Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Roundtable with Rick, Charles Hugh Smith and Kerry Lutz

– Posted in: Links

Yesterday Rick appeared on The Financial Survival Network. The audio from the appearance is available at this link. The following is a transcript of the show. Kerry Lutz: 1490 WGCH. This is Kerry Lutz. You’re listening to the Financial Survival Network. We have a roundtable today with Rick Ackerman of rickackerman.com, and we’ve got Charles Hugh Smith, who is oftwominds.com. We’re going to talk about investing, retirement funds, what you do to protect yourself against potential economic disruptions, and how you keep what little savings you might have left safe from the taxman and from potential chaotic developments in the economy. Hey Charles. Welcome to the Financial Survival Network. Charles Hugh Smith: Hi Kerry. Thanks for having me today. Kerry: Great to have you back. Great to have you back too, Rick. Rick Ackerman: Thank you Kerry. I want to say, I’ve been a fan of Charles for a long time. I want to thank you for arranging this panel discussion. I’ve always wanted to meet him. Kerry: Hey well, one day, God willing, you’ll get tom eet in person one on one. But until then, this is about the next best thing. Getting into it, Rick, this tax system is insane. We’ve got the congressional tax collectors, their designees, just looking desperate for money to keep this thing propped up. A day doesn’t go by where you hear them talking about how to effectively confiscate your IRA, your 401(k), to tax private pensions, and the like, so that they could basically prop up social security. What do you think you should do to avoid these actions from happening and damaging you? Rick: Well, Charles had a great idea. He’s, I guess you can say, running with it. The idea is to Enron Wall Street and invest local. I looked

Apple Watch

– Posted in: Free Rick's Picks

We are tracking the shares of Apple closely, since the vigor of its bounce from within a figurative hair of a 555.29 Hidden Pivot target that was recently achieved can tell us whether the stock market as a whole might be rolling over.  Check out the chart accompanying today's AAPL tout for further, precise details.

AAPL – Apple Computer (Last:571.93)

– Posted in: Current Touts Free Rick's Picks

Our Mother of All Bellwethers has bounced from within a figurative hair of a 555.29 correction target that had been two weeks in coming. If the rebound dies quickly -- say, within a day or two -- and Apple relapses below the recent bottom, that would be quite bearish, since Hidden Pivot D's that have taken that long to achieve are not, as I sometimes say, chopped liver. But the bull will remain suspect unless the stock impulses higher within the same span of time, surpassing two peaks that lie, respectively, at 594.62 and 615.36 (see chart).

SIK12 – May Silver (Last:30.765)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

A downside target at 29.940 first broached here nearly three weeks ago remains my minimum downside objective. Tightly stopped bottom-fishing will be warranted there, but camouflage is the preferred way to go. A conservative approach would use a chart of 5-minute degree or less to find an uptrending ABC from within 2 cents of that price. Keep in mind that theoretical risk should be held to $70 per contract or less. Rather be a trader than a lurker? Click here to learn how.

GCM12 – June Gold (Last:1643.20)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

For want of an alternative point of interest, technically speaking, we turn once again to a familiar trendline that will make it possible to tune out this vehicle's tiresome dirge. Set a screen alert for 1668.10, the price at which a rally on Tuesday would intercept the approximate midpoint of the downsloping line. Camouflage longs would be warranted on a breakout, but it seems just as likely that the line will contain the next rally. If bears wax nasty, we'd be looking at downside over the near term to as low as 1594.70 (60-minute, A=1699.60 on 3/27). _______ UPDATE (April 24, 8:25 p.m. EDT): Our all-purpose trendline comes in today at around 1666.50 mid-day. One other potential tripwire we might monitor is 1657.80, the midpoint resistance of the big pattern begun from 1613.00 on 4/4. A close above it would give Gold a fighting chance to finish the week on an upswing. The 'D' target of this pattern is 1691.90.

ESM12 – June E-Mini S&P (Last:1368.75)

– Posted in: Current Touts Rick's Picks

Yesterday's gratuitous swoon, partially recouped in the final hour, carved out an unappealingly obvious low that lay less than two points from the April 10 bottom, 1352.50. From a Hidden Pivot perspective, we are left with the equally unappetizing pattern shown, a bearish tableau projecting to 1324.75.  Getting short might be difficult, but tightly-stopped bottom-fishing could work at the still undetermined midpoint of the developing pattern shown.  _______ UPDATE (10:18 a.m. EDT):  The futures got nowhere remotely near a 1354.50 midpoint support when they looped over. This is bullish for today.

A Painless Way to Buy Plummeting Mining Shares

– Posted in: Commentary for the Week of March 8 Free

Without intending it, Rick’s Picks may have become an oasis for gold and silver bulls who are at the point of despair over the mining sector's relentless, and presumably unjust, plunge. We have good news for you:  Using technical tools to tweak your timing and risk management, it’s possible to buy “crap” stocks all the way down without getting hurt if you’re early. We use the word “crap” ironically, of course, since it is only when stocks have been beaten down as badly as those in the mining sector that they become screaming bargains. And that pretty much sums up the situation as far as we’re concerned. Not that the blighters who have been doing the selling couldn’t bludgeon bullion shares even lower before they relent. In the meantime, wouldn’t it be lovely to take all that stock from their undeserving hands -- and to do so without penalty or punishment if we are premature? On the subject of mining-sector “crap,” a perfect example is the execrated and abhorred GDXJ, an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that tracks the shares of junior gold mining companies.  Although it has an ardent following among Rick’s Picks subscribers, GDXJ has unfortunately proven treacherous to the financial health of long-term investors. Some of them may have thought GDXJ looked like a great bargain a couple of months ago when it was trading for around $30 a share, down from a high of $43 in 2011. We told subscribers to hold off on buying, however, warning that the stock could eventually fall to $20 or even lower. That is still a possibility. Nonetheless, to avoid missing a possible long-term bottom, we started nibbling at 23.93, a “Hidden Pivot” target first advertised in the newsletter when GDXJ was still above $26.  The buy at 23.93 proved timely