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"If a company can't, at the very least, sell their products for more than it cost to make, they may want to re-think their business model." -- Marc Lichtenfeld **************************************************** Marc Lichtenfeld, Senior Analyst, began his investing career at the trading desk of prestigious Carlin Equities in San Francisco, CA, where each day he executed dozens of trades for a…
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You can recognize a true master -- of investing or anything else -- by their ability to see both the 'forest' and the 'trees.' Talk to anyone you know who is great at something, say auto mechanics. You'll probably discover they possess a tremendous big-picture understanding of their field. They're deeply versed in the history of cars and engines. They…
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"In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Meaning of course, you don't always need to be the best, just better than the rest. It's like the old joke: Two guys are hunting when suddenly a grizzly bear charges through the brush. The first fellow starts running. "Are you crazy?" his companion yells after him. "You can't…
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The markets are filled with results and outcomes that 'should' happen. This company's price 'should' rise because of their recent earnings statement. That sector 'should' show strength based on the central bank's latest move. Yet the cardinal market rule remains: "Price is Truth." In the realm of Technical Analysis, a security's price-- what HAS happened -- is your best guide…
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There's a famous tale told about a former Federal Reserve Chairman who, before he was chairman, boldly and publicly predicted the end of a recession. As it happened, he was right, and that fearless forecast made his reputation. Only after he retired did he reveal the secret behind his bull's eye. You see, while window-shopping the latest automobiles, he noticed…
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Every trade begins with an idea, with an intuition about what some market... or some sector... or some security is about to do. A times these ideas are well-supported by facts -- a company's recent earnings, a change in government policy, a natural disaster. At other times they are just hunches, little better than uneducated guesses. While they are far…
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Former Heavyweight world champ Mike Tyson famously said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." He probably heard that first from an individual investor. It's easy to stick to a plan when things are going as planned. But if the previous weeks and months has taught us anything, it's that markets don't pay too much attention…
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There are few successful investors who do not trade options, at least some of the time. And for good reason.  Options can give you exposure to expensive stocks (such as Google) for literally a fraction of the capital outlay. Options also let you spell out your risk down to the penny before you enter a trade. They can be used…
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There's an old saying on Wall Street: "One day the world will end, but not today." What that means is while the market might be headed down, you don't want to jump to bearish conclusions. True, there are more than a few signs that the bull-tide is turning. And true ... a change in trend always spells opportunity. But never…
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The media are driven, for better or worse, by ratings. So they tend to frame everything as a crisis. We naturally see this most often with stories about health ("Are your salad spoons turning your children into zombies?") or about money and economics ("Oil Fracking: Will it turn your children into zombies?") That's an exaggeration of course. But you see…
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