Archives for May 2013

May 2013 - Page 5 of 20 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

California Just Gave Us a Glimpse of How Obamacare Will Fail

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Turns out no one knows how Obamacare will work – not even the big-name insurers.

And now, we're starting to see the effects of uncertainty.

Today (Thursday), the Los Angeles Times reported that United Health, Aetna, and Cigna have opted out of the California insurance exchange.

UnitedHealth has adopted a wait-and-see policy: "We are simply taking the time to carefully evaluate and better understand how the exchanges will work to ensure we are best prepared to participate meaningfully in their development," explains a spokesman to the LA Times.

Cigna resolved to participate in exchanges in only half of the 10 states where it sells individual health policies, and California didn't make the cut.

Aetna referred LA Times' questions to Covered California, the state agency in charge of implementing Obamacare.

That means millions of Californians who will have to choose health insurance from exchanges or face a penalty will not be able to pick plans from those three big insurers – signaling limited options ahead thanks to Obamacare.

UnitedHealth, Aetna, and Cigna's response to the California exchange is just the beginning.

These three companies are but the first dominoes to fall to Obamacare's less-than-clear implementation.

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That 7.3% Japanese Stock Market Plunge Was Just a Warning

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Wall Street woke up to grim news on Thursday morning (today) – overnight the Japanese stock market, as measured by the Nikkei index, lost a stunning 7.3%.

The sudden drop caught many investors by surprise, as the Japanese stock market had risen 50% – 5,277 points – so far in 2013. The Nikkei plummeted 1,143 points Thursday to close at 14,483.98.

The shock waves were felt in stock markets throughout Asia and Europe, and caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to shed 100 points in early trading.

Analysts blamed a combination of poor Chinese manufacturing data and mixed messages from the U.S Federal Reserve Wednesday about when it might slow its monetary easing, which caused Japanese 10-year bonds to briefly rise above 1% for the first time in a year.

But those factors "just added fuel to the fire," said Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, explaining that there's far more lurking behind this plunge in the Japanese stock market.

"The rise in the Japanese stock market was unsustainable," Fitz-Gerald said. "It was a bug in search of a windshield."

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Best Investments: Don't Miss the Next Raging Bull Market in Uranium

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Investors who bought into uranium at the right time in the 1970s probably considers it one of the best investments they've ever made…

When the element entered a bull market in the '70s, the result was 10-fold gains for uranium prices, and 100-fold gains for related uranium stocks.

Now the stage is set for uranium's price to go on another tear…

To find out why uranium could be one of the best investments over the next few years, we turned to Rick Rule, founder and chairman of Sprott Global Resources Investments.

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Part 2: Is the United States the Next Argentina?

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As I wrote yesterday, government interventions in the marketplace and out of control cronyism have decimated Argentina, one of the most prolific economies of the early 20th century.

But after my week spent there, I can tell you the people of Argentina face an even more troubling problem. It's out of control inflation and it continues to grow worse.

And while it seems far removed, it provides a stern warning to anyone who thinks the U.S. is somehow immune to it all.

In fact, it's critical to understand what's behind it and how it is driving a massive gap between the rich and the poor there.

To tell you the truth what I found there was somewhat startling.

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Dividend Stocks 2013: Why 81% of S&P 500 Companies Want to Pay You

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More and more S&P 500 companies are turning into dividend stocks, as yield-producing investments are becoming the hottest attraction in 2013.

Collective dividends per share for Standard & Poor's 500 companies increased roughly 16% year-over-year in 2012. Meanwhile, the number of companies paying a dividend over that period reached a new 13-year high of 405, or roughly 81% of the S&P 500, data from Factset shows.

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Some of the Best Investments for Doubling Your Money Are in Biotech

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Innovation is the mother of lucrative investing, and nowhere is that truer than in biotech – which delivers some of the best investments you'll ever find.

Biotechnology provides breakthrough products and technologies to combat debilitating and rare ailments, it reduces rates of infectious disease, tailors treatments to individuals to minimize health risks and side effects, creates more precise tools for disease detection, and it reduces the odds of global life threatening conditions.

In short, biotech helps to heal the world.

"If you're looking to double your money, the biotech sector is one of the best hunting grounds that you'll find," writes Money Morning Tech Specialist Michael A. Robinson, who regularly follows the industry's best investments for his Strategic Tech Investor members.

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How to Invest in Oil's Final Frontier: The Arctic

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Investors searching for how to invest in oil in 2013 should be focused on these latest developments from the Arctic.

In fact, countries are racing to get a piece of what could be the final frontier for oil…

As ice melts in the Arctic region, oil and gas trapped beneath the water becomes more accessible.

Money Morning Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors recently explained to Money Morning members about the search for Arctic oil and gas.

He spoke about the years-in-the-making U.S. Geological Survey's Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal. The study found that 84% of the total undiscovered oil and gas left on the planet is located above the Arctic Circle, mainly offshore and in three huge basins that lie under shallow seas.

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Switzerland ETFs in Focus on China FTA Deal - ETF News And Commentary

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Switzerland, unlike many other European economies, has maintained a budget surplus and a credit rating of 'AAA'. The unemployment rate of the nation is also much lower than the neighboring economies, suggesting that Switzerland has been able to do better than most (5 ETFs for Countries with Highest Employment Rates). Yet, that doesn’t mean that […]

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How Ben Bernanke Is Destroying Your Retirement

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Uncle Sam has an unfunded pension liability of $800 billion.

Corporate pension funds have an unfunded liability around $400 billion.

State and local pension funds have an unfunded liability in the tony neighborhood of $3 trillion.

That's over $4 TRILLION in UNFUNDED pension funds.

And if you're not lucky enough to be in a "defined benefit" pension plan (which fewer and fewer people are these days) there's undoubtedly an "unfunded liability" in your own savings – in other words, you haven't saved enough to retire.

It's a huge problem and it's getting worse. And there's one individual to blame for all that $4.2-plus trillion of money we need to find – Ben Bernanke.

Best Investments 2013: Finding Opportunity Far and Near

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Samuel Johnson once said, "The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are."

Although penned by an 18th century English writer, the idea holds true in today's highly connected world of search bars, tweets and breaking news. Our portfolio managers' research trips to foreign countries authenticates the data from a Bloomberg terminal or an earnings report. Treks add tacit knowledge to our wealth of explicit facts.

Last week, I was in Peru and Colombia with former president Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra in conjunction with the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership.

I've been involved with this impressive organization since its inception. I love how it brings together private companies, government and communities in developing regions of the world to eradicate poverty by growing jobs and training local workers.