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The Financial Bubbles (merged)

Discussions about the economic and financial ramifications of PEAK OIL

Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby MaterialExcess » Fri 04 May 2007, 22:44:49

It might be a good time to start buying deep out of the money puts on an index. A significant crash is almost guaranteed now. The problem is timing it though which is impossible. You could just continue to place small bets on deep out of the money index puts. Most will expire worthless, but eventually you will get a big pay off on a downward correction.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby Micki » Fri 04 May 2007, 22:57:54

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') bought $15K of a midcap mutual fund (JAENX) in late 2002 at 25. Its over 50 now. My 15K is now 30K+. Inflation hasn't eaten that up.

You seem to be counting in nominal value. You need to look at the real return (inflation adjusted) and after taxes and expenses.

I would also caution people who think it is equally easy to make money on short as it is in long trades.
Sure, the transaction is just as easy.
But given inflation, equities have a bias towards moving up. So even when the fundamentals are looking extremely shakey, continued pumping of liquidity into the system can keep pushing the indexes up. i.e. look at Zimbawe today or historically Weimar.

The fact that the fed has kept its inflation fighting to just talk, also suggests to me that the preference is to inflate rather than deflate.

So unless you have very deep pockets, rather than indiscriminently shorting now, set up some rule how you will short trade and use discipline if the trade goes against you.

For this case I suggest you use technical analysis to make the decision; i.e. broken support levels, gann swing charts etc.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby Micki » Fri 04 May 2007, 23:55:18

Dinopello, apologies if I am totally off and you already understand this, but I just came across this on Safehaven: http://www.safehaven.com/article-7485.htm
It contains a film clip that explains the difference between nominal and real value. Although my rough estimate is that you are still ahead in real terms, in case you are not familiar with the concept of nominal VS real you should have a look so you don't get caught with investments that increase in value but at a lesser pace than dollar looses purchasing power.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby cube » Sat 05 May 2007, 05:15:12

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dukey', 't')he stock market is a giant fraud
who makes all the money ?
the insiders ..
Brokers

Whether a stock goes up or down either way they make money on commissions..........they make money on YOU putting your money into the market, not their own money. 8)
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby Concerned » Sat 05 May 2007, 06:25:59

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', ' ')Foreign economies will eventually cool, for a number of reasons, at which point the Dow will surely crater. This is a last gasp, the last hurrah, where every bit of liquid capital from the idiot class is being squeezed to keep it pumped. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.


You may be right, but if you are sure , you can make a lot of money shorting the market. I've never done this, BTW, but the thing about the market if you are right either way you can make money. When you have to put up your own money (if you have any that is), that's when you find out how sure you really are.

There is a mutual fund that tracks inverse to the DOW for example

Here.


Except that you have to buy instruments within the time frame of the so called "market".

Try buying oil futures for 2010 or 2012 they dont exist. In the mean time short term anything can happen oil/dow/x can go up or down for no sensible reason.

I've seen the DOW go up on bad news and down on good news *shrug*

The market is about the next quarter not the next decade.
"Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box."
-Italian Proverb
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby BigTex » Sat 05 May 2007, 12:11:49

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'J')ust remember how "out of nowhere" that adjustment in February felt to everyone. Total shock. Even Cramer was subdued.

The moment before the bottom falls out the party is always still rocking.

Whenever this market begins to correct it will be a shock to everyone.

If you play about equal parts stocks, long bonds and gold, you're set for just about any economic malfunction. No need to load up exclusively on gold for protection, because there may well be another 1-2 years in this bull market and there is no need to sit it out completely because you think it is inflated.

Pay down your debt, too. That's about the best investment there is.


Long bonds? ---I don't think so.


If you really want to have an all-season portfolio you've got to prepare for falling interest rates as well as rising interest rates.

If you disagree, please elaborate. If you say you don't think interest rates will be falling any time soon, that's speculating, not investing. I'm just talking about basic diversification.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby threadbear » Sat 05 May 2007, 12:44:36

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'J')ust remember how "out of nowhere" that adjustment in February felt to everyone. Total shock. Even Cramer was subdued.

The moment before the bottom falls out the party is always still rocking.

Whenever this market begins to correct it will be a shock to everyone.

If you play about equal parts stocks, long bonds and gold, you're set for just about any economic malfunction. No need to load up exclusively on gold for protection, because there may well be another 1-2 years in this bull market and there is no need to sit it out completely because you think it is inflated.

Pay down your debt, too. That's about the best investment there is.


Long bonds? ---I don't think so.


If you really want to have an all-season portfolio you've got to prepare for falling interest rates as well as rising interest rates.

If you disagree, please elaborate. If you say you don't think interest rates will be falling any time soon, that's speculating, not investing. I'm just talking about basic diversification.


Correct me if I'm wrong here. If you buy bonds that mature in say 20 or 30 years at a fixed interest rate of 10%, that seems like a great rate of interest, right now,( particularly European bonds). There is nothing to prevent central banks from raising interest rates over 10% in the next few years. In that case you're stuck with bonds that you can't sell. Long bonds seem crazy, the wildest of speculation, imho.


In the event interest rates do fall to further stimulate the economy, you'd hold onto bonds generating 10%? The numbers might work out, but the purchasing power of the bonds, plus the interest you recieve will be eroded away by price inflation.

If I had heeded my broker's diversification plan, I would have lost purchasing power, and done poorly even in nominal terms. Diversifying into a number of different sectors or financial instruments that don't make sense just isn't wise.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby ColossalContrarian » Sat 05 May 2007, 16:00:17

Graphs with data in .csv format HERE
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby cube » Sat 05 May 2007, 19:36:39

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '.')..
Correct me if I'm wrong here. If you buy bonds that mature in say 20 or 30 years at a fixed interest rate of 10%, that seems like a great rate of interest, right now,( particularly European bonds). There is nothing to prevent central banks from raising interest rates over 10% in the next few years. In that case you're stuck with bonds that you can't sell. Long bonds seem crazy, the wildest of speculation, imho.
...
If Mr.Bill was here he could probably explain things much better then I but here goes.

In a nutshell there are 2 types of bonds:
1) zero-coupon bonds
2) bonds that pay interest

Option 1 is what most of the general public thinks of whenever anybody uses the word "bond". However for the duration of this discussion when I say bond I mean specifically option 2. There's a whole world out there that Joe Sixpack doesn't know about. You can "trade" or buy and sell bonds in the bond market just like the stock market. Very few traders hold onto a bond till maturity. Some people even day trade this stuff just like what they do with stocks.

confused?

Here's an example. Suppose the interest rate today is 4% and you believe that rates will go down in the near future. You buy a bond today for say $100. 4% of $100 == $4......what this means is your bond pays $4 per year in interest.

Lets assume next year interest rates drop to 2%. Your bond is now worth double! If you sell it, then you'd make 100% profit. Here's the calculations. Because interest rates are now only 2%....if a person wants a bond that pays $4 per year they'd have to buy a $200 bond. 2% of $200 == $4 per year in interest. This is why your bond which you paid $100 last year is now worth $200. You made a $100 profit or 100% profit.

BTW I'm not a bond trader nor do I play one on TV. To add more spice to the game you can also play with this stuff "on the margin" and then of course there are "futures contracts". What that means is you can make 50% profit in 1 month or lose a good portion of it. A lot of these "speculators" are leveraged up to the eyeballs. All it takes is an interest rate move of 0.25% to make or lose more money then at a Las Vegas blackjack table in 24 hours. Anybody who says bonds are boring probably doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. 8)
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby threadbear » Sun 06 May 2007, 13:58:04

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cube', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '.')..
Correct me if I'm wrong here. If you buy bonds that mature in say 20 or 30 years at a fixed interest rate of 10%, that seems like a great rate of interest, right now,( particularly European bonds). There is nothing to prevent central banks from raising interest rates over 10% in the next few years. In that case you're stuck with bonds that you can't sell. Long bonds seem crazy, the wildest of speculation, imho.
...



Lets assume next year interest rates drop to 2%. Your bond is now worth double! If you sell it, then you'd make 100% profit. Here's the calculations. Because interest rates are now only 2%....if a person wants a bond that pays $4 per year they'd have to buy a $200 bond. 2% of $200 == $4 per year in interest. This is why your bond which you paid $100 last year is now worth $200. You made a $100 profit or 100% profit.

8)


Thanks Cube. You have to qualify what constitutes "profit" in an economic atmosphere where interest rates drop by half. As interest rates fall, at least presently, you would likely have a commensurate drop in purchasing power that would erode the value of your 100.00, now 200.00. The 200.00 you would recieve for your 100.00 bond would look good in nominal terms, but could easily be worth less than the original 100.00 bond purchased a couple of years before.

The wisest thing to do in the event interest rates drop off AND the dollar weakens considerably, which it should in that event, is to invest in gold. $100 worth of gold could triple or quadruple in that scenario, which would exceed inflation, and you really would profit, in terms of purchasing power---I think :) --though I admit, am a bit of a bond-tard.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby cube » Mon 07 May 2007, 05:34:31

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '.')..
The wisest thing to do in the event interest rates drop off AND the dollar weakens considerably, which it should in that event, is to invest in gold. $100 worth of gold could triple or quadruple in that scenario, which would exceed inflation, and you really would profit, in terms of purchasing power---I think :) --though I admit, am a bit of a bond-tard.
I think you're onto something here threadbear. There's a bull market in gold....and commodities in general. My gut tells me 5 years from now the majority of Americans are going to regret that they did NOT buy gold today because they were too busy chasing after the stock market.

5 years from now when 65 million baby boomers sell their stocks so they can live out their "golden years" we're going to find out how much the Dow Jones is really worth. I wonder how many buyers will be standing in line to buy all those stocks? I'll be standing away from a safe distance. :roll:
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby halcyon » Fri 11 May 2007, 08:15:24

There are people , like Jeremy Grantham, who are saying all asset classes everywhere are bubbling:

http://www.thestreet.com/_breitbart/fun ... =breitbart

Of course, none of the people who do private investing fee based give out free tips, so this is not 100% true either.

But there's a lot of loose money on all major markets, so there's some truth to it.

So it's not just stock market, gold and real estate.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby mmasters » Fri 11 May 2007, 11:01:23

While money can vanish as debts are paid wealth doesn't vanish. When that bubble bursts people are gonna run for a "safe haven"
Best be in the safe haven before everyone and their brother tries to come on board. Because at that point the safe haven becomes questionable and selling out into other things may be the best move then. Just have to evaluate it as it happens. IMO, playing the crash will be a juggling act. The market will be like quick sand for most poeple's money.
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Re: Another Stock Market Bubble?

Unread postby Twilight » Sun 13 May 2007, 18:48:35

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Commodity Bubble?

Unread postby steam_cannon » Tue 15 May 2007, 18:37:15

Commodity Bubble?

Do you think we are in a commodity bubble? If so, is it being caused by money looking for an exit, rising prices from higher fuel prices, weakening dollar, peak mining or a mix? And if commodities are overvalued what do you think the fall out will be? And in what commodities?

Fools running with bulls?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JOHN CLEMMOW', '
')JOHN CLEMMOW: I think that’s fair to say. I think almost everybody would now acknowledge that what we’ve seen is a fully-fledged bubble emerging in commodity prices - is the bubble about to burst or not? I would have to say that the supply and demand fundamentals for the commodities that are consumed - remember gold is not really consumed, so supply and demand doesn’t really come in there - but supply and demand fundamentals for most of the commodities doesn’t justify pricing anywhere near these kind of levels.
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=19717

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com', '
')When asked about the commodity bubble, Mr. Buffet replied.
"I don't think there's a bubble in agricultural commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans. But in metals and oil there's been a terrific [price] move. It's like most trends: At the beginning, it's driven by fundamentals, then speculation takes over. As the old saying goes, what the wise man does in the beginning, fools do in the end..."

If you read this a couple times, you come away with the impression that he really didn't want to answer what was probably the direct question, "Is there a commodity bubble?"

First, it's a 'no' for agriculture, then a "terrific price move" for metals, followed by a discussion of the general characteristics of bubbles, ending up with a mixing of commodities and housing in the same sentence that also included more general discussion of bubbles.

One thing is sure, none of my neighbors are talking about all the money they're making in precious metals.
http://tinyurl.com/2frcs8

Peak mining - raising the value of commodities?
Image
http://www.investmentrarities.com/01-04-05.html

Falling dollar making commodities look better then they are?
Silver priced in Dollars
Silver priced in Euros
Lead priced in Dollars
Lead priced in Euros
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Re: Commodity Bubble?

Unread postby Tanada » Tue 15 May 2007, 19:19:21

It is the perverse nature of the bussiness that makes everything going up into a bubble, too many pile on and buying exceeds value equals a bubble ready to pop.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alfred Tennyson', 'W')e are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Re: Commodity Bubble?

Unread postby mmasters » Tue 15 May 2007, 19:23:55

Nearly everything's in a bubble.

At the root of the global bubble is cheap Japanese loan money. It has gotten invested all over the world and in nearly everything.

Food commodities are in less of a bubble than the rest of the market because that's a sensitive area.
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Re: Commodity Bubble?

Unread postby Twilight » Tue 15 May 2007, 20:13:11

Anything can become a bubble at any time. All it takes is for the magical infinite cash people to shift their focus.
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Re: Commodity Bubble?

Unread postby steam_cannon » Tue 15 May 2007, 20:59:35

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', 'A')nything can become a bubble at any time. All it takes is for the magical infinite cash people to shift their focus.
Magical infinite cash people, I like that :)

Like the beer fairy!
Image

But I'm wondering, do you think in a long term declining market [such as the depression oil depletion should bring], would cause a long term run of money into commodities? Making it less of a bubble and more of a long term trend? I'm just wondering if peak oil/mining could cause an unusual market shift like that. Kind of like as the titanic was sinking the lower levels got flooded first forcing people to go on deck.

Image
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Re: Commodity Bubble?

Unread postby mmasters » Tue 15 May 2007, 21:58:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('steam_cannon', 'B')ut I'm wondering, do you think in a long term declining market [such as the depression oil depletion should bring], would cause a long term run of money into commodities? Making it less of a bubble and more of a long term trend? I'm just wondering if peak oil/mining could cause an unusual market shift like that. Kind of like as the titanic was sinking the lower levels got flooded first forcing people to go on deck.

Well commodities run up in price it chokes the economy - production costs go up, profit in some cases disappears, people go out of business, the price to the consumer goes up, less consumers buy the product, the product quality can go down due to substitutes and dilution, etc...

I tend to think we'll see commodities in general maintain their value at least if not increase some while global liquidity will dry up. Basically the titanic continues to float and function while most the passengers on board get crammed into steerage.

On the other hand if there's shortages I see temporary bubbles forming until the cost is so high demand destruction kicks in.

I think gold will stray from the pack when the real instability begins and form a tremendous bubble of its own. India should be a real circus act to watch; expect tremendous celebrations on the upside of the bubble and mass suicides on the downside.
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