The Dow Industrials have risen on 18 of the last 20 trading days – not too shabby, especially if you’ve been on the right side of the move. You’d have to be an old-timer to remember the last time that happened, since it was in…1929.  Of course, we’ve seen many a comparison to 1929 fall by the wayside as shares have risen, and continued to rise, in recent years. We think any comparison to the 1920s is pretty farfetched, since, economically speaking, things were in far, far better shape back then, before the country was thrown into depression. For one, the dollar had not been completely hollowed out by inflation and was fundamentally sound. For two, the country produced actual real goods rather than, mainly, “financial products.” And three, job specialization had not reached the point where a worker could carve out a fabulously lucrative niche trading in something so arcane and inscrutable as, say, Brazilian reverse floaters.

In fact, about a third of the U.S. economy was tied to agriculture, and it would therefore be no exaggeration to say that we were living off the land. One could also say that we live off the land now as much as then, since inflated property values have been a crucial source of economic growth in recent years. Not only that, we’re living better than ever, even if all those folks who inhabit 1950s photo albums seem to be having a pretty good time. Hard to believe anyone would have thought life worth living when there were only three television channels to watch.  

The first time I ever saw a color television was in the late 1950s, in the home of a friend whose father eventually would become a TV executive. There were almost no shows broadcast in color at the time, so we watched colored static and test patterns. My friend and I were ahead of our time, since watching colored static and test patterns didn’t become popular until a decade later, when Timothy Leary showed an entire generation how to make such fare seem, not merely interesting, but intensely pleasurable. I shudder to imagine what it is about the 00s that will make us wax nostalgic twenty years from now.

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A Guru’s Secrets

“While perusing some of your posts chronologically from months back, I'm truly struck by the remarkable prescience of many of your fearless calls. The results are uncannily accurate. Thanks again for this opportunity to profit from your usually directionally correct analyses. The subscription is worth every penny - and then some.”

-- Colin L. MacVeagh, a subscriber

Aloha Rick.  I just want to thank you personally for all of your posts in Comex Gold and Silver.  I have traded gold/silver futures for a decade and there is NO ONE who has identified prices as accurately as you do. FACT:  Your New Year's Eve call of a high at 643.10 call was dead-on (even if floor traders ran it up a few days later to flush the momentum traders.) But your subsequent forecast of a pullback low at 603.00 was mind boggling! I Sold my longs at 643.10 and covered my shorts at  603.00 -- the exact bottom.

   -- Mark Johnson, Hawaiian subscriber

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Want to learn exactly how I do it? Then click here for details concerning next month’s online Hidden Pivot Seminar on May 19-20 (Saturday/Sunday morning). Sign up now while there are still a few seats left. The goal of this course is nothing less than to teach traders and investors of all levels of experience how to forecast stocks and commodities at least as accurately and confidently as those who do it successfully for a living.

With just a cursory understanding of the material taught in the course, and a little bit of follow-up, you will never again have to ask an “expert” what he thinks about a particular stock or “the market.” That’s because you will be better equipped yourself to answer the question simply by looking at a few charts.

[Insert Pisarro here]

The course is not about technical analysis in the conventional sense, with its tired and overly scrutinized trendlines, its familiar oscillators, channels, volume indicators, and all the rest, Rather, it is a way of looking at charts with a fresh eye – to see charts as “art,” with emphasis on visual elements of harmony, symmetry, and, indeed, beauty. My annotated charts do not look even remotely like those of other technicians, and that is why the “buy” and “sell” signals that come from them rarely coincide with those favored and used by the herd.

Don’t Rely on ‘Experts’

The online class will be a particularly good opportunity for those who were unable to attend my classes last year in New York, Sydney, Vancouver, San Francisco and Denver. If you’ve visited the Rick’s Picks chat room and marveled at the forecasting skill of seminar grads, this course is designed to quickly bring you up to their level. While I cannot guarantee that the course will turn you into a fabulously rich trader,  I can promise, as implied above, that with a little diligence and practice, your ability to precisely predict price reversals in stocks, indexes, options and commodities will be at least as good as anyone whose forecasts you have ever paid for.

Although the on-site course was offered for as much as $2,000, I am offering it online for $960, since many of the expenses incurred in holding “live” seminars – including hotel and travel costs, and the rental of conference facilities -- are not a factor. If you are seriously interested in attending, click here for more information, or go directly to the registration page by clicking here, then clicking the “UPCOMING” tab.