagely, almost visibly winking from behind those enormous spectacles. "The need to finance very large fiscal deficits during the coming years could lead to political pressure on central banks to print money to buy much of the newly issued debt."

Or given enough sauce to get really loose, the Fed might even get crazy like Asia-based doomster Dr.Marc Faber. (He's been known to enjoy the odd cocktail or.) Stop warning on hyperinflation. Just come out and say it instead.

"I am 100% sure that the US will go into hyperinflation," as Faber told Bloomberg in late May, and again on June 29. "The US central bank has structured and introduced policies without considering exponential credit growth and its consequences," added the Gloom, Boom & Doom author in an interview with the Korea Times on Wednesday.

See what I mean about being a shill? It's like he's on the payroll...

"The United States will not raise interest rates for many years to come because it needs to pay off its huge debts," he went on, recommending inflation-friendly assets such as equities and gold bullion. "In turn, too much money in the economy will raise costs of everything, including healthcare and education, giving rise to hyperinflation."

There, now that's the way to do it! Greenspan and Faber on song, while the Bernanke Fed tip-toes around stating its aim:

Spark inflation and leave it to burn. Because putting it out worsened both the Great Depression and Japan's "lost decade" ― the one that started two decades ago and hasn't yet ended. Everyone who's anyone in monetary theory knows that.

And if they claim otherwise, maybe they're the ones kidding.

I hope you had a happy Fourth, Shooters.

Your editor hid in the Whiskey Bunker for the entirety of the extended weekend with only very brief forays to train for an upcoming meet and to acquire some chicken tikka masala. He didn't sink his teeth into a single hot dog nor sip a single beer. 

Don't cry for me, however, dear bar patrons. I had your letters to keep me warm and happy. And chicken tikka masala.

We start today with an apology and a correction…

Dear Gary,

My public education failed me!  I understood the exchange between you and the two-time veteran but only because of self-educating.  Please, if W & G if going to become a Latin language publication, give me an option for the vulgate version.

I am very sorry. I get a little whimsical and Latin-y every now and then. And looks like I might have gotten it wrong anyway…

I really enjoy Whiskey and Gunpowder. It is one of the few must-reads of the day.  My latin is not good enough to correct anyone, but in today's issue (July 3rd) you used the phrase "Republica nostra, recquiescat in pacem."  I could not make sense of it. Perhaps you meant "res publica nostra requietum in pacis." 

Like several of your readers, I too live in Texas, out in the oil patch of West Texas.  I find the people here to be more inclined to individual liberties than other places in the country I have been.  Parents with coffee cans of silver coins, getting my first firearm at age eight, it all parallels my personal experience.  Keep up your good work.

Thanks and I meant to address our dear, departed Republic and then to say "may she rest in peace." I suppose I did mean "respublica." I will have another shot of Maker's Mark as penance.

I greatly enjoy W&G, although my indulgences run strictly to the G side. However, the commentary today reminded me of a quote from Robert Heinlein, attributed to one of his characters, Lazarus Long: "Beware of strong drink. It can cause you to shoot at tax collectors - and MISS!"

Keep up the great work, and have a great Fourth!

I will and I did.

Heh. What's funnier than a dead tax collector?

A dead tax collector in a clown suit!

A letter from last week got Linda all riled up…

You can either read this or Atlas Shrugged and pay attention.  Rand wrote nearly 1300 pages; I'll give you the gist more succinctly. 

"[Libertarians] have not figured out that Capitalism is inconsistent with Peak Oil; therefore, practically everything they write is a little wrong if not completely wrong."

Au contraire, starry-eyed albeit glum critics.  The more scarce resources are, the more imperative it is that they be in the hands of those who will make the most of them.  Those who have skills, knowledge, experience, and capital of their own they are risking, instead of Federal fairy gold. Free market principles―to the rare extent that they have been practiced since the days of castles on the Rhein―are what lead to comfort, security, and free time for those who are not capable of great production, thought, inventiveness, dedication, or analysis, for those who could never invent a light bulb, but benefit from the efforts of Thomas Alva Edison, one of my heroes.  The position of socialists and fascists purports to be that only government can allocate resources efficiently and effectively, although the true motives are power and paying off mercenaries (as in Mad Mike Hoare's, that is, although Mad Mike was usually on the side of the good guys) and other minions.

As usual Linda can be found holding forth in her corner of the bar. Today she pays homage to American hero Ed Freeman.

A Shooter asked, "So I'd like to know what Mr. Kunstler thinks of Cap & Trade."

I passed the question on to James Howard Kunstler who sent this response:

GG―

That's a tough one.
   
I was a speaker last week at a small conference (Vail Valley Institute).  One of the other four speakers was a policy wonk from DC  ― popular blogger Joe Romm ― very focused on the hazards of climate change and pro the "Cap-and-Trade" bill. (It was passed narrowly by the house while we were all there in Vail).
   
If you read Matt Tabbai's new piece on Goldman Sachs in Rolling Stone, you get quite a different view of the Cap-and-Trade policy ― as yet another way for Goldman Sachs to broker exchange payments and suck in vast fees.  Not a very appetizing view of it all.  And there is an argument that the EPA could simply mandate different behavior from the power companies and manufacturers, without all the money-swapping rigmarole. 
  
My conclusion so far is that this is just more of our campaign to sustain the unsustainable.  It will take many forms.  Climate change blogger Joe Romm, for instance, is very aggressive about getting electric cars going on a mass basis.  I regard anything that promotes continued car dependency to be fundamentally insane.

Jim.

In the meantime, you know where you can put those questions… 

And one of you actually appreciated my musings!

Gary, your meditations on our misplaced fear of capitalism is dead on. It is a measure of the consistency and extent of our brainwashing that we even harbor these fears. Vast, centralized government is the creature which has enabled monopolistic smothering of market innovation, inefficient use of national economic resources, the protection of favored industries/classes/individuals, the debasement of the currency to the detriment of savers...not to mention the death of 56 million of its citizens worldwide just in the 20th century alone.

The fact that we lay failure at the doorstep of capitalism, even with the gargantuan, revolting and painfully obvious destruction brought about by centralized authorities before our eyes, is one of the mysteries that continues to elude a rational explanation.

If we truly are in the midst of a paradigm shift―and I believe we are―one of the casualties in the longer term is going to be the image of centralized authority as the author of positive change. It is one thing to fumble now and again, another to systematically loot your citizens of their wealth and freedoms.

How perfect that the solution has already been so clearly articulated by the Founders. God bless them; may we one day live up to their expectations for us:That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Your Ticket to Huge Forex Trading Wealth

With regular top stocks you can buy a call option if you think the price will go up...or buy a put if you think the price will go down. And the option multiplies the stock price move by up to ten times.

Well, the same basic options system applies to major world currencies, too. There is actually a safe and easy way to play lucrative options on six major world currencies: the British pound, the yen, the euro, the Swiss franc, the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar.

You can play options on currencies the same way you would on a normal old stock.

Options are a great way to trade Forex with strict minimum risk and very little starting capital...and it doesn't have to be difficult.

Philadelphia is the center of the Forex universe.

Yes, a city known for the Liberty Bell and cheese steaks is actually the most important city in the world for currency trading.

And today, I'm going to show you how Philadelphia Forex can make you huge, work-free gains. Over and over again. I'll explain everything in just a moment…

For now, know this — the biggest, fastest, and easiest Forex gains come from good old Philly.

I use Philadelphia Forex every day. I make a fine living at it too.

Recently, I've collected gains like 122% in only eight days, 98% in just two days, and 100% almost overnight for a select group of folks just like you…

In the next four minutes, I'll tell you everything I know about Philadelphia Forex.

I'll show you why it blows the doors off plain old Forex trading.

PLUS — I'll show why you don't have to be an expert in Forex to make huge gains fast.

See, you don't have to know any charts.

You don't have to sit up all night studying currency trading ranges.

You don't have to do any real work… because I do it all for you…

However, if you want your own Philadelphia Forex gains, I must hear from you before Midnight, Thursday, July 16.

I'll tell you all about that date in just a moment…

First, here's just a taste of what makes Philadelphia Forex so incredibly lucrative…

HUGE Philadelphia Forex Profits — The Easy Alternative to the "Tiny Moves"in Plain Old Forex

"Regular" Forex trading means sitting around for hours, watching for tiny fluctuations. Hoping to squeeze out 1% or 1.5% per trade.

Those are tiny moves. Tiny moves mean tiny profits. To make real money, you have to string together tiny win after tiny win after tiny win.

And god forbid you make a loss to wipe out all of those painfully taken tiny wins…

If you're lucky — most "regular" Forex strategies can return single-digit gains over long periods of time…

Philadelphia Forex, however, lets you book gains that are exponentially bigger… in less time… with less work and stress…

Here's an example…

On March 17, 2009 I sent a very short, very direct email recommendation to my readers.

I simply and clearly told them exactly which Philadelphia Forex move to make…

Two days later — at 10:07am on Thursday, March 19 — I sent my readers another simple email.

I told them to sell half their Philadelphia Forex position for 98.6% gains.

That's just about double your money. In 48 hours.

But it gets better…

16 days later — on Friday, April 3 — at 2:54pm — I sent my readers another simple email.

In that email I recommended they close the other half of their Philadelphia Forex position.

The result? 122.6% gains on the second half…

Here's how it looked…

One Hot Philadelphia Forex Play At Work…

	March 17 — I sent my readers a simple email
	March 19 — I sent another — and booked 98.6%
	April 3 — I sent yet another — and booked 122.6%

Add 98.6% and 122.6% (the two halves of the position) and you get a total average gain of 110.6% — in just 18 days.

That's bigger than double your money — in only 18 days.

That's the power of Philadelphia Forex, right there. It's no-work gains for you!

That's the power you can harness today.

By now, I bet you're wondering what exactly I mean when I say there's a special type of Forex trading happening in Philly.

Well, here's the scoop…

Philadelphia Forex, Revealed — Your Ticket To HUGE Forex Trading Wealth…

You know how with regular stocks you can buy a call option if you think the price will go up? Or buy a put if you think the price will go down? And that the option multiplies the stock price move by up to ten times?

Well, the same basic options system applies to major world currencies too.

What I call Philadelphia Forex is actually a safe and easy way to play lucrative options on six major world currencies. These are the British pound, the yen, the euro, the Swiss franc, the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar.

These currency options started out on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange — which is actually the oldest stock exchange in America.

So, yes, it is true — Philadelphia is responsible for the biggest, fastest, safest Forex gains.

Because I can play options on currencies the same way I would on a normal old stock.

Options are a great way to trade Forex with strict minimum risk and very little starting capital…

Now here's the best part…

Even if everything I just said is "Greek" to you — you can still get started making Philadelphia Forex profits.

And you could start raking in some serious money in a hurry.

How?

Well it all goes back to my simple philosophy — just like I described in the emails I sent to my readers like you saw above…

My Philosophy in a Nutshell = Your Path to Gains

Here's my philosophy on Philadelphia Forex in a nutshell:

1. I do all the work.

2. I tell you what the best play is.

3. You decide whether to execute that play for maximum profits.

That's all there is to it!

In just a moment, I'll even show you my entire strategy for picking the best Philadelphia Forex plays — from start to finish.

PLUS — I'll tell you all about a shocking setup I'm tracking — and give you four ways to play it for huge gains! Yes, I'll GIVE you my exclusive guide to the rest of 2009 — FOR FREE!

 You'll see just how lucrative this setup I'm tracking could be — and learn how to simply and easily put yourself in position for the biggest gains with my newest report — it's called 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro.

So to help you reach a decision if Philadelphia Forex is really for you, let me show you more about how I make such impressive FX options gains so fast…

Finally! Huge Forex Profits — Made EASY for YOU!

On Monday, October 27, 2008 — at 1:17pm, I sent a short email to my readers. In this email, I recommended one simple Philadelphia Forex move.

If they wanted to take advantage of my recommendation, my readers didn't need any special knowledge. They never even had to glance at a chart.

I laid out my case slowly and simply — in just a few words.

Even better (wait until you see this) — my readers don't need any special trading accounts.

And my readers don't need to go through some complex brokerage to execute the trades I recommend.

So — how did they do?

By noon on Wednesday of the same week, I told my readers to sell half their position for a 100% gain.

Of course, I gave the sell alert via another simple, easy-to-follow email.

See, all I do is open up the world of lucrative Philadelphia Forex trading for anyone who wants to take part — and see some fast gains.
Fast Gains In Just 48 Hours — The Breakdown…

Philadelphia Forex BUY Email:
Mon., Oct. 27 — 1:17pm

Philadelphia Forex SELL Email:
Wed., Oct. 29 — 12:01pm

RESULT = 100% Gains in 48 Hours
Turning $1,000 into $2,000, or $2,500 into $5,000

 

 In fact, I've been perfecting my methods and strategy for over 15 years. I'll tell you my complete story in just a moment…

But right now it breaks down like this —

You could get started trading "small moves" Forex by spending a ton of money for some course you see advertised on TV. Or you could give some computer program you see advertised on the Internet a chance…

But that would be a bad idea. Because you'd probably lose money. And pay a lot for the "privilege" to do so…

OR — you could begin trading Philadelphia Forex with me. And start raking in gains just days from today…

In fact, I can PROVE that you'll never want to go back to top stocks for 2010 or any other type of investing once you try Philadelphia Forex.

Here's exactly how I can PROVE it too…

THE HARD PROOF — Philadelphia Forex Can Make You a Fast, Work-Free Fortune

Here's how strongly I believe in the power of Philadelphia Forex to deliver huge, fast gains…

… And why I'm so adamant that Philadelphia Forex could be YOUR ticket to HUGE, FAST, no work gains…

I haven't bought a single stock in over 10 years. Why?

Because I can make BIGGER gains, FASTER — just like you've seen — by trading Philadelphia Forex plays.

And once I show you how you can make huge Philadelphia Forex gains over and over again — I bet you won't ever want to buy stocks either…

But it gets better…

Not only haven't I bought a stock in over a decade — but I'm also 100% willing to share HOW I make great Philadelphia Forex profits in ANY kind of market…

Up markets — down markets — it just doesn't matter.

Philadelphia Forex works whether the markets are going up, sliding down, or trading sideways…

And with regular stock buying, for example, you sometimes have to wait years until your stock reaches a decent enough gain that you can sell for a profit.

Philadelphia Forex is FASTER.

It offers plays that can sometimes pay off in just hours or days…

Yes, it is a rare opportunity you have today.

With Philadelphia Forex, all the old rules don't apply. All the old "wisdom" you hear on television — it simply doesn't apply.

So what makes Philadelphia Forex so special, you're wondering? What is it exactly that sets it apart from all the strategies touted on TV and the Internet?

The answer is actually shockingly simple… just like every other tremendous benefit to Philadelphia Forex. Let me explain…

Philadelphia Forex Lets You Make Huge Gains in Just Hours or Days…

The Forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the entire world. That's why trading Philadelphia Forex is the best engine for making huge, fast, easy gains!

And when I say "liquid" — what I really mean is the Forex market is the biggest mountain of money in existence.

 For example, over $4 trillion — that's TRILLION — changes hands in Forex trades each and every day.

$4 trillion. Each day. Think about that for a second…

Some days, that means up to 40 times more money is floating around in Forex markets than in all the best stock markets around the world…

All that money — all that sloshing liquidity — it boils down to one huge benefit for you if you're using the options I recommend:

Positions change, are bought and sold, and MOVE more than in any other market on earth…

Now — all this activity, all this action — it provides a chance for smart traders to get in, make their play, and get out with profits.

Of course, all the action also gives knuckleheads an opportunity to make a bad play, lose their shirt, and walk away with zip.

Which is why you need a strategy. You need a series of Philadelphia Forex "guideposts" to rule your moves — so you can get in, get your profits smartly, and get out quick.

That's what I do.

I'm offering lucrative Philadelphia Forex plays — and how to simply, easily, and quickly put them in action.

PLUS — I tell you exactly when it's time to take the gains and go home for the day.

It's that easy. In fact, here's another example of how I use Philadelphia Forex to make fast, easy gains…

Step-By-Step Example — Fast 100% Gains For My Readers [And You If You Act Today]

On Thursday, April 16 — I saw several of my Philadelphia Forex indicators lining up.

Once I was sure I had all the potential moves correctly plotted, I wrote one simple email to my readers.

The recommended Philadelphia Forex play?

It was a simple call position on the Australian dollar.

My readers could've picked up contracts for just $195 each.

It was a classic low-risk, high-reward setup.

Just a few weeks later, I sent my readers the sell recommendation at 11:45am on Monday, May 11.

We had locked in our stake to the Australian dollar calls.

Then, we simply waited for them to play out.

My simple email to my readers on May 11 recommended the close of our position

The result? 100% gains. Right on the nose.

Double your money — in just over three weeks.

That's Philadelphia Forex at work right there. Fast, easy. And the shot at huge amounts of cash rolling in the door for you…

Now I can show you fast, easy Philadelphia Forex gains all day. But it's time I showed you what my readers have to say about the profits they're raking in…

A few months ago, some of these folks were just like you — on the outside. They hadn't even heard of Philadelphia Forex.

But they took advantage of their rare opportunity — and started raking in big, fast gains with my Philadelphia Forex trades…

My Readers Share Their Stories — As Their Philadelphia Forex Profits Keep Rolling In…

YES — the fast, easy, work-free Philadelphia Forex gains are right there for you to take. Every single day.

	"I made 81%! Bought the Pound at 1.50 and sold at 2.71. Keep them coming!"
	— Paul Z, Fort Myers FL
	"From $1400 in early March… to $4,800 before the end of June!"
	—Timothy V, Chicago
	"Nice call! In at 3, out at 3.80, 22% in 24 hours. Thank you!"
	— Adam Thomas, Syracuse NY
	"Thanks for another great option call! I got my position on Wed. at $3 even, per contract, and sold yesterday for $3.90. 30% in 48 hours — nice!"
	— John M., Omaha NE
	"[Symbol] - Bought at 1.50, sold at 2.85. 90% gain! [Symbol] - Bought at 3.08, sold at 5.20. 69% gain!'
	— Walter I. Richards, Portland ME

With gains like these, you can choose to never go back to the choppy, unpredictable stock markets — just like I did over a decade ago…

Here are some more comments from happy readers…

	"This is my first trade using this new service. 33% in 2 days!"
	— Doug F., Sante Fe NM
	"I made over $700, about 80%!"
	— Felix B., Westminster MD
	"I made 27% on my first Philadelphia Forex trade!"
	— Michelle, Lock Haven PA
	"I made a very, very nice profit on 12 options."
	— Andrew V., Colorado Springs CO

Now, I have to be honest. I love receiving mail from my readers.

It lets me know I'm doing my job right.

More importantly, it shows that ordinary people are taking my recommendations and putting them to use. It proves that my private Philadelphia Forex strategy can make absolutely anyone money!

Plus — mail from happy readers proves what I've been showing you here.

Now, before I show you all the details on the shocking Philadelphia Forex trend I'm tracking right now — and before I give you FOUR special ways to play it…

I know I have to tell you my whole story.

Including how I cracked Philadelphia Forex and discovered your key to huge profits. I think you'll find my story proves everything I've been revealing today…

Just For You: How I Built Incredible Success With My Philadelphia Forex Strategy…

My name is Bill Jenkins. I run an elite trading research service called Master FX Options Trader. How I came to create it is a story worth telling…

See, I grew up in a working-class family and have six brothers.

Since we never had much of it, money always interested me.

My father worked very hard to put his seven sons through school — and he saw to it that I received a top-grade seminary education.

But minister's salaries being what they were, and once I had my own rapidly growing family — I needed to turn somewhere else to make extra money.

Keep in mind, I didn't start out with an account full of "speculation" money. I needed extra money to feed my family and keep the lights on.

So I knew I needed to do something. Because the way I was going — and how fast my family was growing — I knew I'd never make it if I couldn't earn extra income…

That's when a friend told me the stock market was a great place to make money.

What this friend failed to tell me was that stocks were a great way to lose money too. He probably assumed I'd figure that part out on my own.

And I did. Big time.

And boy, did I ever lose a bundle.

Then I tried commodities. I lost more money. I shifted to stock options. I lost even more.

I admit it — I was struggling. Things weren't looking good…

Then, in 1993, I found currency options. It was a Euro dollar call that started it all.

I made $1,000.

That might not seem like a lot to you — but it meant the world to me.

Of course, after making that first $1,000 I was hungry for the next $1,000.

My Philadelphia Forex Secret — The Simple Discovery That Changed My Life…

I bought every single book on currencies and currency options I could find.

I bought a few complex "system" courses from Forex "experts".

I bought into all the FX noise out there… and my fortunes turned. For the worse.

In all honesty, I've never told anyone exactly how much money I lost in those early years. Only my wife knows the number…

But I'll tell you this — I lost more than most people make in a year.

But I'm not bitter about my early struggles.

Because through all my reading, all my studying, all my early trading — I learned one important trick.

I learned through tweaking and relentlessly perfecting my strategy that if I simply "reversed" what all those experts and all those books said, I'd be in a stronger position to see real gains…

By reversing their advice, I forced myself to study each and every building block of trading.

And that's when my Philadelphia Forex strategy began to take shape…

I learned the entire world of Forex from the ground up, one piece at a time. Over the course of years, and countless hundreds of personal trades, I perfected a way to risk very little — but still have the chance at potentially life-changing gains….

It's a personal, proprietary strategy that's been working like gangbusters for a select group of people — my readers at Master FX Options Trader.

In fact, I'll show you exactly how my strategy works right now… with an actual alert I sent to my readers a short while ago…

Profit Potential Right at Your Fingertips — My Philadelphia Forex Alerts… Revealed

Here's the alert I sent on Oct. 27 to my readers. This recommendation ended up a 100% winner in just over 24 hours.

That's it. That's how easy it is.

I lay out my case for the current Philadelphia Forex recommendation in just a few words, tell you exactly what the best play is, and a normal brokerage account can do the rest.

All you have to do is make a phone call — and collect the profits.

Just like my readers could have done with these British pound calls.

They could've made up to 100% in just a day.

In fact, here's the "RECOMMENDATION" line of my sell email.

That's an incredible 100% gain IN JUST ONE DAY!

Now, I also promised I'd show you how my strategy works — how I find the best Philadelphia Forex gains.

I promise that my alert emails will NEVER be as "complex" as the stuff you're about to see. I never go into technical details in the action-to-take buy alerts…

In the interest of honesty and full disclosure though, I know I must show you HOW I find the best Philadelphia Forex winners…

Exclusive Access For You: Here's How I Pick the Best Philadelphia Forex Plays

What I'm about to show you is the heart and soul of my Philadelphia Forex strategy.

In fact, I'll lay out how I approach Philadelphia Forex trading for you step by step.

Then, I'll even tell you exactly what research has led me to believe the Euro could be headed for a huge fall.

Fast-acting traders are going to make a mint off the plays I suggest in 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro…

My Philadelphia Forex Track Record Speaks For Itself — Reply Today and Start Seeing Gains Like…

So here's exactly how I scour the Forex markets to find these huge gains...

I want to show you the exact technical indicators behind the Philadelphia Forex strategy I used to hit the 100% homerun in less than 48 hours you just read about above. It's a look "under the hood" if you will.

BUT — you can skip this entire explanation if you want to. Some might see it as the "boring stuff." Because, like I said, you won't need to know any of this to take advantage of my simple Philadelphia Forex plays.

I just want to explain to you fully in case you're interested in the nuts and bolts of my strategy. Here goes…

The charts you'll see show the British pound relative to the U.S. dollar.

That's what I do. I crunch the technicals. I study the fundamentals. So you don't have to.

Then I mash all my information together and send you winning Philadelphia Forex plays.

And I can start picking winning moves for YOU starting today.

Because I'm ready to immediately send you 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro at Midnight so long as I hear from you BEFORE Midnight, Thurs., July 16… the profits in store for the fast-acting few are simply amazing!

Now here's all the details on this epic profit avalanche I'm tracking…

The Most Lucrative Philadelphia Forex Setup I've Ever Seen… Open To You Until Midnight, July 16

Here's the scoop on the lucrative setup for profits I'm tracking right now: the Euro is set for a fall.

And with 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro — you can play this fall for huge, fast, work-free Philadelphia Forex gains…

I will send you 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro immediately upon hearing from you — so long as you reply to this note BEFORE Midnight, Thursday, July 16. You get this shocking report 100% FREE.

First thing Friday morning, you'll be ready to make the one simple call or make the few easy clicks of the computer mouse in your hand to put these plays in place…

Here's my point… all my research leads me to believe that any trader who stakes a claim to a declining Euro right now can make hundreds of percent in gains in the coming months…

See, I used my Philadelphia Forex strategy on the Euro — spend time knee-deep in the fundamental data (PLUS crunched all the technicals) and it convinced me that we're on the verge of a big move down for the Euro.

That's exactly how 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro is poised to strike for massive gains…

I'm talking about the potential for HUGE gains — for the next YEAR!

Point is — my research has the Euro knocked out cold. I'm looking at all the plays. I'm surveying the field. I have what I think is a four-part strategy for huge gains as the Euro crumbles. RIGHT NOW is the time to act…

Because gains like the ones I'm showing you today can pop up in no time at all…

Your Personal Easy-Street to No-Work Profits From the Crumbling Euro —Huge Gains Possible in Just HOURS

Philadelphia Forex plays can sometimes explode to huge gains at a lightning pace.

And it comes as no surprise that there's recently been some huge activity with Euro put plays.

What you're about to see are Philadelphia Forex plays banking on a fall in the Euro relative to the U.S. dollar.

Here's just a sample of the huge gains that have popped up...

On May 18, by 10:39am — just an hour and nine minutes after the markets opened — a select Euro put was up 300%!

This means that on just one market morning, traders who got in and out at the perfect time could've profited from simple moves and seen gains of...

Fast, No-Work Philadelphia Forex Gains on May 18 — In Just One Hour and Nine Minutes…

300% Gains — In Just Over 1 Hour — It's That Fast and Easy!

That Turns $1,000 into $4,000 — Before Mid-Morning Coffee Time!

Just think of the safe, reliable Philadelphia Forex money you could be raking in starting today.

In 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro I tell you which Euro plays I think could be the most lucrative in the coming months…

PLUS, I also give you two unique, for-your-eyes-only strategies to play the fall of the Euro — OUTSIDE normal Philadelphia Forex moves.

Point is — even as the Euro falls, you'll ALSO be raking in PROTECTED, DIVERSE gains from my two other strategies…

It's an epic profit set up that could easily return thousands of percents in gains to you yet this year — or even just in the next few months. The sky's the limit!

All you have to do is make sure I hear from you before Midnight, Thursday July 16 — because you simply must have 4 Ways to Profit From A Crumbling Euro BEFORE the markets open on Friday.

To see the biggest, fastest, earliest gains — you absolutely must be on board with me at Master FX Options Trader before Midnight, Thursday, July 16.

And here's a shocking offer I'm making you to GUARANTEE you don't let this opportunity slip through your fingers…

My In-Your-Hands-Only Offer to Join Mast