Archives for March 2013

March 2013 - Page 20 of 20 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

The Best Way to Trade the Currency Wars

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The world may not be engaged in a currency war yet, but it is engaged in a growth war.

With domestic demand in most home countries anemic to moderate, the universal objective is growth by exports.

Unfortunately, countries doing battle in the growth-by-exports wars end up skirmishing in the foreign exchange markets. That's because every country that wants to export its goods and services wants them to be relatively cheap compared to its global competitors.

Driving down your home currency relative to the currencies of the buyers of your products is a way of implementing a "cover all bases" export growth strategy.

Of course, as countries trade blows in this "beggar thy neighbor" strategy, besides the danger of a debilitating currency war breaking out, rough and tumble currency manipulation leads to disruptive volatility in stocks, commodities, and bonds.

But while you personally can't do anything about currency battles or a full-blown currency war, it doesn't mean you can't profit from all the volatility.

Here are some simple ways to hedge your portfolio and have fun trading the markets to profit from bickering neighbors throwing currency Molotov cocktails at each other.

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The Seven Best Investments for 2013

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A year ago, I asked each of our experts here at Money Map Press to recommend their best investment ideas for the 12 months to come.

Of the five stocks our experts recommended in "The Five Stocks You Have to Own in 2012," two more than doubled in price.

And the biggest winner posted a peak gain of 153%. A year later, here we are with a fresh set of recommendations for 2013.

I talked to each of our in-house gurus – including Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, gold-and-natural-resources expert Peter Krauth, high-tech maven Michael A. Robinson – and asked each for their single-best investment idea for the rest of this year.

Verizon to Ink Overseas LTE Deal - Analyst Blog

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Verizon Communication Inc. (VZ) – the largest 4G LTE operator in the U.S. — plans to enter into an international roaming agreement for 4G LTE services for the first time since its launch in 2010. The new deal is expected to be signed in the forthcoming quarters. However, the name of the carrier has yet […]

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Should You Be Worried About a Bond Market Crash?

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Talk of a bond market crash has been building for months, and not just among obscure financial bloggers.

Articles sounding the alarm about a bond market crash have appeared time and again in many mainstream publications.

Recent headlines like "Danger Lurks Inside the Bond Boom" (The Wall Street Journal), "How Banks Could Get Blown Away by Bond Bubble" (Fortune), and "Beware the Bond Bubble in 2013" (CNNMoney) have raised concern among investors.

Here's the problem: Interest rates are at historic lows. That makes bond prices relatively high.

There's pretty much nowhere left for rates to go but up. That might be good for buyers of bonds in the future, but terrible for those who hold bonds stuck at low rates.

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7 Dividend Stocks with 50 Years of Increasing Payouts

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As Money Morning Executive Editor Steve Christ told us this week, finding solid dividend stocks in different sectors is a key to finding financial freedom, thanks to compounding.

"This compounding effect arises when your dividend yield is added to the principal. From that moment on, the interest begins to earn interest on itself," explained Christ. "Over the long haul, that process can add up to a small fortune – even with very modest investments. All it takes is time."

How do you find theses reliable dividend payers?

For starters, consider dividend stocks that have a history of raising their payout. Dividend.com recently compiled a list of stocks that have hiked their dividends for at least 25 years.

To take it a step further, we compared that list to Standard & Poor's "Dividend Aristocrats" – large-cap, blue-chip companies that have increased dividends for at least 20 consecutive years.

Some of the "Aristocrats" have hiked their payouts for much longer than that, like these seven, which have done so for at least 50 years:

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Watch What Carl Icahn Does to These Energy Stocks

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Energy stocks have been largely left behind in the recent stock market rally – except for those with interest from activist investors like Carl Icahn.  

You see, concerns about global demand as well as political pressure to focus on alternative energy have weighed on energy stocks. So have the low price and oversupply conditions in the natural gas markets.

Many of these energy stocks trade at what seem to be very low prices compared with the assets owned by the corporations and their future prospects.

This has attracted the attention of many activist investors looking to force the share price to unlock the real value of the underlying corporation.

One of the best-known activist investors, Carl Icahn, has accumulated several positions in leading energy companies in the past year because of low prices and under-valuations.

Take, for example, what Icahn's done with CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE: CVI).

Icahn owns 83% of CVR, a refiner that has seen its stock price soar recently as refining margins have improved. The company also has a fertilizer business that is a major beneficiary of lower natural gas prices.

The stock has better than doubled in the past year so it would be foolish for investors to chase the shares now.

But CVR does serve as an example of the sizable returns Icahn is looking to achieve in his foray into additional energy investments, like the following two stocks he's been accumulating.

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You Only Wish You Could Live Like a Congressional Fat Cat

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Spoiled by congressional perks most Americans could only dream of, Washington lawmakers have utterly lost any sense they may have had of the true value of money.

With annual salaries more than triple that of the average American worker, short work weeks and an array of benefits that would make most CEOs jealous, it's no wonder members of Congress can't manage the nation's budget.

That's why the nation is more than $16.5 trillion in debt and needs to borrow 46 cents out of every dollar it is spending this year.

And it's a big reason why Congress can never seem to figure out how to solve any of America's most pressing fiscal problems.

Congress hasn't even passed a budget in four years, even though it is required by law to do so every year.

You won't believe how well these folks live – and every dime that pays for this lavish lifestyle comes straight out of the pockets of taxpayers.

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This Time-Tested Strategy Could Be Your Winning Lottery Ticket

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Every time I talk to my nephew Sam, I realize youth really is wasted on the young.

Fresh out of college, what my brother's son knows about the real world couldn't fill a thimble.

At age 22, he just doesn't know what he doesn't know yet. He's brash, idealistic, a bit hardheaded, and ends up making a lot of rookie mistakes – especially when it comes to the stock market.

Like most novice investors, he'd much rather chase the latest big momentum stock than actually work to build true wealth over time.

When I try to nudge him toward a portfolio of solid dividend-paying stocks, all he really wants to talk about are the "hot stocks," or what I call "the flavors of the month."

Even after he got absolutely roasted last year buying Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) shares, he still couldn't wait to load up on Facebook (Nasdaq:FB) when it debuted.

And since Facebook's astronomical P/E ratio couldn't stop him, I figured I probably couldn't either.

I just hope that after a while, some of these hard lessons will finally begin to sink in.

Medical Miracle: Biotech Duo Is "Printing" New Organs

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Imagine a future in which anyone needing a transplant could just create the needed tissue on their home printer.

That day hasn't arrived yet … but it's getting closer all the time.

A partnership between a global software firm and an early-stage biotech player is already promising to transform the field of medical transplants.

And for many patients, that day can't get here soon enough.