10 oz Gold Bar Fraud

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/tungsten-filled-10-oz-gold-bar-found-middle-manhattans-jewelry-district

This story reinforces why one must buy from a reputable dealer.  The only problem in this case was that it was a legitimate bar, it just was altered.  This might further increase the demand for small coins or just smaller bars (ie. 1 oz, etc.) since it would be a little harder to manipulate them based on weight alone.

QE 3...um I mean QE~

The Fed officially put what might be the last nail in the coffin in sealing the US Dollar's fate by allowing itself to continuously print money until the economy gets back into satisfactory or compelling economic feasible levels.  The part I do not understand is how they're doing it.  They are again supporting and inflating the housing market by buying mortgage back securities in the hopes that US Citizens will be more wealthier on paper with their real estate assets and in turn take the equity they have in their homes and spend it in the market.  With the anticipation of appreciating real estate prices, home builders and real estate investors will once again come into the market buying up whatever they can.  Really?  Did we not learn anything in history on the latest housing bubble just 5 years ago?  That's very well a reason why history continues to repeat itself, since we keep making the same mistakes over and over.  Throwing good money at bad is never a good thing.

So if you're a homeowner and want to stay in your home, you'll be able to refinance that 30 year mortgage at historical low prices until you retire (or if you are retired, until you depart this life.)

6 month chart for SLV and AAPL

Downward resistance was broken on 25-July-2012.  iShares Silver Trust (SLV) currently has an upward support line north of $32.  Look for a retest of 6 month highs of $36 in the near future.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) still demonstrating relative strength to overall market conditions.  Whenever a stock breaks out in a 52 week high, the caution flag should be raised as that is a sign to protect profits (eg. sell high buy low.)  Setting a stop at 660 would be prudent and possibly look to revisit a purchase at the support line of $600.  As much as I love AAPL products, I do think that AAPL is one of the biggest current bubbles.  

6 month chart on F

Downward trend on Ford Motor Co. (F) was broken on 13-August-2012.  The stock should be considered be held long until Tier 1 at $10.75.  We will re-evaluate support trend line to gauge what it needs to do to get to Tier 2.

6 Month of VLO and BIDU

Valero Energy Corporation (VLO) still in a bullish trend with a retest of the support line at $30.  Once VLO has retested the support line, VLO should make another leg higher breaking through it's 52 high of $33.60.

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU) in a bearish trend with resistance at $130 and a retest of the previous lows of $104.05.  Given that it's close to the lows and currently priced at a 17% discount relative to it's resistance at $130, it is better to avoid and wait for better entry point.

6 month chart for United States Oil (USO)

USO has resistance at around 36.25.  USO support trend line was broken on August 30th.  These are both signs that are still bearish confirmations.

6 month chart for Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)

Resistance at 68.

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-says-10-rare-gold-coins-worth-80-152750965--abc-news-topstories.html

Although I agree with the decision since it's most likely that "However, a Philadelphia Mint cashier had managed to give or sell some of them to a local coin dealer, Israel Switt." were transferred illegally.  Because the US went off the gold standard making owning gold coins illegal, what rights do precious metal owners own today?  What if the US confiscated gold again?  Or perhaps Silver?

Question:  if my trading broker goes bankrupt, can they use my money to pay off the debts? like in MF Global?

Answer:  When a company goes bankrupt, there's a pecking order the company must go through to liquidate their assets.  The bankruptcy laws usually help dictate where goes where, but it goes pretty much in this order from first to last:  special creditors, secured creditors, general creditors, stockholders (of tradeking.)  

The stocks/securities you own in your account are insured by SIPC.  SIPC:FDIC = Financial Institutions:Commercial Banks.  If TradeKing is anything parallel to Madoff, then you will receive nothing.  

QE3???

Bernanke last week at Jackson Hole neither affirmed or denied whether QE3 (Quantitative Easing III) would  occur.  Because he did mention that the Fed would take action if needed, the markets, especially the commodities markets rallied in anticipation that another round of QE3 is in the horizon.  As an avid trader, one must not jump to conclusions and always look at both sides of the story on any news.  The main problem with the markets are that they are specifically looking for Big Ben to say, "QE3."  But what if he calls it something else like, "Blue Light Special Donation" or "Make A Wish Per Diem"?  Will the markets be as responsive in a bullish tone if the government prints more money adding further erosion to US Dollars?  I think Ben knows that using the dangerous letters QE are as bad as any four letter word.  Look for the Fed to call their next round of funding something else and not necessarily 'QE'.